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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Ruby
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Debris from broken walls was scattered everywhere.
Crash—crash, crash, crash…
Wall fragments floated haphazardly through the air.
Dusty haze flowed thickly.
The Celestial stepped on the remains of broken fragments and slowly approached.
Gulp.
High Elf Luinerif unconsciously swallowed and backed away from the overwhelming pressure emanating from the Celestial’s entire body.
Bridget’s direct guard knight Michael retreated alongside Luinerif.
Yuma picked up his weapon.
And carefully observed the Celestial approaching him.
“Only the truth.”
The Celestial, who had no eyes or nose, approached Yuma.
Among the pure white angel’s face, only the mouth moved fluidly.
“Speak.”
Yuma moved forward, facing the Celestial that was approaching him. ”
Human, Yuma.”
The angel, speaking in choppy sentences, continued.
“I question you.”
Yuma listened to its words with a hardened face.
“You killed a Black Dragon alone.”
That voice continued as if interrogating him.
“Was it you who killed the god Incrinew.”
Yuma tilted his head slightly.
“It seems you’ve done your research about me.”
A strong cold current flowed between Yuma and the Celestial.
“So what’s your business?”
The Celestial’s mouth opened again.
“The duty of the Celestial race is to awaken those who can kill evil gods. Finding beings capable of eliminating evil gods and enabling their awakening is the duty of the Celestial race.”
The Celestial took one bold step forward while looking at Yuma.
“If it’s true that you’ve accomplished those feats just now, then you possess the power to hunt the vile evil gods of the divine realm.”
Step.
“And the same goes for that human woman Bell who reached Grand Master. The talent to be reborn as an apostle who can punish evil gods. I will take you both to the celestial realm and make you apostles.”
Yuma gripped his weapon more firmly.
“What exactly is this apostle you speak of?”
The Celestial explained about the Celestials more kindly than expected.
“An Apostle is a warrior who moves according to the Lord of Heaven’s will. It is to kill evil gods and the evils that come from them to benefit this world. For races other than Celestials to become apostles, it requires changing that human body itself. To preserve the innate talent and caliber that humans possess, the soul remains the same. But the body, the vessel, is completely transformed. It’s about completely removing all human emotions that are unnecessary for combat.”
Yuma tilted his head.
“Exchanging the flesh and removing emotions, isn’t that asking us to abandon being human altogether?”
At Yuma’s words, the Celestial tilted its head.
It was like a mirror reacting with a slight delay.
“Isn’t that obvious? Emotions are completely unnecessary when facing evil gods. They only get in the way.”
A shell.
Taking only the talent possessed by the soul and discarding the rest.
That was the truth of the apostle conversion performed by the Celestials.
And that truth made it so Yuma didn’t need to deliberate at all.
No matter how strong one could become, would it be worth abandoning emotions?
Yuma thought not.
‘Without abandoning the human body. Without abandoning emotions.’
Bell and Cloney possessed the potential to overcome the immense walls they faced and transcend humanity.
Yuma believed this without a doubt.
‘Not only do emotions disappear, but it would mean becoming a puppet that moves according to the will of that so-called Lord of Heaven.’
There was no reason to become like that.
“With such achievements, you and Bell, a human who stands at the ultimate peak that humans can reach, are both vessels that must become apostles. All humans who have attempted apostle conversion until now had their bodies explode and had to be discarded, but you two seem to have sufficient capacity.”
Celestial Race.
Yuma could be certain from that statement that though they shared his common purpose of needing to kill the Evil Gods, they were beings he should not get involved with.
Step.
The Celestial took another step closer.
“If you stay still, you won’t die.”
“And if I don’t stay still?”
The Celestial’s mouth twisted.
“Then I’ll have to make you behave.”
Yuma slowly nodded.
He had now clearly decided what position to take regarding the Celestial.
“Try it.”
The Celestial apostle of divine-level strength charged forward.
With a white light, the spear tip swirled in a spiral and rushed in.
Yuma’s gaze carefully observed that rushing spear.
The blade of white light twisted in a spiral, ravaging the air, and ultimately struck down toward Yuma’s head.
The blade of the weapon in Yuma’s hand deflected the tip of the spear that had extended like lightning.
Kaaaaang!!
A golden circular shockwave spread widely.
The reversed white light shot toward Sarimon.
Sarimon moved his wings strongly forward and rapidly distanced himself.
Zwooooong─!!!!
Sarimon continued to flap his wings with a calm face.
He was certain that if he kept avoiding endlessly, this attack would eventually end.
Paaang─!!
The wild wind from consecutive wing flaps repeatedly struck the air.
Sarimon’s figure instantly became as distant as a dot.
High Elf Luinerif, who had been considerably startled and had completely retreated, approached Yuma’s side.
“Is it okay to leave him like that?”
At Luinerif’s words, Yuma slowly nodded.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“B-but, it seems he really knew about you.”
“Yes, he knew me well.”
Yuma walked forward.
“But he probably didn’t expect to suffer from it. He might think he can avoid it by dodging like that.”
Yuma roughly kicked aside the debris with his foot and went out through the blasted wall.
The white Celestial, Sarimon, was now seen flying in the sky.
Whoooosh!!!
Sarimon’s wing-flapping continued even in the open sky.
His previously expressionless face was now severely distorted.
The attack that he thought he could simply avoid by dodging was endlessly following him.
The homing effect inherent in Absolute Counter was endlessly pursuing Sarimon.
Sarimon sharply twisted his entire body and wings to the right to perform an acrobatic maneuver, but the white light simultaneously changed direction at a right angle.
