Chapter 872
Sudden appearance of the angel.
Unlike the angels we’ve seen so far, he presented a completely different sight.
An angel wielding the power of ‘Upper’ order.
Everyone here, except for one, gazed at him with awe, overshadowed by the appearance of an angel incomparable to the lower and intermediate ranks.
He bore two pure white wings, and the vast Holy Power around him shimmered.
Even Lily couldn’t do anything but watch him…
‘?’
Lily’s hammer started moving.
“Cease the destruction of the statue. I won’t tolerate any more uproar.”
“He’s not really Upper, is he? Just a bit boosted from Intermediate? Though he is at the bare end of Intermediate.”
“Rudeness…”
Boom!
A colossal chunk of ‘light’ in the shape of a hammer smashed down upon the angel.
The angel hurriedly crossed his arms to block the attack, but ultimately failed and was sent flying far away.
Feeling the crisis, the knights quickly dodged as well, but thankfully, the attack wasn’t directed at them.
Swoosh…
“Laguiel?”
“What in…?”
“Haah… Haah…”
It was only because Laguiel nullified the damage that they were still standing.
Gasping for air, Laguiel shot a light arrow into the air.
Crackling…!
The holy magic contained in the arrow burst forth, enveloping the surroundings like a shield.
“Stay back. Currently, Lady Lily is not in her right mind.”
“I know that…”
“What the hell happened? Did the angels decide to intervene?”
“That’s… Ugh?!”
Once again, the hammer of light came crashing down.
Since the angel wasn’t dead yet, Lily swung her hammer once more.
With an incredible aftermath, the surrounding area was torn apart as both Laguiel and the knights were hurled away.
The knight quickly pulled out Griffin’s shield to mitigate the impact, and the other guild masters pitched in as well.
The only one doing absolutely nothing was Neris, the Master of the Magic Tower.
Feeling utterly useless, Neris started observing Lily.
‘…She’s definitely not herself.’
There was always something Lily would do when she started fighting.
She would move any user or resident nearby to a safe distance to avoid getting swept up.
Anyone who could hold their own was left as is, but she always made sure those who wouldn’t be of help or could not survive the battlefield were kept safe.
Had Lily been in her right mind, she would have moved the knights, who were largely irrelevant in the current fight.
‘She’s not identifying friends or foes… We clearly agreed not to engage.’
But things were different now.
Now, it seemed she didn’t care whether they got swept up or not.
‘As if she doesn’t care if they live or die at all.’
“……”
With her overwhelming power, she pressed the angel hard, and the angel, who had been on the receiving end of attacks, seemed to summon a massive spear in mid-air, possibly out of anger.
Lily’s expression shifted to one of intrigue upon seeing the spear.
“A spear?”
“The statue is a fortress meant to protect this world from the ‘Demon Realm,’ the source of evil. It’s not something you can just destroy—”
“I have my own spears to wield.”
Behind Lily, countless spears flared into existence.
Each spear bore power that surpassed even the highest-ranked players, and even now, more spears continued to materialize.
The angel, clutching his colossal spear, glared at her confidently.
“Do you really think you can endure the spear bestowed upon you by that being with just that amount of power?”
“Yes.”
“…You’ll regret this.”
The moment the countless spears were about to collide with the colossal spear, Laguiel quietly remarked to the knights.
“We need to dodge.”
“Uh?”
“This place is about to become a disaster zone. If we don’t get out now, we’re all toast.”
“How? I can’t even use magic to teleport.”
No matter how far they ran or flew, they wouldn’t withstand the aftershock of those two clashing.
In response to Neris’ question, Laguiel pointed silently to the void.
The gleaming door still opened.
Neris cast a slightly skeptical glance at her.
“…Are you suggesting we trust the angel now that she’s here?”
“Of course not. I won’t force you. I’m just…”
“Just?”
“…Trying to prevent the worst-case scenario. The scenario where Lily ends up killing all of you.”
If that happened, Lily’s public image would hit rock bottom indeed.
At least Laguiel didn’t want to see such a future, even if the other angels didn’t mind.
“What should we do, Alliance Leader?”
“Alliance Leader, make the call.”
“Alright. Knight, you decide.”
All gazes turned to one place.
In the end, it fell to the leader to make a decision.
“…Let’s go.”
The knight nodded.
There was no chance of survival if they stayed here; their only option was to leave.
He wanted to reason with Lily more, but now that things had escalated, it would be pointless to try talking to her when she was in such a frenzied state.
Laguiel bestowed a small mark of wings upon all his companions.
The wing mark provided a one-time minor levitation buff and guided them through the door.
