Trap of Trap (3)

Almost tumbling, the Wyvern flew through the canyon.

Instead of following her, Hollien stopped midair.

And she smirked at the entrance of it.

“You’ve spent a lot of money.”

She sensed a blatant amount of seals.

Seeing that there were traps everywhere and they were not hidden, the intention was obvious.

“You want me to break in.”

Additional resources had to be consumed to hide the established seals secretly.

Even if they tried to do so, the Top Three would notice it anyhow.

They planned to make Hollien use up her Prana after following the bait.

“It’s an evil plan. Well, you didn’t have a choice.”

Laughing, Hollien intertwined her fingers.

“Scatter your starlights and sing a melody of condemnation…”

The four-star pillars soared along the entrance of the canyon and soon broke down, glowing with destruction.

– Unique Spiritual Art: Echoes of Trembling Starlight!

Boom!

The chasm broke apart and collapsed.

Countless rocks and boulders rolled down, and the earth vibrated as if an earthquake was underway.

A third of the prepared seals were smashed in one go.

Sensing the remaining conclusions, Hollien shook her head.

‘I’ll have to ignore the rest for now.’

They were installed inside the canyon, so it was a little too far from where she was to break them down.

There was nothing she couldn’t do if she used a lot of her power, but it wasn’t efficient in terms of Prana consumption.

Only after being caught in a trap did the breakage get better

“I’m sure this is what they’re after.”

Hollien flew smoothly into the collapsed ravine.

After a while, she started noticing a group of people between the cliffs.

She muttered while looking at Leon Hart and the other Templar Lords.

“I see many familiar faces.”

She then looked at Ryu Han-bin, disguised as a Valtara warrior, Artis, and Effir, who returned to her human form.

“And a couple of new ones.”

Of course, she was most pleased with one of the presences of the individuals before her.

Hollien smiled brightly at Kibie, a black-haired beauty who stared at her with a cold mien.

“We meet again, Kybriel.”

* * *

Frederick shouted.

“Watch what you say before the Goddess!”

Hollien replied as if to ridicule him.

“She’s not a goddess, but an incarnation. No, even if she’s a goddess, now that you’ve already tried to put a sword in my back, you leave me no choice.”

She talked as if she was speaking to a friend next door.

Hollien didn’t respect the Goddess of Darkness’s incarnation at all.

Sabine Asil and Angelica burst into anger.

“Shut up, Hollien!”

“You are a sinner who doesn’t know grace!”

Hollien shrugged her shoulders.

“Grace? That’s true.”

Kibie looked surprised.

“I didn’t think you’d admit it. Didn’t you three considered my blessing as a curse?”

“I’m a little different from those two.”

Garhan and Genovia hated the Goddess’s blessing as much as they could, calling it a curse.

But in fact, Hollien felt differently.

“To be honest, staying youthful no matter how much I age is a great blessing. I’m truly grateful to the six Goddesses.”

As a nymph, she still had much time left to live.

The two ‘humans’ had a different sense of acceptance.

Nevertheless, they went against the Goddesses’ will.

“I’ll be like them someday.”

Once Garhan and Genovia died, Hollien would have no way of gaining eternal life.

But was there any guarantee that she would be different from those two?

Would she be able to accept fate after spending a hundred years or so before death?

“What’s the difference between them and me? I’m not overly self-confident.”

Artis laughed at her.

“You seem to be overconfident enough. How arrogant of you to fall into a trap.”

Hollien stared at him.

“A rookie I’ve never heard of before joins in on the conversation?”

“Ugh…”

Artis and Effir were almost unknown compared to Kibie, the six Templar Lords, and the Sword King’s successor.

Hollien naturally wouldn’t know him.

In any case, Artis’s words weren’t wrong.

Hollien looked around.

She could feel the energy of all kinds of seals and magic tools buried all over the cliffs.

Surely, she was in the middle of the Holy Punishers’ trap.

So what did they want her to do?

“I told you, I’m not overconfident in myself.”

Smiling, Hollien lowered her left foot and tapped the floor with it.

“Perhaps it’s you who trust in yourselves too much.”

The light of spiritual arts stretched out from her toes.

In an instant, a blue spider web spread across the floor, covering the cliffs sandwiching them.

Rumbling!

The seals imbued with explosions were all broken.

The atmosphere swirled as shockwaves scattered all over the place.

“Get out of here!”

At the same time as Kibie’s cry, everyone flew away.

After rushing to increase the distance, Leon Hart burst into a roar.

“Guardians of the Goddess! Punish the sinner of heaven!”

Everyone charged towards her at his signal.

“For Latna!”

Aura, Mana, Force, and Prana blended together, creating a whirlpool of energies.

“Hmm, damn Templars.”

Standing in the middle of the offensive, Hollien smirked.

“Do you really have to be so mean to be happy?”

* * *

A tall female warrior in white armor dashed through space.

She raised her voice as she released a sharp Blade Aura.

“Althea’s sword! Punish my enemy!”

Hollien’s prejudice that the Templars had to use evil to be satisfied didn’t seem that wrong.

With a warcry, Sabine Asil went after Hollien.

Her majestic and delicate sword technique poured in and left behind afterimages.

“Taaaaaaaa!”

And they were all deflected.

– Spiritual Shield: Althea’s radiance.

By simply snapping her fingers, she created eight shields of light, preventing all of the Templar Lord’s attacks from reaching her.

