Returner of the Colosseum

＜ Episode 62. Promotion Match (6) ＞

“Sa, Lion!”

Isaac shouted in surprise at my sudden appearance.

It seemed that he was worried because I didn’t come.

‘Huh, I’m glad.’

I was able to kill the priest before the monster invasion started.

There was the river Thebes in the south and a cliff in the north, so unless it was the monsters of Mount Nazaran, it would be impossible to enter the eastern gate.

With this, it seemed that I wouldn’t have to worry about monsters entering the eastern gate.

“I was very worried because the moon didn’t come even though it was up.”

“I’ll be brief as I don’t have time. The monster wave probably won’t come through the eastern gate. Just in case, leave the minimum number of troops and send them all to the North Gate.”

“yes? That, what is that…”

“Someone was artificially creating a monster wave. Liam Valdesgreitz…? I think I used the name.”

“Twelve false swords!”

The name Liam exclaimed Isaac in surprise.

Listening to what he was talking about, it seemed like he was a fairly famous paladin.

Well, there’s no way the name of a person with that level of skill isn’t known.

“Do you know someone?”

“Ah, yes. He is one of those evil breeds who believe in false nights and moons. I’ve been punished by God for trying to summon a demon before. But no matter how they are, they can deliberately create a monster wave…”

Isaac murmured softly, distraught.

“For now, let’s talk about the details after tonight has passed safely. Just in case you don’t know, please take good care of the Shin Seongseok. I will send one of those who came with me this way. And this.”

I took out a signal firecracker from my inventory.

“If that paladin comes, pull this firecracker up into the sky. I will come right away.”

If that paladin comes directly, no one will be able to stop it except for me.

So I was thinking of sending Karol, who had registered the marker, to the central square.

Then you’ll be able to fly right away using shadow movement.

“Oh, they are fine. With this sacred stone, those who believe in false gods cannot enter Herzebelg.”

“Are you sure?”

“yes. The reason why they don’t come and destroy them directly and send monster waves cumbersomely is probably because they couldn’t come into Hersebelg because of the sacred stone.”

If that’s the case, I’m really glad.

There would be no way if monsters like Liam sneaked in and destroyed the Holy Stone.

Even if I sent Karol with the shadow mark registered just in case, the monsters would have poured in the moment I came here and stopped Liam.

That would have been a lot of trouble.

“Even so, I’ll send it for now. Let’s talk more about it after the monster wave is over.”

I ran towards the western gate where Karol was.

From the perspective of the route, it was more efficient to start from the south gate, but since Carol was at the west gate, it was unavoidable.

In the meantime, the roars of the monsters were getting closer.

I had a lot of questions, but the current situation was so tight that I couldn’t take any more time.

‘I just need to pass today.’

The plan was to block the monster wave of Mount Doombes in the south tomorrow.

That way, only the west and north remain.

Assuming that the movement line is short and I block one gate, if I beat all the remaining players in the north gate, I will be able to survive the next day.

If you cut down one direction at a time, you can finish this mission with a victory.

“Quooo!”

“Chwiiik!”

Fortunately, the monster wave had not arrived until we reached the western gate.

I immediately shouted at the players guarding the west gate.

“From now on, I will be in charge of the preface. Alice, move towards the north gate. Karol, go to the central plaza and guard the sacred stone.”

“yes? What is that…”

“I will tell you the details after the monster wave. Go ahead. Who is in charge here?”

There must have been a lot of questions, but luckily the players didn’t ask about this and that, and started running to the location I designated.

After leaving the players behind and asking the soldiers, one of them stepped forward.

“Yes, I am Macberon the commander.”

“Leave about 50 people here, divide them in half and send them to the southern and northern gates.”

“ancient!”

After quickly distributing power, I immediately ran out of the gate.

Coincidentally, large-scale monsters were approaching right in front of them.

“Quooo!”

The roar of an ogre cut through the cries of monsters and stuck in my ears.

Unlike yesterday, ogres were also part of the wave.

At the sight, I let out a sigh of relief.

If I hadn’t calmed the waves at the eastern gate, today’s defense battle would have been very dangerous.

‘I’ll have to organize it as quickly as possible and go to the other gates to be saved.’

Kwajijijijijijijijik!

