Black Summoner: Volume 19 E-Book

Doufu Mayoi

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Black Summoner
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 323

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The threat of the Ten Authorities continues to loom as gigantic stakes appear across the world and several powerful figures are attacked.

Baldogg has been assigned to Serge, while a mysterious hooded man has gone after Goldiana. How will they fare? With so many unknowns as the Ten Authorities try to face off against the strongest in the world, will it even be a fight? What of those left behind in Lumiest, like Dorothiara? And what is Kelvin doing while all this is happening?

Meanwhile, Luquille continues to lurk and scheme in the shadows. Fights, intrigue, and rescue missions abound in this new volume of Black Summoner!

Leseprobe

Chapter 1: Tempering

Having manifested his Authority, a pair of wings unfolded out of his back. They were white, despite the fact that he was a fallen angel. Actually, rather than wings, they were more like a mass of particles. The trees, flowers, grass, rocks, and even the earth itself were being broken down into pure energy and stored in his wings.

“Smiths who have reached the realm of the divine no longer care to choose the place, materials, or even tools. They are able to always create the best arms and armor no matter the situation. But my smithy happens to be somewhat dangerous. Anything without a will, or more importantly, anything weak, will be dismantled. This is my Authority: Tempering!” Baldogg boasted.

“Mm-hmm, it looks like I can expect a little entertainment from this?” Serge muttered. “Well, words alone mean nothing, anyway!”

On the other side, Serge morphed her Holy Sword Will into its club form, Holy Club Nyoibou, twirling it around in place of her warm-up exercises. The weapon was long, seemingly around two meters, but she was spinning it with incredible speed, making the club invisible to the naked eye. It wasn’t even at the level of leaving behind afterimages. The club had quite literally become invisible.

“Hmph, pretty interesting trick,” said Baldogg. “But do you really think that’ll be enough to beat me?”

“I wonder,” replied Serge. “Well, I guess it depends on how hard you fight?”

A portion of the particles of Baldogg’s wings gathered in his hand, instantly forming a bow. Furthermore, various swords and spears were formed in the air around him. It was as though the very air surrounding him was a forge.

“Scatter and vanish.” Baldogg pointed the bow in his hands at Serge, and the weapons around him locked on to his target as well. The next instant, they all flew at her, as if having been flung.

Clang!

Each impact came with an explosion powerful enough to change the landscape. Of course they did, since each weapon was powerful enough to be Rank S. Merely throwing them produced enough destructive might to easily produce such casualties.

“I can’t measure how much confidence you have in your strength, but don’t you think it was careless not to move at all, even in the face of all those explosions? No matter how fast you swing your weapon, it’s impossible to sweep away all of mine. They’re absolutely stronger than yours—the stuff of myths.”

In front of Baldogg were a multitude of craters, each with a weapon in the center, stuck into the earth. Unfortunately, these craters were also thick with black smoke, so it was impossible to see through them. But given all the explosions, even on the off chance his enemy survived all that, his mass of weapons was powerful enough to be Rank S and had vicious skills to match. Baldogg was sure that the battle was won, convinced that no human could do anything against him.

Which...well, set up a flag, in a certain sense. He was better at it than Serge already.

“Whoa there, how am I alive? Was I lucky? Or does my opponent just have no control at all?” Serge taunted him. “Either way, you should aim better. There wasn’t even any need for me to dodge.”

“Huh?” Baldogg responded angrily after a moment. Suddenly, a fierce wind whipped up, blowing away all the smoke. It looked like Serge had done this from within by spinning her club. And as her flippant attitude indicated, she was totally fine—completely untouched, in fact.

The weapons Baldogg had thrown had definitely managed to create several large craters, destroying their surroundings. There was no doubt about that. However, that was all. The weapons he was so proud of, which he had unleashed at Serge, had all gone off in wild directions. It was as if they’d purposefully avoided her, as only the area she was standing on was safe from the destruction.

What?! She’s completely unhurt?! That’s impossible! The arrow I just shot is supposed to chase its target to the ends of the universe! And it’s unthinkable for all the weapons to have missed her when she didn’t move at all! There’s no way they’d scatter so conveniently like that! Baldogg screamed internally.

