Chapter 120. Avarice Devours Everything (7)
After fighting the Demon Army"s elites, we had lost many people. Including me, there were 9 Dimensional Mercenaries left, but 21 knights had died and 7 of the surviving ones had received grave injuries preventing them from continuing. There were also only 4 magicians left. With 12 knights, 4 magicians, Bellode, and Ludia, there were 27 people left. If there was anything to be relieved about, it was that most of the knights and magicians were First Dungeon explorers.
That said, we still had a chance. In fact, with the Army Commander defeated, we would be able to rescue Shina before the Demon Army could reorganize themselves. As such, there was still some fighting spirit left in everyone.
However, the fact that the Demon Lord couldn"t move got on my mind. Could he really not move? In that case, couldn"t we kill him with our strength? Was the Demon Lord really heavily injured from the Hero?
"There"s no choice but to go on."
Ludia nodded her head at my words. Right, we had no other choice but to go on. Even though we knew there was a spy within the knights or the magicians, we couldn"t say we would separate, as that would only split up our strengths. As I could at least trust the Dimensional Mercenaries, I wanted to complete the mission with their cooperation. However, it wouldn"t be so easy.
Something had to be done. I couldn"t ignore Peruta"s words.
"But Ludia, we can"t just keep going like this."
"What do you mean? Didn"t you just say it was okay?"
"I just want to get an insurance. Will you hear me out?"
"… Yeah?"
Around dinner time, Bellode"s words made us tense up.
"We"ll arrive soon. They must be planning on staying here for the night. They set up a temporary camp and are resting. Tonight"s our chance… We won"t be able to stop clashing. We will make a feint operation."
"That sounds interesting."
One team to sneak into their camp and save Shina and the explorers that turned into stone. One team to attack from the front and draw attention to themselves. There was also a team to pretend to be sneaky to disperse the demons" suspicions.
Bellode, me, the summoner, and a magician from Shina"s team, who had the ability to detect her party members" locations, joined the rescue team. Three knights, two magicians, and two mercenaries joined the secondary covert team, and the rest joined the frontal a.s.sault team.
"Demon b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, we"ve come to take your heads!"
"Demon Soldiers, stop running away like cowards and come fight!"
Burning the monsters on guard magnificently, we set our plan into motion. The magician first cast stealth magic on all of the covert teams.
"Be careful. Although the magic erases your presence, smell, and appearance, if demons and monsters lay their eyes on you, they will soon discover you."
"So you mean we have to kill them quickly."
I pushed back my hair and nodded. For the record, the metallic egg was in Fairy Garden with Ruyue. For some reason, it wouldn"t go into my inventory!
It could be because it was alive, but at first, when it didn"t go into the inventory, I was afraid I might need to hold onto it the entire time. Thankfully, Ruyue was able to take it to Fairy Garden. Although Peika said it was better for me to hold onto it, I couldn"t do so in the middle of such a dangerous operation, so I left it to Ruyue"s care.
"We"ll be starting now."
The secondary covert team went in a bit earlier than us, the main covert team. Soon, we also sneaked in. Dozens of tents and monsters pa.s.sed by us. Putting our trust in the magician"s ability, we walked forward. The magician in question was on Bellode"s back. She was continuously detecting Shina"s location and whispering her position to Bellode. However, her cheeks were red. Was she flirting in the middle of the operation!?
"Can you feel the Demon Lord"s presence?"
"He"s in the center-most area. He"s tightly guarded too, but even in all the ruckus, he"s not moving."
"What about Shina?"
"It seems that the explorers that turned to stone didn"t need to be placed near the Demon Lord. Although there are quite a lot of personnel on guard, we should be able to save them without much trouble."
"When we"re escaping, we can let them ride on my wyvern. But there"s still one problem."
The summoner spoke.
"Is there a way to turn them back from stone?"
"We can think about that later. We have to save them first."
Bellode save with a stiff voice. The summoner seemed to be convinced by the urgency in his voice as he shrugged.
