Chapter 255
‘I have to run away…!’
Reason screamed inside Dominik's mind, which was filled with confusion.
But.
“Kuaaaargh!”
His body refused to listen.
No matter how strongly his reason urged him to accept his defeat and escape, he simply could not understand this situation.
It wasn't just anyone.
He had received power directly from one of the gods who had created the world…
So how could he be getting beaten so helplessly like this?
“Get away…! I said get away!!”
As if fiercely resisting the fact that his faith, which he had devoted his entire life to, was being denied.
He swung his whip while shouting in rage, but nothing changed.
And then.
Slaaash-
At the sudden sound of flesh being cut apart, Dominik hurriedly turned his head.
His pupils immediately widened.
“Kieeeeeeeek!”
One sea dragon had been decapitated.
Seeing its brother die, the remaining sea dragon let out a sharp scream.
The remaining sea dragon opened its mouth and fired the cold it had been gathering inside toward the man rushing at it.
But the gray-haired man did not even think about dodging.
He faced the blue storm of cold head-on, then cut through all of it.
Baaang!
Gray light exploded in every direction.
With a smile on his face, the man drove his sword into the defenseless sea dragon's head.
Crack-
“Ah, ah… no…”
At the same time, the last bit of stubbornness remaining in Dominik's eyes was swallowed by despair.
“Kyaaaaaaak!!”
“Noooo!!”
The monsters that symbolized the power of the god Sagina.
Dominik reached out pitifully as he watched the death of Glacioros.
As his reason and mind collapsed, the action he took gave his opponent an opening.
Tap-
“Gasp!”
A female demon approached him in an instant.
The moment his eyes met her clear red eyes, intense pain struck his abdomen.
“Kuh… Huuugh… wha…”
A heavy greatsword had pierced straight through his body.
His mind, which had been dazed by confusion until then, returned to reality in an instant.
But that was where everything stopped.
Only one minute had passed since Rowen joined the battle.
The fight between Glenn and Dominik, which had been locked in a stalemate, was decided in an instant.
The biggest reason was, of course, Rowen.
The attacks that had been coming at Glenn without giving him any room were completely disrupted simply by Rowen's presence.
That allowed Glenn to break free from the restraints holding him back and finally regain his overwhelming advantage.
Taking down Glacioros, which had shaken off Dominik and the deep-sea monsters, was not particularly difficult.
Glenn pushed Glacioros to its limits by using his remaining divine power and demonic magic skills.
He even summoned the demonic-divine power he had been saving despite the risk of suffering a fatal injury, as well as his ancestor Graham.
And he finished off both sea dragons while there was still plenty of time left on the duration of the Gray Ring, which had seemed like it would barely last just one minute ago.
“Kuh… Huuugh…!!”
Along with Dominik's scream, Rowen also drove the Frugament into his abdomen.
“…Phew.”
Dominik Kezel collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Seeing that the battle was over, Glenn let out a quiet sigh and put the Einheria he had been holding into his inventory.
“Haa… Haaah…”
Rowen was barely standing by using the Frugament Glenn had given her as support.
“Are you okay?”
“I am fine…”
“…You don't look fine.”
“Honestly… I am a little tired.”
At first, Glenn had wondered if she had been hiding some secret weapon he didn't know about.
He had even thought that perhaps she had obtained some kind of potion that could restore her exhausted body while he was away.
But looking at her condition, Rowen had simply come here while dragging her exhausted body along.
‘And she did it with nothing but stubbornness and sheer willpower.’
She had spent her demonic power and stamina fighting countless deep-sea monsters.
She had also exhausted her mental strength from the ultrasonic waves they fired.
Yet Rowen had moved her body here using nothing but her willpower, then joined the battle as though nothing was wrong.
She had even hidden how exhausted she was because she was worried Glenn might be concerned.
She had forced herself to draw out every last bit of strength she had.
“I told you to rest.”
“I am sorry… I have sworn my loyalty to you, but I had a bad feeling about this… so I forced myself to come…”
Glenn took a breath.
Even though he was the one who had received help from her, Rowen merely lowered her eyes and apologized.
“…Still, was I of help?”
“Phew…”
Glenn took a step forward.
Then he pulled Rowen, who was barely standing with her sword as support, toward him.
Rowen's tiny body fell directly into Glenn's arms.
“Thank you so much. Honestly, we would have been in danger if you hadn't come.”