The things he trusted most in this world were the weapons made by his own hand. His trust in them was equal to his adoration of the wicked god, Addams, whom he worshipped as the one and only god. And that was exactly why he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Even if his target was the strongest obstacle in this world that could oppose them, he could never have imagined his weapons would throw up an error against a mere human.

I’m a maiden, in the end; I don’t want to get my hair dirty. I’m glad I went with Nyoibou, since I was able to drive away all that smoke and dust, Serge thought.

While Baldogg was flabbergasted, she simply continued to spin her club. She was maintaining the invisibility of her weapon, though it was creating an eerie, alien sound as it sliced through the air.

So...mm-hmm, mm-hmm, judging from that elated, smug face he was making until just a moment ago, he’s got no detection skills to speak of? Serge pondered her observations. Actually, it doesn’t seem like he knows all that much about me. Awww, that’s so sad for him. So he really came to fight me all ignorant like that. That would’ve been huge points in his favor if only he’d been a cute girl. But for him to be a man... I’m so unlucky!

Serge was exasperatingly narcissistic. However, she had started to think about her next move. Her enemy had shown a disappointingly wide opening. She wasn’t such a bleeding heart that she’d let such a chance pass her by.

Kaboom!

The sound of a scathing blunt blow came from Baldogg’s cheek. An even more severe sense of pain came afterward. Though he’d given her an opening, for a moment, Baldogg didn’t understand what had attacked him. Still, he immediately understood after looking at Serge. She was holding a club that had extended to an impossible length.

By continuing the high-speed rotation that made the weapon invisible, and furthermore having it extend with good timing, she had been able to land a beautiful hit on his face. Although the logic of it was simple, it was a godly move that likely only she could pull off.

But Serge reacted like she’d hit a target in a shooting game at a fair, saying, “Oooh, I hit it!”

“You falsified your weapon?!” Baldogg shouted accusingly.

“What do you mean, falsified? It’s Nyoibou. Of course it extends,” Serge replied. “Well, I guess I did hit you pretty hard, so I should praise you for not having your head fly off, though, you did lose your glasses.”

Baldogg let out a strangled noise as veins popped out on his face in anger. He was in a pose one step away from falling flat after being hit that hard, with one hand on the ground to help stabilize him. He slammed the ground with that hand, turning the entire area into energy that enveloped his body, transforming him.

He took a couple deep, deliberate breaths. “Fine, I will acknowledge you as an enemy and finish you with all my might.”

Baldogg stood up, now clad in a gaudy full set of armor. It shone so bright it was impossible to believe that it used to be dirt, and it emanated a force that unconsciously pressured those who looked upon the wearer to prostrate themselves. That was likely some sort of ability of the armor itself, but the one who was currently looking at it only thought that the wearer seemed kind of arrogant.

“What, you weren’t being serious?! Wow, I’m shocked! You have no sense of danger!” Serge feigned surprise.

“Stop your drivel!” Baldogg shouted.

Serge’s obvious playacting had exhausted Baldogg’s store of patience. He could no longer find it in himself to show any mercy, so he started to bring out materials that had been in Storage since the age of the gods. He created and deployed numerous “mythical” weapons, each of which was the equal of Melfina’s Holy Lance Answerer.

“Wow, now that’s a spectacle!” Serge exclaimed. “Then let me get in on this too! Holy Sword Willjillion!”

As if competing with Baldogg’s mass of weapons, Serge deployed even more copies of Holy Sword Willjillion. This face-off of massed weapons, just one set of which could warp space-time, made it seem like the end of the world was coming.

The host of Holy Sword Willjillions clashed with that of the mythical weapons. The damage done whenever blades clashed was beyond words. No matter which side won, this entire area would be turned into a wasteland.

