Chapter 250: 132. An Extra Priest -1 (Part Two)
Translated by: A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
Although Allen never really had a chance to observe the level of Shuppel’s combat strength before now, he did get to see the latter’s martial prowess back in Aslan, which was… good enough to stop the hashashins charged with escorting Aslan’s king from getting too close to him.
Allen wanted to see just how much Shuppel had changed after his revival. And also, in an act of a half-prank of sorts, he wanted to test out the wonder drug of Hans on his brother as well.
“Bloody hell…”
Shuppel spat out an expletive, before raising his sword and starting on the dullahan’s defences.
The undead swung its sword viciously, but Shuppel evaded that as if he was sliding on ice and swung his own sword to utterly shatter the head in the creature’s left hand.
Both the hand and the head were blown apart, and the dullahan’s body slumped forward lifelessly.
“Fuu-woo…” Shuppel spat out a sigh of relief, before turning around to face the mystery Priest. “Look here. Did Allen really send…”
Shuppel’s head was suddenly grabbed from behind, and something was forced into his mouth.
“Euh-wuph…?!”
“For sure, your divinity reserve seems to have increased. Your physical abilities have improved a little bit, too. However, it’s only by a little.”
Shuppel’s eyes urgently shifted down to the gourd filling his mouth. A truly vile stench wafting out from something travelled through his mouth and began assaulting his olfactory nerves.
And then, a taste most disgusting and hateful, like nothing he had ever experienced in his life, was forced down his throat.
“Wuu-wuph?!”
The gourd was pulled out of his mouth and he started retching right away, but the bird-beak masked Priest forcibly blocked Shuppel’s mouth.
“W-whub r ou!…”
Even though Shuppel’s voice had been muffled by the hand covering his mouth, the Priest still understood what was being said.
“It’s good for your body, so drink it.”
‘It’s good for my body? What nonsense is he talking about?!’
The pain Shuppel felt was akin to his tongue melting down.
The horrid, rancid stench caused his consciousness to go dim, while the pain shifted from his tongue to his throat, and he was eventually beset with a torturous sensation akin to his innards burning away.
This… this had to be poison, without a doubt!
‘Dammit, he wasn’t Allen’s confidante?!’
Maybe he was an assassin? If not, a spy sent by the Vampires?!
Just as all sorts of thoughts began tumbling around in his mind, the hand covering his mouth suddenly let go.
The bird-beak masked Priest stepped back. Shuppel coughed and wheezed. Seeing how he wasn’t dead yet, that accursed liquid didn’t seem to be poison.
He urgently inserted his finger in his mouth, trying to puke out what he had just ingested, but other than some dry retching, what he swallowed didn’t want to come out.
“It’s already been absorbed in full?” the man calling himself Extra muttered in a surprised tone of voice.
Shuppel roared out in a hoarse voice while glaring at Extra, “What have you done to me?!”
“Activate your divinity.”
“What are you talking about?!”
Extra suddenly summoned a greatsword out of nowhere and took a casual swing with it.
Shuppel jumped up in surprise and hurriedly blocked the attack with his own sword. Their blades collided after he barely managed to block in time, and his body began tilting back from the weight of the attack.
The bird-beak masked Priest spoke up. “I’m telling you to try controlling your divinity again.”
“And I’m saying, what are you…!”
“If you don’t, you’ll die today.”
Divinity began oozing out from Extra’s hands, enhancing his physical strength. He gradually began forcing Shuppel lower and lower.
The greatsword in the Priest’s hands was now gradually breaking Shuppel’s rather shabby sword.
“…!”
‘Dammit, just what is this guy planning to do?!’
There was a limit to Shuppel’s patience. He had been holding back since this Extra seemed to be Allen’s confidante, but from this moment on, he’d no longer be as agreeable as before!
“Uwaaaaah!” Shuppel roared out a warcry.
He focused divinity into his hands and wielded his sword… and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
The divinity flowing out of him didn’t scatter away like usual, but stuck rigidly to his sword. The divine energy seeped in between the gaps of his breaking sword and instantly boosted the weapon’s sturdiness.
The blade became stronger and sharper than ever before.
The moment Shuppel sent more strength down to his hands, his sword began cutting into the Priest’s greatsword.
In the blink of an eye, the greatsword’s blade was sliced apart and sent flying in the air.
Extra stepped back and stared at his greatsword with the broken blade. Shortly after that, he shifted his gaze over to Shuppel and muttered in an impressed voice. “…Holy cow! The steroid worked like a charm, didn’t it?”
He spoke in his usual manner of speech without realising it, but Shuppel was too preoccupied right now to even notice it. Shuppel was busy alternating his shocked gaze between his shabby sword and his hand.
Even his breathing had stabilised at the moment. His head was getting clearer, while his divinity control had become much more proficient than ever before.
“I heard that the drug’s effects would be incredible, but to think that it’s also instantaneous, too!” Extra muttered seemingly to himself, prompting Shuppel to turn his head and stare at the bird-beak mask-wearing Priest.
That tone of voice; why did it sound like his original plan was to experiment ‘something’ on Shuppel?
