Chapter 77: The Overwhelming Wave (Part 1)
Boom——!
A thunderous explosion erupted from the dilapidated house, roaring flames leaped into the sky, piercing through the gloom and the rain. The shattered roof and beams were flung up over ten meters high, and countless fragments of stone and wood whizzed past me with a “whoosh.”
The massive heat wave sent me flying backwards several meters; my head flipped up and down like a bobblehead. With a “bang,” I crashed through the crumbling wall, bursting out of the house, cold raindrops pattering down on me like nature’s own slap.
d*mn…
After soaring through the air for another five or six meters, I quickly adjusted my posture and did a backflip landing onto the ground, sliding a little before coming to a stop. As I straightened up, I reached behind me and yanked the battered suitcase into view, with a “plop” I dove it into the muddy ground, hurriedly unbuckling it while looking ahead.
In my line of sight, scarlet flames twisted like a mysterious and beautiful red lotus. Tongues of fire curled up to over ten meters high, thick smoke billowed out from the burning wreckage, and charred wood and hot stones plummeted down. The scorching airwave surged forward, taking down two stone houses nearby, as debris whizzed past me, splashing mud and water all over my skirt.
Sin Fire, Gate of Truth!
Hot wind slapped me in the face, my long hair dancing around wildly behind me.
So hot, so hot…
Wait, not hot at all!
“Isaac—”
I clenched my teeth and shouted, wrenching open the suitcase to retrieve the shattered Captain Gray, unbuckling it and pushing aside the case. Gripping the hilt, I swung it wide.
Zing——
The fearsome black blade formed instantly, its sickle edge gleaming coldly in the rain.
What’s going on…
Why are there heretics here!?
“Ha—!”
Suddenly, I heard a roar from within the flames.
It was Isaac’s voice…
In the next moment, a brilliant golden light erupted from deep within the blaze, shimmering halo blending with a sea of crimson, followed quickly by a dull thud as a figure was launched from the inferno, tumbling through the air with a parabolic arc, speeding off to the right.
That’s the heretic!
Boom!
A second dull sound erupted as a shining knight leaped from the flames like a golden meteor, his radiant aura painting a stunning rainbow in the downpour.
“Don’t even think about running—”
The knight roared in mid-air, his voice rumbling like thunder. With his enormous physique clad in solid armor, wrapped in dazzling golden light, he was a veritable god of war, charging directly at the descending heretic.
I recognized him immediately; it was Isaac.
Isaac, glowing with radiant brilliance, shot up like a cannonball, instantly catching up with the heretic, who was still adjusting his posture in mid-air. Isaac drew back his right fist, unleashing a punch that roared through the air.
“Filthy—”
A devastating fist crashed forward.
“Little Mouse!!!”
Boom——
The fierce wind from the punch shook the air, rippling like water on a surface, leaving nowhere for the heretic to hide. Flames reignited around him, but it was futile.
He braced for Isaac’s strike, the heavy punch landing squarely on his stomach, and his body curled up like a shrimp, propelled upward by the raging flames.
Beneath them, the infernal fire blazed in the pouring rain, and the houses around us continued to crumble with a cacophony of “crackling” sounds. I was about to rush in to save someone when I spotted over a dozen knights emerging from the burning inferno, some radiating a faint golden light while others conjured bright shields.
Almost every member of the First Knights Order had their own miracle ability, mostly specializing in judgment magic. The elites flanking Isaac displayed an uncanny ability to handle such emergencies with nonchalance.
“Miss Silvya, are you alright!”
The knights quickly retreated towards me, and the fastest among them called out loudly. I shook my head and immediately noticed he was cradling an unconscious little boy in his arms.
The one who wanted the jerky…
I wiped the rain from my face and shouted, “How’s the child!”
“He just fainted from the shock, still alive,” the knight nodded, then shook his head. “It all happened so fast, this little boy was the only one we could save. The others…”
“Were turned into charcoal in an instant; there wasn’t enough time! d*mn it!”
“They’re all filthy heretics!”
“No, I think they were just surviving villagers…”
“At least that woman was…”
“Focus! There are dead people, don’t get distracted!” barked a middle-aged man who seemed to be the Captain of Knights, his voice sharp with anger. “The heretic isn’t dead! Master Isaac is still fighting!”
Boom, rumble——
Thunder roared in the sky, and the blinding white light illuminated the pouring rain.
All of us knights looked up, and once again saw golden brilliance bursting forth. Isaac and the heretic clashed mid-air; “bang!” The shockwave from their collision rippled through the rain again, driving the heretic higher, while Isaac quickly descended, crashing behind a nearby stone house with a mighty thud.
The Captain’s expression was serious, and he waved his hand: “Surround from the left and prepare for miracle support at any moment! We must not let the heretic escape the village!”
Boom——
Another dull sound erupted. I turned my head to see Isaac jump up again like a cannonball. It seemed he wasn’t using any miracles; he was just a bull in a china shop, relying solely on his formidable physical strength, leaping up twenty to thirty meters high from behind the stone house, grabbing the descending heretic mid-air.
The knights were all mobilizing.
The flames engulfing the house collapsed with a deafening crash, settling into a pile of burning ruins, devoid of life.
I took a deep breath and initiated Moon Step.
Whoosh——
After flashing twice, I leaped onto the broken roof beam to the right.
I kept my feet moving, the scythe pointing downwards, swiftly hopping and dashing along the rooftop towards the battlefield.
