Chapter 270: 142. A Protective Shield -3 (Part Two)

Translated by A Passing Wanderer

Edited by RED

**

Mist Calf’s heart was pounding away madly inside his chest.

‘Why is this?’

It hurriedly shifted its remaining eye to chase after the female Paladin’s figure.

She was moving incredibly fast. The mud giant’s mud spikes continued to chase after her, but every time they got near, she agilely dodged them and closed the distance to her target.

‘Why?!’

The mud giant clenched its fist. It grit its teeth, then punched with all of its power at Charlotte, who had managed to get near its foot down below.

‘Why aren’t my attacks working on you?!’

It dumped a massive amount of demonic energy into its attack. A dense aura enveloped the fist seemingly made out of nothing but granite.

{Search for the optimal time.}

Charlotte recalled Oscal’s teachings once more.

{The best timing for deflecting your opponent’s strike.}

Her crimson eyes seemed to gleam brightly just then.

The humongous fist descended on her position. It contained the power of demonic energy.

{It will work even against a regular attack. However, if you’re going up against demonic energy, then the effect will be doubled.}

She recalled the technique that would completely neutralise the opponent’s attack, while she herself didn’t suffer from the resulting impact.

She raised her shield, then controlled her breathing.

Just before the giant’s fist reached her, just as the demonic energy within it wavered…

Right at that exact moment, she injected divinity into the visible gaps in the fist and demonic energy, then swung her shield confidently.

The barrier of divinity wrapped around the shield expanded, then smoothly slipped into the narrow gap between the fist and the flow of demonic energy.

For a moment there, Mist Calf’s fist seemed to be mere inches from hitting her, yet the air suddenly expanded and the giant’s hand was flung away as if it had been swept up in an explosion.

-…!- The area around Mist Calf’s eye twitched uncontrollably.

It couldn’t afford to let this continue. Otherwise, it’d be defeated for sure!

Trying to hit this female with a frontal attack wasn’t working. Something in the air was continuously deflecting the giant’s attacks away.

In that case, there was one other method to try: not going with direct attacks in the first place!

The mud giant clenched its fist, then pounded the ground. Charlotte flinched in surprise and hurriedly stepped back.

Stone debris shot up and landed everywhere, forcing her to agilely dodge them or to cut them down with her greatsword made out of divinity.

Mist Calf grinned after seeing that. It had finally figured out a way to attack her, and now it was time to counterattack!

No need to contemplate what kind of an attack, either. The mud giant curled its thick fingers and raised up its huge fists overhead… but the golden-coloured chains shot up to hinder its movements whenever it tried to do that.

However, this was nothing more than some lukewarm sealing attempt, that was all. The spellcaster wasn’t even trying to completely seal the giant’s movements, but did just enough to hinder its movements.

No doubt they were scheming to kill it right here.

‘Oh, you foolish little humans!’

Mist Calf was the masterpiece of the king of the giants!

Did they really think that such a being would fall to not some gods, but to some puny humans?!

The mud giant forcibly ripped and tore the golden chains of light apart. Its movements were dulled. Various projectiles from siege weapons continued to fly in and damage the giant, but the creature ignored them all.

The muscles of mud forming its thick arms began ballooning up. Demonic energy encased its clenched fists and whipped about in the air violently.

The creature sucked in a deep breath, and sent all of its strength to its fists.

Mist Calf smirked viciously. -…Die, you puny humans!- and slammed them down with all its might.

Fists burning up in black flames combined into one and came crashing down in the ground below.

This one attack would split the terrain apart, make the rocks shoot out and completely wipe out every human standing nearby. The mud giant was certain of this.

Charlotte flinched in shock and looked up. She discovered ‘something’ up there in the sky and grit her teeth.

‘His Highness has prepared that attack.’

She couldn’t afford to waste something that important.

There were countless soldiers in the vicinity. If Mist Calf was allowed to go through with its attack, then every single person in this place would be killed off.

His Highness had stepped up to the plate so that he could save all these people. Not to mention, they had all been prior recipients of his acts of benevolence, too.

Protecting the subjects by fighting together with His Highness…

“…That is the role of a protector!”

Charlotte raised her head and glared at the Mist Calf’s two fists coming down.

‘Peer through the flow of demonic energy.’

It was swirling madly at a crazy pace. She couldn’t see any gaps there.

No, wait. She simply had to find the opening.

She swore to find it no matter what.

‘Heighten my senses even further.’

It felt like the blood coursing through her entire body was boiling.

Her sharp vision pierced straight through the flowing demonic energy. All traces of agitation in her sharp glare instantly vanished.

