Ch.347Authorized NPC (3)

“Alright, let’s stop the jokes here. Let’s change the mood…”

“I wasn’t joking?”

“Go fall to your death. Particularly with your crotch hitting the ground first.”

“……”

If you keep this up, I’m going to leave, okay? Especially you, Ragni—with your current stats, if you pounce on me, I really can’t escape. Plus, I left Ira behind, so let’s stop this nonsense, shall we?

When I spoke with a hint of sincerity, Ragni reluctantly nodded, and the Chancellor clicked his tongue in a show of disapproval. Sigh.

“So, you’re saying that the Church guy used an ability that turned everything around him to dust?”

“You sound like you already knew about it?”

“Yes. Honestly, even with Gorn or Rey—or even you—there didn’t seem to be a way to counter that.”

The Chancellor keeps trying to probe how I know about these guys, but Ragni skillfully redirects the conversation. Well, it’s not like the Chancellor could figure out my past life story from a few slips of the tongue. I might as well take advantage of Ragni’s help.

“That’s the power used by the Seven Deadly Sins of Sloth. It ‘makes everything slothful,’ regardless of whether it’s living or inanimate, stopping their very existence and ultimately returning them to nothingness. Stopping the opponent’s time is similar. More precisely, it makes the opponent’s body or thoughts slothful, preventing them from functioning.”

“For something like that, there was no stopping of breath or bodily malfunction?”

“You weren’t slowed down by direct contact with him, right? If he had activated his power through direct touch, your heart would have temporarily stopped.”

“Hmm. True, I was never slowed by direct contact. But the maximum was only about 9 seconds, so I doubt stopping for that long would cause instant death. Actually, the assistant did make contact with him once, but he slowed her before she could touch him.”

The Chancellor said he couldn’t track the assistant’s movements and couldn’t stop after being attacked. Hearing this, I tilt my head in confusion.

9 seconds? That’s strange. In the game, it was a 15-second time stop. Is reality weaker? If the Chancellor wasn’t here, I would have discussed this more with Ragni, but I’ll let it slide for now.

“Anyway, about that power that turns surroundings to dust. Even if you or Ragni with your abundant magical power had direct contact, it wouldn’t have caused instant death.”

“…Everything around me and my magic turned to dust, but you’re saying it wouldn’t have killed me instantly?”

“Yes. Even though it’s a power, it’s still an ability that demons handle with demonic energy, right? If it were an ability that could instantly kill anything, they would have used it freely from the start to do whatever they wanted.”

“So, if I touch that smoke, my magic power disappears first, and then my body turns to dust?”

“That’s right. So when you have plenty of magic power left, there’s no need to be too scared.”

“…You talk well. But you have no magic power, so why are you here?”

Surely you didn’t come just to tell us that? The Chancellor gives me another sidelong glance, and I shrug my shoulders. Come on, let’s move past the earlier jokes. And…

“Of course not. Even if magic power disappears first, you’ll still die if you touch it. So I came to tell you how to attack him effectively during that interval, and to fight alongside you.”

“Then you could have just said that briefly. Why was all that nonsense earlier necessary…”

“Alright! I’ll tell you, so please stop bringing that up!!”

Seriously, why is this old man so desperate to tear into me?! I did it because it was necessary, and it just got a bit excessive! Stop grilling me!!

“Tch.”

“Hmph~ Are you jealous?”

“Assistant. Is it this mouth that spouts nonsense? Is this muzzle the problem?”

“Ugh?!! W-wait!! You’re crushing my cheeks!!”

“Sigh, anyway. About how to attack without touching that smoke—it’s not particularly difficult. Just throw a large piece of cover as bait for the smoke, and while the smoke is busy turning that cover to dust, that direction will be clear of smoke. That’s when you can attack more easily than you’d think. If you’ve already figured out how to counter the mechanism… that power that stops opponents, you would have noticed this too after fighting him for a while.”

I never thought they would completely counter the mechanism that applies a near-time-stop slow effect on opponents. How should I put it? When a deus ex machina and the smartest raid boss on this continent team up, the most troublesome mechanism of the EP.7 boss just evaporates.

“Hmm. Now that you mention it, when the smoke was approaching us, it did seem to slow down when it was turning the undead to dust.”

“I remember that too. When the corridor pillars were turning to dust, the smoke in that direction seemed to pause briefly.”

“Well, now that we know the strategy, the three of us should go. Where do we need to go down?”

“Hmm. He’s below this imperial palace…?”

After hearing my explanation, the Chancellor confidently starts to take the lead but suddenly stops and tilts his head. Huh? What’s wrong now?

“…He’s not below the imperial palace anymore.”

“What?”

After saying that, the Chancellor seriously taps his staff on the ground several times and looks outside where I broke in. Uh, what’s going on? Don’t tell me he escaped…

“…This madman is heading to the church through the fallen underground. He’s already moved quite far.”

