Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 75
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 75 — Purification Chamber of Rest: The Final Battle (1)
Crimson dusk was settling over the evening.
On the northeastern side of the Temple, a force gathered that could hardly be called numerous.
The holy knights garrisoned at the Purification Chamber of Rest — the Purification Torches.
The name carried a somewhat grim flavor, yet in truth they were sincere souls who had voluntarily sought out this extreme posting to serve alongside the holy maiden.
“Artein shall shelter us!”
The captain, second only to the holy maiden in skill, raised his sword arm skyward and drew forth the fighting spirit of all.
“We shall never break!”
A roar.
Fierce, burning voices.
Some forty holy knights bellowed with all their strength, stoking their collective will to fight.
*How loud!*
They were, after all, stubborn idealists who had forsaken worldly glory to aid the holy maiden — naturally their voices rang out with conviction.
Meanwhile, at a short distance away, our Expedition Party prepared for battle in quiet readiness.
“I’m trembling….”
— Steady yourself!
The prodigious swordsman Pendrick gripped Astrímia’s handle tightly even as his body shook.
Perhaps it was the benefit of endless practical duels over the past week.
Now, for a Level 3 swordsman, a sturdy spirit of resilience had begun to show itself.
“Phew.”
Bartimir was loosening up his body with deliberate vigor.
The bandages on both his hands were already unwound, and following my advice, he held them in long, trailing loops in his palms.
“I pray we might achieve a favorable outcome.”
Lucius, the priest fighting alongside us, polished his bell with reverent care as he spoke.
“Artein watches over us, so surely this hardship shall—”
“Yes, yes, I hear you! Lucius, spare us the platitudes!”
The demon, who had cut short the priest’s earnest encouragement, draped an arm across the cleric’s shoulder.
Over the past week of practical duels, having healed us repeatedly, he’d grown quite close to our Expedition Party.
“…Please remove your arm.”
“Come on! Let’s give it everything!”
Lucius’s handsome brow furrowed deeply, but Bartimir only grinned wider, thrusting his fist toward the sky.
To be so carefree before such a great battle was, in itself, a talent.
“Kar.”
Valentin, a knight among the holy warriors, called to me as he and Ilia, the youngest of the order, tended to their blades.
“Yes, Valentin.”
“Is it truly the case that if the holy maiden survives, the Dungeon will not be reset? What if our assumption is somehow wrong?”
It was a commendable habit to keep an eye on ill omens.
By living each day in anxiety, one cultivates the ability to prepare for the future in countless ways.
I smiled faintly and answered.
“Then let us travel companionably through the rifts of spacetime. I shall serve as your guide and introduce you to various attractions.”
“…I thought you would tell me to trust you and not worry.”
“Anyone who tells you to trust only them and worry about nothing is almost certainly a fraud.”
*Question: Do you not yourself often say such things?*
Whoosh, whoosh.
“I’ve noticed lately that you keep waving your hand at empty air — why do you do that?”
“It’s a hobby. Waving my hand cheerfully for no reason at all.”
“…Ah, I see.”
Valentin seemed about to say more in response, but instead his gaze quietly returned to his blade.
It was while we were thus preparing calmly for battle, listening to the loud clamor of the holy knights, that it happened.
“Brothers and sisters who have made such noble resolve.”
The holy maiden Seraphina strode forward across the center, her voice clear.
Clad entirely in snow-white armor that matched the bearing of any seasoned holy knight.
Though she was a priest, her bearing and gait betrayed no awkwardness whatsoever.
“The hour has come.”
In her left hand, a white Buckler.
In her right, a spear painted the same pristine white.
Both implements were sacred relics.
In truth, so was the armor.
Garbed in triple sacred relics, the holy maiden pointed her spear toward the heavens.
“Artein looks down upon us. The guardian of all mankind shall protect us, and so we shall not fall.”
He would have said precisely the same thing in the original history.
Artein would have exhausted his Faith to the breaking point, desperate to protect his beloved Saint—the true Seraphina he cherished.
The result, as we know, ended in annihilation and ruin.
But here in this Dungeon, at least, a different ending awaited.
Because I would make it so.
“…I shall.”
The moment the Saint uttered those final words, enemies appeared beyond the horizon.
“So many….”
Lucius murmured in a daze.
There were truly countless numbers.
They writhed in maddening profusion.
A Non-living Legion composed of innumerable golems and constructs surged forward in a seething tide.
Roughly ten thousand, if I had to guess.
“…I’m starting to feel uneasy.”
—A cry of distress!
“There are just too many of them.”
The members of the Moon Expedition Party each voiced their tension in their own way.
A perfectly natural response.
With countless enemies bearing down like a tidal wave, anyone who felt nothing would surely have something wrong with their brain.
Wow, there really are a lot of golems.
“Be afraid,” Seraphina said, stepping forward two paces.
“Fear the enemies’ strength, their durability, their overwhelming might. Fear is not a shameful emotion. It is the survival instinct that all living creatures possess—the virtuous sentinel that has helped us preserve our lives and stand here in this moment.”
Fear was not an obstacle to overcome.
“Simply do not let terror consume you. Take it as an ally and companion, and advance forward.”
A counselor that stays at your side, alerting you to danger.
When you stopped to think about it, fear was actually a rather tender-hearted friend.
“I shall take the vanguard.”
The Buckler rose upward.
Whoooosh—!
A brilliance as intense as sunlight blazed across the entire battlefield, painting the earth in pure white.
“Shield us, I pray.”
[Unmarred Earth].