The startled Sarimon abruptly stopped his movement in the air.
The Absolute Counter did not miss that clear opening.
─Kwaaaaaaang!
Sarimon’s entire body was engulfed in pure white flames and burned away.
And then it completely scattered in the sky without leaving even ashes.
Michael, High Elf Luinerif, and more than a hundred knights who had gathered due to the commotion caused by the breaking wall, all witnessed Sarimon’s fall.
After confirming that Sarimon had completely vanished, Yuma rapidly used [Blink] in succession.
‘Bell.’
The fact that a Celestial had come to him meant there was a high probability that Celestials had also rushed to Bell.
Since he had already given Bell the defensive relic artifact received from the elves before heading to the demon realm, she should be able to defend against most attacks two or three times.
And because Bell’s combat sense and survival instinct far exceeded the level value shown to Yuma, he didn’t think for a moment that Bell would have died.
There was another place where people from the imperial palace had gathered.
Coincidentally, it was the outdoor training ground where fierce struggles took place daily.
In the middle of the outdoor training ground, Bell and one Celestial were exchanging sword strikes.
Bell was clearly being pushed back by the Celestial’s sword.
However, to the eyes of Sword Expert-level swordsmen, she was keeping up with the Celestial’s sword path well enough to make it look like an even fight.
Kakakakak─!!
The two blades fiercely bared their teeth at each other, and red and golden lights bloomed.
Yuma looked at the Celestial facing Bell.
Its outward appearance was identical to Sarimon whom he had just killed.
There was a reason why Bell was fighting seemingly equally without using the power of the relic.
‘Did they send down apostles matching the level of their targets?’
Well, even though they were Celestials and apostles, not all of them would exceed level 300.
Sarimon, who came down from the celestial realm targeting Yuma, died without being able to subdue Yuma, and Arcmon, who came down to take Bell, was also failing to properly subdue her.
Bell was desperately swinging her sword.
‘I can see it.’
Arcmon’s sword, which felt terribly heavy at first, had become somewhat familiar.
And she had now adapted to the lightning-fast sword strikes, keeping up with their speed.
The blue flame of the protective energy surrounding Bell’s entire body expanded its domain.
‘I’ll catch it.’
Though she had raised her strength and speed to match, this was only a temporary breakthrough of her limits.
She needed to raise her power momentarily to a level that exceeded the expected range of the Celestial, Arcmon, before her and kill it in one go.
Bell’s eyes gleamed coldly.
Kwang!
She stepped down hard with her right foot and swung her sword horizontally.
The sword path drawn with momentum as if to cut the world in half.
A blue crescent was drawn across the training ground.
Arcmon’s waist was bisected.
‘─I did it.’
The sensation transmitted through both hands holding the sword handle was certainly not an illusion.
Exhilaration.
The sense of achievement from defeating an overwhelmingly stronger being through strategy welled up from her toes.
Just as she was about to relax her body in relief, Bell’s eyes widened.
The presence of Arcmon, whom she was certain she had killed, was felt behind her.
And Arcmon’s body, which she was convinced she had cut, was an afterimage that scattered like dust.
Literally, she had cut through an afterimage.
Kwak!
Bell twisted her heel and desperately swung her sword.
But the red light aiming for her neck seemed faster.
At that moment, Yuma, who had continuously used [Blink] toward Bell, grabbed her shoulder and quickly pulled her toward himself.
Then he swung his weapon toward the red light.
Kaaaaaaang!
The reversed red beam pierced through Arcmon’s head.
Arcmon’s body, which had fallen miserably to the ground, gradually lost its form while emitting a white current.
It was evaporation.
Many among the countless imperial palace personnel who had gathered by now breathed sighs of relief.
Yuma raised his head and looked at the giant eyeball among the dark clouds.
It was an enormous eyeball.
As if it could observe everything in this empire.
As a result of examining it with his searching eye, he knew.
Celestial Eye
—An eye opened from the celestial realm to observe the middle realm.
He could easily identify its nature.
“Edan.”
Edan, the [Griffin] who had become a fixture and family member of the Astes Imperial Palace, nimbly approached at Yuma’s call.
Since he had been perched on the parapet of the outer wall of the outdoor training ground, he was able to come right away.
Grrrr…
Bell looked at Yuma mounting Edan, who had an eagle’s head and a lion’s body, with a very dejected face.
Self-loathing from carelessly confirming victory in a battle that wasn’t over yet.
And worry stemming from the thought that Yuma would be disappointed in her.
These things weighed on Bell’s mind. Currently, Yuma’s attention was focused on that celestial eye, so he couldn’t pay attention to Bell.
Edan, carrying Yuma, rose into the sky.
Screeech
And following Yuma’s command, he maintained his position while flapping his wings just below the celestial eye.
“Listen if you can hear me. If not, try to read my lips. Celestial Realm.”
Yuma continued speaking as he looked at the bizarre celestial eye with countless colors swirling in its pupil.
“I, Bell, and all people around me will not become apostles. It means I will kill all the Celestials who come down to create apostles to eliminate the evil gods.”
Blink
─ The giant celestial eye closed.
Dark gray eyelids came into view.
And the eye opened again.
Despite its bizarre appearance, Yuma firmly said what he needed to say.
“I don’t care about your activities to kill evil gods. But if you become an obstacle to me killing evil gods, or if you touch my people, I will kill all of you.”
Yuma stroked Edan’s neck.
Edan’s figure slowly moved toward the Astes Imperial Palace.
Rumble!
Lightning flashed for a moment in the clear sky.
And the celestial eye closed once more, then, as if gradually receding, it hid its appearance.
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