Hero's Coffin Chapter 53

Chapter 53

However, the more he looked at the steep cliff before him, the more he suspected that the undead might be showing him this path to take revenge for being subjugated by Isaph...

"Huff, hah, huuugh."

But with no other way to find a different path, he followed, groaning. The deeper he went, the more he felt the vibrations from the battlefield. Boom, boom, the ground shook, and the roars of the Dium and the sounds of them being slaughtered endlessly echoed in his ears.

Anyway, terrible game, I'm leaving as soon as I clear it.

After walking for a long time, panting, he finally discovered the black core. Its location, visible just by raising his head from the battlefield, made him uneasy. So there really was a core here. After letting out a sigh of relief, he spoke to the undead.

"Now break it."

[Grr...]

"...I said break it?"

[Urrrr...]

But for some reason, the undead didn't move. They just crowded around him, but none approached the core. This had never happened before, so he was flustered. Wondering if it might be an issue with his tone, he even tried asking politely, "Would you please break it?", but they remained unmoved.

"Now this terrible game won't even accept commands..."

–Meow.

At that moment, En, who had approached without him noticing, meowed beside him. Startled, he looked at it, and it tapped his wrist. As he blinked in confusion, it tapped four times, tap tap tap tap! The last one was so forceful that his wrist stung, and then something rattled.

Ah, there was a bracelet on his wrist.

It was the holy relic Harenir had given him before entering the Encroachment Zone, but why? He stared blankly at the bracelet and then sighed. Until now, all the cores had been broken by the holy knights' swords imbued with holy power. So, to eliminate the contaminated energy, holy power might be needed...

"I have to break it myself?"

–Nyaa.

"Just because you make cute meowing sounds doesn't mean the content becomes good."

Regardless of his bewilderment, En tapped the stones on the ground. Then it glanced at his wrist, and tapped the stones again. The meaning was conveyed, and he finally sighed and obediently followed its lead. He picked up a stone and gripped the bracelet firmly. He should trust the NPC, after all.

Clang... clang... clang...

The sound of him striking the core with the stone rang out pitifully. Having already used up all his energy climbing the cliff, he couldn't muster any strength with this paper-thin body. It was at the level of a damp wad of tissue. His hand tingled, and he really wanted to throw it away.

[Kieeek!]

"Huff, Commander...!"

But whenever he felt that way, all sorts of thunderous sounds were heard from below. The eerie cries of the Dium pouring down as if to engulf the three knights, and the sounds of them being cut down.

He didn't understand why they were so desperate. Why they got up even when battered, why they poured out their energy even while losing control and going berserk, and why they tried to fight even using the power they themselves found most horrifying...

And why 'he' kept advancing despite being so wounded.

Even knowing he was a human who would recover through God's love, strangely, the wounds caught his eye. Why was that? Was it because of the expression he had when swallowing his words while talking to the tri-horned Dium earlier?

Standing in the noblest position in the world, receiving everyone's respect, and even having loyal subordinates who believed in and followed him closest. Yet why did he sometimes wear such a worn-out expression?

While living the life he had wanted.

Though he didn't particularly want to understand, his gaze was caught. Even though he didn't want to care, his consciousness was ultimately drawn there. The anger born from this gradually added strength to his hand. He slammed down repeatedly until his entire arm ached, and finally... crack— he created a fissure in the core.

And as if they had been waiting for this moment, the undead moved en masse, pushing the surrounding rocks. As a pile of stones poured onto the cracked core, it finally shattered into pieces.

He felt indignant, thinking they could have helped earlier if this was possible, but then it occurred to him that perhaps only the first crack needed holy power. Of course, regardless of understanding, he still felt wronged. Don't give physical damage missions to this body.

He looked down, exhaling with difficulty.

"The air..."

Just then, Kalterik was looking around. As the core shattered, the air suddenly lightened, but being in such a bloody battlefield, he seemed unsure.

But Harenir, at least, looked up with certainty. It seemed he had heard the sound from above even in the midst of the chaotic uproar. As their blue eyes met exactly, he pointed to the pile of stones beside him. The pieces of the black core protruding through the gaps should convey the meaning.

And he wasn't the only one who noticed this anomaly. The priest, who had been swinging its staff to hinder the knights' advance, also raised its head abruptly. The third eye turning towards him filled him with an unsettling fear. Just as he was hoping that Harenir would finish him off, because if that bastard targeted him, death would be the only outcome.

The priest spoke in a trembling voice, as if struck by some great shock.

[You...?]

Whoosh— But the priest's words couldn't continue. Light of tremendous force spread as if swirling, and its source was the holy sword Harenir held vertically. It was the purification that began, taking advantage of the moment when the priest's attention was diverted.

Now that all the cores of the Encroachment Zone had been destroyed, purification was possible. And this time, as if intending to use not only purification but also another method, Harenir took something out from his bosom. The white sphere was Arux, the small sun they had brought from the sky island days ago.

The holy relic bestowed by God to the first emperor, the sun that the empire sought in every turbulent era. It slowly began to emit light in Harenir's hand, and then soared high into the sky. Light gradually accumulated in the sun.

The priest, belatedly realizing the scene, was shocked.

[That...! That stupid demon finally failed...!]

"Your news is slow. Ah, is it because the one to deliver the news is dead?"

Harenir answered calmly, shrugging his shoulders. By now his uniform was completely stained with blood, yet there was still no awkwardness in his movements.

[Kuk, fine. If I call enough that purification won't work...!]

The priest raised its staff high. Crack— The pitch-black crack in the sky spread wider, and the earth rumbled. Though no Dium were visible yet, the vibration alone was enough to feel how many were trying to cross over from the other side.

But even as the ground shook like that, Harenir remained calm.

"You view the sun's light too gently."

The tip of the holy sword he held upright and the sun floating in the sky were now perfectly aligned. And as the light contained in the sun became distinctly clearer, Harenir, confirming this, slowly lowered his eyes.

"Not knowing how beings exposed to light burn away."

As he muttered words that somehow sounded a little, just a little, like self-mockery.

Then, a voice reciting divine language calmly followed. As if not at all worried about the Dium pouring in like a calamity on the other side, standing at the point closest to the world's fissure, he conveyed some words to God without wavering. And at the end, once again, only the single word 'purification' pleasantly stuck in the ear.

Whoosh...

An amazing sight unfolded before his eyes. As before, pure white light gathered at the tip of his sword, but it seemed to be contained in Arux as well, and then the small sun began to spin and swish! started shooting out light like bars.

Light bars plunged into every space the light touched. The scene of hundreds of light bars flying was close to a massacre. Both the Dium that had remained here and those trying to cross over from the other side were all pierced by the light bars and died.

The number of falling bars gradually increased to match the number of enemies that needed to be annihilated, the number of unrighteous evils existing in the world. He couldn't help but marvel at the violent beams of light defeating evil. Well, the sun not only warmly illuminates the earth to sprout life but also, in extreme cases, scorches it like a desert.

There were so many beams of light pouring from the sky that it felt like it had become midday. Not only that, but as light settled on the fallen Dium, 'color' slowly began to spread in the Encroachment Zone. It was an awe-inspiring sight no matter how many times he saw it.

But for the priest, this scene seemed to come across completely differently. It trembled with rage as the kindred it had summoned all died, pierced by the sun's light beams without even a single resistance.

[T-this, this is impossible...!]

"You seemed to know a lot about the human world unnecessarily, but I guess you didn't know about this."

Harenir slowly approached the priest. Now, there was nothing left to block his path. Though the light beams pouring down like bars were ominous, Harenir walking between them remained intact. The sun's light only remained around him like a halo.