NOVEL NEXT There’s never been such a mess before!
Yona looked around, leaving Kaiyak and Alex, who were waiting for her to finish talking.
Many of the vanguards were already incapacitated.
Some were probably dead already, while others were barely holding off the greatsword.
The goat-headed monster towering in the catacomb was roaring like a demon, swinging its greatsword.
With every swing, bricks shattered and crumbled, turning the catacomb – a place meant for the dead to rest – into utter chaos because of that one goat-headed freak.
“…I might die here.”
“Don’t say that.”
Alex replied firmly.
That left both Kaiyak and Yona flustered.
“Healers are already scarce. We can’t risk losing you too, Yona. The warriors have to do something about this. Right, Kaiyak?”
But Kaiyak couldn’t respond.
It was true that the warriors, mages, and archers had to figure something out.
But nearly half of them were already injured or dead.
Meanwhile, that monster showed no signs of being manageable.
“Look at this guy thinking he’s tough just because he’s got a dick.”
Yona let out a chuckle.
In theory, it was possible.
They heard it happen before.
From the Cathedral, to be precise… though it wasn’t very efficient.
“Alex, try to get its attention.”
“What the hell for, you crazy woman?”
“Because I’m crazy! Just do it, okay? Kaiyak, you too.”
“…I don’t know what you’re planning, but I got it.”
In the midst of this, Emerson screamed “Aah!” and ran away as a greatsword was lodged right next to him.
– Meeeee!
Noticing that hardly any of its foes could move, the monster started to think it had already won, raising both arms and roaring once more.
“Alex, Kaiyak. Let’s do it.”
“Let’s do it? Hell no. Fine, I got it.”
Kaiyak and Alex exchanged glances and dashed towards the spot where Emerson had just been.
Left alone, Yona tightened her grip on the Sacred Barrier once more.
‘Damn it, what am I doing… sigh.’
In the end, dying here means nothing.
To have a future, she had to survive.
“Alex, please protect me. Seriously.”
If it were Alex, he’d figure something out.
They’d been a party for three years, bonded by the simple connection of registering at the Adventurer’s Guild together.
Three years of rolling around with that guy in a party.
Now we’re at the point where we can tell what each other is thinking just by looking at each other…
‘If I survive this time, can I at least get a feel of the boobs?’
Like a man, sure. Why not?
Alex glanced sideways at Yona, who was quietly standing there, and adjusted his grip on the shield.
A heavy steel shield tends to droop if you don’t hold it right.
“Alex, get it together. Yona is sacrificing herself.”
“Damn it, what sacrifice?”
Alex glared at Kaiyak.
He didn’t even know what Yona was up to, and the thought of treating her like she’s already dead just because she might die felt off.
“Right, let’s rephrase that. She’s gonna sacrifice herself, right?”
“No, that jerk.”
Alex gritted his teeth.
Did he look like someone who would let Yona die?
After three years of being partners, there was no way he’d let her die.
He sheathed his trusty hammer back into its holster and picked up a one-handed sword lying next to him.
It was much lighter than the hammer, and he wondered if it would even be useful, but since he would only use it once, he didn’t care.
“Alright then! Let’s go!”
Kaiyak let out a war cry.
The surrounding area was already filled with enemies who had lost their will to fight and were just running away, but the sudden shout caused the monster in front to whip around in that direction.
Without a second to lose, a massive sword came flying in.
– Clang!
As Alex stepped in front of Kaiyak and held the shield at an angle, the sword struck the shield and slid off.
“You goat-headed bastard!”
Whether it’s a two-headed goat or a goat-headed one, he couldn’t care less.
Kaiyak lunged in, stabbing at the goat-head’s calf with his spear.
The skin was so tough that the spear bent round before bouncing back with a pop.
– Baaah!
The other massive sword came flying in again, and once more, Alex raised his shield and deflected it upward.
He felt the shield denting and warping little by little.
‘Damn it, this is going to cost a fortune to fix.’
Alex cursed under his breath.
And from his view, he saw Yona slowly approaching from behind the goat head.
‘What is that crazy girl trying to do…!?’
‘Yeah, she did say it would work.’
According to the high priestess, who said, “If you’re going to die anyway, you might as well give it a shot,” this situation was exactly that.
Yona firmly gripped the Sacred Barrier and moved in closer to the goat-headed beast.
She even threw away the shield she had been holding on her left arm.
He threw down the shield he was holding.
“Huuh, huuh, huuh…”
Taking a deep breath, Yona kicked off the ground and leaped.