Although I had a plan in mind, I didn"t say anything. If things didn"t work out, I would feel bad. After finishing our discussion, we quickly walked forward. Although my clothes were uncomfortable, I endured it and followed behind Bellode.
"Kyaaa."
"When is the Army Commander-nim coming back?"
More and more monsters and demons were in the pathway. My body shook from the tension during battle. Although we could kill these guys as we advanced… For now, I had to hold myself back as saving Shina was our priority. Of course, fights did break out from time to time.
"Eh, here!"
"Die!"
When we met demons or monsters in narrows pathways, we had to hastily take care of them and move on. The summoner was of great help, as his main cla.s.s was archer. He consecutively shot out arrows with bountiful aura, which killed the demons quickly. It seemed to be a skill of his. It was truly quick and precise.
"Looks like the other teams are doing well."
We heard explosions and screams from parts of the military camp. Hoping for the other team"s safety, we hastened our steps. Soon, we reached the tent where Shina and the other explorers were imprisoned. As expected, there were dozens of demons guarding the place. It seemed they planned to use them as hostages in their fight against the empire.
"What do we do?"
"As we planned, I"ll go."
"K-Kuhum… Gladly."
I walked up confidently. My appearance changed with each step. My white skin turned into black, tough and muscled skin, while horns shot out from my head and my hair was dyed black. Seeing me walk up so confidently, the demons became fl.u.s.tered.
"A-Army Commander-nim!?"
"Army Commander-nim, do you need something? We haven"t received any word that you"d be visiting."
"What? I definitely sent a message."
"But…! We haven"t heard that you"ve come back yet. Did you bring the crown princess back?"
"That b.i.t.c.h hid. We"ll need to use the hostages more aggressively."
"Army Commander-nim, that"s…"
I reached out and grabbed the head of the demon that talked back to me.
"… Do you want to taste the honor of becoming my blood and flesh?"
"N-No, sir!"
"I, Shatuno, am the absolute ruler under His Highness, the Demon Lord. You dare to talk back to me? You"ve gotten bolder!"
"No, sir!"
"You must have heard that we have intruders! I will take care of the hostages from now. You guys focus on guarding His Highness!"
"Yes, sir!"
The demons all bowed and disappeared beyond the pathway. I snorted and thought.
"This skill, it can even alter my way of talking!"
It said I would absolutely not get discovered, but to think it would have such effect! I thought I could call my plan a success if I could just trick them for this one moment, but I didn"t think it would work so well. G.o.d bless Zeus!
"Amazing."
"I thought that d.a.m.ned demon came back to life."
After confirming that the demons" presence disappeared completely, I returned to my allies. Giving them a grin, I went back to the appearance I had before. Right. I had been using Sky G.o.d"s Play.
"But, the next part worries me a bit…"
"Why?"
At my question, Bellode couldn"t continue and shut his mouth. However, his eyes clearly showed unhappiness. As it was none of my business, I ignored it and entered the tent with them.
She was there. Shina, who had been petrified, was there! Happily yelling inwardly, I urged everyone on.
"We don"t have a lot of time. We"re going to confirm that everyone"s here and escape!"
"Right! Eight people, including Shina-nim. They"re all here!"
"They will notice us leaving, right?"
"Let"s just keep going! It won"t be possible to secretly leave with them anyways! Hurry up and put them on!"
Although we tricked the demons away, it won"t be long until they found out. The summoner summoned his wyvern and fixed the petrified explorers on. As they were alive, they wouldn"t enter the inventory.
As such, we had to sweat to get them out of here. It would be nice if I could just use Return and bring them to Earth with me, but as they belonged to the Luka continent, that wasn"t possible. It was quite irritating.
But… in my dream, I remembered that I returned to Earth with Ludia. How did my dream self do that…?
While we were putting the petrified explorers on the wyvern, the magician calmly shot up a flare. It tore the tent and rose up high into the sky, signifying that we had successfully rescued the explorers.
"Get on! You too, newbie!"
"I"m coming even if you don"t urge me!"
