The Money-Mad Holy Knight Chapter 143

Chapter 143: Necromancer (3)

A god does not ask. A god simply establishes their will and pushes it through completely. That will becos doctrine and spreads, transmitted as teachings to the believers—that is the will of a god.

'A declaration made purely from my own will.'

Erik's power was none other than the will of a god. Having reached the 4th Tier, the total amount of his divine power had increased to a level similar to Julius, the Holy War Knight Commander. As a result, he used his overwhelming divine power to transform all directions into the domain of a god.

Thud!

Erik leaped down from the Lich King's head. The heavy landing created a crater in the ground.

'This is my strength.'

Erik looked behind his back. Countless people were watching only him.

Whoooosh!

The golden barrier Erik created protected the citizens and the possessed ones.

"Kugh. E-Everyone, hold on!"

The possessors scread in pain from the divinity, but they gritted their teeth and endured it. Rather than becoming sacrifices and dying, they chose to suffer while relying on divinity. Hope blood within them, which led to faith. And one man also showed blind faith toward Erik.

'Janson.'

Always straightforward, blind, and devoted. Erik watched Janson fighting against summoned creatures from a distance.

'Not a mont of hesitation.'

He possessed the highest level of faith. If Erik were to quantify faith, he believed Janson would overwhelmingly take first place. It would certainly be higher than Erica, who had beco a true believer after dying and being reborn. Yet Janson, unlike Erica, had not beco a true believer. The reason was simple.

[Janson - Wishes for the destruction of the Black Mage.]

His dream was extrely difficult to realize. And Erik's guess was that having lived with this desire for such a long ti had played a part.

'For Janson to achieve his dream, sticking with has the highest possibility.'

Janson's wife and daughter had left this world because of the Black Mage Group. The multi-level structure created by the first leader Lucifer pushed his wife and child to their doom.

The two people who were sold off beca sacrifices and t their end at the hands of black mages.

'He's cultivated such great faith using that revenge as his driving force.'

Erik's eyes grew colder. He wanted to repay Janson's blind devotion. For a god was not rely a being that commanded and declared.

'To repay the faith of believers.'

This too was the work of a god. Therefore, Erik raised his will. The act of bestowing power upon believers. Had he not experienced this several tis before?

'Judgnt.'

A skill that summons a giant greatsword and strengthens believers. But this ti, he sought to implent it through power alone, without the skill.

Whoooosh!

A heavy pillar of light descended from the heavens to the earth. Janson stood at its end, looking up at the sky and marveling at the divine power Erik had released.

"Ugh. The timing is exquisite."

Janson spat blood as he spoke. The god's reward returned as stronger faith.

"Even if I die, I will endure!"

At that resolute cry, Erik nodded.

'I trust you, Janson.'

In the midst of battle, they couldn't read each other's expressions, but the years they'd spent on the battlefield had built trust between them. Surely Janson was filled with resolve. With that thought, Erik also aid at the Lich King.

'The power of hierarchy.'

The land washed clean by divinity. The sky that had beco clear.

Crunch! Crunch!

Without warning, decay began spreading in all directions. Darkness settled upon the ground, and gray smoke filled the sky that had been clear.

'Even if he descends, he chose to descend as a hierarchist.'

The Lich King, the king of necromancers who wielded cold. A monster that commands dead beings as summoned servants and wields a sword like a knight.

'And he's squandering his power without phase distinctions.'

Not long after Erik had severed the Lich King's arm, the creature's body began regenerating. Furthermore, from beneath the Lich King's feet, a black shadow rippled.

[Death Knight]

Black skeletal knights appeared. They had a horrifying appearance, radiating dark auras.

Swoosh!

Erik pointed his sword at them. Then he approached without hesitation.

Ting! Tang! Ting!

Sword clashes echoed across the battlefield. Dozens of dark greatswords aid at Erik, and he flowed like water, dodging the line of death. Erik accelerated more and more. Golden sword light tore through darkness. Each ti, a Death Knight scattered into particles and disappeared. And again.

Boom!

Erik reached the front of the Lich King.

Let make you understand your own powerlessness.

The Lich King, having regained its complete form, spoke thus. It was a situation that should inspire despair. The arm he'd barely severed had regenerated, and dozens of Death Knights were being summoned again. Yet Erik's eyes remained firm.

