Chapter 91: D-Rank Labyrinth — Cherry Cherry Orchard (3)
Chapter 91: D-Rank Labyrinth — Cherry Cherry Orchard (3)
Lucius pushed his concentration to the absolute limit.
If I’m even a little late, it’s over.
An outlaw expedition had been drawn here by Kar’s rapidly rising reputation.
People like that were like moths rushing toward a flame. Even if you burned them down and wiped them out, they would keep appearing endlessly.
For the sake of upholding the will of the One who protects all people, they had to be eliminated.
“…Lord Kar.”
His hands trembled.
Even at the Sanctuary of Restful Purification, Kar had sacrificed his left arm to protect the innocent. Now once again he was trying to protect his companions without fearing death.
It was a noble spirit of sacrifice—so much so that Lucius could fully understand why Saint Seraphina had once built relations with cultists.
“Die, you disgusting cultist bastard!”
A demon whose lower body had transformed into something like an undead horse rushed forward in a frenzy.
At the same time, a red orc fired a green arrow, and the snowfield wolf also charged in.
Every target was Kar.
Lucius hurriedly deployed a barrier to help even a little.
Wuuung!
The gray light of Compassion of Protection spread around Kar in three layers.
Crack!
The arrow shattered the first barrier.
Kwaaah!
The freezing breath spewed from the mouth of the snowfield wolf Flonos destroyed the second and third layers as well.
“Hah!”
Immediately afterward, a monster warrior that had rushed in close thrust its sword directly toward the center of Kar’s face.
“Lord Kar!”
Lucius flinched in shock and tried to activate a miracle.
“Stop.”
Just as he was about to activate the highest-tier healing miracle, Bartimir grabbed Lucius’s wrist.
“A low tier is enough. Save your divine power.”
“…What?”
The meaning of the demon’s strange remark soon became clear.
“You’re supposed to be a rising prodigy trusted by the Harmony Church, yet you’re nothing special after—”
The monster warrior demon suddenly froze mid-sentence.
“…You’re smiling?”
“Heh…”
Kar let out a quiet laugh and cut his own neck with the Full-Moon Slayer.
Slash!
Blood gushed out and splashed all over the demon’s body.
His proud mohawk became soaked and drooped, and both the human upper body and undead monster lower body were drenched in blood.
“What kind of insane stunt—!”
The demon frowned and tried to pull out his sword—then froze.
“Ghk… ugh… aaagh!”
His body trembled violently, and he vomited a mouthful of pitch-black blood.
He had been poisoned.
—Grrr!
“Ugh!”
The snowfield wolf slammed its body against the obstructing demon to shove him aside, then slashed Kar’s face with its claws.
The already thin and pitiful half-elf staggered violently.
“I will protect him!”
Lucius hurriedly used a healing miracle.
A low-tier one, following Bartimir’s advice.
—Whine…
The snowfield wolf, which had been biting Kar while pinning him down on the candy-sand ground, began to stagger.
It lasted longer than the demon, but once the deadly poison spread through its body, even a large monster could not endure.
“Step back.”
At the beast tamer’s command, the snowfield wolf withdrew. At the same time, seven arrows flew through the air.
Thud!
Arrows pierced Kar’s entire body just as he was getting up.
Then the monster warrior that had fallen earlier struggled to stand again. Using the strength of its horse legs, it charged and slashed horizontally with its sword.
Slice!
The sword cut through the body of the half-elf cultist.
Only halfway.
The blade slowed dramatically before it could finish the cut.
“Ha… ahahaha!”
Despite his horrific state, Kar laughed with his shoulders shaking.
Madly. Joyfully. Completely intoxicated with ecstasy.
As if he had seized all the happiness in the world, laughter kept pouring from him.
“Now you understand why a low tier is enough?”
“…Yes.”
A man who accepts suffering with joy.
A man who calmly receives enemy attacks instead of fearing them.
Lucius once again recalled what he had realized during his deep conversation at the Sanctuary of Restful Purification.
Kar was not an ordinary person.
Arteine… I understand now why you are watching him.
Someone as ordinary as Lucius could never comprehend that way of thinking.
