episode_0032

“Hehehe… everything’s ready… Now I just need to bring Zeke-nim here…”

“Yes… once you bring that man here, your paradise, just for you and him, will be complete… No one can interfere…”

“No one… hehehe… can interfere… My… and Zeke-nim’s… paradise… Hehehehe…”

Listening to the succubus’s whispers, Aria emerged from the cave, fantasizing about living happily with Zeke inside. Then, she took a deep breath and began to pinpoint Zeke’s location with her ability.

“I found him… Zeke-nim… You’ve waited long, haven’t you? I’m coming to you… Hehehe… to our own paradise… Eheheheh…”

“Yes… let’s go quickly… Paradise is waiting…”

“Paradise…”

Completely swayed by the succubus’s whispers, Aria came to trust the succubus’s voice above all else, as if it were the voice of a god that would fulfill her fantasies. Excited at the thought of bringing Zeke to live with her forever, Aria began to cross the barren land, twirling her golden staff in one hand. At that moment, Aria sensed something and stopped. As Aria stopped, the succubus whispered to her.

“What’s wrong? You should go get that man quickly, shouldn’t you?”

“There’s…”

“What…? Oh?”

When the succubus heard Aria’s words and turned her head forward, she saw Zeke and Rascal approaching from a distance. The succubus then smiled and thought.

‘To come on their own… saves time and kills two birds with one stone, doesn’t it? If I use this Saintess, attacking the world will be easy..!!’

“Zeke-nim…”

“Aria!”

When Zeke called out her name from the front, Aria, overcome with joy, covered her mouth with both hands and blushed. However, the atmosphere around Zeke and Rascal was different from Aria’s joyful one. Zeke held his greatsword with both hands, looking resolutely at Aria, as if with firm resolve. Rascal, loading an arrow into his crossbow, glared fiercely at Aria. Both had the conviction to reclaim Aria immediately, without wasting any more time.

“Zeke-nim… So Zeke-nim had the same thoughts as me after all…! To give up adventuring and live together forever in a safe place…! You chose that…!!!”

“Aria…”

“Zeke-nim’s heart, having given up adventuring… I, Aria, understand it well…! As much as Zeke-nim has given up adventuring, I will take care of you devotedly…! Don’t worry! Now, the things that threaten Zeke-nim in this world are…”

“Aria!! That’s not what I want!!!”

I shouted with all my might. Aria’s face, which had been flushed with joy, gradually relaxed, and her eyes, devoid of focus, looked at us. And… that damn demon… dare to watch this situation from behind Aria, laughing…!? The moment I felt anger towards the succubus, Rascal aimed his crossbow at Aria and shouted.

“Black Saintess!! This black crossbow is not a simple crossbow! This crossbow is a rapid-fire crossbow! It’s a weapon I developed that shoots loaded arrows consecutively!! Stay right there!! We will drive out the demon that’s enchanting you!!!”

…So that was that kind of weapon? No wonder he’d been loading arrows continuously earlier… When Rascal shouted, I saw Aria’s head turn towards Rascal. And the succubus was whispering something into Aria’s ear again.

“Let’s kill the man with the black crossbow first. He seems to have enchanted Zeke.”

“Enchanted Zeke-nim…?”

“Zeke seems to be enchanted by that man right now, thinking you’re bad. That’s why he seems to be rejecting your paradise. Let’s kill that man.”

“I’m bad…? Reject paradise…!?”

What? Suddenly Aria’s face began to contort. Her unfocused eyes were indeed looking at Rascal, but… what did that damn succubus say now…?

“Zeke-nim? It seems you’re rejecting me because of that man… But don’t worry, Zeke-nim! Aria will kill that man right away and release everything that was binding Zeke-nim…!!”

‘…That damn succubus? And Aria. You’re the one trying to bind me. That look of Aria’s, gripping her golden staff tightly and taking a stance. She’s definitely trying to kill Rascal-ssi. But then.’

“….!”

I stood defiantly in front of Rascal, my greatsword still in hand. And then… though I felt a little bad, I pointed my greatsword at Aria. If you try to kill Rascal-ssi, I will protect him. When I tried to protect Rascal, Aria was greatly flustered, and the succubus whispered to Aria from beside her.

“Ah… Ahhh…”

“What are you doing? Go kill that man quickly! Only then can Zeke return to your embrace!”

“But Zeke-nim… Zeke-nim is in front…”

“Then let’s get Zeke to move.”

