Chapter 360: Ugly Prosperity
Chapter 360: Ugly Prosperity
"I have descended."
Now that was definitely cool.
While I nodded, feeling proud of my own words, I felt a distinct movement on the battlefield where everyone else had been frozen in place.
Turning my head slightly, I saw familiar faces.
Carla and Elisha were leaping down from the fortress walls behind me, while Iris, Iona, and Helena were charging in from the direction of Ugly Prosperity.
For the record, Fay couldn't bring herself to jump off the wall and was just hopping up and down, waving her hands. Even from this distance, her bouncing chest caught my eye.
The sense of dissonance from the disappearing memories of the time distortion and the daze of having just woken from a deep dream vanished in an instant.
Mm. The effect is certainly potent.
I gave Fay a casual wave back, and before long, the rest of the party reached me.
"Master!"
"You!"
Carla and Elisha, the first to arrive, immediately threw themselves into my arms from both sides.
"Student Yandel! I missed you!"
"That was magnificent, Brother!"
Iona and Helena clung to my front and back. Iris, who arrived last due to her short legs, hesitated for a moment before making a decision.
"I... I'm joining in too! Hah!"
She scrambled up the others' backs and wrapped herself around my face.
What are you, a facehugger...?
Having my entire body—and even my face—pressed against something soft, fluffy, and warm felt incredibly good. Perhaps because of the faint lingering longing, I wanted to stay like this for a long while longer!
However, there was still work to be done, so the joy of reunion had to be postponed.
I wiggled my fingers and poked whatever waist I could reach.
"Hieek!"
"Byah!"
Judging by the flinches, I must have hit Helena and Elisha's waists. Only then did the ladies finally begin to peel themselves off one by one.
I smirked at their reluctant faces and spoke.
"Don't worry. We'll have plenty of time now. But first, I need to finish what I started. She's in critical condition, but she's not dead yet, right?"
Gods do not leave corpses. If they leave anything, it's usually a fragment of their Authority.
The fact that she was still there, instead of vanishing without a trace upon death, meant that while she had taken a fatal blow, she hadn't actually died yet.
Helena nodded in agreement with my explanation.
"Righteous Light also says Brother Yandel is correct. ...And she says she will lend you her strength if you lack the power to deliver the finishing blow."
"Seeing as she's relaying that through Helena instead of speaking directly, she must have overexerted herself. I still have plenty of energy left, so tell her to rest well."
The mana I had consumed earlier was entirely converted from my life force. I had barely touched the mana stored in my mana core.
This meant that with a little effort, I could fire off two consecutive Punishments. That should be enough to handle the currently hanging-by-a-thread Ugly Prosperity.
"Anyway, let's move quickly. If we drag our feet, she might recover again."
I jerked my chin forward as I spoke.
Most of the remaining cultists and monsters had been caught in the bombardment and died, but not all of them.
Unless I had targeted them directly, most were only caught in the aftershocks, so they probably managed to cope somehow.
Crawling and rolling across the ground, they were desperately trying to reach the slumped form of Ugly Prosperity.
They were still a long way off, but if they reached her, they would gladly sacrifice their bodies to restore her.
At this, the women's expressions hardened again as they cleared a path. I took a step forward to lead the way, but just before sprinting off, I looked back and let my lips curl into a smile.
"Oh, and Elisha? Iris? I've kept my promise with this, right?"
"......"
"......"
The two of them stared at me blankly, looking like stunned pigeons. It didn't take long for happy smiles to bloom on their faces.
*
Getting to where Ugly Prosperity was wasn't difficult, but I couldn't deny it was more annoying than expected.
Knowing that we intended to finish her off for good, the surviving believers charged at us with everything they had.
Of course, most were on the verge of death, and even if a few were healthy, I had three high-ranking mages with me.
They were cut down before they could even try anything.
Perhaps that was why Elisha, who had only been providing simple support, spoke up.
"Um... Darling?"
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Would it be alright if I handled them?"
"You're already doing that."
"No. I mean in the front, not from behind like this."
"Uh..."
Elisha was strong. I could guarantee that among intermediate magicians, she had no equal except for Carla.
However, the ones swarming us now, though wounded, were big shots—at least Archbishop-class.
Furthermore, aren't Elves particularly vulnerable to the Authority of Ugly Prosperity?
As I hesitated, Elisha puffed out her chest with a confident smile.
"Don't worry. I'm not planning to do anything dangerous. I just have something I want to test out."
"If you say so."
I nodded, intending to intervene immediately if things looked dangerous. Elisha stood right beside me and began to draw up her mana.
Behind her head, translucent shadows representing fire, water, wind, and earth appeared.
She added earth to her Shadow of Elements? The battles she faced while I was gone must have been quite fierce. I didn't expect her to grow this quickly.
And I could see why she was so confident. This growth wasn't just about adding one more element to her mental image.
The important part was that she had etched all four major elements—the very foundation of elemental magic—into her mind.
Elisha raised her wand and seemed to focus for a moment.
"Hup!"
She immediately cast the intermediate magic, Sharpness Hurricane.
