Taming the Evil Saintess

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The Demon King’s army executives each possess different powers.

Chimera Sorcerer Idmien wields an innate ability in creating chimeras, while One-Eyed Knight Geldmier, with his singular eye, brazenly mocks every inspection. Meanwhile, Plague Lord Vermina is blessed with the power to combine plague and poison, capable of killing anything.

As Ophelia fights against the demons, I cannot rely on her help. Therefore, I must not take a direct hit from that dark magic of Vermina.

Thus, I sever it.

Crash!

Vermina hurriedly attempts to unleash the poison she had stored through dark magic, but as I swing the Holy Sword, the poisonous mist parts like the Red Sea. The vile fumes, so rotten they seemed to taint the very air, made even breathing feel excruciating, but Hero’s Divine Mark temporarily nullifies it.

Of course, I’ll eventually have to deal with the aftermath once the mark’s effects wear off.

“Wh-Why! Why in the world!”

With her finishing blow thwarted, Vermina stomped her feet and directed the remaining demons to attack, but with three of them already tangled up with Ophelia, the other two couldn’t possibly inflict meaningful damage on me.

I approach the staggering demons and swing my sword. They attempted to resist by raising their weapons, but it was futile. As I unleashed a bloom of condensed sword energy, the demon, ravaged all over, collapsed lifelessly.

Only Plague Lord Vermina remained.

I pointed the sword’s tip straight at her.

“Why on earth are you engaging in such a pointless struggle…”

As the situation shifted, Vermina appeared flustered, stepping back.

“After living for hundreds of years, you don’t want to die now, do you?”

“Shut up!”

As Vermina spewed forth a cloud of poison, I advanced. Without Ophelia’s purification magic, her poison began to gradually consume me.

I couldn’t afford to delay.

“Alright. Let’s settle this with words.”

Vermina extended both hands as if to restrain me, but I simply chuckled and raised my middle finger.

“Forget it.”

“…No! You’re just a possessor without a mark! Why! Why are you filled with such animosity! The Demon King’s army has nothing to do with you!”

In a fit of rage, it seemed Vermina finally snapped.

Her magically amplified voice echoed throughout the fortress.

Surely those below must have heard it.

“…Hmm.”

I paused for a moment, pondering.

I am not forcibly dragged and exploited like other possessors.

However.

“Because the demons must die.”

“…What?”

“I’ve suffered plenty at your hands. Much more than you might think.”

“….”

“Consider it a personal grudge.”

A personal grudge. Isn’t it a bit too selfish for a hero to say such a thing?

Well, if you’re upset, take it up with the god.

“What a load of crap…”

Vermina tilted her head, seemingly unable to comprehend, but I didn’t wait for her to finish.

I charged toward her, sword in hand.

In an instant, I closed the distance. Vermina’s bewildered gaze was right in front of me.

Once it became hand-to-hand combat, resisting was not easy for her.

“Don’t come any closer!”

Vermina released a barrage of poison and plague from her body, like a dying insect laying eggs.

I focused all my senses to pierce through her movements. I could definitely dodge. However, that alone wouldn’t suffice. This battle couldn’t end merely by determining victory or defeat.

I steeled my resolve and turned my body. As I took the poison blades with my own body, I simultaneously wrapped sword power around the Holy Sword. My shoulder burned, and a searing pain engulfed me.

Ignoring it with effort, I swung my sword wide.

Swish.

There was no sound of something being cut.

Instead, Vermina’s left arm was severed and dropped to the ground. Her putrid limb soaked the tiles with poison as she screamed in agony.

“It’s over, bitch.”

I spun my sword and aimed for her neck this time.

But an unexpected turn of events occurred.

Bang!

It sounded like a water balloon bursting beneath me.

The arm that had fallen to the ground exploded, scattering poison everywhere, and simultaneously, a mist of plague erupted from the severed shoulder of Vermina, beginning to envelop the area. The mist writhed as though alive, intertwining with the bloody remnants, creating a grotesque form.

Ugh!

“Haha!”

Vermina’s voice, echoing ominously, felt like it was emerging from the abyss.

