Chapter 169

The game difficulty is insane

“Where did everyone… go?”

Confusion filled Luceria’s eyes as she arrived with the rear group.

The central passage was filled with blood and chunks of flesh.

It was fortunate that most of it belonged to the Black Order’s cultists, but the ones who had defeated them were nowhere to be seen.

“Sir Patrick.”

“Yes.”

Whoosh—

At Bishop Roderick’s order, one White Veil Knight went ahead to scout.

“…Saintess. The traces of battle stop beyond this point.”

Cardinal Gracia and the Inquisition, as well as Ignat and the Holy Spear Knights, were nowhere to be found.

Roderick’s expression hardened.

“Saintess. This phenomenon is likely what Sir Glen mentioned…”

“Now I see. I was wondering why I couldn’t find you—you were departing as the rear group.”

A voice echoed from an ambiguous position.

At the same time, Bishop Roderick and the White Veil Knights surrounded Luceria.

“I searched everywhere and couldn’t find you, so I thought you had tucked your tails and run away.”

From the man’s relaxed voice and the unstable demonic energy spreading in all directions, they instinctively understood.

“A Prophet… is it.”

Luceria muttered.

Hostility gathered in her violet eyes.

Then the air twisted like the surface of water and tore open, and a gloomy-looking man stepped out.

“Yes. I have another true name, but within the Order, I am called Jiroph.”

The moment they heard the gaunt man’s name, Luceria and Roderick grasped the situation.

“Saintess. This is his doing.”

“Yes. The people who went ahead… you made them disappear, didn’t you.”

“I simply sent them elsewhere for a while because I didn’t want the holy ground of Calungod to be disturbed. Well… they won’t be coming back.”

Prophet Jiroph widened one eye and laughed mockingly.

However, Saintess Luceria and Bishop Roderick calmly accelerated their thoughts.

Prophet Jiroph.

An ability user who could create a pseudo-space similar to another dimension and isolate living beings within it.

“They won’t come back?”

“That’s right. The power granted by Lord Calungod is omnipotent.”

“That’s a lie.”

Luceria snorted.

“Ha… everyone reacts like that at first. But the moment two 8-star holy knights were sent away, it was already—”

“At best, one hour, right? And only if you don’t move from this spot.”

“……”

“Any more lies you want to tell?”

Killing intent surfaced in Jiroph’s eyes.

That reaction was nothing but a good sign for Luceria and Roderick.

“Where did you hear that?”

Jiroph would never imagine that the source of that information was Glen Wordsworth.

“Does that matter? What matters is—”

Shing—

Holy power gathered in Luceria’s hand.

At the same time, Roderick and the White Veil Knights drew their weapons.

“That your life is in danger right now.”

“Knights! Eliminate the enemies of the Order!”

“Waaah!”

With Roderick’s shout, a miracle of protection spread out, and the White Veil Knights charged at Jiroph all at once.

“…Heh heh heh heh. Such an arrogant sight. Did you think I hadn’t accounted for the rear group?”

Jiroph laughed arrogantly as he watched the knights closing in.

And at that very moment—

Kiiieeeek—!

With a horrific scream, four grotesque monsters emerged from the darkness behind him.

Their incomplete bodies, dripping with rotten blood and flesh, looked at first glance like large spheres.

“Saintess… that is.”

“…I don’t know. A demon… perhaps.”

A monster even Glen had never mentioned.

But one thing was certain—an ominous aura radiated from them.

Luceria shouted.

“Brother Roderick! Pull the knights back immediately!”

“Knights! All of you, fall back!”

The White Veil Knights stopped at once.

At the same time, dozens of tentacles rushed toward them.

“Guh!”

Claaang—!

The protective miracle cast by Roderick, a 7-star priest, shattered instantly.

However, there were no casualties, and the White Veil Knights safely retreated from Jiroph.

“Kuhahaha! Did you see? These are the messengers of Calungod! Far superior to a hypocritical lesser god like Minise!”

“…Saintess. One of those monsters seems to be on the same level as me.”

Sharpness filled Roderick’s eyes.

In other words, each monster protecting Prophet Jiroph was around 7-star.

Judging by the situation, there would not be only two such beings.

‘There must be similar ones where Her Eminence the Cardinal is sealed as well.’

It was the Black Order that had summoned hideous demons at the secret meeting.

Having more such beings would not be strange at all.

“…I will try something.”

Roderick stepped forward.

Step, step—

Overlapping footsteps followed.

Saintess Luceria moved right behind him.

“Saintess?”

“Of course I should help.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry. I’ve been practicing for this day, even cutting back on sleep.”

Dense holy power began to spread outward from Luceria.

“Saintess…”

Originally, she hated fighting.

She disliked hurting others and never even tried to learn combat.

But after the secret meeting, Luceria had completely changed.

Though it had only been a few days, she began training for battle.

To make her choice the right one, she finally decided to wield the immense holy power given by God.

The Saintess had grown.

A faint smile crossed Roderick’s lips.

Soon, he gathered golden holy power with a serious gaze.

“…Then, as your teacher, I shall see how well you have learned.”

Luceria smiled lightly as well.

“This is bad…”

The situation was not good.

After entering the Black Order’s secret passage from the exit side for over ten minutes—

Just past the midpoint, an enemy suddenly appeared ahead.

“Krug… kiieeek…”

Glen frowned as he looked down at the grotesque lifeform, crushed miserably and groaning.

“I thought so.”

Romina brushed her hair back as she extinguished the demonic energy flickering in her hand.

Ridenhall, behind them, spoke.

“This is… a demon, right? But Brother Glen never mentioned this.”

“She’s surprisingly scatterbrained. Makes a perfect plan and then misses one critical detail. Well. Maybe it’s the god who taught her that’s at fault?”

