Chapter 60: Fluttering Ashes (6)

A pillar on a building crumbled.

"Aaaaaah–!"

"R, run- ahhhh, aaaaak!"

People who were in the home rushed outside.

However, they had to run again after getting outside.

"Move, I said move!"

"Ugh, that, what is that?!"

The people in the garden, the people on the streets…

No, everybody in the nearby area was running away.

A person who looked back gasped in fear.

"E, eeek, eeeeeek!"

It was black.

The black hill was slowly approaching him.

'What is going on?!'

This area was where the homes of the nobles were gathered together. In fact, this area was known as the best area in the capital as it was close to both the Huayans' Estate and the Imperial Palace.

"Why, why-?"

However, this place had now turned into hell.

He and the staff of the building had gathered inside as things looked serious after they heard explosions from the capital plaza.

The people in his house were not the only ones who did that.

Everybody in this area was inside a house right now if possible.

The nobles' homes had strong black magic barriers, so it would be safest inside the buildings if something happened in the capital.

Furthermore, they also thought that it was extremely unlikely that the noble neighborhood, especially the one near the Imperial Palace, would be attacked.

Of course, he had wondered what he should do after he saw the fire shooting up from the Imperial Palace.

"So, why all of a sudden-?!"

'Why did things suddenly happen here?!'

This noble area around the Imperial Palace would usually be a quiet area.

However, some people had headed this way after the explosions in the central plaza.

Based on the observation of the people who work here, they were dressed like people who would not normally be in this area.

That was why he grabbed one of those people and asked what had happened.

"What happened?!"

"There is a battle going on! The entire plaza is being destroyed!"

The people who were gathered in the plaza escaped to different parts of the capital to get away from the battle.

"A battle?"

"Yes! Ha, this is driving me nuts! The Imperial Palace and the House of Huayans- haaa, seriously."

"What do you mean by that?"

It was at that moment.

Crack, crack!

He heard something breaking.

That made some people scowl as they shouted.

"I knew I shouldn't have moved near the Huayans!"

"We should have moved in the opposite direction!"

However, those shouts soon turned to screams.

"W, what is that?"

"…This is crazy, this is fucking crazy!"

And people were running away now.

Crack, crack!

That black thing that shot up from the Huayans' Estate…

It had been the size of a house at first. However, it instantly grew to the size of a hill and started to move.

It had been moving toward the Imperial Palace at first, but it had changed directions.

"Huff, huff! Eeeek!"

The person running away had cold sweat on his back.

It was because it had become dark.

To be more specific, a shadow had appeared above his head and his body was imprisoned inside the shadow.

He was shaking as he turned to look behind him.

"…Ah."

The black hill…

That thing was closer now.

"…Oo…ahhhhhh...."

The black hill that he could see better now was not a hill.

There were countless numbers of black eyes on the black body. Those eyes were looking in all directions without stopping.

"Eek!"

One of those eyes looked directly at him.

'…Ah-'

He couldn't say anything and his mind went blank.

All his eyes could see was the black hill and the path it had moved across. He could only see the ground where everything had turned black.

The area that this thing passed by had become polluted.

He only had one thought on his mind.

'W, will I also- Will I also end up like that?'

"Please move!"

It was at that moment.

"Ugh!"

Someone pulled him back.

"W, who?"

A person wearing a red outfit pulled him back and passed him off to someone else.

"Move him!"

"Okay, okay, don't give me orders like that!"

A person who looked like a mercenary urgently picked him up and moved back. He could finally look around.

There were mercenaries and people wearing priest robes he had never seen before all around the area evacuating people.

"Bishop Durst-nim!"

"Yeah?!"

There was also someone approaching the monster.

"Fire! Please give me the power to defeat the darkness!"

The people around the old man shouted the same thing as well.

Oooooong– oooooong–

A red aura appeared around them.

It was at that moment.

The eyes of the black hill that had been looking in all directions, well, at least all of the eyes on this side of this large hill, the hundreds of pairs of eyes turned to look at them.

"First line, shield! Second line, attack!"

Priest Durst gave the order before pulling out his greatsword and heading toward the black hill.

A red aura surrounded his sword as well.

Chhhhhhhhhhhh-!

