Chapter 86
Why are there always stories like that in martial arts novels?
They say that when you’re poisoned, blood spurts from all seven orifices.
“... It’s not blood, though.”
Looks like water is going to come out of all seven orifices.
The soldiers turned away, unable to watch the sight.
I understand.
I didn’t much want to look either.
Seeing the plain turn red in an instant...
No, brown. The sight made me let out an “Ugh.”
But...
Did they know this was only the beginning?
**
Maybe a moderate amount would be one thing, but if they’d been infected with this many pathogens...
No amount of human willpower could endure it.
Leonhardt’s face twisted into a demonic grimace at the disgusting sensation in his lower body, even imagining it.
But.
“A little indignity won’t diminish our divine radiance! It won’t stop us from throwing spears or swinging swords! Maggis has only made us angrier! Great Crusaders of Thessalonica! Advance! Advance and smash that gate!”
He wasn’t wrong.
But had they been infected by only those pathogens?
“C-Commander...”
The deputy commander came over, leaning heavily on his sword, and spoke with a pale face.
“I-I have a fever. My muscles are...”
“Heal yourself with divine power!”
“I am healing. I am, but...”
Divine power had its limits, since it ultimately healed by boosting the body’s natural healing ability.
But if more pathogens kept entering their bodies than divine power could kill...
And if the pathogens entering them were...
crawling all over stagnant water that had been sitting there for hundreds of years.
No matter how much divine power they poured in, its limits were clear.
Someone with divine power as strong as Commander Leonhardt’s could at least hold out, but why do you think he was commander?
No other holy knight possessed divine power that could keep up with his.
Leonhardt had even passed the aptitude test for priesthood.
That was why even the priests couldn’t disregard him, and why the Pope had bestowed authority upon him.
“Right, the priests! If the priests were here...”
The problem was, the priests were too far away.
Besides, even if they rode back...
“Damn it!”
Having unleashed two Grand Consecrations, they wouldn’t be able to use divine power for a while, let alone move around.
“How...”
Gregorian Chant, which even the original Maggis in the past hadn’t been able to withstand.
Even the original Maggis had retreated after taking two strikes.
Anyone who controlled the unnatural order shouldn’t have been able to endure it...
So what was this?
“Commander... We can’t go on like this...”
The deputy commander had a relatively strong constitution compared to the other Crusaders, so he could still speak despite enduring the pain. Everyone else had collapsed.
And slimes were creeping toward the fallen, looking to prey on them.
“Ghk, keh!”
“S-Save...”
The commander watched them for a moment, clenched his teeth, and shouted with the last of his strength.
“Retreat!”
But the only one who could retreat after hearing that shout was the commander himself.
The Crusaders had weakened so quickly that they couldn’t even shake off the slimes grabbing at their feet.
The reason was simple.
Once all the water in your body is drained, your immunity naturally weakens.
Taking advantage of that weakened immunity, viruses and bacteria that only manifested when immunity dropped began multiplying again.
Some were powerful pathogens like tetanus.
With all those things flooding in and multiplying in an instant, their bodies rapidly deteriorated beyond control.
“Commander... I think this is as far as I go, too.”
Even the deputy commander collapsed, and the commander, left alone on the plain, muttered with a dazed look.
“... Thessalonica, have mercy. What have I done?”
At that very moment.
A hole large enough for one person opened in a corner of Constance’s cement-hardened wall, and a man slowly walked out.
Robes and a staff.
He was dressed like a mage in every respect.
The staff was even a shape he knew all too well.
“Maggis!”
Grinding his teeth, he summoned all his remaining strength and thrust his sword toward Maggis.
“Divine Lightning!”
At that moment.
Rumble! A bolt of lightning crashed down from a clear sky.
When the smoke cleared...
The mage was walking toward him, scratching his head, without a single scratch on him.
Despair began to spread across Leonhardt’s face.
**
It seemed like things had more or less been settled.
No matter how fanatical they were, the enemy were still people.
I didn’t feel good about it.
“We should save those we can.”
“Pardon? But...”
“I don’t mean we’ll save them and let them go.”
I gave the general a wry smile.
“Wouldn’t it be fine to take a few as prisoners? They might come in handy as bargaining chips in negotiations with the Holy Kingdom.”
“Ah! I’ll prepare magical restraints at once!”
How prepared of him.
Well, they were Crusaders, after all. Letting them inside the castle without properly restraining them would be a disaster in its own right.
“Then let’s go.”
“... You’re going down there?”
“Then what, are we doing this from here?”
It wasn’t impossible, but it was inefficient.
“Y-You mean down there?”
“Is there a problem?”
“... No.”
Was it a little filthy?
Still, with Kkyu-kkyu beside me, the slimes couldn’t dare do anything to me.
