Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Behemoth's Shadow
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The doubt in the villagers' eyes grew even stronger. They had no idea how Stella planned to prove the purity she had spoken of.
“I shall obey your command, Inquisitor.”
Iris bowed deeply toward Stella, then set down the mace and shield in her hands. Thud—the head of the mace sank into the ground, and the shield clattered noisily as it fell over.
A few of the more faint-hearted flinched at the sound. Some even started to whimper. The battle nuns surrounding them exuded such a murderous aura that tension hung thick in the air.
“Urk!”
Suddenly, someone grabbed James by the scruff of the neck. His breath caught in his throat as he was lifted into the air, soaring briefly through the sky before crashing face-first onto the ground the moment his short flight ended.
Right in front of him stood the battle nun called Iris. As he caught sight of her sacred, flawless skin, James instinctively tried to back away—only to bump into another battle nun’s thigh, leaving him gulping in shock.
Her emotionless green eyes turned toward him. James had no clue what she intended, so he just shrank back, trembling uncontrollably.
A hand clad in black latex gloves rested on the chest covering over her bosom.
James stared blankly, startled. Iris was slowly lifting the covering that concealed her breasts—in plain view of everyone.
Right there in the middle of the street, a nun suddenly parting her holy garb to bare her chest. Panic and desire mingled equally in James’s wide eyes.
Ignoring him completely, Iris’s hands moved busily. She carefully untied the complex laces, supporting the undersides of her breasts with her arms to accentuate their fullness.
Just a little more, and the pink tips at the peaks would come into view. James’s eyes widened unwittingly, but then her hands froze as if caught on something.
*Why’d she stop—*
Crack!
His thoughts cut off there. The massive mace crashing down on James’s head pulverized his skull entirely, leaving nothing behind.
The vertically swung mace didn’t stop at shattering his head—it burrowed into his body, turning his flesh into mush. Blood and chunks of meat from one human body sprayed in every direction.
All sorts of filth poured from what had been a human just moments ago.
“Kyaaah!”
“What?! What’s happening?!”
“Why us…!”
The villagers screamed in every direction upon seeing James’s gruesome end. Some tried to flee, but the encircling battle nuns blocked them all.
“This one was impure.”
The culprit was Stella.
Having swung a mace at least twice the size of her head to obliterate a person, Stella slung her weapon over her shoulder as if deaf to the screams and declared it with a bright smile.
“Next.”
“Hmm~ Hmm-hmm~”
Perched on the edge of the well in the village square, Stella hummed a tune and swung her legs lightly back and forth. She didn’t mind the acrid stench of blood permeating the air in the slightest.
Beside her, the mace—smeared with dried blood and chunks of human flesh—leaned against the well wall. Its haft was caked in red, a testament to how many people it had crushed.
A bit further along lay a horrifically mangled human. Unrecognizable as any shape, let alone distinguishable as man or woman—it had been butchered beyond comprehension.
“Guh… Uh…”
Even more horrifying was the fact that the thing was still alive in that state. Faint groans like “guh-uhh” leaked from a mouth missing all its teeth and lips.
Seeing this, Stella muttered regretfully.
“Why do devil worshippers these days have no grit? Back in the old days, most of them would curse me to my face right up until death, no matter the torture—that made it fun. But now, they bawl their eyes out just from having their skin peeled.”
Her voice dripped with genuine melancholy and reminiscence, yet the content was utterly brutal. Stella truly lamented her own words.
“Inquisitor Stella!”
“Ah, you’re finally here.”
A resolute voice called from afar. It was Iris. Stella hopped down from the well.
Despite her outfit making it impossible to conceal her privates, nothing was exposed. It was as if some blessing warded her.
“Did you find it?”
“Yes, Inquisitor. This.”
Iris held out a thick bundle of parchment.
Stella wiped the regret from her face as if it had never been, humming cheerfully again as she unfolded and examined the sheets with a beaming smile.
She hadn’t even read halfway through the first page before issuing her verdict.
“Behemoth. Bold move. Where did you find traces of Behemoth?”
“So that’s why the villagers couldn’t be verified as pure?”
“Exactly. They were fated to be offered as sacrifices to the devil.”