I held Shina in my embrace and got on the wyvern last. The wyvern breathed out fire, burning everything in its path as it flapped its huge wings.
"Wvyern!"
"d.a.m.n it, there were intruders here too!"
Uproar began to ring out from all sides. We could see demons running toward us, holding their weapons or tails.
"Kuk, they took the hostages!"
"Fools, be careful when you shoot!"
The wyvern soared into the sky. However, the wyvern was. .h.i.t by two of the demons" magic attacks, causing it to scream.
"Those sons of b.i.t.c.hes!"
"Crown princess! The crown princess is on it!"
It seemed they were focusing on us more than we thought. In an instant, dozens of demons flocked toward us, confusing us. The summoner took out his bow, while the magician shot magic and Bellode shot aura blades with his sword. Even so, it was not enough to deal with all the demons.
"Wyvern, quicker!"
"d.a.m.n, they put up a barrier of mana! It"s going to take time to break through it!"
"We need to buy time…!"
The summoner could not help, as he was busy putting in mana into his wyvern to break through the barrier. The magician was also focused on breaking the barrier. d.a.m.n, a magical device like this wasn"t there when we sneaked in!
"It looks like a barrier that you can activate once you know there are intruders. It"s not that it"s out of our expectations, but…"
"It"s too strong! Demons usually don"t cast barriers like this… At this rate, we"ll be shot down!"
"Huu, d.a.m.ned spies. I have to take care of this too?"
I sighed and took out Gluttony Spear from my inventory. Then, I looked at Shina in my embrace and spoke.
"Summon Caduceus. Sky G.o.d"s Rage!"
[You summoned Caduceus. All physical abilities have been enhanced. Two snakes have opened their eyes. You may only use the power of one of them.]
[Sky G.o.d"s Rage has been imbued into the weapon in your hand. You can deliver a single powerful blow, or distribute the power in multiple attacks.]
In my hand not holding the spear, particles of light began to gather. Like a snake crawling up a tree, two rays of light crawled up my arm in a spiral and a pair of wings grew on my back. At the same time, the Gluttony Spear let out a radiant light and transformed to a golden lightning bolt. My allies looking at me opened their eyes widely.
"Newbie, you…!"
"If you tell anyone, I"ll kill you."
With words that even I found arrogant, I tightened my grip on the lightning bolt and thrust it towards the barrier blocking us.
BOOM!
"Again!"
CRACK!
With just two hits, an explosive crack rang out. With a satisfied smile, I shot out the lightning bolt again. The sound I was expecting was released. The sound of hundreds of windows shattering rang out. Seeing the demons" shocked faces below satisfied me even more.
"Wvyern, go!"
[Guaaaaaaa!]
"Eh, why is he listening to her… him!"
"Don"t let them escape!"
"Capture the other intruders!"
While still sending magic toward us, demons were scattering. I shot my lightning bolt, which still had some power remaining, at them. Although I wanted to throw the spear, retrieving it would be difficult, so I simply sent the lightning energy in my spear flying. A few of the demons turned into ash and disappeared. At the same time, the energy imbued by Sky G.o.d"s Rage had completely disappeared from the spear. Feeling refreshed, I put the spear back into my inventory.
"Alright, let"s run now!"
"You sure are scary…"
The wyvern soared through the sky. Although many of the Demon Army"s monsters flew in the sky, the others were more than capable of dealing with them. After all, they were all First Dungeon explorers that were at least level 70.
"What about the other teams? Have you tried messaging them?"
"Two of the Dimensional Mercenaries escaped to the dungeon. Four knights and two magicians died. The rest managed to escape the camp."
The summoner replied, looking more relaxed as he controlled his wyvern. The wyvern continued to breathe out fire at the flying monsters. No matter how I thought about it, his wyvern was unusually strong.
Meanwhile, I stretched my neck.
"The petrified people are all tied well, right?"
"Other than the princess in your hand, then yeah."
"Good. Then should we do it now?"
"Do what?"
"You"ll see." With that, I stretched my neck again. Then, I shouted.
