Chapter 10
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Awe and Fear (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Drawing his sword, Rick began to move toward the girl.
He wasn't aiming for a surprise attack, so he made no effort to hide the sound of his footsteps.
At the sound of Rick's steps echoing through the undergrowth, the girl's gaze, which had been fixed on the empty air, turned to him.
The distance, which seemed to be hundreds of paces, closed in an instant.
Reaching the girl with swift steps, Rick stopped just a few paces away.
"An investigator from Cloud?"
The girl remarked, looking him over.
She had recognized his identity from his uniform.
The girl's eyes shifted between his neat uniform and the sword in his hand.
He was wearing a Cloud uniform and had his sword drawn.
It wouldn't be hard to guess what Rick was thinking.
"Do you live here?"
"I don't believe that is a matter of your concern."
Wariness crept into the girl's eyes as she heard Rick's question.
It was an unusual reaction.
She was wary of him, an investigator from Cloud.
Rick intuitively realized that the girl before him was hiding something.
"If you had nothing to do with what happened to the nearby villages, it would be best for you to cooperate with the investigation."
"Has something happened to the villages?"
"Yes. The residents of several villages have vanished completely. Without leaving a single trace."
The news that entire villages had vanished seemed to surprise even her.
The girl facing Rick showed a look of bewilderment.
Judging by her innocent appearance, she seemed to have no connection to it.
But this was someone living alone in these dangerous mountains.
Judging by the baguettes visible inside the cave, she didn't seem to be starving.
She looked far too well-off for someone living in the mountains.
Rick did not let down his guard against the girl before him.
"For entire villages to disappear how curious."
"A more nonchalant reaction than I expected. By the way, miss, where on earth did you get that bread behind you?"
"The bread behind me? Ah, you must be referring to the grace."
"Grace?"
"It is a meal bestowed upon me by the Great One."
The Great One. And grace.
Either phrase was more than enough to raise suspicion.
Rick was now certain that the girl he was facing was a priestess of some sort.
Judging by her attire and choice of words, she was not a priestess from the Holy Land.
Besides, even for a high priestess of the Holy Land, receiving bread as a divine gift was strange.
If anything, it suggested a connection to an evil god.
"The Great One? Who are you talking about?"
"How could a mere mortal speak His name?"
"Is it possible that this 'Great One' took the villagers?"
The last question was half in jest.
Of course, even Rick, who asked the question, didn't expect a meaningful answer.
But the girl before him was more peculiar than he had anticipated.
She answered Rick's question with a wistful look on her face.
"I wouldn't know about that. But if He did take them, they would be returning to where they belong, so wouldn't they be happy?"
"Completely insane."
"You should choose your words more carefully. You might incur divine punishment, you know."
The girl before him was not sane.
The moment he faced that fact, Rick pointed his sword at the girl.
Further interrogation was pointless.
She was clearly a worshipper of an evil god.
If he didn't eliminate her here and now, more harm could be done in the future.
"It seems your so-called 'Great One' was the one who took the people after all."
"What is the meaning of this?"
the girl asked, seeing the sword pointed at her.
To think she was still pretending to be innocent.
The sight made Rick feel nauseous.
This was a girl living alone in a mountain range teeming with all sorts of ferocious beasts.
Naturally, she was far from ordinary.
Even if she moved about wearing a human guise, the fact that she was a priestess of an evil god remained unchanged.
"You ask what this is? After using an evil god to devour all those people, you have the nerve to act so brazenly."
"As I thought."
"As you thought?"
"A world with people like you in it would be better off gone."
As soon as the girl finished speaking, her eyes cold.
Rick sensed an immense pressure from the sky.
It was invisible. Yet, he could feel it.
Something beyond perception was moving, targeting him.
Its target was his head.
Rick instinctively raised his sword to protect his head.
Clang!
A heavy tremor ran through his hand from parrying the blow.
Rick couldn't help but be shocked at having blocked the sudden attack.
"!"
It had no visible form or shape.
And yet, the pressure crushing down on his body was undeniably real.
The girl before him had pulled some trick.
Realizing this, Rick charged straight at the girl.
"I won't let you get away with your tricks!"
His light steps closed the distance to the girl in an instant.
Five steps. Four steps.
And three.
With the distance quickly closed, Rick was about to swing his sword when.
he felt that immense pressure again and raised his sword.
Clang!
Along with the heavy impact felt through his sword, Rick's body was instinctively knocked back several paces.
"I told you, didn't I? Be rude, and you'll face divine punishment."
The girl, clutching a book, smiled as she watched him.
To pull such a trick and then feign indifference.
Grit.
Rick gritted his teeth at the girl's relaxed demeanor and readjusted his stance.
Letting the enemy seize the initiative like this would only put him at a disadvantage.
