Chapter 50

Rumble…!

When the senior priest raised his staff high, the entire cavern shook violently as if an earthquake had struck. The ‘plague golem’ that had been sleeping at the center of the altar was finally waking from its long slumber. Its grotesque body, twisted from hundreds of corpses and monsters, began to rise with an eerie sound.

It was a blasphemy against the gods, a horrific creature that mocked the laws of life. Here and there on the golem’s body, barely decayed human limbs jerked out spasmodically, and from its empty eye sockets the faces of screaming wraiths appeared and vanished repeatedly. At the center of its torso, where countless corpses’ ribs wrapped like a cage, a dark red heart—the ‘plague core’—throbbed ominously.

“Kraaaaaaaah-!”

The golem’s first roar was no mere sound. It was the wail of hundreds of restless souls, a wave of curse steeped in death and rot. Paladins hit by the roar clutched their ears and screamed. Their holy armor blackened, and some collapsed, bleeding black blood from their noses and ears.

“Everyone, pull yourselves together! That is not a creation of the gods! It is nothing but a filthy lump of evil!”

Commander Gerard bellowed and was the first to regain his composure. Explosive divine power burst from his body, pushing back the surrounding curses. Burning with reason and rage alike, he gripped his great Warhammer, the ‘God’s Mace’.

“How dare you show that filth before God’s servants! I’ll grind you to dust and send you back to the hell you belong in! Light of Judgment!”

Gerard became a great spear of light and charged at the plague golem. His Warhammer shone like the sun as it descended upon the golem’s massive leg.

Kraaaang!

With a tremendous crash, part of the golem’s leg smoked and tore away in the light. But the golem didn’t even scream. The mound of corpses, unable to feel pain, merely staggered to regain its balance. From the torn wound black spores shot out like a fountain, covering the nearby paladins.

“Ugh! My body… it’s rotting away!”

The paladins’ armor touched by the spores melted away, and the flesh beneath began to blacken and rot.

“Fools!”

Watching from the rear, mage Lucas cried out in horror.

“That golem feeds on physical impact and divine power itself! The more you attack, the more powerful the plague it spreads becomes!”

Lucas ordered the battle mages.

“Do not attack! Use defensive Magic and binding Magic to restrict its movement as much as possible and gather data! We must find its weakness! The power source that moves that massive body, that core in its chest is surely…!”

But it was already too late. As if enraged by Gerard’s strike, the plague golem swung one of its arms. The massive arm, formed from dozens of entwined corpses, was a living siege hammer in itself.

“Everyone, dodge!”

Crrrack!

A few paladins who couldn’t get out of the way were swept away by the golem’s arm. Their silver armor crumpled like paper, and their insides were flung about as unrecognizable clumps of bloody flesh.

The cavern instantly became a hell of chaos. The paladins fought bravely, fueled by their convictions, but their divine power only strengthened the enemy. The mages tried to halt the golem’s movements with ice and wind, but against its overwhelming mass and force, their Magic was powerless.

“Heh heh heh… Struggle all you want! Your despair and pain will make our lord’s creation even more perfect!”

The priests surrounding the altar burst into mad laughter, sacrificing their lifeforce to imbue the golem with power. Gerard ground his teeth at his helplessness. His faith and strength meant nothing before this massive despair. Then Lucas’s urgent shout came to his ear.

“Commander! That thing’s core! We have to destroy the core in its chest! But the core is protected by countless corpses and a powerful barrier of curses! Our Magic alone cannot penetrate it!”

Lucas was desperate. His analysis was complete, but there was no solution.

“Our mages will draw in all magic power and create a fissure in that barrier for three seconds! The only thing that can break through and destroy the core in that gap… is your crude divine power!”

The two men, who had held contempt for each other, met gazes in the air. There was no longer any choice.

“Fine, mage! I’ll trust that smug head of yours for once!”

Gerard rose, stepping over the corpses of his shattered comrades, and began to focus all his remaining divine power into his Warhammer. A blinding light, beyond what his body could normally bear, enveloped him.

“All mages, focus your power on me! Begin the incantation of ‘Arcane Lance’ now!”

Lucas also raised his staff high.

The empire’s two giants, staking their pride, lives, and everything else, began to play a symphony of despair to craft a single chance.