Chapter 73
The mages from the Magic Tower were afraid.
Although they, too, were skilled battle mages who had experienced numerous battles, they had never witnessed such a level of desperate slaughter.
"It's the princess!!"
[Kill her! Kill her and show Dullaneer that Mammon is alive…!]
When flashing divine power poured down, no beings remained, whether abominations or black mages.
Their bodies were completely burned by the terribly concentrated divine power, and their corrupted souls themselves were injured so they could only collapse on the ground and gasp.
After Iomene's holy magic swept through the scene like that.
"Move aside."
It was Erpha's turn.
Her four hands move quickly, pouring out multiple spells.
With one wave of her wand, an abomination blessed by Mammon was disassembled and disappeared, bombs were disassembled before they could explode and rolled on the ground, guns simply overheated and exploded, and all kinds of black magic pouring towards her were sharply countered with counter-spells.
After she rampaged at the forefront like that, the remaining cleanup was handled by other battle mages and Ketratus members.
"Please spare me! Please have mercy... Aaaagh!!"
"There is no mercy to bestow upon you, ugly heretic."
Most of that was handled by the Ketratus guarding Iomene's side.
Even though they might flinch once seeing them begging in desperately pitiful voices while changing their form to that of a child or woman.
The Ketratus ground up the followers begging in the form of children and women without any hesitation.
After advancing while filming such a one-sided slaughter again and again.
"Holy Woman!!"
A familiar voice reached Iomene's ears as she advanced while pouring out all kinds of offensive miracles.
Turning her head, she saw other Ketratus members including Al Madai running, covered in blood.
"Ah! I have taught you so well! You are fighting so splendidly! I'm impressed!!"
At Al Madai's high praise, Iomene sighed deeply and glared at him.
This was the problem with Al Madai and the Ketratus members.
Other holy knights and priests of the White Order treated her respectfully as a Holy Woman, but they subtly treated her like a child.
Well, it was understandable.
How would they see a Holy Woman with 3 months of experience who still couldn't even memorize the entire Codex Prorilium, to those who had fought on battlefields their whole lives?
They were truly stubborn blockheads who never listened, but if there was one thing Iomene acknowledged about them, it was their purity.
Usually they were narrow-minded blockheads, but in extreme situations like this, they were more reliable than anyone.
They were truly shields that would never break, as their name suggested.
"Are there any fatalities?"
"None. That would be shameful!"
"Pull back the wounded and have the rest escort us. You must be out of ammunition and tired."
"Understood."
The Ketratus surround the mages.
The expedition force, reinforced and strengthened even more, pushed forward relentlessly like that, and there were no beings that could stop them.
"Mammon!! Grant us power!! Protect us…!"
With the glorious oxidation of a black mage who was desperately resisting by summoning corrupted ones from underground being showered by Iomene's divine power, attacked by Erpha's magic, and massaged with hammers by the Ketratus as the last.
Finally, the expedition force could see Mammon's base before their eyes.
As expected of a base, the scale of enemies was beyond imagination.
Inside the huge space prepared underground, thousands of abominations and at least dozens of black mages and followers were forming a desperate defensive line.
"It's the enemies!! Fire!!"
As soon as the expedition force appeared, heavy machine gun fire and a shower of bombs began to rain down.
"Block them! Just 2 minutes! We just need to hold out for 2 more minutes!!"
The black mages also somehow squeezed out what little resentment they had left and unleashed all kinds of sorcery and magic towards the expedition force.
But no matter what they did.
They couldn't stop the expedition force.
"We'll handle the defense!!"
The mages from the Magic Tower immediately drew their wands, stepped forward, and began defending against the incoming black magic.
"Raise your shields, brothers!!"
The Ketratus stepped to the front to block the heavy machine guns and bombs.
With their heavy shields, incredibly thick heavy armor, and armed with all kinds of defensive miracles, they easily blocked the heavy machine gun fire and bombs.
And in the meantime.
"Lady Iomene!!"
"I was ready!!"
Iomene's miracles and Erpha's offensive spells fell on the enemy lines.
The stigmata of Dullaneer engraved on the back of Iomene's hand shone to its maximum, then began to spray brilliant light over the entire base.
