Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: What the Saintess Has Built Up
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Even if I could control a high-rank demon, the opponent was just too much.
Compared to an archdemon—one of only ten on the continent—even a high-rank demon couldn't serve as significant firepower, and it was already dead anyway, so there was no way it could perform at its former strength.
Crunch!
[Graaaah!]
The demon's scream spread fiercely across the dark sky.
The one struck by Stella's left hand rolled across the ground again, vomiting cries of agony.
"Shut up and get up."
As I yanked the iron chains, the high-rank demon rose once more with a groan of torment. I'd thought it could at least buy some time, but in reality, it was getting swatted away like a fly.
"Master!"
Then came Pindenai's shout from behind, along with the sound of hooves.
Seeing Pindenai preparing to flee with the carriage, I immediately twisted my body.
I channeled mana into my soles and transformed it into wind magic. It was a simple spell, but my body floated up and shot straight toward the carriage.
[W-whoa! Deus!]
Controlling my body midair wasn't as easy as I'd thought. I was spinning uncontrollably, on the verge of crashing into the back of the carriage.
"Ugh! You're insane!"
Pindenai, snapping irritably, climbed onto the carriage and stretched out both arms.
She caught me neatly as I flew in. Suddenly, I was in a princess carry.
"Not comfy? Bonus pay?"
Pindenai smirked smugly. It annoyed me for no reason, but I hopped down quickly and shouted to the nuns in the carriage.
"From now on, cast spells on the horses as we go. We need to get as far away as possible."
"B-but won't that strain the horses too much?"
Frustration surged at the voice from below.
"Then do you want to die in their place?"
Only then did they tuck tail and start casting spells over the front window.
I'd wondered who was driving instead of Pindenai, and it turned out to be Iluania holding the reins.
"Can you handle the horses?"
I'd been a bit worried since Pindenai usually drove after we joined the convent, but Iluania confidently gave a thumbs-up.
"It's the first thing I learned when I ran away from the orphanage."
Not the most reassuring backstory, but at least I could trust her.
Iluania whipped the reins harder, urging the horses on.
Thud thud thud thud!
The ground shook as the spider-legged saintess began pursuing us.
Even as she ran, she kept pounding the ground with her left hand, and each time, mutated beasts emerged from the surrounding darkness to chase us.
[So she can do more than just use blood after all.]
"What, like a blood sorcerer or something?"
The black necromancer and Pindenai each reacted in their own way, but I inflicted more pain on the dragged-along high-rank demon and shouted.
"Block them. Buy time while we flee as far as possible."
[Kieeeek!]
The high-rank demon charged again, clashing with the beasts.
It tore them apart far more easily than when fighting the archdemon's main body.
The black necromancer provided magical support, while Pindenai hacked off the beasts clinging to the carriage with her axe.
The beasts appearing in front were incinerated by the flames of the burned-faced woman—Iluania's guardian spirit.
She was lending a hand, having judged that Iluania and the fetus's lives were in danger.
The nuns tried to help too, but I barked at them immediately.
"Stay put! You focus solely on casting spells on the carriage and horses!"
"O-okay."
Combat wasn't the nuns' specialty to begin with. Their support magic should keep the horses running for quite a while.
"But hey, what happens if we escape? Does the demon run away at sunrise or something?"
"If it were that simple, we wouldn't need to worry."
"True enough."
Pindenai replied nonchalantly, her hands never stopping. The distance to the approaching Stella had been closing, but thanks to the nuns' support magic boosting the carriage's speed, it started holding steady.
Seizing the moment, I thrust Remegaton upward.
This time, unlike when controlling the demon, the light didn't converge to a single point. Instead, it sprayed into the sky like an aurora.
Spreading as widely as possible.
Seeing this, the black necromancer asked with a puzzled expression.
[W-what's the plan? Even if you forcibly awaken souls, you don't control them by force.]
"......Right."
For a necromancer, abandoning forced control over souls was practically a fatal flaw.
Of course, it wasn't an unbreakable creed I'd stake my life on.
But in this situation, forcibly controlling them would be pointless anyway.
[Even if you summon a ton of souls, numbers mean nothing against that demon.]
One could overwhelm ten, a hundred, a thousand.
Archdemon Belica was such a being.
No matter how many opponents, it made no difference.
"I know that too."
Of course I did.
Yet I continued awakening souls. Calling forth the countless restless dead slumbering in this land.
"Ah, aah. Saintess."
Sighs like prayers echoed from inside the carriage—the convent head and other nuns.
Praying for Stella, who had become a demon.
At the sound, my gaze naturally turned back to Stella.
Her demonic eyes had been fixed on me from the moment they opened.
It looked like anticipation at times, or the predatory stare at luscious prey at others.
"How did she end up like that?"
"Ahh, we should have taken better care of her."
"Why didn't we notice? Ahh, Goddess Demeter."
Watching them, Pindenai scoffed.
"Crazy bitches. Pitying the one chasing us to kill them, after she turned into that."
Even though Pindenai's voice was clear, the nuns didn't stop praying.
Their own deaths loomed, yet they ceaselessly chanted prayers and blessings for Stella—the demon they could never hate.
