Chapter 159: Beings of the Ancient Era (5)

The Third Apostle, Pluto Austria.

She looked at the scene before her eyes with a hint of defeat.

She had tried to cut down Philrun, the hero of order, in one strike.

That was what she had intended to do.

But for some reason, her scythe was bound by a chain of light, and it stopped in front of Philrun’s arm.

Pluto quickly turned her eyes to the direction where the chain came from.

“——O Goddess, guide me on the path.”

There was a girl in a priestess’s robe, looking down at Pluto.

She had one eye hidden by her neatly cut hair, and the other eye was staring at Pluto.

The chain that tied Pluto’s Death Scythe was attached to the girl’s right hand.

A dense aura of divine power was swirling around the girl who recited a prayer.

The girl who blocked Pluto’s attack glanced at her for a moment, then turned her gaze to Philrun.

“Cl, Clawsolas! No! The legendary weapon given to the hero······!”

Philrun was bleeding from his right arm, holding the hilt of Clawsolas that had disappeared.

Clawsolas, shattered by Pluto, had lost its light and left only its traces.

He looked at the hilt in his hand with a blank expression.

Although she failed to deal with Philrun due to the girl’s interference, she succeeded in destroying all six wings that Philrun had.

The unidentified girl opened her mouth to Philrun, who was mumbling while looking at the broken divine artifact.

“You’re so noisy. I came here to save you myself, so stop whining.”

With that, the girl’s eyes turned back to Pluto.

The tightly pulled chain of light was trying to hold Pluto’s movement.

But the advantage of strength was clearly on Pluto’s side.

Pluto maintained a standoff with her Death Scythe and spoke to the girl.

“······Who are you?”

The density of divine power coming from the girl was thicker than that of Philrun in front of her.

Anyone could tell that she was related to the temple.

As Pluto slowly pulled her Death Scythe, the girl frowned and answered.

“The Saintess of Order, Eileen Asnoff.”

“The Saintess of Order?”

“So you are one of the apostles of the evil god, huh? You look like a vampire, not a human.”

The Saintess of Order.

She was supposed to be in the holy land, but she had arrived at the northern part of the empire.

It was a surprise for Pluto as well that the saintess Eileen had stepped forward.

Was it because he heard the word saintess from her mouth?

Philrun shouted at Eileen with a desperate voice.

“You said you are the Saintess of Order? You can fix my broken divine artifact, right? Can’t you?”

“What are you talking about? I can’t fix a broken divine artifact either.”

“What······?”

But what came back from Eileen was a negative answer.

Thud.

Philrun’s hand lost its strength and he dropped Clawsolas.

As the hilt of Clawsolas dug into the snow, Eileen’s voice echoed on the battlefield.

“I can’t hold out for long against an apostle either. You should be glad that you can escape alive.”

“Then, what should I do now······?”

“Isn’t it your duty as a hero to defeat the apostle? What do you expect from me when you can’t even do your own job?”

Pluto, who was watching their conversation, twisted her hand holding Death Scythe with more force.

Crack. Thud.

The chain that bound Death Scythe cracked and its restraining power gradually loosened.

Eileen, who was holding the chain, furrowed her brow even more.

She calmly declared that she would run away from the apostle.

Unfortunately for her, Pluto had no intention of letting the two people in front of her go.

“Do you think I’ll let you go?”

“We have to make it happen somehow.”

Crack.

The chain that bound Death Scythe broke, and particles of divine power scattered around.

Beyond the scattering light, Pluto and Eileen’s eyes met in midair.

As their eyes clashed, Eileen raised her left hand in the air.

She clasped her hands and took a stance, then began to pray in a low voice.

“——Life. Follow the natural order.”

“I won’t miss either of you.”

“——One order. One rule. Obey the great providence.”

As the prayer continued, light spread and pillars of light began to pierce the ground.

Eileen was clearly up to something to stop Pluto.

Pluto swung Death Scythe quickly at the falling pillars of light.

Clang! Clang!

She smashed several of the dense pillars of light, then ran towards Eileen.

She decided that it was more important to deal with Eileen first than Philrun, who had lost his divine artifact.

“——One order. One law. Obey the great principle.”

