Chapter 5 - The Descent of the Saint (Patreon)

「This fucking bastard!!!!!」

「Drop dead, you fucker!!!!!」

Two warriors with giant shield attacked a monster!

Gaaan! Gaaan! GAAAAN!!

The shield managed to hold back the monster's attack while making a loud noise.

Even so, the monster continued to relentlessly smash the shield with its forelimb and head!

The warriors didn't falter and keep risking their life to shield from the monster, but they were unable to avoid taking some damage. Another man who was a priest casted 'Heal' to cure them over and over again. In addition to that, there were three other people coming closer!

After the warrior tankers in the vanguard created a balance of the situation, the three attacker swordsmen circled the monster both front and back, starting to focus on slashing its body.

The monster glared at the attackers, but then the tankers violently hit their shield to the monster so that it focused its attention from the attackers to tankers again.

Two other magicians took positions a little apart from the monster and chanted an offense magic. It was a spell that took a lot of time to ready and used a lot of mana. After released, it would kill the monster in a blow.

Here in Narca Village, an intense battle between monster and adventurers unfolded.

Misley received a bad news right after Mari and Sophia departed. A large monster named 'Mithrozaul' appeared on a lake near Narca village. 

Mithrozaul was a giant lizard monster that reached three meters in height and six meters in length, including its tail. Mithrozaul's characteristic was the large thorn from the back to the tail when it walked on two legs. 

The Adventurer Guild had sent emergency call and sent a party of ten people to defeat this monster which was ranked A in subjugation difficulty level. Among them, there was Sophia's acquaintances, Derrick and Haril. They arrived at the scene just before Mithrozaul attacked the village, but they managed to somehow push it back and succeeded in building a battle formation.

「Haril, are you done with the preparation!?」

Derril, the party leader, shouted while swinging his large sword. The magician boy named Haril was in the midst of loading mana in his cane, concentrating all of his nerves.

「Just a little bit more, leader!」

This was an emergency call, so they didn't have enough magicians. Harl:s responsibilities were significant.

It was at that moment!! The vanguard tanker Simon was blown away, and Mithrozaul approached him to trample him down!

Haril saw that and shot 'Fireball', trying to save Simon. Another magician, Gilbert, helplessly followed Haril and shot another 'Fireball'.

Kuuuoooooo!!!

The monster burned up while roaring, screaming in pain!

But Mithrozaul continued to move even in the midst of the fire. Changing its course, it fled into the lake at an unbelievable speed.

「Tsk, we failed!」Gilbert said, raising his voice.

The inviolable rule on hunting large monster was not to leave it wounded no matter what.

In general battle, the tanker would first catched the monster's attention and held it back. While doing so, the attacker would shave its stamina as much as they could. Finally, the magician would use powerful offensive magic to do the final blow.

If they used attack magic halfway, the monster would run away when it still had stamina. Monsters with injury would be very dangerous. That's why magicians would take their time to shoot the offensive magic that used their maximum mana. It was necessary to kill the monster with a single blow. 

Yes, Haril had decided to make a mistake when shooting his magic.

「Don't blame him, Gil. If Haril didn't shoot that Fireball, Simon will be in danger.」

「It's not Haril's role to help Simon!」

What Gilbert said was right. Party members had strict defined roles, and ignoring them would break their coordination. The buffer had the role to save the tanker if they were in danger. If Haril watched the battle carefully, he should've noticed that the priest was going to help Simon.

Gilbert furiously turned back to the village, and the whole party followed him. After the adventurers returned to the village, Derrick approached Haril.

「Derrick-san, I'm sorry…」

Derrick hit Haril who was hanging his head in shame.

「Listen, this is the last time you can fail! If it happens again next time, I won't let you join the party again!!」

Haril replied with a small nod, blood flowing from his mouth. Even if Haril was a magician, he was still twelve years old. Derrick felt really bad for hitting him. But he believed that this was all for Haril.

◇◇◇

Two women reached the village in full spirits, clueless of what was happening there. They were Mari and Sophia. While singing a song with weird melody and crazy lyrics, walking just like soldiers who was on their triumphal return. This song was a famous song in Mari's previous world, with the lyric rendered by her.

「Mari, you have a beautiful voice. If you sing in front of the fountain in the public square, you will definitely become popular. I'm sure you can live off by becoming a travelling artist other than being adventurer.」

Hearing such a praise made Mari's mood good. She wondered thoughtlessly if she would get copyright strike by taking money in singing other people's song, but well, no one would especially come to this world just to charge her music usage fees.

「But after all, I like hunting.」

「That's right. Mari can earn more income by hunting.」

They accomplished wonderfully in today's hunting. Sophia carried a bag full of attestation item (one part of the monster as a proof of subjugation). Mari left everything to her and didn't do anything, but she still walked proudly, puffed up with pride. With this, Mari paid back the money she borrowed from Sophia and earned her living find, so it was only natural that she was happy.

Just like that, they arrived at Mark's village. The village was located on a slightly elevated ground hundreds of meters from the lake with strong fences installed around the village.

After passing through the gate and arrived at the square in the village, many people were gathering there. And then, Sophia noticed Haril's figure there.

「Haril~~~!」

Sophia called Haril while wondering why he was in this kind of place, but he kept hanging his head, not answering her. After seeing that, she noticed the strange atmosphere of the village for the first time, and found Derrick a little further away from Haril.

「So it's like that.」

Sophia quietly looked at Haril after listening to Derrick's explanation. It seemed like he was still feeling extremely down.

「Maybe I'm being too harsh. I don't have a family yet, and I don't know how should I treat children.」

「I'm sure that Haril understand that Derrick want him to grow into a splendid adventurer. That child is pretty bright after all.」

「You have a pretty high rating on him, huh.」

「But Derrick also let him join the party even if he's still twelve, right? It's okay, I'll cheer him up after you guys finished the subjugation.」

Derrick thanked Sophia while scratching his head.