Although not as bright as the pillar of light from the Saint on the ground, it was light that could be fatal enough for black mages and abominations.
"Gack!!"
"Ugh!"
The black mages' magic and sorcery were forcibly canceled in the middle of casting.
The skin of the abominations began to burn as if scalded, and because of that, painful screams ran rampant everywhere.
And in the meantime.
"My turn."
Erpha's hands and wands were wielded.
Her lower two hands formed seals to cast an amplification technique, while her upper two hands wielded wands to cast spells.
Magic with monstrously amplified power due to the Three Primary Colors research was soon realized in the form of lightning.
And then.
"T-this fucking! What kind of power…!?"
A wide-area lightning storm that could cover the entire center of the enemy lines began to rage.
Mammon's followers hit by blue lightning scattered into ash without even leaving a scream.
The barrels of heavy machine guns melted and bent, and the bullets in the chambers exploded due to the high heat.
All kinds of bombs that hadn't even been thrown yet exploded on the spot, leaving massive damage.
Abominations?
Although their bodies were strengthened by Mammon's blessing, they couldn't avoid the fate of turning to ash just like ordinary followers.
The black mages were the ones who survived relatively.
"Uuugh! Aaaagh!! T-this power! What kind of power is this!!"
The magic showed power on a different dimension, to the extent that they had to consume most of their resentment just to defend once.
The Ketratus and mages from the Magic Tower.
And Iomene looks at Erpha with undisguised admiration.
"Al Madai. Shouldn't we seriously consider adding mages to the Ketratus troop type?"
"That's an act that violates the Codex Prorilium, Holy Woman. When you return, you'll need to focus on memorizing that part."
"..."
"But it would be very useful if the Magic Tower occasionally came out to support. I agree on that point."
After saying that, Al Madai looked around the battlefield once.
Now there were no enemies left except for a few black mages.
They were all roasted… no.
There were no more opponents to fight because they had all turned to ashes.
"Only those evil black mage bastards I'll tear apart are left. Wait, you ugly seeds. I'll go tear you apart now!!"
At Al Madai's words as he raised his greatsword and shield while shouting, the black mages' expressions turned gloomy.
There wasn't much resentment left now.
Moreover, Iomene.
Because that Holy Woman of Dullaneer who deserved to be torn apart was spraying light, the already weakened power of magic was further greatly weakened.
There seemed to be no way to win this unreasonable fight.
It was a miserable situation, but the black mages didn't give up.
They focused all their remaining resentment to cast a huge defensive spell.
"1 minute. We just need to hold out for 1 more minute! Mammon's chosen one will fight for us! Don't lose your fighting spirit!!"
Just as Al Madai was about to rush in angrily after hearing those words.
"Stop, Al Madai."
"What? But Holy Woman!"
"Only mages are left, right?"
"...?"
"Shouldn't we let their natural enemy hunt them?"
"...Ah!"
Al Madai giggled and stepped back.
The black mages tilted their heads at the expedition force's attitude of suddenly stopping their attack, but the next moment.
"T-the defensive spell is collapsing!"
"What is this!? I can't cast spells!!"
"Aaaagh!! Aaaagh! Magic is backfiring! Magic is breaking!!"
"Where!? Where!?"
"Something is attacking me!!"
The black mages could learn with their bodies why the expedition force had stopped attacking.
The defensive spell suddenly started to turn off.
Spells that were casting well suddenly stopped working for no reason.
And something invisible began to stab their bodies.
The neck of a black mage screaming in pain from magic backlash fell off, and a hole suddenly appeared in the heart of a black mage shouting not to come closer.
Even though black mages were suddenly dying in droves, the problem was that the enemy couldn't be seen.
The faces of the remaining black mages turned pale.
"Black Fortress!!"
"It's an anti-magic field!!"
"D-damn it!! It's the Soulless Ones!!"
"Throw away your wands!! Draw pistols!! It's impossible to fight with magic!"
A bizarre scene unfolded of black mages throwing away their wands and grabbing pistols to shoot, but the situation didn't change by doing that.
You need to know where the enemy is to hit them with a pistol, don't you?
Moreover.
"Don't come!! Don't…! Why isn't this firing!?"
[If you hold a gun with a grip safety like that, the gun won't fire.]