"You've beco a being that can be conquered."

He had absolute confidence. For hierarchists in the labyrinth existed to be conquered.

***

The Lich King's enlarged body was both an advantage and a weakness. Running through the body and slashing before imdiately moving location.

Then he could avoid the power of instant death that blood from the wound. Certainly, the conquest strategy was simple. Get close enough to prevent ice crystals, stick to it and beat it down—that should be it. But reality was different.

Boom!!!

Erik was thrown helplessly across the ground.

"Huff."

He'd almost died. Erik looked at the Lich King's body. The gray aura covering its entire form was vivid.

'Instant death aura disappears in 3 seconds.'

Erik stayed at a distance, waiting for the aura of instant death to fade. He couldn't relax even during that brief gap.

Crackle! Crackle!!!

An ice beam shot from the Lich King's sword tip. The speed was so fast it was difficult to perceive. Since Erik was prepared in advance, he could evade by rolling away. As Erik stood up, his eyebrows furrowed.

'Is this even possible?'

Originally, even in the ga, entire parties would wipe out on a second-by-second basis, so it would be even worse in reality. Still, there had to be limits. Erik found this situation hard to believe.

'A being that descended as a hierarchist hasn't even lived as one, yet he controls power this well?'

The 3 seconds of instant death aura. In that brief gap, he shot ice beams while pressuring Erik. Furthermore, by the ti he ca to his senses, Death Knights had already surrounded him from all sides.

'It's like a different pilot took over.'

The movents were completely different from before his arm was severed. As the distance grew, Erik began to feel anxious.

'Small-scale conquest doesn't have only advantages.'

The Lich King with wide-area skills and sacrifice-related abilities. While small-scale conquest had its rits, the problem was that conquest ti took longer. Erik looked at Janson.

'Is Janson still able to hold on?'

The [Tottering Tattered Golem] Janson faced had the [Rage] skill. This was a power that doubled attack power. By now, it would be strong enough to one-shot even a decent tank.

'He should be fine.'

Janson was solid. The synergy of [Omni-directional Stats] and [Guardian Knight] class. Combined with the divine power Erik had bestowed and the skills of [Heretic Inquisitor]. Janson was reassuring.

'I'm the problem.'

Erik walked toward the Lich King. The path back was as difficult as the distance that had grown. He thodically walked, slaughtering countless Death Knights and enduring the extre cold rings the Lich King unleashed. As he closed the distance.

Death King commands!

The Lich King began to berserk. It activated [Berserk], which normally only triggers below 10% HP, at nearly full health.

'Phase-wise cooldown manipulation?'

The Lich King's berserk was when attack power increased several tis over and the entire body radiated cold comparable to instant death. Normally, waiting until it ended was the best strategy.

But Erik chose to close in. He was taking a gamble.

Whoosh!

A giant sword fell toward the approaching Erik. The cold blue aura riding the sword blade froze the atmosphere. The power of bitter cold brought a chill that even froze the soul.

Crackle!

Erik's skin froze. Crack! His arm fell off. Yet he silently traveled along that sword blade toward the Lich King's head. Losing arms and legs dozens of tis. Each ti they were severed, they regenerated, and simultaneously froze again.

Thus Erik exploded with power and leaped toward the Lich King. The sword tip aid at the Lich King's neck.

—Now! Instant death!

At that mont, an alien voice reached Erik. The mont he heard that voice, wings appeared briefly on Erik's back before disappearing.

Erik changed direction in mid-air and landed very far away. It was a distance far from the Lich King, within range of wide-area skills and ice fragnts.

Walking into the land of death, are we—.

It was a mocking statent. But Erik wore an even more vile smile than that mockery. With Marco's face, it looked very cunning and sinister.

"This bastard has been fighting 2-on-1 cowardly?"

The pilot had entrusted the possessed to handle it.

'I wondered why the pattern usage seed so vile. The possessed must be soone who knows labyrinth conquest well.'

Erik was furious. The sacred battlefield of divine will had been defiled. He wanted to draw out the Sword of Creation and squander skills to crush it—but—.

'Can't get caught doing this.'

The battlefield had been carefully prepared, so the finale had to be clean. So.

'I'll solve it with money.'