"Uwaaaaaaak!"
[You used Orc Lord"s Warcry! All party members are cleansed of negative status effects. All party members" attack power increases by 50 percent for the duration. All party members become super-armored, unfazed by enemy attacks.]
Startled by my shouting, the wyvern screamed and flapped its wings violently. The others were also surprised by my shouting and turned my way to say something, only to get shocked.
"Mm? Mmm…"
Shina, who was in my arms, regained her normal complexion. Not only her, but all the petrified explorers tied to the wyvern snapped out of their status effects.
"W-What did you… No, nevermind. Excuse me."
"Huhuhu."
"Even if I told you guys, there"s nothing you can do." I murmured inwardly. The petrification was a type of status effect. It could be canceled with Orc Lord"s Warcry. I was now fully ready to agree that Orc Lord"s Warcry was the world"s most cheaty skill.
Smiling brightly, I checked Shina"s state. She was still wearing the armor she wore during the battle. With her eyes open, she was looking at me with surprised eyes.
"Shina, are you okay?"
"… Unni? You came to save me? Really?"
"Yeah."
Shina"s eyes opened widely. Then, looking at me, who was taking Ludia"s appearance, she laughed.
"So unni really… Huhu. Thanks, unni."
I was lost for words at her incredibly beautiful smile. Drawn by her smile, I also smiled. Shina"s next action was like flowing water.
"And… good bye."
She took out a sword. The sword"s body, the sword"s guard, and the sword"s pommel were all emanating an eerie black aura. Then, she stabbed it in my stomach.
Author"s note:
1. I wonder if there are any readers who didn"t realize that Shin was disguising himself as Ludia. Probably not, right? With all the hints I gave…
2. It seems like not a lot of people thought Shina was a traitor. Someone actually guessed it from what Peruta said in the last chapter. I got frightened and replied mysteriously. I don"t know if it worked…
By the way, there were many hints. Like the emperor telling him not to trust anyone besides Ludia and Bellode; the fact that Shina, who should"ve been faster than Ludia, stood still and got petrified while Ludia escaped (though Ludia thought that it was because she was just faster T.T); or as the last chapter said, Peruta telling Shin not to trust anyone…
Stupid Shina, you got tricked… does she still look like your sister…?
Now, why was Shin taking Ludia"s appearance!? Why did he hold Shina in his embrace, fully knowing that something was wrong with Shina? Did he want to embrace a girl even if it cost him his life!? The answer will come out in the next chapter.
PS - Shin"s cape has the effect of blocking ambush attacks three times per day. It will be explained in the beginning of next chapter, but he cannot use his equipment skills when he"s using Sky G.o.d"s Play, so that"s why he couldn"t block her attack. Of course, even if he could use the effect, the difference in the equipment"s power wouldn"t make that possible.
Translator"s note:
On the other hand, if Shin"s changed to Ludia, can he feel the… you know…
Chapter 121. Avarice Devours Everything (8)
My cape"s effect, ambush defense, could not be used in Ludia"s appearance. Although I retained all my abilities, it did not include my equipment"s effects. As such, I could only let the sword stab into me helplessly.
[You have been stabbed with the legendary weapon, Soul Sucker, crafted with the Demon Lord"s power. If you do not receive peak-grade treatment, you will soon be killed! All party members fall in "shameful obedience" status effect. Orc Lord"s Warcry attempts to resist it. Without enough resistance left, it fails!]
So Orc Lord"s Warcry could fail too!? The reason it didn"t have enough resistance had to be because it canceled all the petrification. Since the petrification was a status effect casted by the Demon Lord, it was understandable. In fact, it would have been more surprising if Orc Lord"s Warcry could have resisted the status effect again.
"I didn"t think you would grit your teeth and come save me… But I"m happy I got to use this sword, unni."
"Cough."
