Chapter 19 : The Hero Party Annihilation Incident (7)

With a thud, Cynthia’s right arm fell.

Separated from her body, it now resembled a chunk of meat.

Lesia extended her palm toward Cynthia’s severed arm.

“Help Frame.”

Shyaa!

Black flames turned Cynthia’s right arm to ashes.

Cynthia clutched her severed shoulder, cold sweat pouring down her face.

Her complexion was pale, and her face was a sickly shade of blue.

“Hah… hah… you… you bastard… I’ll… I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you…”

“It’s impossible, Cynthia!”

Tiffany said, her voice panicked.

“You just used a massive spell, consuming a huge amount of mana. And on top of that, your arm’s been severed. You can’t fight anymore in this condition!”

“D-Don’t worry. It’ll grow back…”

“?! W-What are you talking about, Cynthia?!”

“You guys wouldn’t know, but this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.”

Cynthia reminisced.

About eight months ago, when she and Victor were crossing the continent of Biga alone.

Victor was locked in an intense battle with a small goblin.

“Hyah! Hyah! Hyah!”

Victor swung the great holy sword around wildly, looking almost glorious in the heat of battle.

Well, he would have looked glorious if his opponent wasn’t just a regular goblin.

Sigh… he’s doing that again over there.

Cynthia thought with a sense of exasperation, but still went to help him. That’s when it happened.

“Kyaaah!”

The goblin attacked Cynthia at an invisible speed.

The result was disastrous. Cynthia’s limbs were severed, and she turned into a helpless figure, much like a toppled doll.

The pain didn’t even register; it was all over in an instant.

Cynthia didn’t know that the goblin was actually the Demon King, disguised and hunting Victor.

“W-What the hell is this?! My arm! My leg!!”

It was so absurd and unfair that Cynthia couldn’t help but sob.

Victor, who had come to her aid, was so shocked he couldn’t even speak.

“Sorry, Cynthia… I… I was trying to help…”

“Does saying sorry bring back my missing limbs?! What am I supposed to do now? I can’t die until I kill Lesia! Uwaaah! My arm! My leg! Bring them back!!”

“S-Sorry…”

“You useless bastard! If you were even a little competent, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“Sorry… I’m really sorry.”

“Uwaaah!!! Uwaaaah!!!”

Cynthia cried. Honestly, anyone would have.

A young maiden had just lost all of her limbs.

But something miraculous happened.

As she cried, her limbs began to grow back, just like a lizard’s tail.

They regenerated as if nothing had ever been severed.

“…Kugh.”

Seeing this, the goblin ran away.

“What a monstrous being… That hero…!! Even I, no matter how strong I am, can’t fight that thing alone.”

The goblin, in the process of transforming into the Demon King, muttered to itself, but neither Victor nor Cynthia heard it.

They were too busy celebrating Cynthia’s miraculous recovery.

“What happened, Cynthia? You’re fine now! How did you do it?”

“I… I don’t know… Maybe I have natural healing powers? There are some mages born with special abilities like that. Like the great sage Minerva. They say she can’t die even if her neck is severed in battle. Isn’t that amazing?”

“So you must have talent on the level of a great sage?”

“I-I guess so… Well, I lived thanks to my abilities this time!”

But that wasn’t it.

The truth was that it was Victor’s SSSSSSSSS-grade buff ability that healed her.

As long as someone was under the effect of his buff, any damage—be it a severed arm, leg, or even a destroyed brain—would be restored.

That was the power Victor held, though he didn’t even realize it himself.

Now, recalling that day, Cynthia hesitated to speak.

“Hah… hah… I have natural healing powers. A single severed arm should recover soon.”

“Hah… hah…”

“C-Cynthia. There’s nothing wrong with you?”

“This is strange…”

Cynthia, feeling despair as she watched blood dripping from her own shoulder, realized it was different from before.

Back then, she hadn’t felt pain even though her limbs were severed.

In fact, now that she thought about it, she’d never felt pain during any of the battles.

No matter the injury, it didn’t hurt, and that was the main reason she was able to fight so bravely.

Of course, this had all been thanks to Victor’s buffs, which made her immune to pain, though Cynthia was unaware of this fact.

“This isn’t good. Esther!”

Unable to wait any longer, Tiffany called out for the saintess.

“Esther, please cast a healing spell on Cynthia. She might die from blood loss at this rate.”

“Understood.”

Esther rushed over.

