Book 2: Chapter 363
“Sp-, spare me…”
A young woman begged with tears streaming down her face.
Her face was pale, and her entire body shook incessantly from fear.
[…]
Lucid’s movements stopped.
The tip of his sword, which was raised high in preparation to swing, quivered uncontrollably.
Perhaps this action gave the young woman hope, as her horrified expression gained a hint of expectation.
Bang!
Suddenly, a giant hand of bone appeared in the air before smashing the woman to bits.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Lucid wasn’t spared from the impromptu shower. The drops of blood standing out starkly on his pitch black armor.
[…it’s still not perfect.]
Diablo let out a long sigh.
He’d thought he’d been able to completely corrupt Lucid’s heroic character, but he had been wrong. The command system had been established perfectly, but it seemed that he still needed to make some adjustments when it came to particular details.
He looked around.
Although his surroundings were a scene of misery and horror, Diablo’s unmoving heart was not affected. Instead, he was just calculating how many undead he would be able to extract from this city.
Even though he had already received the cooperation of most Wizards, a trump card like Lucid, and killed Snow, it was still a bit reckless to openly take on the entire continent on his own.
‘The majority of people here are just civilians without any combat capabilities. Even if I revived all of them, they wouldn’t be very useful.”
It would be very difficult for him to obtain a useful army here.
Of course, if he were to slowly inject his death energy into them over time it would be possible for him to transform them into a useful force. But, unfortunately, Diablo didn’t have that much time.
Iris Phisfounder easily had the ability to call reinforcements. Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a threat unless she brought in a major player like Ivan, but Diablo was not in his prime state yet.
There was no need to bet on unclear odds.
Moreover, the goal of this attack wasn’t to kill someone.
[I didn’t think you would come personally.]
As he said that, Diablo turned to look behind him.
Asilla was standing there.
Srrng-
Lucid drew his sword and tried to step in front of him, but Diablo raised his bleached white hand.
[Asilla Goldiroth, the DemiG.o.d’s plaything. How does it feel to live while trapped in that fragile body.] (TL: So she is a Dragon.)
“…”
[I can’t imagine that it would be pleasant.]
The flames in Diablo’s eye sockets burned brightly.
Asilla met his gaze for a while before finally opening her mouth.
“Did you really need to do this?”
[Hmm.]
“If you had tried to negotiate, I would have agreed.”
[I do not believe so.]
“Why?”
[Because if that truly were the case, you would not have called the Black Witch immediately after obtaining that item.]
Asilla’s eyes went wide.
[There’s no need to be so surprised. There wasn’t a leak of information. It was purely a speculative conclusion. It hadn’t been long since you obtained that item and Iris appeared in this city. That wouldn’t have been possible without a quick and accurate response. In other words, you had no intention of giving that item to me from the beginning.]
“…do you even know what that thing is?”
[It seems you believe I am unreasonable enough to be greedy over something that I don’t know the true value of.]
Crunch.
His skeletal fingers twitched ominously.
[I have a question for you.]
As expected, he also had a goal.
Perhaps that was the reason he was still allowing Asilla to live.
[Where did you obtain that box?]
“…shouldn’t you know as well? I heard that you arrived just after I retrieved the box.”
[That’s roughly true. But I would still like to be sure. Of course, it doesn’t matter if you don’t want to answer.]
‘In that case I wouldn’t have more business with you.’
Although he didn’t say those last words, it was basically spelled out by the atmosphere.
Asilla hesitated.
In all honesty, it wasn’t that difficult to answer his question.
However, what would happen next?… It had been less than a minute since she’d started this confrontation with Diablo. According to Peran, she needed to buy at least 9 more minutes.
She knew if they were to fight she wouldn’t even last 10 seconds, let alone 9 minutes, so she had to find some way to drag on the conversation…
Should she try to trick him? Or say that she couldn’t tell him so easily?
No, she couldn’t. That wouldn’t work.
Diablo had probably spoken his true feelings.
It wouldn’t matter to him whether she told him or not, he was just trying to be sure.
This person would have no regrets even if he didn’t get to hear a definite answer from Asilla.
In that case…
“The Amakan Desert.”
First of all, confess the truth.
[…]
Diablo’s eyes shimmered slightly.
Perhaps it was because he found Asilla’s compliance surprising.
Or maybe the answer he received was different from what he was expecting.
The answer came a few moments later in the form of a murmur from Diablo.
[I see, as expected.]
As he said those words, the hand that had been restraining Lucid fell.
Then Diablo spoke in a brief tone.
[Now to end this.]
* * *
“…”
A familiar place.
This was the thought Lukas had as he opened his eyes.
Whether it was a dream or reality, his mind was a bit clouded. But that wasn’t because there was a problem with his mind. Instead, it was as if this s.p.a.ce forcibly blurred his consciousness.
“The name Great Mage must be crying.”
A voice drifted into his ears.
When he turned his head, he was met with the unfamiliar face of a familiar person.
…A man, the same Kasajin he’d met last time.
He was sitting on a boulder, swinging his skinny legs in a motion that didn’t match his aura.
0
His memories slowly came back to him. Lukas had been here before, and he’d also met Kasajin before.
It was strange.
Why had he forgotten this?
“I wasn’t bored.”
“…what?”
“Watching you roll around like that, time pa.s.sed really quickly. But what the h.e.l.l? Roll, roll, roll… How the h.e.l.l did the world’s Lukas Trowman become like that? No. That’s not it.”
Kasajin smiled cheekily.
“You’ve always been like that.”
“Like what?”
“You’ve always been more comfortable when you’re rolling around in dog s.h.i.t than when you’re at ease… There’s a word for that. What was it again? I think they call it masochism?”
“What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?”
“Kekeke.”
Perhaps it was because of his joke, or Kasajin’s vulgar laughter.
But Lukas also burst into a ridiculous laugh before his expression changed.
“Kasajin.”
“What?”
“…are you the real Kasajin?”
It might just be his feeling, but when he said those words, Lukas felt like his surroundings became a bit clearer.
But he still couldn’t tell where this place was.
Maybe he really was dreaming.
“I’m not sure if there is enough time.”
“What?”
“Follow me and see for yourself.’
As he said that, Kasajin got up from his seat.
“What kind of place this is.”
(TL: This will be the last ‘part’ of a chapter. And for reference, it’s the second half of chapter 223.
Going forward, the chapters will be posted in their completed state. )