Chapter 108: The Goddess’s Grace
by fnovelpia
“Protect us. Kanora, grant us strength. We will slaughter all enemies of the gods who oppose Kanora.”
“Wait. Is this real?”
Smack
“Ouch!”
I slapped the cheek of the slave elf, who was about to argue again.
She looked incredibly indignant, but this couldn’t be helped.
How dare she be so rude when about to become a follower of the goddess?
Other returnees also had varied reactions, but they accepted it.
After all, the kind of lines you’d expect from a cult like this…
-You’re good at making this stuff up.
I made it all up.
In the end, after some twists and turns, everyone followed me in singing this strange song and became followers.
All of them now served the Goddess of Death together.
“Oh, but I feel a bit stronger?”
“It’s because your stats increase.”
They must have seriously become followers of the Goddess Kanora.
From now on, everyone here would receive the goddess’s blessing.
“Doesn’t my body look kind of black?”
“Yeah, maybe a bit. You look like a Black Orc.”
The orc’s appearance had turned pitch black, as dark as if they could befriend a black person.
Why did he turn that dark?
“Has anyone else changed?”
“Isn’t it just you?”
“Just me? Hey, Saintess, ask why I’m the only one who changed.”
“No, I’ve turned black too.”
It wasn’t just the orc; even the Pride of Korea, Succubus, was also dyed dark.
It reminded me of the struggles of modern people after the great upheaval, and the gray city.
A deep purple shade—such a dull color.
I thought to myself that this must be the ‘grape flavor’ of the Pride of Korea.
“Hmm. So the Pride of Korea turns this dark, huh? Well, I guess we should ask. Goddess, why did the orc and Succubus turn like this?”
-It’s probably because they’re monsters.
That made sense.
Both Succubus and the orc were monsters.
“She said it’s because they’re monsters.”
“Hmm. What if a slime believed?”
“Maybe it would turn into sewage water.”
Just imagining it made me laugh.
A slime, which would freak out even if toilet water splashed on it—what would its reaction be to sewage water?
“Still, the energy I feel in my body is nothing like before. I definitely feel stronger than before.”
Whenever the orc punched the air, the sound of it cutting through, as if blocked by an invisible wall, could be heard.
Wow, it really did seem stronger.
This must be more than a 1.3 times improvement.
And as for Succubus…
“Just looking at you is… really attractive. Truly, the Pride of Korea.”
“Is that something you should say with a straight face? Hey, what’s with your eyes?”
What’s wrong with my eyes?
They seem fine.
“Would you like to come to my place?”
“No, I’m really getting the sense that I shouldn’t.”
I was planning to just keep her around as part of the loot anyway.
If you put it that way, I feel a bit hurt.
It wasn’t like there were no changes at all.
“Ahhh! I turned into a Dark Elf! What is this?”
The slave elf had turned into a Dark Elf.
She stared at her now darkened body in shock.
“Wait a second. Saintess, I just realized something.”
It was Battle mage, the one without visible changes, who spoke up.
“What is it?”
“Thinking about it… does this mean anything? I mean, that elf. Isn’t she the mother of that elf from the Hero’s Party or something?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then can’t she go in and fight too?”
Oh, right.
This elf… she was Erin’s mother from the Hero’s Party.
But, thinking back to when she fainted, it seemed like the Demon King only cared about the Hero’s Party.
Maybe it was just the Demon King doing whatever he pleased.
I didn’t know for sure, but to be honest, there wasn’t really any reason to include the elf.
“Ah, that’s a complex issue. We don’t know much about the Demon King yet, including the full extent of his powers.
One of his abilities seems to be that he only fights the ones he chooses.”
I explained what I knew about the Demon King.
He was originally a god who crossed the world lines, and one of his abilities was to exclude certain opponents in battle.
The only things that could bypass that were the Hero’s Sacred Sword or chosen members of the Hero’s Party.
But now, with the power of the Goddess Kanora growing stronger, they might be able to fight the Demon King.
“Then did I even need to do this?”
“Whether early or late, you’d still have to. Are you really going to leave the Priestess of the Great Forest on her own without loyalty?”
The slave’s face twisted at my words.
“Well, no, but being a Dark Elf is a bit much!”
“Don’t worry. Even Erin wasn’t a normal elf. She won’t have anything to say about her mother turning into a Dark Elf.”
In my opinion, Erin had probably been kicked out of the Great Forest too.
Maybe she had become a Dark Elf herself.
Last time I saw her, she was snow-white, so something must have happened.
Maybe she was a Snow Elf.
Or just an elf who had lost her strength.
Honestly, does it really matter what kind of elf the slave becomes?
“Hey, hey! My weapon changed! Everyone, check your weapons!”
“Battle mage, your weapon changed?”
