Chapter 247

Chapter 247

Overlord's Wrath, Second Form.

The gray flash created by the elegant arc of the sword sliced Belliatus, which had fused with Kacherto Rienz, cleanly in two from side to side.

Baaaaang!

There was none of the grotesque sound one would expect from tearing apart the bark or flesh of a giant plant.

There was only a clear explosion.

The gray flash swallowed everything it touched without leaving even the slightest trace behind.

The hideous plant that had towered above the dense forest vanished as though it had never existed in the first place.

"Haa... Huh... That's impossible...."

In the place where Belliatus had stood lay an old demon whose entire body had turned pale, like charcoal burned down to ash.

It was Kacherto Rienz.

Everyone had naturally assumed that he would be caught in Glenn's sword strike and disappear along with Belliatus.

Penelope and Luceria's eyes widened at the strange and ironic sight.

But when they saw the bewilderment in Kacherto's eyes, they immediately realized that this outcome had not been something he intended.

"He must have spared him. Glenn did."

Romina, who was more sensitive than most when it came to sensing power, could roughly understand what had happened.

"Brother... spared him?"

"Glenn definitely cut through both that monster and the old man at the same time. But considering how strangely untouched the old man is, that's probably what happened."

"Cutting the monster without cutting the person inside it... There's no way something like that should be possible...."

Luceria stared blankly with her mouth open at the miracle that should have been impossible.

"But why did Elder Glenn spare him?"

"Why else?"

Romina smiled at the anxious Penelope.

"Because this way is better."

Then Romina looked ahead.

The thick clouds of black and white smoke slowly cleared.

Beyond them stood a man who was barely managing to remain upright with his sword still in hand.

"Haa... Haa...."

Glenn's gray hair fluttered as he stood there looking as though he might collapse at any moment.

"...You really don't know the meaning of moderation."

Romina looked at Glenn with concern and strode toward him.

"Brother!"

"Elder Glenn!"

Penelope and Luceria quickly followed Romina toward Glenn.

"First, we need to treat your wounds—"

"...No. I'm fine...."

There was still something left for him to do.

Leaving the three women's worried gazes behind, Glenn stepped forward and approached the fallen Kacherto.

Kacherto Rienz, sprawled miserably on the ground, trembled as he raised his unfocused eyes.

"What... exactly... did you do?"

"My sword is a little... unusual. If I want to... Hoo... I can cut only Belliatus while leaving you untouched."

Kacherto shook his head, trembling in disbelief.

"...Even after hundreds of years of researching countless powers, there should be nothing capable of such a thing...!"

Glenn didn't bother explaining the complicated truth to him.

Whether Kacherto accepted what had happened or not didn't matter to Glenn in the slightest.

"Hey... Why does that matter?"

Glenn looked down at him.

"What matters is that I finally have you in my hands."

Second Corps Commander Kacherto Rienz.

How long had it been since Glenn had marked the demon, who was practically the central pillar of the current Demon King's Army, as his target?

After going through countless trials and failures, he had finally obtained the key that could end this damned war against the demons.

If Glenn killed him here, the Demon King's Army would completely lose the means to invade the Holy Papal State.

"Kh... Hehe... Hehehe...."

Just as Glenn thought that, Kacherto Rienz began to laugh quietly.

"Impressive. Truly impressive."

His lips twisted upward.

"To think a single human could change the course of an entire war... to this extent...."

"It's almost like one of those ancient myths... Hehehe...."

Then Kacherto looked directly at Glenn.

"I admit it. I have been completely defeated by you.... However."

Focus returned to his previously clouded eyes.

A sharp gleam flashed within them as he stared up at Glenn.

"If you think I will simply leave the stage according to your wishes, then you are gravely mistaken."

"What?"

Glenn frowned.

At that moment, Romina suddenly flinched.

"No way...!"

She looked as though she had realized something.

Kacherto Rienz smiled.

"Hehehe... It seems the daughter of the previous Demon King has noticed. An excellent ability indeed."

"...You bastard!"

Romina suddenly shouted and grabbed Kacherto by the collar, hauling him upward.

"What... did you do...? What did you send toward Obenyu Fortress?!"

"Cough...! Hehe...."

Kacherto smiled.

"I sent the seeds of Belliatus. Seeds of plague that will eradicate life by every possible means."

He seemed to savor the rage burning in Romina's eyes.

"I released them from the moment I fused with Belliatus, so they should be arriving at the fortress soon."

His smile widened.

"Well? Do you like it?"

He wasn't lying.

Right after Glenn had arrived, Kacherto had released purple spores and sent them drifting toward Obenyu Fortress.

They carried a plague from another world that no one except a Player could possibly cure.

"I have seen your attachment to this land many times."

