168 – Sacrificial Ritual – 1

The Pupil, the false god who was once a traitor who usurped Ur’s power, and after that, stayed in the volcano of Uralta, impersonating the blacksmith god to snatch sacrifices and faith from the dwarves.

There was only one good thing that guy did, which was that, in the process of manifesting in his true body, he completely sucked up the volcano’s heat, the essence.

It was the reason Gi-jun was able to obtain the ‘Essence of Uralta’ as loot—and at the same time, the reason the momentum of the overflow weakened rapidly immediately after defeating him.

“The volcano’s mana flow is…… stabilizing.”

While Gi-jun took on the Pupil, the complexion of Tilla, who had been holding the front line alone, brightened noticeably.

The horde of monsters that had been rising anew from the lava as soon as they were struck down stopped increasing at some point and began to dwindle.

“Thank goodness, the overflow will subside soon…….”

“Not yet.”

Gi-jun, who joined Tilla’s side, spoke with a worried expression.

“We haven’t caught the divine beast yet.”

“Ah.”

Tilla wore an expression that made it clear she had completely forgotten about the existence of the divine beast until now.

Conscious of Gi-jun’s gaze, she slightly avoided his eyes and spoke as if making an excuse.

“The divine beast, right, yeah. Since it seems this side will be fine without us now, let’s go catch it.”

“Actually, I had forgotten about it halfway through too. I didn’t expect something worse than the divine beast to appear.”

“I didn’t forget, though? Jun, I have never forgotten Shin and Lora for even a single moment.”

“Sure, let’s go with that. Fortis!”

—Piyooooo!

The loyal griffin had been defeating wolves among the summoned by flapping its wings and brandishing its claws and beak, but the moment its name was called, it spread its wings wide and flew to Gi-jun’s side.

Seeing the minor scratches all over its body, including its wings, Gi-jun healed it with Lucy’s power and climbed onto its back with Tilla.

“Let’s go rescue our friends, Fortis.”

—Piyoooo!

Fortis, spreading its wings once more, kicked off the ground and soared up in an instant.

Tilla, wrapping her arms tightly around Gi-jun’s chest, glanced back and asked him.

“Do we not need to bring the unicorn lady along?”

“Unika? She’ll be fine. This is Unika’s battlefield, after all.”

“Indeed.”

As if to prove Gi-jun’s words, Unika waved at them as they departed to catch the divine beast.

He also waved back to her and urged the griffin forward, soaring through the sky.

“She was commanding the Summoned and the Letans quite impressively.”

“I don’t know about the Summoned, but as long as I am close with Unika, the Letans—the dwarves of Uralta—won’t find it easy to go against her.”

“……Aha.”

Only then did Tilla understand the reason why Unika and Gi-jun had gone out of their way to show gestures of intimacy, and she could not help but shake her head.

“Did you think that far ahead from the very beginning?”

“Not really, but since I went as far as exposing that I have the sacred relic, I might as well get every benefit I can.”

“If you’re worried about someone coming after the sacred relic…… I don’t think you need to worry too much. Jun was acknowledged by the sacred relic and even hunted down someone possessing divinity, after all. There won’t be anyone foolish enough to charge in to steal the sacred relic.”

“A real fool is annoying because they rush in without even thinking about such things. ……And if they rush in despite not being a fool, it means they have that much confidence, which would make it even more troublesome.”

But even while saying that, Gi-jun seemed somewhat resigned.

The Hero of Gratia, the Divine Beast Hunter, the Dragon Slayer.

Since he already had more than enough reasons to be targeted by others, what difference would it make even if one more bait were added now?

“Ah, I see them over there. ……They’re doing quite well, aren’t they?”

Because he was lost in thought, he was slower than Tilla in spotting his companions.

Looking down at Tilla’s words, Gi-jun blinked in disbelief.

—Kuaaaaaaaa!

“Going in now!”

“I’m counting on you!”

—Kyaaaaak!

And no wonder, as Eun-shin and Lora, whom he had thought would be doing well just by keeping the divine beast from escaping, were surprisingly fighting the divine beast head-on.

……Of course, Gi-jun had also fought and won against a divine beast when he was at the Rare grade, but at that time, he had Lucy, a Legendary-grade spirit, by his side.

—I thought that might be the case, but it’s certainly impressive. ……The contractor’s racial effect.

“My racial effect? They’re fighting like that right now because of it?”

A divine beast crushed its opponent just by existing on the battlefield, and especially against Skoll, who harbored heat greater than a volcano’s, they should have sustained significant damage just by approaching, yet the two showed no sign of being intimidated or backing down at all.