The sword with the red aura sliced the black hill.

'Shit.'

Durst was stoic, but he was swearing internally.

'…The attack didn't do much.'

The Fire of Purification. Although he couldn't utilize its true nature, Bishop Durst was the person who could use most of its power after the Pope.

He had swung the sword with all of his strength.

'It was barely this much?!'

Only an injury that was about one meter deep was left on the monster's body.

But that was it.

His sword did not do much damage to this hill-like monster that was quickly turning into a mountain.

"Don't stop the attacks!"

However, Durst raised his voice and continued the attack.

"It does not heal! Continue to attack!"

The injury was not deep.

However, it did not heal.

The Fire of Purification. The power was clearly leaving injuries on this monster.

"Other attacks do not work! Remember that your attacks need the power of the Fire of Purification!"

The moment Durst looked around to shout…

"Bishop-nim! Watch out!"

He heard the voice of the priest right behind him. That made Durst look forward toward the monster again.

"…Oh no."

The injured area…

Black smoke was coming out of it.

It was dreadful.

This was clearly dead mana, but he could feel a poison that went beyond the level of dead mana.

Durst lamented while looking at the black smoke.

'We made a mistake.'

After seeing the Hunters running away to the Huayans Estate, they decided to gather them there to take them down.

They thought that they should gather the enemies and use their numbers advantage to take them down as the enemies had strong individuals such as a sword master.

'It was an error in judgment.'

They had made the wrong choice.

They should have kept the enemies at the plaza even if that would have resulted in some innocent people getting hurt.

'…For them to kill their own…'

The enemies suddenly killed the staff, soldiers, knights, and others in the Huayans' Estate as soon as they arrived.

'Let's make a new offering of karma!'

That was what they shouted as they killed their own people before this black thing shot up from the basement of the building.

This thing then started to swallow everything.

"Bishop! What are you doing?!"

"Ah."

Durst snapped out of his thoughts after hearing a voice that sounded extremely serious as if to scold him.

"Pope-nim!"

"Please move!"

The Pope moved past the bishop and reached out her hands. Her priest robe fluttered.

The area around her was full of a red aura.

It wasn't as strong as Cale's but it was enough for people around her to blank out and stare.

"Fire, rise!"

Her hand touched the ground and just as she shouted…

A thin red wall shot up from the ground.

The black smoke crashed into the red wall.

Chhhhhhhhh-

There was the sound of burning and the black smoke was unable to push past the wall.

Creak. Creak.

A portion of the thousands, or hundreds of thousands of eyes looked at the red wall before looking in a different direction.

"Huff. Huff."

"Are you okay, Pope-nim?"

The bishop urgently supported the Pope. Her face was drenched in sweat.

"Bishop. That monster is moving to where it senses life! It must have changed directions from the Imperial Palace because it wanted to head toward the area with the largest number of people!"

This black monster took a step back and hesitated once the power of the Fire of Purification was used.

The bishops were currently surrounding the monster, using the power of the Fire of Purification with the priests behind them to do their best to stop the monster's movement.

However, it was not easy.

"We must hold on."

The black eyes looked back toward her the moment she said that.

The large body then started moving.

Chhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-

The black hill touched the red wall. Smoke appeared and something sounded as if it was boiling, but the hill continued to move.

It was as if it was going to destroy the red wall no matter what it took.

"Shit!"

The Pope swore before reaching her hands out again.

The red aura coming out of her hands headed toward the red wall that looked as if it would break.

"Help the Pope-nim!"

The bishops and priests rushed over to her side to add their powers as well.

One of the priests asked at that moment.

His voice sounded desperate.

"When will the Purifier-nim come?!"

Craaaaaaack–!

The red wall was starting to crack.

"Fuck!"

The Pope scowled.

The monster had hesitated in front of the power of purification, but it seemed to have made up its mind to destroy it regardless of the cost.

In comparison to this black monster, this power of purification was lacking.

Craaaaaaack–

The moment the cracking wall…

Baaaaang—!

Finally broke…

"We cannot retreat!"

The Pope shouted.

"We cannot retreat any farther back!"

Although they had not managed to stop this monster that almost instantly grew so large, they had to stop it now.

There were a lot of people if it traveled a bit more in this direction.