***

[Alman's Punishnt Hamr]

[Alman's Fortress]

[Alman's Sacred Bell]

[Alman's Sacred Ground Flag] . . .

All manner of sacred relics began appearing around the giant paladin. And not just one or two—an overwhelming quantity of over ten.

'S-Sacred relics that many?'

So the three on his body weren't all? The possessed one inside the Lich King was astounded. Even a high-ranking priest of the noble Almanism Church would be lucky to possess one sacred relic, yet this creature carried dozens of them. Of course, it was surprising, but there was no real concern.

'Sacred relics?'

So what. This side had a 50-ter-tall 45th-floor hierarchist. The paladin was just hiding in a semi-transparent golden fortress the size of a small building, rely watching.

—Now you only need to unleash wide-area attacks on it, sir!

Boom!!!

The Lich King's ice beam shot toward the paladin, and rings of bitter cold swept over it like waves. Then the bell in the fortress where the paladin hid rang. With that, all of the Lich King's attacks were erased.

'Will you endure with sacred relics?'

No matter how much you endured with sacred relics, in the end you'd be crushed under the overwhelming damage output. Human stamina was finite; a hierarchist's stamina was infinite.

Futile struggle!

In that situation, the paladin suddenly lifted [Alman's Punishnt Hamr]. It was a move that made no sense.

'What's the performance of that hamr?'

Using a hamr from such a vast distance... What was he trying to do? From the perspective of the giant hierarchist, the actions of the small human seed truly pathetic.

All that could be understood was the [Sacred Relic] grade designation, but at least everyone knew a hamr was a lee weapon.

—Crush that pathetic creature—.

He was about to give the order to finish it. That's when the hamr struck the ground.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Suddenly, the ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.

'What is this...?'

Was this the end? The possessed one wondered what it was trying to do. But, monts later.

Boom! Ugh!

The hierarchist's body staggered. The paladin's hamr strike on the ground had caused direct impact on the Lich King's body at a great distance.

'This... what is—?'

That power deserved to be called a miracle of god.

Abominable power.

Thud, thud, the Lich King straightened its body. Then imdiately began retaliation.

Power of bitter cold, erase that creature.

Rings of bitter cold. Hundreds of Death Knights. Furthermore, it shot ice beams from its sword tip.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Yet with a single bell toll, all that power disappeared. The fortress was truly a land of god, completely blocking the Death Knights' slashes. Conversely, the Death Knights were destroyed by divinity.

'That... that monster, what is it?'

The possessed one was speechless. It was a human being viewed from the perspective of a real monster. Yet that human looked even more monstrous.

'Again, again the hamr.'

As panic set in, the ground began trembling.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The paladin locked in the fortress began swinging the hamr madly.

Screech!!!

The Lich King let out a terrible roar. Overwhelming shockwaves crashed down continuously onto the dozens-of-ters-tall monster.

"G-Give a solution!!!"

When the hamring paused for a mont, the Lich King roared desperately. Normally, the possessed one with a sharp mind would have provided an answer, but now he couldn't speak at all.

'How do you block dozens of sacred relics?'

There was no answer. From the start, sacred relics were items individuals couldn't carry by the dozens, and as a human, squandering this much divinity would naturally result in one's body bursting and death. Yet he seed perfectly fine?

—I think it would be good for us to get closer, sir.

The power of [Instant Death] would be different, though. Originally, the possessed one had employed a strategy of keeping the paladin at distance. But now he found himself having to approach the paladin instead.

Boom! Bang!

The Lich King approached the paladin. Then dense sacred magic circles at his feet blood with golden light.

Boom!!!

With a roar, the Lich King was thrown backward. A dozens-of-ters-tall monster being helplessly thrown down.

'This... this many sacred magic circles?'

The possessed one was astonished at the sacred circles spread densely across the ground. Their number was uncountable.

'With 1.5 billion HP, if we just endure through a battle of attrition.'

The possessed one pulled out a new tactic. The intention was to placate the angry Lich King while transitioning to a war of attrition.

'Laugh?'

But seeing that eerie smile on the paladin's face, an ominous premonition washed over him. Furthermore, he suddenly felt as if their eyes had t. Just as the possessed one feared, the paladin's lips moved. Speaking thus:

"I heard the God Alman likes money."

He lifted the hamr and added one more thing.

"Yet what abounds for is money."