In the midst of such a disastrous conflict, Serge had morphed the Will in her hand into its bow form, Holy Bow Artemis. Of course, Baldogg had a bow in his hands as well, which meant the next moment was filled with an intense exchange of shots. But neither side managed to land an effective hit on the other. Serge’s arrows would strike Baldogg every time, but his armor made it so that he essentially took no damage. Given that a single arrow from Holy Bow Artemis could create a large crater in the ground, one could only imagine how absurd the defense value of the armor was. As things stood, not even hundreds of arrows could bring Baldogg down.

On the other hand, Baldogg’s arrows had yet to land a single hit on Serge. Following the example set by the first attack, the world itself seemed to refuse to allow the bow to exhibit its power. This absurdity was approaching unfair, and it defied all logic. But no matter how much Baldogg wailed and complained, the arrows continued to seemingly dodge out of Serge’s way. It also didn’t seem like he’d be able to even graze his target, no matter how many hundreds of arrows he unleashed. Moreover, the factors that put them in a stalemate extended to the storm of weapons around them as well. The same story was playing out, where Baldogg’s side wouldn’t take damage even when hit and his attacks seemingly dodged of their own volition.

“Aha, that makes sense. Even if you’re rotten, you still presided over smithing at one point. The specs of your weapons catalog—and that alone—is impressive,” Serge admitted.

“I never expected you to be able to mess with my weapons this much. Even when facing other gods in the past, finding one as ridiculous as you was rare. You can be proud...but still!” Baldogg shouted. He shot an arrow, and at the same time, he glared at the Will in Serge’s hands.

“I thought I recognized that weapon. It’s one of my imitator’s works!” he exclaimed.

“Hm? Imitator?” Serge seemed confused.

“Yes, exactly!” Baldogg agreed. “The ability to change shape freely into whatever the user wishes is exactly like Ridwan, which I made out of divine iron! I bet some god blindly imitated me after we were sealed away, and it looks like whoever it was didn’t do a very good job! Compared to Ridwan, that’s a total failure!”

“Hah! Hah! Hah.” Serge laughed boldly, but she quieted down mid-laugh. Then, after a pause, she said, “I don’t think I can let that one go.”

Her voice was a mite lower, and the arrow she fired in retaliation hit Baldogg in the face. Unfortunately, his helmet seemed to absorb the blow, and the arrow fell powerlessly to the ground.

“Ha ha ha ha! You can try to intimidate me all you want, but the results are plain to see! My Ridwan is nothing like that defective piece of junk!” Baldogg boasted. “He surpasses the framework of simple weaponry or armor to have his own will! Having the unassailable toughness to not succumb to any attack is his pride! He can transform into a multitude of different things, regardless of the era! As a weapon...as a tool of war, the stuff he is made of is just different! It absolutely is!”

“Huh, I see. That’s amazing,” said Serge. “You might actually be the pinnacle of all smiths. But...” Serge rushed at her opponent, stepping on air and becoming as the wind itself.

Seeing that, Baldogg immediately moved to intercept with one of his weapons. However, it still didn’t hit.

“As a weapon user, you’re barely third-rate,” she finished.

“Grk?!”

With lightning speed, Will changed from a bow to a large hammer. Now with Holy Hammer Mjolnir in hand, Serge swung at Baldogg with all her might. Not even the fallen angel’s armor was able to absorb all of the force of that attack, and Baldogg was sent crashing back to the ground.

“Grkhh...heh heh...heh ha ha ha ha! I told you, it’s meaningless!” he exclaimed. “No matter how much you transform it, that weapon won’t—”

He was still essentially unhurt as he tried to stand up again. But before his mouth could spit his next words with his haughty, confident tone, Serge was already right next to him, making her next attack.

“Holy Katana Masamune,” she declared.

Will’s next change was used to make a series of drawing slashes at close range. These attacks, which brought to mind Survivor’s secret technique, came like an avalanche, all accurately targeting the slight gaps in the joints of Baldogg’s plate. Serge couldn’t match Survivor in terms of her skill at this technique, but her incredibly high stats made up for the lack of skill, allowing her to make her attacks with nearly the same power and speed as her former comrade.

Baldogg let out a grunt. “It’s useless! Totally useless! You don’t learn, do you?! Not to mention, you were careless! You got too close!”

