Chapter 332 : In the name of Sloth (5)

Kingdom of Fildagreen.

“Hoo—”

Rine Groff had recently been delving deeply into the topic of sin.

If only it had remained like the beginning, it could’ve been an enjoyable tea time accompanied by the pursuit of knowledge—or more precisely, more time to guard her godfather.

But unfortunately—

Someone had broken the badge gifted to her godfather, leaving her with fewer responsibilities.

Thanks to that, Rine had been pouring much of her time into research lately.

Even after hundreds of years, there was still far too much knowledge she had yet to grasp or comprehend.

And today—

For the first time, she got her hands on meaningful information about sin.

Of course, it wasn’t something that revealed the true nature of sin.

But in some ways, it provided insight into why the previous incarnation of sin was dealt with so easily.

‘I didn’t expect the capabilities to differ depending on the host body.’

Of course, she already knew that apostles of sin existed and that they personally selected the vessel for sin’s incarnation.

But she had only thought they were simply choosing someone who could resonate well with sin.

She hadn’t realized that the host’s abilities would actually change depending on who it was.

She reviewed the knowledge she had seen for a while.

The more she did, the more questions arose.

It was clearly written that the strength of sin varied dramatically depending on the incarnated host—but nothing else could be found.

Naturally, a question surfaced in her mind.

‘Then why not choose someone strong as the vessel, instead of someone merely compatible?’

She still hadn’t explored all of the texts, so the exact reason remained unknown.

It probably wasn’t written in the book she had just found, either.

After dwelling on her doubts for a while, Rine decided to focus on reading the current book and closed her eyes again.

And as if it were a lie, the scenery of the library vividly unfolded in her mind, and she resumed flipping through the pages of the book she had been reading.

And not long after, having finished reading the entire book in her head—

“……”

She opened her eyes again, her expression slightly stiff.

As expected, there was no answer to her question.

However, she was able to clearly confirm once again the difference in power when sin incarnated in a strong host.

She looked at her now-cold tea and fell into thought again to resolve her question.

***

The battle had begun.

Three powerful figures moved to approach Alon in the sky—

BOOOOM—!

But their advance was thoroughly blocked.

And the battle of Seolrang, Radan, and Eliban, who moved to stop and eliminate them, began.

The situation was overwhelming.

In front of Alon’s eyes, golden flashes flickered as Seolrang’s figure appeared and vanished repeatedly.

Had he not been using Reverse Heaven, even that brief instant would’ve been impossible to detect.

Seolrang, repeating those movements, was literally toying with Dragon Lance.

With a thud, the spear crashed into the ground and into the cliffside.

Then with a blink, it was floating in midair again.

In the next instant, it drove into the ground hard enough to crush the entire Black Territory.

The enemy’s body was repeatedly destroyed and regenerated.

But it was clear that the regeneration was slowing down, as if its limits were being reached.

The situation was the same for Hidden Swordsman.

Countless artifacts fell from the sky.

Not only was its movement restricted, but several artifacts remained stuck in its back, unable to be removed.

Hidden Swordsman couldn’t properly counter Radan.

And when it came to Millennium Ice—

CRACK!

He couldn’t even put up a fight.

The moment Millennium Ice tried to do something, Eliban’s sword moved—

And in the next instant, jis limbs were severed.

Millennium Ice quickly regenerated his limbs to respond somehow, but he still couldn’t avoid Eliban’s sword.

An overwhelming difference in power.

‘Is that even possible?’

Alon, who had come down from the ship after completing the plan’s preparations, tilted his head while watching Eliban.

Even if Eliban was near max level in the game—

He hadn’t expected him to show this much power against a Sin, whose mana overflowed infinitely.

But in the end, it was true that Eliban’s current power was the only thing keeping the balance of power in check.

“Hoo—”

Alon grabbed his head, dizzy from repeated use of Reverse Heaven.

He forced himself to open his eyes and looked around.

The battle unfolding over the Black Territory was like a full-scale war.

Basiliora crushed and obliterated the endlessly regenerating black beings.

The soldiers were relentlessly slaughtering the meat-piles pouring toward the castle walls and surroundings.

Perfect balance.

‘If we can just hold out a little longer—’

The moment Alon thought that—

Snap—!

Everything stopped moving.

The powerful figures that had been in motion came to a halt as if a lie.

The flesh masses charging toward the soldiers fell to the ground like puppets with cut strings.

THUD THUD THUD—

The writhing flesh trying to regenerate beneath the now armorless Basiliora scattered lifelessly.

And in its place—

It appeared.

“Ah—”

A quiet voice.

A soft, faint exclamation.

But even that alone drew the gaze of everyone present to a single point.

At some point—

A lone human had appeared in the Black Territory.

No—he wasn’t human.

He certainly had a humanoid body.

But everyone there could perceive it.

That was not human.

“Hmm—”

White hair.

Closer to a boy than an adult, he gazed blankly forward.

Each of his eyes had two pupils floating eerily within.

Surrounded by something as pitch-black as the Black Territory itself, he stared vacantly around.

Everyone there—

Could read his emotion.

He looked unmotivated.

He looked bored.

He looked weary.

He looked restless.

He looked drowsy, and he—

Simply looked slothful.

And calmly, as his gaze slowly swept around—

It finally stopped.

On Alon.

The four oddly engraved pupils stared at Alon.

