Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Fake Hero...?(2)
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I had absolutely no clue about Daisy's true identity.
If she could unleash the Purifying Flame, it usually meant she was a hero or a saintess...
But I was already the one playing the hero, and the Church had never announced the appearance of a new saintess.
In the heavy silence, Vina approached me and whispered in my ear.
"That woman's identity is suspicious, but let's focus on wiping out the black mages first."
"Hmm..."
It was certainly disorienting to have a sudden user of the Purifying Flame show up, but our original goal had been subjugating the black mages.
We had confirmed the existence of this self-proclaimed hero, so we could deal with that issue after taking down the black mages.
With both sides facing off and thick tension hanging in the air, I was the first to break the silence.
"Our party will head in to subjugate the black mages, just like a proper hero party should. As for you, self-proclaimed hero, why don't you just watch from out here."
For some reason, my irritation had slipped into my tone, making my words come out rather harshly.
At my words, Daisy furrowed her brow and declared confidently.
"We were just about to head in for the subjugation ourselves, so cutting in line like this won't do."
Daisy's handsome escorts jolted in surprise.
Reactions that made it clear this was news to them.
It seemed Daisy had made the decision on a whim.
"Let's go."
Daisy grabbed the hand of the black-haired girl and took the lead into the black mages' hideout.
The men exchanged awkward glances before following behind her.
Laura clicked her tongue at the sight of the men trailing after her like puppies.
"I sensed it back at the academy. There's no way that isn't brainwashing. We need to dump some holy water on that bitch's head."
It really was a bizarre scene to witness with my own eyes.
I could understand the feelings of the villainesses in those romance fantasy novels who branded the heroine a witch.
Even if I had been the villainess, seeing a woman blindly commanding such remarkable men would only make me think she was using some kind of scheme.
"That does seem like a good approach... but the fallout would be rough."
If Daisy had been radiating demonic energy, I would have splashed her with holy water on the spot, but whether she was hiding it well or there was none to begin with, I couldn't sense any demonic energy from her at all.
Not just me—Rainy and Nania, who were basically walking demonic energy detectors, hadn't sensed any either, so it had to be certain.
Laura had claimed before that she'd sensed something like demonic energy from Daisy, but she was a mage, after all.
Her expertise in demonic energy wasn't that deep, so she might have mistaken it for something else.
What if we doused her with holy water in a situation this uncertain?
If she really was a demonkin, it would have been perfect, but we couldn't rule out the chance it would have zero effect.
And if it had no effect?
The backlash would be too much to handle.
Daisy might look like an airhead on the surface, but every single one of the men following her was a powerhouse wielding immense influence across the continent.
If they had a pretext to come after us, it would be hard to withstand their harassment.
In any case, Daisy's group had entered the interior first, and our hero party followed suit.
True to a black mages' hideout, the inside was pitch dark and exuded an eerie chill.
We had portable lanterns for times like this, so I switched one on without hesitation.
Stimulated by the sight, Daisy—who was ahead—launched a Purifying Flame upward as well.
Amid the fierce standoff, we walked for about ten minutes before a massive cavern opened up.
"Burn the documents, quick!"
"These are confidential files..."
"Doesn't matter! Burn them!"
Inside the cavern, dozens of black mages were frantically incinerating documents or stuffing belongings into bags.
I'd thought they'd bolt the moment they were busted, but it seemed they had plenty of secrets they couldn't let see the light of day.
If we'd leisurely waited for the knight order, we'd have found nothing but an empty black mage den.
I scanned the black mages and spotted who looked like their leader.
He was rushing his subordinates along, kicking their asses as he went.
I considered having Laura freeze them all with her Ice Age, but we had unreliable presences right beside us.
If they attacked while Laura was casting and got taken out, it'd be hard to respond.
Taking that into account, I stopped Laura from unleashing her Ice Age and asked Vina to handle some light attacks instead.
On their side, a man who looked like a mage began chanting a spell.
