Apostle of the Goddess of War

Chapter 61

Ch.61 Apostle of the Goddess of War

“Tier!”  

Sion reflexively leapt forward. He caught the falling Tier in his arms, absorbed the impact, and landed on the ground.  

Tier’s limp body showed no movement, but thankfully, he was still breathing faintly.  

The warrior who had transformed his guilt into unyielding courage had clearly received the Goddess’s blessing at the very last moment.  

Sion carefully laid him down beside Set. The War Knight Brigade were running toward them.  

He would entrust the care of Set and Tier to them. Sion turned his gaze back to the battlefield.  

The ancient monster’s body had shattered, returning to dust. Back into the deep abyss where it was imprisoned.  

“Interfering pests!”  

The Death Priestess cursed in fury.  

Her carefully laid plans had been ruined by a mere human’s reckless sacrifice, and her composure completely vanished.  

Now, the only thing reflected in her white eyes was Sion. Revenge had to be paid with death.  

“You. Give me your soul. I must at least quench my rage that way.”  

“Try it.”  

Provoked by Sion, the Death Priestess raised her magical power.  

“This!”  

Like the eye of a storm, grayish magical energy swirled violently around the priestess.  

Kwagagaga!  

Rotting soil from the ground and fragments of corpses moved as if alive, obeying her will, and surged toward Sion like a massive wave.  

“Goddess of War, I beseech you.”  

Sion raised his sword before his eyes. Darkness seeped into the blade. Countless stars sparkled within the pitch-black night.  

“This is the chance Tier created. The Death Priestess dies here.”  

His rage against the sacrilegious heretic drove his sacred energy to its absolute limit.  

Wooooooong!  

The physical circuits in his body accelerated rapidly. An overwhelming force surged into his arms, shoulders, and sword.  

“What!?”  

The Death Priestess flinched in shock, but before she could react, Sion swung his arm.  

Kwaaaaaaah!  

A wave of black light swept head-on through the undead wave. Rotting flesh and bones scattered.  

Instantly, a path was cleared.  

“Die!”  

With her defensive barrier gone, the Death Priestess moved her body directly.  

She had already equipped herself with a spear and shield made of bones and charged at Sion.  

Whoosh!  

It was a strike aimed straight at Sion’s heart, but Sion had already read the movement and dodged—barely.  

Her skill was more noticeable in martial arts than magic.  

‘So this is the kind of mage Master spoke of.’  

Worshippers who had once been Evil God knights wielding swords, gradually seduced by the knowledge of Evil Gods and becoming mages…  

This woman before him was exactly such a case.  

Kakang! Kakak! Chachang!  

Sword and bone spear clashed repeatedly, sending sparks flying. Sion was not inferior in technique or strength.  

In fact, during the exchange of martial techniques, he grabbed the priestess’s arm and hurled her aside. Without pause, he thrust the tip of his blade into her heart.  

Thud!  

But the moment her heart was pierced, the heretic’s body rotted and crumbled away—shrinking a year’s worth of decay into a single second.  

“I am one with death. Can a mortal kill me with mortal logic?”  

Before long, the Death Priestess, who had reshaped her body with maggots, reappeared behind Sion.  

She was right. It wasn’t logical.  

‘It’s not ordinary magic.’  

Sion furrowed his brow.  

He had encountered various spells and curses before, analyzed their structures, and established strategies to exploit their weaknesses.  

This enemy, whom he met just as his confidence against mages was rising, defied that method.  

The world was vast, and powerful beings were many.  

Sion was genuinely surprised by this unfamiliar form of magic. The principles of death were too profound to grasp instantly.  

‘The Evil God of Death…’  

Truly terrifying.  

“Give up. You can’t kill me.”  

Kee-keek.  

Her white eyes curved into an arc. It was clearly mockery.  

To make matters worse, the longer the Death Priestess bought time, the more unfavorable the situation became.  

The aura of death emanating from the area thickened the swamp’s entire atmosphere. The priestess fed on this energy, endlessly increasing her power.  

