Chapter 93
The Church of Darkness didn’t have just a single vice-cult leader, but not even the high priest knew exactly how many there were.
The only vice-cult leader that Juan knew about was Evan Helvin.
—Harvest Evan Helvin.
As Juan obeyed the commands of the cult leader, he thought that the word “harvest” fit the situation very well.
The seed of darkness that had been sown hundreds of years ago...
The cult leader was the only one who could sense their ripening, and the high priest would be the one to collect.
Of course, the high priest thought that the timing of his betrayal was a bit regretful.
House Bednicker was one of the greatest enemies of the cult.
Such an important person as the high priest infiltrating enemy territory and not getting caught for so long was quite the feat.
He could have been the secret upper hand in the great war that would soon come.
—That won’t happen.
However, the cult leader had negated Juan’s expectations with a simple sentence.
—No matter how long you remain in House Bednicker, they will not truly accept you as one of their own.
—Cult leader, please enlighten me.
—The position of grand master may well be a trap that Bednicker has dug for us.
Juan couldn’t refute those words.
The Lord of Blood and Iron he had seen was the type to do that and even more.
Within the continent, the Lord of Blood and Iron was the only person who treated the cult not as enemies but as prey
After that discussion, Juan had let go of his desire and decided to turn the training camp into the stage for the birth of the vice-cult leader.
And when he’d seen Evan Helvin at the training camp...
Juan hadn’t been able to hold back his rage.
Evan Helvin’s level had been too pitiful.
Is this real?
Was this person really the heir of their cult leader?
Despite knowing that the identity Evan was presenting was false, Juan had been unable to be anything but disappointed.
However, nothing had enraged Juan as much as Evan’s swordsmanship.
The secret art of House Helvin: Raven.
It was a complete mess.
It was embarrassing to even call it a sword art.
Of course, Juan knew that his true identity was a high priest of the cult, but he’d felt the same way as the Instructor of Martial Arts.
He had confidence and pride in the study of martial arts, and in his role as the Instructor of Martial Arts, he hadn’t just been able to let Evan continue on that path.
Juan had felt that the vice-cult leader he had respected had become tainted, and he’d forgotten his position as high priest and urged Evan to change even though he’d known that after Evan was reborn, he wouldn’t be using swordsmanship like that.
“...”
Juan looked down upon the forest.
As expected of the Instructor of Doctrine, Juniang was persistent.
She was showing clearly why the heretic inquisitors were a thorn in the cult’s side.
The others who remained were Sellen Goodspring, who was gathering strength with her eyes closed, and—
...Luan Bednicker?
That was outside of his expectations.
If he’d had to guess the identity of the last remaining young heroes, he’d expected it to be either Charon or Hector.
Of course, talent wasn’t directly connected to survival.
Surviving in a situation like this was half luck.
If an excellent young hero had been with him from the beginning, then Luan still being alive would’ve been understandable.
The fact that Luan was fighting against dozens of demons on his lonesome was beyond Juan’s expectations.
—I am paying attention to Luan Bednicker.
—Remember this. As a great warrior of the plains, I do not lie in my assessments.
The words of the dead Instructor of the Hunt rang in his mind.
Did I miss something?
Juan hadn’t thought deeply about the young hero Luan.
Of course, he had at least known that Luan wasn’t as big of a troublemaker as the rumors suggested.
Even though that was the case, the average level of the young heroes who had gathered in the training camp this time was too high.
If Juan had been forced to pick the three young heroes he most needed to be wary of, it would have been Charon, Hector, and Sellen.
The other young heroes were too green for him to consider them enemies.
But he’d now changed his mind about Luan.
Luan Bednicker didn’t collapse.
At some point, Luan began to fight at the level of and then above Juniang.
He didn’t just use his fists. At some point, he began using a sword as well, and a rough sword style began to take shape.
Around the time when Luan’s form began to match the movements of the Lord of Blood and Iron...
“...”
Juan decided to stop observing.
He thought that the despair of the ones still alive would be of great help for the vice-cult leader’s birth and to the god of disaster.
That was the reason he had remained still even while knowing that Sellen was up to something.
However, these three people here—two, to be precise since Sellen hadn’t joined the battle yet—couldn’t be killed by the demons present.
That was expressly not within his calculations, and there couldn’t be even a single error during the summoning ritual.
Once Juan had made his decision, he aimed at Luan...
Splat.
And personally used his authority to cut off Luan’s right arm.
I intended to kill him...
Still, as a martial artist himself, he knew just how important an arm was.
The shaky balance crumbled, and Luan’s body was soon smothered by the demons.
Juan heard the sound of crushing meat and bones as he turned his attention to the next target.
Sellen Goodspring.
A mere young hero wouldn’t be able to turn the situation in her favor with just a blessing, but it would be foolish of him to completely ignore someone of Goodspring blood.
I need to avoid using my authority as much as possible...
But it was better to be sure now than sorry later.
Shwoo...
Dark energy was emitted from Juan’s body and flew directly toward Sellen’s unprotected body.
Bang!
