Chapter 187

Chapter: 187

[Agra is watching you.]

I’ve seen this phrase countless times since I borrowed Lucy’s body.

Every time it appeared, my life was threatened.

It left me with numerous traumas.

If it were another time, I would have bitten my lip at the sight of her.

I would have desperately racked my brain, blaming the sloppy God’s incompetence.

I would have been thinking about how to struggle and survive.

But not now. I could stand tall because I was certain that no matter what variables arose, I wouldn’t be wounded.

I could stare intently into Karia’s emotionless eyes.

“Hey. You petty Evil God. You’re impatient, aren’t you?”

You’re trying to ambush us because you couldn’t win if we returned to full strength, right?

Right?

You took the chance to create this situation, hoping to take us down somehow?

But what are you going to do about it?

With just this little variable, you won’t be able to crumble this party, will you?

Hahaha. Well, considering you were defeated and sealed by that incompetent shoddy God, you couldn’t be any worse, could you?

“Long time no see! Karia! How have you been?!”

Despite Benedict’s loud shout echoing through the corridor, Karia didn’t react.

She only glared at me with cold eyes.

Her intent was clear.

What she was aiming for wasn’t victory. It was to capture and kill me, the Apostle of Armadi.

Ah, so since you can’t win anyway, you’re just trying to make that incompetent shoddy God swallow dirt?

Hmph. It’s so pathetic that it’s actually funny.

Why are all these so-called gods so incompetent?

If you have the name of a God, shouldn’t you show something more magnificent?

But that’s not going to happen. Duh, dumbass.

“Let’s proceed as planned.”

It was Johan who announced the start of the battle.

The moment he placed his hand on the cross, a tremendous amount of divine power spread, threatening to engulf the corridor.

The warmth of Armadi’s divinity replaced the heat of Menestel, creating an area.

The place where God resides.

One of the highest divine magic. A checkerboard that debuffs the wicked while buffing our party simultaneously.

Karia seemed to sense something odd and desperately tried to back away, but it was already too late.

During that time, the Count had unleashed his magic.

Like a conductor standing in the middle of an orchestra, he moved his hands, drawing dozens of magic circles around him.

Different shapes, different colors, different flows of magic.

If you were an amateur in magic, you wouldn’t be able to control even one of them.

Hahaha. Just like the sight that made users spit out profanities.

The beginning was a prison made of magic.

Walls emerged without a warning, trapping Karia.

But he couldn’t withstand Karia’s brute strength.

In less than a second, Karia smashed the wall with her dagger.

However, the Count’s prepared magic didn’t end there.

The ground, boiling like lava, instantly froze, trapping Karia’s feet.

Karia, unbothered, tried to jump upwards, breaking the ice, but at that moment, another spell from the Count reached her.

A rope that drains magic.

Vines endlessly growing and pursuing.

Fog filled with curses.

Karia, watching him with her eyes, subtly lowered her dagger.

As she did, Karia’s divine form vanished.

If she can’t cut through it, she’ll dodge.

And at the same time, she attacks.

A choice possible for Karia, who possessed extreme speed.

But Benedict, blocking my way, wasn’t an easy opponent to allow her passage.

The moment Benedict hurled a punch into the void, Karia revealed herself right in front of it, as if perfectly synchronized.

Soon, Karia, hit by Benedict, flew like a bullet and crashed into a wall made of divine power.

The wall didn’t seem particularly solid, but its essence was pure compressed divinity.

To the Apostle of Evil God, it was nothing less than hellfire.

“ Gah! ”

Smoke billowed from Karia’s body as she hit the wall.

In pain, Karia desperately escaped and gripped her dagger backward.

Her gaze turned toward me, behind her.

It was Johan, who was already reciting the Prayer of Purification.

“Hey, Boss. Can you not draw aggro?!”

“You old maid♡ Now that you can’t handle below, are you looking up?♡ Hey, even that old grandpa has eyes, so there’s no way he’d notice an ugly woman like you♡”

You only need to aim for me.

It makes predicting movements easier.

As Karia’s divine form vanished, an iron wall warned of danger.

But I didn’t move.

Benedict’s hand moved first.

When he opened his palm, Karia’s face seemed to be sucked into it, smashing against it.

“You’ve been slacking off in training! You’re slower!”

As Benedict poured strength into his hand, a sound came from Karia’s body that shouldn’t be heard from a human.

At that moment.

Flames spread from the center of Karia’s chest until her body turned into fire.

One of the powers possessed by the Evil God of Fire.

As Karia, no longer something you could grab with your hands, slipped from Benedict’s grip, vines dispersed across the ground and ensnared her legs.

It made sense that the plants would burn to ashes upon meeting Karia, yet the vines grew at a speed to match the flames, blocking her movement.

Following that, a rope made of magic fixed Karia’s arms and neck.

Benedict, standing in front of her, poised his fist.

“Bite down hard. So you don’t die.”

