Ch.371Changed NPCs. (1)

Before the fall of Aigram.

A massive holy spell, painted as black as pitch, capable of instantly purifying even the demonic energy of the Seven Deadly Sins accumulated over hundreds of years, pressed down upon the sky. Beneath it, swords and hammers that seemed to touch the heavens began to fall mercilessly toward the city where humans lived.

“…sh, it.”

Despite having her limbs torn apart and wings burst open, Avaritia felt an indignant sorrow that brought her to tears as she faced another holy spell that seemed to mock her resistance. Still, she raised her trembling arms toward the sky.

She could still escape if she wanted to. Though her limbs were stripped to the bone and her wings reduced to rags, she wasn’t completely devoid of demonic energy. If she truly decided to save only herself, she still had more escape methods than she could count on one hand.

“SUPERBIA!!!”

If she fled now, if she lost the land she had cultivated without putting up any resistance… she would be left as an empty shell, alive but not truly living, having lost desires more important than life itself. Avaritia instinctively felt that she would lose her entire reason for existence and her pride as the embodiment of greed to that man, so she abandoned the idea of escape. And then…

“How amusing. A demon dying for humans? Well, that’s fine. All I need is your core anyway.”

“You old snake bastard!!! Just you wait!! Wait for me in hell!!!”

As a result, her nearly depleted demonic energy and the power of greed vanished into steam before they could even touch the sword and hammer.

And because she was resisting, she realized something. She wouldn’t die from this attack. She could feel that the attack was being restrained, held back just enough to keep her alive. That realization filled her with such indignation and frustration that bloody tears overflowed without her control, leaving only her vulgar self spewing profanities. She wouldn’t die from this attack, but her lifelong desire would end here tod—

“HYAAAH!!!”

-CRASH!!!

“Hmm?”

“Uh…”

“FIRE!!!”

-BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

The massive hammer falling from the sky first was stopped mid-air after colliding with a human’s hammer. Following that, all kinds of magical bombardments began targeting the holy formation and sword. The Pope standing on the second floor of the destroyed mansion and Avaritia, whose wings had become complete rags and who was gradually beginning to fall from the sky, both turned their gaze downward. And then…

“Fire!! Fire!! Pour out all your magic!! Block the attack!!”

“”””UOOOOH!!!””””

Fireball!! Wind Buster!! Ice Lance!! Spear Needle!! And more—mages casting rapid-fire spells from low to mid-level, even high-level magic, and others swinging magic swords to reduce the damage from the falling holy spells—these were the gold and white-ranked adventurers that Avaritia had spent capital to bring in for city defense since before the war. And…

“Anyone below gold rank, quickly evacuate the citizens!!! Coordinate with the guards to get out of the city!!!”

“M-my child! Over there!! My child!!”

“Don’t worry!! We’ll get them!! Run away now!!”

“Abandon the carriages!! Just take the horses and ride out!!!”

“Make them dump all the cargo from the freight wagons!! Load the elderly and weak!!”

“Here!! Over here!! The casino’s large carriage is here!! Don’t push!! There’s room for everyone!! Slowly!! Children, women, and the elderly first!!!”

“Use our guild’s carriages too!! Load everyone! People first!!”

“Guild Master!! We’re departing with the carriages carrying children!! You should get on a carriage too!!!”

The city’s people began to flee, pulling others from the debris of collapsed buildings and the falling holy attacks, loading them onto carriages as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

They had already known that Aigram had become a target for declaration of war by both the Holy Nation and the Empire. They had been prepared to flee at any time, and when the massive holy spell appeared in the sky, they were convinced that Aigram had become a target and began to escape. And seeing this, Avaritia…

-Grin.

“Heheh, that’s right. Fuck it. As long as the humans survive, as long as those tools survive… money will… somehow… work out…”

Satisfied to see her “assets” that she had prepared and anticipated for escaping on their own, she smiled contentedly as she fell toward the ground…

-GRAB!!

“…Huh?”

“My, my! Who would have thought our mayor was a demon! Well! You live and learn!!”

-BOOM!!!

As the massive hammer falling from the sky disintegrated into powder and evaporated, and the sword beside it lost its form under the magical bombardment and began to fall to the ground in pieces, Avaritia gaped blankly at the human who had caught her mid-fall and brought her safely to the ground. This man…

“We’ve met once before. You weren’t replaced in the meantime, were you? I’m Devil, the Guildmaster of Aigram.”

Looking at the man who smiled with his scarred face saying “Remember me?”, Avaritia found herself nodding unconsciously. Of course she knew him. Where was it from? He was definitely a white-ranked adventurer who had come from Ponia. He had retired from active duty due to his age… but that didn’t look like retirement?

“So, what’s that old monster up there?”

“…Y-you. I’m…”

“Hmm? What, that you’re a demon? Is that important right now? Weren’t you the one protecting the city until just now? Oh, was that not you?”

Saying his eyesight was getting poor these days, Guildmaster Devil carefully set Avaritia down and began looking up at the Pope on the second floor of the mansion, holding a hammer as massive as his own body.

Wait, his eyesight doesn’t seem bad at all? If he can tell that’s an old monster from this distance, his vision must be better than average people’s.

“If an attack like that falls again, everyone will die before they can escape. So, can you still fight?”

“…I barely have enough demonic energy to maintain my physical form.”

Though it wasn’t quite that dire, she exaggerated a bit. “I see. That won’t do then,” said the Guildmaster, and he immediately raised his voice.

