Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 507

“This.”Iris frowned slightly. Lumiel lay before her, having been easily subdued.

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid your intentions cannot be fulfilled, High Priest Lumiel.”

Even after she lost consciousness, Lumiel did not let go of her knife. Iris let out a short sigh.

“Is there anyone outside? Please take the High Priest away.”

“Yes!”

The two priests who had been waiting came in and lifted Lumiel onto their backs. Iris gave them an order.

“Lock her in the innermost chamber. It seems I took her too lightly. Take thorough measures to prevent her from committing suicide, even if it’s just for a little while.”

“Yes, understood!”

As the two priests took Lumiel away, Iris shook her head.

“Should I call her ruthless or foolish?”

She seemed to believe she still had a chance to sacrifice her life for Luce. But she was sorely mistaken.

Because Iris was the one who held the power over her life and death.

‘I can’t just leave her to die so easily.’

Lumiel was an important ‘stage piece’ to be used in forcing the people to submit to Chernion.

At the end of this war, Iris would hang the High Priest of the Luce Church on the gallows.

With Lumiel’s execution, the era of God Luce would come to an end.

Then, if the bodies of Laius and Arendt were found and beheaded, the foolish people of the Holy Empire would come to a painful realization.

‘How heavy is the sin of betraying Lord Chernion?”

And how deep was the resentment that had been cherished for 200 years since the end of the Great War?

How great was the frustration she felt when she opened her eyes again after living her life only to realize that not even the name Chernion remained.

The fingertips that were stroking her long hair stopped moving.

“…Please become the justice of the world, Lord Chernion.”

A quiet prayer flowed from her lips.

“I, and this world, are fully prepared to receive you. Please watch over your children so that they may banish the evil light from the veil of darkness.”

It was God Luce who first started this fight. And it was Luce who was responsible for those countless deaths.

Luce was not qualified to advocate justice.

So, no matter how cruel they had been, they could not put the word evil before Chernion’s name.

‘No one protected by the filthy light deserves to live.’

Strength entered her fingertips resting on the armrest.

‘I must never fail.’

She couldn’t make Lord Chernion wait any longer.

She boasted that she had nothing to lose, but in reality, she had many concerns.

Under Arendt’s influence, the public began to feel aversion to the very existence of God.

The unbelievers who were gradually increasing in power had to be dealt with all at once.

If not, and she had to repeat her life again…

She thought that when she opened her eyes again… perhaps a world had arrived where not only Lord Chernion, but also God Himself was denied.

“Ugh!”

An attack from an unexpected direction struck Arendt head-on.

He managed to block the attack, but he couldn’t help but get thrown back because he wasn’t prepared.

“Hey!”

Arthur, who happened to witness it, leapt forward and caught him.

Arendt, who barely managed to land with Arthur’s help, staggered to his feet.

“You crazy bastard, now retreat to the rear!”

“No, …”

Before Arendt could respond properly, blood gushed from his mouth.

Arthur helped him up again as he staggered, his legs giving out.

“Hey, hey!”

Arendt barely managed to stop coughing and wiped the blood with the back of his hand.

“I refuse. Is this the right time to say something like that?”

“Ah, seriously! Look at you before lecturing me!”

“My words are merely a reflection. Where did you crawl out from, a garbage heap or something? What’s with that appearance?”

Arthur snapped, but of course, all he got in return was a cheeky reply.

But there wasn’t much time to argue.

“Die!”

The priest who had attacked them by surprise swung his sword at them.

!

Arthur’s sword shot out just in time, deflecting the attack. In the instant the enemy hesitated, Arendt stepped forward and cut the priest down.

In an instant, the enemy, frozen white, could not overcome the cold and shattered into pieces, scattering into the air.

“I’m so busy, let’s argue later.”

“Okay, you damn bastard. If you get seriously hurt, I won’t leave you alone.”

“That’s what I should say.”

After exchanging words that were either encouragement or curses, they kicked the ground to return to their respective places.

“Are you okay?”

“Somewhat.”

Arendt gave a short answer to Laius’ question.

Still, it seemed the previous attacks hadn’t been in vain, as frost-covered scars remained all over the homunculus’ upper body. The spot where Laius’ Holy Sword had touched it was also engraved with a large sword wound.

But Arendt and Laius had also sustained more injuries.

Although Laius’ wounds were steadily healing with the power of the Holy Sword, the healing rate was slowly slowing down.

