Chapter 261

Chapter 261

Reincarnated User Manual.

Episode 261: Statue

Amidst the assaults by the apostles, labyrinth disasters, brushes with death, and inexplicably, Siriel’s rescue…

Despite the overwhelming series of chaotic events, Shiron stared at Siriel with an unprecedentedly clear mind.

Shiron was the type of man who could sweetly handle the ‘mistakes’ of a fully mature woman, making it appear as his own fault.

“Siriel. Don’t misunderstand, listen carefully.”

However,

Siriel was uncompromising when it came to love, and the one who had wet herself was Louise, the empress with a partner. Maintaining an appropriate distance was more beneficial for her.

“Uh, yes?”

Pressed by the serious atmosphere, Siriel blushed as Shiron pointed at Louise, lifting her as if she were mere baggage.

“The smell of urine coming from me is because this woman wet herself.”

“…Really?”

“Yes, and for your information, she didn’t sniff around like a pervert; she just leaked because of some unknown crisis, so don’t misunderstand.”

“Ah… okay.”

Siriel could only nod rapidly to Shiron’s flurry of defenses and then, hesitantly, turned her gaze sideways to Louise.

Sniffle-

Tears welled up in her eyes.

Whether it was due to facing a life-threatening situation or the harsh revelation that hurt her feelings, Siriel couldn’t sense even a speck of royal dignity from Louise.

‘She looks so pitiful.’

Siriel felt sympathy. Seeing this, Shiron, reassured that Siriel genuinely pitied Louise, passed her over like a piece of baggage.

Worrying about becoming too friendly and raising her affection, he thought it was fine since Siriel, being of the same gender, could provide appropriate care.

“Anyway, I survived thanks to you.”

Shiron sighed in relief and looked at his burnt prosthetic.

Despite thinking it was considerably useful with various enhancement spells, the mere graze from the attack gave him a chilling feeling.

“…Hmph.”

Shiron raised his head to look at the collapsed ceiling. Just moments before, it had been bombarded with dark, intense shelling, but now it was eerily quiet.

‘Who could it be?’

It wasn’t a question of not knowing.

Shiron was in a place called the [Isolated Labyrinth], situated at the continent’s center.

It was a remote place described simply as ‘at the same distance from any point on the continent.’

Every place was at an equal distance from here—forest, seabed, sky.

No exceptions.

It was an otherworldly location worth exploring, but the important thing was that the Sixth Apostle dumped the byproducts of his power here.

It could be the beasts from the forest or the humans she encountered. And,

The Sixth Apostle could reflect any attack back with his power.

‘It’s not Seira’s magic.’

The origin of the shelling was invisible, and no matter how much he expanded his senses, he felt nothing from the direction it came.

So, Shiron was convinced that the recent shelling was a phenomenon caused by the Sixth Apostle’s power.

But amid this, a troubling question muddled his thoughts.

“Siriel.”

“Why?”

“Did Lucia and Seira move together with you?”

“Yes. When I opened my eyes, I was here, but I didn’t move alone. I gathered the right people to go with.”

“And the lord?”

“Uncle Glen? Uncle is with my father.”

While Siriel was no less confused than Louise, she chose not to probe further, answering only what was asked, trusting that Shiron would eventually sort it out.

‘As expected, Glen stayed with Hugo.’

It wasn’t easy to break the resolve of a man who had seen death, and Shiron thought it was fortunate despite his concerns.

Mana-draining shelling of such magnitude was rare, limited to the Fervent Dragon’s breath or Seira’s ultimate technique.

‘Could Glen buy us some time?’

Shiron thought a new powerhouse rivaling the Sixth Apostle might have appeared on the great plains.

“Let’s hurry up a bit.”

Shiron gestured with his chin towards Siriel.

“Siriel, I’ll go ahead, so you carry this one and run. Can you do that?”

“Okay.”

“I, I can run too.”

Louise said as she stood up from the ground, squinting her eyes at Siriel.

“Madam, it would be best if you just walk along quietly.”

“It’s okay, Sir Knight. I may not wield a sword, but I don’t want to be a burden.”

“…You’re not hurt because you wet yourself, are you?”

“No, that’s not it!”

Louise screamed in protest at Shiron’s teasing remark.

“Really, thinking about how we managed to get here…”

She paused to catch her breath and then calmly continued.

“It’s not my first time fighting monsters, but facing such powerful ones and pushing my body this hard was a first.”

‘Can we just start moving?’

Shiron listened to Louise’s emotional outpouring with one ear and let it pass.

As much as it seemed too much, he has always disliked melodrama and forced sentimentality, even in his past life.

“That’s fine. Neither my brother nor I care about such trivial things, and since we had no expectations, there was no disappointment.”

“That’s not it, Sir Siriel.”

“…Then?”

“I’ve been saved so many times already. If I cause any more trouble, I’ll owe you a debt I can’t repay in a lifetime. And you!”

Tiredly rubbing her eyes, Louise pointed at Shiron with fierce eyes. Shiron, taken aback by being suddenly singled out, pointed his finger towards himself.

“Me?”

“Yes, you!”

“Why me?”

“Me, I’ll go out later. There’s something I need to discuss.”

“…Let’s just get moving quickly.”

