Chapter 565: Light of Salvation

Translator: imperfectluck  Editor: Kurisu

The battle against the inferno dogmen had ended, but my experiment was just beginning.

A pure Holy Light formed a ball in my hand. I lifted my hand and had the ball of Holy Light float in midair.

“Light of Salvation.”

A pure and gentle Holy Light began illuminating everything from this ball. The aura of the Chaos Abyss was dispelled, while the inferno dogmen who had been corrupted by the Chaos Abyss were pitifully whimpering while rolling around on the ground.

Pure Holy Light was a power of Order. While Holy Light was healing for ordinary creatures, it would be nothing but poison to demons, undead, and creatures of the Chaos Abyss.

“A Holy Knight!”

When I summoned Holy Light, the most astonished person was my “companion” Hakas. He’d never expected that this bastard who was sly enough to have such an easy time in the Chaos Abyss would actually turn out to be a Holy Knight, typically known for piousness and being overly traditional.

This bastard who enslaved him had killed so many people (demons) already without even blinking an eye. Not only that, he constantly scammed and extorted others. Now it turned out that he was actually a Holy Knight with powers of Holy Light? He had yet to become fallen even after behaving so ridiculously?

“Has the God of Holy Light gone blind…?”

It would seem that Hakas, who was a hermit that never left the Chaos Abyss, only knew about older history. Neither he nor the Onibabas knew anything about the current Southern Sect and the existence of a new type of Holy Light.

“There’s no need to burn all these inferno dogmen to death with Holy Light, is there? This Holy Knight is even more vicious than us black dragons…”

But, the next scene absolutely astounded Hakas as he saw something which should have been impossible.

Those inferno dogmen who were rolling around in pain weren’t vaporized into dust as he’d expected. Some time later, the inferno dogmen actually got up on their feet again. Not only that, the Holy Light was actually healing their injuries that the Holy Light had just caused!

Hakas took a closer look and noticed that something seemed to be off. The Inferno dogmen had completely lost all signs of being demonized. Their single horns and dirty scales appeared as if they had been washed completely clean. They now had scales and skin as if they were completely ordinary dogmen.

“What? They were returned to being ordinary dogmen! How is this possible!?”

This seemed absolutely inconceivable to the black dragon, yet the facts were right in front of him.

Everyone had heard of people or species becoming demonized. However, nobody had ever heard of any demonized person or species returning to normal. Holy Knights and priests often shouted about “cleansing the souls of evil creatures”, but this wasn’t what they meant. They meant that Holy Light should be used to directly vaporize evil creatures’ bodies, which would give freedom to their souls.

For Hakas, this was as inconceivable, just as if he had just witnessed a Dracon leaving behind his bloodline and naturally transforming into a true dragon.

Meanwhile, I was highly satisfied with the result of my experiment.

“…I’m truly lucky to have met such a perfect experimental subject. Inferno dogmen are weak and they’re only slightly demonized. Otherwise, the Concept of the ‘Light of Salvation’ wouldn’t have been so effective.”

The Light of Salvation was Holy Light, but it was also different from Holy Light. To understand the foundational reason behind this, I would first have to go back to the battle of Hell.

Death, Holy Light, Law, and Ice were the four major elements that created the entire dimension of Hell. And as Hell gradually matured, its Four Pillars started evolving. Four brand-new powers were produced as a result.

From a certain standpoint, this was the same as the mortal plane with the four major elements of wind, water, fire, and earth. Ice was originally an extension of the concept of water. Thunder was an extension of wind. Various concepts such as swamp and magma were all a part of the earth element.

Although it might seem inconceivable, it would be quite easy to understand if you changed your way of thinking.

The original elements created the plane. But as the plane kept maturing, the plane’s evolution started affecting the foundational elements, changing the elements so that they would be more appropriate for the plane itself. Gradually, similar but also completely different elemental powers would be produced.

Another way of putting it was that the power of the elements would be affected by the individuality of the plane.

This type of elemental evolution already had precedents. The power of Death had evolved into the new power of Hell. Hell magic was a combination of the old Death and Law type magic. All sorts of powerful new spells and Law Incantations were being researched.

So, the Holy Light within the land of Hell would naturally also evolve.

