Crossroads (6)
Crossroads (6)
"First row, advance!"
"A-advance...!"
The guards moved. But their stiff movements were not what Veronica had expected.
They were full of openings. She could see the swords they raised trembling. The believers, charging like beasts, clung to the guards' shields.
It turned into an unintended melee in an instant.
Veronica snarled. She personally struck down the charging fanatics and raised her voice.
"Push them back! Hold your shields straight, you bastards! Don't be scared! If you panic, you all die!"
"Graaaaah!"
"G-get away! I said get away!"
"You stupid fucks! Don't lower your shields!!!! Push them back!!! Second row! Thrust between the first row! Kill the ones clinging on!"
The second row moved clumsily. They thrust their swords toward the believers clinging to the shields.
"H-hiik."
With that pathetic sound, the thrust swords failed to kill the believers. At best, they only lodged shallowly into their bodies.
The reckless movements and the painless thrashing terrified the guards.
Their movements turned passive under the fear they harbored. One guard squeezed his eyes shut and thrust his sword, only to have it seized by the enemy.
He tumbled between the shields in an instant.
"Graaaaaaaah!!!"
The number of corpses torn apart alive grew.
"You fucking—! You useless morons! You can't even do one thing right!"
Veronica swung her sword. She cut the fanatics' throats. She was the only one putting up a fight.
Screams erupted from all over. The barely-formed ranks collapsed in an instant. A shadow fell over Veronica's face.
She resented herself for getting dumped in this backwater over one wrong word. She had leaned on drink and gambling, dreaming only of the day she could return. A place she would just pass through. That was all she had thought of it.
Because of that, she had neglected the guards' training. She had honed her own strength alone, pushing her duties aside and focusing only on herself.
And now the consequences were exploding in her face.
Still, I thought they at least had the basics down... These bastards are all just worthless chaff!
"Fall back!"
Veronica ground her teeth. After grinding down the clinging fanatics with her sword, she lifted her blood-soaked face.
"I'll do it alone! Just get the hell out of here!"
An army that couldn't even be properly commanded. At this point, it was better to just abandon them. The more people she had to protect, the harder it became to act.
It wasn't a choice a commander should make. But it was the best option. There had been almost no trust between the guards and the director to begin with.
She had only been crushing the inadequate command structure with overwhelming force. And now even that no longer worked.
The snarling madmen before her were more terrifying than the orders of their leader.
"Aaaaaaaah!!!"
"M-move! Move, goddammit!"
"Don't grab me! I said don't grab me!"
It was utter chaos. Those trying to flee and those gritting their teeth to fight back were all mixed together.
Veronica moved frantically. The wardens she glanced back at had long since been skewered by the paladins.
Fuck... fuck...!
If only there was one person who could coordinate with me! Then this dogshit situation wouldn't have happened!
...It's my fault. It's my fault for shutting myself away, blocked by the reality in front of me!
"...Tch."
The paladins broke through the chaos and charged at Veronica. Flashing swords aimed for her vitals like bolts of light.
Sharp sword strikes, as if honed through countless real battles. Amid the ensuing exchange, Veronica gripped her sword hilt tightly.
She parried and deflected. Amid the ear-piercing metallic sounds, she roused her Sacred Power.
"Hup!"
Sacred Flame blazed and Sacred Power swelled. It engulfed her entire weapon, forming a sharp, long tachi.
She dodged a sword by a hair's breadth, and the sheathed weapon shot out in an instant.
Shhk.
The sound was brief. The paladin stopped. Trembling in place, a thin diagonal line was drawn from the top of his head down to his crotch.
A human form split in half. Entrails and flesh dropped with a thud. The bursting blood stained Veronica's coat.
"...Fuck."
She had killed one, but they poured in endlessly. The paladins were few, but there were far more believers.
Sheathing the tachi again, Veronica quickly scanned her surroundings. Guards being slaughtered one-sidedly. More and more crazed fanatics swarming in.
Gleaming eyes were approaching. There were even mad bastards running on all fours. Beasts eyeing their prey.
"...Is this punishment for gambling a bit?"
Veronica let out a dry laugh. She shifted her stance. She poured strength into the hand gripping the hilt.
"Still, fuck... I've got to save the ones I can."
Veronica's eyes flashed. Her hand, covered in Sacred Flame, moved in a blur.
SHING-SHING-SHING!!!!
