The Serpent Church (13)
The Serpent Church (13)
Radatok trembled at the demon's appearance. His eyes flew wide open before he even realized it.
In all his long years as an inquisitor, he had never seen a demon like this. A strange demon whose mere presence inspired terror and made one's voice shake.
The demon's army began to surge forward. Slimy mucus and bodily fluids stuck to the floor and peeled away again, over and over. The ground shook as their speed rose.
Radatok shouted. He raised his voice even louder to drive out the fear within.
"Form ranks! Form ranks! Form ranks properly!"
He straightened the battle line. The troops moved under Radatok's command. They raised their weapons, legs trembling, swallowing hard.
Radatok exchanged a glance with Isabella. The swords raised against their common enemy pointed forward.
"Raise your swords! Prepare for the final battle!"
The inquisitors, stained with blood and flesh, lifted their burning eyes. They swallowed their fear and used it as kindling to stoke their Sacred Flame even higher.
At the front stood only one. The one who stepped forward before anyone else, endlessly kindling the flames of Ra.
Zahard.
Apprentice Priest Zahard.
"O God."
One of the inquisitors' hands trembled. His legs trembled too, and so did his body.
The hand holding his sword shook like an aspen leaf. But he did not drop it.
Fear into courage.
Courage into flame.
"As the flame is like her..."
The verse one man murmured spread to the others.
"May I also become kindling like her."
One.
Two.
Then ten.
Beneath the murmured words, everyone raised their swords. They drew up the Sacred Flame that had nearly burned down to nothing.
The flames wrapped around the inquisitors. The fire that stepped out one pace ahead of the Serpent Church burned the wall of flesh.
"When you pray, go alone into your cell and gaze upon the candle."
Radatok brought the verse to its close.
"That shall be your world."
The heavy swords moved.
"...Ra. Watch over me."
. . .
What was there to do? Isabella agonized. The enemies before her eyes were endlessly pouring out of the colossal heart.
The guardian.
Zahard had said it. That it was definitely the guardian.
He had said that as long as that thing existed, the heart could not be destroyed.
But there was still a long way to go before we could reach that demon. Countless demons threw themselves in the way, blocking the path.
"...We have to break through... is that it...?"
The Serpent Church was trembling. Isabella knew that trembling better than anyone.
She was trembling too. But she had to advance regardless. That was fate. If she fell here, nothing of meaning would remain in her life.
The paladins asked nothing.
But the serpent faithful asked.
"We are afraid, Priest. What should we do?"
"Raise your swords."
"There is no strength in our hands. We cannot lift anything."
"Raise your swords."
"Even if we raise them, we will die. Here... in their hell, what can we possibly do?"
The Serpent Church was made up of the faithful and paladins. Not all of them were full of piety.
There were individual differences. Isabella looked back at the serpent faithful. They were trembling. Everyone who was not a paladin was afraid.
They were ordinary believers fighting on the front lines. They were not especially strong, and they had already witnessed far too many deaths.
It was rather fortunate that they had not gone mad.
She wanted to let them rest. If only the situation allowed it. But Isabella gave the order.
"Raise your swords. Remember our origin."
"What is that?"
"Naga. We were born from the serpent, and one day we shall return to the scales. That is not the end. It is a new beginning."
Isabella believed those words. She had seen Naga behind Zahard and confirmed that the god was at her side.
Naga was looking at Isabella, and Isabella was looking back at her.
"The demons that crawled up from hell are watching us. Even the vile heretics have raised their swords."
The serpent faithful looked at the inquisitors. One by one, they began to pick up the swords they had dropped.
"If those things crawl out of here, even our own people will be in danger. We are the only ones who can stop them."
"Then is our reason for fighting simply to protect them?"
"Yes."
"Then who protects us? Who will watch over us in this hell?"
Isabella fell silent. Her own faith was testing her.
So she had to answer it.
"...Naga."
Isabella coiled shadows around her body. She drew up her Sacred Power and glared at the approaching masses of flesh.
"Remember our mission."
The serpent faithful fell silent. One of the paladins murmured.
"To spread the serpent's teachings... throughout the world."
"To cast out all who do not believe..."
"To drive heresy from this world."
The serpent faithful were still afraid. That fear could not be shaken off in an instant.
But Isabella knew. How to suppress fear. How to turn faith into blind devotion.
It was terror.
"Raise your swords."
A teaching diametrically opposed to the Sun God Church.
Isabella hated that phrase. But even so, she knew it was astonishingly effective.
"Those who do not raise them, those who do not follow the teachings—my sword will take their heads before the demons' claws do."
The serpent faithful trembled violently. But even so, they all picked up their weapons.
The final holy war was approaching.
Isabella gripped her sword. Her hand trembled. But she faced forward.
Naga was watching.
I have to give her an answer.
. . .
A single instant of collision.
Then blood and flesh sprayed.
"Kill them alllllll!"
"For Ra!"
"For Naga!"
A slaughter. Blood burst forth in amounts so vast that friend and foe were indistinguishable. I clicked my tongue at the sheer volume of it.
Grotesque. A scene that would make weak-stomached bastards piss themselves on the spot.
I raised my sword. I carved my way forward. I had to break through.
Grasshopper.
That colossal grasshopper wouldn't move until you entered a certain area. If you targeted the heart from outside its territory, Vagueness's digestive fluid would instantly swallow everyone here.
In the end, it meant we had to reach that thing.
If we just took that thing down and burst the heart, it'd be game over. The right move was to end this fast and decisively.
"Break through! Now!"