I swung the spear filled with intense thunderbolts with all my might at the rampaging monsters.

* * *

Liam Valdesgreitz von Reinhardt, one of the Twelve Swords that uphold the will of God and a Paladin of the Church of Darkness, looked down at the dead priest and three paladins.

I couldn’t understand what was going on.

‘Is the location of me and the heretic changed?’

A man wearing a demon mask suddenly appeared.

It looked pretty strong, but that was it.

It was nothing to compare with herself, who had sacrificed many sacrifices and received great power as a gift from the gods.

However, the exact opposite of what Liam expected was staged.

The priest, who was the core of this plan, and the three paladins who accompanied him were all dead.

‘My mistake caused the god’s arrangement to go wrong, so what should I do?’

Liam knelt in front of the dead priests and paladins.

Then, with the sign of the cross drawn on the forehead and both shoulders, he began to pray.

For them, death is like a blessing.

So there was no need to pray for peace.

It was just a consolation for those who died without fulfilling their duties as God’s chosen people.

‘Please rest in peace.’

It was when Liam got up from his seat after praying.

Basrak- Basrak-

Through the darkness that hung deep in the mountains, two men appeared.

“For the World of Holy Night.”

“For the World of Holy Night.”

“Apostle Liam.”

“Apostle Declen. Apostle Garrett.”

Like Liam, they belonged to the 12 paladins who defended the church on the front lines.

“The priest died in the arms of God because we were late.”

Liam shook his head at Declen’s words.

“No, Apostle Declen. You guys were also on a mission elsewhere. It is all because of the lack of this lowly servant.”

“How can we blame Liam for working tirelessly to purify the world? Anyway, how did the priest die…”

“An infidel who defies the will of God has come. It was quite strong, but not enough to harm my brother.”

“But why…”

Liam sighed at Garrett’s question and explained what had happened.

As Liam continued, Garrett and Declen’s expressions hardened.

“It is a strange magic. It will not be easy to protect the priests.”

“Don’t worry. His power is incomparable to ours. Have the other apostles arrived?”

“yes. All eight apostles have arrived.”

“If we join, there will be four apostles for each priest. Then next time we’ll be able to stop the cultists well enough. I will go south to Dumbes, and will Apostle Garrett and Apostle Declen go west and north, respectively, and tell them about the cult?”

Dark tiredness radiated from Declen’s and Garrett’s faces as they nodded.

The distance from Rasgrid to Hersebelg is 1,000 km.

After running that distance in 5 days, you must be very tired.

“Let’s give it a little more strength. Herzebelg’s defense forces are running out, and the full moon will rise in five days. At that time, you will be able to send much more and stronger monsters.”

“yes.”

The hopeful part is that as the size of the moon increases, the number and grade of monsters that can be pushed away with waves increases.

Probably, on a day when the full moon rises, you will be able to break the Sacred Stone and enter the castle.

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Just like that, it was time to turn around and part ways.

Liam paused, then opened his mouth.

“Priest LeBlanc said this before he died. He said that the body of the pagan he met today would be a good place to contain the soul of the dead. So when you kill him, don’t cut off his head or limbs. If that is true, then Philotanus, who is a member of the family, can use that body to descend into this world.”

“Then, not only the advent stone that is said to be hidden somewhere in Hersebelg, but also the body can be obtained here.”

“Oh, the day to welcome Philotanus is not far away!”

Garrett and Declen smiled broadly for the first time since arriving at Mount Nazaran.

* * *

aaang! Kwajijik!

Three lightning bolts fell from the sky.

The ground was dug, and a thunderstorm swept everywhere.

Awesome!

After decapitating the last remaining troll, I let out a sigh.

‘The second day also ended safely.’

Unlike the first day, today I was worried because there were also occasional ogres, but no dangerous situation was created.

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Just by calming the waves at the eastern gate, the difficulty level dropped drastically.

In addition, there was also a reason that the hunting speed was greatly increased due to the thunderstorm.

The tier 1 skill Thunder God, the lightning power of the breath of thunder, and even an option that temporarily increases agility by 20%.

It wasn’t a legendary-grade spear for nothing.

“Thank you for your hard work, Ren.”

After killing all the monsters and entering the northern gate, five players except for Carol greeted me.

