Chapter 142: The Fingers Are All Annihilated
Panic spread among the people. The unarmed villagers could only huddle together inside the dragon carriages.
From the moment the group had departed from the village, the anxiety and fear in their hearts had not subsided.
And when the Witch Cult suddenly appeared not long after they set off, their nerves became taut to the breaking point.
Their hearts beat violently in their chests, almost ready to burst out, but at that moment, someone appeared—easing their panic.
Someone was protecting them.
The dragon carriages never stopped. Even though many Witch Cultists were chasing after them, they were all intercepted by the warriors guarding the convoy.
The men of the village consoled their families and friends around them.
Now, all they could do was wait—wait for the battle to reach its conclusion. If they acted rashly, they would only hinder the people protecting them.
Otto, driving one of the dragon carriages, looked back in terror at the Witch Cultists gradually closing in. He was beginning to regret leaving early due to his concern about cargo—an action that had led him right into the clutches of the Witch Cult.
Now he was caught up in this battle.
Technically, he could unhook the wooden carriage attached to the earth dragon, escape on the dragon alone, and greatly increase his chances of survival thanks to his Divine Protection.
But he couldn't do that.
Cowardice was a part of his nature, but even so, he couldn't abandon the people inside the carriage. Even if he survived, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
Without the warriors currently fighting, he would have been dead already. He had been rescued once, and just when he had been ready to despair over unsellable cargo, that boy—around the same age as him—had given him hope.
He had been saved once, then again. Otto, who already considered himself to have died once, clenched his teeth and ordered the earth dragon that had accompanied him for so long to go faster.
That was all he could do.
As the dragon carriage became more and more surrounded, an old man suddenly appeared from somewhere and, with a swing of his sword, wiped out all the surrounding Witch Cultists.
Before Otto could even feel the relief of a narrow escape, a blast went off beside the dragon carriage. The shockwave sent him flying.
Even as he was thrown into the air, he did not order the dragon carriage to stop. Instead, he told it to run even faster.
Otto tumbled to the ground, rolling several times. He wasn't a knight or a warrior—just an ordinary man with the physical endurance of a commoner.
Falling from a dragon carriage moving at high speed had nearly cost him his life.
Lying flat on the ground, Otto found he couldn't move at all. Despite the pain tearing through his body, a strange smile formed on his face.
"Ah... I was so close to escaping to heaven..."
He didn't want to die. He hadn't even lived through half his life yet.
The days he'd spent as a traveling merchant had been far happier than the life he'd left behind in his hometown.
There was still so much joy he hadn't experienced—dying here was something he simply couldn't accept.
Explosions roared. The sounds of battle never ceased. Struggling to live, Otto forced himself to raise his head and looked ahead.
In his blurry vision, the brave old man was locked in combat with someone—and had just successfully driven his sword into the enemy's chest.
Just when Otto thought they had won, another explosion erupted, engulfing the old man.
Eyes wide in shock, Otto hoped with all his heart that the old man had survived. But when the smoke cleared, what he saw was the old man down on one knee, leaning on his longsword for support.
Otto saw the man try to stand—only to fail.
"Why! Why! Why aren't you dead yet?! This is unreasonable! Unrealistic! Unfaithful! After all our diligence—why are you still alive!!!"
Otto watched in horror as the madman slowly approached the collapsed old man.
He could tell—this old man was the strongest among their escort. If he died here, neither the villagers who had fled nor the warriors still fighting would be able to escape their fate.
Despair began to smother Otto's heart.
This was the closest he had ever been to death—far more so than when the Witch Cult had blindfolded and kidnapped him into a mountain cave. Now, it truly felt like death was imminent.
"Julius!"
"I understand!"
"You again! Give me my indicators! My love! Hand over the Gospel!!"
Otto saw it.
The elegant knight leaped high and charged straight at the madman.
And he also saw a blood-drenched, deathly pale young man riding an earth dragon, charging toward the lunatic.
"Useless, useless! Your diligence is Slothful compared to ours!"
Julius wore a serious expression as he frowned slightly, dodging Petelgeuse's attacks with his honed battle instincts.
While Petelgeuse was distracted, Julius quickly moved to Wilhelm's side and carried him away.
"You can't escape! The trial isn't over yet! There's still a chance! If I kill you all, the trial can still proceed! Under the diligence of the Fingers, you cannot destroy me!"
One by one.
Petelgeuse's invisible hands relentlessly pursued Julius, who tried to widen the distance. With no one else able to see the hands, and with only temporary tricks to make them visible, no one knew just how many hands were reaching for them.
In this critical moment, Natsuki Subaru took a deep breath atop his earth dragon.
He knew that if he used his active ability one more time in his current condition, the only thing waiting for him was death.
Yet, without hesitation, he overused his power.
His hollow body, already near its limit, had its last strength forcibly drawn out by the ability.
But the power from this activation wasn't enough.
To push beyond the limit, the skill began pulling from deep, untouched reserves of energy within him.
Subaru, unaware of what exactly was being drained, only felt like something vital was being torn out from inside.
His power amplified, Subaru leapt from the earth dragon, hit the ground, rolled once, then crouched. Energy burst from under his legs—and his body vanished from the spot.
Where he had stood, a crater remained.
Holding his longsword tightly, Subaru dashed toward Petelgeuse at high speed.
When time seemed to slow—a phenomenon that always occurred when his heart beat violently—Petelgeuse turned his twisted head toward Subaru, a smile on his face.
Subaru didn't know what that smile meant, but there was no stopping now.
With a single swing of his sword—Petelgeuse's head flew high into the air. Blood sprayed everywhere, covering Subaru completely and turning him into a man soaked in red.
At that moment, his ability deactivated.
Kneeling on the ground, Subaru tried to support himself with the sword—but the blade broke off as soon as it hit the ground.
Losing his support, Subaru collapsed forward.
And as he fell— a faint red light quietly drifted out from his body.