2

The sky is overcast, it is raining.

Donned in silver armor, the Church’s crusaders, like termites coming out of their nest, valiantly march toward the First Demon Palace.

With crusader flags fluttering in the air, they level any obstacle in their way and make the earth tremble. They seem unstoppable.

In the sky, there is a white whale swimming in the air. It has an angelic gold halo on the head and its tail fins are unfolded alike wings.

It is huge in size, with it’s giant figure hiding the sky and covering the earth. It has to be bound by 20 iron chains as thick as buckets and pulled by a 100 earth dragons.

“Bear in mind the doctrine of the Goddess of Light!”

“Everything wicked in the world shall be purified by the light!”

“Fight for the Goddess! May our bodies turn into flames that burn the demons to ashes!”

“In the name of Goddess Maria! Grant all soldiers endless honour!”

“Aaaaaaaaamen~!”

Standing on a towering chariot, a scripture in hand, a red-robed archbishop is giving an impassioned speech and gesticulating a cross across his body with a hand.

With their morale boosted, the soldiers raised their spears in response, and their voices resonated above the ground like a clap of thunder.

“Amen!”

Emmmm…

Why does it feel like I’ve joined a cult?

I better defeat the Demon Lord as soon as possible, then take the money and leave.

Alice, who is at the forefront of the crusaders, thought so.

A helmet covers her face; a cloak is white like snow, spotlessly clean; a mithril armor, which alternates with gold and silver colors, covers her body. The mithril armor is of exquisite workmanship and is covered with magic lines. At a glance, one can tell that it is invaluable.

The gear is something Alice got for agreeing to defeat the Demon Lord. As the 233th Hero, regardless of her strength, she is the first commander!

Although she is young, Alice has learned a lot of skills from her teacher. After her strength reached High tier, she impatiently went down the mountain to adventure.

Before leaving, she stole her teacher’s sword “Hymn of Light”. This rapier is known as a holy sword, and it can cause 200% damage to dark creatures.

After going down the mountain, Alice realized that one cannot do without money. She regretted stealing the holy sword. If she had know, she would have pilfered some gold coins.

The destitute Alice had thus no choice but to accept becoming a Hero. If she defeats the Demon Lord, with the amount of gold coins she’ll get from the Church, she’ll be set for life.

It won’t be long before I get a promotion and a raise and serve as a regiment commander, assume the post of an archbishop, marry Mr. Right, and reach the pinnacle of life! I’m getting a bit excited!

Hidden under the helmet, Alice’s face revealed a weird smile.

“Hero, the battle is about to begin, are you ready?”

The archbishop interrupted Alice’s reverie with a sudden question.

“Ah? Of… of course I’m ready. I’m just a little worried…”

“What are you worried about?” The archbishop raised his white eyebrows, exuding the pressure of a superior.

“Lucifer III seems to be very strong. I heard that in the past three years of crusades, all the crusader armies were wiped out. Can…” Alice paused, and then continued hesitantly, “Can we really win?”

“The soldiers of the Goddess of Light will not lose! We will definitely win this time!” The archbishop’s eyes are shot with blood and filled with obsession.

“Why… why are you so sure?” Alice asked, doubtful.

“Because I am a survivor of the last crusade! Lucifer III is not that powerful! The reason we lost is that we weren’t fully prepared, and we didn’t have a strong combatant like yourself to help us!” The archbishop replied seriously.

Hearing the archbishop call her strong, Alice couldn’t help feeling a little elated. A High tier expert like herself is rare on the continent. She is already an outstanding figure.

Maybe that Lucifer III is not as strong as rumored, only that the former Heroes were too weak.

“Besides, we are different now! Hero, look!” The archbishop pointed to the sky.

Alice looked in the direction the archbishop is pointing and saw the bound white whale, whose huge body gives off an endless pressure.

“This white whale is a siege fortress the Church spent 100 years to manufacture! It holds the power of the entire continent! One blow from it is enough to blast a city apart!” The archbishop raised his hands, his red robe danced violently in the wind, and he praised loudly, “Ah~! It is the most powerful! The most beautiful! The most awe-inspiring weapon! It is the greatest masterpiece of the Church! The crystallization of the wisdom of countless people! It’s a wonderful artificial creature!”

Alice looked silently at the white whale.

She feels that the white whale has no sense of beauty, and is even a little deformed.

Although she can feel the dangerous fluctuations of power it emits, but she has her reservations about this weapon’s power.

The large crusader army has already reached the gate of the Demon Palace, where groups of demons, with sharp fangs, roared, flapped their bat wings, and rose into the air.

It turns out that the demon army has already assembled. Their ravenous eyes turned red, eager to drain the humans of their blood. They are full of fighting spirit. Hunger made them turn into wild beasts.

The demons of the demon army soared into the sky and, as if a dense swarm of flies, flew towards the crusaders!

“Hero, feel honored!” The archbishop raised his staff and aimed with it at the black swarm that is the demon army, “Witness the strongest masterpiece in the Church’s history! It shall display its ability to the world for the first time!”

An ancient chant sounded next to Alice’s ears. The archbishop swayed his enchanted staff.

In the sky, the white whale twisted into a weird posture and, as if having received some sort of summoning, made baby-like cries, which gave people goose bumps.

Its tail fins spread open, it frantically devoured the mana in the air and caused the space to distort slightly, and even the gold halo above its head turned into a violent crimson red.

What’s with this dangerous feeling?

That concentration of mana is unheard of!

Could this weapon have reached Saint tier power!?

Alice became nervous subconsciously. Alarms went off in her mind.

As she was confused about the current situation, the archbishop let out a roar —

“Go and die! You filthy demon!”

The white whale opened its enormous maw and spurted out a concentrated mana beam!

Brighter than the sun, it has enough power to tear open the heavy dark clouds.

The tremendous power made the blood of everyone present run cold. They even knelt on the ground and bent to the great power.

Alice didn’t see clearly what happened. She only saw a laser struck across the crowded demon army and instantly cause a series of large explosions, and flame-like mushroom clouds rose, followed by shock waves.

Swept away by the shock waves, the knights of the crusader army fell into the muddy marshes, and even flew away like kites.

The imposing demon army was wiped out instantly.

In the wake of the concentrated mana beam, demons were vaporized, not even leaving ashes behind!

Barely managing to stabilize herself, Alice has a look of horror on her face. She broke out in a cold sweat —

Incredible!

Is this the power of this artificial creature?

It’s comparable to Saint tier power…

No! It seems to be stronger than Saint tier power!

The might of the shot is comparable to Saint tier essence!

Alice couldn’t understand why the Church, who has such a formidable weapon, needs a Hero like her?

Clearly, the white whale alone is enough! I am nothing more than a Hero in title!

That something Lucifer III, without me having to do anything, might have already died in the explosions.

No one should be able to survive that kind of attack…

Looking pale, Alice is marveled by the white whale.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…!”

“How do you like it! Abominable demons!”

“Shiver under the iron fist of the Church!”

“In the name of Goddess Maria, I’ll send you demons to Hell!”

The archbishop laughed and slobbered like a maniac and shook with excitement.