This Isn't an E*otic Game?-Chapter 89: Lower Back Attack

In a world frozen in time, everything was silent.

Maybe that’s why—

My ragged breathing and Kon’s endless bitching felt even louder.

[It’s already been over six hours!! Six hours!! We passed 315 mares during that time, and 89 of them were pure! Do you have any idea what it’s like to helplessly pass by perfectly breedable mares just because I don’t have a body?!]

“It hasn’t been six hours. It only feels that way to us. Not even a second has passed in the real world.”

[Do you hear yourself? I’m exhausted! How long are we going to keep wandering around aimlessly, waiting for some hunchback with bony limbs to magically show up?!]

I didn’t even feel annoyed at Kon’s complaints anymore.

If anything, I agreed with him.

Maybe we really had been running around like headless chickens.

But still.

Compared to the revelations I’d received before, this wasn’t so bad.

It was better than when I blindly showed up at the capital and pretended to be a saint, like I did with Erfa.

“Just hold on a little longer, Kon. We have to find her. I’ve explained it a hundred times already.”

[I know, damn it. You need to die in her place, and only then will peace return to the world. What a glorious way to off yourself... You know what? Maybe we should just cut to the chase.]

“How?”

[What if I use everything I’ve got? Burn through all my psychic power in one go. The downside is, I’ll shut down for a while afterward. But in exchange, I’ll be able to scan a massive area all at once. Better than wasting time wandering in circles, don’t you think?]

That... was actually a solid suggestion.

Kon, of all things, was right.

This was draining for both of us.

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

[You sure about this?]

“Yeah. It’s better than running blind.”

[Good.]

The locket hanging from my neck began to tremble violently.

With a deep hum, it released a wave so intense it made my skin crawl.

A powerful pulse radiated outward.

“How is it? Kon? Did you find her? A woman with bony limbs and a hump—anyone matching that?”

[...I did.]

My eyes widened. Kon’s voice was hoarse, like I’d never heard before.

“You did? Seriously?”

[That direction. Straight to your right. But... you need to hurry.]

The vibration of the psychic amplifier began to fade rapidly.

[That woman... she’s dying... so sleepy...]

“What? Dying? What the hell do you mean?! Explain—”

The amplifier shut down.

And with it, a crushing mental fatigue slammed into my brain.

“Goddamn it...”

Only a second had passed in the real world, but my body had moved for a full six hours in frozen time.

Of course I was exhausted.

Without the amplifier, I couldn’t maintain the time-stop any longer.

I wasn’t a mage or a knight. If someone saw a regular guy using light-footwork to leap ten meters in a single stride, it would be like hanging a neon sign that said THE SAINT IS HERE.

So when time resumed, I tried to walk quietly whenever I could.

But now...

“Why the hell is she dying?!”

This wasn’t a time to be cautious.

As time resumed, I scanned my surroundings.

Late evening.

A remote area in the Empire’s northern outskirts.

No people in sight.

Even if someone did see me, they probably wouldn’t shout about spotting a saint.

With a bone-cracking snap, my modified legs launched me forward with insane force.

In the frozen world, there hadn’t been any wind—no resistance.

But now, sprinting with light-footwork through the air, the wind screamed in my ears like a blade.

“Don’t die!! Please!!”

Please.

Don’t die.

“I’ll die for you instead!!”

This was my chance—my one shot at soul annihilation.

I couldn’t let it slip away.

****

A confined space, bounded by a magic circle.

The weapons: a staff and a dagger.

And a body weakened by days without food or water.

To make matters worse, one side was backed by Pandemonium—the faction that had benefited most from the Heavenly War—while the other was barely a remnant of divine power clinging to a human soul.

This wasn’t going to last long.

“Ghkk!!”

The servant of Sloth deflected the thrust of Kanya’s spear-like staff with ease and slammed {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} a foot into her stomach.

Her body folded around the impact. Blood erupted from her mouth as she stumbled backward, organs likely ruptured.

“Ughh, such a pain in the ass. Why did you run? Now I have to work.”

A black aura gathered around the servant’s hand, quickly solidifying into a projectile, which shot straight at Kanya.

[Kanya!]

Crimson divine energy—symbol of the goddess of war—wrapped around her body.

A sharp crack split the air as divine power collided with darkness.

Kanya survived, but her body was so weak that even the shockwave knocked her flat to the ground.

Still, she didn’t let go of her staff.

But it was trembling. Barely holding.

“Let’s end this.”

The servant charged again.

The goddess tried to summon more divine power, but there was barely any left.

[Kanya!!]

Her body—the vessel through which divinity flowed—was too damaged to channel it properly.

The weakened divine energy couldn’t counter the dark magic.

With a sickening snap, the staff was severed by the dagger.

