Side Story 42. Anemone Smiled Brightly (18)

As Anemone went inside, Doomstone spoke to the female knight guarding the door. "Don't stare at me like that, or I'll pull out your eyes."

At Doomstone's harsh words, the knight’s expression crumpled, and she fiddled with the sword on her waist. "If it weren't for you being His Excellency’s guest, I would have cut off your rude tongue."

Doomstone snorted at the female knight’s growling. "Oho. You're a baby who can't even feel the difference between our skill levels."

"What did you say?!"

Although the female knight was livid, Doomstone looked at her with pity. She was so weak that he didn't even want to fight her, but she thought she was strong.

"After the appointment between His Excellency the Cardinal and the guest, I will ask for his permission and teach you a lesson!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you will. You're good at talking, but you can't even feel the range of my aura."

The space that Doomstone currently dominated reached a radius of 50 meters around him. It was safe to say that, within this boundary, Doomstone had everyone’s life and death in his hands.

The reason for this wide area was to protect Anemone. According to his instincts, he wanted to kill the man named Cardinal Fernando right away. But it was purely for Anemone’s sake that he did not. The cardinal was left alive only because Anemone needed him.

Of course, if Doomstone judged that the cardinal was dangerous, Doomstone would have killed him immediately, whether Anemone needed him or not. However, his intuition told him that the cardinal was not harmful.

Doomstone thought it was weird. This was the first time he felt that a person wasn’t dangerous while simultaneously thinking that it would be best to kill them immediately. Maybe it was because of the fishy smell of blood wrapped around the cardinal's entire body.

"It's unpleasant. How many innocent people has he killed?"

Whether fair or cowardly, this thick smell of blood didn’t form solely from duels alone. Of course, there was torture, but he must have also carried out massacres.

Doomstone looked coldly at the female knight. It was a gaze devoid of killing intent or martial aura, but there was something about his frigid eyes that overwhelmed her. Her head, which had been boiling with anger just now, cooled down.

‘I'll die. I'll die if I stay like this,’ thought the female knight. The female knight instinctively tried to pull out her sword.

"Oh."

At that time, someone’s urgent voice was heard, and a stone was thrown at the half-unsheathed sword handle. As the handle was hit by the rock, it was pushed back into the sheath. The force used to throw the stone was greater than what was used when withdrawing the blade, and the handle was crushed, causing debris to fall to the ground.

The female knight was surprised, and she identified the person behind Doomstone who threw the stone. Then, she immediately saluted with her hands. "I greet the head of the Consecrated Paladins!"

"No need for a salute. It'll be forever if I have to receive a salute from everyone I see." The middle-aged paladin smiled and put his long hair behind his ears as he spoke from a distance. "And what are you doing recklessly drawing your sword in the temple?"

"Oh, I’m sorry...”

"You really almost died."

The female knight was about to apologize when she heard the man’s words and closed her mouth. Then, cold sweat flowed like a waterfall. She realized that if she had drawn her sword with her subconscious survival instinct, she might have indeed died.

"Oho."

Doomstone took a step toward the middle-aged man, interested by his entrance. Then, the middle-aged man matched the length of Doomstone's stride and withdrew. He maintained an exact distance of 50 meters.

"It's nice to meet you, so let's get closer and introduce ourselves."

At Doomstone's words, the middle-aged man smiled gently and said, "I would rather not. I don't want to enter such a terrible aura field."

"Then what if I withdraw it for you?”

The middle-aged paladin wondered about the kind of life the man before him lived as Doomstone created a straight line in his aura.

"I still don't want to. What is this? How can you exclude a space within your aura field as if you cut out a part of it? Are you really a person?"

The middle-aged man was astonished. He realized again that the world was wide and there were many monsters. The path of life was livable but could easily turn to a path of death at any time.

"Of course, I’m a person. But you look stronger than that count, so why don't we have an in-depth conversation?" Doomstone asked with sparkling eyes.

Roland's skills declined since he was past his prime, but the paladin in front of him still seemed to be in full swing. In terms of ability, Roland would have been stronger in his prime, but the middle-aged man seemed stronger at this current point in time.

"I refuse. I don't think that this in-depth conversation is about the holy book and the heavenly Mother."

"Ahahaha! A conversation between men needs no words."

When Doomstone clenched his fist, the middle-aged man tensed up and wholeheartedly prepared to run away. He was originally just passing by when he felt a bloody aura that stung his whole body. So, he had decided to secretly observe when he was surprised by his fellow paladin trying to commit suicide, thus causing him to be caught.

"My name is Doomstone. What's your name?”

"My name is Buddy. Although I’m lacking, I am currently leading the Consecrated Paladins."

The middle-aged man named Buddy gradually retreated to run away, and Doomstone slowly kept approaching Buddy. Then, Doomstone stopped pursuing him when he was a certain distance away from the cardinal's office.

Buddy smiled when he realized that Doomstone was tied down by something. At the moment, he thought he could easily escape. Yet, whether it was because of someone else or himself, he heard familiar voices coming from behind.

"Captain-nim! What are you doing there?"

Oh, no!

Buddy had an ominous thought and looked at Doomstone. The man bore a playful yet evil smile.

"Captain-nim! We have to go do it!"

"Dinner! Dinner! Dinner!"

"Beer! Beer! Beer!"

The subordinates were tactlessly rushing in with bright smiles.

"Today's dinner will be paid for by Captain-nim!"

"Wahh-!"

"Monthly salary! Spending money! Salary! Spending money!"

“Dinner! Dinner! Dinner!"

