Chapter 15
Ignis was a frontier town beyond the frontier.
Lately, with the underworld being purged across the empire, Awakened with serious crimes to their names had naturally chosen places like Ignis to disappear into.
The Megalith diocese had reinforced the town's garrison with additional Clerics and knights, but even that hadn't stopped public order from sliding.
So two cloaked strangers like Gullos and Lia loitering outside town no longer drew a second glance.
What confused Lia was that Gullos had changed targets.
He had originally chosen Whitemere—a larger town with a bigger population. There had even been a clawbill nearby, possessed by a creature from hell.
A devil.
So why Ignis now?
Was he planning to advance, then flee straight into the Pyreflame Woods?
"Sweet little Lia. Don't tell me you actually believed I was cooperating with a creature from hell." Gullos caught her puzzled stare, turned, and let out a rasping laugh. "Heh heh heh. You underestimate me."
"Honored High Cleric Gullos," Lia said, eyes darting as she searched for a way out, "if you're not working with that devil, then I'm no use to you anymore, am I?"
Gullos reinforced the magical restraints binding her, then shook his head.
"You make a suitable shield."
"Gullos!" Lia snapped. "Aren't you afraid my grandfather will—"
"If I fail, I die." Gullos turned to look at her. "If I succeed, the Church of Light hunts me anyway. One more Archbishop on my trail makes little difference."
Lia had no answer to that.
Gullos was a lunatic preparing to wipe out an entire town. One more debt on his ledger meant nothing.
But she still couldn't work out his arrangement with Quackers.
The more she thought about it, the more it smelled like betrayal.
Had Gullos double-crossed the devil?
Lia grew more certain by the second.
From the very start, that madman had likely planned to abandon the temporary camp at Whitemere and use the infernal creature to draw the Church's attention.
Then, while the Church was distracted, he and the cultists he'd already positioned would strike different towns simultaneously.
For a short window, the Church of Light's forces would be stretched thin.
At that point, which cultists drew the main force and which faced only a small Church team would come down to pure luck.
The lucky ones would slaughter and burn, seizing a rare chance to advance.
The unlucky ones would die.
Damn cultists. Why drag me into this?
Lia's hair flashed bright, betraying the violent swing of her emotions.
...
At that same moment, Elise was riding hard beside her teacher toward Whitemere, her own emotions no calmer.
A devil from hell?
She had never seen one.
Ever since transmigrating, Elise had often felt as if she'd landed in a counterfeit otherworld. She had barely even encountered monsters.
Her one real training trip had been a simple excursion into the woods to catch a few mice—which had somehow ended with her contracting Tymis.
Magical beasts like tigers, leopards, bears, or bulls? Creatures like harpies and centaurs? She hadn't seen a single one.
And now she was about to face a lifeform from hell.
That was a bit more excitement than she'd bargained for.
"Whoa."
When the Church team reached Whitemere, Elise heard the deliberate call of the Grand Knight leading them.
Holmes, a Prime Second-tier Grand Knight from the Hall of Discipline, reined in his horse and signaled the dismount. Then he drew prepared materials from his spatial equipment.
A powder that glowed with white light.
Elise knew its name.
[Holy Light Dust.]
A Third-tier Transcendent material.
And Holmes was now scattering that rare material across Whitemere Lake.
The glowing powder drifted over the water until the whole lake looked dusted with starlight.
It was beautiful.
Elise, however, gathered her focus and took position behind the knights, ready to cast.
Under her watch, a patch of water near the middle of Whitemere began to bubble.
Then a monster that looked something like a platypus from Earth rose out of the lake.
It stood knee-deep in the water, red eyes locked on the Church of Light's team at the shore, its mouth producing an ugly sound like glass grinding against stone.
"Quack..."
"Devil from hell," Grand Knight Holmes said, gripping his warhammer and leveling its axe-beak at the monster, "in the name of the Light God, I will cleanse you."
Elise recalled what her teacher had explained on the ride.
The Church had discovered this infernal lifeform two days ago, while clearing out Whitemere's temporary black-market camp.
In fact, Bishop Almus had rushed here that same day to purify it.
But Almus was too strong. The thing lurking at the bottom of the lake had refused to show itself.
Once the Church confirmed the creature possessed intelligence, they settled on a direct confrontation.
The diocese had dispatched Holmes, a Prime Second-tier Grand Knight, along with Helena, a Senior Second-tier Cleric, and eleven Prime First-tier Clerics and knights.
Thirteen people in all had come to purify Whitemere.
If this devil truly had intelligence, it would understand that this was the weakest team the Church would ever send.
As time passed, clergy from other cities would happily come lend a hand.
So this was the devil's best chance to escape.
The only reason it hadn't already turned and fled was the [Holy Light Dust] clinging to its body.
It had two options.
Kill light-attribute Awakened and wash the [Holy Light Dust] away with their blood.
Or be hunted by the Church of Light until it died.
The monster from hell had no third path.
"Quuuaaack!"
As Elise waited, nerves strung tight, the monster loosed an enraged roar. The spiritual fluctuation it broadcast made every Awakened present narrow their eyes.
Betrayal...
Agreement...
Souls...
The monster was sending a message.
It was revealing that it had struck a deal with an Awakened to attack a town.
Elise understood at once.
The Church had sent a Prime Second-tier Grand Knight to lead the purification, yes—but they might also be trying to flush out the snake hiding in the grass.
The snake being the cultist plotting a massacre from the shadows.
Still, purifying the devil remained the primary objective.
This monster really is intelligent.
Elise was shaken.
It's forcing the Church to choose. It's waiting for the cultist attack to begin.
For the first time, she sensed genuine intelligence in a monster.
No.
Not a monster.
A creature.
It knew how to hide. It knew how to bargain with cultists. It knew how to send messages. It knew how to pick the perfect moment to fight.
This was no mindless beast.
This was a true sentient lifeform.
"The devil is an energy lifeform," Helena said from ahead of her. "The monster it possessed was called a clawbill. So now, we may call it a clawbill devil."
Elise looked at her teacher's back and nodded gravely.
Right.
Hell was a spiritual plane. Its native lifeforms were almost pure energy. After crossing into Aurelia, they had to possess a body.
The clawbill had been a monster.
The clawbill devil was a devil.
Elise waited.
Not far away, the devil waited too.
Grand Knight Holmes showed no intention of entering the lake.
The standoff held.
Until—
Boom!
Explosions rolled out from Whitemere Town.
The clawbill devil's red eyes flashed, and the grating sound started again.
Let me...
Leave...
It sent what it apparently considered a peace offer.
"My mission is to purify you," Grand Knight Holmes said, giving no ground. "Wait, if you like. Wait until our colleagues in the Church finish dealing with the cultists."
"By then, more and more Awakened will be gathering at Whitemere."
"You will not escape."
Purifying devils from Hell was one of the Church of Light's core missions.
The order Holmes had received was explicit.
Even if it meant ignoring the cultists, the devil in front of him had to be purified.
The clawbill devil knew this was its best and final chance to run.
Slowly, it stepped up onto the surface of the lake and began walking toward the shore.
Elise's heart climbed into her throat.
In her mind, she kept replaying what her teacher had told her on the road.
A battle at the Prime Second-tier level was about to erupt.
And Elise would get exactly one chance to act.