CH 122

“Hurry up! Supplies this way!”

“It’s been a while since an emergency call was issued. Why aren’t the troops gathering?!”

“We have the approval of Congress! Send additional personnel now!”

Busy people.

Confusing noises.

The atmosphere in the parish hall was unusual. Rex grabbed a priest passing nearby.

“What the hell is going on?”

“Oh, I’m busy to death why are you grabbing people to talk……omg! Y-Your Eminence, The Holy One!”

The priest who met my eyes over Rex’s shoulder was startled.

I stepped out.

“I just got back, so I don’t know the situation. Please give me an explanation.” 

The priest opened his mouth with a bluish face.

“Half an hour ago there was a report that a Dungeon Burst had occurred. The Boss has left the gate, so the damage is severe. The measured demonic energy is about SS class.”

“What! Is that true?”

“Oh my god!”

I took a small breath.

“Where did it burst?” 

“In the border with the Magic Republic.” 

“……”

I had a hunch.

‘It’s his job.’

The final boss began to move. Much faster than the original.

Chapter 23. The Funeral Procession of Chaos

The Dungeon Burst happened in Kasaka Village where the ‘Lair of the Flame Behemoth’ is located.

The situation in the village, which suffered a disaster head-on, was miserable. Swept away by the advance of the Demon Beasts, the collapsed buildings lost their shape and were burned by the flames.

The ground was literally scorched.

However, humans were resilient beings, and even in such a terrible situation, there were people who did not die yet.

“Sa-save me……”

“Please help me……There are people here……hung, hic.”

“Please……, please……”

Those bleeding in the rubble desperately looked in one direction and begged for help.

Tak, tak……

There was a man who leisurely walked between the dark red sparkles and the black smoke. 

A tall man with long black hair and black robes. His gaze, looking straight ahead, was impermanent, as if he had seen the twilight of the world.

“Why……! Why are you just going……!”

The moment a young man crawling in a pool of blood shouted resentfully, Reed stopped walking.

He just rolled his eyes and looked down at the young man. At this instant, the young man should have realized.

That the opponent to hope for salvation was very wrong.

Reed stood up straight towards the young man. His low-pitched voice contained disillusionment of unknown depth.

“You always beg for salvation. I’m sick and tired of it.”

“……”

“Even when your limbs are intact, you guys have no intention of doing anything yourselves. It’s beyond being passive and more live utter inactivity. You’re only ‘to be saved’.”

There was no way this young man could understand the memoirs of his long years.

The young man wanted to shout what bullshit he was talking about, but his tongue was tightly tied.

The languid voice continued to sink unilaterally into the young man’s ear. 

“No more cheap salvation.”

Reed looked around. In addition to the young man, there were several dying villagers nearby.

A dozen of people were watching him and Reed said so they could all hear.

“Let’s do this.”

Whooooah.

Black, evil flames rose from Reed’s feet.

It was scattered in many directions as if an invisible fuse had gone off. Some stopped right in front of the survivors’ noses and others swallowed corpses.

Tadadak……

The black flame burned the corpses layer by layer, turning them into charcoal. A long time passed while the flames savored their meals. The corpses were being slowly dissected.

“H-Hic…!”

The residents who had those same evil flames right in front of them were lost in thought. Someone even spoke with belated enlightenment.

“Th-The Devil……”

That same devil thoughtlessly showed mercy.

“If even one of you can touch the flame, I will save everyone else.”

“……”

“Everyone I’m talking about is anyone who is or will be involved in a dungeon burst. With one weak life, you can save a lot of lives. Isn’t that a good condition?”

A slight anticipation lingered In Reed’s meaningless red eyes. However.

“……”

Humans just rolled their eyes in dismay and look at others. They were still hoping to be saved. 

Reed’s expression changed.

“It’s unfortunate.”

He said so as if he was genuinely sad.

Black flames spread in an instant.

“Ugh, aaaagh!”

Screams of pain filled Reed’s surroundings. Even then, the flames continued to spread and turned Kasaka Village into hell on earth.

“……”

Reed watched everything with calm but insane eyes.

As time went on, the screams that had been echoing over time finally stopped. After the slaughter, Reed started walking again.

His arrival was in front of the burst gate.

Boom, boom, boom. 

The heavy impact echoed at regular intervals. It felt like tapping the space with a pendulum.

Reed, who had been watching, opened his mouth.

“Come out.”

The gate shuddered and the echo stopped. But after a while.

<Quaaaaagh!>

A huge wolf monster thrust its head out of the gate.

The Flame Behemoth struggled to get out of the narrow hole. It didn’t go as planned, and a rain of flames came down in all directions with every occasional roar it let out.

“I don’t know if you like dogs.”

