EP.145 Ultimate Measure
The ultimate being faced with the worst situation.
Is there any phrase that can express this dizzying situation more concisely than this?
Just this morning, the most reassuring ally in this world had surrealistically appeared before me in the form of the most fearsome enemy, engraving a deep sense of despair into my thoughts.
“Y-You, Hero…”
“You must have been very scared, Priest. Please wait a moment. I’ll finish this quickly.”
While he smiled cheerfully, the unfeeling smile conveyed thoughts so dark and murky that words could barely express them.
A fleeting question about what he intended to end flickered through my mind, but such meaningless thoughts quickly extinguished under the oppressive aura emanating from the Hero.
Like a beast in the night, the Hero’s piercing gaze twisted toward the Saintess, who was gently cradled in my arms.
Immediately after that, as if an earthquake had struck, ominous cracks began to spread across the walls and floor of the area.
Crack! Snap!
“W-Wait! Hero! Just wait a moment! There’s a reason for this!”
I hurriedly raised my hand like a shield, trying to stop the Hero, who was about to draw his sword at his waist.
This instinctive action stemmed from a desperate desire to somehow prevent the worst situation I had fought so hard to keep at bay.
Before the blessing ceremony wrapped up this morning, I had to prevent the relationship between the Saintess and the Hero from completely breaking apart.
In the chaotic depths thrown into despair, that was the only coherent thought I could cling to.
“Ah.”
It was in such a state of frantic thought that I temporarily lost my mind.
I had momentarily forgotten that my hands were stained red with blood that hadn’t been wiped away.
Whoosh!
When I realized the Hero had stomped the ground, her fierce sword strike was already right before my nose.
Boom! Slash!
“H-Hero─!”
The sword strike aimed precisely at the Saintess’s neck was entangled with the chains that sprang from around her, shaking violently.
The thunderous rush of the Hero was shocking, but the reflexes of the Saintess who managed to block it were equally impressive.
In a space where moving at twice the speed was a given, I felt like I was moving at half speed.
“…”
“…”
We silently stared at each other with our red and blue eyes.
The one trying to take and the one trying to protect.
Two opposing wills clashed, yet the emotions contained within seemed to appear similar at first glance.
“Just as I thought.”
It was the Hero who broke the long-lasting severe silence first.
“Indeed, this power is strikingly similar to that of the assailants who attacked me and the Priest before. I had my doubts before, but today I’ve gained certainty.”
“…”
“Certainly, you are working with them, aren’t you? Right? You may not care if my life is at stake, but you have the audacity to harm the Saintess’s holy body and, recently, even try to take her away from me, committing a heinous crime with those despicable fiends. You are one of them, aren’t you?”
“…”
“Until now, I have endured only because I needed your assistance in defeating the Demon King due to the Saintess’s pleas, but my patience has reached its limit. How dare you… how dare you not know your place… to put your filthy hands on the Saintess… countless times… countless times…”
Tension hung in the air.
Just as I was lost in thoughts about what to say next as the atmosphere of murderous intent swelled,
“Uggh…”
The Saintess, who rarely shrank back from fear or anxiety, reflexively pulled me into her embrace.
The last thread of self-control in the Hero’s eyes disintegrated in that moment.
Gah!
“H-Hero!”
I called out urgently. Thankfully, there was still room for negotiation.
The Hero’s weapon was currently constrained by the chains surrounding the Saintess.
No matter how formidable the Hero was, it was impossible for him to break through the Saintess’s Iron Wall defense without his primary weapon.
Even though it was a matter of mere moments, I had to devise a plausible plan within that fleeting time to prevent the terrible catastrophe that was about to unfold.
“Hang on, Priest! I’ll resolve this in ten seconds!”
“W-What!”
It was the Hero’s bright smile, free of any worry, that shattered my earnest thoughts into pieces.
Whoosh!
With only the sound of a light step remaining, the Hero suddenly vanished like the wind.
And while I hurriedly scanned the surroundings for the vanished Hero, I soon captured a shocking realization.
