Chapter 57
Chapter 57
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Niceta (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Son of a bitch! Where did she go?”
They said she was an exceptional priestess, and I guess her nose was just as exceptional. It was painfully obvious what had drawn her away.
I thought we’d be fine for a little while since there were no Stones of the Seven Deadly Sins laid here!
“That way—!”
The moment I pointed, an explosion roared in the distance, a plume of gray and black smoke billowing into the sky.
“Everyone, run! Toward the smoke!”
“Agh—! What the hell is going on? It’s Priestess Niceta, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is! We have to find her! Before she causes any more trouble!”
I shoved the items we’d bought at the market into my inventory and sprinted toward the rising smoke.
“Please, let it be something manageable. Please, just let it be something we can clean up.”
I prayed that whatever mess Niceta had made was something we could handle. But a part of me suspected it wasn't, which only made me pray harder.
If she was the type to go around saying anything related to demonic energy needed its head smashed in, well, wouldn't she have already lost her mind?
“Ah, dammit.”
A curse escaped my lips as I arrived at the scene of the explosion and smoke. People were lying dead all over the place, and Niceta was nowhere to be seen.
Every last one of them was an outlaw tainted by demonic energy. Dark red blood and black miasma seeped from wounds inflicted by holy power.
“There!”
Tearing my eyes from the corpses, I looked up and saw another plume of smoke rising in the distance. It was in the direction of Sejanus’s mansion.
“Best method. Best choice.”
It was crucial to assess the situation quickly and give orders immediately. Any hesitation would leave us caught between a rock and a hard place.
“You two stay here. No, leave the city at once and head for Rzhev.”
“What are you going to do? What about Priestess Niceta?”
There was no point in all of us rushing in together. That would just be advertising our presence.
“I’ll get her out. You two go on ahead. Hurry, before the city gates close! It’s easier for two to slip out than four.”
“Got it. Let’s go, Seamus—!”
“Tch. Alright—!”
Reinhardt understood the situation and pulled Seamus along. Kratos was right. Libria wasn’t the final destination of this mission, after all.
One wrong move, and getting tied down here would be a disaster.
As Seamus and Reinhardt hurried away, Kratos dashed toward the rising smoke.
Just as before, the path was littered with corpses. All of them were people involved with demonic energy. Seeing this, it seemed she really did go berserk at the mere sight of it.
The state of the bodies was far from normal. She hadn’t simply killed them; she’d torn them apart as if venting her rage.
Niceta looked to be in her mid-twenties. Of course, that was just her appearance; her actual age could be different. But what could have made her so cruel, so driven to cry out for the annihilation of evil?
***
Sejanus’s once-stately mansion was, just like last time, being turned into a complete wreck.
Yes, this suited the place. I never understood why a man so black-hearted on the inside insisted on building such elegant, palace-like homes. And only in white, at that.
What a twisted, shitty hobby.
“How dare you—! Do you know where you are?!”
“Call for reinforcements! Get the knights—!”
A cacophony of noise poured from within the walls. Shouts, screams, the sound of things breaking.
The citizens had all locked themselves in their homes, hiding and praying for this moment to pass.
“She’s inside the building! Get inside!”
“We must protect Lord Sejanus! Kill that bitch!”
She was definitely in there. Of all the places to be.
That goddamn quack of a Pope. He should have told me the most important part! What the hell was I supposed to do when he sends a lunatic just like himself on such a critical mission?
What good was her skill if she was a child who couldn’t even control her own emotions?
I should have known something was up when he gave me that expensive papal plaque. It was a gift of apology in advance. A way of asking me to clean up the mess.
I vaulted over the wall just as soldiers were swarming the building's entrance. There had to be dozens of them.
“Let’s see… second floor.”
The way they were swarming meant they hadn’t killed her yet. Confirming that the presence of people was concentrated on the second floor, I shattered a window and burst inside.
“Who are you—!”
“Right on time. Who else breaks through a window with their face covered but a villain? Think before you speak. You really think I’m an ally?”
Past the soldiers and knights, I saw Niceta. She was covered in wounds, standing unsteadily.
“Are you with that bitch?”
“Hmm… Too many witnesses.”
“They… they must all be killed. Those tainted by demonic energy. All. Of. Them.”
She was a psycho. Even more of a psycho than Provino. He also threw himself headfirst into anything related to demons, but not to this extent. At least he knew his limits.
But here she was, eyes crazed, still insisting they all had to die.
“You goddamn bastards! Take them alive. I’ll use them as materials so they can neither live nor die!”
“Ah! I get it, so just shut up for a second. You talk way too much.”
My mind raced. The situation had already spiraled out of control. So, what was the best decision I could make right now?
