Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Regeneration
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“—Messing around, and you're nothing special.”
In front of her, Alistair's remains—reduced to a pulpy mess—were writhing.
Gray Chasefield let out a sigh and stretched her back.
Crack, crunch—the violent sounds of bones realigning pounded in her ears.
...That noise alone was stark proof of the fierce battle she'd just fought.
Some might marvel that dealing with a viscount-level demon left her merely exhausted, but from Gray's perspective—where she usually ended fights with a single blow—this evenly matched struggle was a fresh experience.
She had won in the end, though.
The fact that the fight had even been competitive meant, in other words...
...she could have lost.
To a guy who wasn't even at the top tier of demons, her—the strongest of humanity.
“...”
As she mulled over that sense of crisis...
Something strange appeared in the sky.
“...?”
At first, it looked like a black dot.
But soon enough.
It expanded in an instant, spreading across the entire sky like a black substance that clung to the inside of her eyeballs just by looking at it.
Like pitch-black ink spilling across the heavens.
And the Hero's keen eyesight immediately identified what was at the center of it all.
Right in the middle of that inky blackness.
Was Carlyle, covered head to toe in the stuff.
The black Hell matter that had burst across the entire sky suddenly compressed at an alarming rate.
The hellish atmosphere, spread over such a vast area, was sucked entirely into Carlyle's body—like air rushing into a vacuum.
“—?!”
Gray's mouth gaped open in shock.
She already knew what happened to humans exposed to Hell matter, thanks to the footage Felix had shown her before coming here.
From that scene, there was only one possible conclusion.
That man.
Was already dead.
“—”
Before the dizzying shock could fully hit her, a red dragon streaked across the sky from above, diving to catch Carlyle's falling body.
“...Ridiculous—ma—!”
Not yet.
He couldn't be dead yet.
He had to still be alive.
Gray gritted her teeth and started striding toward him.
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Siona, who had caught Carlyle, headed straight for the nearest cathedral.
Orthodox cathedrals were required to stock holy relics and such for emergencies. For a human exposed to this much demonic energy, those would be like a first-aid kit.
And every single person gathered around Carlyle's body was out of their mind.
Vespa was probably the most unhinged of them all.
“—Carlyle! Carlyle—!”
Her voice cracked in near-scream as Siona hurriedly laid Carlyle's body on the floor—and it began writhing madly.
The sight of enough stuff to kill a person with the slightest exposure now condensed into one human body was utterly horrifying.
At a glance, it looked like someone had slathered his body in black gel.
But look closer, and you'd see tiny hooks carving into him bit by bit, slicing him up, and absorbing him into the gel.
Soon.
This man.
Was being devoured alive by the Hell matter right here.
Skin peeled away to reveal muscle beneath. Then nerves, then white bone—all exposed in mere seconds.
Honestly, he already looked like a corpse.
“—”
The moment she realized it, Vespa paled and reached out toward him.
It was an attempt to help somehow, but Siona slapped her hand away first.
“Don't touch! It'll spread to you too, Vespa! You'll get eaten alive!”
With those words, she smashed open a box she'd brought from somewhere and poured its contents straight onto Carlyle.
Holy water blessed with consecration—a first-grade liquid that purified evil—drenched his entire body.
But.
“...Tch!”
Siona gritted her teeth and staggered back as the Hell matter erupted even more viciously, splattering everywhere.
Even after slamming it with holy water potent enough to obliterate a high-ranking evil spirit in an instant, it was like pouring oil on a fire. No sign of calming down.
And in that moment, the cathedral doors burst open.
It was Gray, sweat pouring down her like rain.
...Not from battle, but clearly from extreme tension and stress.
Her eyes locked onto Carlyle, lying in the center.
And what was happening to him.
“—”
For an instant, Gray went deathly pale.
She clenched her teeth and rushed to his side.
Drawing her Holy Sword, she roared.
“...You, worthless, idiots—! Get out! I'll save him somehow—!”
“Wait, Hero! N-no! Everyone here dies if you do—!”
Seeing Gray's eyes roll back, Siona panicked and held her off.
Hell matter was a vicious substance that burrowed into anyone it touched until they died.
Even the Hero was no exception.
Normally, a man exposed to this would be as good as dead already.
So.
That's why everyone froze in shock when Carlyle suddenly moved.
“...”
Carlyle was reaching a finger toward Gray.
...Everyone halted.
‘...How...?’
In this state.
Like this.
Not just alive, but conscious.
How was this man holding out to this degree?
He should have dropped dead the instant he made contact.
Even by Siona's standards as a mana-based lifeform, that's how it should be. Carlyle wasn't exceptionally trained—how was he enduring this?
But it was clear he was trying to communicate something, so Gray stared at his fingertip.
It was pointing at the Holy Sword she'd just drawn.
“...You want this?”
His fingers curved into a circle. Thumb and index finger touched.
Seeing the OK sign, everyone's faces went blank.
...That confirmed it.
This madman.
Was perfectly conscious even now.
Even as the Hell matter devoured his entire body, his mind held firm.
And the sight that followed when Gray tossed the Holy Sword to him was even more absurd.
—!
The moment the Holy Sword touched Carlyle's body, a burst of radiance exploded outward.
A scream like tearing eardrums rang out, and the Hell matter encasing him began melting away like sludge.
Beneath it, Carlyle's ravaged body was revealed—eaten away everywhere.
At the gruesome sight, Siona hurriedly grabbed another box to pour more holy water.
If he was still alive, they had to flush out the remaining Hell matter and continue treatment.
She probably would have, if Carlyle hadn't crossed his sword and arm into an X.
“...?”
The clear "no" gesture left Siona stunned.
Don't do it?
...It almost looked like "don't interfere."
And the reason for it became clear soon enough.
The radiance from the Holy Sword began driving the Hell matter out.
Before long.
His body regenerated.
Nerves over decayed bones, muscle over nerves, flesh filling the gaps—like patching a holey house.
It was as if.
...As if.
He was using the Hell matter as "fuel" to "restore" his body.
Absorbing a substance antithetical to life itself and patching himself with it.
“...”
“...”
A man devoured to his limit by Hell matter.
Reduced to a bare skeleton.
Spine, brain—nothing functioning properly.
A person who could be called dead without issue.
Even in that state, he gripped the Holy Sword, using the mana within—Gray's mana—as a conduit to fuel his body repair with energy deadly to life itself.
Maintaining consciousness in such a physical state was already miraculous.
What he was doing shattered the world's fundamental laws from the ground up.
“...”
Everyone watched, speechless.
They were all probably thinking the same thing.
What.
The hell.
Is this guy's.
Identity?
‘...This is already.’
In a certain sense.
A being with power more bizarre than the Hero's.
That shared sentiment hung in heavy silence throughout the cathedral.
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