episode_0049

Sophia sealed the while sporting seven lumps on her head.

Swoosh.

Her height shrank back to normal, her ample chest returned to its smaller size, and her lengthened hair became short again.

Everything reverted to her small, childlike appearance.

“Ugh…” “Why did the last three hits have to be in a row…”

Sophia felt slightly wronged. She had asked to be hit once whenever her life force grew dangerously high, but those final three consecutive strikes were clearly fueled by emotion—anyone could see that.

So she asked. “Because Master already has his first partner in mind.” “Huh?” “Master said he has someone he likes and wanted to give his first experience to them.” “No cutting in line.” “My lord?” “Do you… have someone you like?” “I do.” “Someone besides the people here? Another person you like?” “Yes.” “Who is it?” “I’m curious about that myself.”

Sophia and Serena stared at him as if demanding to know who this “liked person” was. “A secret.” “Huh?” “Why keep it a secret?” “Because keeping it hidden for now is better.” “If you tell us now, will something bad happen in the future?” “Well…” “You could say that.”

Revealing it now would be far too risky. Dark magic is an evil sorcery, and demons are malevolent beings—that’s common knowledge. So, naturally, he planned to flip that common knowledge first before slowly revealing the truth.

‘Let’s do this step by step.’

And so, he moved. While screwing over the corrupted Pope and the succubus, he had a brilliant plan to plant the idea that kind demons could exist.

“Since we’re already out, let’s get some work done.” “Work?” “Expelling the corrupted Pope.” “The corrupted Pope?…” “So…” “The one who banished you was a corrupted Pope—a man who betrayed humanity after falling for a succubus.” “A succubus?!” “There’s a succubus in Lady Serena’s holy sanctuary?!”

Sophia was stunned. While she had vaguely suspected the Pope of corruption, she never imagined he had been ensnared by a succubus. Nor did she know a succubus had infiltrated the sanctuary—the place with the strongest divine energy.

“Under normal circumstances, even a Demon King’s Four Generals wouldn’t be able to invade such a powerfully fortified space.” “Of course you’d be shocked.” “Then… right now…” “The Demon King has severed the celestial realm’s connection.” “The sanctuary’s power has weakened enough to allow an invasion.” “Th-then!…” “But that doesn’t mean just anyone can waltz in.” “The divine energy hasn’t completely vanished.”

Sophia seemed to be imagining hordes of demons flooding in and overrunning the entire sanctuary, but things hadn’t deteriorated that badly. Only the Pope had fallen victim— the rest of the clergy were untouched.

Truthfully, very few demons can infiltrate deep into the sanctuary. Many can endure its divine energy, but only two demons can disguise themselves so flawlessly that even high-ranking clergy wouldn’t notice.

The succubus who infiltrated the sanctuary. My favorite character.

…but, my favorite demon is one who lives quietly in a rural village. Only one demon could have reached the sanctuary. So, it’s safe to assume only the Pope was compromised.

‘Just like in the game.’

In the game, some were fooled by the Pope and the succubus’s silver tongues, making poor judgments, but that was it. Only one ever betrayed humanity and sided with the demons— the Pope.

So, once the Pope and the succubus are dealt with, the holy nation of will return to normal.

…After hearing this explanation, Sophia calmed down. “Phew…” “So, if we just capture the Pope and the succubus, the problem is solved.” “The issue is, it’s not as simple as it sounds.” “If we borrow the Goddess’s words, wouldn’t that make it easier to expel them?” “The problem is, anyone can mimic those words now.”

Because the celestial realm is cut off, Serena can no longer call using her original “phone.”

But. If she uses her new “phone”—the plush dog—she can communicate.

Here’s the catch: ‘If a Korean gets a call from an unknown number, they ignore it, right?’ ‘It’s the same thing.’

Of course, if the voice sounds familiar, they might believe it to some extent. But. Voices can be mimicked.

If Serena speaks through the plush puppet, the succubus will imitate something similar.

Then? Whose words would people trust? An exiled saintess? Or the Pope?

‘We don’t even need to guess who they’d side with.’

Usually, the best course is to travel the world, build the Hero Party’s reputation, gather evidence of the Pope’s corruption, and then act.

Alternatively, they could wait until all resources are gathered, ambush the supply caravan meant for the demons, and seize everything.

But. All the methods used in the game take time. While they can crush the Pope decisively, the longer they wait, the more the holy nation of will crumble.