“Isaac—”
Anger surged within me.
I didn’t know how the heretics had arrived or what their purpose was, but the massacre in the village, the countless corpses lying on the ground—long since cold… these were undoubtedly his doing.
Why…
The world is so harsh; they’ve lost their farmland, their homes, everything they depended on, left bare and starving, suffering under the torrential rain… just hanging by a thread of life, stripped of their humanity, only to survive…
They had nothing left to eat…
Why!
“Give me back my people!” I shouted.
Above in the somber sky, Isaac had the heretic by an arm, his iron fist swinging once more, powerfully and sharply headed towards the heretic.
But this time, the heretic narrowly dodged!
“Haha!”
The bl**d-soaked figure let out a maniacal laugh, climbing up Isaac’s bulging arm and latching on tightly, and with the other hand, suddenly pressed against Isaac’s face.
In the next moment, scarlet flames ignited.
“Isaac!” Panic hit me hard.
Boom! Boom! Boom——
Continuous explosions erupted from the heretic’s palm, the loud crashes resonating through the rain as the two figures tumbled in mid-air, transformed into a fireball plummeting down.
At this point, I was nearly directly beneath them on the roof, looking up when suddenly I heard Isaac’s wild, maniacal laughter.
“Ah hahahaha—”
The golden aura burst out from the fireball, and I couldn’t help but squint, just catching a glimpse of Isaac pinning the heretic down again, then “bang!” A heavy punch, the airwaves surged as they fell into the muddy grass on the left, exploding like fireworks and sending dirt and filthy water splattering outwards for ten meters.
The heretic, burning in infernal flames, miraculously seemed completely unscathed…
“Little! Mouse!”
Isaac yelled, rising up from the muddy pit, arms lifted high above, preparing to smash down on the still-lying heretic.
Boom!
This strike reverberated through the ground, causing the beam beneath my feet to crack, and I staggered, quickly jumping down from the roof.
“You’re too weak!”
Boom!
Another ferocious hit landed, the heretic’s mouth spewed out fiery bl**d.
“Think you can hurt me with such tiny flames? Do you know what they call me in the Church?!”
Boom! Boom! Boom——
The infernal ground sank under Isaac’s terrifying blows, bl**d and flesh splattering from shallow pits, with cracks spreading out from the epicenter down to my feet.
“Ah ha! You won’t get to hear it.”
Isaac chuckled as he yanked up the heretic, who was left bodiless, twitching like a puddle of goo, and spun him around like a sandbag, flinging him towards a dirt and stone wall of a distant courtyard.
“Bang!” The two-meter-high wall crumbled as the heretic’s mangled corpse was engulfed beneath the debris.
Isaac flexed his arms now that the golden light around him gradually faded, and he noticed me approaching. He turned his bl**d-stained face and gave me a goofy grin.
“I’m a bit miffed. I didn’t control my strength properly and let him d*e too easily.”
I stepped to the fringes of the flames, steadying my gaze on him.
“Not hurt?”
“How could I be hurt.”
Isaac patted his chest, then emerged from the muddy pit, stepping over the flickering flames to come by my side.
“Anyway, I had a blast.”
He raised his hand, as if to pat my shoulder, but seeing this, I quickly took a step back, frowning: “You’re covered in mud.”
“… That’s true.”
The gigantic man withdrew his hand, rubbing his filthy bald head.
The last glimmer of his golden light faded away.
I couldn’t help but ask, “Is that… the Undying?”
I had been thinking about it just a moment ago.
Isaac was drenched in flames yet unharmed, plummeting from such heights multiple times without a scratch, immediately bouncing back into the fray—such ferocious defense couldn’t just be attributed to mere physical strength.
The glow enveloping him and the solid-like-a-turtle Cardinal Nero must stem from the same powerful judgment miracle—The Undying.
I learned about the name later while perusing at the academy library.
According to the Church’s records, it’s one of the most powerful judgment miracles that can turn the caster’s body into something akin to steel, unfazed by fire or water while sealing all external attacks, including chaotic power—unless the enemy’s strength vastly exceeds the caster’s, the Undying is like a fortress of absolute defense.
“Yeah.”
Isaac nodded.
I was mildly surprised.
He really is the Undying…
I knew this powerful miracle required an immense amount of faith to sustain it. According to the Church’s centuries of documentation, only a handful had genuinely wielded it in battle—it was beyond even Angel.
I never imagined Isaac could.
“Perhaps only Master Nero in the entire Holy Church can execute the Undying a bit better than I can; as for the others… nah, not worth mentioning.” Isaac looked down at me, grinning like an oaf, “So little one, you definitely can’t beat me.”
“Oh, really?”
I responded casually.
My gaze shifted towards the nearby ruins, pausing to observe.
“… still not dead.”
“What?”
“I meant the heretic.”
As if to verify my words, scarlet flames erupted violently from beneath the collapsed rubble, rapidly leaping upwards. The heat washed over me again as the stones piled in front began to shift, then turned a fiery red, melting into sludge.
Beneath that sludge, I could faintly hear heavy breathing.
Not really dead…
I took a deep breath.
“Three stages…”
Isaac’s grin vanished at once, his expression turning serious.
“Baldy.”
“Yeah?”
“This one, step aside and leave it to me.”
Since it’s three stages, I want to give it a whirl.
Since the battle in the Royal City, I’d like to know just how far my strength has come…
Let’s see what I can do with this heretic first.