It meant that Laius’ stamina was also gradually decreasing.

‘Things aren’t going well.’

Arendt checked the situation while holding his sword.

Those who were blocking the ghouls while the Chernion priests were giving it their all, and those who were dealing with the other two homunculi were also having a hard time.

As he listened to the occasional screams, it seemed that casualties were also increasing in number.

‘Wake up.’

For now, what was important to him was stopping the enemy in front of him.

Arendt ignored the pain throughout his body and focused on the homunculus.

‘If I had to pick out this guy’s weaknesses… Upper body, and maybe its back.’

Of course, unlike other homunculi, this homunculus was able to easily block attacks coming from blind spots of its vision, perhaps thanks to its divine power.

However, as it relied heavily on sight for its senses, it appeared to be somewhat insensitive to attacks coming from behind.

And perhaps maintaining the form of God Chernion required a tremendous amount of energy, or maybe it was because Jiklin’s death had made proper homunculus creation impossible…

‘Its regenerative power is weaker than the others.’

The lower body, thrashing about wildly in monstrous form, was relatively fine. But the upper body still bore scars from ordinary fire arrows.

The same was true for the homunculi that Diana and Zakar were in charge of.

The sword wounds left by the two left scars on the god’s body.

Although the wound seemed to be healing slowly, it was clear that it was not regenerating as quickly as the others.

‘Then there is only one way to deal with it.’

Arendt easily dodged the attack that flew at him. After kicking off the ground, he charged furiously at the homunculus.

A surprised Laius cried out.

“Arendt!”

“We have to finish this as quickly as possible. This bastard’s recovery is slow!”

Arendt’s answer seemed to awaken Laius. Just as he was about to join in, Laius noticed the attack coming at him and twisted his body.

!

Laius twisted his sword and changed the direction in which the tendril was flying.

A massive tendril crashed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Almost simultaneously, another attack struck Laius. Laius leaped, using the tendril as a foothold.

The second tendril stuck into the ground, and Laius was launched into the air.

Laius, holding the Holy Sword with both hands, swung it down sharply.

A pure white divine power swept down a clean, straight line along the sword’s path. The black tendrils extending from it were cut in two with a single stroke.

Meanwhile, Arendt moved behind the homunculus.

“Cough, cough!”

A chill seeped deep into his bones, stabbing his lungs. But Arendt, accustomed to it, ignored it. He activated the Frosty Touch, and his sword froze white.

The homunculus, recognizing Arendt, turned its head. Simultaneously, the attacks previously focused on Laius began to turn toward Arendt.

A tendril that grazed him left a large scar on Arendt’s shoulder.

His uniform tore and blood began to seep from the wound, but Arendt did not stop moving.

Arendt leapt and landed lightly on the tendril before it was retracted.

Wherever his footsteps landed, pure white frost settled.

He charged full speed at the homunculus’s upper body, which was slowly turning to face him.

An attack emerged from its shoulder, aiming at Arendt again. But…

An arrow flew in at that moment and hit the target, shattering the black tendril into pieces.

Arendt leapt once more, bringing his frost-covered sword down in a massive strike.

“…!”

A massive scar, clinging with frost, remained on its beautiful face. The homunculus, seemingly startled, tried to cover its face with its hand.

“God my ass.”

One of the homunculus’ eyes had completely frozen over.

The white frost clinging to the black face looked just like the mask worn by the members of the Sword of the Broken Heart.

Arendt landed lightly on the floor with a bitter smile.

“It’s just a giant pervert mask.”

The priest within the barrier gawked in shock.

“What the hell is he…”

Those who watched his acrobatic movements were left speechless.

Arendt’s brilliant strike also gave others an epiphany.

Diana and Zakar, who were busy blocking the homunculus’ attack, paused for a moment.

“…!”

Others also realized the method of attack.

“Divide into two squads and move!”

Diana commanded. Zakar also shouted.

“The nimble ones, focus on distracting the enemy! Keep up relentless attacks! Don’t give it a chance to recover!”

Arendt, who had seen them spring into action, turned his attention back to the enemy.

“Hey, where do you think its core is? In the heart?”

“Surprisingly, it could be the lower body. That’s where recovery is fastest, and its reactions are also more sensitive.”

In his experience, when in doubt, there was only one answer.

To put it more bluntly, it was about striking every part of its body until they got the right answer.