Raising the Princess to Overcome Death Chapter 123

123. Childhood Friend – Dof Bizaine

"That’s not a Swordmaster!"

Count Ogleton, who had been searching for Swordmasters for years after leaving the Magic Tower, instantly recognized that the faint distortion on Rev's sword was not an Aura Blade.

Swordmasters, who reached the pinnacle of knighthood by imbuing mana into their swords, barely affected by magic.

So, if the Apostle wasn't a Swordmaster, it meant that the Wizards could suppress him, and Count Ogleton rallied his companions once more.

"Priests, clear the dome spread over the plaza! It interferes with magic!"

Magic was also hindered by divine power. Mana, which should flow naturally, scattered chaotically when meeting divine power, causing the lightning aimed at the Apostle to strike the ground instead.

Rev clicked his tongue.

The kingdom's knights, who had been rescuing citizens, gathered. Wizards in front of the palace, wrapped in various spells, were looking this way.

Rev didn’t know much about magic. He only knew it indirectly from aristocratic society, considering Wizards as powerful but slow cannons.

But judging by the spell just cast, that wasn’t entirely accurate.

As soon as the dome in the plaza receded, Rev’s body felt heavy. As if smeared with glue, his whole body became sticky, and his movements were unnatural.

From a distance, the king, the cardinal, and a Wizard in a green robe shouted.

"Knights, hear me! Eliminate the heinous criminal who ruined the kingdom’s celebration and killed my people! Generals, encourage the soldiers to save the citizens!"

"Priests, focus on blessing the crusaders and knights! May divine retribution fall upon that wretched one!"

"I will bind him! Everyone else, prepare your anti-personnel spells!"

Despairing crusaders reignited their fighting spirit and approached the Apostle with the knights. Priests, instead of casting divine spells that hindered magic, unleashed blessings and healing, and lightning, flames, and bladed gusts rained down on Rev.

"Offering!"

Rev swiftly charged at the knights, taking advantage of the sacrifices. Now it was the Wizards' turn to struggle.

[ Barbatos’ Hunting Ground ]

“Ugh... It’s not easy with that divine script. A staff would have been helpful.”

A Wizard grumbled.

Being scholars and strategic weapons, Wizards couldn’t bring staffs into the palace and had to leave them behind.

They could cast spells without staffs, but without an object to set the standard for installing a mana road in the three-dimensional air, the equations took longer to formulate.

Moreover, despite the divine spells being removed, aiming was still difficult.

The headache was one thing, but the divine script hanging in the sky scattered the mana throughout Nevis bizarrely, and the Apostle was close to the knights, making indiscriminate spellcasting impossible.

“It would be better to prepare one strong spell. The knights will buy us time.”

“Very well. I will measure the scattering. Who will set up the gate structure to avoid that script?”

“I will.”

“I’ll set up the mana road to gather mana through the gate structure. Who will aim? And who will cast the spell?”

The Wizards quickly divided their roles and began preparing the spell with their arms outstretched, muttering incantations.

Though invisible to Rev, who knew nothing about magic, thousands of mana roads were woven densely. Vast mana surged, avoiding the symbol of Barbatos in the sky.

Leaving that alone would be disastrous.

Common sense dictated not giving a Wizard time. Rev stopped his brawl with the knights and charged at the Wizards.

“Stop him! Protect the Wizards!”

But royal knights and crusaders blocked Rev, and his body wasn’t normal.

His limbs felt bound by spider webs.

Though he wasn’t completely immobile, each chant from the green-robed Wizard layered more webs on him.

[ Achievement: Monster Hunt - ‘2’, Mana faintly infuses your body. ]

Even if Rev were just at the Expert Level, let alone a Swordmaster, he wouldn’t be so entangled.

Magic power tends to halve its effect on knights soaked in mana.

However, Rev wasn’t an Expert, and amidst the priests’ blessings, his body glowed hotly, leaking Barbatos’ divine power.

“You miserable scum!”

“Ugh!”

Rev swung his sword horizontally like a windmill. The massive Aura Blade, swung at waist height, cut down eight knights. But most knights ducked or leapt high to thrust their swords.

