Chapter 441: Night of the Living Dead (4)

Step, step.

As the death knights approached Hart, they pulled out the sword sticking out of their chests.

"How barbaric..."

"They are undead, yes, but to think that they would use their own bodies as a sheath."

"It is something that they can do because they do not feel pain."

The inquisitors frowned at once.

However, only Hart and the archbishop noticed something odd.

'They aren't keeping their swords in their bodies just for show.'

'What's that ominous energy coming out of their chests...'

They noticed a murky and nauseating energy coming out of the death knights' chests.

The energy soon gathered in the death knights' swords.

"It's not the energy of the demons, but it smells disgusting, so is it perhaps death energy?"

"I agree with you, Sir." The archbishop nodded. Death was sacred by nature. Whenever someone died, they would go over to the side of the god they were following, so death wasn't entirely a sad thing for religious people.

'But that's...'

How should it be described? It was stepping on divinity. The archbishop had no choice but to define it that way.

"You forcefully manipulated the energy of death."

"Nazad Hallow. It has to be his work..."

How many experiments and how many lives did he sacrifice to achieve that?

A radiant glow burst out of the furious archbishop.

"In the name of the Sun God! I will pass judgment upon you!"

Whooooong!

The wave of golden energy briefly illuminated the plains of Merhen.

"...As expected, it's at odds with divine power," murmured Nazad Hallow.

The weak corpses were instantly destroyed in the face of the archbishop's power.

"Ohhh!"

"As expected of the archbishop!"

The inquisitors cheered, but Nazad Hallow looked rather satisfied. The miracle of destroying tens of thousands of undead at once wasn't something that could be done without a price

"Uwaaaack!"

Sure enough, the archbishop vomited black blood. The inquisitors supported him, and they saw that the archbishop's face had turned as white as a sheet of paper.

"A-archbishop!

"Please wake up!"

"I'm—keuk! I'm fine."

He had activated and made his divine power explode in all directions, but the undead he managed to destroy were only the regular ones.

"What a shame."

Tap, tap.

Nazad Hallow tapped the ground with his staff, and another wave of corpses rose up.

"N-no way... The archbishop's miracle was meaningless..."

"Just how many corpses does he have?"

"We have never heard of a genocide in recent years, so he must have robbed tombs."

Their hearts started to become enveloped with a different kind of fear. The enemies weren't strong, but the enemies were far more numerous than them.

Hart clenched his sword tightly.

'If I use that, I'd be able to kill him.'

It was the result of an epiphany he had in his later years. It could cut down even a mountain, but it would take a tremendous amount of mental strength, concentration, and stamina.

'Seo Jun-Ho. I also told him about it...'

He could cut down a mountain with it, but he could still lose despite using it. It was all because it wasn't really something that should be used in a real battle.

'But...'

Hart couldn't help but think that he would have to jump over that wall on his own today. Otherwise, he would have to hang around with those foul corpses forever.

"Protect the archbishop and cut down the corpses that dare to approach."Hart briefly said before walking forward on his own. He decided to walk away when he noticed that the death knights' eyes were glued to him.

'If I stay here, the others will get implicated.

Clack, clack.

Hart's conjecture was right. The death knights were moving along with him and pointed their swords at Frontier's best swordsman.

"Interesting." Hart smiled coldly and charged at them first.

***

The death knights were strong.

'They were probably famous knights of their own generation.'

It was regrettable, but Hart would probably never know their identities.

'At times like this, I can't honor the dead...'

- ...

Crumble.

A death knight, split by Hart's sword, scattered like dust and disappeared. It was a difficult fight. It was proved by Hart's slightly rough breathing.

'It's not a duel, but a fight for each other's lives.'

It was also three against one, along with a handicap of protecting his comrades.

The conditions greatly favored his opponents, but he ended up cutting one of them down.

'But is this the end?'

Hart quickly scanned himself. He received a few cuts while trying to cut down that death knight.

'It would normally be just a scratch.'

However, the death knights' swords were covered in death energy, and the wounds he sustained from their swords quickly started killing the surrounding cells through necrosis.

He couldn't put it off any longer.

Judging so, Hart transmitted his voice to the archbishop through magic.

- Archbishop, can you possibly use that move from before again?

- This voice, is it Hart-nim?

The archbishop smiled, wiping the blood around his mouth with his holy sleeve.

- I can do it one more time. I'll do it somehow.

- It should be enough.

The attention would briefly fall on the archbishop the moment the archbishop activated Holy Explosion once more.

'And....'

It seemed that Nazad Hallow really wanted to get his hands on Hart's corpse tonight. It was probably the reason why he was still here and was maintaining the siege.

'There will certainly be a gap.'

Nazad Hallow would definitely make a move to summon more corpses after the archbishop had cast Holy Explosion.

'The gap will be there....'

It would be the first and final opportunity.

"Inquisitors, listen," Hart spoke in a confident voice rather than in a downtrodden voice. "As soon as the archbishop uses Holy Explosion, I want you to charge at the remaining death knights."

