Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Interlude. War in the Darkness
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“Ugh…!”
An intense demonic energy that no one could dare underestimate.
Soha frowned and slowly turned her body.
The figure that came into view.
“Hello?”
A man greeting her with the most innocent smile in the world.
He had an utterly ordinary face with no particular distinguishing features.
If one had to nitpick, the sly, curling smile at the corners of his mouth was annoyingly grating on the nerves?
Aside from that, he didn’t feel particularly threatening.
That is, based on appearances alone.
‘…This one’s pretty strong.’
Soha didn’t make the mistake of letting her guard down, fooled by the opponent’s outward look.
Frankly, it would be more accurate to say she couldn’t afford to.
The demonic energy pouring from his entire body was far too blatant to ignore.
Soha raised her vigilance.
Her opponent, upon seeing her—or more precisely, her massive pair of wings—made a huge fuss.
“Ooh, impressive. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much, but you’re a bigger catch than I thought? A seventh-rank Principality, Principatus, no less.”
“……”
Soha remained silent without a word.
The man twisted his lips in amusement at her reaction.
“Pretty cold for a pigeon, huh? Or maybe you just don’t grasp the situation? Which is it?”
Soha snorted at the casual slur that slipped out so naturally and shot back immediately.
“I’m the one who’s surprised. I didn’t expect a bat like you to show up in person. I suspected your kind was behind the Bloodwood Cult, but I figured you’d be holed up in some dank cave like always?”
Her sharp words elicited a cheerful laugh from the man.
“Puhahaha… Prejudices like that aren’t good, you know. If there’s one type, there’s gotta be the other, right? Just like how some fought to the bitter end to defend the heavens, while others fled without a care if their homeworld fell to ruin.”
-Gnash!
A grinding sound escaped Soha’s teeth involuntarily.
The man raised both hands at the noise, as if to say oops.
“Oh, did I hit a sore spot? Sorry, sorry. My bad habit of blurting out tactless things without thinking.”
Chuckling and offering insincere apologies, the man cleared his throat and struck various poses in front of his chest with both hands.
“Hm? Is this it? Yeah, this feels right?”
After fumbling with his hands for a while, he finally managed an awkward fist-and-palm salute and introduced himself.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Ogan, one of the stems of the Divine Tree. Devoting myself to our beautiful, crimson world.”
Soha gave him a look of utter disbelief at the ridiculous introduction.
“…Hah. Looks like you’re really deep into this religion game?”
“Hey, it’s not a game! My heart is always filled with devout faith!”
Feigning offense, Ogan suddenly lowered his voice and asked slyly.
“And I’d love to spread that faith to you too. Care to come quietly?”
“Sounds more like you’re planning to torture me for information?”
“Hmm, the great Lord always tests us through suffering, doesn’t he?”
‘It all boils down to torture anyway.’
Letting out a hollow laugh, Soha extended her right hand to the side.
Light gathered in the air, and a sword emerged from within it.
Ogan looked regretful as Soha gripped the sword and pointed it at him.
“What a shame. Would’ve been nicer if you’d come quietly. No need for either of us to waste energy.”
“Cut the crap. You never actually thought I would.”
“Well, true enough.”
Ogan shrugged, and the corners of his mouth tore open wide to both sides.
A massive plant stem burst from his mouth, ripping through his skin to reveal his true form.
-Kieeeek-!
Ogan’s roar toward the sky was utterly repulsive.
Roots writhing ceaselessly, a body tangled like vines.
Hundreds of tentacles protruded from the gaps, wriggling about, and at the very top, a large flower bloomed like the finishing touch, from which a serpentine head emerged.
-Kuhuhu, a mere Principality can’t do a thing to me!
His triumphant voice echoed everywhere.
The fanatics hearing it cheered wildly.
-Ooh! That’s Lord Ogan’s— the apostle’s—true form!
-Ah…! So beautiful!
‘Beautiful? An apostle?’
Faced with the massive tentacle monster, Soha was dumbfounded.
They must all be blind or insane… yeah, insane.
With a wry shake of her head, Soha stroked the flat of her blade with her left hand.
Pure white holy fire bloomed at her touch, wrapping around the sword and blazing brightly.
-To think you’d ignite holy fire… Not bad for a mere Principality.
Ogan licked his “tongue” at the sight of the blindingly white sword.
Eyes sharp, Soha faced off against him and softly called out.
“Nok, can you move on your own?”