“But if Zeke-nim gets hurt…”

“Have you forgotten? If Zeke gets hurt, you can just heal him with your blessing! This is an unavoidable injury… Zeke will surely thank you when he wakes up.”

“Ah… with a blessing… Right…”

From the succubus’s whispers, Aria suddenly began to smile, as if she had realized something. What did that succubus whisper again, damn it…

“Zeke-nim… It seems Zeke-nim is being controlled into thinking I’m a bad person… It pains my heart, but… for Zeke-nim’s sake… please forgive me for having to hurt Zeke-nim… Only then will Zeke-nim move aside, and I can kill that man…!!”

“What?! Have you forgotten Rascal-ssi, Aria?!”

“Rascal…..”

“No… That man isn’t Rascal… Look at his clothes! He must be a black mage…!!”

“Huhu… Zeke-nim… come to your senses… That person isn’t Rascal-nim, but a filthy black mage disguised as Rascal-nim…!!”

Damn it… that succubus keeps interfering. It seems words alone won’t be able to turn Aria back to normal. So I quietly spoke to Rascal behind me.

“Rascal-ssi, it seems words won’t solve this.”

“I feel it too, Zeke. Then we’ll have to use force. Just as planned.”

“Yes…”

“The target is that purple gem or the long purple-haired succubus. Is that right?”

“That’s right. But be careful. The moment you’re hit by Aria’s golden staff… it’s over.”

“Alright. But why are you trying so hard to get Aria back, Zeke? Your life is on the line here, isn’t it?”

“Yes… but she’s a precious companion. We’ve traveled together for four months, there’s no way I wouldn’t have grown attached. That’s why I’m trying to get her back. It’s clear Aria wouldn’t want to do something like this.”

“Understood. Then I’ll aim for that demon or the gem from a distance.”

“Yes… then…!!”

Alright… Let’s take a deep breath. Aria doesn’t seem to want to kill me… no, she didn’t want to. As long as that succubus keeps enchanting Aria with strange words, I might not be able to guarantee my own life… Still, it’s been over 100 days of laughing and enjoying with Aria… To such a precious companion…

“What do you think I can’t dooooo!!!”

I shouted and charged at Aria. Rascal also started moving to the side, matching my signal. Aria turned her head towards Rascal, who had slipped past behind me, but… I couldn’t let that happen..!!

“Aria!!! Look this way!!!”

“I have to kill that man… Ah..!! Zeke-nim! It’s Zeke-nim!!”

“Snap out of it, and realize there’s a demon here!!”

The moment I was about to strike with my greatsword, I noticed something and stopped my descending arm. Aria had closed her eyes and was simply smiling. Why… why is she like this?! Isn’t she going to defend?! The succubus, seemingly flustered, urgently whispered to Aria.

“Zeke is trying to kill you! Defend yourself quickly! Aren’t you going to save Zeke?”

“But Zeke-nim is Zeke-nim. Even if he’s being controlled, he’s still Zeke-nim. If Zeke-nim tries to strike me, I will gladly be struck by that sword… Ahhh… Zeke-nim’s grace…!! I will gladly accept it!”

“…!!”

Th-this… Ugh…!! Aria, you shouldn’t do that…!! I can’t strike you!!! Quickly block with that golden staff you’re holding…! The succubus, seeing that I couldn’t strike Aria, looked around and then sneered at me.

“Th-this… this succubus?!”

“Huhu… You truly have a strong woman by your side, Zeke?”

“Shut your mouth…!! Release Aria quickly…!! Right now!!”

“Oh my… I can’t do that, can I? Look there… That man over there is trying to harm Zeke… And this Zeke is also being controlled… If Zeke strikes you, Zeke’s soul will cry out, won’t it?”

“Ah… Zeke-nim will be sad…?”

“Yes… so you must stop Zeke, even if it means hurting him… And you must defeat that man… Look over there? That dark-clothed man is aiming his crossbow at Zeke…”

“Zeke-nim?!”

Hearing the succubus’s whispers, Aria looked at Rascal, greatly flustered. Indeed, Rascal was aiming his crossbow at Aria, who was close to Zeke. But to Aria’s eyes, swayed by the succubus’s whispers, it seemed Rascal was aiming at Zeke, and seeing this, Aria’s face contorted as she began to apply more force to the hand gripping her golden staff.

“How dare you aim at Zeke-nim….?! That black mage, how dare he aim at…!!!”

“!!! Ra… Rascal!!! Get away!!!”

“Damn it… I might get hit, but… forgive me, Black Saintess!!”

