The Protagonists of Romance Fantasy Novels Have Escaped

155 – 155. Where You Are Heading (1)

The mercenary king, now a specter, exerted a power surpassing his prime, pressing down on Ludmila and Jeblinne.

Boom──!!

Swinging the b*stard Sword, a storm of frost surged forth.

That was not all.

With each thrust of the polearm from his other hand, the ground cracked, sending shockwaves rippling through the air.

The supreme martial prowess granted to the king of mercenaries.

And the chill of ash spreading throughout his body.

With a flash of blue light in his eyes, he wielded the weapon imbued with the cold of ash. True to his reputation of never having lost a single close-quarters battle, he even showed superiority against the Empire’s red dragon.

“What kind of monster is that…!”

The saintess, with her flowing silver hair, reacted in horror as she grasped the scepter of the Black Night.

Kugugugung-.

Black lightning gathered, unfolding a barrier.

It was to somehow halt the relentless advance of the specter.

But the specter brought down the b*stard Sword, shattering the barrier in an instant.

“Second Saintess! Bind the mercenary king!”

“Ugh! I got it, I got it!”

Ludmila shouted in a sharp voice.

In response, Jeblinne swallowed her breath and clenched her fist.

-……!

The fragments of the shattered barrier, destroyed by the specter, simultaneously unleashed bolts of lightning. The unleashed lightning struck the specter, momentarily halting its charge.

Ludmila would not miss the fleeting opportunity.

Whoosh.

The fiercely burning flames of tyranny struck the undead directly. Although the direct attack was blocked by the polearm, the explosive roar accompanied by the flames engulfed the undead.

– This kind, this kind… with an attack…!!

Drip.

Drip-drip.

The blue light grew even more menacingly intense.

At the same time, the flames that had been incinerating the undead began to freeze.

Strength is being drained.

The fierce firepower that had boasted its might diminished.

In contrast, the chill emanating from the undead’s soul intensified.

Robbery.

The unique power granted to the fool who had fallen into undeath.

Rudmila, witnessing it before her eyes, recoiled, her beautiful face contorting in horror.

“Second Saint!”

“Honestly, you have so many wishes!”

Kwah-kwah-kwah. Ka-kwah-kwah-kwah-.

Power compressed to its limit cannot withstand the pressure and inevitably explodes.

It explodes.

The deathly chill enveloping the undead vibrated violently.

Jebeline, who had instantly grasped Rudmila’s intentions, unleashed a barrage of lightning upon the battered ground, creating a rift in the sky. The undead, focused on the release of its power, suddenly fell into the abyss that had opened beneath it.

“Brace for impact! There will be a backlash!”

“Yes!”

Kugugugug-.

The ground trembles.

It was the aftermath of the explosion unleashed by the undead plummeting into the abyss.

We must get as far away as possible.

Rudmila, clutching Jebeline’s slender waist, fled the scene.

In that moment.

The ground, frozen with ice and snow, rippled like a wave, and then an explosion unfolded. Rudmila and Jebeline, witnessing the bizarre phenomenon of the earth turning upside down, gasped in shock.

“Surely the undead has robbed my divinity to enhance its own power.”

“And it released the divinity it had stolen. In that process, it showed a gap.”

A gap.

In the process of releasing divinity, a gap is inevitably revealed.

Plunder is merely the act of seizing power.

Because it cannot be used wholly by one’s own strength, the cumbersome result of release occurs.

Ludmila and Jeblin stared anxiously at the source of the explosion. As they had anticipated, the spirit rider crawled out from the abyss, unscathed.

– Come forth… the one-horned steed.

The undead reached out with its grasp.

Then, from the cliff filled with coldness, a dark shadow surged forth.

Brrrr!!

What answered the call of the undead was a steed with a sharp horn.

A cursed ghostly horse, with all flesh rotted away, leaving only a gaunt skeleton behind. It was a chilling sight, perfectly fitting as the hero’s familiar, now a slave to misfortune.

The undead mounted the ghostly horse.

It was the moment of truly becoming a rider.

– I shall go…!

Vroom.

With the sound of the horse’s cry, the spirit rider, armed with weapons, began to gallop.

* * *

The command is a power that exerts influence over the causality of reality.

One word—.

With just a brief utterance, life can be taken.

If one were to say, “Disappear,” the village would collapse in an instant, leaving no trace. And if one expressed a will as strong as, “Vanish without a trace,” even a city would be wiped out in a heartbeat.

