Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: EP.118 33-4. Even a Glass Rose Has Thorns.
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Sophitia's group pressed deeper into the cave, but the interior stretched on endlessly, with no end in sight.
A visibility so poor they couldn't see an inch ahead.
"I'll light the way for now."
Asha invoked her spirit arts to conjure flames that illuminated their surroundings, much like Nex had done before, clearing a path forward.
It was a situation reminiscent of when Licht had first entered the dungeon.
But there were many differences. For one thing, this didn't feel like the lair of the Apostle of Wrath at all—there were too many unnatural elements.
"Why aren't there any guards inside...?"
Unlike the high-ranking monsters standing watch outside, there were no footprints, no shed fur, nothing.
Normally, monsters would swarm from a place like this, blocking off the entrance they'd come through to gain the advantage over intruders.
The apostle had deliberately lured even the monsters from the summit down to sow chaos.
So there was no way they hadn't prepared countermeasures for the chance of their hideout being discovered.
The brilliant strategist Sophitia Coldheart continued forward, unable to shake off the nagging doubts in the back of her mind.
If the white-haired man she'd met just days ago were by her side, he might have been able to explain the contradictions she was sensing.
On top of that, it was eerily quiet. Unnaturally so, like a cave that had never hosted humans or animals from the start.
"A fishy smell..."
Pine, with her keen sense of smell, detected the anomaly first, and the others halted in their tracks. A piercing, metallic tang of blood assaulted their noses.
"Guess we'll need to turn up the heat a bit."
Asha Aureus amplified her spirit arts to brighten the flames. The area lit up like daylight in an instant, revealing...
"Mmph! Mmmph!!"
...a young girl bound with ropes, sprawled across a stone altar. Even in this frigid snow mountain, untouched by blowing flakes.
Her mouth was gagged with cloth, preventing even a scream—if Sophitia's group hadn't arrived, she might have frozen to death.
"These psychos..."
An inverted pentagram drawn in blood encircled the altar, surrounded by a mountain of monster corpses piled in a ring around it.
No, there were human bodies too.
Due to the cold, the corpses hadn't rotted; they looked frozen solid, without a single maggot or insect, as if merely sleeping.
"It was the same at the Head's place—these bastards!!"
What on earth had they been trying to do here?
Drake bellowed loudly, as if for someone to hear, but his voice echoed emptily.
"Wait, Pine..."
At that moment, Pine Granasia strode toward the altar without hesitation.
Bloodstains smeared under her footsteps, sending a chill down their spines, but she paid it no mind.
She was more focused on saving the person than investigating the suspicious pentagram, heading straight for the stone altar.
The Glass Knight's transformation owed much to a certain Black Knight who had rushed into danger without regard for his own life.
"...Disgusting."
Pine untied the ropes binding the little girl and pulled the cloth from her mouth. The freckled redhead finally gasped for air.
"Th-thank you... for saving me..."
"Hey, kid. What's your name?"
Noting the red marks left by the ropes from prolonged binding, Pine frowned beneath her helm and gently coaxed the child's name.
"Esther... Esther."
The northern archduchess and Asha felt an ominous vibe from the girl, but the armored Glass Knight scooped her up and brought her to their side.
"...So, do you know what the Hero Cult was up to here, kid?"
The black-haired woman with bear ears kept her guard up as she questioned her. Everything about this screamed suspicious.
"I... I don't... know... Waaah...!"
The child, overwhelmed by the trauma of the corpses, burst into tears, sobbing against Pine.
"Sorry, Sophi."
"...This feels off."
"Don't cry, Esther. Shh."
With their sole witness wailing too loudly for conversation, the expert in spirit arts pieced her thoughts together and offered her take.
"Looks like they were trying to summon something through human sacrifice."
The inverted pentagram and altar pointed to using the corpses and child as mediums—the most likely scenario.
"This is... an attempt to summon a high-ranking demon? No idea what kind!"
Drake replayed the events in the sunless hideout. It differed from what Licht had told him after the previous incident wrapped up.
Back then, the Hero Cult claimed it was punishment for heretics, but now it seemed they had a clearer goal.
The monsters continually descending on the northern territories, all fixated on breaching the walls; a scheme laid before the Omniknowing Demon King even died.
These three factors terrified the Dragon Slayer, making his sword hand tremble.
"Wait, Pine."
"...What, Sophi?"
Pine soothed the crying child with gentle pats on the back.
"Get away from that kid."
Watching her, the archduchess finally pinpointed the source of her growing unease.
"The bodies around us have been dead for ages, and if they were sacrifices, they wouldn't leave them this sloppy."
Sophitia drew the spear from her back. The ice weapon's tip aimed at Esther's nape.
"Plus, the most likely spot for the apostle to be hiding."
"Wait, Sophi..!"
The Glass Knight drew her sword to block the unhesitating thrust, but it was too late.
