Chapter 494 — The Monster of Holy Light

Amber felt that everything about the scene before her was wrong. "Hey, wait! You're not following procedure at all! Normally, when you find a sealed chamber like this underground, shouldn't you carefully disarm the traps and then honorably—"

Before the noisy half-elf could finish her fussing, Light had already raised his mechanical power warhammer high, and the heavy, devastating weapon came crashing down on the prayer chamber door with a whistling rush of wind. "Divine Smite!!"

With a thunderous boom, the wooden door burst into splinters. In that brief instant Amber thought she saw something flare to life behind the door and try to rush out—but the next second, a cascade of detonations followed as a torrent of high-explosive shells, heavy grenades, crystal bombs, and unbroken volleys of Holy Light blast smashed headlong into the prayer chamber.

"Boom boom boom boom boom boom..."

The explosions rang out deafeningly, and the entire underground structure of the cathedral shuddered violently. An ordinary building would have had only one fate before such a terrible bombardment—collapse—but as the headquarters of the Church of the Radiant Dawn's southern diocese, the Cathedral of Frostbalance's underground structure was tougher than anyone could imagine; charged with energy, it was sturdier even than the outer city walls. Within that vault, reinforced by countless enchantments, the blast waves rolled on and on like the tolling of a great bronze bell. Over a minute and a half of bombardment, the White Knights expended nearly a hundred grenades, bombs, and shells, and an even greater number of Holy Light blasts—and when the explosions finally subsided, Amber still felt her whole head ringing. Even though she had clapped her hands over her ears at the first instant, it was plain that... the excellent hearing her elven blood granted her was, at a moment like this, a truly deadly weakness.

The instant the explosions ceased, Light charged into the prayer chamber with his warhammer on his shoulder, and the other White Knights followed in his wake.

"Stay sharp!!"

Amid the smoke and dust, Light called out loudly for everyone to keep watch, his gaze sweeping swiftly across the large prayer chamber.

The prayer chamber was already in utter ruin. The Holy Light–blessed floor, walls, and ceiling had all suffered severe damage in that terrible bombardment; startling cracks and teetering flagstones and bricks were everywhere, and between the shattered walls and floor one could still see faint golden light slowly writhing—the remnants of the protective spells striving to hold the supporting structure together and repair the damage the building had taken.

As for the furnishings in the room beyond walls and floor... they had all been blasted out of existence in the explosions.

"Cough... cough..." Amber coughed as she followed at the very rear into the dust-choked room. "You can't do things like this, you're supposed to be... cough... supposed to be clergy, for goodness' sake..."

Light raised a hand, cutting off Amber's loud complaining, and his gaze fell upon the center of the devastated room—where a writhing mass of flesh, crystal, and flowing radiance was gathering at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Amber was startled. "What in the world is that thing?!"

Wright's eyes went wide. Amid the writhing flesh and the uncanny crystalline matter, he caught sight of a torn scrap of cloth, plainly a piece of some magnificent vestment. "...It's the bishop!!"