Heresy Judgment – 2

Inspiration.

A status effect that can be inflicted with blessed weapons and divine spells.

Its effect was just a single line of text, unlike other status effects that came with all sorts of detailed explanations: ‘Greatly reduces all damage dealt by the target for the duration.’

If you only read up to this point, the ‘greatly reduces damage dealt’ part might not fully sink in, and you might just dismiss it as a slightly annoying status effect.

However, simple is best always holds true, no matter where or when.

Even in vanilla, it was a truly nasty status effect with a 40% reduction rate, but in Dark Lord Mode, it went a step further, reaching a whopping 90%. You could practically consider it as dealing no damage at all.

Regardless of whether it was a physical attack, a magical attack, or even a divine attack of the same type, it reduced all damage dealt, quite literally.

What’s more, this damage dealt reduction was an effect applied *after* all other damage calculations were finished, so even if you stacked every buff imaginable to inflate your damage, it would still mercilessly cut it down by 90%.

What was even more vicious was the fact that players had almost no way to properly utilize this overpowered status effect.

All blessed weapons and divine spells did fill the Inspiration gauge. They did, but the rate at which it decreased was terrifyingly fast, making it practically useless.

Even during the slight cooldown after landing a single normal attack with a dagger, the weapon with the fastest attack speed, and before landing the next, the status effect value would be halved.

Infuriatingly, the Inspiration-related penalty was exclusive to players. Meanwhile, other enemies who used divine power accumulated the gauge just fine.

‘They know that if players could spam Inspiration, they’d break the game.’

But if that’s the case, why did they even create it?

Was it made just to piss off the people who get hit by it?

At least in Dark Lord Mode, if you got hit by any divine attack, you’d die before the status effect could even apply, so avoiding a few patterns meant you wouldn’t have to deal with it, which was a blessing in disguise.

Though I’m not sure if you can truly call that a blessing.

“What… how….”

Rije, unaware of the inner workings, muttered in an extremely flustered voice. Erica, who was preparing to counter the battle nun’s attack right beside me, also looked utterly astonished.

Stella responded with a bright smile.

“Do you truly believe that a mere heretic, serving some devil, could lay a finger on my body when God Himself protects me? You’re far too foolish.”

While players called it ‘Inspiration’ due to the game system’s naming, the NPCs within the game referred to this phenomenon as a miracle of God.

Well, since it was due to divine power, calling it a miracle of God wasn’t entirely wrong.

Stella, who had lowered her mace to the ground, firmly grabbed Rije’s left wrist. As she applied force, Rije’s arm slowly began to be pulled outwards. The distance between the dagger and Rije’s eye grew further.

The Knight Commander, who should have possessed dozens of times more strength than an ordinary person, was easily pushed back in a test of strength. In contrast to Rije, whose arm trembled, Stella wore a very relaxed expression.

This time, the right wrist, which had been stabbing at her neck, was pushed away. Rije, with both wrists seized, struggled desperately to free herself, twisting her body, but Stella didn’t even flinch.

“It’s a useless struggle.”

Stella’s body spun half a turn, still holding onto Rije’s arm. Rije’s feet shot up into the air. When her body had turned about halfway, Stella twisted her body again.

Rije’s feet pointed towards the sky before plummeting straight down to the ground.

“Unnie!”

With Erica’s desperate cry, Rije’s body was slammed into the ground. A thud was heard, and dust rose. It was a grab pattern that the Inquisitor sometimes used during boss battles.

“Cough, hack!”

Rije, who had been slammed onto her back, let out a painful cough. The grip on her arm still hadn’t loosened, so she couldn’t do anything but cough.

In truth, if Rije hadn’t been afflicted by Inspiration, or even if she had but knew about such an ability from the start, she would never have been pushed back by Stella.

It was because she was flustered by the fact that her attacks weren’t working properly, which allowed for the surprise attack.

“Erica.”

I subtly called out to Erica, who was on the verge of charging at Stella with an utterly ferocious expression. Erica, who had been wreathed in flames around her sword, paused and turned her head towards me.

“Just listen for a moment. Rije’s attack didn’t work on that blonde not because of some miracle of God, but because of the light you two were just covered in. That light put a debuff on you.”

Erica’s eyes widened upon hearing the truth. It was probably a fact she hadn’t considered at all.

“So it’s the same for you. You and Rije were both covered in that white light. In your current state, no matter how much you attack that woman, it won’t even scratch her.”

“……Then, what should we do?”

“I’ll step in.”

‘Not that I have a specific plan, though.’

Although I told Erica I would step in, in truth, I didn’t have a concrete plan either.

This was something I had never experienced in the game, and I also didn’t know a sure way to resolve the current situation.

Not only did the Inquisitor designate me as a heretic for using a demon to deal with the lord, but the Holy Nation even sent someone directly to find me. Who could have imagined this?

‘This isn’t going to mess up the main story, is it?’

It’s fine if the minor details are a bit off. But the main story going awry is absolutely not fine.

“Ugh!”

“Unnie?!”

Rije was flung into the air and then landed with a thud right next to Erica. Stella had thrown Rije towards us. Erica frantically rushed to Rije’s side.

I wondered why she hadn’t landed properly when she fell, but Rije had an almost vacant expression. The recent events seemed to have been quite a shock to her.

