Chapter. 21. Another Solo Play (11)
****
Paaang-!
A sphere of light rises from the bishop’s arms, and the scabbard of his right hand strikes it away. The magic power of the dragon vein stone of the scabbard that repulses the divinity makes it possible.
Buwaaagh-!
A huge pile of flesh lumped together passes the tip of my nose. The drops of sweat that couldn’t keep up get stuck on the end and shatter.
Sigh!
If you cut down the fleshy tentacle that you managed to avoid with your sword.
『Raaaaa!!! Chanyaaaaaaa! Aaturaaa!!!』
The ‘pure bodies’ that were clustered together the same size as the pillars of the temple screamed in the only language they knew.
‘There is no easy battle.’
What happened immediately after the bishop revealed his hostility was an aggregation that is too disgusting to describe.
“Come here, children of faith! Even if you escape from humanity, if you have faith in the Goddess, the Goddess will not abandon you!”
『ㄹ….Raaa…. Tueu….』
『Mercy…. Chanyaaa….』 The
‘pure body’ and the bishop, connected by divinity, came together and mixed to form a form.
“iced coffee. It is truly a hand of mercy….’
What soon emerged was a bishop wearing a sacred halo and five huge tentacles extending from his body.
It looks like a hand with very long fingers. Considering that the believers of mercy refer to themselves as ‘fingertips’, I can clearly see what the bishop who wields it from the center of his finger thinks of himself.
‘If we continue like this, we will lose.’
If I stop for a moment, all kinds of holy spells that a priest can use, such as restraint protection strike, come flying at me, and when I swat it away with a scabbard studded with dragon vein stones, a tentacle made of pure body hits me with a terrifying piercing sound and pushes me away.
An attack method that disallows access itself. Even though there are no critical hits on both sides, fatigue and injuries accumulate on my side, and the other side recovers and pushes forward through the divine power it has generated.
A long-term war with an enemy that deals with divinity is crazy.
“bishop. Are you identifying yourself with the Goddess of Mercy?”
So, instead of taking a precious breath in the moment that finally emerged after a battle, I threw out words of rebuke.
“Which part of that appearance is mercy and which part is salvation?”
『Everything!!!』
Quaaaang!
Those who enter into extramarital affairs out of strong conviction must prove to themselves every hour and every second that it is not wrong.
The question posed stimulates the true intention, and the violent response appears as a crushing attack.
『We reach out to everyone and accept even the most needy! It is a joy to get your knees dirty for them!』
『If what unfolds before your eyes is a thorny path, shouldn’t it be the believer who must walk it! I will endure the indignity! Not even a curse can stop our mercy!』
Buwaak!
“It’s mercy to turn the saints into pieces of meat like that!”
three. Blocking the left and right, he counted the tentacles passing over his head and pulled out a smoke bomb.
『Don’t be swayed by appearances! Faith is unchanging! If you can pray, you have faith, and those who have faith are brothers!』
Quaaang!
four. Tentacles blocking all directions as if surrounded. The weakened magic bomb spewed out coal dust.
『Didn’t you hear their praise too!!!』
And five. The last tentacle stabbing towards me, whose escape route is blocked!
‘As expected, my combat experience is terrible!’
Squirt-!
The moment the pile of red flesh, piercing like the tip of a spear, penetrated the smoke screen, it ran forward and slid.
Sigh!
The place where my body entered in the nick of time was the floor where the bishop’s tentacle struck and created a depression like the heart of an explosion. His posture completely collapsed as he dodged the attack, but
‘…that guy’s defense was completely opened too!’
Now that the enraged bishop had stretched out all his tentacles, the enemy’s chest was wide open.
Sigh!
『Rua-tuaaaaaa-!!!!』 As
the tentacle blocking the block is cut off, screams of praise pour out along the cut.
Tooung-!
The divine barrier is broken where the sword sheath touches.
“Can not be done! Stop, you unbeliever!』
The bishop retrieves the five tentacles that extend out as if grasping hands.
『If not me, have mercy on them-』
Scribble!
A sword that cuts diagonally from the shoulder to the bishop’s wide open chest.
Whoops!
“Ugh!”
The tentacle arrived one step late and struck my clearly exposed back.
A solid wall hit my body along with the sensation of my internal organs being pulled to one side.
“Cluck, cough, ugh…”
I couldn’t see clearly because the blood got into my eyes.
Did you kill him? What happened to the bishop?
『….Receive the hand of salvation—』
『Denub is mercy—-』
A strangely drawn-out hymn heard in blurred vision.
and.
Quaaaaang-!
The ceiling collapses with a loud noise and the human figures fall.
A glowing mace and heavily dented armor. Breathing heavily.
“Is this the truth that I tried so hard to hide…!”
Paladin Frauk arrived at the underground temple in complete disrepair.
chuck. Jiik-
Chuck. Jiik-
“I…. I should not die like this…. Brother Frauk….”
And. At the edge of my blurred vision.
The bishop, whose body had been cut diagonally, was crawling towards him.
****
“Ohhh Frauch…. Brother…. Mercy sent you….”
Something.
“Mercy… mercy on these tender and pure ones…”
What on earth is going on beneath the sacred halls of the Goddess?
Frauch was frozen where he fell along with the collapsed floor.
『The Goddess has taken us away—』
『Aaaaratuaraaa—My life is in His will—』
It is a song praising the Goddess of Mercy.
“Pfuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu—”
The subjects of it were the countless cursed humans that Frauch himself did not want to see.
“Brother Frauch…”
The bishop stretches out his hand in a terrible manner.
“Paladin….”
Lord Hyde collapsed, covered in blood.
‘Is this a nightmare?’
Has the nightmare I feared so much arrived?
The mace, covered in his brother’s blood, was so heavy that it felt like it would fall off his fingertips.
