Chapter 271: Chapter 271: Righteous Radiance (2)

Right after the roar of the Righteous Radiance.

As if it were some kind of signal, the paladins and priests inside the Great Church started to gather one by one.

Each of them had a fierce look in their eyes, as if they had been waiting for this moment, and the Righteous Radiance let out a hollow laugh at the sight.

“Have I underestimated my children?”

Children always seem unimpressive in their parents’ eyes.

Clara shrugged her shoulders.

She clearly understood they were about to go into battle. With this level of power, it might be difficult to wipe out the monsters, but it should be more than enough to rescue Iris and her group from isolation.

However, there was one thing bothering her.

“Excuse me… Righteous Radiance?”

“Hmm, Yandel? I understand you want to fight, but… it’s really dangerous right now, okay? There’ll be plenty of chances to kill monsters later. So why don’t you rest this time, hmm?”

With a troubled expression and a gentle tone as if calming a child, the Righteous Radiance spoke.

Does she really see me as someone itching to fight no matter what? What does this church think of me, from the worshippers to the god?

With a light sigh, I corrected the Righteous Radiance’s misunderstanding.

“No. I know I should be resting right now. I just… wanted to say goodbye to Helena before going into battle.”

“Oh, um, well, the thing is…”

With an awkward expression, the Righteous Radiance scratched her cheek and avoided my gaze.

“I thought it might be the last time, so I used some of my remaining power to put Helena into a deep sleep to spare her any distress. But… maybe I put her too deeply to sleep…”

“When will she wake up?”

“At the earliest? Three days?”

“……”

Even anesthesia wouldn’t take that long.

As I stared at her, the Righteous Radiance, seemingly unable to endure it any longer, wagged her tail and shook her head wildly.

“I don’t know! I don’t know! How was I supposed to know it would turn out like this? Even gods aren’t really omniscient, you know?!”

Lord. No one blamed you for it.

“Grr… Ah, anyway! I’m heading out, so don’t push yourself too hard, and just watch me bring the others back!”

With that, the Righteous Radiance sharply turned her head and moved toward the gathered paladins and priests.

Just a few words from her, and their morale, already sky-high, soared even higher.

As I stared blankly at the scene, a familiar voice came from beside me.

“As expected, religion is truly something, isn’t it? Even when faced with such an overwhelming disparity, they seem more excited than scared!”

“Professor Iona? Are you hurt?”

“Hmm-hmm. I’ve got a few scratches here and there, but I’m a vampire! I’ve already healed! What about you, Yandel? I saw you earlier, bleeding all over the place.”

“Thankfully, the Righteous Radiance healed me. But she said I’m not completely healed, so I need to rest for now and get proper treatment later.”

“Is that so? Well, as long as it can be treated!”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s all that matters!”

Iona smiled brightly, then suddenly scooped me up and, with one leap, landed at the top of the rubble pile.

“Ugh?!”

Startled, I found myself put down gently by Iona, who then sat in a comfortable spot and began patting her thighs.

“Here!”

“???”

“Lie down! It must be tiring to just stand around, right?”

“Uh… I’m fine with it, but are you okay, Professor? You just fought, so you must be exhausted.”

“Actually, if I were to drink your blood, I’d recover instantly… but since you need to rest, I’ll refrain! But in return, I deserve at least this much reward!”

Iona patted her thighs again, saying it was a win-win for both of us.

Thanks to the large, neatly broken pieces of the rubble, lying down didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. It felt like a stone bed.

Soft.

Well, the pillow was soft and squishy, at least.

As I lay down and caught my breath, I felt a delicate touch on my head.

Iona was gently stroking my hair, occasionally playing with my ears.

I see now. So this is what she meant when she said it was a reward for her, too.

I chuckled softly to myself and looked ahead. From this vantage point, I had a clear view of the distance.

Thanks to that, I could see Iris’s group fighting. More precisely, I could see the magic they were using.

With their ability to unleash magic freely, each spell was spectacular and powerful. The problem was that there were far too many monsters.

They were wiping out dozens of small monsters at once and even taking down three or four larger ones at a time… but the real problem was the huge monsters.

The ones with massive bodies obviously had thick hides, and on top of that, they were blessed by the Reckless Roar, turning them into moving tanks.

Even with direct hits from high-level magic, it took all they had just to deal significant damage to them. Watching a horde of such creatures charging was daunting, even from afar.

But there was no need to worry. Reinforcements would arrive soon.

