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217. Beggar Siblings – The Union of Divine Sword

– Slurp

Oriax lowered his head. Leo stared in a daze at the creature, who was dropping maggots and licking the blood spread across the banquet hall floor.

A terrifying body and malicious aura. It was impossible to look away. The creature’s back was tall enough to nearly touch the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Its massive form obscured the staircase behind it, and its head weighed as much as ten adult men, leaving everyone in the banquet hall frozen with fear.

‘H-how…?’

This doesn’t make any sense.

The barrier dividing the divine and its creations should not be so easily crossed. No matter how much Prince Eric had sacrificed his life… even if he had stolen the life that should have been mine, he could not have descended so brazenly like this. Leo felt a sense of defeat as his limbs went limp.

However… what’s done is done.

Leo took a deep breath, his heart pounding, and lifted the sword he had seized from Reb, raising it high!

The bloody banquet hall, the horrid Oriax, and in stark contrast, the brilliant Oblivion Blade. All eyes turned to the prince who had regained consciousness. Leo shouted, infusing light and hope into everyone present.

“My subjects! Raise your weapons and chins—fight!”

[ Achievement: Master-Servant Relationship.2v – ‘299’, Those who have sworn loyalty will never betray Leo. ]

Without needing to mention the Master-Servant Achievement, cheers erupted.

The strongest human in the continent, the Swordmaster. The prince manifesting their symbol was as shocking and dramatic as the existence of Oriax itself. Ignorant soldiers, knights, holy knights, and even solemn priests unleashed roaring shouts.

With the morale boosted, Leo commanded the soldiers to take on the monstrous creature head-on.

Holy knights formed a front line as shields, while the knights, eager to be swords, engaged the creature. The priests at the rear bestowed blessings upon the knights, and radiant light filled the now bloody banquet hall.

The brightness peaked as Cardinal Berg resumed the sword dance. The form of the immense god wielding sword and shield bestowed warm grace upon the warriors battling the ugly deity.

– Mooooooaarrrrr!!!

Oriax wasn’t staying quiet either.

The creature, having licked up most of the blood pooled on the floor, howled. If the humans’ cries evoked a sense of uplift, its wailing brought a wave of despair crashing down.

Boom! As it thrust its front foot down, maggots cascaded to the ground. A crimson wave spread in all directions, and we braced ourselves for the creature’s charge…

= Rot Thiab tuag!!

“Uaaahhh!”

The soldiers screamed.

In the long banquet hall, the screams primarily came from the back where the wounded were. Some knights in formation fell painfully, struggling to breathe.

The wounds burned.

No, they were rotting.

Maggots squirmed from the injuries of the injured. Scarlet blood discolored as mold began to cover the wounds, and the rotten parts rapidly spread. Even the unharmed felt a sharp sting and rubbed their reddening eyes in disbelief.

= Kuv yuav yog ib tug!!

A black line enveloped the air. The enormous form of Oriax shot out hundreds of lines from its filthy body, binding every human in the banquet hall—soldiers, knights, priests, holy knights alike. The intent was soon revealed.

“Th-they’re flying!”

Corpses soared into the air. It was an unreal sight. People who had died fighting the monster floated up, drawn into Oriax, becoming a part of the creature, as though this was the natural order of things. Equally.

– Gulp.

If I die, I’ll become like that too.

The sound of people swallowing their dry saliva echoed louder than ever. Realizing morale was plummeting, Leo shouted, “Charge!” but found his feet unwilling to move.

[ Achievement: Master-Servant Relationship.2v – ‘299’, Those who have sworn loyalty will never betray Leo. ]

Still, the knights bravely advanced.

They stabbed at Oriax, the massive creature showing a power inappropriate for its sworn loyalty. However,

– Crash!

The beast didn’t even flinch when struck, and blood gushed forth. The knight, drenched in rotten blood, lost all dignity and fell.

“Gaaagh!”

Flesh was melting away. Moreover, the melted wounds rotted quickly, resulting in the knight losing his life in an instant. The deceased knight floated up, becoming part of the leg that had been pierced by Oriax.

Despairing.

How was a mere human supposed to face such a monster? As the rotting blood-filled eyes of Oriax looked down arrogantly upon the knights and holy knights, despair turned to a slight feeling of reverence.

“Everyone, get back!”

“Lord Lachar!”

Leo jumped forth. The fourth avatar of the divine, Lachar’s sword split Oriax’s shoulder, while Leo, wielding the Oblivion Blade, struck at its heart.

