Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 192
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Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 192
45. Each Side's Position (2)
"Die! You plague demons!"
"Shut up! You fanatic bastards!"
Counter-attribute matchup.
Enemies ten times more numerous.
A siege the worst possible situation.
The cave connected to their previous hideout had already collapsed, leaving nowhere to flee.
Everything seemed hopeless, yet surprisingly, the demon worshipers kept fighting desperately.
This was because the demon worshipers' combat ability was far beyond expectations,
-Kyaaaaah!
-Kwaaang!
"A-A Giant Basilisk and even a Hydra?!"
"How can that necromancer command nothing but top-grade monsters?"
"We need to take that bastard out first!"
It was possible because the necromancer had poured out all the power he had painstakingly gathered with his allies while biding his time, all at once.
Every single monster was something difficult to deal with unless one was a transcendent being (7th Circle, Aura Master), and even a Hydra and a Giant Basilisk both classed as semi-dragons had appeared.
Thanks to that, the demon worshipers could hold on stubbornly.
"Damn it!"
"Ugh! So this is the Holy Son and Saintess!?"
But even that had its limits.
As the necromancer's legion was destroyed one by one and the demon worshipers' elites lost their lives one after another, the tide of battle began to flow one-sidedly.
All of this was because of the Holy Son and Saintess, who displayed overwhelming might against the demon worshipers.
"Hold on just a little longer! Once Selin returns, we can regain the upper hand!"
Even so, the demon worshipers did not give up.
Because they still had their strongest card left: Selin.
She could fight the Holy Son or Saintess one-on-one, so they judged that if only Selin returned, the tide could be turned once more.
"Selin? You mean the woman currently fighting Grand Duke Lawrence?"
None of the demon worshipers believed Selin would lose to Adrian and Arcia.
To them, Selin was the strongest a symbol of victory that knew no defeat.
Saintess Sylvester, who had been inwardly flustered upon realizing the demon worshipers were no ordinary foes, had to grimace at the enemies' hopeful cries.
'The Grand Duke Lawrence isn't going to lose, is he?'
The word "defeat" doesn't suit Adrian.
But Adrian and Arcia didn't seem like they could easily win against opponents even they themselves were struggling with, so she couldn't help but worry.
"Saintess Sylvester! We'll help!"
However, with what happened next, Saintess Sylvester realized her worries were unfounded.
Adrian called out the Saintess's name as he appeared alongside Arcia.
Thanks to that, the two sides' reactions were starkly divided.
"Oh, the Grand Duke and Duchess of Lawrence have triumphed!"
"What!? That's impossible!"
The church side cheered in certainty of victory, while the demon worshipers fell into despair with looks of disbelief.
"D-Don't be ridiculous! Selin losing to the likes of you!? That makes no sense!"
"I did get a scare when she flew four hundred swords at me. But once I stopped her from devouring others to heal and dragged the fight into a long one, she wore herself out and collapsed."
Adrian, with a playful expression, threw the tattered robe Selin had been wearing out from his subspace, delivering the final blow.
This was to completely crush the enemies' will to fight.
And Adrian's plan worked perfectly.
Because the enemies, having lost their will, gave up in despair and destroyed themselves.
"Ugh! You fools!"
"You've been deceived."
"The goddess may be the creator, but she is by no means good."
The demon worshipers spat out unpleasant words one by one as they lost their lives.
And in the end, only one person who appeared to be a high-ranking officer remained.
He was a man in a clean suit, and after swinging his sword until the very end, he was forced to his knees before the Saintess and Holy Son, having lost both arms.
"You intend to keep him alive to extract information?"
Adrian looked at the man and asked the Saintess and Holy Son.
But the answer and reaction he received were completely unexpected.
"Demon worshipers are to be executed on the spot."
"What?"
-Chwaaak!
The Holy Son cut the demon worshiper's neck without even looking back.
At that, Adrian swallowed air and stared down at the corpse.
The demon worshiper's corpse was no different from that of an ordinary human.
"Ah, no. Wouldn't it be better to keep him alive and extract information, whether through torture or drugs?"
To Adrian's protest about why they had killed him so easily, the Saintess and Holy Son each added a word.
"There is no compromise or dialogue with demon worshipers."
"Even if it's one-sided information gathering."
How could this be so inefficient?
Adrian had to put on a dumbfounded expression, and the Saintess and Holy Son shrugged as if they had no choice.
"There are no exceptions. That's our rule."