The pathogens were no different.
Pride would keep them under control and make sure they couldn’t come anywhere near me.
... Now that I thought of it.
It didn’t seem like I was ever going to die of an illness.
Anyway, I made a small hole in the cement blocking the gate with Pride imitating Gluttony, and came out.
It was far less effective than Gluttony, and its performance was similar to that of the bacterium originally created by Seonggwang Bio, but that was more than enough.
When I came out...
Everyone was down, and only one was still standing.
Fortunately, not everyone who had collapsed was dead.
Though slimes were slithering up to devour them.
“Kkyu-kkyu, let’s not kill them all.”
─Kkyu!
“You don’t want to? Still, killing them all would be too much. Let’s cut them a little slack.”
─Kkyu-kkyu!
“There, there. That’s right. Our Kkyu-kkyu listens so well.”
I smiled and watched the slimes retreat from the people.
Not only that, they opened a path for me, as if Moses were parting the Red Sea.
As I slowly walked toward the last Crusader still standing...
The moment I saw him struggle to raise his sword toward the sky, I felt something ominous.
“Kkyu-kkyu, unsummon!”
Kkyu-kkyu, who had been on my shoulder, was unsummoned and dispersed.
Rumble! A bolt of lightning struck my body.
[The effect of the Elemental Guardian’s Robe of Strict Balance has increased your resistance to electricity! (+3000%)]
[You have suffered no damage.]
The effect of a legendary-grade robe that equalized all resistances to the highest value.
I guess this is my first time putting it to use.
Anyway.
“You son of a bitch.”
Kkyu-kkyu could’ve gotten hurt.
As I glared at him, the last Crusader, his face filled with despair, gripped his spear and charged at me.
“Aaaaaagh! Heretic Maggis!! Die!”
Athena appeared in front of him, summoned from the ring in an instant.
She was a little small, but fully armed with a shield and spear.
His spear was blocked by Athena’s shield, and Athena’s spear stretched out and pierced his neck at the same time.
“K-Keh!”
Athena had consumed so much mana before that she’d been practically unusable, but things were a little different now.
She was more than capable of fighting in a one-on-one battle.
I hadn’t needed her for combat since Gluttony was so ridiculously overpowered.
But when the situation called for it, she could show her strength.
If her opponent had been in peak condition, Athena would have struggled, but she could handle someone who was completely exhausted.
I approached the Crusader, who was lying there with his throat pierced, steadily spewing blood.
He looked at me from where he lay, then weakly spat out saliva mixed with bloody foam.
He didn’t even have the strength to spit; after realizing it had fallen back onto his own face, he weakly lowered his head.
[Leonhardt of Bretus, the great Crusader of the Holy Kingdom of Thessalonica, has died.]
[You have successfully completed the sudden mission.]
[You have received the skillbook ‘Constellation Avicenna’s Research Journal I.’]
“Is it over now?”
Phew, a sigh of relief escaped me.
Clearing things with a click all the time made this one pretty tough.
It was at that very moment.
“Whoa!”
The Crusader named Leonhardt was engulfed in light and began to disappear.
As if the god he served had come to take him away, he scattered into motes of light and flew up into the sky.
And in the place where he had been...
“An accessory? Is it an item?”
A necklace-like thing was left behind.
I can’t resist a necklace.
If this is another troll item, I’m flipping the table.
[The Pride of a Great Crusader]
Quality: Relic-grade quest item
Description: The final pride of a Crusader who was called the strongest Crusader, but ultimately failed his mission. This item can be used to carry on his legacy.
Details: You can acquire the second awakening quest for the Crusader class.
... It wasn’t an equippable item?
But a second awakening quest...
“... Come to think of it, Kaiser had only undergone the first awakening, right?”
To begin with, not a single person in the entire world had achieved a second awakening.
Some believed the second awakening was the only clue that could break through the Under Seventy era.
Others argued that wasn’t the case, since second awakenings could only be undertaken in Gates above Level 70.
This proved that the latter argument had been bullshit.
“The problem is...”
Give this to Kaiser?
When I imagined that ill-tempered granddaughter of Kaiser getting even more full of herself, I wasn’t at all eager to do it.
“Sigh, whatever. I’ll hold onto this, too.”
If Kaiser found out, they’d probably want it for a fortune...
No, they’d want it so badly they’d kill me to get it.
As long as it stayed asleep in my inventory, no one would know.
And who knows?
Maybe another Crusader besides Kaiser would achieve the first awakening.
“But why isn’t the clear notification appearing?”
Was there something else?
Just as I was tilting my head, a message appeared.
[Sudden Mission! Subdue the remnants of the Holy Kingdom of Thessalonica!]
