Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Church (8)
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“Daniel or whatever, we just need to kill him, right?”
In the tense atmosphere, it was Daisy who broke the silence.
She drew her sword and charged at Daniel.
Daniel, whose eyes had tripled in size upon opening them, glanced at the oncoming Daisy.
“Hup.”
He drew his sword from within his robes and swung it.
...
Boom!
When Daisy’s and Daniel’s swords clashed, surprisingly, it was Daisy who was pushed back.
“Daisy...!”
Marey, who had already reached a skill level comparable to Daisy’s but still considered her one step above, was startled to see Daisy being overpowered by Daniel.
“Urgh...”
Daisy spat out a mouthful of blood and glared at Daniel.
“That guy’s weird... His energy feels different...”
“Hmm...”
Daniel looked at the repelled Daisy with interest, then smirked.
“A half-breed, huh.”
At that moment, the four women were all shocked simultaneously.
Daisy’s disguise was nearly perfect, to the point that even Rainy, with her exceptional holy power sensitivity, hadn’t noticed easily.
And yet, some mid-level Church priest had seen through it?
It was unbelievable.
“Hmm... Half-breeds should be eliminated for the sake of the world.”
Daniel gritted his teeth and charged at Daisy once more.
As if the previous exchange had just been a warm-up, energy exploded from within Daniel’s body.
“Watch out!”
Worried that Daisy might get caught in the shockwave, Bine hesitated but decided it would be disastrous if she waited longer, so she fired the arrow she had already nocked.
With Daniel and Daisy practically intertwined, precise aiming was difficult, but astonishingly, Bine targeted only Daniel perfectly.
“Hmm...”
Judging the arrow’s power too strong to ignore, Daniel stepped back and deflected it.
In that interval, Daisy assumed a defensive stance, and Marey joined her.
Daniel glanced around, sizing up the situation, then shook his head as if deciding it would be hard to break through Daisy and Marey again.
“To think there are powerhouses like this. I’ve heard rumors of a hero party being formed—must be you all.”
“...”
“Hmm... No answer, huh. How disappointing.”
Even upon realizing his opponents were the hero party, Daniel showed no sign of agitation.
As if he was confident he could defeat even a hero party.
Having assessed that Daniel wouldn’t be an easy win, Rainy calmly observed the situation and whispered to Bine.
“What do you think?”
Bine possessed the sharp eyes typical of an elf.
She would be grasping not just the fight with Daniel, but the entire battlefield.
After scanning the surroundings, Bine was about to conclude they should retreat when she spotted a group approaching from afar.
It was Raden’s group.
“Raden’s coming from over there.”
As Daisy and Marey began charging at Daniel again, fighting desperately while Rainy supported from range, they decided to hold out until Raden arrived.
“Just hold on a bit!”
“Oh? Got something to rely on? Then I’d better finish this quickly.”
Daniel parried the joint attack from Daisy and Marey, then suddenly spun toward Rainy.
“Watch out!”
Bine hurriedly raised her bow to block the sword.
Made from World Tree wood, the bow successfully blocked the sword.
But even if the bow held, her body couldn’t escape the impact.
Bine’s body flew through the air and crashed to the ground.
“Hmm, what a nuisance.”
After briefly watching Bine collapsed and unable to rise, Daniel charged straight at Rainy.
As Rainy gritted her teeth and swung a holy power-infused fist to block—
“Heavenly Demon Death Beam!”
A powerful surge of energy poured toward Daniel.
“Hup.”
Daniel’s face twisted for the first time as he leaped aside, dodging the Heavenly Demon Death Beam.
Rainy looked toward where it had been fired and broke into a bright smile.
“Raden!”
***
As expected, the half-closed eyes rule held true once again.
Pushing back the awakened, wide-eyed Daniel and catching my breath, I checked on Bine, who was writhing on the ground.
In the meantime, Marey and Daisy had re-engaged Daniel.
“Ugh... Raden...”
Her injuries must have been severe, as Bine whimpered with her pointed ears folded back.
She often made me worry, but she was still an important comrade.
Seeing her hurt like this ignited rage within me.
I bit my lip until it bled and approached him.
In the midst of battling Marey and Daisy, he nodded at me as if he’d expected it.
“As I thought, you’re the hero. I was wary of you from our first meeting—your instincts are sharp, as befits a hero.”
He seemed to have pegged me as the hero at the center of the party.
