novelraw Chapter 74 : Eden, the Garden (13)
Chapter 74 : Eden, the Garden (13)
Chapter 74: Eden, the Garden (13)
“…Greed? Not the Witch of Motherhood?”
Hestia muttered with a tense face. It was nothing like what the hunter’s log had recorded. Her trust in the journal, which she’d believed without doubt, cracked.
The witch wasn’t obsessed with motherhood.
She was a vile incarnation of greed who raised children only to eat them, and her power was far more dangerous than reported.
…The Order hadn’t known a thing about the witch.
“Ha? Greed? I knew it!”
Nike pointed and scolded the Witch of Greed, Dionea. He was angry again at being deceived.
“…Nike! We have to run.”
Hestia’s face went pale. A witch far stronger than she knew had appeared. The intuitive alias and the raw, immediate sense of her power were on a different level.
No witch or monster Hestia had ever seen was as dangerous as this. The instant she faced the witch’s true form, staying sane was all she could manage.
“A hunter doesn’t run from his prey!”
Nike growled and dropped into a fighting stance. Hestia panicked because words weren’t getting through. Knowing whom to fight and whom not to fight was a skill too.
In that respect, Nike wasn’t just brave, he was foolish.
‘…Even Nike will die against something that dangerous.’
Hestia calmly analyzed the objective facts. She’d already retrieved her hunting tools and downed her potion, so she could gauge things precisely.
Total mana.
Quality of mana.
The killing intent and oppressive pressure radiating off her.
Dionea won in every category. Nike could never defeat the Witch of Greed.
Fear and despair washed over her. Just facing the witch made her feel like she’d be swallowed by an endless maw of greed.
Rumble!
In fact, Dionea began chewing up everything around them with her greedy mouths. Even the flesh she’d shed onto the floor wasn’t spared.
“…Nike! Dodge!”
“There’s nowhere to dodge! Tia! Stick to my back!”
Nike surged forward fast. He had no fear.
If anything, the person viewing the situation most coolly was Nike himself.
Hoping to escape from a witch that strong, bordered on ignorance and arrogance. Fleeing would only be possible with Dionea’s permission.
If you didn’t want to die, you had to fight. That was the only choice. The person she loved was putting his life on the line.
“…Kgh!”
Steeling herself, Hestia gripped her war-scythe. If she died today, she’d die at Nike’s side.
Whrrr!
Dionea’s flesh multiplied without end. There was less and less ground to step on.
The speed at which teeth devoured space was frightening. Nike darted back and forth through that chaotic maze.
Hestia tried to keep up with him, but it was hard. Nike’s physical ability had far surpassed human limits.
“Nike!!!”
“It’s in there!”
Nike said something incomprehensible and sprang into the air, curling his body tight.
Dionea opened a great belly-mouth and sucked in air. Gravity joined in, and Nike’s fall sped up.
‘Isn’t that dangerous!?’
While Hestia frantically avoided the flesh, she checked on Nike. At this rate, the witch would swallow him whole. Yet Nike was letting himself get pulled in without resistance.
‘…No, he’s trying to go in on purpose.’
By now, Nike’s sudden moves didn’t surprise her.
She also knew his actions always struck the core.
Nike had spotted a weak point inside the witch’s belly.
What Hestia had to do was trust him and distract the witch’s focus as much as possible.
Slip!
The witch finally swallowed Nike. Dionea laughed with delight. The drooping masses of flesh rippled like waves.
The clamped maw of her belly writhed as if the stomach were working. It seemed intent on digesting the swallowed Nike.
“Urk! Wh-what is this!”
For a moment, the witch shuddered in surprise. Thousands of mouths ground their teeth. Dionea hunched over in pain.
“Ghhk! No! How dare youuu!”
No one outside could know what was happening inside. Hestia struck in that opening. She hurled her war-scythe and lodged it in the witch’s neck. But the neck was so thick that she only managed a shallow cut on the surface.
Moments later, the witch regained her composure.
The flesh that had writhed in agony became calm as a still lake.
‘…Why did it go quiet all of a sudden?’
It felt bad.
Nothing happened.
With her enhanced sight, she saw Nike’s mana gradually decreasing. Something had gone wrong.
“…No. She’s digesting Nike whole!”
