Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 79

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When I mentioned the Heretical Faction, something I’d only read about in the diaries of previous Saints, Alois immediately spun me around.

If I was being carried like a sack before, now I was being carried like a handbag.

“Let’s hide behind the carriage for now.”

“I think we should figure out what’s going on first.”

I said that hoping he’d put me down since this position was very awkward, but it was useless.

It was only after we got to the back of the carriage that Alois finally set me down. He peeked over the carriage and spoke cautiously, like he was revealing a tightly guarded secret.

“It looks like they’re hesitating after seeing Your Holiness’ power.”

“…Never thought I’d be caught in a mess like this.”

Alois raised a brow, as if asking what I was talking about.

“But if they’re targeting Your Holiness so blatantly, doesn’t it make one thing clear?”

“What?”

“There’s someone targeting you, Lady Saintess, and everything you’ve suffered so far could be the work of this ‘Heretical Faction.’”

He had a point.

Whether it was appearance of demons said to only appear once a few hundred years or the culprit who manipulated Jessie to drop that chandelier on me…

All of them seemed connected.

“That’s interesting. If we catch them now, do you think we can root them out entirely?”

Thankfully, Reneben didn’t seem to be a target.

Even though he was hiding behind the carriage with the coachman and his head was sticking out, nothing happened.

Meanwhile, I was being raided with arrows.

“…Isn’t this discrimination?”

When another arrow almost grazed my face, Reneben started looking anxious.

“L-Lady Emilone, are you okay?”

The coachman had already fainted, and the horses were about to start panicking but they quickly calmed down when I petted them.

I didn’t think my saintly ability to soothe animals would be so useful.

“Alright, Reneben, can you stay here for a second? Let me go out and—”

“No!”

“I’m against that.”

Reneben shouted, and Alois firmly stopped me.

“…Even if my head is chopped, I can reattach it and stay alive, you know?”

“That makes it even worse!”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“…But hiding behind this carriage isn’t that safe either.”

Seeing the two of them so adamantly against it, I suddenly felt a pang of anger.

I was someone who could survive even with a detached head as long as I acted quickly.

“…As long I go and capture them—”

“Lady Saintess, you always do this. You can’t bear to see others hurt, yet you never treat yourself with the same care.”

Alois furrowed his brows and looked down at me with his head tilted slightly.

Seeing the serious look on his face, I couldn’t help but mull over his words for a second.

And then—

Something suddenly wrapped around my neck.

I saw Alois clenching his teeth and Reneben reaching out. I tried to brace my legs the moment I felt something digging into my neck, but my body was yanked into the air.

“…!”

I coughed violently, my body trembling as the air was cut off from my lungs.

I found myself dangling dangerously from a tree and my head swam with dizziness, forcing me to narrow my eyes.

“…Die.”

“…”

“You must die.”

There were several figures in the tree.

As the noose tightened around my throat, I slipped my fingers between the rope and my skin, pulling as hard as I could.

“Don’t make me laugh.”

My voice cracked, but I refused to let it tremble.

There were men and women of all ages, all wearing the same manic, crazed expressions.

Goosebumps prickled my skin.

My neck was bruised and as I struggled, my shoes slipped off and fell to the ground with a thud.

“Release this now and I will spare your life. Release this!”

My hands were hurting so much, and my legs were reaching their limit, but I clung on, forcing my muscles to endure.

“…Ha!”

I could clearly see that these people were not ordinary humans.

As the strangulating pain intensified, I clenched my teeth harder. And then—.

“Urk!!”

The tight rope snapped. And the recoil flung my body backwards.

The rope that had been strangling me flew into the air, and I braced myself for the impact of hitting the ground.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I waited for the pain but even though I kept waiting, the pain never came so I slowly opened my eyes.

“…Are you alright?”

“I’m okay. Cough! I ended up…needing your help, Alois.”

When I saw Alois, I tried to talk like it was nothing, but my voice came out cracked and broken.

Just as I was about to warn him about the people oozing with malice, a dagger landed next to me.

“…I think it’s best we leave this place first.”

My legs were still weak, so I decided to rely on Alois for the time being.

“Hold on, I’m going to run.”

With that, Alois took off at an incredible speed.