With that, the Saintess and Holy Son ordered their subordinates to collect the corpses.
Adrian thought it was truly fortunate that he had hidden Selin away.
"The person you two took down must have been formidable. Most of the demon worshipers were holding out, waiting for her to return."
"Well, she was indeed formidable."
Adrian didn't elaborate, as if he didn't even want to recall it.
"What did you do with that demon worshiper's corpse?"
The Holy See conducts all sorts of investigations using the corpses of demon worshipers.
For example, just from the remnants of black mana, there's plenty you can learn about who the demon behind them is, or which demon king's faction they belong to.
Because of that, Adrian said this about Selin, whose corpse naturally couldn't exist.
"I reduced it to ash, nice and clean."
"You did the same last time why are you so desperate to burn demon worshipers to death?"
"They could revive with some technique I don't know about."
"Haha."
Under normal circumstances, people might suspect there was something else going on.
But that wasn't the case for Adrian.
After all, he already had a record of burning a demon worshiper at the stake, had donated a demon-tracking compass to the Holy See asking them to eliminate demon worshipers, and was the chief architect of this operation.
And above all, wasn't he the next Saintess's guardian?
Because of that, no one suspected his intentions.
The Saintess took out the demon-tracking compass from her bosom.
The compass briefly pointed toward the collapsed underground cavern before spinning in circles.
That meant there were no demon worshipers nearby.
The reason it briefly pointed at the underground cavern at first was due to the remnants of black mana.
-Click.
Then the compass pointed south.
"It seems there are more demon worshipers to the south. The distance doesn't seem too great either. Just how many are hiding in the Elysian Coalition..."
The Saintess and Holy Son wanted to rush south immediately.
Unfortunately, it was time's up.
-Gogogogogo!
[Stop, stop, everyone freeze.]
Countless Heaven-Piercing Fortresses covered the sky.
Thousands of Ederguard, the pride of the Elysian Federation, surrounded them from all sides.
"Huh... Could it be Your Eminence the Holy Son and Your Eminence the Saintess?"
"That's correct. And with us are also His Highness the Grand Duke of Lawrence and Her Highness the Grand Duchess."
"Th-then, we will report this to the Council of Eight Kings."
Among them, the leader of the Elderguard and Grandmaster of the Elysian Coalition, Jeriel HighElven, approached, recognized who they were, and was greatly flustered.
"First, until the higher-ups make their decision, we will escort you."
No matter how much they were the Holy Son and Saintess, the use of force without that nation's permission was bound to be controversial.
Of course, the reason was the demon worshipers, and the Elysian Coalition's lukewarm response to that was what had caused this mess, but for now, they decided to follow the military's orders.
"Understood."
They followed behind Jeriel HighElven in silence.
Under normal circumstances, they would have been bound, but no matter how much he was the Grandmaster of the Elysian Coalition, even he dared not do that.
* * *
As expected, power is truly nice.
Should this be called an arrest or being escorted in?
Afterward, we received the utmost treatment as state guests.
Not only a dinner, but a spa and massage were prepared to soothe our battle-weary minds and bodies.
And after that schedule ended, we were able to visit the highest authority of the Elysian Coalition, the so-called "Council of Eight Kings."
"Welcome."
Only the Saintess, Holy Son, me, and Arcia participated in the Council of Eight Kings.
But at the Council of Eight Kings, on the beastkin side, not only the Beast King but also Maryang was seated.
I looked at Maryang, and she nodded at me and sent a small signal.
But seeing how red her forehead was, it looked like she'd been flicked on the head.
"What do you think of this situation?"
Strictly speaking, we should be the ones in the position of criminals, but Saintess Sylvester instead pressed the kings of the eight races with an icy tone.
She looked like a soldier facing a terrorist.
At that, the kings shut their eyes tightly.
They too understood that the initiative in this situation was not in their hands.
Demon worshipers powerful enough to have given the Saintess, Holy Son, and cardinals a hard time had been hiding within the nation.
With clear evidence of this in hand, acting arrogantly now could make them public enemies.
Now was the time to bow their heads.
"We truly apologize. We acknowledge that our judgment in this matter was shortsighted, and we will take measures to allow free search operations within the Coalition from now on."
When the Elf Queen stepped forward as the representative and said that, the Saintess and Holy Son shook off their dissatisfaction and nodded.
Then the Saintess took out a demon-tracking compass, intending to check whether any demon worshiper's minions were among those present.
