༺ Religious Fanatics (5) ༻
The earth embraces everything and forms our homeland. Our God is the earth, the parent of all creation. How could one express its grace and majesty with words?
How could the scorching sun, who only ever looked down from above, ever be called the parent overseeing it all? Only our God, Rahandar, is the true god.
This continent doesn’t need the dawn when the sun rises. Once the sun sets and the twilight covers the continent, the true God will reign once again.
“It’s a pity that we won’t be there.”
As the cult leader, this was something that I shouldn’t say in a place where all the members of the Cult were present. But what could I do? It was cruel, but that’s the reality.
Despite our sincere and devout faith, our God’s period of silence grew longer each day. Although each of our faiths was comparable to hundreds of others, it was like a speck of dust compared to the entire continent.
And the cunning followers of the sun didn’t hesitate to erase us. No matter how much we spread our true faith across the continent, the Dawn Sect covered our teachings. They truly deserve divine punishment.
“We’ve inherited the sacrifices of our ancestors. Now, it’s our turn.”
In the middle of the silence, the elder spoke with a smile. Yes, this was also a teaching from our ancestors. They gave up on seeing our God reign in their time and passed on that glory to the next generation. Now, it was our turn to step back for the future.
The Dawn Sect was getting stronger with each passing day, while we kept declining. Now, we’ve reached our limit. We had a glimmer of hope when we succeeded in the great mission three years ago, but it was not enough to turn the tide.
“We will engrave our name on the continent.”
If we remained passive, we would silently drown. If so, then we would become a splendid flame. A flame so splendid that they wouldn’t be able to cover our martyrdom.
That’s why we decided to focus all our efforts on targeting the next Saint of the Dawn Sect. Our chances of success? It was hard to say that it was high. But if we just wait until the odds are in our favor, then we would fall first. Even if the odds were low, it was time to risk it all.
Even if we fail, targeting the next Saint’s life at the heart of the continent’s strongest country was an undeniably huge event. Our name would echo throughout the continent, and some would sympathize with our ideals.
If that happens, then it was a success. Even if we die, our will shall continue on to the next generation.
But… What was up with this situation?
“Great Silver Coin! Great Silver Coin!”
“Hand over your neck! Hand it over before you die!”
‘Have they lost their minds?’
I know that they call us fanatics. In that case, shouldn’t they have avoided using these madmen? It seemed like the Dawn Sect wasn’t doing well enough that they had to use people indistinguishable from the enemy.
For a moment, I even thought that maybe we might have seen the collapse of the Dawn Sect if we had endured a bit longer. That’s how chilling the madness of these people was.
“The one with the brown robe is the leader!”
“Ha.”
I laughed in disbelief. At some point, the blessing our God bestowed upon us didn’t properly manifest. We were prepared for this outcome from the moment the existence of the next Saint candidate came to light. Besides, we had been planning a frontal confrontation since the beginning.
However, the combination of the barrier they placed around us, the mana freeze that made our magic scrolls ineffective, and the oppressive feeling of an invisible hand weighing us down left us reeling.
‘They really are despicable.’
To think they’d use such a cheap and dirty technique to tie their opponent down.
I cut down one of the soldiers who was rushing at me like a madman.
It might be bothersome, but such hardships won’t stop us. The experience we gained throughout the years made us strong. After all, we wouldn’t have survived if we were weak.
At least these guys would accompany us on our journey to the afterlife. I’m going to kill as many of them as possible.
‘What the…?’
However, something unexpected happened.
A faint green light spread from the distance and covered the ground, spreading past where I was.
“Agh!”
I quickly turned around when I heard the scream of one of my allies. They were being stabbed by one of Enen’s soldiers, who had collapsed before.
‘He got up?’
Though I couldn’t kill him with a single strike because of his thick armor, it should have been enough to immobilize him. But he got up again?
As I looked around, it wasn’t just one of them. The heretics that had fallen started to get up one by one.
“The Great Silver Coin is moving!”
“What in the world…?”
The loud shout of the guy who had been groaning in pain just a moment ago made my head spin. Did the bastards from the Dawn Sect dabble in some shady arts?
But these vile beings didn’t even give me time to wonder about it.
“Leader!”
As I regained my senses at the elder’s shout, a silver orb quickly flew from the direction where the green light came from. What’s that?
I don’t know what that is, but it doesn’t seem like it will end well if it hits me. That’s what my instinct told me.
‘Damn it.’
Anomalous phenomena that weren’t in our records poured down on us.
“Are you the leader?!”
A man with exceptionally fiery eyes charged toward me.
“Receive my resentment for taking away my promotion!”
Damn it, there’s another strange bastard.
* * *
The forces that had protected Tannian from the Academy and the Masked Unit were in the temporary headquarters.
‘What a dirty way to play.’
In a place where only a minimal number of people were left, I couldn’t help but praise Tannian. Wasn’t he too overpowered? I’m glad that he’s an ally and not the enemy.
