Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 239

239

Deafening roars.

The cultists in the crowd tensed.

Even as their spirits flagged, they pulled daggers from their robes.

Their mission was simple: create a disturbance in the plaza.

Then, a separate team would seize the outer gate and checkpoints.

“Can we… really do this?”

“…We have to.”

“But we don’t even know who’s been assigned to the plaza!”

It was a hastily assembled plan, so they didn’t even know who was doing what, or who was on their side.

They knew it too.

Even if those with pathetic strength like themselves went berserk, they would be suppressed in a matter of minutes.

“Don’t worry. We have this.”

One of the cultists pulled out a vial.

A vial containing Worm Pest [a highly contagious and deadly disease].

His comrade froze at the sight.

“Good heavens! How did you get that!?”

“No matter how thorough the defenses, there’s always a way through. Hundreds of thousands of people are coming in to see the execution; there’s no way they can check all of them.”

The cultist gripped the vial’s lid with trembling hands.

“Once the screams start in this plaza, the all-out attack will begin. We just need to join up with the others at the outer gate and checkpoints amidst the chaos.”

“R-Right… So when do we start?”

“When His Holiness speaks. Everyone’s attention will be on him then. The guards will be at their weakest then too. Let’s strike then.”

If they could infect this massive crowd with Worm Pest?

And if His Holiness, seizing that opportunity, could unite the scattered cult?

Glory would return to them!

The cultists smiled.

They looked up at His Holiness Pharis.

On the platform, Lord Arond, in the VIP section, held up a parchment and read out the charges against His Holiness Pharis.

The cultists sneered.

To execute His Holiness on such false charges!

“Now, we will begin the execution. Corrupt one, Pharis. Do you have any last words?”

All eyes turned to Pharis.

Pharis drooled, blinked, and tilted his head.

Sharin, holding a torch on the platform, looked at Pharis.

“Huh? What?”

“…”

Lord Arond wore a troubled expression.

He wondered if he should proceed with the execution as is, given his mental state.

Still, he was once His Holiness.

Shouldn’t he at least have his last words?

“Huh? I, there was something I was supposed to say…”

Pharis was spaced out.

Sharin approached him and said,

“Your Holiness Pharis. You must give us the order you were supposed to give. The words you heard from the Constellation.”

“Ah! That’s right!”

He remembered!

He was supposed to say this.

The sun set, and night fell.

The pyre faintly illuminated His Holiness Pharis.

“I, His Holiness Pharis, say this.”

The plaza fell silent the moment His Holiness Pharis opened his mouth.

The video crystal sphere [a magical device used for recording and playback] focused on Pharis.

His voice echoed with a time delay from the large video crystal spheres installed throughout the city.

The last words of the one who was once the ruler of the world.

Lord Arond’s territory fell silent in an instant, eager to hear those words.

Everyone cast expectant gazes.

What would he say?

Having been His Holiness, wouldn’t he maintain his authority and dignity, facing a dignified end?

Or perhaps, he would scream and beg for his life.

Looking at his current state, they were curious about what kind of answer would come out.

As everyone’s attention was focused on him, the first words he uttered were,

“Einherjar!” [Elite warriors chosen by the gods].

“Huh?”

The cultists paused.

The crowd was puzzled.

His Holiness Pharis wore a deep smile and said,

“Subjugate the heretics!”

The cultists among the crowd stood there blankly.

“What is that…”

Then, Einherjar in plain clothes ambushed the cultists from behind, knocking them down.

“Ugh!”

“What?!”

The sudden commotion.

“What…?!”

It was broadcasted live on the video crystal spheres, visible throughout the city.

“What?!”

“I-Is it a terrorist attack!?”

“Good heavens!?”

Chaos spread rapidly.

A cultist waiting for the signal near the outer gate of Arond sensed the commotion coming from the city.

“D-Did it start?!”

“It must have!?”

“Yes, it must be!”

Since there were no video crystal spheres near the outer gate, the cultists couldn’t know what was happening in the plaza.

But the commotion meant that the plan had started successfully.

“Launch it!”

Some of the cultists took out arrows wrapped in cloth from the carts they were pulling.

They lit the arrows on fire.

“Hey! What are you doing there!?”

The paladins at the checkpoint ran towards the cultists.

“Shoot quickly!”

The arrows were launched, and the cultists tried to resist the paladins by drawing their weapons, but.

Swish-!

Their heads were severed by the paladin’s sword.

“These guys… were they cultists?”

As the paladin wiped his sword, shouts were heard from all directions.

“Save His Holiness!”

“Waaaaaaaah!”

The paladin paused in surprise and looked towards the checkpoint.

The citizens being inspected suddenly started rampaging.

They attacked and knocked down the soldiers.

They seized weapons, armed themselves, and attacked.

“…What are you doing? Kill all those with weapons!”

At the paladin’s cry, the soldiers began to kill the cultists disguised as citizens.

***

Chaos spread throughout Arond.

And there were those who watched that scene.

“The fire has risen! There’s a commotion at the checkpoint. The time has finally come!”

The Black Inquisitors [fanatical followers of Pharis] stared at a fire arrow rising from Arond.

The fire arrow, shot into the night sky, showed its presence even in the distant forest.