The cleanest solution is to eliminate the Pope before things deteriorate further.

And so, he prepared: Pro Gamer Lee Joon-sung’s Lightning-Fast Pope & Succubus Extermination Guide!

“A lightning-fast extermination guide?” “Yeah.” “A method to excise the tumor faster than anyone else.” “What’s the method?” “Step 1.” “Summon the succubus.” “Huh?” “This way.”

Leaving out further explanations, he led the Hero Party onward.

—

“Go!” “Solar Blade!”

Whoosh—!

Plush-dog Serena, armed with wings of light blades, soared through the air, slicing through monsters.

“Go!” “Solar Beam!”

Shwaaa—!

Plush-dog Serena gathered divine energy into the cannon on her back and fired it like a laser blast.

“Oh…” “She’s stronger than I expected?”

He had given Serena three additional pieces of equipment: – – –

Modified from toys obtained via the Sacrificial Grail’s gacha. Originally plastic novelties, they were reforged in metal, enhanced with magic, and fused with artifacts to become exclusive gear for the plush dog.

They could be equipped separately or all at once—turning the plush into a flying, slashing, beam-firing combat machine.

And she performed even better than anticipated.

“Of course she’s strong.” “With that much divine energy being thrown around, it’d be stranger if she weren’t powerful.”

The only issue? The energy efficiency is garbage. Others might deal 1,000 damage for 100 MP, but Serena needs 1,000 MP to do the same.

But. That’s fine. He had an unlimited divine energy generator and an infinite divine energy storage battery.

…With that in mind, he concluded testing Serena’s custom gear.

“This is great.” “Every shot feels like it’s blasting away stress.” “Yeah?” “Yeah!” “I wanna fire so much, it’s making me itch!” “You hear that?” “Yes.” “For Lady Serena, I would burn everything to keep her charged.” “No need to go that far.” “Just maintain around 5% while charging.” “Understood.”

Sophia charged the battery while keeping the at a 5% release rate.

‘For now, that’s Sophia’s limit.’

5% Mode. If she gritted her teeth, she could endure up to 10%, but 5% was her usual cap.

But. Time would solve this. Level up, raise her life-force conversion skill, and she’ll eventually reach 100% Mode—full-figured, big-sister glory.

Until then, training was necessary. Feeding divine energy into the plush dog would help level her skills.

Thanks to this, Sophia became the plush pup’s caretaker— and Elrice wasn’t happy.

“Ugh…” “I wanna carry a cute dog around too…” “I’ll get you another doll later.” “Not just any doll… A moving animal doll…” “Once I raise an ice spirit, I can put it inside to make a moving doll.” “Just hold on till then.” “You can do that?!” “I can.”

There is a route where one contracts an ice spirit to become a Spirit Saber. Making a pact isn’t impossible.

‘The downside is that the ice spirit compatible with Elrice is hidden in a remote, annoying place…’ But once found, she’ll grow stronger and get an adorable pet.

When time allows, making the trip might be worth it.

…He placated her with this explanation.

“Ice spirit!” “Cute pet!” “Just wait a little longer.” “Okay!”

With that settled, they hunted, chatted, and eventually arrived at the cave entrance.

“A cave?” “The hideout where dark sorcerers gather.” “A dark sorcerers’ hideout?!” “They summon the succubus who seduced the Pope, offer life force as tribute, and seek demonic knowledge.”

Dark magic originates from demons, so learning from demons is the most efficient method.

Hence, they conduct summoning rituals. Bringing forth a “teacher” to instruct them in forbidden arts.

…Put like that, it almost sounds noble— except the “tuition” requires human sacrifices.

“They sacrifice people?!” “Just as magic consumes mana,” “dark magic consumes life force.”

Instead of MP, it burns HP to cast spells.

For demons—who have high HP and regeneration—this is a baseline skill. Humans, however, recover painfully slowly— even a shallow cut takes ages to heal.

So, they use sacrifices. Instead of their own HP, they steal life force from others.

That’s why dark sorcerers are scum.

But. What if a dark sorcerer used only their own HP? That’s acceptable. They aren’t killing others— just trading their own vitality for power.

Right?

Sophia— the saintess and the daughter of a dark sorcerer.

…Or so he said.

“Huh?”

Sophia stared blankly, as if perplexed by the statement.

Of course. As an orphan, she never knew who her parents were.