#96
The abyss opens (3)
When Heinrich, who had stored the Holy Sword in his stigmata, opened the stone gate of the sealed place and came out, it was the place where he had first entered the ordeal.
After all those trials, all that stood between them was a mere door.
‘I’ve known about it since the Holy Sword created the virtual world for the trials. But it’s still amazing when I think about it again.’
He looked at the stigmata on his palm and smiled contentedly.
‘At this level, I don’t think I would lose even if I went head-on against a Paladin?’
In addition, 「Blessing: Holy Sword」, like other abilities, was a skill that became stronger the more it was trained.
That means the power he’s gained right now isn’t everything.
“It’s finally out.”
However, there were people waiting to welcome Heinrich as he opened the stone gate and went out.
“Thank you for your hard work, Sir Heinrich.”
“Ah, Cardinal Donovan!”
They were elites, including the Cardinal in charge of the Piccolo Hall.
‘How did you know I was coming out… No, that was a stupid idea.’
It wasn’t that I came out to greet him.
In the first place, Acrichi escaped through the abyssal hole in the center of the Great Hall, so there’s no way the sect wouldn’t have known about it.
‘It’s natural to be prepared. Since the spatial isolation through the Trial of the Holy Sword has also disappeared, it would have been possible to detect it more clearly.’
Because of that, they ran to prepare for an emergency, but before they could enter, the black magic inside them disappeared, so they waited in front for a while.
Because it might have been a nuisance to Heinrich, who was undergoing trials inside.
“Hehehe, I was hoping so and as expected…. You succeeded in becoming the master of the Holy Sword!”
The Cardinal looked at Heinrich’s palm with surprise, but smiled brightly.
The reactions of the other priests behind him were also similar.
“I never thought it would really succeed.”
“I heard the rumor. I heard that he was a knight who defeated the Immortal King by stabbing him in the heart…”
“The owner of the Holy Sword has reappeared at this time! This must be the will of the Lord!”
Everyone reacted enthusiastically to the holy sword that appeared for the first time in 300 years.
Now that the Immortal King has returned and the Abyss has opened, the reappearance of the Holy Sword, the symbol of the warrior, was very significant.
“This too must be fate. Yes, Sir Heinrich. Has something strange happened inside?”
Cardinal Donovan, who had been nodding quietly, glanced at the door through which Heinrich had come out, asking a question.
“Ah, after I pulled out the Holy Sword, the Abyss began to show strange symptoms. After that, an Archlich emerged from there…”
“Acriche?”
“I was able to deal with the one who couldn’t follow the pulse due to the power of the Divine Barrier. Since he happened to possess the source, I was able to eliminate him cleanly on the spot.”
“I see… I’m glad there aren’t any problems.”
He let out a light sigh and looked at the priests gathered behind him, then gestured toward the stone gate.
Then, the high priests and knights began to enter the stone chamber where the holy sword was sealed in one order.
As Heinrich looked at them with a puzzled expression, the Cardinal continued with a bitter smile.
“Come to think of it, Kyung-eun didn’t know about the commotion outside. She must have been really flustered by the sudden reaction from Abyss.”
“Oh, yes… that’s right.”
In fact, he knew the outside circumstances better than anyone else, but Heinrich just nodded with an ambiguous expression.
The cardinal explained the situation to him with a stern face.
Why did such a thing happen in the abyss?
About the second abyss that opened on the continent, and about future response measures.
“Now that there is no Holy Sword, I will have to manage that Abyssal Hole more thoroughly. I will also set up a barrier and have some personnel stationed there just in case.”
The barrier that was currently unfolding wasn’t completely lacking, but since Archrich actually popped out, it was necessary to be a little more careful.
“We were already short-handed. Heh heh heh! This is really shitty… Ahem, this is a difficult situation.”
The cardinal seemed to have let out his true feelings without realizing it, but he cleared his throat as if nothing had happened and headed out with Heinrich.
“They’ll finish up the work here, so we’ll just go back now. There’s still a lot of work to do in Gyeongdo.”
Because of the current situation, there was no time to relax.
After taking a short break, Heinrich headed straight to the gate room to return to the Roselia Grand Shrine.
Woohoo—
The gate slowly began to operate.
Heinrich looked back at Cardinal Donovan, who had come out to see him off, with an embarrassed expression.
“You must be very busy with construction work, so you don’t have to come out in person.”
Isn’t this already a very busy time?
It was rather burdensome to have someone as high as a cardinal come out to see me off.
“Hehe, now that you have become the master of the Holy Sword, you are no longer just a knight. This is nothing. More importantly… I have one last thing to say.”
Indeed, his status was now on a completely different level than before.
The term ‘Master of the Holy Sword’ meant that it was the sword of the Lord representing this era.
“What are your final words···?”
At those words, the cardinal came over with a serious expression and put his mouth near his ear.
Heinrich listened to his words seriously at that cautious attitude, but…
“You didn’t forget what I said last time, did you?”
“···yes?”
“That’s what the saint said. Huh? Should I explain it again?”
“···No, I remember. Don’t worry.”
“Hmm, great! Then go and see!”
“······.”
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To Cardinal Donovan, who was the owner of the Holy Sword and all, that was a separate issue.
***
“Welcome, Sir Heinrich. I knew you could do it!”
Heinrich, who returned to the Great Temple of Roselia, was immediately greeted by the saint who greeted him with a gentle smile.
After exchanging pleasantries, light conversation continued.
“By the way, is Cardinal Donovan in good health?”
“···Yes. I heard you are quite old, and you seem very healthy.”
