The Growth of Must Save (3)

Although Save was discontent with Enoch’s beliefs, he couldn’t deny the fact that the priest was talented. On the 1st floor of the new undead dungeon that appeared near Sherden territory, as Enoch came forth and bombarded the place with his holy magic, all the undead perished, so the rest of the members had nothing to do.

“Repeat it as you look at this brilliant holy power. You certainly believe in the same One as I do!”

“No matter how many times you say it, my faith won’t change. He leads me, and He surely exists.”

“Good, then why don’t you try the next floor then?”

“Sigh.”

Save did as he was told. His halberd, shining with purple mana, chopped the freshly dead bodies into pieces as they rose. Although he didn’t have holy water cast onto his weapon, the undead couldn’t resurrect and ended up turning dead. Putting aside the fact that his ability wasn’t of an adventurer that just cleared the 20th floor, it was never a normal situation wherein someone kills the undead with just a weapon imbued purely with magic.

“Look, you are the holy knight that follows His path!”

“No, I’m not! And if that’s true, then your doctrine is wrong, Mr. Enoch! The One I believe in never hides Himself!”

Both of them diligently cleared the dungeon as they were quarreling. However, it seemed that those two had chemistry in terms of battle, and that was because they shared something similar between them. As they carried out smooth joint combat without training for cooperation, Renail spoke quietly as she looked at them from a distance, arguing on whose faith was wrong.

“Why in the world are those two fighting, Eonni?”

“Well, you know a doctrine can be viewed in completely different positions, depending on the interpretation. And so, even if the target of belief is the same, the methods of belief can differ. I’m not sure, but it’s important to those two.”

“I guess so. I think that someday there would be a need for that guy to meet Mr. Evan.”

“…”

Come to think about it; Renail also was part of that group. Louise sighed heavily and stepped back from her. Actually, that wasn’t the issue for today. That went the same for hunting the undead.

‘What matters is that we will soon be fighting directly against the dark magicians here.’

That was true. The highlight of today was to invite Enoch and to start the conflict with the real villains. This scenario’s key villains were the corrupted alchemists who held grudges against the Brotherhood Pharmacy since it sold high-quality potions for low prices. This, in turn, led to other alchemists not being able to do their own business!

They were the people who didn’t think of making a better-quality potion with better ingredients, claiming that the Brotherhood Pharmacy was depreciating alchemy’s value. Amongst them were those who tried indiscriminate terrorism, but they were no longer in this world. As the alchemists realized they couldn’t directly destroy the Brotherhood Pharmacy and gave up on the use of force, they started looking for different measures, and they ended up facing a dramatic encounter with the villains under Miriam, whose schemes centered on getting rid of Evan!

‘The problem is that, on the surface, it seems like the small- and medium-sized shops that the conglomerate harasses are cooperating…’

In addition to this, the real problem was that those people who claimed themselves as the small- and medium-sized shops were committing acts of terrorism that toyed with the lives of people. It was surprising that Evan was controlling their moves as if he were reading their minds. No, in that sense, weren’t they the same…?

“Eonni, what are you thinking about?”

“Huh? Nothing.”

Louise smiled bitterly as she watched Save showing a great ability that couldn’t be seen from a newbie adventurer as he swung his halberd. Enoch, who Save was constantly taunting, had begun rampaging beyond what was agreed upon.

“Our members are just too strong.”

“Well. En…Mr. Enoch looks fine. He’s a senior, so he looks calmer than Save…hmm…”

Renail trailed off as she tried to make Enoch, who was going as wild as Save, look good. Louise simply sneered.

“Do you like him?”

“No, never! I just wanted to know what you think!”

“I don’t have any interest in Save, so don’t worry.”

“Huh!? No, that’s not what I meant…!”

Renail’s intention had been caught on the spot, and her face reddened as she started making excuses, but Louise didn’t listen.

‘I haven’t even held hands with the Master, and how dare you try to experience it before me.’

She was fed up with Serena roaming around like a fully bloomed flower as she was able to be engaged to Evan officially, and now she had to see a couple getting all lovey-dovey in this party. It was unacceptable. Until the day the Demon King was defeated, these party members must be single, at all costs!

* * *

Aside from black magic, the undead drops were mostly used for alchemy reagents that, in turn, brought negative effects and for certain magic that required unusual conditions. The corrupted alchemists (Evan pushed ahead with this term since it felt more like an NPC this way) were planning on a bold move that involved mixing the drops of undead into the merchandises from the Brotherhood Pharmacy that were distributed in the market in order to bring out fatal side effects which would then lead to a drop in the pharmacy’s reputation. If they were able to penetrate their defenses and sabotage the Brotherhood Pharmacy’s merchandise, the results would be devastating. At least the plan looked perfect for them.

“Wait a second.”

It was Save who had stopped the members.

“I can sense a rotten smell.”

“Of course, we’re in the undead dungeon.”

“No, I mean the rotten smell of a living human being.”

“You know you are frightening whenever you say such words, right?”

