LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 152
The world for 「 」 was nothing but a tiny model world.
It was like an ant farm, completely unaware of its own existence.
It always enjoyed looking down on the world, observing it for a very long time. Chewing on the fun scenes over and over.
Then one day, a creature that recognized 「 」 appeared. This creature was female. Although it couldn’t understand what male or female was, it didn’t mind.
To encounter something that could perceive, touch, and interfere with it was like a child receiving their very first Christmas gift. Therefore, the Saintess was its most cherished possession.
It even planned to run away far with the Saintess, just in case.
─…!!
When it locked eyes with Eight, it jolted in surprise at the sight of another being looking back at it. What’s that? How can something like that even exist? Various thoughts whirled in its confused mind.
In the midst of that chaos, it did what it had to do. Run away. Yet even while fleeing, the Saintess nagged at its mind like a thorn.
What if it ran away while leaving the Saintess behind? It could be that it would never see her again. Even though the future it saw contained a well-off Saintess.
What does visibility in this 3D world matter anyway? What stands before it right now may not be visible on any timeline, but here it was, standing in front of it!
─!@$@#%#@^
In the end, 「 」 decided to escape this world with the Saintess. With a swift motion, it reached into the 3D world where the Saintess was and pulled her straight into the fourth dimension.
Her body did undergo slight deformation due to the strain of its power, but it didn’t matter. It hadn’t chosen her based on her appearance, after all.
─œeĦ$^ф！
The moment it tried to flee holding the Saintess, it felt something grabbing its own body and slowly glanced down.
And there it was.
A huge
Something
That shouldn’t
Exist
Ah-.
* * *
─Kyaaaaaah-!
─S-Saintess!!!
Screams echoed throughout the chapel. It was only natural. Just moments ago, the Saintess, who had been praying fine, had transformed into a grotesque being that wouldn’t even make it into a monster movie.
I raised my eyebrow slightly as I struck something in the fourth dimension with the machine I had prepared earlier.
‘Hit.’
A projectile hit the monster that was forcibly dragging the Saintess, and after feeling the impact for the first time, the creature began thrashing about, confused, letting go of the Saintess.
I quickly summoned all the Executives of Evil.
[This is a real situation! The executives of Evil Organization are requested to come to the laboratory immediately─]
Wooooo-! As the siren filled the wristwatch and the building, the executives rushed into the lab.
“─What’s going on!?”
“Why are we being called out of nowhere…?”
“M-Mister Scientist! Are you okay?”
The executives, who were called in hastily, froze when they saw the swollen Saintess outside the window. No need to explain; her condition was clearly not normal. They understood why they had been summoned.
“What’s that monster?”
“Uwaa… I feel like I’m going to throw up…”
“Ugh… Tentacles should at least be cute for them to be enjoyable to watch…”
As they each made comments about the transformed Saintess, I handed them goggles and spoke up.
“That’s the Saintess.”
“……What?”
“I said, that’s the Saintess.”
“That…?”
“Yes. That horrifying monster is indeed the Saintess.”
The executives looked at me with disbelief. After all, how could anyone believe that the Saintess, who was so beautiful that she could line up men, had suddenly turned into such a monster?
Moreover, the achievements the Saintess had shown so far were far removed from being a monster. Wasn’t she someone who eradicated and protected against monsters instead?
However, sadly, she had turned into such a creature.
“W-What suddenly made her change…?”
“What should I say… Let’s say she was trying to ascend like a proper Saintess and failed.”
“A-Ascend?”
“Similar.”
Having transformed into a monster while attempting to ascend toward the fourth dimension (though I bet she didn’t want that), maybe you could argue that in a way, she could be called an angel. It’s no coincidence that angels in the Bible are described as grotesque monsters.
Looking at the Saintess who had become an angel, I turned to the baffled executives and delivered a word of warning.
“We must not kill her. We can inflict some injuries, but if we blow her away without a single bone left, it will be a hassle to resurrect her. Especially avoid damaging her head…”
“……So, Scientist. Are you telling us we have to stop that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because this is our front yard… It’d be fine to just kill her, but doing so would surely bring resentment and curses upon the E City, not to mention we wouldn’t be able to get any compensation from the Saintess for the damages caused.”
“You understand what I mean, right?”
Killing was easy. Incredibly simple.
We could just take the monsterized Saintess to some quiet desert and smash her to pieces.