‘At this rate, there’s no end.’  

The moment Sion paused to catch his breath, she turned her gaze back to his younger brother, Set.  

“Surely if I kill that child, you’ll show an opening?”  

“Where do you think you’re going!”  

Sion blocked her path, but anxiety sprouted in his heart.  

If he couldn’t find a way to kill her, he wouldn’t even be able to escape. Without a decisive resolution, they’d be trapped in a meaningless war of attrition until exhaustion brought death.  

‘What should I do? Should I use that after all…?’  

Sion was still hesitating over whether to use his trump card when it happened.  

“What a revolting stench! A hollow existence devoid of even a trace of life’s warmth—the very thing my Goddess detests most!”  

A voice like a lightning bolt crashed between Sion and the priestess.  

Flames swirled violently, and then took the form of a person.  

He was wrapped entirely in deep crimson robes, wearing a mask engraved with flame patterns. In his hand, the tip of his spear burned bright red, filled with the power of fire.  

“Could it be!”  

The Death Priestess twisted her lips in caution.  

The Church of Fire.  

Since ancient times beyond counting, they had guarded the southern lands. Primarily opposed to the Church of Death, they had protected the flame of life from death to this very day.  

And now was no different.  

The Fire Priests had pursued the Death Heretic and arrived here.  

The masked figure, as if completely ignoring the Death Priestess, turned his head toward Sion.  

“Sir Sion. You’ve bought us an excellent time. From now on, we’ll take over.”  

“Sir Rakian. I can’t kill her.”  

Rakian answered in a passionate voice like burning logs.  

“Death Disciples cannot be killed. They’ve offered their souls to the Evil God and are no longer beings bound to the material world.”  

“…!”  

Sion’s mind suddenly snapped into clarity at that answer. It was hard to understand, but one thing was certain—she was no ordinary human, having received the power of the Evil God of Death.  

“We must sever the anchor of the soul and incinerate it. That is the only way. Only the Holy Salt of Lady Agnia can burn the soul realm.”  

Whoosh!  

Four more people appeared around Rakian. Each erupted with fiery energy like fireworks, displaying their might.  

“…You’ve chased me this far.”  

The Death Priestess muttered sinisterly.  

“Surrender, criminal!”  

Rakian shouted. The Death Priestess burst into amused laughter.  

“Fools who don’t know they’re moths flying toward the flame. Isn’t it you who should be surrendering?”  

Despite her mockery, the Fire Disciples didn’t flinch. Instead, their eyes burned even more fiercely, as if raising their combat power.  

“The criminal’s tongue is too long. I’ll turn that filthy mouth to ash.”  

Whoosh!  

When Rakian swung his spear, fire shot out like a whip and engulfed the Death Priestess.  

At the same time, the four disciples behind him moved in unison. One unfolded a holy book containing fireballs, another lit a scythe-chain and swung it.  

A sacred firestorm. The most certain method of purifying the aura of death.  

“Kheugh…!”  

It was impossible to block and evade completely.  

Fire caught onto the Death Priestess’s body.  

The maggots that had been regenerating her flesh screamed as they burned away. Regeneration stopped.  

The Holy Salt seemed to burn the soul of one who had transcended death.  

“Kraaaaaaak!”  

The deep wounds Sion had inflicted were fully exposed.  

“Bow before the flames of Goddess Agnia!”  

Rakian’s voice overflowed with confidence. He gripped his spear anew and charged again.  

“Sin shall burn, and we shall be reborn from the ashes!”  

“Sin shall burn, and we shall be reborn from the ashes!”  

The Fire Disciples’ battle cries echoed across the marshlands. Their voices sounded like bells driving away evil. The Death Priestess writhed in even greater agony.  

Watching this, Sion nodded slightly.  

‘So this is what a disciple who has fought Death Heretics their entire life looks like. Their hunting method is well-established.’  

For a Death Priestess who evaded and deceived by every means, Holy Salt was the perfect solution.  

Like casting a net, leaving no escape.  

