Chapter 58

Ch.58 Apostle of the Goddess of War

Set swallowed hard and thought.

‘If Brother Sion were here right now.’

He wouldn’t have been fazed by this terrifying scene at all.

In fact, his competitive spirit would have flared up, and he’d probably be boasting about launching an immediate attack.

…But not now.

Courage must be grounded in reason.

It was clearly different from mere recklessness.

Tap, tap.

Alt tapped Set’s forearm. He communicated silently, only moving his lips.

‘I’ll go inform the main group. You stay here and guard this spot. You’ll be okay, right?’

Cold sweat ran down Set’s back. He gulped and nodded. His head trembled uncontrollably.

‘Really? Are you sure you’ll be okay? Will you go?’

‘No. Mr. Alt, please be careful.’

‘Got it. I’ll be back quickly. Don’t push yourself—just keep watch.’

‘Understood.’

Alt disappeared back into the bushes. Set was left alone.

He became hypersensitive to every rustle of grass in the wind. A sense of dread gripped him, as if something would suddenly leap out.

His limbs began to tremble involuntarily.

His mind went blank.

‘What exactly am I doing right now?’

Just a short while ago, he had been peacefully spending time with his sisters, Ruina and Kaili.

Now, he snapped back to reality—here he was, in a place thick with the stench of death, risking his life.

Shiver, shiver, shiver, shiver.

Even hiding in the cracks of rocks was terrifying. He feared his breathing might be heard.

‘B-brother…’

Set pulled out a wooden necklace and gripped it in his hand. It was a crude ornament carved by Sion. Set treasured it like a talisman.

Never before had he wanted to rely on this necklace as much as he did now.

Set steadied his breath and resumed watching the front. The sun had set. Twilight descended.

Swish, swish, swish.

The darkly flickering flames and the eerie movement of the bushes in the damp wind felt unsettlingly ominous.

That was when it happened.

“Kee-ruk?”

A goblin burst through the bushes.

One, two, three…

Only three were visible at first glance. Set drew his sword with trembling hands, but it was futile.

Thud!

A sudden blow to the back of his head knocked him unconscious.

* * *

‘Found them.’

Sion finally detected the familiar presence.

Crouched low on a tree branch, he silently approached the rock where the knights had hidden.

Armor caked in mud, faces clearly showing exhaustion and tension.

It was obvious at a glance how grueling the journey through the marshlands had been.

Still, he was proud that all members had safely reached the goblins’ main camp.

‘Tier, you’re doing pretty well. Are you naturally suited to command?’

Sion inwardly sighed in relief and followed their gaze to peer beyond the rock. He saw the goblin nest. His brows instinctively furrowed.

‘…Bigger than I thought.’

This wasn’t just a simple goblin nest.

A crude but systematically built watchtower, wooden palisade walls, and ominously rising dark red smoke from the center of the colony.

At the center stood an altar, crudely assembled from animal bones, from which a strange, alien energy faintly emanated.

‘It wouldn’t be surprising if a Death Priest was controlling the goblin horde.’

If that were true, this battle would be far too difficult for a novice knight brigade.

Sion once again confirmed the lingering sensation of Sacred Flame in his palm.

‘Maybe I’ll end up needing to use this after all.’

He decided to observe the situation a little longer.

He wanted to see how the knight corps would handle this crisis on their own.

‘But… the atmosphere is strange.’

There was excessive anxiety and restlessness for what should have been a tactical meeting. They looked like lost lambs standing before a predator, visibly trembling.

‘What’s going on?’

Sion gathered divine power and heightened his hearing to an extreme degree.

His senses spread out like a transparent net, sweeping across each presence.

He confirmed one by one, feeling relieved. Despite the grueling journey, they had all survived.

Now, he searched for the most important presence—the familiar, sometimes recklessly vibrant energy of his younger brother.

‘Where is that kid Set…?’

Suddenly, Sion’s senses wandered in empty space.

‘He’s not here.’

Set’s presence, which should definitely be here, was nowhere to be felt.

Sion’s heart turned cold. He focused again, spreading his sacred energy even more widely and intensely.

Behind the rocks, between the bushes, atop the trees.

Nowhere was there a trace of Set.

A chilling premonition crept up his spine.

At that very moment, one shocking sentence flew like a dagger into his enhanced hearing.

“…Damn it, why isn’t Set coming back?”

“Could it be… something happened to him with those goblins…”

“Commander, we can’t wait any longer. Set might have been captured. We have to go save him!”

The moment he heard those words, Sion’s mind went completely blank.

Thump.

‘Set has been captured?’

Sion’s heart plummeted into a bottomless swamp.

Tier’s anguished voice followed. His voice trembled slightly.

“…N-no, we can’t. Attacking recklessly now would be foolish. Look at the scale. It’s much larger than expected. We should retreat and seek help…”

It was a rational decision for a leader. One couldn’t risk the lives of many to save a few. A cold but logical choice.

Sion understood the logic in his mind.

But his heart, his instinct as an older brother, absolutely refused to accept it.

Why had he followed them like a shadow on this dangerous mission? Sure, experience was valuable, but above all, it was to ensure not a single one of them would be lost.

And now his most precious younger brother was in danger.

‘It’s my fault.’

He shouldn’t have brought him. It was foolish to put a mere 14-year-old child into actual combat.

An accident had occurred during the brief moment he stepped away to check on the Church of Fire.

‘I have to find Set.’

Sion began searching for Set again. He focused all his divine power into a single point, sending his senses deep into the heart of the enemy camp far beyond.

