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TLN: As per tradition, this is an important chapter, not a side chapter, lol.

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“Wuuh. Geez, I am not lucky…” 

Beginner knight in the royal castle, Jessica, was watching the creepy night city as she sighed.

“I definitely didn’t want to be a lookout at night alone…” (Jessica)

She said this and glanced at the back.

At that place, there’s a building with a solemn and sacred atmosphere, and a big gate fitting that. 

However, Jessica felt like, inside the ominous atmosphere of the night, that solemnity and sacredness would take a step back, creating a hard to describe pressure. 

What was ordered of Jessica was to defend the Grand Church.

It is mainly a job of stopping the ones that try to enter this Grand Church, but it is different from a straight theft countermeasure. 

It is actually the opposite. There’s an outbreak of noxious gas inside the Grand Church, and if you enter without knowing, you might lose your life at worst. 

She may only be watching from outside the door, but being that close to something dangerous like that isn’t really a welcome matter for Jessica.

On top of that, when she took the mission, Captain Spark Hawk told her ‘if some anomaly happens inside, you don’t have to confirm it, just make sure to come back and report it’ which bothered her an awful lot. 

Does that mean there’s the possibility of something even more dangerous happening aside from the poisonous gas that can even kill you?

When Jessica began thinking that, she felt her life was being shaved away.

“At the very least…at the very least, let this mission finish safely without anything happening…” (Jessica)

Jessica desperately prayed to God, but that prayer was not heard.

“What…?” (Jessica)

Right after pleading for her own safety, someone walked towards her. 

—A man in black. 

Is it a cloak?

They have their whole body wrapped around in jet black cloth to the point that even the contour of their body can’t be seen properly. 

The black hood they are wearing low and the black cloth covering their mouth blended into the darkness of the night, making it hard to tell their face too.

“Evil God cultist…?” (Jessica)

That term naturally surfaced in the head of Jessica.

That’s just how creepy Jessica felt the approaching man was. 

She couldn’t allow a person like this to approach the Grand Church.

“S-Stop! This place has been forbidden entry by the orders of the king!” (Jessica)

Jessica shouts this after finally remembering her duty, but the black clothed man doesn’t stop.

He instead increased his speed towards Jessica.

Jessica bit her lips. 

The Grand Church is already closed at these hours. 

There’s no way any normal person would be coming to a place like this at a time like this to begin with.

If persuasion doesn’t work, there’s no choice but to do this by force.

Even if the enemy is an Evil God cultist, she can fight if it is a human. 

She should be able to.

“I did warn you.” (Jessica)

She couldn’t hold back her voice from trembling. 

Even so, she bravely unsheathed her sword.

“[Magic Arrow]!” 

The first to strike wins!

Magic arrows were shot from the opposite hand of the sword.

This is Jessica’s secret move.

It is a spell that has low power and doesn’t even serve to keep monsters at bay, but it is a different story against people. 

A shining arrow of light was shot in this darkness all of a sudden, so he wouldn’t be able to stay calm.

Jessica tried to plan her next move with that opening and…

“…Eh?” (Jessica)

The next instant, she noticed that the black clothed man had slipped through the magic arrows and was standing in front of her.

Not avoided, but slipped through them.

Cold sweat gushed out from Jessica’s whole body.

She couldn’t even imagine what kind of spell you would have to use in order to achieve something like that.

“…Sorry, but I will have you let me through.” 

The moment she heard that voice, she felt as if a cold knife had been pushed onto her stomach.

Overwhelming fear. 

Moreover, one that she felt she had experienced before…

“Uwaaaaaaaa!” (Jessica)

But that was as far as her calm thoughts could lead her.

The black clothed man made clanging sounds as he moved forward. Just when he stepped towards Jessica, she swung down her sword with all she had.

“Wa?!” (Jessica)

But it didn’t hit.

There was no preliminary motion.

Even though the man was not in a stance to avoid, he jumped directly horizontal. 

—And then, the sound of an explosion was heard from behind. 

“Why…?” (Jessica)

By the time Jessica looked back, both of her eyes were opened wide in shock and despair. 

The man was standing in front of the Grand Church’s door. 

This is not on the level of avoiding by jumping to the side.

