[Vol. 8] Chapter 249: The Word-Spirit User
The pink-haired girl, who looked almost like a little loli, landed softly in front of Egil. Strangely enough, she did nothing, just stood there. But the moment either side in the fierce battle caught sight of her figure, their hearts suddenly calmed. It was as if all their anger and killing intent had been erased, and even their movements in battle noticeably slowed.
An unbelievable kind of power.
“……”
As the strongest person present, Egil naturally wouldn’t be so easily swayed by this strange girl, but he could indeed feel the incomprehensible power flowing within her. Surprise and confusion crossed his mind, followed by a stronger sense of caution.
Unlike the three leaders of the Red Mastiff Society and all the other people in the city who had received “blessings,” Egil’s own blessing came directly from a piece of his Lord’s true flesh. The others, regardless of their strength or how they changed, were merely “offspring” split off from the chunk of flesh buried underground, after it absorbed enough faith. This meant there was an absolute, fundamental difference between him and them.
Those who evolved by consuming the offspring’s flesh could gain power instantly, but their limits were obvious. As the flesh fused with them, they would grow increasingly bloodthirsty and violent until, in the end, they lost all reason and became beasts acting only on instinct and the commands of higher-ranked kin.
Egil was different. Although the short-term benefits he gained weren’t as explosive, as a true favored servant of his Lord, he could perfectly control the changes in his power, keeping his reason intact. He could even suppress it entirely, disguising himself until he chose to release it in moments like this, transforming into another form entirely.
If he advanced further and fully fused the piece of flesh into himself, Egil could even split off new flesh from his own body to create lowly servants completely under his control. At that point, he would possess a small but genuine measure of divine power, and his future potential would be impossible to predict.
Such a limitless future, and the promise of eternal life, was the reason Egil devoted himself so completely to his Lord, cutting ties with his past, and was even willing to sacrifice the entire city’s people as a blood offering.
Because of this, he could sense that the strange pink-haired girl before him was unlike almost anyone else, including Melanie, whom he had just sent flying. Flowing within her was a clear aura that had already reached beyond mortal limits. A lofty presence that transcended the human realm.
It was the same as what he, Egil, and the Heaven Hero, Elunie Light, possessed.
A divine power.
And divine power could only be granted by a god. It could not be obtained unless the recipient had an extremely close relationship with the god or had rendered great service. Divine power was not only power, it was also authority. Every time a god gave a portion away, their own share decreased slightly. Though it could be replenished by absorbing more faith, it was still exceedingly precious.
So the girl’s identity was not hard to guess.
The single red eye in Egil’s monstrous face swiveled, scanning her from head to toe, finally stopping at her pure white yet still youthful-looking wings, and the faintly glowing heart-shaped gemstone necklace on her chest.
“These traits… Are you an angel sent by the Goddess?”
Egil muttered, but quickly denied his own guess.
“No… I’ve seen the portraits and records of the two angels worshipped by the Holy Empire. You look nothing like them. You have a tail, you have horns, and even your hair color and aura are completely different.”
“But in this world, there are only a handful of beings connected to the God. If you’re not an angel, then there’s only one possibility. You’re one of the three hidden heroes among the God-Chosen… Am I right?”
A different one from the Heaven Hero, the…
“……”
The pink-haired girl didn’t answer. She simply stood there, her pure, flawless, yet deep violet eyes quietly meeting Egil’s gaze, as if she were thinking about something. But her sacred, noble aura, coupled with the fact that she didn’t deny it, had already indirectly confirmed the answer.
Egil sneered coldly. The tentacle-like protrusions on his monstrous, star-shaped face twitched as he spoke in a low tone.
“The Goddess Church really has gone all out. The God-Chosen trial just ended not long ago, and yet they sent not one, but two heroes to this small Saint Laos City. No wonder the Heaven Hero dared to carry out such a reckless ritual, it turns out you were their hidden trump card.”
Clearly, facing an unknown, mysterious hero, Egil was not nearly as confident as he appeared. He had probed her several times with his words, but no matter what he said, the small, seemingly harmless hero just stood there unmoved, neither attacking nor responding in any way.
She merely blinked at him, her big eyes meeting his single red eye, as if calmly saying, “I’ll let you make the first move.”
Confronted with such an unshakable, unyielding reaction, even someone as calculating as the vice-archbishop began to feel his anger rising. And with the Heaven Hero’ divine ritual still ongoing, even if he was unsure of his odds, he decided to stop wasting time.
“Hmph! Pretending to be mysterious, are you? By the name of Egil, I summon you! Rise, Servants of Decay!!!”
Suddenly, he drove his right arm hard into the ground. The flesh-blade that his arm had become twisted and reshaped rapidly, spreading into the earth like the roots of a tree. In just the blink of an eye, several hulking humanoid flesh puppets, each more than a meter tall with an oppressive, heavy aura, grew up from the ground, pounding their chests and letting out ear-splitting roars.
“ROOAAARRR!!!”
Egil was cunning, these flesh puppets were summoned using a derivative technique granted by his Lord. Not only were they extremely powerful and heavily armored, but the most important advantage was that destroying them would cause him no harm at all. They were the perfect living shields, and an ideal way to test the mysterious hero’s abilities.
“Go!”
At his command, the flesh puppets under his complete control roared and charged forward in massive strides.
They had no weapons and no skill, but their fists alone, as hard as steel, were more than enough to shatter any defense below the legendary level. They were foes no ordinary fighter could withstand.
While the puppets rushed in, Egil remained in place, his aura locked tightly onto the strange girl who might be a hero. The moment she showed even the slightest flaw while dealing with them, he would attack without hesitation and deliver a fatal strike.
And then, for the first time since she had appeared, the pink-haired girl finally moved.
Or rather, she opened her small mouth and spoke, her voice clear and pleasant, like a songbird’s first note in spring.
“Release.”
It was just one word, simple and direct. Yet the heart-shaped gemstone on the necklace at her chest instantly shone brilliantly, and an indescribable, mysterious wave spread out invisibly.
The charging flesh puppets froze mid-step—
And then, before everyone’s eyes, each one began to crumble apart piece by piece, like stone statues breaking down into rubble, until nothing remained but scattered chunks of flesh… which quickly turned to dust and vanished completely.
“…What!?”