Ch.181181. Saint

The Demon of Struggle, Valkyria’s spear precisely cuts through the space between me and Darius.

I thought I had dodged it well and it was a good opportunity to counterattack Valkyria as her body lurched forward.

“Don’t underestimate me.”

The moment her wings fluttered, intense heat erupted from the spear and engulfed us.

“Argh!”

Darius fell backward, covering his face with both arms. I was worried he might have suffered burns, but now was the time for action rather than concern.

My right hand, spinning in a spiral motion, absorbs the pouring heat. I graze over the extended spear and throw a punch toward Valkyria.

But the moment her wings fluttered again, she had already vanished from before me and was smiling cunningly from far behind.

‘The attack itself isn’t threatening to me, but that mobility using her wings is the problem.’

Glancing at Darius, I see holy power descending upon him.

Thanks to that, his burns are healing, and Darius forcibly catches his breath and stands up again.

Looking around, I see Tairn struggling against Dune, the Demon of Pride, with Lucia supporting him.

Her holy power was indeed effective against the great demons, but…

‘It’s not working well.’

Even though the demons were cautious knowing the power of holy energy, Lucia’s lack of combat experience was also a factor.

Originally, a Saintess isn’t someone who fights demons, but one who heals and cares for the living.

While she could protect against demons, defeating them required skill and experience.

Anyway, thanks to Lucia, Tairn was holding his ground against Dune, but…

“Where’s Feiren?”

The moment I mention the name of the Demon of Worship, as if in response, a small boy-like figure pops out from behind Lucia.

“Peekaboo!”

Feiren appears with a grin and tries to thrust his hand into Lucia’s back, but…

Purple flames ignite from empty space and wrap around Feiren’s hand.

[How cunning!]

The Dark Spiritmaster had been hiding nearby, protecting Lucia.

Seemingly displeased that his attack was blocked, Feiren reaches for the Dark Spiritmaster instead of Lucia.

“Goddess who executes justice!”

But in that brief opening, Lucia’s holy power shoots like a beam straight toward Feiren.

He dodges the direct hit by arching his back, but one of his ten tails, resembling a cow’s tail, gets grazed.

“Aaaaargh!”

His tail begins to burn with white flames that spread rapidly. If Feiren hadn’t torn off his own tail out of survival instinct, his entire body would have been consumed by the holy flames.

Badly burned, he scurries away on all fours between Valkyria and Dune. As he cowers and trembles, Valkyria snickers mockingly.

“Didn’t I tell you not to underestimate holy power?”

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

Angered by Valkyria’s mockery, Feiren pounds the ground with the five horns on his forehead.

A power that only one person among all humans on the continent can use.

With overwhelming healing ability and the power to purify and annihilate evil.

This explained why Magan had targeted Lucia in his first ambush.

[Waaah! I thought I was going to be annihilated too!]

The Dark Spiritmaster flies to me with a tearful expression. Holy power is apparently fatal to souls as well, and the Dark Spiritmaster nearly got caught in it.

“I-I’m sorry.”

The Saintess apologizes to the Dark Spiritmaster. While Lucia and I could see the Dark Spiritmaster, to Darius and Tairn it looked like she was apologizing to thin air, which confused them even in this difficult situation.

“But having the Saintess with us definitely helps us hold out.”

“Indeed, she’s truly remarkable.”

I can’t benefit from her power since I’m with Vellica’s soul.

But Tairn and Darius were certainly reaping the benefits of the holy power.

Of course, compared to how exponentially stronger Magan had become through the banquet, the three demons before us were weaker, but…

At least we were putting up resistance against the great demons we normally couldn’t have faced easily, buying time.

“Th-thank you.”

But Lucia wasn’t in good condition.

As I mentioned earlier, combat was unfamiliar to her, so her breathing was quite rough, and her holy power had diminished considerably compared to the beginning.

‘Deia needs to come.’

I needed to buy time until Deia, who had gone to retrieve the Holy Grail after immediately understanding my intention, arrived.

“Conserve your strength as much as possible.”

As I step in front of Lucia and caution her, she shakes her head.

“No, I can do it.”

“You are our hope. So use it only when it’s truly necessary.”

“Heh, hehe.”

She unexpectedly laughs. Wondering why, I slightly turn my head to look at her, and Lucia mutters self-deprecatingly.

“Really?”

“……”

“Liar.”

Pure white holy power once again pours into Darius and Tairn.

The two men, who should have been exhausted after multiple battles, set up a crude formation as if they had just drawn their swords, fresh as warriors.

The great demons flash their eyes, trying to break through our formation.

Even though they couldn’t use their full power due to the holy energy, the fighting spirit and pressure they emitted threatened to devour us if we lost focus for even a moment.

“You think you’re something special because we went easy on you?”

Whoosh!

As a blinding wind blows, feathers reminiscent of angel wings flutter in the air.

Valkyria, confident in her mobility, suddenly flies up and plunges down with her spear.

Tairn, with the highest defense, desperately raises his staff to block, but one of his knees buckles, creating a crater in the floor.

“Nnnghh!”

He groans turbidly, biting his teeth so hard that blood trickles down his jawline.

Darius quickly embraces Lucia and leaps away to prevent her from being caught in the shockwave.

Taking advantage of this opening, the remaining two demons charge forward.

Feiren disappears into darkness again, while Dune, who had been scraping the ground with his hooves, begins charging at full speed.

[Dune first! Feiren has weaker decisive power!]

As Vellica said, my body was already moving toward Dune. With the help of the spider legs on my back, I engage in a frontal battle against Dune’s charge.

I swing my right hand widely to strike Dune, but he responds by extending his fist forward.