The magic flowing through Benedict’s body concentrated in his fist.

That wasn’t his full strength.

However, could it be small if it was a part of the massive magic that could be likened to an ocean?

As Benedict swung his fist, the magic erupted explosively, asserting its presence.

With a deafening boom that could ring in your ears, the entire dungeon trembled.

‘…Grandpa. Karia will be okay, right?’

[You're the one who devised this strategy. Why fret?]

Just as Grandpa said, I was the one who devised this strategy.

I immediately bound her to the place where God resides upon encountering Karia.

Then captured her with the Count’s magic.

Suppressed her with Benedict’s physical strength.

And Johan would purify the unconscious one.

If Karia’s pattern was an enhanced version of the game, then I thought this was the best way and distributed the roles, discussing how to respond according to their movements.

As a result, we succeeded in easily suppressing Karia, but…

‘No matter how much Karia is, she shouldn’t be fine after being hit by that punch.’

Benedict’s hand was more ferocious than I thought.

For now, it seems she’s still breathing…

I wonder if she’ll be okay? This isn’t some plant-human ending or something, right?

In the world of Soul Academy, there would be ways even in such cases.

[Instead of worrying about him, focus on the holy magic the bishop is casting. You can learn enough from that guy’s abilities.]

‘Yep.’

“The Lord still loves those who are twisted. May His grace touch you as well.”

As Bishop Johan finished the prayer, the divinity he had spread to unleash “the place where God resides” gathered around Karia.

This was different from the soul-stopping prayer Phoebe was casting.

It wasn’t to peacefully govern the dead but to erase the wicked.

“Gwaaaah!”

As black smoke emanated from Karia’s body, a scream erupted.

Just hearing it made pain echo throughout, causing goosebumps.

Reality’s purification was different from the purification in the game.

It was only natural.

The act of erasing the wicked couldn’t be something as light as passing through a cutscene.

Snap out of it. I can’t just stand still either.

While Johan is purifying, I need to make preparations for the conclusion.

To completely eliminate the Evil God’s influence from her body.

[Agra is watching you.]

[Agra is glaring at the Apostle of Cursed God.]

[Agra wishes for your death.]

…Huh?

[What?]

With Grandpa’s exclamation, the ground shook.

This felt different from the shock caused by Benedict’s powers earlier.

It felt as if something massive was stirring beneath the ground.

“Lucy!”

Did Benedict rush in, sensing danger?

He hurriedly embraced me.

Without me noticing, Johan had ceased reciting the Prayer of Purification and was casting protective divine magic while the Count was preparing dozens of magic circles to respond to whatever happened.

At that moment.

The ground cracked, and heat surged from the gap.

It couldn’t merely be described as hot.

The moment I touched it, an overwhelming flame could turn my body to ashes from fingertip to toe.

No one told me, but I knew what that flame was.

I couldn’t not know.

In this world, there were only two beings who could wield such flames.

In this dungeon, it could only be one.

{You, the one loved by Armadi, who deserves to die! How long did you think this Bahda would remain asleep?!}

Along with the voice that echoed throughout the dungeon, the ground crumbled.

Embraced in Benedict’s arms, I looked down as we fell.

Glimmers of white flames seeping from a slightly cracked red wall.

An entity that dominated the space with its overwhelming presence even in an unrefined state.

A thick, unpleasant smile aimed toward me.

Black, empty eyes.

Bahda.

Evil God of Fire.

It had broken its seal and partially manifested.

If you think about it, it makes sense.

Agra, while petty, never hid himself.

Whenever he did something, he always spoke his name.

As if telling others to blame him.

However, this time in the dungeon, he had been unusually quiet. Yet, I had experienced many things.

In my prior self, I thought Agra had changed his methods, but it wasn’t that.

It’s a simple matter.

The entity that was targeting me had changed, so the methods also changed.

I understood.

Why the sloppy God mentioned Menestel before the first semester ended.

Why he brought it up now when there was still more time.

The one attacking the seal in this place was Karia.

It was natural that as she got stronger, the seal would release faster than it did in the game.

Armadi must have been genuinely desperate to call me to this place.

Damn. That incompetent God.

Why can’t you explain things properly, you bastard?

You who talked so much when making fun of me, why are you so quiet during moments like this?!

Isn’t the opposite supposed to happen?!

Huh?!

– Ding!

What now?!

What are you trying to say with your message at this point?

[Such are the restrictions.]

…Huh?

Huh?!

Hey! Sloppy God!

What does that mean?!

[Quest has been changed!]

[Savior of Menestel]

[Due to Agra’s hatred, part of the seals residing in Menestel have been released! You must stop him again! For your survival! To protect Menestel!]

[Reward: Miracle Reproduction (Advance), ???]

[Miracle Reproduction is activated! Searching for the closest miracle to you!]

[Found! The miracle contained in Ruel’s Mace, ‘Under that Divine, all wickedness will retreat’ is activated!]

[Seal the Evil God!]

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