Concentrate. Focus. Focus!

Find the gap within the demonic energy, swirling and spitting as violently as a typhoon!

‘…I see it!’

Charlotte stepped back and balanced herself. She lowered her posture, gripped her shield hard and brought it closer.

‘Right there, in that gap…’

She wrapped the wall of divinity around her shield.

‘…I will break through!’

She swung her shield with all her strength.

The condensed wall of divinity dug deep into the gap she had found within the flow of demonic energy.

The ‘wall’ began expanding in the middle of the swirling, spinning demonic energy, causing it to get jumbled up with divinity, and when that happened…

KA-BOOM-!

The two opposing powers expanded until they exploded.

Mist Calf’s clenched fists tore apart and were shoved away. Its sturdy fingers made of hardened stone shattered into bits, and mud underneath rained down everywhere.

-Bloody hell…?!-

Mist Calf’s huge body staggered unsteadily as its remaining eye opened wider. It tried hard to regain its balance, slamming both its two feet on the ground.

It left far too big of a gap open just now. A truly powerful counterattack from the female Paladin would be coming its way quickly. It had to get ready to defend against…!

“This is the end of the road for you.”

Mist Calf flinched in surprise, and hurriedly raised its head up at the sky.

That’s where it discovered a sword made of solid light floating high up there. This sword, seemingly dozens of metres long, radiated divinity as it silently hovered in the air.

Allen stated while taking Amon’s skull off, “Heavenly Sword.”

The Sword of Heaven’s Will, an attack that could only be created through the prayers of countless Priests!

While taking in that weapon’s appearance, Mist Calf’s eye began quaking uncontrollably.

“With this strike, you will sleep for all eternity, you bastard.”

The sword of light floating in the sky tilted, then began falling straight down toward the ground below.

It cleaved right through the storm-like winds and descended towards Mist Calf’s head.

-I, I must block it!- Mist Calf screamed loudly, and tried to cross its arms in the air towards the sky, but its lone eye nearly popped out of its socket.

Its hands had already been obliterated to bits earlier. Its protection of hard stone was gone now, only soft mud below dripping down.

-…Ah.-

Just as Mist Calf shifted its eye of stone back to the Heavenly Sword, the blade of light reached the mud giant’s forehead and sank in.

It broke through the surface, then impaled straight into its forehead, its slack mouth, and down its throat to completely cleave the giant’s torso.

Violent spasms broke out on Mist Calf’s face.

-Ah, aaaaaaaahk?!-

The aura of divinity rapidly spread out.

-I, I am…!-

Mist Calf’s eye of stone slowly rolled back and its whole body suddenly went limp. Eventually, the huge figure began breaking down.

All the hard stone wrapped around its body began tumbling down. As if its hide and muscles were melting down, the mud oozed and flooded out next.

“Everyone, get out of here!”

Mud tumbling down like a flash flood forced the nearby convicts to hurriedly flee.

Charlotte quickly created some distance by quickly darting back.

Once they got to a safe distance, the convicts stared at the dead Mist Calf with wide eyes. A brave one among them stabbed his spear into the liquid mud below.

There was no reaction.

The giant couldn’t be recognised anymore. The only remaining trace left of it was its cloven head, left behind on the mud’s surface like some kind of a grotesque statue.

It really had died.

“…The Jötunn is dead.”

They had snatched victory away from a titan only seen in legends!

This wasn’t just some vampire hunt, but as it turned out, they actually took part in the creation of a new heroic tale for all the ages!

“We, we….!”

“We won!”

All the convict soldiers roared out in elation.

“Fuu-woo…” Alice leaned against the Theocratic Empire’s symbol as if all strength had left her by now. Hans approached her to hand over some healing medicine.

Harman and Shuppel plopped down on the ground to chuckle away in disbelief and happiness, while Count Jenald commanded the convict soldiers to drive away the undead still trying to approach the army.

“Ha, haha…”

Allen looked around him.

He spotted Charlotte nearby, plopped on the ground as if all strength had left her legs now. The greatsword made out of divinity had dissipated and returned to being her normal divine sword. Even the white robe was gone now.

The sacred divinity enveloping her gradually disappeared, but Charlotte still was smiling away faintly.

‘Hang on, she’s still feeling fine?’

If it was Allen, he’d had blacked out by now.

What a superhuman level of mental power that was. But what a good timing it was, too, since he also felt pretty exhausted, as well.

Allen walked up to her and settled down before leaning his back against hers. “Hey. You did real good today.”

Charlotte flinched a little and clamped her mouth shut.