She plunged her right hand into the injury on the calf of the guy she had been observing.
Even though it was an already gaping wound, there was no way Yona’s right hand was just an ordinary hand.
Divine power, divine power that cannot be externally released.
As that divine power burrowed into the wound, it didn’t matter if it was protected by magic.
Yona’s right hand was sinking deep.
As her right hand lodged into the wound, due to the principle identical to healing, this body recognized itself as a part of Yona’s physical form, and divine power began to spread throughout the grotesque creature’s entire body.
The body was shaking violently.
As divine power started to burrow from the inside, how painful would it be for a monster that’s a mass of magic?
“Now, now attack—KAYAK, you piece of shit—hurry up and attack!!!”
Yona clung on with all her might to shake off the raging goat-headed monster.
Because of the divine power swirling inside her, the magic that wrapped around her skin had peeled away, and that fortress-like skin was definitely weakening.
Kayak, who had poked with his spear, shouted loudly.
“Hey, you bastards who aren’t dead, hurry up and stick on! Kill! Kill! If not, Yona will die!”
The one pretending to be dead, aside from the dead one.
The ones who were injured to the point of not being able to move but could still move.
A little over ten of them all grabbed weapons and charged in unison.
Even the mage Freaky picked up a random stick that wasn’t his and began chanting spells.
The skin that was protected by magic was easily sliced open.
What shouldn’t pierce through, pierced cleanly.
Cut where it was sliced, stab where it was poked.
Finally, after successfully severing one leg, the goat-headed monster let out a roar and staggered.
If he dropped the great sword, all that would remain was his huge body, but that huge body couldn’t move properly, so he was just a sitting duck.
Meanwhile, Yona’s Sacred Barrier was getting stained black.
*
“Uh, uhh. Hah.”
Yona sprawled out on the ground, gasping for breath.
Why, why did they tell her to try only when it was life or death? She finally understood why the guiding nun had said that.
Dangerous wasn’t even the word, the rate at which her divine power was getting drained was tremendous.
Divine power that was supposed to fill just her right arm was now getting sucked out as if it could fill the entire grotesque creature, making her think that her insides might get pulled out too.
I thought my insides were getting sucked out in the end, with an extra helping of existential dread.
It wasn’t so much pain as it was a colossal sense of loss that hit harder.
The Sacred Barrier had long since turned pitch black.
I guess it was time to toss it away since it’s no longer usable.
And the Sacred Barrier wasn’t cheap either.
You can’t just buy it at some random weapons shop; you have to get it directly from the Cathedral, so the price isn’t exactly a walk in the park.
“Damn it, I’m definitely going to get my money back for that Sacred Barrier…”
“Yeah, you should. I’ll be sure to testify that it was all your fault if things go south.”
Kaiyak and Alex approached with grins and plopped down next to her.
Yona, hardly having the strength to turn her head, managed to glance over at Alex, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“Feeling weak? Can’t move, huh?”
“Ugh, I’m dying. Damn it, I can’t even twitch a finger.”
“Really?”
Alex raised his hand.
The way his fingers wiggled was downright sinister.
“…Don’t, you bastard. If you do, I’ll really kill you.”
“When else am I going to get the chance to mess around? Groping a nun’s chest was my lifelong dream.”
“Stop it, you bastard.”
If he had just encouraged her with a simple ‘you’ve been through a lot,’ she might have even been willing to let him squeeze a bit.
Instead, Alex was digging his own grave.
“Hey… Alex, can you loosen that Sacred Barrier for me? It feels sticky and gross.”
“Got it.”
He knew how to loosen the Sacred Barrier well.
Alex groaned as he stood up and moved over to Yona to undo the knot on her palm.
He started unwinding the Sacred Barrier, and each time Yona’s bare arm was revealed, Alex’s expression grew weirder.
“What? Is my arm weird now?”
“Uh, yeah, it’s weird.”
“Shut up.”
“No, seriously. It’s become genuinely strange.”
There was not a hint of mischief in Alex’s answer.
The more he unraveled the Sacred Barrier, the more distressed his face looked, and Yona began to feel unsettled too.
“…What’s going on? Why do you look like that?”
“You’d be better off seeing it yourself…”
Yona slowly turned her head to look at her right arm.
And she was at a loss for words.
Her right arm was covered in black tattoos.
They were strange, incomprehensible characters, like something one might call Irezumi from the world she originally lived in, densely packed, almost obscuring her skin tone, making it look as if her real skin color was black.
These bizarre symbols, not even characters from this world, were densely drawn all over her arm, from her shoulder down to her wrist.