I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 685: Penetrating Faith (2)

Catherine, who had been walking in the front, momentarily stopped in her tracks.

The priests were puzzled by her sudden halt when no enemy had appeared. Catherine stared ahead and muttered.

"Salesin, you cunning bastard. Not only did you brainwash them, but you did this too?"

Despite still being quite far away, Catherine could sense what was happening with the Night Crawler Knight Order.

As a saint, she could detect the activation of heterogeneous divine power.

She knew that some—no, many people had been brainwashed, but she didn't expect such underhanded tactics.

However, Catherine had no authority to stop it.

Though she didn't blindly follow the Holy Emperor's orders, she couldn't oppose his actions either. That was her reality.

Above all, intervening here would likely delay their own schedule.

Perhaps Salesin was hoping she would step in.

"I guess all I can do is hope the Demon King's army holds out well."

A saint cheering for the Demon King's army.

It was truly ironic.

She couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity, but it wasn't completely nonsensical.

After all, this world was full of ironies from the beginning.

"Sister?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. I just had something to think about."

Catherine said this while briefly staring into the void, then slightly curled the corners of her mouth.

"There are more crows here than I expected."

In her sight, she saw a crow that had been watching them until just now take flight and disappear somewhere.

-Kwaaaak!

Hans, in the form of a wolf knight, swung his greatsword fiercely.

Though it seemed like he was swinging randomly, the trajectories drawn by his bestial instincts were all lethal.

Ordinary people would be preoccupied with dodging or fleeing, but Hans' opponent was far beyond ordinary.

Holy Knight Commander Tarian confronted all of Hans's attacks head-on.

Despite being outweighed several times over, he blocked or deflected all of Hans's attacks with his intense divine power, enhanced physique, and trained technique.

It was a fierce confrontation without an inch of retreat, but neither side backed down.

However, it was Hans who felt impatient in this situation.

As someone who needed to keep producing and deploying cryptids, having his movements restricted by Tarian wasn't ideal.

Hans' role wasn't to engage in one-on-one combat with specific powerful opponents, but to hold back large-scale forces.

Thankfully, cryptids continued to be generated from the shadow wells he had created, but their numbers were significantly reduced compared to before.

It was fortunate that he had sent ahead cryptids made by mixing the genes of the wolf sovereign and deer sovereign.

'Even that might not be enough to block them completely.'

Hans could feel that the wolf alpha and deer alpha he created had merged into a fusion cryptid, but its life was slowly fading away.

The fact that something capable of pushing back considerable forces had been defeated meant that a similarly powerful opponent had appeared on the enemy side.

Moreover, as Hans could monitor the battle situation in real-time through his beasts, he knew that the saint and priestesses had joined the fray.

What made Hans most anxious were the common soldiers supporting Tarian from behind.

Mages, priests, and holy knights were hardly deserving of being called common soldiers, but they weren't strong enough to interfere in the fight between Hans and Tarian.

The problem was that their momentum had suddenly changed just moments ago.

The priests and holy knights were fine.

However, the reaction of the mages who had accompanied them was concerning.

The focus disappeared from their eyes, and pure white rings appeared above their heads.

The moment Hans saw this, he felt the fur under his armor stand on end.

His bestial instincts warned him that this was dangerous.

It was a warning that if those things were left alone, this battle would be lost.

Hans didn't take the warning lightly.

If his intuition told him so, it was likely to come true.

At that moment, one mage stepped forward.

Unlike the other mages with white rings floating above their heads, he was the only one with an expression on his face.

"My, my. Commander Tarian. It seems you're having quite a struggle against this heretic."

The mage spoke to Tarian as if possessed by someone else.

However, no one around him, not even Tarian himself, tried to stop him.

"Cardinal Sartolome? Arriving without notice. You could have sent word ahead."

"Am I not giving you word right now?"

Cardinal!

Hans was startled by Tarian's words.

In the Bretus Holy Nation, the person second to the Holy Emperor was naturally the saint.

