Chapter 269: 142. A Protective Shield -3 (Part One)

Translated by A Passing Wanderer

Edited by RED

**

A long time ago, Charlotte heard a story from Oscal the Sword King.

He had told her, “Humans cannot win against a giant.”

A giant?

Charlotte looked over at him.

It was currently late at night, somewhere in a rural village in Humite’s vicinity.

Oscal, having acknowledged her for the first time earlier in the day, was setting up the firewood. It was around the time that he had begun teaching her her first swordsmanship technique.

He turned his head to Charlotte and continued on from where he left off, “That’s right. A long time ago, I had an opportunity to fight the Necromancer King. Back then, I had to fight off countless monsters, as well as the king of all undead he had summoned.”

The king of all undead boasting a gigantic body a dozen-plus metres tall. It possessed four bone hands and swung around a massive sword with them.

Oscal had experienced several very close brushes with death at this creature’s incredible power.

“I couldn’t win.” And also… “But I didn’t lose, either.”

Oscal’s mission was to carve open a path so that Kelt Olfolse could fight against the Necromancer King. In order to fulfil the imperial decree given to him, he stepped forward to defend against all the attacks of the king of the undead.

That creature not only boasted a humongous body, but its strength also surpassed a human’s by an incalculable margin as well. No matter how much Oscal reinforced himself with divine strength, he just couldn’t compare to that creature’s overwhelming combat power.

Humans were inherently weak. However, they still hunted monsters down.

“Even then, we of the Imperial Family still confront these frightening monsters and emerge victorious in the most overwhelming manner. Do you know why that is the case?”

The reason why the Imperial Family was able to defeat both the Necromancer King and the vampires was…

“The diametrically opposed natures of divinity and demonic energy.”

A powerful explosion would go off when divinity and demonic energy collided against each other.

“If you use that,” Oscal locked his gaze on Charlotte and finished explaining, “You can offset any attack coming your way.”

**

The moonlight had been dyed in a crimson hue by the overflowing demonic energy.

A bone-chillingly cold current dominated the atmosphere, and as the night deepened, yet another day drew to a close.

And so, the date became the twenty-fifth, the date where the Tide of Death awakened by the demonic energy would rouse itself.

Thick fog spread out all over the ground. The entire continent was about to get blanketed by demonic energy, and every undead would become stronger from it.

This also applied to Mist Calf, who possessed demonic energy, as well.

However…

-Why? Why is this?-

Even though the mud giant was in the centre of the Tide of Death itself, the creature could not use its full power. The chains emitting a sacred golden aura had confined it, stolen away its freedom and dulled its movements.

All this happened only a few minutes ago.

It was like the force of gravity applied to the mud giant had been increased dozens of times. Its body felt incredibly heavy.

Mist Calf grew terrified at this phenomenon, which was outside its scope of understanding.

But what it feared the most was something else. It was the existence radiating the gentle light within this world dyed in the crimson hue!

She was merely a small Paladin.

Even though she had been flung aside from the mud giant’s attack earlier, she now stood in front of the human wearing the mountain goat’s skull, all alive and well.

That female should be less significant than an insect, yet…

‘Why? How come…? Why do you possess such an aura?!’

Charlotte lowered her gaze and stared at the armaments in her current possession – the metal armour she wore, and the duo of shield and sword.

Every single one of them was engraved with the Aztal Rune, and she was even ‘wearing’ a robe manifested through nothing but pure divinity.

A truly expansive amount of divinity was ‘maintaining’ her body right now.

At first, the inside of her head was in a daze. But memories gradually came back to her, and she realised what must be done right now.

She glared at Mist Calf, currently tied down by the golden-coloured chains.

‘I must stop that thing!’

Stopping the mud giant before her eyes, and protecting the others around her. Those were the duties she must carry out!

She kicked the ground hard. Her figure shot forward like a bullet, and a loud sonic boom belatedly exploded in the air behind her.

Mist Calf felt threatened as Charlotte rapidly closed the distance.

-A pathetic little sealing attempt like this…!-

The mud giant’s arms creaked noisily. Smoke poured out from the gaps of the golden chains of light.

It tried to forcibly extricate itself, causing various injuries to appear on its body. However, it could still rip these chains off if it really tried.

Eventually, the chains were ripped apart. Cracks formed on the rocky skin of the giant’s body, but their hardness didn’t seem to have changed.

Now that it had regained its freedom, Mist Calf shot a glare at Charlotte next.

