Chapter 82 "Light Pillar"

　I was walking up the stairs at a quick pace.

　After killing the men downstairs, I checked the whole place out, but didn't find much.

　That space seemed to be a part of the ruins, but I could not find any kind of passageway to the ruins.

　In other words, that space was used only for special purposes...well, summoning demons, in all probability. Is this place itself a facility for such a purpose?

　I searched for a hidden passageway, but in the end I couldn't find one, so I decided to give up early and return to the town to enter through another well.

If I destroy them from one end to the other, something will happen. I'm sure I'll be able to handle the hidden passageway in the academy in the not-too-distant future, and now I have a good prospect of finishing them off.

Darzain is easy to deal with because there will be no bodies left behind.

The only concern is the level of devotion of the corrupt Gnosis to Darzain. If they are completely turned into members, there will be no corpse left, otherwise, there will be a corpse left.

　I would be grateful if one corpse could remain because I need to suck out his memory, but if there are too many, I will have a hard time dealing with them. I could eat them, but in the event that I am exposed, it may even be necessary to destroy this town itself to hide the evidence.

　I don't want to kill people in the city who haven't done anything, so that's a last resort.

　While I was thinking about what to do, I heard a voice in my head.

--Report. A massive assault by Darzain has begun in the city.

It's Mixon, the guy I had waiting outside.

　--What?

　--A large number of its members in black robes are killing residents in the city at random.

　That's pretty drastic.

　--What are the Holy Knights doing?

--We are trying to suppress the situation in the city, but there are a large number of defections and we are not able to distinguish friend from foe at all. In addition, even the residents who have turned into a mob have started killing each other, and the situation is completely out of control.

　--Are you all right?

　--Yes. I'm in hiding for now, so I'll be fine for a while. I apologize for leaving my post without permission.

　--No, I don't want you to die, and that's not a problem.

　Looks like it's a hell of a mess out there.

　I tell Mixon to take it easy and gather information, and end the "communication."

　Now, what should I do?

　Since they've been so spectacular, I'm sure their plan is about to be finalized.

　First up is ...... Heidi.

　I contacted Savage and he said he was aware of what was going on outside, but since I didn't tell him what to do, he said he was asleep.

　...Why is this guy so unmotivated?

Well, he follows instructions so I guess there's no problem...?

　At any rate, I instructed Savage to meet up with Heidi and evacuate the city.

As long as they are alive, they should be able to make it.

　Next, I checked with Iqbal, who was checking the church, and he said he had checked the academy but had not found it.

　He said he would need more time to check the large church, which only believers are allowed to enter, and the small church, which is open to the public, so I left him to it.

　If there are no tricks in the academy, then I guess the big church is the most suspicious one.

　After all, only the people concerned are allowed to enter the church. It seems that he is going to investigate now, so the answer will come out soon.

In the meantime, I reached the exit and went out from the well.

　...It's certainly in a bad shape.

　That was my first thought when I stepped outside.

　The smell of blood, quite thick, tickled my nostrils on the wind, and sword fights, magic, screams and shouts filled my ears.

　I ignore them and head for the church.

　I had been thinking about it for a while, but now that the situation had come to this, I knew that I would never get anywhere by destroying the bases.

　So, I'll first crush their heads and make them uncontrollable, and then crush their limbs.

　Fortunately or unfortunately, the population of this town is decreasing at an ongoing rate.

　At this rate, by the time I'm done with my business, the population will have decreased considerably.

All I have to do now is to hunt down the rest of the people involved with Darzain, kill them all, and I'll be done.

If possible, I would like to get information on why they were looking at me and why that demon earlier was calling me strange names, but...that's not going to be easy.

　Everywhere I looked in the city, residents, holy knights, and black robes were killing each other.

Occasionally, some of them noticed me and attacked me, but of course, I was able to fight them back.

　Among those who attacked me, there were residents and holy knights mixed in, but when I killed them, they exploded, so I somehow guessed that they were disguised not only as holy knights but also as residents.

　...I can't tell them apart.

　Trouble is, some of the ones I've killed didn't explode, so I wish I could find a way to tell them apart.

　Well, the dead ones got what they deserved.

After that, various people continued to attack me, and I decided to move along the roofs of the buildings.

　Just as I was about to see the church, my feet suddenly started shaking.

　Next, I heard a roaring sound around me.

　I looked around to find the source of the sound, and saw a large number of purple pillars of light stretching up to the sky from all over the city.