「Then, since we're talking about this, won't you join the subjugation? The girl you brought with you is a priest, right? Having more people will certainly helps. 」

「That girl is just about to start out as an adventurer. It's impossible for her to do this kind of big job.」

Upon entering the village, Sophia rented a private room in a barn and hid Mari there. Since they would continue to hunt together in the future, she would make her less conspicuous.  

「If it's only me, then I can join the subjugation. Is that good?」

「Yeah, I don't mind. this monster has been specified as a disaster, even the country will pay a lot for helping out. The subjugation party only has small number of people, so we can get reward per person.」

After finishing the subjugation participation talk, Sophia went  to the barn where Mari waited for her. It was a small wooden but with no windows, so Sophia wouldn't have to worry since no one would aware of Mari's presence even if she used stat-raising magic. 

「Mari, did you wait long?」

「Not at all. Rather than that, are we hunting again?」

「Sorry. You're right, but this time it's just me going.」

Mari stared at Sophia and made a thinking pose for a while.

「I guess I understand why. It'll be very troublesome if I stand out, right?」

「I'm grateful that you understand it.」

「Then, the monster you're going to hunt is Mithrozaul, right?」

「You sure know well, huh!?」

Mari had defeated Mithrozaul many times in this village quest, even if it was only in the game world. Mithrozaul in the game and this world was probably the same, and Mari knew that Sophia could easily beat it with her ability. 

At that moment, someone knocked the Barn's door loudly.

「Sophia! That Mithrozaul has appeared, asking for support!」

「I'm coming!」Sophia stood up and started preparing.

「Then, I'll cast you some magic.」

Mark started casting stat-raising spell. Sophia felt the dazzling light flooding the room and increased her ability. However, it was a bit different in the way it glowed compared to the previous magic Mari chanted on her. The other Magic's light diffused, but this one's light was absorbed into her body. 

「Eh, isn't the last magic different from before?」

「So you noticed? This is a special 'Heal' magic. Once I casted it on you, you'll continue to automatically recover on your own during the battle. 」

「Such a handy magic existed, huh?」

「My specialty is this magic, so it has a name.」

Mari continued...「It's called『Saint's Blessing』.」

When Sophia heard that name, she was shocked!

『Saint's Blessing』. It was the name of the magic used by the『Saint』that appeared in the legends in this world. She had been thinking of this since she first met Mari, but… was Mari the Saint???

Sophia's mind was confused and she couldn't think.

（No good! I have to focus on subjugating that Mithrozaul now.）

Sophia faced Mari after taking a deep breath. 

「Please tell me more about that later. Until then, don't leave this place.」

After saying those words, Sophia left the barn with tightened expression.

◇◇◇

The rematch with Mithrozaul was not dangerous at all, just like what Mari had predicted. Probably, even Sophia alone could easily win. Other adventurers cheered at her, whose power was like fierce God's.

Haril and Gilbert's 'Fireball' did the final blow, and Derrick looked at Haril happily. Haril was also proud with his work, his eyes moist with happy tears.

Even so, the fight was too easy, so they became too slack. 

Haril carelessly approached the dying monster, probably wanted to see the power of his magic. At that time, the monster's tail suddenly moved and shot a killing blow to him!

「Haril!!!!!」

Sophia immediately rushed to him and finished the monster! Haril, who had been severely injured in the abdomen, remained at that spot, crouching down. It was terrible. He was not only bleeding, but his internal organs  protruded.

Sophia lost her calm for a moment, but she immediately focused herself.

「Priest, heal him!! Go all out!」

As soon as she said that, she contacted Mari from the Party Manager. 

『Mari, can you hear me!?』

『What happened?』

『It's an emergency! Come to my location right away!!』

After contacting her, Sophia looked at Haril's condition. Even if he was still breathing, he said down limply, not moving at all.

（I don't want to use Mari's 'Heal' in public, but this is not the time to mind that kind of thing now! She can definitely save him! Before that, do your best! Haril!!）

When Mari arrived, many villagers had already gathered there. Looking over the scene, everyone was hanging their head, many people wiping their eyes. When Mari went inside the crowd and approached Sophia, she stiffled her bitterness and told Mari this.

「Mari… we didn't make it!」

Sophia collapsed on her knees as she said so. She widened her eyes, and large droplets of years endlessly overflowed. She slammed her fist on the ground many times without wiping her eyes.

Mari didn't understand what was happening at first, but only after she saw wailing Sophia and the corpse of a boy that she finally understood the situation.

She slowly approached the boy, took a seat and began praying with a clear voice. Pale light particles overflowed from Mari's body, and they wandered around her as if they were dancing. Before long, they wrapped the body of the boy.

The figure of Mari who kept praying in the midst of light was majestic. Sophia, the adventurers, and even the villagers couldn't take their gaze off her.

The prayer ended. Mari talked to the boy in a gentle voice.

「Now, open your eyes.」

「Uu~~~hnn...」

The boy woke up, rubbing his sleepy eyes. At that moment, everyone understood.

Resurrection Magic!

Only one person in the history could use this magic.

The adventurers and all of the villagers immediately knelt down on one knee towards Mari.

「Eh, what? What happened to everyone?」

Mari was too surprised and looked at Sophia for help.

「Hey, Sophia…」

Sophia approached Mari, then she knelt down on one knee like everyone else and spoke with a solemn tone. 

「Saint-sama, we are very joyful of your descent to this world.」

「Eh? Eeehhh!!!!!」

Mari's hysteric voice resounded throughout Narka village.