The wind slapped against my face, but I simply blinked, letting it wash over me.

“It looks like their target is Your Holiness after all. I told Reneben to take care of the coachman and horses. There’s a village nearby so he must have headed there.”

I’m sure Reneben refused at first but couldn’t turn down the request after seeing the unconscious coachman.

I looked up at Alois, who cleverly played on Reneben’s sense of duty, while daggers continued to fly at us from behind, matching the speed at which he ran.

“I saw several people who didn’t seem human. None of them looked in their right mind.

“Sounds dangerous.”

“Yes, we need to be careful.”

Alois kept running for a good while. Testing my toes, I felt that I could move again so I swallowed and spoke up.

“I can move now.”

“Wait a little more. The monkeys are still in the carriage, so we can’t go too far. I’m just making some distance.”

At that moment, a long rope shot out and wrapped around Alois’s neck.

Gritting my teeth, I swiftly drew the dagger hidden in my sleeve and sliced through the rope. As soon as it snapped, I quickly grabbed hold of the loose end.

“Alois, hold on tight.”

Pulling with all my strength, I felt something heavy being dragged toward us.

The force felt just like when I had been lifted into the trees earlier, but this time, I wasn’t defenseless. This time, I was fighting back with equal force.

Of course, I also had Alois, my ultimate cheat card.

“…Ng.”

The weight pulling against me nearly made me lose my grip.

I clenched my teeth and pulled again. This time, something was yanked down from the tree and fell to the ground.

Alois used that chance to turn around and naturally relaxed his arms.

Thanks to that, I finally got down from Alois’ arms and gasped for breath.

“Heretical Faction, huh. I never thought I’d see them with my own eyes.”

I reached up to touch my complaining neck, but my hands were in pain too, so I just clasped them together.

The areas where the rope had rubbed were not in good shape. Blood dripped from my ear and shoulders.

Holding a blade from who knows where, Alois stabbed the fabric of the fallen man’s clothes and stepped hard on the man’s wingbone.

“Who are you?”

I felt like I was going to die from excessive bleeding at this rate.

Coming back to my senses, I raised my head to the sky, watching out for the figures still lingering in the trees.

“I guess you’re scared now that we’ve caught one of you?”

Their aura was so strange that I wasn’t sure if they even understood what I was saying but I spoke anyway.

Alois bent his knees slightly and grabbed the restrained man’s chin. Then he twisted the man’s head to the side with enough force to cause a groan and clicked his tongue.

“This one isn’t normal.”

“I can see that too.”

His eyes were practically inside out. There was no way he could be normal.

At the same time, he didn’t seem like an innocent victim either. I could feel an ominous energy seeping from his very soul.

“Should I kill him?”

“…”

“…I misspoke. That’s not something I should say in front of Your Holiness.”

Alois corrected himself a beat later once he realized his slip.

I wasn’t particularly offended.

After all, it was hard for even me to categorize this person as human.

I stared at the grotesque figure drooling on the ground, trying to think of a solution.

At that moment, I heard a clattering sound from the overturned carriage.

The monkeys.

The moment I thought of them, the carriage door flung open, and the troublemakers came running toward us.

Immediately, I tried to tell them to stop but sure enough, the attackers also realized they needed hostages, and their hands shot out toward Fel and Marien.

Watching the two clueless kids just running toward me, I clenched my fists tightly.

“If you lay even a finger on them, none of you will survive.”

I muttered coldly as I watched the two run to me with innocence written all of their face.

At the same time, instead of attacking with arrows or daggers, the attackers confidently revealed themselves to capture the living hostages.

They aimed for Fel and Marien and reached the kids before I could. In the end, I couldn’t hold back.

“…I said not even a finger.”

I blinked as the members of the Heretical Faction began to writhe.

God really hated those who rebelled against him.

That is why neither the demons nor this Heretical Faction were shown any mercy.

It is why divine punishment was sent down.

The people before me slowly crumbled, like the power had simply been waiting for me to make up my mind. At the same time, ashen dust scattered, lifting into the air.

“…Haa.”

As strength drained from my body, Fel and Marien rushed into my arms. Just as I was cuddling their small, immature frames, I heard a voice.

“I..I’m sorry…Lady…Rone..lla…”

I froze.

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