Chapter: 603
I watch as Ruel approaches with slow steps.
I don’t feel any Evil God’s Energy. It’s only natural that the Evil God can’t interfere in the Holy Land infused with Lord Jushin’s energy.
But if I say it differently, it means that someone from the Church intentionally messed with Ruel.
The immediate suspect is the Pope, but that crazy guy who looks like he’s gone around the bend probably won’t touch the Holy Knight.
“Lucy Allen! Instructions!”
Arthur urgently raises his voice as he uses the wind barrier to bat away Ruel’s mace. Isn’t there time to think slowly?
“Old man!♡ You’ve become quite the beast, huh?♡”
I provoke him while showing Ruel’s mace, and suddenly, a gaze filled with killing intent pierces through me.
I just watch as the monster that changed direction rushes at me.
The movement isn’t much different from the Divine Combat Art I know.
Due to the different body he has, he can move in a more brutal manner, but that’s all.
Predicting his movements is possible. And a weakness appears on his left arm.
It’s probably a wound left by one of the Inquisitors. So, if I exploit that weakness…
[Don't trust the weakness that guy shows! It's intentional!]
Then you should have informed me about that earlier! Damn old hag! Has age made you slow to react!
“Sloppy Saintess! Wall! Now!”
As soon as my voice reaches her, Phoebe creates a wall of divinity in front of me.
When Ruel’s attack crashes down, with an explosion, the wall cracks, but it was enough to create a chance to escape.
[The reason why people fear the Holy Knight known as Ruel is because he’s cunning. Each of his actions has a trap hidden in it.]
‘That’s way different from what I know!’
Even if you choose a route that intentionally makes Ruel despise you, it doesn’t change the pattern that much!
[It would be so when I regard you as human!]
[This guy's right. Lucy. When dealing with the non-human, I don't hold back.]
So that doll is treating us like beasts?
Haha! No wonder he’s so filled with killing intent; it wasn’t for no reason!
“Gap.”
While biting my lips thinking about strategy, Frey suddenly jumps out and swings her sword at Ruel’s left arm.
Then, the arm that looked like it could hardly move suddenly recovers and reaches for Frey’s neck.
“Don’t move alone!”
“Wow, that’s dangerous.”
Thanks to Arthur’s quick reaction in knocking away his arm, Frey could pull back just in time.
So that’s what it means to be cunning?
Fine. Then let’s fight cunningly as well.
“Idiot. Blindfold yourself.”
“Can I leave other senses as they are?”
“It’s better to remove one than to take everything. That’s how we can play with the toy.”
“Got it!”
The darkness created by Joy wraps around Ruel’s head. Ruel tries to respond with divinity, but Joy easily nullifies that interference.
“This is quite troublesome! It’s impossible to take away all senses!”
With this, I’ve broken through the first condition, and now it’s my turn.
“Bugs. It’s time to work.”
– Hing. I’m scared.
– I feel like I’m going to be eaten!
– I’m trembling.
“If you want to be discarded, go ahead. If the bugs disappear, that’s good for me.”
– No, that’s worse!
– Let’s go!
– Tell me to do anything!
I unleash the three fairies around Ruel to gnaw at his senses. With vision snatched away and hearing heightened, even Ruel won’t be able to completely ignore the buzzing sounds.
My predictions weren’t wrong. The moment he lost his sight, his movements that naturally tracked Arthur and Frey became sluggish.
“Sloppy Saintess!”
“I will grant you a blessing!”
If Phoebe’s blessing is bestowed at this moment, it will become even harder for Ruel to predict our movements.
The blessing of a Saintess greatly enhances physical abilities compared to general buffs.
From Ruel’s perspective, having only seen the movements before the buff, he will find it hard to anticipate.
Now, all that’s left is those two’s consecutive attacks.
I don’t need to share commands. In the battlefield where instinct determines victory, words are meaningless.
Knowing that my words would only create unnecessary confusion, I silently signaled the two to charge.
“Is this freestyle now?!”
“Truly Lucy! The best!”
Frey’s sword, piercing through the sound, rebounds off the wall made of divinity.
Wind arrows slice through just beside that shield, yet Ruel doesn’t dodge.
As magic burrows under his helmet, causing a tiny wound with a tingle of pain, Arthur is getting ready to swing his sword.
Arthur’s figure overlaps with another man’s. It makes me question if there’s anything alike aside from gender—a hulking knight that looks like Benedict.
That movement is perhaps just an imitation; he cannot replicate Benedict’s power.
However, the pressure he gives off is still palpable.
Ruel quickly raises his shield to block Arthur’s attack. Even a legendary Holy Knight judged him as a threat.
