Ch.113The Saint Is Dangerous (8)

KWAGAGAK!

KUDANGTANG!

I couldn’t fully defend against the massive shockwave mixed with holy power, and was swept backward, practically rolling on the ground.

“…Ah shit, really.”

A mysterious old man appeared from inside the unidentified statue.

With skin so pale he might as well have been a corpse, he was overwhelming me with his tremendous power.

‘This damn bastard.’

Normally he would have been nothing but a pushover, but right now I’ve greatly depleted my strength through repeated battles and the aftereffects of the sacrifice spell.

Besides, to be honest, even without that, I wasn’t sure if I could win without using necromancy.

‘…This isn’t S4 rank level?’

Though I hadn’t fought many battles yet, this opponent was definitely stronger than the Basilisk, which had been the boss of an S4 rank large dungeon.

Of course, I could roughly guess the reason.

‘He must have converted the sacrificed offerings into his own power. Considering the level of the statues, this must have been a dungeon with a strong boss type from the beginning.’

He had a humanoid appearance and clearly possessed intelligence.

Sure enough, the old man addressed me as I got up from the floor.

“Impressive. You seemed the weakest of the three. Does even an insect have its own talents?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

From his way of speaking, he seemed to already know about Xavier and Yesiel.

Perhaps those two had also fallen into traps inside the boss room by now.

“Don’t expect any support. Those two won’t be able to come out until they’re drained of all power and become empty shells.”

“…Well. They might not be as easy as you think.”

Though I hadn’t seen their true strength either, Xavier was definitely strong. I was certain he wouldn’t go down easily.

‘By the way, this guy…’

Something seemed a bit strange.

I’d been carefully observing him while blocking his attacks, and the nature of his holy power had a very peculiar structure.

“Are you really an orthodox priest?”

“How rude. I am nothing less than a true priest acknowledged by the god.”

“For someone like that, you give off a strange feeling.”

Receiving my suspicious gaze, the old man soon opened his mouth, suppressing laughter as if something was terribly amusing.

“My name is Kelshpeed. I was a humble leader of a religious order. And…”

Cutting off his words, Kelshpeed raised his holy power, which had transformed into an even more chilling sensation, and spread it in all directions.

The ground rippled like a puddle of water, and simultaneously, an extremely unpleasant energy began to flow from it.

Having created his domain, Kelshpeed finally revealed his true identity.

“I am also the foremost priest of the God of Silence.”

Ripple.

CHWAK!

CHWAAK!

Knight-shaped statues began to emerge from the puddles that vibrated with the stench of decay.

However, unlike before, they were covered with moss all over their bodies. Their nature had completely changed.

‘So he was a priest serving an evil god.’

There was a reason I’d been feeling something strange all along.

Seeing the holy power that had turned completely dark, I could immediately recognize the true nature of the god Kelshpeed served.

‘The God of Silence, huh.’

It didn’t seem particularly impressive, but there was definitely a faint divinity dwelling in his body now.

It meant he was approaching the highest realm possible for a priest.

“Undead call.”

HWUUNG.

PUHWAK!

I quickly responded by summoning available undead, but there was a clear difference in level, and I was obviously being pushed back.

‘…My power isn’t coming out properly right now.’

I’d consumed too much in a short period. To make matters worse, Kelshpeed was drawing even more holy power and creating another intense storm of light.

“Tsk tsk. You’ve held out quite well, but it seems your strength has run out now. Let’s end this.”

HWUUNG.

KWAGAGAGAK─!

Facing the incoming wave of holy power, I raised my remaining morale and cast several spells in succession.

But for some reason, his output kept increasing, and I simply couldn’t block everything.

JJEOEONG!

KUDANGTANGTANG!

Thrown back in an instant and rolling pathetically on the floor, I tasted the metallic blood in my mouth and thought while lying on the ground.

‘This is infuriating.’

My deliberation wasn’t long. This was the first time I’d been humiliated like this since coming to Earth.

Helena had told me that Hades would soon take action in earnest, but my patience wasn’t long enough to keep getting beaten up because of that.

“Gordon. Come out.”

– Excuse me?

“Go and buy me some time.”

SEUREUREUK.

PUHWAK!

I materialized Gordon from the necklace at my whim and threw him at Kelshpeed as a target while immediately beginning a summoning ritual.

“Book of Death.”

PUHWAK!

CHWARARAK!

After completing all the procedures, a huge totem rose from the ground, split in half, and revealed the figure of the shaman Khan.

I gave instructions without hesitation.

“Use necromancy.”

“Are you sure? I heard you haven’t recovered your strength for long.”

“It doesn’t matter, just do it quickly.”

Even if it ruins my body, I’m going to beat up that arrogant bastard first.

I glared at Kelshpeed’s hateful face and, with Khan’s help, partially unsealed my power.

Then, as if it had never been depleted, an immense death energy (死氣) instantly surged through my body.

Seeing this, Kelshpeed hesitated slightly and spoke.

“Oh? So you still had a card up your sleeve?”

“…This guy still doesn’t understand the situation.”

His attitude suggested that whatever move I made, I was still beneath him.

Finding it utterly contemptible, I threw a smirk and continued.

“Hey.”

“……”

“Let’s have you take ten times what I took before you die.”

In my outstretched palm, an eyeball emitting an ominous aura had already emerged.

#

Kelshpeed was the highest priest serving the God of Silence, Halifa, on the planet Dwuanne.

He didn’t know why he had come to a place like this and become a dungeon guardian. However, it was engraved in his mind that many events had occurred and that this was divine revelation.

Therefore, Kelshpeed, without any carelessness, thoroughly led the intruders to the swamp of death.

‘…Everything should have gone according to plan.’

He had torn apart the three noticeably strong humans who had entered, and completely trapped two of them in his trap.

There was a girl who hadn’t fallen into the trap and remained alone, but the power he sensed from her wasn’t that impressive compared to his own.

He thought he could easily crush her using the power gained from the sacrificial coffin and the traps.

However, now Kelshpeed was contemplating death for the first time since becoming a true servant of the God of Silence and obtaining an immortal body.

KWAANG!

“…Im-impossible. How can a human possess such power?”

“There’s nothing to be so surprised about with just this much.”

Kelshpeed continued to create guardians, but they were already no threat to the girl before him.

Even though it was corrupted, holy power was still holy power, yet somehow the girl was unilaterally ignoring that relationship of attributes.

In Kelshpeed’s common sense, there was only one possibility to consider.

‘She possesses such overwhelming death energy that holy power cannot penetrate.’

He had never encountered such a monster even on his original planet, Dwuanne.

It was the level of a great hero that would only appear in ancient legends.

Kelshpeed abandoned all the composure he had until just now and urgently drew up as much power as he could.

‘…I shouldn’t be deceived by appearances. That is a true monster.’

The Eye of Death, high-level necromancy, and even spells he had never seen or heard of before. She had already demonstrated abilities that would make one superhuman with just one of them.

To face the girl before him, Kelshpeed too had to bring out all the skills he possessed.

“Oh, great divine pillar of Halifa, here your priest offers a hymn!”

A spell to summon the servants of the God of Silence, Halifa.

After reciting it all, Kelshpeed finally transformed the ground into a huge puddle and began to summon bizarre beasts from within it.

‘…It worked properly.’

He had used this spell only a handful of times, but this time it felt much better than usual.

It was clear that an entity with upper-class power among the servants had answered the call.

However, soon, Kelshpeed could only witness true despair.

“…My god.”

From the ominous book that the girl took out again, something incomparable to the servant he had summoned was about to reveal itself with the momentum of a dominant force.