Chapter 84 – Master (4)
“What on earth was that?”
“I—I don’t know. I just had a bad feeling.”
Deus shook his head in confusion. It was something he had done without even realizing it. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and his hand holding the staff moved on its own.
As a strong wave shot through the staff, the wind vanished in an instant.
During this process, Deus was not even aware of what he was seeing or attacking. Strictly speaking, what had now resided in the bodies of Deus and his followers had not completely integrated with him yet.
‘It was definitely a necessary act. There’s no point in digging into something I don’t understand.’
However, he didn’t think too deeply about it. From the moment he led a few followers out of the order and came this far, he believed everything was fate.
The beginning was surely a thirst for power. He only wanted to monopolize the power of the order and hold a higher position, wield greater strength.
Even when everything fell apart, he had only felt despair and resentment, but he never intended to actually take action. To fight against the mainstream of the order, the hero, the saintess, and even the High Elves?
Deus was not foolish enough for that.
‘But…’
He slightly rolled up his sleeves. Dark veins bulged out, slowly stretching toward his heart. He already knew what would happen if this power continued to strengthen, but he could not stop it.
[Kill them]
From some point onward, the power residing in his body kept urging him on. It fueled his desires and drove him mad.
He understood that this was the curse of corruption. After all, the order had fought for the longest time against the curse of corruption.
The curse of corruption causes human desires to run rampant and destroys people. Fortunately, humans do not completely fall and transform into other races like other species do.
But that was until now.
Now that the process of annihilation had begun, the curse of corruption no longer remained just an ancient legacy. It had become a disaster capable of destroying a world.
“Hurry… strike them while they fight the monsters!”
Deus planned to wait for the saintess and the hero to purify the corruption. For reasons unknown to him, he was certain that at that moment, the monsters that had been quietly sealed away would erupt from the corruption and attack them.
He intended to strike them from behind in their confusion.
‘The saintess, the hero, and the High Elf! I just need to kill those three!’
The curse already specified his targets. The trio capable of purifying the corruption. Knowing he only needed to eliminate them sent a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.
“Master Deus! It seems a battle is ongoing ahead!”
“Just as I thought! Hurry, we must kill them!”
Indeed, those who had set up camp where they rode were engaged in intense combat.
The enemies they faced were brutish monsters, the Orcs.
At least dozens of Orcs were charging in to attack the order’s forces, which included the hero and the saintess.
“Let’s go, for annihilation!”
Now fully consumed with madness, Deus charged toward the battlefield, swinging his staff, regardless of whether or not his hood fell off.
*
“Orcs are approaching from the front!”
“W-what?!”
The news relayed by the lord’s soldiers, who had turned into mangled flesh, was shocking. The group, which had briefly halted to capture the ones pursuing them from the rear, hurriedly prepared for battle.
However, before they could form a defensive line, the rampaging Orcs crashed into them. An intense conflict was unavoidable.
“Protect the hero and saintess!”
The paladins rushed forward, while the priests utilized their holy powers to attack the enemies. Although the Orcs outnumbered them significantly, the paladins and priests present were elite among elites, ensuring that they were not swept away in this sudden assault.
Ian and Maria, who had hastily dismounted from the carriage, stood frozen, witnessing the scene.
“Ah…”
Both Ian and Maria knew they had to fight in a crisis. They had undergone brief but rigorous training. With the support of the order and Irilia’s guidance, they felt as though they had rapidly leveled up their talents.
The issue was their inexperienced backgrounds. This was their first encounter with the fierce and brutal battlefield.
The Orc’s axe smashed through a paladin’s helmet, killing him instantly, while the paladin’s sword cleaved through an Orc, spilling its entrails.
The battlefield resounded with screams and shouts. Ian, who was meant to step forward as the hero, bit his lip as he struggled to move his legs.
“Ian!”
“I—I have to fight… I’m the hero…”
The ingrained sense of duty as a hero screamed in his head, but his instinctual fear was still overwhelming.
Maria hurriedly shook Ian’s body, but after having lived as an ordinary peasant’s son until now, he couldn’t gather his senses.
“It’s dangerous!”
Melissa, having rushed out of the carriage, shouted in panic. As Maria turned her head in urgency, she saw an Orc who had brutally brushed aside a paladin charging toward them, wielding a great sword.
Maria moved almost instinctively. Swinging the silver mace in her hand, she poured all her power into the spark of her abilities.
‘Silver flash…’
The dazzling force exploded forth like a flash, striking the Orc. Maria’s frame was feeble compared to the Orc, but the strength contained within her was an intense force capable of purifying.
Melissa stared blankly at the sight. The massive, terrifying Orc shattered under the blow, scattering debris everywhere.
“Ugh.”
However, Maria failed to control her strength. Stressed and instinctively pouring everything she had, her energy drained after killing the Orc in a single strike.
Stumbling and kneeling, Maria was struck with panic as she saw an Orc archer’s arrow heading straight for her.
Initially, it seemed like a fleeting spark, but in a blink, the arrow was already just in front of her.
“Maria!”
This time, it was Ian who moved. As if to make up for his delay, he dashed forward, quickly pulling Maria close to shield her with his body.
Startled, Maria heard the sound of the arrow striking something.
“You little brats… how amusing…”
Ian’s back was not pierced by the arrow.
Both Maria and Ian were left speechless as they beheld the towering earthen pillar standing before them.
The one who had summoned that pillar from the ground was a girl around the same age who appeared behind them.
Yet, with her long, flowing silver hair cascading, the girl stiffened her expression as her pointed ears twitched.
“Arisa, help them fight.”
“What about you, Irilia?”
“I’ll cover the rear.”
She called upon Arisa, a skilled Elf warrior, to look after the children. In exchange, she turned her back.
The layers of defenses she had set up began to crumble, and figures of darkness with swirling black energy revealed themselves.
“Kuhaha, do not resist the end.”
“You mad bastards.”
Fully engulfed by the curse, Deus and his followers appeared before Irilia.
Irilia frowned deeply as fierce winds whipped around her, causing her cloak to fly away and her thin body, wrapped in mere threads, began to rise slowly.
The situation had escalated. Annihilation had already begun its movements, and Irilia had no intention of holding back her power.
‘Irilia…’
Maria stared blankly at her back, surrounded by the fierce winds.
She was the benefactor who had pulled her from a life of despair and the teacher who had taught her how to fight.
Regardless of what she looked like now, in Maria’s eyes, that petite Elf was more beautiful and radiant than any hero.
‘These beings are different from those I’ve met until now.’
Just before entering battle, Irilia bit her lip as she observed the approaching group of Deus.
Until now, she had continued to battle against the curse of corruption. However, the curses she had encountered were surely remnants of long-forgotten times.
Therefore, she had never felt a sense of the curse being alive. It felt more like a program functioning according to predetermined rules.
But the ones now appearing felt different from the very beginning. They were dynamic and cunning, as if alive.
The fact that they had charged in from both directions, linked to the corruption, was proof of this.
This indicated the existence of a ruler or a higher program controlling all of this.
“It was meant to be like this. Wasn’t a 10,000-year grace period enough? This world must return to the beginning!”
“Is that your true intention, or are you just rambling?”
She paid little heed to Deus’s mutterings.
In any case, they were only going to fight to kill each other, so there was no point in exchanging words.
“…?”
“You walked into the abyss on your own.”
And almost simultaneously, with a massive tremor, a great torrent surged toward them from the nearby valley.