But the attack doesn’t land. The true dagger of our party was not Arthur but someone else.
Frey swings her sword.
Right in front of herself. Toward a very small spot. A location that can only be called a dot.
Concentrating at a single point, the sword manifests a massive strike as the space collapses, sending Ruel’s neck flying.
The fallout even splits the wall behind him, but thankfully, the building shows no signs of shaking.
“Frey Kent. What was that?”
“That’s what the Sword Saint taught me.”
“Wow. You’ve already embodied it as your own?”
“Hmm. Not really. It’s still lacking.”
“…Lacking?”
“Yeah.”
Just how can it still be lacking? If perfected, would it truly cut through space?
…If that day comes, I’ll have to avoid duels with the same moves. A sword that cuts through space would render defense nonsense!
Passing by Frey, who tilts her head as if she can do better, I reach Ruel’s doll, take a deep breath, and place my hand on it.
The divinity he possessed flows into me according to the Authority of Embrace.
“…Ah.”
I belatedly realize my mistake.
Receiving through the Authority of Embrace can’t just be divinity.
Divinity fostered from faith is influenced by the owner’s mind, so it’s natural for the owner’s emotions to seep into the divinity.
Feeling the anger that the noble Holy Knight harbored, I sense my vision blurring.
Ah, I’m going to get a scolding later…
*
In the inner world of Lucy, Garad kept fiddling with the sword’s handle while watching the battles of the descendants.
“Is this truly the strength of children who haven’t even matured into Saints? Amazing talent indeed.”
“Talent, huh? Yeah. It’s obvious they deserve to be called geniuses.”
“If you have something to say, say it properly. You haven’t even properly confessed, right?”
“Should I start over?”
“If it’s a fight, you can do it endlessly. Just talk!”
As Garad narrowed his eyes, Ruel ground his teeth and let out a long sigh.
“It’s true those kids’ talents were outstanding from the beginning, but they rapidly grew after meeting Lucy.”
“What’s so wrong about that?”
“Don’t you think it’s similar to how we rapidly grew after meeting the Hero?”
Only then did Garad understand the point Ruel was trying to make. We had been praised as geniuses in our respective fields before.
However, true blooming occurred after meeting the so-called Hero and experiencing hardships together.
“Aren’t you still hesitating to let that kid meet the Hero?”
“Seeing that guy’s end was too ugly. I want to erase it from my memory, even for the Hero’s sake. If Lucy gets influenced by that…”
“Well, you’re better off not marrying. If you had kids, you would probably carry them until you die.”
Chuckling, Garad punched Ruel in the side while boldly gazing at him, despite him glaring in annoyance.
“Just trust and wait. You clueless old man.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Hyaaaaaah!?”
Turned by the scream of a girl behind them, the two blinked as they spotted Lucy.
“Lucy, why are you here?”
“Probably because the old man messed up from dementia.”
“…You’re talking about the doll made by Erginius?”
“Yeah. Another old man. Super sloppy. Was grandpa like this back in his prime?”
“What are you talking about? There’s no way such a weakling could face the Evil God.”
“I don’t want to agree, but it’s true. Compared to the real Ruel, that doll isn’t even worthy of the word sloppy.”
The strength of someone who led the charge against the forces of the Evil God cannot be a lie.
If the doll had the same vast strength as Ruel, Lucy and her friends would have had to be cradled by Lord Jushin.
“Setting aside how silly the old man was back then, explain this more thoroughly.”
“I’ll explain instead. I think I know what’s going on.”
Ruel clicks his tongue and gestures, causing what seems like the entrance to a dungeon to appear in front of them.
“You embraced the divinity contained within the doll and also absorbed its rage, right?”
“Right. The old man is annoyingly tough, whether it’s the original or the fake. That’s why he wasn’t popular.”
“…Ahem! Anyway, it seems that the anger possessed by that Holy Knight changed into something you can deal with comfortably. That must be because it grew while embracing Garad.”
Normally, it would be in the form of books or plays, yet here’s a dungeon. How very Lucy-like this scene is.
“Hmmm. So if I enter this, I can learn all the secrets of the old man?”
“Not mine but the inner world of the doll that Erginius created.”
“Same thing. Hehe. Sounds fun. I can’t wait to see how pathetic he was.”
“I’m also looking forward to seeing Ruel’s excuses.”
“…Are you going in together?”
“Were you thinking of sending me in alone?”
“Someone has to suffer because of the old man while he just watches? Hehe, that’s super irresponsible.”
“It’s not that! Damn it! Let’s go in! I want to see what’s waiting for us!”
With the two working together to break down Ruel’s resistance, he tightly grips his mace and gazes anxiously at the door.
Please let it have something intact inside.
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