He could feel Lily’s gaze, brandishing her spear far away.
There was a peculiar glint in her eyes, neither disappointed nor happy.
‘It feels like she’s waiting for something…’
“Knight! We need to go now!”
“Ah, got it!”
Thus, everyone crossed through the door of light.
Boom!
The two forces clashed.
■
The news of the clash between Lily and the angel spread like wildfire.
It became a fast topic of discussion for the simple reason that Lily’s broadcast was already on.
And the impact of their clash turned out to be larger than anticipated.
“Did you hear? A whole city was wiped out.”
“It was absolutely insane. Thankfully, the NPCs evacuated; if not, they would have all died.”
“They’re ridiculously strong. What one user…”
The city in the kingdom where the statue stood was literally ‘erased.’
Though it wasn’t a large kingdom, it was of decent size with around 10,000 residents.
Lily had caused a ruckus beforehand, so people managed to evacuate, but the fact that their homes had been wiped off the map was rather shocking for them.
Of course, demons were busy shattering dozens, if not hundreds, of homes at that very moment too.
“Isn’t Lily going a bit too far?”
“Right? She’s gone completely nuts. They say the angel’s dead, too?”
“That’s right. She tried talking to the angel, but just killed him outright.”
“I watched the broadcast, and it was insane. She moved her spears like a monster.”
The angel was indeed dead.
Though he had struggled fiercely with that massive spear, Lily showed no mercy as she maneuvered thousands of spears, tearing him apart.
In the end, a door opened, and a ray of light descended, but since the ‘Spear of Rest’ was precisely thrust into his heart, it was safe to assume he was gone.
At least, that’s what the users who witnessed the broadcast believed.
“But isn’t she technically an angel herself? So why warn against partnering with angels?”
“Honestly, who knows? Maybe she just hates herself?”
“They say it’s a penalty.”
“Is the penalty really that strict? I mean, I’ve been watching from the start of the broadcast, and it seemed that way even then.”
Lily’s status, built up high over time, was not created through sheer luck.
It was the result of her effort, struggles, and dedication over many years, but it could come crashing down in an instant.
“I’m thinking of partnering with an angel.”
“What if Lily comes after you?”
“Ah, well, what’s she going to do? A good 80-90% of users are already on the side of angels, so would she kill them? That would just damage her own image.”
“They would wipe them all out, apparently.”
“……”
The angrier Lily got at the destruction of angels, the more the demons would thrive.
When demons thrived, people inevitably sought out angels for survival.
As more people became connected to angels, Lily would inevitably explode with rage, plunging everyone into an endless cycle.
To solve this cycle, either the demons or angels would have to disappear, but clearly, that wasn’t a viable situation.
As all angel statues and everything related was being destroyed, the situation was reaching a catastrophic level.
That’s when it happened.
‘The time has come.’
The real ambush began.
■
The gate of the Demon Realm opened, but the end of the world didn’t arrive immediately.
An apocalypse only begins when the God of the Dead or the God of Balance isn’t subdued within 180 days, and right now it’s more like a ‘mini-apocalypse’, akin to a ‘trial run of the apocalypse’.
However, even that trial run apocalypse didn’t happen immediately.
“Are you ready?”
‘Yeah. I’ve gathered enough power.’
Even if the door opened, it didn’t mean the God of the Dead would reveal himself here.
The only ones able to act here, at this moment, are the top-ranked Dead One, Abid, and the clown.
And they were just waiting for this moment.
“Phew, it’s good that you have a lot of patience. If you had said let’s strike now, it might have been a bit awkward.”
‘I had no intention to strike right away. By the way… Is it certain?’
“Of course! Trust me!”
The clown smirked.
Currently, that ‘being of light’ harbored an extreme hatred for angels and was in opposition to the living beings of this world.
In this situation, if they strike at the heart of their cities or alliances, humans would have no strength to resist and would crumble.
Why?
“Because that angel named Lily absolutely detests ‘light’ more than darkness. Think about it; she hates herself.”
‘……’
“Also, proper ‘hostages’ have been released, so they’ll likely head towards them instead of coming this way.”
‘…It’s a pity we can’t kill them right away. But I will definitely kill the being of light later.’
“Absolutely! We’re gunning for mutual destruction! While those foolish angels are fighting, we’ll tear this place apart! And when she’s exhausted, we’ll dispose of her!”
‘She definitely won’t come here, right? We’re still a bit short of power to kill the being of light.’
“Without a doubt.”
The clown smirked confidently.
“While she continues to hate ‘light’, everything will proceed as planned.”