[Upon success, you will proceed to the final mission, ‘Victory Celebration.’]
[Upon failure, you will proceed to the mission ‘Defeat the Holy Kingdom of Thessalonica’s Second Expeditionary Force.’]
“... Oh, shit.”
I couldn’t do this all over again.
It had already been nearly five days since I entered the Gate.
Things were probably getting chaotic outside by now, too.
Of course, they said Epic-grade Gates could take over a month to clear.
But if I could finish quickly, all the better.
“General! We should send the soldiers to attack their main camp!”
Fortunately, I didn’t have to subdue them myself.
The soldiers I’d fed and nursed back to health could handle it.
**
While the soldiers subdued the remnants of the Holy Kingdom, I returned to the castle...
“The final mission was called Victory Celebration, right?”
It seemed like a good idea to prepare in advance.
What should I make?
“... A celebration just isn’t complete without alcohol. Right, alcohol.”
My subclass was a brewer, after all.
Besides, now that I was no longer restricted to using only Pride, brewing alcohol shouldn’t be difficult at all.
“The problem is... hmm.”
I’d gone and made all the food because they didn’t have anything to eat, so what was I doing making alcohol?
There was no way they had any grains or fruit left to brew alcohol with.
“Hmm, no, wait.”
The glucose I’d extracted from the wood.
Pure glucose was yeast food.
The problem was that alcohol fermented from pure glucose like that probably wouldn’t be very high quality.
It’d be nothing but alcohol itself, with no other ester compounds.
“Well, does it matter?”
There was no need to introduce high-end liquor mixed with Nectar to this place.
They would never taste it again anyway; it would only spoil their palates.
“Then I’ll just make some hard liquor that gets you drunk.”
I had the soldiers remaining in the castle load up lots of glucose extracted from the wood.
Now I needed water.
Fortunately, the castle had an uncontaminated source of drinking water.
That was why the people had managed to hold out for so long.
If they’d been without a water source, they probably would have all died.
People can last quite a long time as long as they have clean water to drink.
Just as I was about to use the water from the source...
The general returned, bringing countless wagons and prisoners with him.
His face was beaming.
“We’ve seized the enemy’s provisions intact! It looks like there’ll be no need to worry about food for a while, even after you leave, Mage!”
“That’s a relief.”
Good, now I wouldn’t have to worry about staying here to keep making food.
“But, what is this...?”
“Oh, I was going to brew some alcohol.”
“A-Alcohol, you say?”
“That’s right. Alcohol.”
The general swallowed at the sound, the first he’d heard in a long time.
Yeah, you look like the type who likes a drink.
You’ve got the face of a real drinker.
And in a situation like this, it’d probably been a long time since he’d had a drink.
“You know how to brew alcohol?”
“Would I say I did if I didn’t?”
“R-Right. Just tell me if you need anything.”
“Hmm, what I need... First...”
My gaze shifted to a wagon filled with jars.
“What are those?”
“Ah, they’re holy water.”
“... Holy water?”
“They say it’s water blessed by their god. It doesn’t spoil even if stored for a long time, and drinking it has a mild healing effect.”
Oh, so it was enchanted water.
“Could I use it?”
“Pardon? Of course.”
That water might make pretty decent liquor.
When brewing liquor, half of what matters is the ingredients, and the other half is the water.
Since the ingredients were poor, I should at least use good water.
And so, I brewed the liquor.
To my surprise...
[About 10 L of the liquor you brewed has been perfectly fermented. Nectar has formed.]
Not all of it, but Nectar had formed in some of the jars.
“Hmm...”
After a moment’s thought, I told them to evenly mix the liquor from the jars where Nectar had formed into the ordinary jars.
I couldn’t exactly lug it all away just because it was precious.
And giving it to just one person would be so unfair, wouldn’t it?
They could all taste the liquor that had bathed in Nectar.
“All right, everyone, come and try the liquor!”
“I-Is it already ready?”
The general’s eyes widened in surprise.
Of course, the powerful aroma filling the air was clear proof that it was liquor.
The general drew the first cup and drank it.
“Hwaaaaaah...”
And melted right where he stood.
Everyone in the castle was the same.
With blissful, happy expressions...
[Final mission, ‘Victory Celebration,’ complete.]
That was satisfying.
It had been hard, but the ending was rewarding.
And...
[The Gate has been completely conquered and will now disappear.]
[Your conquest will become a myth in this universe and endure for ages.]
[Divine Achievement! You have opened the first chapter of a myth.]
[Complete all myths.]
[The stat Divine Authority has been created.]
[As a subject of faith, your Divine Authority will increase. You can consume Divine Authority to create a ‘Miracle.’]
[Your myth is being told in a distant otherworld.]
[Divine Authority has increased by 200.]