Perhaps because they hadn't received proper firing training, the black mages' pistol grip and shooting skills were truly miserable.
It was so miserable that the Soulless Ones killing them gave advice, and the black mages who fought in such a mess like that all ended up lying with their heads cut off or holes in their hearts in less than 20 seconds.
It was an empty ending.
But it wasn't just an empty ending.
"Keu… Keukeuk. You were a step late, you bastards!!"
A black mage with a hole in his heart looked at the huge coffin in the center of the base with dimming eyes while vomiting blood.
Mammon's chosen one.
It was close, but as a result of desperately resisting until the end.
It was finally completed.
Of course, it would clearly have a miserably incomplete body, and there was a high possibility that the mind wouldn't be whole either because it was awakened too urgently, but still, a chosen one was a chosen one.
"The chosen one will kill everyone here!! Taste their anger!! You worms!!"
Even while dying, the black mage's angry roar was huge.
[Oh no!]
[Move! We must stop the chosen one!]
"Move!! We have to stop them before the chosen one wakes up!!"
The Soulless Ones and expedition force began to approach urgently at those words, but it was already too late.
The coffin lid burst open and the being inside slowly raised its body.
Seeing that sight, the black mage who was still alive until the end sheds tears of emotion.
"Ooh!! Chosen one!! Mammon's chosen!! Unleash your anger!! Show this world the return of Greed!!"
"Assassins fall back!! Mages too!! The Ketratus and I will handle this! You can't be hit by the black magic and sorcery that guy is spewing!!"
While the assassins and mages hurriedly retreated following Iomene's order.
The Ketratus and Iomene began to rush urgently towards the chosen one.
"Do not fear death! Brothers!! The Holy Woman is with us!!"
"For Dullaneer!!!"
Holy knights charging with solemn voices.
"It's the end!! It's the apocalypse!! Taste the chosen one of Greed destroying the world!!"
One black mage mocking until the last moment of his life.
"As if I'll let you destroy the city Amael tried to protect!!"
Iomene ran while raising even stronger divine power.
All those urgent moments.
Suddenly became quiet the moment they saw Mammon's chosen one walking out of the broken coffin.
"Neuuugh... Keuueup."
A skinny man was limping as he moved.
He had no eyes, one arm was missing, and his legs were deformed and twisted in various ways.
"Hungry... Hurts... Uuuuuu. Father. Why!!!!?"
As if his intelligence was low, Mammon's chosen one shouted while throwing a tantrum like a child.
"Why did you… take away my power! Father!! Why!?"
The chosen one who was moving his steps collapsed to the ground with a thud because of his deformed legs.
No one.
Not even the black mage who was alive until the end.
Not the Ketratus.
Not Iomene.
Not the mages from the Magic Tower.
Opened their mouths.
"Eeeeng. Hungry. Aah. Hungry."
After blankly watching Mammon's chosen one writhing and squirming on the ground for a long time, the black mage finally spat out words as if feeling empty.
"Mammon... had already extracted the power and fled?"
The pillar of light appeared and Mammon's power rapidly shrank.
Judging from that, it was clear that Mammon had taken a big hit to his divinity itself because of that pillar of light.
So he must have hurriedly recovered the power he had granted to the chosen one to maintain his divinity, then quickly returned to hell, abandoning all his followers.
In other words.
It meant that the desperate struggle the followers had been waging until now was all for nothing.
"Mammon. You fucking son of a bitch…!"
In the last moment of his life, the black mage.
Utters words cursing the Demon King he had served his whole life.
And that became his last words.
With a hollow laugh because it was so absurd.
The black mage stopped breathing forever.
The chosen one of Mammon destroying this world?
There was no such thing.
"Eeng! H-hungry. Uu... Aaaagh! Aagh!!"
Iomene approached Mammon's chosen one, who seemed to have a seriously low mental age, and simply burned his body with divine power.
The chosen one writhed for a moment, then turned to ash and disappeared without being able to do anything.
It was a fight that ended so simply it felt empty.
After eliminating the chosen one like that, Iomene's expression suddenly paused, then quickly brightened.
"Erpha. I just received a report from Almene."
"What…?"
"The Saint has woken up."