Chapter 473

The moment the sky lit up, I could immediately sense their intentions.

Binding the foot of a formidable enemy within a certain range, enduring the damage to allies, and pouring down bombardment until their breath is cut off—such a ghostly tactic.

Yes. It was an astonishingly rational strategy.

If the Astraea Church Order were to face a formidable enemy, it would mostly be a powerful monster or demon. The Light of Judgment would deal fatal damage to such foes.

The paladins swept up in the bombardment only had to endure until the enemy’s breath was cut off.

“Damn it…!”

There was no way to escape.

The multiple layers of the Light of Judgment perfectly surrounded the inside of the paladins’ encirclement, and breaking through the encirclement was problematic due to the high-ranking paladins clinging on tenaciously.

To break the Holy Barrier deployed by the paladins, I had no choice but to focus my strength there, but if high-ranking paladins like Pellman targeted my back at that moment, even I wouldn’t escape serious injury.

From the start… it was too late to avoid it that way.

A perfect dead end. I gritted my teeth and looked up at the golden waterfall pouring down like a cascade.

It was a majestic and overwhelming sight, as if a giant of light was slamming its fist down.

“Light of Astraea!”

“Receive the Judgment of Order!”

I couldn’t just focus on the sky.

The high-ranking paladins, as if the light didn’t bother them, gritted their teeth and charged at me.

“Ughhh…”

Even the man whose groin had been completely blown off was struggling to get up.

To get up in that state, the fanatics’ tenacity was truly unbelievable.

Still, thanks to that, a plan came to mind.

…If I can’t avoid it, I’ll block it.

“Judgment, my ass!”

I shook the ground with my heel, twisted my waist, and swung Durandal as if sweeping all around.

An extreme strike using only strength, not a technique-filled swordsmanship. The paladins who touched the blue arc couldn’t withstand it and were flung back.

After shaking off two of them, I immediately charged at the man with a blown groin who was staggering to his feet.

The man desperately swung his sword, but a longsword swung in a collapsed posture was worse than a child’s swordplay.

The ice blade I thrust out like lightning deflected his longsword and firmly gripped his shoulder covered in armor.

“Ugh…?!”

Perhaps recalling how I had torn off the paladins’ arms, the eunuch’s eyes trembled slightly.

I didn’t intend to tear it off. I’m not cruel enough to take something more from a man who has lost his most precious thing. Rather, I might give him a comforting gift.

Like this.

“Fly away-!”

I firmly grabbed him with both hands and threw him towards the sky.

A high-ranking paladin is supposed to be positioned higher than other paladins.

At this moment, he truly became a high-ranking paladin.

“Ughhh!”

The sound of a scream fading into the distance beyond the sky.

Towards the eunuch paladin who soared into the void, flailing his limbs, a gift for him fiercely poured down.

“Gahhh!”

The eunuch dancing in the sky. Countless beams of light struck his entire body, shaking him.

Perhaps because it was their church’s miracle, there was no carnage of him falling apart into pieces.

Yes. The gift I prepared for him was a waterfall of divine light.

Since he’s a human who loves the light of Astraea, he’ll accept it joyfully.

“Sir Boles!”

“How could you do such a cruel thing…!”

The high-ranking paladins looked up in horror at the scene.

Cruel? Was his attempt to pierce my groin a pious penetration ceremony?

I fixed my gaze on the remaining four high-ranking paladins with a sneer on my lips.

The pillar of the Light of Judgment pouring down towards the mortal world landed on their shoulders, roaring and scattering.

Perhaps because it was their miracle, unlike the deafening collision sound, there didn’t seem to be much actual damage.

It’s not that there was no impact, but it couldn’t pierce the “Armor of the Protector” and only chipped away at the divine light. At this rate, they could endure for a few minutes.

Of course, the same went for me.

It’s not that it didn’t hurt when hit, but the eunuch named Boles had thrown his entire body to block the Light of Judgment pouring down on me.

No matter how dense it was, the Light of Judgment was ultimately a vertical beam of light.

If you cover your head like an umbrella, you can block it for a while.

Even if it’s just a brief moment, that was enough.

Slightly bending my waist, I added my will to the Power of Feats spread throughout my body.

The blue flames rising from my toes felt like they were enveloping my entire body.

Entrusting my soul to the burning heat, I distorted the flow of the world.

—-

【Reversed Heaven】

What would happen if I manifested the Heroic Tale, which compresses the time of a slash, throughout my entire body?

The phenomenon before my eyes was more alien than I had imagined.

With a strange whirring sound, the world lost its color and turned monochrome.

No, the world didn’t change.

It felt as if I had been thrown out of the world’s flow and fallen into a monochrome world.

The place I was standing now was not the world I had been standing in just a moment ago.

A world in the same position, the same appearance, but fundamentally different in its axis.

No color, no sound, no smell or taste.

Only I could see, only I could enter this compressed time’s gray world.

This world was the world seen by those who had escaped the flow of time.

A world where everything moved slowly as if frozen.

Even the golden downpour pouring down had turned gray, flowing down like sticky honey.

In the world of Reversed Heaven, I took a step.

In this endlessly stretched world, only I moved at a normal speed.

Not the speed of a superhuman, but the speed of an utterly ordinary person.

Yet, that alone was enough to approach the enemies while avoiding the leisurely falling Light of Judgment.

Taking five steps, I reached them and swung Durandal twice.

The longsword I swung felt five times heavier than usual.

The blade dug into their legs and severed them.

One by one. A black line was drawn in the center of two pairs of thighs, slowly splitting apart.

Their pupils began to slowly widen.

