74. The Saint (9)
74. The Saint (9)
"Ugh—!"
Chwaak!
"Captain-nim!!!"
"Mister!!!"
'What just happened...?'
The Captain grabbed his left shoulder tightly with his hand.
Jureuk.
It was in an instant.
He had rushed out to stop the monster from growing by eating another monster.
He had intended to take care of it while the monster was focused on eating the other monster.
It was a split second.
The body that had been flowing like mud on the monster's form moved like a tentacle.
The moment he tried to block it with his sword, the tentacle bent as if mocking him and attacked his left shoulder.
Despite the armor being protected by various defensive spells, his arm was severed as if cutting through tofu.
Gluttony shoved the Captain's arm, made of mana and holy power rather than the tasteless Ners, straight into its mouth.
Kwajik. Kwajik.
As soon as Gluttony ate the meat made of mana and holy power, it let out a cry of joy.
Gluttony's cry was a truly bizarre horror.
The Holy Knights began to feel terror at the sight of Gluttony.
The Holy Knight Captain.
He is one of the top three strongest in the Holy Kingdom.
His martial prowess is famous even in the Holy Kingdom, and he is the teacher and superior of the Holy Knights present here.
Yet such a Captain had been unable to do anything and had his arm taken just like that.
<Stats>
Strength: 105
Durability: 100
Agility: 101
Stamina: 95
Magic Power: 0
'There's no chance of winning...'
Viviant grasped the situation immediately.
Gluttony, which she had thought was weak, had become strong in an instant, contrary to her expectations.
It was strong enough to sever the arm of the Captain, whom she relied on and trusted the most.
"Everyone, retreat!!!"
Viviant shouted immediately.
Although she had come here to be chosen as the Saint, she uttered the word 'retreat' without a moment's hesitation.
Viviant had not given up on being the Saint.
She had said it without hesitation because she believed that no one's sacrifice should exist in the process of becoming a Saint.
Viviant quickly used Heal on the Captain and shouted at the unmoving Captain.
"We have to retreat! What are you doing!!!"
"Viviant-nim. I will hold them off. Someone needs to block them anyway."
"What did you say!?"
"Do not worry. I will use the scroll after seeing that you have escaped to a certain extent. And Viviant-nim, if your safety is ever in danger, feel free to abandon us."
Viviant was dumbfounded by those words.
Because Viviant knew.
That the Captain did not have a Return Scroll.
Gluttony was watching the scene without moving.
Because Lea was currently in Gluttony's consciousness.
'As expected, she has a Return Scroll.'
Lea listened to their conversation through Gluttony and pondered how to capture Viviant.
The best way is to stop her from opening the scroll.
The problem is that it doesn't take long to open a scroll; it just disappears with a click.
'Cutting off both hands to prevent her from opening the scroll is the surest way, but...'
The problem is that I'm worried Viviant might get stressed in the process.
I want to keep this female human, who possesses the delicious Unique Ability called Status Window, for as long as possible.
But it can't be helped.
I want to obtain her intact body without Viviant getting stressed, but rather than missing out on her by doing that, I have to obtain her even if it means cutting off her limbs.
==
"Take mine!"
"Viviant-nim! We don't have time!!!"
Viviant took out the Return Scroll from her bosom. And she ran to the Captain.
It was to hand over the Return Scroll.
"You guys, take Viviant-nim and run away right now!!! No, force that scroll open right now and send Viviant-nim back to the branch office!!!"
"W-what!?"
"Understood!"
The moment the Holy Knights tried to grab Viviant to carry out their Captain's orders.
Chwaak.
"Huh?"
When the hand she had extended to give the scroll to the Captain disappeared from her field of vision, a question mark momentarily appeared in her head.
And it didn't take long for that question mark to turn into an exclamation point.
Because an extreme pain, which she had never felt since coming to this other world, took over her brain.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!!!"
""Viviant-nim!!!""
"Send Viviant-nim back right nowwww!!!"
Blood burst out from Viviant's torn-off arm.
The Holy Knights tried to find Viviant's arm that must have fallen off in order to use the Return Scroll, but they couldn't find it.
The Captain immediately turned his head and looked at Gluttony.
Viviant's severed arm was held in Gluttony's tentacle.