Stella hadn’t slaughtered innocents willy-nilly. Beneath the village, in a hidden lair, the devil worshippers had been laying the groundwork in secret.
The preparations had spanned years, and when their efforts finally bore fruit, every single villager—without exception—had their souls bound to the devil, unbeknownst to themselves.
Once a soul was bound, there was no reversing it. And the moment the summoning rite began, they became little more than living bombs.
Human flesh would explode, corrupting the surrounding land, while the lingering soul was dragged to hell, amplifying unholy forces with ceaseless screams until the devil itself perished eternally.
“The monster attack was part of the ritual too, I’d wager. They couldn’t summon a devil like Behemoth right away, but offering sacrifices was plenty to remind it of their presence.”
“What about those who died before we arrived?”
“What can we do? We give up on them. Unless you fully slay the devil, there’s no saving souls it’s devoured.”
That was why Stella had used her mace to kill all the surviving villagers. Dying to a weapon infused with holy power purified the soul instead of sending it to the devil.
Better to be swiftly crushed painlessly by the mace than offered as a living sacrifice—by a million times, both in the moment of death and beyond.
Having a battle nun lift her holy garb to expose her chest in front of the people served the same purpose. Blessed holy garments couldn’t be parted by anything tied to devils.
At any other time, she could fling them open to bare herself freely, but not in the presence of the impure.
And no one had glimpsed Iris’s bare skin during the purity test. Meaning everyone was tainted, destined as sacrifices.
“Then do you have another destination, Inquisitor?”
“We pursue the remnants.”
Stella tossed the parchment aside. It hit the ground and burst into white flames on its own—holy fire.
Iris marveled inwardly, though she didn’t show it. To wield holy power so effortlessly. Battle nuns had to concentrate intensely just to summon holy flames.
“Gather all the battle nuns. We’re moving out.”
“Where to?”
“Hmm… His Holiness the Pope said the Lord would guide us…”
Stella tapped her cheek thoughtfully.
The Lord would guide them. It was simple: follow her heart. Wherever she went, the goal would be achieved.
“Just wherever our feet take us!”
“Understood.”
It sounded irresponsible at first glance. But knowing divine revelation was absolute, Iris harbored no doubts.
Battle nuns held one of the highest stations in the Raphaella Holy Kingdom, attainable only by women of utmost piety. Doubting God was inconceivable for them.
“What about that trash?”
“Huh? Of course not!”
Stella grinned widely. Iris knew what that smile meant. It promised torment right up to the heretic’s dying breath for worshipping devils.
“Then I’ll finish the job here, so Iris, round up the battle nuns. We leave as soon as it’s done.”
“Yes, Inquisitor.”
Iris bowed and left to summon the others. Stella waved cheerfully, seeing her off with a grin, then turned to the devil worshipper.
Her face still beamed with a smile, but the atmosphere had shifted entirely.
“Now, this is gonna hurt a lot. Think you can hold out without dying midway?”
The half-corpse twitched more violently. Whether it understood her words despite its severed ears was anyone’s guess.
“Hmm~ Hmm-hmm~”
Stella hummed as she began the torture, treating the final screams spilling from the hollow mouth as her soundtrack while her hands danced busily.
Yeah. Heading back to the Holy Kingdom now would be a waste. Catch more heretics, enjoy more fun. No way Stella would pass up such a golden opportunity.
Devil worshippers weren’t even considered human in the Holy Kingdom or the Empire, so anything she did to it raised no issues.
What new method to try this time? Her mind buzzed with delightful ideas, her hands moving all the faster.
“Are they all here?”
“Yes! Inquisitor Stella!”
The battle nuns, aligned in perfect ranks, responded in thunderous unison. Stella slung her mace over one shoulder and surveyed her subordinates carefully.
Blessed maces and shields infused with holy power. Holy nun garb nearly as revealing as her own, though not quite. The sight alone brimmed with sanctity.
Beside Stella lay a human corpse hacked into hundreds of pieces—the devil worshipper, twitching alive until she’d sliced off the final bit.
“We’re off to catch more devil worshippers. The kind who undid seals holy priests died to create and reclaimed the devils—utterly vile ones.”
Stella smiled sweetly.
“No mercy needed. No holding back.”
A floral smile bloomed on her face.
“They’ll realize what they’ve done.”