Chapter 215 — False Holy War

1

A world that stopped with nothing.

An ominous energy spread from two full moons hanging in the sky.

The land of the dead, where ordinary people couldn’t enter.

A chilling energy infiltrated the Academy.

“When will they come?”

“They’ll arrive soon.”

The God of Death, Mors, sends his minions down to earth.

Though no specific purpose was explained, the prevailing theory was that it was to increase the power of the Erosion Zone and elevate the hidden world.

Since the original game hadn’t been completed yet.

Whoosh-

An anomaly that shouldn’t exist swept through.

Black wind brushed past their entire bodies.

It became a sphere, slowly descending to the ground.

[Huuuuum]

Like a whale’s cry, low-frequency waves that struck eardrums and bodies swept the area.

A resonating vibration.

Soon, a massive shockwave spread throughout the Academy.

The group raised mana to protect their bodies.

Grass, rocks, branches, and dust all came rushing at once.

Manus, who had been quietly watching the horizon, went up onto the castle wall.

“Let’s go.”

“…Yes.”

Just that cry alone suggested the scale of power.

A force that made everyone extremely tense.

They found themselves looking down from the wall with stiff faces.

There was one reason Manus had chosen this position.

Because the battle would flow similarly to the previous [Night of the Dead] incident.

They needed a geographical position that could block enormous numbers of undead.

Simultaneously, a position to snipe the massive Papalis.

In the original work, there was also a scene of fighting from the castle walls.

‘Back then it was Alano’s strategy, but I’ve taken that role.’

“That’s…”

“What… it’s completely different from the Apostle?”

“Why is it… so big?”

The reason for such thorough preparation for this boss fight.

Unlike the Apostle, these were bosses that fought with sheer size.

He wasn’t sure which form was closer to Mors.

The boss before their eyes was truly a calamity.

A massive body boasting overwhelming size that the Ziggurat couldn’t possibly contain.

Boom-!

Four legs reminiscent of a turtle’s shook the ground.

A body large enough to easily leap over the castle walls while just standing gradually approached.

‘Seems a bit bigger than I remember.’

Manus frowned.

According to the text description, Papalis was supposed to be about the same height as the Academy’s walls.

Having played this game multiple times, could he really misremember that?

This was the second boss he had seen so many times it was almost nauseating.

‘Is it because the difficulty increased?’

A basic law of the world.

Naturally, bigger size means more health.

It seemed to be the case this time too, as the power felt was no joke.

Still, it should be a fight they could handle.

If they had been complacent just trusting the original work, they would have been startled.

Anticipating this situation, they had climbed the tower as much as possible and acquired personal skills.

“Pearson, weaken the enemy.”

“Yes!”

“Mages, first reinforce the walls.”

Manus’s commands were precise.

The main event of this boss fight was the same as [Night of the Dead].

A system where difficulty drastically increases if you can’t stop the minion from ramming the walls.

They had to protect the walls no matter what.

[Pearson Exclusive Skill: Inverto]

[Custos]

[Altus]

[Servo]

4th-Class protection magic Custos.

5th-Class buff magic Servo.

Magic that dramatically increased durability poured onto the walls.

Papalis approached the walls now greatly strengthened with magic.

The battle had already begun.

A purple magic circle made Papalis’s movements sluggish.

However, the effect was minimal against its inherently powerful strength.

Pearson’s face twisted.

“This isn’t working well!”

“Keep casting. With that size and resistance, it won’t be easy.”

“Yes, I’ll focus on debuffs instead of buffs!”

Others could handle the buffs.

But debuff efficiency was much lower without Pearson.

Even the great Manus was still insufficient to surpass the power of exclusive skills.

Pearson drank potions while slowing Papalis’s advance.

Perhaps that had an effect.

Papalis stopped its advance amid clouds of dust.

“It stopped?”

“Did it work maybe?”

“Everyone prepare.”

Manus completely shattered their slight hope.

Stopping the advance meant it had found a suitable position.

Finally, the first pattern began.

[Huuuuum-!]

Low-frequency waves that made the air vibrate.

Mana thickly permeating it.

Papalis’s mana had the power to raise the dead.

The results appeared now.

[Call of the Dead]

Uooooooo-!

The dead buried here.

They began to wake.

Those on the castle walls showed dismay.

Perhaps it was natural given the unpleasant memories.

Especially Alano’s face was deeply furrowed.

She particularly hated undead.

“Well, bringing back bad memories?”

“It hasn’t been long but undead again…”

“Alano, how much holy magic have you learned?”

Alano answered Manus’s question immediately.

With her talent reaching the heavens, she must have learned quickly.

“I can use up to 4th-Class comfortably.”

“Good. Then please handle the small fry with Kael.”

“Leave it to me.”

“Save your mana.”

Manus left those words and began chanting.

Having fought mostly with Matu magic lately, it felt like he hadn’t used proper magic.

Today he planned to unleash elemental magic to his heart’s content.

