I'm the Only Totem in Another World - Chapter 98

Chapter 98: 7 Paladins （8）

Asha was hundreds of meters away, but she was definitely looking at me. Maybe Asha also had superior dynamic vision like Rake, who had better vision than ordinary humans.

“I have arrived.”

It was a quiet and low voice, but her voice was clearly audible even from that distance. It was the power of magic.

Asha, who had been staring intently at Totem No. 3, shifted her gaze towards Rake. Rake had been glaring at Asha for a while now.

Both of their eyes were filled with murderous intent. They looked like they could kill a person with their gaze.

“Did that woman put vain thoughts into Malak-nim’s head?”

Rake frowned at Asha’s pointing finger.

“She must have whispered quietly with a serpent’s tongue, clouding his judgment.”

“You…!”

━ Endure it. It’s the nonsense of a monster.

I stopped Rake from baring her fangs and prevented the argument beforehand. This kind of conversation would only lead to emotional exhaustion.

Even if they are half-god, half-human, they are still half-human. Humans make mistakes when their emotions run high.

━ Calm your heart. My guardian. Don’t waste your emotions talking to the enemy.

She was about to face a big confrontation, so it would be okay to say this much.

“…I apologize. I almost showed you an unsightly side of myself.”

After taking a few deep breaths, Rake stroked Totem No. 3.

Hmm, it’s warm.

━ Priestess Asha. I descended to save the earth.

“…”

Asha listened quietly.

━ For salvation, to drive the demons from this land, I made the civilized people my followers and accepted the Paladins. What have you done?

I briefly mentioned their cannibalism and the fact that they had inflicted heavy damage on Dina’s Special Forces.

━ You only repeated actions that sowed discord. Just for the victory of your tribe.

“That’s not true! I only acted for the revival of our people!”

━ Not true? Then how were you going to treat the other tribes? Were you going to make them look like that by accepting Tuga’s blessing?

This is what I’ve wanted to ask since before.

“…Only our chosen people can receive Tuga-nim’s blessing. Other tribes will prosper under the protection of our Black Coral Tribe.”

Ha. They just want to seize power and rule. They must have wanted to become the rulers of the world by taking advantage of this crisis.

Did you think I wouldn’t know your dark intentions?

━ You have crossed the river of no return. You wicked ones, there is nothing more to say.

To be honest, I hadn’t thought about it. If I had met Asha before Tuga, at least before she put Dina’s Special Forces in danger, could I have made her an ally?

They are a group with strong military power, so they could have been a great help in fighting the demons.

Although the fact that they practiced cannibalism bothered me, I could have punished them to some extent and prevented them from doing it again. And if they didn’t comply, I could have executed them.

But it was a futile thought. How could I fix people and use them? No, they are not even human anymore.

“Everyone is ready.”

Dina, standing next to Rake, glanced at me. Behind her, the armed residents were nervously swallowing their saliva.

━ Alright.

I controlled the sea monsters I had killed earlier and placed them in front of the fence. These zombies would serve as the main tank to protect the residents.

“Necromancy…!”

“Why is the forbidden magic?”

“Pro, profane!”

The sea monsters reacted violently. The commotion was loud enough to be heard even here.

“…Are you afraid that you have resorted to necromancy?”

Asha looked at the zombies with wide eyes. She was so surprised that her mane-like hair was trembling.

“Using unholy magic on the corpses of honorable warriors…! Do you not realize how insulting this act is?”

Her chilling gaze turned towards me again. Perhaps because she was an avatar, her eyes were closer to human than crustacean.

The only problem was that they were filled with black pupils without any white. Like the eyes of a demon from a cartoon.

“Are you calling us unholy now? You said we crossed the river of no return? While using necromancy? You hypocrite!”

Asha expressed her anger sincerely. It was pure anger, unlike before when it was mixed with disappointment, regret, and lingering feelings.

I didn’t bother to answer. It wasn’t worth responding to.

“I will no longer try to understand your weakness. I will prove with force that Malak-nim is wrong!”

Asha chanted a spell and summoned black flames. The flames burned the reed field and advanced towards us. Was she going to burn us all down since we were surrounded by reed fields?

I can’t let that happen. I used the “Malak’s Domain” blessing to summon clouds.