Thud thud thud.

As Pluto tore through the snow and tried to close in on Eileen.

Eileen joined her two hands together.

Her palms touched and a cube of light began to form around Pluto.

The dense divine power was not something that Pluto could penetrate with her mist form.

Seeing the cube that was meant to trap her, Pluto twisted her body and swung her scythe.

Clack! Clack clack clack!

Pluto’s scythe scraped the side of the cube and stopped in place.

“Let’s run away while we have this chance.”

While Pluto was swinging her scythe in the cube that trapped her, Eileen reached out with a chain of light and wrapped it around Philrun.

Swoosh.

Philrun, who was quickly entangled by the chain, blinked his eyes with a bewildered expression.

Eileen’s action was not a normal way to rescue him.

Philrun, who was bound by the chain, stuttered and struggled.

“Wh, what, wait, what are you doing······.”

“We don’t have time for chit-chat. Come with me.”

“What?”

“Divine power doesn’t last long in the sanctuary of the evil god!”

Eileen was trying to run away with Philrun in tow.

As Eileen jumped over the trees busily, Philrun’s body was dragged along by the chain.

Clang! Clatter!

Pluto, who was trapped in the cube and swinging her scythe, watched them and gritted her teeth.

The cube cracked every time she swung her scythe, but at this rate, she would lose sight of her enemies.

The barrier that her master created also shattered under the goddess’s attack.

“······I can’t let them get away like this.”

Snap.

Pluto raised her left hand and flicked her finger in the air.

The bloodstains on the ground resonated and traced the signs of life.

Blood magic. The power of bloodline granted to vampires was taking effect.

Pluto’s blood magic was targeting Philrun, who was bleeding from his right arm.

The blood that came out of his skin was under Pluto’s influence.

“Why are you doing this? I wish you would stop squirming.”

“Wa, wait, my arm is weird······.”

Boom!

The blood exploded by blood magic and Philrun’s right arm blew off.

The golden candlestick that created the sanctuary also fell far away and buried in the snow.

With a loud noise, Philrun’s right arm disappeared and he twisted his body and screamed.

His hoarse voice echoed over the snow stained with blood.

“Aaaah! Aaaaaah!”

“Ugh······.”

The smell of blood was spreading clearly with the wind.

If she followed the smell of blood, she could chase after the fleeing ones.

Pluto, who was looking at Philrun screaming, swung her scythe again.

Clang! Clang!

Every time Pluto swung her scythe, cracks appeared on the sturdy cube.

‘Just a little more.’

The cracks widened around the area where the scythe hit.

She felt that the cube would collapse if she swung a little more.

And when the cube broke, the fleeing prey would be chased by Pluto again.

***

“My arm, my arm······!”

In the snowstorm of Alterias forest, Eileen frowned at Philrun who was shrieking.

She didn’t like him from the first time she met him until now.

She was annoyed by his whining against the apostle as a hero, and by his complaining after breaking his divine artifact.

But what made her feel worse was his screaming while running away.

Screaming while running away was a stupid thing to do that was no different from telling the enemy their location.

“Be quiet. The trap has been activated, so we should be fine for a while.”

As much as she had to carry the stupid hero who revealed their location, Eileen set up traps along the way as she ran away.

The traps were designed to trap the enemy with divine power when they approached.

Of course, since they were hastily made, they couldn’t hold them for long, but they could buy some time.

Using the timing of the activation, Eileen tried to gauge the distance between her and the enemy.

“My, my arm······!”

“Really··· I feel like leaving you somewhere and going away.”

While Eileen was racking her brain and planning, Philrun was flailing and screaming mindlessly.

Eileen dragged him along and complained.

There was a limit to the body enhanced by divine power.

And because she had to drag the injured Philrun, Eileen’s speed was slowing down.

It seemed impossible to shake off Pluto who was running at full speed with her mist form.

“Sister··· my arm, my arm hurts······.”

“We’re almost out of the evil god’s sanctuary··· we can’t go on like this.”

The enemy was a vampire who could ignore most of the physical laws in her mist form.

It was hard to gain the upper hand in speed on the snow-covered ground that hindered her movement.