“The soldiers are alive all thanks to your hard work. That’s me included, too,” said Allen while extracting a bottle of holy water from the item window. He pushed it towards her. “Drink. I’m sure you’re feeling dizzy right about now. Looks like you’re in the divinity depletion state. Drinking this and replenishing some of your divinity will alleviate your symptoms a bit.”

Charlotte hid her face and received the bottle containing holy water. For a while there, a bout of silence filled up the space between them.

As the soldiers continued to cheer in elation, Charlotte quietly whispered to him, “Was I… a help to you, Your Highness?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m alive, all thanks to you.”

“…”

Allen raised his head and stared at the sky above.

The crimson moon was obscured by the dark clouds, making their surroundings even darker.

He felt her trembling. He couldn’t tell whether it was a result of her smile or her tears, but one thing was for certain…

“Let’s go home.”

…Now was the time to get some much-deserved rest.

**

Kelt found himself in a strange space.

A bright light wavered in front of his eyes. It felt like a gentle breeze was brushing past him. He wasn’t restricted by the laws of gravity, either.

It was like he was floating in the air. As for that bright light, it gave off a truly sacred feeling.

How fantastic would it be if he could reach out and touch the light with his hand?

When he thought like that and reached out, Kelt was roused from his sleep.

“Your Majesty?”

He heard Cardinal Raphael’s voice coming from his right side.

Kelt had been subconsciously reaching out with his hand. He realised that he was still inside the Imperial Palace, and smiled wryly.

He muttered quietly, “It seems that I fell asleep again.”

He looked over to Raphael and smiled benevolently, but only a worried expression could be seen on Raphael’s face. That wasn’t surprising, considering that he probably knew what was going on here.

Honestly speaking, Kelt was planning to stick around for another ten, maybe twenty years more in this role, but it seemed that the time for his retirement was rapidly approaching.

‘Retirement, is it… Spending the remainder of my life in some quiet little village doesn’t sound so bad. Should I go on a trip to Aihrance in that case, then?’

He rubbed his chin while staring out through the room’s large window.

Warm rays of sunlight could be seen basking the world outside. What feel-good weather this was. How wonderful would it be to abdicate the throne on such a beautiful day?

“H-hmm.”

Kelt shifted his gaze to his left.

That’s where Oscal the Sword King could be seen peering at the parchment still gripped in Kelt’s hand.

“…Ah, I see. How absent-minded of me. I’ve forgotten about this thing.”

Kelt unfurled the parchment, which happened to be a communique sent by the Seventh Imperial Prince, Allen.

As for its contents…

“…To nurture five thousand Priests? And for a period of a year, too?”

Oscal the Sword King froze up, while Raphael cleared his throat loudly.

Kelt blinked, before letting out a wry chuckle or two. “Rather than rooting out all the vampire menace, it seems like that boy is planning to conquer the rest of the continent, instead!”

“…Please don’t jest about such matters, Your Highness,” Raphael retorted sourly.

The cardinal knew almost better than anyone that the people of the Imperial Family were not quite right in their heads. If they decided that conquering the continent indeed sounded nice, then without a doubt, they would foster a huge-scale army and have a go at it later!

“I’m jesting? Well, indeed. It should be near impossible with only five thousand troops. Besides, only a year of training, too!”

Still, they were talking about a maximum of five thousand Priests. The implication here was that it was possible to nurture a powerful divine army reaching that number in only one year.

The evidence of that would be the convicts of Ronia.

Some story about an insurrection or whatever came out from that, but Kelt just laughed that notion out of the room. Why would his dear grandson start a rebellion in the first place, anyway? No, it’d be the exact opposite of that.

Kelt even entertained the notion of the boy sensing the incoming danger to the Theocratic Empire early on and coming to a decision a long time ago to prepare a secure footing to mount a counterattack.

Ronia would be the result of that preparation. Such a result was more than sufficient for Kelt to make his own decision.

The corners of his lips curled up. “If this project succeeds, then those damn vampires will never think of invading us ever again.”

“…”

“My grandson is planning to return in a month’s time. Prepare to welcome him home.”

Kelt got up from his throne and casually extended his hand towards the window where the rays of sun seeped in. The warmth of the sunlight buoyed his mood.

“Also,” He turned his head over to Raphael and Oscal. “We shall proceed with the enthronement ceremony of the Holy King.”

A gentle smile floated up on Kelt’s lips.

“He shall be installed as the number one successor candidate to the throne of the Holy Emperor.”

< 142. A Protective Shield -3 (Part One and Two) > Fin.

(TL: My bad for being late. I thought I did schedule the chapter release yesterday…)

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