Chapter 205 – Sloth and Thunder (7)

Everyone held their breath.

Even the knights who were in despair.

Reinhardt, who was racking his brain to escape the current situation.

Sirkal, whose mouth was wide open in surprise.

Deus, who was maintaining his threads to somehow block the black mana.

[-!]

The Apostle of Sloth, who was plunging its leg down to kill Alon…

Even it held its breath.

In that situation where everyone held their breath.

Alon, who was emitting blue lightning enough to brightly illuminate the gray world, silently reached out his hand and gave a small flick.

A very small, minute flick that would be hard to even properly confirm without looking closely.

However.

The lightning created by that small movement shot out in an instant.

It began to massacre the small spiders.

Crackle!

Blue lines began to be drawn chaotically in the gray world.

Sometimes in a straight line.

Sometimes moving irregularly.

The lightning, which ruthlessly pierced through the bodies of the spiders, eliminated all the spiders in the ruins in just a few seconds.

The one who first moved at that sight was none other than the Apostle of Sloth.

‘I must deal with him now!’

The Apostle of Sloth, who had become one with Kraksha.

He felt an instinctive threat from the existence in front of him and retracted his leg that was disappearing like dust.

Without a moment’s delay…

He immediately scattered black mana and pushed his body in to crush Alon.

Because he desperately sensed it.

That the opportunity to deal with the existence in front of him was only now.

No, that even now was too late.

[Die!]

While letting out a grotesque scream to drive away the fear that surged as if he would be suffocated at any moment.

The Apostle of Sloth threw its massive body at Alon.

However, the gaze of Alon, who faced such a struggle from the Apostle, was extremely…

“…”

…Calm.

As if what was happening in front of him was nothing.

He just calmly.

Looked at the huge body rushing toward him.

Soon, by the time it reached right in front of him.

Marquis Palladio’s hand pointed toward the sky.

At the same time.

Boom!

While the sound of the entire world bursting echoed through the atmosphere in an instant, what was held in his hand.

Crackle!

Was none other than lightning.

As if torn from the sky.

The lightning that entered Alon’s hand while drawing countless streams of current in the ground and sky.

The thing that seemed like it would burst at any moment was twisted and twisted, eventually settling in his hand.

At the moment the rushing Apostle of Sloth lifted even its last leg.

A voice echoed.

Heaven’s Punishment.

A very small.

Yet such a clear voice.

And.

What the Apostle of Sloth saw immediately after.

[Ah…]

Was a pure white world blooming in the gray.

Kwaaaaaaa!

Light.

It swept across the earth.

A sharp mechanical sound that easily crossed the threshold devoured everyone’s hearing.

The pure white light blinded the knights’ vision.

Everything was swallowed, and a ‘blank’ of senses took over the world.

Eventually.

The moment all senses returned once again.

What appeared before people’s eyes was, none other than…

The massive spider’s carcass, which had been pierced from its head through its torso and was no longer moving.

“…”

And Alon, who was looking down at the carcass while clad in lightning.

“Ah…”

A low exclamation burst from the mouth of a knight who saw the scene.

The clearly visible ‘awe’ in his eyes.

Spread to everyone around him with strong contagiousness.

Not only to the knights.

But also to Reinhardt.

To Deus.

And.

To Sirkal.

“…”

She stared blankly at the brilliant man.

She had never once doubted the existence before her eyes.

However, even so.

It wasn’t that there were no suspicions.

No matter how much she offered her faith, a small doubt had existed.

Because Sirkal had never actually seen Kalanon’s form.

There were stories handed down.

There were guesses close to certainty.

There was the conviction of the former patriarch, who had never been wrong about anything.

However, there was no physical evidence.

That one fact had sprouted a small doubt in Sirkal’s heart.

Perhaps.

Just maybe, she was mistaken.

Maybe the conviction of the former patriarch, who had never been wrong, was incorrect.

A tiny, tiny doubt.

However, at this moment.

“Ah…”

It vanished as if washed away.

Because she knew.

What the blue lightning dwelling in Marquis Palladio’s body was.

What the deer horns growing on his head proved.

Therefore, Sirkal.

Simply bowed her head with awe and faith.

To the Receiver of Lightning, Kalanon.

To her great god.

####

“Whew.”

Alon felt his hair, which had been standing on end, slowly settle down, and at the same time, the sensation of the horns on his head gradually disappearing.

He let out a small sigh and grabbed his left hand.

Tremble.

His left hand shook against his will.

When a stinging sensation, as if blood were not flowing, surged up, Alon even worried if his left hand had been ruined.

However, even so, he could not pay attention to just his left hand right now.

‘I feel like my body is going to break…’

Excluding his left hand, pain that felt like it would literally break him was hitting his entire body.

‘I’m at the point where I’ll scream if I move even a little.’

The pain was even greater than when he was bleeding all over his body after being attacked by Ultultus last time, enough to make his eyes widen.

However, Alon did not bother to express that pain.

He could not.