Romina looked at Glen with playful eyes, as if poking him.

Glen subtly avoided her gaze.

‘It’s because of Lunatic.’

Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud.

Glen narrowed his eyes and reread the system message that had appeared earlier.

《Viewing information on a new Lunatic element.》

《Messenger of Calungod? – Lunatic》

:Having learned of the expedition in advance, the Black Order summons powerful and dangerous demons to protect their headquarters from overwhelming force.

:Before the Altar of Descent, Opheile, the demon that gives birth to sin, is summoned.

The eighth Lunatic trial he had been wary of had appeared.

Due to the Lunatic difficulty, only a single demon was summoned.

‘But Opheile is… troublesome.’

Opheile, the demon that gives birth to sin.

Its level was on a completely different scale from the two demons fought before.

‘A full 9-star.’

A being that could completely overturn the situation where the expedition force was overwhelming the Black Order.

Fortunately, Opheile itself had no combat ability.

‘Of course, a 9-star is still a 9-star.’

Opheile possessed the ability of sin—giving birth to demons.

‘That’s what these are.’

Mass-produced demons called Sins.

Their level ranged roughly from 5-star to 7-star.

They required some time before birthing the next individual, but given enough time, Opheile could produce high-level demons endlessly.

Glen estimated that the many Sins already born were greatly hindering the main expedition force’s advance.

‘We need to deal with this quickly.’

The way to defeat Opheile was simple—kill the main body that lacked combat ability.

Of course, eliminating the many Sins guarding it was also necessary.

‘Still, it’s good news that it was summoned in front of the Altar of Descent. If it had been on the opposite side, we’d be completely screwed.’

Fortunately, Glen’s current position gave him a viable route to eliminate Opheile and stop the Black Order’s ritual.

As planned, Glen just had to continue through this secret passage.

‘It’s doable.’

This was within expectations.

If the ritual had been accelerated and Calungod summoned early, that would have been the worst possible scenario.

“Both of you, gather up.”

Glen explained Opheile’s information to Romina and Ridenhall.

Romina nodded and kicked the defeated Sin with her foot.

“But will this be okay, Glen? If we kill this thing, they’ll notice from the other side.”

“We have no choice. Demons or Prophets will definitely come to block us.”

Either way, what needed to be done was the same.

If enemies increased, they would simply defeat them and move on.

“Simple. I like it.”

“Yeah. It’ll be a bit tough, but if we just deal with Opheile, it’s fine.”

“Did you infer Opheile’s existence just from the Sins it birthed?”

A sudden unfamiliar voice echoed.

“!”

“What?!”

Romina reacted in shock.

She hadn’t detected the enemy’s approach.

But—

“Duck!”

The moment Glen shouted—

Screee—

The air tore apart as a blade passed over their heads.

If they had reacted even a bit later, their heads would have been severed.

“…Ghk!”

Ridenhall formed a sphere of light in his palm, illuminating the surroundings.

“Hm. You dodged that. As expected of a key figure.”

A giant man appeared.

In his shadow, a black-haired woman with a blank expression half-emerged.

“Hey! If assassination is your specialty, shouldn’t you have cleanly taken us out? With skills like that, how are you supposed to get salvation?”

“…Shut up.”

One was Chel, the shadow woman meeting Glen for the third time already.

And the other—

“Banproxy, huh.”

“Oh? You know me? Almost no Minise worshippers know who I am.”

How could he not?

The only Prophet who had reached 8-star.

“There’s nothing I don’t know about you. But there’s no reason for you to come here, is there? Do you think Her Eminence the Cardinal is easy?”

With Ignat and Cardinal Gracia at the front, there was no reason to send Banproxy here.

“Well. I did want to try fighting that Cardinal bitch or the Holy Spear Knight’s pretty boy. But you’ve been sticking out too much.”

Banproxy clashed his gauntleted fists together and grinned like a beast.

“The price for interfering with Lord Calungod’s ritual is heavy, heretic bastard.”

“Wow, your trash talk is impressive. Guess your Order doesn’t teach polite language.”

“Do heretics deserve courtesy? You think the same, don’t you?”

Glen tilted his head.

“Nope. I’m like this with everyone.”

Romina nodded beside him.

Banproxy frowned.

The air around them grew colder.

“What should we do, Glen?”

“What do you think? Break through. Cleanly.”

“Right? That’s what I thought. I was already itching anyway.”

Whatever the reason—who cared.

They just had to do what needed to be done.

Wooooong—

A gray ring.

All eight rings, black and white, turned gray, then became pure white at Glen’s will—rings of holiness.

“You remember what I taught you, right?”

Glen asked Romina and Ridenhall one last time.

“Yeah.”

“Of course.”

“Good. Then…”

Satisfied, Glen smiled and kicked off the ground.

“Let’s finish this quickly.”

Baaang—!

The target was Banproxy.

The distance closed in an instant.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

As if he had been waiting, Banproxy swung his fist at Glen’s head.

But—

Whooo—

Glen folded his sword, lowered his body, and slipped past Banproxy.

The wasted fist tore through the air.

“You rat bastard—!”

The moment Banproxy grabbed for Glen’s leg, an explosion erupted.

Kuwaaang—!

“Hey. Where are you looking?”

Romina stood seductively, demonic particles swirling around her finger.

Chel leapt out from Romina’s shadow and slashed with her sword, but—

Claaang—!

It was blocked by Ridenhall’s skeleton.

“….”

Frowning, Chel retreated back to Banproxy’s side.

The skin on one side of Banproxy’s face was peeled away from Romina’s attack.

He glared at Glen with burning rage.

“Grrrr… heretic scum…”

“Let me tell you one thing.”

Despite the murderous gaze, Glen smiled calmly.

“You can’t beat this party.”

TO BE CONTINUED....