Chapter 393 - For Aernor

Clang! Clang! Clang!

“H-Hurry up and heal...!”

“Arghh!”

“H-How did the forces of evil notice our approach?!”

“This isn’t the time to bother with that!”

Anduin stood at the forefront and swung the rays of light that poured out from both of his hands. The demonic beasts that were rushing toward him were swept into the storm of light imbued with Divinity and were reduced to ashes.

“All incarnations, scatter and eliminate the demonic beasts!”

Anduin bit his lip as he looked around to see the apostles being slaughtered by the demonic beasts pouring out from the Rift.

‘How did demonic beasts come pouring out at such perfect timing?’

They were trying to ambush the forces of evil, but they ended up being the ones to be ambushed instead. Anduin clenched his fists and burst the heads of the demonic beasts that were charging at him while roaring. There were far too many demonic beasts for him to focus on resolving the countless questions in his head.

“Haaaaaaaah!” Anduin swung down his mace while shouting.

Dozens of demonic beasts were blown into the air after getting struck with the mace.

***

“The son of a bitch sure is strong despite looking like a priest,” said Oh Kang-Woo.

‘Is he some sort of melee priest?’

Kang-Woo was impressed by Anduin, who was bursting the heads of demonic beasts left and right at the forefront. He had expected Anduin to be a healer or buffer because of his gentle looks and long robe, but he was acting no different from any other warrior.

“I guess they live up to their title of incarnations. They fight demonic beasts very well,” said Lilith as she looked over the battlefield with shining eyes.

Kang-Woo nodded. He had expected things to turn out this way.

‘After all, the incarnations can use Divinity.’

Although they were not able to use the power to its full extent since their Deific Essence was only borrowed from the gods, it was Divinity nonetheless. Considering how powerful Layla had become after Gaia recovered a significant portion of her power, it was unthinkable for thirty incarnations to be defeated by such demonic beasts.

“Fights sure are fun to watch,” Kang-Woo said leisurely.

Crunch

. He looked down at the battlefield excitedly while munching on a fistful of popcorn.

“Ah, you shouldn’t be doing that,” Kang-Woo mumbled in frustration as he watched over Anduin and the other incarnations. “Ah, ah! What the hell is that son of a bitch doing?”

One of the incarnations had advanced too deep into enemy lines and had gotten isolated from the rest. An enormous number of demonic beasts swarmed the incarnation like hundreds of Japanese honeybees attacking a giant hornet.

Demonic beasts invaded the formation of the churches’ army through the vacancy of the incarnation. Another incarnation tried to fill that vacancy, but they ended up getting isolated from the group as well. The demonic beasts that had fallen back due to Anduin’s attacks began to attack ferociously again.

“Sheesh, I could do better than that.”

Kang-Woo was backseating while clicking his tongue as he stared at the fumbling incarnations that weren’t even able to properly use such a broken power like Divinity. He looked exactly like a middle-aged man watching a soccer game from his couch and berating the players.

Lilith lightly giggled while covering her mouth. “Will you participate?”

“No. It’s a hassle.”

Kang-Woo scanned the demonic beasts uninterestedly. They certainly were powerful enough to be able to inhabit the Ninth Hell, but they were no longer appetizing enough for Kang-Woo, who had acquired Deific Essence.

‘Rather, I would get even more hungry if I eat those small fry.’

Those demonic beasts were like konjac jelly with almost no caloric value. Eating such things when his hunger and desire were at their peak would only sour his mood.

“That aside...” Kang-Woo looked down at the battle with sunken eyes. “How did they summon that many demonic beasts?”

It wasn’t just their numbers; every one of them was on the strong side even among the demonic beasts of the Ninth Hell. There were easily over ten thousand of them, possibly even a hundred thousand. Such a large number of demonic beasts was hard to see even in the Ninth Hell.

‘Did they mass-breed demonic beasts or something?’

Kang-Woo tilted his head in wonder. It was possible since demonic beasts had high reproductive potential, unlike demons.

‘But they wouldn’t have been easy to control.’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes as he stared at the demonic beasts. To mass-breed demonic beasts, they would have to be gathered into one area like fish in a tank and prompted to breed. Not even Kang-Woo would be able to perfectly control demonic beasts, monsters with only killing and madness in their minds.

‘Maybe one of the Constellations is specialized in controlling demonic beasts.’

It would have been highly difficult to procure this many demonic beasts if that were not the case.

An enormous amount of energy spread from Kang-Woo’s feet to the ground around him.

‘Authority of the Beholder.’

The entire valley was drawn within his head as if he had gained a third eye on his forehead. He could vividly see the churches’ army fighting the demonic beasts and hear Anduin’s bellows. Kang-Woo was not interested in the soldiers; he focused his senses past the crack in the barrier that had formed in the air. He could feel the demonic beasts that were crouching within the barrier.

‘There are ancient demonic beasts as well.’

Kang-Woo had seen the ancient demonic beasts when Sant’Angelo had been attacked. He could see them commanding the hundreds of thousands of unintelligent demonic beasts.

‘It seems I made the right choice not to charge in blind.’

The forces of the Constellations of Evil were much larger than Kang-Woo had expected. Although numbers were of no consequence to him considering how powerful he had become, it would certainly be an annoyance; it would be like having a bunch of flies flying around him.

