Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Blessing and the Saintess of the Abyss
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Exactly what is a Saintess?
A holy and noble woman acknowledged by all? Or a woman loved by the great gods? Or perhaps a woman with immense divine power, that brilliant and pure force?
Well, all of those are right. A holy, beautiful, noble, and great woman. The title and class of Saintess is what selects and bestows such an existence.
That's why the Saintess Competition takes place. Everyone except the woman who cleared the hidden quest in the Holy Kingdom and ascended as the first Saintess has proven themselves through the competition to rise to the position of Saintess.
But the timing when one can truly claim the moniker of Saintess is from the moment they receive that title and class.
More precisely, it's from the moment they gain the abilities derived from that title and class.
The 11th Saintess, Isabelle.
Moniker: Saintess of Blessings, and Moniker: Saintess of the Abyss.
She earned the moniker Saintess of Blessings by using countless blessings to perform countless miracles, and she's called the Saintess of the Abyss for tormenting enemies by dropping them into deep abysses with debuffs instead of blessings. Her power awakens.
Light descends upon her body. It was a light that blended strangely well with her face, stained by blood and pain, leaving only rage behind. Rather, it was a holiness that even embraced that rage.
Aubade, the song of morning when the brilliant dawn rises.
The song echoes. A beautiful, gentle melody burrows into the ears.
"Haa...! This is it. This is what I wanted."
Isabelle the Saintess's eyes change. Dozens of buffs begin to apply to her.
This is the power she refuses to let go of. The power that a mere B-rank Hunter on the verge of death, no genius by any stretch, a talented prodigy filled with desire, desperately craved.
Her stats rise, and all sorts of enhancements apply. But that wasn't the end.
Now, a question. Is a Saintess—holy, beautiful, noble, and pure as she may be—truly only good and righteous?
Of course not. Even angels, called the emissaries of heaven and avatars of good, can fall and become fallen angels. Mere humans, who shine just a bit brighter, can't possibly be granted the axiom of absolute good.
In the end, they can't escape the limits of the human race or shed their greedy, selfish nature.
Sure, there have been past Saintesses who suppressed such emotions well. But the current 11th Saintess, Isabelle, was not one of them.
She was greedy and selfish, yearning to sit in this great and exalted position her whole life, feasting on people's cheers and praises as she reigned over them.
That's why she's joining hands with demons—something akin to taboo—to pull off this stunt.
A gloomy, eerie song, the complete opposite of before, reverberates.
Thud!
My body starts to feel heavy. A domain? No. The divine power itself has changed. I look at Isabelle.
Just looking at her makes her seem beautiful, same as always, but instead of brilliant dawn, the twilight of a falling abyss engulfs her.
It was a power that suited her twisted, rage-filled face all too well.
Holy, yet clearly not good.
If Aubade represents blessings, then the nighttime song Serenade represents debuffs.
With that power at her back, Isabelle raises her hand and points at me. The target is set. The Saintess's massive, dense divine power moves toward me.
Lurch!
My body grows heavy, and something begins to possess me.
Skill: Deep Darkness Madness applied to you!
Status Ailment: Vision narrowing, confusion, madness, dizziness applied!
Skill: Fragment of the Falling Star applied to you!
Status Ailment: Frailty, exhaustion, lethargy, downfall applied!
Skill: Twilight Frailty applied to you!
Status Ailment: Emotions of death, frailty, fear...
......
......
......
......
......
But that's as far as it goes.
"Begone!"
I shake off my heavy body. The things starting to bind me shatter and fall away.
Debuffs don't work well on me. But I couldn't shake them off completely.
The most dangerous mental attacks were fully repelled, but some physical-related status ailments couldn't be shaken off by the Unyielding stat alone. I could only weaken them.
However, as a result, Isabelle the Saintess grew even stronger with her buffs, while I weakened.
"How dare... you filthy worm! I'll kill you!"
I don't flinch or panic at Isabelle's curses upon realizing her power didn't land.
Yeah, I fully expected this much.
I never thought I'd win easily to begin with. My opponent is an S- rank Hunter. Even if she's non-combat oriented, the absolute gap in ranks exists.
I don't crumble. The omnipotence from the buffs faltered once, but that power still remains with me.
I wait no longer. Neither does Isabelle. We both kick off the ground and charge at each other.
Light and darkness. Good and evil. Divinity and demon. They all fill my two eyes at once.
Chaos Eye assists me.
'I see it!'
My opponent is an S-rank Hunter. I worried that the Infinite stat might not work. If the gap between us widens too much, prediction abilities like Path of Battle get sealed.
I thought it would be the same this time. Naturally. Even as support, she's a bona fide S-rank Hunter. One I couldn't guarantee victory against.
But the moment Chaos Eye activated, I realized. It was possible.
The Infinite stat's effect interacts with Chaos Eye's, breaking the restrictions.
