I Became the Priest of Blasphemy of the Outer Gods

Chapter 61: Curtain Call

“Professor… No, wait. What should I call you?”

Charlotte quietly inquired.

“Can’t you tell just by looking? Red-haired Outer God priest, Ethnos. You’ve probably heard of it, haven’t you? Ah, the name you might know from the place I killed your master is Aihab.”

Arian had lowered her head, making it impossible to read her expression.

“… Ha!”

My gaze shifted back to Charlotte.

“Why? Is your anger now greater than your curiosity?”

“Incredible. It’s complicated and confusing. Yet, there’s the joy of solving the mysteries!”

Charlotte removed her mask and laughed.

“So that’s it. Because you’re an Outer God priest. I couldn’t have imagined it. Where did the great mage find an Outer God priest?”

Charlotte laughed gleefully.

Eventually, she stopped laughing and looked at me.

“Is it one of two things? Either you stepped up as an Outer God priest to make them all sacrifices, to prevent me from taking them… Or…”

“The other one is?”

“… You wanted to protect them. That’s the correct answer, isn’t it? That’s endearing!”

Charlotte, having escaped the constraints, once again pointed her staff, conjured from the wind, towards me.

“But there’s still so much I don’t know. Ah… it’s complicated. I’m angry because you helped kill my master, but it stimulates my desire for knowledge like a well-prepared feast.”

“So, your master wasn’t all that precious to you?”

“How could that be? He was precious to me. But…”

Charlotte smiled and covered her mouth with her hand.

“If I give in to such provocations, I’d miss out on all the fun things, so I must endure.”

I had poked at her emotional side with provocations, but it didn’t seem to work as well as I’d hoped. Charlotte lightly tapped her lips.

“Oh dear, while I can resist provocations, I really can’t resist my curiosity. Isn’t it dangerous, though? If you tempt me like that… I might turn you into a talkative corpse.”

“No matter what you say, I doubt you’ll have more to say than me.”

We glared at each other.

“Eldritch. Protect Arian.”

『Are you sure you can handle this alone?』

Finally revealing himself, Eldritch spoke up, and this caused Charlotte’s lips to twitch in amusement.

“She must have used up a significant amount of mana. It’s doable.”

A fight between the 1st rank and the 4th rank. Saying it was doable felt insane, even to myself.

“Ethnos. You’ve let your emotions sway you. You’re engaging in an unwinnable battle you could easily avoid… Are you really such a soft-hearted person?”

The wind blew, and Charlotte’s figure vanished. However, as I had somewhat anticipated, I immediately swung a tentacle of Gluttony behind me.

“Oh, my.”

Charlotte moved swiftly with the wind again, tilting her head as if wondering how I knew.

“You keep trying to figure me out, but I’ve figured you out as well. Those who, like you, love theatrics and surprises always show up from behind.”

“It’s fun to surprise people!”

Charlotte was laughing but cautious. Though she brandished her staff with the wind, she clearly didn’t have an abundant amount of mana to recklessly expend.

“Unlike you, I’m overflowing with mana.”

Not really.

“Excuse my boldness, but may I summon your workers? 〈Door of Reinforcement〉.”

Despite having advanced in rank, this miracle demanded an absurd amount of mana. I used my once-daily 〈Transcendence〉 for this purpose.

“Wow… What is that?”

Charlotte asked while staring at the dark hole that appeared behind me. From the hole in midair, ashen spider webs began to spread out, and Leng Spiders started to emerge one by one. When about five had appeared, I closed the gate to conserve mana, as it was continuously being consumed to keep it open.

“Oh, spiders…”

Charlotte expressed disappointment, striking her staff onto the ground.

“〈Catastrophic Updraft〉.”

She seemingly intended to blow the spiders and their webs away, but the Leng Spiders were not easily bested. As a whirlwind whipped up, the Leng Spiders immediately launched their webs.

〈Webs that Bind the Impossible〉.

The webs anchored the whirlwind, and the wind Charlotte summoned gradually lost its momentum.

“They’re not just ordinary webs; it’s a miracle?”

Once again masked, Charlotte sent waves toward the spiders. Indeed, the power of a 4th rank was formidable, as they tore through the webs, inflicting damage on the spiders.

“Kieeeek!”

The spiders shrieked in agony as they distanced themselves from Sharl.

“As expected… They’re not so dedicated, having just been summoned, huh? ‘Despising Coffin’.”

This time, a large mouth appeared on the mask’s forehead, beginning to spill a black liquid onto the ground.

*Sizzle.*

The black liquid burned the floor, emitting a pungent odor.

『Ethnos, you must utilize that forbidden magic!』

Eldritch shouted urgently, while shielding Arian with a barrier.

『That is a corpse! The corpse of the ‘formless residues’ killed by an Outer God’s flames!』

“Forbidden magic…? Is that what you call these special spells?”

The mask twisted into an unsettling grin. Hearing Eldritch’s warning, Sharl attempted to remove what she had spilled but was thwarted by the interference of the Leng Spiders.

“That’s why I hate spiders. But still, forbidden magic… The term has a nice ring to it. I should start calling it that too. But how do you intend to use it? It melts even steel on contact.”

The miracle required to use it was evident.

“Bestow upon me the blessing to head toward the darkest depths. ‘Forbidden Transformation’.”

*Squirm.*

I felt the black liquid shifting within my veins, transforming my blood. Immediately, I leaped into the corpse of the formless residues.

‘Burns! My whole body is burning!’

The pain was enough to make me doubt Eldritch’s words momentarily, but I quickly realized he was correct. As my black fluids seeped from my wounds, they began to merge with the residue’s corpse.

