Chapter 124
123. Childhood Friend – Dop Bijan
“That’s no Swordmaster!”
Count Ogerton, who had been searching for a Swordmaster for years, immediately recognized that the distortion in Reb’s sword was not the Oblivion Blade.
Swordmasters stood at the pinnacle of knighthood, realizing the extremes of swordsmanship and infusing mana into their blades.
They were hardly affected by magic.
So if the Apostle isn’t a Swordmaster, it meant that Sorcerers could restrain him, and Count Ogerton comforted his companions while shouting again.
“Priests, please clear the dome in the square! It’s interfering with magic!”
Magic was also hindered by divine power. Mana, which should flow naturally, could be reflected chaotically when it encountered divine power, causing the lightning that had just targeted the Apostle to regrettably strike the ground instead.
Reb clicked his tongue.
Royal Knights scattered around to rescue citizens gathered in from all sides. The Sorcerers in front of the Royal Palace were also looking this way, wrapped in various magical energies.
Now, it didn’t matter how many more knights showed up, but that lightning that just struck was quite threatening.
Reb wasn’t well-versed in magic. His knowledge was limited to what he indirectly understood through information about Noble Society, perceiving Sorcerers as overly powerful yet slow, much like cannons.
However, judging by the magic unleashed just now, it seemed not entirely accurate.
At that moment, as the dome in the square began to fade, Reb’s body felt heavy. It was as if glue had been poured all over him, making his whole form sticky and his limbs awkward to move.
From afar, the King, Cardinal, and a Sorcerer clad in green robes shouted.
“Knights, listen! Eliminate the vicious criminal who has disrupted the kingdom’s prosperity and murdered my people! And generals, encourage the soldiers to save the people!”
“Priests, focus on blessing the Holy Knights and knights! May divine punishment befall that misguided one!”
“I’ll bind him! Others, prepare your offensive spells!”
The despairing Holy Knights reignited their fighting spirit, approaching the Apostle alongside the knights. The Priests were casting blessings and healing instead of forbidden holy spells, and Reb was bombarded with lightning, flames, and razor-sharp winds.
“I offer this!”
Reb, having offered up the sacrifices he’d gathered, quickly charged towards the knight. This time, it was the Sorcerers’ turn to cause trouble.
[ Barbatos’s Hunting Ground ]
“Ugh… This divine script makes things difficult. I wish I had a staff.”
One Sorcerer grumbled.
Being a scholar himself, the Sorcerers, the very embodiment of strategic weaponry, couldn’t bring their staves into the Royal Palace and left them all behind, which was frustrating.
They could cast spells without them, but without an object to serve as a reference for constructing mana roads in the three-dimensional air, the formulas took much longer to compose.
Moreover, even without the Priests’ divine spells cleared away, aiming remained difficult.
The throbbing headache was one thing, but the divine script hanging in the skies disordered the mana across Nevis bizarrely, and with the Apostle too close to the knights, they couldn’t just lash out randomly with their magic.
“It’s better to prepare a strong spell in one shot. The knights will buy us some time.”
“Good idea. Then I’ll measure the reflection. Could someone else avoid that script and help set up a portal?”
“I’ll handle that.”
“I’ll install the mana roads to draw in mana through the portal. Is there anyone who can set the aim? Who will cast the spell, and with what?”
The Sorcerers quickly divided roles and began to prepare their spells, arms stretched wide, murmuring their incantations.
Though invisible to Reb, thousands of ‘mana roads’ intertwined densely. Immense mana swirled, avoiding the divine symbols of Barbatos.
If they were left alone, dire consequences would follow.
It was common sense not to give the Sorcerers any time. Reb halted his scuffle with the knights and charged toward them.
“Protect! Guard the Sorcerer!”
However, Royal Knights and Holy Knights blocked Reb, and his body wasn’t in its normal state.
It felt like his limbs were bound by spider webs.
He could still move, but with each spell cast by the Sorcerer in the green robe, the webs wrapped around him tightened one layer, then two.
[ Achievement: Monster Hunting – ‘2’, Mana lightly permeates your body. ]
Had he been even an Expert, let alone a Swordmaster, he wouldn’t have been so restrained.
The power of magic was halved for knights soaked in mana.
However, Reb was not yet an Expert, and amidst it, blessings from the Priests poured down. His body shone hotly as Barbatos’s divine power drained away.
“You worthless little pests!”
