Part 32: The Miner Shovels an Archangel

Part 32:
The Miner Shovels an Archangel

With the angel in tow, Alan and his party entered one of Rahzelfo’s grand buildings. In the center of an open room was a table made from some sort of mysterious black material. It appeared as though the ancients used this room as a conference hall. Currently, the angel, Alan, Catria, and Lithisia were occupying it. Alice was still down for the count at one of the rest stops after that earlier vigorous shoveling.

“Now then, let’s start again from the top.” The angel cleared her throat and turned to Catria. “My name is Lucy. I am an angel who serves the Pantheon of the Sun. They have charged me with watching over the world below.”

“Pantheon of the Sun?”

This was an unfamiliar set of words. Catria hadn’t learned of any such thing during her holy studies.

A kind smile crossed Lucy’s face. “It makes sense that you know not of them. They are the basis of all gods, and a divine mystery to the human world. Now, where shall I begin…”

“A Pantheon is basically like a faction, Catria,” Alan cut in. “As you know, there’s way more than one god—we’ve got a whole bunch of them. For example, the Sun God and the Star God. The most powerful among them start Pantheons where they gather gods related to the stuff they rule over. For example, the Sun God might recruit the Solar Eclipse God or the Dawn God. In human terms, they become a faction.”

Catria nodded. Alan’s explanation was easy to follow and made absolute sense. It was basically the same thing as when knights went to serve under a lord or master.

“Wonderful, Sir God Miner! Your shovel knowledge is on level with that of the gods!” Lithisia declared.

“Don’t call me that.”

“W-wait just a second!” Lucy panicked and cut in. Her wings were shivering. “How does a human know about the Pantheons?!”

“Oh, I heard about them from an Angel Knight who’d been imprisoned in Hell.”

Alan held up his shovel as he described the experience of coming upon that deep, dark prison.

As Alan used his shovel to delve into his mountain, at one point he inadvertently connected his mining route to Hell itself. He soon found a winged angel who had been captured by the forces of Hell, then stripped and tortured in their cell. Their wings had darkened and they were on the verge of becoming a fallen angel.

After Alan saved the angel with his shovel, they extended an invitation to him. “Oh, great hero! We would welcome you in our Pantheon of the Earth!”

In other words, a Pantheon for gods related to the Earth God.

Of course, Alan declined the invitation. If he were to become a god, he wouldn’t be able to just wander around mining for precious stones. The rescued angel seemed terribly disappointed by the rejection, but they eventually gave up and flew away.

“And that’s how I learned about Pantheons.”

“Wait, wait, this is ludicrous. Where do I even begin?!” Lucy’s face twisted and contorted as her breathing turned rough.

There were so many unbelievable things about Alan’s tale. First of all, getting to Hell via shovel was impossible, not to mention saving an angel imprisoned there. What the heck? All while digging for regular old obsidian? None of this made any kind of angelic sense!

“C-Catria! You mustn’t allow yourself to grow close to a liar such as he!”

“I 100 percent completely agree with you, I really do. Painfully so. But…”

“Catria, are you right of mind?!”

“Lady Angel, you saw this guy’s Wave Motion Shovel Blast, didn’t you?”

Lucy’s words stuck in her throat. That Wave Motion Shovel Blast was certainly no mortal technique. Lucy had seen only one similar such move in her life: the Divine Blast the Sun God used to destroy the Evil God. The level of power was different, but the form and light had been identical.

No, this was impossible! Lucy shook her head until she was dizzy. There was no way a human could learn a technique like that and still retain their humanity. “This has to be a trick of some kind!”

Catria found herself feeling quite bad for the angel. Despite Lucy’s heavenly nature, even she struggled to understand Alan.

“P-plus, Catria! His story includes a vital contradiction!”

“Really?”

“Once an angel’s wings darken, there’s no coming back!”

Because angels were born from holy energies, they were so pure that they were easy to corrupt. However, once their wings, the source of their holiness, were darkened, there was no way to save them. Corruption spread fast and permanently.