Looking down, I saw the church members, each drawing their weapons and shouting battle cries.

They looked too fierce to be mere clergy members… but at this moment, they were as reassuring as they could be.

“Let’s go!!”

As the Righteous Radiance shouted and dashed beyond the barrier, the other paladins and priests followed, screaming in unison.

It felt like a different kind of fanaticism, unlike the cultists who sacrificed themselves without hesitation.

Still, given the difference in power, I was a bit worried… but soon realized that worry was unnecessary.

The Righteous Radiance wasn’t foolish enough to make the mistake of holding back in front of an enemy twice.

Nor was she the kind of god who couldn’t distinguish between compassion and ruthlessness, to the point of ignoring her followers’ determination.

In other words… the Righteous Radiance, when focused solely on the enemy before her, was incredibly strong.

“Roooooaaaarrrr!”

A thunderous roar echoed so loudly that it could be heard from here.

Even the ogre, once known as the King of the Mountain and today infamous as a knight-killer due to its high aura resistance, flinched at the sheer force.

Of course, the Righteous Radiance didn’t miss that opportunity.

Crash!

The sound was as if a car crash had occurred. It was the noise made when the Righteous Radiance, after running forward without losing speed—no, after accelerating even more midway—rammed her shoulder into the ogre’s leg.

“Graaah…!”

The ogre groaned in pain, clutching its leg. The Righteous Radiance didn’t miss the chance and leaped into the air.

Boom!

With the sound of the air exploding, her mace struck. The ogre’s healthy leg shattered, with bone fragments piercing through its thick skin.

“Screeeeech!”

The agonized scream of the creature echoed. With both legs broken, it would only take a few more swings of the mace to finish it off for good.

However, the Righteous Radiance didn’t do that. She simply passed by the ogre and charged towards another monster that was rushing in from the side.

At first, I thought it was to save time since her priority was to break through. But soon, I realized that wasn’t the case.

I saw the paladins, who had been following a step behind, swarm the fallen ogre like ants and hack it to pieces.

The defensive power granted by the Evil God’s blessing was easily pierced by the holy power, and the vitality from its large frame was quickly shredded apart.

Watching the ogre’s decapitated body, covered in blood, I couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.

“Wow… this is insane.”

“What? What? Yandel, is this your first time seeing the Church of Righteous Radiance in action despite being so close to them?”

“Yes. I knew it in theory, but seeing it in person is a completely different experience.”

In H&A, there were events where, after pledging loyalty to the Righteous Radiance or raising faction favorability, you could fight alongside members of the Church of Righteous Radiance.

Thanks to that, I’d seen how they fought when grouped together a few times, though they weren’t always part of my party.

Watching it through a monitor was just an amusing scene of “Ha! The Church of Righteous Radiance is ganging up!” but seeing it in person was too intense to simply laugh off.

Was it because the bloodlust from their red eyes rushing into battle could be felt even from here?

Unless they ran out of stamina or holy power, I didn’t think the Righteous Radiance and her followers would lose any time soon.

There were still civilians taking refuge in the Great Church, so the barrier remained intact, meaning we were safe here, too.

With that, I finally let go of the tension I’d been holding onto, and started watching the Righteous Radiance’s fight like I was watching a movie.

She stopped the minotaur’s charge by meeting it head-on with her mace, then twisted its head to kill it instantly.

She even caught a cyclops’ giant fist with one hand, before pulling it closer and driving her mace into its massive eye.

At first glance, it looked like a brutish way to fight, but… for the Righteous Radiance, who had decided not to hold back, this was the most efficient method.

As Saintess Helena’s body could fully harness the Righteous Radiance’s holy power, and since she was in a divine descent state, her power output was even higher than usual.

Moreover, the bodily enhancement using holy power transferred all the burden to the god, meaning Helena’s body wasn’t under any significant strain.

In other words, if she wanted, she could easily crush large monsters under sheer force.

…Though she wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long.

The divine descent itself placed a burden on Helena’s body, so while she might be fine during normal daily activities, maintaining a full-power battle for several hours would be impossible.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Still… judging by how things were going, it seemed more than enough to rescue Iris’s group as expected.

I chewed on some jerky from my inventory, briefly cheering on the Righteous Radiance.

Suddenly, Iona pinched my cheek.

“Ow! Would you like some?”

“Yeah, yeah. And can you grab me something to drink, too?”

I handed her some tomato juice, only to be pinched again.

Why, though…?