Chapter 76.1

Mac missed the timing to avoid it and was forced to narrowly catch the spear shaft with his left hand. He didn’t like to resort to dealing with things by force but nonetheless attempted to lift Malecia up by the spear and fling him.

However, Malecia, with his vast experience on the battlefield, let go of the spear and retreated with perfect timing.

With Malecia’s weight suddenly disappearing, Mac stumbled backward, and arrows flew towards him at the same time.

Chaeng! Chaeng!

Mac quickly regained his balance and struck down the arrows. He evaded Malecia’s sword, the other was attempting a quick stab and run. Then Mac crouched down and tried to slice his abdomen. However, Malecia quickly dodged, filled the sand with mana, and kicked it into Mac’s face.

At the unexpected attack, Mac raised his left arm to shield his face and gathered mana to block it then he rolled on the ground once and quickly sprang to his feet.

Since dealing with Malecia, the desert terrain had started to really annoy him.

"Wow, I’ve never seen anyone fight so cowardly since the youngest master.”

"Haha, that youngest master knows how to fight."

Malecia struck back at the fuming Mac. Somehow, the way he talked even seemed similar, it scratched at Mac’s nerves.

"Well, isn’t it too cowardly for a man called the Mercenary King?"

"Mercenary King is a position that’s hard to survive in unless you are cowardly."

"Who was it that asked to be called a black knight?”

"Who knows? He’s not here at least." Malecia rambled.

"I thought he was in front of my eyes. Maybe it’s someone else.” Mac took a jibe.

"A person today is different tomorrow. Aren’t you fortunate to be having such big realizations?"

At the condescending teaching attitude, Mac decided to go all out.

He hadn’t been serious up until now, but he decided to fight seriously go all out.

No, I’ll just kill you.

"Huhu, die Youngest Master!"

A terrifying sword aura came out of Mac’s sword and shot towards Malecia. It contained an aura that seemed to want to annihilate everything. The paladins, turbaned men, and even Malecia all rolled onto the ground.

"Ahahaha! Do you know how much I was beaten up by the boss for losing the youngest master!!”

Mac unleashed his sword aura as if he was pouring out all of his feelings.

"Ahh! Mac has gone crazy!" Albatoss exclaimed in fright.

The target was definitely Malecia, but the effects of his sword aura resonated everywhere. Meanwhile, Malecia, the quarry, continued to run away from the sword aura all along feeling this was unfair.

"Retreat! Everybody retreat!" Malecia cried.

All his men began rolling and running away. The surrounding troops had already retreated. With only Malecia and his men left to flee now, there was no need to stall for time.

Malecia and his men quickly got on the camels and ran towards the Holy Land Zaharam.

Mac looked oddly relieved and did not chase after them. Rather than thinking that there was no need to fight if the enemy was running away, it was more because he was satisfied that all his stress was relieved. In addition, it would be annoying to chase after them and get lost while getting back to Lancelot and Leisha.

When Albatoss saw the scene, he thought Mac had intentionally pretended to go crazy and all out in order to drive away the enemies. He felt that even if it was Mac, a Crow, he would still be exhausted after releasing sword aura like crazy.

Even the paladins supported by Hillis felt fatigued from the great battle that resulted in thousands of cut wounds. So of course, he thought Mac would be even more exhausted since he did not receive any support.

"We are returning to Miss Saintess."

Around the carriage where Hillis was, there was a large tree with arrows stuck like a cactus. Under the tree, Leisha was meditating.

After kicking open the carriage and coming out, Hillis exhaled deeply, sweat-soaked her entire body.

"Oh, I’m gonna die, I’m so tired! Water! Ha, ha."

Feeling a sense of exhaustion in her whole body, Hillis looked for water first.

“Thank you for your hard work! Here’s the water."

Hillis, who received water from her servant, sank into a squat.

She had been supporting the paladins with her divine power for a long time. She had remotely treated the wounded paladins who had charged to deal with black magicians a total of 3,796 times. If it was an ordinary priest, he would have reached his limit after just 10 minutes.

As soon as she saw the five men trudging along, she first looked at Mac. "Are you hurt anywhere?" Hillis’s support and healing were set to respond to the paladins’ divine power so Mac had received neither.

"As you can see, I’m fine.”

Seeing Mac raise his arms and gesture, Hillis was relieved and nagged at the paladins. “I told you not to get hurt so much because it tires me out.”

“I’m sorry.”

Looking at the grim-faced paladins, Hillis sighed. "Phew, it’s fine since you came back alive.”

The paladins, who were depressed by her words, looked up emotionally.

"Get ready for the camp. I’m tired."

The paladins that remained to protect Hillis moved and immediately started to set up camp. Fortunately, thanks to the tree that Leisha had made, there was plenty of firewood. However, the problem was the black magicians and their troops that fled to the Holy Land Zaharam.

-o-

Malecia and his men pushed the weary camels and headed for the Holy Land Zaharam. When he saw the huge tree from afar even though it was at night, Malecia drove the camel slowly.

That tree was the very reason Zaharam was called the Holy Land.

As he approached the tree, a familiar village resembling an ancient ruin, came into sight. That village was Zaharam, the Holy Land.

It was hard to see in the dark at night, but the tree boasted a size so huge that it could cover all of Zaharam.