“The church? What’s there—”

“Damn it. Ira!! Rey, Gorn!”

As soon as I heard the Chancellor’s words, I looked outside through the entrance I had broken through, and…

-Boom…!!

Seeing the explosive smoke rising from the church and the giant Gorn striking the ground, I immediately jumped outside.

*

“High Priest Militz Prime. Have you truly gone mad?”

“Kah-hack! …Don’t talk nonsense, High Priest Torrens Martini. It’s you and the Church who have gone mad. Such insane actions could never be forgiven by the Lord!!”

High Priest Torrens Martini fell into the underground of the imperial palace after the combined attack of the Chancellor and Ragni. And when he stopped after dissolving the ground endlessly with the power of Sloth, he found himself in an underground passage connecting to the church.

“Are you truly betraying the Pope and the Church? What did they offer you to commit such a foolish betrayal…!”

“All I received was time for confession and a way to repent for my sins!! I am a priest who serves the Lord, not a pawn for the insane actions of the Pope and the Church!!”

—Boom!!!

The reason Torrens Martini came to the church instead of pursuing the Chancellor and Ragni was because he felt the connection to the superior demon of Sloth he was using—the path through which life force from the Empire’s people was accumulated in the church and directed to him through holy law—was strangely weakening and narrowing. And that was because…

“Tch. The Pope lacked judgment. To appoint such a traitor, such a heretic-influenced piece of trash as a High Priest.”

“You bark with that open mouth. I met them here. The true angel and holy knight!!”

—Crash!!!

A traitor who, captivated by Ira and Rey who had punished them, was risking his life to undo the holy law they had built up over years. This created a situation where he encountered Militz Prime, and now High Priest Torrens was engaged in battle with him.

—Bang!!

—Boom!!!

“Is that power truly the power of the Lord?! No!! It’s merely the rotten demonic power I foolishly protected by submitting to you!! Isn’t that right, Torrens!!!”

“Power is determined by those who use it! Even demonic power, when used by the Church and His Holiness the Pope, is the will of the Lord! Why don’t you understand that, Militz!!!”

The path connected to the power of Sloth is a holy law installed by the Church in the Empire over several years. High Priest Militz was trying to undo it at the cost of his life, but before he could completely undo it, his opponent entered through the tunnel, forcing him into a difficult battle. However…

“Puheh?!!”

“Tsk. You alone could never stop me!”

Despite coughing blood from excessive use of holy law and resisting with all his might against High Priest Torrens who was using the power of Sloth, the face of High Priest Militz was…

“Kekek…! Why do you think I’m alone? I told you, I was able to confess to the angel and the holy knight.”

He was smiling joyfully with a face full of dark blood and blue veins that looked ready to burst. Because he thought that he could finally serve properly as a priest for the weak, and do something, however small, for the Empire’s people he had hurt.

“You’ve truly gone mad. I know you have little holy power left, so where are these angels and holy knights you speak of?”

“Kuk! Kuk! Yes, you cannot see them, Torrens.”

Squeezing out all his holy power to block Torrens who was wielding the power of Sloth at the front of the tunnel, Militz violently expends his holy power to bombard the power of Sloth with holy law again, as if he didn’t care if he died right now. Because he believes…

“They are coming now. The divine punishment that will fall upon you…!!”

“…Tsk. That’s enough, die now. After killing you, I’ll personally absorb the Empire’s heretics.”

Not that he himself would survive here. Rather than believing in such a trivial thing…

“You’ve held out well. The sealing behind where the people are has been completed.”

“Your words honor me. Thank you, Holy Knight. Kuluk…”

“A blonde swordsman? As I thought, you’ve merely sold your soul to the enemy—”

—Thud…!

“Not that… huh?”

He believed that someone else, someone holy, would appear here to punish the enemies of the Lord and the powerless people.

—Boom…!!

“Are you planning to collapse the tunnel? Do you think I would die just because a mere tunnel collapses… Huh? Where did you—”

“You won’t die from the tunnel collapsing. You’ll die crushed like a bug.”

“Who…?!!”

—BOOOOOM!!!

As something of enormous weight forcibly stomped down, crushing what could no longer be described as merely a collapsed tunnel, High Priest Militz, quickly carried away by the blonde swordsman Rey, let out a loud laugh despite coughing blood. Believing that his faith had once again been rewarded.

“Hahaha!! Divine punishment!! The footsteps of God have punished you, Torrens!!!”

And what answered his laughter was…

“I don’t know about divine punishment, but it is my foot. Thanks to you, I ran 300 laps around the master and the clock tower listening to the strategy. To think you’d crawl into a place full of cover on your own—are you an idiot?”

It was the sound of Gorn, who had grown to her maximum size, stomping on the tunnel repeatedly like crushing a bug.