At the Boar Hat, everyone gathered around Meliodas, who was wrapped in bandages.
The objective of the trip to Basel had been achieved—Diane successfully recovered her Sacred Treasure.
But although they repelled the Holy Knights, Meliodas was injured. And because King went to support him, he didn't manage to keep an eye on Gowther.
Worst of all, the fragment of the Coffin of Eternal Darkness on Meliodas was also gone.
After Meliodas was severely wounded by Helbram, the fallen fragment was taken away by another Holy Knight.
Even Charles hadn't noticed when that guy slipped off; chances are the thing has already been delivered to the capital by now.
Still, Meliodas said that seal is quite reliable and won't be opened for the time being. So the group decided to head to Wodan Village to find Gowther first.
Thanks to Charles's involvement, there was no Veronica dying to save Elizabeth and no Meliodas going berserk in the Basel fight this time.
So the mood on the road was fairly relaxed; while Charles reverse-engineered this world's magitech from the devices confiscated off Guila and Jericho, the group arrived at Wodan Village.
Meliodas had been fretting over where to look for Gowther. According to Charles, Gowther was moving around in a disguised appearance—finding him wouldn't be easy.
But as soon as they reached Wodan, they found a lead.
No need for Charles's sensing—everyone could see dust kicking up from a mountain slope nearby.
Charles had told Stella she didn't have to move with the main group, just protect Elizabeth, who couldn't fight.
So aside from Stella, Elizabeth, and Hawk, everyone else headed toward the rising dust.
Along the way, they saw men lying all over the ground.
They were in armor—clearly Holy Knights sent by the kingdom. Their condition was uniformly miserable; their armor looked as if it had been hit by siege engines and, like their bodies, showed all kinds of twists and damage.
Meliodas finally found one who was still alive; from his mouth they heard only two broken words: "armored giant" and "monster."
Setting down the now-dead knight, Meliodas looked toward the source of the magical outbursts with a deep gaze.
Armored giant—what that called to mind for him was Gowther. Although Charles had said Gowther's true form was a normally built youth, that armored giant definitely had something to do with him.
And these Holy Knights had surely been sent by the kingdom to subjugate Gowther. Given how seriously the kingdom took the Seven Deadly Sins, there was no way they only sent small fry.
Thinking as he ran, Meliodas picked up the pace, and the others hurried to keep up.
Soon, they saw the armored giant the dying knight had described.
The armor was indeed the set they were familiar with Gowther wearing, but they were sure whoever was inside it was not Gowther.
Though Gowther often acted like he lacked common sense, he absolutely wouldn't fight like a wild beast, and his magic wouldn't be this chaotic.
The armored giant loosed an ear-splitting roar and swung its arms, sending every Holy Knight that rushed it flying.
With no technique at all and on brute force alone, the armored giant blasted all the Holy Knights away.
But that kind of fighting also meant it had been hit more than once. Charles could see the plates around the giant's ribs had shattered in places, exposing the muscle beneath, which writhed violently.
The others saw that grotesque sight too, and Meliodas said, "Charles, is that—!"
Charles nodded. "Yeah. Same as the New Generation, a Holy Knight fused with demon blood.
Only this one is clearly a failed fusion—his very body's been warped by the corrosion."
Meliodas said gravely, "Can he still be saved?"
Charles thought for a moment. "All I can say is we can try. I can't guarantee success when it's corroded this far.
Fortunately, that armor can suppress magic. Without it, he'd really be beyond saving. And he still seems to have part of his own will—so the odds aren't bad."
Meliodas exhaled slightly. "What do you need us to do?"
Charles rolled his shoulders. "First we have to pin him down so I can separate the demon blood. And the separation can't be interrupted—if it's cut off midway, he really won't make it back."
Meliodas drew the new short staff Charles had made and said, "Then it's simple. Let's go together!"
"Yeah!"
The others answered in unison and charged in.
Meliodas was the fastest, arriving at the armored giant's front and catching its fist on his short staff.
That fist had been aimed at a Holy Knight who'd already been scared into falling hard on his backside.
Meliodas glanced back. "Leave him to us. You get out of here."
The Holy Knight sat on the ground, his voice trembling. "You're the Seven Deadly Sins!"
Around them, the Holy Knights turned toward the newcomers on the field, bristling with caution.
"That's right, the Seven Deadly Sins—seize them too!"
King sighed and loosed the Spirit Spear in its fifth form.
The small spears thudded into the ground in front of each man's feet, and King said, "Now is not the time for you to make a mess of things."
The Sins might be infamous, but that also meant each of them carried considerable deterrence.
King alone was enough to keep the Holy Knights from approaching.
On the other side, with the armored giant's fist checked, it swung the other one at Charles.
"Don't even think about it!" Diane slammed her war hammer into the earth; three stone pillars shot up and locked the giant's arm in place.
Ban ran up along the pillars, the three-section staff Charles had made whipping in his hands; the far end drove straight into the armored giant's body.
Magic \[Plunder]. Ban's strongest ability. With it he drew off the giant's stamina and magic. The armored giant dropped to one knee.
Against a mindless foe, the Sins moving as one suppressed him easily.
Then it was Charles's turn. In a blink he was in front of the armored giant, his hand blazing as he pressed it to the giant's chest.
The hand the giant had just raised fell limply, and its body began to wither rapidly. Charles was separating and purifying the demon blood that had already twisted the flesh.
Seeing that Charles's measures were working, Meliodas relaxed slightly—only to move again, suddenly shifting behind Charles to snatch a long arrow out of the air.
Ban also shifted to the other side, his three-section staff blocking a Holy Knight armored like a tin can.
A female Holy Knight with a rapier drove Diane back. A long-haired youth with a longsword stepped in front of King.
In that split-second flurry, a man in a metal mask suddenly appeared at Charles's side, swinging a saw-toothed greatsword down at the armored giant.
Charles didn't even look—surging flames blasted out and drove the masked man back.
While still extracting the demon blood, Charles said, "I'm busy here. Could you go pick on someone else?
I'm the technical staff right now. I don't have the kind of power the Seven Deadly Sins have."
The masked man froze. Whatever his expression was under the metal, it had to be something.
"You can wield fire like that, and you're telling me you don't have power?!"
(End of Chapter)
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