Ch.127Amidst Destruction (3)

*

Among those who rushed out startled by the loud explosion, there were several who weren’t even wearing armor.

Some emerged from their tents while pulling up their trousers, clearly interrupted from whatever they had been doing.

They were the very definition of a disorganized rabble, forming no proper ranks and maintaining no stance.

Yet despite everything, they all managed to bring their swords with them.

The swords in their hands were clearly of the official design adopted by the Goddess Church, but they had degenerated into murderers’ weapons, wielded by those who had turned their backs on training and discipline in pursuit of only plunder and pleasure.

Alice frowned as she lunged toward the abdomen of a foolish man who wasn’t wearing armor.

Her right fist, delivered with such force that it seemed she would drive her entire right upper body into him, dug deep into his stomach, powerful enough to lift his feet slightly off the ground.

For a moment his body seemed to hover in the air, before flying across the campsite with a whoosh, tumbling several times as he fell.

The sword he dropped lingered briefly in the air, and Alice caught it as she withdrew her fist.

Having used the Goddess Church’s ceremonial swords many times before, she could tell what it was just by gripping the handle.

“The blade is damaged.”

Alice frowned again in irritation.

A sword with a dull edge from lack of sharpening, beginning to corrode and rust because blood and fat hadn’t been cleaned off.

It seemed like a perfect metaphor and symbol for the current state of the Goddess Church.

Alice pressed her lips tightly together, feeling troubled.

Although Alice’s faith wasn’t particularly strong despite her position within the Goddess Church, she had learned and believed in the standards of goodness established and spread by the Church since childhood. Perhaps it was inevitable that an inexplicable sadness and complexity would gradually well up from deep within her heart.

Alice rotated her sword-wielding hand in a circle, loosening her wrist.

And only then did these corrupted priests seem to realize the identity of the woman before them.

“Wait… that’s Alice.”

“What? You mean that Alice?”

“Yeah, I think it is.”

“Where has she been all this time, showing up now?”

Alice, as if unwilling to listen to their muttering, swung the tip of her sword through the air once and took her stance.

Her wrist, gripping the sword, moved fluidly, tracing a beautiful arc through the air.

These corrupted priests seemed to finally grasp the situation, their faces turning pale as they began to stammer.

Among them, a few who barely mustered courage began to shout at Alice.

“What do you think you’re doing all of a sudden!”

“Are you here to avenge the Pope? Or have you come to punish us now? By what right!”

“You must be in league with that disgusting Pope! The one who concealed the fact that the Demon Lord is alive!”

“Where have you been all this time! Spreading your legs for the Demon Lord?”

Alice spoke briefly.

“All of you, shut up.”

And then she promptly closed her mouth.

She didn’t want to exchange any more words with them—they were filthy and disgusting.

Despite Alice’s concise and clear warning, the priests, who had been twitching their putrid lips while emitting the foul stench rising from their corruption-polluted guts, continued to raise their pig-like voices and shout.

“Demon Lord’s lackey, we who have been deceived by you all this time, believing in the worthless lies of that whore you call a goddess—you should atone with your life—gack!”

The priest’s loud voice ceased with a gurgling sound.

Alice’s blade had somehow reached him and was now embedded halfway through his neck.

“Guhk, urgh!”

“When you maintain your sword this poorly, it’s no wonder you can’t even behead someone properly.”

Alice promptly released the sword’s handle.

The priest, with the sword still lodged in his neck, collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony before slowly dying.

Alice firmly stepped on his squirming body to stop his movements, then drew another sword from his waist.

“This one’s just as bad. The maintenance is terrible. At this rate, I might not be able to find a proper weapon.”

Alice muttered while examining the blade irritably.

Unfortunately, there was no other place to acquire weapons at the moment.

She might be able to find better weapons in another city, but according to Eric, the entire country seemed to be in chaos, so it was difficult to have high expectations.

Moreover, if she wasted time carelessly, she couldn’t guarantee she would be able to return to Ash within the promised time.

Alice sighed and said:

“Everyone, put down your weapons.”

“…What?”

“I said put your swords on the ground where I can see them, you bastards.”

The priests instead gripped their swords tightly with both hands and shouted:

“Captain! Where’s the captain?”

“With all this commotion, is he still sleeping?”

