The Floating, Chained Corpse

Floating in the sky is a corpse that had thick chains enveloping its arms. The chains, which were filled with dark mana, disappeared in the purple sky as it extended above and beyond the cloudless mantle of concentrated malice.

Below the saint was the Undead, swarming the statue of the goddess like flies and maggots attracted to a rotten corpse.

"This can't be," Lumi uttered. "The Depths… it's beginning to be unsealed,"

Siegren glanced at the priestess who sauntered forward; her eyes were still glued onto the sky.

If what she's saying is true, then the Depths—the artificial space where a thousand monsters are indefinitely imprisoned—could release nothing but chaos to the northern continent.

Grey eyes glanced sideways.

It's not like it mattered to him, though.

"If the depths are unsealed, the saint's efforts will be all for nothing," Lumi exclaimed. "The saint…"

------

The saint was floating atop Aclaria, which can be seen by the king who was left behind the castle. As the large doors leading to the great hall opened, he saw his retainers who waited for his command.

"Your majesty," one of the aides spoke, "it seems that reinforcement from the other kingdoms would be impossible."

"Why is that!? Can't they see how dire the situation is!?"

"It's not like that, Your majesty,"

A pause.

"The whole northern continent is experiencing the same thing."

"What?"

"There is malevolence surrounding the entire north, Your Majesty. It's not just us… even Hescurg and Estela."

"And… the kingdoms are hesitant even to send reinforcement because the source of the malevolent power is coming from our kingdom."

With the two kingdoms busy defending their own, there would be no possible chance of reinforcement being sent.

"Call upon the four guilds of this kingdom." The king said. "This is a decree. All adventurers, mages, and clerics are required to defend this country!"

**

Monsters rising from the depths, with black holes opening from the sky releasing wraiths, infernopests, gravesnares, and morphed mutants all descended towards the northern realm.

Inside the celestial tower of the Estelan kingdom was a woman whose face was covered in a black veil. She was wearing a grey dress with embroidered red patterns of lace around her voluptuous breast.

"Archmage, we have secured the barrier to surround Estela. But the malevolent force is too thick to keep the barrier from being destroyed."

"Hmm…" The woman on a black veil walked towards the balcony of the celestial tower. "I don't think there is enough divine power to clear this mist, hm?"

"Yes, Archmage. The malevolence has already spread in the entirety of the northern realm," said the sorcerers.

"Hm…"

"What are your orders, Archmage?"

"Let's see," the Archmage then tilted her head, with her index finger touching the corner of her lips. "I don't want the Supreme Mage to think about gaining a chance of getting my seat if ever I sustain damage… so… hmm…"

"Archmage…?"

Red eyes gleamed as a sweet smile from the luscious lips of the Archmage appeared.

"Then we have no choice but to watch where this is going first, right?"

"H-huh? But the king…"

"Can piss off," the Archmage said with the sweetest voice possible. "I have no time in fixing all of his mistakes, you know~ besides, I'll intervene if ever it gets too messy. Just defend the country well~ you can do it~"

**

Meanwhile, in Hescurg…

"The king of Hescurg has ordered the guilds of this kingdom to defend the country," said one of the fraternal agins to a person who has closed his book, then looked at the window of his mansion as he peered at the view above.

"I see." The person's long, silver locks then fell to his Elven ear. "It's such a shame that I cannot defend this country."

--

The entirety of the northern realm was overshadowed by the growing mantle of malevolent power. While clerics and sorcerers try to ease the concentrated power and generate barriers to their own kingdoms—the adventurers, guards, and templars ward off the monsters that appear to plague the land.

On the other hand, a number of mages are helping the citizens evacuate through portals that lead to the outskirts of the north. Portals appeared at the border of the northern realm to the west.

From the border, it can be seen that the mantle has already shrouded the entire domain encompassing the northern mainland.

A child who had just come out of the portal glanced at the view above the purple mantle in the sky—

"Dad, what's that?" He pointed.

The father of the boy, along with other citizens, glanced at the growing purple and black hues emanating from the corpse floating above the sky with its thick chains even growing darker with black mana as it extends through the arms of the corpse.

What the citizens could do right now—

Is to pray for the mercy of the Goddess.

**

Lumi then turned around to face Siegren who has slashed the infernopests and gravesnares that crawled to approach them. The monsters that have accumulated onto the statue finally noticed the two.

"If all those thousands of monsters become unsealed, it will be difficult for you to get the numen," Lumi said as she shot divine power to the infernopest who jumped towards them.

Siegren's grey eyes darted to the black holes opening into the sky. Their increasing numbers indicate that the saintess' seal was growing weaker by the second, as more monsters drift out of the gaps.

The two then stood side by side, killing the monsters who dared to attack.

Now, the question is—how will he be able to climb up there to get the numen?

Siegren blinked as he realized divine power coming from the distance. As he propelled his claymore forward, he continuously gave lightning strikes to the infernopests and wraiths who charged in hoards.

"Lumi," he said as he gives a final slash. "Hide."

He then untied the band around his cloak and wrapped it swiftly to Lumi before slashing yet another monster.

His grey eyes darted to her, who was now shawled.

"I'll get the numen," he said, meeting her gaze. "And I don't want you to get in my way."