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Baneus, whose lower body had transformed into a black mist, began to fly quickly.

“O Goddess…! O Goddess!! I shall soon come to You!”

This is insane.

The zealot with a missing lower half has appeared!

What will Jonah do?

-Attack -Bag

-Companion -Escape

Though he looks terrible, there’s no reason to hesitate. I’ll show them that the crazy one in this area is me.

I needed to activate magic, so I temporarily stopped controlling the undead.

“Damn it…!”

A short shout. Triggering the forcibly inscribed spell from the anger and determination packed within.

Fwoosh!

I burned my mana, which I’d rarely used until now, generously igniting the Purifying Radiance.

It’s a Four-Star Magic, created to replace Divine Power. Therefore, it boasts absolute power against the undead, but it wouldn’t have much effect on other opponents.

Surely, casting the third-star magic Exploding Flame twice, which consumes only half the mana, would be more advantageous.

Normally, that would be the case.

Baneus had transformed part of his body into black mist with that power.

That’s one of the powers of the God of Death: Necromancy.

Though his upper body looks fine, it must already be within the range of Necromancy’s effects.

In the necromancy state, he is immune to all physical attacks, and damage from attacks using aura or mana is also halved.

On the flip side, he becomes exceedingly vulnerable to attacks utilizing light or divine power.

Thanks to the sanctuary, there’s an overflow of divine power in the surroundings, and witnessing it all being used merely as fuel to enhance the effects of his powers, I realized that I couldn’t use Sacred Magic.

“Tsk.”

Why can’t Sacred Magic come out while magic and aura are coming from the gacha?

No, if I had been using Sacred Magic, I would’ve been spotted by Claudia too soon.

While nodding to myself, a sphere of light the size of a fist floated above my head.

Soon this sphere would burst, illuminating the area. But wouldn’t that weaken the power?

I gathered the divine power spread throughout the area. Perhaps due to the sanctuary’s effect, the divine power, denser than usual, easily obeyed my will.

No matter how good the materials are, if you don’t know how to refine them, they are just materials.

The divine power I handle is like that. I can mix it here and there to enhance its potency or boost natural healing, but…

I can’t realize a proper magical transfer.

But right now, that’ll be enough.

The dense divine power envelops the light sphere. A white sphere wrapped in pink.

In any case, both are miracles bestowed by the God, so they won’t repel each other, but since they are powers of different gods, the divine power and mana won’t mix.

In the current state, if the light sphere bursts, the light would just be trapped inside, rendering it meaningless.

…However, if a hole opens, the story changes.

I aimed my finger at Baneus, who had already passed a considerable distance and was now right before me.

“Die.”

Even though I was feeling a bit tired from handling strong magic along with tremendous divine power and applying it on the spot, the effect was undeniable.

Crack!

It surely was light, yet I heard a sound like something being sliced.

It must have been the clash of the torrent of mana and the dense divine power that created that sound.

In stark contrast to the loud noise, the white light fired forward in a clean straight line like a laser.

Of course, the target was Baneus’s forehead.

“…!”

It isn’t a widely known spell, and despite having made a makeshift variation, did he feel something amiss?

Baneus desperately twisted his body, even though he could have grasped me with just a little more reach.

His upper body began to blur like mist, then bent at an angle that defied the laws of physics.

I adjusted the direction of the divine power sphere to follow, but the Purifying Radiance seemed to have vomited all its light; the laser disappeared just near Baneus.

“Close call.”

“Hmm. Did you know what kind of power it was?”

“The Goddess revealed it to me through revelations that those like you, the heretics, cannot hear.”

I shrugged nonchalantly, but inside, I was sweating bullets.

Just now was my best chance to grab him.

Baneus was slightly off guard and also in a state of incredible vulnerability.

I poured out everything I could muster in terms of power.

If that previous move was seen through… I’d have to accept that I had no way to win against Baneus.

I could only stall for time as originally planned.

“Have you never thought it strange? The moment you create One Who Devours the Twilight. The moment your faith becomes corrupted. Your divine power hasn’t vanished, but it no longer increases.”

“The Goddess granted me the space to understand her will. I hope to fill that space with offerings for what has lost its rightful owner…”

“The Goddess has never claimed the world as hers, nor asked us to collect shards left by the ancient gods, has she?”

“To maintain the labyrinth, to sacrifice herself for our poor souls, could it be that she doesn’t even have the chance to speak? If she remained silent for the sake of her followers, then it is a dutiful follower’s role to understand the will of the silent Goddess.”

“The Goddess is a being of love, not a beggar for love. With what qualification do you speak of love towards the Goddess while trying to destroy what she loves?”

“The Goddess embodies immense love. Not merely a give-and-take concept, but a complete being; her love for me and my love for her are fundamentally the same. Those who were sacrificed must have closed their eyes within that love, having departed for paradise a step ahead of us.”

“If you love the Goddess so much, why not head to paradise first?”

