The masked man did not bother to answer and instead focused on healing himself. However, Noon already understood that he had struck the right cord. He fell into deep thoughts.
'The Cursed Tribe actually had an heir... And he is not any weaker than any regular member of their tribe. Although his level is low, he already knows a few curses and his Curse of Weakness can even affect me despite our difference in levels!'
The Cursed Tribe was the very reason why the previous war started. As their name suggested, they were a tribe centered around curses; they were completely different from the other tribes who worshipped their beast totems.
The curses themselves were not very powerful but they had the unique property of being able to perfectly counter the blessings of the church! With such a huge potential threat hiding among the barbarians, the church naturally did not feel safe. They absolutely needed to get rid of that threat and as a result, led the Sylvester Empire to start a war with the barbarians.
"Very interesting! Using the heir of the Cursed Tribe to bring them out. It could have worked if only you came a bit earlier."
"From your words, it seems that the Cursed Tribe had really not been completely eradicated! The famous barbarian's sacred oath amounts to nothing! You always say that your oaths are absolute and cannot be broken, but this is the very proof that it is not! The pope was right! All this time, you have been hiding the Cursed Tribe!"
Noon calmly looked at the masked man with a smile; he knew the masked man was just buying time to heal his injuries, but he did not seem to be concerned about that. "You are not exactly right! To end the silly war, the barbarians swore that the Cursed Tribe would be wiped off the surface of Zero and that is the case. It is just that instead of living on the surface, they are now leaving underground. So, the oath still holds. If you came a few years earlier, your plan might have succeeded but now, it is too late, the Cursed Tribe have already migrated. Instead of aiming for the central plains, you should maybe search for them in the empire itself!"
The masked man frowned as he once again took a fighting stance. "You think you will win just because the tribe leader outside is free to kill all my troops? Let me tell you, you are completely wrong! By now, the executioners left at the camp should have been alerted and should be on their way. No matter how strong he is, he won't be able to survive the attack of so many knights! Besides, the other barbarians have already retreated, and that little devil won't last for long. I just need to hold a little bit longer and when the reinforcements arrive, we'll easily be able to deal with you!"
Noon remained unfazed by the masked man's comments. He was not scared by his threats and answered, "Stop talking about that man. Although I made a small deal with him, I do not owe him anything and does not need to protect him. Saying that I needed to do so was just to trap your men into attacking! After all, it would be hard for any Commandment to just ignore a dungeon master, right? I worked so hard to create this situation but you have yet to use your skill. Could it be that the Faith is the only one who was not bestowed with a unique skill?"
As he heard Noon's words, the masked man could not help but loudly grind his teeth. However, Noon did not even give him time to answer as he continued, "Since the previous Commandment of Faith died in a duel and he perished without using his unique skill, I thought his skill might have something to do with his allies instead. But maybe I was wrong or could it be that you can bear to watch as the leader of my tribe slaughters your men one by one?"
"You..." The masked man clenched his fists. He did not know how to react to Noon's provocation. 'My unique skill... If I don't do anything, there is no doubt that all the priests out there would die. Even if the reinforcement arrives in time... There is still the problem of that guy. If even I cannot deal with him under the suppression of the barrier, just what would happen once he gets out?'
'My skill... I have been told that I have one but just out is it exactly? My wife... Where are you? It has been so long since we last talked. Are you still angry at me after all these years?'
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Unbeknown to the masked man, after he heard Noon's words, he became lost in his own thoughts. He started to recall the moment he had been officially bestowed his title of Commandment. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember himself receiving any skills!
'Could it be that I really do not have any skill and that is why I can only remain at the bottom of the list... No! No matter what, I cannot lose my faith in god! He must have prepared something, he would definitely not lie to me! This must be a trial to test my loyalty! No matter what, I must believe in him!'
When the masked man finally found his resolve to continue the fight, a few seconds had already passed but Noon had yet to make a move. The masked man slowly raised his head as he faced Noon. "Although you had a chance to attack me, you did not take advantage of my distraction. I would like to thank you for that, but I will not give up! If you think that relying on the tribe leader outside to deal with my men would be enough, you are greatly mistaken! I am not sure how long I can fight you, but at the very least, the tribe leader is going down!"
