***

“Stop right there!”

The pursuers shouted thunderously from behind.

As if we’d stop just because you say so.

As the head priest had said, the slave trader gang chased the small number of us who went right more intensively than the majority of people who went left.

Thanks to that, it was absolutely hellish.

So this is why the mission condition was ‘escape alive’ and the penalty was ‘death.’

Not only me, but the head priest who had been carrying the apprentice priest from the beginning also seemed to be running out of strength, his breathing becoming labored.

“Huff, gasp, huff.”

If there was a god, they should have pitied us and shown us an escape route.

“……!”

But what actually appeared before our eyes was a dead end.

“I think we’re screwed……”

Unable to hold back the harsh words, I muttered with a pale face, and the head priest couldn’t deny it either, sighing as he set Theo down on the ground.

And the slave trader gang who had finally caught up to us burst into wicked laughter.

“These slippery bastards, we finally caught them!”

“We should break at least one leg each so they can never run away again.”

The men, all large in build, cracked their bones as they slowly approached.

Cold sweat ran down my back, and the head priest stepped forward and asked.

“How much would it take? How much for us to hire you?”

It sounds like a line from some drama.

How much would it take. How much to win your heart.

“Ha, these guys made us go through all this trouble and now they’re trying to pull tricks? No need, the money we’ll get from selling you isn’t small either.”

However, the slave traders didn’t fall for it easily.

The head priest’s persuasion also failed, and just as I was about to fall into despair—

“Uuugh.”

The apprentice priest lying on the ground suddenly began writhing his entire body and letting out agonized groans.

What, what’s this?

I thought he was trying to regain consciousness, but that wasn’t it at all.

Unidentifiable black smoke began rising from the apprentice priest’s body, and his skin turned bluish.

Just like a zombie.

“What, what? Why is he like that?”

“Wait! I think they said to dispose of him before he became like that……”

The slave traders panicked and whispered among themselves. Talking about disposal when referring to a person…..

Anyway, while everyone was looking at the apprentice priest in bewilderment, the head priest grabbed my wrist.

“Head Priest……?”

“It’s dangerous, Miss Sharofe.”

He hid me behind him and stared intently at the apprentice priest.

The boy gradually transformed strangely, twisting his limbs more and more like a zombie.

“D*mn it, dispose of him now!”

“Uwaaaaah!”

The men, each holding a weapon, rushed toward the apprentice priest.

“……!”

When I wondered if we should just leave them alone—

“Krhaaaaah—!”

The apprentice priest, whose entire body had turned dark blue, suddenly stood up and attacked the men.

Even though they stabbed and beat the boy’s body with various weapons, the apprentice priest didn’t budge at all.

Where did such monstrous strength come from? He twisted and tore at the men’s necks with his bare hands.

“Ugh.”

When I unconsciously dry-heaved at that cruel sight, the head priest who glanced at me gripped my hand tightly.

“H-Head Priest. What’s happening? Why is Theo like that……”

“Because he’s defective goods. I wanted to get him out before this happened.”

“What do you mean by that……”

Without time to demand a detailed explanation, the apprentice priest who had finished off the men turned to look at us grotesquely.

His body faced forward but only his neck rotated with a crack.

“Don’t come out from behind me for now.”

“Y-yes.”

Sacred white light burst from the head priest’s hands.

The holy power called the power of god shot toward the apprentice priest like a laser.

Whoosh—

“Kraah!”

But the apprentice priest only howled, not receiving a single wound.

The clothes touched by the holy power did burn away, but that was all.

It wasn’t for nothing that the head priest had said holy power wasn’t for attacking.

“Head Priest, are you alright?”

“No, this is a big problem. I don’t think I can stop Theo with my abilities.”

“Then let’s at least run away!”

“It’s too late. And I have to handle Theo with my own hands—”

Whoosh.

Suddenly the head priest disappeared from before my eyes.

Before his words could even finish, the apprentice priest had grabbed his shoulder and thrown him.

“Ugh!”

“Head Priest!”

Startled, I tried to approach the head priest but was blocked by the apprentice priest.

“Grrr.”

The apprentice priest’s pupils, dripping saliva, were white and empty.

‘Sh*t.’

It was a situation where I couldn’t help but curse. I desperately rolled my eyes and saw a club that had fallen on the ground.