However, that would mean our E City would take responsibility for her disappearance (even if we had no actual fault, that’s just how moral responsibility works) and we wouldn’t be able to claim damages for the buildings the monsterized Saintess wrecked.
“Alright, Evil Organization. Let’s go.”
“Ugh… I feel sick…”
“Hang in there, Ayle. If you can’t even handle that, how are you going to deal with worse?”
“Y-Yeah?”
“That.”
As I pointed at the sky, normally nothing would be visible, but the goggles I handed out helped the executives perceive the fourth dimension with their human brains.
So what manifested before their eyes was probably…….
“─I really feel my sanity dropping.”
Something indescribable was there.
Something even more horrifying than the creature that had turned the Saintess, lurking there….
* * *
“R-Run away-!”
“W-Where’s the Saintess!?”
“I don’t know! I have no idea where she went!”
“That monster must be the Saintess…”
Hundreds of thousands of worshipers, who were diligently praying, began to rush out of the church on tiptoes. Even the believers who had been focused on their prayers and hadn’t yet grasped the situation began to awaken one by one, sensing something was off.
Behind those fleeing believers, the overgrown Saintess burst through the church walls and revealed herself.
“U-Uuuh-brrghhhh-.”
‘Don’t run. You’ll get hurt-.’
Yet her words only fell on deaf ears. Due to being enlarged by one more dimension, her vocal cords and body made it hard to articulate a single clear sound, and with multiple pairs of eyes now, she couldn’t distinguish between the present, past, and future.
In the end, all the Saintess could do was sway awkwardly in place, and even that wouldn’t last long.
“D-Die! You monster!”
“What did you do to the Saintess!”
The citizens who had come to see the Saintess, thousands of worshipers, all unleashed their superpowers to attack her.
Among them were active heroes and members of the Evil Organization from E City. A barrage of superpowers hit the Saintess with enough force to trouble her.
Plup, shjuk-! The skin of the Saintess tore and cracked as she began oozing some unknown slime. It was a situation of immense agony.
“Géééuuuuh-!”
‘Stop, stop it!’
Seeing the Saintess screaming in pain, the citizens only increased their attacks. Each individual hit wasn’t too overwhelming. But as dozens, if not hundreds, piled up, it returned as impact that even the enlarged Saintess couldn’t withstand.
She’s going to die. Feeling that death was approaching, the Saintess unconsciously used her powers. She borrowed the authority of the being that had been looking down at her from the sky.
“Guuuuuhhhhhh!”
In that moment, every single superpower targeting the Saintess either missed or exploded into the air. For some reason, her slime-dripping body started to heal up and become pristine.
At the same time─ her enormous body, refusing the Saintess’s command to stay still, began to thrash like a crazed child who had just gotten a shot.
Fwooosh-!
“Kyaah, kyaaaah-!”
“A monster! A monster is attacking people!”
“Where are the heroes!?”
“Guuuuh-.”
‘N-No way-.’
Realizing she had attacked her own believers, the Saintess halted. It was an involuntary, unconscious counterattack, but she had attacked the very believers who trusted and followed her.
As the overwhelming shock was too much for her to bear, the Saintess’s spirit began to crumble that moment, her body that had paused its growth began to swell again.
“Guu, ghuuuuuuuh-!”
She was being drawn upwards.
Upwards.
Or perhaps that was the right direction?
Somewhere, to a place that couldn’t be explained.
Just a moment ago, fiercely resisting, the Saintess now lost her spirit and, having given up on resisting, began to be pulled upwards….
Ah, I want to throw everything away and run away. This pull was granting the Saintess’s wish….
“That won’t do.”
BANG-!
And just then, a beast somewhere struck the arm that was grabbing the Saintess. Realizing the force pulling her upwards had vanished, the Saintess finally opened her eyes.
Several people stood before her, looking up at something.
“W-Ho….”
‘Run….’
Whether the Saintess’s words reached them or not, the people gazing at the sky frowned with disgust.
“Damn you, Scientist. How the hell are we supposed to deal with this?”
“Just buy time. He said he’d try to do something.”
“U-Uuugh…! Can I step back for a bit…?”
Scientist. Just hearing that one word dredged up memories of the man who had introduced himself as a Scientist of Evil Organization not long ago.
Why his face sprung to mind, not even the Saintess knew.