Erica was trying her best to help Rije stand up. Battle nuns, each holding a mace in one hand and a shield in the other, gradually closed the distance.

‘Can we get past this without a fight?’

Since I happened to have a Vitality Enhancement Rune equipped, if I had been surrounded alone, I would have rolled away to one side to avoid being encircled, looking for an escape route.

But now I had to look after Claudia, and Rije and Erica too. Abandoning those three and escaping alone was something I hadn’t even considered.

Therefore, it was right to devise a solution that would avoid combat as much as possible.

I recalled information about the Inquisitor in my mind. Perhaps because I had one ace up my sleeve, I remained surprisingly calm.

That was my Divine Power stat.

Since I had raised my Divine Power stat to 10, the possibility of being classified as a heretic in the heresy judgment performed by Stella was practically zero.

‘……The problem is, what if she declares me a heretic without even going through the judgment process?’

If that happened, there would truly be no other option but to fight Stella.

‘I’ll have to try.’

After running a rough simulation a few times in my head, I stepped forward, as if shielding Rije and Erica.

From behind, I heard a surprised Rije trying to get up but being restrained by Erica. Since I had already given Erica a heads-up that I would step in, she would probably assume I had a plan.

“Why are you bothering to step forward? Is it something like, even heretics care for their comrades? Ugh, how disgusting.”

Stella made a feigned retching motion. In contrast to her words, a bright smile still graced her face. If you only looked at her face, she would seem incredibly kind.

“I’ll say it again, we are not heretics. And certainly not demon worshipers. You’re just mistaken, so just go back the way you came.”

“Mistaken? Me?”

Stella gripped the handle of her mace, which had its weighted head half-buried in the ground. *Dudududuk*, the weighted head slowly began to pull out.

“How dare you speak such impudent words to someone of my standing?”

The battle nuns surrounding us closed the distance further.

Some of them had already reached Claudia’s side. Claudia tried to lift her greatsword, but she couldn’t even reach the hilt and dropped her arm, breathing heavily.

Rije and Erica also couldn’t move rashly. A mace was hovering near Claudia’s head, as if threatening us. The meaning of that action was obvious.

“Let me ask one thing. If we surrender here, what will happen?”

“Surrender? Ah, it seems you’ve finally grasped the situation a little. Naturally, we will verify your purity, confirm that you are heretics, and then torture you until you repent for your sins.”

Stella smiled brightly.

This was it. The phrase ‘verify your purity’ meant precisely ‘to judge for heresy’. Now, at the very least, I wouldn’t die without even undergoing the heresy judgment.

“Oh? Alright. Then, I surrender.”

“Delta?!”

“Delta-ssi?!”

As I dropped my blood-stained sword to the ground and coolly declared my surrender, a surprised Rije and Erica called out my name. I looked at Rije and Erica, conveying that it was alright.

Perhaps they read the meaning in my gaze, as both of them immediately quieted down.

“You’ve given up? Well, that’s good. There’s no need to waste energy, so it’s for the best, I suppose. Everyone, move. Be careful in your actions, as we don’t know where evidence of demon worship might be.”

The battle nuns approached, grabbed my arm, and roughly forced me to my knees on the ground. Their strength was immense; my seized arm wouldn’t budge.

Rije and Erica were disarmed and merely surrounded, while Claudia only had a single nun assigned to guard her. Was I the main culprit, then?

“Iris.”

“Yes, Inquisitor-nim.”

Stella, with a confident expression, gestured for someone. The battle nun called Iris approached me demurely. She was a nun with blonde hair and green eyes, just like Stella.

It was an insignificant detail, as all battle nuns had blonde hair and green eyes, but that’s how it was.

I maintained my composure even in the chilling atmosphere, where it felt like my head could be smashed by a mace at any moment. After all, I wouldn’t die during the purity verification, that is, the heresy judgment stage.

Another rough hand forcibly lifted my head. I found myself looking up at Iris from below. Her nun’s habit revealed more than it covered.

Her underbust and side-bust seemed to have no intention of being hidden, and I wondered why she was even wearing garters. Not only her armpits but also her inner thighs and buttocks were fully exposed.

What was even more absurd was that despite such attire, her exposure level was lower than Stella’s. Was there some rule in the Holy Nation that the higher your position, the more you had to undress?

“Please begin.”

As Stella’s command fell, Iris unhesitatingly placed her latex-gloved hand on her chest covering. Her other hand went to the scrap of cloth covering her private parts.

‘……What is this?’

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at the sudden strip show unfolding before my eyes. Iris, the one actually stripping, wore a very serious expression.

She unfastened the hem of her nun’s habit and slowly lifted her chest covering upwards. At its edge, a small, pink protrusion gradually began to reveal itself.

I was confused. Truly confused. Was this really how they judged heresy? Why?

Regardless of my thoughts, Iris abruptly flung her chest covering upwards and unfastened her private parts covering, revealing her bare chest and a woman’s intimate area, completely unclothed, right before my eyes.

Silence fell.

Stella, the one who ordered such an act, Iris, the one who performed such an act, and I, the one who witnessed such an act. Everyone present froze, dumbfounded.

“……Oh?”

Breaking that silence, Stella’s foolish voice echoed.