“Krrr!”

Absorbing it all was challenging, but thankfully, Gluttony devoured part of it swiftly, speeding up the process. In return, my body ended up looking like it was coated in tar, suffering through excruciating burns.

“What? Using one miracle of the spiders while casting another—how’s that even possible? You’ve gone utterly insane!”

Instead of answering, I used the residue corpse, now part of my body, shaping it into a spear and hurling it. Sharl attempted to evade with wind magic, but this was no ordinary spear; it was a part of me. I spread it like a net, controlling it.

“… Ah!”

It would have been nice if she had been caught, but Sharl quickly realized. Even the thrown black net was a trap. Moving too haphazardly to avoid it could snare her in the webs the Leng Spiders had quietly laid.

Instead of evading, Sharl employed the mask’s forbidden magic.

“‘Devouring Fog’.”

Suddenly, mist enveloped Sharl, revealing grinning teeth, ready to devour.

*Crunch!*

And with that, it consumed the black net I had cast, disappearing without a trace.

“Strange… You don’t seem of high rank, yet you use such powerful miracles consecutively.”

As formidable as Sharl was, she seemed unaware of the traits I had equipped, thus maintaining her vigilance against me.

‘It’s not easy even to land a simple heavy blow.’

Utilizing the Leng Spiders as mercenaries allowed me to hold on.

‘… Should I give it a try?’

An idea, not previously tested, came to mind. Although hesitant, as the method was unproven…

‘No, I should try while there’s still a chance.’

I gathered the black liquid covering my body into one arm. The blackened arm swelled significantly, bound by Gluttony’s tendrils.

“‘Aero Guillotine’!”

Naturally, Sharl wouldn’t remain idle; she conjured blades of wind in the air and struck at my arm. Evidently, she knew little about the formless residues.

“Regenerating immediately, huh?”

While she expressed surprise at my rapid regeneration, I finished my preparations. Strengthened by Gluttony, I maximized the power in my arm coated with black liquid…

*Whoosh!*

…and swung it with all my might toward Sharl.

“Faster than expected, but….”

Sharl effortlessly dodged, reappearing behind me.

“Yet aiming at me with physical attacks is reckless.”

“Wrong again.”

Though Sharl lashed out with wind magic, it was of a low rank, so Gluttony absorbed it and converted it into mana.

“Everything about you is an enigma!”

“But even if you attack like that…”

Charlotte hesitated, as she realized that my previously swung arm had been completely torn off and vanished.

“How cunning.”

That arm slipped outside the mansion. I had swung with Gluttony and then severed it, initially aiming for the hole Arian had made.

“Luminaries seems delayed, but I can call for someone who will arrive sooner.”

The key was to attract Cernun’s attention. However, from this point onward, I had to use methods I had never tried before. I controlled the black liquid that was a part of me, sent outside to guard against Charlotte, to create a mouth.

“‘By the blessing of the Slumberer of the Abyss, earthly things shall transform. 〈Collapsing Form〉.'”

The clone I made of the black liquid echoed my voice. Nothing happened inside the mansion, but outside was a different story. The world was overturned by a black rain. Cernun wouldn’t miss such a bizarre phenomenon.

“Oh, the terrifying great mage is coming.”

“Besides, you’re more scatterbrained than I thought.”

“What…?”

Charlotte finally noticed. Several almost invisible fine spider threads were attached to her mask.

‘That’s enough now.’

I had been attaching nearly invisible spider threads, mixed with the winds Charlotte whirled up and my own attacks.

“Retrieve.”

The spiders simultaneously pulled the threads, snatching away the mask.

“Ah… I really hate spiders. You never know when you’ll get tangled in a web.”

Charlotte slowly assumed a stance. One hand faced the sky, the other the ground, aligning them so the backs were opposite each other.

“I’ll retreat for now… but I’ll be a bit mischievous.”

… A foreboding aura was felt.

“The plan was a mess, preventing revenge… And you took my mask, so consider this settling of my debt.”

“〈Thread of Chaos〉! Quickly!”

The spiders attempted to use a miracle, but it couldn’t reach Charlotte. Because a yellow wind swirled fiercely around her.

“Mystical ruler of the swirling yellow winds…”

Soon the vortex became so strong it was hard to keep one’s eyes open. Within it, the outline of a massive tentacle appeared.

“Devour…”

『Lord Ethnos!』

In an instant, my chest was pierced. My body, already under the 〈Forbidden Transformation〉, didn’t perish and counterattacked against the tentacle.

“Eldritch! Are you okay?”

Eldritch was relentlessly expanding a shield to fend off the tentacles.

*Crash!*

The horrifying sounds of bone and flesh being crushed echoed.

*Crunch!!*

The Leng Spiders behind me were crushed. The tentacles, wrapped in the storm, devoured blood and flesh without a chance for resistance.

“Professor Elrave! Block it!!!”

Unable to open my eyes in the blinding chaos, I shouted.

“… Send me beyond chaos with this swirling storm. 〈Denouement of Chaos〉.”

Crushing sounds followed in quick succession.

“Well, goodbye. The debt is settled, so let’s not hate each other the next time we meet.”

*Boom!*

Debris from the shattered mansion fell in the spot where Charlotte had vanished. Starlight spilling through the scattered winds illuminated the interior of the mansion.

“… Lia.”

It was silent.

“Sinia… Dominic!”

There was no response. Only everywhere, everything was stained so very red.

TL’s Corner:
Damn, no one survived. I get the feeling that Charlotte is going to be a recurring character.