I Become a Mafia in the Academy - Chapter 231

Peak 6 was about 10 minutes of running from Peak 5.

Below the peak, I called a tactical meeting before we entered in earnest and handed each of us our assignments.

“First of all, Sister is the main tanker and dealer. We’re going to have to scramble with the guy guarding the well and beat him.”

“You’re asking me to do the hardest thing …… while keeping it simple.”

“I’m sure you’ll be up to it, Sister, after all, you’re dealing with the priests of a cult of evil gods.”

Her eyes widened at that.

“Priest class?”

“Yes. The man guarding the well over there is a priest of the Fire Giant. He’s practically a pagan among pagans.”

“A pagan among pagans…….”

“Yes, and it’s a very important job to catch him.”

“Well, that would be a different story…….”

Snap-! Snap-!

She cracks her knuckles and throat, making bony sounds.

“I’ll be sure to take care of the heathen.”

I knew it would work, but I had no idea it would work so well.

“And what am I to do?”

Elena is next, raising her hand to ask for her assignment.

“Elena, you’re going to take Pen and deal with the sparks coming off of him and the flames around him.”

“……Flames?”

“When he gets hurt or takes damage, he scatters sparks around him. He’s a little annoying because he heals himself when he absorbs it back, so I’m going to need Pen to deal with that.”

In other words, Elena’s main job is to prevent him from recovering.

“And what about Eugene?”

“Support while I recover? Honestly, I’m still a bit recoiled from the power I just exerted in the Red Sea. Don’t worry, I’ll be perfectly capable of handling it before I enter the Giant’s Bedchamber.”

“No, you don’t have to.”

“……?”

She bounces in place, her body completely relaxed, and walks slowly toward the peak.

“I think I can handle it on my own, and you two can get some rest.”

“What? But…….”

“Elena, it’s okay.”

“What?”

“I’ve been wondering, too, how strong the so-called Knights Templar of the Vatican are.”

Her power was something I’d only glimpsed before, and now I wanted to take it all in.

“We’ll be fine at first, but if he starts a fire, we’ll have to intervene. It’s better than being caught off guard.”

“……Let’s try to get it over with before then.”

With that, she looked behind her and climbed to the top of the peak.

As I climbed after her, I could see a well in the distance, in the middle of an ashen wasteland, and a red armor guarding it.

“……Flame Priest.”

The most difficult of the elite mobs in this dungeon.

“But why did you say that we should keep this monster to ourselves?”

“He has the ability to turn the souls of the humans he kills into flames, and he was responsible for the deaths of the guilds in the Second Etna Raid.”

In other words, the weak ones would just be feeding him.

“Doesn’t that mean he’s super strong right now?”

“Not exactly, because once he’s consumed a soul, he uses that power to restore the dungeon.”

Hence another name for him: Keeper of the Embers.

A devotee and priest of the giant, it was a perfect fit.

“So, does that mean that the current Sister is able to capture that monster?”

“I don’t know.”

I was curious about that, too, which is why I hadn’t objected to her taking on the task alone at first.

However, the Imperial Knights of the Vatican, as I remembered them, were clearly…….

‘A place only a monster could ascend.’

Indeed, what would she be like?

* * *

Slowly walking towards the priest, Michaela looks at him with a cold gaze.

Without any weapons or proper equipment, she stood before the creature that had wiped out countless guilds in the past.

Her opponent looks at her with wariness and hostility, but Michaela merely locks eyes with him with an emotionless stare.

“What a waste of time.”

As far as she was concerned, this ‘priest of the heathens’ was nothing more than a beast.

-What?!

A moment that would have been a blink to anyone else.

Poof───!

It was only a split second before Michaela’s knee slammed into the creature’s head.

“Let’s make this quick.”

Grabbing the creature’s head with one hand, which was about to be knocked back by the impact, she slammed it straight into the ground.

A massive boom rings out, and a thick cloud of ash rises around them.

-Kirik……!

He tries to pick himself up, crushed beneath Michaela’s feet.

“Not a chance, for your position suits you.”

As he struggles, Michaela pushes down harder with the tips of her legs, trying to crush him further.

Seeing his body turn red, she draws on her divine power and steps back.

At the same time, a pillar of fire rises into the sky. Elena, who’s been watching from the back, is furious.

“Hey, aren’t we supposed to go help with that?”

“That’s not what I said.……he just recognized her as an enemy.”

“……What?”

“Well, among other things, do you think she’s at a disadvantage right now?”

“What?”

Elena looked back at Michaela after hearing Eugene’s words.

Michaela had been thrown back by the explosion, but she was unharmed. Her hands were covered in a pair of pure white gauntlets that she hadn’t seen before.

“……That?”

“Some kind of specialized armor used by the knights of the Vatican.”

Equipment used by a Templar.

Eugene recognized at a glance that it must be something out of the ordinary.

“I wonder if you’re a follower of that god, you’re ugly.”

Michaela scoffs at the sight of the priest with red symbols all over his armor.

“That would make you a pagan.”

And once again, the same thing happens.

Elena’s eyes couldn’t follow it.

By the time she looks up, it’s already happened, and in a flash, Michaela’s gauntlet is in the priestess’s face.

The only thing that’s different is that it’s not the same as before…….

Poof!

He reacted to the punch by raising his arms in defense.

Then, taking advantage of the opening, it swings its massive arms at Michaela.

Tsk-tsk-tsk!