Serge made a surprised noise. Even after all that effort, her attacks had not penetrated Baldogg’s armor. In fact, the recoil she felt from striking the protective gear actually hurt. It was an effect of Baldogg’s Authority, Tempering. His ability to break down the substances around him extended to Serge as well. No matter how strong her protagonist buff from Absolute Gospel was, she couldn’t dodge an ability that affected all the space around her through sheer luck.

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep acting like a gentleman forever! Stop resisting and become the materials for one of my works!” Baldogg said.

In the blink of an eye, all of Serge’s equipment was broken down. Her Heavenly Garment Mitos, God Hand Iero, and Eternal Boots Zage—all things lovingly used for many years by her and precious partners to her—were taken away. Only Will remained, still in Serge’s hands.

“My Will isn’t weak enough to be disassembled by you. Also, watch out for your head,” she told him.

“Huh? Agrkh!”

Holy Sword Will Durandal had flown up above Baldogg’s head to deliver a surprise attack. Serge had amassed the Willjillions that had been warring in the air into one mass to make the giant sword that had just struck her opponent. Sparks flew from Baldogg’s armor as the giant sword attempted to bisect him vertically. In the end, though, the armor held. She was just one step short of a decisive blow.

As for Baldogg, he’d lost sight of Serge, who had been right in front of him just a moment before. The instant his gaze had traveled elsewhere when he’d been hit by the surprise attack had been enough for her to disappear.

“Tch! So much useless struggling!” Baldogg scoffed with irritation. “Allow me to break this dull thing down first!”

He spread his white wings, the tips of which started to split into sharp needles. Then, the needles stabbed into the giant sword, acting like syringes that allowed Baldogg to start forcibly disassembling the weapon. At the same time, he made the mass of weapons, which was still in the air, rain down in a random pattern.

Even if he managed to see and target her, his attacks would just miss. So he opted to hit a wide area with a single attack. And even though he couldn’t see her, he had no need to fear her attacks. He likely thought he’d be safe if he brought his weapons in close. It was obvious, and of course, Serge could read that intention as well.

“I knew it. You’re far too easygoing and unsuited to the front lines of battle,” she said. “You’re prioritizing your urge to create over winning against me.”

Baldogg let out a grunt. “So that’s where you are!”

Responding to the voice coming from behind him, he reflexively launched a weapon he had on hand. However, when he turned around, Serge was nowhere to be seen.

“Euthanasia.” Once again, Serge’s voice could be heard coming from behind Baldogg. But this time, the voice was intoning a spell.

“This... It’s?!” A coffin-shaped barrier formed around Baldogg. The giant sword his wings had stabbed into disappeared before he noticed, leaving only him inside the barrier.

“Borrowing a move from someone who was once a comrade to defeat an enemy... Yeah, don’t you think that’s pretty protagonist-esque?” Serge asked.

No matter how many times he turned around or checked his surroundings, Baldogg couldn’t find Serge anywhere. Even when he turned to face where her voice was coming from, it would instantly start coming from another angle.

“You fool! How can you talk about defeating me when you can’t even produce any appreciable amount of damage?!” Baldogg shouted. “Ah, I see. I get what you’re plotting now. Since you can’t defeat me, you’re going to seal me away instead! Heh heh, do you really think a barrier like this can hold me? Just you wait, I’ll break this down in a—”

“God-Killing.”

A mechanical whirring sound could be heard coming from behind Baldogg.

“Jeez, you went and ruined my best outfit. I’ll have to hand out divine punishment on behalf of all womankind,” Serge said.

The weapon was too off to be called a sword. It was composed of many tiny blades forming a serrated pattern. Such a blade was completely unique, impossible to find anywhere else. However, the standout feature was that the blade itself seemed to be spinning at hyperspeed. Tiny linked blades curved around the body of the sword and were spinning so fast as to become a single piece, giving off an overwhelming sense of presence, as though asserting that they were the true weapon. Furthermore, the part of the handle where a guard would normally be was where the mechanical sounds were coming from, and it was like the sword itself was trying to intimidate its surroundings. If Kelvin or Rion had heard this sound, they would have likened it to a motorcycle engine. To be fair, the engine part would have been correct.