Rascal gritted his teeth and continued to shoot his crossbow towards the succubus behind Aria. Aria then began to charge at Rascal, and started to deflect each incoming arrow by swinging her staff. Seeing this, Rascal was greatly astonished.

‘I knew she was strong to some extent… but to deflect arrows from a mechanically operated crossbow so easily!!’

“You…. Youuuuu black mageeeee!!!”

‘Damn… she’s completely enraged…!! But I can’t stop… If I stop for even a moment, I’ll die…!!’

“Aria!!!”

I chased after Aria at high speed. It’s a relief that the potions I drank before coming here were effective…!! With the help of Arjel village, I succeeded in developing a potion with absolutely no alcohol content. Meaning… I can confront you sober now!!

‘Was Zeke that fast?!’

“Snap out of it, Aria!!!”

As Rascal saw me rushing forward and stopped shooting his crossbow, I brought my greatsword down on Aria’s staff. With the clang of metal clashing, I barely managed to block Aria. But…

‘Ugh!!! I even drank a potion of superhuman strength, yet there’s such a difference in power…!!’

“Zeke-nim… If Zeke-nim does this, it’s troublesome… Please forgive me… even if it means hurting Zeke-nim…”

“Ugh…!!! Ra… Rascal!!! Hurry!!”

“Alright, Zeke… Hold on tight!!!”

Rascal pulled another arrow from his quiver and began to load it into his crossbow. Aria then looked at me and said with a sad face.

“Please forgive me…”

“Ugh!!! You’ll regret this, Aria!!! Stop no…!!!”

A sudden pain shot up from below. Aria had stomped hard on my foot. At that moment, I began to lose my balance, and Aria pushed me away with her hand.

“Ugh!!”

“Please forgive me… Black mage…!! Because of you, Zeke-nim…?”

But I can’t let her go…!! I definitely won’t let her reach Rascal-ssi…!! My greatsword, excessively blessed, emitted an intense light as before, and seizing the moment Aria was blinded by that light, I kicked Aria’s leg. But…

‘Damn it! She didn’t even budge!!!’

Instead, my foot hurts. Damn it… I can’t support my whole body with my injured foot from earlier…!! The moment Aria turned her head towards me, Rascal began to shoot his crossbow again. The succubus then urgently whispered to Aria, and Aria, without even looking at the arrows, swung her staff and deflected the incoming arrows.

‘Damn it… So even this method doesn’t work on Aria…? That demon… knows all of Aria’s superhuman physical abilities and is entrusting everything to Aria… while assessing the surrounding situation…!’

“Come on… let’s go kill that man…!!”

“Right… I have to kill that man… so Zeke-nim can be freed… And… to paradise… Hehehe… I have to kill him quickly…!!”

“I won’t let you!!”

As Aria gripped her golden staff tightly and tried to head towards Rascal again, I, dragging my aching foot, struck Aria’s staff with my greatsword again… But, of course, Aria didn’t let go of her staff. Then I saw her trying to stomp on my foot again, and I quickly turned my body to dodge Aria’s attack.

“Zeke-nim… If Zeke-nim does this, it’s troublesome… I’ll have to give Zeke-nim more pain… Then Zeke-nim… and I too… will feel heartache…”

‘Damn it… I’m the one whose heart aches right now…. I can’t hurt you, and I certainly can’t kill you… I’m too weak to defeat you who are so strong right now… Still, I’ll do my best, Aria… I’ll get back my precious companion…!!’

I kept steeling my resolve and began to put more power into my greatsword. Then, I felt Aria gradually being pushed back. What is this…? Is Aria letting go of her strength…? Or has my strength grown even greater thanks to the potion of superhuman strength?

“Hold her there, Zeke!”

“No time, Rascal! Right now, it seems I’m winning against Aria, but who knows what could happen!”

“Understood! I’ll prepare right away!”

“Yes, please hurry…”

“Oh, Omnipotent One in the heavens. Your follower, who abides by you, seeks to borrow your power…”

Ah… damn it… Hearing the prayer emerge from Aria’s lips, goosebumps rose all over my body. I wasn’t winning against Aria right now. Aria was intentionally reducing the strength in her arm to pray. And that prayer… damn it…!!

“Lend me your power. Your strength…. Ugh?!”

I urgently turned my body and removed my greatsword from Aria’s staff, which had been pressing against it. With the sudden disappearance of the opposing force, Aria lost her balance, and in that gap, I covered Aria’s mouth with my right hand. I can’t let her finish that prayer…! If she recites that prayer, Aria’s attacks will become even more ferocious…!!

