Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Demons?!
Suddenly Soran stopped leaping forward. He looked back at the distance and saw that the fire was spreading to an almost uncontrollable level. He had no Detect type spells, so he couldn’t see the situation clearly. But when he heard a cry, he found that the army of the City of Wealth started gathering behind the city. Some of the priests appeared in a hurry. These priests, who had planned to stay out of the way, were finally coming out to help with the situation.
“Something is wrong!”
Soran jumped up the chimney, frowned and said, “Demons aren’t that powerful! It’s obvious that some people provoked and exacerbated the conflict. Is there a devil lurking here?!”
Only devils could be so powerful.
These creatures enjoyed playing the hearts and minds of people. If they used magical powers such as Suggestion to provoke people from the evil alignment and underground market, then they could easily turn this into a war. The wicked who were unwilling to die would unite to resist. Once they became desperate, the scale of the battle would escalate. It was possible to involve others in the battle and eventually turn it into a chaotic killing spree.
“Where are the legends?”
Soran stood looking up at the city and muttered, “Why haven’t the legendary professions show up yet? Are they going to let things go on like this?”
“Where’s the Hand of Silver?”
“He’s not a foolish person! Where is he now?”
The chaos was spreading.
The city’s army confronted the summoned demons. However, these summoned demons summoned even more demons. One of the demons, with its spell-like ability, even summoned ten or so Dretch.
A four-armed serpent-demon, the Marilith, with a grade of more than four ran rampant toward the army. The Marilith moved at an alarming speed. Four huge swords danced through the air and corpses were all over the place. Few people except the legendary professions could block its attacks!
The Marilith had a monster level of 18 and was a middle grade or higher demon.
Greater Dual-wielding, Greater Multi-strike, Chop, Slam, Great Magic Resistance, Great Damage Reduction, Poison Immunity, Greater Acid Resistance, Combat Expertise, Parry!
A series of abilities made the Marilith an extremely dangerous demon; a highly mobile killing machine!
Soran stopped moving forward.
The situation was now out of control, and the place had become extremely dangerous.
Tong Tong, Tong Tong!
Soran’s figure shook suddenly and almost fell off the roof. His heartbeat began to accelerate inexplicably. His heart rate had increased by more than half, pumping blood all over his body, exposing his blood vessels. Once again, the sensation surfaced, Soran’s body temperature rose little by little, bloody veins appeared in his eyes, and his pupils showed obvious signs of enlargement. The feeling lasted about three minutes, and then Soran’s condition recovered bit by bit.
“Vivian?!”
As though he had felt something, he mumbled, “She’s here?!”
Screams sounded at a dead end in front.
Soran frowned and looked around, then gently landed on the ground. What he saw made him take half a step backward, and then reach for his curved sword. A young paladin who was wearing a silver armor stood ahead. His blade had a faint glow while blood slowly dripped down. The young Paladin did not seem to notice Soran. His body trembled slightly as he put his sword on the ground and held up a tiny corpse with trembling hands.
That was a little girl around ten years old.
She was the victim of the chaos, an innocent and poor little girl, who died in the chaos.
A faint cry was heard.
The young Paladin trembled and picked up the girl’s body. His eyes were blank while his face was filled with regret and weakness. He suppressed his groans and murmured in a sad voice, “Why is this so?…”
“How could this happen?!… Aren’t we the guardians of justice?… How could we have caused this!”
“Why!”
Tears trickled down, and the paladin in front of him cried like a child with broken hopes.
Maybe he really wasn’t that old. Judging from his face, it seems that he was at most twenty years old. Soran had a slight impression of this young man—he was the one who spoke out first during the day. At this moment, the glow of his holy power was wavering, as if it was as a candle and could be extinguished at any time. His beliefs were shaken. If he could not strengthen his beliefs, he would lose the power of the paladin and become an ordinary Fighter.
His faith was almost gone.
He couldn’t understand why things had turned out like this. He couldn’t understand why so many people had been killed. He cried like a child.
