## Chapter 770 – Kingdom Martial Arts Tournament

ㅡThwack!

“KIEEEEEEEAAAAAAK!!!”

I immediately grabbed one of Gognidja’s tentacles, ripped it off, and started doing inhuman jump rope. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Ten regular jumps and then a double-under for one set!

ㅡDouble-under!

“M-My tentacleeees…!”

Gognidja watched me jump rope and despaired.

“KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!”

ㅡSnap!

I stopped jump roping in that state and yanked the tentacle off while it was screaming! This bastard does as he’s told, why so much talk!!!

“I’ll ask you! Are the Great Devils plotting an invasion right now?!”
“Kuh-heuk…! P-Probably! Probably they are! Zagan-nim sent me for that purpose!”
“Are you going to keep saying Zagan-nim, Zagan-nim?! From now on, the only ‘nim’ for you is me! Got it?!”
“Got it!”
“Use honorifics!”
“I understand!”
“So! Why were you trying to make a gate?!”
“Zagan ordered me to make it!! But I think it’s just an experiment! The gate I made can’t transport all of Zagan’s forces!”
“Is that so?”

See?

Devil or whatever, they spill everything when you inflict physical pain. I’ve done this kind of work countless times.

Even devils become weak in the face of pain.

Actually, these devils aren’t the Christian devils from Earth, but more like residents of a place called Pandemonium. People are the same everywhere.

Anyway.

The tentacle I ripped off this bastard hasn’t turned into black pus and disappeared. And the fact that this guy is being strangely cooperative… I can assume this is the ‘main body.’

“Good. You spoke very well, Gognidja. So. Is that all there is to it?”
“T-That’s right…”
“No, but. If you get caught by someone like me, you’ll be crushed immediately, so why do something so reckless?”
“I didn’t… think it was reckless. I could have completed the gate with just a little more…”
“Ah. You were going to finish it and run away on it, huh?”
“…That’s right.”

Well, it’s not like there are many people as strong as me. Judging by how the lord’s army was struggling, his plan was almost successful.

“That’s strange.”

But it’s strange.

ㅡStrange.

Unable to bear it, I immediately exploded with suspicion, brought my face close to Gognidja’s, and started a murderous dori-dori jam-jam.

“It’s strange! It’s strange! It’s strangeeeee!!!”

ㅡDori-dori!
ㅡJam-jam!

“It’s too strangeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!”
“KIYAAAAAAK!!”
“Great Devil Zagan sent you!!! Then that means Zagan can make gates! But why are you making the gate!!! How did you even get here in the first place!!!”
“That’s not it! That’s not it!!!! I’ll explain everything!!!”

Gognidja screamed hysterically, terrified.

“It’s easier to open a gate from here to Pandemonium than to open a gate directly from Pandemonium! Because there are many human souls here!”
“Keep going.”
“Of course, Zagan-nim also has power stored up! Enough to send one of me… That’s why he sent me!”

Ah.

So, a Great Devil can somehow send his weak subordinates? But this isn’t a common occurrence.

If it were common, devils would have invaded a long time ago.

But until now, there hasn’t been anything like that.

“Is it easy for someone like Zagan to open a gate?”
“No. It takes a considerable amount of power… And for some reason, opening a gate has become a little easier now… so I think it was possible.”
“Is that so?”

That makes sense.

“Anyway, you seem to be quite trusted by Zagan. But for someone like that, you talk too much, don’t you?”
“Zagan is a target of loyalty, but…”

He trailed off, and Hilde began to elaborate.

“Katt-nim. Devils don’t really care about loyalty. He probably just flattered him in Pandemonium. Now that the situation has changed, he’s telling you everything because he doesn’t want to suffer.”

Is that so?

“Is that so?”
“…That’s right.”
“Good.”

He told me everything very honestly.
Now, the last thing.

“Hey, Gognidja. Are the other Great Devils doing something similar to Zagan? Zagan only sent you, right?”
“Probably… the other Great Devils have noticed the current situation as well. But I can’t know their exact thoughts, and I don’t think Zagan has much power to spare.”
“Good.”

I remembered everything this bastard said.

I need to summarize it appropriately and tell the Saint.

“Good, Gognidja. I really like you. I really like cooperative devils. So, I’ll send you off without pain. Cloudy. Sis. Kill him cleanly. I can’t catch him because he’ll probably be absorbed if I catch Bugalo.”
“Whatㅡ!!!!”

Gognidja went into a frenzy.

ㅡSwoosh.

Cloudy and Karin instantly chopped up his body.

ㅡThud.

The severed corpse fell to the ground. The black chunks of meat and tentacles didn’t turn into black pus and disappear.

That’s probably because this is the main body.

And it’s not like I caught and killed Bugalo.

If I had caught Bugalo, his power would have been absorbed, and the corpse would have melted away. I need to take this to the Great Temple, but I can’t do that.

Strengthening Bugal is tempting, but I chose the achievement this time.

“Hmm, but a Great Devil plotting an invasion… Honestly, this is a bit beyond my common sense, so I don’t know what to say.”

Karin said, shaking her sword.

“Honestly, I kind of feel that way too. But we should filter out what this bastard says.”
“Katt. Still, it seems like the fact that a Great Devil is plotting something is true.”
“I think so too. I feel like that much is true.”

Anyway, what to do with this.

“No matter what happens, what we have to do is the same, right? Blackie. Now that the work is done, let’s pack up everything and go back.”
“Yeah. Let’s do that for now.”

It’s okay to sort out our thoughts slowly.

