What the hell is that kid? (2)
Shuri couldn't understand the situation at all.
Demons.
Well, sure. Demons were bound to show up.
Uncle Lylai had even given her repeated warnings before they entered the treasure vault.
"Shuri. You already know, but in the Second Gate, demons appear. Under no circumstances should you attack them. This is a trial to maintain your composure."
"Yes, Uncle. I understand very well."
"Got it? The opponents are 8th-class demons. A single 8th-class demon could destroy an entire kingdom. Don't you dare think of trying to defeat them. Even senior knights would die if they tried!"
"Yes, I understand."
Without the High Priest or a Cardinal around, humans would have no way of handling them.
Of course, the demons here were ones the Holy Faction had captured.
As long as they stuck to the rules, there'd be no danger, no problems.
Yes, as long as they followed the rules.
Looking deeply uneasy, Shuri grabbed Isaac tightly.
"Did you hear me? From here on, you absolutely must not attack them. Even if they're enemies, you must not attack!"
"Dya…?"
Isaac made a face like he'd just chewed on shit.
Is this brat insane?
They're enemies — why not attack them?
"That's the only way you'll get through the Second Gate alive! Just stay still no matter what! Whatever shows up, just stay still until it disappears! Absolutely don't attack!"
Isaac let out a hollow laugh.
He didn't know the exact details, but it was obvious enough.
If they fought the demons head-on, they'd die — so this was basically a guts test, substituting for a real battle.
Sure enough, Shuri grabbed Isaac with the most serious face he had ever seen on her.
This damned little brat was so unpredictable she couldn't even guess what he might do.
Honestly, he was scarier than the trial itself!
"Got it? Absolutely, absolutely! No matter what form it takes or if it tries to provoke you, you must not retaliate! Just endure it for three minutes, that's it!"
God, what a pain in the ass.
He wasn't even a kid — wait, no, he was a kid.
"If you lose your composure and attack, an actual 8th-class demon will appear! And then we're all dead!"
Hmm… Compared to the Demon King, an 8th-class demon wasn't cute — more like a dependable guard dog. Well, whatever.
His real goal was the Skeleton King's physical body anyway.
"Got it? Absolutely no attacking!"
Persistent little brat.
"Say you understand! If you can't hold back, we'll both die! People have actually died in here!"
"Dya (Got it)."
So much worrying from a little kid.
Finally, after getting a firm promise, Shuri sighed in relief and pushed open the door to the Second Gate.
The tightly sealed door answered with light and voice.
[This is the Gate of Composure.]
[No matter what form your opponent takes, no matter the situation, you must remain silent and resist no temptation.]
[Patience is virtue, and cold reason. Failure to do so shall invite divine punishment.]
[Maintain your composure and endure, and all will go well.]
From that alone, Isaac immediately figured out the nature of the spell.
As expected, it was a hallucination-based trial.
They would transform into something you hated most, to shake your composure.
Pretty well-made, actually!
Testing fear at the First Gate, and composure at the Second — no wonder so many people failed.
'Yeah, kids wouldn't be able to handle this.'
But that kind of stuff only worked on kids.
Did they really think some old man, who had been through hell and back and was now just bones, would fall for such cheap tricks?
A pillar of light crashed down in front of him.
From within, a human figure emerged.
As expected, Shuri, terrified by what she saw, grabbed Isaac tightly and gritted her teeth.
"Just hold on! No matter what it says, don't attack! Endure it…!"
Boom!!!
Before she could even finish shouting, the opponent went flying.
Along with a massive explosion…
Its neck was ripped apart mercilessly…
Flying through the air…
[You have failed.]
"AAAAH!! YOU CRAZY BASTARD!!!"
Shuri's scream rang out as the pillar of light turned black.
And from within it emerged a massive monster!
[Divine punishment shall be delivered.]
"Aaaaack!!"
Seeing the monster glaring down at them, Shuri grabbed Isaac by the collar.
"You crazy bastard! I told you to endure it!!"
He couldn't even endure it for a second — he decapitated the hallucination instead?
"You can understand human speech, can't you!? Thanks to you, an 8th-class demon is coming for us now!!"
But Isaac, who still had his hand stretched out, looked absolutely disgusted.
You didn't say they would turn into gods.
