Chapter 273
Chapter 273
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 273
Chapter Title: Demon Worshipper (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The demon worshippers were crushed in half.
But something was off. There was no bleeding, no ruptured muscles, no shattered bones that one would expect from a human.
It was as if they were looking at sticky liquid. At that sight, Radiance spoke as if newly surprised.
“Oh dear, I thought I’d kill them in one go. Looks like they’ve offered quite a few sacrifices to the demon?”
“Uwaaaak! You damn bitch!”
“W-what did you do to us!”
The demon worshippers’ upper bodies stuck to the ground. Their bodies were slowly crushed as if pressed down by an invisible mass.
“Y-you monster bitch!”
The leader of the demon worshippers extended his arm, which had turned into a centipede.
The centipede clacked its jaws as it stretched toward Radiance. But it didn’t get far before it stuck to the ground.
“You’re tougher than I thought. I’m starting to get bored, so could you die quickly, please?”
Radiance pointed her index finger at the ground again. The gravity intensified further, completely crushing the demon worshippers’ bodies.
In the place where the demon worshippers had been, only black liquid spread widely.
“That wasn’t much.”
It was then that Radiance said that.
The black liquid began to flow across the ground and gather in one spot.
Soon, the black liquid transformed into a giant and rose to its feet.
-Uh, uwaaa, aaaah.
The giant clacked its jaws and let out a grotesque wail. It seemed its intelligence had plummeted to an extreme low.
“I completely smashed them, and now they’re fusing? Looks like they’re not serving an ordinary demon…”
At that moment, the giant swung its arm. The arm extended like a whip, covering Radiance and her companions.
Radiance and Green Wind immediately kicked off the ground. Demian also scooped up Agnes and retreated from the spot.
The giant’s arm struck the ground where the four had been. The surrounding earth turned to powder and scattered.
“Impressive.”
Radiance pointed her index finger downward again. The gravity grew even stronger.
But the giant neither crumbled nor was crushed. It stood there unscathed.
At that sight, Radiance’s eyes narrowed.
“Green Wind, what do you think?”
“Even if they fused, it’s absurd for mere demon worshippers to resist big sister’s authority.”
Demon worshippers were disposable tools that demons used briefly and discarded like paper.
For such beings, simply combining a few to resist one of the Five Great Saints’ authority was impossible.
Even if Radiance wasn’t using her full power, it was still absurd.
“It seems the demon summoned here isn’t ordinary. As the headquarters speculated, it must be a marquis-rank demon, and one in the upper echelons…”
“Green Wind, that’s not what I’m asking.”
Was it his imagination?
Radiance’s voice sharpened. The surrounding temperature seemed to drop sharply.
“A heretic who’s dared to mingle with a demon is withstanding the authority bestowed by the Lord. I’ve never seen such blasphemy… It’s so horrific, I feel hives breaking out all over my body.”
Radiance pulled a miniature axe from her bosom. Infusing it with holy power, it grew in size.
What had been a mere model transformed into a real weapon. Radiance lightly lifted the halberd and said,
“Lord. Great Father. I shall send one up to You right now.”
Radiance charged straight at the giant. Soon, an explosion rang out.
As Radiance swung the halberd, the giant’s arm and shoulder were torn off entirely.
The giant roared in fury and swung its other arm. Radiance caught it barehanded and ripped it off. The giant’s arm was torn away.
“Haa… She’s really pissed off now. No one can stop her when she’s like this.”
Green Wind pressed her fingers to her forehead as if her head ached.
“Demian Haksen, keep watch on the surroundings. I’ll go calm big sister down.”
Green Wind turned her body into wind and flew toward Radiance.
Demian silently offered condolences to the giant, who was now facing two of the Five Great Saints.
“Both of you are quite aggressive.”
“It’s the proper attitude toward heretics.”
Agnes, standing beside him, spoke with a devout expression. Demian looked at her with a weary face.
He sometimes forgot, but Agnes was a holy knight through and through.
It was then.
Demian’s senses detected something.
He turned his head toward the direction. But all he saw were trees.
“Sir Demian?”
The moment Agnes asked, Demian swung Dawn.
The aurablade cleaved the ground. The forest split in half.
A shadow leaped out from the cracked earth. The shadow turned into a human in midair.
“Oh ho, you saw through my stealth.”
The strange man looked at Demian and asked.
His expression and demeanor oozed leisure. It meant he was confident in his skills.
“I came because the underlings sent a danger signal… I didn’t expect holy knights to have sneaked in. Tell me your names. Then I’ll kill you painlessly.”
“No thanks.”
Demian said it like it was a hassle. The man’s eye twitched.
“No? You refuse? You foolish, ignorant fool. You don’t even recognize the being before you and yet you act so arrogant.”
Agnes whispered softly into Demian’s ear.
“It seems this apostle doesn’t know your face, Sir Demian.”
“Or he might just be an idiot.”
“What are you two whispering about!”
The apostle bellowed and unleashed his black mana explosively.
