“Magical Thrust!”
Sera swung her magic wand magically. The wand she thrust forward flew towards the man in front of her at a speed and trajectory that should have been physically impossible.
However, the man once again used an unknown technique to block her attack. The most frustrating part was not knowing what method he was using.
‘What is that!?’
No matter what kind of attack she launched, everything seemed to slow down to an almost standstill as it approached the man. It might as well have stopped entirely.
Since the halted attacks never reached him, the man casually moved his body to dodge or deflect them.
Knowing that deflecting dangerous attacks barehanded could be risky, an Aura Blade was imbued in his hand.
In other words, this man was both an Apostle wielding the power of the Evil God and an Aura Master who had achieved mastery through his own enlightenment.
“Why do monsters like you keep showing up!?”
“Monster? That hurts my feelings.”
The man muttered those words before swiftly reaching out and snatching Sera’s magic wand. The moment his hand touched the wand, even Sera’s body, holding onto it, began to slow down.
A powerful impact struck her now sluggish form—perhaps the mysterious power also dulled her brain’s perception, as the shock and pain hit her long after the blow landed.
Amidst her entire body screaming in pain, her body started to give up. Overwhelmed by the pain signals, it began ignoring commands to move.
‘Move, MOVE!’
Her body wouldn’t listen. The only thing she could manage was to roll her eyes. With great effort, Sera looked at the man in front of her.
The man exuded an air of annoyance as he slowly approached her. Just by looking at him, it wasn’t hard to figure out his identity.
“The Apostle of Sloth…!”
“You know me. You know about this place and figured out who I am. You’re no ordinary person, are you?”
“I AM an ordinary person!?”
Sera erupted in a fit of rage, shouting and firing off magic. The Apostle of Sloth watched calmly as the magic flew towards him, easily deflecting it before continuing his approach.
This was the power held by the Apostle of Sloth, Slushy. He could make all things in the world grow sluggish. Any magical kinetic energy that came into contact with him would intentionally slow down as if acknowledging the concept of sloth.
Even this alone was an overwhelmingly overpowered ability, but the Apostle of Sloth himself was just as absurd.
‘The most diligent genius, according to lore.’
Selected as an Apostle based on the logic that seeing a diligent person grow lazy has a greater impact than watching a lazy person stay lazy.
Slushy constantly complained about how bothersome things were, but deep down, he was one of the most diligent beings alive. A monster who spent 20 hours of a 24-hour day awake, relentlessly honing his skills.
Of course, when someone naturally talented puts in such relentless effort, it’s no surprise they become a Master.
“─Grrr-!”
“If you don’t want to die here, you’ll tell me where you heard about this place.”
“Would you really tell me—Kyaaaaaah!”
“Hmm, too bothersome. Why don’t you hurry up and spill it? Torture is quite annoying too.”
Sera screamed in agony as her thigh was pierced. As a mere civilian, the unbearable pain overwhelmed her mind.
She wanted to beg for her life, to promise anything. Tears streaming down her face, Sera weakly slapped at the Apostle of Sloth’s arm gripping her neck.
“I-I’ll talk… I’ll tell you…”
“If you’d done that from the start, we could’ve avoided all this pain. Much better.”
“How I found out about this place—”
Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Sera froze upon seeing a system window flood her vision with blinding white light.
[Do not speak.]
[Do not speak.]
[Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.][Do not speak.]
[─Keep the secret.]
The dazzling light had the power to control minds. The system window emitted a specific sequence of flashes that froze Sera in place and began manipulating her body against her will.
Her hand rose, pulling out a spare magic wand from her inventory. Before the Apostle of Sloth could snap her neck in response to the sudden appearance of the wand, it exploded with a loud bang!
“Grrr-!”
Direct contact rendered their powers useless. Whether Sera knew this weakness or not, it managed to force the Apostle of Sloth back.
In that fleeting moment of separation, Sera collapsed unconscious, her earlier resistance rendered meaningless.
“What a pointless struggle…”
The Apostle of Sloth, Slushy, slowly approached the unconscious Sera and picked her up again. Since she had fainted, there was no need to kill her. Binding her with chains that suppressed magic and tossing her into a prison cell would suffice—
“There’s no such thing as something useless in this world. Don’t you agree?”
And at that moment, Slushy lost Sera right out of his hands. He couldn’t even process how it happened.
It was only natural. She vanished from his grasp as if she had never been there to begin with.
“…Now this is troublesome.”
