Chapter 201: The Fallen Saintess (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 201: The Fallen Saintess (1)
A member of the Rosenberg family must always know honor, protect the weak, and never yield to the strong.
Teresa had strived her entire life to uphold her family's creed.
If only I could save innocent people...
If only I could save the world, even at the cost of my own life...
She would be content with that.
She was ready to sacrifice everything for that single purpose.
Or so she had thought.
But.
Even after burning everything she had, saving everyone was an impossible task.
'With these weak hands... what on earth can I even do?'
In the past, when the Three Despairs manifested in Beijing.
And now, during the outbreak in Europe.
There was nothing she could do.
Was she even worthy of the title "Saintess" who protects everyone with such a speck of power?
Teresa lifted her pale, bloodless face.
Throb! Throb! Throb!
She didn't know how long this pain had lasted.
Her mind was so devastated that she had lost all track of time.
Yet,
her heart, which she thought had already withered and worn away...
...was forced to writhe in agony once more.
* * *
When Bayorodum returned from wherever he had gone, his skeletal hand was gripping the hair of a familiar woman.
It was Maria of the Olympus Guild.
She, too, was one of the 100 Players just like Teresa, but she had been no match for Bayorodum.
"Do you still intend to hold out? Fine. Let's see if you can endure this."
Bayorodum dragged Maria right in front of Teresa's face.
And then, he cast black magic.
Dark red lines snared Maria's mind.
Skreeeech!
"Aaaaargh!"
Maria screamed at the top of her lungs from the unimaginable agony.
An agony incomparable to physical pain.
Knowing just how horrific that experience was, Teresa bit her lip until it bled.
"Stop... please... just stop!"
"I am not the one who decides when to stop. Cease your resistance and accept your fate. Do that, and I will put an end to all this suffering."
Surrender. What a sweet word.
Seeing Teresa's pupils tremble, Bayorodum delivered the decisive blow.
"There is a human who has come to save you. I believe his name was Kang Jinhyuk?"
Teresa flinched.
Her expression shifted once more.
"Jinhyuk... came here? To... save me?"
"Yes. He is currently causing quite a massive ruckus. But do not harbor any hope. Just as I captured you, I intend to unleash all the hidden functions of the Black Horned Dice on him as well."
"……!"
It was happening again.
That painful memory was about to repeat itself.
No matter how strong Jinhyuk was, he could not match Bayorodum at full strength.
If the dice were fully unlocked...
His power would be on an entirely different level.
"Do you... plan to kill him?"
"Of course. I will capture him alive and tear him to shreds right before your eyes."
"Ah..."
Despair deepened.
Those were no empty words.
It wasn't a half-hearted threat, either.
Bayorodum possessed both the power and the will to carry it out.
"And then, I will slaughter every single person you remember, leaving none alive."
The nightmare continued.
This would never end. Not until she gave up.
"N-No..."
"And finally, I will reduce this country and the world you tried to protect to ashes."
With Bayorodum's final words,
something that had been barely holding on
deep within Teresa's heart
snapped at this very moment.
Drip...
Black tears streamed down from both of Teresa's eyes.
At the same time,
[The Saintess of National Salvation falls.]
[All surrounding Demonic Qi is converted into mana!]
[Beings in the upper floors of the Tower detect the anomaly.]
[Multiple giant factions pay close attention to this event.]
Along with the cascading red status windows,
Rumbleeeee!
A pillar of black light plummeted from the sky.
* * *
Boom!
Jinhyuk finally arrived at his destination.
'Has she already fallen?'
However, everything was too late.
"Bwahahaha! It is finally complete! This place, ruled by the undead, is a paradise for a Fallen Saintess who draws power from Demonic Qi! No human can stand as her rival now!"
He saw Teresa, with black tears streaming from her eyes, and Bayorodum, who was laughing maniacally.
The fall of the Saintess.
Her pure white armor was stained black, and her once-pure energy had vanished.
No, it would be more accurate to say she felt even darker and more ominous than Bayorodum.
"Hmm..."
Teresa slowly looked around.
The magic that had been binding her body had completely vanished.
"Watching that Softie struggle was so frustrating it almost gave me an ulcer, but I'm finally out. Seriously, it was so suffocating I wanted to throw up."
Due to the nature of the fall, which alters one's personality, her original character had completely vanished.
In its place, the instincts buried deep within her took over.
"That is indeed fortunate. Allow me to introduce myself again. I am Bayorodum, the boss of the 14th floor, and the commander of the Demon World's 2nd Magic Corps."
"With all those complicated titles strung together, you must be someone important?"
"Indeed. And I am also the master you must serve from now on."
A Fallen Saintess has a natural tendency to be drawn to strong Demonic Qi.
That was why he had kept his Life Force Vessel—the source of a Lich's life—by his side.
"It certainly is an attractive Demonic Qi. I suppose you could say it's somewhat to my liking?"
Teresa giggled.
That smile
felt chillingly cold.
Satisfied, Bayorodum raised his index finger and pointed at Jinhyuk.
"It is best to dispose of former comrades quickly. To celebrate finding your true freedom, sever that man's head first. We shall speak after that."
"A former comrade... that sounds fun."
Teresa gripped her sword.
Then, she closed the distance to Jinhyuk in an instant.
She was coming.
Thud!
She had been a formidable powerhouse before, but now that she had fallen, her movements were on an entirely different level compared to when they fought in the Corridor.
In both mana
and speed.
As expected of a Fallen Saintess, she could exert out-of-spec power in a place teeming with Demonic Qi.
"Tch!"
Since she had breached his safe distance, he had no choice but to respond.