Those quiet words came straight from his heart.
Rowen raised her head from his arms.
“Is that so… Then that is enough…”
A faint smile appeared on Rowen's face.
Then she exhaled and lowered her head against Glenn's chest.
She lost consciousness.
Seeing the satisfied smile remaining on her face, Glenn let out a small sigh.
He took several thick pieces of cloth from his inventory, spread them out, and laid Rowen down.
“Good work.”
Glenn gently stroked Rowen's head as she breathed evenly, as if she were simply sleeping.
He even took out the Regenna's Elixir he had obtained before, wondering if she had suffered any serious injuries.
But it didn't seem necessary to use it.
Leaving Rowen there to rest for a while, Glenn approached Glacioros.
More precisely, he approached the huge ice spike that the two sea dragons had been protecting.
The plan had gone differently than expected, but the enemies had been dealt with.
All that remained was to collect the item.
“Now that you're dead, get out of the way.”
Glenn roughly pushed Glacioros's corpse away from the ice spike.
Once the entire ice spike was exposed, Glenn reached out and touched it.
Fwoooosh-
The ice spike released a wave of cold.
Then it began shining brightly as its size gradually decreased.
Eventually, it became a tiny ice pick small enough to fit in his hand.
The transparent ice pick was so clear that he could see his entire palm through it.
Yet it wasn't cold at all.
Among the ten Mythic-grade artifacts Glenn intended to collect in preparation for Heaven's intervention, the first one he had obtained was the core of the supreme magic item, Regnes.
《Core of Regnes》
《Grade》: Mythic
《Type》: Wand
: 『Regnes's Cold』 - The holder can consume their own power to temporarily summon the extreme cold of Regnes, the homeland of the ice spirits, and freely control it.
《Story》
: Regnes is a mythical place said to gather all the cold in the world when spring arrives and store it until the next winter comes.
This small ice pick possesses the same power as its original form, the enormous ice spike.
At first glance, one might think its effect was somewhat underwhelming for a Mythic-grade artifact.
But that was absolutely not the case.
Being able to summon and control the extreme cold of Regnes literally meant that one could control winter itself.
The extreme cold created by this artifact could naturally even damage gods.
On top of that, it could freely create blizzards and cutting winds.
It could also summon ice crystals and ice spikes.
‘There are only a few things I actually use it for, though.’
The most representative abilities were the Flash of Cold, which froze anything it touched, and the Call of Regnes, which caused a rain of ice spikes.
In any case, it had many extremely useful functions worthy of its Mythic-grade name.
For now, Glenn planned to give it to Romina.
‘The fact that you can use it even without knowing anything about magic is already a great advantage, but it should still be much more effective when used by someone who specializes in magic.’
Besides, Romina had recently learned her father's signature magic, Call of Extreme Cold, from Diaro El Blanditear.
‘There should be some good synergy.’
Honestly, Glenn didn't know whether Romina's cold demonic power and the extreme cold produced by the Core of Regnes would combine well.
Compared to the ice created by a spirit mage borrowing the power of an ice spirit, Romina's demonic power was probably nothing more than cold demonic power.
‘Still, we won't know until she tries it.’
Glenn shrugged and put the Call of Regnes into his inventory.
He would give it to Romina first.
If she couldn't use it properly, he could simply give it to himself or another party member.
There was no point worrying too much about who would use it, how well they could use it, or how versatile it was.
The performance of a Mythic-grade artifact was simply too good.
“Phew… Still, that was one hell of a farming run.”
Glenn crouched down on the spot, wearing an expression as if he had already lived through everything life had to offer.
Originally, he would have passed through the deep-sea monsters without fighting them and then leisurely defeated Glacioros together with Rowen.
If Dominik Kezel had not suddenly appeared, the item recovery operation would never have become this difficult.
《The proficiency of the skill 『Gray Ring』 increases by 1.
Current proficiency: 9/12》
‘Well… At least my skill proficiency increased, and the enemy's forces were reduced.’
In any case, Dominik Kezel was the avatar of Sagina, the God of Breeding and Livestock.
In the original story, Sagina had strongly supported Nox.
The fact that she had lost the avatar she had contracted with and could no longer interfere with the mortal world was certainly a huge advantage.
Moreover, through Sagina's movement, Glenn had learned that another god from Nox's faction was also beginning to move.
He had already suspected something after meeting the orc Groxa, Wena's avatar.