Her defense was so thick that it didn’t work.

Angelica and Effir immediately pulled up Force and went to their positions.

Angelica swung her flame-covered sword, aiming at Hollien.

– Magic Swordsmanship: Fire Dragon’s Fang!

Effir’s twin blades, imbued with lightning, tried to cut at her deeply.

– Magic Swordsmanship: River of flowing thunderbolts!

The two penetrated her planks with close to perfect harmony, and Hollien couldn’t avoid it.

No, even if their harmony were a mess, she wouldn’t have been able to avoid it anyway.

She was a Spiritist. Hence, she didn’t master any outstanding martial arts.

She just snapped her fingers.

Click!

– Spiritual Flow: Protection of Rhamniana.

A blue vortex surged around Hollien, causing the bombing to be blown away by the whirlpool.

Angelica trembled with humiliation.

“Heretic!”

Hollien used the attributes of Althea against Sabine Asil, the Althea Church’s Templar Lord, and the attributes of Rhamniana against Angelica, the Rhamniana Church’s Templar Lord.

She was mocking the two very openly.

“How dare you use the power of the Goddesses after betraying them?!”

“That’s funny. If you betray a blacksmith, does that mean you should no longer use his spear or sword?”

Frederick, Palmer, and Merdill also took part in the offensive.

All kinds of Blade Auras flew towards Hollien’s front and rear.

“Oh, that’s crazy.”

Hollien opened her right palm with a faint smile.

A huge barrier made of spiritual arts was formed and pushed forward in all directions like a tidal wave.

Frederick shouted, falling back in a hurry.

“D-duck!”

Even though it was just a simple spiritual barrier, but the inherent energy it possessed was too much.

If they came into contact with it, they would be tied to the barrier.

The Templar Lords flew in unison.

The barrier broke down, and the canyon screamed with a roar.

Ryu Han-bin and Leon Hart filled the gaps.

“Kybriel, let your darkness envelop my hands!”

Leon Hart charged up his fists as he rushed in like an artillery shell.

Ryu Han-bin stepped on the floor heavily, wielding his Gigant.

– Crosscut!

Crossing both hands, Hollien again conjured another spiritual barrier.

The two attacks hit the barrier and caused a big explosion.

Boom!

For a moment, Hollien opened her eyes widely.

“Oh, you two are different.”

Their attacks caused her body to shake for a moment.

“I’ll give you a special treat.”

Twirling her hand around, she pulled Prana up.

– Spiritual Flames: Sun’s Radiance!

The pillar of brilliant light rushed towards the two.

Its power was incomparable to the skills she used against the other Templar Lords.

Surprised, Ryu Han-bin and Leon Hart turned around.

At that moment, a pitch-black Aura rushed in towards the back of Hollien’s head.

“Huh?”

The Sun’s Radiance turned around and headed toward that attack instead.

The black-haired beauty, who went in the offensive, jumped sideways to avoid it, causing the Aura to miss, crashing into the ground and exploding.

Looking behind her, Hollien asked in surprise.

“What, Kybriel? You’re participating in the war, too?”

* * *

Staring at Kibie, Hollien frowned.

“Are you out of your mind? The moment you’re caught, this whole ordeal will end. You should read the atmosphere and hide instead.”

“As the incarnation of Kybriel, I can’t leave everything to the Churches.”

“No matter how much of you have turned human, this is still too stupid.”

In chess, the king shouldn’t move recklessly.

“What you need to save is your Church, not your pride.”

Kibie didn’t back down.

The grip on her spear tightened even more.

“Well, there’s no reason for me to worry.”

With a bitter smile, Hollien raised her finger and pointed at Kibie.

“Kybriel, let your shadows rise.”

Darkness spread its wings and galloped towards the incarnation.

Kibie clenched her teeth, thrusting the long spear towards it.

Aura and darkness collided, causing a tremendous shockwave.

“Argh!”

After just a single collision, Kibie was forced to slowly back away, spitting out blood.

Hollien laughed at Kibie.

“It’s pretty ironic to attack Kybriel with the darkness of Kybriel, isn’t it?”

The six Goddesses’ will as deities and the six Goddesses’ powers as laws of the world were separate.

Therefore, even if someone rejected and hated the Goddesses, they could still use the power of the world controlled by the higher beings.

That was why Alien Spiritists could still use their power.

“Why don’t you put a lock on the laws of the world? Then you could have stopped us from becoming heretics.”

Kibie laughed, wiping blood from her mouth.

“Having that question in itself is proof that you don’t deserve it, Hollien.”

The law had to transcend will.

That way, the world would work properly.

Those who wanted to judge the world with their own will weren’t qualified to manage it.

“You can’t be a Goddess.”

For a moment, the incarnation of darkness gave off a cool glow.

“Change your mind now! If you don’t want everyone you love to perish!”

That wasn’t just a threat.

It was a message with real intention from the Goddess.

But Hollien didn’t accept it.

“We don’t only want your position, Kybriel.”

Her truth was different.

“We can get to the Goddesses’ realm. Latna will be fine, too.”

Watching Hollien’s unwavering attitude, Kibie lamented.

Sabine Asil shouted at her.

“It won’t work out the way you want it to, heretic!”

“No, it will.”

Looking back at everyone, Hollien began to pull Prana up in earnest.

“You don’t think I’ve been fighting seriously so far, do you?”