Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Bishop Hunt (3)
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“Damn it…….”
Bishop Olléang spat out a curse as he shoved aside the pillar that had crashed down on him from above.
The explosion from moments ago had turned the surroundings into a complete inferno. Pillars were collapsing everywhere, and it looked like the entire building would come crashing down any second.
“Urgh……!”
Most of his subordinates had been caught in the blast.
A few seemed to have survived, but they had all fled.
Abandoning their superior, Bishop Olléang.
“You ragtag bunch of……!”
In the old days, no one would have dreamed of running off to save their own skin in a situation like this.
But he had only himself to blame. It was Olléang himself who had skimped on their mental conditioning.
‘Giving priestly qualifications even to those unworthy… that was my mistake.’
Grinding his teeth, Olléang pushed himself to his feet.
Fortunately, he hadn’t sustained any major injuries.
He had deployed multiple layers of defensive barriers over his body’s surface using mana.
This was a technique called Mana Armor, an advanced defensive spell usable only by those with fifth circle or higher mana.
‘I can’t… retreat just like this!’
From the looks of things, this had been an enemy trap.
Which meant Carius had likely failed to take them out as well.
But that didn’t mean he could flee from here.
‘I just need to slaughter them all myself……!’
Even if Carius’s ambush had failed, he must have at least inflicted some wounds on them.
That gave him a chance at victory.
‘I’ll tear you apart……!’
Sion Aleyas.
The nameless underling of Archbishop Hausel.
Burning with murderous intent toward them, Olléang pushed through the blazing corridor.
The building seemed ready to collapse at any moment, but he paid it no mind.
‘The roaring flames are perfect!’
If anything, the fire excited him even more.
It brought back memories from his youth as a purification priest, when he had torched countless buildings.
The sight of structures engulfed in flames, the screams of those burning alive inside—each time, it filled Olléang with an indescribable thrill.
‘Once I catch you bastards… I’ll burn your faces and limbs first!’
Lost in such thoughts as he traversed the burning hallway.
Someone emerged from a room with a shattered door.
‘That’s……!’
No mistaking it.
It was the Knight Captain who had entered the building earlier: Sion Aleyas.
But… he was dragging a corpse behind him.
“Carius……?”
The body Sion was dragging was none other than Carius.
A quick glance showed a single strike to the throat had killed him. No other wounds.
‘Sion Aleyas doesn’t look injured either. Did Carius fall to one of Archbishop Hausel’s underlings?’
No one else in sight.
What had happened to Hausel’s subordinate?
Had they perished together with Carius?
“Bishop Olléang.”
As those thoughts raced through his mind, Sion’s cold voice rang out.
“You bastard, how exactly…….”
“Surprised you recognized him at a glance?”
“…….”
Olléang grew wary.
He had known Sion Aleyas wasn’t ordinary, but this composure exceeded his expectations.
“So, you caught on from the start.”
“Caught on?”
“To our ambush, right? That’s why you set up this trap in advance.”
How had he figured it out?
Had one of his subordinates slipped up?
“But now it’s certain.”
“Certain?”
“That one of Archbishop Hausel’s confidants is here, isn’t it?”
This sealed it.
There was no other explanation for what was happening.
Archbishop Hausel’s confidant was cooperating with Sion Aleyas.
“Then why hasn’t that one shown themselves?”
Grinning as he asked, Olléang had a hunch about their scheme.
“Waiting for a chance to ambush me?”
He spoke with utter confidence.
But… Sion replied coolly.
“Bishop Olléang, you’re under a massive delusion.”
“What? Delusion?”
“Yes. There’s no confidant of Archbishop Hausel here.”
“…….”
Olléang scowled.
“Trying to throw me off? Don’t toy with me…….”
“You should believe people when they talk, Olléang.”
Sion shrugged as he said it.
“If you’re suspicious, search the whole place. I’ll wait.”
“…….”
It didn’t seem like a lie.
But if that was true……
“Don’t make me laugh! I have solid intel…….”
“Is that intel reliable?”
“What?”
“What if I forged that intel?”
“…….”
Olléang was caught off guard.
Sion had forged it? The intelligence?
Why? How?
“Th-that’s ridiculous!”
Unable to comprehend, he raised his voice.
“The letter that reached beyond the Winter Mountains, the message found in the pleasure district—they were written in high-security ciphers! Ordinary purification priests can’t even decipher them! Only bishop-level clergy and informants with access to bishops know! How could you……!”
Mid-shout, Olléang froze.
“You don’t mean… you turned one of my informants?”
“You’re grasping at straws more with every word, Bishop Olléang.”
Sion shook his head pityingly.
“Enough. Talking more is just a waste of time.”
“Sion Aleyas……!”
Something was gravely wrong.
That much, Olléang could grasp.
But nothing beyond that made sense.
“I’ll kill you!”
Roaring, Olléang summoned his mana.
The six circles nestled in his chest began spinning furiously.
* * *
[Be careful. He has mana equivalent to six circles.]
‘No need.’
Listening to Igzard, I drew my sword.
‘A foe who’s lost his cool is easy pickings.’