Her once beautiful appearance was now completely gone, as her body gradually transformed into that of a monster. Her skin rapidly decayed, replaced by shiny, poisonous scales, and the flesh that dripped down turned into sharp thorns, morphing into a form reminiscent of a slime.

[This is the worst, having to face this trashy form too—.]

“…Yikes.”

I took a step back, holding my Holy Sword.

As my feet moved, poison seeped into the spot I had just occupied.

“Huff.”

Well, in this situation, would a hero in possession be able to fight the Demon King’s executive exactly like in a game?

It appeared I wasn’t the only one preparing countermeasures.

“Who knew there’d be a second phase?”

Commonly referred to as the second phase.

It looked like Vermina had her own desperate patterns, after all.

What once could be considered a somewhat pretty face had morphed beyond humanity, and the plague energy she emitted seemed to suffocate all life around her.

At this point, calling her the Plague Lord would be an understatement; she could be considered a harbinger of death.

I hastily gripped my Holy Sword again and lunged at her head, but a profound emptiness washed over me, as if I were sweeping through a pale mist.

“…”

I quickly withdrew my arm and stepped back, but for a fleeting moment, the right arm that had entered Vermina’s body had completely necrosed.

This was an injury that would be extraordinarily difficult to heal even with Ophelia’s Holy Magic.

“What now?”

As I licked my parched lips, a sharp metallic taste made me wince.

Currently, Vermina was rampaging, spewing out all the poison she had accumulated. This meant I could extend the battle while running until she exhausts her poison…

“Ugh.”

The pain was intensifying.

This signified that the valid duration of Hero’s Divine Mark was nearing its end. Soon, I would be left in a state where I could neither escape nor fight, like a mere burden, as Ophelia would put it.

Once that time came, I couldn’t wield my sword anymore.

Well, I could, but I’d have to sacrifice an arm to kill the Plague Lord.

In the long term, that might not be too bad…

“That’s not an option.”

Ophelia would surely be infuriated.

Ultimately, I chose to retreat. I hoped to regroup with my comrades near the entrance of the fortress and let them handle Vermina instead.

That was my plan.

“…Ophelia?”

Just as I was about to turn my back, she approached me from behind.

Ophelia, seemingly having dealt with all the demons that had latched onto me, blood-soaked and looking like a wraith, placed her hand on my shoulder and narrowed her eyes at my necrotic arm.

“Ophelia, it’s dangerous, so step back…”

“Shut up.”

“….”

Upon seeing her gaze, I understood.

Ophelia was extremely angry.

The reason was obvious: my now useless arm.

“Okay, okay, just calm down! We should regroup with our allies and wait until Vermina exhausts her poison…”

“Forget it. I need to rip that bitch apart to feel better.”

Ophelia stated, and then she pulled the Branch of the World Tree to her chest.

“No, what do you plan to do…?”

In an instant, my brows furrowed.

Instead of the Branch of the World Tree she had pulled out, Ophelia took out Lieutenant Petinus’s poison pouch.

Without hesitation, Ophelia hurled the poison pouch directly at Vermina. As it burst, the accumulated poison spilled out around her, but…

“Is that even effective?”

I muttered.

It made no difference; Vermina was already saturated with poison and plague. Rather, she was merely absorbing Petinus’s poison like it was a pure meal. It was akin to dousing a roaring fire with gasoline.

However, Ophelia paid it no mind and produced another item from her sleeve.

A small vial containing a golden liquid.

Before I could even ask about it, Ophelia tossed the vial with all her might, and as it hit Vermina’s body, it shattered with a clang. Having lost her sanity, Vermina, mistaking the liquid for another poison, absorbed it without hesitation.

“Ophelia.”

“What?”

“What the heck was that?”

“Oh, that?”

In response to my inquiry, Ophelia cutely nodded and looked up at me.

Then she declared,

“Love Potion.”

“What?”

“I enhanced the effects a bit.”

Before I could even voice my suspicions about her response—

[AAAAAAAH!]

A scream that sounded as if someone was scraping a chalkboard erupted from the monster that was once Vermina.