Chapter 73: Theodora heads to the Hero while hesitating

Translator: Tseirp

Around that time, Danan was still sprinting red-faced with a grim expression.

Even though he was considerably faster than an ordinary person due to the strengthening from his skill, he was still only about halfway to the mountain.

“d.a.m.n it, if this goes on, everything might be over by the time I catch up to them!”

Danan shouted as he continued running.

His appearance even caused the traveling peddlers that he pa.s.sed by to scream in fear thinking that there were highway bandits chasing from behind.

“Nuoooo!!!”

Danan was putting in spirit but it was impossible to dramatically raise his running speed no matter how spirited he was.

Just as he was starting to regret not loaning a running drake, he felt intimidating pressure from above.

“What!? Another Spirit Drake!?”

Danan cried out in surprise.

Another gigantic Spirit Drake soared through the sky with the wind under its wings.

But its appearance was quite significantly different from the Spirit Drake they had spotted previously.

“Arya, it looks similar to the one that Theodora summons.”

Only the wings of that Spirit Drake was red in color while its body was covered by all kinds of armor.

Danan recalled that the beings summoned through Theodora’s Covenant Magic have similar characteristics as summoned beasts.

Danan didn’t know because his knowledge in magic was practically none but there were differences between the Arcane Magic used by Ares and the Covenant Magic used by Theodora. Theodora’s Covenant Magic draws its power from Vict.i.ty’s domain, the ‘Guardian of Martyrdom’, one of the three Apostles of Supreme G.o.d Demis.

Because of that, the ones Theodora was capable of summoning were only the spirit beasts who possess the attributes to exist in Vict.i.ty’s domain so the summoned spirit beasts materialize in the state where they had received Vict.i.ty’s influence.

Incidentally, Ares could use Covenant Magic as well but he borrowed power from Rarael’s domain, the ‘Guardian of Hope’, another one of the apostles.

Apart from the Three Apostles from whom the Covenant Magic could borrow power from, it could also borrow power from the Three Kings of the Demon Overlord, mentioned in legends to have rebelled against Demis.

The Spirit Drake slowly circled over Danan’s head and descended, aiming straight for Danan.

“Oh?”

Was he going to be attacked? Danan thought to himself excitedly as he stopped running and clenched his left fist.

Danan was aware that it was his bad habit to forget everything else whenever he felt the presence of a strong foe but he made a clear distinction that he was such a person.

Ares often made snide remarks about it but after the two or three issues that occurred initially after Danan joined the party, mysteriously no other problems happened whenever Gideon was around.

Now when he thought about it, Danan understood that Gideon had grasped the problematic points of the personalities of not only Danan but all the members as well and worked hard to a.s.sign them tasks that suited them the most.

(Things might have been different if Gideon talked about his achievements a little more to those around him … but there’s no use thinking about it now. Now, I should focus on the Spirit Drake in front of me.)

When the drake reached a height where he could see its face, the Spirit Dragon flapped its large wings to slow down.

“Danan! It’s me!”

A woman clad in armor called out while seated on the back of the drake.

“Theodora!?”

Theodora, who was supposed to be in a faraway place, was there right in front of him.

☆☆

That was the second time in Danan’s lifetime which he sat on top of a Spirit Dragon.

“It sure is convenient.”

Previously he sat on the Spirit Drake that Ares summoned as they flew toward the castle of Gandor of the Wind.

At that time, they had employed the aid of the Thunder Drakes to break through Gandor of the Wind’s wyvern cavalry but Ares insisted on riding his own Spirit Drake which he could control so Danan had to ride on it together with him to protect him.

But at that time, shortly after praising how convenient a Spirit Drake was, he felt like complaining to Ares every single time they faced danger because of Ares’ lack of control over it.

“Why don’t you use it regularly if it is this convenient?”

Danan took his seat behind Theodora and threw the question at her as she controlled the Spirit Drake.

“Because it draws too much attention. The people capable of summoning Spirit Drakes are limited. Even the Demon Lord army will be on their guard if they see them.”

“I see.”

Danan was convinced and nodded. A Spirit Drake flying in the sky was easily visible from the ground. Just earlier Gideon raised his speed and ran ahead because they saw one as well.

“By the way, who is this?”

