Chapter 31. Holy Relic (1)
A heavy silence settled over the noisy mountain slopes. The explosions and roaring sounds were completely gone. The mountain birds no longer chirped, and the cries of beasts had vanished.
The mountains were as quiet as death. All sounds created by life had evaporated.
Perhaps this was what the world would look like if all life were drained from nature. As she looked around at the desolate surroundings, Ilea opened her mouth.
“It turned into a wasteland in an instant. It was quite beautiful before.”
The green that had formed the forest had turned into black ash and pale smoke. The fragrant scent of phytoncides had long been devoured by the smell of death.
Most of the plants and animals had died or disappeared.
It was all because of the clash between two transcendents.
Gaf spoke.
“……In the end, they’ll turn the whole world into a place like this. Yohan. Along with that demon bastard.”
“There’s no way that would happen. Life can’t sprout in a wasteland like this. Humans can’t survive either. And if there are no humans, there’s no reason for demons to exist. Do you really think Yohan would want such an ending?”
“The Apostles want the extinction of humanity. Demons are nothing more than their lackeys, and you think Yohan would be any different?”
Ilea formed a strange smile and pointed straight ahead.
“Doesn’t he look a little different?”
Yohan was walking toward them. All around him stood giant trees drained of life, creating a chilling scene.
Yohan’s appearance contributed to the eerie atmosphere.
Gaf spoke with a horrified face.
“D-Don’t tell me, in your hand, that’s……”
Ilea smiled in satisfaction.
“Yohan isn’t an Apostle’s lackey.”
In Yohan’s grasp, Beris was being dragged along by the hair.
An unbelievable sight. For Gaf, who had experienced the Apostle’s presence, it didn’t feel real.
Yohan let out a small laugh.
“What’s with that stupid look?”
Gaf couldn’t answer. He was too shocked, frozen stiff.
Ilea spoke.
“You’re being too harsh on Father. It’s a situation worth being surprised over, isn’t it?”
Yohan shrugged.
“And yet you’re calm.”
“Do I seem that way? I’m not, you know, I was really surprised too.”
She exaggeratedly stroked her chest and added,
“I thought my heart was going to drop.”
Yohan snorted.
“Enough, let’s finish this.”
He planned to retrieve the Great Saint’s corpse fragment first.
Just as Yohan was about to take a step forward, a scream-like shout rang out, echoing loudly.
“You wretch! Unhand me this instant!”
Beris was shrieking, dragged by his hair.
“This is blasphemy! You will not be able to bear the consequences!”
He struggled wildly, but he couldn’t escape Yohan’s grasp.
It was because his entire body had been ripped apart by Shaferia, leaving him in an irrecoverable state.
Yohan’s lips curled into a long smirk.
“Before you start worrying about me bearing your wrath, don’t you have something you need to take responsibility for first?”
Beris had failed to fulfill his contract with Yohan. Having failed to erase Shaferia, he now had to pay a terrible price.
“H-How dare you!”
“I’m quite looking forward to seeing you regress into an Imp.”
Beris would devolve into a lesser demon. Even in the original, he had suffered the same humiliation when he failed to uphold a contract with a mortal.
His already large eyes bulged even larger, trembling violently.
“You, from the beginning……”
Ilea gave an innocent smile.
“An Imp with the potential of an Apostle. May I try taking him as a servant? If you allow it, I could train him to help your path, Yohan.”
She needed a familiar, having lost the Old Hag Spirit because of Shaferia.
But Beris could not be given.
He was the Apostle who governed ‘contracts.’
‘She might tamper with the contract she has with me using Beris.’
If she used Beris, it wouldn’t be that difficult.
Yohan spoke in a rather cold tone.
“Impossible. You know why.”
Ilea made a dejected face.
“That’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“No. In fact, I like how cautious you are, Yohan.”
It was a tone that felt as if she was evaluating him.
Just as Yohan was about to respond, Beris interjected.
“……How utterly ridiculous. Do you think you, mere creatures who have not even overcome your lifespans, could ever contain me? A thousand years, no, even ten thousand years is too soon!”
Black blood trickled down from his eyes.
“I will never forget today’s humiliation. I will chew it over and over and engrave it into my bones.”
His voice sank low with deep resentment. It was so cold and sharp that it felt like an awl was digging into their eardrums.
Yohan reflexively released Beris’s hair.
At the same time, Beris’s form shot up into the sky. Beneath the full moon, evil roared explosively.
Like a star at the end of its life, Beris began to swell grotesquely. Black miasma continued to spout from the red, bulging lumps across his body.
“I swear in the name of Beris. I will grant you an end more terrible than death. You will regret it for eternity as you scream!”
A bright red magic circle filled the night sky.
Contract magic was being engraved into the world’s fabric.
Watching, Gaf vomited a handful of blood. Ilea’s expression cooled completely.
Yohan clicked his tongue.
“Even divided into ten parts, an Apostle is still an Apostle. Not so easily taken.”
Beris let out a final scream.
“Wait for the day of judgment, and repent and repent again!”
Immediately, Beris’s body exploded. Turning into black miasma, it scattered across the night sky.
Gaf collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
“W-What the hell just happened.”
Ilea let out a small sigh.
“Unfortunately, he chose annihilation.”
“There are still nine fragments left, so it’s not true annihilation.”
“They’ll all come after you now.”
“I’m not afraid at all. Beris will never be whole again.”