Baldogg took a moment to process what he was seeing. “Hah! Is that supposed to be a chainsaw?”

“Oh?” Serge responded. “That’s surprising. I didn’t expect a god like you to recognize it. This is my super secret technique, a chainsaw type Will. Its name is Holy Murderer God-Killing.”

Serge, with her Holy Sword Will in chainsaw mode, struck a pose like a killer in a horror movie. Unfortunately, thanks to Baldogg’s Authority, she’d been stripped down to her underwear. Far from being intimidating, it actually made her look kind of like a pervert.

“Who’re you calling a pervert?!” Serge shouted.

“Huh?” Baldogg seemed confused.

“You just thought that, I know you did!” Serge replied. “You’re the pervert here, making a young maiden look like this! If I hadn’t made a set of underwear with Will, I’d seriously be a streaker right now!”

Baldogg couldn’t say anything in reply, as his mind had yet to catch up with the reason for Serge’s sudden outburst. Still, Baldogg was the cause of Serge’s current state of undress, so her treatment of him was understandable.

“I’ll say this now, but I am absolutely not interested in seeing you naked,” Baldogg clarified. “Your weapon that’s been transformed into a chainsaw is more my speed.”

“So you really are a pervert!” Serge shouted. “Your preference just solidifies that even more!”

“What?! Jeez, you’re way better at running your mouth than anything else,” Baldogg lamented. “You just don’t know anything about me. You see, I—”

“I know,” Serge said, interrupting him. “You’re Baldogg Gettier, and you used to be the god of blacksmithing and creation, right? If I remember right, that giant flying stake is something you made. I think the name was...the Holy Stake?”

Baldogg let out a shocked but appreciative noise. “I’m shocked. How do you know that?”

“It’s not like I wanted to learn that tidbit,” said Serge. “I just have a friend who’s really knowledgeable about the myths. I personally have no interest at all, but I asked about it in deference to her cuteness, and I ended up remembering what she said. I gotta say, being a natural genius has its downsides.”

Baldogg paused for a moment before replying. “Then do you know about my numerous great works? If you do, you would know there’s no way for you to break my armor with that piece of junk that can only transform, even if you give it a really impressive name.”

“I wonder about that,” said Serge. “Now then, this conversation’s gone on too long, let’s stop here. I’ve seen through your plan to buy time to break through the barrier, after all.”

“Tch!” Baldogg had been having more trouble than expected trying to break through the barrier, so he couldn’t help but click his tongue when he realized he’d been seen through. Also, he realized that it would basically be impossible for him to break out before Serge would attack him. He went with his backup plan, which was to use the weapons he’d deployed around the area to intercept his enemy.

“Whoa there, that was a pretty weak move from someone who was boasting so much about their armor,” Serge commented. “You really don’t want to get hit, huh? Do you not have any confidence you can withstand one? Not that I care either way!”

Serge took a step forward with her chainsaw at the ready. Baldogg launched all his weapons, but they flew off in wildly inaccurate directions thanks to Serge’s luck. Now, there was no time to recall the weapons, and neither was there time to make new ones.

That was an empty threat. There’s no way that fake would be able to trump one of my creations, he thought.

Serge took another step, then another. Every time she advanced, the sound of the weapon in her hands got louder. Finally, Baldogg started to sense something fearsome, something that couldn’t be expressed with words. It was despair itself, much like what he’d been made to taste when they’d lost the great war.

In the end, it’s just a cheap knockoff. Not even fit to touch Ridwan’s feet. It’s a...knockoff... he tried to tell himself again.

Serge stopped right in front of her opponent and raised her arms up high. All that was left was to swing the chainsaw down. With no weapons on hand, Baldogg reflexively took a defensive stance. His eyes now betrayed clear fear, so it seemed he’d realized the inescapable fate he was facing.

And that was exactly why he had to shout. “You fool! How many times do I have to tell you, it won’t work—”

Zwmm.

Serge’s attack was near instantaneous. Could a slash with a chainsaw really be compared to one made with a blade? The answer to that was unclear, but either way, she only made a single swipe.