“Hah. I guess I have no choice. I’ll just have to take care of everyone.”
No witnesses means it's an assassination, and when you’re smashing heads, you have to be thorough. Make sure there are no loose ends.
All I had to do was reach Rzhev before word of this got out. He said it was okay to be discovered there. I could just change my identity.
“Priestess… no, let’s talk later.”
At Kratos’s cold words, Niceta’s eyes widened, and she shrank back, knowing she was at fault as she readied her greatsword. In any case, an ally had arrived, which would make annihilating the demonic that much easier.
“Speed is life. We need to kill them quickly so we can deal with the aftermath.”
“The aftermath?”
“Have you forgotten our mission? Did you come here without even remembering the mission?”
“…I’m sorry.”
At Kratos’s rebuke, Niceta bowed her head and apologized quietly. She may have been led by instinct, but it was true she had forgotten her duty.
“Don’t you know that by coveting the small, you risk losing the great? I will be reporting this to your superior in no uncertain terms.”
“N-No, you can’t. If I go back, I’ll be in the prayer room again…”
Right. That’s right. She must have made some huge mistake before coming here and was atoning for it in a prayer room.
“What are you muttering about!”
“Hey, we’re talking here!”
I smashed the head of the guy at the front who’d been blabbering about using us as test subjects and what we were muttering about.
First, kill everyone here. Then, kill Sejanus and the lord. After that, destroy the communication facilities and escape.
That was the goal I’d set. Sejanus and the lord were probably cut from the same cloth anyway.
Following the movement of my axe, Niceta swung her greatsword. In a narrow corridor like this, a greatsword was a highly inefficient weapon, yet with every swing, two or three heads went flying.
“The feedback is incredible.”
As expected of a high-grade weapon from the Holy Kingdom, it felt great in my hands. The impact was satisfying, but what I truly enjoyed was seeing how even a small cut made these demonically tainted bastards writhe in agony.
As expected, holy power was the perfect counter to demonic energy.
“Fall back—! Fall back—! Make way for the knights!”
The soldiers pressed themselves against the walls on either side as knights charged in.
“Like that’s going to change anything.”
It just meant one more head to smash. My Spiritual Power detection showed the underground facility was still there. No, it was even bigger. Seeing the life signs, I figured Sejanus was probably down there.
“Is this place sturdy? I don’t remember it being so tough last time.”
I tapped the floor with the tip of my boot.
To buy time, I bound my axe with spiritual power, spun it, and hurled it down the end of the corridor.
“Crazy—! Dodge! Dodge!”
“Get against the wall—! Aaargh—!!”
The axe flew to the end of the hallway, wounding everything its blades touched. But throwing it wasn't the end of it.
Not expecting the axe to come back, the soldiers suffered even greater damage as it flew back at them from behind.
I wanted to shout, ‘It’s coming back!’, like I was possessed by some action star, but I held my tongue. I didn't want to look like a complete lunatic.
An opening was created. I slammed my empty hand, the one not holding a weapon, onto the floor.
*KABOOM—*
The stone tiles of the corridor cracked and trembled precariously.
“This place really is better as a tomb.”
With a second punch, a hole opened in the corridor floor, and I leaped down to the first floor.
“We’re going to the basement. The bastard’s down there.”
“After them—! Go after them!”
Together with Niceta, I moved toward the location I had sensed earlier, cutting down everything that stood in our way.
“That looks important.”
Two knights with eyes dyed black stood firmly guarding a door. Niceta, sensing the demonic energy seeping from behind it, gripped the hilt of her sword tightly.
“O, light.”
At Niceta’s low murmur, a powerful wave of holy power erupted from her sword. It flared like a flame, as if to incinerate all the evil in the world.
“Ooh. Special effects.”
They called it a treasure, so I guess it was an option attached to the sword. Besides, the knights seemed unable to use their full strength because of it.
As expected, holy power was just cheating against demonic energy. The burning holy power was likely a major factor, too.
The two knights didn't last more than a few exchanges before their heads were lopped off.
*CRASH—*
I slammed my axe into the door. From the splintered opening, materialized demonic energy flowed out like a torrent.
The holy power emanating from Niceta’s sword pushed back the demonic energy pouring through the gap. When I kicked the door down, a staircase leading to the basement was revealed.
“I knew it. This bastard never changes. Never.”
As we descended the stairs, a figure who appeared to be Sejanus was sitting on a chair in the middle of a vast cavern, watching us come down.
This cavern was several times larger, more ornate, and more disgusting than the one I had destroyed before.
Beyond the chair was a body so obese that flesh spilled out of it.
