Chapter 209: By the Order of Pope Selena... I Sentence You All to Death!

“BOOM—!!”

The thunderous impact split the air, but the scene everyone braced for—the Hero’s skull caving in—never materialized.

In that razor-thin instant between life and death, Oshu, the Hero, achieved the impossible. His Holy Sword blazed with divine radiance. With a desperate upward swing, he wedged the blade against the killing blow, arresting its momentum.

The force still hammered him to his knees, enough to shatter bones, but somehow, impossibly, he endured. He was battered, but alive. He hadn’t even fallen.

“What the—?”

Rein, and even the cultist priest aiding him, stared in disbelief.

No one—not even the Evil God’s priest—could have foreseen this outcome.

“He blocked it? Even this?”

Anyone else, faced with such a lethal, all-or-nothing strike—struck by a shield bash of this magnitude—would have lost an arm, or their life.

But once again, the so-called deathtrap had been defied by the Hero. Not only had he parried the blow, he emerged unscathed.

“As always. No different from before.”

Eileen, who had witnessed countless such miracles as his former comrade, finally grasped why Lady Sabela had been so intent on this fight.

“She could crush the Hero with overwhelming force, but at every critical moment, he blocks the fatal strike... I used to think it was just weak monsters in those old battles. But now—against a Legacy-level Church priest and Rein’s killing blow—he still endures, without even using his trump card. Heroes really are a pain.”

“Enough. You two, join the siege on the Hero. I want to see just where his limits lie!”

The two Legacy-level liches nodded in eerie unison. Icy air poured from their bodies, sweeping through the chamber, chilling even the molten heat of the lava. In an instant, the cold surged forward, enveloping the Hero.

“Eileen, you bitch!!!”

The Hero’s sword—once dazzling—now flickered weakly. Fending off the priest’s assault had already pushed Oshu to his limits; with Rein joining in, he was barely hanging on. Now, with two Legacy-level liches from the demonfolk entering the fray—

Three Legacy-level Transcendents. And a former teammate who knew his every move.

The relentless onslaught drove the Hero to the edge of the platform. Searing lava splashed up from below, its heat radiating the stench of death.

“I’m out of options!!!”

If he held anything back, the only chance he’d get to use it would be after reporting to Goddess Alicia in the afterlife.

The gulf in power was absolute—hopeless. Even the Hero’s Blessing, his divine protection, couldn’t save him from this.

“I’ll make you suffer, Eileen. I’ll torture you to death. I’ll throw you into a goblin den and let them have their way with you.”

BOOM.

A pillar of divine light erupted from Oshu’s body, so blinding it seemed to pierce the heavens, shattering the Labyrinth and reaching the farthest edge of the sky.

The world trembled. Thunder rolled. And within that column of light, Oshu’s transformation was visible to all.

His armor, already imposing, shone with golden radiance as his aura climbed higher and higher—surpassing even Legacy-level, suffused with an unknown, overwhelming divinity.

His sword—the Hero’s Sword—revealed its true form. Golden flames danced along the blade, warping the very air.

The freezing cold sweeping toward him was incinerated, burned away in a torrent of sacred fire.

“Hm?”

Even the liches’ signature psychic assaults—useless. His eyes became golden orbs, a shimmering halo enveloped him, and as he swung his sword, he gazed at Eileen with the cold, inhuman focus of a god.

His voice was low and ragged, but it held none of the holy gravitas one might expect.

“After this—I’ll kill you, Eileen! You filthy whore—open to every man alive!”

“So Holy Radiance really does restrain the Evil God’s energy, huh?”

BANG!!

The battle reignited in a blinding flash.

Eileen, though surprised, had expected the Hero to have a hidden trump card. But even she hadn’t anticipated this: a divine aura that pinned the Legacy-level priest to the ground.

That veteran priest, once a terror, was now barely holding his own—reduced to the strength of a rookie Transcendent.

So how had all those subjugation squads vanished over the past two years?

Could a Hero like this really be brought down by ordinary means?

“Looks like we’ll have to take out the others first.”

With Lady Sabela’s tactical authority, Eileen quickly surveyed the battlefield.