The chase dragged on. Just when we'd think we'd shaken her off as the distance grew, she'd appear beside us swinging a fist.
If Pindenai hadn't reacted in time to deflect it, the carriage would've shattered, killing us all.
"I-it's really the limit now!"
As Iluania shouted, the fierce hoofbeats began to weaken.
The horses' ragged breaths sounded ready to give out any second, and the nuns' support magic was overloading like an overused drug.
"And there's a village with people soon! This is dangerous!"
Indeed, a commotion was already stirring in the distant village.
It was 5 a.m. Still dark night, no sun yet, but time for early risers.
Stella's massive, noisy form must've been spotted from the village.
It wasn't just the carriage horses at their limit. Everyone here was.
The nuns were drained from magic and prayer, Pindenai's axe grip unusually weak, the black necromancer's vast mana nearly depleted.
Even I, who'd been pouring mana into Remegaton nonstop.
Dizziness surged, nausea threatening to spill.
"Aren't we just gonna exhaust ourselves fleeing?"
I shook my head at Pindenai's question of whether we should've fought earlier.
"It's enough now."
The black necromancer and Pindenai stared, asking what I meant. But I withdrew my mana, breathing raggedly.
"It's all set."
I looked up slowly.
Countless souls floated there, blotting out even the sky. All forcibly awakened by Remegaton and gathered to me.
"I may not see them, but doesn't the air feel eerie around here?"
[They've really gathered in huge numbers.]
Even Pindenai, unable to see souls, felt the unease, while the black necromancer marveled at the sight.
Where souls gather, more souls follow.
It was the same as during the rite in Northsweden.
As Remegaton drew souls, others from afar naturally came too.
And all of them took in Stella's form.
"A saintess is a profoundly special existence."
"Huh? Who doesn't know that."
[......What do you mean?]
Pindenai grumbled about nonsense amid battle, but the black necromancer listened closely.
As the carriage slowed and Stella closed in.
I told Iluania.
"The Holy Grail."
She pulled it from a hidden drawer under the driver's seat and tossed it up.
The nuns gasped in shock at the sight.
"Th-the Holy Grail?!"
"It really exists?!"
"Wait, then the holy power the necromancer used...!"
Realizing something, they cried out, but I had no time for that.
[Y-you're using the Holy Grail.]
The black necromancer pulled away immediately. The Holy Grail's holy power could annihilate even her if mishandled.
The same for the other souls.
Evil spirit or not, holy power was lethal to them all.
It seemed omnipotent at a glance.
But I knew now.
No—Stella had taught me.
Wielding holy power was incredibly tricky. Mishandle it, and you'd just become demon fodder.
I'd only indirectly handled it via the Holy Grail twice now.
Just slamming the Holy Grail's holy power into Stella might hurt the archdemon, but not fatally.
That's why I continued from before.
"A saintess is a profoundly special existence. And among them, Stella is an unparalleled woman."
No one could deny my words.
Even now, the nuns in the carriage prayed for Stella despite death staring them down.
Countless people on this continent had received solace and salvation from Stella—not limited to the living.
"Restless dead."
I looked to the sky.
The souls of the countless dead blotted moon and stars, gazing down at us.
"You who slumbered powerlessly, unable to do a thing."
I pocketed Remegaton, which had gathered them, and spoke honestly.
"Behold the fate of the woman who comforted the continent, full of love."
Stella drew closer. Her extended left hand nearly touched the carriage's end.
"Behold the end of the woman who sacrificed her body to save you."
Some souls began drifting away. Fearing the Holy Grail and demon, or freed from Remegaton's compulsion.
Yet countless remained.
"She who gave her own happiness to others. Who shouldered others' misfortunes. Behold her end."
So I believe.
"Behold how everyone turned away, delivering her into the archdemon's clutches."
God cannot save Stella.
God can never give Stella what she desires.
"Will you allow this?"
If asked if I could save her.
"Will you truly let this woman's life end in tragedy!"
No, that's impossible too.
I lack the power to offer Stella the salvation she deserves.
"Limbs rotting! For you! Your families! Descendants! Lovers! Friends! Pure sacrifice alone—and you'll close your eyes without a shred of gratitude?!"
Then who can?
In tragedy.
She gifted happiness to others, but who pulls her from the brink.
Those Stella pulled from tragedy.
Precisely, all she built along her path.
"If you'll close your eyes like that, then do so! Remain ignorant of gratitude even in death, lost to slumber—fine!"
I raised the Holy Grail high.
Holy power surged into my palm, twisting my guts.
"But if a speck of gratitude remains! If you pity her still!"
Then the souls surged toward the Holy Grail.
"Stake your souls! For the woman who forsook life for love! Forsake death for gratitude!"
Many drifted away.
Some never received her grace.
They wouldn't abandon their repose.
But more—
Souls who'd received the grace of the saintess who lived aiding others burned their own essence with holy power.
Like rescuers doused in water, leaping into flames.
The souls ignited like white flames. Touching holy power doomed them to fade.
Yet they flew toward Stella, burning themselves away.