episode_0123

The elves tried to run away.

But.

Lia’s massive barrier had trapped them, leaving them with no means of escape.

So?

What would they do?

Naturally, they’d try to destroy the barrier.

“Winds! Answer my call and sever the foolish barrier blocking my path!”

“I, who stand at the heart of the earth, declare it! The soil is my spear! The land is my wrath!”

“By the name of water, which governs all grace—pierce through!”

The elves’ magic hammered against the barrier.

Blades of wind.

Spears of earth.

Arrows of water.

A storm of spells rained down.

But.

Lia’s barrier didn’t even get scratched.

Because it was a barrier imbued with the trait, which blocked all attacks as if they dealt only 1 damage.

Unless it was subjected to continuous, blender-level damage like Ellise’s blizzard, this ultimate barrier was unbreakable.

That was why the elves wore expressions of utter despair.

“H-How… is this possible…?”

“We unleashed so many spells… and not even a scratch…?”

“This… can’t be real…”

By the elves’ common sense, this was impossible.

Barriers were supposed to weaken the larger they grew.

One this vast should have been as fragile as paper.

It might have withstood one or two spells,

but creating a barrier sturdy enough to block the barrage of every single elf was nearly unthinkable.

So of course they were stunned.

“What perfect weather for a good old-fashioned beating.”

And then.

They were stunned once more by the sight of ice knights approaching from behind, clubs in hand.

“Eeek!…”

A hundred ice knights.

And roughly a hundred elves.

One knight per elf—simple enough.

…Or so I thought.

But the elves had no intention of taking their punishment quietly.

“A-Attack!”

“Everyone, attack!!!”

Since they couldn’t break the barrier, they turned their spells on the ice knights.

But.

Not a single knight was destroyed.

“Wh… Why?…”

“?”

The elves were shocked—and so was I.

What was this?

Why weren’t they breaking?

Sure, the ice knights, created with borrowed magic from Ellise, were fairly sturdy,

but they weren’t on the level of a Blizzard Dragon.

Rank-wise, they were about D-tier.

Most elves were C- to D-tier,

and considering some even reached B-tier, the knights should’ve been shattered.

I’d even prepared to resummon them.

What was this?

Why were they unharmed?

“Hehe…”

Lia, who had been nuzzling against me, giggled and hugged me tighter.

Ah.

So it was Lia’s doing.

She must’ve shielded all hundred ice knights with protective barriers.

…The moment I realized that, another thought crossed my mind.

‘Just how strong is our Lia?’

Thanks to her cheat-like traits, her stats were absurdly high,

but I’d always assumed she was a crybaby who couldn’t fight properly.

…Or so I thought.

Turns out, she wasn’t a crybaby.

She’d just been acting like one to get more head pats from me.

So then?

How strong was she really?

‘Hmm…’

Curious, I asked Ellise.

“How strong is Lia?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm… A monster so strong I’d never beat her no matter what I tried?”

“That strong?”

“Yeah. That strong.”

“Since when?”

“From the start.”

“From the very start?”

“After you and I fought, she came to me in secret, beat me to the ground, and forcibly recruited me as her ally. She was already insanely strong back then.”

“……”

I silently stared at Lia.

“Hehe…”

She scratched her head, then buried her face in my chest, rubbing against me to deflect the situation.

If she’d been that strong from the start, couldn’t she have escaped much sooner?

…I briefly considered it, but—

‘Well… In the end, things turned out better this way.’

Marianne had been successfully recruited,

and now, with the Hero Party added to the harem, I was living the ultimate harem life.

This was better.

So.

I had no intention of scolding Lia for hiding her true personality.

But.

I did have to ask this.

“If Lia fought the Demon King now, how do you think it’d go?”

“She’d toy with him before killing him, no?”

“Yeah… Probably.”

Infinite attack power.

Infinite defense.

Immunity to status effects.

And an absurdly wide range of magic attacks.

A hero like that, fighting seriously, could easily wipe the floor with the Demon King.

‘The only problem is the Demon King’s Core…’

But I already had a rough idea of how to deal with that.

It’d work out somehow.

So for now—

I focused on punishing the elves.

The elves were horrified.

THWACK!

“GYAAAH!!!”

THWACK!

“S-Stop!…”

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

The ice knights grabbed each elf by the hair and mercilessly beat them with their clubs.

“I am an egalitarian who cares not for age or gender.”

The Blizzard Dragon sneered as she declared this.

Indeed.

She meant that she’d beat them all equally—men, women, children, elders, none would be spared.

‘Well… There are no children here.’

From the start, Phinae noona was one of the youngest girls in the elf village.

Meaning.

Every elf here was an adult.

