Me, a priest? How could that be!

Chapter 159 Who is the real monster?

Behind the headquarters of the Axis religion, the temperature around the top of the hot spring mountain used to be at least 30 degrees Celsius, but now it feels like only a few degrees, simply because a huge iceberg stands there.

This was done by Wiz.

As expected of the Ice Witch, her strength is truly terrifying. Becoming a lich did not diminish her power; on the contrary, she became even stronger than during her time as an adventurer.

Although she could only do it by absorbing Charlotte's magic power, it also shows that her mental strength is terrifyingly strong. Magic does not only require magic power, but also mental strength. Otherwise, Megumin would not have gotten a nosebleed when she used magic crystals to bombard the Demon King's castle later.

Furthermore, Charlotte also lost most of his magic; he hadn't expected the lich girl to be so "squeezing" out his power.

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

Wiz leaned against him, breathing heavily; clearly, the magic she had just used had taken a toll on her.

the other side.

Aqua, Darkness, and Megumin all looked frightened and huddled together, probably scared by Wiz's serious demeanor, which was different from his usual self.

Kazuma Sato also swallowed hard.

He stared at the towering, massive iceberg before him, and the monster encased within, its expression ferocious yet unable to move, like a creature sealed away at the beginning of a monster movie. He was utterly speechless.

"Aqua?"

"Hmm—its vital signs have completely disappeared, which means it's dead."

"Really? — I mean, Aqua, although I know you have a lot of opinions about Wiz, but —"

"I know, I'll try to tone it down."

Aqua quietly echoed.

The fact that Wiz's strength could make the idiotic goddess, who harbors deep hatred for the undead, relent suggests that his power has indeed had a deterrent effect.

"But let's end it here." Sato Kazuma breathed a sigh of relief. "Although we weren't of much use this time, we've at least resolved the crisis—Wiz, you deserve the most credit for defeating the Demon King's army officers. When the kingdom awards the bounty, we'll give you all the money."

"No, no need. I didn't do anything, so—"

"Don't you want it? There are hundreds of millions of them!"

Aqua said this seductively.

Wiz was stunned.

She probably hadn't expected such a large reward, or perhaps she knew there was such a reward but had never considered it in this way. But now that there was so much money, the friendship with her colleague was suddenly weighed against the money.

"Aqua, don't say such unnecessary things!"

"It hurts!"

Kazuma Sato slapped her on the head and then said, "Wiz, have you forgotten that you signed the treaty? Don't be tempted."

"Yes, yes—I'm sorry."

Wiz gave an awkward laugh.

Darkness approached the iceberg, stroking it while saying with some regret, "Such a big slime, if we were to play with it... it would be amazing—haha—haha—I mean, us."

"no."

"I haven't said it yet!"

"You're probably thinking of taking it back as a prize, right? While it's tempting to put a Demon King's military officer in your mansion as a prize, it's dangerous, and the kingdom won't allow something so dangerous to be left unattended."

"That's true."

Darkness shook his head in disappointment.

Megumin was equally disappointed. She liked using large targets as bait, so she really wanted to use explosion magic to bombard Hans. Unfortunately, Hans was a highly poisonous slime, and if it exploded, it would pollute all the hot springs, so she had to give up in the end.

"Alright, alright, stop looking so gloomy. We've once again defeated the Demon King's army officers; we're heroes who saved this town. Smile a little more!"

Aqua was overjoyed.

Besides the bounty, there were also extreme cases where Alcanredia was spared from being corrupted and losing her religious cult's financial support, thus protecting her followers and giving the goddess a great sense of accomplishment.

Yes, us.

"Danger!!"

Just as Charlotte agreed, he completely relaxed his guard and did not notice a certain entity in the corner. Before Sato Kazuma, who was the first to react but was unable to stop it, was terrified, his body was enveloped by a small soft object.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a slime!

"Hahaha—! You guys were too careless!" Hans's voice came from its mouth. No, to be precise, this small slime was Hans's true form!

"You, you bastard—!"

"Let go of Charlotte!"

"You despicable bastard! Come at me if you dare! Don't hold back, use your choking technique on me!!"

Several people said this in succession.

Wiz desperately wanted to use ice magic to freeze Hans again, but without Charlotte's energy bank and with her mental energy depleted, she was powerless to do so.

Hans laughed triumphantly.

"It's too late. Don't let my small size fool you, my poison is incredibly potent! He's been completely melted away! Hahaha, even if I die, I'll take him with me! Miss Yasaka said he was a powerful, albeit potentially dangerous, enemy. I used to scoff at that, but now it seems true! Eliminating the biggest threat to the Demon King's army is the last thing I can do!"

"Oh my, you're really loyal to the Demon King's army."

"Of course! I am the most—most——— ...

Hans was speechless.

Even though Charlotte had been dissolved by his deadly poison and was now just a head, she was still talking to him!

"You, how could you—"

"You mean this? It's nothing serious. Just do this—see, it'll be back to normal."

Under Hans's incredulous gaze, Charlotte radiated a soft light. In just a few minutes, her lost body was completely healed. Her missing internal organs, limbs, and even her skin were frighteningly white, as if she had been completely restored from the factory.

In other words, his priest's robes were destroyed and could not be restored, so he was now naked, which made the girls a little shy and dare not look at him—not all of them, for example, Aqua stared at him openly, while Darkness peeked with her fingers spread wide.

"What a joke! I'm Hans the Poisonous Slime, a high-ranking officer in the Demon King's army! Don't underestimate me!!"

Hans lunged at him again.

This time, he enveloped Charlotte completely and then quickly melted away.

"It hurts so much, it hurts so much—"

Charlotte cried out in pain as he rapidly healed himself. In the end, Hans, despite his best efforts, couldn't dissolve him—it might have been possible if it were a fully-fledged venomous slime, but he simply couldn't do it now. In the end, even if Charlotte was reduced to bones, or even just a skull, he could be restored to his original form.

Hans was dumbfounded.

"Are you... a monster!?"

"How interesting. A monster (slime) actually calls someone else a monster. Unfortunately, I'm human, just a human. The only difference is that I'm a tiny bit indestructible."

Charlotte said this playfully on purpose, but unfortunately, Hans completely failed to grasp the meaning of her words.

Charlotte then looked at Aqua.

"You'll deliver the final blow."

"May I?"

"I've been letting you build up your anger, it's time to release it. Here you go."

He tossed the slime he was holding over.

"Then, Divine Light Fist!!"

Aqua delivered a powerful punch, and Hans was cleanly and efficiently purified.