The opportunity came quickly. Less than three days after she started walking wherever her feet took her, Stella was able to see with her own eyes the presence of the heresy she had been longing for.
'As expected, God guided me.'
Stella smiled innocently as she looked at a group of people talking with serious expressions in the distance. It was a really innocent and kind smile.
Although the inside story was completely different.
Even though they were so far away, the smell of the devil wafted in the wind, and the laughter that escaped from them was so full of thoughts of torturing the heretics that they couldn't contain their joy.
There was no mistake. A man mixed in with three women. It was clear that the man had broken the demon's seal.
'But, it's strange... ... .'
Green eyes scanned the area surrounding the heretic.
A blue-haired woman with a serious expression, a red-haired woman, and a pink-haired woman leaning against a tree, slumped limply. We've all seen these faces before.
They were the knight commanders of the Knights of the Silver Dawn, known as the elite order of knights that protected the imperial palace. Stella was certain that her eyes were not deceiving her.
But why does a person like that hang out with devil worshippers?
It was neither blackmail nor trickery. These women were acting with the devil worshippers of their own free will, and they were showing considerable friendship.
'I need to check.'
Even if we ignore that woman, Kaikilia, who has a bit of a crazy personality but is not the type of person to summon demons, her subordinates are different.
It is possible that the devil worshippers were secretly carrying out their heretical acts in places beyond the reach of Caiquelia's eyes.
I should ask the Inquisitor to investigate later. Stella thought as she changed the smile on her face to a more innocent one, and walked towards the heretic who had suddenly become aware of her presence.
"Do you need any help?"
'... ...Who is it?'
I had raised the alert to the max. I had never experienced an event where someone came to find a player right after the Arachnaine boss fight. So, even for me, what would happen next was unknown territory.
I studied the woman carefully, hoping that it might help me identify her.
Her golden hair, slightly wavy, formed a graceful curve that wrapped around her collarbone and shoulders. Her bangs also covered her eyebrows and eyes. Green eyes shone through between her bangs.
But what caught the eye more than anything else was the nun's habit, which was quite revealing.
Her shoulders were covered with a semicircular white cloth, and a triangular chest cover descended from the semicircular cloth, slightly covering her chest, which was as large as her head.
Of course, there were no strings or clothes to hold it in place. It seemed as if even a gust of wind from the side would reveal her chest. Her lower chest and side chest were completely exposed.
The clothes on her side were cut low, almost to the level of her pubic hair, revealing her bare skin. There was literally nothing where the side slit was. Not even a string that could be considered underwear.
The only clothing covering the woman's private parts was the long hem of a nun's habit, and the buckle fastened tightly under her breasts, further accentuating her already enormous breasts.
Her thighs were covered in black fishnet stockings, and her feet were wearing high heels.
'... ... It seems like an NPC from Seongguk, but I don't know more than that.'
The nun NPCs on the Holy Land side, who changed from priests to nuns with the appearance change mode applied, probably looked like that. It was so long ago that I can't remember clearly.
At least the clothes of the nun NPCs I know weren't that revealing. At least the originals were clearly visible at a glance as nuns' outfits.
Besides, why on earth are the priests of the Holy Nation appearing in front of the Arachnaine boss room? What is there to do here?
"Help us?"
Lize showed even more fierce aura. If she did anything reckless, she would immediately exchange weapons with the woman in front of her. The atmosphere was also quite tense for Erica.
"Yes, of course. The person behind you seems to be in a critical condition."
The blonde woman pointed her finger at Claudia. Lize, seeing the gesture, snapped back.
"Don't point your finger at Claudia. I warned you."
"Warning? A warning? Are you warning me just now? Phew, phew, phew hahahahaha!"
In an instant, the blonde woman's mood changed.
He held his smooth, fat-free stomach and laughed out loud for a long time in a voice that seemed to be out of breath, then barely stopped laughing and wiped the tears from his eyes with his fingers while panting.
"Kuuuuuuuuu… … Ah, it's been a long time since I've laughed this loudly. A warning? To me? Oh, how long has it been since I've seen such an energetic heretic."
'... ... Heresy?'
As soon as I heard that, there was one NPC that came to mind.
Heresy. And the nun's habit.
"But what's funny is funny. The rest is another matter."
Stella raised her hand. As if in response, a crackling sound of trees breaking apart could be heard from somewhere. I absentmindedly looked behind the woman, in the direction of the sound.
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The source of the sound was a sledgehammer.
A large, iron-like mass, with a weight on the end the size of two human heads put together, was flying towards the blonde woman, smashing everything in its path.
The blonde woman nonchalantly caught the seemingly terrifying-looking hammer flying towards her with one hand. A thud echoed through the forest.
As soon as I saw her, I knew who the blonde was. There was only one person who used that distinctive hammer.
'Inquisitor... ...!'
The strongest and highest military group in the Holy Nation, led directly by the Pope of the Sun. The head of that group was clearly the Inquisitor. I didn't notice it because his appearance was so different from what I remembered.
'Why did the heretic judge come here?'
I recognized the blonde woman's identity, but I still had no idea why she had come here.