“You crazy cultist!”
The mohawk demon staggered and forced power out of himself.
A mass of vines manifested behind his back.
Using the power of another monster he had absorbed into his soul, the demon neutralized the poison and began slashing wildly at Kar’s body.
His movements slowed, then accelerated again with monster power, then faltered again as the poison took effect.
“Move! I can’t shoot!”
At the orc’s irritated shout, the mohawk demon shifted slightly to the side.
“Everyone.”
Kar whispered, his entire body mangled with arrows and sword wounds.
“Let’s go.”
An instruction whose meaning was unclear.
While Lucius hesitated in confusion, the other members immediately obeyed their leader.
Thud!
Throwing daggers flew secretly from the tent and pierced the mohawk demon’s forehead, chin, and heart simultaneously.
Already weakened by poison, the demon could not even dodge the throwing technique of a mere Level-2 thief and collapsed forward.
“…Tch.”
Rosalia suddenly emerged from the shadows and stabbed a dagger into the back of the beast-tamer.
The beastman twisted his waist to evade, but he could not avoid being cut and wounded.
“Now?”
Bartimir grinned brightly and prepared to rush forward.
“The counterattack starts now, you bastards!”
Bartimir rummaged through his clothes and pulled out a round stone.
A mana core.
It radiated the killing intent of a bloodthirsty golem that had escaped from Golemophia.
Hoooh.
Bartimir pressed the mana core to his nose and inhaled deeply, then rushed forward with bandages wrapped around both hands.
“Come at meee—!”
The distance closed instantly.
His target was the relatively fragile scheming demon.
Bandages hardened by demonic energy swung forward.
Boom!
But suddenly a bow stained with murky green blocked the bandages.
A ranger orc rushed in and shoved Bartimir with his shoulder.
While falling, Bartimir swung his arm.
Slash!
Demonic energy flew out in the shape of a crescent and cut the orc’s shoulder.
“Yes!”
The disease Flow Condensation Syndrome hardened the energy flowing through the body.
The curse Scattering Bankruptcy caused expelled energy to scatter into the air rather than gather together.
When afflicted by the two calamities in that order, the user could fire long-range attacks like sword energy.
“Die, you filthy bastard!”
Demonic energy continued flying like pseudo sword-energy attacks.
It required a bit of delicate control, but that was a weakness that effort could easily overcome.
The orc was forced to keep blocking with his sturdy bow.
“…Hng!”
Meanwhile, the beast-tamer who had been stabbed earlier suddenly swung a hand axe behind him.
A fast and fierce strike.
But Rosalia was not someone who would be hit by it.
The nimble assassin bent her waist slightly to evade, then raised her right leg and slammed her heel down.
Boom!
The beastman rolled sideways quickly, so the heel strike crushed only an innocent pile of candy-sand.
An astonishing reaction speed that was hard to believe.
At that level… he could have dodged the first ambush too.
Maybe he had simply been too careless earlier.
“….”
“Don’t glare so much.”
The silent assassin rushed at the beast-tamer.
Clang, clang!
Rosalia swung her dagger at terrifying speed, and the beast-tamer blocked or evaded every strike with his hand axe.
A clash of attacks composed only of minimal movements—too fast for the pitiful cultist’s eyes to follow.
After all, frontal combat was not an assassin’s domain.
…Though that beastman’s physical ability was also extraordinary.
—Grrr!
The snowfield wolf Flonos, which had been targeting only me, joined its master and opened its mouth wide.
A blast of Freezing Breath erupted.
Why use that instead of the superior miracle Wolf Pack Blizzard?
It was a bit puzzling, but if it hit directly, even a high-rank explorer above Level 6 could be in danger.
“….”
Well, it’s fine as long as it doesn’t hit.
Rosalia suddenly forced the beastman back and jumped onto the wolf’s back.
Immediately, the crimson death-rose blooming from the poison-loving assassin scattered black poisonous powder.
Just a simple deadly toxin.
—Grrk…
While the snowfield wolf groaned in pain, Bartimir launched demonic energy in a surprise attack.
Slash!
Blood burst from the wolf’s waist.