Rev had no time to relish the messages popping up.

[ Quest: Duelist 10/1000 - {Swordsmanship} skill Level up. ]

The battle between Rev, trying to reach the Wizards, and the knights blocking him was spectacular.

In front of the blood-red palace, in the equally red-drenched plaza, Aura Blades blazed and whirled. Over six hundred knights and crusaders threw themselves valiantly to halt the Apostle’s steps, being split into pieces.

Surrounded by four hundred priests continuously praying, the knights were almost all dead when Count Ogleton shouted.

“It’s ready! Everyone fall back! Pulsating Marble!”

Mana roads set up by six Wizards. As mana surged along the complex paths in the sky, the moment it arranged into precise flows and rules, it evaporated instantly.

The wind stopped.

Amidst the vacuum-like stillness, a small marble remained. The blue marble, pulsating, shrank to the size of a walnut and grew to an apple, throbbing with each pulse.

The marble descended slowly but decisively.

“Damn it!”

That’s unavoidable.

Instinctively realizing he couldn’t escape, Rev gritted his teeth and poured all his divine power into his sword, unleashing his mightiest strike.

But the marble didn’t shatter.

It wasn’t a matter of breaking or not; it merely passed through as if through empty space.

Mana is a force separate from divine power. The power spread across the continent by the gods in ancient times was natural and ‘equal’.

“Lord Barbatos! It can’t end like this! I offer everything; save me!”

Sensing the end, Rev screamed. It was more a desperate outcry than a genuine plea for salvation...

In response, the necklace floated.

The necklace snatched from Haria Guidan. The crimson gem blossomed like a blooming flower, swallowing the falling blue marble.

And that was it.

The crimson gem, now shaped like a folded petal, vibrated as if ‘ruminating’ a few times, then fell silent.

“What is that...?”

Exhausted and gasping, the Wizards were astonished.

The Pulsating Marble. It was the most powerful anti-personnel attack magic and contained the essence of the "Mana Overlay Theory."

Even a Swordmaster would surely suffer a blow if hit by this.

"R-Run away!"

Count Ogleton shouted to the king, princes, and nobles who were nervously watching the battle, and Rev, who had been staring blankly at the necklace, snapped back to reality.

"Thank you, Lord Barbatos!"

Praising the grace of the deity, he rushed towards the more precious sacrifices.

The king and princes eventually died at Rev's hands.

Though the remaining few crusaders, priests, and royal knights fought fiercely and the Wizards and bodyguards protecting the royalty impeded him, he lost sight of them as they escaped through the palace’s secret passageways.

It was troublesome.

Blessed royals and nobles couldn’t be tracked with [Target Hunt].

But Rev had an absolute ability called {Tracking} besides Barbatos's powers, so he navigated the many branching secret passages with ease.

The secret passage led to a ranch on the outskirts of Nevis.

There, the enraged king said something, but Rev nonchalantly took his life.

Prince Athon de Lognum accepted his death with resignation, while his younger brother, Prince Elzeor de Lognum, tried desperately to escape until the very end.

He did not beg for his life.

While the few remaining bodyguards and nobles fought fiercely, he hid in a manure-smelling feeding trough, holding his breath.

Of course, such a trick wouldn’t work on Rev with his {Tracking} ability.

Elzeor de Lognum was split in half along with the feeding trough.

‘It’s over...’

Rev sighed in exhaustion in the now quiet ranch.

He had killed all those who had driven Lena to tragedy in the second childhood friend loop.

Only the merchant leader who had handed them over to their lodgings remained, but killing the princes, his ultimate goal, brought him peace.

But... thinking of Lena cleared his head and made him feel strange.

Rev stood still, thinking for a moment.

The sunset was already descending, and it felt like it had been a long time since he had thought deeply about something.

Wasn’t I trying to adopt Lena as a princess? Wasn’t I looking for a way to rebel in the next loop?

Why... am I doing this?

Rev, filled with fundamental questions, looked around.

He saw the ranch, a mess from the fight with the bodyguards and littered with bodies.

