Chapter 230: ·The Descent of Evil
After tearing Rosm free from the dome, Nolan grabbed him by the back of the neck and kicked off violently against the ceiling. Using the recoil, he shot straight toward the floor of the hall while dragging the immobile mass of rotting flesh down with him.
Wind roared in his ears. Nolan’s own weight, the mass of Immovable Bulwark, the gravity acceleration added by Mountain’s Resonance, and the explosive force of that kick all converged into a single crushing impact focused entirely on Rosm, whom he was using as a living cushion.
“Damn you!”
Rosm let out one final shrill scream of despair. The next second—
BOOOOM—! The entire Hall of Tree Shepherds shook violently. The hard floor caved inward into a massive crater as cracks spread wildly in every direction.
Amid the swirling dust, Nolan slowly straightened up. Beneath his feet came the sickening sound of flesh and bone shattering. Rosm’s mangled body, a grotesque fusion of flesh and tree tumors, had been completely torn apart. Corrupted blood and chunks of rotten tissue splattered everywhere. At a glance, the only relatively intact part remaining was most of his twitching head.
Nolan lifted his foot and kicked the head out from the pile of gore, sending it rolling across the floor.
He raised Mountain’s Resonance, now back in longsword form. Sacred flames ignited along the blade as he prepared to finish off the cockroach-like monster once and for all.
But just as he was about to swing, the surroundings suddenly darkened.
The entire hall—the pillars, the walls, the dome, every wooden structure within sight—was instantly stained with an ominous dark crimson hue. The elegant Wood Elf carvings along the walls twisted grotesquely, transforming into expressions of agonized screaming.
“AAAH!”
“Ugh…”
The Wood Elves who had merely been controlled by twisted will moments ago now clutched their heads and wailed as though enduring torture that reached directly into their souls. Even Romina, who had temporarily broken free from control after drinking the Focus Elixir, dropped to her knees behind Nolan. Her face was deathly pale, and her body trembled violently.
“Heh… hahahaha!” On the floor, Rosm’s half-destroyed head suddenly burst into mad laughter. “For a mortal… you truly are strong. Very strong…”
His remaining eye gleamed with both hatred and triumph.
“Come then, hero! Make your choice! If you spare me, these Wood Elves—including that stubborn patrol captain and all those innocent civilians outside—will become sheep beneath my authority of ‘petrifaction.’ They will serve as the most loyal hounds in the great flood that destroys this rotten world!”
He shouted with the last of his strength.
“But if you kill me, the final condition for activating the Blood Refinement Altar is fulfilled! My, Rosm Vera’s, death… and every drop of my corrupted blood! Even though you interfered and the Defilement Assimilation Ritual never fully completed… it’s enough! Enough to welcome the descent of the supreme god’s incarnation, the Holy Son known as ‘Crimson Corruption!’ Enough to turn this place—the entire Borderlands—into an endless ocean of chaos and decay!”
He twisted his ruined face toward Nolan and grinned viciously.
“Before a god, everything you’ve done and everything you protect is nothing but sand waiting to be crushed…”
He never finished the sentence.
Thrust.
A sword blazing with sacred fire rammed brutally into his mouth and burst out through the back of his skull. The searing holy flames instantly burned away both his remaining words and half his head into blackened ash.
Bathed in the glow of sacred fire, Nolan’s face looked especially cold. He bent down and snarled at the head that was rapidly disintegrating, “The descent of a Holy Son? I’ll tell you this. On the territory of the Elfin Kingdom, even gods behave themselves. And if a Holy Son wants to descend here, then it had better do it legally. Now then. I, Nolan, Lord of Coldsteel and leader of the Inquisition of the Cross, hereby issue judgment in accordance with Article Five, Clause Six of the Lionheart Code. Your application for descent… denied.”
The moment the words fell, Nolan twisted his wrist.
The sacred flames on Mountain’s Resonance surged violently as the weapon transformed into greatsword form and came crashing downward.