But the saint wasn't the one with the second most influence.

Rather, the ones with stronger influence were the cardinals.

'Cardinal Sartolome Vierantino. I know the name. One of the few cardinals.'

He had heard that the cardinal had also received orders from the Holy Emperor to head to the continent, but he didn't expect him to appear like this, borrowing someone else's body.

He was apparently controlling someone remotely and speaking through them, but that didn't mean he could be ignored.

After all, the opponent was a cardinal.

Even if only part of his power was being channeled, it was enough to affect the battle with Tarian.

"The battle is taking longer than expected. By now, we should have already breached the fortress. The Holy Emperor will be disappointed."

"The resistance from the Demon King's army is fiercer than expected."

"Hmm. It certainly seems so."

"Is that what you came to say?"

"Of course not. I came to help, naturally. If the battle drags on, who knows what the Demon King might do."

"I see. Very well. Let's end this quickly."

Hearing this conversation, Hans moved first.

As if I'd let you!

Hans leaped over Tarian and immediately targeted Cardinal Sartolome.

More precisely, the mage the cardinal was controlling.

Just as he followed his instinct to eliminate him first, Tarian intervened.

"Turning your attention away from our fight?"

A golden spear flew toward Hans' back.

Trusting in his sturdy body, Hans considered taking the hit, but its power was too strong, forcing him to throw his body sideways.

While Tarian held Hans at bay, Cardinal Sartolome used a holy spell.

"Sacred Domain Designation."

Golden currents rose around Sartolome and spread outward in concentric circles, like ripples formed by a droplet on a calm water surface.

The ground passed by the concentric circles glowed with a soft yellow light, washing away the shadows Hans had created.

-Kiing! Kaeng!

The cryptids emerging from the black wells were engulfed by the sacred domain and disappeared with screams, turning to ash.

Hans was also affected by the sacred domain.

'My body feels heavy!'

His body, which could move more nimbly than the wind, now felt as if it was being pressed down by a boulder the size of a house.

Even just standing still made his skin tingle and his eyes hurt.

'Damn it. What the hell is this?'

While Hans was inwardly bewildered, the holy knights and priests stared at him with astonished expressions.

"How is this possible? Even with power constraints, he's still standing fine within the sacred domain."

"Most cryptids would not withstand it and turn to ash, is this the power of the Demon King's army?"

Normally, most cryptids should vanish the moment the sacred domain was designated.

But Hans was merely a human using that power.

Though he was fully feeling the impact, it wasn't enough to make him collapse.

Sartolome himself didn't think much of it.

He hadn't expected Hans to fall with the sacred domain in the first place, and the effect of the sacred domain wasn't just that.

"Hmm."

Tarian made a pleased sound as he strongly manifested his divine power.

The divine power flowing from the weapon in his hand visibly strengthened.

His depleted strength rapidly filled up, and multiple blessings piled up on his body.

Top-tier Holy Magic [Sacred Domain Designation]

This technique, which covered the surrounding area with divine power, inflicted all kinds of pain and debuffs on enemies while bestowing blessings on allies.

That alone was enough to turn the tide of battle.

Especially for Hans, who dealt with the power of beasts from the Temple of Beasts, divine power was practically his natural enemy.

Hans had been able to face off against Tarian only because Cravat had given him a greatsword embedded with an ancient curse.

However, with the cardinal stepping in, the situation was reversed again.

'This is dangerous. I need to retreat from here and prepare elsewhere...'

"Are you trying to escape now?"

Tarian noticed what Hans was trying to do and immediately charged at him.

Hans hastily backed away, but Tarian persistently chased after him.

Perhaps due to the power of the sacred domain, his speed was faster than before.

Judging that he would be caught at this rate, Hans stepped on the air.

-Tat.

Hans jumped up, using the empty air as a foothold, only to find the cardinal already dominating the sky.

"Where do you think you're escaping to?"

