CHAPTER 140
An explosion swept through the Holy Ground.
The overwhelming blast, filled with the power of a Transcendent, swept past even the holy barrier.
Saintess Lua, taking in the scene with her own two eyes, bit her lip hard.
The one who had caused that explosion had made his choice based on her words.
It was the best option.
Bloody Crown's true Apostilization was inevitable, a fate that could not be stopped.
Most importantly, Harua could be revived.
She knew that fact well.
Lua had always maintained her own pace.
A somewhat mysterious woman who knew many things.
She was the Saintess, an idol and a symbol to all.
Therefore, she always maintained that upright demeanor, but she, too, was still a young girl.
Things that happened out of her sight were fine.
But she couldn't shamelessly watch as someone unhesitatingly sacrificed themselves right before her eyes.
Harua's methods of attack were all bizarre.
Attacks that showed no regard for his own body, unhesitatingly embracing even death.
Lua knew that Harua possessed Resurrection magic.
But his methods went beyond what one could do simply by having such magic.
Does having Resurrection magic mean you don't feel pain?
Does having Resurrection magic mean there's no mental shock?
All of it still exists.
They say pain dulls with repetition, but that is only a feeling.
The pain accumulated in the body leads directly to stress that burdens the brain.
And yet, Harua endured and endured such extreme situations, finally sacrificing his own life to achieve his goal.
In this moment, Lua honestly realized it.
The fact that, deep down, she had been underestimating Harua all this time.
She had thought that the path he walked was largely thanks to his Resurrection magic.
She had thought that it was because of Resurrection magic that Harua could become a Saint.
But she was wrong.
That man was absolutely not like that.
Even without Resurrection magic, Harua was the type of person who would have surely completed his mission.
A superhuman.
That title wasn't only for those with powerful strength, special abilities, or outstanding talent.
A person who transcends the spiritual ideal, someone you can't help but admire purely as a human being.
Such a person is called a superhuman.
Of all the people Lua had ever seen, Harua was the closest to being one.
A shiver unconsciously ran down her entire body.
Lua covered her mouth.
She, who was supposed to be an idol to all as the Saintess, found herself unconsciously admiring someone.
‘This itself is proof that I am still far from being a true Saintess.’
But she didn't want to be shameless enough to turn a blind eye to his sacrifice.
Harua was a man who deserved respect.
He was someone who lowered himself, but that didn't mean those around him should evaluate him in the same way.
In Saintess Lua's heart, Harua had now taken his place as a true Saint.
Furthermore, she realized and admitted just how arrogant she had been.
The path the Holy Church must take from now on.
She now understood what that path should be.
The explosion slowly subsided.
In that place, there was no Harua, no Bloody Crown, and no Aigis.
An empty space.
The Grand Cathedral of the Holy Ground was no longer there.
All the bodies and people that had been scattered around the cathedral had been collected.
They had been sent away separately through Ririran, so there were only three casualties.
It was all according to Harua's instructions.
“Saintess!”

Just then, an urgent voice called out.
The Holy Knights at her side quickly moved to protect her.
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
At that moment, a tremor rose from beneath the ground, and something shot up from the earth.
It was a giant plant.
A plant of overwhelming size, with multiple stems that made it crawl on the ground like a giant caterpillar.
Atop that plant…
Stood a figure wearing a robe woven from intertwined plants.
The moment Lua saw him, she knew his identity.
“Arborex…”

The Sin of Pride, Arborex.
Unlike the other Sins, he had never been found anywhere, but now, at this moment, he finally revealed himself.
Could it be that he had been hiding somewhere, waiting for this very moment?
It was an absurdly audacious move.
He immediately directed the plant he controlled toward the center of the Holy Ground.
The moment she saw this, Lua clapped her hands together without hesitation.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE!
At that moment, the heavens parted and a pillar of pure white light descended. The parts of the giant caterpillar plant touched by the light simply crumbled away.
This was the Holy Ground.
The place where the Embrace of Holy Light bestowed its greatest power.
In Bloody Crown's case, it couldn't be stopped due to the compatibility of his Divine Power, but…

Here is the translated text:

