WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ Paladin of a Ruined Order

Chapter 58

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Black Giant

As Elbridge went down the slope, the clanking footsteps of paladins came from behind him.

But the sound wasn't very close.

"Those guys don't look like they're planning to fight alongside us."

At Rombel's comment, Elbridge glanced back.

Sure enough, the paladins were following. But nothing about them suggested they meant to join the battle.

There wasn't anything stopping Elbridge, and since he'd said he would show them something, they were only tagging along.

"It'd be hard to openly go against their own church's policy. And it's not like the church's stance is baseless."

"So you're planning to fight without support?"

Elbridge looked steadily at Rombel.

"You told me not to bother weighing things, and now you're thinking of bailing without support?"

"No. I'm saying it works out better this way. If I stand out in a rough fight, won't the Chief God be more likely to watch me?"

Elbridge laughed.

"There won't be a complete lack of support."

Marcus, listening in, wore a puzzled look.

Except for a handful of tiny churches, hadn't every church above the Hillside Slums already banded together?

"Is there someone coming to help?"

"There's one combat church."

"If it's too small a church, it won't help much."

"It's not that small a church. If anything, it's on the larger side."

Marcus turned the question over in his mind, trying to guess which church it could be. But no answer came easily.

They reached the bottom of the slope in no time.

A massive crowd filled the wide street below.

One spot in particular had drawn an especially dense crowd. The Order of the Golden Tray.

Countless people pushed and pulled at each other, shouting. A few stood on a slightly raised platform, bellowing at the top of their lungs.

"Just a little more, just a little more!"

But once Elbridge took a few more steps forward, the unrest that had dragged on for days died down in an instant. There were simply too many paladins who had come down from the hill to ignore.

A few of the people shouting from the platform spotted Elbridge and the paladins and jumped down to approach.

The youngest man among them fell into step beside Elbridge.

"Hello. You're Sir Elbridge, aren't you?"

"That's right."

"My name is Hans. What you showed us at the last Grand Festival left a deep impression on me."

"I see."

"Sir Elbridge. May I ask why you've come down from the hill?"

"Because a demon appeared."

"And...?"

"What else is there to explain?"

Elbridge's tone came out a bit curt. He'd already recognized that Hans, and the people who'd come with him, were representatives of the "white hands."

Even in the old days, people had chased advantage and switched churches on a whim. Conflicts between churches had been common enough. But it had never been this chaotic.

Probably because back then, no one had bothered gathering profit-seekers into an organized bloc.

Hans, failing to read Elbridge's mood, spoke on smoothly.

"Sir Elbridge. That demon looks far stronger than anyone imagined."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Sir Elbridge. You only have one life. If you're going to fight anyway, shouldn't you go in with a stronger divine power behind you, and secure a certain victory?"

Elbridge's reply was blunt.

"For someone so worried, you don't seem to want this to end quickly."

"Not at all. I'm only trying to coordinate the situation."

"Coordinate, is it."

"As you know, both the combat churches and the non-combat churches have persuasive arguments. We're simply working out how much weight to lend to each side."

"And why exactly did the two of you insert yourselves into that coordination?"

"Because it's difficult for so many people to take part in a decision this weighty all at once. Representatives like us are needed to bring the chaos to a swift end."

"I see. Quite the effort on your part."

Elbridge answered flatly and kept walking, so in the end Hans stepped directly into his path.

"Sir Elbridge. Please wait just a day and a half. This is truly for everyone's..."

Without a moment's hesitation, Elbridge drew his sword and drove it into Hans's shoulder.

"Aaargh!"

Hans clutched his shoulder and collapsed to the ground.

The people beside Hans shouted at once.

"What do you think you're doing!"

"I'm moving to fight. Standing in front of me to talk isn't something I should allow."

Elbridge answered dryly, and a gaunt man burst out.

"If you're still alive after the battle, you'll have to answer for this!"

Elbridge stopped walking and turned to ask.

"Answer for it?"

"Yes! You'll have to answer for it!"

"Me? To you?"

The gaunt man flinched a little, but pushed down his fear and answered.

"You will!"

Elbridge huffed a short laugh.

"I'm the kind of person who feels uneasy putting off something I need to do."

Elbridge pointed with his blood-flecked sword to a spot a few steps ahead.

"Come stand in front of me. Seems like I should hear your explanation before I go."

Elbridge's voice stayed calm the whole time.

But a threat doesn't need a raised voice or a snarl to land.

The gaunt man couldn't bring himself to stand in front of Elbridge and said instead.

"...You'll have to answer to the wrath of Solenion's people."

