Third Senior Brother was very talkative.
It wasn’t like I didn’t talk a lot myself, but when I spoke with him, all I could do was nod along.
Of course, he wasn’t simply a man of many words.
Third Senior Brother knew how to be entertaining with his words.
Even Second Senior Sister and Fourth Senior Brother, who didn’t usually show much emotion, chuckled whenever they spoke with Third Senior Brother...
Even Eldest Senior Brother, who usually accepted everything with a gentle smile, had once laughed loudly in front of him.
Because he talked so much, Third Senior Brother naturally had quite a few famous sayings.
Some of them had stuck with me.
—Youngest, do you understand? Getting excited about something before it happens is a sin.
Getting excited before it happened was a sin.Simply put, it meant to not get swept up in expectations and anticipation...
But in another sense, it also meant to not act rashly and to stay calm.
The most important thing for a martial artist was maintaining a calm and stable mind.
However, honestly, I was getting pretty excited in this battle against the high priest.
—Won’t it become troublesome if I go all out against Juan?
What I’d meant was: Juan would abandon the battle and try to run away if I overpowered him too quickly.
I’d heard from Asad that high priests had a skill called Ghost Path, and Juan would most certainly survive if he used that.
...But in the end, I’d been worried for nothing.
Clang!
Even though the high priest’s right arm was cut off, it didn’t seem as if he had taken a hit at all.
Rather, his attacks became more fierce.
His attitude changed. It was no longer like he was facing a young hero—albeit one who was stronger than expected—but instead an old enemy.
“...!”
A chill went down my spine.
As pressure that was beyond what I would normally feel in a real battle continued to oppress me, the chill soon turned into fear.
Are they the same?
In any case, as the battle continued, I realized that I was still maintaining the upper hand somewhat.
Of course, it didn’t mean much.
Putting the difference into a ratio, we were bouncing between 6 to 4 and 5 to 5.
The initiative could be taken by a single mistake.
The high priest’s skills with his weapons were impressive, and his proficiency with all the weapons he could use was at the level of a master.
Even while using all sorts of weapon arts, it didn’t look messy but rather harmonious.
But...
As far as adaptable opponents went, he couldn’t come close to Fourth Senior Brother’s Thousand-Faced Indestructible Metal Technique.
Though the high priest used many different types of weapons, they were all still melee weapons.
However, Fourth Senior Brother was able to utilize closed-fist techniques, finger techniques, open-palm techniques, piercing techniques, striking techniques, and slashing techniques with just his hands...
And he could fly through the air as he pleased and even had long-ranged attacks using something like a cannon.
The reason I was able to maintain any sort of advantage over the high priest was thanks to that spar.
Purely in terms of skill... the high priest is about a level or two above me.
Although I had obtained a lot of understanding from my 100 days of training, I still couldn’t overcome the wall of time.
It wasn’t something I needed to rage at or despair over.
The fact that Juan was similar in age to Calzark meant that he was from a similar generation as the Lord of Blood and Iron.
In any case, after cutting off one of his arms, the gap in skill narrowed a bit further and the battle became simpler.
Now it was just a matter of endurance.
Dash.
While using lightning-walker steps, I alternated between the Galactic Sword and White Sun Form.
I wouldn’t have been able to even attempt this without the training I’d undergone on Spirit Mountain.
Utilizing three different martial arts at once...
It would usually be impossible, but it wasn’t difficult for my current self.
Still, don’t let your guard down.
Although I had cut one of his arms off and currently had the upper hand, I remained vigilant.
“...”
It was then that I saw an odd movement from the high priest.
He had been focusing only on attacking, but suddenly, he jumped back to create distance between us.
Naturally, it wasn’t easy to move his body away like that in such close-quarters combat.
To punish his movement, I cut a line down his chest.
“...”
It didn’t feel like a light cut, but something felt off for some reason.
Juan stood on top of a tree, making me lose sight of him for a moment. He looked down at me with a complicated look in his eyes.
“Among the Lord of Blood and Iron’s children, I thought I would only need to be wary of Hero and Nero...”
I didn’t let my eyes drift from Juan as I humored this conversation.
“What about Hector?”
“He’s far too lacking. You should know that.”
“...”
It seemed that “grand master” wasn’t just a title; his assessment was correct.
I wasn’t looking down on Hector, but compared to the eldest son and second daughter, he lacked in quite a few aspects.
Juan raised both his arms.
“I’ll concede here. You have won today.”
What was he doing?
I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Juan.
“I’ll definitely remember this, Luan Bednicker. The cult will be wary of all your actions moving forward.”
“Are you running away?”
At my taunt, Juan just smiled.
“Yes. I shall run with my tail in between my legs. And I promise you this: I will become a very troublesome enemy for you in the future.”
“If you leave this place, I will kill the vice-cult leader.”
Juan flinched at my calm threat, but he quickly returned the smile to his face.
“What nonsense are you—”
“Do you think I’m lying? Then go. But Evan Helvin will die by my hands. I will make sure of it.”
Juan spoke with a cold voice.
“...How much do you know?”
It sounded like he had lowered his voice to try to sound more threatening...
But because of how much blood he was losing, it didn’t sound particularly scary.
I just chuckled and went along with the mood.
“Your tail was too long, high priest. If you’d wanted everything to go as planned, you should’ve infiltrated alone.”
I’d spoken without any expectations, but Juan immediately took the bait.
“...Einsburn. Disappointing. He might be stupid, but I thought he would at least be tight-lipped,” Juan said, his voice leaking out of his growling face.