They were all gathered because they had cleared the west and went to help the south, swarming all the players to the north.

“Yes, everyone has had a hard time. I need to talk to you for a moment, so let’s move on to the main square. Macberon?”

“Yes, Lion.”

At my call, Macberon, the commander who was arranging the corpses of the monsters, came running.

I opened my mouth by handing him three signal firecrackers from my inventory.

“Please take care of the battlefield. We are all going to move to the main square.”

“yes. But is this…?”

“It’s a signal firecracker. Give one to the South and North directors as well. Whatever happens, just pull this string against the sky.”

“Okay, I see.”

As long as I knew that there was a force that artificially promoted the monster wave, I had to be prepared.

Shin Seong-seok said he would block them from entering, but he didn’t know that it was a human thing.

Arriving at the central square with the players, I explained what had happened in Mount Nazaran.

“Hey, someone was deliberately sending monsters to Hersebelg…”

“So today I’m thinking of going to Mount Dumbes.”

“Are you saying you are going alone? We will help too.”

Then the players got up from their seats scrambling to help themselves.

But I shook my head at them.

Thank you for your heart, but they are all exhausted from fighting the monsters all night long.

It won’t help much.

Rather, it is more efficient to take a break here and protect the sacred stone, then block the monster wave at night.

“In case you don’t know, please stay here and protect the sacred stone. I will be back before the wave starts.”

“All right. Please go carefully.”

“I will block anyone from approaching with the Sacred Stone. Please go.”

I left the players seeing off and headed for Mount Doombes.

‘If there is still time after killing the priest, I’ll have to finish it all the way to the west.’

I didn’t want to wait until night.

Because things have changed a lot since yesterday.

Through Liam, the guys must have noticed that there is someone trying to ruin their plans.

And I might have added a word.

‘He’s weaker than us, so if you find him, just kill him.’

If so, there was a good chance that I would not hide even if I wandered through the mountains.

No, I could have run from there first.

That will save you a lot of time today.

‘It’s probably near the Black Orc’s realm.’

I moved to the area Rudel had marked.

Unlike in Najaran Mountain, he didn’t bother to fight the monsters.

“Chwiiik! human!”

“Kwaaang!”

Awesome!

[Stats increased by ＜Enhancement of Blood＞ are maintained for 30 minutes.]

As I moved while killing the monsters that attacked me for a while, I was able to come close to the Black Orc’s realm before I knew it.

‘Where do you want to be?’

Basrak- Basrak-

It was time to make a big turn along the border of the Black Orc area.

I heard someone approaching in my direction.

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Judging by the lack of muffled footsteps, it wasn’t a Black Orc.

In the realm of Black Orcs, those other than monsters could exist.

“See you again, heathen.”

There were only guys from the Dark Church who were causing the monster wave.

Only one person appeared through the grass.

It was Liam, the paladin I met last night.

“I didn’t know you would come alone again. Surely you don’t think the same trick will work today. Then you would have made us fools.”

“…”

“I knew the difference between courage and recklessness. Think your stupidity hastened the order.”

He continued to smirk at me.

Apparently, he was quite angry about killing the priest and running away yesterday.

I raised one corner of my mouth towards him and opened my mouth.

“You talk a lot. You didn’t win the title of paladin by mouth, did you?”

As I laughed and talked, his face hardened coldly.

Then, a terrifying life began to emanate from it.

“Oh God. Your servant will slash another heretic today and purify the world.”

The guy instantly leaped and swung his shield at me.

Kwajijijijijijijijik!

I also went in with a full thunderbolt.

Chae Ae Ae!

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Just one clash like yesterday.

But the result was completely different.

“…!”

Liam bounced back and raised his eyes.

The boy’s face was full of embarrassment.

It wasn’t me who was fooled, it was Liam.

[Stats increased by ＜Enhancement of Blood＞ are maintained for 30 minutes.]

[Strength: 105 (+5) (+44)] [Agility: 112 (+5) (+47)] [Strength: 104 (+5) (+38)]

[Spirit: 153 (+59)] [Intelligence: 23 (+9)] [Magic Power: 124 (+5) (+46)]

‘I’ll show you a completely different look from yesterday.’

＜ Episode 63. Before Promotion (6) ＞ End