They had opened the city gates and were having people rush out, but there had not been enough time yet.

Shhhhhhhhhh—

Black smoke started rising from the black body at that moment.

The Pope's eyes opened wide.

'…Shit.'

The hundreds of thousands of eyes… The black smoke rising from all of them…

This black smoke reminded her of the area outside this land.

The polluted area. It made her think of the dead mana fog that she would see in the extremely polluted areas.

If that thing was carried by the wind and spread around-

People would end up dying.

"Ah."

The Pope looked at something at that moment.

The large hill…

There was a black Dragon charging toward this hill.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The black Dragon threw its whole body to stop the large hill.

No, it was trying to push it.

It was trying to prevent it from going toward the people.

"Ah."

However, the black hill hugged the black Dragon made of bones.

It grabbed this black Dragon that was extremely large.

It looked as if it wanted to swallow it whole.

Boom, boom! Boom!

The black Dragon moved to resist.

The parts of the black hill that touched the black Dragon turned into some bizarre jelly-like substance to swallow it.

"…Ah."

'The necromancer is here.'

The Pope's eyes lost their strength as she had that thought.

It was because the black Dragon was no longer moving.

It remained still as it met the approaching black hill as if it had lost its strength.

'Shit-'

As the people watching were about to get dejected…

"Ah!"

The Pope saw something.

The hundreds of thousands of black eyes that had been releasing black smoke…

Those eyes withdrew the smoke.

They then started moving.

They all looked in a single direction.

Whether it was swallowing the black Dragon or destroying the red wall…

The black hill stopped doing everything.

The Pope instantly realized what had happened after seeing this.

"He's here!"

Her eyes moved to look in the same direction as the monster.

A person surrounded by rose gold light was approaching.

The Purifier.

The moment she realized that the esteemed Purifier was here…

Rumble—!

She heard a short roar from the sky.

The Pope raised her head after feeling her entire body tense.

She looked up at the sky.

This immense power…

The moment she felt this destructive force…

Baaaaaang—!

A single strand of red thunderbolt struck the black hill.

Everybody saw red.

Screeeeeeeech—!

They heard the black thing screeching for the first time.

The red light soon disappeared.

The Pope could see the black hill that was curled up with something that resembled a shield surrounding it.

The black hill looked pretty fine.

However, there was a smile on the Pope's face.

She had chills all over her body.

"Pope-nim-"

The priests called out to the Pope in shaking voices. Bishop Durst had his hands clasped together next to her.

"Pope-nim."

He called out to her as well, but the Pope was certain.

She knew that none of them were looking at her right now.

She knew that the priests, the Agents of Destruction, and the citizens of the Empire would all be looking at what she was looking at right now.

The Pope had faith.

Rumble—

The Pope looked up at the sky.

The sky was getting covered with grey clouds.

She could see rose gold light through the clouds.

"…It is starting."

The Pope barely managed to look away.

Her eyes looked at the Purifier who was standing on the roof of a building nearby that had not been destroyed.

They were looking at Cale Henituse.

– Human, those eyes are disgusting!

Cale ignored Raon's comment.

The hundreds of thousands of eyes were all looking at Cale.

– Human, don't smile like that! Actually, do smile like that!

Raon changed his decision before cautiously asking.

– Hey human, but will you really not cough up blood or faint?

Raon, who had chuckled because he did not believe Cale earlier, cautiously asked again.

"Pfft."

Cale chuckled.

– Human, don't laugh like that and answe-

"Yeah."

Cale felt the rose gold current in his hand as he responded.

"I won't cough up blood. I won't faint."

At that moment, Cale's hand moved from the sky to the ground. It sliced down from top to bottom.

Rumble—!

The sky stopped crying.

Rose gold lights pierced through the ash-colored clouds and revealed themselves.

They did not move quickly.

They did not strike down instantly like thunderbolts.

The rose gold lights that started appearing one by one gathered together into a pillar of light before descending.

It looked as if the aurora had turned into a single pillar as it descended to the ground.

It was beautiful.

It was truly beautiful.

However, nobody reached their hands toward that light.

Their instincts were telling them that as beautiful as this was, it was extremely scary.

—

Translator's Comments

Scary and beautiful like a woman scorned.