He still felt Set’s faint life force. Through the goblins’ murky aura, the stench of blood, and the marsh’s foul odor, his divine power pressed forward.

‘Found him.’

Set’s presence was faintly detectable near the central altar.

But the energy was extremely weak, as if being crushed by something. What surrounded Set’s aura wasn’t the goblins’ energy.

‘What is this feeling?’

It was… intensely cold, unholy, and seemed to deny life itself.

The very stench of death.

Suddenly, the pale-faced female priest that Rakian had mentioned flashed through his mind.

Sion’s eyes snapped open.

His pupils burned with a flame of shock and fury.

Set, unconscious and laid upon a black altar.

Beside him, a woman’s silhouette chanting incomprehensible incantations, raising a white aura with pale hands.

The goblins were merely her guards, assigned trivial tasks like kidnapping people.

The true master of this nest was none other than the Death Priestess that the Church of Fire had been chasing.

Sion’s grim prediction had come true once again.

Indeed, the goblin horde and the Death Priestess were connected. The Death Priestess seemed to be commanding the goblins.

This was no longer a simple mission to exterminate a goblin nest.

It was a race against time—to stop a wicked ritual and save his brother, who was about to be sacrificed.

There was no more reason to watch. He had to act.

Swish.

Sion’s body dropped silently from the tree.

Like a piece of darkness detaching itself, he landed behind the panicked knights like a black panther.

“—!”

The knights, startled by the presence, began drawing their swords—then froze as they recognized the familiar silhouette even in the darkness.

Relief, like a beam of light, flashed across their terrified eyes, mingled with shock.

“S-sir Sion!”

Tier was the first to recognize him and shouted.

A mix of shame at having his helplessness exposed and complex emotions at the arrival of a savior played across his face.

“This can’t be!”

“We’re saved. It’s Sir Sion!”

A knight clenched his fist in joy.

They had been at the brink of annihilation. Everything was about to collapse.

Tier’s leadership was being tested, and distrust was spreading among the members like a plague.

Yet, with the appearance of just one person—

Sion—the darkness instantly retreated as if it had never been there.

The flag of faith and courage toward the Goddess of War reclaimed the high ground in their hearts.

It was pitiful.

It was shameful.

But there was no helping it.

[……These children are not Sion.]

Goddess Achille softly exhaled.

Sion was an anomaly.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t disappointed in the warriors whose courage had broken. But that was what made them human. Humans were weak and fragile beings.

Only among them did a few exceptional individuals become heroes.

The knight brigade’s hero, Sion, opened his mouth.

“What happened?”

His gaze had already passed beyond the knights, piercing through to the evil colony beyond the rocks.

Tier instinctively straightened his posture and reported in a trembling voice.

“I sent Set and Alt for reconnaissance. Alt returned, but Set, who was supposed to keep watch, hasn’t come back even after all this time.”

Alt stepped forward to add to the explanation.

“W-we agreed he’d wait here.”

Sion didn’t blame Tier. He knew his decision wasn’t wrong. If Sion had been in Tier’s place, he would have done the same.

But Sion possessed a responsibility and power that transcended logic.

A hero walks a different path from ordinary people.

“We were thinking of going to save him, but judged it too reckless with our current strength—”

Of all people, it had to be Set who went missing. Under Sion’s oppressive aura, Tier began rambling out excuses.

Sion shook his head.

“Tier. As a commander, it was a reasonable judgment. I would’ve done the same.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“What good does saying sorry do me?”

“Ghk.”

“You did well. If I had to pick a mistake, it would be mine.”

Sion said quietly. His gaze passed over Tier, sweeping across every knight who had fallen into despair.

“Set is still alive.”

All trace of warmth vanished from his face. Only a blade-sharp determination remained.

“He’s being held at the central altar in the goblin nest. He’s about to be offered as a sacrifice.”

“…!”

“That’s terrible!”

“We have to go save him immediately!”

The knights became agitated.

Relief washed over them at the news that Set was still alive, and fury ignited at the mention of a sacrifice.

After hearing all this, they couldn’t just stand by and watch. Even if it cost their lives, they had to launch a reckless assault.

If one only chose battles they could win, that wasn’t the way of the War Cult.

However.

“You all go back. The mission is over.”

Sion refused.

They had long passed the level of gaining mere practical experience. This was a fight where even Sion himself would have to risk his life.

“B-but!”

“I have neither the time nor the intention to persuade you. Go back. That’s an order.”

Sion turned his body.

Kiiing—!

A sword was already in Sion’s hand. Dark, ominous mist rose violently from it.

“I’ll see you in Elim.”

Tat!

Sion charged forward. Moments later, torches collapsed and flames surged upward.

“Keeeek!”

The goblins’ ear-splitting screams tore through the darkness.

***

Five shadowy figures cloaked in red robes were taking a brief rest.

A man wearing a mask to hide facial burns—Rakian—suddenly opened his eyes wide.

His gaze turned toward the dark marshlands, toward the north.

A section of land lit up brightly amid commotion. It was fire.

“…What is that?”

His comrades’ attention also turned.

“They seem to have encountered the goblin horde. There’s a high chance the escaped Death Priestess is over there too.”

Rakian stood up. His eyes, visible behind the mask, glinted coldly.

“It’s time to purge sin. Move out immediately.”

He adjusted the grip on the massive spear slung over his shoulder. The other Fire Priests quickly finished their preparations.

The disciples of fire threw themselves into the darkness. Their target was clear—the distant place where flames rose, illuminating the night marsh.

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