Chapter 58

Chapter 58

“Oh...”

“Yu- yu don hab anything...?” Helveros released a wispy stream of smoke and flattened out like a pancake.

Oops. So this is how hellfire monsters look when they’re sobbing!

“Ailette, he’s so cute. Let’s give him something, please?”

The problem wasn’t with whether or not I was going to give him something. The issue was that I didn’t know what to give him. As I racked my brain for a solution, I heard a sad, feeble voice.

“N-no fair farm owner. Y-you forgot Helbwehross’s pwesent!”

“No, no, I have a gift for you!”

“Weally?!”

“Of course! Just give me one second.” I thought of what to give him just in time. I dug through the satchel and pulled out an item I’d stashed away and forgot about.

Ta-dah! A burning, heart-shaped ruby crystal revealed itself from the palm of my hand. It was the “Heart of the Inferno Dragon,” a boss drop item that I got from the inferno dragon on the 273rd floor.

“Here.” I figured it’d be okay since they both shared the same flame attribute. I gingerly held it out to Helveros and watched how he reacted.

Helveros’ flames began to flare up even brighter.

“T-this is...!”

“Do you recognize what it is?”

“Inferno dwagon! The hear’ of an inferno dwagon! Helbwehross get stwonger if he eats zis! Iz dis really fo’ me?!”

“Yup. All yours, Helveros.”

“F-farm owner...!”

“Yes?”

“You’re da best! I wuv you!”

Poof!

That was the first time I’d ever seen Helveros shoot up into the sky and burst like a firework. This must be how a hellfire demon celebrates when it’s really, really happy. Helveros descended back onto the ground in his original form and swallowed the inferno dragon’s heart. He briefly flared up and let out a sooty belch.

“Bu-rp.”

“How is it? Can you feel the dragon’s energy welling up within you?”

“Mmm... I dunno yet. Helbwehross is going to take a long time to digest dis...”

“You must’ve overeaten.”

“Yesh, Helbwehross is too sleepy... Sorry, farm owner... I-I don’t think I can boil your tea wadder.”

“It’s okay. Good night.”

I scooped up Helveros with a shovel and carried him over to the furnace.

“I’ll be off now. Keep up the good work, guys.”

Clack! Click! Clack!

I leisurely exited the dungeon with the skeletons waving behind me. Now that that’s been taken care of, it was time for me to resume our scheduled activities.

“Let’s head back in, Agnes.”

⟬«System» Enter the [Skyscraper of Suffering - 276th Floor]?⟭

Time to challenge the next boss monster. The arched steel doors screeched open and greeted me with a new dungeon environment.

Rrrumble!

A dark volcano roared as it erupted, spewing out reddish, black muck everywhere. The unidentified globs of projectiles shot up into the sky before raining down onto the entire field. I kept my eyes on the dark volcano as I created a barrier around me.

There was a huge cave halfway up the volcano. Soon, a reptilian creature with golden bat wings emerged from the cave.

⟬«System» The Skyscraper of Suffering’s 276th Floor Boss, [Imperium, the Avaricious Dragon Lord] has appeared!⟭

“Graaaah!”

The atmosphere vibrated as the creature let out a powerful roar. Yet, despite its ferocious appearance, Agnes and I were unimpressed.

«Do all of the demonic dragons here always have to squeal like that? It’s getting really old.»

“Let’s give him a chance. This time they said he was the dragon lord. Maybe this will finally conclude the demonic dragon series.”

When the dragon lord finally noticed me, his sharp, elongated pupils became stained with greed.

“Foolish mortal, have you wandered into my realm to expand my vast collection?! Lay all that you possess at my feet, then I shall grant you a painless death!”

“What is this joker going on about?”

As I exchanged a dumbfounded look with Agnes at this highway robbery, I noticed something unusual. Bits and pieces of what appeared to be the demonic dragon’s hoard of treasure tumbled out from beneath where the dragon was sitting. Oh, that hole must be his lair. He probably has his whole stash hidden there.

«That’s a cute little collection he has going there. Almost like a squirrel and its stash of nuts.»

“You’re right.”