In front of Isaac was the severed head of a godlike figure.
Apparently, the hallucination was supposed to take the form of something you hated the most, to disrupt your composure.
"You idiot Skull King. You're just a brainless pile of bones, easy to fool. Did you really think we'd make you human again? Hahaha!"
Ah, fuck.
Even if you're going to use illusions, did you have to use gods?!
"You seriously! How can you not even hold it in for three seconds?!"
"Isn't three seconds already a huge effort?!"
"I mean, did you see their faces?!"
But the situation had already spiraled out of control.
[Those who lack patience cannot advance.]
[Die.]
Rumble!
As the golem-like monster moved like a fish in water, Shuri squeezed her eyes shut.
'Damn it, it's over.'
She would have no face to show her father.
The physical body of the Skeleton King, coveted by everyone, and the valuable treasure of the Second Gate — all of it would end up in the hands of Kina and Berit.
And they themselves would die here…
Boom!!
…would die…?
Shuri could only fall back onto her butt.
"Ahhh!"
Because right in front of her eyes was the face of a golem, much larger than herself.
The golem had collapsed, shattered into pieces.
'Th-That's impossible!'
"An 8th-class demon could only be taken down by Lady Gamo or Grandpa…!"
And even the door had opened!
But Isaac, who had blasted away the golem, looked extremely displeased.
Sure, pretending to cast a holy spell while actually leaking a destruction spell to shatter the golem's mana core was a good move.
This pathetic puppet — if you know where the mana core is, it's a one-shot kill.
However.
"Taaayaaah (What? 8th-class?)"
Are you kidding me?
Are you mocking the Demon King's envoy right now?
How the hell is this an 8th-class demon?
This was just a puppet created by demons through magic.
The real problem was the one who made it.
'This is the magic of one of my subordinates.'
The Skeleton King had close aides among the demons.
The elite corps, personally raised by the Skeleton King, the most feared Demon King in the world.
Fourteen of the strongest demons, each one a terror to the holy forces.
If the holy side knew they were dealing with one of them, they would be trembling.
Anyway, this was one of their unique abilities.
But there's no way that demon would willingly lend their power to the holy side.
'Don't tell me… they're working as Esua's dog here?'
No, that couldn't be.
Each of the Fourteen had power rivaling even a Demon King — well, not this "supreme" me, but the old, lesser Demon Kings.
There's no way one of them would be captured and enslaved by the holy side so easily.
Unless… they chose to be captured and became the holy priests' watchdog?
If that's the case, then I really don't get it.
Why would a loyal servant of the noble Demon King lower themselves to such disgrace?
'Could it be related to the fact that I am here?'
I don't know what happened in the last 150 years, but whatever it is, I can find out while I'm here.
If they're really acting as Esua's lapdog, they must be somewhere in this treasury.
And if so, I definitely had a reason to meet them.
Just as Isaac was glancing toward the slightly opened door—
"Hahaha! Who would've thought the Esua dogs would be useful!"
"!"
Children suddenly burst out of the bushes.
"We figured Esua would know how to get past the gate!"
"Thanks for dealing with the toughest gatekeeper for us!"
They were the Saint Candidates who had been persistently tailing Isaac.
It seemed they had been hiding all along.
Judging by their scorched appearance, some of them barely survived Isaac's earlier tricks.
Shuri frowned, but Isaac just calmly sucked on his pacifier.
'About 20 left, huh?'
The riff-raff had mostly been weeded out at the earlier stages.
These ones were probably officially recognized Saint Candidates by the Vatican.
One of the 24.
As proof, while they weren't quite on Kina or Berit's level, each had strength worth being wary of. It wouldn't be strange if any one of them aimed for the Pope's seat — truly exceptional little shits… seedlings.
"Move. We're going into the Second Gate first. You Esua trash have no right to get cocky."
And their personalities were just as "excellent."
Well, this is the kind of flavor clergy brats need to have.
Children are the future of the nation, after all. Looks like the Holy side would destroy themselves even without me needing to lift a finger.
However, the red-clad group shoved Shuri aside.
"You think we're doing this for no reason? Do you know how much we've suffered because of that brat?"
"Yeah! He's probably planning to go ahead and set up traps again! I didn't expect Esua to stoop so low!"