“Ugh!”
Reb swung his sword horizontally like a windmill. The massive Oblivion Blade swung at waist height, cutting down eight knights. However, most knights either ducked to evade or leaped high to stab at him.
Reb barely had time to admire the message that floated up in the midst of chaos.
[ Quest: Duelist 10/1000 – {Swordsmanship} skill increases one level. ]
The scene of Reb trying to approach the Sorcerer and the knights trying to stop him was simply splendid.
In front of the blood-red royal castle, the same blood-red square swirled with the flashing Oblivion Blade, while over six hundred knights and Holy Knights desperately threw themselves to clutch just one step of the Apostle. They were torn to pieces as they flew apart.
Four hundred Priests surrounding that magnificent brawl continuously raised their prayers. Just when the knights were on the brink of being decimated, Count Ogerton shouted.
“Enough! Everyone fall back! Pulsating marble!”
Six Sorcerers had installed their mana roads. As the massive whirlwind of mana followed that complex pathway in the air, it precisely vaporized at that moment, arranging itself into an accurate flow and rhythm.
The wind fell silent.
What remained, amidst the almost vacuum-like stillness, was a small orb. That blue orb, the size of a walnut, shrank and then grew again, continuously throbbing – pulsing, just as its name suggested.
The orb descended slowly but surely, and with great conviction.
“No way!”
Reb instinctively realized he couldn’t escape. Gritting his teeth, he poured all his divine power into his sword for a desperate strike.
However, the orb shattered not.
It simply passed through, as though it had slipped through the air.
Mana was a force entirely separate from divine power. The power that had been sown across the continent by the distant God long ago was natural and ‘equal.’
“Barbatos! This cannot be the end! I shall dedicate everything to you, so please save me!”
Feeling the end approaching, Reb screamed. It was truly a cry seeking redemption, rather than merely a human thrashing in a corner…
In response, a necklace floated into view.
The necklace stolen from Hirie Gaidan. The blood-red jewel on it bloomed like a closed flower unfurling its petals, rising gently to swallow the falling blue orb.
And that was that.
The blood-red jewel returned to a closed flower shape, vibrating a few times as if ‘chewing’ and fell silent.
“What the…?”
The exhausted Sorcerers were stunned.
The pulsating orb. The ultimate offensive spell and the quintessence of the ‘Mana Accumulation Theory.’
Even a Swordmaster would surely be affected by this, yet the Apostle showed no signs of being hit.
“R-Run away!”
Count Ogerton shouted nervously to the watching King, Princes, and Nobles, and Reb, who had been blankly staring at the necklace, suddenly snapped back to reality.
“Thank you, Barbatos!”
Praising the divine favor, he charged towards even more precious sacrifices.
*
The King and Princes eventually met their end at Reb’s hands.
Though the remaining Holy Knights and Priests fought valiantly, they lost sight of them as the few remaining Royal Knights guarding the Sorcerers and Nobles made their escape through the Royal Palace’s secret passage.
It was a troubling situation.
The blessed royals and nobles could not be pinpointed by [Target Hunt].
However, Reb had not only the ability of Barbatos but also the absolute skill of {Tracking}, enabling him to navigate the many branches of the secret passage with ease.
The exit of the secret passage led to a ranch on the outskirts of Nevis.
There, the enraged King cursed something, but Reb coolly took his life.
Prince Aton de Lognum accepted death in despair, while his younger brother, Alzeor de Lognum, struggled to flee at the last moment.
He didn’t beg for his life.
While the few remaining Royal Knights and Nobles fought bravely, he concealed himself in a livestock pen, which reeked of dung.
Of course, such a ruse wouldn’t fool Reb, who possessed {Tracking}.
Alzeor de Lognum was cleaved in half together with the livestock pen.
‘It’s over…’
With a sigh clouded in exhaustion, Reb breathed out in the quiet ranch.
In the second Childhood Friends round, he killed all those who had plunged Lena into tragedy.
Only the Merchant who had turned us over remained, but killing the Princes, his ultimate goal, settled his mind.
Yet… as he thought of Lena, a strange feeling of clarity washed over him.
Reb stood there blankly for a moment, pondering.
It was already dusk, and it felt like it had been ages since he last had a thought.
Wasn’t he trying to adopt Lena as a princess? Wasn’t he looking for ways to incite a rebellion for the next round?
Why am I… like this?
With a fundamental question arising in his mind, Reb looked around.