Reed, who said something incomprehensible, grabbed the air with his right hand and made a gesture to pull something out.

<Khehe! Kyeheeg!>

The Flame Behemoth, which had his invisible leash yanked, was forcibly pulled out.

“Go get some love.”

It was the moment when a beast of disaster was released into the world.

✠

I could feel the eyes of all the church members in the hall looking at me.

“Your Eminence!”

Just in time, I could see Cardinal Vesalius and Cardinal Decal approaching with leaping steps in the distance.

“I heard the news.”

In my words, Decal delivered detailed and relentless news.

“Flame Behemoth appeared and destroyed five villages in the Cyrillic province. Our Glorious Knights and the Magic Army of the Republic are struggling, but the situation is not good. According to the report of the scouting party, the Boss’s aggro is not caught.”

Vesalius also helped.

“Our Sir Parvan and Princess Marcellion of the Republic are both first-class tankers. If they can’t handle it, it’s already at the level of a continental disaster. I’ve requested cooperation from Prince Hispenril and the Head of the Knight Academy a while ago, but I don’t know when the front line will collapse. So……”

It was at this time that the two people, who were always feuding, said the same thing at the same time. 

“Please Holy One, buy us some time.”

“……”

To protect the allies and the front line in the midst of a fierce struggle until top-tier players arrive. That was the request and order of the Council of Cardinals.

It’s something you have to accept, of course. But.

“What if I get rid of it?” 

“That means……?”

“I want to replace the third S-class dungeon subjugation by defeating the Flame Behemoth.”

You can feel the surprise all around you. However, Vesalius and Decal had a positive stance as expected.

“Of course, Your Eminence.”

“As the situation is what it is, it doesn’t matter if you receive the cooperation of allies.”

An external crisis binds the internal sects together. Today the ministers of the two departments communicated well. 

I looked around after I received the space transfer stone. 

“Let’s go, Terry.”

“……”

“Terry?”

“……Ah.”

With a deeply sunken face, he came to his senses belatedly.

“Sorry, I was just thinking for a moment.”

“Tell me if you feel unwell.”

I said it because I was worried that he had suffered an internal injury earlier.

“No, I can fight. So take me.”

He held out his right hand to me first and I took it. 

“We will follow soon, Your Eminence.”

“It is the same with our Grace Knights. Take care of yourself, Your Eminence.”

Clovis and Rex said quite resolutely. Behind them, two orders of paladins, numbering a little less than sixty people, took the curtsy of knights.

It was a solemn farewell.

“Then I will go.”

Crack. 

The space transfer stone was crushed in my hand. I closed my eyes and waited for the feeling of floating to come over me.

[<System> We moved to the border of Elpenheim and The Magic Republic of Ragneif, Cyrillic province. Adjust the current time according to the time difference.]

I took my first breath in a new place through the tip of my nose. My lungs sucked in the acrid, hot air and felt as if they were about to get burned.

We arrived in the middle of the ruins where a battle of fire ravaged the earth.

Inside the barely-made camp, the moans, pleas, and cries of the survivors resonate.

Healers sweat all over their bodies and poured in their divine power in order to somehow save the dying lives.

Outside the encampment, paladins wielded their swords with all their might toward the demons. If they collapse, this camp is over.

If even the rear is in such a bad situation. Then what about the front?

<Kuowwwwwwwoooooooohhhh!>

……Ah, how big is this thing?

There was a huge monster that distorted the sense of perspective in the distant horizon.

A beast-type monster that looks like a mixture of a wolf and a dragon. The flames attached to the fur of its body burned viciously, using the lives of its victims as fuel.

Kwaaaangh!

The monster raised its front paw and stamped on the floor. The earth’s axis shook, and fireballs fell in all directions.

Screams came from everywhere, it seemed to tear the soul, not the eardrum.

[<System> Warning. Hellkaion, King Flame Behemoth, ranked 307th in the Demon World, has appeared in the human world. Under the influence of the SS-class boss, demonization is progressing in a 10km radius area.]

[<System> Warning. The demonized area follows the rules of the dungeon.]

[<System> Warning. ‘Hell Ember Counter’ begins.]

[<System> Warning. The use of the Space Transition Stone is restricted.]

Originally, this one was a B-class beast-type monster.

However, Reed used the powers he possessed to turn Hellkaion into an SS-class Burst Boss and he released it to a land full of people who are someone’s precious family, lover, and friend.

“Reed, you crazy bast-……”

I managed to swallow the swear words that rose up without my knowledge. Suddenly, when I looked to the side, I saw Thesilid, who seemed shocked by the tragedy. 

There was no time to be absent-minded.

“Terry.”

“……Eli.”

I explained the strategy. 

“You only deal.”