It had been severed so instantly that perhaps the arm itself didn't even know it had been cut off; Viviant's severed arm was gripping the Return Scroll tightly.
'Surely she doesn't have another one, right?'
Lea thought as she watched Viviant writhing in pain, clutching her severed arm.
Pretty and beautiful Viviant was screaming in pain, drooling tears, snot, and saliva because her arm hadn't just been cut, but torn off.
Seeing that, she felt truly sorry.
But if she didn't do this, she would run away to the Holy Kingdom, and she didn't know when she would find another human with the Status Window ability, so she had to do this at least.
'Is this the heart of a parent who has no choice but to punish their children?'
==
'Damn...! Does it even know about the existence of the Return Scroll!? No, in the first place...'
The Captain glared at the human Mage floating in the air.
To be precise, not the human Mage, but the eroded Mage.
The Captain gritted his teeth at the situation where the flow of the battlefield had changed in an instant and was dyed with despair.
'Viviant-nim, at the very least, must be sent back to the main country.'
"Everyone, listen up! That is an order!!! Risk your lives to send Viviant-nim back to the main country!!!"
""Understood!!""
The Captain didn't look back and gripped his sword with his remaining right hand.
A will to block Gluttony from reaching Viviant, even at the cost of his life.
That will disappeared within a single second.
"Ah—?"
Thump.
His vision reeled, and he fell straight down.
The Captain, who looked at his feet to check what had happened, realized after seeing his own feet standing alone, leaving his fallen self behind.
That his feet had been cut off.
Gluttony's tentacle sprouting from the ground.
Only then did the Captain confirm that one of Gluttony's tentacles, which had been in front of him, was stuck in the ground.
"Ha..."
He was dumbfounded.
Hearing the near-screams coming from behind, the Captain let out a hollow laugh.
==
Countless thoughts raced through Viviant's mind about where it had all gone wrong.
When Jenny tried to stop her?
When she saw creatures and humans together at the orphanage?
When the Ners built a village?
When the eroded Mage appeared?
When the creature called Gluttony appeared?
She kept trying to find the reason why it had turned out this way, but the pain she felt in her arm forced her to face reality.
She had clearly used holy power to stop the bleeding and used Heal, but the pain was not disappearing.
"Damn it, damn it!"
"Viviant-nim, you must not lose consciousness!"
"I'll hold this place."
"Ethan!"
"Let's have a drink in the afterlife later. Please take good care of the Saintess."
"Damn it!"
The surroundings were chaos itself.
Screams and death coming from all directions.
The remaining Holy Knights started running like crazy to save Viviant at all costs.
A very fast speed, even while carrying an adult woman.
However, it was fast by human standards.
Gluttony appeared in front of the path they were running along, having neutralized all the knights who had been hindering it.
The Holy Knights' judgment was quick.
The direction Gluttony was blocking was the direction to Medherun City.
In the end, to save Viviant, they had to break through Gluttony, but they didn't think they would win against Gluttony, which had already neutralized the Captain.
However, they rushed in with the thought that they just needed to block it for even one second.
All the Holy Knights, except for the one carrying Viviant, rushed at Gluttony.
==
"Haa...! Haa...!"
Viviant kept running, clutching her heart which had already reached its limit.
The Holy Knight who had been carrying her also sent Viviant off alone to stop the Ners following behind.
Left alone like that, Viviant was feeling the fear of death for the first time since coming to this other world.
Viviant couldn't turn her head even at the sounds coming from behind.
The Holy Knights who had been with her for a long time. They had always taken care of her and protected her reliably.
All those Holy Knights had sacrificed their lives for her.
"Ugh—!"
Viviant, whose vision was obscured by tears and who couldn't check the ground well, tripped over a tree root and fell.
"Ah..."
She tried to get up and run away immediately, but her body, which had already exceeded its limits, could not muster the strength to get up again.
She tried to hit her legs, which were trembling to the point of convulsing, with one hand, but her legs did not move as Viviant wished.
As despair and death filled Viviant's brain, she thought of Lea.
A warmth that was cozy, and just looking at her made her heart relax and reminded her of her mother.
Thinking she was in Lea's arms, not in this fear of death, Viviant's brain couldn't take it anymore and she fainted when Gluttony, who was eating the severed flesh of a human presumed to be a Holy Knight, appeared before her eyes.