Chapter 182
Chapter 182
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: Saintess
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The spear of the Archdemon of Struggle, Valkyria, sliced precisely between me and Darius.
I thought I had dodged well enough, and with her body leaning forward, it seemed like a perfect chance for a counterattack.
"Don't underestimate me."
The moment her wings flapped, an intense heat erupted from the spear, engulfing us.
"Argh!"
Darius, clutching his face with both arms, toppled backward. I worried he might have been burned, but right now was the time to swing my fist, not fret.
My right hand, spiraling as it rotated, absorbed the pouring heat. It grazed over the extended spear and flew toward Valkyria.
But the instant her wings flapped again, she vanished from in front of me, reappearing far behind with a sly smile.
'The attacks themselves aren't a threat to me, but that mobility with her wings is the problem.'
A glance at Darius showed holy power descending over him.
Thanks to it, his burns healed, and he forced himself back to his feet, gasping for breath.
Turning my eyes, I saw Tairn struggling against the Archdemon of Pride, Dune, with Lucia supporting him.
Her holy power was effective against the archdemons.
'But it doesn't hit.'
Even though they knew how potent the holy power was, the archdemons were cautious—that was a big factor.
Lucia, as the Saintess, also lacked combat experience.
From the start, a Saintess wasn't meant to fight demons; she was there to heal and care for the living.
She could protect against demons, but driving them off required skill and experience.
Still, thanks to Lucia, Tairn was holding out against Dune.
"Where's Payrun?"
The moment I uttered the name of the Archdemon of Worship, a small boy-like figure popped out from behind Lucia in response.
"Ppeekaboo!"
Payrun emerged grinning. He thrust his hand toward Lucia's back.
But from the empty air, purple flames ignited, enveloping his hand.
[Sneaky bastard!]
The Black Necromancer had been hiding nearby, guarding Lucia on purpose.
Visibly annoyed that his attack was blocked, Payrun reached for the Black Necromancer instead of Lucia.
"Goddess of Justice!"
In that brief opening, Lucia's holy power shot out like a beam of light straight at Payrun.
He twisted his waist like a bow to dodge the direct hit, but one of his ten tails—the one resembling an ox's—grazed it.
"Gaaahhh!"
The tail burst into white flames and began spreading rapidly. If survival instinct hadn't made Payrun tear it off himself, his whole body would have burned away in the holy flames.
Badly scorched, he scurried on all fours between Valkyria and Dune, huddling and trembling. Valkyria let out a scoff.
"I told you not to underestimate holy power."
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
In response to Valkyria's mockery, Payrun slammed his five forehead horns against the ground repeatedly.
The one power in the continent that only a single person among all humanity could wield.
Overwhelming healing, capable of purifying and annihilating evil.
It explained why Magan had targeted Lucia first in his ambush.
[Waaah! I thought I was going to get purified too.]
The Black Necromancer flew over to me with a teary face. Holy power was lethal even to souls, so she had nearly been caught in it too.
"S-Sorry."
The Saintess apologized to the Black Necromancer. To me and Lucia, she was visible, so it wasn't strange, but Darius and Tairn saw her apologizing to thin air amid the chaos, looking puzzled despite their exhaustion.
"With the Saintess here, we can definitely hold out."
"Indeed, she's incredible."
I couldn't benefit from Belica's soul, but Tairn and Darius were reaping the full rewards of her holy power.
Of course, compared to Magan, who had grown exponentially stronger through the banquet, these three archdemons were weaker.
Even so, we were buying time with some resistance against archdemons we originally couldn't have faced easily.
"Th-Thank you."
But Lucia's condition wasn't great.
As I said before, combat was unfamiliar to her, so she was breathing heavily, and her holy power had noticeably dimmed compared to the start.
'Deia needs to get here.'
We had to stall until Deia, who had caught on to my intent and gone for the Holy Grail, returned.
"Conserve your strength as much as possible."
I stepped in front of Lucia, warning her. She shook her head.
"No, I can do it."
"You're our hope. Use it only in truly critical moments."
"Heh, hehehe."
She let out an unexpected laugh. Wondering why, I turned to look, and she murmured self-deprecatingly.
"Really?"
"......"
"Liar."
Pure white holy power poured down once more on Darius and Tairn.
They should have been exhausted after repeated battles, yet they stood fresh as warriors who had just drawn their swords, forming a crude defensive formation.
The archdemons glared at us, eyes flashing, ready to break through.
Even hampered by the holy power, the hostility and pressure they exuded surged forward, ready to devour us if our focus slipped even a little.
"You thought we'd go easy, and now you think you're hot stuff?"
Whoosh!
A piercing wind blew, followed by feathers reminiscent of an angel's wings fluttering in the air.
Valkyria, confident in her mobility, soared up and dove spear-first.
Tairn, with the highest defense, urgently raised his staff to block, but one knee buckled, cratering the floor.
"Urghhh!"
Grinding out a guttural groan, he clenched his teeth so hard that blood trickled down his jawline.
To shield Lucia from the shockwave, Darius scooped her up and leaped away.
Seizing the opening, the remaining two archdemons charged.
Payrun vanished into the darkness again, while Dune, scraping the floor with his hooves, barreled forward at full speed.
[Dune first! Payrun lacks decisive power!]
As Belica said, my body was already moving toward Dune. With the spider legs embedded in my back aiding me, I met his charge head-on.