The surroundings were filled with blood and corpses, and instruments caked with dried blood were scattered about, evidence of recent torture.
He was clearly not skilled in combat. Just some bastard drunk on demonic energy.
“You have some nerve. To dare stand before me, Sejanus, the Northern Inspector…”
“A man referring to himself in the third person isn’t a great look. It’s not like you’re a drill sergeant saying he’s disappointed.”
Kratos cut him off and swung his axe. The materialized demonic energy rushed forward, but it couldn’t easily breach the space protected by Niceta’s holy power.
I threw my weapon and smashed the surroundings.
“It’s mine! Mine! It’s all mine!”
The bastard’s mouth gaped open, and he lunged, his long tongue flicking out as if to devour everything.
“Ugh. Disgusting.”
I severed his tongue as it shot out, writhing like a tentacle.
“Kieeeeek—!”
Yes. That’s what he was. A greedy frog-like bastard, flicking his long tongue from his gluttonous body.
Wait? A bullfrog. A toad…?!
To think he’d be rolling on the floor after losing just a tongue. The citizens he tortured and killed must have felt that agonizing pain all over their bodies before they died.
“Kerg—”
The blood of his victims, extracted through torture, gathered and was absorbed into him, regenerating his tongue.
“Nice.”
Very nice. I became curious as to where the limits of his regeneration lay. Could he keep regenerating if I cut him ten times, a hundred times?
“Wh-Why are you doing this to me! What do you want! I can give you anything! Money? Honor? A noble title? I can give you it all!”
What does power do to a man to make him grovel like this? He tortured and killed his people for that very power. If he hadn't accepted demonic energy, he would have been killed by the guards outside.
Why did Niceta come here? Judging by the faces of the bastards she cut down on her way, they were trying to kidnap her, and this was the result.
If so, how many countless lives had this man taken?
“What I want? For you to suffer. To writhe in agony and die. I hope you suffer the same pain in hell at the hands of those you killed.”
I dismembered him and cut out his tongue.
When he regenerated, I repeated the act, and he screamed in agony.
“If I had the time, I would have kept doing this until your regeneration ran out.”
I brought the axe down and severed his head. Perhaps even such a clean death was a luxury for him, but I was short on time.
As his head rolled away, Niceta used her holy power to incinerate his body, just in case he could regenerate even from that.
“He wasn't even a big deal, yet he acted all high and mighty. I almost mistook him for a boss.”
Demonic energy seeped out from his body as it burned in the holy fire.
“This is the demonic energy of Greed.”
“Seems like a fitting type of energy for a bastard like him.”
The demonic energy of Greed. Yes. Now I understood. Why there were no Stones of the Seven Deadly Sins in Libria. Why there weren’t that many demonically tainted soldiers. Why they weren’t that skilled.
It was all a product of greed. The result of one man’s avarice, trying to hoard and possess demonic energy for himself.
“He’s a truly horrifying man. To extract demonic energy by torturing people. A profane place like this must be completely purified.”
Niceta looked at the writhing demonic energy around her with disgust, then unleashed enough holy power to purify the entire vast cavern.
The smell of burning flesh and blood filled the air.
After killing the toad-like Sejanus, we went back up. The soldiers, as if anticipating the outcome, hesitated and backed away.
*CRASH—!*
As I came up the stairs, I switched to my hammer and smashed a pillar of the mansion.
The entire building shuddered, and dust rained down from the ceiling.
“Aaargh—! It’s collapsing again! Get out! Get outside!”
I gave a nod, and Niceta, as if waiting for the signal, chased after the fleeing soldiers. Can’t let a single one get away. They had all accepted demonic energy anyway.
“Head straight for the lord’s castle. I’ll follow after I’ve dealt with this place.”
“Understood.”
“Just kill anyone who gets in your way. If we’re going to kill them, we might as well be thorough.”
“That was my intention.”
Having seen what was in the basement, Niceta’s reaction was more fervent than ever.
Perhaps letting her off the leash like this every once in a while wasn't so bad.
After Niceta left, I systematically destroyed the building with my hammer. Thoroughly, starting from the basement.
To ensure this building could never be rebuilt.
Once a giant tomb of stone was formed, I used my spiritual power to draw up the flames from below. At the same time, I overlaid it with the holy power from the wooden plaque the bishop gave me, enhanced by my own spiritual power.
I had to save the Pope’s plaque. I was sure there would be a time I’d need it for something bigger.
At this rate, the fire wouldn’t go out for a long time. It might even last longer than I thought.
That sacred flame, which burned away all the world’s impurities, was both a grand memorial tower and a warning, born from the hope that a bastard like Sejanus would never appear again.