Crimson Lion
by Afuhfuihgs
Elly, who had been pushed to the floor by Ross, urgently shouted when she saw the guinea pig, whose body had swollen up like a balloon, hugging Ross from behind.
“Ross-“
Elly’s words were cut short. The guinea pig, having reached its limit, exploded. It wasn’t an explosion of flesh and blood. As if the guinea pig had originally been a doll, it turned into countless pieces of paper, wrapping around Ross’s body.
“…Ah.”
Before the bitter smile on Ross’s lips could fade, his eyes went blank, and he lost consciousness, his face and body falling forward defenselessly. Elly, quickly regaining her senses, threw herself forward and caught Ross.
“Ross…? Ross!”
No matter how much Elly shook his shoulders and slapped his cheeks, Ross didn’t regain consciousness. He was like a brain-dead vegetable, without any injuries, just with his soul gone. Elly tried to peel off the countless pieces of paper that used to be the guinea pig, which were stuck to Ross’s body, but she couldn’t do anything, as they had become like skin.
「Elly, it’s no use. He’s already-」
“Shut up!”
The Cult Leader, who had blocked Elly’s magic, was about to say something again, but Lycan immediately launched a surprise attack, forcing him to turn around. Elly felt an unfamiliar fear. It was similar to the fear she had felt when Ross had completely forgotten her once before.
She had barely managed to regain her place as his friend, and now she had to lose Ross again. That was what Elly feared most. Elly, staring at Ross who looked like he was just dumbly asleep, snapped out of it at Raellan’s shout.
“Snap out of it! Ross isn’t dead. Even if the alliance with the Demon King is over, the Cult Leader still needs Ross, his Apostle. Whether he’s in a coma or sealed away… even if he’s unconscious, Ross isn’t dead!”
“…That’s right.”
Cassius, who had fought Elly, was planning to take Ross to the cult to confront the Cult Leader, even if it meant kidnapping him. If they had just wanted to kill Ross, the guinea pig’s body exploding would have been enough. Clearly, the Cult Leader had a purpose for the body of Ross, the ‘Apostle’.
Elly, with one arm gone, gripped her staff and thought for a moment. Then she realized how she could save Ross. There was only one person in the world, a great wizard who had received a special [Authority] from God.
Elly shouted to everyone.
“The Adjuster! To save Ross, we have to take him to the Adjuster!”
「…As expected, Elly is smart. She figured out the solution right away.」
The Cult Leader, who had pushed Lycan away, nodded as if impressed and said.
「But this time, you won’t escape my grasp. Elly.」
A condensed aura of chaos formed the shape of a blade and flew towards Elly’s limbs. Elly immediately countered with magic, but the blade, imbued with the aura of [Destruction], annihilated the magic. Instinctively hugging Ross’s body, Elly suddenly raised her head at the sound she heard near her ear.
Kang-!
Rakarr, who had barely managed to block the surging blade with his twin swords, shouted over his shoulder.
“What are you doing? You said you’d save the club president! Get Ross and go up somehow. If you go to the 6th floor of the labyrinth from the top of the tower, you can meet the Headmaster outside!”
「Just a dummy…!」
“Kane, Aria! Leave this to me and protect the club president!”
At Rakarr’s words, Kane urgently replied.
“Rakarr, you come with us too…!”
“I’ll be with the professor. Don’t worry and go!”
As Rakarr shouted that, he drew up magic power throughout his body, and the tattoos all over his body turned red as if they were burning, setting his top on fire.
Kane knew that no persuasion would work on Rakarr, who had entered a berserker state, so she grabbed Aria’s wrist, who was still awkwardly looking at Ross. Looking into Aria’s tearful eyes, Kane pleaded.
“Aria, I know you hate Ross to death. But Ross really cherishes you. So, for now… let’s save our friend. Okay?”
Aria, who had been confused, nodded slightly at Kane’s request. She hated him enough to want to kill him, but conversely, Ross was a friend she cherished enough to hate that much.
“Thank you, Aria!”
Kane, smiling happily at Aria’s agreement, approached Elly. Elly, who was hugging Ross, looked like she was about to collapse from excessive use of magic while having lost a lot of blood.
“Let’s do some first aid first. At this rate, you’ll die before Ross does.”
“…I’m fine.”
“What do you mean you’re fine!”
Kane, taking out a pre-made special healing potion, poured the contents on Elly’s torn-off arm. The missing arm didn’t grow back, but the torn flesh grew anew, making the end of Elly’s left arm blunt. Not stopping there, Kane handed Elly an acute fatigue recovery drink and knelt down, turning her back to Elly and said.
“Okay, now put Ross on my back.”
“…Okay.”
Elly, putting her staff on the ground, was helped by Aria to put Ross on Kane’s back. Kane, as if that wasn’t enough, took out a long rope from her potion bag and tied herself and Ross tightly together so they wouldn’t fall apart.
At that moment, Lycan and the Cult Leader collided with a tremendous roar.
Kwaaaang―――!
Amidst that roar, Raellan’s voice, who was desperately clinging to Confession’s ankles alone, could be heard.
