Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Twin Canyons (6)
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Helia Munel was the youngest Arch Paladin in the empire.
Over her lifetime, she had hunted down twenty demons on her own. Each one possessed fiendish powers, demanding special wisdom to fell. With every demon slain, she gained a hard lesson and took another step toward becoming a great holy knight.
But no demon had ever imparted a lesson as brutally vivid as this.
"KyaAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
Warm liquid streamed down from her forehead. One eye distorted grotesquely, while the other filled with blood, staining her vision red. The pain was so excruciating it might as well have killed her. As her trembling hand brushed her brow, something crumbled with a dry crunch, sending chills racing across her skin.
"KyaAAAAHHH!! Hic, hiik, hiik, hiiiii..."
She was an Arch Paladin who had sworn to live her life wielding the sword of demon slaying, bearing the shield of glory, clad in the armor of faith, and helmeted with the helm of truth. In truth, what she truly needed was just a really sturdy helmet.
The axe blade had cleaved her forehead and shattered her skull, yet Helia hadn't died instantly. Divine resistance, her tempered flesh, and her reflexive dodge had all conspired to halt the blade just before it split her brain. It was nothing short of a miracle from the gods.
Helia had no spare moment to thank Elga. This was the first agony of its kind she'd ever known. Faith and belief were buried under waves of torment, leaving not even a trace behind.
"Hngh, hngh, hnggggh..."
Yet an Arch Paladin was still an Arch Paladin. Even as her brains leaked out, she didn't let go of her sword hilt. She was critically wounded, but so was the fiend. She'd pierced its gut and scorched it clean through—she figured it was done for.
Now, if I can just land the killing blow...Eh?
Her hopes were utterly dashed.
The damage was severe. A massive black hole gaped in the fiend's abdomen. But it was closing rapidly. Flesh writhed as it regenerated, charred scabs flaking off to the ground.
Helia's face went slack with shock. Kadim replied with a sinister grin.
"What, hoping I'd scream like the pathetic wretch you are?"
A heavy fist smashed into Helia's face.
Crack—thud!
Her twisted vision flashed, the world spinning wildly. Vertigo and nausea surged, her sense of balance shattered. Helia spat out a mix of blood and broken teeth, then barely managed to haul herself upright.
"Ugh, you fiend... you infernal fiend...!!"
What followed wasn't born of a sacred mission to smite evil. It was pure personal vengeance and blind rage. Her staggering steps and sloppy swings made her look less like an indomitable knight and more like a pathetic flailing mess.
Her condition worsened by the second. The superhuman strength from her rigorously trained muscles began to ebb. The red divine aura granting her inhuman prowess faded to a dim glow. The green eyes that once burned with purpose clouded over like muddy water.
She stood no chance against a fully recovered berserker.
Thud—smack!
Kadim kicked her breastplate, toppling her. One more straight punch to the face finally silenced her struggles. He booted her red longsword far away and gazed down at the gasping Arch Paladin.
She was strong. Undoubtedly strong. If he hadn't sacrificed his gut and kept fighting straight, he'd probably be the one rolling on the ground now.
But...
"...Why are you so weak?"
Strong was relative—to an ordinary person.
For an Arch Paladin, she was bizarrely feeble.
The Arch Paladins he remembered weren't this level. They'd have incinerated the entire canyon with hellfire, reshaped the terrain with their swordplay, and fought on after an axe hit with just a spit on the wound. Kadim hadn't expected a single chop to the forehead to be the finisher.
I figured it'd take a dozen swings to crack her open...
Her gear was top-notch, but her overall prowess barely matched the old "high paladins." Maybe she was just an inexperienced senior knight? Even so, the gap from three hundred years ago was too vast.
Kadim looked down at the defeated paladin, steeped in frustration, and asked.
"Are you really an Arch Paladin? Or are you just a pawn, with the real one lurking in the shadows?"
"Hngh, shut your mouth, fiend! How dare you insult Elga's proxy! You barely scraped by with your cockroach vitality... Shameless to call yourself a great demon!"
"...Great demon? What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb! I already know exactly what you are! Ngh, you vile bastard..."
"..."
Kadim furrowed his brow. He'd known her mind was shattered, but not to this extent. If she was this lost in fanaticism and delusion, arguing was pointless.
No need to raise his voice for a smooth talk. He pressed his thumb firmly into the center of her forehead.
"KyaAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
"No more nonsense. Answer my questions."
"KyaAAAAHHH!! KyaAAAAHHH!!"
"Among the Arch Paladins I've faced, none were as weak as you. You call me a fiend, but those ones were the true fiends. And yet you're not even fit to lick their boots. Screaming like a little girl from one axe hit— is that all modern holy knights' mental fortitude amounts to?"
"Kyak, gak, hic, hngh, ngh..."
"Tell me. Is there a real Arch Paladin pulling your strings? Or have holy knights regressed since the old days? If you don't answer, I'll personally inspect what's inside your skull."
Helia's shoulders quivered. His chilling threats carried no trace of emotion in his eyes. Terror seized her, and her lips parted as if entranced.
"Ngh, sob... 'Decagram'..."
"...?"
"A group of the strongest elite holy knights among Arch Paladins... You must've met one of them... If you'd only been defeated by me, I could've joined their ranks too..."
"..."
"Now that I've fallen, they'll step in... The great ten stars will hunt you down... Their convictions mirror Elga's will, their might Elga's incarnation... When radiant starlight blankets the heavens, all darkness fades, and even the greatest evil perishes like chaff..."
Her words devolved from explanation into a prayer propping up her ego. Kadim let out a hollow chuckle. Ah, so that's how it was. Now it all made sense.
