The situation was grim.
Even with reinforcents flooding in, nothing changed.
The city guard knights—bronze rank, a handful barely silver—were little more than cannon fodder. Their blades bounced off Eldric’s hide like twigs thrown at a fortress wall.
The protagonist party pushed harder than anyone else, but even they were faltering.
Kael’s divine-touched sword—the weapon ant to slay calamities—left nothing more than shallow scratches across the demonized flesh.
Eldric—now fused with an actual demon—could no longer be hard by mortal weapons.
There were only two ways:
Crush it with absolute power— which none of us had.
Or use divine energy— the one thing demons couldn’t withstand.
I gritted my teeth.
"I don’t have divine power," I muttered under my breath, "but let’s see how far this goes..."
I loaded a piercing round into the Winchester.
Steady breath.
Firm stance.
Bang!
The round fired like a streak of white light, straight and deadly.
But Eldric—monster that he was—simply lifted his hand and caught it between his fingers. The bullet bent against his grip with a faint tallic whine.
"...You’ve got to be kidding ."
He could react to that? If he could catch it, he could’ve dodged it too. There was no opening—no mont of vulnerability. He was the kind of opponent you couldn’t reach unless you created the chance yourself.
Fine.
Then I would create it.
Steeling myself, I sprinted forward.
"Cadet Lucien!"
"Lucien, stop!"
Voices called from behind—Kael, Celestia, Elisha, maybe even Ariana—but I shut everything out. I aid my scattershot at point-blank range and pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The blast burst at Eldric’s chest, the recoil numbing my shoulder. Dust and flas scattered. But when the smoke cleared—
He hadn’t even staggered.
Not even an inch.
And worse—he moved.
In the blink of an eye, Eldric closed the distance. His massive, warped figure towered over . Dozens of eyes focused on with cold amusent.
Is this all, worm?
The voice echoed directly in my skull.
A flick—just a flick—hit my abdon.
"Guh—!"
Agony ripped through . My body flew backward, crashing into what was left of the lab’s outer wall.
[Warning: Critical state. Two ribs fractured.]
Only two.
If not for the enchanted academy uniform, that simple flick would have blown a hole straight through .
My vision flashed white. The world spun. I tasted blood.
Sohow, I forced my fingers to tighten around the shotgun’s grip. I dragged myself upright, leaning against the shattered wall.
Eldric’s shadow lood before .
Worthless creature. Die.
He raised his fist—massive, pulsing with corrupt mana—ready to crush like an insect.
My instincts scread.
This was death.
This was the end.
’I’m going to die...’
My pulse spiked.
My thoughts burned.
And with the last sliver of clarity, I forced out a silent scream inside my mind.
’System—if you want to keep working with ...
give sothing.
Anything useful.
Otherwise I—
I’m done.’
I didn’t expect an answer.
I didn’t even believe there was one.
But then—
For the first ti since I arrived in this cursed world,
a chanical voice whispered directly into my skull.
〈Consud 500 Points〉
〈Purchase Confird〉
〈First Order DIVINE BULLET has been loaded.〉
I fired without hesitation.
—Fwoom.
There was no gunshot.
No recoil.
No sound.
Only a blinding white flash that swallowed my vision whole, consuming everything around in divine radiance. Heat washed across my face, burning my skin—not painfully, but with a scorching purity that felt like standing before a holy fla.
When the light finally faded, my sight returned in fragnts.
The first thing I saw—
—was the shotgun’s barrel.
Glowing bright red. Warping.
lting.
The barrel sagged like molten wax, sizzling as it collapsed into shapeless tal. The divine energy had utterly destroyed it.
My gaze then shifted to the far wall.
Eldric’s grotesque body was embedded deep into the stone, half-crushed into the masonry like a giant insect swatted by a god. Smoke rose from the crater around him. His chest—where the divine bullet struck—was dented inward, blackened, and steaming.
He wasn’t moving.
My breath tore free in ragged gasps.
"Huff... huff...!"
Did I... succeed?
My body finally gave in.
My legs buckled, and I slid down the shattered wall until I hit the ground.
Voices reached —distant, disbelieving.
"Unbelievable..."
"What did Cadet Lucien just do?"
"Did... did he defeat Eldric?"
Their shock felt surreal.
It was over.
At least for now.
Eldric’s regeneration couldn’t imdiately undo divine damage.
We had a few precious monts until reinforcents arrived—
[Impressive...]
"—!"
His voice slithered into my ears like poison.
I grabbed my rifle on reflex—
Only to rember it was nothing more than a lted chunk of tal now.
Utterly useless.
Eldric moved.
Slowly, painfully... but he moved.
He pulled himself free from the wall with a sickening crunch, chunks of stone falling with him. His many eyes flickered open, their glow dim but full of hate.
[How did you hide such an artifact...?]
His voice reverberated through the air, layered and monstrous.
[A weapon wielded only by Saints, Popes, and Holy Assassins of the Holy Empire...]
His gaze narrowed.
[What trick of fate allowed you to possess such a thing?]
I stared at the dent in his chest.
The divine bullet had struck cleanly—
But it wasn’t enough.
He was weakened.
Injured.
But horrifyingly... still alive.
[No matter.]
He lifted one massive arm, mana surging.
[I will eliminate you before you create any more variables.]
"Lucien!!"
"Mariella, now!"
[Grow! Surging Waves of Seas—Water Tempest!]
Mariella chanted desperately, her voice cracking.
A storm of water spiraled forward—an entire torrent that roared like the sea unleashed.
Eldric didn’t even blink.
The water struck him and dispersed harmlessly into mist.
"Hah!"
Elisha, eyes blazing, fired a fully drawn mana arrow. It whistled through the air—
—and shattered against Eldric’s hide as if hitting steel.
"No way..."
"It didn’t even pierce...!"
I glanced toward the protagonist’s party.
Their faces were pale, despair creeping into every expression.
But one person stood out.
Kael.
They weren’t despairing.
They were... hesitating.
Kael—Mr. Heaven’s Favorite.
The walking cheat code.
The protagonist who "accidentally" stumbled on relics, divine blessings, mythical loot, and hidden legacies every ti he took a casual stroll.
There was no way he didn’t have sothing—
so hidden treasure or trump card that could deal with abomination.
Yet—
He hesitated.
In a mont like this?
When a demon was about to slaughter everyone?
I almost laughed.
How pathetic.
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