As we marveled at the beast’s treasure trove, I received some unexpected good news.

⟬«System» Skyscraper of Suffering Special Guerilla Event!⟭

⟬«Quest» Dragon Lord Slayer (Difficulty: S)

An exclusive event prepared just for our unlucky, hapless adventurer! Defeat the boss and loot his lair.

Reward: (1) voucher for an item of your choice in the boss monster’s lair.⟭

A voucher for an item? That means...

“Whip sword!”

«Ah! You startled me! What’s the matter?»

“Agnes, don’t you think that dragon lord guy probably has at least one whip sword that I could snag?”

«Oh, now that you mention it, you’re probably right. A so-called ‘dragon lord’ has to have at least a few supreme-grade swords, right?»

“Nice!”

My eyes burned with newfound passion and my training whip sword hummed with pulsating energy as aura enveloped my blade.

“Let’s do this!”

I ran headfirst into battle, eager to acquire a new sword.

✠

While Ailette was holed up in the tower, Tesilid was doing his duty as a stigma bearer. The stigma bearers were deployed to El Torini, one of the holy kingdom’s major cities. El Torini was a bustling coastal city where many wealthy merchants lived.

Tesilid and his peers were dispatched to take care of the S-class dungeon sink that broke out in this lively city. Casualties usually reached the hundreds whenever S-class dungeons broke out, yet El Torini managed to escape this grim fate.

The dungeon’s name was [The Fallen Angel’s Heavenly Fortress]. Befitting of its name, the dungeon sinkhole formed many miles above the city and didn’t cause any on-ground damage. When the merchants found out, they all celebrated, attributing the fortunate turn of events to their generous offerings. Though they managed to avert the calamity, the dungeon subjugation still needed to happen. The sinkhole tore through the sky, leaving a gaping void that remained open and unable to prey on anything.

The chasm revealed an erratic, unstable violet sky and a pitch-black fortress to onlookers below. El Torini’s city council requested troops from the Vatican and the religious order immediately deployed stigma bearers, three holy knight platoons, and numerous healers to the site.

The subjugation went without a hitch. Even an S-class boss could not last long against over a hundred combatants and support units. The fortress’ fallen angel was promptly executed with a holy stake impaled in each of its six wings, but the task force ran into a problem when they were about to close the dungeon.

“W-what’s happening to that thing?!”

“It’s not going to fall on us, is it?!”

The sky fortress rapidly began to lose altitude within the dungeon and fell toward the dungeon gate, making its way outside. It was a sort of self-destruction sequence embedded within the fortress. At this rate, the bustling merchant town would be completely flattened by the meteor-level impact.

“D-do something about that, holy knights! My home is going to be destroyed!”

“W-we’ve already initiated the dungeon closing...”

“What?! Then you’re just going to stand there and do nothing? Are your divine powers just for show? Put up a barrier! A forcefield! Cast one around my house!”

“It’s no use. That thing can’t be stopped, not unless someone can cast an eight-pronged, ultimate level barrier.”

“Ah, damn it! Do you think I sent all that money up as offerings to the Vatican to hear those kinds of excuses come out of your mouth?! Useless, good-for-nothing deadbeats!”

El Torini’s merchants each spat out a string of curses against the deployed team as they broke out a teleportation stone and escaped the vicinity of the city.

The residents of El Torini were not all rich merchants that could readily carry around teleportation stones. Most of the citizens stared up in despair, awaiting to face their inevitable doom. But then, a lone stigma bearer climbed up onto the bell tower.

A breeze swept over his silvery hair, the salty ocean wind billowing against his angelic robes. It was the celebrated holy knight, Tesilid.

The fortress’ durability should be greatly reduced, now that we’re in the closing phase. This should be doable. Tesilid, through tireless dedication and unwavering determination, had managed to ascend to the esteemed rank of aura expert. He also rigorously followed the Commandment of the Seven Heavenly Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins to hone his divine power to rival even that of a bishop. He pulled up both powers to their limits and simultaneously unleashed them. Both Tesilid’s divine power and aura began to fuse.

“Bastion Impaler.”