“I am Albert. It is a pleasure to meet you, Danan-san. Even in Zoltan, I have heard of your active role in fighting against the Demon Lord army. It is a long story but I am an adventurer currently partying with Theodora-san.”

Albert said and lowered his head.

“Hmm” Danan nodded and immediately seemed to have lost interest.

“Nevertheless, you saved me the trouble here. I’ll be able to reach the mountain quickly as well with this.”

“Are you not going to ask further as to why am I here?”

“I won’t understand even if I asked. Hero-sama is in the mountain and she needs our strength. That is more than enough for me.”

” … You are such a simple man. You’re making me envious.”

Theodora smiled bitterly.

That smile had a hint of envy within it but Danan, with his rough personality, failed to notice it.

“I picked you up because regardless of the outcome of the choice we must make soon, I wanted you to be there as well.”

“?”

“It’s fine if you don’t understand, you should just act according to whichever way you like. I will act according to my beliefs.”

“Ou, I don’t really understand but of course I will.”

Danan laughed loudly.

Albert was completely taken aback at how Ares, Theodora, and Danan were all completely different types of heroes.

☆☆

After Ruti calmed down, we returned to the corridor.

“Red!”

Just as we headed out, we found Lit and Tise running toward us.

“That was quick.”

“Because I rushed over.”

Lit nodded with a smile.

Ruti seemed expressionless but her cheeks had become slightly red.

That was her gesture when she was happy.

“Thank you.”

Ruti muttered softly.

We started walking toward G.o.dwin’s room. In order to gain information on the Devil’s Divine Protection.

The medical knowledge I had acc.u.mulated to this day might be useful in finding the principle behind how the Devil’s Divine Protection suppresses innate Divine Protections.

Initially, the Contract Demon described the principle of the Devil’s Divine Protection as a medicine that would suppress a person’s innate Divine Protection by recreating a demon’s Divine Protection using demon hearts as the raw material.

“The Contract Demon explained it to me that way as well.”

Ruti agreed. However, Ruti tilted her head sideways.

“But my body treats the effect of the demon heart as a curse. Because of that, the axe demon heart used as the ingredient for the medicine I drank would not recreate the Axe Demon’s Divine Protection in me.”

“In that case, how does Ruti suppress your innate Divine Protection?”

Ruti tilted her head.

“The Divine Protection that formed in me was a nameless Divine Protection.”

“Nameless Divine Protection?”

“Yes, even if I try to contact it, it does not have any skill, doesn’t have any impulses, it is just a Divine Protection that merely exists.”

What?

That was the first time I heard of such a Divine Protection even though I have acc.u.mulated quite considerable knowledge of Divine Protections from books.

Or rather, can it even be called a Divine Protection?

“But my levels have transferred to that nameless Divine Protection. It has suppressed my Hero Divine Protection impulses as well.”

“If it doesn’t have any impulses, doesn’t that mean it won’t cause any urge to slaughter even if its Divine Protection level becomes higher than the person’s innate Divine Protection level?

Lit added in with a slight hint of expectation in her tone.

The event that shook Zoltan was certainly caused by the slaughtering urge brought about by the impulses from the Axe Demon Divine Protection. If the newly formed Divine Protection does not have impulses, it would not manifest the urge to slaughter as well.

“But a nameless Divine Protection huh … in addition to being a completely unknown Divine Protection, it is clearly different in nature compared to the other Divine Protections. Instead, I feel a sense of eeriness from the unpredictability.

All Divine Protections have their roles.

The respective skills and impulses of strong and weak Divine Protections, as well as their names, are all designed such that even we who receive the Divine Protections are aware that they are meant to allow one to be aware of your own role and to provide the ability to achieve it.

However, what about the nameless Divine Protection?

“I can’t tell at all, I’d like to hear G.o.dwin’s opinion as a professional Alchemist.”

We discussed as we walked and arrived at G.o.dwin’s room.

As Ruti had blown apart the door into the room filled with alchemist tools, we could see G.o.dwin’s figure even from outside the room.

G.o.dwin’s shoulders trembled when we entered the room.

“Oh, don’t scare me.”

G.o.dwin breathed a sigh of relief when he knew that it was us who entered the room.

“G.o.dwin, sorry to cut to the chase but I’d like to hear in detail regarding the Devil’s Divine Protection.”

Although we didn’t know how far we could get to the heart of the matter, we tackled that medicine introduced by the demon head-on.