"...Having a kid here makes it weird if she's not involved."
She had to look past appearances to the true nature beneath—a lesson from that enigmatic man she'd dined with before.
The cool-headed Sophitia recalled those words and struck at the redheaded girl.
"...Ah, busted."
Esther blocked the spear with her tiny palm, her lips splitting into a grin. She seemed surprised that Pine hadn't sensed the deception.
"I thought I'd fooled you all pretty well. How'd you catch on?"
Even Pine's eyes hadn't pierced the lie.
In truth, the Apostle of Wrath's name was indeed Esther, and she'd deliberately avoided revealing what she knew.
"Well, whatever... At least I can enrage one of you!"
The apostle locked eyes with the closest target, Pine. No matter how much of a masterpiece it was, Pine Granasia's glass armor specialized in anti-magic.
It offered zero resistance to this kind of effect.
"Wh-what...?"
As rage overtook her, her eyes turned crimson, overlaying her golden irises with a bloody hue.
"Damn it!!"
Drake swiftly struck at Esther's neck, but the girl died with a satisfied smile, her goal achieved.
"..."
Even with the caster gone, the princess didn't stir. The red eyes gleaming through her glass helm filled the others with dread.
"A power that lingers after death? I heard the Apostle of Gluttony did something similar..."
This might have been the plan from the start—lure someone in close and provoke the hardest one to fight into rage.
"Pine. You okay...? You are okay, right...?"
Sophitia called her name to check if she was still sane, but
「Glass... Knight...」
Instead of answering, she chanted a glass spell, summoning a massive glass knight from behind her—similar to the one from the grade exam, gripping a greatsword.
"Pine, wait..! Calm down!!"
Boom! The enormous glass sword swung at the northern archduchess, but Drake parried it, sparing anyone injury.
The ground shook, dislodging rocks from above. The glass knight pressed the assault relentlessly, heedless of the cramped space.
"This is bad. If we dispel the spirits, monsters might pour down from the north..."
"I can't swing a blade at my bro's daughter, no matter what!"
Watching the enraged Pine, the others hesitated.
And this was a narrow cave. Letting the Glass Knight rampage could bring the whole place down.
"Even running for the entrance might be too late..."
The archduchess assessed the situation while worrying for her altered friend. Fleeing back the way they'd come wouldn't stop Pine's attacks.
"What do we do...?"
Countering with spirit arts, swordsmanship, or spearmanship wouldn't subdue Pine without harming her. Who could neutralize a princess without injury?
"Pine, snap out of it. You're just angry, right...? Huh?"
In the end, calming her was the best option. Sophitia tried freezing her to halt her movements.
"Let's think this through coolly. Us."
Crackle. Frost formed like rime ice, gradually encasing Pine, but she didn't falter.
「Mirror Mirage.」
She summoned clones to shatter the rising ice wall, then exploited the gap to charge. A horde of glass illusions bore down on the remaining three.
"At this rate, the cave'll collapse!!"
"I can only melt so much glass."
Drake and Asha blocked with sword strikes and spirit arts, but the now-unhindered Glass Knight deliberately smashed the ceiling, raining rocks.
They desperately needed someone to save even one of them.
"Took me forever to find you, my princess."
Suddenly, someone charged into Pine Granasia's flank.
Was it Wolf Fang? A cobalt streak blazed through the cave at blinding speed.
Clang, clink—the sounds of metal and glass clashing rang out repeatedly. He dodged the clones' assaults and shattered them.
"...Why are you so mad? Pine."
The figure in the Black Knight helm, having dispatched the clones with Reverse Scale Thrust and Evil Eye, felt a strange familiarity gazing at the glass knight before him.
"Master!! The princess got hit by the Apostle of Wrath!!"
Licht, escaped from captivity, sighed at the sight of Pine's reddened eyes.
"Pine, you can't take your anger out on others."
"..."
Unlike the grade exam, he knew the identity beneath the glass armor and spoke calmly, as if he'd anticipated this.
"If you're mad, take it out on me alone."
No time for talk. The Glass Knight's massive greatsword hurtled toward Licht. He dodged reflexively and
"Gu念, Reminisce."
summoned another heart sword, jamming the black lever into the greatsword and pulling it. Crack, creak. Fissures began spiderwebbing across Pine's Glass Knight.
The cracks raced up its body, widening until—crash!!—it shattered with a deafening roar, dispelling the glass magic.
"...Whatever you do,"
As he spoke, Licht assumed the Shadow Fang stance. Like the grade exam, Pine raised her sword in mirror opposition.
In truth, her Heart Slash was tough to block outright, making evasion the best counter,
"Captive pure love or whatever, I've got what it takes to take it head-on."
Undeterred, the Black Knight continued matter-of-factly, a faintly nostalgic expression hidden beneath his helm.