Ch-98: Apocalypse? (2)

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Thud.

"..?!"

Eri's forehead bumped off against the desk, and she lifted her head up, spluttering.

"… Did I fall asleep again?"

Had she zoned out then fell asleep? It would have been unimaginable if she was in the Magic Tower, it seemed she had gotten lazy lately.

Stretching her body, she grabbed her staff and left the room.

She was thinking of strolling around to rouse herself up.

She passed through the hallway on the second floor and came down to the first, but there was no sign of patronage present in the inn. It wasn't strange. She had rented the entire inn for research.

However, unlike the quietness on the inside, it was noisy outside.

So loud that she could hear it all the way into the inn.

Was something the matter?

Eri was puzzled and got out of the inn.

"..?"

She froze at the unreasonable sight, far beyond what her imagination could fulfill. She rubbed her eyes. Deluding herself that she had seen wrong. But that changed nothing.

'Is it a dream?'

Maybe she hadn't overcome her drowsiness and fell asleep again? These were the nightmares her burnout were bubbling up in her consciousness? Just when she thought it was pretty plausible.

"Eri!"

She saw Neria running, coming from afar. She was dressed in light leather armor with a cloth shirt, probably had jumped out in the middle of her sparring sessions.

'How can a dream be so detailed?'

Eri slowly pulled up her middle finger behind her. A simple test to determine if it was her dream or reality was to try breaking her finger. If it did not hurt, it was a dream, and if it did… motherf**king reality. She couldn't break her finger, but the stretch made it feel strained. And sore.

It didn't seem like a dream.

'So this isn't a dream?'

""

The giant tentacle monster covering the whole royal palace, and the sky shrouded under dark clouds and strange purple particles?

'What the hell happened while I was asleep?!'

Her answer came in the form of her friend, Neria, who had run out searching for her.

"The palace suddenly collapsed and 'that' came out?"

"Yes. Right after I was pulled away from the palace by Ophelia, the palace collapsed, and it appeared."

"What the…"

Eri looked at the tentacle monster with a somewhat dazed expression. She only felt it now, but the amount and quality of magical energy flowing from the diabolical monster was unusual, and… strange.

'Like a demon…'

And a fairly top-level demon, in fact.

Could it be a Heavenly King, of whom she had only heard about?

'How did a Heavenly King appeared in Lupus!?'

After Cloud left them behind, they were disappointed for a while, but that didn't mean they didn't do anything. Apart from being left alone, his concerns were plausible.

They had an audience with the king and conveyed their opinion that the vigilance should be strengthened, and the king, naturally, accepted it.

In fact, all they could do ended there.

The three of them couldn't just search the wide Lupus every day.

And that alone was enough.

Not only did the regular patrols of the guards increased, but sometimes even the knights came out on patrol.

Thanks to that, the security of Lupus was very stable.

So, the girls had also taken a sigh of relief.

– Kgrrr. Kgrrr.

As the Heavenly King swung its massive tentacles, the surrounding structures collapsed and fragments of buildings flew high.

Eri opened her mouth as she watched the flying debris.

"What about Ophelia? Where is Ophelia? She was with you, wasn't she?"

"Only Ophelia can respond most effectively to that power. She stayed behind to protect people. Eri, we need to go and help."

"The Knights? What about the palace wizards? Where are they? The hell is breaking loose here!"

"…I don't know. Everyone must have been in the palace."

"…"

The monster appeared from inside the palace. If they had been inside the palace at the time, it seemed difficult to see them safe.

'Do we have to deal with that on our own?'

Eri went beyond fainting and became dizzy.

The Four Heavenly Kings.

In legends and myths, they were always defeated by a Hero, so no one ever thought much of them. But Eri could feel the weight of that name just by looking at the monster.

They couldn't win against it, not now.

No… she couldn't even be certain they would be able to defeat it in the future.

What she was totally sure of right now was that they wouldn't beat that monstrosity, no matter what they did.

Eri didn't want to throw herself into an uncertain battle.

It would be a dog death.

So just when she was about to refer to a well-packaged getaway named 'Retreat', citizens scrambling away came into her sight.

They were mauled to death by stone splinters from afar, crushed by others after falling over, or killed by robbers in the confusion.

A half-destroyed city also entered her eyes.