One of the ten fragments was certainly destroyed.
Even if the remaining nine revived, Beris would never regain omnipotence.
That was enough of a gain.
‘Trying to make him familiar was too greedy.’
Leaving behind his regret, Yohan began to walk toward the coffin.
“Let’s wrap this up.”
Though some of the tension from earlier still lingered, Ilea spoke as calmly as she could.
“I’ve undone everything.”
It was now ready for the lid to simply be opened.
Yohan nodded and opened the coffin.
His expression twisted intensely. Immense holy power was coiled inside.
If not for Kazan’s Ring, Yohan would have fainted on the spot.
“Gaf, I need your hand.”
The light was too strong for demon eyes to even see inside.
Gaf swallowed hard and approached.
“What do I need to do?”
“There should be a golden model shaped like an eyeball. Take it out.”
Gaf’s arm moved slowly. His hand was trembling intensely.
Yohan clicked his tongue.
“After coming all this way, what are you hesitating for? Stop dawdling and hurry up.”
“Damn it!”
Gaf grabbed something with a snatch. He took it out and handed it to Yohan.
In the demon’s black hand was a holy relic.
The left eye of the Great Saint, gilded in gold. It looked exactly as it was described in the original.
Yohan immediately pulled out a long glass tube from his bag.
‘Polymorph Slime.’
A treasure that could mimic any object it was designated to replicate.
Ilea let out a small exclamation.
“Looks like there really isn’t anything the Forbidden Archive doesn’t have.”
“It didn’t get the name ‘the kingdom’s treasure vault’ for nothing.”
As he said that, Yohan poured the liquid from the glass tube onto the golden model.
The viscous slime covered the Great Saint’s eye, sticking to it and starting to writhe.
Soon after, the slime popped off.
When Yohan caught it, the slime had vanished without a trace.
All that remained was a perfect replica of the Great Saint’s eye.
“Gaf, you know what to do.”
A swap. With a complicated expression, Gaf followed Yohan’s instructions.
Ilea spoke.
“A nice finish. They’ll find evidence the coffin was opened, but they won’t be certain it was stolen. There won’t be an appraiser in the kingdom capable of telling a Polymorph Slime copy apart. At least not here.”
“Eventually, they will find out. In the end, it’s just buying time.”
“How you use that time will be the key.”
Yohan nodded silently.
Ilea grabbed her broom and spoke.
“Then shall we hurry back? We can’t waste even a moment.”
“Before that, Rail?”
Yohan had told Ilea and Gaf to find Rail.
Gaf answered.
“Not even a body. Looks like he got caught up in the clash and turned to dust. Same with the horse.”
A hint of regret crossed Yohan’s face.
‘He was useful.’
Ilea suddenly spoke as if remembering something.
“Oh, what about Shaferia?”
“The objective is complete.”
A faint shadow crossed her face.
“So you spared her, I see.”
“Well, she might as well be dead.”
Gaf silently looked at Yohan.
As if to change the subject, Yohan spread his wings wide.
“Let’s go.”
Ilea’s expression softened, and she joked playfully.
“Will you carry me like before?”
“Stop talking nonsense and take care of your father.”
Saying that, Yohan flew into the night sky.
***
Dawn began to break. The warm sunlight came to melt the cold night and fill the frozen nature with the sound of life.
Today was different.
The sun had risen, but the mountain slopes were still cold and silent.
It was gloomier than the night. Under the sunlight, the carnage of the previous night was even more blatant.
Animal corpses lay scattered, and giant trees, ripped out by their roots, blocked the paths.
Because of the Apostle’s evil, the land and water were rotting rapidly.
The only color left was the red hair shining under the sun.
Shaferia. She was walking across the wasteland, leaning on a steel sword.
“……First, I need to find the coffin.”
The Apostle and the Gakgwi surely attacked to steal the Great Saint’s corpse.
There was no other explanation.
High-ranking demons like them wouldn’t have shown up in a remote southern village for any other reason.
“Is anyone there! Archbishop! Holy Knights!”
The terrain had changed so much that it was difficult to find the campsite. No survivors were in sight.
Had they all died?
“Damn it!”
Shaferia collapsed, falling to her knees. Her stamina had long run out. If only she had holy power, things would be different. Without God’s grace, she was nothing. Tears fell from the frustration.
She hated her powerless self so much.
She slammed her fist down on the pile of rocks before her.
At that moment, the gravel shifted.
Shaferia’s eyes widened.
A rough hand was sticking out from between the rocks.
“A-Are you alive in there!?”
She mustered all her remaining strength and began digging out the pile of rocks.
“Please hold on! I’ll get you out right away!”
After digging for a while, the inside was revealed.
There was a man. A young blond man. His appearance was somehow familiar.
“You’re—!”
He was a knight she had seen a few times at Baron Miyatro’s estate.
Shaferia remembered those empty eyes.
Why would the lord’s retainer be here?
“I-I’ll get you out first.”
Just as she was about to remove the remaining rocks, the knight opened his mouth.
“……Finally, I’m finally free.”
He looked happier than anyone. Like a man who had been saved from hell.
“Y-Yes, I’ll get you out right now……!”
Before Shaferia could finish her sentence, the knight’s head drooped lifelessly.
He was dead. Even in death, he was smiling.
Shaferia’s eyes trembled without end.
What on earth had the knight been freed from?