“Rascallll! Hurry!!”

“It’s ready! Hold her like that, Zeke!”

Rascal fired arrows from his crossbow. The five arrows Rascal shot struck the ground at different points, centered around me and Aria, as if forming the vertices of a regular pentagon, and the black arrows embedded in the ground began to emit white light.

“Ugh!! Ugh!!”

“Calm down, Aria…! This is to bind you!!”

Aria’s body inside the pentagon formed by Rascal’s arrows began to glow with white light. This was a type of binding spell, an ability created to neutralize a target. As light began to emanate from Aria, I finally breathed a sigh of relief… or so I thought.

“Ack?!”

“!!!”

The binding spell had no effect at all. Otherwise, Aria wouldn’t have been able to grab my hand, which was covering her mouth, with immense strength and break it. I felt an incredible pain in my hand and clutched my broken right hand with my left.

‘Ugh…!! Damn it… It hurts so much…! I can’t even feel anything anymore…!!!’

I watched Aria, clutching my right hand with my left. But I noticed Aria’s movements had become sluggish. So the binding spell wasn’t completely ineffective after all…! And then, another object caught my eye.

‘That gem…!!’

The purple gem beneath the brooch I gave her! As it caught my eye, I immediately moved. I have to separate that gem from Aria! I desperately reached out my left hand to Aria, and finally, my left hand touched the gem! And…

‘…!!!!!’

Suddenly, something began to enter my mind.

**Bonus Chapter: What If – #1**

1. What if Zeke had been sober in Chapter 2?

I cut the man down with a single stroke. To be honest, I didn’t trust him either… My parents taught me that enslaving people was a bad thing. Perhaps that’s why I had no intention of letting him live. Anyway…

“Wait… I just… uh…”

Uh… what did I just cut? I came to my senses and looked around. Three male corpses, sliced horizontally and miserably dead, came into my sight. Co… corpses?!

“Aaaahhh!!! It’s a corpse!!!”

I screamed at the sight of the corpse, and the woman trapped in the cage thought to herself as she watched me.

‘What is with that man…? He’s suddenly screaming…’

2. What if Zeke hadn’t found Aria in Chapter 7?

“Don’t do it!!!”

“No way~ Then!”

Aria smiled widely, radiating a crimson glow from her eyes, and moved her staff to pierce Riera. Meanwhile, I continued searching for Aria. Why did I have such a bad feeling…

“Why do I have such a bad feeling about her suddenly leaving… I hope she hasn’t caused any trouble out there…”

I kept running, searching for Aria. Then, by chance, a transparent wall that seemed to have been made by Aria caught my eye, and I began to examine it. Hmm… this wall…

“It’s clear that only Aria can create something like this… But why would she make a wall like this in such an alley… Huh?”

Zeke carelessly touched the wall and, seeing his hand pass through it, slowly stepped inside. Then Aria’s laughter reached my ears.

“Aria! Are you here?!”

“Oh my~ Zeke-nim! Were you looking for me?!”

“Uh… here you are… Huh…?”

I flinched in surprise at something I saw and stopped dead in my tracks. Aria’s face was visible in the dark alley… but why was the wall around Aria stained with dark red liquid…?

3. What if the power control for 20 mana went wrong in Chapter 10?

“Zeke-nim!! Stay still!! I’ll deal with this rude person right away! O Omniscient and Omnipotent One in the heavens. Your follower, who follows you, wishes to borrow your strength, so please lend me your power…”

“Aria, stop it!!! That man…!!!”

I saw it. Aria’s staff slipping from her hand, the one-armed man lightly deflecting Aria’s staff using only one arm. Then the man kicked Aria and raised his sword towards her.

“What? A rude person? How absurd… I’m not in a position to say this, but don’t you think you’re rude for attacking so suddenly… Oops, it seems I misjudged my power again… I suddenly got worked up, ahahaha…”

I knew from this brief clash. The man could have cut Aria just now. This man… is strong. But… huh?!

“I, who failed to protect Zeke-nim, deserve to die…”

Aaaahhh!! It’s not your fault! The man also looked at Aria’s actions, panicked greatly, and hurriedly began to stop her. Don’t strangle yourself!!

4. What if Rascal hadn’t had his tools in Chapter 15?

“Thank you so much, Zeke! I’ll definitely grant your request.”

“But Tess… how are we going to get out of here?”

“Huh?”

At Rascal’s words, we looked at the cage. Come to think of it… we don’t have any iron-melting liquid now… No, even if we did, it wouldn’t melt something that thick. Uh… this is trouble…?