Without hesitation, the servant of Sloth drove the blackened blade straight into Kanya’s heart.

"Kyaaaa! Aaaargh!!!"

"Shhhh. Shhh... Just endure it a little longer, and soon you’ll belong to Lord Belphegor once again, Miss Kanya."

"No!! I don’t want this!! I don’t!!"

"Accept the Commandment of Subjugation once more. Your body and soul—entirely his."

Slowly, the black energy radiating from the dagger slithered like a snake along Kanya’s body.

As it crept downward—

It began to carve magic circles into her flesh.

This was among the highest forms of black magic.

An incantation directly granted by a Demon Lord.

[You bastard!! You think I’ll let this happen?!]

The goddess embedded in Kanya's soul roared, summoning divine power—but her resistance was effortlessly overpowered.

The servant looked down on the goddess’s rebellion with amusement, as if watching a child throw a tantrum.

"What can a defeated divinity—parasitically clinging to a mere mortal’s soul—possibly do? Still, be grateful to Lord Belphegor. War Goddess or not, it’s because of your past fame 300 years ago that our slothful lord personally granted this incantation."

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

[No! Kanya!]

At the goddess’s cry, Kanya seized the servant’s wrist with her frail hands. She desperately pushed against the dagger still lodged in her chest.

"I curse you. I curse all of you from Hell!! For doing this to my body! For stealing everything I ever loved! For giving me a life with not even a single happy memory! I curse all of it!! I’ll never surrender! I’d rather die than go back there!!"

"Agh. How damn annoying."

Without hesitation, the servant moved.

Gripping Kanya’s bony arm, he gave it a casual twist—crack—bones snapped, and her hand bent unnaturally.

Before she could even scream, his fist smashed into her face.

With a hideous crunch, her teeth and nose were pulverized.

Blood spattered. And then silence.

Kanya collapsed, unconscious, her face a ruin.

Black energy writhed greedily from the dagger embedded in her chest, spreading through her entire body.

“Fucking bitch just had to make everything difficult.”

The servant spat in disgust.

[Kanya!!... Ka...!...]

The goddess could no longer speak.

Her voice was silenced as Kanya’s body was completely engulfed in pure, unfiltered hellish magic bestowed by a Demon Lord.

The servant stood up, brushing blood and bits of teeth from his hand.

"Give it about three more minutes, and the spell will complete. Our great War Goddess—no, maybe I should start calling her Belphegor’s Plaything #3?"

He stretched casually, looking satisfied.

All he had to do now was wait for the Commandment of Subjugation to fully settle into this sacrificed vessel’s body and soul.

Even shattered, divine essence was still divine.

And Belphegor—Demon Lord of Sloth—loved collecting shattered divinities for later use.

She never liked stepping onto the battlefield herself.

She preferred to make others do it.

Manipulate them.

Make them move according to her whims.

That was the Demon Lord of Sloth.

If that so-called War Goddess got dragged back to Hell now, she'd likely be punished severely for her escape—forced to labor endlessly in Hell’s most brutal regions.

Her essence would be ground down, again and again, for Belphegor’s benefit.

But what did he care?

"Belphegor, my lord... accept this sacrifice and grant me your reward, heh heh..."

What happened to the War Goddess afterward?

The servant couldn’t care less.

As long as he got his reward, that was all that mattered.

"So, what should I ask for this time...?"

He smiled smugly, debating between wealth or women.

But then—his eyes narrowed.

“...Hm?”

It wasn’t fully dark yet.

That strange twilight hour when everything still seemed dimly lit.

In the distance, something was bouncing—up and down.

The servant craned his neck, squinting toward the horizon.

Up and down.

Up... and down.

Over and over again.

After a long moment—

“...A person?”

He realized it was a person.

And the second that recognition dawned—

A chill ran down his spine.

"What kind of person jumps that high?"

Even at a glance, each leap was at least ten, maybe twenty meters high.

Not even knights or paladins, known for superhuman physical ability, moved like that.

They only accelerated like that when absolutely necessary. No one maintained that speed all the time—it was insane.

“Who the hell is that...?”

And then—

Another jolt of fear struck him.

“...That bastard...”

Whoever it was—

“...That bastard’s heading this way, isn’t he?”

He was coming straight for the servant.

The servant looked down at the ground in a panic.

The Veil of Deception spell was still in effect.

It was functioning perfectly.

A high-level barrier spell—no one could see what was happening inside it, and no one could enter or exit without permission.

“Unless it’s a high bishop or a chosen one, there’s no way anyone could detect—”

Just as he was assuring himself with the pride of someone who’d mastered black magic—

Two sensations hit him at once.

One: the sight of a furious young man mid-swing, clearly about to strike.

The other—

“GUAAARGH!!”

The sudden, sharp slap of a belt crashing against his face.