[Vol. 8] Chapter 248: After the Big One, Comes the Smaller One
As the one personally chosen by the Goddess, the Chosen Hero was well-known to Melanie, who had also witnessed the trials up close. Naturally, she had seen the faces of the three heroes who stood openly before the world.
So, when she happened to encounter the hero’s team while they were investigating the situation in the city, she recognized the Heaven Hero at first sight.
It was thanks to her help that Elunie and the others were able to so quickly track down the Red Mastiff Society and work together to completely wipe out its underground network. But in the end, the Red Mastiff Society was merely a group of attack dogs, dirty-handed enforcers raised by the real mastermind.
Now, this battle, negotiated and set in motion between the two sides after the Red Mastiff Society’s destruction, was the true fight that would change the power structure of Saint Laos City and have huge consequences.
Through her secret investigations, Melanie had learned that the piece of flesh buried under the church, directly from what was suspected to be the evil god’s own body, and absorbing the city’s accumulated faith, was the original source of the “blessings” covering not just Saint Laos City but much of the surrounding region. If it could be destroyed, the power Egil held would be greatly weakened.
If that happened, although it wouldn’t solve every problem, reclaiming the church and restoring the faith that should belong to the Goddess would be no issue at all.
In fact, though the giant flesh tree looked terrifying now, it had grown early because of attacks and some unknown powerful stimulus. It had not yet reached the state of a true complete form. The Heaven Hero held genuine divine power granted by the Goddess. With the tree’s incomplete state and the hero’s advantage, as long as enough time was bought, its destruction was entirely possible.
That was the plan in the priestess’s mind.
Of course, the same logic applied to Egil. He had been the one to personally bury that piece of flesh under the church in the first place, and the first to betray the faith. He knew perfectly well that if the heroes succeeded, it would mean his total ruin. There was no way he would let Melanie and the others succeed so easily.
"Enough. I’ve said all I’m going to say. Since you’re just as stubborn as your father and have chosen death, don’t blame me for forgetting old ties!"
As soon as his words fell, no one knew what he did, but a crimson light burst violently from Egil’s eyes. A terrifying pressure, far greater than before, exploded outward from his body. His frame swelled rapidly, and the pristine white armor that marked him as a Holy Knight shattered inch by inch, as if crushed under an impossible weight.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!
Along with the sound of the armor bursting, Egil’s once-handsome head twisted and warped in an instant, turning into a grotesque, fleshy form like the open maw of an octopus.
A single scarlet, monstrous eye was embedded in the center of what could barely be called a “face,” glaring fixedly at Melanie and the Heaven Hero. His arms, legs, and whole body began mutating wildly, skin splitting and flesh swelling, until in just the blink of an eye, the Holy Knight who once looked so upright and imposing had become a massive, horrifying mass of flesh, more than twice his original size, hardly recognizable as human at all.
"Damn… So he really had this move after all…"
Feeling the suffocating pressure surge upward, breaking through a boundary and stepping into a whole new level in an instant, even Melanie, steadfast in mind and half-expecting this outcome, couldn’t stop cold sweat from running down her back, her face gradually turning pale.
Even so, there was not the slightest sign of fear or retreat in her eyes. She simply clenched her holy staff tightly, forcing all her holy power to surge out with no thought for self-preservation, ready to fight at any moment.
Melanie had no way out. Even if it meant death, she had to protect the Hero until the divine ritual was complete. Otherwise, the city’s nearly one million people would all become food for the evil god’s blood, Saint Laos City would be destroyed, and the disaster could spread to the entire Holy Empire and even the whole world.
Clang!!
Without a single wasted word, the fully transformed abomination tossed aside his holy sword and dashed forward like lightning. His twisted limbs reshaped themselves mid-movement, forming into a massive, terrifying blade of flesh, which he swung down in a ferocious strike!
“Holy Protection!!!”
Three layers of holy light barriers instantly formed in front of Melanie, but they didn’t even manage to block the attack. In the blink of an eye, they shattered like fragile glass!
“!?”
Seeing this unbelievable scene, the girl’s pupils contracted sharply. The necklace on her chest, engraved with golden patterns, flashed brightly, its light forming an angel-like phantom that wrapped around her in protection. Even so, Egil’s slash still sent her flying, crashing heavily into the ruins of a building far away with a deafening boom.
Boom!!!!!!
“Lady Melanie?!”
“You bastard! You damned monster, traitor! I’ll fight you to the death!”
The sight made the loyal clergy’s eyes go wide with fury. Many tried to rush forward to block Egil, willing to sacrifice their lives to fill the gap. But as Egil had transformed, many of those who had betrayed the church seemed to receive a signal. They finally stopped hiding their nature, abandoning their human forms to transform into grotesque and terrifying monsters.
Although their mutations weren’t as complete or controlled as Egil’s, most had only their limbs or other body parts transformed, the sheer strength and strange abilities these changes brought still left the clergy who remained faithful to the Goddess overwhelmed. They could barely hold the line, with no one to spare to fill the gap or check on Melanie’s condition.
“It seems the blessings granted by my Lord are indeed far superior to that so-called Goddess. Hah, what a laughable ‘blessing’, you can’t even withstand a casual strike.”
Fully transformed into a monster, Egil shook his head. The voice that came from somewhere deep inside his twisted body no longer sounded clear as before. It had become low and oppressive. He did not chase after Melanie, who had been slammed into the wall. Instead, the single red eye in the middle of his horrific, starfish-like face turned toward the hero’s party, still focused on controlling the divine artifact.
“Hmph… the fake god’s lapdogs do have sharp noses, finding their way here so quickly to try to interfere. But it’s nothing more than a pointless struggle.”
The monster strode forward, walking straight toward the golden pillar of light as if no one else existed.
But after only a few steps, Egil’s movements came to a sudden stop.
It wasn’t because he had changed his mind, nor because Melanie had returned to the fight so soon. Instead, it was due to something new, something he had not anticipated at all.
The monster lifted its head, the scarlet single eye staring silently at the figure slowly descending from the sky. She had soft pink hair and a pair of snow-white wings fluttering behind her, but atop her head were two small horns. Her aura was pure and sacred, yet carried a faint, indescribable charm, or perhaps… an allure that could make one’s thoughts blur.
She was small and delicate, with a youthful face, judging by human standards, she looked no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. Behind her swayed a long, slender tail of white-gold, its tip shaped like a triangle. Her deep violet eyes were filled with a gentle, water-like purity, yet faintly exuded an irresistible sense of intimacy, something that drew the gaze and refused to let go.