Chapter 353: My Hand Slipped, Sorry.

Chapter 353: “My Hand Slipped, Sorry.”

“Saintess…!”

Oz and Maeve, who had been blasted away, looked at the fox-girl lying on the ground, as if stimulated, struggling to get up with renewed vigor.

The beastmen priests also broke free from Shien’s aura and rushed towards the fox-girl.

However, Shien arrived beside the fox-girl before anyone else.

“As expected, she’s the beastmen saintess, huh?”

Shien glanced at the unconscious fox-girl lying on the ground, positioning himself in front of all the beastmen priests.

This provoked the beastmen priests.

“[Bestow: Immobilize].”

Just as the beastmen priests were about to attack, Shien acted first, casting his magic.

“Wha…!?”

“Ugh…!”

“Can’t move…!”

The beastmen priests were instantly rooted to the spot, their feet firmly locked to the ground, unable to take a step.

Shien single-handedly controlled the entire beastmen priest group, suppressing them all.

Then, Shien turned around and looked at the crystal behind him, which had completely returned to its original state except for a single crack.

Beatrice also came to the crystal and stared at it, motionless.

Seeing this scene, the beastmen priests became anxious.

“Stop! Don’t touch that seal again!”

Oz, who had struggled to his feet, also became anxious.

Maeve couldn’t help but speak.

“Please, listen to us…!” Maeve shouted anxiously. “That’s a very dangerous thing. It absolutely cannot be released, otherwise, this country, even the entire human world, could turn into hell…!”

—”Hell.”

This word sounded terrifying.

Shien frowned, his gaze shifting to Beatrice.

Beatrice looked back at Shien, her eyes filled with pleading.

Clearly, Beatrice wanted Shien to help her continue breaking the seal.

However, the beastmen priests were terrified of the being sealed inside, their eyes filled with pleading as they looked at Shien.

Seeing this, Shien somewhat understood the situation.

Undoubtedly, these beastmen priests weren’t villains, they were even on the side of justice.

Beatrice’s origin was a mystery, but her goal was clear: to break the seal here and release the being sealed inside.

But the being inside seemed very dangerous.

Therefore, the beastmen priests were guarding this temple, their purpose likely to protect the seal and prevent the being inside from escaping.

“So, I really became the villain?”

Shien felt depressed.

But if breaking the seal made him the villain, then what was Beatrice’s position?

The mastermind behind the villainy?

Was he being used by Beatrice, the villain?

Shien thought about these things, but didn’t dwell on them too much.

After all, when he decided to help Beatrice, he had already prepared to bear all the consequences.

He had also considered the possibility that breaking the seal here would cause a disaster, but even so, he still did it.

For no other reason than that Shien felt Beatrice might be the biggest victim.

This might just be a vague intuition, but for some reason, Shien was very certain about it.

(I feel like ever since I came into contact with the Supreme God, Omni, in the Sanctuary, I’ve been having all sorts of strange intuitions and feelings…) ꞦἈ₦O͍𝖇Ěꞩ

Shien himself was puzzled.

But he still wanted to trust his intuition.

He was certain that what he was doing was absolutely right.

Of course, at this point, Shien wouldn’t blatantly break the seal again in front of these beastmen priests.

Intuition was intuition, but Shien still needed to unravel the mystery of this matter himself.

Therefore, Shien made a decision.

“Let’s stop here for today, Beatrice,” Shien said to Beatrice. “The seal has already been broken. This fox-girl saintess probably only temporarily repaired it, otherwise there wouldn’t be a crack on the seal.”

When the power maintaining the seal was exhausted, the crack would expand again, breaking the seal.

“The originally strong seal has been loosened. Breaking it is only a matter of time. We don’t have to rush. Let’s go back first.”

Shien decided to postpone this matter and act later.

Beatrice seemed surprised by Shien’s words. After a moment of stunned silence, she lowered her head.

A while later, Beatrice raised her eyes again, looked at Shien, and nodded.

Seeing this, Shien smiled and patted her head in praise.

The beastmen priests, watching this interaction, collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

At least, they didn’t have to worry about the seal being broken anymore.

Although, as Shien had said, the seal had started to loosen and was only being maintained by the saintess’s power, the fact that they had gained some time to find a solution was a blessing in disguise.

Just as the beastmen priests were thinking this, what happened next plunged them into panic.