Although the warrior priests belonging to the Holy Nation could be encountered several times while moving around the empire, the Inquisitor, just like the two Popes, never left the Holy Nation.
Something was strange.
"I am Stella, the inquisitor of the Pope of the Sun. And you are a devil-worshiping heretic."
Kwaang! Stella said, raising the hammer vertically. It seemed as if she had lowered it slightly, but the weight was already halfway buried in the dirt.
I looked around. If there is an inquisitor directly under the Pope of the Sun, then there might be an inquisitor directly under the Pope of the Moon. If one has come, why can't two come?
As the number of enemies fighting at the same time increases, the difficulty increases exponentially in the battle characteristics of Blizzard 4. No matter how much I tried, I wasn't confident in taking on two bosses at once.
"Did you really think that you would not pay the price for releasing into the world the demons that the priests of the Holy Nation had sealed away with their lives?"
As soon as we heard the word devil, we all flinched as a group. Not only I, but the knight commanders also knew all about the plan I had devised to kill the lord.
All else aside, it's true that he was involved with the devil.
It's not like we worshipped the devil or tried to bring him down to earth, but such trivial matters didn't seem to matter much to the heretic inquisitor.
"I will not deny that we have been associated with the devil. However, we have never done anything that could be branded heretical in the Holy Land. Rather, we are more like victims. This is something that His Majesty the Emperor himself has confirmed. Please put down your weapons."
Erica tried to calmly convince Stella, indicating that she had no intention of fighting, with the tip of her sword pointing to the floor.
Claudia had to be treated as soon as possible, so there was no time to waste fighting in a place like this, and it would be best to avoid fighting the Holy Nation as much as possible.
Although they had been dragged down to the outskirts of the empire, the Knights of the Silver Dawn were still in fact serving the Emperor. If they were not careful, this could have easily escalated into a diplomatic issue.
But it was all in vain. Stella laughed heartily and raised the weight of the hammer towards us.
"You are greatly mistaken. It is not the role of heretics to judge whether there is sin or not."
Footsteps were heard from all directions. Erica, startled, raised her sword again. We were surrounded by women in nun's habit, similar to Stella's but with slightly lower exposure.
I don't have any particular intuition, and Claudia is addicted and not in good condition, but I wonder when on earth she fooled even Lize and Erica's senses and surrounded us.
Oh my, this time the weight of the hammer pointed at me.
"Only God can judge the price of breaking the devil's seal."
"...Aha. So now, you're going to kill us all?"
"If you have sinned, you will die; if you have no sin, you will live. If you are truly free from the devil, God will save you. But… … ."
The eyelids between the green eyes curved like a crescent moon.
"Can you really live?"
"Why do you think you can't do it?"
The atmosphere between Lize and Stella changed in an instant. They looked like they were going to rush at each other at any moment.
"Your Majesty, Inquisitor. I think you are making a huge mistake. If we really did that, His Majesty the Emperor would have already executed us—?"
A white light shot out from Stella's hand. Lize and Erica simultaneously covered their eyes. Only I, who knew what that white light was, quickly rolled to the side to avoid it.
Stella's smile became even more sinister as she saw me avoiding the light.
I know what you're misunderstanding. Since I avoided the light made of divine power, you must be convinced that I'm really a devil worshipper. A normal person would just cover their eyes.
'If I get hit by that, it's certain that I'll get an abnormal status. What should I do?'
It is impossible to win a fight against the Battle Sisters while suffering from status effects caused by divine attacks. If I had time, I would have warned the other two, but unfortunately, there wasn't enough time.
I calmly looked around, aiming my bloody sword. There were twelve combat nuns in total. It wasn't an unbeatable number, as long as they weren't surrounded on all sides.
It's so damn hard to avoid being surrounded.
"Okay. Let's give this a try, okay?"
Lize, whose entire body was covered in ice, rushed to Stella first. Since the Inquisitor was convinced that we were devil worshippers, a fight was inevitable. Either they would die or we would die.
That's what a heretic judge is.
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Erica also seemed to have given up on persuasion, holding her weapon tightly in both hands and standing close to me, keeping a close eye on her surroundings. It seemed that she had realized that the only option left was to fight.
Lize closed the distance in an instant. The tip of her sword aimed straight at Stella's nape. It was a clean attack without any unnecessary details.
But the problem is that Lize is already suffering from an abnormal status due to the white light just now. Knowing this, before I could stop Lize, the dagger dug into her neck.
-Phew!
"This won't kill me?"
To be exact, I tried to dig into it.
Stella stood there without even blinking, even though she was hit directly by Lize's attack.
It's said that since HP exists, a single attack won't cause fatal damage, but that's a different concept. It was closer to taking almost no damage at all.
Seeing that Stella was fine, Lize immediately continued her next attack. This time, it was the right eye. The dagger in her left hand dug into Stella's right eye.
"Didn't I tell you?"
"...!"
However, Stella had a calm expression even though the dagger was clearly stabbing her eye. Rather, Lize's arm, who had attacked, was shaking as if she had used too much force.
"You can't kill me with something like this."
The blue-tinged blade was blocked by Stella's eyes.