Transformation (3)
"Cure."
The voice that spoke the word was impossibly beautiful—like an angel who had descended from the heavens solely to save a helpless lamb.
Cure
A colossal Cross of Purification descends from the heavens
The instant Zion's voice rang across the world, the nauseating stench vanished as if it had never existed.
Then a single pillar of light came down from the lofty sky. Everyone's gaze was stolen by that radiant brilliance.
"Th-the sky! Look at the sky!!"
"What in the world is that…?!"
"It's warm… like sunlight."
A cross of pure light, forged from nothing but the untainted radiance of the heavens—a light that would not tolerate even a single blemish—was descending upon them.
It had no physical form, and yet it felt more solid than any steel. That was only natural. It was the crystallization of faith itself.
While everyone else stared in a daze, only Ifrit recognized the cross for what it was at once.
That's the Cross of Purification. But the size of it…!!
Ordinarily, the Cross of Purification appeared whenever a priest cast Cure, and its power scaled with its size. Being able to cast Cure at all was already proof of a veteran priest—Ifrit knew that much. Even so, a cross of this magnitude descending from the sky was something she had never witnessed in her entire life.
A Cure of that caliber could cleanse any status ailment without exception…!! So this is the legendary Great Saintess after all!!
Legends were usually exaggerated. But what stood before her eyes was no fiction—it was a living legend itself.
The grotesque crimson-black aura wrapping the Sword Demon shrieked the moment it touched the pure-white cross and evaporated on contact. And when the cross finally settled against the Sword Demon's body, a clear, sacred peal of bells rang out far and wide.
"…Ah."
The cross erupted in holy light and vanished, scattering waves of radiance in every direction. The blood-red bandages that had been forcibly holding the Sword Demon's form together caught those scattered rays and began to burn white-hot.
When the pillar of light at last withdrew, what remained was not a wicked monster, but a human being moaning in pain.
"Um… are you all right?"
A girl lay unconscious on the ground—black hair that fell to her waist, skin as white and fine as polished jade, and a face still soft with youth.
Zion tilted her head as she looked down at her. Circumstantially, this girl had to be the Sword Demon that had been rampaging only moments ago…
She couldn't even begin to guess what kind of curse could twist a person into something like that. Not that it particularly mattered.
Technically, this still counts as taking down a Sword Demon. If I explain the situation, maybe I can still claim the bounty?
It was the kind of thought that would have made anyone else clutch their rosary in horror. Of course, she hadn't saved the girl for the money… but if a reward was available, there was no reason not to take it. And this wasn't some measly three hundred gold—it was three thousand.
Her mercenary musings, however, did not last long. Ifrit came sprinting over from a distance in a single burst of speed.
"We should move first."
"Do you know her?"
"There's probably almost no Adventurer in the Tower who doesn't know that face."
"Don't tell me…"
"That's right. She's a High Ranker—same as me."
High Ranker.
Among the hundreds of thousands of Adventurers who climbed the Tower every day, that title was reserved for only the top one hundred. Even ordinary Rankers numbered over ten thousand—so the weight of the name High Ranker needed no further explanation.
"Hey, look over there! Isn't that a person?"
"Something about that face looks familiar…"
"Any real Adventurer knows the faces of the High Rankers. This is going to cause one hell of a scene."
"I-I see. Then I'll move her to the chapel for now."
"Leave the rest to me."
As the administrator of the first floor and a High Ranker herself, Ifrit could disperse a crowd without much trouble. The real problem was the spies. Everyone pretended ignorance to her face, but behind the scenes they had each quietly planted one or two agents on the first floor.
Everything that had happened today on the Floor of Beginnings would reach the ears of their masters without a single detail missing.
And yet… strangely, I'm not afraid at all. If Zion and I join forces… we could beat anyone.
She had approached Zion in the beginning purely for the Hidden Quest. But after spending the past month together, she had come to understand something.