Hestia dashed in. Dodging the flesh and teeth that tried to swallow her, blocking and slicing with her scythe, she pushed toward the true body.
“Hah, hah… kgh!”
It wasn’t easy. The mana density was so high that an ordinary hunter would feel like they were moving underwater.
“Foolish thing. If you’d meekly obeyed your mother’s words, you would’ve received the blessing of the star. I now walk the path of eternal immortality.”
The witch mocked Hestia. Perhaps because she was absorbing Nike’s mana, Dionea’s flesh and teeth grew even larger. Her strength multiplied without end.
Now they formed a veritable wall. To approach, Hestia would have to tear through all of it.
Hestia hit a dead end.
The witch decided to toy with the pitiful little one until she finished digesting Nike.
‘You’re smiling?’
But Hestia was the one smiling. Through the mask of blood that covered her, her eyes gleamed a razor blue.
—!
Hestia vanished from sight. In an instant, she rammed the war-scythe into the wall of flesh. A flurry of follow-up blows shredded the meat into tatters.
Grk-krk! Grk, grk!
The flesh swarmed fast to patch the torn spot. Hestia upped her speed. Afterimages began to trail from the arm that swung her scythe.
‘Nikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenikenike…’
Rip!
‘Don’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdiedon’tdie…’
By the time she reached a state of no-self, even the muscles in her arm had torn. Even so, she didn’t stop. The mind ruled over flesh.
Soon her attack speed left the flesh’s regeneration speed in the dust.
Steam rose from Hestia’s shoulders. Flesh rubbed flesh and the heat was immense.
“Hah, hah! Nike!”
Oblivious to the countless teeth biting her and the flesh tearing off her, Hestia finally split the witch’s belly. Her frenzy and fixation were so great that even Dionea flinched, unable to react.
Hestia dragged out Nike, half melted. The muscles and bones of his face were laid bare.
Hestia no longer had strength in her arms. Thanks to the drug, she felt no pain, but her arms were rags. With no other choice, she gripped Nike with her teeth and ran.
“Haha, hahaha… Where do you think you’re going!”
Dionea came to her senses and balled up flesh to grab Hestia’s ankle. She pitched forward and dropped Nike.
“No—!”
Hestia screamed her throat raw. Another maw yawned below, ready to swallow Nike.
Whoosh!
“Gaaaah!”
At the last moment, a golden pillar crashed down onto the flesh.
“What is this filthy light! Kyaaak!”
Dionea writhed in agony. Elena, sprinting from somewhere, snatched Nike and leaped away.
Elena rose with Nike in her arms. Though her whole body was smeared with blood, her sacred beauty remained.
Nike, on the other hand, looked terrible.
His skin had melted in stomach acid, and parts of his limbs were gone. If it hadn’t been Nike, anyone would’ve assumed he was dead.
“Hey! What were you doing while Nike ended up like this!”
Elena started shouting at Hestia the moment she arrived.
“…What?”
Hestia, who’d clambered out right after, asked back in disbelief. She was furious that Elena had picked the wrong target to blame.
“How could you, how could you let him get to this state.”
“…You say that even after looking at me? Your Grace. Apologize to me.”
“Apologize? Common believers didn’t even come to rescue their archbishop. Ahem, I suppose I raised my voice too much. Still, it’s hard to forgive you for doing this to Nike.”
Hestia let out a disbelieving laugh. No matter how she looked at it, the woman had lost her mind. In a crisis like this, and she was only fussing over a man.
Where had she sold off the doctrine of chastity?
“…I honestly don’t know how you became an archbishop.”
“That’s blasphemy.”
“…I’ll ask God for forgiveness later. Right now I’ve got something to say.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Elena gave a baffled little laugh. A mere hunter talking back to an archbishop at every turn felt like farce.
Even with the witch swollen to a mountain right in front of them, the two focused only on Nike.
They didn’t care about each other’s backstories.
Elena had come pounding with her warhammer through flesh. Hestia had swung her scythe until every muscle in her arms tore.
“…Is Nike alright?”
“Amazingly, his skin’s already regenerating. It’s absurd…”
“…Then please treat me first. I can’t fight like this.”
“A priest who’s become baggage should do nothing but pray.”
“Now.”
“…Unbelievable.”
The archbishop set Nike down and ran a hand over Hestia’s arms. As she prayed, golden light bloomed and healed Hestia’s arms.
