Chapter 121

The God of Evil, having absorbed every living creature in his path, reached the northern border region. He looked up at the knights standing tightly packed on the border wall, aiming their bows at him, and repeatedly opened and closed his strange eyelids.

The knights closest to him shrieked in horror at the ghastly eyelids.

“What, what is that…!”

“A m-monster!”

“Ugh, why are its eyes like that!”

The news of the God of Evil’s grotesque appearance quickly spread among the knights on the wall, causing them to simultaneously begin to panic.

The ‘monstrous human’ was instantly transformed into a ‘humanoid demon’ as the frightened knights spoke about him.

Starting with a nervous rookie knight who, startled by the word ‘demon,’ panicked and involuntarily pulled his bowstring without the Knight Commander’s order the moment the God of Evil turned his head toward him, most of the knights on the wall shot arrows at the God of Evil.

The arrows shot by the knights flew toward the God of Evil in an instant, and he took the hit without attempting to evade.

‘We got him!’

The knights on the border wall internally shouted as they saw the God of Evil impaled with hundreds of arrows.

At that very moment, the hundreds of arrows embedded in the God of Evil’s body were pulled out and changed direction, flying toward the knights on the wall.

Fortunately, however, the attack did not claim the lives of the knights, who were shocked and didn’t know what to do in the face of the sudden assault.

Just before the arrows struck the center of the knights’ foreheads, a transparent barrier of holy power appeared in front of them, blocking the arrows.

The knights cheered when they saw Enria, who had cast the holy power barrier from a slight distance, and Caldeon, who was holding Hayden and gazing at the God of Evil beside her.

“Is that the Saintess, the Saintess?”

“His Grace, the Grand Duke!”

“The Grand Duke and the Saintess are here!”

Enria and Caldeon frowned involuntarily upon seeing the God of Evil, who was in Pahomel’s form but seemed somehow grotesque and like a corpse draped over something.

As Enria had said, it looked to anyone like the God of Evil had consumed Pahomel.

The God of Evil repeatedly closed and opened his strange eyelids while looking at Enria and Hayden, and seeing this, Enria’s face hardened with fear and revulsion.

Caldeon, seeing her expression, handed Hayden who he was holding to her and said, “Enria, take Hayden and get behind me first…”

But before he could finish his sentence, the God of Evil sprang toward Enria like a coiled spring.

In the instantaneous moment Caldeon generated black magic within his body to shield Enria and Hayden, time momentarily stopped.

The God of Evil’s hand, stretched out toward Enria, stopped just a finger-length away before reaching her.

The black magic Caldeon had generated was right below the God of Evil’s outstretched hand, meaning if time hadn’t stopped, Enria’s head would surely have been crushed by the God of Evil’s hand.

Caldeon’s eyes widened in surprise at the sudden halt in time.

“Daddy, call your comrades. I temporarily grabbed the flow of time to protect mommy, so Baby will soon…”

Hayden couldn’t finish his sentence and collapsed on Caldeon’s shoulder, losing consciousness.

The moment Hayden lost consciousness, the stopped flow of time resumed, and in that split second, Caldeon moved his hand, pulling Enria into his embrace.

Embraced by Caldeon and protected by his black magic, Enria immediately cast a holy power barrier.

The God of Evil’s hand, which had been aimed at Enria, merely sliced through the air and grazed Caldeon’s shoulder as time started moving again.

Caldeon quickly put distance between them and the God of Evil, asking Enria, “Did you hear what Hayden said?”

He asked, thinking that since he had heard Hayden’s words even though time had stopped, Enria might have too. Fortunately, she nodded, confirming she had heard him.

“Is Hayden alright?”

“He seems to have fainted briefly from overstraining himself by stopping time. For now, we need to move to a safe place and call our comrades, as Hayden said.”

As soon as Caldeon finished speaking, the God of Evil lunged toward them.

Caldeon quickly teleported using his black magic while holding Enria, and he called for Graum.

Immediately, the ground beneath Caldeon and Enria subtly warped and they vanished in an instant.

The God of Evil, left alone, turned his head and looked up at the border wall, but the knights had already been evacuated by Fyoren, who had come with Caldeon.

Caldeon had initially planned to increase the number of guards in the border area to prevent the God of Evil from invading the North. However, the moment he realized it was the God of Evil, he decided it was better if not a single soul was seen in the areas the God of Evil passed through.

He asked Tearen to use Illusion Magic across the entire North, requesting him to ensure no humans were visible while the God of Evil headed toward the Grand Duke’s castle.

