Chapter 70
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Old Woman (5)
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Just how?
Various hypotheses swirled through the sinister crone's mind.
She knew he was a sorcerer skilled in spells, but that didn't explain how he could clear it at such breakneck speed.
Not to mention, comprehending the meaning embedded in the sorcery should have taken at least a day and a half under normal circumstances.
"Wh-what is it? What's wrong?!"
Kirrruk!
The sinister crone lowered her gaze.
There sat the holy grail, protected by her sorcery.
And embracing it was the withered corpse of the bishop, dead and desiccated.
Yet the grail bore scorch marks, blackened and charred.
The bishop's shriveled body, the crucial medium, had half melted away. He'd clutched the grail to his chest until the end, resulting in this mess.
"So that's what happened!"
She'd thought he'd used the energy she'd arrayed above to block the mage's spell, but the bastard had still inflicted major damage on the sorcery's medium.
He hadn't been able to focus on that side while paying the price for forcibly triggering the Forest of Withering Death.
With the medium in such a state, the interior of the completed Forest of Withering Death was undoubtedly riddled with problems.
"Krrruk!"
She glared at the mage.
Time flowed differently in the spiritual dimension.
Left alone, he'd escape the Forest of Withering Death in a matter of minutes.
'Even so, isn't this too fast?'
The thought crossed her mind, but.
If the mage joined the fight here, things would get messy.
Either way, this issue had to be resolved.
'No choice.'
She'd have to enter the Forest of Withering Death herself.
The cost would be incomparable to before, but better that than lose everything she'd built up so far.
"Kiruk, monk! I'm going to finish off that mage! You can handle them without me, right?!"
"Of course."
Senior priestess Eleanor had fallen to the sorcery.
All that remained were Bern and some worthless level 3 and 4 users not worth the effort.
The slaughter monk declared firmly.
The slaughter monk's confidence was well-founded.
He hadn't even unleashed his full power yet.
However, pushing [Blood Mountain Reincarnation] further risked losing his sanity.
The sinister crone's sorcery, [Lingering Spirit Force], had been covering for that.
Look at this.
The holy knight, pouring all his abilities into defense, was being helplessly pushed back by his fists.
The trembling weaklings in the back?
They were bugs who couldn't even block a single punch.
"I'll put your souls to good use, donors."
Blood Mountain Reincarnation
Growth-type skill strengthened through slaughter.
[Blood Mountain Reincarnation] was a growth skill empowered by acts of killing.
To grow it, he needed to slay high-level foes.
The holy knight before him would provide a massive boost.
Even the trembling weaklings had fine souls. A perfect chance for [Blood Mountain Reincarnation] to evolve further.
The sinister crone wouldn't just sit idly by, though.
Asura Salvartha
Fierce martial technique unleashing devastating power.
In a world where the strong took all, wasn't that the truth?
In a hypocritical society, strength was the only means to protect oneself.
The slaughter monk thrust his fist forward again. It was blocked by Bern's shield once more, but.
"I can feel your strength fading, donor."
"...Ugh!"
Meanwhile, Bern, who'd retreated significantly, ground his teeth.
The situation was dire.
He was a holy knight specialized in defense over offense.
Not that he lacked confidence in attacking, but.
'He's strong...'
The slaughter monk's swift yet heavy hand-to-hand combat kept him from acting rashly.
The silver lining?
'The sorceress is gone too?'
What had the mage done?
The sinister crone's body had glitched out like the mage's, shifting to a soul state.
If they dragged this out, either the mage or the crone would return.
The problem was whether the cursed Eleanor could hold out that long.
The three illusory warriors from the crone's Two Peach Three Soldiers had slashed at Eleanor's throat, heart, and gut.
She wouldn't die immediately, but.
Without quickly lifting the curse, her life couldn't be guaranteed.
'A choice...'
Was it time?
Bern relaxed his grip on the shield.
Trying to block the slaughter monk without taking a single hit had been a mistake from the start.
If the enemy went all-out on offense.
'Then I'll go all-out too.'
Give flesh to take bone.
As Bern eased off the shield.
"Priestess!"
Aiden, who'd been helpless to do anything but watch from behind, moved Eleanor to the rear.
But then, something unusual happened to Eleanor.
"Hm?"
Even the slaughter monk glanced carelessly toward Bern's rear.
Holy power was erupting from Eleanor's body.
"The final trial already?"
He'd just passed through one of the only two remaining doors.
Naturally, the door Jun hadn't chosen showed signs of melting away.
"When I first came here, it felt so hopeless."
Even without this twist, Jun had a way out of the Forest of Withering Death.
But it would have taken much longer.
"Got lucky."
