Ch.101Faith and Love (2)

Faith and Love (2)

Before Esmeralda and Tina tracked the two people.

‘Those’ two people, as Esmeralda predicted, tried to shake each other off along the way.

As if they had planned it from the beginning, they simultaneously started firing spells at each other.

“Huhu, despite everything, we seem to understand each other.”

“If you knew that, it would have been better to quietly back down.”

The battle between Millia, who mainly used elemental magic, and Eirene, who used holy magic and barrier techniques, could only continue in a consistent pattern.

This was because the high-powered elemental magic often easily crushed holy magic.

Therefore, Eirene had no choice but to focus on defense rather than offense.

Fortunately, as she was deeply versed in barrier techniques, even Millia’s powerful magic couldn’t easily penetrate Eirene’s barriers infused with holy magic.

But that was all.

“Eirene, you cannot defeat me.”

“Well, we won’t know until we try, will we?”

Eirene responded with a relaxed expression, but the battle situation was not in her favor.

She was originally a support specialist, not a combat one. So she was inevitably vulnerable in one-on-one combat.

Normally, she would strengthen her defenses with barriers and wait for ally support.

But no support was coming. So she had to prepare a counterattack while maintaining her defenses within the barrier.

Her usual offensive means were holy magic and close combat with her morning star.

Unfortunately, both had poor compatibility against Millia.

“Are you just going to keep defending?”

“Maybe I’m waiting for an opportunity, so you should be careful.”

“Will such an opportunity ever come?”

Tentacles for both offense and defense.

Moreover, they were visually disturbing enough to serve as a psychological attack.

Though aesthetically problematic, the magic Millia had recently developed boasted ridiculous versatility.

“Eirene, give up.”

“Give up and die?”

“If you back down, I’ll stop attacking. I don’t want to kill a friend.”

“You’re quite confident.”

Eirene began to counterattack while maintaining the strongest possible defense with her barrier.

Chiiiiiiik!

The holy magic she deployed repeatedly struck down toward Millia’s tentacles, dismantling her magic.

Millia’s tentacles began to melt away with strange sounds as if they were something unholy.

Unfazed by this phenomenon, Millia continuously regenerated her tentacles and struck Eirene’s barrier.

“…In this war of attrition, there’s no way Eirene can defeat me.”

While Millia only needed to supply additional mana to regenerate her tentacles, Eirene had to craft each holy spell individually to burn away parts of the tentacles.

Millia merely supplied fuel, while Eirene had to create a finished product from scratch each time.

It was obvious which of the two would consume more fatigue and mental energy.

“I think Lady Millia’s love is truly remarkable. You leave only one person in your world. I envy that. Being able to love like that.”

“…What do you mean?”

“For me to love, I have to consider all sorts of things.”

The next successor of the Magic Tower and the de facto leader of the Divine God Order.

Though their positions seemed similar at a glance, there was a huge difference.

And the biggest issue was that the Divine God Order was in an extremely unstable state compared to the Magic Tower.

Therefore, Eirene had to consider as many factors as possible.

She had to move with consideration and preparation for various situations with every word and action.

It had become a habit.

“Lady Millia, I think you’ve been overlooking me too much. You’ve been so focused on Mr. Lug that I wasn’t even in your consideration…”

Would someone like her not have prepared countermeasures against Millia, who could be considered her greatest enemy?

While Millia selfishly focused on just one person, Eirene cleared away everything else around that one person.

Yes, she had been planning to remove Millia from the beginning.

“You didn’t prepare any countermeasures against me, did you?”

“…”

“If you act based on only seeing fragments of a person…”

Eirene pulled back her outstretched hands and formed a mudra.

“You might get caught off guard from an unexpected place?”

The reason she was a Saintess.

Something only she had proven.

“While all clergy follow the teachings of God and imitate His actions, the one who can recreate the teachings themselves is called a Saintess.”

Kuuuuuung!

When Eirene formed a specific mudra, the entire space shook.

The special ability of Saintess Eirene that she couldn’t use when fighting demons because holy power and demonic energy canceled each other out.

“Dharma Wheel Seal.”

That’s why no one in the hero’s party could know of the existence of this power.

A power she had kept hidden to an extreme degree.

“How…? The mana…”

“Magic was clearly… something that overturned existing principles, wasn’t it?”