The scattering sword strikes blanketed the ground. The bursting blades of flame crushed the space entirely.
The sharp slashes swallowed the building before her. Dozens of charging believers were torn into hundreds of pieces and fell to the ground.
The collapsing building's debris kicked up thick dust. The wind shook Veronica's hair.
One big technique. A move to save the guards and draw attention to herself.
But a powerful technique brought just as much recoil. Veronica staggered as her Sacred Power was drained in an instant. The paladins, who had been waiting for this moment, closed in on their prey.
Green flames blazed before her eyes. Veronica clicked her tongue.
Her body still wouldn't move properly. Should she sacrifice an arm?
Veronica braced for the coming pain. The moment her arm was severed, she was ready to trade it for a paladin's heart.
But something reached her before that.
"I knew the guards were in bad shape, but this is worse than I thought."
A crimson comet fell.
BOOM!!!!
A storm raged. The ground, unable to withstand the destructive force, quaked. Blazing flames. The believers were swept away all at once by that massive greatsword.
Flames. Veronica's eyes widened. What a terrifying entrance.
Words couldn't describe it. No one would believe it without seeing it firsthand. A storm that shook her body from merely slamming down a weapon.
It was monstrous destructive power. Like a song of destruction. Veronica narrowed her eyes.
Not green, but red light.
A man who looked remarkably natural with a greatsword resting on his shoulder.
At the familiar priest robes, Veronica let out a sigh. She asked casually.
"What are you... some kind of secret special weapon the church raised in secret?"
"I'm not raised by the church, nor am I a secret special weapon, but..."
The man, who had just burst a fanatic's head with his foot, smirked.
"I am on your side, right?"
Veronica wiped her face. She spat out a piece of flesh that had gotten into her mouth.
"...Well, that's a relief to hear."
. . .
Veronica, Director of the First Punishment Office.
In pure martial force alone, she was on par with Dimona. A case of someone who couldn't enter the Day Priestesses because of her bad conduct.
With a sweeping strike, dozens of believers were blown away. Her quiet sword strikes, far removed from flames or explosions, were her signature.
When her tachi moved, space itself was carved apart. When that near-swift speed flew silently, eight paladins were torn apart at once.
Would she have survived on her own even if I hadn't come?
...No. That wouldn't have happened. She was the type with a quiet sense of responsibility. Once she started something, she was the kind of person who would see it through no matter what.
This was the same. She had recklessly pushed forward, and when there was no answer, she tried to pull back, and when even that didn't work, she had undoubtedly stepped in as a shield herself.
If I hadn't stepped in, one of her arms would have flown into the air.
I clicked my tongue. That bracelet Veronica was wearing. 'Tangled Silence (S)' was an incredibly attractive Sacred Relic.
A Sacred Relic that raised the cutting power of an equipped weapon to its absolute limit.
It was a family Sacred Relic that Veronica had always possessed. But it was also something Veronica herself had never noticed.
If I had that, I could use it quite effectively. But it wasn't something I absolutely needed.
Considering the Sacred Relics I would obtain in the future, there was no need to cling to it. It was very tempting right now, but... if I looked elsewhere, there was another Sacred Relic that was a direct upgrade.
In the first place, the Serpent Church had more Sacred Relics with that kind of performance than the Church of Ra.
It would be better to get one from there. I even knew where they were hidden.
Ah... come to think of it... I've been so buried in work that I haven't even collected the Sacred Relics scattered across the continent. What am I doing?
When the hell am I going to power-level...
"Snap out of it!"
I turned aside. A sword grazed past and embedded itself in the ground.
I placed my foot on top of it with a tap.
"They're not opponents worth tensing up over."
Bang!
The paladin's head split open.
I swung my greatsword with a whoosh. The paladins flinched at the threatening movement.
Unlike the fanatics, the corrupted paladins seemed to retain some of their minds. As if proving it, they ignored me and persistently targeted only Veronica.
Among the paladins, one clad in expensive-looking equipment stepped forward. Five elite paladins armed with Holy Arts charged at Veronica.
Veronica swung her tachi, but for the first time, it was blocked. Three of them clung to her and sealed her weapon. The remaining two simultaneously aimed for Veronica's neck.
"Ugh?!"
She threw her head back and dodged. She frantically evaded the consecutive strikes that followed. Her movements were like dancing. Her recovered tachi split the air with a crack, but the five paladins had already put distance between them.