“You...fool...”

“You’re talking about yourself, right?” Serge retorted.

Serge had released her casting of Euthanasia just before striking, so Baldogg was hit with a diagonal slash immediately after being freed. While he tried to defend against the attack, his body and armor were bisected in a flash. The part containing most of his upper torso slid off the other half, falling to the ground with a splat while blood sprayed everywhere. Following that, his other half crumpled to the ground as well. Then, the weapons that were trying to return to Baldogg’s side lost what was driving them and fell as well.

“You’ve been saying that Will has no abilities other than changing form, right? You’re wrong. Will is a Hero’s partner and is capable of granting hope,” Serge said. “While it can change into whatever form the wielder wants, with more trust it can become hundreds, or even thousands of blades. When you become besties with it like me, you can even change its properties. Take God-Killing, for example. It’s super effective against the divine! It’s completely harmless to everyone else, but it will for sure kill gods! Now that I said it out loud, I realize it basically has the opposite power of your armor.”

Serge was looking down at Baldogg’s body with a smile as she activated her Analyze Eye. The armor Baldogg was wearing was a specialized piece of equipment that could only be worn by gods, and the greater the wearer’s divinity, the higher its defense. With the armor on, Baldogg was essentially invincible, which made him even more susceptible to God-Killing’s powers.

“You should’ve realized that the moment you were unable to break Will apart,” Serge said. “Will has, well, a will. It isn’t just something made by one of your imitators.”

“Ah...” Baldogg, covered in his own blood, let out a faint noise.

“Hm? Are you going to argue? When you’re like that? Or are you trying to leave behind last words?” Serge asked.

“I called you...a FOOOOOOLLL!” Baldogg cried out.

At the same time, his weapons, which had been scattered throughout the area, started to shine brightly. The last choice he made was to erase all his creations—in other words, he was self-destructing.

Serge let out a noise of alarm. “Holy—”

Did he just not want to admit defeat? Or did he not want Serge to take his creations after his death? Either way, the fact that all of Baldogg’s weapons came with a self-destruct function had to be the product of insanity.

Ka...BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The largest of explosions swallowed up the battlefield that had already been turned into a blasted hellscape and went on to further damage the area surrounding that as well. The ground, the trees, and Baldogg himself were all blown away.

◇ ◇ ◇

The explosion, which bloomed suddenly in an unpopulated, remote area, formed a large crater that would later be called the Magic Crater. This large-scale change of terrain made the earth in the area brittle and prone to collapsing, and even now the crater’s edges were crumbling, sending large chunks of earth and stone falling into the depths.

Crackle, crumble, rumble...

Suddenly, at the bottom of a hole that wild monsters wouldn’t dare approach, a part of a pile of rocks started to move. Then, something poked its face out of a gap created in the movement of these rocks.

“Whew! I finally managed to get out. That was my first experience being buried alive. No wonder people don’t like it.” It was Serge, who was now wearing armor. She was repeatedly spitting as she crawled to the surface, which probably meant some dirt had gotten in her mouth. “Still, I never expected him to make all his weapons self-destruct. He’s gotta be insane. Actually wait, is it just me or do people with glasses all tend to self-destruct? Maybe I’m just imagining things?”

Serge was feeling rather unhappy, but she’d still survived even after her enemy had self-destructed with the intention of taking her with him. She’d reacted to the emergency situation and transformed Will into Holy Armor Galahad, imbuing the armor with a resistance to explosions in order to weather the attack.

“Oh well, I guess I should just be happy I managed to finish him off right before putting up my defenses. It’d be a waste to lose such a huge sack of EXP to his own explosion. Oh man, it was really good that I made it! I’m so cute and outstanding!”

Surprisingly, Serge hadn’t just survived the explosion, she’d even had the leeway to land a blow to finish off Baldogg. Which meant not only had she reacted to the sudden explosion, she had also managed to think about her experience points. As one might expect from the world’s strongest Hero, she had managed to accomplish everything so cleverly that it was exasperating. Either way, it was something only she could pull off.