The cardinal created a sphere of light in his palm and casually tossed it into the void.

The light sphere convulsed once greatly, then countless lasers erupted from it, sweeping the surrounding area.

Hans, floating in the air, had to move to avoid it, and Tarian, seizing the opportunity of his restricted movement, charged at Hans with wings of light fluttering.

"I won't let you go."

Tarian swung his burning golden sword as if splitting firewood.

Hans hurriedly blocked it by holding his greatsword sideways, but he couldn't prevent his fall to the ground.

As Hans, who had crashed to the ground, was about to push off and retreat, a golden wall rose before his eyes, blocking his path.

The golden walls surrounding him were naturally created by Cardinal Sartolome.

'I can't escape.'

Hans realized that he couldn't escape and would have to see this through to the end.

And that end would be his defeat.

Even if he struggled as much as possible, victory couldn't be guaranteed.

The enemy's forces were too strong to overturn the outcome with willpower or determination. The unfavorable matchup also played a role.

'Ha, haha. I never thought this would be my last stand.'

He wasn't unaware this could happen.

He had been prepared for this since he decided to fight.

Wasn't it his own decision to go ahead despite receiving ample warnings?

'Right. Even if I go down, I'll take one of them with me properly.'

As if reading Hans' resolve, Tarian let out a sigh.

"They say a cornered beast is most dangerous, and it seems that's true."

The aura emanating from Hans' body was different from before.

If previously it felt like he was unleashing untamed savagery, now he was in a state of firm determination.

Not a blind blade swung randomly, but a properly honed, sharp edge.

One misstep, and there was a high chance of his neck being severed.

"Having the advantage doesn't mean I should let my guard down."

Tarian intended to thoroughly corner Hans before ending the fight.

After scraping the opponent's last card to the bottom, the moment he concluded it was safe would be Hans' end.

"Well then, shall we bring this to a close?"

Sartolome, floating in the air, levitated divine power above his palm.

The divine power, which had been a sphere, was once again casually tossed into the void.

Hans flinched.

That technique again. A wide-range holy spell where countless divine powers pour down like a shower from within the sphere.

The sphere convulsed greatly.

It was a precursor to the rain of destruction but this destruction was limited only to Hans.

Just as the sphere was about to explode a black arrow flew and pierced the center of the sphere.

The black arrow consumed the sphere from the center, and soon the two energies canceled each other out and disappeared in the air.

"What?"

Cardinal Sartolome's eyes widened.

How could the high-level holy spell [Rain of Blessing] be nullified so easily?

What surprised him even more was that the nullification came from none other than a black magic curse.

"Who is it?"

Sartolome's voice dropped sharply.

Though he was borrowing a mage's body, it was clear that his pride had been severely wounded.

"It seems the Order has gone downhill. Fighting cowardly, two against one?"

The one who revealed himself was a black mage with crow wings spread behind his back, draped in a black robe.

Under the hood was a goat bone mask, so his face wasn't visible.

But Hans could recognize him immediately.

Cravat, the black mage of the Ancient Curse School, had stepped directly into the fight against the Order to help Hans.

"A black mage? How dare a mere black mage against me?"

Sartolome's voice trembled with rage at the fact that his opponent was a black mage.

Regardless, Cravat first checked Hans' condition.

"Looks like I made it in time."

[Are you alright?]

Hans opened his mouth.

The holy knights and priests were surprised by the fact that he could speak human language.

They thought he was a beast without reason, but he could actually speak properly.

Only Tarian, who had fought him directly, showed no particular reaction, as if he had expected it.

Instead, he was wary of the newly appeared Cravat.

A black mage who blocked the cardinal's holy spell, even in a weakened state, was certainly no ordinary person.

[The moment you join this fight, you'll be taking an irreversible path.]

"It was irreversible anyway."

[You could have just provided support and left, why go this far?]

"Just because."

Cravat stared at Sartolome through his mask.

"The sight of them cowardly attacking in numbers... irritates me."