"Ice Spike!"
Ping!
"Thunder Bolt."
A barrage of colorful spells and arrows rained down on them.
Boom boom boom!
The shockwaves caused the black mages' bodies to burst apart.
"What... what the hell?"
The black mages, thrown into chaos, hurriedly clustered together and deployed a spell.
Whoooong.
A dark barrier radiating ominous energy formed around them.
Their apparent leader had already ditched his underlings and fled.
Such a ragtag bunch of black mages—it was astonishing.
"Those are the ones!"
"Corpse Summon."
They finally spotted our group and raised the corpses that were a black mage specialty.
Clack clack clack.
Skeletons with sturdy bones that looked well-fed on milk.
Uuuugh...
Rotting corpse zombies charging at high speed, having shed the sluggishness of traditional zombies—like the MZ generation of zombies.
After waiting once more for the ranged dealers' attacks, I charged straight at them.
Having been utterly useless and listless during the battle with Kallos, I had no intention of repeating that mistake this time.
Whoooong.
Pure white holy power coiled around my sword, and I cleaved through the skeleton at the front.
Clatter...
Just a glancing blow, yet the skeleton split clean in half, bones and all, and crumbled dead.
Slash slash.
A glance to the side showed Daisy drawing her sword and cutting down zombies as well.
'But why isn't she using holy power?'
The odd thing was that she wasn't using holy power at all while fighting the undead.
She was skilled enough to handle them easily without it, but using holy power would have made it even more efficient.
"Raging Blow!"
True to her battle saintess style, Rainy wrapped her fist in holy power and uppercutted the zombies away.
Nania was excellently hidden behind a boulder.
"H-Holy... holy power? A holy knight!"
"Grand Holy Knight defensive formation!"
Had I not yet shown the hero's signature Purifying Flame?
The black mages seemed to think I was just an ordinary holy knight and formed some bizarre "Grand Holy Knight" array.
It looked like they'd put some effort into preparing countermeasures against holy knights, their natural predators.
Unfortunately for them, I wasn't just any holy knight.
I was the hero.
To the black mages who had formed their sturdy-looking defensive formation, I decided to give them a taste of hot flames.
"Purifying Flame."
"Then me too!"
Pure white flames erupted simultaneously from Rainy's and my fingertips, engulfing the black mages entirely.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle.
The sound of meat searing on a hot griddle echoed through the cavern.
"Gyaaaah!"
The black mages writhed and screamed.
But since they were all clustered together, the fire spread from one flailing black mage to the next.
A few tried desperately to break out of the formation, but they were blocked by the corpses of the zombies that had been guarding the perimeter.
"Hee hee hee~"
Perhaps unable to fully shake her saintess instincts, Rainy hummed cheerfully as she watched the black mages burn.
'She's scary...'
I shuddered at her cruelty in that moment.
Boom!
With a loud crash, the black mages' leader—who had fled—appeared in midair and was flung to the ground.
"Captured the leader."
Yumi shook out her hands casually, as if it were no big deal.
I'd wondered where she'd vanished to during the fight, but apparently she'd gone and nabbed the leader who'd escaped first.
Since the leader likely held the most intel, catching him was crucial—and her clean work like this made it impossible not to trust her.
"Good work. As expected of Yumi! You're not Hyeji—I vouch for you!"
"Yes...?"
"Just praise."
"Thank you."
I patted her shoulder, and Yumi showed a subtle sign of pleasure.
She used to be as expressionless as a block of ice, but after spending time together, it seemed some bond had formed.
Lately, she often showed these human reactions, which made me happy.
"Huuuugh..."
The black mage leader trembled, short swords embedded in six spots across his body.
I pulled out the holy water vial I'd gotten from Rainy.
At some point, Nania—who had slyly joined the group—freaked out and backed away.
I squatted down in front of the quivering black mage, holding the holy water vial.
Time for some fun interrogation.