Despite his skin being torn upon contact with my spiraling right hand, it immediately regenerates.

“You use the power of a great demon to fight us. Is that the pride of humans?”

Dune poses a profound question.

His three eyes look at me as if testing me.

I continue my standoff with Dune without bothering to answer. I tried to quickly push him back and block Feiren, but his resistance was stronger than expected.

Eventually, Feiren revealed himself in front of Darius and Lucia.

Darius, who had leaped while embracing Lucia, desperately swings his sword, but…

“Now I’m serious.”

Feiren, having lost one tail, meets the swinging sword with a grotesquely distorted face.

The horns on his forehead mercilessly shatter Darius’s sword, but they don’t stop there and continue to pierce his chest.

Crack!

With the sound of ribs breaking, Darius flies away at tremendous speed. He hits the wall, coughs blood, and collapses to the floor.

Seeing Darius fly away, Lucia instinctively wants to go to the patient but forcibly fixes her gaze on Feiren.

She shoots holy power again.

But Feiren, who had already been hit once, raises the corner of his mouth and dodges it with elegant movements.

He reaches out to break Lucia’s neck, but…

This time, an immense amount of holy power spreads from her entire body.

She pours it out with the determination to finish him off, not allowing him to dodge, but…

Feiren, having been burned once, had already created a significant distance the moment holy power gathered in Lucia’s body.

“Hah! Hah! Hah!”

In the end, the full-power holy energy was shot without any effect. That seemed to be her last, as Lucia’s legs give out and she collapses.

“It’s over.”

With Dune’s cold declaration, his arm gradually lowers. I immediately pull my hand back and look at Lucia.

I’m sorry.

In a miserable state where she can’t even make a sound.

Her lip movements convey an apology to me.

Now only I remain.

Tairn was pushed back by Valkyria’s attack and fell through the floor to the level below, while Darius is barely breathing.

Lucia has exhausted all her holy power and can’t move a finger.

The great demons now surround me from three directions.

“I suppose we’ve had a decent warm-up.”

“Tch, I lost one tail.”

“Is this the end?”

The great demons dismiss our desperate battle as trivial.

[What do we do now?]

[Deus…..]

Vellica and the Dark Spiritmaster sigh beside me. With the Saintess Lucia down, one could say the tide had turned against us, but…

At that moment, a voice comes from the collapsed wall of the banquet hall.

“Master!”

Despite being covered in blood and wounds, Findenai greets me with a hearty smile, having heard of my return.

And Elenoa and Deia have returned as well.

“I’ve got it!”

Deia holds up the box containing the Holy Grail.

The demons detect the divine energy leaking from the box.

The three demons instantly realize that the object inside the box is extremely threatening and rush forward.

Feiren runs on all fours toward Deia with his horns extended, but Findenai’s axe swings from the side, interfering with him.

Valkyria flutters her wings and flies like an arrow, her spear thrusting sharply, but the magic Elenoa emits alters the spear’s trajectory, piercing the box instead of Deia, and…

Crack!

As the box breaks, the Holy Grail inside reveals its brilliant form.

A momentary gap.

As Deia lifts the Holy Grail and is about to throw it…

“How foolish.”

Dune is already standing in front of Lucia.

“You would replenish holy power through the Holy Grail. That would indeed have been threatening to us.”

But in focusing on the Holy Grail, they failed to protect the Saintess.

As Dune’s massive fist extends upward, about to plunge into Lucia…

“The foolish one is you, goat head.”

The corner of Deia’s mouth curls up.

The Holy Grail leaves her hand, flying in a parabolic arc.

With a deep resonance, the fallen Grail rolls to stop right at my feet.

I nudge it upright with my toe.

The gazes of all three great demons turn to me.

A being who, like them, cannot accept holy power.

They look at the Holy Grail placed before me—who had been fighting without Lucia’s blessing because I was using the power of the great demon Vellica—with expressions of utter incomprehension.

“You were right, Lucia.”

I look down at the Holy Grail and answer honestly.

What Lucia said earlier was correct.

I was a liar.

To deceive the enemy…

I had to deceive my allies first.

I deceived Darius and Tairn, but…

Only Lucia noticed my lie.

In this battle, she wasn’t the hope. But I had to make it appear as if she was.

The Dark Spiritmaster, sensing something, moves far away from me.

The spider legs on my back and the spiral right hand naturally fade away.

Vellica’s eyes on my shoulder return to those of an ordinary human, and the pair of horns on my forehead disappear.

Slowly like that…

Vellica vanishes…

And the Saintess descends.

[You shouldn’t touch the Holy Grail carelessly. It’s dangerous even for me as a spirit.]

“I know.”

Stella smiles gently, seemingly satisfied with my answer.

The moment her teal eyes capture the evil beings before her, the great demons shrink back and retreat.

Having lost her holy power, Stella suffered unspeakable atrocities at the hands of demons.

Both her eyes were gouged out.

Her left hand was cut off.

Both her legs rotted and decayed.

She was mocked by demons for days on end, and among them was the great demon Magan.

Here…

We needed to shift our perspective a bit.

Only after she lost her holy power could the demons approach Stella.

Even the great demon, who was the leader of the Republic of Clark and viewed humans as mere food, waited for the moment she lost her power.

[Merciful Goddess Hertia.]

Why did demons who treated humans so lightly hold their breath and wait for the moment when God abandoned this woman?

[This lowly woman once again seeks your grace here.]

Now, the answer lay before me.

[Give me strength.]

The woman who made even great demons tremble in fear and watch cautiously…

[The strength to destroy evil.]

Finishes her prayer and gazes upon evil.