CHAPTER 110**
On the snowfield.
Our party was running at full speed.
Lululio, Aranseol, Horizon, Babiyen.
All of us continued our dead sprint across the snow.

The shadow that had stirred beneath the Blue Wolf just moments ago.
That shadow belonged to the Sin of Envy, Morbid Geryusika.
The Sin we had been targeting had finally appeared.

"Horizon! Keep an eye on the shadows!"
"Y-Yes!"
The only one who can detect Morbid's shadow is Horizon, another member of the Amyeong Tribe.
So, entrusting her with that task, we ran at full speed.
We started running the moment we noticed the shadow.
At this point, Black Dawn would surely try to counter.

"H-Harua-ssi, in front of you!"
Just as expected, a jet-black shadow shot up from the snowfield. The moment she saw it, Lululio was the first to react, lowering her stance with her spear of light.
"I'll break through, sir."
Crouching like a coiled spring, she launched herself forward with explosive power.
Adding a spin to her body, she tore right through the shadow.
We used the opening she created to pass through it.
But the shadows didn't stop there.

From the shadow that had shot up, dozens of figures emerged.
They were members of Black Dawn.
"Get them!"
"The Holy Mage is that one!"
The Black Dawn members, following their orders, charged at me like a pack of wolves.

"Is the Sin among them?"
"No."
Hearing Aranseol's reply, I clicked my tongue.
Tsk, not yet.

The only Sin who had appeared so far was Morbid.
Would they really send just Morbid to abduct me?
No, absolutely not.
Black Dawn knew my importance, and more than that, Morbid had a history of kidnapping our party before.
You might succeed once through luck or whatever.
But the second time, the opponent will be prepared.
The fact that we noticed Morbid's shadow and ran is proof of that.
They must know we wouldn't fall for Morbid's shadow trick again.
So, there was a high probability that at least one more Sin was with him.

So why weren't they playing their "Sin" card right now?
They're being cautious.

They were testing the waters, considering the possibility that we might be prepared.
That had to be it.
Black Dawn must have received intel that I had been entering and exiting Regular Army facilities.
I already knew from the incident with Babiyen that Black Dawn had their hands in the Regular Army.

I thought they'd go for a swift, decisive battle, but they're still testing the waters?
My abduction should be their top priority, yet they were still probing.
It seemed they intended to move cautiously until our full strength was revealed.
If that's the case, then I have no choice but to induce them to make a serious move.

"Harua-nim, the main force should be moving out soon, sir."
The start of our ambush was the signal for the Regular Army's main force to advance.
The void space between the 1st and 2nd Worlds.
The main force was there to strike the Black Dawn headquarters.

Since the other Sins haven't appeared yet, there's a chance they could rejoin the main force at headquarters.
Morbid's shadow ability was akin to spatial movement.
Meaning, it wouldn't take long for him to send any accompanying Sin back to the headquarters.
We needed to draw the attention of at least one more Sin here.
We had to reduce the strength of the Black Dawn headquarters, even by a little, to increase the chances of the operation's success.
To do that, we had to convince them that they needed to commit two Sins to capture us.

"Babiyen, Aranseol, Lululio."
Time to go on a rampage.
"Crush those bastards with everything you've got."

The Black Dawn members charging at us.
It was time to show them the difference in our power.
At my command, the magic of all three of them surged at once.
Lululio's light swirled, and Aranseol's red lightning crackled.
The two of them kicked off the snowfield simultaneously and instantly closed in on the Black Dawn members.
The Black Dawn members, being Transferees, unleashed a variety of Abilities to try and kill them.
But those two were veterans at fighting Transferees.
They broke through the barrage of Abilities and unhesitatingly lopped off their heads.

"Aranseol-nim, you seem to have gotten stronger, sir!"
"Because I trained like my life depended on it!"
As their conversation crossed paths, their spear and sword moved ceaselessly.
With each movement, the death cries of Black Dawn members echoed.

Adding to that, Babiyen kicked up a flurry of snow and drew out even more magic.
Now able to wield much higher-grade flame magic than before, Babiyen was a full-fledged Fire Mage.
"Get out of the way!"
With Babiyen's command, the surging magic was compressed all at once.
With that, Babiyen swung her staff.
A beam of red light shot from the tip of her staff, carving a semicircle across the snowfield.
Aranseol dropped to the ground as if lying down, while Lululio shot up into the sky.
The Black Dawn members tried to follow suit, but it was too late.
Their bodies melted in Babiyen's high-temperature beam, and they died instantly.

Only two of them managed to dodge.
Even they couldn't escape the immediate onslaught from the leaping Aranseol and Lululio.
"Gahk!"
"Keuk!"
The two Black Dawn members died, one with his heart pierced, the other with his throat slit.
It seemed none of them were missing their hearts like I was.
Mere Black Dawn grunts stood no chance against my party.
It was all thanks to the fact that we had grown incomparably stronger.

"Harua-ssi!"
Just then, Horizon shouted again.
The moment I turned my head, Black Dawn members shot up from the shadows behind me.
There were three of them.
A quick glance told me there were no Sins among them.

The moment I saw them, holy magic flooded my body and divine power was bestowed upon me.
A holy sigil was engraved on my legs, which turned a brilliant white.
Partial Apostle Transformation: Leg Acceleration.
With it, I kicked off the ground with speed on a completely different level than before and threw a punch at them.
The Black Dawn members tried to use their Abilities the moment they emerged from the shadow, but they were too late.
I didn't care if their Abilities pierced my body.
Because for every attack they landed on me, my fist landed on them.