Originally, this was a place no one could invade.
But, as if this too had been anticipated, the side of the plant caterpillar’s head opened.
In that instant, the plant began to absorb ferociously, like a vacuum cleaner.
“What?”
A look of bewilderment spread across Lua’s face.
The reddish current mixed within the light of the area was forcibly sucked into the plant’s interior.
“Everyone, you don’t need to protect me! Please, stop that man first!”
Seeing this, the Holy Knights drew their swords in unison and charged.
However, most of the Holy Knights' forces were outside, and what little remained in the Holy Land had been wiped out by Bloody Crown.
As a result, their numbers were far too lacking.
As they charged, the back of Arborex’s plant caterpillar opened.
Immediately, a swarm of thousands of insectoid plants poured out.
“Break through! We must break through!”
“This is the chance the Saintess and the Saint created for us! We must stop them!”
The Holy Knights, spitting blood and roaring, fought desperately to pierce through the insectoid plant army.
But despite their frantic attacks, the swarm of insectoid plants was endless.
Even a small group of them was enough to push back a Holy Knight.
Faced with this absurd situation, Lua’s eyes widened.
She knew they were outnumbered, but she never imagined they would be so completely outmatched in terms of quality as well.
Atop the plant caterpillar.
Arborex stood proudly, looking down at them with a smirk.
“Goodness, this world is as noisy as ever. I much prefer the quiet of a forest.”
His arrogant smile was, to anyone who saw it, the very picture of Pride.
Right now, there was no one among them who could stop Arborex head-on.
Lua bit her lip.
‘They said he belonged to the first group of Transferees. He’s even stronger than I imagined.’
Among the Seven Deadly Sins, Arborex was the one who had been active the longest. A Transferee who had turned more than half of his body into plants, allowing him to live without the constraints of a normal lifespan.
He was an immortal who could still stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the strongest figures of the current era.
Will I let things proceed as Black Dawn wishes?
Lua brought her hands together again.
It would consume an excessive amount of power, but she would expand the scale of the Holy Land’s barrier to stop him.
The moment she made that decision.
From the sky above.
A man fell onto the plant caterpillar.
KWAAAAAAAANG!
With a deafening roar, the plant caterpillar was split in two.
Arborex was thrown into the air before managing a rough landing.
“Tsk, just kicking up dust.”
A hint of irritation showed on Arborex’s face.
Shortly after, the figure standing at the center of the explosion was revealed to be a man wearing sunglasses.
He clenched his fist, extinguishing the smoke rising from his bare hands.
“Pride. So you finally crawled out.”
Regular Army Lieutenant General, Inferno.
He was the reinforcement Ririran had summoned after flying to the Regular Army, right after she had called for the nearby Holy Knights.
Following him, more Regular Army soldiers began appearing through Ririran's spatial gates.
The moment they arrived, they began eliminating Arborex’s insectoid plant army without hesitation.
Thud!
Just then, the head of the bisected plant caterpillar launched itself away and fell to the ground.
Atop it was Arborex, who had used a vine to land with it.
“Insolent brat. You have no respect for your elders.”
Wings sprouted from the plant caterpillar’s head, and it began to ascend at high speed.
“Elder, my ass!”
Inferno, not wanting to let him escape, immediately leaped into the air with an explosion. Simultaneously, the Regular Army mages unleashed a barrage of spells toward the sky, chasing Arborex.
The situation instantly devolved into a chaotic melee.
Lua slowly lowered the hands she had clasped for prayer and let out a breath.
The sudden appearance of the Sin of Pride.
She understood his objective the moment she saw him.
The 1st Grade Dark Attribute.
Bloody Crown’s body had been shattered to pieces and scattered across the Holy Land.
Having been infused with so much Divine Power, not a single scrap of flesh should have remained.
However, the Divine Power that had used him as a medium was a separate matter.
A moment ago, Arborex’s plant caterpillar had absorbed exactly that.
‘Black Dawn.’
She was well aware of how dangerous they were, which was why the Holy Church had been cooperating with the Regular Army.
But to think they were even planning to exploit this timing…
These people were far more dangerous than she had ever imagined.
For now, the various nations were leaving the matter to the Regular Army and keeping things quiet, but Black Dawn’s actions would only grow more perilous.
A chilling thought also occurred to her.
Perhaps they had a way to deal with Bloody Crown even if he had completed his True Apostle Transformation.

‘If Harua hadn’t been here…’
She felt a dizzying sense of dread.
“Cough, those damn Sins never give us a moment’s rest.”
Startled by a voice from behind, she turned her head.
There, having appeared at some point with Ririran, was a boy.
He was slumped on the ground, clearly in very poor condition.
It was Harua.
“Boy, I will give chase immediately. You rest,” Ririran said.
“I’ll go with you.”
“Don’t talk nonsense when you can’t even stand properly.”
After getting a scolding from the departing Ririran, Harua looked back at Lua with an awkward expression.
His clothes were different from before.
Furthermore, the color of his eyes had also changed.
One of them had turned completely white.
The sight made him look all the more tragic.
It was plain to see how immense his suffering must have been.
As if sensing Lua’s gaze, Harua immediately smiled.
“Maybe it’s because of the excessive Divine Power. Even though I was blown to bits, my revival speed was even faster than before.”
The boy spoke so nonchalantly.
One would never guess this was the voice of the person who had just preemptively eliminated an evil capable of shaking not just the Holy Land, but the entire world.
And yet, that nonchalant voice provided a profound sense of relief.
It was the reassurance that this person would always come back, no matter what happened.
She felt a sudden urge to cry.
To think he would put on such a carefree face after overcoming such an ordeal, just so others wouldn't worry.
This person had a strange power to move people’s hearts.
“...You must get scolded a lot by those around you, Harua-nim.”
That’s why she also thought that those around him must worry a great deal.
Being by the side of a man who cared so little for his own body must be exhausting; you couldn’t take your eyes off him for a single day.
She thought of the women who stayed by his side.
They would probably raise all hell when they heard the news of this incident.
That was entirely Harua’s responsibility, so there was nothing she could do about it.
Therefore, Lua decided to do what she could.
She took a breath and began to speak.
“Harua-nim, you have far more Divine Power stored in you than before.”
“Ah, right. It doesn’t seem to be a problem for now, so I guess it’s fine?”
“No. You received the Divine Power of three Transcendents. Even if you managed to revive this time, your current state is on the verge of Apostle Transformation. If this continues, your Resurrection magic will soon stop working.”
“...Huh.”
Hearing her next words, Harua froze for the first time.
He clearly hadn’t known this fact.
Resurrection magic was his trump card.
But if he underwent Apostle Transformation, his body would certainly not be able to revive completely.
Of course, he would gain inhuman regenerative abilities even before resurrection became an issue.
But that was a different matter entirely.
And so, Lua let out a breath she’d been holding and smiled sweetly.
“Harua.”
And then, Lua dropped a bombshell.
“Let’s sleep together.”
“...Excuse me?”
Harua, who had reverted to polite, formal speech, was dumbfounded.