Chapter 167: The Saint in the Underground Cave (1)
Chapter 167: The Saint in the Underground Cave (1)
Chapter 167: The Saint in the Underground Cave (1)
After wandering around for nearly a week in a dark underground cave where not a single light came in, the warrior party and the saint were finally able to find their goal.
One of the Demon King's Army executives, Zizek of Summoning.
Among the countless lichs in the Demon King's army, he was an Elder Lich who rose to the position of executive with his unrivaled summoning skills, and his skills were such that he did not even need to go through the trouble of preparing sacrifices to use summoning skills.
All that was needed was time.
It took a huge amount of time to draw a magic circle that did not require sacrifices, which he developed himself. Even though it was enormous, we could see his skill in that the speed was comparable to that of other lichs using sacrifices.
His summoning technique, which does not require a sacrifice, showed exceptional efficiency in one field.
Terrorism.
As a lich, Zizek does not need food to survive or sacrifice to use summoning skills. He was like a bomb that could not be found until it exploded. Moreover, even if he is discovered, Zizek is also Archrich. Even if one unit came rushing in, they couldn't even compete against each other.
Zizek's terror, in which monsters suddenly appeared in the middle of the city at any moment without any suspicious movement of goods or suspicious disappearances, made everyone who encountered it grit their teeth, but that did not mean there was any way to stop it.
The infamous Zizek once again hid deep behind humanity for terrorism.
Zizek, who was trying to summon a secret devil to bring about great chaos, settled down deep underground, where humans could not even dare to enter, and was drawing up a summoning magic circle step by step.
What he didn't expect was that the underground cave where he was located was more expansive than he thought.
And part of the cave with roots spreading out here and there was in contact with the Orc Cave.
In addition, considering that the shaman there clumsily picked up a demon summoning circle from somewhere and came to attract the church's aggro, honestly, it wouldn't be strange for Zizek to scream that his location was discovered.
However, even if we do not know Zizek's position, it was a very natural fate in terms of the world as a whole. This is because the hero has an "Achievement character" Set.
No matter what happens, the Demon King will be defeated by the hero. That was the rule that was decided from the time Soira created this world.
Therefore, it was natural that Zizek, one of the main forces of the Demon King's army, was defeated by the hero.
The result was the current scene.
The cave, which boasted the unique beauty of a natural cave, was devastated to the point of collapse, and some parts had already collapsed, leaving no trace of them.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the cavity, barely able to maintain space, there was Zizek kneeling.
"... This is absurd. It's hard to believe that this place was exposed, but why did it happen that it was a hero and a saint?"
?i?ek was a strong opponent befitting his notoriety.
Even though Zizek, an undead, had Verdi and the Saint, the ultimate Saint, together, the two had to use sacred arts until their sacred power ran out, and Hero also had to draw out the power of the Holy Sword like never before.
If the surprise attack had not been made before the magic circle was fully drawn, the hero party's adventure might have ended here. Fortunately, that future did not come.
The tanker, Gaidon, was lying on the ground without the strength to support the weight of his thick armor, and the archer, Silpierre's bowstring was stained with the blood of torn fingers from excessive pulling.
But despite this, the hero party eventually achieved victory.
As if fate guided us, through the performance of Hero Serena, who brought out the new power of the holy sword in a desperate situation.
It was an awakening with exquisite timing to the extent that Zizek, who always made his opponents feel irrational, cried out irrationality without even realizing it.
Anyway, Zizek lost due to a series of ridiculous odds. Zizek also had no intention of denying that point.
As an Elder Lich, Zizek will not die unless the Life Vessel is destroyed, but he did not know how many years it would take for him to be revived if he were directly hit by the Holy Sword. It might take decades.
'Even if the resurrection is delayed a few more years, I'd rather give the hero a shot here!'
With that in mind, Zizek gathered all his remaining mana and prepared for a coup.
And the moment the warrior's holy sword strikes.
"?Collapse!?"
Instead of leaving a last note, Zizek made a final surprise attack.
Serena, who belatedly noticed her surprise attack, quickly changed the trajectory of her holy sword to block Zizek's magic, but she did not have time to adjust where she was striking.
Zizek's magic, which bounced off the holy sword, flew towards the saint, narrowly missing her and landing next to her.
"..."
The saint, whose divine power was exhausted and unable to use even simple defensive sacred arts, was frozen by the fact that even if her orbit were slightly distorted, she could have died.
The saint, who did not have much practical experience, was vulnerable to such unexpected situations.
So, the reaction was late.
"Saint! Get away from there!"
"Yes, yes?"
Lev shouted in a hurry, but because she was so startled, her stiff body could not respond immediately.