Because everyone was looking at him.

Every single one of them had an expression full of awe.

No, it wasn’t just awe.

As if they had witnessed a truly great existence, an incarnate god, they were looking up at him with wide eyes and agape jaws.

‘…The gaze is too intense.’

Alon was not originally the type to care much about the gaze of others.

But that was only a problem at a basic level.

In a situation where he was receiving such blatant gazes of awe.

‘I have to… endure it.’

He didn’t want to roll around saying it hurt for no reason.

…No matter what.

Having the gaze of ‘awe’ suddenly cool down and turn into a gaze of ‘contempt.’

That was a bit burdensome and embarrassing even for Alon.

But for a moment.

[Still, I’m glad the first one seems to have gone well.]

“!”

Soon, Kalanon’s voice was heard in his head.

And before Alon had time to be surprised, the voice continued.

[No need to answer. Even if you speak now, I can’t hear you anyway. I’m just delivering this unilaterally, so just listen.]

Kalanon went straight to the point without any fluff.

[I’ll tell you three things. First of all, even if I helped, it’s amazing that you successfully manifested. It’s not something that can be achieved so easily.]

[Secondly, your body probably hurts terribly because it can’t handle it, but if you’re going to use Divine Status in the future, don’t bother treating it and just leave it. I’ll tell you why next time.]

[Lastly, please take care of my things. They’re deer horns in the ruins. They’re probably buried in the ground by now, but please! Make sure to take them. If you don’t have those, we won’t be able to talk anymore, and I won’t be able to tell you about Divine Status.]

[Do you understand? You must! Must! I’m counting on you!]

Kalanon emphasized several times.

[I’m counting on you!]

She shouted once more at the end and then disappeared.

“…First of all, it seems the task is finished.”

The moment Alon, who had entered the girl’s words into his head, let out a small sigh.

Thud!

A huge vibration was felt from afar.

He turned his gaze toward the sound that was heard despite having dealt with the Apostle of Sloth and the monstrosity Kraksha.

“…What?”

His mouth fell open in spite of himself.

Now, not even dozens of seconds after he had breathed a sigh of relief.

A huge group of monsters, large enough to be clearly seen even in this forest…

Had entered his field of vision.

“Wait, what is that?”

“They’re variants from the Sylvanus zone! It seems they’re returning as soon as the power disappeared after losing their territory due to the black mana!”

“Why can’t anything just end at once?!”

The urgent voices of Reinhardt and Sirkal, who had grasped the situation, reached his ears.

Thump, thump, thump!

However, even in that short moment.

The variants had already reached nearby and were closing in on Alon’s group.

Reinhardt quickly drew his sword, but his face was full of dismay.

It was natural.

If it were only one or two, Reinhardt wouldn’t be this tense.

Unfortunately, there were at least eight or more individuals rushing from the front.

In other words, it meant that it was realistically difficult for Reinhardt to face them alone.

However, Deus already looked exhausted beyond his limit.

And even Alon, who had shown incredible divine power just a moment ago, looked fine on the outside but was noticed to be not in very good condition.

“It can’t be helped…!”

Reinhardt instinctively felt that he had to step forward.

The moment he grabbed his sword and was about to run out.

■■■■-

The head of the variant that was letting out a grotesque scream in the lead.

Crunch!

It burst.

“?”

A situation that happened so suddenly.

Questioning gazes appeared in everyone’s eyes.

Thud! Thud-thud-thud!

As if to prove that the sight before their eyes was reality.

The head of the variant that had been running rolled on the ground, and its body rolled through the smashed ruins, spraying greenish-red blood.

That wasn’t all.

The head of the snake following behind was bifurcated into top and bottom, scattering blood.

The head of the wolf-shaped variant was crushed helplessly, and brain matter splattered in all directions.

The torso of a weird-looking species with dozens of tentacles burst, staining the green forest red.

A massacre that occurred in an instant, before the huge variants could even pose any threat.

When everyone was stunned by the situation, the reason for which they could not understand.

“Wow, man, it’s been a while since I’ve been out, so it feels good to stretch my body.”

Far away, a girl appeared trudging through the slaughtered variants.

At her appearance, everyone gasped.

Because the girl appeared leading a strange group?

No.

Because the girl was beautiful?

It wasn’t that.

The reason they all stopped their breath.

It was none other than what was flowing out from the girl…

“Anyway, I’m a bit late.”

It was because of her domineering energy.

Energy that stimulated primal fear that one might be killed immediately the moment they moved even an inch.

That energy went beyond making the knights stop.

“Ugh.”

“Kack…”

It made them faint.

One by one, the knights began to collapse, unable to withstand that domineering aura.

But that woman, no, the White Ghost, turned her gaze as if she had no interest in such knights.

“Anyway, long time no see!”

With a very energetic gesture and voice, she greeted Alon.

“??”

At that, the gazes of those who barely managed to keep their senses gathered on Alon at once.

“????”

But Alon was just as puzzled.