The death knights could stand in his way, so they had to be stalled.

"Understood."

"We will carry out your orders."

The inquisitors answered. Seeing Hart fight the death knights, they knew how strong the death knights were. However, the inquisitors weren't afraid.

It had always been their job to make hold others accountable for their sins.

"And where there is sin, that is where we would be..."

The eighteen inquisitors were prepared to die, and they got ready to charge.

"Oh, Sun Goooood!"

The archbishop was exhausted, but he forcibly erupted with an energy that couldn't be ignored. The plains of Merhen were once again illuminated in a golden light.

"Does he not get tired of that?" Nazad Hallow seemed annoyed as he lifted his staff once more.

'Now's the chance!'

Hart quickly fell into his own domain. He vanquished all thoughts from his head before removing his own existence as he gripped his sword tightly. In the end, the only thing that remained in his domain was his sword.

- ...!

- ...!

Hart's aura changed. The death knights seemed to have detected that change as they turned away from the archbishop and rushed at Hart.

"Block them!"

"Don't let them take a step—Ugh!"

"Fulfill your orders!"

A death knight crushed an inquisitor's head, while the others collapsed with their guts spilling out as the death knight kicked them away.

"Hold them doooown!"

"Uuuu, uaahhhh!"

The inquisitors cried and screamed. They forcefully pushed away their fears and reached out with their limbs to stop the death knights, even if just for a moment.

- ...!

The scene was like an uprising of mere insects. Furious at the unsightly faces of the inquisitors, the death knights moved and cut them down.

"Kwack, kuk, glory...!"

"Please, win... Sun God... bless...!"

May your future be blessed with sunshine. The inquisitors drew the holy symbol before they were torn to shreds. Finally, the freed death knights rushed to Hart, pulling out their swords.

"...Haa."

The white breath created by the cold air of dawn flowed out of Hart's mouth.

However, hot tears were flowing down his eyes.

"I am a sword. I am a part of the world."

I could reach anything and cut it down. Hart reached a state of unity with the sword. His crimson sword aura turned chaotic. It was just a sword. A weapon to harm others. Hart swung it in the direction of a small dot in the distance.

He swung it in Nazad Hallow's direction.

"Cut the mountain."

"...!"

The two death knights that appeared right in front of Hart turned into dust. Nazad Hallow's face changed for the first time. He felt a shiver down his spine.

'I have to avoid it.'

As soon as he realized that he had to dodge it, he also realized that he couldn't possibly dodge the incoming attack.

Slice!

There was a sharp, ear-piercing shriek, and all eyes landed on Nazad Hallow.

"Hmm."

His right arm holding the staff was now on the floor.

He gazed at the severed arm and muttered, "I got off light."

An individual's mind could be as strong as steel, but a severed arm would still bring much pain to the unfortunate. However, Nazad Hallow didn't let out even a groan. It seemed that the concept of pain didn't exist for him.

"Now, it's my turn..." Nazad Hallow picked up the staff on the ground with his left hand.

All of a sudden, a rumbling noise could be heard in the distance.

Rumble!

"...Water?"

He looked behind him with a frown.

He could see the plains of Merhen and the Henness River in the distance.

'Are my ears wrong?'

Despite there being a river there, there couldn't be a sound like a tsunami coming in like this. When he thought that maybe his hearing could have received a problem as his arm was cut off -

The river was so far away, so why was there sound reminiscent of a tsunami coming from the direction of the river? Nazad Hallow couldn't help but think that Hart's attack might have disturbed his hearing as well.

At the thought, Nazad Hallow turned back to Hart, but the sound became clearer.

Rumble!

Finally, Nazad Hallow could see it clearly.

"W-water?"

"No, rather than water..."

The surviving inquisitors stared with blank expressions. It was a tsunami. A tsunami was rare, even in the sea, so there was a sense of surrealism to see a tsunami coming from a river.

'...Wait, someone is on top of the tsunami.'

Nazad Hallow gathered magic in his eyes, and his expression turned ugly upon confirming the identity of the individual riding the tsunami.

"Seo Jun-Hoooooo!"

It was his enemy who had murdered all of his disciples. It was an enemy he was determined to kill at all costs. However, Nazad Hallow hesitated at the same time.

'Is he perhaps just going to pass by like that?'

The distance between the Henness River and this place seemed to be at least a few kilometers long, and it was in a different direction as well. Unless Seo Jun-Ho could change the direction of the water, the tsunami wouldn't pose a threat to him.

"Of course, I won't be able to do it on my own."

Fortunately, he wasn't alone. Seo Jun-Ho stared at the Frost Queen.

He unleashed his magic, and the two of them stretched their hands out.

Craaackle!

A huge slide made out of ice was created in the blink of an eye.

The ferocious and furious river followed the path of the beautiful ice slide.

"...!"

The tsunami was diverted so cleanly that it was satisfying. The water rushed down the slide and flew exactly where Nazad Hallow and his army of corpses were located.

Craaaash!

The tsunami struck the plains of Merhen.