If needed, he might have to use incomplete magic too.

The battle with the minion seemed like it would be more intense than expected.

Recovery was its strong point, so they would need to fully utilize that.

‘The question is whether it breaks the walls first, or I take it down first.’

Papalis had no special weakness attribute.

Therefore, it was a minion that needed to be beaten with magic that had the highest damage.

‘If we break the shell, it becomes weak to lightning.’

He would have to handle lightning attributes until Santo Leo joined later.

For removing the shell, nothing beats physical attacks.

[Double Spread]

[Grandis Ensis] — [Talaricum]

[Comprimo]

A massive flaming fist appeared in the air.

Magic that dealt terrifying damage to the main target while being area-of-effect.

Plus inflicting burn status.

In many ways, it was like the rice and soup among 5th-Class Cadenza.

Boom!

Not only was it properly struck by the massive fist, but an explosion occurred too.

Naturally, nearby undead were swept away without a trace.

However, Papalis was much tougher than expected.

“It’s completely unfazed.”

“Tougher than expected.”

“Hah… what do we do if it’s like this from the start. Let’s all attack for now.”

Magic of various colors flew.

The magic each did best.

Black flames split the moonlight.

The white beam Kael fired shook the massive body.

Nia’s eyes glowed brightly as she fired golden lightning magic controlling mana spirits.

Ice spears were cold enough to freeze the boss’s legs.

Taking all those hits, even the massive Papalis seemed affected.

[Kuhuum-]

A massive groan rang out.

Not a roar of aggression but a groan of pain.

This was a pattern that appeared when attacks were somewhat effective.

Now Papalis’s attacks would begin.

Watching the gathering mana, Manus spoke.

“Everyone, prepare defensive magic.”

“Yes!”

“Don’t spare mana, just endure with potions.”

Here too, Manus demonstrated 5th-Class magic.

Papalis’s attacks were slow but powerful.

They could only withstand them by deploying defensive magic.

[Double Spread]

[Exodus] — [Valus]

[Salutaris]

A massive dome-shaped barrier was cast.

A defensive wall designed to firmly protect not just the children but the castle walls too.

It was magic boasting the highest efficiency, able to withstand up to 7th-Class magic once.

The timing was good, as Papalis’s attack came immediately.

The Justice Emperor’s attack happened in two stages.

First was identification, second was execution.

Now was the identification stage.

[Discernment of False Justice]

Bang bang bang-!

Black spheres were fired from shell openings that looked like volcanic craters.

Spheres shot like cannonballs.

Direct hits meant instant death.

An attack that could also inflict special debuffs on party members with the lowest health.

“Here it comes!”

“Everyone endure!”

“Melanie, come here!”

Guillermo shouted after seeing Melanie’s relatively weak barrier.

Melanie quickly judged and stepped behind Guillermo’s shield.

At the same time, Papalis’s attack landed.

Boom!

The first shot hit the castle wall directly.

Dust poured down from the rumbling walls.

The second shot narrowly missed.

It bounced off Manus’s barrier and fell inside the walls.

The final third shot fell directly above the group.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

Pearson let out a faint groan.

The others seemed fine, appearing quite intact.

Manus looked back at Pearson to check his condition.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes! Just grazed by fragments flying from the side!”

“Be careful.”

“Haha, Senior worrying about me! I’ll be careful to block fragments too from now on!”

“Fragments?”

“Huh?”

Realizing the communication wasn’t working properly, Pearson closed his mouth.

And listened to Manus’s words.

What exactly had he meant to be careful of?

Manus stood up and pointed at Papalis as he spoke again.

“You’ll definitely be the next target. That’s what you need to be careful of.”

“I-I’ll definitely be next?”

“Yes. Because you took the most damage.”

[Huuuum-!]

A pulsing sound was heard.

That was the sound made when identifying a target.

Emerson spoke with a pale face.

“Th-that! It’s really targeting Pearson!”

“Wh-what should I do?!”

“Just focus on casting debuffs.”

Whoosh-.

Mana surged up.

The next attack would probably come in 1-2 minutes.

During that time they needed to cast as many debuffs as possible and prepare what was needed.

Manus took out a nail.

The reason Papalis was just the second minion despite being so formidable.

That was because there was a critical flaw in its pattern.

“Don’t worry.”

“…Yes.”

“Senior, can you keep Pearson from getting hurt?”

“Of course.”

With Papalis, the walls falling was the problem — companions wouldn’t die no matter how strong the boss was.

So just focus on dealing damage.

Manus smiled as he built up a magic circle.

“I’ll keep you alive even if you exhaust yourself using all your mana, so don’t worry.”

At that moment, the companions saw Manus as a reliable savior.

Believing his words, they all built up magic circles with all their might.

Meanwhile, the undead legion began creeping forward.

While firing magic at Papalis, Manus thought.

Just when would the real enemy appear?

His blue eyes began waiting for the prey.

–TL Notes–
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