“I just followed the words of mercy…”
The bishop’s arms, which were left with only his upper body, hugged the piece of meat in front of him. Divine light was gathering around his severed torso.
“Chuckling…. As you know, isn’t this an unstoppable trend… Regardless of our efforts… Don’t we all know that countless people in the capital have no choice but to fall apart like this… .”
“so.”
“Mercy reaches out to anyone…. I just reach out to the saints who have changed form…. Brother Frauch. Remember the will of mercy… these poor people….”
“So.”
“Please help me by killing that person… the one who does not understand the meaning of mercy… The goddess’s will has not yet left me, so I can leave her too…” “
…I see. ”
Was that what happened?
Frauch closed his eyes. Even when I closed my eyes, I could hear strange hymns and breathing sounds.
The powerful divine power that the temple unleashed every time it was invaded by a curse over the past three years. The divine energy flowing from the praise of those who are nothing more than a piece of meat.
He wasn’t stupid.
Frauch turned away.
The brother of distorted faith looked up at him.
“sibling. “Don’t you understand what I mean?”
“If you just asked for the goddess’s mercy, you could go to the temple. “The brothers in faith and all the saints who gathered at the temple to survive would have been torn to pieces by the hands of the damned!”
“Bishop.”
“Aren’t we the ones who walk the thorny path before anyone else to save others? Even after all this was over and I was purified as a cursed cultist, I had to do it! To save everyone, including you! “I had no choice but to borrow the help of ‘pure’ saints whose forms were only different-”
“Choose a prayer….”
Ouch –
the cursed people were clinging to the bishop’s severed body.
Frauch adjusted his mace. The bishop’s purple eyes met his blue eyes.
“…Be alert. “Stains on a white cloth are easily visible, but stains on a dirty cloth cannot be recognized.”
“…Latura. El-Samia.”
Whoa!
“May the Goddess take you away.”
A heavy breaking sound was mixed among the strange songs of praise.
He took a handkerchief from his bosom and covered the bishop’s crushed head.
Without letting go of the mace in his hand, he pointed it at the knight leaning against the wall.
“Frauch….”
“….Wake up.”
Huuuung –
I gathered the remaining sacred power nearby and cast a healing spell on the knight. The divinity created by the praise of the cursed is distorted somewhere.
It was that pure.
“There is a vessel containing holy water in front of the statue. “Take as much as you can.”
“….hey.”
“Now that the bishop, who was the center of false beliefs, has passed away, the divine power that protected this temple will soon disappear. “The imperial army, which has been hovering around here for three years, will push in like waves.”
“Maybe other paladins?”
“….I guess it’s because we lack faith. A curse has warped their faith. “He knew all this and cooperated with Bishop Do’s event.”
“Then-”
“That’s right. “This Temple of Mercy is finished.”
“…Is it because of me?”
“Some of it.”
And part of it may be his fault for dismissing the temple’s strangely abundant sacred power as just a miracle from the goddess.
Frauch calmly confessed that the foundation of his life and faith had been destroyed.
The brothers took part in the bishop’s journey with false beliefs and moved the living to an underground temple, exposing them to a curse. Since it was an act possessed by a curse rather than their pure will, they showed ‘mercy’ before committing a bigger mistake.
The sacred power of the temple and the brothers who guarded it also disappeared. A fog of curse will permeate the abode of God, and a curse will also fall on the countless saints who remain above.
Frauch adjusted his mace.
“Go first. “As quickly as possible.”
“hey.”
“That is not what Lord Hyde thinks. “I also have business to attend to the emperor.”
….Wow.
“just. “Because there is still ‘mercy’ to be shown.”
Frauk looked around as he said that.
Cursed creatures praising the goddess and singing for mercy.
Hymns flowing ceaselessly between heavy breaths and innocent people left behind on earth.
At least Frauch himself maintained his senses enough not to participate in the bishop’s madness. Isn’t this the grace of the goddess?
“Go. “I will follow you soon.”
“Frauch.”
“It’s an event that you don’t necessarily want to be seen by outsiders. “I already showed you the way to the castle city.”
The man, who made eye contact with him for a moment, struggled to get up. I don’t know what he was going to say, but he seemed to have swallowed it before he could say it. Although he was a talkative person, he may have been more aware of moments when words were meaningless. The sound of Hyde’s
footsteps
trudged away toward the ground. By his side, only countless pieces of living meat remained, filling the underground temple with hymns.
Unbelievable. this is. Isn’t it just like the nightmare that was tormenting him?
“Goddess. “Mercy.”
Frauch caught the mace after almost losing it several times.
“Your delicate fingertips want to walk the thorny path prepared by you.”
It’s grace. It is the grace of the Goddess who has left mercy to him that he, like his brothers, can face his nightmare before the curse shakes his will.
So, God bless you.
“Latura.”
A trembling hand lifted the mace.
“Latura. El Samia.”
Wow.
Grace. Grace to you, Goddess of Mercy.
Wow.
Wow.
Patter.
Puck –
Each time it was swung, a singing sound was cut off.
The paladin swung his mace without stopping. May all the damned walk away from the eternal life cursed, as it once was in his nightmares.
Not only for the believers underground, but also for the believers on the ground who are lying helpless and falling apart.
At some point, he was yelling like a madman.
At some point, he stopped muttering a prayer or shaking his fingertips.
‘I will go to the capital.’
‘I have spent all my mercy on these people.’
‘To the capital. I will head to the emperor with an empty body.’
‘Toward the root of it all.’
The splattered blood dyed the goddess’s abode red, and like a hymn that stopped, his prayers also stopped.
A thick fog of curse gently descends on the sacred temple.
That day, the lone paladin in the temple where the heavy mace was swung endlessly lost mercy.
****