‘The nuisance will have to be cleaned up.’

As for who would be cleaning them up, the soldiers of the churches would honorably sacrifice themselves for the task. If any remained, Balrog and his other comrades would finish them off.

‘Once the flies are disposed of, only the Constellations will remain.’

Kang-Woo smiled widely.

Boom, boom.

His heart beat strongly. He could imagine the Constellation of Despair, who was likely watching over the battlefield from across the crack in the barrier.

He suppressed the impulse to storm in through the crack right this second. His hunger and thirst were so powerful that they were on the verge of overpowering him. He gulped to quell his overflowing desire.

“But aren’t the incarnations being pushed back way too easily?” Lilith asked.

“I’ll say. The Constellations haven’t even come out yet. This won’t do.” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue as he looked down at the soldiers being pushed back.

He had more or less figured out the extent of the Constellations’ forces, but the soldiers needed to do more for him; they needed to reduce the demonic beast army’s numbers as much as possible.

‘I guess their Deific Essences are low in rank.’

The difference between them and Layla was far too large that it was laughable to even call them incarnations.

“At least pull your weight as incarnations,” Kang-Woo muttered as he frowned in disappointment.

Even if they were incarnations of lower gods, he couldn’t believe that they were being pushed back by mere demonic beasts when they were able to use the broken power known as Divinity.

“I can certainly tell that it hasn’t been very long since they’ve been chosen as incarnations,” Lilith mentioned.

“There’s that too, but the fact that they can’t work together is the bigger issue.”

Despite the grandiose name of their organization Godly Pantheon, it was ultimately made up of those who believed in different gods. The incarnations continued to be isolated from the group after not following Anduin’s orders, and the apostles were not able to prepare countermeasures for the demonic beasts’ attacks because they were all fighting as if it were a free-for-all. Poor teamwork was worse than fighting by oneself.

Kang-Woo shook his head in disappointment. “I need them to at least draw out the Constellations.”

The key to this plan was for him to confirm how many more Constellations there were besides the Constellation of Despair and Proserpine. However, the incarnations were falling apart so easily that Kang-Woo was worried that the battle would be over before the Constellations even showed up.

“Shall we intervene?” Lilith asked.

“I’m not sure.”

Kang-Woo looked down at the battlefield while deep in thought. At this rate, the Constellations would not come out unless he were to take action.

Boom—!!

Just then, a massive explosion rang out.

“Haaaaaaaap!!”

The hundreds of demonic beasts surrounding Anduin were caught in the giant burst of light and turned to ash. Anduin smashed his mace into the ground and panted heavily.

“Haaa, haaa, haaa.”

The battle was taking a turn for the worse. Anduin looked toward the apostles who were being toyed with by the demonic beasts. Blazing emotions surged from his heart.

“We cannot...” Anduin continued faintly with his head lowered. “We cannot... fall here.”

“Sir Anduin...” The expressions of the incarnations who heard him stiffened.

Heavy silence befell the battlefield momentarily. Anduin pulled himself up while clenching his mace as his legs trembled.

“If we were to fall here, the powerless people of the continent would be the next victims,” Anduin stated with a trembling voice.

He had indeed been greedy. He could not bear the cold gazes of the people toward the church as Kim Si-Hun continued to perform great accomplishments. Thinking about it now, he realized that he had made a truly idiotic choice. He should have attacked the enemy base with the help of Oh Kang-Woo, Kim Si-Hun, and the angels.

‘It’s... too late for regret.’

Anduin shut his eyes tight. He knew that it was too late and that he had made the wrong choice. However...

‘I need to protect them.’

He bit his lip to the point that it bled. He could not turn his back and run, since the fate of the continent was on his shoulders. He was the hope of countless lives.

“O Goddess of Peace, Lumeria,” Anduin prayed sincerely as he kneeled and clasped his hands together. “Grant me the courage to break through the darkness.”

Whoooom.

Radiant light shone from his body. Enormous energy burst from him.

“A-Aaaahh.”

Anduin’s eyes widened. He was surging with Lumeria’s power. Anduin, who was now enveloped in light, stood firmly.

“Sir Anduin...”

“W-Wow...”

Anduin could see the apostles staring at him wide-eyed. He gripped his mace to the point that it could break. He knew that although they had come together as one through the Godly Pantheon, they were not able to work together since they each served different gods.

“We have each sworn our loyalty to different gods,” he stated.

“...” The incarnations remained silent.

“However!”

Boom!

Anduin stomped on the ground as blinding light enveloped him.

“We share a common goal: to save the continent and to purge evil from this world. Everyone... Please. Please work together as one,” Anduin pleaded.

The incarnations looked at each other and then lowered their heads.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

“I apologize, Father Anduin.”

“... We seemed to have forgotten the most important thing.”

The incarnations teared up. Anduin could feel their overflowing emotions. He gripped his mace tight and turned around.

“One for all, all for one!” Anduin raised his mace high. “Fight!”

His bellow echoed throughout the battlefield bursting with the forces of evil.

“For Aernor!”

Anduin charged at the horde of demonic beasts while exuding blinding light.

“Yeaaaahhhh!!”

At this moment, the apostles who each served different gods joined as one.