Hard Carried by My Sword-Chapter 43

Chapter 43
“O Eyes of the Goddess, the Sun and Moon who watch over all creation.”
So read the opening line of the scripture. One eye watched over the day, the other over the night. The sun and the moon were the divine gaze that saw all things from a place forever beyond human reach.
If both eyes were open, mortals would be blinded by the radiance. And so, the merciful Goddess always keeps one eye closed.
“Always give thanks—for the open eye is Her sacred love, and the closed eye, Her gentle compassion.”
However, toward the end of the scripture, it issued a warning.
“Always fear—for when the Goddess opens both Her eyes, all the shadows and darkness of the world shall be swept away. No sin can hide, no mercy shall remain. Only those who walked the righteous path may stand unashamed before Her.”
The Goddess was not just a god of mercy. To the sinner, punishment. To the wicked, judgment. As with all things in the world, there was another side to Her. Mercy without shadow was no different from violence.
“On the day when both the sun and moon rise together, those who look skyward shall fall to their knees and pray.”
Leon opened his eyes with the final verse still on his lips. It was blinding.
At some point, golden light had flooded the chamber. Two radiant spheres spun in harmony across the ceiling, and from Leon’s feet, waves of divine light surged outward, incinerating the murky aura unique to exolaw.
The exolaw wielders were already being overwhelmed. Even Karen, who had been faring worse than the others, was driving back two of them at once.
And then, with Leon’s final line, holy light exploded.
“The Goddess watches over us.”
Silently, the twin spheres in the sky merged, turning the entire space blinding white. It was the sun and the moon.
With both Auras combined, they had invoked a legend of the Goddess’s dual gaze. The sacred spell itself was exceptionally high-tier, but the effect was deceptively simple: it created a Sanctuary—a place touched by Her gaze.
—Sanctuary is known for being all bark and no bite, you know. It doesn’t do much to monsters. Just makes them uncomfortable. Hardly anyone in the Church bothers to learn it. The difficulty’s absurd, but the payoff’s lame. But...
El-Cid chuckled before continuing, —Against exolaw? It’s killer.
And sure enough, the moment the otherworldly monsters came into contact with the descending light, they screamed in torment. Flesh that couldn’t be pierced by blades split apart, and the poison that corroded stone turned to harmless water.
In the Sanctuary, anything born from a different dimension—be it law or life—was rejected. Not even a breath could be drawn in this living hell. Creatures unable to withstand the crushing atmosphere collapsed one by one, breathless.
“Now!”
Caesare did not waste the opportunity. He hurled his flail, sending one exolaw wielder’s upper body flying, then swung the chain in the other direction to crush another’s skull.
Weakened by the Sanctuary, the enemies couldn’t resist. They died like leaves in a storm.
“The hell is this? This just got boring real fast!” Khan shouted.
The others seized the momentum. Khan's fists splattered gray matter, while Karen's flurry of daggers brought down two more.
That made it five on five. In the blink of an eye, the sides were even.
“You blasphemous swine... livestock of the Goddess!”
At last, the priest stepped forward from the rear. He paid no mind to his fallen subordinates. His bloodshot eyes were locked solely on Leon, burning with pure, bottomless hatred.
Never before had Leon encountered such focused malice. His Aura Sense prickled as if his skin were being seared. Clearly, the priest’s fury had been triggered by the sacred spell he had just used.
“I will exterminate you all.”
With a frigid voice, the priest raised his hand and snapped his fingers. And at that single movement, blood burst from the chests of the four remaining exolaw wielders.
No, the blood wasn’t the main part. That was just a splash. What the priest had torn out—were their hearts.
Still beating, they pulsed and spilled blood into the air. None of their owners survived. Shocked by the sudden loss of their hearts, they convulsed, then fell still. The priest had killed his own four subordinates with a single gesture.
“
Ah
... how tragic. That the precious lives of my faithful must be spent to stop these brigands...”
Black tears streamed from the priest’s eyes, but his despair was genuine. That’s what made it all the more horrifying as he turned his gaze on the group.
He grasped the floating hearts in his hand and said, “Now behold, fools! Witness the true grace of God!”
His grip tightened, and the hearts exploded under the pressure. Blood and viscera sprayed in every direction. Many winced at the grotesque spectacle—yet what followed was even worse.
“Wha...”
Caesare faltered, raising his flail. Khan clenched both fists with a curse, and Karen staggered back several steps, cold sweat on her brow.
Leon was no exception. He muttered, “This is insane...”
