< Chapter 175: Clash (2) >
“…Luna, can you check inside the barrier?”
“No… unfortunately.”
Outside the barrier, Edel and Luna were looking up at it with grave expressions.
“What could Seo-yul be thinking?”
It wasn’t a mistake that Kang Seo-yul grabbed Lilith. It was an intentional act.
“I think he had a reason for doing that…”
But they couldn’t figure out what that intention was.
“Quickly!”
From a distance, Rena and the Beast King, along with other waiting reinforcements, rushed over.
“Is it true that the two of you switched opponents?!”
Rena’s face was filled with urgency. It was a face begging to be told that wasn’t the case.
“It’s true. Contrary to the plan, Mr. Seo-yul took on the Succubus Queen, and Ai faced the Incubus King.”
Rena collapsed to the ground.
“How could this be…”
From before the war in this world began, Lilith and Bazet were famous. As demons that consume the opposite gender, it was common knowledge that men could never beat Lilith, and women couldn’t defeat Bazet.
Hence the plan was to make them fight against the same gender.
But unexpectedly, they ended up fighting the opposite gender. It’s no wonder Rena was so devastated.
“That cunning man couldn’t have taken Lilith without some strategy.”
On the other hand, the Beast King remained fairly composed.
“He must have had a reason for doing that.”
Through Jin’s observations, Kang Seo-yul wasn’t the type to act recklessly without a plan. There must be a reason. The Beast King comforted Rena.
“You don’t need to worry too much. He’s a man who was certain from the start that those two would attack. He must have acted that way because he’s confident in victory.”
“…Really?”
The shock in Rena’s eyes faded just a little.
“Confidence…? Oh!”
Upon hearing Jin’s words, Edel, as if realizing something, continued.
“If that’s the case, perhaps our ancestor intended to face Lilith from the beginning?”
“From the beginning?”
Jin tilted his head in confusion.
“Yes. If our ancestor had said he would face Lilith, we would have surely objected and intervened. I think he might have said the opposite initially to avoid wasting unnecessary time.”
“Oh.”
Interest sparkled in Jin’s eyes.
Luna felt the same.
“To avoid unnecessary disputes, he might have said it that way… It does seem like something Seo-yul would consider.”
From what they’ve observed of Kang Seo-yul over the past three days, it seemed like something he might do.
“Even if that’s the case, it’s still strange.”
Genis, Rena’s guard who had been quietly listening, voiced his opinion.
“Regardless of his intentions, it’s better for Mr. Seo-yul to face Bazet and for Miss Ai to face Lilith.”
Jin stroked his chin.
“…That’s true.”
No matter what strategies he had in mind, Kang Seo-yul is still a man. Facing Bazet would be easier than facing Lilith.
“The reason he has to face Lilith…”
With Jin’s murmuring, an awkward silence descended.
“…Testing strength.”
At that moment, Edel spoke up again.
“Perhaps he wanted to test the extent of his power?”
“Test his power?”
“Yes.”
The only reason Kang Seo-yul would willingly give up the advantage of compatibility to personally face Lilith was this.
“I think he might have chosen to face Lilith directly as a means to gauge how much of his power has recovered.”
“…Really?”
Jin’s eyes widened.
Edel’s opinion seemed very plausible.
“If we assume what Edel says is true, then it implies that Kang Seo-yul views that Succubus Queen, ‘Lilith’, merely as a tool to measure his combat strength… which means he possesses a formidable power…”
Jin stroked his chin.
“Wouldn’t that imply at least ‘Four Star-level’ strength?”
The highest powers positioned beneath the Savior’s Heavenly(angel) God and Dragon Lord, a group of four, are referred to as the ‘Four Stars’.
“If that hypothesis is true, then Miss Ai, who is facing Bazet, would also be of ‘Four Star-level’ strength.”
Luna’s eyes sharpened.
Silence fell once again.
Everyone seemed lost in deep thought.
“…If he’s the High Elf from the legends that founded the Alfheim mythology, it’s not surprising that he stands shoulder to shoulder with the Four Stars of the Savior.”
