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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“What…!”
Athena was also shocked.
Naturally, as the target of the attack, I couldn’t help but be surprised as well.
‘…A ranged attack? From Living Armor?’
And it came from its eyes.
Because of this, there was almost no preparatory motion.
That was why I couldn’t have imagined it.
‘What the hell…’
If it weren’t for Kayla’s observational skills, high intuition, and incredible reaction speed, I could have been seriously injured.
‘It’s not like my own defense is particularly high.’
Though I had armor, if I had taken that kind of explosion at close range…
‘I let my guard down.’
I never expected a knight-type Living Armor to use a ranged attack, especially without any warning signs.
“Retreat quickly, Master!”
Kayla shouted while holding her shield and glaring at the guardians.
Instead of answering, I quickly left the central hall, and Athena retreated with me while guarding my surroundings.
Then, the other guardian used the light beam again, but Kayla intercepted it and successfully defended once more.
Thanks to this, Athena and I were able to safely exit the hall, and as soon as we were out, Kayla began to retreat.
The guardians didn’t seem willing to let us go easily, as one of them charged at Kayla at high speed.
Kayla hesitated for a moment before slowing down.
‘Is she thinking of confronting it?’
I immediately sent No. 1 and No. 2 inside, and then summoned the Specter, which I hadn’t brought out until now, in case of emergency.
The other guardian turned its gaze towards the Specter.
However, it didn’t fire the usual light beam.
‘It seems they can’t use it consecutively…’
The guardian, apparently wary of the Specter second only to Kayla, watched it without moving.
Meanwhile, the guardian that had approached Kayla swung its sword down at her.
At that moment, an incredible aura emanated from Kayla, and she immediately raised her shield to meet the sword.
An enormous sound echoed throughout the hall.
Grrk!
Kayla was pushed back slightly from her position, but she succeeded in blocking the attack.
She was pushed back less than when she took the light beam attack, but the power of the guardian’s sword strike seemed stronger.
‘The former was a surprise attack.’
The latter was blocked with full preparation.
Moreover, considering the momentary aura felt earlier, Kayla’s defense was on a completely different level compared to before.
Of course, it didn’t end with just blocking.
As the guardian raised its sword again, Kayla dove in and launched a sword strike.
Instantaneous high-speed movement.
It was an attack that even an advanced expert of the same level might fall for on first encounter, but surprisingly, the guardian managed to react.
The sound of them switching between offense and defense echoed around us.
As if using the amplification ability of her mana heart to its fullest, the guardian could be seen taking a couple of steps back.
But that was all.
‘The shield… is intact?’
Kayla’s shield had been dented in parts while blocking their attacks.
This was despite it being made by Mutre, the dwarf.
Yet the guardian’s shield showed no damage after taking Kayla’s attack head-on.
She moved to the guardian’s face again and unleashed a flurry of attacks, which the guardian hurriedly blocked.
‘…No, that’s not it. It’s not undamaged.’
The guardian’s equipment was indeed taking damage like Kayla’s shield.
However, unlike Kayla’s, it was continuously regenerating.
‘Tsk. Is the equipment part of its body too?’
The divine power spread around was aiding them.
Meanwhile, the other guardian aimed its light beam at my Specter, which gracefully dodged the attack.
That was a hit.
Although the light beam had physical force, it was an attack composed of divine power, so even if the Specter was in an ethereal state, a direct hit would inevitably cause damage.
‘It’s like aura.’
Thanks to the Specter drawing attention, Kayla was able to continue her battle against the guardian.
The guardian wasn’t just taking hits.
While blocking Kayla’s attacks, it swung its sword or used light beams to break her flow, and Kayla responded to these attacks while maintaining the offensive and pressing the guardian.
If this continued, we might be able to take down the guardian.
‘Should I intervene?’
It didn’t seem bad to at least try.
I immediately sent Skeleton No. 1, No. 2, and the Specter towards the other guardian.
At the same time, I repeatedly applied several enhancements.
I poured the maximum enhancements I could currently manage into the Skeletons.
‘If they could withstand about two hits each…’
It would be enough to take them down immediately.
However, unfortunately, that seemed impossible.
Skeleton No. 1, which approached the other guardian, was half-destroyed with a single hit and rolled on the floor.
It seemed impossible to prevent them from being separated.
Meanwhile, as if trying to finish off No. 1, the guardian turned its gaze in that direction.
Clang!
Boom!
At that moment, the Specter materialized instantly and struck the guardian’s head, causing the light beam to hit an unintended target.
It was a chilling moment.
I could have lost No. 1.
I immediately instructed No. 2 to retrieve No. 1’s body and return.
During this time, the Specter drew the attention of the other guardian.
‘…If the power of a single hit is at that level…’
Unless I helped from up close, it would be impossible to take down the guardians with just the undead.
“That light beam, can you detect it?”
“…It’s possible.”
She thought for a moment before answering.
“I might be able to dodge it. Blocking it… seems difficult.”
She said she could react now that she knew about its existence, unlike the first attack which she hadn’t known about.
However, unlike Kayla, she didn’t use a shield, so blocking was impossible.
‘Well, if she tried to block with the Wind Dragon’s Fang…’
She would inevitably take significant damage from the explosion at close range.