As a result, Infinite was telling me now.
That it's worth a shot. That I can see a path to victory. That she's strong, but not overwhelmingly so like some past mighty foes. That we've grown enough to overcome her.
Path of Battle. Isabelle's outstretched fist fills my vision like prophecy.
I twist my body slightly. The prophecy fades, replaced by reality.
Flowing Water Stance
I deflect her incoming fist with my sword. I couldn't perfectly redirect the immense power as I'd hoped, but in the end, it barely grazes my right shoulder. Without missing the opening, I clench my gauntlet-clad left hand and slam it into her side.
Kwaang!
Not a satisfying sound. I clearly hit her side, yet it rang out like striking steel.
I pursue Isabelle, whose rage has turned to shock and panic, without stopping.
She wasn't the type to crumble from a single punch. In fact, the divine blessings enveloping her didn't even flicker at my punch's destructive power, as if it were a joke.
Isabelle was surprised that I not only dodged her attack but counterattacked, but she shook off her rumpled clothes as if that was my limit and charged back at me.
'Left chest!'
But her attacks won't land. Faster, stronger, more powerful by several times than mine—but if they don't connect, what's the point?
The moment the effect I call Path of Battle Prophecy activates, I dodge the simultaneous incoming fist and swing my sword.
It's a growth-type sword, and the Despair Demon Sword is still just common rank, but in terms of attack power, it's the strongest weapon I can wield.
But to her, it was nothing much.
Slash! Thud!
She doesn't even block. As if daring me to try, she doesn't guard at all and counterattacks instead.
My sword swings with the intent to cleave her from shoulder to side, splitting her in half precisely. But it was impossible.
The sword definitely cut her. But the blessing—or protective barrier—dwelling within her absorbed all my attack entirely.
What should I call this? Not a barrier. It looks like a blessing that absorbs damage.
No time to flounder in confusion. This time, her fist embeds into my side.
No matter that she's a support-type healer Saintess—even at S-rank, she naturally has some physical prowess. Honestly, without buffs, her physical abilities are something I could match fully.
But the moment she applies her specialty buffs, at minimum, her physical stats reach A to A+ rank.
Meaning she's faster, stronger, and tougher than me. Her destructive power was tremendous.
Ugh!
Blood erupts from my internals twisting from within, and my body crumples momentarily.
I hurriedly use a heal skill to restore my broken ribs and damaged organs. Pain makes my mind reel.
"Is that all you've got? That little bit, and you dare challenge me?"
Rage fills Isabelle again. As if it's laughable, as if she's regained her composure, she doesn't follow up and instead stomps on my head as I collapse to the floor, forcing me fully down.
She looks down at me arrogantly, as if to say a worm like you can thrash all you want.
Then, the Pride stat, quiet until now, starts raging. As if it can't tolerate some lowly thing looking down on it, as if urging me to escape this pathetic situation quickly, the Pride stat stirs my mind.
Supreme Soul and authorities don't react. Naturally. This isn't the type that counts as a mental attack.
It's just a side effect I have to endure. No, actually, learning this arrogance isn't bad for me. That's probably why they don't react.
The holy power of the sun amplifies further. I don't stop there—I open the Domain of Fate, invoke the Giant God's power and Titan's Might.
"Where do you think you're putting that filthy foot!"
I thrust a fist infused with the sun's holiness straight out.
Sun God Technique
Fist Art
First Form
Black Point Explosion
The ultimate, strongest attack I can unleash right now without Longinus.
Isabelle, arrogantly not even defending as if daring me to struggle, looks shocked at the power in my fist and hastily tries to retreat—but I grab her leg with my other hand, stopping her.
Isabelle stumbles backward, leg caught, and falls flat. The moment panic reappears on her face...
"Die, you damned bitch."
My fist surges forward.
"N-no!"
A protective barrier tries to form around her hastily, but it was too late. Carelessness always breeds disaster.
Kwaaaang!
A massive explosion echoes inside the warehouse. I feel it. This one landed solidly.
Daring as her blessings were, they couldn't devour the great and vast power of the sun.
If it had been a proper barrier, it might have mitigated some damage. But since the damage-absorbing blessing reached its limit and vanished, she had to take the sun's full force.
"Kyaaaak!!"
The tide has turned in my favor. I rise to my feet. Pride urges me on gleefully, telling me to finish her and pay her back in kind.
I have no intention of holding back.
What happens here is a secret no one will know. There's no way she told anyone about killing Min Chulong.
In other words, even if I kill the Saintess right here, no one will know.
I grip my sword. An S-rank Hunter—normally an unwinnable opponent.
If she hadn't let her guard down, I'd have lost this time. But the victor is the strong one.
"Just die already."
My sword surges toward Isabelle, screaming in agony amid the smoke with a hole punched through her stomach.