"But still, I"m surprised. I thought you"d get caught before it became my turn. We planted quite a lot of spies among the knights, you see. Ah, by now, the Demon Army should have invaded the Imperial Palace too. The demons that usually only stay in the Demon Lord"s territory have been sent out, knowing that this is the best opportunity. Elite forces sent to save me. Without them, what would have happened to the Imperial Palace… to father and mother? I don"t think the ruler of an empire would run away to the dungeon, so do you think he got captured?"
I coughed up blood. Excruciating pain swept over me. It was as if my soul was being sucked in by the sword. The party members tried to approach me, but I shook my head once and gave them a glance. It was the signal to execute the plan we made for the "what if" we talked about. Bellode shook his head in pain, but the magician and the summoner were different. They immediately sprung into action. Although they seemed to be in pain from the status effect, the order I gave them was extremely simple.
Thinking that victory was in her grasp, Shina continued.
"What don"t you say something, unni? Like since when or why I went to the Demon Lord"s side. Or if the Demon Lord brainwashed me. Don"t you have a lot to say?"
"What is it that you want?"
Shina seemed to be surprised by my straightforward question. She curled one corner of her mouth up and responded.
"It"s the seat next to the Demon Lord, unni. A seat where I can obtain everything in the world… He allowed me to be beside him. Of course, with one additional condition. The power of Kang Shin, the other world"s Hero. You know how greedy I am, right, unni? The Demon Lord took my offer of the power of another world"s Hero. He also saw me in high regard. You see, we suit each other rather well."
"So… because of your avarice, you cooperated with him in destroying the Ehuir Empire, killing me, and offering Shin to the Demon Lord? Leaving his own world to end?"
"Yep. What, are you trying to contact him? Give up, unni. This sword"s power is amazing. The only thing unni is allowed to do is to curse at me to make the short time you have left worth it. You probably can"t open your inventory either."
It really didn"t open. I let her know that there were others with my eyes, but Shina was still full of leisure.
"Didn"t I tell you, unni? This is a weapon imbued with the Demon Lord"s power. Everyone here is no longer allowed any freedom. At the very least, everything they could do as explorers has been sealed. Plus, the ones unni saved are also…!"
Shina talked as she turned her head, and was shocked. Other than Bellode, who was gritting his teeth and closing his eyes, the summoner and the magician"s actions had shocked her.
Seven explorers, who were tied so well that they couldn"t even open the door to the dungeon, had fallen from the wyvern"s back. Currently in free fall, they were screaming.
"Kuaaaaaak!"
"Y-Your Highness!"
Since both their hands and feet were tied, they were fated to hit the ground without doing anything. Of course, they couldn"t escape to the dungeon.
The moment I realized Shina was. .h.i.t by the Demon Lord"s magic on purpose, the chances that other petrified explorers were also traitors became extremely high. The moment Shina"s words confirmed it, the party members had thrown them off the wyvern. Having to kill the people we came to save… It was a truly unpleasant feeling.
"You guys!"
"They"ll probably die."
At my short words, Shina gave a fl.u.s.tered look, but soon swept aside her bangs and sighed.
"Hu… I don"t care what happens to them. They were only there to make it more believable that I was captured by the Demon Lord. What"s important is that you and the others can"t do anything to me."
She seemed to be telling the truth. Even after dropping the seven explorers, the summoner and the magician couldn"t approach me. It seemed like the sword in my stomach was preventing them somehow. If they forced themselves, they might be the ones to fall off the wyvern instead. It must be the "shameful obedience" status effect they got when the sword stabbed through me. Just by attacking one person, the whole party was suppressed! I knew it was imbued with the Demon Lord"s power, but what was this weapon!? At that moment, while I was feeling my vitality reaching its limit, a message rang out in ear, surprising me.
[Diehard activates. All injuries have been restored and your vitality is restored to 50% of its maximum.]
[Soul Sucker"s power prevents healing! If you do not receive peak-grade holy recovery in the next 2 minutes, you will die!]
Without even knowing that Diehard had activated, Shina smiled confidently and spoke.
"Huhu, this sword is also the proof of contract between us. It is the power that he bestowed upon me. Be glad, unni. Unni loves Kang Shin, right? He will be stabbed with the same sword. With this sword, I will rob the world of its power. How is it? Are you happy that you will die in the same way as your lover?"