"Shuri, you're with him, aren't you?"
"…!"
Shuri was dumbfounded.
If she had been an accomplice, at least she wouldn't feel wronged!! But being treated like she was in league with a demon?!
Shuri looked at Isaac, feeling wronged, but Isaac just yawned sleepily.
The red-haired noble boy scoffed at whatever he thought of the situation.
Shuri knew that boy wasn't part of the same faith as Eshua, but from a different faith.
'That bright red hair. Definitely of the Red Faith!'
If Eshua, who leads the Blue Faith, is symbolized by silver hair, then the dukes leading the Red Faith are symbolized by their blazing red hair.
Given that the Five Great Faiths didn't get along, such bickering was expected.
"Did Eshua really send out a saint candidate in the first place? Can you even use first-rank holy spells?"
At that moment, other kids still hiding in the bushes started scolding him.
"You saw it yourself! That kid took care of the gatekeeper demon! That huge thing!"
"Yeah! Because she's from Eshua, even a kid like her has that kind of power…!"
"Took care of it, my foot! They probably set it up so the traps automatically disarm when an Eshua person passes by!"
"What?"
"How could that be…?"
Just as they were about to ask if that was even possible, the red-haired boy approached Isaac.
He roughly snatched something off Isaac's neck — the saintess' ring necklace that Lilai had given him.
"This! The rest of us only got one-time blessings cast on us, but he came in with an item! Isn't that suspicious?"
"It looks normal to me."
"Right. Probably because he's too young to use blessings himself, they enchanted an artifact for him."
As expected of the elite saint candidates trained by the Holy See — they could even appraise items easily.
But even at their responses, the red-haired boy sneered as if they were hopeless.
"That's why you guys are hopeless. Who in their right mind would throw a nursing child into a deadly dungeon with just one blessing?"
…Well, that idiot would be my uncle (?)
…and actually, my whole family, pushing a kid to go kill the Skeleton King (?)
'Well, if it's a Saint Family, it makes sense. Sure.'
Because they're crazy enough to send an eleven-year-old to defeat a Demon King.
Apparently, things like that were unthinkable in other faiths. The red-haired boy smiled as if he had figured it all out.
"I've got it all figured out. The ring itself has a trap-disarming effect. That's why no traps were triggered when he passed. He didn't find the right path — the traps just didn't go off for him. As proof, when we followed the same path, a bomb went off, remember?"
Yeah. For a kid, he's using his head, but… he's steering that brainpower straight off a cliff.
"That's why Shuri followed him too. Didn't you think it was weird? Normally the older one would lead."
No? I was just dragged along, you know??
Shuri was staring at them, utterly exasperated.
Meanwhile, the others seemed to believe they had finally solved the mystery.
"So that's why only that kid was safe! Even the demon at the second checkpoint disappeared because of his ring!"
"Oh, then—!"
Feeling triumphant, the red-haired boy headed toward the second checkpoint.
"Exactly. With this, we can avoid all the traps ahead."
"Waaah!"
"Naizer! You're a genius!"
The red-haired boy, now called Naizer, strode confidently into the second checkpoint.
He raised the ring he had stolen from Isaac high into the air as a bonus gesture.
"Behold, treasure vault of the Saintess! The true saint has arrived! Come and greet this noble being!"
With Naizer leading the way, ten children from the Red Faith followed in a red wave.
They all entered the second checkpoint.
Apparently, the ring was the "key" — no traps went off in the second area.
The children cheered triumphantly.
"Look! The third checkpoint's door is right there! It's so close! That's where the Skeleton King's body is, right?"
"Yeah! And the one to retrieve the Skeleton King's body — something no Saint has ever accomplished — will be me, Naizer Sephette, third son of the Red Duke!"
BOOM!!!!
"Aaargh!"
"Naizer!"
With screams, explosions erupted from inside the second checkpoint.
It was a trap.
"Why! The traps shouldn't go off with this ri—Aagh!"
BOOM!! BOOM! BOOM!!
Hearing the deafening explosions and screams, Shuri put her hand over her face like she couldn't believe the idiots.
Isaac casually picked his nose.
Yeah, at this rate, maybe this country really will destroy itself without him lifting a finger.
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