– Slash!

Blood erupted from Oriax’s chest, but the warning allowed the knights to dodge. Blood did not come from the shoulder that Lachar’s sword sliced through.

“Cut and dodge! Avoiding a drop of blood is something any proper knight should be able to do! Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Then—everyone, charge!!”

Inspired by the prince’s lead, the knights charged forward, filled with courage. The holy knights raised their shields in awe of Lachar, the deity they prayed to daily, bravely blocking the torrents of blood. The priests murmured, earnestly chanting divine verses as the emblem of the Cross Church was inscribed white upon the air and the ground.

Oriax found itself on the defensive.

With three hundred knights alone, supplemented by several dozen holy knights and priests, it began to bleed profusely. It stomped its legs down heavily! The knights attending Akinin were lightly armored, making it hard for them to be trampled.

= Ruam thiab rhuav tshem!!

Oriax, blood boiling in its eyes, identified its target. Before charging at the most threatening opponent, it swung its heavy body forward, burdened with a slew of curses.

“Ugh!”

“Dodge!”

There was no way to stop such a massive creature.

The knights split to the left and right, evading the charge of Oriax, which crashed into Lachar. Seventeen horns smashed against his splendid shield.

“Guh!”

Could the divine shield really break? However, it was Cardinal Berg who had summoned the deity.

The cardinal, caught in the sword dance, spat blood. He had been confident in the amount of divine power he possessed, yet it proved vastly insufficient to endure the clash between god and monstrous creation. Lachar faded away silently.

– Moooorrrrr!

“Keep attacking!”

From that point on, it was a bloodbath.

As the knights began to read the creature’s movements, it seemed the situation was improving, but Oriax was cunning.

Deliberately pouring blood and splattering it everywhere, it occasionally used the spell Rov qab los!! that Eric had cast to hurl the knights caught in its blood away. If they couldn’t quickly reposition themselves, they would be crushed to a pulp under its hooves. Leo’s strikes also seemed to have little significant effect on such a massive form.

However, it was undoubtedly growing weaker. The decisive evidence was…

– Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Oriax devoured one of Eric’s summoned creatures, a Minotaur, revealing its waning divine power.

“That creature is tiring!”

It was strange for such abundant divine power to exist. Divine beings always suffered from a lack of divine energy. In a past encounter with Leo’s childhood friend, Barbatos had commandeered Reb’s body.

So how much divine power did Oriax possess? That depended on how much nourishment Eric had offered over the last ten years and how frugally he had spent it.

The efficiency varied wildly depending on the apostle (though the highest efficiency was barely within a third decimal place, at best the second). So it was challenging to calculate.

However, it was likely that the divine energy accumulated over those years was nearly spent when Eric first summoned the monsters, as he had summoned roughly the same number both then and now.

Then where did the divine energy that allowed the summoning of Oriax and this fight come from? Leo concluded that Eric had stolen his efficiency and sacrificed his life.

How that was possible remained a mystery. But without that, it was an inconceivable amount of power.

Still, could a single human life be strong enough to warrant such force? This question lingered in his mind until the information from {The History of the Divine} presented the answer.

Divine beings received anything of value—anything precious filled with the emotions of the creation. The more precious and emotional it was, the greater its worth, and nearly nothing was more precious to a creature than its own life. Eric had sacrificed his life to amplify the efficiency.

Knights, clinging to the legs of the creature and delivering strikes, boldly penetrated the skin and made their marks on Oriax’s abdomen. The four legs of Oriax were turning into ragged pieces, revealing black bones beneath.

Additionally, the priests, generously showering blessings and divine obstacles, filled the air. Leo had observed that receiving a blessing drained divine energy. That was during the time he was served by the Apostle of Barbatos.

If it continued like this, the beast would surely fall.

But when Oriax devoured its followers, it gained strength and began to wreak havoc.

The knights were growing weary, and the divine energy poured by the priests was running low, so it was too soon to relax. An opponent who could recover from wounds by absorbing the dead and fill their divine power through killing would easily have us all become part of it if we let down our guard.

Oriax seemed to have abandoned its pride, focusing less on the formidable knights and directing its attention to the slower-moving priests and relatively weaker soldiers, causing Leo’s heart to race in desperation.

It seemed best to strike a decisive blow and end the fight early. Needless to say.

Where could its weakness be? After stepping back for a moment to observe Oriax, Leo noticed something strange.