"Kuu, this hurts… There"s one thing I want to say."
With this, I probably heard everything I could with Ludia"s appearance. I immediately canceled Sky G.o.d"s Play.
In an instant, my height grew taller, my hair got shorter, and my voice became thicker. My two arms, which were still holding onto Shina, changed from the slender arms of a frail girl to healthy, muscled arms. Likely because of Soul Sucker, I wasn"t wearing my equipment and was only wearing my underwear. Because of the sword stuck in my stomach, my underwear got dyed in red. Without joking, it was an intense pain.
"I"m not your unni, Shina."
Shina"s eyes opened widely.
"Oppa!?"
"Bellode, the request has been complete. Do you accept it?"
"… Kuuk, the request… Sorry, but even so, I can"t do it…!"
"Really? But I don"t think it"s up to you anymore."
The moment I said that, a fanfare rang in my ear.
[Request complete! Although the requester did not lie, the target of the request has become the world"s enemy. As of this moment, all Dimensional Mercenaries that have carried out the request will be treated as if the request has been completed. It is recommended that you return to your dimension as soon as possible.]
[You obtained 8 stats points as the request"s reward!]
8 points. It was quite a lot. However, I couldn"t open my status window at the moment, so I couldn"t use the points that I had obtained with difficulty.
Shina was visibly surprised by the fact that I had changed from Ludia"s appearance, but after realizing that the sword was still stuck in my stomach, she regained her composure.
"Oppa, you already became a Dimensional Mercenary? I never even imagined it. Plus, you were disguising yourself as unni too… It"s quite unfortunate that I couldn"t kill unni here, but at least you made it easy for me. I can fulfill my side of the contract with the Demon Lord now."
"As I thought, I wasn"t your fated partner."
"Geez, oppa. My fated partner isn"t a childish rookie like you. It"s the Demon Lord."
Didn"t Ludia say her clan"s eyes allowed them to find partners that would let the empire flourish? It seemed there was a mistake. For example, instead of a flourishing empire, it could be flourishing descendants. With her fated partner being the Demon Lord, it was understandable that she"d be excited. Especially since she even suppressed me with such a powerful weapon.
At this point, I was completely certain. I wanted to believe that the Demon Lord had brainwashed her, but all the negative status effects on her should have disappeared when I used Orc Lord"s Warcry. Since she lied about her fated partner being me… she must have been conspiring with the Demon Lord for a long time.
"So Shina, do you hate me so much that you want to kill me?"
"Hm… To be honest, I thought you"d be a good boyfriend. You"re handsome, strong, and kind."
"Thanks for the compliment. By the way, Shina, I came here to save you. Although I was in Ludia"s appearance, I hoped that you were fine."
This was the truth. If possible, I wanted to save Shina and go back. I wanted to complete my first mission without much problem, and I didn"t want to see Shina rebelling against Ludia and the imperial family. I didn"t want to see Ludia"s crying face, and I didn"t want her to hate me. But…
"But oppa is a Hero, right? Setting aside whether you like it or not, you have to sacrifice yourself for my future. Please just take this as your fate."
"I see, so everything is "fate"… In truth, Shina, our conversation until now has been insignificant."
"What?"
Sorry, Ludia.
But I have no intention of letting someone who tried to kill me live.
"Caduceus."
The snake spiraling around my arm opened its eyes. It was scorched black, then it scattered into pieces.
[As your target has a lower level than you, you reflect all injuries inflicted by the target.]
"Kuhuk!?"
Shina grabbed her stomach and groaned. I touched my stomach, and confirmed that the sword was no longer stuck in it. My health was back to normal as well. The state of my body was so perfect that even I found it strange.
Putting mana into my bracelet, I put on my armor. Then, I checked how my allies were doing. As expected, they had escaped the status effect and were making confused expressions. Seeing Shina" state, Bellode ran toward me, but the summoner smacked his head first with his bow imbued with aura.