The adventurers had clustered together in panic. They’d found the hostages, technically completing their mission, but the scene was nothing like what they’d imagined.

There was no way to save the hostages. In fact, there was almost no chance any of them would survive at all.

The fear of death was etched on every face. When they saw the Hero, battered and barely holding on, their despair erupted into panic.

“Captain Brody turned out to be one of the Demon Generals, and even the Hero’s Party is falling apart.”

“The two strongest people are out of the fight... We’re never getting out of here alive!”

Moments ago, they’d scoffed at Lin Wei’s warnings about traps. Now, less than five minutes later, reality had slapped them hard.

“Didn’t those demonfolk call Lin Wei something? Honor Knight?”

“Oh, right! The Holy See just created the Honor Knight rank, and it’s the same name. It really is him, isn’t it?”

“S-sorry, Sir Lin Wei. We only acted that way because the Hero misled us. It’s clear now—the real danger is the Hero’s Party! Please, forgive us.”

Say what you will—adventurers truly know how to survive.

Their ability to switch sides was lightning-fast, without a shred of shame.

If this weren’t such a public setting, they’d probably be on their knees, groveling for mercy.

Lin Wei, for his part, was screaming internally at their shamelessness.

Meanwhile, Oshu was so furious his blood pressure must have been through the roof, but he had no comeback. Half his team had been compromised, after all.

Even Rein, officially certified by the Holy See, had been swayed. Only Kokoxi remained.

“You Evil God Cultists will all die by my hand! I am Oshu, the Hero, destined to save the world!”

CRASH—

His divine sword cleaved the distant rock wall in two, shockwaves reverberating. He could only sustain this true power for five minutes, but during that time, not even monsters or Evil God priests working together could touch him.

“As the Holy See’s Honor Knight... and out of respect for Pope Selena’s teachings, even though I’m furious, I’ll forgive you and do my best to get you all out of here alive.”

You have to admit—Heroes are a pain.

From his vantage point, Lin Wei watched the chaos unfold. The moment the goddess’s blessing descended, Oshu became a living cheat code, a walking weapon of mass destruction. Even Lin Wei, once the Demon Lord, had to marvel.

As for the adventurers and their shameless apologies—Lin Wei felt nothing.

Anger? Disappointment? These people were like gnats—hardly worth a second thought.

Still, for Veya’s sake, he had to go through the motions.

“If you make it out of the Labyrinth alive, remember to thank Pope Selena for spreading justice.”

“We will!”

The adventurers clung to Lin Wei like drowning men to driftwood, their last hope.

“Well then, you ugly little archer—aren’t you going to take down a High Priest of the Holy See? Killing me would be a major achievement, even among the demonfolk, wouldn’t it?”

“Oho~ Eager to die, are we, Sir Lin Wei?”

Frankly, after all the recent deployments, Eileen’s side had few high-level assets left. Without their hidden cards, they were barely a match for the opposition.

Truly, Lady Sabela’s foresight was unmatched—every contingency, every deployment, planned far in advance.

“Well, if you’re so desperate to meet Goddess Alicia... I suppose I can grant that wish.”

Her alluring face twisted with a cold gleam, pain and restraint flickering beneath the surface.

She smiled darkly, stepping back as her longbow shimmered, gathering a blinding arrow of pure energy.

Her eyes, beautiful and elegant, clouded with strain as she drew on all her strength—her Skill threatening to spiral out of control.

“Lord Morteir, if you would!”

The words had barely left her lips.

Morteir, who’d been standing idle, lunged with supernatural speed.

A bone blade materialized, wreathed in necrotic energy—but instead of Lin Wei, it swung for Krulu’s head.

“...Traitor!!!”

BOOM—

The massive bone blade struck the ground, shaking the earth.

But Krulu, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, knew this crew’s tricks all too well.

The instant Morteir moved, Krulu widened the gap, his agile form blurring into a streak of silver, darting back and forth, his blades flashing in a storm of strikes.

Their full-powered clash rippled through the air, shaking the entire space!

“Next is you!”

“Kill Sir Lin Wei—kill the remaining adventurers! Behead the prisoners—end this, now!”

The charged arrow blazed skyward, thunder splitting the air.