The royal city, which was shabby compared to the Empire's, but still retained its beauty, was losing its luster.

Looking at them, Eri felt no pity or guilt.

She felt afraid.

What if she runs away from here?

Her life may be spared. But what about after that?

Even though she was a companion of a Hero, she would be ridiculed an eternity for running away from the demons and surviving miserably.

Mongrel of a noble family. Failure of the Magic Tower. Coward. Fugitive. All kinds of dishonorable adjectives would stick on her and she would lose a lot. A lot.

And above all, how would Cloud react if he ever came to find out she had run away?

The more she imagined it, the more afraid she became.

"Eri? What are you thinking?! We don't have time for this!"

Beside her, Neria shouted at Eri, but Eri didn't move. She eventually became frustrated and was about to pull Eri with her in tow.

When a colossus purple tentacle approached in the direction they were in… to be precise, towards the entrance of the castle.

– Kyaaaaagh!!

– S, Save us!!

Citizens who found the tentacle coming were horrified and sped up, cursing, but it moved faster. And faster than that was Eri's invocation.

[Magic Shield]

A five-layered translucent protective shield intruded the gap between the citizens and the tentacle.

Chuk! Chuk! Chuk!

Four layers of protection were shattered, but the last one remained affront. Although cracked, it successfully fended off the successive tentacles.

[Hellfire]-!

[Magic Missile]-!

A red magic circle hovered in front of Eri.

The magic missiles passed through the magic circle, and the fire of hell coated the magic missiles, which were mere lumps of pure magic.

The magic missiles with the fire of hell easily pierced through the tentacles. Eri manipulated the magic missiles and made numerous holes in the tentacles, eventually causing the tentacles to hang limp.

All eyes in the vicinity were drawn to her.

Normally, she would enjoy those gazes, but not now.

"Hey, that lady wizard over there? Please escort me out! Money is no prob—"

AAAW! The middle-aged man, hit in the face by an unhinged cane, rolled on the floor. He screamed, but Eri didn't even give him a glance.

She peered at the Heavenly King in the distance with an irritated yet desperate expression.

"Hah… I don't think I can win against this…"

Upper-class district.

Streets that once brought as much leeway to its residents as the wealth they possessed, were now devoid of serenity, cause of mayhem. For the upper-class district sat in the center of the city, close to the royal palace.

The high concentration of demonic mana hindered breathing, and all kinds of tentacles, from giant tentacles to small and thin extensions, roamed and wreaked havoc.

For the common people, this place, which was the epitome of envy and jealousy, had turned into a pit of despair.

But even in that despair, there was a small hope.

On the outskirts of the posh district.

A golden light shone betwixt the boundary between the wealthy and the common people. No matter how mighty the Four Heavenly Kings might be, they could not cross that sacred light. Clouds of demonic mana touched by the light were purified and the tentacles burned.

– I, I lived. I'm alive.

– Oh Goddess Iris… Thank you. Thank you…

Those who were protected by the holy light were relieved.

They had no doubt that the blessing of the Goddess would keep them safe.

However, those borrowing the power of the Goddess were not having it easy.

This was especially true for Ophelia, the core of the barrier.

'It can't go on like this.'

There was no problem with the effectiveness of the barrier.

The barrier of light created by the prayers of the ten clerics and the Saintess Candidate was completely warding off the evil energy.

The problem was elsewhere.

"That way! Quickly!"

"You fools! Run when it's time! That monster won't be waiting for you!"

Neria and Eri, joined by Ophelia, immediately began the rescue operation. The rescue operation itself was not a concern. Because both women were great in their own way and capable. In addition, soldiers and guards were helping, so the rescue was going smoothly.

The difficulty arose because of that 'smoothly'.

Because the rescue was going smoothly, the number of people entering the barrier increased rapidly. It meant that the inside of the barrier was starting to get cramped.

To the extent that after a while, they won't be able to accept any more people into the barrier.

It did seem that the problem could be simply solved by widening the barrier, but there were things that had to be thrown away if the barrier were to be widened.

Things like the defense capability of the barrier and the standing capacity.

None of them were disposable , so Ophelia couldn't decide easily.

'It will be great if there are more church members…'

Half… no, even half of the half, and she wouldn't have worried. However, there were only 11 people at present, including her. It was just one handful of many church officials.