Kacherto chuckled.

"Hehehe... I shall comfort myself in death by watching your face as you lose what you treasure most."

"Why... would you do something like that...?"

Luceria was utterly speechless at Kacherto's horrific act, committed even at the very end.

"Elder! We need to hurry back to Obenyu and issue an evacuation order—!"

"No."

Glenn's voice cut through the urgency.

"There's no need for everyone to go."

"...What?"

In the middle of the rapidly escalating situation, Glenn's voice rang out calmly.

"I can go alone."

Penelope flinched.

His voice was so quiet that it almost sounded as though he had gone beyond emotion entirely.

Even Kacherto Rienz frowned at the strange atmosphere surrounding him.

"What are you—"

"Penelope."

Glenn looked toward her.

"Use all the demonic energy you have left and create a spatial-transfer spell."

At his calm command, Penelope gathered her remaining demonic energy with a confused expression.

Soon, dark crimson demonic energy formed a magic circle beneath Glenn's feet.

"You... What are you planning to do...?"

"I told you."

Glenn turned his head.

His icy gray eyes met Kacherto's.

Kacherto unconsciously swallowed.

"From now on, nothing will ever go the way you want."

With those words, dark crimson demonic energy swallowed Glenn.

And he disappeared.

At the same time.

Soldiers were frantically evacuating Obenyu Fortress.

"Pull the conscripts back first!"

"The knight orders will remain behind and direct the troops!"

Voices filled with holy power thundered from various places along the walls.

Among them, the clearest voice belonged to the lord of the territory, Tris Wadsworth.

"Combat priests, gather around the holy-power stones and prepare to activate the barrier! We need to buy as much time as possible so that even one more person can escape!"

Tris bit her lip as she stared toward the west.

A purple fog was approaching.

"What in the world... is that fog...?"

Before the operation began, Glenn had gathered all the commanders together and explained the plan.

He had even warned them about various unexpected possibilities.

But he had never mentioned a rapidly approaching purple fog.

Glenn... are you okay?

For the first time, something had happened outside the predictions of her younger brother, who always seemed able to foresee everything.

It filled her with unease.

Had something gone terribly wrong at the Demon King's Army encampment?

Had the entire plan collapsed?

Was her younger brother's life now in danger?

All sorts of terrible possibilities refused to leave her mind.

Tris bit the inside of her cheek to clear her thoughts.

No.

I decided to trust him.

The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

Tris opened her gray eyes wide and forced herself to focus on the situation in front of her.

"The priests are in position!"

"Good! All combat priests, deploy the barrier!"

"Understood!"

"The Gray Wolf Knights will assist as well!"

The combat priests gathered around the holy-power stones positioned at intervals along the fortress walls.

Anyone capable of handling even a little holy power joined them.

Soon, transparent holy power surged outward and formed a massive curtain over the western wall.

Whooooosh—

A translucent curtain of holy power.

When Luciliron's Barrier—the same barrier that had once stopped the curse of the Banshee Queen—was activated, Tris finally breathed out.

"We did it...."

Now they only needed to evacuate the fortress while the barrier held back the approaching purple fog.

However—

"Uh... Huh?!"

The priests' eyes widened in shock.

The purple fog reached the barrier.

And passed straight through it.

"W-What?! That's impossible!"

"That barrier has stopped the Banshee Queen's curse for decades! How can it possibly—?!"

The priests atop the wall were horrified when the barrier they trusted proved useless.

But how could any of them know that spores from a plant originating in another world would not be affected by a barrier made of holy power?

All they could see was the grass across the plains rapidly withering and dying wherever the purple fog touched.

Fear filled their eyes.

"I-It's coming...!"

The commander shouted desperately.

"Evacuate! Forget the holy-power stones! Everyone evacuate!"

The previously organized fortress wall instantly fell into chaos.

Watching the scene unfold, Tris hurriedly searched for her commanders.

"Ugh! Sir Brighton! Calm down the panicking priests!"

Then she turned.

"Sir Kassen! What's the status of the conscripts' evacuation?!"

She continued giving evacuation orders, doing the best she could with the situation she had been given.

But at a time like this, Obenyu's narrow terrain—which normally worked to stop enemy forces—was instead interfering with their evacuation.

"My Lady! You need to retreat too!"

"I will!"

Tris had no intention of throwing her life away recklessly.

However, as the lord of this land—and as the person who had gathered all these people here—she had a responsibility to fulfill.

"There has to be... some way!"

The holy-power barrier was useless.

Soon, that sinister purple fog would swallow the entire fortress.

But with so many soldiers crowded around the narrow entrance ahead, evacuating everyone in time would be—

Wait.

The wall...?

A light flashed in Tris's eyes.