Green flames engulfed their weapons. Faintly revealed shape transformation. Different weapons were gripped in the hands of the elite paladins. They were unstable, as if they might shatter at any moment, but they were unmistakably symbols of power.
"You fucking—! Where the hell did you bastards roll in from?! Why did you destroy Filamon!"
"......"
"Answer me! You damn heretics!"
They're our church, you know.
Green flames surged. The corrupted Sacred Mark of Ra shone, and the elite paladins charged again without a word.
Veronica gritted her teeth. In the ensuing exchange, sounds that were overwhelming just to hear rang out in succession.
Clang! Claaang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Flames scattered and shattered buildings began to collapse alive. Wow. She fights well. I clapped lightly.
She wasn't being pushed back even against five. Against opponents who could draw out shape transformation, albeit imperfectly, she was putting up quite a fight.
"As expected of the Punishment Office Director!"
"Help me! You bastard!"
"Ah. My ears don't seem to be working well. Maybe it's because I'm all talk..."
I leaned leisurely against my greatsword planted in the ground.
"My ears must be all talk too. They just let everything slip right through."
"You son of a bitch?!"
"Watch your side."
"Ugh?!"
The fallen Veronica rolled across the ground. She lifted her dirt-covered face.
"You crazy bastard! I said help me!"
"Cancel the all-talk bastard?"
"Canceled! Fuck! Canceled!"
"And the test?"
"That's canceled too! Just help meee!!"
"And the Beverick apprentice priest position?"
"I'll give it! I said I'll give iiiiit!!"
Well, shall I stop messing around now?
I lifted my greatsword. I grabbed the nape of an elite paladin passing by. A spear flew at me immediately, but I dodged aside and seized its shaft.
"You learned it superficially. No substance. Rosemary would laugh if she saw this."
Crack.
A fissure starting from my hand engulfed the entire shaft. The elite paladin's shape transformation shattered in an instant.
Pashashak.
The Holy Arts scattered. The elite paladin's eyes widened. For the first time, the emotion of 'fear' bloomed in eyes that had never wavered.
But I had no intention of going easy on them for that.
"Since you're all heads..."
The greatsword moved.
"...if I snap all your necks, it'll get a bit quieter, won't it?"
BOOM!!!!
The flame-wreathed sword tore the elite paladin's body apart. One wasn't enough, so it crushed two more.
I surrendered my body to the bursting explosion. I wasn't sharp like Veronica. Cleanly cutting through was impossible for me.
But in exchange for giving that up, I had gained something.
"Ahahahahahaha!!!!"
Spectacular explosions.
An absurdly wide range.
Monstrous firepower!!!
The battlefield was overturned. Buildings swept away were carried off with a thunderous roar.
Veronica's jaw dropped at the battlefield that had become a fiery hell.
"...No, seriously. What the hell are you?"
"What am I? Obviously, the one and only hero who will end this damn terrori..."
I stopped mid-sentence as I was about to rattle off my usual joke.
Something surged up. It suddenly burst through the ground, pierced the clouds, and covered the sky.
Kugugugugugugugugugugugu...
A massive tremor rolled in. A strong wind brushed past my body. Birds in flight plummeted to the ground, and a roar like a scream echoed from the split sky.
Earthquake. Roar. Gust.
The three disasters occurring at once hinted that something had burst.
I raised my head. I stared blankly at the sky turning dark crimson.
Another light piercing the sky. A blazing pillar of dark crimson light.
"...Hero, my ass."
I closed my eyes and opened them. I gauged the location of the pillar of light, vivid enough to see with the naked eye.
Contrary to my hope that I was wrong, the direction was exactly where I thought it was.
[The rampage gauge of 'Demon of Love Amar' is approaching its limit.]
[Time remaining until full rampage: 12 H]
[Warning]
[Warning]
[Warning]
[A massive amount of magical power has been detected in the northern Empire.]
[If it bursts all at once, one quarter of the northern Empire will be blown away.]
[Sacred Relics are reacting to the enormous magical power.]
The Sacred Relic that had escaped from my Pocket on its own wailed. The Spear of Light trembled violently, and Mistelten vibrated greatly.
Magical power strong enough to make even the Sacred Relics trapped in subspace react. This was happening even from a great distance away.
It burst.
And quite thoroughly at that.
"...Dwayne... you son of a bitch..."
Decades of accumulated human malice were writhing in the First Punishment Office.
"How did he know... something only a player should know?"