Sellen flew away like a doll with its strings cut as she slammed into a tree, unmoving.
However, Juan could sense that Sellen was still alive.
One more, a little stronger—
“High priest—!”
The loud bellowing cry made Juan stop for a moment.
Surprised, he turned his head toward the source of the sound.
Luan Bednicker was glaring up at him with fire in his eyes.
Had Luan been hit in the forehead?
His face was completely drenched with blood and the stump of his right arm was still dripping, but even in that state, Luan was grabbing and ripping demons apart, and he was doing all that while still glaring at Juan.
“Were you calculating who to get rid of first? Is the blood of Goodspring or the exhausted heretic inquisitor the greatest danger to you?”
Luan smirked as he roared, “Look closely! Who here on this battlefield is the greatest threat to you?”
* * * * *
* * * * *
Juan felt goosebumps travel all up his arm.
The blood of Bednicker.
The Lord of Blood and Iron.
Juan couldn’t even remember how many times he had been suppressed by that man’s aura alone.
It wasn’t unheard of for cultists who saw the Lord of Blood and Iron on the battlefield to become useless.
At the very least, they couldn’t be sent to work on any operation related to House Bednicker.
Cruelty wasn’t enough to describe what they experienced. They felt fear that could dull even their faith in the cult.
High Priest Juan knew that well.
Considering the original meaning of “hunter,” the only person within The Empire who was worthy of being called “Demon Hunter” was the Lord of Blood and Iron.
Luan was obviously provoking him right now.
The boy was scheming to draw his attention away to save those who were still alive.
Juan understood.
He understood that...
I’ll respond.
Juan readily took the bait.
If he couldn’t stomp on this sapling today, Luan Bednicker would definitely become a great enemy of the cult in the future.
Tap.
Juan landed on the ground. It was one of the greatest secrets of the cult, but a high priest wasn’t able to use most of his strength during a ritual. Only about thirty percent was available to him.
But that was enough.
Shwoo...!
Juan focused the authority in his hand, and the darkness coalesced into a spear.
Maybe he was overdoing it a little, but Juan swallowed back the blood that had gushed up from within his body.
Bzzt.
The black spear sparked with black lightning, but Luan was still smiling.
Stab...!
Suddenly, Juan saw a blade had pierced his body.
The blood he had barely held back flooded out of his mouth.
“Cough...!”
Juan forced himself to turn his head.
He saw a knight standing there with a bloodied helmet.
However, the face beneath the helmet was a face he had never seen before, at least in this training camp.
That man...
“Rook... Bednicker...”
“...An underhanded ambush like this will leave a mark upon my honor as a knight,” Rook said with a calm face, “but it doesn’t matter if it means I can kill a high priest.”
***
I hadn’t noticed Rook Bednicker’s existence at all.
He had hidden himself so well that I hadn’t detected him even in my White Flame state. At this point, I felt that he was more like an assassin than a knight.
I’d first heard Rook’s voice after my arm was cut off.
[Do you need my help?]
It probably wasn’t magic. Was it a blessing?
[Don’t make it obvious, just respond with a nod. Do you need my help?]
“...”
[If you can hold out for a little longer, I can kill the high priest. But not yet. At best, it’ll only work half the time.]
“Half” at best.
Our target was still up in the night sky.
No matter how well he could hide his presence, he would have no choice but to reveal himself if he were to climb up into the empty sky.
I shook my head.
Rook’s reply was short.
[...I see. Don’t die.]
I shouted on purpose to drag Juan’s attention toward me.
Finally, when Juan’s attention was on me and he landed on the ground...
Rook’s sword pierced the high priest’s heart.
The moment Juan’s eyes went wide, a black form appeared from behind him to slam Rook’s body away.
Rook drew back the sword to defend himself, but he wasn’t able to absorb all the shock and ended up being flung away.
Is that the demon lord’s retribution?
To be honest, that was too fast for me to respond to in my current state.
Even if I noticed it with my eyes, I would die before my body could react.
“Kugh...”
Juan held a hand over his heart in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but he was trying to hold back a dam with his bare hands.
Rook rose from the broken trees and debris.
“So the demon lord can only intervene when you’re aware of the target.”
Blood was trailing down his forehead, but he had a satisfied smile on his face.
“If you’re a demon, piercing your heart won’t be enough to kill you, but you probably aren’t. If you were that corrupted, you wouldn’t have been able to step foot upon the land of Bednicker.”
“...”
“Your ritual is over, high priest. Your demon lord will not descend here.”
Having stood there with a blank expression on his face, Juan fell to his knees.
A quiet laughter echoed out from him.
Had he gone mad from the despair?
That would have been nice...
But things never went right in situations like this.
“???? ???????? ???? ????? ??????...”
A chill went down my spine as I heard words I had never heard before.
The bloodied high priest looked to the sky and shouted.
“Disaster God of Despair, Lord Ahop!”
Rook and I realized that Juan had begun to recite an incantation and ran toward him, but...
Damn it.
He was too far.
“Descend upon this land!”
The world fell into darkness.
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