I Was Confessed to by the Golden Sun

76 – 76. Cursed Menace

Eden Halloway.

Externally, he was considered the Saint of the Holy Kingdom.

Honestly, his actions were filled with things I couldn’t comprehend.

Starting from Monma, he even attacked Jack O’Rourke, who was clearly his childhood friend, and to make matters worse, he was here now.

“Maybe he’s sided with the Princess.”

I don’t know the reason, but he must have made some kind of deal and attached himself to the Princess. I can’t be sure, but that’s probably the reason.

-Boom!

“..It’s probably me.”

I casually dodged and, at the same moment, a mace landed where I had just been.

Lucia stared at me with an astonished expression, along with a crater that appeared in the vicinity as if a meteor had fallen.

It’s like she’s doing it because she doesn’t care about me deflecting bullets…

“You can easily dodge this much, so don’t worry and focus.”

I’ve been training for this moment.

I should be able to withstand a Saint who primarily engages in prolonged battles, rather than one with exceptional skills.

“Phew…”

Oddly, the attacks aimed at my body seemed more like an attempt to induce movement and force physical exhaustion rather than deal fatal blows.

Well, they’re really fighting dirty.

“At least it’s fortunate that he doesn’t seem interested in Lucia.”

It would have complicated things if the Saint had tried to attack Lucia.

“Eden continued to focus solely on me and attack without any rest.

If the princess were watching this somewhere, she might feel a pang of jealousy.

‘Furthermore, I don’t have much combat experience, so maybe I can just drag it out slowly.’

For now, I don’t see any openings, but if the battle drags on, the saint may show an opening as well. Whether I can exploit that opening properly is a slightly different issue, but if we’re only talking about the saint’s combat skills right now…

‘Compared to Dylan, it’s embarrassing.’

In terms of speed, precision, and crisis management, Dylan has the upper hand, considering only combat abilities. The saint’s strength lies in his unmatched durability, so breaking that ‘opening’ might be uncertain, but it’s worth a try.

Even if this operation fails, eventually, if I just bide my time, I’ll win this fight.

So, let’s not die.”

“Why…”

“Huh?”

As I continued to twist my body, trying to allocate my stamina effectively, Eden’s pitiful voice suddenly reached my ears as he stood before me.

“Why did you imprison me in that dungeon?”

Without expecting an answer, his questioning tone was accompanied by another swing of the mace towards the sky. And to top it off, he held a lantern in his left hand, using it to bathe himself in the light.

“Do you remember? It’s that cursed artifact you gave me.”

That was none other than the Arcana of light that I had given him. He was using it now to attack me, which was rather irritating.

-Bam!

I exploded a piece of candy in frustration, but the saint’s body only emitted small sparks, seemingly unharmed. Even the small sparks on his body were surrounded by the light emanating from the lantern and were healing.

“His durability is no joke…”

It seems like even if Eden shows an opening, it might be uncertain whether I can finish him off. But I continued to maintain my composure, at least with the thought of not falling, and Lucia, who had been demonstrating her marksmanship by deflecting bullets, turned her gaze towards me.

“Jack, can I trust you?”

With a confident voice that hinted she was about to take action herself.

“Yes, you can trust me.”

“Really?”

“So, feel free to do what you want. I can spare my life for one.”

“I got it.”

With that, Lucia slowly withdrew her hind legs and continued to deflect bullets.

At the moment when Nihil was reloading his gun, Lucia hit the ground and sprinted forward at lightning speed, moving in front of Nihil and swinging her bat.

For a moment, we both expected Nihil to fall due to the tremendous acceleration that even our eyes couldn’t follow, but…

‘…?’

Suddenly, Nihil’s expression, not one of confusion but a deep smile as if he had been waiting, caught our attention.

Both Lucia and I sensed something strange and tried to take action, but what caught our eye first was the revolver in Nihil’s outstretched right hand, with no bullets.

– Bang!

And as we realized that, a bullet with a completely different gleam from the metal bullets we had seen so far was fired from the barrel towards Lucia.

“..Damn!”

In the meantime, while trying to twist in mid-air to minimize the impact, the bullet was embedded in her shoulder.