That was an unexpected gain.
I had thought that it would be beneficial if I could learn whether there was a mole among the others, but I’d never expected he would say it out loud.
Einsburn was the name of the Instructor of Law.
He looked terrible, so I didn’t like him too much.
Birds of a feather...
Juan glared at me.
“Did you tell anyone else about the vice-cult leader?’
“Who knows? Maybe?”
“...At least Calzark likely knows. Fine.”
Juan let out a deep sigh.
The green tongue he had been holding in his hand wriggled and took on a new form.
* * * * *
* * * * *
“That—”
Soon, the green tongue turned into a staff.
A staff was, of course, a weapon, but this didn’t look like a staff used for hitting people.
It looked more like a casting staff.
At this moment, Juan closed his eyes and began chanting.
“رب اللسان الأخضر
“...!”
It was the terrifying voice and language I had heard before.
I was sure. This was the language he had used when he’d summoned Ahop in his final suicidal act.
Bzzt!
I used my Lighting-Walker Steps and thought.
How?
Even if he was a high priest, he would not be able to summon a demon lord in his current state.
Forget starting the ritual, it hadn’t even been prepared properly.
And if what Juniang had told me was true, even a high priest would not survive trying to talk with a demon lord if they hadn’t made the proper preparations.
At this moment, the Martial God made his presence known.
[This is...]
His tone was much more hurried than usual.
[Inheritor! You cannot let him finish his chant!]
Is it a demon lord’s summoning ritual?
[No! At this rate, you will be overwhelmed by the authority of that evil being!]
What is the high priest trying to do?
[If my interpretation isn’t wrong, that chant...]
After listening to everything the Martial God had to say, I flinched.
...Is that true?
[Why would I lie to you, Inheritor?]
Hmm...
Was everything the Martial God had just told me true?
I thought for a moment, but I came to a conclusion quickly.
It was obviously true.
There was no reason for the Martial God to lie to me at this point.
If that’s the case...
After organizing my thoughts, I dashed once more to reach up high—up to where Juan was.
As he continued to chant, I swung the Sword of Seven Sins toward him.
Slash.
The blade just barely missed his neck.
Even while chanting, Juan had dodged.
That wasn’t the end, though, as he grabbed my blade with his bare hand.
“...!”
“You look quite surprised... Did you think I was performing a summoning ritual or something?”
“What did you do?”
“As expected, it seems you don’t know the demonic language. Young Hero Luan... did you know? Ignorance is a tragedy.”
After saying something I had heard in the past, Juan smiled.
“Keep that in mind. You died today because of your ignorance.”
Fwah!
The darkness that suddenly appeared around us consumed both myself and Juan.
Feeling my surroundings become dark, I heard Juan’s voice.
“Let’s go together, to hell...!”
***
It was a dark place.
Not just because there was no light. It felt like my mind and body were suspended in something.
I was a little startled since I had never felt anything like this before.
As I moved around, my body swished as if I was swimming.
“Ah. You’re here?”
At that moment, Juan appeared from within the darkness.
It was interesting. Even though there was not a single ray of light here, I could see him clearly.
Also, even though I had severed his arm and his chest should be bleeding profusely, he looked fine.
I tried to draw my Sword of Seven Sins, but I realized that my weapon was gone.
“Fighting is strictly forbidden here, Young Hero Luan.”
I stopped before I went to charge him.
For some reason, it didn’t seem like he was trying to buy time or lie to my face.
“Is this hell? A place where only you exist... it seems hell is much more horrible than I first expected.”
“Hmm. Do you know know about the Space Between?”
“...”
“I can tell by your expression that you’ve never heard of it before,” Juan said with a laugh.
“Let’s say that this is something like a path to hell. The Space Between is a place you will always encounter whenever you move through spaces.”
“Why am I here?”
“You were moved by my authority. It is usually impossible, but it is possible when using the relic of the god of disaster.”
That green tongue.
I’d known that it wasn’t an ordinary weapon, but it was actually a relic.
I didn’t see him use it before my regression.
Mentally, I clicked my tongue.
I realized now that trusting only the knowledge of my past life wasn’t good enough.
I also had a general understanding of what was happening.
“You used Ghost Path, didn’t you?”
Juan smiled and replied, “So you know about Ghost Path as well. It seems the Lord of Blood and Iron has given you quite a thorough lesson on the cult.”
“Can I get out of this place if I kill you?”
“The opposite. If I die, your soul will be trapped here. Forever.”
That wasn’t ideal.
“Honestly, this is my first time using Ghost Path with another person... and this has become a little troublesome. It seems that the right of selection has gone to you.”
“Right of selection?”
“That’s right...! You are truly unworthy of it, the right to choose which god we will meet...!” Juan shouted madly. “The Six Gods of Disaster...! You will be able to meet one of them! All right, Luan Bednicker! Choose! Will you be stuck here forever! Or will you entreat the god together with me!”
“...”
I recalled what the Martial God had told me.
—That’s a method of return that only the worshipers of hell can use! I don’t know the mechanism of it, but the relic he is holding has amplified its power!
—At this rate, you will be swept up in it as well! If that’s the case, you will be forcibly transported to meet the ruler of hell!
...That was what the Martial God had told me.
Meaning that my gamble had half succeeded.
All right, now’s the important part.
The god of disaster—the demon lord I needed to meet had already been decided.
I spoke slowly.
“...Demon Lord of Black and White.”
Flash!
The world turned.