The Hunted Regressor: My Heretic Saint System-Chapter 127: IGGNNNNNNNOOOOTTTTTUSSS!

Ignotus’s best bet was to act as if they weren’t there, hoping they’d simply pass by, ignoring him for prettier and juicier prey. Or, it was to face the Demon in an attempt to kill it and do it quickly before the others could gang up on him. The moment they did, he’d be sure to die.

"My dear Goddess~..."

He sighed.

"You really have it out for me, huh?"

Or perhaps not.

Because the moment Eris was about to reply...

"Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me."

Something very odd caught his and Her eyes.

Among the horde was a much smaller, more upright figure.

Though dressed in black from head to toe, he seemed very much alive.

Indeed, Ignotus had seen an actual person among them.

And that very ’person’ pointed straight at Ignotus.

"Here he is!"

It was the same assassin he had let go of before.

"I told you he’d come here—"

Before the assassin could finish that sentence, his head rolled off his neck.

The body fell a second later.

Immediately, Ignotus took a stance, equipping his sword and gloves.

His eyes glanced around everywhere, waiting for someone to come out, but...

’Hm.’

No one came.

Only the undead continued to step forward, stopping in ranks before him.

He was about to move, perhaps escape, when suddenly—

Thud!

Something rolled to his feet.

Another severed head.

Not the assassin’s, no.

This one was... different.

The skin was stretched too tightly.

Its eyes were open, and its mouth was smiling.

Ignotus stared down at it.

’...I don’t like that.’

He wasn’t worried it’d explode or anything like that; he felt nothing from it.

The head was dead.

The head... was... ’dead.’

"BREAK."

Gripping his sword tightly, he immediately stabbed at its forehead.

Yet just as the blade touched it, its forehead split open, forming a mouth that clamped down on the sword.

It tried to bite and break it, but Ignotus’s [Wise Fool] had triggered, critting it.

"Aughuhuguggaaahhhh."

The head let out a horrible shriek as it was blasted backwards, bouncing across the dirt.

Every Malevolent Undead stopped, and then, in perfect unison, every single one turned towards him.

Indeed, hundreds of dead eyes locked on one fool.

They didn’t move yet, but they seemed to be on the cusp of doing so.

’...maybe I overplayed my hand.’

Ignotus had let that assassin go to bait one of the other two villains to attack him.

Well, whichever of those two villains it was that the assassin ran to, they had led a natural disaster to him... perhaps it was the very one responsible for the curse back then.

’Ah, well. It’s too late to run...’

He adjusted his grip, smirking despite himself.

’Smart play though, I commend it—’

’I’m sorry.’

Eris cut off his thoughts.

’Sorry? Sorry about what?’

’I’m sure you’ve figured out much, but you should know...’

She sighed, sounding obviously disappointed with Herself.

’This Demon is one of my followers.’

And THAT snapped Ignotus’s head up.

’What? This... this doesn’t make—’

Joining in the trend and cutting himself off, he quickly shook his head.

This was Eris, a Goddess of Calamity; it was only of course that Her Followers, the four villains, were different; he should’ve expected that. No one was insane enough to willingly kneel to Her as he did, and those who did were likely too desperate and pathetic.

’So you even accepted a Demon as a Follower?’

Eris looked away, ashamed.

’You might think the first two were desperate, but I was even more so... and this thing, as you can see, didn’t have much of a mind, so I thought I could control it. The first two were complete failures, so I thought that perhaps it’d be better than a human.’

’And how’d that go for you?’

’...not well.’

’Clearly.’

Ignotus would’ve laughed if he wasn’t, plainly put, absolutely FUCKED here.

’You really shouldn’t have let that assassin go.’

’Yeah, thanks for the hindsight.’

’No, I mean it. I think we’re about to meet someone worse.’

’Oh, great... Who?’

’At—’

"Isn’t it ’great?’"

Interrupting Eris, a real voice resounded before him.

The owner stepped out from behind the Demon’s horde.

No doubt he was the one who threw the head.

A massive and towering bald, red-eyed man in a black cloak.

The cloak, though covering him entirely, wasn’t able to hide his muscles.

His presence alone made the air vibrate with Strength.

He revealed a hateful smile.

"I’m—"

"Atys."

Ignotus interrupted with a grin.

"Or so you hate to be called. You prefer Letum now, don’t you? A man of Death."

The man stopped mid-step, and even Eris froze up.

"How..."

Letum’s voice rumbled.

"How do you know that name?"

"Oh, come on."

Ignotus waved him off.

"You’re Eris’s fourth Follower. You probably dragged the third one here to impress Her, didn’t you? Are you begging Her to take you back? Even after you betrayed Her by targeting Her one Follower?"

He took a step forward.

"I don’t think so, though. I believe you’ve moved on to brighter pastures. So why? What’s the reason you brought it along? Too weak to handle your own fight? Do you need its help to beat me? Did you lose all your strength when they had you shave your head?"

A muscle twitched in the man’s jaw, yet Ignotus continued:

"Didn’t you learn after stealing that Parish’s secrets? Or was that before or after you stole a Divine Relic from them, too? I don’t usually remember many rumors, but yours was so ridiculous I laughed at it for days."

’Ignotus, stop—’

But he didn’t.

"Oh, man! The before and after was hilarious! Seriously, I heard that if your daddy didn’t sacrifice his life for you that day, you’d have way more than a shaved head~. You’d die, of course, but you could’ve been made a eunuch—be castrated, or maybe you already are—"

That did it.

"IGGNNNNNNNOOOOTTTTTUSSS!"

Letum was enraged beyond belief.

The forest around them bent under his roar, trees twisting backwards.

Mere moments after, the Malevolent Undead began to move.

Ignotus grinned, raising his sword.

"Ah, there it is~."

His mission was successful.

He had angered Letum for good reason.

It wasn’t only for the love of the game.

Letum was insane, yes, even by Ignotus’s standards of crazy.

But worse than that? He knew him to be smart. And smart Letum would’ve been a nightmare.

Ignotus preferred the deranged version; that one at least could be tricked, led, and pushed around a little.

Besides, he wanted both villains to remain here.

So, Ignotus did what he did best, and...

"Come at me!"

Jumped right into the fray with a grin.