At the back of its neck…

‘Why is my sword stuck there?’

The sword it was holding was Reb’s. An equipped item. Whether viewed from the front or turned upside down, it looked exactly the same—it had slipped his mind entirely that he had just embedded his own sword into Eric’s chest before Oriax had summoned and lost it.

It was lodged in the neck. Upon closer inspection, he realized there was…

The corpse of Prince Eric lying there. Nodding up and down as Oriax moved.

It could be coincidence, but Leo made up his mind. He finally shouted to Reb, now fighting alongside the knights, “Here! Catch!” tossing him the sword while scrambling up the wall where golden and silver ornaments and candles were ablaze.

However, Oriax did not come quickly to the point Leo desired, so he found himself climbing up and down the wall, the pillars, and the stairs repeatedly.

Now, I must throw myself onto that corpse.

With Oriax below, Leo swallowed hard. As the knights were dying trying to protect the priests, Leo kicked the wall and leaped down. Whoosh—momentarily floating, he buried himself in Oriax’s back.

Bleh.

Thank goodness he didn’t have any wounds on his back. If the creature’s blood had gotten onto him, he might have melted away entirely.

Thinking positively, Leo held his breath.

Grabbing the half-rotted, naked woman’s shoulder, he took a step. Grabbing the unknown creature’s tail, he took two steps. As Oriax stumbled while charging, he barely managed to hold onto the body of a child, crawling a little further.

After a nearly impossible struggle, Leo finally reached its neck.

Beneath were Prince Eric’s lower body and the sword embedded in his chest. Leo realized this was not particularly a weak point or anything significant.

What the hell. My life has always been like this.

Leo stood up, gripping the hilt. He tried to pull it out with all his strength,

= 늦었 lig lawm. Kuv 오길 tos koj 기다리고 ntev ntev.

The lifeless eyes of Prince Eric suddenly opened wide. With his blood-red gaze fixed on Leo, he smiled.

Leo was shocked to the core. However, when Eric gripped Leo’s arm, blood gushed up from where he had fallen, leaving Leo aghast, holding the hilt and running.

The sword was firmly lodged, leaving him dangling upside down, faced with the choice of being crushed to death or melting away in the blood.

“Damn it!”

Of course, he would decline either option.

Leo raised the Oblivion Blade he held. At that moment, an ominous message filled his vision.

[ Achievement: Monster Hunt – ‘2’, A faint trace of mana lingers in your body. ]

The counter for the monster hunt achievement dropped. Thud, thud, thud, as he cleaved Oriax’s neck, the mana residing in his body was rapidly depleting. The Oblivion Blade didn’t come endlessly, and the stage of Swordmaster was, in fact,

Union of Body and Sword.

It was a level where the sword and body became one.

The Oblivion Blade was merely the mana accumulated in Leo’s body igniting and expanding into a sword he now identified as part of himself.

[ Achievement: Monster Hunt – ‘1’, A faint trace of mana lingers in your body. ]

Regardless, Leo plummeted, half severing Oriax’s neck and rolling to avoid the impending cascade of blood. However, Oriax’s enormous hoof landed squarely on him.

Is this… it?

Still, Lena would surely become a princess without me. Just as he began to come to terms with death,

– PUNCH!

The deity Lachar struck downward.

Cardinal Berg had poured his remaining divine power, and the faintly conjured Lachar without sword or shield struck Oriax’s head.

Oriax’s neck, which had been partially severed by Leo’s blade, couldn’t withstand that blow. As Oriax’s head thudded to the floor, cheers erupted, but Leo found himself in darkness.

Blood sprayed from Oriax’s severed neck.

‘Blood, I must avoid… I can’t die in such a disgraceful manner…’

Just as he prepared to kick the ground again, Leo found his feet frozen in place. The severed head of Oriax, its blood-filled eyes staring at him.

[ Debuff: Oriax’s Footsteps – Provocation, Escape impossible. 11 years 11 months 11 days 11 hours 11 minutes 11 seconds. Fixed. ]

Did it sense that I would reverse time, or did it merely hint that it would come after me as a priority? It seemed to smirk slightly. Rather, Oriax’s blood was now ready to engulf Leo.

Leo cursed his frozen feet and closed his eyes. But when he felt no sensation, he opened his eyes to find Reb standing before him, covered in Oriax’s blood, melting away.

“Reb!”

“You… lied to me.”