The next moment, the gray world, having reached its limit, shattered like broken glass.

The monochrome world scattered like glass fragments. The original world, shining in full color, grabbed my soul and pulled me back.

The smell of blood, the roar. The screams of the paladins.

In the half-dazed state of having my soul half-pulled out, I saw the enemies in front of me open their mouths in shock.

“Ugh!”

“What kind of movement is that…!”

To them, it must have seemed like I appeared in the blink of an eye and pressed my face against theirs.

In the end, there wasn’t much difference.

– Splat!

And then, their legs, barely holding on, split apart and spurted fresh blood.

“Ahhh!”

“My legs, my legs!”

Only then did the paladins, realizing their condition, scream and open their mouths.

Did they just realize their legs were gone? Their reaction was painfully slow.

“How did you…!”

The eyes of those who had witnessed an incomprehensible phenomenon trembled with fear.

“Slow.”

I looked down at the paladins losing their balance and sinking, leaving a short impression of them.

“Even falling.”

They lay down on the ground just after my evaluation ended.

—-

…What did I just say?

As soon as I finished speaking, I felt a mix of shame and regret, my face turning red.

Somehow, hanging around with Hersela must have rubbed off on me. I should reflect.

– Crash!

First, let’s get out of this situation!

Dodging the golden downpour, I flew towards the shade created by the eunuch and quickly scanned the surroundings.

Boles was slowly losing his function as a parasol and falling, and two high-ranking paladins had become cripples, helplessly being pummeled by the pouring light.

The remaining two were looking at me with expressions as if their hearts had stopped.

Yes. That’s a natural reaction. Even I was surprised.

The first full-body activation of the Heroic Tale. It truly had performance beyond imagination.

The principle was quite different, but in the end, it was akin to moving alone in a stopped world.

However, just five steps and two swings had consumed seven-tenths of my Feats.

Just a few days ago, I had commented on Hersela’s Mortal World as being extremely draining, but it turned out my Reversed Heaven wasn’t much different.

“Ughhh! Astraea! Grant me endless courage!”

A high-ranking paladin gritted his teeth, firmly gripping his longsword with both hands, and charged at me.

Is this the end? Good. If you come to me, I’m grateful.

To deal with all of them with my remaining strength, I should refrain from using Reversed Heaven.

I raised Durandal towards the approaching paladin and kept an eye on the remaining one—Pellman.

Unlike his comrades, he didn’t approach me. He just stood there, his face filled with shock, sweating profusely.

Has his will to fight been broken? I hope so… but it didn’t seem like an Astraea paladin would do that.

Even the high-ranking paladin with his legs cut off was crawling towards me with his arms, so it was unlikely Pellman had given up the fight alone.

Then why?

Neither stopping his comrades nor joining them to attack me, just watching…?

The next moment, Pellman pulled his longsword back over his shoulder with a reverse grip and stretched his left arm forward. A typical throwing spear posture. In this case, a throwing sword, perhaps.

What, is he going to throw his sword? But that wouldn’t work on me…

Ah.

A sudden realization made me glance up at the sky for a moment.

At Boles, who was shading me and blocking the Light of Judgment.

And then Pellman threw his sword.

Unsettling premonitions always come true. The golden longsword shot like lightning, not at me, but at Boles.

“This is…!”

“Where are you looking!”

There was no time to react.

Another paladin had reached me and swung his sword.

“The time of judgment has come!”

Perhaps trying to imitate Pellman’s method, a series of short, rapid slashes.

“I’ve already seen that!”

I parried his blade downward, and as our swords intertwined, I pressed Durandal down and thrust my left hand like a bullet.

– Crack!

The ice blade’s claws tore through the golden divine light and dug into his shoulder.

The resistance was stronger than expected, but not enough to stop it.

“Ugh…! Ugh, ahhh!”

As the paladin screamed with his shoulder pierced, Boles’ body, hit by the longsword, flew sideways.

The shadow covering me disappeared as if washed away.

The Light of Judgment began to pour down again.

Yes, this is how it goes…!

The idea is good, but did you forget something?

I reached out my right hand towards the man in front of me.

You blew Boles away? Then, I’ll just use this guy in front of me to block again!

“Now, Beron! Fall back!”

However, Pellman’s shout was faster than my attempt to grab the paladin.

At his shout, the paladin in front of me swung his light sword again.

Not at me, but at his own shoulder.

– Slash!

It’s said that a lizard in danger cuts off its own tail and escapes. That’s exactly what it looked like.

I could only look helplessly at the paladin who had cut off his own arm and rolled back.

“Pellman-!”

As I shouted the name of the paladin who had troubled me until the end, Pellman, standing far away, lifted the corner of his mouth and smiled.

The golden torrent approaching me.

I raised my left arm to protect my head, gritted my teeth, and prepared for the impending impact.

– Crash!

And then, the Light of Judgment poured down, smashing everything around.

—-

The light beams embedded in the ground shook and shattered the earth.

All I could see was golden divine light. The ground beneath my feet shook violently, and all I could hear was the roar.

Among their attacks, the only one I had been wary of was the high-ranking miracle.

The divine light of the goddess who hates sin struck me.

But… it didn’t hurt much.

“What is this…?”

I looked up at the golden torrent pounding me with a dumbfounded expression.

It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought…? At most, it feels like hundreds of needles sticking into my bare skin.

It’s annoyingly prickly, but it’s not enough to break my armor and tear my flesh and bones to inflict fatal wounds.

…It seems the weight of my sins was much lighter than I thought.

I was being overly cautious.

If it’s just this, I could have just endured and fought.

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