Swoosh━

The rain falling from the clouds suppressed the flames and extinguished the fire.

“As expected of the Wind and Rain God!”

“Long live Malak-nim!”

The residents rejoiced, but it was too early to be relieved.

“Ra Menta. Ju Bara. Den Kura…!”

Asha was buffing the sea monsters. The buffed sea monsters doubled in size.

A gigantification spell? Well, I expected this much. They probably didn’t think they could face us with 180 people at the level of lower demons.

And war wouldn’t be that easy.

“Roar━!”

The sea monsters, now over 3 meters tall, trampled on the burnt reeds and approached us. Their speed had also doubled, as they were very fast.

I gave the armed residents the “Strengthening Tattoo” blessing and activated the “Healing Totem.”

I didn’t forget to build a defensive line with the sea monster zombies at the forefront.

Preparations were complete.

“…Ha.”

Hanna let out a long sigh and drew her sword.

[Not a Netkama: They’ve doubled in size…]

[Not a Netkama: It’s starting now]

[Not a Netkama: I’ll message you again later]

[Not a Netkama: We’ll win for sure]

She had been sending me private messages until just now.

Yes, we have to win.

“Shall we go?”

Dina’s Special Forces, Rake, and Hanna were all looking at me. They were waiting for my command.

━ Wait.

Not yet. Just a little longer. Just a little.

Now.

━ Go.

At my permission, the seven warriors shot out like lightning. They would jump into the midst of the enemies and wreak havoc on their formation.

Minimizing friendly casualties by jumping into the enemy ranks and wiping them out. This is how you fight an asymmetric war, no, a superhuman battle.

“Paladins!”

“They’ve come to protect their prey! Hold them back!”

“Kill the prey first!”

Perhaps because they were an army and not just a scouting party, the sea monsters moved more systematically. They were also survivors of the apocalypse who had constantly fought demons. We couldn’t underestimate them.

It was disgusting how they still called the residents “prey.”

The ones giving orders must be the squad leaders. We had to kill them first.

━ Kill the one with the blue helmet, the one with the bone armor, and the one with the skull at the end of their spear.

“Yes!”

Rake, who was running at the forefront, spotted them and attacked.

“Celestial Wings.”

Wings made of light sprouted from Dina’s back. She had a flight skill too.

It must be a skill that can be learned at least at level 6 or 7.

“Light Explosion.”

The sea monsters directly hit by the light Dina scattered from the air were flung away as if they had been hit by a car.

It didn’t deal much damage because they weren’t demons, but it served its purpose as crowd control.

The other Paladins took care of the ones that had been flung away.

“Hyaah!”

Gukbap’s hammer struck a monster’s leg, Jackson’s dual swords severed its right arm, and the Bella sisters’ swords pierced its heart.

It was perfect teamwork.

“Damn it! You bastards! Die!”

Hanna was also diligently swearing while taking their lives. It was quite a spectacle.

Rake, who was beheading the squad leaders, Dina, who was pouring out area-of-effect attacks, Hanna and the Special Forces diligently taking care of the grunts.

Everyone was doing their job well.

I turned the sea monsters they killed into zombies and had them block the path of those heading towards the village. I had to keep an eye on everything, it was chaotic.

Otaku game commanders have it easy… Why do I have so much to do?

Oh! Black energy was shot towards Dina, who was floating in the air!

━ Watch out!

Dina dodged it by moving her wings, but the energy relentlessly targeted her as if it had an auto-tracking function.

The owner of the energy was Asha. She, who had been slowly approaching under the escort of monsters with large shields, had finally entered the battlefield.

“Tsk.”

Perhaps thinking she couldn’t dodge it, Dina struck the energy with her light-infused sword. There was an explosion with a bang!

━ …!

I couldn’t see Dina because of the smoke. I hoped she was okay since she was level 8, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious.

“I’m alright.”

Dina emerged from the smoke with her armor slightly singed. Good. She seemed fine.

“Malak-nim…!”

Asha, who had gotten close, raised her hands. A tremendous energy gathered at her fingertips.

━ Rake.

“Yes!”

Rake moved towards Asha. She understood my intentions with just a gesture now.

I used the “Totem of Chaos” on Asha, who was within range.