"Uwaaaaaah!!!"
Radatok spewed out rough flames. A fierce attack. The Sun God Church inquisitor's secret art was made manifest in the world through his greatsword.
[Warning.]
[Beware of the heat.]
[Inquisitor Radatok activates Eternal Flame (A).]
"Ra! Watch over me!"
Experience accumulates layer by layer. Unlike one's prime, which fades with age, and stamina and body, which decline with the passage of time, experience continues to build.
Inquisitor Radatok.
The formidable experience he had accumulated descended upon the world. Footprints marked by countless efforts and miracles were woven into the world through his greatsword.
Heat.
Firepower.
Accumulated flames beyond anything I could imagine at my current level covered my entire field of vision.
"Seed of Evil! I will burn it all away!"
Whoosh.
The sound of the flames flickering was small.
But the phenomenon that occurred was anything but small.
Fwoooooooooosh!
The giant parasites screamed. As the beast of flame coiled around them, the mere graze of it melted them all. An area-of-effect attack. And one of tremendous power at that!
A path opened in an instant. Amid the melted flesh and heat, a shortcut toward the Grasshopper was carved out.
I whistled.
"Hell yeah! Radatok, you're the best!"
"Go, brother!"
I immediately dashed out. A huge path. But the parasites began flooding in through the gaps like water, quickly filling it.
They packed in layer by layer, and before I was even halfway, the path was blocked again. Isolated in the middle, I clicked my tongue.
Ah, shit. I need to conserve my strength.
I wreathed my sword in flames. But I didn't need to extend them.
[Warning.]
[Beware of erosion.]
[Paladin Isabella activates Echo of the Abyss (A).]
"Naga! I will sing for you!"
Sound rang out. The parasites stopped. Within the successive waves of sound, the parasites' shadows writhed.
A blade struck from behind. Swords burst out from the shadows beneath the Eternal Flame—Isabella's swords.
Dozens, hundreds of duplicated swords pierced the parasites' vital points all at once.
Blood sprayed and bodily fluids scattered. It didn't stop at simple stabbing—shadows climbed onto the blades. Small serpents running along the sword edges.
The shadow serpents burrowed into the parasites' bodies through their wounds and raced through their insides. They devoured blood and flesh and climbed all the way to the brain.
The parasites' heads shook in unison. The lumps of flesh that passed for eyes flipped over, and soon a thick, foul-smelling black liquid began to ooze out.
A silent assassination. A blow nearly impossible to dodge unless you had eyes on your back.
The rotting parasites collapsed to the floor as they decayed from the inside out. The blocked path opened once more. I immediately trampled over the corpses and leaped forward.
"Thanks, Big Sis!"
"I'll handle the rear! Zahard!"
Thanks to the two main NPCs, I was able to reach the Grasshopper without using a single bit of my own strength.
Dozens of grotesquely split eyes and abnormally long limbs. Its thick outer shell was on a completely different level from the shrimp and crayfish I'd seen before.
Ah. This is impossible.
I can't beat that.
I know. I know that the current me can never reach that thing.
...But.
But still.
I've got a hidden trump card, you know?
"Heh heh."
-Z-Zahard...? How do you have that...?
Amid Naga's voice, I reached inside my clothes. Even the old me could manage to use it briefly.
With the Mixed Sacred Mark (A) I had now, I could use it even longer!
"By the will of the gods, I'll destroy you! Grasshopper!"
【Wh-what kind of situation is this now?!】
Poof.
The demon sword burst out from the Pocket, my high-grade transport equipment. It was the strongest item I possessed, and one of the highest-grade items.
"Life is all about cheats!"
[Warning]
[Warning]
[Warning]
[Your Sacred Mark rejects the intrusion of 'Demonic Force'.]
[Erosion begins.]
[Your body is being corrupted.]
[Your Twisted Sacred Mark completely rejects the intrusion of 'Demonic Force'.]
[Using 'Demon Sword Surtr (EX)'.]
[Usable time: 10s]
[Surtr comes from the south]
[With the harming of branches]
[The sun of gods who kill and are killed]
[Flashes from her sword.]
【Th-this feels even worse...?!】
Ten seconds?!
One second is enough!
"Grrrrrr..."
"Shut up!"
I thrust out my sword. The light of Demon Sword Surtr materialized in an instant and coiled around my right hand.
It was called a demon sword, but its form was whatever I desired.
I racked my brain. My mind burned hot. The world turned white as if it would catch fire at any moment.
Hold on.
One shot is all I need!
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"
['Levateinn (EX)' activates.]
A greatsword of eerie and bizarre fire.
I reached out my hand. I clenched my fist. Along with Demon Sword Surtr's backlash, my right hand burned completely black.
But I got my money's worth for the price.
The Grasshopper flinched and raised its head. Within the massive cavity, a greatsword far larger than itself materialized beside me and flickered.
Too late now, you little shit.
I swung the colossal greatsword of flame that had appeared in the air with all my might. The air was pushed away, and the shockwave alone felt like it would destroy the world.
That kind of blow. Well, something like a god's wrath.
No mere monster could block it!
"Hold your head still, you little shit!"
The greatsword of fire drove into the Grasshopper's head. The pitiful grasshopper resisted.
But what could it do?
Could a mere Grasshopper block an EX skill?
The flames blazed. The remnants of an old god that had once mercilessly devoured the world of the gods swept over the Grasshopper.
【I hate thiiiiiiiiis!!!!】
Surtr, too, was thoroughly drenched in my Sacred Power.
A magnificent finish!