Even the youngest, Phinae noona, was an adult.

…With that in mind, I kept beating them.

“Uuugh…”

A few elves even started dying from the sheer brutality.

But.

“Yahp!”

Lia stabbed them once with her sword, and they immediately revived.

“H-How?…”

“I’m a hero who can even use resurrection magic!”

“Resurrection?! That’s possible?!”

“Yep! Even if your head gets chopped off!”

SLASH!

To prove her point, Lia decapitated an elf.

Every elf gasped in horror, but—

“Yahp!”

One stab of her sword, and the severed head reattached itself as the elf revived.

“Gah!… Gah!… How?!… M-My head was… cut off?!…”

“Still don’t get it? Want to experience it again?”

SLASH!

Another head went flying.

“Yahp!”

Another head reattached.

“Gah!… Gah!… What kind of— A-AHH!… N-No! I understand now! I’ve realized you’re an incredible being who can even revive the dead, Hero!”

“Good.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Then keep going.”

“Huh?”

The moment Lia stepped away, the beatings resumed.

“ARGH! GYAAH! KGHAAK!”

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

Every elf was beaten equally.

The elf village chief,

and even the fake elf companion who’d received the Hero Party candidate’s crest—all were pummeled.

‘I never liked that guy either.’

All the other Hero Party characters were good people.

Some had rough personalities at first,

but once you got closer, their backstories made their behavior understandable.

‘Ellise is the best example.’

Ellise had nearly killed people due to her magic going berserk,

so she deliberately acted prickly to keep her distance from others.

But.

Once her magic was stabilized, she became one of the most affectionate people around.

‘Same with Archmage Merlin.’

When first recruited, he’d nagged constantly, insisting there was no time to waste and pushing everyone to hurry and defeat the Demon King.

He’d openly ruined the party’s mood with his unpleasant attitude.

That’s why I disliked him.

But.

After seeing his ending, my opinion changed.

His little sister had an incurable illness.

Only by defeating the Demon King and receiving a wish could he save her.

If she died before then, she’d be beyond saving.

Even the Goddess couldn’t resurrect the dead.

That’s why he rushed.

He overcame every trial to save his only family.

…After learning that, I couldn’t hate him anymore.

But.

That fake Hero Party candidate, Feru, was detestable from start to finish.

He saw humans as an inferior species.

A delusional bastard who even looked down on the Hero Party itself.

Whenever he spoke to NPCs, he’d call them “lowly creatures,” killing the mood.

Early on, he was somewhat useful,

but by mid-game, the power gap made him worthless.

So weak that every mistake just pissed off the party, raising their stress levels.

I’d even considered discreetly killing him off at one point.

But.

In Prophecy RPG, if even one ally died, the entire party suffered severe mental damage, driving them to insanity.

Killing him wasn’t an option.

So I dragged him along to the ending, where—

‘Turns out, he was a fake who’d stolen the Hero Party’s crest.’

Well…

It wasn’t exactly shocking.

If anything, it was satisfying.

When the Goddess herself said, “You were never the chosen one,” Feru’s expression was priceless.

A guy who’d called others inferior beings,

only to realize he was the inferior one—

The sheer despair on his face?

A true delicacy.

But.

This was even better.

“Stop! STOP!!! I am the noblest among the noble elves!!! A chosen one blessed by the Goddess of Light, Selena!!! How dare you raise your clubs against such a glorious being?! GYAAK!”

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

“You filthy insects!!! I am the chosen one!!! I do not deserve such treatment!!! Do you not fear the divine punishment of the Goddess of Light, Selena?!!!”

Even while being beaten, the lunatic kept ranting.

So I told him.

“The one who’ll face Selena’s punishment isn’t me—it’s you.”

“You inferior scum!!! How dare you speak the name of the Goddess of Light, Selena?!!!”

“How many times do I have to say it? Selena’s my friend.”

“Again with her name!!! Do you not fear divine retribution?!!!”

“Sigh… You really don’t listen.”

I was about to hit him harder when—

Selena arrived.

And fired a beam of divine energy.

SHWOOOOOSH!

Normally, that beam would heal its target.

To demons, it was poison,

but to humans, it was like a potion’s energy.

Elves, being part of the human category, should’ve been healed.

But.

Feru’s left arm, struck by the beam, burned away like a demon’s.

“A… A… AAAAAAAAH!!! MY ARM!!! WHY?! This is the blessed power of the Goddess of Light, Selena—meant only to burn demons!!! WHY DID IT BURN MY ARM?!!!”

“Divine energy doesn’t just burn demons.”

Selena spoke coldly.

“It burns those whom the Goddess of Light, Selena, recognizes as enemies.”