Healing wounds. Purifying the unholy. Yes, the ultimate form of holy magic that restores the world to its original state.

In the sacred domain she created, no one could use magic.

Even if one tried to distort the flow of mana, this place prevented it.

It was a power that imposed a snapshot of the world’s most natural state on a certain area.

That’s why she had been sustaining the war of attrition more than necessary.

She needed to scatter holy power around by firing holy magic.

“Even so, someone like Lady Millia might adapt to this space, so I should end this quickly, right?”

Millia had advised Eirene to back down. It meant she had been looking down on her considerably.

In contrast, Eirene showed no complacency even now that she had gained an overwhelming advantage to deal with Millia decisively.

“Kuk?!”

As Millia said, she tried to adapt to this sacred domain.

Just as she violently swung her staff as if forcibly twisting the fixed flow in the space.

“That’s too late. We know that best, don’t we?”

Kwajik!

Eirene chose the most certain method.

She immediately struck Millia’s head with her morning star, an attack that required no preparation time.

***

Esmeralda was using all means, including potions, to save Millia.

It was truly exquisite control of power.

The attack ended at a point where Millia would just barely survive, recoverable with emergency treatment.

“So this was it…!”

Esmeralda, frantically working to save Millia, was shocked.

Eirene had considered Esmeralda and Tina, who would follow later, even while dealing with Millia.

Even Esmeralda wouldn’t abandon someone she could save to give chase. Especially if that person was a dear comrade.

Therefore, Esmeralda couldn’t hastily pursue Eirene even though she knew her destination.

“…”

Esmeralda laid Millia flat, who had her face planted on the ground while muttering with cold sweat.

“I’ll kill her. I’ll kill her. I’ll kill her. I’ll kill her. I’ll kill her. I’ll kill her. I’ll kill her. I’ll kill her. I’ll kill her. I’ll kill…”

“Hmm…”

Esmeralda flipped Millia back over. It might make treatment difficult, but she was too scared.

Even Tina, who had thought Esmeralda’s assessment of their comrades was too harsh, said nothing about this situation.

“…I’m thinking maybe we should just leave her alive. What do you think, Tina?”

“I hate to say this, but… the current Millia seems to need time to cool her head.”

In the end, the two decided to just barely keep Millia alive.

In a sense, it was a choice that exceeded Eirene’s expectations.

No matter how well Eirene knew their behavioral patterns, she couldn’t have predicted that the two would be frightened by Millia’s state.

“Alright. Now let’s track Eirene…”

Just as they were about to resume tracking Eirene after literally just keeping Millia alive.

“Esmeralda.”

“…Yes, I felt it too.”

Esmeralda and Tina could almost simultaneously sense the uneasiness floating in the air.

A sensation that everything around had changed even though nothing was different.

Feeling goosebumps rise, Esmeralda said to Tina.

“Protect Millia.”

“…I’m already doing that!”

Fortunately, Tina had better instincts than Esmeralda and had already completed her defensive preparations to protect Millia.

Having quickly set traps around them, Tina heightened her senses to the maximum.

‘What is this? Is this another of Eirene’s tricks? But this eerie feeling?’

It makes one shudder as if submerged in a winter sea.

An indescribable sensation.

Different from the alienation felt when meeting La•Pa or confronting Belphegor.

Esmeralda, scanning the surroundings vigilantly, suddenly looked up.

“The moon…”

The full moon floating in the void.

It was slowly falling.

For a moment, Esmeralda recalled when Five invaded the Magic Tower, but the result was completely different.

“Hup!”

Unlike Five, who fell as a massive fireball, a girl who had been curled up simply landed lightly on the ground.

Esmeralda looked up at the sky again at this unnaturally natural sight, but the moon had long disappeared.

Had her sense of distance been shattered? Esmeralda glared at the girl who had landed on the ground with her holy sword drawn.

“Ta-da~ Hello! My name is…”

[Name: Third]

[Race: Trickster] [Title: Legion Commander, Swindler, Magician]

“Aaaaaaagh!”

“W-what, what’s wrong? I haven’t done anything yet…”

Esmeralda screamed suddenly after checking the information reflected in her activated Emerald Tablet.

“Why does this crap always happen to me!”

It was the moment when Esmeralda’s mental fortitude finally broke after a day of continuous absurd misfortunes.