Before their eyes, blood and flesh churned in a vortex. The priest, now at its center, had already lost any human shape.
His body was kneaded like clay, bones cracking under tremendous force, his frame pulped and reassembled again and again. And as if that weren’t enough, it swelled.
In mere seconds, the lump of flesh had swollen past six meters. Caesare hurled his iron ball just to keep things in check, but it bounced off harmlessly.
Its transformation wasn’t over yet. From its bulbous lower half, eight legs erupted—hard, segmented limbs covered in chitinous plates, like those of some gigantic desert scorpion.
The upper half remained humanoid in form, but six arms now jutted from its torso, blood-red and rippling with inhuman strength, almost resembling the Asura the demon. Eyes bulged from every inch of its grotesque frame. A creature so far removed from nature’s laws, even calling it a monster felt like an insult to monsters.
“Behold, you worms! Witness this glory! The true god who grants such power to mere man is the one worthy of worship!”
The monstrous bellow rattled the air, nearly knocking them off balance with sheer force. Seeing that, none of the four hesitated. They charged as one with a unanimous thought.
We need to end this now!
That body wasn’t just large and hideous—it was dangerous. Once it adapted to using all those limbs, it would grow exponentially more lethal. And if it was already this powerful under Sanctuary’s suppression, then once the sacred spell faded, its threat could be out of this world.
“
Hup
!”
Caesare let out a sharp grunt and swung his weapon. The whirling ball of iron shrieked like a swarm of hornets, cloaked in a spiral of blue Aura.
As it struck, a deafening impact rang out as the giant reeled back. For something that massive, weighing in the range of tons, to be flung airborne, the strike must’ve packed mountain-shattering power.
Yet it scoffed.
“
Hah
. That’s all?”
Though two of its arms were crushed and displaced, they quickly popped back into place. It had taken the full brunt of Caesare’s sacred spell-infused strike and walked away unscathed.
Khan followed up immediately. Using the window created by Caesare’s blow, he darted beneath the beast’s legs.
“You smug son of a—!”
Then, a barrage of punches erupted like a storm, each one so fast even Leon’s Vision couldn’t track them. Every strike hammered into the monster’s underbelly, each one powerful enough to tear steel.
However, the creature merely grinned—and struck back.
“
Gah
?!”
It had a tail. A monstrous stinger the size of a lance lashed toward Khan. He dodged just in time, barely deflecting its path—but even that made his knuckles ache.
Had he taken it head-on, he’d be dead with a hole in his stomach.
“This is insane! It blocked everything?!”
Karen, who had used the chaos to launch daggers from behind, shouted in disbelief. Even those had been deflected.
“Now, it’s my turn!” the creature shouted and leaped into the air.
Its sheer bulk shocked the rush team into scattering—just in time for six massive fists to crash down. The ground shuddered violently, as though the entire underground was collapsing.
A direct hit would mean instant death. A glancing one, critical injury.
“
Kuhahaha
! The power surges through me! You really are like bugs!”
Dust clouds exploded from the impact, but a few swings of its tail scattered them all. The difference in mass was staggering. So too was the difference in power. Only the Holy Sword could truly damage it now.
“
Keugh
...”
Leon gritted his teeth, his eyes fixed on the holy weapon in his hand.
Dammit. No good. If I can’t kill it in one strike, it’ll most definitely fixate on me. If that happens...
He couldn’t reveal the Holy Sword until the monster behind City Swallowing appeared. And that was already drawing near. He had no time—and no way through this brute.
It was a perfect stalemate.
Then—
Ah.
A spark of insight struck Leon. Karen, the Keeper, Shadow Step. He had seen those on Karen’s stat window shown by El-Cid. He ran toward Karen, who was throwing dagger after dagger knowing it had little to no effect.
“Karen!”
The roar of the creature was so loud he had to shout.
“What?!”
She didn’t even look back, so Leon leaned in close and shouted, just loud enough for her alone to hear.
“I need your help! I need your power!”
“What, you’ve got a plan?!”
“I’m going behind the giant! We’re not here to fight it—we need to stop the ritual first!”
Karen hesitated, then shook her head.
“No good! It’s watching its back too! Unless you can teleport, there’s no way around it!”
“Then let’s jump through space!”
“How?!”
Leon finally snapped.
“You’re the Keeper, aren’t you?! I won’t tell anyone. Just help me out!”
“
Eck
.”
“I don’t know what your story is, but if we fail, we all die! Me, you—everyone in Blaine! Enough with the half-assed act! Just take me through the shadows already!”