“The sword… sheathed…?!”
What had been tightly bound by the Saintess’s chains wasn’t the Hero’s sword, but her sheath.
That meant…
“!?”
Boom—!
A fierce shock and explosive sound struck from behind without warning.
My consciousness was engulfed in a pale feeling of floating, and in an instant, my field of vision changed entirely.
“I’m not someone who can be fooled by the same trick over and over.”
Following the majestic echo reminiscent of a reversal, I saw the Hero looking down regally at the Saintess, who was kneeling on the ground.
It was the moment I realized how complacently I had been viewing the situation all along.
No matter how transcendent the Saintess’s Authority might be, it was impossible for the same method to work repeatedly on the Hero, who had been battling in the front lines of the Dungeon teeming with dangers.
The Saintess, who lay prone on the floor and caught her breath, also looked equally bewildered.
The movements of the chains she had extended to protect herself seemed much slower than usual.
“Ugh!”
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Clang!
The chains that had tried to envelop and protect the Saintess shattered like cookies under the Hero’s grand sword strike.
Something felt off.
No, it was clearly wrong.
Even if the Hero had somewhat penetrated the Saintess’s attack patterns, her current offensive was far too passive compared to what I remembered.
Just moments earlier, she had not aimed for the Hero himself, but for the Hero’s sword, which was already odd.
It was as though she was strangely refraining from inflicting harm—fearing the act of causing injury itself.
“!”
Amidst the cluttered thoughts crowded in my head, a sharp realization flared brightly.
I must stop.
Starting from my brain, that singular thought soon spread through my entire body, breaking through the paralysis.
“Stealing the Saintess from me and inflicting pain deserves a thousand deaths…”
Clank!
The mysterious chain wound around the Hero’s sword, raised high into the air.
The Hero, fumblingly glancing back, exhibited movements akin to a rusted robot at the joints, revealing unmistakable shock straining across her features.
It was no wonder.
That chain was the only place where the Hero’s vigilance could not reach.
It extended directly from my arm.
“S-Saintess…?”
“Hero. Lower that sword. Right now…”
I wanted to stop the Hero.
At the moment I thought of that, I was equally shocked to see chains erupt from me, but more importantly, there were things of far greater consequence.
I struggled to suppress my unease.
“Saintess, what is that chain…? No, more importantly, why… why are you doing this to me…? The bad one… the evil one is this person!”
Even wrapped in betrayal and hesitation, confronted with the Hero’s overwhelming strength, the flimsy chain extending from my body seemed ready to snap at any moment.
“Ugh!”
“S-Saintess!?”
I felt a light pain from the chain.
It seemed this chain shared the pain with me.
Rather than a chain, it felt like an extra long arm sprouting from my body.
It was a strange sensation that, while somewhat unsettling, allowed me to wield this power as if I had possessed it since the moment I was born.
No complaints emerged.
“Hero. The Saintess didn’t kidnap me; I came to her. And these bloodstains didn’t come from the Saintess trying to harm me; they originated solely from my error.”
“What do you mean…?”
After much trouble, I had finally established a dialogue.
Yet, the Hero showed no signs of accepting my words, burdened by rising anger.
“I can’t! I can’t believe you! I know! Even the always pure Saintess can lie without a change in expression to protect someone! Moreover, this person hugged the Saintess like a lover right before my eyes! That alone is more than enough reason to wield this sword!”
“If you don’t put that sword down right now, I won’t speak to you ever again.”
“…Huh?”
“This is your last warning. Hero. Lower that sword.”
Clang.
To stop the Hero, who looked poised to strike the Saintess at any moment, I unleashed my ultimate measure without considering the aftereffects.
The Hero’s eyes, dulled of light, dropped the sword from her hand, and she slumped down like a marionette with cut strings.
“Lo-Lowville! Hero! Are you safe?!”
Dauna, who burst in late, called out worriedly, but it soon became clear that the Hero had lost all capacity to receive such information, even beginning to hyperventilate.
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