Seeing the bloody scene made him realize why he was doing this.

‘I am an apostle of Lord Barbatos.’

I had a moment of strange thoughts. Didn’t I take revenge for Lena with Lord Barbatos’s grace?

Rev knelt down and offered a prayer of thanks and a sacrifice.

[ Quest: Warmonger 2502/10000 - {Leadership} skill Level up. ]

[ Quest: Duelist 492/1000 - {Swordsmanship} skill Level up. ]

[ Achievement: Magician ‘0’ - Become stronger against magicians. min(1) ]

[ Quest: Wizard Slayer 6/10 - {Magic Resistance} skill Level up. ]

[ Quest: Noble Slayer 50/50 - {Nobility} skill Level up. ]

[ The ‘Noble Slayer’ quest disappears. ]

[ Achievement: Royalty ‘0’ - All royalty feel slight fear towards you. min(1) ]

[ Quest: Traitor 10/10 - {Blood of the King} skill Level up. ]

[ The ‘Traitor’ quest disappears. ]

Many messages had appeared while he was running madly, but Rev didn’t care much for them whether they were there or not.

The game was over.

As the great apostle of Lord Barbatos, I will live for a thousand years. I will never meet an end again.

‘I need to go get Lena.’

- Why?

Thinking of Lena made his mind complicated again. Something seemed to be ebbing away like a receding tide, and a question clung to the corner of his mind.

- Who is Lena that you need to go get her? Why must you do that?

‘Lena is my childhood friend... of course I have to go get her. Because...’

Finding it strange to question something so obvious, Rev stopped thinking and tilted his head.

Fortunately, his mind soon calmed down, and he returned to Nevis. As he passed through the north gate, countless citizens were anxiously milling about.

[ Barbatos's Hunting Ground ]

They had come to the city gates to escape the city turned blood-red, but couldn’t leave because of the traps Rev had set. Looking around, he saw that people who had tried to leave hastily had ended up as mangled corpses.

“Ah! Someone came in!”

“Help us!”

They shouted towards Rev, who was calmly passing through the city gates.

But they had completely misjudged him, and Rev marked all of them with the [Target Hunt] debuff before leaving the north gate without hesitation.

I’ll stay here for a while.

He couldn’t leave the prey in the hunting ground, so he thought of bringing Bante. He needed to travel around every corner of Nevis on it.

He also needed to catch the soldiers that Marquis Harvey Guidan would bring...

Thinking of various things, he headed towards the Guidan Marquisate. At that moment, Rev sensed a strange presence. He couldn’t hear footsteps, but someone was very close. Right behind him!

Rev was startled but didn’t turn around. He pretended not to notice and kept walking.

‘Who is it?’

Even though he had let his guard down, there was no one who could approach him without drawing his attention.

This was Barbatos's hunting ground, and as an apostle, he could sense the position of all prey in the hunting ground. So, the only ones who could get this close were blessed knights or crusaders.

‘There must be a survivor.’

Rev tensed up, preparing to draw his sword. No matter how many knights he had killed, being stabbed would be the same for him.

He slowly moved his hand to grip his sword. The moment the attacker leapt, he swung his sword like lightning.

“Ugh...!”

The assailant’s arms were severed. Expecting a two-handed sword, Rev swung his Aura Blade to behead the assailant along with the stabbing sword.

But it seemed the attacker had been about to strike downwards, and the severed arms cut deeply into the chest. The weapon in the fallen hand wasn’t a two-handed sword.

It was a familiar, worn dagger.

The man, with dirty, scraggly beard and dressed like a hunter, was...

“...Father?”

It was Rev's father. He was faintly imbued with Barbatos's divine power.

“D-Divine one... release my... release my son...”

The fallen father looked at his son's face, or rather, something beyond his son, with a resentful gaze before he died.

[ Achievement: Dof Bizaine’s son, protected with his life ]

[ Quest: Life of Dof Bizaine – Release Dof Bizaine from the shackles. ]

His name was Dof Bizaine, a survivor of the ‘Bizaine Tribe’ who had been massacred twenty years ago. The patricidal son only then learned his father's name.