I swung my right arm wide to strike Dune, but he thrust his fist forward in response.
Even as his skin tore against my spiraling right hand, Dune's flesh regenerated instantly.
"Using another archdemon to fight us. Is that humanity's pride?"
Dune posed the profound question.
His three eyes examined me as if testing.
Without answering, I continued the standoff with Dune. I tried to push him back quickly to intercept Payrun, but his resistance was fiercer than expected.
In the end, Payrun appeared before Darius and Lucia.
Darius, who had leaped away hugging Lucia, swung his sword desperately.
"This time I'm serious."
Having lost one tail, Payrun distorted his face grotesquely and met the swinging sword head-on.
The horns on his forehead shattered Darius's blade mercilessly, but didn't stop there—pressing forward to his chest.
Crack!
With the sound of ribs breaking, Darius flew back at tremendous speed, crashing into the wall, vomiting blood, and collapsing.
Seeing Darius fly off, Lucia instinctively wanted to turn to her patient but forced her gaze onto Payrun.
She fired holy power again.
But Payrun, burned once before, smirked and dodged with fluid motion.
He reached to snap her neck.
This time, vast holy power spread from her entire body.
Determined to end it without letting him escape, she unleashed it all.
But Payrun, having been hit once, had already widened the distance the moment he sensed it gathering.
"Hah! Hah! Hah!"
In the end, the full-force holy power was wasted. As if that was her last, Lucia's legs gave out, and she collapsed.
"It's over."
Dune's cold declaration came as his arm slowly lowered. I immediately pulled back and looked at Lucia.
Sorry.
In a wretched state unable even to voice it.
Her lips shaped an apology toward me.
Now, only I remained.
Tairn had been pushed back by Valkyria's attack, crashing through the floor to the level below, while Darius barely clung to life.
Lucia had exhausted her holy power, unable to twitch a finger.
The three archdemons surrounded me from all sides.
"We got a decent warm-up, I suppose."
"I lost a tail, damn it."
"Is this the end?"
They dismissed our all-out battle as trivial.
[What do we do now?]
[Deius......]
Belica and the Black Necromancer sighed beside me. With the Saintess Lucia down, we could say the momentum had shifted decisively.
Then, a voice from the banquet hall's crumbled wall.
"Masterrrr!"
Pindenai, covered in blood and wounds yet grinning broadly upon hearing I was back.
And Elenoa and Deia had returned.
"I got it!"
Deia held up the box containing the Holy Grail.
The demons sensed the divine aura leaking from the box.
The three archdemons instantly realized the item's threat and lunged.
Payrun charged Deia on all fours, horns forward, but Pindenai's axe smashed into him from the side, interfering.
Valkyria flapped her wings and shot forward like an arrow; her spear thrust sharply but Elenoa's magic warped its path, piercing the box instead of Deia.
Crack!
The box shattered, revealing the Holy Grail's radiant form.
In that split-second gap.
As Deia raised the Holy Grail to throw it.
"Foolish."
Dune was already in front of Lucia.
"Replenishing holy power via the Holy Grail. That would have been a threat to us."
But in focusing on the Grail, they had failed to guard the Saintess.
The moment Dune's massive fist reared back high to smash into Lucia.
"You're the fool, goat-head."
Deia's lips curled into a smirk.
The Holy Grail left her hand, arcing through the air.
It hit the floor with a deep thud, rolling to my feet.
I nudged it upright with my toe.
The three archdemons' gazes locked onto me.
A being like them, unable to accept holy power.
Having fought without Lucia's blessing, relying on Archdemon Belica's power, they stared at the Grail before me, faces etched with incomprehension.
"You're right, Lucia."
I looked down at the Holy Grail and answered honestly.
What Lucia had said earlier was correct.
I was a liar.
To deceive the enemy.
I had to deceive my allies first.
I fooled Darius and Tairn.
But only Lucia saw through my lie.
In this battle, she wasn't the hope. But I had to make it seem like she was.
The Black Necromancer, sensing something, distanced herself from me.
The spider legs on my back and the spiraling right hand faded away naturally.
Belica's eyes hanging from my shoulder reverted to ordinary human ones, and the pair of horns on my forehead vanished.
Slowly.
Belica faded.
And the Saintess descended.
[Don't touch the Holy Grail carelessly. Even I'm at risk as a spirit body.]
"I know."
Stella smiled softly, satisfied with my response.
The moment the turquoise eyes reflected the great evils before her, the archdemons flinched and staggered back.
Having lost her holy power, Stella had suffered unspeakable horrors at the demons' hands.
Both eyes gouged out.
Left hand severed.
Both legs rotted to ruin.
Tormented and mocked by demons for days, including Archdemon Magan.
Here.
We needed to shift our perspective slightly.
Only after she lost her holy power could the demons approach Stella.
Even an archdemon like the Clock Republic's President, who saw humans as mere cuisine, had waited for her power to wane.
[Merciful Goddess Hertia.]
Why had demons, who so lightly regarded humans, cowered in wait for the moment the goddess abandoned her woman?
[A wretched woman seeks once more Your grace here.]
Now, the answer lay before me.
[Grant me strength.]
The woman who struck even archdemons with fear, making them glance warily.
[Strength to annihilate evil.]
She ended her prayer, glaring at the evils.