In the previous requests, there had been several times when foul people showed up right after Save said something like that. Of course, they were all by the scenarios with which Evan planned on. Most of them ended up with light encounters, but lately, the situation ended with several people being killed through fierce battles. The clash between two forces gradually came to light, and Save’s party was slowly getting involved in such a colossal scenario!

“Huh, why is everyone getting ready for a battle?”

“You should too, Mr. Enoch.”

“Do you have the ability to foresee the future or something?”

“No. I just read the mood, that’s all.”

The next moment, something flew over from the dark. Renail blocked it by quickly summoning an earth wall. It was overall a great decision, as the earth wall promptly melted as the sound of a glass breaking filled the air.

“Alchemy reagent!”

“To have analyzed it, you guys have sharp eyes. If you guys didn’t know, we would have just left the place quietly.”

“That won’t do. These bastards were named by the superiors.”

Two men then showed themselves from the dark. They were wearing pitch-black robes and several potion belts that were the unique weaponry for alchemists. They were holding several potions in both hands, and by the looks of the aura swirling within, they seemed to be combat reagents.

“So, it was true that there are guys with sharp eyes here. How on earth did they know about this place?”

“Doesn’t matter. We just need to kill them all.”

“Whew.”

Save hefted his halberd as he took his pose. Enoch also prepared holy magic with a disgusted expression on his face.

“We can’t treat those who try to kill humans as human beings. In the name of the nameless god, I will recycle you bastards.”

“Nameless god? Stop with the jokes, like how on earth has that person entered this low-class dungeon…!?”

“Argh!”

It was Louise who hit first! It was a direct shield charge that struck the alchemist on the left like lightning.

“Not even clo…argh!”

The alchemist tried to throw all the potions he held, but it seemed as if something made him trip over, which stopped him from evading the shield.

“You, what are you…ack!”

“Ha!”

When the alchemist was about to shout something with both of his eyes wide open, Louise’s shield struck him first, and the short sword that was hidden behind it stabbed him mercilessly. It was, overall, a clean strike.

“You bitch!”

“Don’t you dare!”

The alchemist who had just lost his companion in that split second enchanted a shield wall and spread the reagent everywhere as he stepped back. At the same time, Enoch’s holy magic and Renail’s earth magic activated to protect Louise and the party.

“Save!”

“Hah!”

Save sprung back with a kick, making use of the opening the party members had created for him. He leaped high and fell in an arch, striking the alchemist’s shield wall with his halberd.

“What an idiot, don’t you dare think my shield wall will break with that weak attack…!”

Only if he didn’t utter such unlucky spells, it might have held a little bit longer.

“Strike of Faith!”

“Argggggh!”

The purple strike that strengthened exponentially as Save’s faith increased didn’t only cut the shield wall into half but also sliced the alchemist into two. Save, who promptly landed on the ground, pulled out his halberd with a serious expression as he scattered the blood to the ground.

“There still isn’t a room for a conversation.”

“Hmm, but I think we were the ones to strike first…”

Renail’s cautious comment was ignored. Well, it didn’t matter since they all had the intent to kill each other. At that moment, Save fixed his pose and held his halberd high, even after the battle ended with the two alchemists.

“Show yourself.”

“…Whew.”

A shadow slowly walked forth from the dense darkness, entirely in a different direction from where the alchemists appeared. Save hesitated for a moment as he held his halberd while staring at it. Jhin, a member of Astray’s Junior group, glanced at the members and sneered.

“I heard something was bothering our plan. Is this it?”

He indeed had a superb acting ability, as expected from the original villain (as far as Yo-Ma Great War 4 was concerned)! Furthermore, Jhin’s ability was exceptional even among the Junior groups, so everyone in the party (including Enoch) stood still while looking at him as they were intimidated by his blunt force.

“You…!”

“No more words are needed.”

Jhin’s cold voice interrupted Save as he was barely able to open his mouth.

“If there’s something you wish to know, then simply follow me till the end.”

“But you…!”

However, Jhin didn’t give Save any chance to speak and promptly hid. Nobody knew how he even erased the traces of the alchemists. It was a fitting entrance and an exit of a strong officer who worked in the dark force.

‘He surely was someone that serves Him…!’

In addition to this, his appearance left Save with a big shock in a different way than Evan or Louise intended. Did Save mistake him for someone else? No, that couldn’t be. He was still one of Evan’s followers. Then, there was only one answer.

“Everyone is following what He wills.”

“Huh…Save?”

“I’m all right, Ms. Louise.”

Save replied to Louise in a calm voice as she called for him. If it was a certain sense of duty shown from him until just a few moments ago, he now looked like a high monk that reached his Nirvana. Louise wasn’t able to hide her nervousness, thinking that he could see through the scheme. Save smiled as if he understood her intentions.

“Please lead us from now on, Ms. Louise. I still have a lot to learn.”

“Yes, uh, uh…”

“…Is this party always like this, lady?”

“Hmm, roughly yes.”

Enoch wasn’t able to understand in the first place how the party went on, but he made a promise to perform as much as he was paid for. And it seemed that the party finally got involved in the scenario. However…there still was a new encounter to face. And by encounter, there were two of them.