She needed to buy some time properly in this situation.

She had an unused sanctuary proclamation left.

The apostle of the evil god was blindly chasing after them, so she had to take advantage of this and gain a huge benefit.

“I have to suppress her once in the sanctuary and buy some time before I go.”

“Ugh······.”

“If the goddess helps us, we can buy some time to some extent.”

She couldn’t trust the hero, but she could trust the goddess.

She was a priestess who served the god.

If the goddess of order struck a powerful blow, the vampire wouldn’t be able to move properly for a while.

Even if she was an apostle, she didn’t have resistance to divine punishment.

A vampire who was sensitive to divine power would be more affected by divine punishment.

She wanted to widen the distance as much as possible with that time.

“Of all people, the hero who has to buy time is like this··· I’m in this mess too.”

Eileen decided and swung the chain to bury Philrun in the snow.

Thud.

Philrun, who was buried in the snow, screamed and stretched his remaining arm to the sky.

Eileen moved her steps towards him.

“Aah!”

And then she started to sprinkle snow on top of him.

She wanted to bury him with snow.

Philrun’s eyes widened as the snow touched his bleeding wound.

Eileen’s palm also sprinkled snowflakes on Philrun’s face that widened his eyes.

A large snowball rolled down the slope and fell next to Philrun.

Eileen muttered something she wouldn’t have said if she was in the temple as she watched Philrun being buried by snow.

“To be honest, I wish he would just die like this. I wish we could pick another hero if possible.”

“Sister, it hurts, okay? Why are you burying a hurt person in snow······!”

“It seems like you’ll die if your blood explodes again. I’m trying to save you, so be grateful.”

Eileen was sincere.

She saw him explode his blood from afar, and if she faced him up close, he might die.

It would be a big loss for Eileen too if blood splashed on her.

She sincerely buried Philrun and dusted off her reddened palm.

Her palm felt cold because she touched the snow with her bare hand.

“O goddess. Guide me on the way.”

She looked at the snow pile that barely left his breath and recited a short prayer.

She had already prepared a trap to hold the apostle in place for a while.

Now she had to complete the prayer for the proclamation of the sanctuary before the apostle arrived.

Eileen clasped her hands and began to recite the prayer.

She felt a cold sensation from her joined hands.

“——Guide me on the way. Let your lamb find the right path.”

The foundation of divine power was faith and prayer.

To proclaim the great god’s sanctuary, she had to pray beforehand.

This was her preparation for the apostle who was coming to her.

Prayer caught the god’s attention, and faith turned the god’s heart.

Golden light gradually bloomed around Eileen, who appealed to the god.

“——Do not stray from the path even in hard trials.”

Eileen looked ahead with her eyes slightly open as she recited the prayer.

She felt a presence approaching from far away, heading towards where she was.

She saw the apostle who was confronting her.

The apostle, wrapped in black mist, was coming at a speed beyond human.

Pluto was fine even after passing several of Eileen’s traps.

She couldn’t hurt her with traps that were hastily made.

“There you are.”

As the distance got closer, Pluto’s voice became clearer.

The apostle seemed angry at their escape, and ran without calming down.

Eileen’s eyes narrowed as she watched Pluto’s distance.

She was coming straight to where the trap was.

Unlike other traps, this one was made with some effort.

She was confident that she could hold her for a while if she entered the trap.

Enough time for the great goddess to stab divine punishment into the evil apostle.

“You’re already here.”

“······The saint of order.”

Eileen greeted Pluto briefly as she approached and opened her mouth with her hands clasped.

The moment the apostle of the evil god stepped into the range of the sanctuary.

It was the prayer she had prepared for that one moment.

When Pluto entered the range that Eileen had expected, Eileen proclaimed to the creatures on the ground.

She proclaimed the sanctuary of the goddess of order here.

“Sanctuary Proclamation—— Eustia Saint.”

The golden domain spread and everything around it was dyed in gold.

The great domain of light governed by the goddess of order.

The power of the evil god wouldn’t work properly here.

The vampire in front of her had entered deeply in excitement, but the evil god had already proclaimed the sanctuary not long ago.

She needed time to proclaim the sanctuary again.