Frustrated, Shiron gripped the holy sword and stomped on the stone floor. After a moment, he checked that the two were quietly following behind and then spoke to Latera.

‘Hey.’

[Did you call me?]

‘How much has her favorability increased?’

[It’s not to the point of hate. Perhaps just frustratingly indifferent?]

‘She doesn’t like me, right?’

[Hero, you’ve not only drawn lines but built walls. Would she really feel fondness towards you?]

‘…Right?’

Shiron sighed at the unlikely thought. He could hear Louise and Siriel’s conversation behind him, but he deliberately ignored it.

This labyrinth will be over soon. Although the recent shelling was concerning, with Siriel here, he didn’t need to worry about Louise and could deflect with his shield.

After some time, Shiron discovered a strange altar.

An awkward pile of stones. Shiron picked up a black statue placed on top.

[Ugh!]

An immense concentration of demonic energy.

It was clear whose figure it depicted, without having to say.

Merely touching it caused a sharp pain to engulf his palm. Shiron grimaced and reached out to the following two.

Siriel was pale, but Louise was struggling to breathe because of the demonic energy.

“Hold my hand.”

Shiron didn’t speak further. There was no time to hesitate. Louise gripped her eyes shut and grabbed Shiron’s hand.

He tossed the statue to the ground.

Crash!

The statue of the demon god shattered.

—————

The plains were split by a flash that thundered across the heavens, like a meteor crashing to the ground—a tremendous explosion.

It was hard to believe a sword strike could cause such a noise, but the source was clear.

Sword God Kyrie, holding Sirius, struck the ground with all her might.

Then again,

Boom!

She didn’t scream out. She didn’t need to; the result was close enough to what she desired.

The slice was so powerful it sent chunks of earth skyward. The sword, undiminished in speed, turned the ground upside down.

The boundary between the sky and the earth vanished, and in between, blood mingled and soaked in.

The term “soaked in” was not merely metaphorical but describes exactly what was seen.

Rainbow Circle.

Dozens, hundreds of powers emerged in the air, collecting the pieces of Sisara’s flesh.

“Shouldn’t you just stop now?”

Sisara cackled. Her lips, tongue, and throat—all fragmented, making it impossible to produce sound in normal ways. Yet, magic vibrated the air to create a voice, not a difficult feat for an apostle blessed with divine power.

“You’ve been doing this for days. No matter how much you break my body, I’ll just regenerate and not disappear.”

Sssst—hundreds of pieces of flesh absorbed back into the circle.

“It’d be more efficient to look for your comrades in the meantime. Ahaha! You probably don’t even know where they are, do you?”

“Shut up.”

Lucia clenched her trembling hands and retorted, as Sisara said.

Cutting, reviving, tracking, cutting, reviving, tracking.

It felt like the days and nights had changed about five times already.

She had a body that wouldn’t falter even after staying up all week, but the opponent was an apostle, and searching the plains to her limits without the power of prophecy was taking a clear toll on her body.

“Still got something to say? Just revive and move to the next place already.”

“Ahaha! Your mouth says that, but my eyes see clearly, don’t they? Stop trembling and just say it.”

Sisara laughed mockingly, licking her tongue. As the dirt mounds suspended in the air settled, the hidden eyeballs were fully visible.

It was a grotesque sight. Lucia squeezed her dantian and shot out her energy. Then whoosh! The white energy narrowly split the eyeballs floating in the air.

A few days ago, she might have leapt far to smash them at any petty provocation, but at some point, Lucia’s battles became more about efficiency.

Reducing several slashes to one, maintaining just enough power in her energy bursts to cut the skin…

…To be honest, she was reaching her limit. She wasn’t sure if the next strike could truly crush the apostle and incapacitate them.

‘I have to do it.’

But she had to. Lucia wiped the blood trickling from her nose and gritted her teeth.

Her hands trembled, her head was dizzy, and her dantian felt as shriveled as her lips, as if squeezing it further would break something inside.

‘Should I have followed Glen’s advice?’

If she had enhanced her prophecies like Glen said, she might have saved more energy. Regret came too late, and now even that was a luxury.

The rainbow still hung in the air. Now, the remaining pieces of flesh that hadn’t been sucked into it must be chased down again.

Only a part of Sisara’s face recognized him. She scoffed at the situation turning in her favor and attempted to enter the circle.

…!

That’s when it happened.

Sisara felt an unfamiliar pain.

In her chest, already shifting to another coordinate for regeneration, a burning heat was felt. Confusion marred her face, sweat beads forming.

“…Ugh.”

What in the world was happening? Sisara tried to peer beyond the circle with one eye left.

The sight beyond the rainbow was shocking.

A headless angel.

First Apostle Jaganata had his hand plunged into Sisara’s chest.

“Why…?”

Sisara asked in a trembling voice. Why, if they served the same god, why…

Just as she grasped the situation, Jaganata’s voice was heard.

“A prophecy has decreed your death.”

The black circle spiked erratically.

Puff!

A spike-like hand pulled fragments from Sisara’s chest.

“To die? What… soon, the time…”

Sisara’s words trailed off as her body cracked apart.

The flesh that the mighty sword energy couldn’t destroy scattered weakly in the prairie breeze.

“It is the will of the Lord.”