But the fact that Sagina's avatar had moved, rather than some other god's avatar, was extremely valuable information.
It meant that before long, the avatars of the gods would begin moving one by one to eliminate Glenn.
‘Even so, unless it's an awakened Lupellos, none of them would even last one punch against me.’
The reason Dominik Kezel had been troublesome was because the circumstances had been overwhelmingly favorable to him.
Other than today, there was no reason for Glenn to be pushed back by another god's avatar.
Unless Lunatic, which had been quiet for a while, joined the fight, or Lupellos became completely capable of controlling Nox's power.
Of course, Glenn wasn't sitting around doing nothing either.
He was gathering artifacts by splitting up his party so that they could fight not only avatars but even gods themselves.
“…I wonder if the others are doing well.”
Muttering those words, Glenn stood up and stayed beside Rowen.
Before long, Rowen opened her eyes.
Glenn took her with him, and the two left the Deep-Sea Sanctuary.
Southeastern Holy See, located on the exact opposite side of Hildesheim.
“It's prettier than I expected…”
“Yeah. I thought it would be old and worn out.”
“Is this… the Bible of Charlois?”
In front of a white book resting on a shelf deep within an altar, Luceria and Romina pressed their cheeks together.
It was the Bible left behind by Charlois, the first saint who had once led the Minis Church.
That Bible was the Mythic-level relic hidden within the underground catacombs of Charlois.
“It's amazing… I honestly didn't think it would really exist.”
“But for a saint of the Church, your reaction seems rather underwhelming.”
“Ahaha… Well… I'm barely even worthy of being called a saint anymore. I'm just a human named Luceria.”
Luceria smiled bitterly.
“If this had been the old me, I would have been overjoyed. But things are different now.”
If she were still a saint of the Church, she would have been extremely happy to find records left behind by the first saint.
But Glenn had taught Luceria the truth about demons and the misunderstandings surrounding them.
In the end, she had abandoned her faith in Minis.
“Now, I'm simply happy that we can obtain a relic that will help Brother.”
“Really? Me too.”
Romina gave a faint smile as she looked at Luceria, who was smiling gently.
“Shall we go back?”
“Yes. There are two more left.”
“Right. I hope the next one is easy too.”
“I hope so. Since it was something Brother asked us to do, I thought it would be extremely difficult, but it was much easier than I expected.”
Of course, that didn't mean there had been no trials along the way.
While making their way to the deepest part of the underground catacombs of Charlois, the two had needed to avoid dangerous traps several times.
“It's probably thanks to Glenn warning us beforehand. Without even realizing it, he probably took all the difficult places for himself and sent us to places like this.”
“I think I understand. Even though he looks cold and blunt, he is ultimately a very considerate person.”
The two had grown considerably closer during their journey.
Soon, they left the underground catacombs.
After spending such a long time underground, the sudden sunlight should have been blinding.
But the moment they stepped outside the catacombs, they felt nothing of the sort.
“…Huh?”
“What the…”
Standing at the entrance of the catacombs, Luceria and Romina simultaneously looked up at the sky.
It had just passed noon, and the sunlight should have been shining brightly.
Yet the sky was dark.
But it wasn't evening either.
There was no deep blue color that would normally appear at sunset.
Gooooooo-
The sky was murky, as if red had been mixed into a cloud of sand and dust.
And at its center floated a dark-red sun.
“What… is that…?!”
Romina's pupils widened.
If the end of the world were to arrive, would it look something like this?
At the same time.
After leaving the Deep-Sea Sanctuary through the glacier cave, Glenn was looking at the sky.
Rowen, shaking her tired red eyes, also looked up at the murky sky and the sun.
“My lord… What in the world is that…?”
“Crazy…!”
Glenn's pupils widened as if he already knew what it meant.
“Why is that appearing now?!”
“Glenn? What is wrong?”
“Ah… damn it…”
Glenn grabbed his face.
Even though he tried to accelerate his thoughts, the confusion refused to settle.
The sky and sun before his eyes were simply too extreme.
“Why is the Paradise War happening now…?”
The Paradise War.
When Heaven's intervention reached its peak, Symposion, which had existed in Heaven, would fall and appear in the mortal world.
It was the event that marked the final incident of the original story's scenario, where the gods, having lost part of their power, threw the entire world into chaos and waged war.
And that sign had now appeared right before Glenn's eyes.