I’m going all-or-nothing now too.

I threw my body to grab the club to survive.

At the same time, a system window appeared.

— Ding!

【Your male lead is within 100 meters ahead!】

But I had no time to pay attention to the alarm now.

Thwack!

I swung the club with all my strength and struck the charging apprentice priest.

“Kwaaah!”

The priest, who wasn’t affected by holy power but was affected by physical attacks, staggered backward.

But he quickly regained his composure and rushed at me again.

“Aaaah! Don’t do this!”

Even while screaming, I kept my eyes wide open and looked at the apprentice priest.

If I got excited and attacked randomly and missed, I’d immediately be counterattacked.

‘Stay calm, remember your training with Carl. I can do this. I even beat the crown prince……!’

I roughly thought of the club as a wooden sword and moved using the memories from that time.

‘Vital points are the neck and solar plexus!’

Thwack! Thud!

When I struck accurately with the remaining sense, the apprentice priest suffered.

“Kyahaaaah—!”

The boy who had been rolling his eyes back and writhing reached out and grabbed the club firmly.

Crack.

My thick club crumbled like powder under his tremendous grip strength.

“Uh……?”

Isn’t this cheating?

If even my weapon disappears, how am I supposed to fight someone who’s turned into a zombie!

“Aaah!”

In the end, I was hit once by the apprentice priest and flew into the wall.

It was painful to breathe as if my ribs were cracked, and I coughed.

The apprentice priest, who approached dragging his legs, pressed down on my neck with his foot.

“Ugh……”

“Kraah!”

Seeing his mouth open wide as if he would really tear me apart like a zombie, slowly approaching, I raised my arms.

I planned to offer my arm first to block and then figure out what to do next.

“Kah—!”

Suddenly the apprentice priest, who let out a death cry, fell sideways and rolled around.

“……?”

When I turned my head in bewilderment, I saw the head priest, who had gotten up at some point, extending his hand forward.

He had saved me.

But…….

“Head Priest, your holy power……”

What had clearly been pure white light earlier was now dyed a murky purple and rippling.

I was flustered seeing that dark light faintly enveloping the head priest’s body.

No, he’s like a fallen angel.

“Are you alright? You weren’t bitten and infected, were you?”

I didn’t know if the apprentice priest was really a zombie, but I asked anxiously.

The head priest stared at me with an expressionless face without saying anything, then slowly approached.

It was exactly like a porcelain doll moving. He felt like a non-human being.

“Head Priest, are you badly hurt—”

Just as I was about to check on his condition once more, the head priest reached out and grabbed my neck.

With stronger grip strength than when he had grabbed my nape at the boutique.

***

Raviel felt dark holy power wrapping around his entire body.

It was a power he absolutely didn’t want to use unless it was truly necessary.

But when Shailyn seemed about to die at Theo’s hands, he unconsciously drew it out.

‘Even if my plan goes awry, it can’t go awry like this.’

Originally, he had planned to secretly take only Theo out and lead him to rest.

Because he was a pitiful child like himself when he was young.

However, the moment he met Shailyn at the green door house, everything went wrong.

Of course, thanks to her, he could naturally infiltrate this place, but the current situation wasn’t what he had wanted.

‘Do I have to send even this miss away with my own hands?’

Raviel, who glanced at Theo lying dead on the ground, looked at Shailyn while putting strength into his fingertips.

It was quite ironic.

It was the power he had drawn out in urgent concern that she might die, but now that she had seen him use that power, he absolutely had to eliminate Shailyn.

‘Right, it was a power I had to use anyway. If I eliminate both Theo and Miss Sharofe here at once……’

Everything would be over.

He could bury his secret and his transgression without anyone knowing and move on.

Raviel knew this too, knew it all too well.

‘Why…… can’t I move my hand?’

No more strength would enter the hand gripping her slender neck.

Eyes as clean and transparent as a lake looked straight at him.

When he met those eyes, Raviel somehow couldn’t kill Shailyn.

‘Am I going crazy? Or did I get tainted in that brief moment?’

By her, who had wanted to save people even at the risk of danger?

Raviel’s hand trembled finely. Just as he was frowning because he didn’t like even that fact—

“It’s dangerous!”