“The little lady did good. Who would’ve thought the Virgin Saintess would be here? No one would’ve known.”
“Of all people…”
Slushy glanced at the man who had taken Sera from him. A long-haired man with green hair. His face matched the description on the Evil God Cult’s blacklist.
The Empire’s Chief Mage. An 8-star Sorcerer. Merlin stood right there.
“How bothersome… bad luck strikes again.”
“Bad luck? Meeting me is the best luck you could ask for.”
Merlin smirked, imagining what might have happened if others like Rizelotte, who commanded necromancy, or Kail, who simply slaughtered everything in sight, had come instead.
“If they’d shown up here, you wouldn’t have died so peacefully.”
“Now then—surrender quietly, and I’ll make sure your death isn’t painful.”
“And yet you say you’re lucky.”
With a deep sigh, Slushy unleashed an Aura Blade from both hands. Seeing this, Merlin’s eyes gleamed, and the two clashed.
As magic and aura collided, creating a massive storm, amidst the chaos, the Virgin Saintess (Empress) cautiously opened her eyes, enjoying her own happy time.
“Ahh… Ah… Aaaah.”
Crack-! Crunch, creak-!
The saint’s body began to change bit by bit.
* * *
“Stop right there!”
“Hahaha! Try catching me if you can!”
Kail ran toward where the Virgin Saintess was, dodging Arkade. While running, Kail noticed someone keeping pace beside him.
Glancing over, he saw a familiar red-haired woman awkwardly smiling.
“Oh, nyahaha. Hi there?”
“…Why are you here?”
The Apostle of Wrath, Agni. Wasn’t she supposed to be dealing with the other Masters? Confused, Kail tilted his head—just as a ghost swooped in from behind and attacked her.
Unfortunately for the ghost, necromancy was highly ineffective against the Apostles of the Evil God. The dead couldn’t harm holy priests serving the gods.
Rizelotte, having banished the ghost, gracefully flew beside Kail on her broomstick like the witch she was.
“My child, here you are.”
“Ms. Rizelotte.”
“The Virgin Saintess seems to be over there.”
“And the others?”
“Well, they’re probably fighting somewhere else, aren’t they?”
Watching her shrug indifferently, Kail nodded, understanding roughly what happened. They got caught, didn’t they?
Perhaps he should have gone himself? But if he had, Arkade would have likely picked them off one by one. This was the best outcome.
“Damn it, Agni! Stop those two!”
“Hmm? Sorry, can’t. I’m weaker than them, remember?”
“You’re useless!”
“Haha! Sorry, sorry!”
Whether due to being the Apostle of Wrath or just naturally provocative, Agni, who had been irritating her comrades, suddenly hurled herself toward Kail instead.
Kail, ready to slice her with his Superior Blade, hesitated as Agni exploded first.
“Well done, Agni!”
Overjoyed that Kail had stopped, regardless of whether Agni lived or died, Arkade immediately blocked Kail’s path, filling the area with Aura Blades.
And from behind, Agni’s corpse slowly rose.
“Phew-! That was close!”
“Does that resurrection work even after self-destruction?”
“Did you think I actually died? Still young, aren’t you? Such simple thinking.”
“…You’re talented at getting on people’s nerves.”
“Why? Are you mad? What’s making you so mad?”
“Mad… What am I supposed to be mad about?”
Amidst Agni spouting incomprehensible slang, Kail cautiously peered past Arkade. Just hundreds of meters away, the Virgin Saintess was there.
He could ignore Arkade and charge ahead—but doing so would mean Arkade would target Rizelotte first.
With her here, he couldn’t just ignore her and pass by…
“My child, worrying about me, are you?”
“…No, it’s not that.”
“Hmm—this is hurting my pride. Do I really seem so weak that you’d worry about me?”
Rizelotte teased Kail, seemingly reading his thoughts.
Uncertain how to respond, Kail realized her antics were just playful when she placed a hand on his shoulder moments later.
“Well, it’s true I’d be in danger alone.”
“It’s not exactly…”
“What—do I look like someone who gets offended over such trivial matters? However.”
And in the next moment, Rizelotte teleported using the technique she stole from Merlin.
Arriving in front of the prison where the Virgin Saintess was trapped, she giggled mischievously.
“See? All we had to do was avoid fighting.”
“When did you learn this trick?”
“My body grows stronger every day! I’m still young!”
This coming from a woman hundreds of years old was ironic, but no one pointed it out as they entered the prison.
“This is…”