“Rascal, do you have any ideas?”

“No.”

“….Damn it?”

Although our shackles were undone, we had no way to escape, so we ultimately failed to break out of prison. But suddenly, countless screams began to echo from beyond the corridor, and what appeared before my eyes a while later was…

“Aria!!”

“Ze… Zeke-niiim! Waaah!!!”

It’s Aria! How did she get here…? My joy at Aria finding me was short-lived as I saw the bloodstains on Aria’s clothes and face, and my mouth wouldn’t close.

5. What if Eli’s true feelings had been discovered by someone in Chapter 20?

“That Saintess is the only one showing affection to Uncle. That’s not enough. I need to completely change Uncle’s love. For now, I’ll entrust Uncle to you, Saintess. But… later, I’ll definitely make Uncle love me…”

“Unnie?”

“!!!”

Eli was greatly startled by the sudden voice and quickly turned around. Then, Tiara, who had gone to the first floor to see Zeke off, was visible to Eli, standing at the door. Tiara stared blankly at Eli for a long time, then asked Eli,

“What was that just now, Unnie…?”

“Tiara… how much did you hear?”

“Uh…? Th… that…”

“….This won’t do… It would be better for witnesses to disappear, wouldn’t it…?”

“Uh… Unnie…?”

Eli suddenly got out of bed and slowly began to approach Tiara. Tiara tried to run away quickly, but her legs wouldn’t obey due to extreme fear. Eli, who approached Tiara trembling with extreme fear, smiled and closed the door behind Tiara, then whispered to her.

“Forget.”

“Huh…?”

Eli began to manipulate Tiara’s mind by singing a siren’s song. After Eli’s siren’s song ended, Tiara asked Eli,

“Unnie! Zeke Oppa is leaving now, aren’t you going to see him off?”

“No. Someone has to protect Melian. Did you come to me to ask that while seeing him off?”

“Yeah! I understand for now! Then I’ll go back to seeing him off!”

“Okay… Goodbye, Tiara.”

BONUS: Afterword for Chapter 30

Hello! I am Photon, the author serializing ‘Black Saintess’!

Lately, I’ve been uploading many special chapters.

Reaching Chapter 30 makes me happy, and I’ve occasionally uploaded special chapters out of sincere gratitude to my readers.

Uh… but I tend to be quite talkative.

So, this time, I’d like to tell you all the behind-the-scenes stories that couldn’t be fully contained in the author’s notes!

1. About the Novel ‘Black Saintess’

‘Black Saintess’ is the 8th spin-off novel of my series called ‘Dimensions’.

The first spin-off was ‘The Failing Demon King’.

As a spin-off, there are indeed parts that link to the main ‘Dimensions’ story.

Moreover, characters from the main story, like ’20 Mana’, also appear.

However, the reason you don’t necessarily need to read ‘Dimensions’ is that such parts are few, and all the characters appearing in this novel, except for one, do not appear in the main work.

Also, not many settings from the main story appear, which is why I decided to upload this novel first.

Furthermore, this novel has the most chapters among the spin-offs, so I decided to challenge myself with it.

Uh… but at what point in the main story does this novel take place?

Around… chapter 1500?

2. Word Count

I’m still thinking a lot about this.

The average word count for ‘Black Saintess’ is approximately 5,000 characters… and I’m worried if the length is too long.

For now, I plan to continue with 5,000 characters…. but if you think it’s too long, please let me know!

3. Dialogue

Actually, the dialogue of Aria and Eli, when they fall into madness, was not written by me. Just like in the main story, an acquaintance of mine writes the dialogue for when characters fall into madness.

So, whenever I write the novel, I feel a little scared…

But these days, as I’m writing it myself during the remake, it feels strange…

4. How many chapters are planned?

Uh… I mentioned that ‘Black Saintess’ is the novel with the most chapters among the spin-offs, right?

It will likely exceed 200 chapters…

If I reduce the word count, it might even go on longer…

5. Regarding Spin-offs

Actually, many of the ‘Dimensions’ spin-offs have titles that feel like light novels.

For example, ‘The Cold Lady of the Academy,’ which is spin-off 3… or ‘Conquest of the Otherworld Swordsman,’ which is spin-off 4.

However, I chose ‘Black Saintess’ as a challenge because it has a large number of chapters. Other spin-offs usually have less than 100 chapters…

For now, these are the stories I wanted to share!

There might be more later…. but I’ll talk about them then!

Well then, I’ll make my exit now!(?)