BOOM!
Rosm’s head exploded into fragments. And with Rosm’s complete death, the blood scattered throughout the air suddenly lit up with blinding crimson radiance.
The core of the Blood Refinement Altar… activated.
Nolan immediately attempted to use Conclusion to forcibly interrupt the process. But just as he expected, the ritual’s scale was simply too immense. It was fueled by the lives of an entire race along with the essence of the World Tree itself. With his current Origin Power, he could not influence it enough.
Without the slightest hesitation, Nolan gathered the last eight units of Origin Power within his body and threw everything into a desperate gamble.
Conclusion!
【Target: Activation of the Blood Refinement Altar】
【Result: Process delayed and obstructed】
Humm—!
The blood-red runes gathering in the air suddenly froze for an instant. The entire ritual had been forcibly slowed.
Seizing the precious moment he had bought, Nolan wasted no time. He rushed to Ailindel and Romina, scooping up the two weakened elf women at once. One over his shoulder, the other held in his arms.
“We’re leaving!”
With a low shout, he sprinted toward the entrance of the hall at full speed.
Boom!
The tightly shut doors exploded into splinters beneath the force of his shoulder.
The scene outside immediately came into view.
The defensive line formed by Kayan, Rehanna, and the Holy Hammer Division was still desperately holding back the flood of Wood Elf civilians. Farther away, the gigantic interwoven eight-pointed Blood Refinement Altar surrounding all of Forest Home had begun erupting with towering pillars of blood from every node.
“AAAAAAAH—!”
As the blood pillars rose, the Wood Elves hurling themselves against the defensive line all suddenly stopped. Just like those inside the hall, they clutched their heads and screamed in agony.
The crimson blood being drawn out was the life force of the entire Wood Elf race, mixed with the essence of Gondos, the World Tree.
Now all of that nourishment was being madly poured into the center of the ritual.
Under everyone’s horrified gaze, a terrifying phantom nearly forty meters tall slowly began taking shape within the blood pillars. Its outline vaguely resembled a distorted humanoid form, but its body was woven entirely from endlessly writhing, decaying, and regenerating flesh and vines. Its semi-transparent dark crimson body revealed countless black blood vessels beneath the surface, resembling rotting roots that pulsed rhythmically. Each pulse caused its size to swell even further. The blood erupting from the ritual began flowing upward in reverse before boiling violently in midair, condensing into countless inverted crystal-like trees made entirely of blood. In mere moments, a bizarre scarlet forest formed around the phantom.
“My god…” Vivi stared blankly at the indescribable horror before her. “What the hell is that thing?!”
“Whatever it is, it’s an enemy of the Mother Goddess!” Kayan smashed away another attacker with his staff, his eyes filled not with fear, but disgust and fury. The fervent priest did not fear blasphemous monsters. He hated them.
The creature had no clear facial features. Where its face should have been was a massive spiraling cavity formed from countless rotting roses and dark crimson flesh. The vortex rotated slowly, and deep within its center, a scarlet gleam resembling a blood-red pupil occasionally flickered into existence. Just being swept by that light made one’s soul tremble.
Then, without warning, a wet, sticky whisper echoed directly within everyone’s minds. The sound belonged to no known language, yet its meaning was instantly understood.
Pollution. Withering. Corruption. End.
Everyone who heard it felt overwhelming nausea and dizziness, as though slimy insects were gnawing at their brains.
“Crimson Corruption…” Standing in the shattered doorway while carrying the two elves, Nolan’s expression darkened. “One of the incarnations of the Formless God.”
“Lord Nolan! Are you alright?!”
His words caused the hearts of the Holy Hammer Division to sink even further.
A god?
Were they facing a god?
Seeing the uncertainty spreading through the group, Nolan steadied himself and spoke firmly, “Don’t panic! It hasn’t fully descended yet. This is only a projection! I still have a way to stop it! Kayan! Execute the plan!”