The ranch, turned into a battlefield with the royal knights and the scattered corpses, caught his eye.
As he gazed at the blood-soaked scene, Reb realized why he was in such a state.
‘I am Barbatos’s Apostle.’
He had briefly lost his way. By the grace of Barbatos, had he not avenged Lena?
Reb knelt down and offered a prayer of gratitude and offerings.
[ Quest: War Maniac 2502/10000 – {Leadership} skill increases one level. ]
[ Quest: Duelist 492/1000 – {Swordsmanship} skill increases one level. ]
[ Achievement: Sorcerers ‘0’ – Becomes stronger against Sorcerers. min(1) ]
[ Quest: Sorcerer Slayer 6/10 – {Magic Resistance} skill increases one level. ]
[ Quest: Noble Slayer 50/50 – {Nobility} skill increases one level. ]
[ ‘Noble Slayer’ quest disappears. ]
[ Achievement: Royalty ‘0’ – All royals feel a slight fear of you. min(1) ]
[ Quest: Traitor 10/10 – {Blood of the King} skill increases one level. ]
[ ‘Traitor’ quest disappears. ]
Messages popped up in a flurry as he rushed along. But to Reb, such things were inconsequential, whether they existed or not, and he ignored them all.
The game was over.
He would live eternally as the great Apostle of Barbatos. He wouldn’t meet an ending ever again.
‘I need to go get Lena.’
– Why?
Thinking of Lena, his head grew tangled again. It felt as if something was about to pour out like a tide, questioning in the corners of his mind.
– Who is Lena, that you would go to get her? Why must you do that?
‘Lena is my childhood friend… Of course I have to go get her. That’s…’
It felt strange to question something so utterly obvious, and Reb paused, tilting his head.
Fortunately, clarity quickly returned to his mind, and he returned to Nevis once more. As he entered through the north gate, countless citizens were pacing anxiously.
[ Barbatos’s Hunting Ground ]
At the city, now stained crimson, he had come to the gates to escape, but due to the many traps Reb had set, he couldn’t go out. Looking around, he saw the bodies of those who hastily tried to leave, lying in tatters.
“Ah! Someone’s come in!”
“Help us!”
They called out to Reb, who was casually passing through the gates.
However, they had made a serious mistake in their aim; Reb cast the [Target Hunt] debuff on them all and left through the north gate without hesitation.
He would have to stay here for a while.
He couldn’t leave the game animals behind in the hunting ground, so he thought about bringing Bante with him. He needed to ride him around the nooks and crannies of Nevis.
He also had to catch the soldiers Marquis Harvey Gaidan would bring along…
While mulling over various thoughts, as he made his way towards the House of Marquis Gaidan, Reb sensed a peculiar presence. He could hear no footsteps, yet someone was very close behind him!
Reb was startled but didn’t look back. Ignoring it, he continued walking.
‘Who could it be?’
Even while being lax, anyone who could approach him unnoticed shouldn’t exist in this place.
This was Barbatos’s hunting ground, and since Reb was an Apostle, he could feel the positions of all huntable creatures in the area. Therefore, anyone able to get this close must be a blessed knight or a Holy Knight.
‘Looks like someone survived.’
Reb straightened up, tense, ready to draw his sword. No matter how many hundreds of knights he had slain, getting stabbed by a sword would still be the same.
He slowly moved his hand to grasp his sword. The moment his opponent’s feet struck the ground, he swung his sword like lightning.
“Ugh…!”
The ambusher’s arms fell off. Naturally, thinking it was a two-handed sword, Reb swung the Oblivion Blade, which was aimed at the neck, while he cut through the chest.
However, the weapon in the severed hand wasn’t a two-handed sword.
It was an old, familiar dagger.
Rugged stubble adorned the face, and the man was clearly dressed like a hunter…
“…Father?”
It was Reb’s father. He bore even a smidgen of Barbatos’s divine power.
“G-God. My son… let go of my son…”
The fallen father looked at his son’s face—or rather, something behind him—with a bitter gaze before his breath ceased.
[ Achievement: Dop Bijan sacrificed himself to protect his son. ]
[ Quest: The Life of Dop Bijan – Please free Dop Bijan from his shackles. ]
His name was Dop Bijan, a survivor of the Bijan Tribe that had been slaughtered over twenty years ago, and at that moment, the son who had killed his father finally learned his father’s name.