[Unique Ability 'Grave of Swords' is activated!]
Black Aura flickered on the Fang and the Twin Dragon Sword in his hands.
'I have to block this.'
His two swords moved left and right to meet Teresa's greatsword.
Claaaaang!
He barely managed to parry the attack, but the heavy impact transmitted to his hands told him exactly how much stronger Teresa had become.
Crackle!
Black sparks flew in all directions.
...Even with a Strength stat of 71, he was being pushed back in a contest of raw power. This was despite having a stat that rivaled the main tank of a major raid team.
'What a ridiculously brute-force attack.'
This Aura Blade was at least several levels above Penheimer's of the Empire.
In fact, he wondered if there were even a handful of knights in the Empire who could match Teresa now.
Boom! Crash! Bang! Clang!
Jinhyuk moved frantically to dodge the storm of sword strikes that belied the weapon's massive size.
The greatsword, which had just grazed his head, stopped abruptly in midair and instantly changed direction to strike vertically.
Are you crazy...?!
How is such a movement even possible with a sword that heavy?
Slash! Slash!
Deep gashes tore into the ground.
If he hadn't deflected the trajectory of her sword with the Fang at the very last second, he would have been split in half from his head down.
But there was no time to breathe.
Because this time, materialized energy erupted forward from the sword half-embedded in the ground.
Rumbleeeee!
The Aura Blade was so dense that the mere graze of her sword reshaped the surrounding terrain.
Teresa licked her lips.
"How long are you just going to keep dodging? Don't you know passive men aren't attractive?"
"You're the one whose personality did a complete 180. When the real Teresa comes back later, she'll probably be too embarrassed to crawl out from under her blankets for a year."
"Don't worry. Even if her personality returns, that Softie won't remember any of this."
So that was how it worked.
In the past, no player had ever fallen, so he hadn't known how the personality shift functioned.
"Or what? Don't tell me you're hesitating to hurt my body? Are you worried you'll go to hell for harming a Saintess?"
"You must not know me very well. I'm already living in hell."
With Alice, Cheon Yu-seong, Wolyeong, and even Goguma to deal with.
Having to constantly coax and placate such outrageous characters, he often found himself thinking that this place was indeed hell.
"And even if you didn't say that, it's my turn to attack now."
He wasn't stalling because he was worried Teresa would get hurt.
'By now, I should be used to her movements.'
Jinhyuk channeled mana into his swords.
An Aura poured out with all his might.
As 'Grave of Swords' reached its peak, the atmosphere shifted completely.
"...!"
Sensing the change in his momentum, Teresa immediately leaped back to create distance and took a stance.
Her Aura Blade flared up to nearly two meters.
At that exact moment.
'Demon Soul Sword Dance.'
The blades were dyed pitch black.
'First Form.'
And the surrounding area was dyed black as well.
'Mad Demon's Purge.'
Finally, the entire landscape before his eyes was dyed black.
Slash!
The sword of the Sword Demon manifested in a single line.
* * *
He thought it was a near-perfect slash.
But.
Boom!
Before he knew it, Teresa stood right in front of him, completely unscathed.
'I thought the First Form of the Demon Soul Sword Dance would be enough...'
Just how ridiculously powerful was this "fall"?
Jinhyuk tried to swing the Fang.
However,
Teresa's fingertips reached his cheek a split second faster.
There was no intent to attack.
Instead... he noticed the corners of her mouth, curved in an affectionate smile.
"I've felt this way for a while, but you really are charming. I want you so badly it's driving me crazy. Should I say you're like an unobtainable star?"
Her soft fingers traced down his cheek.
Down his throat, all the way to his chest.
When her finger stopped right over his heart, Jinhyuk felt a chilling shiver run down his spine.
When someone says things like that while pressing a greatsword against your abdomen, it's hard to tell whether you should blush or kick them.
To survive, he would have to choose the latter, though...
"Fufu. Don't worry. That skeleton's Demonic Qi is attractive, but personally, I prefer yours. And of course, that Softie wouldn't want you dead either."
"W-What?"
This time, it was Bayorodum who gasped in shock.
He had never imagined that the Saintess, whom he was certain he had subjugated, would suddenly betray him.
"Didn't you know? His Demonic Qi is much stronger. It's dense... and true to its instincts."
Teresa's eyes grew hazy.
The pure and innocent girl from before her corruption was nowhere to be found. Instead, she exuded a breathtakingly seductive, decadent allure.
That's all well and good, but please back up a bit.
Even if he had anticipated this personality shift, it was still overwhelming.
As Jinhyuk slowly took a step back, Teresa's smile grew even more mysterious.
"Is it too much? But what can I do? This is who I am."
"Whatever. So you're choosing me over that guy, is that it?"
"Exactly. At least for now."
"That is absurd...! Are you saying my Demonic Qi is inferior to a mere human's?!"
Unable to accept reality, Bayorodum roared.
"Oh my. You don't believe me? I guess you wouldn't know since you only focus on magic... but the source of this man's Demonic Qi isn't magical."
"It is not... magical?"
"Yes. Rather, it's closer to Murim."
Grave of Swords.
The root of his Demonic Qi was grounded in the 'Sword Demon'.
The one who would receive the Fallen Saintess's choice...
...had been decided from the very beginning.
Seriously...
He had truly gone through hell and back to set up this exact situation.
If even one of the countless gears had slipped, everything would have gone down the drain. But in the end, every single piece had played its part flawlessly.
"That's why I told you."
The corners of Jinhyuk's mouth curled upward.
"No matter what happens, in the end, everything moves exactly according to my plan."
After all, who do you think was the one who first came up with the idea of corrupting Teresa?