SMACK! CRUNCH! BAM!
The three of them were sent tumbling across the snow, pierced by my fists before they could even scream.
With their organs ruptured or bones shattered, they couldn't move.
I deactivated the Partial Apostle Transformation and took a light breath.
I had also trained hard with Aigis, so I could easily crush any run-of-the-mill opponents.
Szzzzz-
I immediately healed the pierced wounds with holy magic.
It had reached a point where my body activated holy magic before my brain even registered it.
My hellish training with Aigis had paid off.
If I kept this up, one day my body might truly reach a state where holy magic was constantly active.

"H-Harua-ssi, you're incredibly strong," Horizon said with a shocked expression, her dagger still drawn at her side.
Come to think of it, it had been a while since I'd fought properly in front of Horizon.
My progress was certainly surprising.
The weak Holy Mage Harua of the past was no more.
In his place stood the strong Holy Knight Harua.

With this, the Black Dawn bastards must have realized they couldn't do anything with a half-assed force.
Now, surely...

CRUNCH!
In that instant, I heard something being crushed next to me.
My head snapped in that direction.
There, Horizon was collapsing, the upper half of her torso torn away.
It was a grotesque sight, as if she had been mauled by a carnivorous beast.
And beyond Horizon...
Stood a man with pure white eyes, devoid of any color.
His mouth stretched from ear to ear, and his teeth were not human, but shaped like a shark's.
I recognized him instantly.

The Sin of Gluttony.
Ganibal.

Their first target hadn't been me.
It was Horizon, the only one who could stand against Morbid's shadows.
A mistake. I should have protected Horizon first.

"HORIZON!" Aranseol screamed as if coughing up blood and sprinted towards us.
"You all look so delicious, don't you?" Ganibal licked his lips and took a leaping stance.
At the same time, shadows began to swell from the ground.
With Horizon dead, they knew we had no way to counter the shadows.
Their plan was to kill everyone else and take me.

"Lululio."
And this was exactly what we had been waiting for.
Targeting Horizon first was an unexpected move, but we had anticipated that variables could occur.
Lululio's body began to glow, suffused with light.

FLASH!
The most intense flash of light yet enveloped the area.
The light was so bright that, for a brief moment, it erased all shadows in the vicinity.
Even Morbid needed shadows to use his power.
The shadow that was about to erupt beneath our feet froze in place.
In that gap, Aranseol snatched Horizon and brought her to me.
As I caught Horizon, I roared.
"Now!"

THUD!

In front of us.
Someone landed, the formal coat draped over their shoulders fluttering.
Standing there was a woman with brown hair, covered in scars.
Lieutenant General, Anastasia Petrovna.
The woman, more ferocious than any beast, had arrived.

"Ganibal."
A terrifying smile spread across Anastasia's lips.
"Still haven't fixed that habit of biting people, I see."
With that, Anastasia's body shot forward like a cannonball.
She instantly reached Ganibal and threw a punch.
Ganibal hastily raised his arms to block, but Anastasia's fist shattered his guard and sent him flying.
KRA-BOOOOOOOOM!
Ganibal crashed into the snowfield, felling several trees.
The single punch she threw was far stronger than my all-out attack.
I knew it already, but this made me realize just what kind of monsters the Lieutenant Generals were.

"Ah, I'm so hungryyyyyy!"
In that moment, Ganibal rose from the snow.
Even with both arms broken, his killing intent was palpable.
Then he spotted the corpses of the Black Dawn members that had been blown away with him.
Without hesitation, Ganibal bared his teeth at a corpse.
CRUNCH!
As Ganibal bit into the corpse and swallowed, his broken arms healed back to their original state.
That bastard, living up to his name as the Sin of Gluttony, was eating human flesh.
And that wasn't all.
The corpse Ganibal had bitten stood up and bared its teeth like a zombie.

The Sin of Gluttony, Ganibal.
His Ability was "Gluttony Zombie."
An Ability that let him eat others and turn those he ate into zombies.

Thump- Thump-
All over the snowfield.
Zombies that had been buried in the snow began to rise.
It was his zombie army, delivered by Morbid from the moment Ganibal had appeared.

"Anastasia, biting you just hurts my teeth. Why did you crawl out here again?" Ganibal said, grinding his teeth.
It seemed he and Anastasia had a history.
But instead of answering, Anastasia raised her fist.
"This is my chance to pull out all those wicked teeth of yours again."
In that instant, a rain of countless arrows poured down from the sky.
The arrows pierced the zombies, and the Regular Army soldiers who had been following us from the start revealed themselves.

"All units, eliminate the Gluttony Zombie army first!"
"The Sin of Envy is here! Keep activating light magic!"
Ganibal's face twisted.
It was the face of someone who had just realized we were bait.
The zombie army and the Regular Army clashed in an instant.
The Regular Army, having prepared for the zombie army, were all wearing thick armor.

"Isn't it bad manners to use such a tempting meal as bait?"
"Ganibal! We have a problem!"
Just then, Morbid's head popped out from Ganibal's shadow.
"Headquarters, Headquarters is..."

The Regular Army's main force had finally begun its assault.
Anastasia's arrival had been the signal.
Ganibal's face twisted even more than before.
That's right. We're the bait.
A much bigger bait than you ever imagined.

The Sin of Gluttony.
The Sin of Envy.
With two of the Sins drawn away from the Black Dawn headquarters...
Finally, the pieces of the picture I'd drawn were falling into place.
The annihilation of the Black Dawn headquarters.
The curtain had risen.