“Ignore everything and run to the castle gate!”
At that shout, Kane, carrying Ross on her back, blindly started running towards the tightly closed castle gate. Aria and Elly followed behind Kane.
The Cult Leader, unable to chase Kane because of Lycan who was stubbornly clinging on despite having part of his head crushed, ordered.
「Vice-leader, stop them!」
The Vice-leader immediately obeyed the order.
“Arz! Ignore the magician and follow me!”
“Tch!”
Arz, who had cut down the summoned beast that Raellan had summoned, tried to chase after Kane with the Vice-leader, but Rakarr suddenly appeared from the side and swung his twin swords at Arz, forcing only the Vice-leader to chase after Kane.
“Stop!”
The Vice-leader swung his staff and collapsed the ground leading to the castle gate, but Elly immediately used magic to create a bridge of ice and continued running towards the castle gate.
Almost reaching the castle gate, Kane said urgently as she looked at the still tightly closed gate.
“The castle gate is still closed, is it really okay to go like this….”
Kwaaaang―――!
“It’s open.”
Kane closed her mouth and busily moved her legs after seeing Elly’s composite magic, which passed by her side with tremendous destructive power, blowing the entire castle gate away.
*
Raellan knew very well that if the numbers were lacking in a situation where they were already being pushed back in terms of power, the odds of winning would be overwhelmingly low as time passed. So, he forcibly sacrificed one arm to deal with Confession’s 5th Annihilation, Carteros, first.
“But the numbers still don’t match.”
Now, the remaining enemies on the battlefield were Arz, Mesmer, Nero, and the Cult Leader, totaling four. On their side, there were only Raellan, Lycan, and Rakarr, totaling three. Lycan, who was facing the Cult Leader alone, was already on the verge of death, and Rakarr was in a state where he couldn’t wield his twin swords.
Raellan’s plan had completely failed. The only way to face the Cult Leader, other than using the protagonist Roel, was to use the Demon King… but it was a big mistake not to include the calculation that the opponent had already experienced it in another world. The price of failure was life.
“The question is how to die.”
Raellan wasn’t afraid of death at all. Rather, he was constantly racking his brain to figure out how to die in a way that would bother and hinder the Cult Leader as much as possible. The connection with the Demon King had been forcibly severed by the Cult Leader using God-slaying, but the Apostle’s abilities were still intact.
Thanks to the fact that the Demon King had only possessed Raellan for a short time, about half of the life force of the 700,000 people sacrificed as offerings still remained in Raellan.
In the end, he had to buy time. If it was just the Vice-leader alone, Elly’s power would be enough to stop him, but if the Cult Leader and Confession joined forces, they would be caught up with quickly.
Raellan, having concluded that it would be difficult for everyone here to survive, erased Lycan, who was clinging to the Cult Leader like a leech, from his mind and made a plan to use Rakarr, who was facing Arz.
Ignoring the realistic sensation of the sword wielded by Nero, who was created by Mesmer’s illusion, cutting through his body without a care, he approached Rakarr, who was rolling on the floor after being kicked in the chest by Arz, and whispered.
“I don’t know what’s on the 9th and 10th floors of the tower… but if we can hold the enemy here for at least 10 minutes, the chances of Ross and your friends surviving will increase. What do you say, are you prepared to give up your life for them?”
Rakarr, who was about to rush back at Arz, momentarily had a glimmer of reason return to his eyes at Raellan’s words. There was no need to hesitate. Rakarr would choose everyone in the Messiah club at any moment.
“Why ask the obvious?”
Raellan, twisting one corner of his mouth at that answer, said.
“Then swallow it-“
Raellan couldn’t finish his words. Arz, who had approached in an instant, cut off Raellan’s head before he could even react. Raellan’s face, floating in the air, was still smiling until the very end.
Amidst the blood gushing from Raellan’s severed throat, a bead that was almost completely black popped out. Rakarr, realizing what Raellan was trying to leave behind, opened his mouth and swallowed the black bead along with the blood.
The black bead, which had entered his stomach, melted instantly in Rakarr’s magic power, and the power contained within the lives of hundreds of thousands of people was all transferred to Rakarr. The tattoos, which had turned red, melted the skin and caused smoke to rise as they became flames.
[―――――――――!!!]
Arz, facing the intense fighting spirit and hostility overflowing from Rakarr’s entire body as if exploding, gripped his sword and said.
“…Amazing.”
At that moment, for the first time, Arz couldn’t keep up with Rakarr’s speed.
Kwaaaang―――!
“Keuk-!”
Arz’s body, which hadn’t even reacted to the tremendous impact, was sent flying backward. Part of Arz’s thigh had disappeared as if it had been torn off by a beast.
The smoke flowing from Rakarr’s body, which had pierced through Arz, couldn’t keep up with the speed faster than a flash of light, leaving a long afterimage that fluttered like the fur of a beast.
Lycan, who was facing the Cult Leader, burst out laughing at the sight.
“Haha! He can’t hide his bloodline after all.”
The true dance of the Crimson Lion was born today in the face of death.
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