Lucy wore a victorious expression as she pointed a finger at Alan. “As such, you are nothing but a liar!”

“Exshovel me (anger)?”

“Calm down, Lithisia. Put your shovel away. I’m not upset.”

“Shovel…” Lithisia muttered.

Even though he’d been called a liar to his face, Alan was unshaken. He wasn’t out to seek the favor of this angel. In fact, if he could help it, he’d actively avoid it. It’d be a pain to get invited to a Pantheon again.

“More importantly, I’d like to discuss Rahzelfo,” he said.

“Mmph—fine. Let us begin.”

Lucy explained she had descended upon Rahzelfo from the heavens above because her Pantheon had received intelligence that a group of high-ranking demons were planning a large-scale invasion on the world below. She and her sister Gabriella were the vanguard sent by the gods. Furthermore, Gabriella was an archangel, a powerful figure to say the least.

After some investigation, they found their intelligence was accurate, and not only that, the situation was far more dire than they anticipated. The Emperor of the Sky, Pazuzu, was leading an army of demons in an attempt to open Hell’s Gate.

“Huh, is that what Zeleburg is after?”

Hell’s Gate connected the surface world to Hell. If something like that were to be opened, humanity would be in grave danger.

“Lady Angel, will the gods not act?” asked Catria.

“If the gods were to do so, the God of Evil would as well.”

The forces of good and evil were locked in a standstill that prevented either side from moving recklessly.

“Well, I think I just about understand the situation,” said Alan. “I have one question.”

“Is that so? Go ahead. I will only answer with the truth, unlike a certain lying shovel man.”

“Exshovel me (anger)?!”

“Lithisia, stand down. According to your words, Gabriella is an archangel, correct? Where is she?”

Lucy did a terrifically poor job of hiding her response, tearing up at his words. “My sister Gabriella is, uh…”

Lucy looked down, then weakly shook her head. Catria was all too familiar with her body language. It was that of someone drowning in their own uselessness.

“In order to give me a chance to escape, she…she fought the demons off… She was captured. She’s probably already in Hell…”

“Lady Angel…”

“Do not pity me, Great Hero Catria. This is the fate of all Angel Knights.” Lucy wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled valiantly.

“So you’re saying she’s imprisoned in Hell?”

“Vanguards from Heaven captured by demons are inevitably tortured in their dark prison.”

Catria looked to Alan. He nodded with a simple confidence.

“Right then. I’ll save her with my shovel.”

“Wha?”

In a split second, Alan left Rahzelfo and descended to the World Tree Castle. Fio was surprised to see him, but he explained he had some business to take care of in Hell. From there, he began his infiltration of the deep. It took him thirty seconds to descend the 6,666,666 steps leading to Hell and arrive at a particular cell within the magma-ridden landscape.

Gabriella was right where he’d suspected she would be. She had a similar aura to Lucy, but her strength was on another level. She had also been stripped and her body showed clear signs of torture. Furthermore, Her beautiful black hair was ragged and unevenly cut.

Alan called out to the miserable woman. “I’m here to save you, Gabriella.”

“Ah… Huh?”

Alan eliminated the demon guarding Gabriella’s cell with a short Wave Motion Shovel Blast and used his shovel to undo Gabriella’s bindings. He scooped up the naked Gabriella (she had a heavenly figure) and held her like a princess. Cradling her delicate form, he made his way back up the stairs of Hell, had a spot of tea with Fio, dropped in on Alice, and promptly returned to Rahzelfo with Gabriella in tow.

The entire journey took him approximately one minute and twenty-eight seconds, break time included. He actually set the record for the fastest marathon from Heaven to Hell.

“Hey there, I’ve saved Gabriella,” he said. With that, he presented Lucy with her older sister.

“HOOOOOLD UP!” Lucy finally screamed. What in blue blazes is going on?! How can Gabriella be here?! What the shovel?!

But the fact of the matter was that Lucy’s beloved Gabriella was lying at her feet, and she was the same beautiful angel Lucy had always striven to be like.