“This is the Light of Salvation…”

This new light was far gentler compared to the original Holy Light. Formerly, Holy Light’s main Concept was “Cleansing”, which was the forceful erasure of anything that didn’t adhere to Order. Now, the Light of Salvation represented “Fixing” and “Undoing”, meaning that it could fix or undo anything irregular that had been corrupted by Chaos.

The Holy Light Envoys of the Southern Sect used Estrada, the “Lord of Dawn” Pillar God, as their automated divine server. Thus, their Holy Light started to gradually change as well. Actual combat data showed that this new type of Holy Light was offensively much weaker than before. Its attack power was much weaker against the undead and demons. However, this new Holy Light had many more miraculous uses.

Someone discovered accidentally that a half-undead woman, who had been infected by an Undead Calamity, that was about to be “cleansed” had instead somehow been restored to being fully living by the Holy Light instead. That woman’s half-undead transformed portions all returned to being living flesh.

That would have still been understandable if she had been a powerful individual. However, that woman had only been a normal farmer’s wife. So, from that point on, this new Pure Holy Light caught the attention of countless Holy Light job class members.

Perhaps it was due to this miraculous salvation that this new Holy Light became known as the Light of Salvation.

“The golden Pillar of Holy Light guides all souls in Hell. All souls shall atone in the Infernos of Hell for their sins. No matter where in Hell they are, all souls shall be able to see the Pillar of Holy Light above them so that they may desire the chance to enter the Cycle of Reincarnation again.”

Perhaps this was all due to the new Hell God Estrada’s different understanding of Holy Light. Or perhaps this was all due to how Holy Light was supposed to represent salvation in Hell to begin with. Regardless, that was how Holy Light obtained the miraculous qualities of the Light of Salvation…

“The Light of Salvation’s attack power against undead and demons is only about half as powerful. It’s also rather slow-acting. If I had used an equal amount of regular Holy Light, these inferno dogmen would have all been ignited to death instead of rolling around in pain. However, this type of new Holy Light that gradually invades the enemy and weakens them might actually be stronger against the more powerful individuals.”

Through experimentation, I had confirmed that this Light of Salvation was much weaker than the original Holy Light. However, its “weakening” actually meant that it could be cast with much longer range. Its penetrative properties and corrosion towards Chaos made it highly suitable for battles of attrition. Perhaps the Light of Salvation wouldn’t be capable of instantly igniting an undead or demon, but it could gradually weaken them and forever strip them of their demonized strength!

“If we have to fight against a Demon God, this Light of Salvation will be far more useful than a Holy Light attack that the Demon God only needs to defend from once. I don’t lack powerful weapons. For me, the Light of Salvation is a better tool than Holy Light.”

Not only that, the Light of Salvation also had a powerful effect against the undead that really appealed to me.

Undead were typically obsessive about something. Stubbornness or a grudge would be their motivation that kept them alive even after death. The corrosion of negative energy would make an undead become more and more insane and a loner. Painful memories of the past would only make an undead sink into endless pain and hatred, making them desire the flesh and blood of the living out of jealousy.

Negative energy powered every undead body. Any undead who was illuminated by Holy Light would either be instantly destroyed or became absolutely infuriated.

But if an undead was instead illuminated by the Light of Salvation, which had the Concept of guiding the dead souls of Hell, not only would that undead be weakened, the Light of Salvation would also gradually eliminate the negative effects of negative energy on the undead’s personality! This would help the undead to return to having logic and reason like when they were still living! They would be just like the natural undead.

Many towers producing the Light of Salvation were erected at the battlegrounds in the Bardi Empire against the undead. When these towers shone the Light of Salvation from a great distance on the undead armies, the undead actually started feeling fatigue, aversion to war, and other such qualities that were almost impossible to see in normal undead. Naturally, this made the undead armies far less dangerous.

“So in summary, being illuminated by light will cure mental illnesses?”

“Although that’s a rather awkward description, that’s indeed correct.”

“I finally know why you chose this Concept now! Your insanity can be cured! You must take your own medicine! You need this light illumination cure right away!”

“…I think that I need to prepare a full-service 48-hour light illumination cure for my cat.”

And when I finished ascertaining the effects of the Light of Salvation, I felt that perhaps I had finished the preparations needed for the creation of my first magic sword.

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