Michaela raises her hands to block the creature’s attack.

Elena covers her ears at the enormous ringing sound, like a bell being struck, while Eugene continues to watch the scene, seemingly unconcerned.

Having blocked the attack, Michaela leans down to take the initiative from him, looking for the bottom.

But he brings his knee up and hits her in the head.

In what would have been a face-full for most people, Michaela defends by simply slamming his knee down, then trips him off his feet.

In a flash, Michaela is above him.

In response, he begins to turn up the heat in an attempt to get her off of him once again.

If she doesn’t get out of the way right away, he’s going to wipe out everything around her.

But

“You’re up to your funny tricks again.”

Raising her hands up as if to say that she no longer cared about such trivialities, she unceremoniously slammed her fist down on his head.

-Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was a tremendous attack that made the ground shake with each punch.

However, unlike the first time, the red-tinged armor of the creature showed no sign of being easily penetrated.

Instead, the mouths beneath its raised arms opened.

Paaaaaaah───!!!

In an instant, it began to breathe out huge flames. Something black and grayish shoots out from within it.

Surprised by the sudden appearance of something coming out of nowhere, she rolled to the side to avoid the projectile, and what landed in front of her was a huge longsword similar in length to Michaela’s.

Michaela’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of it, covered in red runes.

“This must be one of the cursed magic swords of the pagans, right?”

-Kie-Eh-Eh-Eh!

Instead of answering, the creature lets out a scream and begins to charge at her, swinging his sword.

He continues to swing his sword with bizarre movements, as if the sword and his body are one.

Michaela dodges all of his blows like water, until he’s within inches of her.

“Oh.”

With a weave, she sidesteps, accelerates, and plunges into his arms.

And then

Kaboom!

She throws her fist as hard as she can, aiming for where his liver would normally be.

It was an attack where a normal human would have cowered in pain.

The sound of the blow was unearthly, like something breaking, but as if to prove he wasn’t human. He continues to do what he’s doing, unharmed.

It was a pattern that would be called super guard if it were a game.

-Grrr. Kerrrrr!

He slowly raises his giant sword as if it were nothing and was about to bring it down to cut Michaela in half.

“Such a pointless struggle.”

Michaela didn’t let it go. She swung her foot at the creature’s lower body with the same impassive expression.

A martial arts technique commonly called a calf kick.

It was originally used to keep an opponent in check, but──

Wuduk──!

-Keeek?

It’s a different story when it’s a white, tangible mass of divine power.

His legs bend in a direction they shouldn’t, and the body holding the sword slams down.

-Keh-eh-eh!”

The creature lets out a roar and looks at Michaela in front of him.

“It’s good to be down, I was getting uncomfortable with my fist up.”

Having said that, Michaela stopped talking and began to concentrate on the task at hand.

That’s right, she punches the priest in the face, who is now at her eye level.

Kwaang──! Kwaang──! Kwao!

It’s a murderous sound that doesn’t sound like a punch at all.

The priest raised his arms in defense, but they shattered a little each time they met Michaela’s fist.

And then

Snap───!

His arms and visor completely shattered, and his arms and head drooped helplessly.

She lets out a harsh breath and stands up.

“It’s slow. Even falling down.”

She stands up and looks at Eugene and Elena, as if to argue, “Didn’t I do a good job?”

Elena grins and starts jumping up and down on the spot.

“Now, we won, right, we knocked him out, right?”

“Haah…….”

“Why, why?!”

“No, the way you’re talking, I thought you weren’t done yet.”

“What?! Why?”

“You know, something like that.”

The truth is, he’s not the kind of mob you can defeat in one hit.

“Well, go to your gods or go to hell. Let’s wrap this up.”

And just as I was about to say that, Michaela slowly approached and choked the life out of him.

───!

Sensing something, she quickly turned her head back as something flashed past her eyes in an instant.

The creature’s leg, which had recovered by now, grazed Michaela’s chin and cut through the air.

And then

-Hiss!

Red flames shot up in an arc, following the trajectory of the priest’s kick.

Michaela grimaces at the heat in front of her and steps back.

She clicks her tongue as she sees the lower body of the creature she must have completely destroyed recover like a spark of light.

“So this is why they call the heathens cockroaches, standing up after being fed the Lord’s mercy.”

-Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle.

The creature’s arm, which had been broken here and there, began to regain its original position, and the blood scattered around it began to spark.

The signal Eugene had spoken of.

Turning slightly, Michaela looked back to see Eugene and Elena walking toward her.

She could use their help, but…….

“I can’t take help forever, this ends here.”

Taking a step back, she lightly draws a holy symbol and grasps the cross around her neck, sword drawn, as she looks at the approaching figure.

It’s a terrifying sight, reminiscent of a knight from the apocalypse.

Perhaps that’s why she thinks he’s a good match for her, so she smirks and extends her index and middle fingers toward him, pointing skyward.

“Rûah.”

With a short mutter, she pointed her fingers to the ground.

Her voice was barely audible to him, but he was quick enough to recognize the change in her body.

-Crunch?

White dots had suddenly appeared on his bumpy body.

One, two, three, four…….

Like a laser pointer, the white dots kept growing.

And before he knew it, he was bathed in pure white flashes instead of red.

Unable to recognize what was happening, he panicked, and his body…

Kwaaaaaang────!!!

It exploded with a pure white light, finishing him off.

“Vade in pace.” (Go in peace.)