It wasn't chant shortening. She had cast intermediate magic with no chant at all! And as an intermediate magician, no less!
But it was too early to be surprised. Elisha's magic didn't end there.
The sharp, cutting winds could push enemies away or inflict decent scratches, but they couldn't kill them. This was the limitation of wind-attribute magic, which relatively lacked destructive power.
So, Elisha used Sharpness Hurricane to gather the enemies into one spot, then transformed the storm into incandescent flames.
Prominence Flare. One of the most powerful intermediate fire spells roasted the gathered enemies to a crisp.
Fwoosh—
"What...?"
Did the magic just transform into another spell? I knew it was a technique Elisha would eventually master, but I didn't think she could do it already.
As I stared blankly at her profile, Elisha felt my gaze and replied with a proud smile.
"Watching the magic you showed us, I felt like I was on the verge of understanding something. That wasn't you using multiple spells at once; the countless magic circles covering the sky were themselves a single spell, right?"
"I guess so...?"
In truth, that was the only way, so it was obvious, but it was also something that would have been impossible without Spirit Language.
To gain enlightenment just by looking at that forcedly stitched-together magic?
When I kept staring, she seemed a bit embarrassed and looked away, muttering.
"Well, any mage would have realized something after seeing your magic. I just gained more because it overlapped with my field of research."
"Amazing! Elisha, you had it all figured out!"
"Hmph! Of course I did."
As I showered her with applause, a triumphant Elisha began to fire off spells excitedly.
Though there was a slight time lag, she was using multi-casting, chantless casting, and even transforming a spell mid-cast.
Elisha, having moved one step closer to the final awakening form I knew, began to literally sweep away every enemy in sight.
Her extraordinary performance surprised not only her master, Iris, but even Iona, who was strict about magic combat.
Thanks to her, we were able to clean up the remaining survivors much more easily and quickly, arriving at the location of Ugly Prosperity.
*
Ugly Prosperity was slumped against the half-destroyed Birthing Chamber.
Lacking even the strength to open her eyes, her half-closed, weak gaze turned toward us.
[...You've come, child.]
"I have to finish this."
[The finish. I see. This is as far as I go.]
"Yeah. So I'd appreciate it if you'd just die quietly. Don't go talking about your past or anything."
[I haven't said anything yet?]
"There are always those who try to play the sympathy card right before they die, so I just thought I'd mention it."
As I shrugged, Ugly Prosperity let out a sound that was either a chuckle or a groan.
I knew she was beautiful from seeing her in H&A, but seeing her in person was beyond imagination. One could easily believe she was the Goddess of Beauty.
If I hadn't interrupted her in time and she had managed to pull herself out of the Birthing Chamber up to her chest, the battle might have been much harder.
If her breasts, which incite sexual desire, had been revealed, she would have recovered that much more power.
After all, regardless of anything else, isn't Ugly Prosperity the goddess who governs lust?
I didn't lower my guard as I gathered my mana.
I would sever her life, which was barely hanging on, in a single blow. With that thought, I raised my staff.
Wuuuung—
Did she sense her impending death? Or was it because all the believers who sent her their twisted faith were dead?
Ugly Prosperity spoke with a benevolent smile I had never seen before.
[Child. I cannot be certain, but the magic from a moment ago clearly surpassed your level. There must have been a fitting price. What drove you to that length?]
"I'd rather not say. I'm at an age where I'm quite shy."
[Hehe. I didn't think of that. It is an age where love is precious and even speaking of it feels like a waste.]
"Hey. I told you not to talk about useless things. If my aim slips because of that, you might have to take two painful hits to die instead of one clean one."
[I appreciate the consideration, but I cannot do that. I still have a few more things I wish to say to you, child.]
"I have nothing to say."
As soon as the magic was complete, I fired it, aiming precisely for the back of Ugly Prosperity's neck.
CRACK!
[Agh!]
A gruesome sound echoed as the burning greatsword slammed into Ugly Prosperity's cervical vertebrae. The following explosion nearly tore her head off.
A Divine Body not protected by divine power was more fragile than expected.
[Guh... hhh...]
Though it wasn't a perfectly clean finish, Ugly Prosperity was dying rapidly without me needing to use Punishment again.
Crumbling into dust from her fingertips, she stubbornly finished what she had to say even in the face of death.
[Remember. Desire is instinct; therefore, humans must learn to properly acknowledge their own ugliness...]
"If you live according to instinct, are you even human? You're just a beast."
Of course, I wasn't about to be swayed by her words now. In the first place, isn't it practically a rule for Evil Gods and their kin to leave a curse right before they die?
As I replied brusquely, letting it go in one ear and out the other, Ugly Prosperity's eyes widened.
And then, before long, she left her final words with a smile that looked like she was either holding back tears or mocking me.
[Child. I shall watch to see how long your love and your faith will last.]
With those final words, Ugly Prosperity completely turned to powder and vanished without a trace.
Watching the pink particles dissolve into the air, I answered her for the first time.
"Well. It'll last at least a thousand years."
Because that was the promise.