Holy officials could sense black mana at close range, but the demon-tracking compass could even find traces of black mana, allowing it to single out even those merely connected to it.
Fortunately, the compass pointed at no one.
"Lady Maryang, what became of my request?"
"We've decided to accept it. So we're gathering the relevant parties quickly."
Perhaps because this was an official setting, Maryang was speaking to me with honorifics for once.
At our conversation, Saintess Sylvester tilted her head and asked what we were talking about.
"If you consider the series of events and the fact that the demon worshipers had taken deep root in the Elysian Coalition, doesn't it seem likely that someone among those in power supported them? So I asked in advance to have the major power holders of each race gathered together."
Matters like this must not be delayed.
I had Maryang move one step ahead before all the minions could flee.
At that, the Saintess and Holy Son marveled.
They seemed to like how I handled things.
"This is only possible with the cooperation of the leaders here, isn't it?"
"Yes, Your Holiness. We have no reason to shield the demon worshipers. Having realized the gravity of the situation, albeit late, we have decided to cooperate actively. By now, most of the Coalition's key figures should have gathered."
The Elf Queen answered the Saintess's question.
The demon-tracking compass the Saintess held could find black mana, but my Myriad Mirror could distinguish things even more accurately.
I decided to use this opportunity to clean out the upper echelons of the Elysian Coalition.
"It seems they've all gathered."
"And no one has fled?"
"We told those gathered that we wanted to find ways together to respond to the church's unilateral actions. Perhaps because of that, no one ran."
Then that's a relief.
Afterward, we moved to the Coalition's grand assembly hall together with the kings of the eight races.
In the grand assembly hall, about five hundred people of various races were seated in one place.
Save for the Dwarves, they were all figures of splendid standing.
Their expressions stiffened as the Saintess and Holy Son entered alongside the Eight Kings.
They realized the situation was different from what they had heard and showed their confusion.
On the surface, no black mana could be felt in particular.
So the Saintess silently took out her compass, and I examined the people one by one with my Myriad Mirror.
"Oh, this is..."
It was the Saintess who furrowed her brow first.
The compass was pointing in several directions in front, all at once.
I could tell what that meant.
"Twenty-one people."
A number greater than I expected.
I found irregularities in as many as twenty-one people.
They themselves didn't seem to be demon worshipers.
If they were, the Saintess and Holy Son would have detected them even without the compass.
Which meant...
They were collaborators who had sided with the demon worshipers.
"It seems we'll need to expand the scope of the investigation."
At the Saintess's heavily stiffened words, the Eight Kings readily consented.
* * *
It could be said that the demon worshiper matter was more or less resolved.
Remnants still remained, and there seemed to be many collaborators scattered about, but from now on, the Holy See could handle it on its own without me stepping in.
Because of this incident, the Holy Son and Saintess expressed deep trust in me and Arcia and offered us the status of honorary Holy Knights.
The status of honorary Holy Knight could serve as a sort of immunity in case of emergencies, so I did not refuse it.
"If she ever finds out that I slipped one demon worshiper away, Saintess Sylvester would faint."
But there was no helping it.
Because there's something I absolutely need to confirm.
"You've come."
Blake hid the demon worshiper Selin in the ruin we had searched.
It was a fitting move, since parading someone reeking of black mana through the Dragonlands might well have drawn out a dragon.
The ruin we had searched had a function that concealed the energy within, making it ideal for hiding black mana.
"Yes, thank you for granting my request."
"It wasn't that difficult a request. That woman is in the third room."
I followed behind Blake.
The third room was where we had fought the Heavenly Tribe's Guardian and acquired the Holy Sword.
It was quite a spacious place, and at its center sat a large animal cage I hadn't seen before.
And inside that cage, a woman was huddled with her knees drawn up.
Hair as red as blood, and crimson eyes.
She was a woman of beautiful features.
The problem was that her body was tainted with dark magic.
"You healed the wounds we inflicted?"
"I wasn't about to clean up her piss and shit too."
"Haha."
If it was him, he'd have the ability to subdue Selin even if she caused a commotion, so there shouldn't be a problem.
"Hey."
She would have already noticed our arrival.
At my call, Selin Viola flinched and slowly raised her head.
"Y-yes? You came? Hehe."
Then Selin wore a smile so fawning it was almost pathetic.
[Relation: Subjugated / Obedient]
[Status: Cautious / Fearful]
But somehow, her state had changed strangely.
Subjugated and obedient?