Even so, its remarkable endurance and recovery allowed it to endure, and it tried to fire its breath at the demon who attacked it.
The limit of a low-intelligence monster.
Diverting its attention against an assassin.
“Above!”
The beastman shouted as he tried to throw his hand axe.
Too late.
Thud!
Marlin’s throwing dagger, waiting for a second opportunity, struck the beast-tamer’s shoulder.
Immediately afterward, Rosalia jumped using Powerful Leap and descended while slashing her dagger.
A red arc carved through the air along the assassin’s trajectory.
Slice!
Extreme: Severance.
A simple yet powerful Fifth-Tier assassin miracle that merely cuts with overwhelming force.
The wound Bartimir had made earlier split open, and the body of the snowfield wolf Flonos was severed into front and back halves.
“…Ghk.”
The beast-tamer coughed blood and collapsed.
It was the backlash of losing his partner.
“Damn it!”
The orc who had been blocking Bartimir’s attacks alone without a front-line fighter shouted angrily.
“Marcente! What the hell are you doing!”
He was calling the mohawk demon.
Since he was in no condition to answer, I replied for him.
“He cannot help you. It seems he has lost his sight.”
“…What?”
Only then did the orc look toward where the mohawk demon was—and his eyes widened.
Caw!
A blind crow had pecked out both of the demon’s eyeballs, leaving his eye sockets empty.
Thanks to the monster warrior’s resilience he had not even fainted and was merely writhing, which looked oddly cute.
“…That idiot!”
Grinding his teeth, the scheming demon pulled out a lump of dirt inscribed with blood and threw it forward.
A one-use ritual tool.
A wall of earth rose instantly.
“Just kill them all together!”
“Looks like we have to!”
The orc pulled his bowstring back.
An arrow glowing with green energy shot upward.
Whoooosh!
Then it split into hundreds of arrows that poured down like rain.
Rapid Shower.
The strongest miracle a Level-5 ranger could use.
“Arteine.”
Clink.
A bell rang.
A pure white round shield appeared in the air and began gathering all the arrows.
Although Lucius was Level 4, by borrowing the power of a sacred artifact he could use the Fifth-Tier miracle Fragment of Clericium.
It was a mass-produced miracle derived from the buckler relic possessed by Seraphina.
“Send flames upon the heads of those who oppress the innocent.”
Responding to Lucius’s voice, the shield emblem near my chest grew hot.
Both Arteines were watching the battle.
For the sake of the subscribers, it was time to finish this.
I pulled out my secret weapon from subspace.
“—Where am I?!”
That unfortunate cheerful tone again.
It was the head of the centaur-type elite golem that had fought a fierce battle with me at the Sanctuary of Restful Purification.
A creature capable of absorbing an opponent’s emitted energy, amplifying it, and returning it.
“Please serve as a tool for a moment.”
“—What are you planning to use me for?!”
Crackle!
I injected black lightning into the speaker-shaped head.
Over and over.
As much as possible—until Rapid Shower ended.
“Bartimir!”
“Got it!”
Bartimir, who had taken cover from the arrow rain, dashed forward instantly, smashed the earth wall with his knee, and rolled aside.
As soon as the outlaws hiding behind it were exposed, he lifted the golem’s head.
“Fire, my comrade with whom I share a bond of hearts.”
“—I don’t want to help, but if I stay still my head might explode, so I have no choice…!”
KWAHHHH—!
Black lightning raced across the ground.
An overwhelming electric strike beyond my current level.
My frail cultist body almost collapsed backward, but Marlin quickly came out and supported my back.
“Hup!”
“…You bastard!”
Without even panicking, the scheming demon stabbed a dagger into the orc’s thigh and fled.
Sacrificing a comrade and escaping.
A basic outlaw principle.
The black lightning devoured the kneeling orc ranger and surged forward.
KWAHHHH—!
“Aaaaaaagh!”
A scream swallowed by thunder.
When the golem released all its lightning, the orc stood dead, completely charred black.
Crackle!
Sue’je seemed pleased with the finished lightning-roasted orc.
If the deity was pleased, I was pleased too.
“How is it? Would you like a bite?”