Not a sound could be heard when Malecia entered Zaharam. Unlike its name, here was a village of ruins that did not give any feeling of vitality. But this was a place that one would never expect to be in a desert.

The crumbling stone structures that resembled ancient ruins were shrouded in ivy. And at the center of Zaharam, a huge tree that exuded a strong aura of vitality stood tall enough to raise the question of whether it could grow in the desert.

The ruins looked like it should belong in the middle of the jungle but somehow was in the middle of the desert.

Zaharam’s tree was called the Divine Tree or the World Tree and emanated a special power. That power prevented not only humans but also insects from living. Because of this, even the temple that managed it could not stay here, and could only travel from the remote oasis village to guard it.

In reality, Zaharam was a place that did not need guarding at all. The power of the World Tree encompassed Zaharam, making it impossible to destroy the ruins here. It also made it seem as if it had stopped time.

When Malecia entered Zaharam, the power that always enveloped him when he came made him feel nervous. He massaged his chest. There was a magic necklace resting on his chest. The magic on it scattered the power, allowing them to stay here for a long time.

The necklace that most soldiers had was a crude item made by the black magicians that could not last over 15 days. However, Malecia’s necklace was an item that was semi-permanent, and specially bestowed by the person he served.

Going deeper, Malecia came to a wooden fence. He frowned.

It was a barrier that was definitely not present when he had left Zaharam in the morning. There was only one reason for this wooden fence to be put up: they were holding a ceremony.

"Stop! Stop or I’ll shoot!"

On the wooden fence, their bows pulled back, the archers took aim at Malecia and his men. This was because it was the middle of the night and Malecia and his men did not have torches.

And the reason they didn’t have torches was that they had lit up the battlefield but still ended up retreating without being able to retrieve the torches.

When Malecia and his men came to a gentle halt, the soldier on the wooden fence asked, "Who is it!"

"Special Task Force Captain Malecia!"

The soldiers guarding the wooden fence all hesitated at the same time. Even so, they did not put away the arrow on the bow.

"Black!"

"Starlight!"

“13!”

“37!”

Having confirmed the passphrase and code, the soldier came down from the wooden fence and said, "I will now begin the process to verify your identity. Please wait a moment!" With a torch in hand, he opened the side door on the wooden fence and came out to approach Malecia. "Oh, I’m sorry!"

Malecia patted the nervous soldier’s shoulder and spoke. "No, well done. But next time, just throw a torch from above and check the face. If I were an enemy, your life would have been in danger."

"Thank you!" The soldier saluted, he seemed moved.

Malecia smiled lightly and went into the barrier.

Inside the wooden fence were tents originally erected outside of Zaharam. Malecia clenched his teeth at the sight. Those soldiers did not have the necklace made by the black magicians that Malecia and his men had. Deploying those ordinary soldiers that could not even handle mana properly in Zaharam was the same as shaving off the lifespan of those soldiers.

Of course, there would be no issue if it was just for a day, but them being stationed there during the period of the entire ceremony at the altar was evidence these soldiers were expendable.

As Malecia looked around the tents with a serious face, he spotted the commander in the desert setting up a tent with a hammer.

The hammer was wrapped in bluish mana, but in order to hammer in holding pins into a land that was dominated by the World Tree’s power, both the hammer and the pin needed to be wrapped in sword aura.

"You’re working hard."

"Captain Malecia! I am glad to see that you are all right."

The commander only noticed that Malecia had arrived when he spoke, but he was relieved to see him as he wiped off his sweat. The fact that he had left Malecia and just retreated with his own men had been bothering him. Although the decision was made to save the soldiers, it was inevitable that he felt guilty.

Malecia, reading his mind, patted the commander’s back. "Did you think I was going to die because I couldn’t deal with five people?" His tone seemed light and he even smiled.

But the commander shrank back seeing Malecia’s eyes that were overflowing with danger. He felt as if the other was yelling, "Did I look so weak to you?".

"Ah, no. I’m sorry."

Malecia was somewhat sullen. The reactions were always like this when he joked. Sighing inward, he whispered to the commander that it was a joke while patting his shoulder.

“Be prepared to leave any time.”

“Yes? But—”

The commander cast a curious look, but Malecia shook his head in silence in all seriousness. Then, he went straight to the altar.

(End of Part 1)

The altar was located in the largest building at the center of Zaharam. Perhaps the building was a temple in the past because it was imbued with the aura of holiness.

Malecia couldn’t understand why the black magicians were doing black magic experiments in a place like this, but they who were preparing for the ceremony were serious.

The altar was in the room that was furthest inside the temple. Out of the 300 people assembled here, twenty were black magicians and the remaining were ‘rabbles’ that did the bidding of the high-ranking black magicians.

Malecia had fought countless battles, to him, the people here and those outside were far from being considered a magician. So he didn’t like the way they acted as if they were real magicians.

"Ah, so you arrived?" One of the black magicians got up from his seat and approached Malecia.

Malecia grasped the other’s neck with one hand and hauled him up.

"Kuh, Kuck! What... Why!"

"What are you doing?" An old man in charge of the ceremony and in the highest seat among the black magicians was angry. However, Malecia ignored the old man.

"Was it you? The one who rejected the request for magic?"

The black magician who was being strangled by Malecia, realized that this was because he had refused the request to create light with magic when they were attacking the Saintess.

"No... no... I!"