“Ugh… This much is no problem.”
Nok struggled to stand as he replied.
But his feeble voice made it clear this was mere bravado, born of not wanting to be a burden.
Noticing this, Soha bit her lip slightly and continued.
“…Cheong and Hong are coming from behind. I don’t care if you kill these fanatics or not—just link up with them somehow.”
Normally, she avoided killing innocents, but she had no intention of sparing these raving lunatics in this situation.
“…Got it.”
Nok nodded heavily and dragged his battered body down from the altar.
-Whoa! The sacrifice is coming down!
-Catch it… Aaagh!?
Screams accompanied the sharp sound of slicing.
Until now, he’d held back on Soha’s orders, but even in his wrecked state, mere humans couldn’t handle Nok.
Ignoring the death cries of the fanatic lunging at Nok, Soha leveled her sword at the enemy before her.
-Kek. Quite the sight I’d love to show those fools who worship your kind as divine messengers. See? You’re no different from us.
“Shut up. Don’t lump me in with you demons.”
Even as Soha growled lowly, the amusement in Ogan’s voice didn’t fade.
-What’s wrong with being honest? Do you lot rampage across worlds to save them out of pure goodwill?
“……”
-No, right? You’re just using humans as pawns in your war against us, aren’t you?
At Ogan’s eerie words, Soha—who had been silently clenching her jaw—curled one corner of her mouth in a sneer.
“Funny hearing that from the ones trying to bring everything to ruin. Hypocrisy’s at least a step above evil.”
-Evil? What we do is salvation! Liberation from harsh, painful lives to become nourishment for the great Lord Logog. What could be more joyous?
Liberation from life, huh.
‘…That’s just saying they’ll kill everyone.’
Hearing that after coming this far, they might actually believe it sincerely.
‘Well, everyone in that faction’s lost their minds anyway.’
Shaking her head, Soha crouched low and shot toward Ogan like an arrow loosed from its bowstring.
-Boom!
Kicking off the ground, wings spread wide and flapping, Soha soared like a bird.
As she hurtled toward him, Ogan fired the tentacles sprouting all over his body.
-Splaaash!
Hundreds of writhing tentacles lashed out at Soha in unison.
A gruesome sight that would blank out most people’s minds.
But Soha paid it no mind, swinging her sword wide to scatter holy fire in response.
The large and small white flames spread broadly, igniting the tentacles and racing along them like wildfire on oil.
-Roar!
Ogan clicked his tongue briefly at the holy fire consuming his tentacles as it advanced.
-Tch! That damned fire’s as tricky as ever.
He severed all the tentacles before the flames could reach his main stem.
The tentacles fell limp, crumbling to ash.
Soha didn’t miss the opening, charging at Ogan’s stem with her sword leading.
Having removed his own defenses, Ogan allowed her to close in without resistance.
‘Plant-types like this are especially vulnerable to holy fire.’
In other words, the moment it touched, victory was all but decided.
And right now, her holy fire-wreathed sword was moments from striking his vine stem.
‘Got you…!’
Soha sensed triumph.
But things didn’t go as she expected.
Just before the blazing white sword touched the stem, the tangled vines unfurled, letting her body pass straight through.
“What…?”
Unable to stop, Soha plunged right into the vines.
-Kuhuhu… Got you!
With Ogan’s sinister laugh, the spread vines wrapped around her from all sides.
“Ugh…!”
Soha dropped her sword and was instantly bound tight by the vines.
She was then hoisted up, her face brought right before Ogan’s serpentine head.
-You trusted that holy fire too much. No matter how lethal the attack, if it doesn’t connect, it’s worthless.
His voice dripped with mockery.
Helplessly bound by the vines, there was nothing Soha could do.
Ogan’s hot breath washed over her face from inches away.
A sticky tongue darted through it, licking her cheek.
“Ugh…!”
Ogan laughed merrily at Soha’s groan of revulsion.
-Kuhahaha! What now? Gonna keep resisting? Then I’ll just have to eat you.
“…You sound like you’re hoping I will.”
Ogan didn’t bother denying Soha’s defiant jab.
-I’m a gourmet at heart, you see. Hate to pass up a rare delicacy like you.
As he said this, Ogan suddenly smacked his lips as if struck by a thought.
-Back in the day, those swordsmen who wielded sword beams were superb. For humans, the power in their souls was impressive. Still regret it now—how they all got wiped out.