Goblin Knight - Chapter 378
Only Krnovel
EP.378 □□, □□
In fact, it’s not that uncommon for monsters to use imagery.
A typical example is the howl of Peer, which shows off one’s strength to the opponent and paralyzes them with fear.
Imagery is the act of forcing one’s inner self onto another person.
The more primitive the nature, the more monotonous the mental world becomes and the easier it is for others to ‘understand’, so monsters with low intelligence usually express their mental world through fear…
In the present case, that was not the case.
‘Do you… understand the principle…?’
The aforementioned peers and such are instinctive and cannot be actively utilized.
At best, it is enough to take the soul of a lower-level opponent, but it is difficult to gain an advantage over an opponent of the same level.
High-level imagery is on a different level.
Since you are forcing the phenomenon of your inner world onto others, you can do anything as long as you draw that image clearly.
However, it is difficult to the point of being impossible to get that clear image.
It’s hard enough to conjure up images that seem as vivid as reality, but you also have to make your enemies feel like it’s real.
The reason Goethe was able to create this level of imagery was not only because the flames of the Holy Fire were his life itself, but also because he had seen and experienced this scene dozens or hundreds of times and had it imprinted in his mind.
So, if you think rationally.
Even if that goblin had learned the principles of mental images from somewhere and had learned what they were through this experience… it would be impossible to even imitate the unfolding of mental images.
Even if by some chance his talent blossoms and his imagination is revealed, his original intention will not change.
It was impossible to break Goethe’s image, which had already been formed so concretely.
This is impossible… … .
Why.
Is he really that scared?
‘… … Finish it quickly!!’
Hwaruk!! As the prayers of the believers around the temple grew louder, the flames of the sacred fire that imprisoned him and the goblin also rose higher.
White, blazing lights flashed above the praying congregation, and from there, chains of blue flame shot out at the goblins.
Charuk- Chalkang!! The chains shot out at a speed that did not even allow for a reaction, tying up the goblin’s two arms.
Goethe shouted, aiming his spear of flame at the man’s heart.
“I, we! are the servants of the law who execute the great will before anyone else, and the spear of sanctification that pierces and burns the evil that blocks His path!!”
As I recite each word of the prayer, my spirit becomes more elevated and my images become clearer.
The scene where his spear pierces the heart of evil and destroys it while the sacred chains burn both of its arms, rendering it unable to do anything.
If the image has become this clear, then nothing can turn it around.
Goethe, confident of victory, kicked the ground, rushed forward, and thrust out the blade.
“Be purified, you scars that are not of this world!!”
Hurrruk!!
He wraps a blue flame large enough to cover the entire image around the tip of the spear and stabs it into the green flesh.
That’s the end. Goethe let out a sigh of relief and looked beyond the flames that had briefly obscured his vision…
“……ah?”
White… something.
Something that appeared to be nothing but pure white was enveloping the goblin above the burning temple, deflecting the tip of his spear.
Immediately afterwards it disappeared, waving like pure white hair, but Goethe could not understand at all what had happened to him now.
This is his mind, a realm where no impurity other than what he has imagined can invade.
“what!!”
He swings a spear wrapped in flames around his neck.
Ka-kak!! Once again, the window was blocked by something.
This time, the identity was clear, but it was a sight that was all the more incomprehensible.
This time, what blocked his window was something like a skeleton bone that had burst out of a rift in space.
“This, this… what… … ?”
“… … It’s not going as well as I thought.”
In the midst of vague confusion.
The goblin, who was held in blazing chains and writhing in pain that burned even his soul, muttered in a calm voice.
“I thought it would look a little more grand. Is it because I still lack practice? Or… … .”
Kakang!!
Two swords that he had not allowed to appear appeared from the sky, shattering the chains and pinning them to the ground.
It was a featureless longsword, and a toothless iron sword.
“Is it because even those people are not in my imagination?”
“───”
“Certainly. They are the ones who created my world, but it would be a stretch to call them the origin. My origin. The star I dreamed of that day, the one I would reach someday… … .”
“How come─ how are you so fine!?”
Gradually, the anxiety that was becoming a reality enveloped him, and Goethe swung the blade with all his might.
The goblin pulled out the swords stuck in the ground and slashed them upwards, striking the spearhead.
Kagang!! The spear wrapped around the Holy Fire bounced off. Even though what he was aiming for was to melt those two swords the moment the spear touched them.
Goethe, who had set down the window, distorted his face and shouted in a curse.
“Why can I win!!”
Dozens and hundreds of enforcers rose at once, surrounding the goblin with a speed only imaginable, each swinging their swords.
Pupupupupupu… …! Literally thousands of flesh-and-blood sounds stabbed and tore at the goblin.
It would have been so messy that it would have been hard to tell what the shape of the beehive was.
No, that wasn’t the case.
At the same time that a pure white full moon appeared horizontally, the bodies of the executioners surrounding the goblin slid diagonally and were cut in half, spraying blood.
Goethe, with a desperate look on his face, quickly clasped his hands together and asked in a screaming voice.
“Why- why don’t you die!!”
Clap!! At the sound of applause, the sacred fires surrounding the temple all flew towards the goblins.
Kwaaaaa… …! A blue conflagration so huge it looked like a waterfall of light burned the goblin’s body.
But that was only for a moment. The shadow in the flames grew larger in an instant, and a goblin leapt out of the flames, raising his left hand high.