Not a bad eye.
“...I am the hero.”
“Haha, delusions aren’t healthy.”
“...”
Marey, who had timidly insisted she was the real hero, furrowed her brows.
She seemed properly pissed at being ignored.
“Die.”
Suppressing the enraged Marey who was about to go berserk, I shot her a glance.
We’d trained together for quite some time at the academy, syncing our breaths.
I trusted she understood the meaning in my gaze as I drew my sword and charged at Daniel.
When rescuing Laura, the totem itself had done nothing, but now it had to prove its worth with outstanding performance.
“Sacred Haste!”
“Guardian Blow!”
The two current and former saints, having briefly reunited and chatted, cast buffs simultaneously.
“Ice Step.”
As the party’s sole mage, Laura—perhaps worried about hitting me—chose support over direct attack magic.
With three buffs from those called the continent’s strongest, losing to this half-closed-eyes guy who wasn’t even a demon king would be a hero’s disgrace.
I charged in with the resolve to never lose.
“I’ll support you.”
Yumi and Dain burst from the shadows, throwing daggers to clear my path.
“Hmm... Why does the hero party have so many members?”
“Shut up and die quietly!”
“Sigh... Seems my mission for the Church ends here.”
Daniel, as if resolved, shed his priest robes.
Beneath them writhed grotesque tentacles.
“So it was a demon after all.”
“Allow me a proper introduction. I’m Daniel of Silence, newly ascended to the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings.”
“Eek.”
I heard Nia gasp in surprise.
I’d half-expected it already, so I wasn’t startled by Daniel’s sudden self-introduction and steadfastly swung my sword.
Compressed, overwhelming holy power blazed brightly, shining even in broad daylight and filling the entire Church interior with my presence.
Ssssh.
Eight grotesque tentacles slithered out from Daniel’s body.
“Heh, if I claim the hero’s head, the Demon King will surely acknowledge me.”
Ignoring everyone else, fixated only on me the hero, Daniel cast defense aside and hurled all eight tentacles at me.
‘As planned.’
I glanced to confirm Marey preparing her technique under Daisy’s protection, then went defensive against the tentacles.
Marey, inheritor of my ultimate move, Heavenly Demon Death Beam.
Hers was even stronger than mine, annoyingly.
I’d been frustrated at missing the finishing blow again, but after seeing Bine injured, who cared about that anymore.
What mattered was killing that damned tentacle blob.
“Huh? Goddess over there!”
“What!”
The half-closed-eyed, seemingly innocent Daniel.
Seizing the moment his gaze turned, I unleashed a massive strike, pouring out half my holy power at once.
“Hmph, striking with tricks in battle, hero? These are the end times.”
But Daniel reacted swiftly, gathering his tentacles into a massive shield.
Boom!
My sword clashed with the tentacle shield, resounding loudly.
I deliberately acted frustrated.
“Heh, that strike failed and drained your holy power. The hero’s nothing special. This fight’s essentially mine.”
Seeing my blow fizzle, Daniel smirked, convinced he’d seized the advantage.
As Daniel grinned, I—flung far back—smiled in response.
“Stupid bastard. Sticking your own defeat flag in?”
“Defeat flag? What’s that?”
“Just die without knowing.”
Marey appeared ready to unleash her ultra-gigantic Heavenly Demon Death Beam.
I signaled her without Daniel noticing.
Daniel was still locked on me.
Having even planted his own defeat flag, there’d be no better timing.
“Heavenly Demon Death Beam!”
Quiet-voiced botted Marey shouted resonantly, channeling her anger at being ignored.
In that instant, an enormously vast energy surged.
“Wh-what!”
Daniel paled at the aura and tried to flee.
Panicking at his attempt to run, I chased and yelled.
“Don’t run!”
“You think I’m dumb enough to take that head-on?”
Villains getting done in by the finishing move at the fight’s climax is a time-honored cliché.
Yet Daniel dared ignore this cliché.
Unacceptable.
I tackled him from behind, pinning him down.
“Let go! You’ll die too!”
Daniel threatened, but I didn’t yield.
“Don’t care, die if I die.”
Would a hero with holy power really die?
Anxious but resolute, I restrained Daniel.
Boom boom boom!
The massive energy engulfed my body.
‘Ah...’
Showered in that intense energy barrage, I instantly regretted it.
Marey’s Heavenly Demon Death Beam could kill even a hero.