The real Arch Paladins of old are kept in a separate elite group. Makes sense—holy knights couldn't have weakened amid a demon surge. This one's basically second-string...
He glanced at Helia again. Her reddish divine aura now flickered faintly. He'd heard its intensity scaled with faith strength—not always, but often. Hers had weakened greatly with death looming.
"H-Hurry and kill me, fiend... I fear not death... Elga awaits me in the heavens with a seat prepared..."
Did he, really?
He wanted to test that right now, but he couldn't—not yet. Kadim grabbed her hair, lifting her lolling head.
"One more question. Ever heard of Gordon? Not from this era—he was a priest in the Elga Church long ago."
"...Gordon? Gordon, you say?"
"Yeah, Gordon Elgarok. The priest who joined the hero three hundred years ago to slay the great demon of the demon realm."
"...No idea. Never heard the name. Ngh, slaying a great demon? If that happened, there'd be monuments in every cathedral..."
"..."
"H-Hah, and even if I did know, you think I'd tell a fiend like you about Elga's priests...?"
She truly knew nothing. Kadim ground his teeth. He'd suspected as much, but even a senior holy knight being clueless? Had the Church erased the records?
No more intel to squeeze out. He resolved to ask his final question and end her.
It was one he sometimes posed to fanatics in his first playthrough. Casual asks got no reaction, but on death's door? Different story.
"Your scriptures say God's will is too profound for mere humans to fathom."
"...Yes. How do you...?"
"So how can you be sure of your heavenly seat? Those scriptures were penned by humans guessing at God's will. Maybe what Elga truly wants is unyielding faith, burning eternally in hell's pit?"
As expected, ripples spread across Helia's face the moment he spoke.
"Wh...?"
Her remaining divine aura vanished clean away.
"W-Wait, wait! A-Agh, just a bit more time to think..."
"Can't do that. Hope you've read God's will right, Arch Paladin."
"N-No...!"
Cleave—crunch!
The axe blade descended mercilessly on her head.
This time, it split her brain clean in two. Red, gooey remnants of fanaticism oozed from the mangled cross-section. Her overheated body cooled rapidly, the hellfire consuming the wreckage flickering out. Her bulging eyes swiveled in different directions.
The Arch Paladin's jade-green eyes no longer gazed upon her god.
Blackened haze like the abyss, ground cracked like hell itself.
The canyon's scars told the tale: how fierce the battle, how mighty the paladin, how absurdly powerful the barbarian who slew her.
"My god, Remillion preserve us..."
Enrico's mind reeled.
Taking down a troll solo was impressive enough. But a senior holy knight could massacre trolls by the squad. Killing one meant Kadim's strength far exceeded anything he could gauge.
At the same time, his vision blurred.
A senior holy knight breaching the border was a major incident. Her dying in allied territory? Word spreads, and the whole continent—from east to west—erupts. Enrico had no clue how to handle the fallout.
Kadim had no time for the commissioner's woes. He'd played tough earlier, but the gut pierce lingered. His innards boiled, nausea churning. Kneeling with a grimace, Duncan approached.
"M-Master, are you alright?! The paladin, how... U-Ugh! E-Eurgh... A p-paladin..."
The soldiers trailing the commissioner reacted the same. Eyes flicking from the kneeling barbarian to the bisected paladin, they froze like statues. Shock—the only emotion allowed in this canyon.
Duncan, regaining his wits, noticed Kadim's tunic pierced clean through.
"M-Master... A-Are you okay? Did the paladin wound you badly...?"
"I'm fine. It's healed now—don't worry."
Kadim wrestled his pain under control. Ignoring the dazed stares, he approached Enrico.
"Sun's setting soon. Let's head to Ecklo before it's too late, Commissioner."
"N-No... That's not the issue... My god, Remillion, how do we even..."
"...Who's Remillion that you're calling his name nonstop?"
"You don't know? Lord Remillion unified the fractured east 250 years ago... N-No! That's not the point! What do we do about this! A s-senior holy knight dead in allied territory..."
"If I hadn't killed her, we'd be dead. Were you hoping we'd quietly burn to death in this canyon, Commissioner?"
His deep voice carried overwhelming force. The commissioner's pupils dilated, then contracted. He dropped his gaze to his feet, voice deflated.
"Forgive me—I couldn't thank you properly in the chaos. You've saved us again. But..."
"..."
"...Sigh, no. You've fought nonstop—you must be exhausted. Let's return to Ecklo, rest up, and talk then."
Kadim eyed Enrico steadily, probing for schemes. None apparent. And even if there were, they posed no real threat...
The commissioner ordered the paladin's remains collected. Her plate armor was too heavy to move with the body. Stripped off and carried separately, they finally readied transport.
One remnant, though, couldn't even be touched.
Whoosh!
"Ahh!"
"Gah! Hot!"
The Arch Paladin's divine weapon, Gehenna's Flame.
Like holy swords, divine arms rejected all but their chosen wielder. Fierce hellfire repelled the soldiers' hands. Even with thick quilted gloves over gauntlets, none dared grasp it.
Kadim watched intently.
That red longsword's power was impressive. Its displayed feats warranted epic grade. In the hands of those "Decagram" Arch Paladins, it'd be devastating. Leaving such a weapon? Unthinkable for any warrior.
The problem: its rejection was too intense.
Even indirect contact was unbearable. Hydra blood might let him handle it, but he couldn't guzzle demon blood constantly—and supplies were low anyway.
Kadim pondered. How to make use of it? A heat-resistant hilt, dampen the rejection somehow...
A decent idea surfaced.
The hydra blood buff... still got a bit left?
Worst case, no loss. He approached the flustered soldiers.
"Step back. I'll handle that sword."