As he spoke, the masked man suddenly moved as he drew his blade but to Noon's surprise, instead of charging at him, the masked man violently stabbed his own left hand! "I did not want to use this, but since the situation has already developed up to this point, there is nothing to lose in doing that"
"I call upon thee! Thou who have sinned shall now repent! On behalf of the lord, I bestow you this opportunity! Appear and pay the price of your sins!"
In front of a dazed Noon, the masked man loudly shouted as he shook his arms. His movements looked erratic but in reality, if one looked closely, one would notice that each movement would spray part of his blood around him, roughly drawing a summoning circle!
However, even after the masked man finished his incantation, nothing actually occured!
Even after waiting for a few seconds, the masked man stared at the cloudy sky with expectation but to his surprise, nothing actually happened!
"Wait! Since when had it been so cloudy? Wasn't the sky clear just a few minutes ago?" exclaimed the masked man.
"So you finally noticed?" asked Noon while smiling.
"Noticed what?"
"Did you really think that the tribe leader was the only real threat out there? That little lass is not too bad. By using the clouds as a cover, she was able to deflect most of my detection abilities. It looks like the help you call for will never actually arrive. Still, I never expected a member of the church, and a Commandment on top of that to ever summon a Fallen Angel!"
...
High up in the skies, a purple haired harpy was quietly observing the situation while sitting on top of fluffy clouds. She had been staying on top of clouds since the very beginning, anxiously watching as the negotiations went by and even as the battle began, she still forced herself to remain calm as she observed Five's actions.
She had always been ready to strike; if Five was ever put in real mortal danger, she would immediately intervene. Part of her already wanted to fly down and deal with all the humans attacking her master but at the same time, she knew it was a good opportunity for Five to grow. If he always relied on her, he would never be able to deal with situations like these. She wanted to see just how Five had prepared himself for this kind of situation.
While this was indeed one reason for her not to act, another part of her was also scared to appear in front of Five. Deep inside, she was feeling guilty for having left her master to return to her clan, but she never expected that she would eventually return. She steeled her heart to remain by Five's side as a power in the shadows but when she encountered the new harpies, she immediately regretted her decision and yearned to return to the dungeon.
However, would she not be a complete hypocrite if she just turned up? She just did not know how to face Five and in the end, she still kept her distance. She was always on alert and was constantly watching Five's enemies but out of nowhere, her instincts suddenly warned her of a terrifying threat approaching.
It did not take long for her to notice the masked man's actions and using him as a reference, Harriet immediately determined the location of the summoning.
Compared to normal summons who usually walked out of their summoning circles, this one was actually coming down from the skies!
When she raised her head to look up, she immediately saw a black silhouette rapidly flying down.
Without hesitation, Harriet deployed her wings and flew upwards. There was no time to lose!
As soon as she saw the black silhouette, she immediately knew what kind of enemy she had to face. "A Fallen Seraphim! 4 wings and he is even level 60... 3 levels above mine..."
In the world where the angels reside, the number of wings an individual possessed was directly proportional to their own power. The majority of the angels only had two wings while the gods themselves would have twelve wings! The seraphim in Harriet's field of view only had 4 wings which was only average in the realm of the angels but according to the standards of the world of Zero, the Seraphim was a top tier powerhouse!
A chill went down Harriet's spine as she saw the enemy she would have to face but, in the end, she still chose to fly toward the seraphim. If she ever let the Seraphim approach Five, then his chances of survival would be even lower. Even without having to look after Five, Harriet never believed she would be able to defeat the Seraphim. Her plan now was only to distract the Seraphim long enough for Five to be able to escape.
"Noon! Since I am dealing with the Fallen Angel, I hope you'll be able to look after my master..." murmured Harriet.
At the same time, she flew straight at the Seraphim but as they were about to collide, the Seraphim actually dodged her and continued to fly downwards, completely ignoring her.
"You want to ignore me? Not a chance! Although I am not your match, I can at the very least, force you to remain here for a while!" exclaimed Harriet whose eyes mysteriously turned blood red.