“Hey!! You all!! Those who’ve run out of magic, take the mayor away!! I’ll handle that old monster!!”

“Hey!! Guildmaster! We’ll help too…!!”

“No!! Another attack like before might come!! I’m counting on you for defense!!”

Indeed, though there had been only two attacks so far, both had been more than sufficient to obliterate the entire city. And the Pope’s expression remained far too relaxed despite all his deadly attacks being blocked. Clearly, it wouldn’t be strange if a third attack fell immediately.

‘…Then, while this Guildmaster holds him off, I’ll gather my demonic energy…’

She didn’t think this man would win. She didn’t think that even if she gathered her demonic energy, she could block the next attack. However…

“I’ll be back in a moment th—?!”

-CRASH!!!

“Damn! For an old geezer, you’ve got the vigor of a young man?!”

“…Young man over there. Do you not realize that what you’re protecting is a demon? Are you perhaps blind?”

“Who are you calling blind?! My eyes are just a bit dim!! And thanks for thinking I’m young!!”

The Guildmaster blocked the holy spell that came flying at me specifically this time, not targeting the entire city, and stood in front of me.

-Kyung♡

‘…Huh? Kyung? What was that sound just now?’

“Step aside. It pains my heart to destroy a young man with his whole life ahead of him with my own hands.”

“Have you gone senile? Weren’t you the one who cast that holy spell earlier? What kind of talk is that from an old monster who tried to kill children much younger than me?”

“…Tsk. How did such a monster end up in a place like this?”

“A monster calling a human a monster? You really have gone senile.”

-CRASH!!!

-BANG!!!

The Guildmaster charged through, blocking the holy spell’s explosion with the face of his hammer, swinging it with enough force to smash the Pope’s head. And the old monster blocked the attack with a holy spell while firing a beam like Ragni’s gun with his other hand. The surroundings were completely destroyed by their battle, and the white-ranked adventurers coming to retrieve the mayor couldn’t even approach properly with their barriers and shields.

“Ugh!! G-Guildmaster!! A little help!!”

“We need to get away from the mayor to approach!”

“Huh?! Hey, dodge!!”

-CRASH!!! BOOM!!!

“”ARGH?!!””

“Have you been bewitched by a demon? I told you I cannot hand over that mayor. Are you adventurers unable to understand simple words?”

“You senile old man!! You’re the one bewitched by that beauty!!!”

“?!”

-Kyung♡

-BANG!!

“What nonsense are you spouting? Do you know you’re committing an atrocity against me, the Pope—”

“Oh my! A Pope doing this to a young woman?! Have you gone into heat at your age?! Making such a beautiful woman look like that—there’s nowhere to look!!”

-Kyung kyung kyung♡♥

-BANG!! CLANG!! CRACK!!

“Kuh… What brute strength?!”

“I was originally a swordsman!! But because you destroyed the guild building, I’ve been swinging this hammer like a brute!! Take this!! Fly away with your barrier!!”

-CRASH!!!

The Guildmaster truly sent the Pope flying, barrier and all, with his hammer. He then threw his increasingly tattered hammer at the Pope’s barrier before immediately running to Avaritia, picking her up in a princess carry, and starting to flee.

-Kyung♥!

‘…Th-this sound is coming from my lower abdomen, right?!’

“Hey!! I’ve got the mayor!! If you’re adventurers, take care of yourselves!!”

“Argh!! Guildmaster, you cheating bastard!!”

“You’ll pay for this later!!”

Though they were injured from the attack, everyone except the mayor had no problems with their legs. And as they split up completely to throw off pursuit…

-RUMBLE…!!

“That crazy old monster…!!”

Once again, holy formations appeared in the sky, this time with spears and hammers about twice the size of the previous ones, and countless swords filling the sky. It was clearly an attack that would tear the sky, crush the earth, and completely erase the city. As he fled, the Guildmaster dejectedly muttered, “This looks fatal. Well, dying with such a beauty might be a gain in itself.”

“Nnngh…!♥ H-hey, no, I mean, you, no!! Y-you!!”

“Oh, Mayor. Feeling better? Is there any way to stop th—”

“Do you… trust me?!”

“Huh?”

Avaritia, who had been listening to him all along, grabbed his neck with teary eyes and asked. The Guildmaster smiled casually, pulling up the corners of his mouth.

“Well, I’m an adventurer. Between a religious zealot who kills people and a demon who protects people, I’d trust the demon, wouldn’t I?”

“Ugh…!!♡ Th-then! K-kiss me!!”

The mayor’s face turned red all the way to her ears at the words she blurted out without thinking. The Guildmaster, who stopped running and stared blankly at her, looked once at the hopeless sky and once more at the mayor before saying, “I don’t really like giving up.”

“It’s not giving up!! I-if you kiss me!! If you share some of your vitality…!!”

“Ah! I see?!”

Though he didn’t understand exactly, looking at the mayor’s appearance, the Guildmaster concluded, ‘This must be what they call a succubus, a demon that drains energy,’ and immediately pressed his lips against hers.

-♡♥♡

“Slurp…! Puha!”

“Wow, so this is what a succubus or whatever is like? But somehow, you don’t seem very good at kiss—”

“Sh-shut up…!! Here!!!”

-SLASH!!

“Exploitation and plunder are the essence of greed!! You exploited beings!! You plundered subjects!! Do not present yourselves to me!! Do not seek me out!!! For I am the only exploiter in this world!! Open! Injustice Space!!”

At the moment when half of Aigram began to collapse under the pressure of the holy spell, every living being under her control sank beneath the ground.