Chapter 501

Next to the giant womb, several cultists stood guard as if protecting a prison. They seemed uneasy, likely due to the commotion above, but it appeared they didn’t yet know that Diraid had died.

After setting Lacey down, I drew Durandal and charged into their midst.

“W-what the?!”

“Intruders? Are they paladins?!”

“How did they get here?!”

The men were shocked by the sudden ambush. Wrapped in the Pure White Divine Light, I swung Durandal and the Ice Blade without hesitation.

The blade pierced one cultist’s chest, slicing through his stomach and exiting below his groin. The Ice Blade impaled another’s back, ripping out his spine and organs.

“Gyaaaaah! My stomach! My stomach!”

“Guhhh…!”

They rolled on the ground, screaming like animals in heat. Since none were even close to being masters, it was an easy task.

Only two cultists remained alive. Not because they were stronger, but because I deliberately spared them for interrogation.

The interrogation began. They remained uncooperative, hurling vulgar insults. If brainwashing had worked, I would’ve turned every hole into a rag.

With Lacey’s help, I turned the more defiant one into human sashimi, repaying their curses.

“Guh… guh… Kill… kill me…”

The sight of his mutilated but still-living comrade turned the other cultist into someone more polite than a first-class stewardess.

“I-I’ll talk! Please…!”

Like a kindergarten teacher facing a parent with a knife, he confessed everything with utmost politeness.

—

The Womb of the Lustful Demon.

That was the name of the horrific creation they had made.

Filling the upper part with human blood and inserting sacrifices into the fallopian tubes would randomly spawn small monsters, depending on the value of the sacrifices.

The cultists used imprisoned paladins and priests as materials to produce monsters. If a useful one emerged, they would use Diraid’s power to implant it into their own bodies, enhancing their combat strength.

Not only did they summon monsters, but they also used the dark magi emitted during the process to maintain the city’s barrier.

After extracting all the information I needed, I personally shoved them into the giant fallopian tubes to verify their claims.

“Gyaaaaah! No! Nooo! I told you everything…!”

It was true.

The sashimi cultist and the one with crushed limbs were sucked into the tubes, falling into the crimson amniotic fluid and melting away, releasing magi.

– Thump! Thump! Thump!

The Womb of the Lustful Demon pulsed like a heart, and soon its rounded end opened, spitting out a small monster.

So, that’s how it works.

“Kieeeeeee!”

The monster cried as if celebrating its birth. Its body resembled a mix of a slug and a sea anemone. Since the sacrifices were trash, the monster was weaker than a kobold.

“A living mass that births monsters using humans as sacrifices… How utterly blasphemous and impure.”

Lacey grimaced, glaring at the Womb with disgust.

“Yeah, it’s gross.”

I stomped the newborn monster into a pulp and swung Durandal to dismantle the Womb into chunks of meat.

“Kierelelek-!”

It resisted with tentacle-like appendages, but its slow movements couldn’t possibly reach me.

Finally, Lacey’s Divine Light swept over the remains, turning the chunks of meat into dust.

—

The paladins and priests imprisoned in the dungeon were weakened, heavily corrupted by the dense magi. There were few priests, mostly paladins stripped of their armor.

The priests, being physically weaker, were likely used up first before they could succumb to the magi.

Even the archbishop who once governed this place had become material for the Womb. If he were alive, I would’ve executed him for allowing the city to fall into this state, but I never imagined he’d become a Womb.

The cultists had defiled every priestess, piling sins upon them, then cursed their impure bodies to rebirth them as the Womb of the Lustful Demon. Insane cultist bastards.

“What… what have I done?!”

Thanks to Lacey’s Divine Light, the awakened paladins panicked, clutching their heads and screaming.

The moment they broke free from the brainwashing, the weight of their sins crushed them mercilessly. Though they hadn’t acted of their own will, the memories were too horrific to excuse with brainwashing.

I thought the men might handle it better, but being paladins, they weren’t much different.

“Helena, Lea, Aria, Milenia…! I… I…!”

“Shaulite, how could you do this to us…!”