A towering lance made from divine aura shot through the sky toward the gate. The moment the searing tip of brilliance collided with the fortress, an earth-shattering explosion ensued.

The ultimate aerial deterrent skill obliterated the demonic structure. And so, thanks to Tesilid’s extraordinary attack, El Torini was able to escape its harrowing fate of being reduced to dust. Yet the city did not escape entirely unscathed. Destroying the fortress was one thing, but protecting the town entirely from the falling debris was next to impossible.

The rubble rained down upon the city, destroying buildings and homes, and setting everything ablaze. There weren’t any casualties, but property damages were astronomical. The El Torini city council’s outcry against the financial losses on top of the Vatican’s maniacal bureaucracy proved to be extremely problematic.

Both organizations decided to handle the falling fortress and the damages caused by the debris as two separate issues. In other words, while Tesilid certainly did prevent the city’s total destruction, they claimed that his actions were what triggered the onslaught of debris. This, on top of his arbitrary decision to take action without the approval of his superiors aggravated his case, giving more than enough reason for the committee to take disciplinary action against Tesilid.

And so, as soon as he returned to the Vatican, Tesilid suffered from hours of attending pointless hearings before being sentenced to three days of fasting, a week of repentance prayers, and was put on two weeks of probation.

“Hey, ya doing okay in there?”

The enclosure that Tesilid was locked up in for his repentance prayer and fasting was nothing short of a prison cell. As he sat up, visitors approached his chamber.

Hestio and Ephael were the two few friends he had.

“What’s there not to be okay about?”

Hestio tugged at his dark hair in frustration at Tesilid’s calm demeanor. “Maybe the fact that they screwed you over after you did a good deed?”

“I consider it an honorable reward for my efforts.”

“Damn... I can’t even...”

“C’mon, Hestio. He’s always been like that. What do you expect?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I almost forgot. Thanks for reminding me, Ephael.”

He hadn’t thought about it until then, but hearing his two friends talk suddenly made Tesilid look back at himself and think of who he was as a person. The seven heavenly virtues and commandments had nothing to do with his current predicament. These consequences were a result solely of his own actions and beliefs. To be honest, he felt quite pleased with himself.

It’s not like he wasn’t aware of the Vatican’s bureaucracy. As he reflected back, he began to think that maybe The Strict Order and Goodness chose to burden him with the commandments because of who he was as a person.

As Tesilid continued to reflect within his cell, Hestio and Ephael both began to dig around in their pockets and pulled something out, handing each object to Tesilid.

“Here. Take it.”

“This...”

It was a loaf of rye bread and milk. They’d snuck it in for Tesilid, who was being forced to fast for the next three days. Tesilid blankly stared at his friends.

“What? You’re not going to take it? Is following the rules that important to you?” Hestio sounded irritated, but he was anxious inside that Tesilid wouldn’t accept the food.

Tesilid let out a light chuckle. “No, thank you. I’ll take it.”

“I was gonna stuff it down your throat if you refused. Well, whatever, just hurry up and take it.”

Ephael and Hestio watched while Tesilid ate the food. As he ate, Hestio tried to console his friend and make him feel better.

“Don’t be too down in there. No one can deny the fact that you saved all those people.”

“That’s right. Even the Vatican wouldn’t have taken things to this extreme had the city council of El Torini not made such a fuss about it...”

“Oh, um, Ephael. I don’t think that’s true.”

“No?”

Hestio was a stickler when it came to getting facts straight. The conversation’s subject took an abrupt, uneasy turn.

“The Vatican was probably waiting for an opportunity to vent their anger against you.”

“Vent? Against Tesilid?”

“Yeah. They’re warning him to always do as they say. This isn’t the first time that Tesilid went against the religious order’s will.”

“Well, I suppose you’re right. He has been sticking out like a sore thumb whenever we have to pass judgment on the heretics.”

Tesilid flinched when they mentioned heretics.

Hestio gave a deep sigh as he looked straight at Tesilid. “You know you’re the only stigma bearer that has yet to kill a heathen, right?”

Of course, he wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. Tesilid’s eyes darkened as he grappled with the weight of his inner turmoil.