106. Bastards of Life
106.
The saintess of innocence slowly swallowed her saliva once. There was quite a distance between the altar and them. Even so, she guessed in her mind how huge the altar would be if it was clearly visible, her brain seemed to float on the water. Not simply because of the size of the altar, but because of the throne-shaped chair above it. And because of the clearly visible owner of the chair.
The altar must be that gigantic, but how gigantic is the owner of the chair then?
“That… what is…… ?”
The saintess was able to ask a question while sensing that her mouth was drying up. She looked like a human at a glance, but it wasn’t human at all. There is no such great man. No matter how tall it is, a knight-like height would be the largest.
Zer Pied stared sharply at the saintess’s question and placed her index finger vertically near her lips. His eyes were fixed on the being on the altar. Seeing the Death Knight’s actions, Celia tightly closed her mouth together.
At some point, the footsteps in the hallway, which had been stomping, became inaudible. The footsteps of the non-living knights, who had once danced through the corridors so cheerfully, were now just a heavy cracking noise. The distance between them and the being sitting on the altar was gradually getting closer, but the being on the altar did not move.
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The saintess was able to whisper to the Death Knight only after confirming that she was not moving by quickly bobbing her head in her arms several times.
“Knight, Knight.”
“…… Tell me.”
“Are Mr. Frigit and Miss Ferien all right?”
To the saintess’ question, the Death Knight nodded her head contemptuously.
“It will be all right. I destroyed all the gargoyles except for the one that looked like the boss. At least, I saw that the chief object was dropped by Miss Perien and Mr. Freight from hanging. Even if it’s a gargoyle, it’s hard to get out of the shock because it fell suddenly. Moreover, before that, I collided with a stone wall.”
At the Death Knight’s words, the saintess let out a small sigh of relief. Despite her burden, the presence on the altar showed no sign of faltering, and the saintess gradually regained her sense of security. Because of this, the saintess was able to look around her more leisurely than before.
It was a sight she would have vomited in admiration if the Death Knight hadn’t told her to be quiet. Marble of a similar color to obsidian made up a huge corridor, and it was a space where stone statues were lined up near both walls of the corridor.
The stone statues this time did not have sharp mouths or claws like those of monsters. Rather than such terrifying things, they were stone statues armed with an indescribable sense of intimidation.
However, it had a uniqueness that was difficult to compare to nails, mouths, and wings.
For example, a stone statue of a man with one arm made of fire, or a stone statue with wings made of lightning. And the saintess had seen such things before. One is in the forest of Rephaim, in the land of severe cold. The other is at the entrance of Manmajeon.
Bazarak, the demon of red flames. The demon of lightning, Lucast.
Both the former and the latter were difficult to forget. One was in the temple of the Demon God I saw for the first time. What else did you see when you came in here? Although the latter only had a lower body, the depiction was the same.
Drank.
The stone statues here were all depicting demons.
The saintess stretched out her head and looked at the stone statues of demons that stretched from the end of her corridor to the altar with her eyes mixed with amazement. The fact that these dozens of stone statues were all depicting demons made the saintess feel goosebumps.
The depiction of the stone statues was more realistic than anything else. It wasn’t that there were no objects depicting gods at all, but there were many objects that doubted whether they really looked like this because they had to depict the forms of gods that were completely hidden. Sometimes, there were objects of completely different shapes except for the main features, which were said to depict the same god.
But everything here was a perfect god.
The saintess felt goosebumps once again. However, she was taken aback when she realized that it wasn’t because she saw God in its entirety. What made her feel her goosebumps was the thick magic that permeated her entire space. She had a depth of magic that she had never felt before.
That’s right. As much as she had never felt before.
Even in this ten thousand battles.
No, in the first place, I didn’t feel anything like Magi in the Tenma Battle. If he had felt the demonic spirit, he would have realized it a long time ago. It’s an energy that is the opposite of divine power in the true sense.
‘It’s ten thousand battles… Why… ?’
She felt incomprehensible. If you think about it, it was kind of odd. It’s Manmajeon, not another place, but I can’t feel the magic. If it is a place related to God, it is regrettable that there are similarly related objects. Of course, the holy relics of the cathedral, and the place where the homunculus was, also had stained glass.
No. In the first place, since this place is a battlefield, for the demons, this place itself is like a holy relic to them. At that moment, the saintess came to a conclusion.
There are people who can control demonic energy. A person with the ability to control the whole of this huge place, who is incomparable to himself. The eyes of the saintess, who had been scanning her stone statues with her trembling eyes, slowly moved to one place.
At that time, a voice was heard.
“It’s been a while since I had a guest.”
It was a woman’s voice, like ice sliding.