And Alon too looked at the Sloth, confused.

‘What is this?’

Alon knew the Sin of Sloth.

In other words, he knew what its manifestation looked like.

Other than the hair color turning white, it was just as he remembered.

But what puzzled Alon was the reaction.

The Sin of Sloth he knew was filled with rage—so much that the title “Sloth” barely fit.

But this being before him was different.

It was the very embodiment of the word given as a name.

It didn’t even give off any pressure.

It just gazed at him, utterly devoid of intent.

In the face of that strange disconnect, Alon’s confusion grew.

Thud—

Sloth sat down.

Cross-legged, resting his chin on one raised knee, staring at Alon.

A posture that showed no will to fight at all.

But none of those present could move in the face of Sloth’s demeanor.

No—they weren’t just hesitating.

“Guh—”

“Ggk—”

One by one, people began to choke, as if they couldn’t breathe.

Sloth had done absolutely nothing.

He did not scatter mana, nor did he exude any sense of pressure.

He simply sat down where he was, showing no will to fight.

And yet, the sheer pressure his existence gave off was enough to make soldiers who were merely watching from afar collapse on the spot.

One by one, soldiers fainted.

A chill ran down the spines of Celaime and Parkline.

Seolrang, Radan, and Eliban’s expressions grew increasingly grim.

But even in that situation, he merely looked at Alon with an air of boredom.

“You guys plan on fighting, don’t you?”

He slowly opened his mouth.

Unlike the previous manifestations of sin, his attempt at rational conversation made Alon momentarily blank out.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Alon answered.

“...Yeah.”

“There’s no way to avoid fighting, is there?”

“Weren’t you the one who started the fight?”

At those words, the Sin of Sloth stared at Alon for a moment.

“Because I want to protect it.”

He murmured with a hint of sadness in his slothful eyes.

“What...?”

Alon reflexively asked back.

He couldn’t understand.

Why had this being, with such a personality, appeared before him?

Why was it saying something like that?

At least, the Sloth Alon knew had been nothing more than a being who mercilessly slaughtered any human it saw.

But Sloth no longer answered Alon’s reflexive question.

Instead—

Still sitting in place, Sloth let out a sigh, looked at him for a moment, and said,

“One minute.”

Just like that—

“For the next one minute, I won’t move from here.”

He said lazily.

“What did you say?”

“No matter what kind of attack you launch, I’ll take it all. So that you’ll be convinced.”

So you won’t feel any regret about dying to me.

So you won’t resent it.

Muttering like that, Sloth said,

“All right, begin.”

He then spoke quietly.

After a brief moment of silence, the first to move was—

BOOOOOM!!

It was Seolrang.

With a clear smile on her face, she charged in, appearing before Sloth faster than anyone could register—

CRACKLEEEE—!!!

Compressing her body to the extreme right in front of Sloth—

—!!!!

She launched the Sin skyward.

With the air bursting, Sloth’s body soared into the sky.

At the same time, Eliban and Radan, who had been watching blankly until a moment ago, also started to move.

They weren’t the only ones.

“I guess we’d better prepare.”

“Everyone, get ready.”

Celaime, Parkline, and the mages who had been quietly observing the situation now cast their spells as if they had been waiting for this moment.

50 seconds.

Sloth’s body, launched into the sky by Seolrang—

Was slashed by Eliban’s blade and slammed into the ground.

Then Radan’s greatsword came crashing down on it.

Blood spurted from Sloth’s mouth.

And at that moment—

Though it lasted only a fleeting second—

Alon saw it.

On Sloth’s face, which had until then shown nothing but boredom—

A small smile—

...A faint glimmer of hope appeared.

40 seconds.

“Crack-crack—”

Lightning gathered around Seolrang’s body as she floated through the sky.

The earth and sky were linked by golden lightning.

—!!!!

Lightning shot downward, blinding everyone’s vision.

Immediately after, Radan’s greatsword fell from the sky, ripping through the air and smashing into the ground.

30 seconds.

Spells from the mages rained down on the dust-covered ground.

The magic, rising into the sky like the Milky Way at night, came crashing down precisely, shredding the earth.

As if to finish it all off—

A massive pillar of fire erupted, threatening to consume the entire world.

20 seconds.

As the flames cleared, Celaime’s spell took form, creating a massive chunk of ice that pierced through the shattered ground.

It rose like a gigantic ice palace, gleaming like a giant amethyst.

Sloth was frozen inside and pulled up from the depths.

10 seconds.

Eliban, his face firm with resolve to deliver the final blow, gripped the hilt of his sword.

With a strange slicing sound, he drew his blade at a speed too fast to be seen.

The rising ice burst apart, settling the dust.

And within that shattered ice—

The moment Radan drove the trident he held into Sloth, now lying on the ground—

0 seconds.

Radan realized.

His spear had not reached Sloth’s heart.

Once all the dust had cleared—

Everyone gathered there witnessed it.

“Ah.”

Sloth’s appearance was miserable.

Blood flowed from his mouth.

His body was covered with wounds, big and small.

It was undeniable that the attacks had landed and done damage.

However—

Even in that state—

“...Ah.”

Sloth’s expression was still one of apathy.

No—

It wasn’t apathy.

That expression—

That expression—

“…You couldn’t kill me.”

The emotion on Sloth’s face—was regret.