'Where's everyone?'

They emphasized love and devotion, but in the time of need, what did they do? Ran away?

What were they if not cowards?

And they were the one trying to force upon her the ideals and will of Goddess?

Negative thoughts filled her head.

Ophelia shook her head and erased them.

'I'm sure everyone is working hard elsewhere.'

Maybe they would see the light and come to help. All she had to do was to hold on until then…

"I can't stand this any longer. This is crazy!"

A young male priest stopped praying and stood up. Despite his young age, he had a lot of divine power in his heart, and considered having a great future ahead of him.

"What are you doing? Please start praying again."

"Saintess Candidate. No more… No more. I want to live."

"Stop. Stop with this sick joke…"

"Sorry, sorry!"

The priest lowered his head and skittered out of the barrier.

"Hey, hey… stop! It's dangerous to leave…"

Ophelia shut her mouth.

The priest ran past the barrier unimpeded and scuttled away while the tentacles, though unable to penetrate, lashed against the barrier.

'How did…'

She opened her eyes wide and turned her attention to the monster that occupied a seat atop the vandalized palace.

'…intentionally?'

Did it let go purposefully?

A Heavenly King?

Why?

'…ah!'

Ophelia, belatedly realizing its intentions, turned her gaze to the other priests. Two of the priests who had been watching her stood up to run away like the first priest.

"Catch them!"

As Ophelia cried out, the dazed citizens came to their senses and grabbed the two priests who were trying to make a run.

"Leave me! Let go!"

"Crazy bastard. Like I'll f**king let go off you bloodsuckers!"

The two resisted, but were soon subdued. It would have been nice if it had ended there, but the citizens seemed to be offended that they tried to run away, so they laid the two of them down and started beating them.

"Stop! Please stop it! Now is not the time for this insanity!"

"Shut Up! Damn… how much I donated to the church so far! But what did you all do for betterment? Filling your stomach with my money? If you're going to run off, spit out my money, you bastards!"

The citizens didn't listen to Ophelia's pleas. She couldn't actively stop them because she couldn't move from her place, as hers was an important role in keeping the barrier stabilized.

Therefore, she asked other citizens, but they only watched, reluctant to intervene.

The fact that the priests tried to abandon them seemed to have hit their hearts.

So instead of stopping the assault, they chose to monitor other clergy. They approached other priests doing their prayer and applied unspoken pressure.

As if they wouldn't let go if the priests tried to run away.

Even Ophelia, a candidate for sainthood, was not free from such pressure. Because they watched her with distrustful gazes.

Divine power that gathered in Ophelia kept decreasing. It was natural, she couldn't possibly pray devoutly in such a situation. Most priests were having issues stabilizing their minds, loading the pressure on her.

As the situation continued, even Ophelia began to get annoyed.

She bit her lip hard.

'Ah really…'

Why were they doing this?

They should have done just as they were told to.

The trying percentage of survival would have scaled up, so why were they so headstrong?

Why were Neria and Eri not coming to extend a hand in calming the situation?

Kane… Why did that son of a b!tch run away and made things so hard?

Why were the church personnel still not coming?

With the intensity of the light, how dumb one had to be to not understand the simple principles of the church? Or, better, how selfish?

She needed help.

She was having a hard time too.

Scared and tired.

Why was she trying so hard in the first place?

Because she was a candidate for Sainthood?

Did she even want it?

""

She didn't, but it was the Goddess' choice and that pushed her forward.

With unbridled expectations, the load on her shoulders increased.

If things go well, Goddess' glory, if she shat, Ophelia's lacking?

Damn church.

If it hadn't been for the fact that her parents had abandoned her, she wouldn't have been in this position.

Why did her parents abandon her…

Oh, right. Wasn't that also a fate bestowed by the Goddess?

Haha. Yes. It was.

Damn Goddess.

Now she was having her butt bitten by the Demon Lord—

-Ah… Ophelia… My dear daughter… You've crossed the line…

A clear voice filtered directly into her head.

Ophelia quivered.

Because she could instinctively realize whose voice it was.

"…Goddess?"

H, How?

She didn't say it out loud, she just expressed her dissatisfaction inside…

'Ah.'

Ophelia recalled, she had been praying.

You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.

p(a)treon.com/Daoist02