As her orders rang out, three surviving Legacy-level Church Transcendents and the demon elite surged forward, a tidal wave of killing intent.

“Leave the slaughter to us. The Blood Sacrifice Church knows how to handle these things.”

The remaining cultists slithered toward the hostages, eager to drain their life-blood, to fuel themselves, to win their god’s favor.

As for these foolish heretics of Alicia—let them pay for their misguided faith!

“L-Lin Wei, what do we do?!”

“Don’t worry. The hostages will be safe first.”

A rain of divine sword shadows fell from the sky, skewering the Evil God Cultists at the rear in a single, seamless flash.

There was no pause, no mercy; the light exploded, filling the air with a cascade of brilliance.

“Aaaargh!!!”

Shrieks echoed as, in a heartbeat, every cultist who’d dared approach the hostages was slaughtered.

The onslaught was so swift, even the priests couldn’t react.

The battlefield was swept clean, as if by a storm of divine wrath.

“And next...”

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Lightning-charged arrows slammed into an invisible barrier and detonated, unleashing a net of violet thunder that blanketed the field.

The High Priests who’d been closing in on Lin Wei found themselves trapped, their advance halted by a cage of elemental lightning.

“When did you get the idea the Hero was harder to deal with than me?”

“What?!”

The priests, ensnared by the lightning, tried to flood the air with the Evil God’s energy in hopes of dissolving the trap.

But in the next instant, an endless barrage of divine, overwhelming blades locked onto them all.

A storm of light and shadow erupted, too dense and fast to follow.

Mana screamed, exploded, boiled.

Golden radiance and black miasma collided, shockwaves whipping out in every direction.

What should have been an easy victory by numbers became, in the end, Lin Wei’s one-man massacre.

He hadn’t even moved an inch.

“Whoa—”

“I wanted to see the Hero killed by you, but it’s not like I couldn’t have done it myself.”

Divine energy surged endlessly, flooding the area in an unstoppable tide.

The adventurers, first despairing, then shocked, now stared in utter disbelief.

The High Priests at the front, battered by the relentless holy assault, finally began to falter.

Evil God’s energy shattered, bodies crashed to the ground, blood spraying, auras flickering out.

“Honestly, you should’ve had Morteir fight me, and sent these three losers to deal with Krulu.”

“Three low-tier horses against a mid-tier, and top-tier versus top-tier... maybe then you’d have had a shot.”

“But now it’s too late.”

Halos—one after another—spread from beneath Lin Wei’s feet with a gentle step.

It was an indescribable, terrifying force, enveloping the entire area.

The adventurers all gasped, realizing their Attributes, senses, and abilities had suddenly skyrocketed.

No dramatic effects, just a pure, intuitive leap in power—a temporary boost so intense it felt as if their bodies had doubled or tripled in strength.

Eiresha, who’d worked closely with Lin Wei, felt her Mana surge out of control—clearly, she was receiving special treatment.

“Just two pieces of trash left. Do you really think you can fight back against me?”

The demon soldiers rushing in were blasted away by the sudden surge of energy.

The two Evil God priests in midair were barely clinging on—not even a chance to retreat.

Where once they’d been confident in their numbers, now only terror remained. The taste of death was suffocating.

“It’s about time to end this.”

Lin Wei summoned a sword shadow with one hand, pinning down the priests, and with the other, swept his gaze across the battlefield.

The next moment—

BOOM!!

A colossal Blade of Light materialized behind him, even more powerful than the one he’d unleashed at Duke Ous’s manor.

This time, it was even stronger.

“This... this bastard!!!”

The weak might not sense it, but the priests—and even Eileen, close to her limits—could feel it clearly.

That Blade of Light held enough power to obliterate everything. Now it hovered above their heads, radiating pure threat.

“This maniac... does his divine energy never run dry?!”

There was no time left for new strategies.

Lin Wei stood tall, bathed in divine radiance, golden eyes burning with absolute authority. In that instant, he was a god incarnate.

His voice thundered across the battlefield, echoing in every living soul as the Blade of Light descended in an unstoppable arc.

“By the order of Pope Selena—”

“I hereby sentence you all... to death!”