Jessica only lost sight of the black clothed man for 1-2 seconds. 

In just that short span of time, the man had circled to the back of Jessica, and reached the front of the Grand Church that is more than 12 meters away. 

It is unbelievable speed.

If the man had prioritized killing Jessica…just thinking about it sent chills down her spine. 

Was that his way of telling her he would kill her if she were to continue being a hindrance? 

The black clothed man took out a weapon for the first time. 

A dagger made in a peculiar way called a Ninja Sword. 

If he were to sneak in with that speed and her neck were to be cut…just thinking about it made her legs lose strength and her body tremble. 

But Jessica’s last bit of pride as a knight made her raise her voice at the black clothed man.

“Stop it! The inside of the Grand Church is filled with poisonous miasma! In the first place, you can’t enter without the key I ha—” (Jessica)

But the shout of Jessica rang in deaf ears. 

“…ge…” 

The black clothed man muttered something. 

The next instant she thought the black clothed man had muttered something, the man suddenly disappeared.

“W-What’s going on…?” (Jessica)

The consecutive question marks that were assailing Jessica made her fall on her butt. 

And then, she suddenly remembered.

She has encountered unreasonableness of this degree before. 

It was when an army of monsters attacked the capital.

The young man that appeared at the back of the monsters at that time…

“…Kuh!” 

The shadow that suddenly appeared inside the Grand Church frowned at the explosion that occurred inside his body in an instant, but he went down to the marble flooring.

With just a single Ninja Sword in hand, the black clothed man smoothly managed to infiltrate the Grand Church, and what his eyes were observing was the center of the Grand Church.

A light pillar that is going straight down from a stained glass in the ceiling.

The miraculous light of the Grand Church was creating a clear shape and going straight down onto a deep hole whose bottom can’t be seen.

And then…

“…Miasma, huh!” 

Just as the man mutters, the hole where the miracle is heading to, there’s currently miasma gushing out from it which could only be described as creepy, and it is warping the air in the Grand Church.

An anomaly that’s clear to the eye even without peeking into the hole. 

But the man made a smile with his mouth hidden in the black cloth, and jumped inside that hole without hesitation.

Falling body. 

Fluttering black clothes. 

The metal fixtures on the black cloth were shaking with the air pressure and were making clattering sounds. 

The fall continued.

The man was falling endlessly. 

The power of the light thinned the deeper into the hole he went, and the miasma was growing thicker. 

However, the jet black cloth covering his mouth was taken off and was now exposed defenselessly to the miasma, but his mouth was still showing a smile. 

The man was falling calmly down the miasma that would kill a normal person ten times over. 

Within the air pressure that was so strong it would be hard to even open your eyes, he finally managed to see the bottom of the hole.

However, what was awaiting the man there wasn’t just floor. 

The destination of the light pillar was sleeping deep inside the hole…no, not sleeping, it was a tied up monstrosity. 

—A partially destroyed giant crystal.

—Tied up giant arms.

—A grotesque face that was regenerated halfway through. 

Any person who saw it would be able to tell…this is the natural enemy of humanity that’s called the Evil God Fragment. 

But there was a problem the man had to solve before that. 

It is the falling speed.

The man recklessly jumped down without any assistance from magic.

At this rate, he won’t be able to go against the falling speed and will crash onto the ground, and be turned into a pancake.

But just before the crash, the man shouted.

“[Infinite Mirage Prison]!” 

At the same time as he did, he disappeared.

It was like a recreation of when he disappeared in front of the female knight. 

The difference here is that the man didn’t disappear inside a building, but through the same hole. 

The man repeated teleports and slashes inside the narrow hole.

A repeat of completely pointless attacks, and the body of the man ended up in the same place as where he first used the skill.

But the falling energy that the man had was erased by that time, and landed on top of the Evil God Fragment lightly as if he had jumped down a small platform.

At the same time, the hood was flipped over completely by the wind pressure, and there was jet black hair fitting this place, and big cat ears.

“Nice to meet you, it has been a few hours.” 

The cat eared man wearing a black cloak spoke to the Evil God Fragment with a light tone. 

“Hu…ma…why…” 

What came back was a low sound like that of creaking metal. 

The man raised a brow at that. 

“Hm? You can talk even when your mouth hasn’t been regenerated huh.

