The game difficulty
is insane
Saint Ridenhall.
Once revered as a saint in the past, he was now acting together with a boy considered the saint of the current era, assisting him from the shadows.
He could not clearly tell what the boy ultimately intended to do, but he could guess that it was for good.
‘Surely, a future promised by the god—even one I do not know—will unfold.’
Ridenhall quietly recalled the boy’s sacred prayer he had witnessed beyond the door.
There was still time left until the afternoon mission.
—I’m going to take a nap, so wake me up later.
The demon woman who would carry out the afternoon mission with him shut herself away in her private room.
With nothing else to do, he headed to the basement beneath the mansion, under the dim lamplight.
He placed a single candle in the dark basement and clasped his hands together.
Ten fingers, with nothing left but bone, folded neatly as Ridenhall focused his consciousness toward his god.
“……”
The candle flame, the only source of light, flickered.
Ridenhall tried to drive away the nightmare that constantly disturbed his heart.
—Kyaahahahahaha.
A sound burned vividly into his mind.
That day, the woman did not stop.
Ridenhall knew she was a heretic who believed in another god, and therefore someone who could never be forgiven.
“……”
That was why he hardened his resolve and tried to pass judgment on the woman who charged at him.
He raised the bones of those who once followed him, turning them into skeletons, and blessed each piece of their equipment.
Shraaaak—
Their skills were similar, but there were no variables.
—Kyaahaha! It hurts!
After a long and stubborn battle, the followers’ bones tore through the woman’s flesh, and they knocked the weapon from her hand.
But the woman did not stop. She stole the followers’ weapons and continued fighting.
In that way, the wounds gradually increased.
By the time the twisted dagger reached Ridenhall, the only limb the woman still had was her right arm holding the blade.
—Ah… such a shame…….
Ridenhall could feel it.
What she regretted was not her own death, but the fact that she could not drive the dagger into Ridenhall’s skull.
“……Kh… urgh!”
Her madness and obsession, transcending even death, dealt a tremendous shock to Ridenhall’s mind.
Clack, clack—
The neatly folded finger bones rattled softly as they collided.
He never wanted to meet her again, and he never wanted to experience something like that again.
Though the god no longer spoke to him, Ridenhall prayed that if the god could still hear his voice, he would grant him eternal forgetfulness of that nightmare.
At the same time.
Glen was with the very person who had inflicted unforgettable trauma on someone else.
The place was the Istirenne Grand Cathedral.
The noon service was in progress, so there were no people around, but even considering that, it was not a suitable place for an assassination attempt.
‘Of course, if it’s that woman, you could say she’s free from such constraints.’
When trying to eliminate a target, an assassin considers many factors.
The time or place where the target shows an opening.
The conditions under which the assassination can be carried out without being discovered.
To ensure their own safety and flawless execution, an assassin calculates countless possibilities.
That is why many abilities are required to become a proper assassin.
‘But she doesn’t need any of that.’
Not the surrounding conditions, nor the strength of herself or her opponent.
Lily Cluny considers nothing when she assassinates someone.
There is only one thing she needs.
Obsession.
Tap—!
Lily Cluny kicked off the ground.
A reckless charge that ignored defense entirely.
Chaeeeng—! Slash—!
Glen and Lily Cluny crossed paths, and in the next moment, Lily’s left arm fell to the floor.
Around Glen’s heart, eight rings unified with holy power had already formed.
“She’s super fast! Faster than me! So it’s true you’re stronger than Chel!”
Yet Lily admired him sincerely.
“Tsk…!”
Glen bit his lip and swung Impeus with full force.
Fwoosh—
Shraaaak—!
But Lily Cluny, who should have retreated, instead charged straight into the sword’s arc.
“Ah… aha…… haha.”
Even as her body was split diagonally by Impeus, she drove her dagger into Glen’s thigh.
“Kgh…!”
Eight-star versus seven-star.
The difference in skill was clear, but he had not expected her to attack while throwing away her life like this.
‘No, I knew… but still…….’
He was not used to such an absurdly inefficient attack—stabbing the opponent while sacrificing one’s own life—and failed to respond properly.
“Aahaha…… then, see you later.”
With a blissful expression completely unsuited for someone dying, Lily let her head slump.
“……This is damn brutal.”
The wound on his thigh was nothing.
The real problem lay in the near future.
In one hour, Lily Cluny would revive and come for him again.
Of course, by then he would be able to respond more skillfully than now.
But the real problem would be the third encounter with Lily Cluny.
‘I won’t be able to win then…….’
In the assassination attempt just now, Glen had used the gray ring to defeat the seven-star Lily Cluny.
But the gray ring’s skill duration was limited to eight minutes.
By the time Lily revived and came for him again, all of his rings would already be deactivated due to penalties.
‘I do have Mirmias’s Mirror, but…….’
That could only be used once.
It was far from enough to deal with a seven-star assassin who would come to kill him every hour.
“Ha…….”
It was miserable.
The Holy Spear Knight Order was not the problem.
He had ended up fighting an enemy who precisely exploited his weakness at this point in time.
‘I even avoided meeting her face-to-face during the secret meeting, just in case she recognized me.’
Lily Cluny’s approach had been several days faster than Glen expected.
Letting out a deep sigh, Glen lowered his gaze.
Lily Cluny was already gone, leaving only a stain of blood on the floor.
“There are two methods…….”
The first method.
Kill Lily Cluny every single hour, no matter what.
‘She’s not a god either, so every time she revives, she has to come find me.’
If he hid in the lamplit house in the slums, she would not be able to find him easily.
As long as he was careful while moving outside, it should be manageable.
‘But the risk is too high.’
If Lily Cluny somehow discovered the lamplit house where Glen was staying, it would be truly dangerous.
No matter how strong he was, he could not protect himself from Lily Cluny while sleeping.
‘Then…….’
The second method.
Find and kill Amelia Cluny somewhere within the hour before Lily revives.
In truth, this was even closer to impossible.
The moment Amelia sensed Lily’s death, the elder sister would desperately try to hide.
Moreover, the maximum distance at which the two sisters could stay apart to use their ability was roughly 10 kilometers.
“How am I supposed to find her?”
Playing hide-and-seek over an area comparable to the Grand Cathedral, which was the size of the imperial palace?
Unless one was a character specialized in detection, it was absolutely impossible.
“……Wait.”