“Yeah. I bet others have too.”
Battle mage’s spear had turned black.
“Truly, this feels like pure evil. Doesn’t it seem like I’m really a villain now?”
-The idea that darkness represents evil is based on human standards. How dare a mere creation judge good and evil by color?
The goddess was a bit angry.
If that’s not the case, why get mad?
Who knows—maybe it was true.
Perhaps our goddess really is an evil deity?
A sudden sharp headache made me stumble for a moment.
“Hmm. Indeed. My sword has changed too.”
The Cheonma observed her newly blackened lightsaber, nodding in surprise.
“My fists turn black when I throw a punch.”
Ttaengchili said, trying out his punches.
“How about you, Fairy Pixie? Your hair?”
The fairy pixie’s hair had turned a deep blonde.
While others had darkened, her hair became a rich blond.
“That’s not the only thing. Look at this.”
The fairy had transformed into an adult pixie—a beautiful woman with golden hair.
Though her raincoat was still annoying, she was fairly pretty.
But so what if someone changes?
“So what if you change? Are you bragging about becoming a golden-haired beauty?”
“No, I can do it without the ring now.”
“Oh.”
“Why has the goddess done this to her?”
-Blonde is my preference, and I felt sorry for the fairy, so I gave her the ability to change herself.
Hmm.
Wouldn’t it have been better to make her a man?
After all, this fairy had lost her wife to a nightmare.
I mean, if I were the fairy and thought of myself as male, I might feel a bit strange.
-That wouldn’t be fun. Imagine that face. I won’t go so far as to change her face too.
Hmm, fair enough.
“The goddess said this is a special gift just for the fairy pixie.”
“Then why not make me a man? Even if my abilities improved, I can’t even tell how much better they are.”
“Just live as you are. It’s not like you have a wife anyway, so what’s the point of obsessing over that?”
Honestly, living that way might make life easier.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. In today’s world, there’s nothing great about being a man. You should just focus on practicality. After all, without the goddess and me, you’d be stuck as a little kid forever.”
That wasn’t wrong.
Isn’t living as a golden-haired beauty better than being some ambiguous guy with no wife?
“Ha. Fine. I’ll accept it. Not like I’ll see my wife again anyway.”
Whether it was physical appearance, weapons, or otherwise, there were many changes.
Even the fairy seemed to accept the transformation reluctantly.
Having all powered up, we stood before the boss room.
“Hmm. Should we go in now?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
The heavy doors swung open inward with a loud rumble.
After a while, the interior of the boss room was fully revealed.
It was the Demon King’s castle, the same one I had entered once before with the hero’s party.
The Demon King’s castle.
I hadn’t seen it in so long.
“Grrrrr!”
As expected, there was a Beast King inside—a copy-paste version of what we had faced before.
This time, the Kanora Priest version of Battle mage stepped forward.
Her black spear, made even stronger by becoming a Kanora follower, emitted a light darker than pitch-black.
“Graaaaar!”
The Beast King, without knowing what he was facing, charged straight in.
Poor thing, it might die not even knowing what hit it.
“It seems that thing doesn’t even have intelligence. It’s dumber than the one we faced before.”
“Maybe it’s just the resurrected original body of the Demon King.”
“Well, that makes sense. A beast like that would probably turn out like this when copied.”
Before I even finished speaking, the Beast King, who had gotten close to Battle mage, met its end.
BOOM! CRACK!
With a simple strike, it was sent to the other world.
Battle mage’s ultimate move no longer had any drawbacks, and she wielded her immense power effortlessly.
It happened so fast.
In the blink of an eye, the Beast King’s upper body disappeared.
“What the hell?”
Even Battle mage was shocked.
“Is it supposed to be this easy to take down one of the Four Heavenly Kings? Aren’t they all just weaklings?”
“I agree, this doesn’t seem right. We’ve gotten stronger, but still…”
The orc and Ttaengchili voiced their doubts, and Battle mage shook her head.
“No, it wasn’t that easy before. They are weaker now, but not so much that they can be ignored.”
“This is truly strange.”
Was it possible that we had grown this powerful?
Or was the Demon King’s power weaker than expected?
“So, what about that angel?”
“That one is also one of the Four Heavenly Kings. A fallen angel who seeks vengeance for his fallen comrades by siding with the Demon King.”
Ah, that idiot angel from before.
“An idiot angel?”
“I ripped off all his comrades’ wings and halos, remember?”
“Well, serves him right! That’s pitiful.”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I should pity him or not.
“Last time, at least we had a conversation.”
“Saintess! Today is the day—”
SLASH!
I killed him before he could even finish speaking.
Too easy.
This time, I didn’t even need to hear him out.
Why bother listening to someone weaker than me?
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