In a World without God

Chapter 27

Crackling sounds echoed as spiders gathered around. The spiders crawled into the cocoon where Laotou slept. It looked as if the cocoon had been painted black. However, not one of the many spiders touched the inside of the cocoon, Laotou's body. They were protesting against Edulis.

"Not a single finger can be lifted against Lady Laotou. Back off. Otherwise, you will die!'... Edulis..." Aruru said, his voice trembling. Terrified, Aruru hid in Edulis' arms. Edulis didn't respond to Aruru's words. With his hands on the ground, he stared at the man who had attacked him.

"Who are you?"

"I am the keeper of Lord Laotou's slumber."

The man's appearance was peculiar. His hair was graying, yet his face was younger than his years, giving no indication of his age. He lacked a right eye and right arm, and his face and half his body were covered in dark, sooty stains, entwined with black spider webs.

Edulis knew about the stains. No, he wasn't just aware of it. Because Bosha had died from that very stain! It was the witch's poison.

"O you tainted by the witch's poison! Do not stand in my way, for I must awaken Laotou to dispel the pervasive lies in this land with the light of Goddess Lutea.

"You talk big for a child who rolls on the floor because he can't parry a single blow."

Edulis rolled his eyes and chewed the flesh in his mouth. The man held a long axe spear that was more than twice his height. Edulis recognized the spear. It was Laotou's weapon.

Edulis wondered. Who was this man? If Laotou trusted him enough to entrust him with his weapon, there was no way Bosha didn't know him.

"Get out of the way! I'm in a hurry!"

Magick sizzled from Edulis's body. Edulis lifted his right foot to just below his knee and slammed it down on the ground. Shaking the ground is Bosha's specialty. Edulis leaped upward at the same time. He swung his body vertically as if he were a saw blade cutting through wood.

Clang!

Axe spear and curved sword clashed. The man stood unmoving like a boulder hit by a pebble, blocking Laotou's cocoon. Edulis, on the other hand, was flung backward, landing ten steps away from the man.

"How...." Edulis's pupils widened. His eyes widened and he glared at the man. The man wore pure white magi all over his body. Just like Igrainne and the Apostles! Of course, his purity was far from that of Ygraine and the Apostles but the very idea of a human operating a white magick was absurd.

Any human could accumulate white magick by refinement. But it cannot be used. You can't let it flow through your body, and you can't send it out. It can only be accumulated by monks as a measure of their faith, and compared to each other for the purity of its color. Even though he was born with a lump of white magick, Edulis could use no more than a strand of hair. Yet, what was this man?

"Go away, child, you cannot disturb Lady Laotou's rest."

The man swung his large axe spear in one hand. It batted away Edulis's sword as easily as if he were swatting away a mosquito or a fly.

"If it is not with Laotou, I will not return."

"Then you will never get out of here."

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

Like maple seeds blowing in the wind, Edulis's body whirled in midair several times, drawing a black arc. It was an attack that could only be unleashed by someone who had mastered the Black Fang Sword Technique. He twisted his center of gravity in midair, unleashing a series of attacks.