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Chapter 177
Although not entirely satisfied, Diablo seemed to judge that it was best to stop there and changed the subject.
"More importantly, we need to talk about that demon dragon."
"That’s Baril."
"What?"
At my explanation, Nadia and Diablo's eyes widened in shock.
"What do you mean?"
"It looks like he sent his familiar out of frustration after botching his own experiment."
I then explained how I had turned the situation around and implanted a mind-altering spell into him instead.
At the mention of manipulation magic, the saintess blushed bright red and lowered her head, likely recalling her own actions.
"I didn’t know it was a dragon. That creature has lived as a being so strong it never had to feel fear— so suddenly experiencing it must have shaken him to his core."
Of course, right now, his pride must be so wounded that he intends to erase the Holy Kingdom’s capital, Laphel, from the map out of sheer spite.
If he were truly clever, he would have fled immediately.
But he didn’t.
And because of that, we now had an opportunity.
"How much do you know about demon dragons?"
"They’re twisted dragons... I've heard that some fully grown dragons become corrupted and transform into them... And that their mere presence brings catastrophe…"
That was about the extent of common knowledge regarding demon dragons.
"Can the Holy Kingdom's forces defeat that demon dragon?"
Nadia sought my counsel on whether the kingdom’s forces could handle it.
I gave her a dose of reality.
"They can charge at it, sure."
Attacking itself wasn’t the problem.
"The moment the barrier breaks, the Holy Kingdom will be erased from the map, and the subjugation force will be wiped out in no time."
When dealing with powerful beings like demon dragons, quality matters more than quantity.
But right now, the Holy Kingdom didn’t have the quality needed to defeat one.
"So even if we gather powerful individuals from all over, we still wouldn’t stand a chance…?"
"It’s not entirely impossible, but this place will be destroyed before that happens."
Hearing this, Luna walked over to the terrace and pointed at the sky.
"See that?"
"Huh? That’s…"
Just moments ago, the demon dragon Baril had been unleashing a massive breath attack toward Laphel from the sky.
Now, he was preparing something else.
A black mist was spreading out from him, engulfing the sky, the land, and all of Laphel.
At the same time, his voice, filled with sheer fury, roared across the heavens.
— HOW DARE YOU… HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME!! I WILL TEAR YOU APART AND DEVOUR YOU!!
He was angrier than expected.
When we had encountered his familiar, he had seemed like the type to never lose his composure under any circumstance.
"Wow, he’s really mad."
He must have been supremely confident that, as a demon dragon, he was unbeatable.
But now that confidence had been shattered, and the dam of his rage had burst.
"What is that black mist?"
Nadia, her voice trembling, asked about the black mist.
"A demon dragon’s curse. If left alone, this city will be corrupted by its power and turned into a land of death."
"Oh. Like the Land of the Dead."
When I nodded knowingly, Luna looked at me curiously.
"You know about that too?"
"I picked it up somewhere. That means the next thing is about to appear."
"Yeah, it's coming."
Seeing how nonchalant Luna and I were, Nadia grew even more distressed.
"Is this really the time to be joking?!"
Well, I suppose it is an almost immortal creature.
"Don’t worry. A visible enemy is easier to deal with than a hidden one."
Luna’s casual remark left Nadia frustrated, and she clutched her chest in exasperation.
"How do you expect to deal with an almost immortal being…?"
"Demon dragons are weak to divine power. Don’t worry. Since I started this, I’ll take responsibility."
Nadia tilted her head, not quite understanding my words.
"Uh… I can’t handle that thing on my own."
Well, you won’t have to.
Meanwhile, Luna’s confidence was practically soaring.
"I’m more useful than Leon in the Holy Kingdom."
* * *
Nadia was the only one who didn’t understand the situation.
Diablo, Luna, and I all knew exactly what was happening.
Luna had always hated opening her eyes.
The reason was simple— by doing so, she would be proving her own existence.
That’s why I couldn’t help but worry if she was forcing herself too much, given that she had fallen precisely because she despised angels.
"Luna…?"
As all the clues started pointing to Luna, Nadia looked utterly baffled.
"Why… Luna…?"
"The plan is simple. While Leon fights that thing head-on and buys time— "
"And while I buy time?"
"We finish it off with divine power."
"But there’s a major problem with that."
Nadia declared this with great seriousness.
"I’ve heard that demon dragons are weak to divine power, but my stigma’s power isn’t strong enough to kill one… It’s not a matter of skill— I’m simply too inexperienced…"
"Don’t worry. Your job is to focus on protecting Laphel’s capital."
She tilted her head again at my words.
"Then… who will…?"
"There just so happens to be someone you summoned."
Hearing this, she blinked in confusion and stared at me blankly.