“TheLordSaidOLambWhereAreYouGoingIAmWatchingOverYouEverywhereSoWhatAreYouAfraidOf.ThenHeRepliedLordPleaseGiveYourLoyalServantTheCourageToConfrontYourEnemies.PleaseGrantMeBravery…”
As I glanced to the side, I saw Tannian kneeling on the ground while spitting out prayers like a machine gun. It was even kind of scary.
Still, he said that he needed to chant an appropriate prayer to activate the Holy Spell. Actually, there’s no need to speak that quickly, but Tannian was pouring out holy spells without any cooldown time.
‘Poor them.’
I used to want to tear the Twilight Cult to shreds, but I feel sorry for them now. From what I heard, the Twilight Cult members weren’t weak. Both the Holy Knights and the Imperial Army had suffered casualties.
But Tannian was now serving as a wide area recovery panel. As long as it wasn’t instant death, the soldiers could quickly recover and crush the Twilight Cult members again. He was even intermittently throwing some weird, translucent orbs.
“The Saint mustn’t intervene in human conflicts.”
I remembered Tannian’s words just before the operation began. Indeed, it would be dreadful if a Saint intervened in a war. A supporter with a map hack that clearly pinpoints the enemy’s location and has a panel that allows soldiers to keep battling as long as they haven’t suffered instant death? Just thinking about it was scary.
To make things worse, that same supporter could deal significant damage using long-range attacks.
‘Just what in the world is a Saint?’
I thought he could only do a map hack. Who knew he would be able to do such impressive surprise spells?
“Isn’t the trouble with the Twilight Cult also a human conflict?”
“Haha, it’s okay.”
A saint shouldn’t intervene in conflicts between humans. In fact, the last time a saint was on the front lines was a long time ago, when they’d exterminated the undead.
Unlike the previous case, Tannian was striking down the Twilight Cult with all his might. That’s why I couldn’t help but ask.
“The members of the Twilight Cult aren’t human, so it’s okay to interfere.”
“…Ah, I see.”
That’s what he said.
Yes, the heretics aren’t human, so it’s okay for a saint to kill them himself.
That’s how I decided to think from today on.
“That’s amazing.”
“Ah, Your Grace.”
The Mage Duchess, who had nothing to do thanks to Tannian, approached me while making a small exclamation. Normally, she would’ve been using her mana to use explosion magic by now.
Still, the reason why the Twilight Cult couldn’t escape despite being one-sidedly attacked was all thanks to the Mage Duchess. She’d fulfilled her role very well.
“There aren’t many records about the Saint. The last time one participated in a war was about 800 years ago.”
“You mean during the war against the Death King?”
Having nothing to do and probably bored, the Mage Duchess kept talking.
The Death King, or the King of the Undead, was once a major nuisance of the continent. However, he got beaten up badly by the Saint of that time and, through that, achieved nirvana. There’s been no record of a Saint directly fighting since then, so no one expected a saint candidate to fight this well.
“If the Saint can intervene in wars against humans, we might need to redraw the borders.”
I unconsciously nodded at those words. A single superhuman might not be able to overcome a group, but if that superhuman could empower an entire army, then that was a different story.
Shortly after, a mix of brown and black light erupted from the battlefield, followed by silence.
“It’s over.”
Tannian stood up with a satisfied expression. At the same time, my communication crystal lit up. As expected, having a map hack is scary. He got up on his own as everyone died.
“It’s the Prosecutor’s Executive Manager.”
— This is Senior Commander Francis Neville. 24 out of 32 were killed, and 8 were captured. The cult leader was also subdued successfully.
It was a perfect victory.
24 people were killed and 8 people, including the cult leader, were captured. Although there was an expense of 43 great silver coins, I still had a lot left from the 10 gold coins given by the Crown Prince, which was reassuring.
“Good job.”
“I just did what I had to do.”
And the hero who captured the cult leader was the former army commander. Having caught his life’s nemesis made him look relieved. Congratulations, you’ve fulfilled your bucket list.
I handed over the coins I promised. No matter how disgracefully he retired, he once had a formidable position. The reward of five great silver coins wasn’t something he’d rejoice over. It probably felt more like a commemorative medal to him.
“Brother.”
As the former army commander walked back towards the other Holy Knights without regrets, Tannian discreetly approached me. His expression was just as gentle.
“Thank you for accommodating my difficult request.”
Seeing him bow made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
“Don’t do that. The Holy Knights will make a scene if they see it.”
“There’s nothing wrong with expressing gratitude as a human being.”
He was good at picking words that were hard to refute.
“If anything happens because of today’s event, I’ll defend you to the best of my ability.”
“Okay, thanks.”
I nodded in gratitude. There might be some backlash, but it will probably pass without much happening. I had previously coordinated with the two Ministers, after all.
Still, knowing that I could use the next Saint as a shield in case of an emergency gave me some peace of mind.
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