Demian looked at the man with interest. Not only was the amount of black mana enormous, but its purity was incredibly high.
“Brat! I’ll tell you once, so listen well. And fear me. I am the Nameless One! The apostle chosen by the Lord Demon!”
“Apostle?”
When Demian repeated it, the apostle’s face filled with smug pride.
“You’re ignorant, but you seem to know about apostles!”
“I do. You’re just mutts who’ve gotten even more intimate with demons, right?”
The apostle blinked. Soon, his face flushed bright red.
“How dare you… insult this body… my Lord… like that!”
The amount of black mana emanating from the apostle increased further. In terms of sheer quantity, it was comparable to a giant demon.
“I’ll rip out your tongue right now and offer it to my Lord!”
The apostle charged at Demian. He gathered black mana and transformed both hands into monster claws.
The apostle swung the monster claws to tear Demian apart. Demian retreated alongside Agnes.
The monster claws struck the ground. Then, something bizarre happened.
Not only did the earth shatter, but it turned green in an instant.
It wasn’t the fresh green seen in nature.
It was much darker, much stickier. The entire ground was rotting.
“Huhuht, do you see? This is the authority I gained as an apostle. Anything this hand touches rots. Living things decay, and objects corrode!”
Apostles were those granted not just power by demons, but authority as well.
They couldn’t wield it as freely as demons, but they were certainly threatening.
“You’d better be careful. Even a graze will cause decay, and your whole body will crumble.”
The apostle deformed his monster claws once more. Sharp blades protruded across the entire hand.
But Demian had no interest whatsoever in the authority the apostle displayed.
“I needed information, and you showed up just in time. An apostle like you must know quite a bit, right?”
“Arrogant fool!”
The apostle thrust his hand toward Demian. Monster claws rained down like arrows.
Demian swung Dawn to cut down the apostle. At that sight, the apostle sneered at Demian.
“You’re even more brutish than I thought! Before the authority bestowed by my Lord, those mere blades are usele—”
Dawn clashed with the monster claws. But contrary to the apostle’s expectations, Dawn did not corrode.
Instead, it sliced through the monster claws. It was like a hot knife melting through a block of cheese.
“Kraaaak!”
The apostle clutched his half-severed hand and staggered back.
The wound from Dawn burned ceaselessly. The holy power contained in Dawn was extinguishing the demon’s authority.
“I wondered why the church sent out such a young punk… You’ve been granted an absurd holy sword!”
The apostle began wrapping his body in authority. His entire body, excluding his face, was dyed in it.
“Fool! You should’ve cut off my head just now!”
The apostle launched himself at Demian. He seemed intent on ramming into him while cloaked in authority.
At that moment, Demian swung Dawn.
The instant his hand moved, his form vanished. Soon, flashes of light slashed through the air multiple times.
The apostle’s limbs were severed. The detached limbs decayed and vanished in an instant due to the authority. Losing balance, the authority dissipated.
The apostle fell to the ground, limbless. His eyes shook wildly in disbelief.
“W-what just happened… Khek!”
Demian stomped on the apostle’s chest.
“Don’t even think about regenerating your limbs. Unless you want to be left with just your head.”
With an apostle’s vitality, he could survive for a few hours with only his head.
That was more than enough time to extract information.
“I’m going to ask you a few questions now. It’d be wise to answer honestly.”
“Don’t… talk shit…! You think I’d betray my Lord!”
Despite being at a disadvantage, the apostle showed no sign of breaking. He thrashed even more fiercely.
“Brat! Do whatever you want! I’ll never submit!”
“Ah, misunderstanding. I’m not the one who’ll interrogate you. There’s a far more skilled expert for that.”
At the word “expert,” a flicker of doubt appeared on the apostle’s face.
“Sir Demian? What’s all this commotion?”
Just then, Radiance and Green Wind approached from behind. Despite the intense movement, not a speck of dust clung to Radiance’s clothes.
“Who’s that man over there?”
“An apostle of the demon. He ambushed the two of us just now.”
“Oh my.”
A smile rose to Radiance’s lips.
The moment he saw that smile, the apostle felt a chill run down his spine.
“Lady Radiance, you used to work as an inquisitor of heretics, didn’t you?”
“Ah… You know about that. It was a very meaningful time, practicing the Lord’s will.”
Radiance’s smile deepened further. With it, the apostle’s sense of dread grew.
“Would you mind showing off your skills after so long?”
“With pleasure.”
Demian lifted his foot and stepped back. Radiance then approached.
“I’ll answer honestly! So, please…”
“Shh.”
Radiance pressed her index finger to her lips. Her face was exceedingly beautiful, but the apostle had no moment to appreciate it.
“From my experience, heretics always lie at first. So I start with a time of repentance.”
Radiance stepped on the apostle’s head. She gathered holy power into her sole.
“Kwaaaaak!”
The holy power began burning the apostle’s flesh. The apostle screamed.
“Now, let us have a time to confess your sins to the Lord.”
Radiance’s face, as she said that, looked utterly devout.