They cried out the names of their comrades they had defiled or wailed in despair toward Shaulite. I couldn’t empathize with their despair, but I understood it, so I remained silent.

Instead, Lacey stepped forward to comfort them.

“Get up. It’s too early to despair and collapse. Even if darkness shrouds the path ahead, you must not stop moving toward the sun. Isn’t that the duty you swore to as paladins? While you suffer, there are others above who suffer just as much, if not more. Will you turn your backs on them?”

Rather than soothing their wounds, she reminded them of their duty, what they must do.

While we dealt with the other cultists, we asked them to protect the priestesses. For them, it was a cruel request, forcing them to confront their sins.

“……How can we, after all this…?”

“…If you refuse, we can’t force you. But understand that doing so would mean aiding the cultists to the very end. Isn’t that right?”

The paladins and priests looked like they might commit suicide on the spot, but under Lacey’s persistent persuasion, they nodded and began to rise.

Whether it was for repentance, atonement, or their sense of duty as paladins, I couldn’t tell.

—

“Have you returned, Princess Ha-shal-leur?”

After quickly retrieving the paladins’ discarded equipment and returning to the prayer room, our resting companions greeted us.

“Yeah, anything happen?”

“Nothing at all. Seems you didn’t have much trouble either.”

While Lacey and I were exploring the underground, they had neatly piled the corpses in a corner of the prayer room like trash.

Technically, we should’ve burned them, but we couldn’t set fire to someone else’s cathedral, so we left them for now.

“Judge Seilon…! Why is Astraea’s strongest paladin here…?”

The Shaulite paladins who followed us were shocked to see Seilon. They were surprised when they first met Lacey and me, but they never imagined Seilon would be part of our group.

Well, with the city in this state, it’s no wonder they hadn’t heard. Seilon briefly explained the situation to them.

“Welcome back, miss. The ground kept rumbling. What did you find down there?”

Well, something like your mom?

…Of course, I couldn’t say that. Teasing a subordinate’s reverse scale is something a superior shouldn’t do.

Those who mock their subordinates rarely escape unscathed. They either get betrayed and killed or, if they live long, their descendants betray them, leading to the collapse of their entire faction.

“We saw a monster the cultists were raising.”

“A monster?”

I removed my metal mask and replaced the filter, then told the group about what we witnessed in the cathedral’s underground.

“A living mass that births monsters… I wonder where they got such knowledge.”

Even Seilon, experienced in hunting heretics, had never heard of such an abomination. He thought monsters either descended suddenly or were summoned by certain demons from another realm.

Well, a device like the Womb of the Lustful Demon that exchanges humans for monsters was something I’d never seen before.

It’s not like there aren’t those who mass-produce monsters, like Isabella, but even she summons a male monster and then uses it to impregnate people to increase their numbers.

—

Agnes and Lacey showed the Shaulite paladins the priestesses we had put to sleep and explained what to watch out for.

Applying mental protection would keep them free from brainwashing for a while, but it was only a temporary measure. There was no telling how they’d react when they regained their senses, so it was best to keep them asleep.

“I put them to sleep myself, so they’ll be out for at least four hours. So, carry them and escape the city. Staying here will only drain your holy power.”

The paladins thanked Agnes, draped their cloaks over the priestesses, and carried them on their backs as they fled. With most of the city’s riffraff already dealt with, there was no one to stop them.

With the paladins’ permission, we set fire to the cultists’ corpses and left the cathedral.

The Shaulite Cathedral would burn entirely, but everything worth protecting had already been stolen or destroyed by the cultists. With the entire cathedral tainted by evil, it was better to burn it down and rebuild later.

Our group boarded the carriage with its roof blown off, and I comforted the gloomy Rana, patting her back. Thus, we left the Shaulite Cathedral.

And as soon as we entered the streets, we witnessed a shocking sight.

– Whoosh!

Fierce flames shot into the sky, spewing black smoke. Seilon, sitting in the driver’s seat, drew a holy sign and sighed.

In the distance, the Imera Cathedral burned like a beacon, collapsing into ruin.