“Still, it looks like I have something to reflect on.”

Serge had returned to being only in her underwear after releasing her weapon’s transformation to Galahad, looking down at her left arm, which was no longer there. When she’d transformed Will into Holy Armor Galahad in order to defend against the explosion, one longsword had attacked her from a blind angle. Thanks to the brightness and noise of the explosion, Serge’s eyes and ears weren’t functioning as well as normal, so she was a moment late to pick up on the attack. Though she’d managed to dodge the blade that was aiming for her heart by a hair’s breadth, it changed direction to make a second attack on her, accurately piercing the joint of her left arm. What’s more, it exploded right after. As a result, her arm had been destroyed from the elbow down, and her upper arm had also gotten caught up in the explosion and was half gone.

“It seems like my Absolute Gospel didn’t work; maybe the weapon had some sort of ability to twist causality or fate? Hmm...I may have been conceited; I need to fix that. But as a girl, I want to heal this up quickly, so let’s get to that. Uh...huh?”

Serge tried to heal her destroyed left arm with White Magic, but no matter how many times she cast the magic, there was no sign of her missing limb returning. It probably needn’t be said, but her skill with magic was among the best in the world. It was basically impossible for her to fail at healing something. That meant the cause lay elsewhere.

“Urgk! Is this some sort of curse? If it is, it’s powerful enough to stop my magic! Was that sword one of the cursed kind? How greedy can you get?!”

Serge looked down at her status, confirmed that she’d been cursed, and groaned. It seemed that not only was this curse the type that prevented healing, it was of the worst kind, since it also prevented its own cleansing. Serge spent a while lamenting the final parting gift she’d been given, but she needed to do something about the bleeding, so she stopped to wrap a bandage around it.

“This doesn’t actually make the situation okay, but it should be fine for now. Oh man, to think that it can’t be solved with cleansing magic. I’m seriously cooked. That glasses guy was pretty good, to have a secret final move like that. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to take several years to get used to this curse before using Sacred Bless to flip it. I’m so smart, I know Creator was doing some research into this field at one point. If things go well, I might get a regeneration-type blessing and get even stronger! Wow, this is totally a flag for a buff! Woo-hoo!”

In a sense, this might have actually been luckier for Serge. At least, that was how she chose to look at it. She was very positive about the whole thing, saying things like, “And aren’t one-armed swordspeople cool?”

It was doubtful whether or not she was actually reflecting on her mistake.

“Oh wait, the Holy Stake is gone. But it was right there just a moment ago! Did it have a function to automatically return upon the death of the Ten Authorities member using it? Jeez, they run away so fast.”

Serge pouted and stomped on the ground as she looked up to the sky. Of course, she wasn’t actually all that upset about it; she was just doing that for show.

“Still, he really did manage to create an amazing weapon right at the end. That glasses guy’s skills at smithing really were divine, at least. Man, he was such a waste, in a lot of ways. He was really skilled, but in battle he wasn’t much. It was like, what is a blacksmith even taking to the front lines for, anyway? Oh, wait...wasn’t there another guy who can smith and is a backline fighter, but steps up front anyway because he goes berserk with his love of fighting?”

An image of a certain Grim Reaper with a wonderful smile on his face came to Serge’s mind. She quickly discarded the thought, thinking that he was an exception even when gods were on the table.

“I guess it’s no use thinking about these things for so long. Everyone’ll get worried if I’m too late to return, so let’s hurry back. Since the explosion basically blew everything away, this place doesn’t need any cleaning. As for my clothes, I’ll just change into a set of casual wear. Hmm, what should I do about the equipment that I lost? They were all Rank S, so they can’t be replaced easily, but I really don’t want to ask Philip for anything. What if I ask the princess from that water country instead? It’s the only nation among the four great nations led by a woman, and Sylvia and her pals are there right now too! Hee hee, I can imagine it already!”

It seemed the giant crater hadn’t even registered for her, as Serge immediately started preparing to go home, leaving the destruction as it was. Though she wouldn’t beg the pope, Philip, for anything, even with her life on the line, she was totally fine with throwing the cleanup of this incident his way. It was a very Serge-like train of thought.