“Someone go wake him up!”

From what they were saying, it seemed Ovid was either not present or still asleep.

Alice sighed again and readjusted her stance.

Slightly bending her knees, leaning her torso forward, and bringing her sword arm over her opposite shoulder.

Those who had been Holy Knights immediately recognized that stance.

It was a preparation stance for rushing in to cut down an opponent.

The pressure heavily weighed down on the priests’ entire bodies.

Unable to withstand that pressure, someone rushed toward Alice with a raised sword as if in defiance.

Alice leaped forward and severed the waist of the one who fearlessly approached her.

And Alice didn’t stop.

*

The campsite was filled with screams and terrified breathing.

Ironically, while the dry sound of swords dropping onto the dirt could be heard, there was no sound of sword clashing against sword.

No one could stand against Alice.

This wasn’t just a matter of skill.

Of course, no matter how much they resisted and charged at her, they couldn’t defeat Alice, who was armed with holy power, but except for the few who attacked at first, they didn’t even dare to think of charging at her.

When Alice had killed three or four of them, everyone realized.

Who she was.

How she had gained her reputation among commoners.

How she had brought those haughty nobles into that terrible pig farm and tied them up like swine.

Among commoners, she was called the Holy Virgin; politicians hailed her as the new symbol of the Goddess Church; the Pope referred to her as his direct Inquisitor. But among the priests and holy knights working within the Goddess Church, there was a separate nickname and derogatory term for Alice.

It originated from that building she had established.

“The Butcher…”

One man, whose legs gave out as he watched Alice cutting people into pieces without hesitation as if they were animal carcasses, muttered this while wetting himself.

Alice wiped off a handful of the filthy blood splashed on her face, shook it onto the ground, and quietly glared at the man with her golden eyes.

The man, seemingly anticipating his end, cursed her with a trembling voice.

“You… disgusting thing, I should have recognized it earlier… Of course, someone who would create something like a pig farm… doing such terrible things… you were naturally a whore serving as the Demon Lord’s agent!”

“…Ha.”

“What’s so funny? What have you done right! After leading this world to destruction!”

“You think I did that? Do you really think that I, that the Pope, ruined this world?”

The man nodded.

“What excuse will you make? The Demon Lord was alive, and the Pope and you secretly concealed that fact. To buy time for the Demon Lord to gather strength!”

“You crazy bastard.”

“Are you going to deny it? You are the heretics. Not us!”

“Is that so?”

Alice snorted.

Then she stabbed the tip of her sword into the fallen man’s shin as if driving it in, and said:

“If you’re so confident, why don’t you try using holy power?”

“Argh!”

“Go ahead, draw your sword, heal your wounds, purify that stinking armor and stand up, you bastard.”

“Kuk.”

“Can’t do it? Does God not believe in your innocence?”

“We were deceived… by the Pope… The fact that the so-called false goddess took away all our holy power at such a critical time proves that they deceived us from the beginning…”

“Stop talking nonsense. Your holy power disappeared because of your corruption.”

Alice rebuked him in a low voice, pulled out her sword, and glared at him.

And simultaneously, she released overflowing holy power in all directions before the man’s eyes.

A golden halo seemed to envelop her.

Even without direct contact, just being near her was enough to heal the man’s wounds and clean his soiled armor.

The man felt the pain in his leg diminish.

“Maggot.”

And that was the last sensation the man felt.

Alice instantly severed his head.

“Of all people, this bastard has the most similar build to Ash… Well, since I purified it, it shouldn’t smell, right?”

Alice said this, then picked up the headless corpse and carefully set it aside.

Then she slowly raised her head and looked around.

Corpses, and scattered Goddess Church armor and swords were everywhere.

That scene, ironic as it was, was certainly far from anything holy.

But Alice didn’t care.

The future of the Goddess Church didn’t concern her at all.

Her attention was focused solely on capturing the Demon Lord and ensuring Ash’s happiness afterward.

Besides, she knew well that her remaining life would only last until then anyway.

“Now, let’s see what he’s been doing all this time.”

Alice looked at the large tent located at the innermost part of the camp.

Although no sign of presence could be felt, she could clearly sense an ominous presence flowing from inside that tent.

“Knight Captain Ovid.”

Alice called the name of her former workplace superior as she approached the tent.

.