Somewhere along the way, she had stopped seeing Zion as just an ordinary NPC… and started seeing her as a friend she needed to protect.
Of course, if a Hidden Quest came with it, that would be even better.
After no small amount of trouble, Zion managed to get the girl to the chapel. They had drawn more attention than she would have liked… but Ifrit had stepped in personally and handled crowd control so cleanly that Zion was able to slip away from the uproar unscathed.
Only after laying the black-haired girl on the bed did Zion finally let out a breath. What a mess this had turned into.
I just wanted to live off spamming Heal. Then a Sword Demon shows up out of nowhere, I save her, and it turns out she's a High Ranker?
Even that colossal cross that had appeared from the sky was something Zion herself had never seen before. That was Cure? Seriously?
In Dungeon & Soul, Cure had been nothing more than a basic skill. There was no way it would have come with an effect that flashy.
Did the basic skills get upgraded when I crossed over into this place…? She was still turning the hypothesis over in her mind when—
"…Ngh."
A low groan came from behind her. Zion spun around in surprise and found a pair of red eyes slowly opening.
The girl with waist-length black hair and skin as fine as white jade stared blankly up at her.
Zion hadn't expected her to regain consciousness this quickly and was briefly flustered—but she recovered at once and slipped back into character.
"Are you awake?"
"Where… is this…"
"This is the nameless chapel on the Floor of Beginnings."
The moment those words—Floor of Beginnings—reached her ears, the hell she had momentarily forgotten came flooding back.
The agony of every blood vessel in her body burning. The screams that had torn her soul apart… All of that pain was gone, washed clean away.
The girl slowly pushed herself upright. Her thoughts—and even her body—moved according to her own will again.
In the very moment I was ready to give up on everything because of the pain… I saw a light so brilliant it cut through the darkness.
Only then did the girl understand. The person who had pulled her out of that pit of unspeakable suffering was the nun standing right in front of her.
The instant she realized that every last shred of pain was finally over, tears welled thickly in her eyes.
Watching the girl suddenly tear up out of nowhere, Zion was the one who panicked. What is this? Why is she doing this?
"Hic…"
"It's all right. You're safe here."
"Waaaaaah!!"
Zion had tried to soothe her with the gentlest voice she could manage—and that only set her off completely.
The girl finally broke down sobbing and threw her arms around Zion. She had endured far too much over the past month. High Ranker or not, she was only eighteen. It had been far too cruel a burden for a girl that young to bear alone.
"*sniffle*…"
"Feeling a little calmer now?"
"Yes… I-I'm so sorry. I couldn't even thank my savior properly…"
"It's all right. Anyone would react the same way."
Zion gently stroked the girl's hair. She was flustered, yes—but she understood. If your body started rotting away and then moved on its own against your will, anyone would be terrified.
If anything, she found herself admiring the girl's willpower—to have been struck by a curse that horrific and still fought to find a way out of it.
"Ah…"
"Oh dear. I did that without thinking."
"Th-that's…"
"Yes?"
"I-if it's not too much trouble… could you do it a little more?"
"???"
Looking at the girl still asking with tears clinging to her lashes, Zion found it impossible to refuse. She reached out and stroked her hair again, gently—and only then did the girl manage a small smile.
Zion tilted her head at the sight. She'd expected the girl to take offense at being treated like a child. Apparently not.
"…Please forgive my rudeness. I spent so long suffering under that curse that I…"
"It's fine. How is your body feeling now?"
"Yes. Thanks to the Saintess of the Beginning, the curse has vanished without a trace."
Still flushed, the girl rose from the bed. Truthfully, she wanted to cling a little longer… but young as she was, she was still a High Ranker. She knew how to keep public and private separate.
She straightened her clothes as best she could, then dropped to one knee before Zion and bowed her head.
"Pardon?"
"Um… may I call you Unni?"
That day, Zion acquired a little sister with a rather severe attachment problem.