Lora clashed with the divine beast head-on to draw its attention, and whenever a gap opened, Eun-shin drove a dagger into the back of the divine beast’s head to deal effective damage.

When Gi-jun, who had been dazed by the two’s fluid coordination and the sight of the divine beast clearly weakening in real time, replied reflexively to Lucy’s words, she spoke in disbelief as if she had expected it.

—You had a racial effect even before you advanced, you know. Like how your light mana was strengthened, and the contractor’s recovery rate increased in places where light lingered.

“……Did I?”

He had been aware that he handled light mana, which was originally difficult to control, easily thanks to his race.

He also knew that the racial grade gave positive modifiers to all stats and skills as a whole, making him stronger as the grade grew higher.

However, he had never dreamed that there would be an effect that went even beyond that.

—I didn’t know the effect would be that good either, though……. Why don’t you check your status window, contractor?

Upon checking the status window at Lucy’s words, the effect was indeed clearly stated, making him feel like a fool for not even thinking of checking it until now.

[Lumen (Unique): A race born when a human’s strong will transcends the laws to transform into a purification of pure light. Amplifies all light and heat handled, and bestows the Blessing of Light upon everyone one leads.]

[Blessing of Light: Affinity for light and heat increases, and light-attribute attack and defense power are added.]

[Lumen (Unique): A race born when a human’s strong will transcends the laws to transform into a purification of pure light. Amplifies all light and heat handled, and bestows the Blessing of Light upon everyone one leads.]

[Blessing of Light: Affinity for light and heat increases, and light-attribute attack and defense power are added.]

Although he had realized that the light and flames he handled were further strengthened after his racial grade rose, he learned about the existence of the Blessing of Light for the first time.

If resistance increased defense against the corresponding attribute, affinity was a concept that went further, increasing both the defense and attack power of that attribute at the same time.

If the two were indeed receiving that effect, it was understandable that they could hold out head-on against a divine beast reaching the Legendary grade.

On top of that, with Lora’s divine power added to it, it was not just a matter of holding out; it was entirely possible for them to fight on equal terms against the divine beast.

“Hmm…… if it’s like this.”

He had rushed over thinking it was an emergency, but since it turned out they were splendidly hunting the divine beast by themselves, he felt a bit hesitant to just barge in.

Yet, leaving them alone like this was also a problem; because the two lacked somewhat in attack power, the battle was dragging on, and if it continued like this, they might collapse from exhaustion before they could bring the divine beast down.

Gi-jun, who had been contemplating, looked back at Tilla.

Tilla, who had already been preparing to jump down at any moment, was looking at him with a puzzled expression at his hesitation.

“Jun?”

“Tilla, go and support them moderately. Don’t land the finishing blow, just create an opening in the divine beast.”

“Indeed, I understand. It would be a bit of a waste to steal that from them completely.”

Tilla, who understood Gi-jun’s desire to let his party members grow, grinned and nodded.

“Then I’ll be off!”

She immediately jumped off the griffin’s back, manifested a whip of flames, and lashed out, aiming precisely at the divine beast’s head.

—Kuaaaaak!

Surprisingly, the end of the whip spun around, wrapping around the divine beast’s thick neck and pulling it back.

The head of the wolf, Skoll, who had been lunging with its forepaws as if to tear Lora’s chest open at any moment, was pulled back, exposing its chest wide open.

“You’re here!”

Even while grasping the situation and welcoming Tilla, Lora did not miss the divine beast’s opening and charged forward.

She swung her long sword, which emitted a strange light from carrying both divine power and blood power, slashing a long gash across the beast’s chest.

It was the moment Lora’s authority, which had flowed along the sharp slash and dug into the divine beast’s body, exerted its power.

—Kiiiiiik—!

The divine beast vomited a large amount of rotten blood with a chilling scream.

“It hit! The heart must have been near there.”

A bewitching smile appeared on Lora’s lips.

The fearsome authority inherited from Carmilla, which rotted the target’s blood upon inflicting a wound, had finally pierced the divine beast’s resistance to deal it a fatal blow!

—Hup!

Eun-shin delivered an additional blow to the agonizing divine beast.

At the very moment the wolf lost track of Eun-shin because it was suffering under Lora and Tilla’s harassment, he appeared near its neck like a flash of light and thrust his dagger, launching a surprise attack.

—Kyaak! Kyahak!

“Not so fast!”