Elbridge smiled faintly. He doubted any wrath would actually follow.

If anything, plenty of onlookers were watching him with something close to delight.

'Makes sense. The believers who already cast their votes wouldn't have looked kindly on the white hands anyway.'

Elbridge looked steadily at the gaunt man.

"I'm going to carry out my duty. You carry out yours. Win or lose, I expect this coordination of yours to be finished by the time the battle ends. Otherwise, I might find myself wanting to hear your explanation too."

Elbridge led the crowd a little farther. An open lot filled with the wreckage of collapsed buildings came into view.

The eyes of the crowd, and Elbridge's own eyes, turned toward the very center of the wide lot.

A massive demon stood there.

The demon's height rivaled a temple spire, and its limbs were as thick as the temple's stout columns. Something like flame flickered and burned across its jet black skin.

But the black, burning giant didn't move rashly. It simply waited, still, for its challenger.

At the edge of the lot, Elbridge spotted familiar paladins.

"Good to see you're well."

Bibeka answered his greeting.

"It's been a while."

The Order of Spring Rain and Moss wasn't one of the churches from the Hillside Slums, but it was firmly classified as a combat church.

In fact, it held more seats than any other combat church in Solenion. The best possible reinforcement for today's battle.

"Have you trained a lot?"

"My skill's improved a bit since last time."

"I'm counting on you. My life is in your hands today, Bibeka."

"Tch."

Bibeka shot him a look, and Elbridge laughed awkwardly.

Elbridge had left Solenion without a word and returned months later. That was more than enough time for Bibeka to work through her feelings about it.

And thankfully, Bibeka didn't seem to hold any grudge against him.

"Let's go."

With Elbridge and Rombel leading, Marcus and the paladins of the Order of Spring Rain and Moss climbed up onto the rubble of the collapsed buildings.

As if to punish the intruders trespassing on its territory, the seated demon slowly rose to its feet.

Marcus glanced back. The paladins of the other combat churches hadn't stepped into the lot the demon had claimed. In the end, they'd chosen to remain bystanders.

"Ah, now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have come..."

Marcus couldn't shake the unease.

But Elbridge thought it was fine either way. Whatever else was true, Marcus was still standing on the rubble, wasn't he.

Marcus had always been like this. He wasn't especially brave, but he wasn't a coward either.

"Don't push yourself. Rombel and I will lead the fight, so you just watch for an opening from a good position."

"I'd love it if I got to do nothing until the fight's over."

"That's probably not going to happen."

Rombel asked Elbridge with a sour look.

"What's the plan?"

"First, we need to find out what kind of thing this is."

"Want to poke it deep, just once?"

"Let's do that."

Elbridge and Rombel spread apart and approached the black giant.

The black giant seemed to hesitate for a moment, then turned its gaze toward Elbridge.

Elbridge advanced on the black giant with sword and shield raised.

One step. Two steps. Three steps...

A few steps in, the black giant twisted its body without warning. Elbridge watched the motion and threw himself aside. And then—

Boom!

The giant's fist slammed into the spot where Elbridge had just been standing.

For all its enormous size, the black giant moved almost as fast as a decent knight.

Its strength defied imagination too.

The giant's fist crushed the rubble scattered across the ground and pounded into the earth, and Elbridge and Rombel, along with the onlookers, all felt the ground jolt hard beneath their feet.

'Faster than I expected.'

Boom!

The giant's second fist came down. Elbridge threw himself aside again, swinging his sword in midair to slash at the giant's fist. He felt the blade bite into the giant's skin.

'...Not that hard. But the heat's stronger than I expected.'

Next, the giant raised its right foot, trying to stomp Elbridge flat. But Elbridge, who hadn't even been caught by its fist, wasn't about to get caught under its foot.

The giant's real aim wasn't the foot, though.

Craaash—

Elbridge whipped his head around toward the sound.

The giant's left arm was sweeping across the ground, dragging through the piled rubble as it came.

Was it trying to grab Elbridge with its hand?

No.

Whump—

The instant the giant's sweeping palm lifted off the ground, the rubble piled beneath it launched forward at tremendous speed. Like a giant boulder and lumber fired from a slingshot.

Elbridge threw himself clear of the trajectory of the flying debris.

But the onlookers and paladins watching the fight weren't fast enough to react the same way.

Crack.

"Ah, aaaugh!"

Something made a crushing, bursting sound.

No telling exactly how many, but that single blow had likely killed or maimed no small number of people.

But there was nothing Elbridge could do to help them from here.

'So that's why it tore down the buildings.'