Aah, you did scream when your face was blown up.

You are one mysterious creature.” 

The black clothed man doesn’t seem to fear the Evil God Fragment. 

He approached the strongest and most horrible being in this world without any fear and…

“‘Why’ is a hard to answer question.

You haven’t done anything yet, but I was thinking about shutting you up before you do something.” 

The man said daring words, but the tied up Evil God Fragment laughed.

“Fool… There’s no…weapon…that can hu…rt—gah!!” 

An attack from the man pierced the Evil God’s core right after.

The creaking sound was cut off, and it changed into unintelligible noise. 

“Impo…ssible…” 

The Evil God Fragment leaked out its voice in shock. 

That’s because what the black clothed man used to attack was not a sword, spear, or axe. 

It was just…

“What. So I can deal damage if I just cast Power Up on me and punch you? 

So my idea at that time wasn’t completely wrong.” 

—It was just a tightened fist. 

“You…why…pu—guh!!” 

The words of the Evil God Fragment were cut off by the fist of the man punching the core. 

Even so, it didn’t reach the point of destroying the core. 

But the man laughed in amusement. 

“Then, just as planned, I will be punching you hundreds to thousands of times…until you die.” 

That’s when it began…

“You ba—ga! Gih! Gah! Guh!!” 

He didn’t even give a chance for the Evil God to speak.

—He punched, punched, punched, and continued punching.

The sound of Order, and the sound like that of a broken record echoed in the deep depths of the hole. 

If the Evil God Fragment were in a perfect state…the black clothed man would have been killed in an instant by an attack of the tentacles, the roar, or the beam of the core. 

If not for the light pillar that is coming down…the slight damage that the man was dealing would have disappeared cleanly.

But right now…

The Evil God was completely unable to fight back against the high speed punches, and was being dealt enough damage by the light pillar to seal the self-regeneration. 

And thus, the Order of the man was sapping away the health of the Evil God Fragment slowly but surely like piling up trash, and then…

“No…way…Sto…” 

A broken sound was ringing from the core that was filled with cracks.

“Looks like it is finally close to the end. Tell the main body once you return…

—I will eventually come to defeat you too.” 

The black clothed man mercilessly presents one powerful fist onto the core on the verge of breaking.

…And that’s the end. 

That fist broke into the bright red gem after a clean hit, and the Evil God Fragment that should have revived and destroyed the capital perished silently without anyone knowing. 

 

After witnessing the Evil God Fragment changing into light particles once its core was destroyed…

“Hmm, how to say it…revenge really doesn’t suit me.

…Well, it did help me relieve stress, so that’s fine, I guess.” 

After achieving something outrageous, the black clothed man simply said this and stretched, and then, his cat ears twitched as if he noticed something. 

“…Ah, could it be that the first ‘why?’ was because it was wondering why I was fine inside the miasma?” 

The man asked, but there’s no way to confirm this now that the only being who knows the answer to that has disappeared into particles of light. 

But the man must have some integrity despite appearances, or maybe he simply likes explaining, he faced the chains that were tying up the Evil God Fragment as he spoke. 

“You see, the game balance of Nekomimi Neko is pretty rough, so no matter how well the player prepares their equipment, it is impossible to have perfect resistance to all status ailments. 

But…did you know? The biggest priority aside from instant death is…petrification, and other status ailments don’t happen when you are petrified.

That’s why…” 

The black clothed man brings his hand out. 

What’s there is the pitch black ring that rejects death, and a ring in the shape of a winged gargoyle that allows the wearer to move when you are turned into stone…

“—No matter how strong your miasma is, you can’t do anything to someone who is already petrified, right?” 

The man said in a dramatic manner, and the cat ears that don’t fit the black clothes shook as if amused. 

…But the man didn’t notice.

It is true that the man had hidden his face completely. 

But the Skill Cancel he used on the Grand Church was seen by many. 

The cloak that was made from the jet black curtain was made well.

But the metal fixtures used for the curtain were blatantly visible, so many had seen through his identity. 

 

And then, the next day. 

The rumors began to spread around between the ones with fast ears…about the unknown dark hero, the Night Curtain Souma, and the titles of the man had increased by one more…

—But that’s a story for another time. 

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