This was thanks to landing that hit on the medium.
"The last one..."
The scenery shifted anew.
This time, a vast black wall stretched out.
Unlike before, there was no path forward.
Jun's gaze turned to the center of the black wall.
There stood an altar made of the same material, upon which lay Bishop Elias, drawn here in soul form like himself.
But as expected.
He wasn't in one piece.
"Hot... So hot...!"
Half his soul had melted away.
From the head to his left shoulder, and one leg.
Not a single part was intact.
Yet he clutched the scorching holy grail to his chest like a treasure.
"If I just have this, just this...!"
His mind was clearly shattered too.
At this point, the Forest of Withering Death could be considered cleared.
"Whew."
The sorcery's medium.
Kill Bishop Elias, and it was over.
He gathered his mana.
Fireball
Mana manifesting as effortlessly as breathing.
The magic [Fireball], invoked as naturally as breathing, shot toward the bishop.
Elias clung desperately to the grail even as death loomed.
"Farewell."
As the blazing fireball sought to incinerate the bishop's soul.
[INOOOOOM!!!]
A shrill voice filled the entire Forest of Withering Death.
Formless energy appeared, swallowing the [Fireball].
As his mana was forcibly severed, Jun furrowed his brow.
"What timing for an entrance."
Unbelievable.
Looking up at the gray-cloud-filled sky, the sinister crone's enraged face had taken over the heavens.
[You've thrashed about so much, and yet you still reached this place!]
The sinister crone, arriving at the Forest of Withering Death, instantly grasped what had transpired here.
All the Death Gates meant to endlessly trap the foe had melted away.
The result of Jun slamming [Flare] into the medium.
"Who would've thought you'd step in personally. What an intrusion event."
Even in the game, the sinister crone rarely entered the Forest of Withering Death herself.
Usually, it only triggered when she'd been cornered at a dead end.
'But is she really in that much danger right now?'
It hadn't even been a year since he'd entered Blackout and started altering the story.
Jun didn't realize how much he'd hindered the sinister crone.
But her standing within the cult had shrunk far more than in the original game story.
She needed to seize Eleanor as a vessel to recover her diminished position.
Jun's actions had backed her into a true dead end.
"Whatever..."
This development was a good sign.
Tougher opponent, sure, but she was level 6 at most.
In the game, pushing a level 7 sorceress this far was impressive.
'Killing the crone now will make things much easier.'
She couldn't go all-out while maintaining sorcery elsewhere.
This was the perfect chance to take her down.
[Nooom! Acting all cocky! I'll rip out that body's heart and feed it to wild dogs! Your soul will suffer eternally!]
The sinister crone noticed Jun's leisure and exploded in fury.
And it wasn't an empty threat.
"Aaah, aaaaaah!!"
The melted Bishop Elias began screaming.
Sorcery energy descended from the crone in the sky.
Jun focused mana in his eyes to observe.
Like a puppet, the energy bound Elias's limbs.
And then.
"N-no, nooooo!!!"
It forced Elias's arm up, bringing the grail in his hand to his mouth.
Of course, Jun had no intention of watching this play out.
Fireball
A barrage of fireballs summoned in an instant flew toward the agonized bishop.
But once again, energy from the sky blocked them.
'She's overextending.'
Using such defensive prowess inside a completed Forest of Withering Death wasn't easy.
This wasn't solely her creation.
It was made with an outer god's power, and every action demanded a price.
[Useless, you worm!]
Her face must be contorting horribly as she spat those words.
But it was worth the cost.
In that interval, the crone-controlled Elias began swallowing the energy within the grail.
The holy power, tainted by the outer god's corruption, directly polluted his soul.
"Haa, haaaah! Krraaaaa!!"
The Heavenly Cult.
Those involved with the Heavenly Cult in the game all met bad ends like this.
None good.
The issue was, it applied to Jun too.
"Damn bastards."
Bishop Elias's body, steeped in the outer god's corruption, wrapped in a pure white cocoon like a chrysalis.
The bishop kept screaming nonstop—what torment was he enduring?
"This isn't it, nooooooo――!!"
The holy power he'd devoted his life to building began to mutate.
His glory, his life, his history—transformed entirely into a foreign entity's.
The process excruciating, denying his entire existence up to that point.
Finally.
[......]
He felt the outer god's gaze.
Just meeting that outer god's eyes.
The bishop's soul vanished, replaced by something new forcibly crammed in.
"......"
He couldn't see inside the chrysalis, but.
Jun realized an absolute existence had just influenced the Forest of Withering Death.
"The outer god, huh."
The game's main villain, the entity the imperial family feared most.
The outer god had filled Bishop Elias's body with its energy.