"Someone I summoned? Are you talking about you, my lord?"
"No. The angel will finish it."
Her eyes widened in shock.
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"The Archangel… is still here?! I thought she had returned to the divine realm?!"
Since she didn’t know Luna’s true identity, her reaction was understandable.
"Haha! You must be joking. It’s almost as if you’re saying the Archangel I summoned is actually Lady Luna…"
As an oppressive silence filled the air, she tilted her head once more.
“…What?”
“……”
“No, this… what in the world…?”
Luna, clearly enjoying the bewildered expression of the saint, stood with an air of triumph.
And then, as if realizing something, Saint Nadia shot up from her seat and immediately dropped to her knees before Luna, clasping her hands together in reverence.
Her posture was that of a devout believer welcoming a divine presence.
Luna, basking in this moment, looked even more pleased with herself.
Observing the way Nadia continued praying— it seemed almost like an ingrained habit.
I turned to Diablo and asked,
“Is the Holy Kingdom really going to be fine like this?”
“In a land where faith in God is a virtue, such a reaction is common. In fact, you’d see even more people bursting into tears or fainting outright.”
Well, that made sense.
This wasn’t just any ordinary existence— it was an angel. No, an archangel standing before them.
Who among the clergy wouldn’t react this way?
In the Holy Kingdom, angels were seen as divine messengers, direct extensions of God’s will.
Nadia, recalling the past few days she had spent with Luna and me, turned deathly pale.
“I… what disrespect have I shown to the Archangel…?”
Despite Luna’s clear disdain for Nadia, the two had actually gotten along better than expected.
Nadia would crack lighthearted jokes with Luna and even looked after her like a younger sister.
In the end, overwhelmed by the situation, she began hyperventilating before completely passing out.
Diablo, as if he had done this many times before, effortlessly caught her.
Watching all this unfold, Luna looked thoroughly entertained.
It was enough to make me wonder whether she was really an angel at all.
“You really are something else,”
I muttered.
“What does it matter? I never lied.”
She shrugged, smirking.
I reached out and pinched her cheek lightly in response, only for her to promptly bite my hand.
It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, though.
If anything, the sight of her puffing up like a small dog was oddly endearing, so I pulled her into a hug.
Her face immediately flushed red as she pushed against my chest with both hands.
“There’s still power left in the bracelet. Five minutes is enough.”
Hearing this, Diablo calmly asked,
“If you use it now, the bracelet will be completely drained.”
“It doesn’t matter. This bracelet wasn’t meant for this purpose in the first place.”
She didn’t seem to have any particular attachment to the power she had been saving up.
“I’ve always been curious— what exactly is the original purpose of that bracelet?”
“I told you, didn’t I? It’s the Key to Paradise. The only object she was permitted to possess while overseeing Paradise.”
An angel connected to Paradise.
An impossible healing ability.
Even when I heard those two things, I hadn’t given it much thought.
She had been sealed away for a long time, and the power of the Archangels still remained in the world.
If she truly were an Archangel, then her power shouldn’t exist.
But if that assumption was wrong, then everything else made perfect sense.
Not that it really mattered in the end.
What did it change, knowing who she truly was?
“Can you open a hole in that barrier?”
If we wanted to attack the Demon Dragon, Baril, we needed to get outside the barrier.
Currently, the Holy Kingdom’s barrier was fully sealed, preventing all entry and exit.
Normally, there was no way to forcibly open it, but Diablo was far from an ordinary priest.
“I can keep it open for about three seconds.”
I began gathering my strength as if warming up.
Compressing and refining my aura over and over again.
The energy gathered at my feet burned intensely, ready to explode at any moment.
Behind me, Luna unfurled a pair of massive gray wings.
Unlike before, when they were merely a visual effect of her descent, these were real wings.
A natural transformation, brought about by drawing upon her divine power.
Stepping forward, Diablo raised his hands, summoning streams of pale white energy.
“The hole will close in three seconds. Any attacks that come through in that time will be blocked by the Holy Kingdom’s forces, so don’t worry and get out.”
The moment he finished speaking, he stretched his hands outward, as if physically pulling open a door in the air.
A hole slowly began forming in the radiant sky barrier.
— Hiding like a rat, only to make such a foolish decision!
At the same time, a voice, laced with Baril’s overwhelming presence, thundered through the opening, and a thick black mist poured through the gap.
Diablo stomped lightly on the ground.
BOOM!
Spears of pure white light shot up from the ground, piercing the sky and intercepting the incoming dark mist.
Even so, some of the black projectiles managed to slip through, raining down like an aerial bombardment.
But only about ten percent of them made it through.
These weren’t just ordinary projectiles.
Something was going to emerge from them.
Back then, I hadn’t known how to deal with this, and I had suffered for it.
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