“Dear goddess Ariane, please stop Lady Cynthia’s bleeding.”

“Ahhh…! It hurts so much…!”

“The bleeding won’t stop… Why? Why is this happening? Goddess! Please, bless her!”

“I’m going crazy… It hurts too much…”

“The bleeding still won’t stop… Why… why is my healing magic not working?”

Esther, utterly confused, floundered helplessly.

“Come to think of it, my blessing didn’t work on Lady Cynthia’s wounds either. I just thought it was a coincidence back then…”

“What nonsense are you talking about?! Is your magic that terrible? You can’t heal a wound this small?! Damn it!

“Si, Cynthia-nim! I beg your pardon, but I was the top healing magic expert at the convent. I can heal any injury as long as it’s not fatal!”

“Then why can’t you heal my wounds?!”

“The reason the magic isn’t working is…”

Esther desperately tried to recall the theories she learned at the convent.

“Perhaps it’s because the caster’s skill level is insufficient, or the wound is too severe to heal, or the caster doesn’t truly wish to heal, or the person is infected with demon blood…”

“I’m none of those, damn it!”

“A-and… it could be because…”

<You’ve developed resistance.>

“Ah…!!”

Esther’s eyes widened as she suddenly realized something, recalling her teacher’s lessons.

Her teacher at the convent had once said:

<It’s similar to cold medicine. If you keep taking cold medicine, the effect diminishes, right?>

<Healing magic works the same way. If someone has been healed once by healing magic, and then injures the same part again, using the same strength of magic won’t work. You need to use stronger magic to heal it.>

<Be careful, everyone. There are even cases of priests or mages becoming addicted by casting healing magic on themselves too often. It’s like needing stronger stimulation the more you do it.>

<For example, the saintess of the first hero party, Goddess Ariane, had such a powerful blessing that she could heal any injury, but after being healed by her once, no other healing magic would work on her. It’s like tasting extremely spicy food and then losing the ability to taste anything else afterward.>

<That’s resistance.>

<When casting healing magic, remember not to overuse it on one person, and don’t cast magic that’s too powerful.>

“Resistance, has resistance developed?”

The first person that came to Esther’s mind was Teresha.

Teresha was the kind of saintess that Esther admired greatly.

Could it be that Teresha’s powerful healing magic caused Cynthia’s body to develop resistance…?

Esther thought, but then shook her head.

‘Teresha-senpai would have taken precautions so that this wouldn’t happen. And even though Teresha-senpai’s magic is strong, my magic is no slouch either. If it’s developed resistance to the point where my magic doesn’t work, then that means she must have been exposed to an immense, and extremely frequent, amount of magic far stronger than mine… Is that even possible? Even the Great Sage Minerva couldn’t do something like that…’

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Esther’s mind: Teresha’s words.

<There’s a secret in the hero party.>

‘A secret… That’s it… Could this be directly related to the secret of the hero party? Someone… No, not me, and not Teresha-senpai, but someone else must have been bestowing immense blessings upon Cynthia… No, maybe all of the hero party! But… who could do that? Someone with that kind of power… the Great Sage? No, or maybe the Pope? But they have no connection to the hero party at all! I don’t know!’

Esther had gotten closer to uncovering the secret Teresha spoke of, but there were still pieces of the puzzle she hadn’t found yet.

She didn’t have the luxury of time to think deeply about it.

“AAAHHH!!!”

“AAAHHH!!!”

Tiffany and Jeanne were both struck by Lesia’s attack in turn.

The confident Jeanne had her sword broken and her eyes gouged out, while Tiffany’s ankles were twisted backward.

Both fell to the ground, unable to fight.

“My eyes!! What is this?! This… hurts so much! This doesn’t make sense! It never hurt before! Haa… this… hurts!! So scary, so scary, so scary!!”

“My legs!! I… I can’t even escape now…” hisssss!

Esther watched in shock as the hero party she had longed for crumbled before her eyes.

She, who was not a combatant, had no means to turn the situation around.

“What… what should I do… what should I do?”

Looking around desperately for a savior, Esther’s eyes fell on a man.

“Of…!”

“Huh…? What’s going on?”

It was Raul, the hero who had been hiding quietly like a mouse since earlier.

“Why… why are you looking at me…?”

“Hero!! Please defeat the Four Heavenly Kings! Save us!!”

Esther called for the hero’s help.

Now, the only remaining hope was the Holy Sword and the Hero.