　The light stops just short of touching the clouds, and a thin beam of light extends from the tip to the other pillars.

　The pillars connected by the extended light emitted even thinner lines of light, drawing mysterious geometric patterns in the sky...was that a magic circle? There's something familiar in the details.

　Finally, a wall of light appeared around the city and the phenomenon stopped.

　This...this is...amazing.

　I involuntarily looked up at the sky.

　It was a fantastic sight, but I felt a little threatened.

　Could I get through the wall of light that had appeared around the city? If not, I would not be able to escape.

　This was even more important now that I needed to take out the ringleaders of the enemy.

　I was about to head for the church, but then I thought, "Oh?"

　The magic circle in the sky had a hole in it.

　At first I thought it was designed that way, but the light extending from the pillar around the hole was halfway cut off, so it seemed to be unfinished.

　I wondered what was going on, but when I saw the location of the hole, I was convinced.

　It was right above the well I had checked.

　I had an idea why it was no longer functioning.

Either because I took the contents of the iron cage out of there, or I eliminated the people who were supposed to be working there...well, I guessed both.

I thought that if I destroy some of the bases that might be under those pillars, the magic circle above would disappear, but the church comes first. The most likely place for the mastermind to be is there or the ruins. If I had to go by ease of access, I'd say the church is the most likely place to look.

　--I'll report back.

　Iqbal.

--I found a hidden staircase in the main church.

　The report came in just in time.

I'm almost there, so let's check it out. It would be nice if the mastermind were there.

　If not, I'll head for the ruins next.

　I was thinking about that as I kept the approaching church in my sights.

Seeing the towering pillars of light and the mysterious patterns in the sky, I - Heidi - felt something akin to impatience.

　I don't understand what's going on, but at least I know it's dangerous.

　"You there!"

I turned around to see several holy knights coming toward me, with the residents behind them as their protectors. The lead holy knight...no, his armor is white and splendid. Perhaps he was a Temple Knight.　

　"You...seem to be decent. Oh, are you an adventurer?"

　The holy knight looks at my plate and judges me to be an adventurer.

I try to look them in the eye, but they all have their helmet visor down, so I can't see their faces.

　They look decent, but...are they okay?　

　"We are going to escape from the city while protecting the inhabitants. If you want to join us, you can come with us. If you are an adventurer, I would like to count on you as an asset..."

　Frankly, it wasn't a bad offer, but I shook my head and declined.

"Sorry. I still have friends in town, and I can't just run away."

　"I'm sorry, but under the circumstances, I don't think they'll survive."

"It's all right."

　I don't know why... but I couldn't believe he was dead.

　Then it was out of the question to leave the city without him. I would help him as a companion.

　"I get it. We can't do anything for you, but we wish you luck."

　The holy knight, perhaps realizing that I was not going to change my opinion, said in a slightly dejected tone.

　I said, "Let's do our best to help each other survive," and left the group.

I looked into the eyes of the residents being escorted as we passed each other and saw nothing but fatigue and tension in each of them.

I wondered if they would be all right too.

If Darzain is in the mix, it could get messy, but I don't think I have to worry about it collapsing from the inside out. If there were any strange people in the group, I would have given them a warning, but I was glad to hear that my fears were unfounded.

　Once the group was completely out of sight, I switched my thoughts.

　First, I had to meet up with him.

　Where did he go? Perhaps his goal was to get to Darzain's base.

　Since the ruins were empty, he probably went to look for another base. Then where is the place?

I turned my gaze to the pattern and the pillar of light floating in the sky.

　I don't understand what that means in terms of the complex combination of shapes, but I do know that it is a dangerous object. It bothers me that some of them are unnaturally missing, but I don't know, so let's put those aside.

　Currently, what is suspicious is the root of that pillar of light...no, no.

　That was an outbreak just now. Then the suspicious place he might be headed is....

　"The church?"

Given the connection between Darzain and the Gnosis, the Gnosis facility would be the one to suspect.

　I could think of no other suspicious places, so I decided to head for the church.

　As I was about to run out, I heard an explosion and a scream behind me.

The direction of the explosion indicated that this was the direction the group from earlier had headed.

　I stopped as quickly as I could. I looked behind me and at the church alternately...and let out a sigh.

　I'm sure he's going to be appalled at me for being an idiot again.

　I know I'm an idiot, but I don't think I can overlook it.　　

　Chuckling inwardly, I turned on my heel and started running toward the scream.