Lucia immediately changed her posture, and instead of using the bat with the bullet stuck in her arm, she extended her right leg diagonally and kicked.

The kick came at an unexpected angle, targeting the area around his ribcage.

As a result, Nihil, who had planned to insert more bullets into Lucia, had no choice but to move his body backward.

“..Urgh!”

For a moment, as I focused on Lucia, I suddenly felt a mace aimed at my head and instinctively lowered my waist to reduce the impact.

Then, I crossed my arms and used the hidden shoulder armor under my clothes to mitigate the damage.

– Thud!

Unwittingly, I drove my head straight into the face of the saint.

Since the path where my arms and legs were heading was twisted by the saint’s arms and legs, it was the best option from my perspective.

I tried to push back with an explosion by throwing a candy away, but…

“Where do you think you’re going!”

The saint caught me, enduring the dizziness and explosion, and held me tightly.

I withdrew while receiving some damage from the explosion I caused, but…

– Snap!

I came out through the smoke and was hit directly in the neck by a kick from the saint who aimed for it.

Fortunately, I slightly stooped and was hit in the chest instead of the neck, but this place was equally fatal.

“When are you coming..!”

I looked anxiously at the cold watch on my wrist, thinking that it might not come by now.

“It’s over.”

In that brief moment, the saint who had already reached my side swung his mace.

No, he tried to swing it.

-Swish!

Until suddenly, before the villainous tentacles sprouted from the intact space.

“What is this..!”

The saint, taken aback by the sudden situation, quickly turned his mace towards the tentacles.

Although I managed to block it, apart from the crushed pink tentacle that bounced off.

There were already numerous tentacles surrounding him like a siege.

“I’ve come to repay the favor, you idiot.”

And Silvesta, gracefully pulling out a talisman from behind those tentacles.

I wanted to embrace her dear face, but right now, there was something else that came to mind first.

“Lucia! Lucia was shot! First, you need to help her more than me.. Ow!”

When I hurriedly told Silvesta in a fluster, a thick hand suddenly smacked my head.

Turning my head while holding my head, Dylan was right next to me, staring at me as if I were pathetic.

“You almost died just now. You know that, right?”

“..Yeah.”

Honestly, I was startled and it was dangerous.

But if you ask if this attack was deadly, well, it wasn’t.

“Well, that’s not what’s important right now.”

While I was grumbling like that for a moment, Dylan pointed lightly with his hand in the direction behind him.

There, Lucia was, the person who recognized it, turned her head lightly after pushing me aside.

She saw the wounded Lucia and then saw the Crown Prince fighting against Nihil and Hokak.

“The Distance Sword that the novel said you have to suffer if you don’t know..”

Nihil, perhaps because he couldn’t grasp the Crown Prince’s attack pattern, wasn’t able to properly dodge the second attack and was getting hit.

Unlike the clean body condition when facing Lucia, now he looked considerably damaged.

“Come quickly, do you know how much we have struggled?”

I said it as a passing remark, but Dylan responded as if he couldn’t believe it.

“You were the one who said you’d go in first, and I followed an hour after you entered.”

…

In reality, this plan was my idea.

To avoid drawing attention, I suggested that Lucia and I go as scouts.

And then, follow at a distance and join in if there was any combat, one hour later.

“…But it was still a bit tough.”

Honestly, I only expected Nicholas to be there.

I didn’t think the princess would bring this many people to such a secretive place.

I thought she would only have Nicholas as her guard.

“I never could have imagined that the saint would be here on her side, let alone fight for her.”

While I was at it, I glanced towards the direction of the saint and saw her being held captive, being beaten by tentacles.

It was a pitiful sight, being tightly bound by the tentacles and slammed onto the ground.

“I guess I don’t have to go when it’s like this.”

I left Nicholas and Silvesta to Dylan and decided to help Nicholas, who seemed to be struggling.

But when I turned around to assist in Lucia’s injury treatment…

“Jack, be careful!”

She shouted, and a sound that pierced the ears entered.

As I quickly turned my head, I saw the crown prince with a desperate expression, seemingly missing Nicholas’ movement, rushing towards me.

…Did I lose?