"Gray Wolf Knights and combat priests on the walls, listen to me!"

Her powerful voice echoed across the fortress.

The Gray Wolf Knights, who had remained firmly in place despite the chaos, turned toward Tris.

Even the panicking priests stopped moving and focused on her.

"Immediately concentrate your holy power into the holy-power stones and destroy the southeastern wall! We'll widen the evacuation route!"

Of course, destroying the eastern wall—the largest possible evacuation route—would be more efficient.

But if they touched that section, the collapsing wall could bury the ordinary conscripts who were already evacuating through there.

That was why Tris had decided to destroy the southeastern wall instead.

"But, my lord! With all the rubble from the collapsed wall, there's no guarantee we'll secure a proper evacuation route! It's too dangerous—"

"It's still better than doing nothing and letting that fog swallow us!"

At Tris's sharp command, the adjutant hesitated.

Then his expression hardened with resolve.

"Everyone, attention! Combat priests, immediately deactivate the barrier and concentrate that holy power on the southeastern wall—"

"Stop."

A calm male voice suddenly interrupted him.

"That's enough."

The quiet voice easily covered the adjutant's booming shout.

"The idea was good, but there's no reason to destroy a perfectly good wall."

A familiar voice.

"Right, Sister?"

"This voice...?"

Tris hurriedly turned toward the source.

And the moment she did, she saw a man with the same gray hair and gray eyes as her.

"G-Glenn?!"

"Yes, Sister."

Glenn smiled gently.

"I'm back."

"H-How...?!"

"How did I get here?"

Glenn gave her a faint smile.

"I came to finish this."

He immediately passed the stunned Tris and kicked off the ground, heading toward the front wall.

"Glenn!"

Tris shouted in alarm.

Glenn simply raised his thumb toward her.

Trust me.

Understanding what the gesture meant, Tris let out a breathless laugh.

But then—

"..."

She placed a hand over her chest.

The purple fog was much closer now.

Yet strangely, she felt calm.

"...I'm counting on you."

Her younger brother would surely present an answer far better than her own desperate plan that merely avoided the worst possible outcome.

Believing that, Tris smiled as she watched Glenn's back.

The purple spores of Belliatus approached like death itself.

"You really scattered a lot of it."

The fog had spread so thickly in every direction that, given enough time, it wouldn't stop with Obenyu.

Eventually, even the Wadsworth Territory would be completely covered by Belliatus's plague.

Kacherto had clearly been determined to destroy Glenn mentally.

But—

Glenn gave a cold smile.

"I told you. Nothing is going to go the way you want."

He adjusted his grip on Ainheria and took his stance.

He had already used the Gray Ring twice.

After that, he had forced out every bit of holy power and demonic energy remaining inside him, converted them into holy-demonic power, and even unleashed the Second Form of Overlord's Wrath.

Creak— Crack!

His entire body was already wrecked.

It made strange noises with every movement, and even standing upright was becoming difficult.

Yet Glenn quietly focused his mind.

"Kh...! Hoo...."

He awakened the holy power and demonic energy still remaining inside him.

Once again, he created holy-demonic power.

Then he wrapped it around Ainheria's blade.

He didn't need anywhere near as much power as he had used to defeat Kacherto Rienz after his fusion with Belliatus.

What he needed was holy-demonic power.

And a skill with enough range to sweep away that vast cloud of Belliatus spores.

Normally, a sword couldn't cut fog.

But with the new skill, Sword of the Boundary, wrapped in holy-demonic power, even something that absurd should become possible.

Just as he had selected only Belliatus and cut it away from the fused existence of Belliatus and Kacherto, his will should allow him to cut through the fog itself.

I can't use Overlord's Wrath anymore.

If he used it again in his current physical condition, he really would die this time.

But Glenn wasn't worried.

I've already decided which skill to use.

Glenn's trump card for clearing away the spores of Belliatus—

Imitation.

Following the secret technique created by Eucleia, Glenn recalled the past.

The moment his consciousness reached the female demon he had once fought in the Reygle Territory, a system message appeared before his eyes.

《Mimicking Hero Rowen's skill, 『Red Meteor』.》

Glenn focused.

Inside the scene from his memories, he replaced Rowen—the one who had originally used the skill—with himself.

The greatsword Tearbel became Ainheria.

Demonic energy became holy-demonic power.

The necessary elements changed fluidly to allow the skill to manifest.

Glenn stared at the cloud of spores that had already reached the front of Obenyu Fortress.

"...!"

Then—

One slash.

It was the same strike that had once brought down from the heavens the creature known as the strongest living being.

A dragon.

The strike of the hero named Rowen—

was recreated in Glenn's hands.

Baaaaaaaaang!

A murky crimson flash split the sky.