Volume 4, Chapter 10-2 – My Chastisement Spirit Colleagues Are All Loyal and Righteous!

Lainia felt like her legs were about to stop belonging to her.

She rolled to the left and once again escaped with her life. Her black-and-white nun’s habit was covered in mud and dust. Without even having time to catch her breath, she rolled across the ground again, scrambled to her feet, and kept running.

Veronica’s stomp missed once more.

With a thunderous crash, the ground trembled and shattered stones flew everywhere.

Lainia panted heavily and seized the chance to glance behind her.

Veronica’s dragon body practically occupied the entire courtyard. Her dark golden scales gleamed with a cold light like diamonds, and her brilliant golden eyes remained fixed tightly on Lainia, growing increasingly restless.

“…I’m exhausted.”

Lainia muttered, though her feet did not stop.

She had no idea how long she’d been running or how many times she’d dodged.

All she knew was that every time she nearly got stepped on, her heart would pound wildly, and the Heart of Holy Light would frantically pump out more power, allowing her to keep running and keep dodging.

And then she got hungry.

Extremely hungry.

With this much energy being burned, it’d be strange if she wasn’t hungry.

“If only I had something to eat…” Lainia muttered. “Anything would do. Bread, roasted meat, even half a steamed bun…”

The moment she finished speaking, her foot kicked something.

Lainia looked down and froze.

It was a slice of strawberry cake.

It was even still warm.

Right there among the rubble, perfectly clean, with a layer of pure white cream spread across the top.

Lainia had no time to wonder why a slice of strawberry cake had suddenly appeared out of thin air. She bent down, scooped it up, stuffed it into her mouth, and kept running as she chewed.

The strawberries were incredibly fresh, the cream was smooth and delicate, and the sweetness was just right. The slightly tart strawberries paired with the sweet cream felt as light as two butterflies dancing in the afternoon breeze.

‘It is amazing…’

‘So good.’

‘Blood Demon Manor really does have everything.’

‘Great. I could hold out for a few more seconds—’

However, Lainia quickly discovered that replenishing her energy with food alone wasn’t enough to solve the problem.

Because Veronica seemed…

‘Has she come back to her senses?’

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Lainia had also noticed that after transforming into a dragon, Veronica’s intelligence really had fallen off a cliff. She was like a clumsy giant baby who only knew how to stomp on the little bug scurrying around beneath her feet.

But those clumsy, childlike movements were only temporary after all.

The giant dragon stopped stomping.

Veronica stood motionless in the center of the courtyard.

Her enormous dragon head slowly lowered. Every breath released scorching white vapor, and her blazing golden slit pupils locked onto Lainia.

She seemed to have lost the last of her patience with this prey that kept taunting her and darting all over the place.

Lainia involuntarily stopped moving.

She saw Veronica take a deep breath in her direction, the chest of her dragon body visibly swelling.

Something was gathering in her throat. Dark crimson light flowed through the blood vessels beneath her scales.

The surrounding air abruptly became scorching hot.

The corner of Lainia’s mouth twitched.

Even if she was stupid, she knew what this was.

Dragonfire.

A single blast of dragonfire capable of burning an entire street to ash.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Lainia muttered. “Why do you always start cheating the moment you’re losing!”

She had no doubt that if Veronica breathed that out, she would turn to ash, Blood Demon Manor would turn to ash, and even Master would turn to ash.

This was bad.

No matter how powerful Holy Healing was, it couldn’t turn a pile of ash back into a person.

Master had told her to buy time.

But how long had she managed to stall?

Not even two minutes.

“I’m done for, I’m done for…”

Lainia tightened her grip on the greatsword in her hands.

Then she took a deep breath and raised the sword.

“Phew…”

‘Whatever.’

If she died, she died.

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No matter what.

‘For Master. For the sake of continuing to freeload with a clear conscience.’

‘A gatekeeper couldn’t retreat!’

She had freeloaded for so long anyway. It was about time she paid some of it back.

“Hey!”

Lainia shouted at the top of her lungs, dragging her greatsword behind her as she charged toward Veronica.

“You big stupid dragon! Look over here! Look at me!”

Even if she was going to die, she had to die charging forward.

This was the dignity of the newly appointed gatekeeper of Blood Demon Manor.

Veronica’s golden eyes turned toward her. The light in her throat grew brighter and brighter as her dragon breath prepared to erupt.

Although the destiny of a battle nun was to stand before a Saintess and protect the Pure Saintess’s smile with her life, and although submitting to a succubus was humiliating, at least she would still die charging forward.