"Hey! Wait!" He tried to shout at them not to come, but his subordinates had already surrounded him so that he could not escape.

"You guys go first!"

The vice-captain booed at Buddy's shout. "Boooo-! I know you're trying to run away like last time and the time before, and the time before that as well!"

"Dinner! Dinner! Dinner!"

"I'm going to eat a lot today, so be prepared, Captain!”

"Monthly salary! Spending money! Salary! Spent money!”

You idiots!

Buddy wanted to yell this, but he kept it within his mind. Otherwise, he was at risk of provoking the monster in front of him. At that time, some of the subordinates stepped in and out of Doomstone's aura field without fear. Buddy felt like his heart was sinking.

No matter how ignorant the monster was, he would not cause a disturbance in the Vatican. Still, it was hard to watch his subordinates wandering around an area that was even more perilous than if they were under a rain of arrows.

"You punks! Right now...!” Buddy frowned and tried to get rid of his subordinates with harsh words, but he felt a very subtle aura emanating from Doomstone, so weak that he might’ve been mistaken.

Yes, this was the aura he felt right before Cardinal Fernando's subordinate, the female knight, drew her sword. Even after experiencing it twice, this kind of killing intent naturally awakened his survival instinct.

At that time, Buddy felt he had misjudged the situation. He might be different, but his subordinates lacked training.

"No! Homer! Albatoss! Lekind!"

Despite Buddy's shout, his three subordinates subconsciously pulled out their swords and released killing intent. Following along, the members of the Consecrated Paladins also pulled out their swords and raised their auras.

Doomstone pretended to be serious, taking a fighting posture as if he had nothing to do with this. "What? Do you want to fight?! I guess so! Otherwise, there's no way you’d release such killing intent and pressure me like this!”

No! You devil!

Buddy wanted to shout that, but weapons had already drawn, and the area was full of his subordinate’s killing intent and martial aura. This had happened because it was instinctive, and they were trained so well.

After withdrawing their weapons, the members of the Consecrated Paladins were flustered. They couldn't understand why they pulled out their swords or released their auras.

Before they were able to come to their senses, Doomstone's fist swung toward them. "Justified defense punch!"

"Ugh!"

From the wind produced by Doomstone’s fist, a paladin’s waist crumpled in half as they flew to the end of the hallway and got stuck in the wall.

Looking at that, Buddy thought:

Oh, we’re screwed.

However, he had no choice but to shout the opposite of what he thought. "Everyone, get ready for the battle! Wedge formation!”

The monster in front of him seemed to have no intention of stopping if Buddy asked him to. And above all, this situation made it look like they were the first to pick a fight. As such, this was an opportunity to train his subordinates for the first time in a long while. He didn't hate his darn subordinates who were trying to use his wallet as spending money at team dinners. Probably.

At Buddy's cry, the vocalists skillfully made the formation.

"1st platoon! Left hook!"

When the instructions came, the paladins located in the front of the wedge quickly surrounded Doomstone’s left flank. Then, they immediately shot sword auras and attacked Doomstone.

Against the sword auras, Doomstone punched the strongest-looking paladin with his left arm wrapped in strong aura.

"God! Bind our enemy!"

White divine chains erupted from the back of the formation and attempted to tie down Doomstone. However, Doomstone swung his fist to hit the paladin as if he felt no resistance at all.

"Debuff! 3rd platoon!"

As soon as Buddy's order fell, the paladins in the rear who tied Doomstone with the divine chains chanted a debuff spell. At the same time, the paladins at the frontline of the wedge’s center charged in.

"1st platoon!"

"God's punishment!"

The paladins surrounding Doomstone’s left flank began to pour divine magic toward him immediately.

When his strength started draining away from him, Doomstone suddenly smiled as if he found it entertaining and shot strong aura in all directions. "Enlightenment! Hitting Peacock's Tail!"

When the martial arts Enlightenment, divine magic, and sword auras collided, every window in the vicinity shattered, and clear cracks appeared on the pillars. The paladins who were charging in to attack Doomstone fell, and the wedge formation also collapsed.

"God, give your son strength!"

Taking advantage of the dust and obscured vision, Buddy flanked Doomstone’s rear and stabbed at his heart, the strike mixed with divine power. It was a perfect sneak attack. However, Doomstone skillfully twisted his upper body to avoid the sword.

"Hahahaha! That's insidious!”

Doomstone hit Buddy on the top of the head with a forceful hand, but Buddy recovered and quickly drew back his sword to block.

"Ughhh!"

Buddy barely managed to block the strike, but the floor, which he was stepping on, broke from the pressure. He quickly got back up from the shattered floor, but in that short period, Doomstone had already devastated half the paladins.

"Uh-huh-huh-huh.” Buddy laughed despondently at the sight. Although they had trained hard, Doomstone easily made them collapse with overwhelming force.

This was a natural result. In a narrow hallway where it was hard for many people to move, it was challenging to utilize a group’s effectiveness, and individual skills could not be brought out well. Yet, through this, he had learned a painful lesson. The pope they protected spent most of their time inside the Vatican. Even public activities were often carried out inside the building.

"I'll have to train them from the beginning again. In a narrow area, coordinated movements for a small squad are needed."

He learned a significant lesson, but he didn't feel grateful at all. Rather, his pride as the strongest of the Consecrated Paladins was damaged, and his honor fell to the ground. Later, they became known as the knight group who’d endured Doomstone’s onslaught for the longest time, and their public evaluation soared, but this was a future story in which Doomstone was already called a Disaster From Heaven.