“Now is the time! Brothers! Let us save His Holiness from the forces of evil!”

“All-out attack! Save His Holiness!!”

“Let’s send our signal too!”

They threw torches onto the firewood piled up in the forest.

Flames rose from all directions.

Fires glowing faintly in the darkness.

“Damn it! Those cultist bastards, they infiltrated more than we thought!”

Arond soldiers watching the checkpoint from the walls. They witnessed something else.

“…What is that?”

The soldiers murmured. Hearing the commotion, a paladin approached and looked at the soldiers.

“What’s going on?”

“Th-There, look there!”

The paladin looked at the flames rising from the forest at the soldier’s gesture.

Fires were rising from all over the forest.

At the sight, the paladin swallowed hard, seemingly nervous, and shouted to the signalman on the watchtower.

“Blow the emergency horn!”

“Yes?”

The paladin drew his sword.

“The heretics are coming.”

***

Black figures emerged from the forest one by one.

Knights clad in jet-black armor.

Clerics draped in jet-black robes.

And in their hands were dozens of chains binding wights [undead creatures].

「Kieaaaaaak!」

As the monsters’ roars echoed, balls of fire arced through the sky from Arond.

“…It’s starting.”

The burning boulders fell on the Black Inquisitors.

The Black Inquisitors bounced back.

They sprinted with superhuman strength to rescue His Holiness.

The scattered black forces gathered and surged towards Arond like a wave.

“Let’s go!”

“Save His Holiness!”

“Waaaaaaaah!”

They released the chains they held.

Accordingly, the hungry wights ran towards Arond, sensing the aura of life.

The wights ran at high speed.

Some of them were crushed and disappeared under the burning boulders.

And another attack from Arond began.

A hail of arrows.

Arrows enough to darken the sky poured down on the Black Inquisitors.

The Black Inquisitors raised their shields to block the arrows.

“Light-!”

The clerics in Arond waved their staffs towards the sky.

“May the judgment of light be upon the corrupted ones-!”

Divine power gathered, and swords of light were summoned in the sky.

Soon, they flew like cannonballs, colliding with the ground and causing explosions.

The wights around the divine power explosion burned and turned to ashes.

The pierced Black Inquisitors also screamed and fell.

“Oooooooo!”

But even under such a barrage, they broke through towards Arond.

“Shieldbearers!”

Among the Black Inquisitors, those with shields stepped forward.

Soon, they raised their shields, and others climbed on top of them to raise their shields again.

They created stairs leading to the outer walls.

“Jump up!”

As a Black Inquisitor stomped on a shield, a comrade used all his strength to bounce the shield.

The bounced Black Inquisitor reached the top of the high wall.

“Hiiiik?!”

“A-Are they monsters?!”

The soldiers of Arond could only be horrified.

That humans could make such movements! No, in the first place, they were not human.

The Black Inquisitor glared at the soldiers of Arond.

They wore chainmail over sturdy monster leather armor, and over that, they wore surcoats.

They were fully armed with chained helmets and masks.

They were completely armed in preparation for possible Worm Pest infection.

‘Indeed.’

They were like the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom that once ruled the continent, even though it had fallen.

Their intentions were different, but they had come to fight like this.

If they died in this battle and their corpses were used to create new wights, they would become reliable comrades.

“Oooooooo!”

The Black Inquisitor raised his sword and was about to strike down when,

Two paladins swung swords imbued with divine power in front of the Black Inquisitor, deflecting the Black Inquisitor’s sword.

“……?!”

“Each one of them is a monster, but.”

“We won’t just stand by and be defeated either.”

The Black Inquisitors were strong.

But there was also the powerful Paladin Order that once ruled the continent.

The paladins were densely packed, facing the Black Inquisitors who were crossing over the walls.

Behind them, the clerics raised their staffs to assist them.

The Paladin Captain stepped forward and glared at them.

“Daring to defy the will of His Holiness the Pope and the Constellations. This is the same as defying the will of Constellation Azellan [a powerful celestial being]. Heretics!”

The Black Inquisitors sweated coldly.

It was a considerable force.

It seemed that the territories supporting the Pope had deliberately dispatched the Paladin Order and clerics.

“Damn bastards. Are you betraying His Holiness!?”

“The betrayer is His Holiness Pharis! Are you still following that corrupt being who is worse than a dog?!”

“How dare you…!”

“You are foolish. You are risking your lives like this without even knowing that your master has betrayed you.”

“What?”

One of the paladins raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Then, huge video crystal spheres were being raised with chains from the buildings in the city center.

An image was being projected there.

His Holiness Pharis.

He was tied to the stake, spitting out a bitter smile and shouting.

[Black Inquisitors, subjugate those heretics! Hahaha!]

The Black Inquisitors widened their eyes.

“T-That’s a manipulated video…!”

“Not believing even after seeing it directly. How foolish.”

“We may be inferior to the warriors of Node, but.”

The paladins emitted divine power.

“If we risk our lives, we can stop you.”

“……!”

“Face a death befitting a corrupt one. Hounds of His Holiness!”

“Y-You heretical bastards-!”

The paladins gripped their swords with both hands.

“May the blessing of Azellan be with us.”

The paladins charged at the Black Inquisitors.