At some point, they reached the front of the altar. It was only then that Esilia was able to see the existence on the altar in more detail. When she was away, she seemed to know why she couldn’t get a rough shape. The being was wearing a dark black robe similar to the color of the altar.
-Creak.
The saintess flinched at the sudden sound. The being on the altar was moving. Raising her body slowly and slouching, the saintess noticed that the woman was quite tall. She was about four cubits tall. A woman of this stature was sitting on a high and large altar, and she could not escape attention.
“By the way, I didn’t think you were a visitor after a long time.”
After saying that, the woman lifted her arm. The saintess almost screamed. Hidden under the sleeves of a long robe was a pale hand that was extremely bony. His fingers, so skinny that he couldn’t tell whether they were bone or skin, reminded him of the branches of an old dead tree in winter.
However, when her bony hand pulled back the hood of her robe, the saintess’ breath was blocked even for a moment, so that she could not even scream.
Her hand crossed the hood, her long silver hair drooping. The saintess could see. The other side of a completely withered woman. Would it feel like that if you put her thin skin on top of her skull? It was hard to think. Because the other half of her was the face of a normal, albeit slightly skinny, beauty. Rather, the fact that she was fine made her saintess lose her sense of incongruity.
I thought I could hear the purple eyes rolling again. They were beautiful eyes, but the saintess struggled to move her body as they scanned them. It seemed that she was forcibly freezing her body. Once her ice slipped through, she grinned and said:
“So, why did you come without the landlord’s permission? Executioner of destruction, Zerpied Lim Sedbaigal?”
“…… The demon of illusion, Leternia.”
“Wow, I was surprised. I thought you would remember my name.”
That’s what he said, but Leternia’s voice wasn’t surprised at all. Far from being surprised, she was still only smiling the corners of her mouth.
“Besides… ….”
Her eyes turned to the saintess of innocence again. Unlike before, she opened her purple eyes. She seemed to be staring at me, and it was like she was trying to take a closer look.
“I never thought I would bring the child of those pretentious things into my house. Judging by the scent…… , Rener, is that bitch’s child?”
“Dr, mama mama drank… ?”
The saintess, finally able to lick her lips, opened her mouth wide. The fact that what was in front of her own eyes was her god made it difficult for her to think properly. She is a saint, but she is the one who has not even seen the goddess of innocence. She truly was beyond common sense. Seeing the saintess like that, Leternia let out a laugh. Thanks to that, her skinny body and her bony arms fluttered.
Cilia looked at her slightly blankly.
It was the present reality of being a god. She lost her body and fell into ruin, even now, but in her past, she was so great that she couldn’t even be compared to her, no, compared to her, she was as great as Germany.
Leternia grinned.
“Yes, it is Renaire’s child. I am Leternia, the demon of illusion. Anyway, it’s amazing. Don’t those pretentious ones and their children despise the illegitimate children of life? Moreover…… , You have a very strong scent of Renaire.”
The illegitimate child of life. The holy maiden of innocence bit the inside of her lips at that word. Because it was an insult to the undead. All undead were once born of life, but now they have lost the life they embraced and are busy mimicking life. But imitating was never the same as living life.
Those who are abandoned by life and long for life are always illegitimate children of life.
At that time, Zer Pied, who had been silent, opened his mouth.
“…… Leternia, I didn’t know you were staying here.”
“Oh my, how is it that the landlord lives in the house? Why, Mr. Trespasser. Were you disappointed that the landlord was holding out because you thought there would be no one there?”
Leternia murmured as she twisted her bony hand through her silver hair. No matter who heard it, she didn’t really ask if she was disappointed. Zerfied didn’t really react. He just shook his head and said calmly.
“I can’t believe it, I just wondered that you were the only one staying in this wide place.”
Upon hearing that, Leternia snorted at her.
“You know better than that, the illegitimate child of life. Didn’t it happen because they abandoned us during the war and ran away and all died?”
Her words just now contained a ferociousness that hadn’t been revealed even superficially before. It’s also very blatant. Even the saintess, who was not participating in the conversation, had to drool at the poisonousness. However, the Death Knight was still only responding calmly. Although she was silent for a while.
“…… My contract always belonged to Revancalus. And in the case of Bazarak, there are also followers.”
“Ah, the crimson guy? That guy isn’t even alive. Unlike in the past, it was difficult to gather children in the palace that served our king, which was buried in the backcountry, so I ended up leaving. Thanks to you, I’m lonely living here in our palace. So, the purpose of coming here was to investigate, Mr. Trespasser?”
Leternia’s eyes widened as she approached her final words. Even though it was clear that she was looking at her knight, not herself, the saintess felt her breath suffocate. She had to dig deeper into the Death Knight’s arms in order to open her mouth. Otherwise, she felt like the demon god would blow her away at any moment.
“…… I have a favor. Please listen.”