Olléang was completely worked up.
Realizing he’d been thoroughly duped, he had lost all reason.
Dealing with someone in that state wasn’t hard.
‘Besides…….’
I focused on the circles in my chest.
Just before, I had felled the assassin and absorbed his mana.
The assassin had six circles— the most of anyone I’d taken down as Sion Aleyas.
Absorbing it had finally pushed me to fifth-circle mana levels.
‘I hit fourth circle during the enlistment exam, so about a year to reach fifth.’
[Your diligent accumulation pays off.]
‘The real grind starts here. Fifth to sixth is harder than first to fifth combined.’
Replying thus, I unleashed my sword aura.
Olléang was barehanded, weaponless, but an immense energy poured from his body.
“Oooooh……!”
As Olléang bellowed, fresh flames erupted.
Unlike the building fire, these were magical.
‘Scorching Whip.’
Scorching Whip.
A sixth-circle flame spell boasted by the Dialogue Church, conjuring whip-like writhing flames.
Its erratic trajectory made it devastating at mid-range.
Mastering Scorching Whip marked Olléang as a capable sixth-circle mage.
“Die, Sion Aleyas!”
Kwa-kwang!
The wildly lashed whip ravaged the corridor.
The mana-forged flames destroyed even the few intact sections. The building was now on the verge of total collapse.
[Impressive output.]
‘Yeah.’
Dodging attacks, I replied curtly.
The whip occasionally grazed my limbs, but my body was shielded by Mana Armor fueled by fifth-circle mana.
[Control’s abysmal, though.]
‘Blame his lost reason.’
The space was cramped to begin with.
Clever control of Scorching Whip here could have cornered me easily.
But Olléang’s assaults were predictable. My current skills let me evade them handily.
All because he had lost his reason in excitement.
[From the moment he fell for your scheme, his defeat was sealed.]
‘Pretty much.’
If Olléang had come at me head-on, determined to kill just me, I’d have struggled.
But he swallowed my bait, fell into the trap, and now faced me devoid of reason.
At this point, his loss was inevitable.
“……!”
I ducked low and surged forward.
Slipping through the momentary gap, I closed the distance to Olléang.
The flame whip whistled over my head, singeing hair, but I ignored it.
“Hk……!”
I could tell Olléang gasped in shock.
At this range, Scorching Whip wouldn’t do; he needed a close-quarters spell. But in his state, switching quickly was impossible.
[It’s over.]
Whoosh!
My blade pierced through the flames, stabbing into Olléang’s chest.
* * *
Kwa-rung!
With a thunderous roar, the building began collapsing in earnest.
“Is Sir Sion alright?”
Gazing up at the crumbling structure, Edwin muttered worriedly.
Lieselotte, nearby, shrugged.
“Who knows? He’ll handle it.”
“This operation’s a total mystery. Do you get it, Lieselotte?”
“Who knows.”
Replying thus, Lieselotte set down the bound Dialogue Church priest she’d been carrying.
“That all of them?”
“Yeah, seems like we got every Dialogue Church bastard who fled outside.”
Their mission had been to intercept the Dialogue Church followers escaping the burning building.
Prepared in advance, they had captured every last one.
“What in the world happened?!”
Sena arrived then, with her assault knights in tow.
Her hair was messier than usual, like she’d just rolled out of bed.
“I heard it was a demolition in progress, but who does that in the dead of night?! What’s going on?!”
“Oh, welcome, Lady Sena.”
Lieselotte greeted her with a smile.
“Looks like the Dialogue Church sent an assassination squad after Sir Sion.”
“What?!”
“These ones on the ground are prisoners. Mind helping? We can’t haul them all ourselves.”
“O-oh, if that’s it…… we can’t just leave them. I’ll help.”
Hearing this, Sena hurriedly began gathering the fallen Dialogue Church followers with her assault knights.
“Lady Sena, First-Class Knight, why are we always stuck with cleanup duty here?”
“The Assault Knights are the Holy Knight Order’s finest elites, yet…….”
“Ugh…….”
Sena broke into a cold sweat amid her knights’ grumbling.
* * *
In the fiercely raging flames, I gripped Olléang by the collar.
His chest was already pierced; the grievous wound had left him powerless. With Igzard draining his mana, he was utterly combat-incapable.
But he still clung to life, contorted in agony as I held him.
[Spare him to extract info?]
‘No need.’
His eyes told me everything.
Sapphirus the Archbishop had trained him well.
No amount of torture would make him talk.
“…….”
Olléang was resolved to die.
Questions now would yield nothing useful.
But……
“Bishop Olléang.”
“…….”
Without warning, I tossed a question at the silent man.
“Did Dietrich flee over the Winter Mountains?”
“……!”
Olléang’s pupils flickered.
That reaction was enough.
“Thanks for answering.”
“Guh……!”
I crushed his windpipe.
Letting the limp body drop, I looked up at the night sky.
‘So, Dietrich defected from the Dialogue Church.’
Dietrich of the Ice Flame.
Archbishop Hausel’s most trusted right hand was now somewhere south of the Winter Mountains.