She leapt up in the air, and the mud giant grinned in a sinister manner.

No matter what happened, a human was still no better than an insect. Just one swipe with the giant’s hand, and she’d be squashed flat.

Mist Calf opened its palm wide. -Die as a mere smudge, human!-

The mud giant even leapt off the ground and used the momentum from the rotation of its waist to take a mighty swing with its hand.

Charlotte watching that scene recalled what Oscal had told her back then.

{Divinity and demonic energy possess natures diametrically opposed to each other. However, it might be too much for you.}

Divinity permeated her shield. The Aztal Rune greatly amplified the divine energy, and a pure white aura enveloped the shield next.

‘If I use that principle to my advantage…’

{That technique is dependent on how powerful one’s divinity is. If you do possess divinity strong enough for it, then, well…}

The giant’s palm scythed through the air. It was like watching a humongous boulder falling right on top of her, and it was just as scary to behold.

‘But, I can block this!’

{You should be able to block it, that’s for sure.}

Charlotte swung her shield in mid-air.

A wall containing divinity immediately flared in front of Mist Calf, and collided with the mud giant’s palm.

And then, the giant was bounced back.

-…?!- Mist Calf’s glare automatically shifted to its own hand.

It even felt numb, too

Even before its palm could reach the airborne girl, it had smashed into something in the air and bounced away.

‘What was that…?’

Mist Calf’s incredulous gaze then shifted back to its front, where Charlotte was still present. Sharp light shot out from her eyes as her robe flapped grandly in the wind.

{Your sword has become one with divinity.}

She gripped the divine sword tightly.

{You must reach the heights where you can freely wield that. Once that becomes possible for you, then, child…}

Divinity sizzled within her greatsword.

{You have earned the right to be called as the next Sword King.}

Her greatsword was swung diagonally upwards.

A sword light purely made out of divinity exploded forth from the swing. It was different from the blade of wind Kasim Derian fired off by relying on his Divine Aura.

This strike consisted purely of divine power, and nothing else.

Mist Calf flinched grandly in shock and crossed its arms in front of himself while stumbling back.

The sword light and the back of the mud giant’s arms collided to create an almighty explosion.

-…-

Mist Calf’s brows shot up high. The armour of stone covering its arms was breaking apart into pieces!

-What are you, human?! Just what are you…?!-

“Everyone, commence firing!”

A voice came from somewhere below. Mist Calf immediately lowered its lone eye.

That voice had come from the one wearing the mountain goat’s skull that had been standing near the female Paladin.

The mud giant urgently shifted its gaze again.

One word from the skull-wearing man, and countless ballista bolts and boulders came flying in from seemingly everywhere.

‘Those measly siege weapon projectiles, they won’t even leave a scratch on my bedrock, so I…’

Crunch-!

A ballista bolt impaled itself into Mist Calf’s chest, while boulders flew in at a frightening rate.

**

(TL: In 1st person POV.)

I was giving it my all.

The damage to Charlotte’s body was far too extensive to bring her back to life, so I chose to use the Aztal Rune to repair her wounded body at the same time.

While sealing Mist Calf’s movements, I also simultaneously applied the Grim Reaper Transformation skill to Charlotte.

All these phenomena happened because I was obsessively trying to save her life. The resulting power proved to be quite considerable.

I watched Charlotte. She deflected the mud giant’s attack, and struck with her sword light to shatter the lithic armor on its arms.

The power she exhibited far surpassed Nasus’s back in Aslan.

The Aztal Rune amplified her divinity and reinforced her physical body, and it even transferred the Divine Aura’s ability to her. The Grim Reaper Transformation was thrown into the mix, too, and it all resulted in her displaying an absurd level of combat power right now.

“…Oh, and not to forget, there’s Alice’s Resonance, too.” I turned my head as Alice’s hymn continued to enter my ears.

‘Whatever the case might have been, she’s one tough girl, alright.’

Charlotte was strong to begin with, yet I had managed to even further awaken her, turning her into an existence that far surpassed the limits of a human being.

‘By the way, the Aztal Rune’s divinity consumption right now is no bloody joke.’

Although I was mostly focused on Charlotte, I had also transferred some of the rune’s powers to a small number of the siege weapons of the regiment, as well.

I upgraded and strengthened their siege weapons. Their overall firepower might be nothing to write home about, but I figured that they should still threaten the giant at least a little bit.

I now had two things to do here.

One, strengthen the sealing and restrict its movements.

And two…

“Wrap this event up in one strike.”

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