Heinrich answered with a sheepish expression, recalling his plump muscles despite his advanced age.
“Haha… I was worried because you were so busy going to the Pikachu Grand Hall, but it looks like you’re still exercising regularly. Even when you were here, you were someone who took great care of me.”
Small talk that continues for a while.
But given the circumstances, the lighthearted atmosphere didn’t last long.
“You look very tired, Saintess. I guess you have a lot of work to do.”
“Whew— This is a huge undertaking, so it won’t be easy.”
The dark-faced saint sighed deeply.
The biggest problem was the opening of the second abyss, but the sacrificial rituals performed across the continent before that were also no easy task.
“Dozens of sacrificial rituals were simultaneously performed across the continent, from small slash-and-burn farm villages to large, remote towns.”
It was a terrorist attack targeting areas where there was no thorough magical defense and public security was lax.
It was so thoroughly hidden that you wouldn’t even know it existed before it was activated.
‘Hearing this, I feel once again how amazing those guys are.’
Even if the Hwajeon village was like that, it would have been impossible to target a small city with a population of over a thousand people, no matter how remote it was, with ordinary preparation.
“The extent of the damage is still being investigated, but… the number of people identified so far is in the tens of thousands. It is impossible to estimate how much more it will increase in the future.”
The unprecedented massacre put every country on the continent on alert.
Of course, since most of those targeted were commoners living in areas with poor public security, the damage itself was not a big deal to the upper class.
‘But because the scale is so large, the leadership cannot help but be on guard.’
Who can guarantee that a threatening force capable of causing such trouble will never target them?
“···In fact, the really big problem is the reappearance of the Immortal King Hans and the opening of the second abyss.”
Information from those dispatched to the south was relayed to the main temple almost in real time, and they were still investigating the scene.
“What came out of the abyss this time is ‘madness.’ However, I believe that this time, the situation is different from that of the Immortal King a thousand years ago.”
Unlike the ‘Heart of the Immortal King’ that descended to the earth in its entirety, the madness that appeared this time was incompletely brought out.
Because of that, I was unable to maintain my original form and was scattered across the continent···.
“That’s definitely not a good sign. In some ways, it’s even more difficult than the Immortal King.”
No major abnormalities have been discovered at the moment, but what was pulled out of the abyss cannot possibly have a positive effect on the continent.
As time goes by, problems will slowly begin to surface.
In addition, because of the madness that had engulfed the world, it had become much more difficult to track down the devil than before, so it was bad news for the religious order in many ways.
“And above all, the Immortal King who did all this···”
The Immortal King, riding the Bone Dragon, appears again before the members of the sect.
He deliberately waited without leaving the scene, mocked the group of disciples, and then leisurely left.
Leaving only one death breath from the bone dragon.
“···Fortunately, the damage wasn’t that serious. The people there weren’t easy targets either. If the follow-up attacks had continued, it would have been dangerous···.”
The Immortal King simply left.
“In other words, you can see how much he thinks we’re funny. He’s enjoying it as if he’s showing us mercy, telling us to resist as much as we can.”
The saintess, with a hardened expression that made it hard to recall her usual gentle impression, gritted her teeth and muttered.
“Your Majesty···.”
“Haa— I got a little excited. But this is good news. It proves how arrogant the Immortal King is this time.”
It was a gap that could be exploited to target the Immortal King, who had been performing extraordinary feats up until now.
Even if there is a clear chance to end it, he gives the opportunity to others by looking down on them and prioritizing his own fun.
This is a typical strong person’s way of thinking.
It was the weakness that caused countless deaths among those strong men.
“We are taking advantage of that complacency. For the sake of the continent, a moment of humiliation is nothing. In the end, we will be the final victors.”
Heinrich was also moved by the sight of the saint with a serious expression and determination, and eagerly agreed with her.
“I will help you too, Saintess. With the help of the Holy Sword, we will definitely be able to defeat him this time.”
“I believe you, Sir Heinrich! You are the one chosen by the Lord to be the adversary of the Immortal King Hans!”
Motivation surges and conviction fills you.
Heinrich met the saint’s eyes and nodded slowly.
‘···But you still call me Hans. There’s a wonderful name called Hannibal Strauss. I’ll have to emphasize it more next time.’
While thinking of something else inside.
***
A stone chamber buried deep underground.
“Huh···?”
In the air that had been stagnant for a long time, a second change occurred following the last one.
A pair of red eyes that slowly begin to glow in the darkness.
“···What is this···?”
But I woke up from my sleep without realizing it because of something very different, and the voice was still asleep.
Even though it was completely sealed and had no room for outside air to penetrate, something eerie and unsettling, ignoring such physical limitations, stimulated its presence.
‘···Oh, that’s right.’
Once I woke up there, I felt the same strange feeling I had last time again.
It seemed like something was wrong with the clan.
‘I have to get up.’
The unidentifiable events that were unfolding in real time and what was happening to the clan were not ordinary.
Because it was such a serious matter that I had to rush out and check it out myself.
So the being gave strength to its body to stand up from its seat.
“Really···.”
No, I just thought about it, but it didn’t lead to action.
A body that keeps twitching as if it’s trying to wake up.
but···.
“···That’s how it should be, ugh—.”
My body sagged again as I yawned without realizing it.
Of course, I wasn’t able to fall asleep again.
Because the surrounding stimulating energy was too irritating.
Even at this moment, the body that had been in hibernation was slowly becoming active.
It was difficult to move right away, but…
Perhaps, it won’t take that long.
And so the Holy Blood of Brokoslak—awakened from its long slumber.