“Hey…”

Shien turned around and suddenly picked up the unconscious fox-girl.

“What are you doing…!?”

“Put down the Saintess…!”

“Let her go!”

The beastmen priests were shocked and shouted angrily, their emotions even more agitated than before.

Especially Oz, who somehow found the strength to roar furiously and charge towards Shien.

“Bang!”

Without hesitation, Shien kicked Oz, sending him flying.

But then, it was Maeve’s turn to charge.

“Put down the Saintess!”

Maeve, no longer calm and composed, was filled with anger and lunged at Shien.

“Bang!”

With a muffled thud, Shien treated her the same, kicking her back as well.

Two beastmen, both close to legendary-level strength, appeared so helpless and fragile in front of Shien.

“Why so agitated?” Shien said calmly. “I just want to borrow this saintess for a while. I won’t hurt her.”

This was the truth.

Shien wasn’t acting on a whim to do something perverse. He just felt that this saintess should know a lot of inside information, so he wanted to take her away.

In addition, Shien also wanted to use the fox-girl as a hostage to prevent the beastmen priests from acting rashly.

“You hold a high status among beastmen and a very special status among humans. If you want to settle the score with me for today’s events, it would be a big problem for me.” Shien said frankly. “So, I’ll take your saintess… no, I’ll invite her to my place as a guest, treat her well, and then return her to you.”

Saying so, Shien smiled, as if to show he had no ill intentions.

However, at this moment, Beatrice tugged at Shien’s clothes, pointing at one of his hands.

Only then did Shien realize that the hand he was holding the fox-girl with was pressing against an indescribable bulge.

“Ahem…” Shien coughed, discreetly withdrawing his hand and saying calmly, “My hand slipped, sorry. I promise I won’t do anything to her. Trust me.”

These words instantly ignited the beastmen priests.

“Put down the Saintess!”

“Put down the Saintess immediately!”

“Don’t you dare take the Saintess away!”

“We will never allow it!”

“We’ll fight you to the death!”

The beastmen priests struggled frantically as if they had nothing to lose.

“Aaaaaah…!”

Oz jumped up from the ground in a rage, charging towards Shien again, his speed even faster than before.

This time, Shien didn’t kick the werewolf away. Instead, he freed one hand to grab Beatrice and vanished from the spot.

Oz, the werewolf, lunged at where Shien had been a moment ago, but missed.

Shien, carrying Beatrice and the unconscious fox-girl saintess, appeared on the already shattered ceiling.

“Wait!” Maeve, sensing something was wrong, quickly said, “We promise we won’t pursue today’s matter. Please return the Saintess to us!”

Seeing Shien about to escape, Maeve, disregarding everything else, readily chose to compromise.

The other beastmen priests were also anxious. It was evident how important the fox-girl was to them.

This was only natural.

All beastmen priests were chosen from the tribe before the saintess was even born and were raised to protect her in the future.

Their only purpose in life was to protect the soon-to-be-born saintess.

To them, the saintess’s status, compared to Lucy’s status in the hearts of the people of the kingdom, was definitely no less important, if not more.

To put it bluntly, the saintess was their sole reason for existence, the object they had to protect their entire lives, even comparable to the Goddess of Life whom the beastmen worshipped.

Risking their lives for the saintess was a trivial matter to them.

This was no longer just loyalty, but a form of faith, a blind creed.

As long as the saintess gave an order, even if it meant taking their own lives on the spot, without needing to know the reason, they would carry it out without hesitation.

This was a level of obedience that surpassed even magical lifeforms, who could only obey their master’s commands.

Under such circumstances, even the seal in the temple wasn’t as important as their saintess. It was only natural that the beastmen priests were anxious.

But it was precisely because of this that Shien did what he did.

“Unfortunately, I don’t trust you very much, but you have no choice but to trust me.”

The Hero, who claimed he didn’t want to act like a villain, smiled with the air of a Demon King, seemingly determined to do things his own way.

“So, let’s part ways here. We’ll meet again if fate allows it.”

With that, Shien, carrying Beatrice and the unconscious fox-girl saintess, transformed into a stream of light and flew towards the horizon.

Leaving behind the beastmen priests, who stared blankly at Shien’s departing figure, their faces ashen.

“Saintess… Saintess… Saintess aaaaaah…!”

Oz let out a desperate roar.

Today, for these beastmen, was destined to be a nightmare.