The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom: Part 1

Indeed, being able to negate the spells cast on him from the rear and perfectly evade physical attacks made him seem overwhelmingly superior. However—

Do you think we’ve never fought enemies like this before?

Unless their summoners were specialists, summoned monsters were generally weaker than the ones who called them forth. Therefore, there were cases where angels’ attacks ended up being useless.

Against a powerful foe, the best way to use angels was—

The airborne angels rushed Jaldabaoth as one. They did not use their swords, but tackled him.

—To hinder their opponents’ movements in this fashion.

It was quite effective.

Perhaps he was starting to grow tense, but Jaldabaoth went on the offensive, and a single swipe of his claws caused several angels to vanish into nothingness.

However, the angels from behind filled the gap, continuing the attack in place of their absent fellows.

This was the frightening thing about summoned monsters. Since they were beings that did not die even when they were killed, they could be fully utilized in this fashion.

The angels came like a ferocious waterfall, without rest or respite, and Jaldabaoth’s flowing counterattacks left Remedios staring in awe. However—

That’s carelessness on your part!

Remedios had moved subtly to step into an opening in Jaldabaoth’s defense, a fatal flaw that was exposed when he was on guard against the angels coming from above.

“—What!?”

“Yeeart!”

She activated a skill, and then her martial arts, using her holy sword to strike a blow with all her might.

She had chosen to conserve the greatest power of her holy sword because her instincts told her that then was not the time for that powerful move, which could only be used once a day.

Stricken by the mightiest blow she could muster apart from that move, Jaldabaoth flew back as though he was being smashed to the horizon, until he crashed into a store on the other side of the plaza.

Remedios looked down at the hands which held her blade.

“—Oh crap.”

“Nee-sama! You did it!”

She shouted angrily in response to her little sister’s excited exclamation.

“It’s not over yet! How could he have flown so far!?”

“Given your brute strength, I think it’s possible, Nee-sama...”

“He flew out by himself!”

Indeed, not only had she allowed Jaldabaoth to escape the encirclement, she had even given him the chance to hide in a house.

The reason why they could take on enemies like Jaldabaoth was because they could encircle their opponent and force them to face many people at once. Allowing him to hide in a cramped home was too dangerous.

In addition, Jaldabaoth’s actions would change now. It was possible he would stop playing around now.

“Remedios! What should we do?” Calca shouted.

Usually, Remedios would ask and then Calca would answer, but now the opposite was the case. During battle, she was better able to make the right choice than the other two.

“Demolish the house without going near it!”

After hearing that, the priests cast attack spells one after the other.

They collapsed the house in short order. However, it was hard to believe Jaldabaoth had been crushed under the falling debris. Even Remedios in her enchanted armor could survive that much unless she was very unlucky. Also—

Remedios looked down at her blade, which was unstained by blood.

Could he have rolled with that blow just by flying away? Had he used a martial art like 「Fortress」 or something? Or was it a demon-only skill? There were many possibilities for that, but things would become troublesome if she could not see through it.

Amidst the sounds of destruction, the neighboring houses crumbled under the area-effect spells. Dirt and dust filled the air, and she could not help coughing.

“Say, Remedios, why hasn’t Jaldabaoth come out yet?”

“...Nee-sama, could it be he’s already escaped by teleportation?”

That demon, who spoke so arrogantly? I can’t imagine he’d escape without being hurt...

“...We ought to use fire. Pour on the oil and ignite it. May I ask you to bless it, Calca-sama?”

“Nee-sama, are we going to conduct the ritual of Holy Fire? Doing so to harm an opponent… is that really what a paladin ought to be doing?”

“That’s fine, if Remedios thinks that’s the best way, then we’ll go with it. No, we should do it. Since he’s a demon, there’s no reason he won’t be hurt.”

Many demons were resistant to fire, but the Holy Fire was of the holy element, and fire resistance was only half as effective against it.

“Then, Calca-sama, the preparations for the ritual—”

“We don’t have time for that. Please use the simplified version.”

Calca looked straight ahead as she said that, and from the corner of Remedios’s eye, she saw her little sister wondering if she should go “But that—”