"This guy really is stupid. Even with what she did to him…"
"Kuk…."
"Kahak!"
Shina coughed out black blood and raised her head to look at me. The sword stuck to her stomach was giving off a black aura. Just watching it made me shiver in fear, especially when I thought that it was inside of me until just now.
"This, what did… you…"
"Shina. In my country, we call it the retribution of karma."
I explained to her coldly.
"I simply returned what you did to me."
"How? The Demon Lord"s power… And Unni…"
"You justified murder for your avarice, right?"
"As for me, I will kill you for my justice."
"Kuhuk… o-oppa, save me. Plea…"
It went without saying that I had never killed a human being. I had killed monsters like eating rice. I had even killed demons after coming here. Right, I had even killed chimeras, who were made using humans.
However, I had never killed a human being. Set aside the question of whether humans and other lives have different values. It wasn"t a matter of value. There was an inherent resistance to murdering humans, who were the same existences as me. It was the resistance that humans naturally had.
However, I surprisingly accepted myself trying to kill Shina naturally. She tried to kill her older sister. She wanted to betray her continent and embrace the Demon Lord. She agreed to the plan of killing her own parents.
No, that wasn"t the reason. I wasn"t trying to kill her for such a complicated reason. It was simpler.
It was because she was my enemy and she tried to kill me.
To kill her, I didn"t need any other reason.
"Kuk… Kuhuk!"
"Huu."
Once I had organized my thoughts, I was quick to move. I took my spear out of my inventory and brought it to the demonic sword stuck in her stomach. Although the demonic sword must have belonged to Shina, that was no longer the case as it had dealt critical damage to Shina. In fact, it was likely that it was now mine.
As expected, my spear easily absorbed the demonic sword, which was happily sucking away her soul.
[Crimson Gluttony Spear absorbed Soul Sucker. Growth: 87%]
It had a lower grade than the holysword. How amazing was the holysword when it was at its full strength? While pondering, I stared at Shina, who was gasping for breath.
"O-Oppa."
"You"re trying to open the dungeon."
The moment I felt her resistance, I summoned my elementals. Peika and Ruyue appeared on my shoulders the moment I called them. With a grunt, Ruyue was holding up the egg with her small body, but I pretended not to see it and order her.
"Tie her."
[Okay!]
In an instant, Shina"s hands and feet were frozen. With the demonic sword gone, she was no longer my opponent. Having lost her way to resist and escape, she only looked at me with blank eyes.
"O-Oppa. W-What did you do with the sword?"
Without answering her, I held my spear up. Peika and I also didn"t need to exchange words. She naturally infused herself into the Gluttony Spear, giving it golden flickers of lightning. Shina put on an urgent expression.
"Oppa, you took away the sword to save me, right?"
"Wrong."
Without even a shred of hesitation, I struck down with my spear.
"I got rid of the sword, so I won"t make disgraceful excuses later that I didn"t personally kill you."
I will bear the weight of my crimes. I won"t make excuses that I only returned the injuries she gave me. I labeled her as my enemy, and thus I cut her. I will continue to do so.
My spear cut Shina in half and the lightning energy in my spear burned the two halve of her corpse to crisp. I destroyed Shina completely, so that she cannot be revived as undead.
With my own hands, I killed Ludia"s sister.
The fact that it felt the same as killing a monster was sad and scary.
Author"s note:
You can"t effectively deal with the Demon Lord with Floor Masters" powers? Then use G.o.d"s powers!
By taking on Ludia"s appearance, Shin was able to hear everything from Shina. If he was in his own appearance, it would have been hard. Things would have gotten much more complicated.
This is the highlight of this arc. Shin has killed a person for the first time. I thought a lot to write this part, but there was no reason for Shin, who was resolute and clear on distinguishing between friend and foe, to let Shina live. Shina was his acquaintance and Shin had even come for her. Because of the effort he put in, he couldn"t forgive her for what she did to him.
Retrieving foreshadowing and making new ones. You will see how it all ends in the next chapter.