685 – The State of the Holy Country

If what Jornes wrote is correct, then this should be a cathedral in the Holy Country of Liarm.
I’ve searched around with [Presence Perception], but there doesn’t seem to be anyone inside.

I’m already an evil-looking dragon, and now that I’m an apocalypse those from the Holy God religion will probably see me as an enemy of humanity.
Going outside like this would be bad.
Using [Humanisation Technique] to take the form of a human, I climb to the roof of the the cathedral.

“What is this…”

The view from the roof is a scene of hell.
Destroyed streets are roamed by hideous, vaguely humanoid monsters.

The monsters look like they crawled out of a nightmare or an avant-garde painting.
Their numbers of limbs and facial features vary, but the one point they all have in common is their smooth, porcelain-like skin.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
[Lina Liberto]
Species: Archangel
Condition: Cursed
Lv: 25/30
HP: 112/112
MP: 153/153
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Archangel… These grotesque monsters are angels? This way too bad taste for a joke.

“Dragon-god-sama… This is one of the Four Great Monster Domains, right?”

Aro fearfully asks.

“…This should be in the Holy Country of Liarm.”

If Jornes’ revelation stone was correct, then I should be standing atop a cathedral inside the Holy Country.
I don’t want to believe it, but this is a major city of the Holy County.

『Lilixira seriously tried her best, and it might not mean anything now, but I have to fulfil my promise.
I put a lot of importance on that sort of thing.
I can’t let her determination look worthless, after all.
I promised her that if she lost the contest over divine skills, I’d destroy all of Liarm with my [Spirit Servant].』

God’s Voice’s promised Lilixira the destruction of her homeland.
This is probably the result of that.

Broken buildings and scattered corpses can be seen here and there.
Looking in the distance, I can see a pale blue barrier enclosing the city.

That barrier seems like the result of a skill… The city is devastated, monsters are crawling all over it, and everyone inside is trapped by a barrier.

The purpose of God’s Voice sending the [Spirit Servants] to wreak havoc should have been to harry me and make me feel a sense of urgency.
So then there shouldn’t have been a need to ravage the city so mercilessly.
No…that’s not all.

【[Archangel]: D rank monster】
【A human reincarnated into an angel through the use of a particular skill.
Its rank is second from the bottom.】
【It moves only according to its master’s will, and attacks humans in order to create more servants.】
【Some memories of its past life remain, so in order to share the joy of serving its master, it will tend to specifically target those it knew in life.】

As I look at the species explanation, anger wells up inside me.
I thought it was strange.
The monster I was looking at earlier had a human-like name.

“Just how far will that shitty god go!?”

All my insides are seethe with rage.

I should have known how God’s Voice was when Lilixira was used and discarded.
In Miia’s case, she was forced to weigh the peace of the world against her homeland, and then after being induced to destroy her homeland with her own hands, she was dragged into a war as the Demon Lord regardless.

However, now that I am witnessing the tragedy with my own eyes, I can finally understand the horror of God’s Voice.
Any being capable of doing this without hesitation cannot be allowed to exist.

The target of God’s Voice’s malice probably isn’t only this city.
While I’m here, the other [Spirit Servants] might be destroying the places I’ve visited.

I don’t know if atlach-nacha, Volk, black lizard, and magiatite-jii are safe.
After all, they were all left behind when the four [Spirit Servants] appeared.

“If it’s this bad, then… Dad, mum…”

Aro weakly murmurs.
I look at her, and she closes her mouth tightly, smoothing her expression.
She probably wants to avoid saying anything that would make anxious.

…God’s Voice implied that the [Spirit Servants] would be targeting places that have a connection to me.
It’s quite likely that the Lithovars will be targeted.

In the Ngai Forest, I knew I had to hurry.
Atleast, I thought I knew.

But perhaps I was naive.
If I had hurried a bit more, I could have left at least half a day sooner.
While I was doing that levelling, there’s no telling how many hundred or thousands died.

This is far worse than I had imagined.
Are more tragedies like this unfolding throughout the world right now?

Looking at all the monsters trampling the city, all I can do is stare in a daze.
I know an unrecoverable tragedy is occurring in front of me.
But the scale of it is so big that I don’t know where to start.

『Master-dono! By that giant statue, there’s a big one!』

Treant’s words bring me back to my senses.
This is no time to wallow in hopelessness.

I look in the direction he indicates with his wing.

There’s a giant headless statue of a winged woman.
Probably a past Saint, or some other figure connected with the Holy God religion.

At the statue’s feet are five still-alive people, facing off against a particularly large and misshapen monster.
It’s over twice as tall as the others, and has a second face in its abdomen.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
[Lewis Laurey]
Species: Exousia[1]
Condition: Cursed
Lv: 79/85
HP: 596/624
MP: 416/422
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Apparently it’s a stronger version of the archangel.
It’s another a former human.

The archangel I was looking at earlier was D rank, but this one is B+.
Their strengths are quite diverse.
D rank monsters can be killed by most adventurers, but only the strongest armed groups such as Lilixira’s Holy Knights can fight B+ monsters.
Five ordinary humans lasting even a few seconds is remarkable.

I cancel my [Humanisation Technique].
My body becomes black and red, and swells up in size as I return to my apocalypse form.

My form is now that of the Dragon of Revelation that heralds the end of the word, and is by the Holy God religion as the enemy of humanity.
But now is not the time to worry about that.

『[Dimension Claw]!』

I swing my foreleg, clawing through the exousia.

The face on the its abdomen breaks as its body folds back from the impact, lifted off its feet.

I release a second, vertical [Dimension Claw].
The exousia’s body splits in two, and the two halves fall to the ground.

【3094 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the title skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 3094 experience points have been acquired.】

【The level of [Apocalypse] has risen from 104 to 105.】

The humans that it was attacking stare at its corpse in shock.
The monster that they couldn’t damage no matter how they struggled suddenly fell to an unidentifiable attack, so rather than relief, their sense of fear is probably stronger.

『…Sorry.
If I had kept you alive, there might have been a way of turning you back into a human, but I don’t have the leeway for that right now.
But, I probably protected those who were precious to you.』

I release another [Dimension Claws], carving through three archangels that were near the exousia.
As they’re only D rank, just a graze is enough to kill them.

【As the rank difference is too large, experience points could not be acquired.】

All the monsters around them have been cleaned up now.

The humans look around.
As their gazes find me, their faces turn pale.
Even more so than when the exousia was in front of them, their looks are filled with despair.

“First Jornes-sama appeared and destroyed the Holy City, and now the Apocalypse is here! This is absurd! It’s not only the Holy City, the entire world is ending!”

One of the men shouts despairingly.

Based on his clothing, I guess he’s some sort of warrior priest.
As I thought, the legend of the Apocalypse has been passed down through the Holy God religion.

As I look at the man, my eyes meet with a robed women next to him.
Startled, she looks back at me.

I recognise her.
She’s Miria, who I had last met in the Ardesian capital.

“Could it be… Irushia-san, is that you?”

She calls my name in a quiet voice.

[1] – The sixth rank in the Christian angelic hierarchy, also known as the Powers – wiki