Volume 4, Chapter 9-3 – Demons, Delicious

Stella raised her head and stared at Veronica, who had completely transformed into a dragon.

Now, she finally understood.

She finally understood why the Samael Dragon Attendant had said Veronica could easily flatten Blood Demon Manor.

Back on the Nightmare carriage, Stella had actually been fortunate enough to see several dragon demons in their transformed states.

The Samael Dragon Attendants who attacked the Nightmare carriage had already possessed wingspans vast enough to blot out the sky and cover the earth, frightening Stella badly at the time.

But compared to the pureblood dragon Veronica, those Samael Dragon Attendants were not even in the same league.

Veronica was now considerably taller than the main building of Blood Demon Manor.

If she unleashed her full power, she really could destroy Blood Demon Manor completely.

“Ma-Master…” Lainia looked up at Veronica alongside Stella and asked nervously, “What do we do now?”

Lainia was completely at a loss now.

She could forcibly hold Veronica’s aggro before, healing herself with Holy Healing and fighting without fear of death.

The problem was that Veronica was far too enormous now. Lainia had absolutely no doubt that a single stomp could flatten her into a pancake that even the Heart of Holy Light could not save.

If she wanted her remains returned home afterward, someone would probably need a shovel.

Stella rolled her eyes.

She wanted to know what to do too.

The situation was far too unfavorable for them now.

Where were the Chastisement spirits?

Your colleagues from the Holy See were in trouble now. Why weren’t you coming over to help?!

Stella instinctively glanced toward the Chastisement spirits.

The pure white spirits floated sparsely throughout the courtyard. Their spiritual bodies were extremely dim, and some could barely maintain a humanoid outline as they drifted weakly in the night wind.

The Chastisement spirits had clearly suffered enormous losses and could no longer keep going.

They needed to condense their spiritual particles again, so they were all currently in a standby state. They probably would not be much help anytime soon.

Rеaⅾ οn ΚαtRеαⅾіոgСafе

However…

Even after they finished reassembling, they would not be much use.

Ordinary Chastisement spirits were enough to deal with higher demons.

But to fight high-ranking demons or even Archdemons, they needed composite spirits formed by merging multiple Chastisement spirits together.

The corner of Stella’s mouth twitched.

‘What the hell is the White Tower’s Warden doing?’

They were chastising Aetlana, a high-ranking demon, yet they were not even willing to deploy composite spirits.

Twelve Chastisement spirits had already inexplicably disappeared last time, and now they had simply doubled the number and sent ordinary Chastisement spirits in as cannon fodder?

If the White Tower had a complaint box, Stella would absolutely write a righteous letter of condemnation and leave a one-star review.

“Lainia,” Stella said, “Find a way to stall her for a while.”

“I’m supposed to stall her… Seriously?” Lainia blinked in confusion. “A dragon that huge? Me?”

“I don’t care.” Stella said. “Anyway, just draw her attention first.”

Lainia’s face fell.

Then she took a deep breath and shouted toward Veronica.

“Hey!” Lainia yelled at the top of her lungs, even banging her greatsword against the ground. “Come on, come on, you big stupid dragon! Look at me, look at me, look at me!”

Veronica’s blazing golden eyes locked onto the black-and-white figure making all that noise, and she immediately stomped down.

Lainia let out several strange cries and scrambled away, practically rolling across the ground.

Veronica’s foot instantly stomped a deep crater into the earth, spraying broken stones everywhere.

Lainia looked back at the crater, her face turning pale.

“That almost killed me. I nearly became a pancake.”

But Lainia did not dare stop. She started banging her sword against the ground again.

“Come on, come on! Over here!”

Rеαd оո КαtRеαdіոɡCafе

Veronica raised her massive claw again.

Lainia started running again.

One stomped, one dodged.

One stomped, one dodged.

Stomp, dodge.

Stomp, dodge.

Stella finally saw what was happening.

After transforming into a dragon, Veronica seemed to have become considerably less intelligent.

She no longer used any complicated attacks and simply kept trying to stomp the little bug bouncing around beneath her to death.

Although Lainia could not beat her, she was unexpectedly nimble at dodging.

But this could at most buy them a little time. Once Veronica came back to her senses, she could tear Blood Demon Manor apart in minutes.

The problem was, what could Stella actually do?

Stella thought about it seriously.

The first thing that came to mind was naturally to turn Sanctity of the Heart into a sword and slash Veronica with it, just like she had done against Mia, the Lord of Blood.

But she knew just from thinking about it that this would not work.

This was Nightmare Street, the most prosperous commercial district in the middle layer of the Abyss.

The commotion just now had already been enormous. It had definitely attracted the attention of quite a few demons. There might even be people secretly watching this place right now.

Although Blood Demon Manor’s blood mist obscured visibility, the aura of Holy Light was far too distinctive.

She could blame the Chastisement spirits on the Chastisement Brand, but there was simply no way to explain pure Holy Light.

The same went for Pale Sacred Remains.

Unless she could afterward slaughter her way from Nightmare Street’s northwestern gate all the way to Diagon Alley, chopping one down after another, chopping one down after another, for three days and three nights until every single witness had been killed cleanly, she absolutely could not use it.

Reаⅾ oո KatRеаⅾinɡСаfе

Black flame?

Stella lowered her eyes and looked at her own shadow.

Last time, she had indeed used black flame to burn two higher dragon demons.

The problem was that Veronica was simply too enormous.

Would black flame really work against a dragon body that huge?

Even if it worked, how long would she have to burn Veronica before she died?

“If I could transform into a dragon too, maybe I could deal with her easily.”

Stella stared at Veronica’s mountainlike dragon body and murmured to herself.

Unfortunately…

Lavinia’s essence could provide her with dragon horns, dragon scales, and a dragon tail, allowing her to look like a dragon demon, but it had not directly given her the ability to transform into a dragon.

At most, it could let her take on the appearance of a half-dragon.

Perhaps digesting only one higher demon had not provided enough time or quality.

If only she could speed up the digestion process.

Stella’s gaze moved away from Veronica and inadvertently swept over the Samael Dragon Attendants lying all over the courtyard.

Six Samael Dragon Attendants lay crookedly amid pools of blood and piles of rubble, with dark golden dragon blood spilled all across the ground.

Stella froze.

A flash of inspiration crossed her mind, and a crooked idea instantly took shape.

Higher dragon demons.

Fresh.

Six of them.

Back at the beginning, Blood Shadow had devoured Lavinia’s essence, giving Stella the traits of a dragon demon and allowing her to take the form of a half-dragon.

Then…

Rеаd оո КαtReαⅾinɡСαfе

What if Blood Shadow devoured the essence of several more Dragon Attendants?

If she could absorb more dragon bloodlines…

Could she perhaps gain the ability to transform into a dragon?

But…

Actively eating demons did not exactly sound very good, did it?

Stella raised her eyes toward the pitch-black dome of the Abyss glittering with starlight.

If a Saintess ate demons, would that count as corruption?

Stella thought about it.

Although demons used apples to tempt mankind, what harmed their souls was sin, not the apples.

Stealing the forbidden fruit destroyed the soul, while enjoying fruit bestowed as a gift nourished the body and mind.

Then, in other words.

Drink freely of the Lord’s fine wine, and as the Lord’s precious believers, eat the Lord’s offerings without worry.

Therefore…

‘A Saintess eating demons does not count as corruption!’

‘In fact, the more demons I eat, the more devout my faith becomes!’

‘This is a necessary evil!’

Translator Note

Succubus Dragon Saintess joins the fray!