Maybe it was because he was still a young paladin.
Maybe he was kind, filled with righteousness, but he was still too young.
Even though he cried, he did not seem weak but rather sad.
He may not be afraid of bloodshed, evil or death, but he was afraid of what he was seeing. All this happened because of their action to uphold justice, which set off a war of killing, which plunged the whole city into chaos and the killing of many innocent.
He had lost his way. He did not know whether the justice he believed in was true or not.
Soran thought for a bit.
The glow of the young paladin was getting dimmer and dimmer. He was close to losing the power of his faith. The holy power was now far away from the young man because his heart was full of confusion.
“It’s all because you’re not strong enough!”
Soran suddenly spoke and shocked the paladin in front of him. The young paladin did not pick up his weapon; he just stared at Soran without any expressions while still holding the body of the little girl.
Soran looked at him with a pitiful look and said slowly, “Because you’re too weak. You have no ability to wipe out evil at all, but you have provoked a war between justice and evil!…”
“Your ignorant actions will only lead to killing and death. Bringing chaos and the death of innocent souls.”
“What do you bring to fight against evil? You are not as powerful as the demons! And not as cunning as the devils! Those who are evil have innumerable insidious and cunning means to take you down.
Unless your powers could crush them completely, the justice you have always believed in is just a joke! The fallen have used you, paladins, to ignite a war. They have achieved their goals, but the paladins are left with guilt!..”
The glow on the young paladin was now gone.
His eyes were filled with endless pain and regret. Holding tightly the body of the little girl in his arms, he lets out an angry roar.
This young man had now completely lost his paladin abilities.
A strange light suddenly filled Soran’s eyes. He looked at the young man in front of him and said, “You are not strong enough and you are not cunning enough. You don’t even know what evil is. What are you going to do to protect justice?”
“If you were strong enough, stronger than the legends, maybe you could have stopped what had happened tonight and wipe out the fallen.”
“If you were cunning enough, more cunning than the devils, you could have eliminated them by other means. They would have no chance to weave and skim, nor to set off chaos and killings.”
“You’re just a sad puppet, an idiot who thinks that justice can change the world.”
“You will only make the world worse!”
The words pierced the young paladin’s heart like knives, and the young paladin trembled all over. He seemed to be struggling, but he gradually understood something. His silver armor slowly became dull, and the holy power on his sword disappeared.
With the holiness gone, a strange aura gradually emerged. He reached out his palm and slowly grasped the handle of his sword then whispered in a husky voice, “As long as I am stronger and more cunning than them, I would be able to destroy them?”
Soran had a playful expression as he murmured, “Yes.”
“This is just the beginning of chaos, as the world will get worse in the future! You can’t do anything without strength. Give up those sad beliefs. If you really believe in justice, then you must fall into evil.”
“Only evil can fight evil!”
“Find your own path young man. There’s a group called the [Devine Avengers], they will point you in the right direction!…”
Soran’s figure disappeared into the darkness, leaving only a young man who had lost the power of the paladin. He slowly picked up the cold body of the little girl, and then pulled up the long sword with a strange aura.
It seems that the power of the paladin did not disappear, but had changed into another force. He had now turned to the darkness; His silver armor had become mottled. The holy power which was on him had gone because of the disappearance of his faith.
Darkness covered his silver armor.
This might turn him into a Blackguards, or it might lead him to a new path.
He had fallen.
Yet it seems he hadn’t.
This was a war of faith and will; not of blood. Winning would mean he became a legend in the future. Losing would mean losing himself.
This was what Soran wanted to see in a paladin. Just like those who went on the frontline in the battles to come.
Three million paladins would support the backbone of the world. They would have failed to change the world, but they prevented the gods from breaking it up.
Welcome to the Lawful Evil.
You should qualify as a Divine Avenger!
Maybe the glory of the paladins would be gone, but Soran still hopes to see the Divine Avengers in the Time of Troubles.
They should have appeared too.
Good and evil were not so important.
Chaos was the real calamity!