The featureless longsword in his hand.
I got hit by it-
“──That’s!!”
Tsuk!!
Because the spear that was trying to block the sword was cleanly cut down.
To the bewildered Goethe, the goblin said:
“Because I don’t admit all of that!!”
Boom!! The monster’s kick slammed into his chest.
His body flew through the air with a shock that made his heart stop – no, that couldn’t be, this was his imagination. Being attacked couldn’t be happening!
Goethe, who had instantly recovered his body, restored his position, and fixed his spear, was about to thrust it out.
Before he knew it, the goblin’s missing sword was slicing through his body.
“Ugh, ah-”
“I do not accept it!! Evil persecutes good, the weak are being eaten up! This world where power is considered justice!! And yet you dare to call yourself good, your very image!!”
A pain that felt like a saw was cutting through my shoulders and stomach. It was impossible. The ruler of this place was himself… … .
“You think you are good? That blue fire is the holy fire that burns evil!? Open your eyes and look! Don’t turn your eyes to this dazzling space, and look at the sight outside!!”
Kkwaddeok!!
The goblin, who had still not recovered, grabbed Goethe’s head and swung his toothless sword again.
The space was split, and the tragedy that had been hidden from sight was uncovered.
The countless corpses of those they killed, regardless of whether they were monsters or humans, and those who were dying.
“You have destroyed the belief that things could get better with your dirty betrayals, and you have shown no mercy to those who are simply trying to escape for their lives! You have forced your family and friends to kill or be killed, and you have even personally shot and killed those who follow you! This is the work of the very person you are trying to protect!!”
“That is, for the greater good-”
“You’re forcing someone to do evil for the sake of good!? How can you call something good in someone like that!!”
The goblin, who had closed the unearthed tragedy again, threw his head onto the temple floor.
Crunch!! The sound of a skull breaking was clear. It was his. No, not mine, I, I, I am still-
“I won’t admit it. I can’t admit it! The person who wishes for such a tragedy is the object of faith! Everything he calls right and sacred!!”
“Then… Then, what are you going to do!!”
in the end.
Goethe, who had admitted that he could not defeat the goblin even in his own imagination, cried out like this.
It happened without even me knowing.
“I know!! I know that what I’m doing might be wrong, that those dying by our swords might not be evil!! But so what!?
If there had been no law, the religious order would not have flourished, and those who followed the faith would not have lived abundant lives… I would not have been alive! The village would have been torn apart and killed by a horde of nameless monsters!
The law has always led us humans to greater good! It deals with great good that a mere individual like me cannot even fathom!! The Lord’s foreknowledge is real!!
“You don’t recognize the will of such a great being because of a petty grumble of an individual? You define it as evil!? Who the hell are you!?”
Slowly rising from the temple floor.
Goethe asked with sparkling eyes.
“Even if you could deny the law, what would you do? Could you come up with an alternative to the law you deny so much!? Do you really think that you are greater than the law!!”
“That’s right!!”
The answer came out without a moment’s hesitation.
While Goethe was dumbfounded… … .
Goblin.
“Advocating small evils to achieve greater good!? That’s the thinking of an ordinary person! Anyone can predict it, and it’s not interesting… It’s just a third-rate story! What’s truly great is gathering small goodness to achieve greater good!!
And I… I will never let go of that dream.
Even though I haven’t reached it yet, I promised, I said I believed in it – I heard that someday I will become great enough to achieve a dreamlike miracle!!”
The temple is collapsing.
The whole world turned black as if in despair, then red as if in anger, then white light embraced everything, and then a void of nothing… After colorlessness (Blanc) came.
Far away, in that distant place.
I saw stars twinkling.
Only then did Goethe realize.
That goblin had it.
And, perhaps… the identity of the image, which even the goblin himself seems not to have properly grasped yet.
It was also an unbreakable sword, but that was only a very small part of it.
It was also a power that made him incredibly strong, but this was only a very small part of it.
The arrogance that never acknowledges the image of an evil person, such as Goethe, and the rage so great that even the power of the archbishop fades… are all derived from that image.
To put it simply, greed.
Greed so enormous it’s absurd.
I was so dumbfounded that I thought, “I guess that’s why I was able to call the law ‘that kind of thing’”, but on the other hand… I thought…
That shouldn’t grow.
The decree is not the problem. It is the ecclesiastical… the power most ‘opposed’ to the power of the first archbishop who acts as the de facto pope.
It is the power to destroy the religious order simply by existing, regardless of whether one likes it or not.
Fortunately, the goblin knew how to unfold or interfere with mental images, but he couldn’t figure out what his own mental images were exactly.
The only time to stop is now.
In the void where only small starlight was scattered, Goethe staggered and formed the last window.
The goblin swung his two swords to his sides, ready to strike.
and.
“Even for that vain dream!! I can’t let you go-!!”
Shouting loudly, he rushed in to stab the spear… at that last moment.
Goethe saw two swords with stars on them.
The window lost its strength.
I don’t know if it was because my body was cut diagonally twice in a split second, or because I saw that light…
Just think.
If I were to give a name to the starlight that shines on those swords.
maybe…….
“□□, □□… … .”
“……what?”
Blanc asked back at Goethe’s incomprehensible mutterings as he fell down.
It was two words whose meaning was completely incomprehensible, as if they were a story stolen by a cobbler… … .
For some reason, I couldn’t feel the ink.
Goethe’s image was shattered.