The healing was fast. The technique was superb.
It wasn’t a feat possible with ordinary faith and will. Stroking her restored arms, Hestia murmured under her breath.
“I guess you didn’t become an archbishop for nothing.”
“Stop with the flattery. Let’s protect my man now.”
“…Are you really doing this? Are you even a believer?”
“Is that a complaint from a common priest?”
Hestia stopped answering.
She’d never liked the archbishop to begin with.
They’d almost gotten along for a moment, but after hearing greed from the archbishop’s own lips that rivaled the witch’s, she had no intention of treating her as an ally.
She’d only fulfill the obligations of a social relationship, nothing more.
“…That witch isn’t the Witch of Motherhood.”
“As expected. That stench isn’t the kind you get from a fourth rank witch. She’s atrocious.”
“She said it herself, ‘Greed,’ a sin she once served.”
Elena turned to Hestia in shock. Her expression said, ‘is that true?’ Hestia didn’t have the energy to argue. If Elena didn’t believe it, then that would be on her.
“…Makes sense. If her perversion is to take girls, raise them, then eat them, that’s closer to greed than motherhood.”
“They say she turns some into witches too, but I bet she planned to eat them anyway.”
“I’m sure. Nike isn’t someone who’d be beaten this easily. How dare she touch my man…”
“…Sigh.”
Hestia let out a long sigh.
All that “my man” talk grated on her ears.
If she could have her way, she’d settle things with the archbishop before taking down the witch.
“Grrr—! You wretch, I’ll grind you up! How dare you fling filth in my own garden!”
Dionea, sight restored, flew into a rage. The entire garden became her skin and heaved like surf. Elena swallowed at the grotesque tableau.
“You filthy things called your petty god into my home!?”
“Silence, witch! The Sun God’s wrath will punish you severely!”
Even with her legs trembling, Elena strode forward and shouted. With her patron’s radiance at her back, she feared nothing.
Dionea smirked. Every mouth that blanketed the earth split into a bizarre grin. Silent laughter spread everywhere.
“I wonder whether your god is near, or my authority is near.”
“…”
The witch’s threat held real force.
The scene before them was so overwhelming that even the archbishop’s faith wavered. Elena couldn’t continue and only mouthed words.
‘This is… truly dangerous. We can’t even run? When did we even enter this garden in the first place?’
She wasn’t sure the place was even real.
If this was truly the witch’s nest, there was no such thing as odds.
“…You’re not scared, are you, Your Grace?”
Checking on Nike, Hestia stood at the archbishop’s side. The archbishop smiled without a word. It made Hestia want to retch.
“I’ve been away from real combat too long. I only needed a moment to adjust.”
“Adjust quickly. I don’t have the luxury to protect you.”
“Haha… listen to you speak.”
Elena laughed. Her fair cheek twitched. A mere priest trying to ease the tension by provoking her, in this situation, was pathetic.
‘How insulting…’
Still, she had no intention of backing down if it meant protecting her man.
For some reason, her head had broken badly. Just looking at the sleeping Nike made her heart race and her lower belly heat up.
She was reaching the point where she couldn’t tell work from personal feelings.
“Is there any way to protect Nike and run?”
“…No. Not unless we kill the witch. Buying time until Nike opens his eyes again is our best option.”
“No countermeasures then.”
“You’re the one who brought us here without a plan, Your Grace.”
“When we get back, I’ll have you expelled.”
“Please get us back then.”
Thud.
Elena dropped to her knees. She set down her warhammer and golden shield, then pressed her hands together as if in prayer.
“Ten minutes. Exactly ten.”
“For what?”
“The time for an angel to descend into my flesh.”
“…What?”
“In that time, either find a way to flee, or wake Nike and kill the witch.”
Elena spoke flatly, then closed her eyes.
Hestia glanced aside without comment.
‘…Angelic descent? That’s possible…?’
The ground heaved hard. There were now more greedy maws than flesh. Sharp teeth sliced and swallowed the space whole. Space shrank.
The greedy witch chewed even her own flesh.
Endless greed.
No place to stand.
Humans drifted in the demon realm.
Hell opened on the floor.
When people lost all hope.
“One like the Sun God, who could there be—”
The gate of heaven opened.