Without a moment to catch his breath, the black giant's right fist came flying at Elbridge.

Just as Elbridge tried to dodge again, the rubble under his feet gave way, throwing off his balance.

He staggered—

His dodge came out clumsier because of it.

The very next moment, Elbridge's left leg was crushed under the giant's fist.

Crunch.

"...!"

A jolt of pain sharper than anything he'd felt in a long time. But Bibeka reacted fast.

"Grant Healing Authority!"

At Bibeka's shout, Elbridge's left leg was wrapped in a burst of pure white light.

The pain didn't go away. But his shattered left leg bone began knitting itself back together almost instantly.

'Right, a church paladin channeling their own divine power directly is much more efficient.'

The giant's face turned toward Bibeka this time. Its shoulder twitched, as if winding up.

Elbridge threw himself forward using only his right leg, since his left still hadn't fully recovered. His target was the space in front of Bibeka.

Elbridge reached Bibeka's side a moment before the giant's attack landed. Bracing his upper body on his right leg, he called for the first divine power of the battle.

"Goddess! Grant me the power of No Retreat!"

The giant's fist slammed into Elbridge's glowing white shield.

Boom!

An incomparable difference in size.

Yet Elbridge's shield blocked the demon's blow cleanly.

But the flames wrapped around the giant's body couldn't be blocked by a shield.

Heat that seemed ready to scorch him from head to toe washed over him. It was so intense that Elbridge had to hold his breath for a moment. Otherwise his lungs would have burned.

"Hah, hah, cough, cough!"

Unlike Elbridge, Bibeka hadn't managed to hold her breath in time.

Still, it wouldn't turn into a serious problem. Bibeka was standing a bit farther back, and she could heal her own injuries anyway.

The giant's shoulder drew back again.

But there was someone the giant had overlooked until now. Rombel.

Rombel had come running in silence, throwing himself low across the ground, and swung his massive double-headed axe.

Slash. The back of the giant's ankle was cut deep.

"...!"

The giant let out a sound impossible to describe and staggered.

But Rombel's attack wasn't finished. Rolling cleanly through two full turns to steady himself, he pivoted on one leg and spun his whole body around twice.

Then, using the momentum, he hurled the massive axe at the giant.

"Eat this!"

Rombel's double-headed axe flew straight at the giant's head.

The black giant instantly crossed its arms to block Rombel's axe.

But Rombel's attack wasn't meant to kill the giant. It was meant to restrict its movement. In that opening, Elbridge, his left leg recovered, leaped toward the giant.

Hiss—

The blazing black flame scorched his armor instantly. The slightest hesitation, and his skin might have cooked golden brown.

But Elbridge closed the distance in just three steps, reaching the giant's bent knee.

Then the fourth step.

Elbridge kicked off the giant's knee and leaped up toward its wide-open chest.

Thunk!

Elbridge drove his sword straight into the center of the giant's chest.

"...!"

The giant let out another soundless scream.

Elbridge hung from the sword as he slid down, carving a long, deep gash across the giant's chest and stomach.

The paladins watched the lightning-fast combination attack from Elbridge and Rombel unfold before their eyes, jaws hanging open.

"...Insane."

About a month ago, dozens of fully prepared paladins had thrown themselves at that giant and hadn't managed to subdue it, let alone land a proper wound.

But now. Elbridge and Rombel had landed a fatal blow through a razor-thin but flawless combination attack. And the battle had barely even started.

"Just the two of them took down a demon?"

"No, well, technically it wasn't just the two of them..."

So it hadn't been an empty boast, saying he would show them how to hunt a demon.

While the paladins were still processing that thought, Bibeka, having finished healing herself, asked.

"Is it dead?"

But neither Elbridge nor Rombel looked especially excited or pleased.

Elbridge answered calmly.

"No, Bibeka. We were only trying to see how it would react."

"But, the demon looked like it..."

Bibeka studied the giant carefully.

The black giant was still twisted out of shape, and cracks were spreading across its entire body, centered on the wound in its chest. As if the whole thing had been struck open with a chisel.

At last, the black giant shattered into countless pieces and exploded.

A young paladin whose name no one knew shouted with joy.

"We got it!"

But it didn't take long for that prediction to prove wrong.

Dozens of fragments from the exploded giant slowly began rising to their feet.

The giant's fragments had only shrunk in size. Each one had taken on the complete shape of a demon.

Each fragment stood roughly twice the size of a human.

"..."

If anything, the situation might have just gotten worse.

Because now the black giant's movements were no longer confined to the lot.

The giant's fragments scattered in every direction, hunting for victims.

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