‘I might have killed her if I had increased my speed.’  

But since the Fire Disciples had arrived, there was no need to exhaust himself.  

Sion relaxed and caught his breath. With Rakian and the Church of Fire, they could calmly finish the hunt.  

In that moment, Sion checked Set and Tier’s conditions once more. The War Knight Brigade had taken the two and moved far away.  

‘I leave them in your hands.’  

But that relief didn’t last long.  

From within the crimson flames, the Death Priestess’s grotesque laughter leaked out.  

“Kee-keek, kee-hee-hee-heek…!”  

Unfazed by the blazing fire, she spread her arms wide toward the sky.  

[―――!]  

An incomprehensible ancient language flowed from the Death Priestess’s mouth. It was less a spell and more a prayer directed toward the Goddess of death.  

The moment the prayer ended, the world inverted.  

Sssssss……  

The entire swamp began to be enveloped in a gray mist. This was no ordinary mist.  

It was a dreadfully cold, hollow veil that seemed to drain the color from all living things.  

The landscape of the marshlands suddenly became invisible.  

The very environment surrounding them had changed entirely.  

Instead of swamps and ancient trees, countless skulls and massive bones, seemingly from giants or dragons, crossed each other like a palace.  

“What is all this?”  

Rakian’s fiercely burning Holy Salt noticeably weakened.  

The flame at the tip of his spear, which had burned like a torch, now flickered weakly like a candle. The other disciples’ flames were the same.  

“Why…! The Holy Salt is weakening!”  

One disciple cried out in panic.  

All surrounding warmth vanished. The ground turned icy cold, and the air stung their lungs.  

Even sound felt distant. A comrade’s shout sounded muffled, as if heard underwater.  

Rakian spoke, sweat dripping down his face.  

“She twisted the phenomena around us with magic… This is impossible.”  

“Has she grown this strong in just one month?”  

“She might have been hiding her true strength. Cunning creature.”  

All around was bones and organs. The scent of blood hadn’t faded.  

It was impossible to guess how many people she had killed and consumed their souls. To speculate about her strength was foolish.  

“What should we do, Rakian?”  

The Fire Disciples wavered. They were clearly panicked, something they hadn’t anticipated.  

The Domain of Death.  

A space where all life was dying.  

Calmly strengthening his inner energy, Sion observed the phenomenon.  

‘Certainly…’  

The surroundings were enveloped in magical energy. More precisely, it was like she had erected a barrier with magic.  

‘She created a barrier to isolate us from the outside, then changed the inside into an environment favorable to her. How did she do it?’  

It required an enormous amount of magical energy to fill the entire visible area, plus high-level magical control to shape the interior as desired.  

‘An incredible level. Much stronger than I expected… Was fighting me not her goal?’  

She had cast this high-level spell as if she had been waiting for the Fire Disciples to arrive. When fighting Sion, she hadn’t shown this level of power.  

It seemed she had a separate scheme.  

‘First, focus. I need to respond.’  

Sion absorbed every detail of this scene without missing a thing.  

It might become inspiration. The realm of magic was infinite. Experiencing this now wasn’t necessarily bad.  

‘Heh, if I survive to worry about that…’  

That was when it happened.  

The Death Priestess emerged, parting the gray mist.  

“How amusing, your panicked expressions.”  

The Death Priestess sneered from atop the altar built of bones, reigning over it.  

The flames that had clung to her body had long since gone out. Now, she was the ruler of this domain.  

Rakian realized the severity of the situation. Gritting his teeth, he squeezed out his life force to reignite the flame at the spear’s tip.  

“It’s useless.”  

Click! The Death Priestess snapped her fingers.  

Whoosh.  

All Holy Salt flames were extinguished. The Fire Disciples flinched. With the fire that sustained them gone, their trembling was natural.  

Rakian whispered, trembling.  

“I… I can’t feel Goddess Agnia’s presence anymore…”  

“Of course not.”  

The Death Worshipper sneered at the Fire Priests.  

“After all, this power was created to kill you moths.”

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