Karen’s eyes widened in shock. For a moment, the empty calm in her gaze flashed with killing intent—but she wasn’t foolish enough to try silencing him in this situation.
There was no time to hesitate. With a long sigh, she growled out her answer.
“Fine! I’ll help you, all right?! Dammit, if you knew, you could’ve said something sooner! This is so freaking embarrassing!”
“You would’ve thrown that dagger right into my heart first thing if I had!”
“Obviously! A lady’s secrets are sacred!”
She tossed back the retort with a grin, then sprinted forward. Leon dashed after her.
He had seen the skill in the stat window: Shadow Step. It could cross space, but surely, not very far. Even top-tier mages couldn’t teleport kilometers—and assassins only needed to move meters, not miles.
Ten meters max, maybe a little more.
It would be just far enough to get behind the giant without drawing its attention, but still out of its field of view. The two closed the gap, inch by inch until Karen stopped in her tracks.
“This is it. From here, you’re on your own. If I disappear too, it’ll catch on instantly.”
“Don’t die,” Leon said to Karen.
“
Huh
. Can’t believe I’m hearing that from someone from the Church.”
She gave him a strange look—then reached out. At that moment, a shadow surged upward and swallowed him whole. Leon didn’t resist. He let the darkness pull him in.
“
Ah
.”
And just like that, he found himself behind the giant.
Gotta move fast.
There was no time to waste. He sprinted uphill without drawing on his Aura. The light of the sun would attract the creature’s attention. He relied solely on his physical strength, charging as fast as he could.
Fortunately, the ritual site wasn’t far. In less than a minute, Leon crested the rise and opened his eyes wide.
This is it...!
The heart of the ritual and the core of City Swallowing. A hole gaped open in midair, black and fathomless. It was not a space the human eye could perceive. No matter the observer’s vision, this was simply unobservable—a rip in space leading to the outside.
And at the center of that abyss floated something glowing red, like a giant gem. Leon knew what it was instantly.
“That’s... the bait. The essence of life,” he muttered.
—That’s right, came El-Cid’s low voice. —The product of sacrificing thousands. Maybe tens of thousands.
Leon clenched the hilt of his sword. Now he understood why Evil must not be allowed to exist. Why even the Church, so adamant about forgiveness and redemption, showed no mercy when it came to them.
They must be eradicated. Every last one.
With that conviction, he stepped forward. First, destroy that red gem. The rest could come later. Even if they lost and died, at least City Swallowing would be stopped.
—Leon...
Leon raised his sword, golden Aura starting to gather at the edge. Holy power shimmered across the blade, coalescing into brilliant light—
However, El-Cid cried out, —Leon! Get back!
He snapped Leon out of it, and Leon leaped back just in time.
A monstrous shape came crashing down from above. Six arms, eight legs, one massive stinger. It was the butchered, chimeric form of the giant, blocking his path.
No way... how?
Even if his absence had been noticed, how had it caught up this quickly? The others should have been buying him time. Well, the answer arrived almost immediately.
“Wings...?”
Leon’s expression twisted in disbelief. He stared at the membranous flaps now fluttering on the thing’s back.
Of course. It flew.
“Give up, you dog of the goddess.”
The monster’s tone was no longer mocking. This time, it spoke in a quiet, level voice.
“You missed your last chance. Accept the grace of my god... and the death that comes with it.”
To that, Leon raised his sword and snarked, “You don’t even look like a dog, and here you are barking like one.”
There was no chance of victory, but the job of a Hero is to always aim for it anyway. That’s what his teacher, El-Cid, had told him.
“Here we go.”
That was when El-Cid chimed in, —
Tch
. Guess I’ve got no choice.
Leon’s body suddenly moved on its own. His fingers, wrist, elbow, and shoulder shifted smoothly, forming a stance he’d never quite managed before.
Well, not never learned. He just had never pulled it off.
—You gave it your all. So I’ll help—just this once.
El-Cid took control of Leon’s body. It wasn’t even his, yet the movement was far more natural, the power perfectly balanced. Even just feeling the flow was a lesson in itself.
—Watch carefully, you dummy student.
Facing the monster frozen in awe from the unknown pressure, El-Cid drew his sword technique for the first time in centuries: the Grand Chariot.
Seven stars rose, and among them, the second shone brightest.
Heavenly Jade Second Form: Merak.
A burst of starlight flared from the blade and sliced across the giant’s neck.