Shuppel naturally didn’t like the implication of that, so while rousing up his wariness to the maximum level, he leveled his sword once more. “You bastard, just what have you done to me? And what was that potion you fed me?!”
Extra totally ignored Shuppel’s questions and instead spoke what was on his mind. “Come here again at the same time tomorrow.”
“What did you say?”
“I’ll need to scrutinise the effectiveness of the drug in more detail, after all.”
Effectiveness of the drug?
Shuppel hesitated at that, but as if to drive the final nail home, Extra said one other thing. “Don’t you want to become even stronger, Shuppel?”
That question froze Shuppel up on his spot.
Allen glanced at the empty gourd-shaped bottle rolling around on the ground, then smiled underneath the mask.
‘With that…’
He might get to create a whole bunch of ‘proper’ soldiers now.
**
Inside the assigned VIP room of the feudal lord’s official residence…
Hans’s expression hardened as he began freaking out inside.
As a matter of fact, he was so shocked that he ended up screaming out at the top of his lungs. As it was in the middle of the night, his screaming commotion caused the servants and maids to hurriedly descend on his room in a fluster.
Hans sent all of them away immediately, then firmly closed the room’s door. He then stared at the gourd-shaped bottle still in his hand.
He circulated his Mana once more and the look of shock floated up on his face again.
‘I… I’ve grown stronger!’
Goosebumps broke out all over his skin. Chills ran down his spine, and he was getting legitimately frightened.
Even though he was the creator of this drug, never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that it would exhibit such a nonsensical level of effectiveness.
‘This is way beyond my calculations!’
He initially added the highest-grade holy water brought from the Theocratic Empire to the carnivorous plant’s sap, then took a gulp of the resulting liquid. The taste was absolutely horrendous, and the boost to his rate of growth was best described as negligible, so much so that he’d have to observe for a few years to notice any actual gains.
However, that much would already be a shocking-enough item to behold.
But when compared to that earlier effort, the sap combined with the Seventh Imperial Prince’s holy water came across as overwhelmingly superior in every aspect.
‘Dangerous. It’s way too dangerous!’
Unlike the voice crying out in his mind, the corners of Hans’s lips were curling up in a deep smirk.
‘If this gets known, I’ll either get abducted or outright murdered!’
In this world, strength was divided between those who didn’t have and those who did along the lines of talent and effort.
However, anyone who drank this wonder drug would come to possess a rate of growth far surpassing people blessed with those factors!
What if a nation managed to monopolise this drug?
‘…World domination won’t be a mere pipe dream, then.’
That nation would be able to create the world’s mightiest army… and Hans had created a means to achieve it!
He was suddenly overcome with ecstasy and a sense of accomplishment as the Alchemist responsible for creating this historical elixir.
‘Yes, my technique played a large role, but the impressiveness of His Highness’ holy water is also otherworldly, too.’
At this rate, it should no longer be referred to as ‘holy water’, but he might as well call it the ‘god water’ created by a god himself.
Knock, knock…
Someone was knocking on the door Hans was leaning against, but he was too immersed in thought and failed to hear it.
‘What should I? Do I need to get rid of it?’
This was not something that should exist in this world.
No, wait… it might be possible to keep it through careful management. This potion wouldn’t be effective unless the holy water freshly created by the one and only Saint Allen Olfolse was added to it right away.
In other words, the Seventh Imperial Prince could easily monopolise this whole thing.
Knock, knock…
‘Yes, I want to repay my debt to him, but this item’s power is just too great.’
Bang, bang!
‘What should I do? Really, what choice do I…’
BANG-!
The door was forcibly shoved open and Hans crashed to the floor face-first.
He got up to a squatting position and quickly looked behind to discover the Seventh Imperial Prince looking back at him.
“Hey, you alright?”
When the Seventh Imperial Prince asked that, Hans quickly nodded. Actually, this intrusion did help him in sorting out the mess in his head.
Allen checked Hans’s condition before opening his mouth. “Hans, can you get me more of that wonder drug?”
“Pardon?” Hans ended up making a puzzled face. Even then, he cast his dazed gaze on the gourd bottle still gripped in his hand, before subconsciously pushing it towards Allen. “Here. This is the sap prepared earlier. All you have to do is add your holy water into it, sir.”
Allen received the bottle. Shaking it around lightly, he smiled in satisfaction.
“Your Highness, did you call for me?”
It was at that exact moment that Charlotte walked in from the corridor.
Allen didn’t pay attention to her question and instead focused himself on opening the cork of the bottle and pouring his holy water into it.
The liquid’s colour changed to a purplish hue, and he shook the bottle around a little more.
The disgusting stench gradually wafted into their surroundings, and Charlotte had to work very hard to suppress the urge to cover her nose.
But even she couldn’t prevent her brows from furrowing deeply.
“Hey, Charlotte.” Allen suddenly reached out and grabbed her shoulder.
Charlotte flinched a little at that. She was getting a somewhat apprehensive feeling while staring at his hand.
She stared wordlessly at his hand for a bit, then shifted her gaze back to his face. Allen was lightly shaking the gourd bottle around, smiling suspiciously with his eyes.
“Would you like to have a sip of this wonder drug?”
< 132. An Extra Priest -1 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