“Lady Angel, I truly understand how confused you must be, but let us first tend to Lady Gabriella’s wounds,” said Catria.

“Ah! Y-you’re right! Gabriella, hang in there!”

“Ah…urgh…Lucy…?” Gabriella’s breath was labored, but she was conscious. Needless to say, she was in awful condition. Wounds covered her entire body, and her wings were in tatters.

Worse, Lucy caught sight of a tip of one of Gabriella’s wings and raised her voice in despair. “My beloved sister, no, it can’t be! Your wings!”

They were beginning to blacken. Gabriella was falling into darkness.

“Oh my…” In response to Lucy’s voice, Gabriella glanced at the tip of her darkened wing. The archangel smiled. “Lucy…take up your sword…”

“What?!”

Without breaking her proud smile, Gabriella continued. “Thank you so much for saving me… I truly am blessed…I get to die as an angel…”

“Gabriella, I…!” Tears fell from Lucy’s eyes. No, this can’t be!

But it was already too late. Gabriella’s darkening had begun. From here on out, Gabriella’s very existence would corrupt. The “Dark Pleasure of a Fallen Angel” would soon paint even her heart pitch-black. The only way to stop this from happening was to cut off her wings, thereby destroying her.

“Lucy, you must do your duty as an Angel Knight.”

“Ngh…!”

Just as Lucy swung her sword with trembling hands—Catria grabbed her arm.

“Great Hero Catria?!”

“This is really hard for me to say, but, um, your sister is probably going to be fine.”

“Catria… No, it’s too late. Once an angel’s wings corrupt even the smallest bit…”

“No, really, it’s gonna be okay. Right, Alan?” Catria turned to the miner.

Alan gripped his shovel and sighed. “Ugh. I’d rather not get into it, but I suppose this is an emergency. Guess I’ve got no choice.”

Catria internally sighed. Despair was meaningless in front of Alan. As for why, well, he simply rejected the word time and time again.

“FILL!”

Alan stabbed his shovel into Gabriella’s wings and the darkened tips were wrapped in a rush of light. It was true that Alan couldn’t eliminate the corruption within her wings. However, if he could bury within them a large enough quantity of light that it overwhelmed the quantity of corruption…

Gabriella’s body shone with awe-inspiring incandescence, so much so that all Lucy could do was watch, mouth agape. Eventually the light faded, revealing a Gabriella with pure white wings.

“Huh? But… I…”

“There we go. That went about as well as it could’ve,” said Alan.

“Amazing heavenly scoop! (Amazing! You retrieved and saved the angel!)”

“You really need to keep a lid on that stream of consciousness of yours, Lithisia.”

Gabriella glanced at her surroundings. For some reason, even her wounds had been healed.

Tears continued to stream from Lucy’s eyes. I can’t believe it, but she’s right here… This isn’t a trick. She’s still a pure white angel!

“My dear sister, you’re okay!”

As Lucy rushed over to gather her sister in her arms, Gabriella’s expression turned to that of bafflement. “I…I…was I shovel saved, shovel?”

Lucy halted just before embracing her sister.

Catria did her best to hold back her oncoming headache. Gabriella the archangel was smiling, and for some reason her cheeks were in high color. Upon closer inspection, her pupils had taken the form of triangles…shovels, to be exact.

“Alan, is it just me, or did you do something to this poor angel with your shovel?!”

“All I did was fire off my Shovel Light and overwrite her corrupted energy.”

“She sure seems plenty corrupted to me.”

“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. At worst, her eyes, language, and consciousness will suffer some side effects.”

“None of that qualifies as fine!”

“I was even careful to limit the corruption. If I had messed up, her name might’ve suffered from a Shovel Error.”

“Amazingly shoveltastic, Sir Miner!” Lithisia was moved.

With her shovel-shaped pupils shining, Gabriella drew close to Lucy. “Lucy, what’s wrong? It’s me, the archangel Gabriella, shovel.”

“Please get a hold of yourself, Gabriella! Why do you keep saying shovel?!”

“I’m perfectly of shovel sound mind.”