'Why are they running so desperately? The magic went astray?'
The saint did not fully understand the image in her vision, and she had doubts. If she were her usual intelligent self, she would have believed the veteran Lev's words and thrown herself in, even if she didn't understand, but since she had just come from the brink of death and was in a dazed state, her head couldn't turn properly. Br?
And the saint's eyesight tilted.
'What? Why does the world work? I can see the ceiling, not the front... No, wait. This isn't the world, it's me-'
The last magic that Zizek used was a ferocious magic that destroyed everything it touched and turned them into dust.
Fortunately, no one in the hero party was hit, but the magic inserted into the cave floor steadily caused the cave floor to collapse. Even the floor where the saint right next to him was standing.
The saint's body began to fall toward the hole in the floor. If she was lucky, she might only fall a few meters and end up with a fracture, but if she wasn't lucky, she didn't know how far she would fall.
She couldn't even use sacred arts to offset the impact of the fall. Because her divine power was already at its lowest.
As she watched Lev running toward her as she fell into the hole, as if in slow motion, the saint disappeared into the darkness.
?
"... Woman..."
"... "
"... "Saint!!"
The saint, who had fainted, came to her senses when she heard someone crying out for her.
I no longer felt the feeling of falling. It looks like it has already reached the bottom. And being able to think like this... At least he didn't die.
As of now, there was no particular pain anywhere. Although her whole body was throbbing, it was nothing compared to the pain she had endured when she fell.
The saint was relieved that she was fine, and only then did she realize that she was being held in someone's arms.
"... !! Who are you?"
Since she had no magical orb that glowed, she was literally in the dark, unable to see before her eyes, so the saintess could not tell who the person holding her was.
"Ah. "Saint, have you finally woken up?"
Still, there was no problem distinguishing her voice.
This mischievous voice heard in the darkness was Lev.
"If you woke up, I want you to get out of the way now... "
Only then did she realize that she was safe because he had embraced her. Lev's tone was playful as usual, but he couldn't hide the pain mixed in his voice.
He wanted to heal right away, but his divine power was still at its lowest. All the saint could do was to move her body out of the way, as Lev said.
"Thank you. ... Haha. "I don't mean to be condescending, but this was a bit painful."
"... No. I have to say thank you. Thank you for saving me."
"Well, we are colleagues. "I only saved it because I could have saved it."
Lev's words are exemplary, like something out of an adventure novel. However, the saint was able to sense that the words were clearly sincere through her "Mind-reading skills."
Since the only emotion she usually felt from Lev was sexual desire, she was a bit distant from Lev, and she thought that she needed to change her perception of Lev a little. Of course, even if she wasn't a mind reader, she owed him her life, so she would have repaid it in some way.
"How far have we fallen?"
"Well? Wouldn't it be tens of meters?"
"If I had fallen from that height, I would have died."
"It would have been like that if I had just fallen."
Lev explained his performance.
Rev jumps in immediately after her saint disappears into her hole, catches her as she falls, catches her, and then throws a grappling hook, one of her rogue's equipment, with the purpose of slowing her down, hitting her on the wall.
This slowed her down to some extent, but her fall did not end until the rope attached to her hook ran out, causing her to slam to the floor, protecting the saintess with her own body.
She did it.
"It took me a few seconds to hold the saint, and my rope was not short, so I thought it would be tens of meters long."
"Okay... "Once again, thank you for saving me."
"I said it's okay. "Then shall we move first?"
"Yes? Where... "
"You have to hold out until her comrades come to save her, right? Let's at least find some water and wait nearby."
"Okay. But can we find water in this dark?"
"Hmm... Don't worry. I'm a scout, right? Even if you can't see it, you can tell the difference between a wall and a road. Just follow me."
"Just... "I can't even see Mr. Lev."
"Oops. I see then... Shall we hold hands?"
"Yes?"
"It can't be helped. If you can't see anything, you have to grab it and follow it."
"Yeah, that's right. Please excuse me."
There was a sign of Lev moving his body. He seemed to have given the saintess her hand to hold. However, the saint, who could not even see her offered hand, had no choice but to fumble around and take her hand.
"... Ouch! She's not that one. Opposite hand!"
"S-sorry. But this one... ?"
"It looks like it broke a little when it fell. "Saint, can you heal me?"
"... Sorry. There is still no divine power... "
"I can't help it. I thought so. Then let's go? "Don't let go of your hand and follow me."
"Yes. Please take care of me."
So the saint held Lev's hand tightly and walked out into the darkness.
So pitch-black darkness that you can't even see your own arms. The saint had to entrust all of her senses entirely to Lev.
With a sense of debt that her life was saved.