Close enough.

But…

Lainia had only taken a few steps when she stopped.

Because she discovered that Veronica had stopped too.

Her golden eyes were no longer fixed on Lainia. Instead, they stared directly behind her. The light in her throat gradually dimmed as well.

The dragon breath… stopped.

Lainia froze where she stood.

At some point, the moonlight had dimmed.

She sensed that something was blocking it.

Something very large.

Lainia slowly raised her head.

Then she saw a dragon.

A dragon that was pale from head to toe.

It stood there silently, right behind her.

Although it was one size smaller than Veronica, the oppressive presence rolling off it was not inferior in the slightest.

Lainia felt that there would never again be another moonlit night like this one. The moon poured down its tranquil radiance, faintly illuminating the pale dragon before her.

The pale dragon’s scales gleamed softly beneath the hazy moonlight. Jagged bone spurs extended along its spine, while a pair of equally pale bat wings remained half-spread behind it, filling Lainia’s entire field of vision.

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The pale dragon slowly opened its golden eyes in the darkness.

Golden eyes brighter, purer, and more scorching than Veronica’s.

“My God…” Lainia stared upward blankly. “Why is there another one?!”

She felt that she must have gotten so hungry today that she’d started hallucinating.

First the Chastisement spirits, then the Dragon Attendants, then Veronica, and now another dragon had appeared.

Was Blood Demon Manor actually a dragon’s nest?

While Lainia’s mind was still frozen, she heard the pale dragon speak.

“Naughty children need a spanking.”

Perhaps it was because the night had grown late and the surroundings were too quiet, or perhaps it was because they were so close, but although the pale dragon’s voice was very soft, Lainia could clearly hear the faint raspiness in its tone.

‘Naughty child?’

‘Who is she talking about?’

Lainia froze for a moment.

‘And who are you?’

She didn’t quite understand.

But…

‘That voice… sounds so familiar.’

Lainia stared at the pale dragon and remembered Stella telling her to buy time just now. Then she remembered those golden eyes slowly opening in the darkness.

‘Could it be…’

Lainia opened her mouth.

“…Master?”

—————

Stella was the pale dragon.

She was a little stunned herself.

Just now, she’d been standing in the courtyard wondering how exactly she was supposed to transform into a dragon. The instant she connected to the essence of the dragon-type demons, she merely willed it, and scales gradually emerged through her skin, her bones reorganized themselves inside her body, her spine extended vertebra by vertebra, and broad bat wings unfurled behind her as though they could cover the entire sky.

By the time Stella came back to her senses, she’d already transformed into a completely pale dragon.

“Hehe…”

So domineering.

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So exhilarating.

As an ordinary human Saintess, Stella had never experienced a feeling like this before.

Sanctified Sword Transformation was ultimately the Lord’s divine power. Although using it felt immensely satisfying, she had to wield it with a devout heart toward the Lord and could not harbor even the slightest blasphemous thought.

Pale Sacred Remains was borrowed power as well. Its source, the Pale Lord, was infamous throughout the world. Stella always used it with extreme caution, terrified that someone might discover it.

But the power of the dragon-type demons was unquestionably power that rightfully belonged to her after the Blood Shadow devoured seven dragon-type demons.

It belonged entirely to her.

‘Thank you for your generous gift, Mia, Lord of Blood!’

Stella lowered her eyes and saw the tiny Lainia beneath her feet.

The maid, clad in black and white, had clothes torn to tatters. At this moment, Lainia stared blankly up at her with an expression that made her look as though she’d just thrown out her back.

Stella was in an excellent mood.

Her usual disadvantage in height had finally been made up for.

Although she had the urge to poke Lainia a few times, there was real business to take care of.

Stella examined Veronica before her and instinctively compared their sizes.

She didn’t understand.

They were both dragons, so why was she still a full size smaller than the other one after transforming?

She had eaten seven dragon-type demons. Lavinia plus six Dragon Attendants, with all seven streams of essence fused together. So why was she still not as big as Veronica?

‘Is that reasonable?’

Before Stella could figure it out, Veronica moved.

The dark golden dragon lowered the front half of her body and glared menacingly at Stella, looking like a cat baring its teeth at an unfamiliar member of its own kind. Low growls continuously rumbled from her throat.

‘She looks like she is begging for a beating.’

Stella narrowed her dragon eyes slightly, and her temper flared at once.

‘No matter what, I am going to give Veronica a thorough beating today.’

Translator Note

Stella has started to enjoy the power of demons ahahaha xD