“But if a Great Devil is plotting an invasion… it might be very dangerous. If other Great Devils are using similar methods, it wouldn’t be strange if a large-scale gate suddenly opened one day.”
“Ah, damn, Hilde makes it sound so convincing.”

That could really happen.

If Gognidja’s words are true, it’s a huge problem. It means that the Great Devils of Pandemonium have realized that gates can be opened more easily than in the past and are sending scouts.

If they really start invading in earnest… that would be terrible.

“Let’s go back for now.”

I packed up Gognidja’s corpse appropriately and left the cave. As we went back the way we came, Risha started to appear in the distance.

“Is it over?”
“Yeah. What about Risha?”

The Arachne’s corpse was completely dismantled. It was neatly organized by parts, but there were many parts missing. I asked about it, and apparently, they blew them away while doing reaction experiments.

I don’t really care.

“We’ve already finished everything worth testing. And.”

Risha showed me a potion bottle filled with some green liquid.

“I extracted the essence by combining Arachne’s organs. Ari seems to be reacting to this, so maybe we can use it to strengthen Ari’s power.”
“Oh, is that so?”

Looking at Ari, she was blushing as if she was embarrassed. Ari can recover her power with this? That’s tempting.

“But I think we need to go back and do more research.”
“Hehehe, okay.”

It seems like we can’t feed it to her right away.

“So, what did the devil say?”
“Ah, Sis.”

I packed up my luggage and told Liz about this. Her reaction wasn’t much different from Karin’s. She saw devils for the first time while traveling with me. Honestly, I don’t really feel like a Great Devil is invading.

Anyway, we packed up the Arachne’s remains and Gognidja’s corpse. And we took as many spider monster heads as we could. We just wrapped them in the waterproof cloth we brought and grabbed them.

It’s bulky, but it’s not a problem for my stamina to carry them.

After packing everything, we went back to the city.

* * *

After returning to the city, I was quite busy.

First, I bought a container and put the corpse in it, and then Risha and I worked together to do all sorts of embalming. I think we can keep it relatively fresh this way.

More than anything, the reward is the most important.

We submitted the spider monster heads we brought and received a pretty good reward. Of course, we didn’t bring everything we killed.

Just as much as we could carry.

After doing that, we just spent money and rested in the city. I wrote a report while doing that. I need to write everything that happened this time and take out what needs to be taken out.

A Great Devil’s invasion is a dangerous thing.
I need to choose my words carefully.

While writing the report, I pretended to explore and went to the mountains. Arachne is already dead, but no one knows yet.

Because I didn’t tell them.

I’m just going to tell the church in a few days.

Whatever it is, I need to manipulate the period appropriately.

After spending some time like that, I went to the church here and told them about Arachne’s death. Of course, the reaction was explosive, and after confirming the facts, I received a huge reward and was promised all sorts of treatment, but because things were urgent, I immediately returned to the capital.

After returning to the capital, I immediately packed up my luggage, took the container containing Gognidja’s corpse, which had become salt-cured, and went to the Saint to report on this matter.

“This is the progress of this matter.”
“…”

The Saint, who heard my report, seemed quite flustered, changing her expression quickly and reading the report I wrote over and over again.

“And this is the corpse of the devil called Gognidja. He said he was a subordinate of the Great Devil Zagan. But Arachne, that bastard, I killed him so badly that.”

I immediately opened the container and showed her Gognidja’s corpse.

“…”

Of course, the Saint couldn’t say anything after seeing it.

“This is…”

After a moment of silence, she opened her mouth.

“I don’t know what to say. This is the most embarrassing and difficult thing since I became the Saint of the Order.”
“No, but there’s a possibility that this guy couldn’t stand the interrogation and spouted nonsense. Honestly, I don’t really feel it either.”
“Of course, I’m also thinking about that possibility. But if it’s true… even imagining it…”
“It’s nothing short of terrible.”

She nodded at my words.

“I think I should personally review this matter and then inform the members of the Order. We may have to make large-scale preparations.”

It’s definitely a serious matter. This is the first time I’ve seen this sister so flustered.

For the Saint, there’s no more serious matter than this. More than anything, she trusts me, so she also trusts the information I brought.

“Paladin, you’ve worked hard. I was worried that this matter would take some time, but you handled it very well.”

The Saint, who came closer, said, touching my shoulder.

“Then I should give you a reasonable reward.”
“Hehehe, what are you going to give me?”
“Well…”

She grabbed my shoulder, stared into my eyes for a moment, and then turned around.

“I’ll let you know when you come back to see me the day after tomorrow. For now, I need to sort out this matter more than anything else.”
“Then I’ll be looking forward to it.”
“It seems like it will take some time, so keep your schedule open that day.”

It will take some time?

“Yes? Is there something that will take time?”
“We need to talk about this and that, so it will take a little time. Are you asking if you can’t spend time with me?”
“No, how could that be? Then I’ll keep my schedule open the day after tomorrow.”

What’s so difficult about that.

She’s probably going to sort out this matter for two days and ask me more questions. That’s what she has to do.

After saying goodbye, I left the church.

I don’t know if the Great Devils will invade as Gognidja said.

But it seems quite likely.

Then there’s only one thing I can do.

ㅡTo hone my skills as I’ve been doing so far.

That’s enough.

Thinking that, I turned towards the shopping district on my way home, intending to buy some snacks.

ㅡRustle.

As I arrived at the shopping district and was walking, a piece of paper was flying around in the wind. As a Paladin, I couldn’t just leave illegal dumping of trash, so I immediately grabbed it and saw that something was written on the paper.

「Kingdom Martial Arts Tournament Participant Recruitment」

“Kingdom Martial Arts Tournament?”

What is this again?