“Okay, I’m done changing into a frilly set of clothes! Man, it’s hard to change with only one arm.”

Having changed into attire she really liked, Serge was in a great mood. It seemed she was in the middle of a daydream about what she would do after this. Still, her actions and intentions differed.

No matter how I look at it, that glasses guy wasn’t a fighter. But he was still able to put up a good fight against me, so this situation might be really serious, huh? Conversely, the fact that the enemy sent him alone to fight me says that they’re pretty full of themselves. I wonder if that’s true, though. I think it’s a pretty sure bet that if an actually skilled member of the Ten Authorities comes next, things’ll be pretty bad for me. Agh, I hate this. I’m not even Defender anymore, so why do I have to think about these things? Being kind and broad-minded sure is a thankless role.

Serge tended to act rashly, but she was a veteran Hero, so she wasn’t just talking out of hand. She was planning properly, thinking about how she should act for the sake of the future. Her true nature was that of a defender—Serge was thinking seriously about how to maintain this peace that she’d finally found.

“But I’ve got no choice but to do it. For all the beautiful girls throughout the world!”

She was being serious, no matter what her thoughts actually were.

Chapter 2: Brawn

On the Western Continent lay the Goldian sanctuary: a secluded, remote hinterland with trees that seemed to be in autumn all year round, with scenery that could steal anyone’s heart. But its biggest feature was the multiple rock spires that towered over the area, so tall it seemed like they were trying to pierce the heavens. They were almost mountains, reminiscent of the magnificence of China’s Huangshan Mountains.

“Mm-hmm, I’ll never get tired of this scenery. It cleanses my heart.” Someone was enjoying the view on top of one such rock. It was Goldiana Prettiana, who had once come here to train, resulting in the creation of the Goldia style. She was with her sister disciple, Grostina Brujowana.

“It truly is superb! But I think you’re even more beautiful, Prettia-chan! Both your heart and your body are so pure, they don’t need cleansing!” Following them, Dahak had also come after leaving a letter explaining his absence to Kelvin and company. Though he’d basically forced himself upon them, he got along well with the two, so they said okay in the end.

“Oh my, what a passionate pickup line! I’m so jealous!” Grostina gushed.

“Stop teasing him, Gros,” Goldiana chided her. “And Dahak-chan, while I’m happy you say that, I’m not as beautiful as I look. I’m just aiming for my ideal self, using the mistakes of my past as fuel. I am still only partway there, much like a hiker who’s only started going up the foot of a mountain. I have yet to see the peak.”

“Oh, wow!” Dahak exclaimed. “The loftiness of your heart has easily exceeded anything I could imagine, Prettia-chan! But if you get any more divine, you’ll end up too bright for me to look at directly. That’s not good, not good at all. But...but...cheering you on despite that is what a man would do! I’ll witness your ascent with my own eyes, Prettia-chan!”

“Hee hee! Thank you,” said Goldiana.

“Oh no, I’m going to be charmed by how straightforward and honest his youthfulness is!” Grostina exclaimed.

Put modestly, their conversation was straight out of hell. At least, by Gerard’s standards.

“Now then...since we’ve arrived, let’s start by visiting the dead. Will you come with us, Dahak-chan?” Goldiana asked.

“Of course! Wait...the dead?” Dahak couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes,” Goldiana answered. “My beloved.”

That shocked Dahak to his core, as evidenced by the strangled noises he made. “Y-Your beloved?! N-No way! No way, no way... Were they your lover? Ohhhh nonono, no! Is Prettia-chan a widow?! No, wait...but...given her overflowing seductiveness, it makes sense...kind of? I don’t know! Aaagghhhhh!”

The dragon sank into confusion as he took more mental damage than he’d ever had before. Put mildly, it was near fatal.

“Calm down, Dahak-chan,” Grostina told him placatingly. “It’s fine; my sister is not a widow. Of course, she’s still single even now.”

“Huh?”

“Sorry, I guess I worded that badly? The grave belongs to my master,” Goldiana explained.

“O-Oh...”