LTTH C54

Chapter 54

7 Berthel?

[How curious. Surely, mere worms blessed with his favor could never erase my authority.]

“……”

Without doubt, both I and the others were under the protection of the sanctuary. Yet the sight of Berthel gliding unimpeded through the air, utterly unbothered, was enough in itself to stir terror in our hearts.

Gulp.

The battlefield, where not even the clash of weapons could be heard, was consumed by silence as though time itself had ceased. Within that stillness, one person’s tension spread loudly, and every gaze fixed upon that creature.

[Hm?]

When the thing soaring freely in the sky suddenly stopped, as if striking an invisible wall, Hansol and the others managed a breath of relief. Yes, at the very least, within here, we were safe from that abomination.

The question is—how long can we hold him back…

That the sanctuary barred the entry of monsters was certain. But whether it could fully repel an aberration of such magnitude was unknown. Six hundred minutes, the system had promised. Now that he had appeared, however, it would not be far-fetched if that span dwindled to sixty.

[Ho. Remarkable.]

A monstrous thing…

Even as revulsion crept into me at the sight of the creature twisting its body midair, as though examining some strange artifact, I did not let it slip from my view.

When it spewed black smoke toward the village, or when it flung forth a foul, spherical mass that made the very sight of it unbearable, my heart clenched in fear—yet I did not avert my eyes. Fortune within misfortune: nothing breached the sanctuary.

For now, we are safe.

Though only for a time.

Briefly comforted, I tore my gaze away and clasped Peter’s hand. Was it cold? I could not tell. Was the pulse faintly beating—or had it ceased altogether?

“Hansol.”

In place of my faltering judgment, Kassie’s heavy voice spread across the ground.

“……”

Enough. Let him go.

Though unspoken, I knew the meaning behind his tone. Hansol stared at Peter’s tightly closed eyes, then bit his lip.

Peter, perhaps, was precious to me. But so too were the others: Isaac, Kassie, Rachel, Peril, and all the hunters and villagers whose names I did not even know. Not a single life here could be cast aside. Thus I had to rise above this.

Damn these monsters. Damn these gates!

Cursing once more the world and its system, I forced myself to release Peter’s hand. Ten hours—that was all the time I had been given. Within that, Berthel had to be dealt with. At least he did not seem to know of the limit.

[So, there is a time limit after all.]

“……!”

Damn it.

With that offhand remark, the balance of power tipped in an instant toward him. Faces darkened, despair painting them black.

[It seems, then, that time favors me.]

The sneering tone pierced like thorns beneath the skin. Shaking off the chill, I grasped Kassie’s sleeve. If he truly was the mage I believed, then there was still hope.

“Kassie.”

“Yes?”

Mages were creatures of preparation, ever cautious. None imagined what if scenarios more thoroughly than they. Surely, then, he had envisioned the possibility of calamity befalling this village—and made provisions for it.

“Have you any kind of separate refuge prepared?”

“There is one… but honestly, I doubt it is any safer than here. Likely worse, Hansol.”

“Besides, you know better than I how the world outside fares. Right now, this village is the only safe place left in Britain.”

“Though, I doubt even that will last long.”

With a skeptical shake of his head, Kassie’s words sank heavy as lead. Damn it all.

[But then, where is the fun in that? Don’t you agree? Kukuku.]

In contrast to Kassie’s grim tone, Berthel’s voice dripped with mocking amusement.

Hansol clamped his mouth shut, glaring at him. If eyes alone could kill, the fiend would have died a hundred times over already—surely, anyone here would have felt the same. For though he treated this as mere sport, our very survival hung in the balance.

[Perhaps I should put that to use…]

As if it mattered not what we attempted, Berthel raised his arms with maddening leisure and began sweeping them through the air.

“Damn it. What trick now?”

“Everyone—stay sharp!”

His cryptic motions froze our bodies with dread. Yet nothing happened. Or so it seemed.

Thud.

Peter, lying upon the makeshift cot, stirred. That it coincided with Berthel’s gesture was no coincidence.

If only it had been a miracle—that he had returned from death’s edge. But it was not. His eyelids remained shut, his breath stilled.

“Peter…?”

Still, foolish hope compelled me forward, calling his name.

From his toes upward, his body blackened, a chill dread crawling up my spine. It was the same vile sensation as that sticky, loathsome aura that had seeped from the new gate before the Hunter Association. My feet halted at the brink.

And when his form was entirely shrouded in shadow, the golden light of the sanctuary began erasing him, from his toes upward, wiping his existence away.

“Ah.”

“Hansol! Get back!”

Kassie leapt to shield me, but I could not tear my gaze away.

Berthel’s doppelgänger had vanished into dust just like this.

Then… Peter was a monster?

Impossible. He was human. Until moments ago, he had been human. No—it had to be Berthel’s doing. Nothing else made sense.

My chilled mind arrived at the conclusion: the sanctuary had only acted according to its nature, purging what was tainted. The culprit was Berthel alone.

[So it bears such an effect as well? How wondrous.]

Damnable wretch.

While I seethed in silence, swallowing rage against Berthel, Isaac and Kassie exchanged grave glances.

“Kassie. How much mana remains?”

“About half. A little more, perhaps. But even that will do nothing here.”

“Then hold it. For when the worst comes.”

For several heartbeats their blue eyes locked. Then, as one, they nodded—faces hardened with the resolve of those prepared to die.

Yes. Against a foe like this, one must stake one’s life.

If Berthel was not destroyed before the sanctuary’s end, we were already dead. Isaac and Kassie might survive—but a mere level 42 healer? No. I knew my place better than anyone.

Even if I die…

Doing all one could in the moment—that was one of my few strengths.

I looked to Kassie, mana surging hot beside me, and to Isaac, commanding at the front, and then spoke a skill aloud.

“Holy Light.”

A skill purchased for no less than 25,000 points.

The last creature I faced here had been worth about ten thousand. By that simple logic, this was two and a half times its value. Of course, I doubted the system priced things so crudely.

Regardless, the skill birthed a small orb of light before me.

It resembled the glowing white sphere that floated above the marble building. Smaller, perhaps—but similar.

It feels… strangely like the mage’s ‘Light’ spell.

I frowned, studying the orb intently. What was its effect? Surely not merely illumination. What, then?

There was a solemn aura to it, a sanctity that set it apart from a simple spell—but that seemed to be all.

If a skill worth 25,000 points amounted to no more than the ‘Light’ spell one learned at level ten… then this system was nothing but mockery.

And so suspicion, grim yet rational, rose within me.