“You made another sanctuary······?”

Clang.

Pluto’s foot stepped on the trap engraved on the bottom of the sanctuary.

As Pluto’s foot touched the trap, the divine power around it intertwined and created a huge cage.

It was a cage to block the apostle’s movement for a moment.

Pluto was trapped in the middle of the cage that was formed in an instant.

Eileen smiled at Pluto who stepped on the trap.

She only needed a very short time until divine punishment fell.

“There, it’s a trap.”

“Ah······.”

A huge spear of light fell on Pluto’s head in the cage.

The god’s strike that was condensed with immense divine power.

Anyone who was hit by that attack wouldn’t survive.

Pluto tried to block the attack, swinging her divine artifact in her hand.

But the chain of light that came out of the cage predicted Pluto’s movement as well.

“You can’t avoid this, can you?”

“······!”

She needed at least some time to cut off the chain of light.

A huge spear of light pierced Pluto’s head who was restrained by her hand.

It was impossible for the bound apostle to avoid divine punishment.

Kwaaaaaang——!

A huge amount of light burst out in front of Eileen with a roar that shook the heavens and earth.

The wind swirled around the spear that touched the ground, shaking her bangs.

Eileen cheered as she watched the light spread.

“Thank you. Merciful goddess.”

She felt like she heard the apostle’s scream from the vibration in her ears.

Kugugugung.

The trembling earth slowly settled down with the light.

The blinding storm of divine power also gradually subsided with the vibration.

Eileen looked at Pluto’s figure beyond the fading light.

Pluto’s appearance in the cage was greatly different from before.

The red blood streak flowing down her forehead was the first proof of that.

“······This is troublesome.”

Pluto glared at her with fierce eyes, soaked in blood.

The wounded vampire was staggering and bleeding, as if she had lost her strength.

Divine power was almost opposite to the cold energy.

The divine punishment of the goddess, which contained the most intense divine power. The vampire who was hit by it couldn’t be fine.

It wouldn’t be strange if she fainted if she was hit by divine punishment again.

It was a misfortune that happened because she chased after Philrun and herself recklessly.

Eileen looked at Pluto, who smelled of blood, and spoke confidently.

“You should have just let us go.”

“It’s hard to control myself when I’m like this···.”

“What are you saying?”

Eileen doubted her ears at the words that came out of Pluto’s mouth.

Pluto looked like she would collapse at any moment.

But she said it was hard to control herself in this state.

What did she mean by that?

Eileen tilted her head at the incomprehensible words, and Pluto sent her a slanted gaze.

She felt a creepy aura from her red eyes soaked in blood.

“I lose my reason when I bleed too much.”

“You lose your reason···?”

Right after the short question came out of her mouth.

The blood that flowed down Pluto’s head began to coagulate in the air.

It stuck together and formed a crown shape above Pluto’s head.

A thorny crown made of hardened blood.

Pluto’s red eyes stared at Eileen as she wore the crown of blood on her head.

Blood kept pouring out of Pluto’s wound, who wore the crown upside down.

Eileen felt a different and alien atmosphere from her than before.

“I don’t even remember myself well when I’m like this.”

The world was dyed in blood.

In it, she had dark red wings of blood on her back.

A red monster that radiated a sinister light in the blood-red world.

A thick bloodlust spread throughout the space.

The person in front of her was essentially different from a weak human.

She was a king.

She was a royal bloodline that existed to be at the top of everything from birth.

“What, what is this······.”

“I didn’t want to show you this, your highness.”

The thick smell of blood.

The spreading scent of blood.

The snowfield dyed with blood was stuck in Eileen’s mind.

She felt like her stomach would turn over from the endless smell of blood.

Everything she had swallowed for a day was stirring to reflux.

No matter how much she smelled it, she felt like she would never get used to it.

“Ugh, ugh······.”

Then Eileen realized.

For the ancient monster, the evil god’s assistance was nothing more than a nice thing to have.

The apostle in front of her didn’t follow her into the sanctuary because she was lured by excitement.

She followed her because she was there.

She had the confidence to tear and kill the wounded prey with her own hands, breaking through the goddess’s restraint in the sanctuary.