“The Goddess deserves to be loved because she proves her great love by sacrificing everything for this world. Yet, the ungrateful ones are oblivious to who maintains this world, worshipping already dead gods or fervently seeking even a piece of their flesh! How can this not be lamentable? Ah! Goddess! O Goddess!! Forgive those infidels!! …Of course, except for you, chosen one. You are an exception. Receiving the crown of the World Tree is merely to convert the stubborn Elves. You are already one of us, so do not fear.”

“……”

As he spoke, his anger flared, shifting from gradient rage to a suddenly calm tone, persuading me.

I must retract my earlier words.

The crazy one in this area is Baneus. I can’t find any way to surpass that freak. Nor do I particularly want to.

In reality, he is the zealot most broken in the setting. Surviving for hundreds of years while committing all sorts of acts.

Baneus’s self-justification has reached a level that mere words can’t contend with.

I know the settings for both the Goddess and Baneus well since I created them myself… but that doesn’t mean I am smooth-talking either.

Even with good speaking skills, I doubt I could shake him.

As the spiraling gears of Argetlam began to slowly collapse, seemingly feeling the effects of the madness from his rampage,

I manipulated it to throw the greatsword at Baneus’s neck.

Whoosh! Thud!

And the greatsword was caught by a gigantic rocky hand that burst up from the ground.

“Oh! Looking closely, isn’t that the weapon of the bull-headed monster once cherished by the Earth Goddess? Magnificent. To wield such blatant loot solely to spread the truth of the Goddess of Love!”

“Hey! That’s expensive! Give it back, you jerk!”

I didn’t expect it to work, but I didn’t think it would be so easily blocked, so I feigned anger to hide my surprise.

“Of course, it should be returned. To the new ‘master.’”

Baneus, just as I had moments ago, hurled the Minotaur Greatsword with great force.

The moment he threw the greatsword, his right arm swelled dramatically, transforming into that of a dragon.

Is it the power of Dragonization obtained from the layer guardian of the Sixth Floor?

Though it possesses a different essence than the typical Beastization power, it has the limitation of being unable to transform the whole body.

The dragon from the Sixth Floor may be steeped in madness and corruption, but the species of dragon itself is far superior to humans.

Because if complete dragonization is achieved, the human mind can’t handle the gap and ends up going mad.

…But maybe because he’s already insane.

Baneus’s arm didn’t just change shape; the size transformed into that of a dragon.

A massive dragon’s arm attached to a human body. The imbalance of it became an absurdity that struck me.

Whoosh!

The flying greatsword was moving at a speed I could hardly follow with my eyes.

To intercept it, I activated the King of Thorns to the fullest.

I wasn’t trying to stop the incoming greatsword. I couldn’t grow the thorns fast enough to match that speed.

The thorns enveloped my body, forming a thick armor.

In that moment, an omnipotent sensation surged through me. Relying on a perception extended beyond my physical form to the world, I moved my body delicately.

I stretched my arm in tune with the flying speed and the spinning velocity.

The bloodline of Historia, who has a natural talent for movement, the aura manipulation learned from Lydia, and the knowledge acquired from the swordsmanship books provided by Modred all blended together.

I successfully clenched the handle of the greatsword with perfect timing and the correct angle. Now, only one thing remained.

Using the nature of the greatsword, which felt weightless to me, I aimed to stop it completely…

“Ugh!”

The speed. The strength contained within it is too overwhelming.

Even if a bullet is light, it can still be lethal at high speed.

The greatsword thrown by Baneus felt light, but the power within it was so immense that I couldn’t simply stop it, and there was the risk of my arm being completely severed.

Thus, I fired off the remaining aura, albeit a bit prematurely.

Boom!

An explosion rang out from my lower abdomen. The aura, beginning to rampage uncontrollably, spread to my limbs. And then.

“Haah!!”

I secured enough strength to not be swept away by the force of the greatsword.

Gripping the handle tightly, I applied force diagonally in the direction the greatsword was flying. At the same time, my feet traced a circular path.

The massive flow of power rotated around the axis, then shot back toward Baneus, amplified by my strength.

Kaboom!

The greatsword, which I had developed some attachment to, shattered into pieces. Baneus’s dragon arm was also ripped from the frail old man’s body, tumbling to the ground.

“Oh! This too is a miracle allowed by the Goddess…!”

Even with one arm flying away, Baneus rejoiced instead of feeling pain.

This mad zealot trembled with ecstasy, then began to shout, spitting everywhere.

“More! Show me more of how the Goddess cherishes you! Let me see Your will through Your eyes!”

With his eyes half-rolled back, Baneus unleashed dozens, hundreds of abilities.

The echo of the abyss sounded, the earth trembled, and weapons made of flesh and blood sparkled as the world began to warp into a miracle.

Despite Baneus trying to pour out all his power that he hadn’t drawn upon in so long,

“…Huh?”

I had long since succeeded in becoming invisible through sound-absorbing footsteps and transparency while he momentarily concentrated.

There’s no reason to face a monster like that head-on, right?

 

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