It was almost like there were two Princess Lithisias.

Lucy shook as she leveled her holy sword at Alan. “You bastard… What did you do to my beloved sister?! You treacherous demon!”

“Don’t worry. In about a hundred years, she should lose most of her shovel edge.”

So you’re telling me she’ll still have some shovel corruption even after one hundred years? I refuse to ever let him do that to me, Catria thought bleakly.

“Do not test my patience!!!” Without warning, Lucy came slashing at Alan.

Gabriella swooped forward, catching Lucy’s hand. “What are you doing? Stop this at once, Lucy! This man saved my life, shovel!”

“Let me go! This bastard…he…he…!”

“You appear to be rather frazzled… In that case, I have no choice, shovel.” Gabriella snapped her fingers.

A rope resembling the halo above an angel’s head appeared and snaked around Lucy, binding her in place.

“Gah! Gabriella…!”

The older sister was clearly the stronger of the two.

“I must apologize for my beloved sister’s poor shovel behavior. Please forgive her,” said Gabriella with a bow.

“This angel’s not too bad at all! She’s mixing ‘shovel’ into her sentences like it’s no big deal!” Lithisia cheered.

“Quiet, Lithisia,” said Alan, and turned to Gabriella. “And look, there’s nothing to forgive. I’m not upset.”

Gabriella offered her gratitude with grace befitting her divinity, but as she did, she noticed she was still in the buff. Embarrassment crossed her face and she promptly tried to cover her indecencies as best she could. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to show you my shovelly body…”

“She’s already using it as an adjective?!” Lithisia gasped.

“Lithisia, I’m begging you here, go to sleep. More importantly, how are you feeling, Gabriella?”

“Um, well… Could I receive permission to go back to Heaven and report what you’ve done for me?”

Alan frowned. Hrm, her body is fine, but she’s definitely suffering from some side effects.

Lucy in the meantime continued to cry, inconsolably devastated.

“Sir Human, I wish to leave Lucy here for further reconnaissance. Is it all right if she remains with you?” Gabriella asked.

“I’m fine with it, but I’m not so sure she is.”

Lucy looked as though she wanted to tear Alan apart with her teeth. Her bloodlust was palpable.

“That’s certainly a shovel problem… In that case.” Gabriella slid a ring off of her finger and handed it to Alan. “Lucy must obey the person who wears this ‘Heavenly Shovel Ring.’ It was given to me for this mission.”

“The name is rather odd.”

“It used to be referred to as the ‘Ring of the Archangel,’ but I have changed it. Please try not to lose it.”

“NNGH! (BELOVED SISTER, PLEASE, PLEASE SNAP OUT OF IT!)”

“Lucy, this being before you is a truly great human. You are the one who needs to snap out of it, shovel.”

And so Gabriella once again offered her gratitude while deftly concealing her breasts, then flew into the sky. Of course, she left behind Lucy, who was currently bound in heavenly rope and looking like the heroine of a pulpy tragedy.

“All right. Time to find that orb. You lead the way, Lucy.”

“NO! I refuse! Why should I have to—ngh?!”

Alan’s ring flared with holy radiance, and Lucy jolted as if she had been shocked with electricity.

“EEEEK! Th-this way, please…augh!” Lucy turned to Catria, her expression pleading for any kind of salvation. Save me. Turn my sister back to normal. Please.

The angel’s gaze was desperation itself. Unfortunately, Catria averted her eyes.

“All right. Let’s go, Alan.”

“GREAT HERO CATRIA?!”

Yeah, so, uh, my bad. Catria grimaced, unable to face the angel. Just chalk it up to bad luck and give up on your sister. I mean, your whole situation is scarily similar to the horrors I endured myself. Gabriella is…

“Sir Miner, Sir Miner! I’m going as well! I’ll accompany you no matter how shovelly far you shovelly go!”

“Stop inserting ‘shovel’ into random places just to make yourself look better than Gabriella.”

“Shovel…”

Gabriella is long gone, just like Princess Lithisia.