Having settled into his stance, Rick prepared to charge at the girl again.
If it weren't for the tremendous amount of mana gathering above his head, that is.
An attack spell is coming.
Outwardly, it appeared to be a simple, low-tier spell.
However, the amount of mana gathered to cast it was extraordinary.
It was too late to escape the spell's range.
The only option left was to defend.
Rick drew upon all the mana in his body and prepared to withstand the attack.
CRACK!
With a rumbling peal of thunder, a powerful bolt of lightning pierced Rick's body.
Rick screamed from the searing pain, as if his insides were on fire.
"Kugh!"
This was its power even after he'd used mana to reduce the impact.
A few more direct hits, and his life would be in danger.
Suppressing the pain that coursed through his entire body, Rick analyzed the situation.
His opponent could pour out mana from a distance.
If the distance grew, he would undoubtedly have to endure a one-sided barrage of attacks.
He had to close the distance to the girl before him, no matter what.
Rick Swile. Get a grip.
Rick composed himself and took his stance once more.
Stand still, and the enemy will strike.
To get close, he had to break through the opponent's ranged attacks.
A simple charge would be too easy to stop.
Having formulated a strategy to deal with the evil god's priestess, Rick raised his sword and began to run forward.
"Hoo."
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
With light footwork, Rick's form moved forward.
Even as Rick advanced with erratic movements, the magic pouring down on him did not stop.
CRACK! CRACKLE!
With successive peals of thunder, lightning struck the spots Rick had just passed.
But no matter how threatening the lightning was, it was meaningless if it didn't hit.
Dodging the lightning with swift movements, Rick cloaked his body in mana and charged at the girl.
"Time to die!"
Having closed the distance in an instant, Rick's sword swung toward the girl.
The girl, holding a grimoire, was completely unprepared to counter.
Rick had no doubt that his strike would cut the girl down.
That was, until the lips of the girl watching him moved.
"Barrier."
KRRRRRACK!
The sharp sword strike scraped across the barrier's surface.
A large crack formed on the surface of the barrier where the mana-infused sword had passed.
His surprise at the sudden appearance of the barrier was brief.
Rick readjusted his stance, preparing to swing again.
It seemed one more swing would be enough to destroy the barrier before him.
If it weren't for the lightning that struck from above his head.
"Gaaack!"
CRACK!
Rick's body flinched as the lightning bolt fell from the sky.
Struck by the lightning, Rick tried to draw on his mana to block the next attack.
But the evil god watching over Rick would not permit it.
CRACK! CRACKLE!
Several more bolts of lightning rained down on the sword-wielding Rick.
Rick's body convulsed from the successive lightning strikes.
"Gak Keo-heok."
Thud.
The sword fell from Rick's grasp and dug into the ground.
Having lost his sword, Rick collapsed on the spot, his eyes rolling back.
But the evil god's wrath, directed at Rick, showed no mercy even to the fallen.
CRACK! KRAKOOM!
Lightning struck ceaselessly from the clear sky.
As the thunderbolts repeatedly struck his body, Rick's consciousness began to fade.
As his consciousness scattered, Rick sensed his end was near and looked ahead.
The girl reflected in his eyes was filled with a look of awe.
Cloud. Senterius Branch.
Hurs Alemier, a Grade-2 Investigator, wore a grim expression as he looked at the paper before him.
It had been ten days since Rick, a Grade-3 Investigator, had left the branch office, claiming to be searching for traces of an evil god.
But Rick, who had gone out to investigate, had yet to return.
If he hadn't found any clues near the villages, he would have come back to ask Hurs for help, but what returned was not Rick, but a single report.
"Rick Swile"
Hurs reread the contents of the paper before him.
Rick Swile. Missing.
His horse was found in a nearby village.
An investigator from Cloud had missed his regular reporting deadline and disappeared, leaving his horse behind.
Something had definitely happened to him.
Thinking of his missing junior, Hurs clenched the report in his hand.
"An evil god so it's an evil god."
The residents of four villages had vanished completely, without leaving a single trace.
When he first heard Rick's report, he had found it hard to believe.
What could possibly make residents disappear without a trace?
He had concluded that Rick must not have investigated thoroughly enough.
But now, Investigator Rick, the very one who had filed that report, had also vanished without a trace.
""
There is something in this area.
Realizing this, Hurs chewed his lip.
A being that can make people disappear without a trace.
And a being that can erase an entire village without a sound.
Such a being was staying nearby.
"I'll have to consult the Holy Land."
Hurs took out a sheet of paper and dipped his dry pen in ink.
He smoothed out the paper and began to write a letter.
This opponent was on a different level from an ordinary criminal.
And dealing with an evil god required a specialist suited for the task.