The God of Evil would surely come to the Grand Duke’s castle targeting Hayden and Enria, so this was the best strategy.

Of course, an unexpected situation occurred when Enria and Hayden, worried about him, insisted on following him when he moved to save the lives of the knights guarding the wall, leading to the current predicament.

In any case, they arrived just as the knights were about to be killed, and Enria cast a holy power barrier, saving many lives, so it was a good thing she had gone with him.

Meanwhile, the God of Evil, suddenly left alone, made a beastly breathing sound and calmly walked through the northern border gate.

He should have been angry at losing Enria and Hayden right before his eyes, but he showed no subtle change in expression, as if he possessed nothing but the instinct to kill them.

***

Returning to the Grand Duke’s castle with Graum’s power, Enria briefly calmed the people and spirits who were astonished and terrified upon seeing Hayden unconscious in Caldeon’s arms.

While Caldeon comfortably laid Hayden on the sofa, she recounted the situation that had just occurred. Those who listened were wide-eyed with surprise at the fact that Hayden even possessed the power to stop the flow of time.

“Hayden has that kind of power too?”

“How much power did the owner of this divine oracle receive from the gods, truly?”

“Is it because he’s a superior specimen born to parents with black magic and holy power?”

As everyone commented with incredulous expressions, Caldeon, who had placed Hayden down and was walking toward them, spoke.

“The important thing right now is defeating the God of Evil.”

Caldeon, reminding them not to stray off topic, sat next to Enria and continued, looking at the others.

“We don’t have time. Thanks to Tearen’s Illusion Magic, the northern citizens are safe, but as you all know, the duration of Illusion Magic is not very long.”

He continued, saying they needed to quickly discuss how to handle the God of Evil and put it into action.

“Why don’t we just all go and fight him?” Silri asked, finding the discussion irritating.

Enria answered her instead of Caldeon.

“He flew right in front of us instantly. As I said earlier, if Hayden hadn’t stopped time, my head would have been blown off by the God of Evil’s hand.”

At her words, everyone’s expressions simultaneously hardened.

An enemy that flies right up to you in an instant, giving no time to react, would certainly be challenging in many ways.

Even if they cast a holy power barrier and a light attribute shield beforehand, the God of Evil’s power was much stronger, so those alone would not guarantee safety.

Enria recalled how she had struggled even to block the arrows the God of Evil fired back at the knights with her barrier, and explained that it was a strenuous effort.

“So, we definitely can’t ensure our safety with just barriers and shields. The God of Evil is much stronger and faster than we thought.”

“Then what should we do…?”

Eva asked, as if to herself, slightly furrowing her brow.

Panz, who had somehow settled on Undy’s shoulder, looked at the serious faces and then addressed Caldeon.

[Hayden told you to call your comrades before he lost consciousness, didn’t he.]

“…And?”

[Doesn’t that mean we can defeat the God of Evil if we all combine our strength?]

“…”

[You can trust what that fellow says. He’s still a child, but he’s a human with a strangely divine scent.]

Enria and Caldeon looked at him with surprised eyes at Panz’s words.

Panz explained that perhaps because he had vanished and been resurrected, the scent of the gods and the scent of the creatures made by the gods were different.

When he said that Hayden strangely smelled of the gods, Enria and Caldeon exchanged peculiar looks.

At that moment, Silri let out a small snort and commented, “A tiny salamander who can’t even see its own nose is talking about scents.”

[S-salamander! Impudence! My form was originally that of a brave and mighty dragon, like a…!]

“Wait, you don’t have a nose, do you?”

[That’s impossible! I have one, right here!]

At Silri’s comment, Blizzan leaned his face close to Panz’s and muttered with interest. Panz pathetically wiggled his tiny nostrils, trying to prove that his nose was attached.

While they were doing that, Graum and Lonn continued their conversation with Rahar and Tearen, looking quite serious.

They discussed whether they could achieve an effect similar to Hayden stopping time by utilizing the earth spirits’ power to instantly move targets using the earth’s energy.

“Of course, it’s limited to contracted humans, Enria, and Hayden, but it will definitely be helpful.”

Graum said. Tearen nodded and replied.

“It’s very helpful. Since the God of Evil is targeting the Saintess and Hayden, we can attack the God of Evil freely if we can safely protect just those two.”

Rahar nodded, agreeing with Tearen, who said that based on the situation so far, the God of Evil would likely only move with the sole intention of killing Enria and Hayden, although this was just a theory.

“Yes. If it were me, I’d attack the irritating Caldeon first, but since that guy was left alone and Enria was attacked first, he must be a creature of pure instinct.”