There was no choice but to dodge.
In other words, it meant that Athena couldn’t replace Kayla in protecting me.
‘The Specter is limited to drawing attention…’
Even striking the head didn’t cause much damage.
‘If Athena joined in instead…’
It was possible, but the risk was too high.
Meanwhile, Kayla had succeeded in pushing one guardian into a corner.
Seeing this, the guardian that had been grappling with the Specter rushed towards Kayla to rescue the other guardian.
The Specter tried to interfere, but it couldn’t stop the guardian that was moving with determination.
After briefly checking my direction, Kayla immediately stopped fighting and exited the hall.
“They’re stronger than expected. It’s difficult to take them down alone in a short time.”
I nodded in response to her words.
“I can’t do it either unless I step in myself. But getting close is…”
“There’s no one to protect you. …I think Baldur probably won’t be able to react properly.”
“I think so too.”
In the end, if I were to step in, I would have to protect myself, but while black magic excelled in attack spells, it was weak in defensive magic.
Of course, it was not that I didn’t have any defensive magic I could use now.
‘Even No. 1, with my support, could barely withstand one attack. I could protect myself, but then I wouldn’t be able to enhance the Skeletons.’
That would negate the reason for stepping forward.
“Quite troublesome, indeed.”
“Let’s use Cereo’s party.”
At that moment, Kayla spoke.
“They won’t be of any help at all, though?”
“A few might die, but they can buy time. There are many Minotaur corpses, so if you create a large number of temporary undead, you should be able to hold out for a while. During that time, I’ll deal with one guardian and then join you.”
In simple terms, she was suggesting using Cereo’s group as meat shields, regardless of whether they lived or died.
I was a bit surprised that Kayla would say such a thing.
However, Kayla’s expression was nonchalant.
‘Well, she did operate in the underworld…’
She had said she wanted to become a knight, but to begin with, being a knight wasn’t such a clean profession.
The most important virtue for a knight was loyalty, followed by martial prowess.
Therefore, it seemed natural for Kayla to think of putting me first.
“We’ll have to silence them anyway. Judging by the level of these guardians, whatever we obtain here won’t be ordinary items.”
I thought that was probably true.
“Our level isn’t low, but it’s not enough to claim and protect ruins.”
In other words, even if we took what we could, it must never be revealed.
“Human greed is certainly endless.”
Athena also frowned as she spoke.
It seemed she was recalling Kuman and the Owalan Barony.
After thinking for a moment, Athena nodded and replied.
“If they become a threat to us… we should silence them.”
She didn’t look particularly pleased about it, but it seemed she thought it was necessary for the safety of our group, even if she didn’t like it.
“Of course, considering your reputation, you should avoid it, but…”
“Should we try to recruit some of them? Tildi or… Annelise might be willing to switch sides. They’re both relatively favorable towards us. …Though I don’t like Annelise.”
“Tildi… even though he seems that way, he’s still a priest, so I’m not sure. There are quite a few priests who willingly sacrifice their lives for religious beliefs…”
“Well, it might actually be easier. Even though he’s an apprentice, he’s a priest who serves the Goddess of Light.”
Athena looked puzzled at my words, but Kayla was different.
“Ah, I see. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“If we take what we need and then offer to completely destroy all traces of the temple, he’d probably cooperate. After all, this isn’t their temple.”
The Goddess of Light didn’t recognize other gods.
In simple terms, it could be called a monotheistic religion.
However, other religions actually existed.
Because of this, the Goddess Religion that believed in the Goddess of Light had a characteristic where they extremely rejected other religions.
‘From the start, the reason they call it the Goddess Religion instead of the Light Religion, despite being about the Goddess of Light, is to avoid recognizing other religions…’
If they called it the Light Religion, it might create a perception of equality with other symbolic religious orders, so they deliberately used a broader name to ensure that when people thought of a goddess, they thought of their religion.
Therefore, if one’s faith was strong, it was possible to recruit them by offering such conditions.
After I explained this background, Athena nodded as if finally understanding.
“Is that so? Hmm… If we recruit Annelise too, it would be perfect.”
‘Annelise…’
Indeed, if we recruited Tildi and Annelise and then dealt with the rest, and if those two provided testimony, the chances of my reputation being damaged would be low.
Moreover, if we gave them appropriate compensation as consolation, we might even be praised.
‘…We can deal with Cereo first and then handle Annelise slowly.’
It wasn’t a bad idea.
Besides, once we brought Annelise in, we could deal with her anytime.
‘It will take time, but it’s certain. And… it wasn’t my idea to begin with.’
Honestly, I really liked this opinion.
I pretended to ponder deeply before nodding.
“You’re right, thinking about the future, it’s better to do as you say.”
“We should at least try.”
However, even if we used them as meat shields, taking down the guardians wouldn’t be easy.
‘They attacked me as their top priority after all.’
It was going to be a rather troublesome battle.
“They won’t cooperate easily.”
“We’ll have to be a bit forceful, but if we offer to share the results, some of them will come over.”
Of course, this was just talk, she didn’t seem to actually intend to share anything.
“I’ll handle persuading Tildi.”
I had a method to convince him.
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[Amen Cheerio dude’s expiration date is approaching]