A Tier 9 Secret Art that dramatically elevated the physical abilities, recovery, and Mystic Rank of one’s allies.
—Enemy contact.
Flying units among the monster horde’s vanguard—creatures with wings sprouting from their backs or propulsion devices on their soles—launched themselves toward us.
“Glory to Artein.”
Seraphina hurled her spear.
The holy weapon Sekyea.
A sacred instrument that hunted its quarry of its own accord, piercing all in its path.
Crunch!
Crash!
The pristine white spear flew through the air, striking down golems in its wake.
—Dangerous opponent identified.
—Requesting support!
The flying golems, swift to recognize an overwhelming threat, promptly fled, and the sacred weapon Sekyea returned to its master’s hand.
“I wish I had a weapon like that….”
While Bartimir gazed at the spear with bright, covetous eyes, the monster horde had already closed to arm’s length.
Combat-specialized golems of striking variety.
Constructs fashioned for grueling labor, service, housework, specialized information work, and the sordid lusts of their makers.
Each one possessed an independent intellect—a high-order intelligence.
“The moment has come.”
Seraphina turned briefly to glance at the holy knights and volunteers standing behind her, then brought the shaft of her spear crashing down against the ground.
“Forward! Glory to Artein!”
“Glory to Artein—!!”
The holy knights of the Purification Torches surged forward at astonishing speed, empowered by the blessing of Unmarred Earth.
“Let’s go, Bartimir!”
“Here we go!”
Bartimir, carrying me on his back, sprinted ahead and suddenly launched upward in a powerful leap.
Crunch, crackle!
Kar races across the Temple floor, stomping on the heads of golems and puppets without mercy.
Before the battle began, he’d dashed about the Temple, greedily absorbing negative concepts scattered throughout—and now he wielded the transcendent physical abilities that absorption granted him.
Temporary superhuman strength and speed, yes, but it should hold for at least several hours.
I stretched both arms forward over Bartimir’s shoulder and unleashed my trump card Secret Art.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
Dark Brain Blooming.
My two arms, transformed into black lightning, swept through the golems and puppets in one devastating arc.
– M-m-malfunction. E-e-error.
– D-d-defect. D-d-damage.
– Gurk.
The swarm of golems and puppets convulsed in unison—the mere graze of thunder was enough to throw them into chaos.
Their Mana Cores and Mana Circuits, the vital organs that composed and animated their bodies, suffered temporary rupture from the current reinforced by the Unmarred Earth effect.
Mere golems stood no chance against lightning.
Crack-crack!
“Your Excellency, I was about to do the same anyway.”
Lightning scattered in rapid succession as I rolled my shoulders back with satisfaction.
“I’ll burn them all to ash.”
***
Pendrick steadied his trembling heart and sprinted after the captain, piggyback across Bartimir’s shoulders.
– Star-light upon the blade!
A soft starlit Aura coats Astrímia’s sword.
An aura that ignores defensive ability by more than thirty percent.
Even the bodies of golems that had emerged from some strange future Dungeon were bisected as cleanly as tofu when they met that Aura.
– Anomalous entity detected.
– Recommend priority elimination.
The golems swiveled their attention toward us.
Pendrick forced down his tension and flashed a bold grin.
Fear didn’t make enemies strike any softer.
Besides, with such a dependable pillar of support at his side, it was easy enough to suppress dread and terror.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
Black lightning swirled in all directions.
The captain’s—Kar’s Secret Art.
We’d suffered greatly because of it in the Sin Library, but now it was reassuringly welcome.
– A-a-all operations c-c-ceasing….
– S-s-system failure.
– Damn!
Each time the raw lightning touched them, golems and puppets either froze or twitched in grotesque malfunction.
Current that directly damaged their weak points—Mana Cores and Mana Circuits.
Come to think of it, electricity was just as much a weakness for people as it was, but it proved far more devastating against this Non-living Legion.
“Bartimir, throw me now like a javelin—like a berserker warrior!”
Just then, Kar issued an order that made Pendrick’s ears doubt themselves.
“…Understood!”
Bartimir hesitated only a moment before clamping his hands on the wiry half-elf’s chest and groin, hoisting him high, then hurling him straight forward.
Kar spread his arms wide like an eagle, transformed into lightning, and plummeted into the thick of the Non-living monsters.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
Black lightning erupted like a fountain, sweeping away every golem in the vicinity.
“…….”
-…….
The two lovers fought on in silence for a moment, cutting down foes in tandem, before breaking into quiet laughter.
“What exactly is this strategy….”
– Right? I have no idea….
Ding.
Lucius, moving in concert with the Moon Expedition Party, calmly rang a bell and began to speak.
“And yet it is deserving of respect, in a way. You continue to create disruptions with your lightning, drawing enemy attention unto yourself with aggressive purpose.”
Indeed, the legion of golems and puppets seemed to have designated Kar as their primary target.
Deliberately excessive action to create free attacking opportunities for his allies.
Sometimes so fierce it came as a shock, but still—joining the Moon Expedition Party had been the right choice, with such a reassuring captain leading the way.
“Let us lend our strength.”
– Yes!
Whoooosh—!
Starlight Aura swept across the enemies in waves.
“Oh yeah! That’s satisfying!”
Bartimir, who had rejoined the party, whipped the long end of the Bandages he held in his grip.
With Mana hardened sharp and rigid along its length.
Shrick.
The golems’ brittle bodies were severed clean through.
“…Huh?”
Bartimir flinched for a moment at his own handiwork, then called out cheerfully.
“Moon Expedition Party, deploy! Let’s go help the captain!”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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