Hit by consecutive attacks, Skoll began to run wild, spewing flames in all directions.

Even while Eun-shin and Lora hurriedly backed away, Tilla, far from retreating, climbed right onto the beast’s back and pulled the whip tighter.

Having reached the Legendary grade just like the divine beast, she was already immune to damage from flames of this level.

“I’ll help you a bit, so try to kill it yourselves!”

“You say ‘a bit’ and ‘by yourselves’ so easily while holding the divine beast completely down all on your own.”

Lora, who had been dumbfounded by Tilla’s ability to restrict the divine beast’s movements alone despite not being a tank, noticed that Gi-jun was watching her and Eun-shin from atop the griffin in the sky above.

At that moment, her furrowed brow relaxed on its own, and a sudden, pure fighting spirit and desire surged within her.

“T-Then, we will try!”

“Your attitude suddenly became quite polite.”

“Shin, now is our chance!”

“Ah, yes. I know.”

Like that, with Gi-jun watching, Lora and Eun-shin’s hunt of the divine beast resumed.

Tilla helped by interfering with the divine beast only at critical moments so as not to hinder their growth, while Lora and Eun-shin diligently inflicted wounds on its body, frustrated that their raw power was still not enough to match it.

Because the battle was so fierce, earthquakes constantly shook the area, and lava erupted.

By that time, the overflow had subsided significantly, though a few among the Summoned who had felt the commotion came to check it out.

“Is that, by any chance……?”

“I think it is. It’s a divine beast. The system message popped up, didn’t it?”

“Ugh! What is this heat…… get back!”

The divine beast was an easy opponent only to the Lumen party; other Summoned still found it hard to endure the beast’s heat just by approaching, frowning and backing away.

“Come to think of it, Jun first started to be known as a Divine Beast Hunter. Could it be that he came to Uralta to search for and hunt a divine beast as well?”

“But—the ones actually fighting the divine beast are the other party members, aren’t they?”

“……That’s absurd. It wasn’t just the party leader who was incredible.”

Now that the overflow had also been resolved, the Summoned sat down and began to watch the battle with the divine beast.

If they had known that the members of the Lumen party were receiving the Blessing of Light, their thoughts might have changed slightly, but there was no way for them to know.

—Kyaaaaak!

After the battle continued for a while longer, the divine beast was helplessly defeated, not by Gi-jun whom it had feared, but by his companions.

Even to Gi-jun, who was just watching quietly, some experience flowed in because they were in a party, and he leveled up once.

However, when he had hunted the Pupil earlier, far more experience must have flowed to Lora and Eun-shin, so there was no need to feel sorry.

“Hyung! How can you just watch? I really almost died!”

Approaching Gi-jun, who leaped down from Fortis’s back as soon as the divine beast collapsed, Eun-shin complained with a grimace.

But Gi-jun only patted his shoulder and laughed.

“Since the two of you were fighting so well. Wasn’t that what you wanted? To fight well and grow even without my help.”

“That’s true, but! ……Still, I really almost died in the middle, but I survived thanks to you, Hyung. You caught a big shot, didn’t you, whatever it was? My level rose like crazy. On top of that, thanks to catching the divine beast as well, I think I’ll soon grow to the Unique grade too……”

“Jun-nim!”

Lora, who had been surrendering herself to the waves of sensation that washed over her as her level rose the moment the divine beast collapsed, also noticed Gi-jun’s approach and walked toward him with her eyes shining.

“We were able to hunt easily because you watched over us……! But, well, I consumed too much authority during the battle, so if you don’t mind, later.”

As she spoke, Lora’s gaze was fixed on Gi-jun’s neck.

For Gi-jun, he could not tell whether she was doing this because she was truly lacking blood or simply wanted to suck his blood—but refusing again what he had already permitted once was extremely difficult.

“Alright, when no one is watching.”

“Thank you……!”

Gi-jun, who ultimately nodded because he could not bear Lora’s sorrowful gaze, felt worried about whether he was handling her properly as he watched Lora rejoice.

“Hyung……”

“Uh, this isn’t my fault, you know? Consult with my lawyer, seriously.”

“So why did you come down as soon as the battle ended?”

“Ah, right.”

Gi-jun pulled out a well-sharpened knife from his pocket and wore a solemn expression as he coated it with moonlight.

“Even if you guys were the ones who caught it, I have to do the butchering.”

“That is indeed a grave matter.”

Thus, the overflow, which had been a series of unexpected twists, came to an end.

Although the remaining problems were still piled mountain-high.