Great power always brings about horrific consequences.

Beatrice, who had awakened to reality since childhood, refrained from using commands in any situation except when healing the critically wounded on the battlefield. She regarded it as a strict taboo, hastily hiding her ability.

“Break.”

But the monster that imitated Beatrice’s form was different.

It spewed forth only malice, as if embodying pure evil that dominated the heart.

“Ugh!”

Crack!

The left shoulder, bound by the power of the command, shattered.

Edanant responded with a barrage of artillery, summoning divinity to restore the broken left shoulder.

“Do not defile the miracle of the saint with Beatrice’s form and voice!!”

The Miracle of the Saint.

It was akin to the symbol of Beatrice, the heroine of a romantic fantasy.

She had overcome countless crises.

And she had saved countless people.

The pure white saint, who had brought hope to humanity ravaged by the invasion of the Demon King’s army and the cultists. The actions of the monster, which used the incantation known as the Miracle of the Saint solely for the purpose of slaughter, were nothing short of a disgrace that tarnished Beatrice’s reputation.

—I will drag it out, even if by force.

The armor of calamity was summoned.

At the same time, the air shimmered, and numerous missiles were deployed.

Surface-to-air missiles.

Weapons that had pierced through the dragon statues guarding the Demon King’s castle.

The monster, witnessing the bizarre metal masses that had suddenly appeared, momentarily displayed confusion. The pointed, cylindrical projectiles were unknown entities that did not exist in Beatrice’s memories or in the knowledge stored within the calamity of death.

“Explode!”

Kwahh- bang!!

As the monster shouted, the metal masses exploded on their own.

This is not good.

It was surely a hidden trump card of Edanant.

Thus, the monster activated the incantation without hesitation, attempting to completely neutralize the attack.

Swaaa-.

However, the number of incoming missiles was far too great to counter with the power of the incantation.

The self-destructing weapons numbered only about ten.

Given that it was a brief incantation delivered in an instant, its ability to influence reality was bound to be weak.

Edanant, having discerned the gap in the incantation through a short skirmish, mobilized a war of attrition. In particular, he unleashed a widespread barrage to prevent the monster from having any opportunity to counterattack.

───────!!!

Dozens of surface-to-air missiles struck true.

Even if it couldn’t end it in one blow, it would surely leave the monster in a state of combat incapacity.

Edanant raised his head, gazing at the scene of destruction where eyes, ice, and gunpowder surged.

“Ugh… aaah!!”

The monster’s sharp roar echoed.

In response, a fierce icy wind slammed through the interior of the Demon King’s castle.

—What is that…?

As the moon intervened, the sun vanished, and the surroundings were swiftly shrouded in darkness. The shadow that had thwarted the explosions of surface-to-air missiles soon surged upward, taking the form of a monstrous giant.

Sharp, jutting horns.

Eyes gleaming a vibrant blue like will-o’-the-wisps.

With every breath exhaled, a chilling white mist flowed forth.

It was imperative to fend off the bombardment falling like lightning, so the summoning remained incomplete. The giant, summoned with a gust of icy wind, existed only from the waist up.

– Is that the essence of death? The mind is sealed, leaving only an empty shell.

Tyranny took the form of a three-headed dragon,

Famine manifested as a fallen angel with blinded eyes.

And death appeared as a giant, a blend of demonic and undead traits.

Crackling sounds echoed.

As the giant extended its hand, coldness concentrated, forming a spear of ice.

“Edanant….”

The creature, with its flowing white hair, raised its head while emitting a chilling voice.

The flames of black and white that dwelled in its left and right eyes blazed with ferocity.

『Die right there.』

It was different from the spirit it had just faced.

The monster mobilized the powers of the essence of death to activate the spirit’s strength.

Instant death.

The decree of the spirit, imbued with the divinity of the essence, seized Edanant’s life.

Reality manipulation. A force that tears apart causality.

Condemned to death, Edanant bowed his head and violently coughed up blood. Yet somehow, he managed to evade instant death, swaying several times but somehow regaining his balance.

– To use both the spirit and the divinity of death simultaneously…! Cough! What a filthy trick!

If the divinity of war had not acted of its own accord, he would have just lost his life.

His vision swam.

Edanant clenched his hands, sending gratitude to the goddess of the essence who had aided him.