Jin nodded.
So did the others.
“Of course, it’s all just speculation…”
Edel raised her head again, looking at Luna’s barrier, and murmured to herself.
“If the Ancestor and Ai easily defeat those two and come out of the barrier, the likelihood that our thoughts are correct will increase.”
Rena nodded in agreement with Edel’s words.
“If they come out without a scratch, it would be certain.”
“If the battle time is less than 10 minutes, it would be even more certain.”
That was the moment when Edel murmured those words.
Slight sound indicating something happening
“!”
Suddenly, without any warning, cracks appeared in the barrier. Tiny cracks, as if a line was drawn on a glass. The cracks slowly expanded.
“Luna!”
Jin called out to Luna. The tone suggested a question as if asking what went wrong.
“…The decision has been made.”
Luna stated gravely.
“What?”
Jin’s eyes widened in shock.
“If the flow of magic inside the isolated forest barrier stops, it naturally disengages.”
Luna’s barrier magic is structured to circulate the inner magic to strengthen it. Therefore, if the magic inside doesn’t circulate, the barrier won’t sustain.
“The halt in the flow of magic means, in other words, that the battle inside has ended.”
With Luna’s words, the crack expanded with the sound of breaking glass.
Sound of shattering
The dome made of glass seemed to break all at once, the space collapsing.
“In other words, both sides have determined a victory or defeat.”
Jin swallowed.
The decision had come in less than 10 minutes.
“…Who won?”
Everyone, with a mix of anxiety and anticipation, was watching the collapsing barrier when…
Sounds of shattering
The barrier broke into pieces, revealing the figures of four individuals.
“…”
At that moment, everyone’s mouths gaped open. They were astounded.
“Oh my.”
Seeing the two holding the bodies of Lilith and Bazet was shocking enough, but there was something even more surprising.
“They really defeated those two without a single scratch…”
On the bodies of Kang Seo-yul and Ai, not even the slightest scrape or scratch could be found.
“…Rena.”
With a broad smile, watching the two descending to the ground, Luna softly called out to her daughter.
“Yes, mom?”
“Don’t let me say it twice. From today, that person is my son-in-law… no, he’s your husband.”
“…What?”
Luna’s eyes were deadly serious.
* * *
“Ancestor! You’ve worked hard!”
“Seo-yul, you’ve done well.”
I thought they would scold me for deviating from the plan, but there wasn’t the slightest indication of that.
“Hahaha! I believed in you from the start! I knew you’d do something like this! Haha!”
Jin slapped my back powerfully. The force was so strong, it was painfully unbearable.
“Just leave the preparations against any potential follow-up attacks to us and go in and get some rest!”
With those words, Jin left the spot with Genis.
…Why is he so excited?
I was tilting my head, pondering this, when someone said,
“You should go in now!”
Rena grabbed my hand firmly and tugged me in the direction of the bedroom.
Why is she making such a fuss again? I thought as I tilted my head even more.
“Yeah, you should go inside and rest!”
Squish!
Edel grabbed my other arm, and just like Rena, she led me toward the room.
“Why, why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
Why are they acting like this?
“You must’ve overexerted yourself, you need to rest!”
“Your ears have shortened again, which means you haven’t fully recovered your strength, right? Quickly go in and rest!”
The two of them are fervently pulling me along. I truly can’t figure out what’s going on.
“Aren’t you fortunate?”
Beside me, Ai was glaring with narrowed eyes.
“…Sigh. My esteemed father.”
And next to him, Robin was bowing his head in tears for some reason.
‘…What’s really going on?’
The reactions were incomprehensible when thought of logically.
“Hurry and rest!”
“Don’t worry too much about what’s left, you really need to rest!”
With about a trillion question marks floating in my head, I was led by Edel and Rena to the room.
* * *
Right after arriving in the room.
Edel and Rena said they were returning to their guard duties and left the room. After earnestly asking them to call me immediately in case of any surprise attacks, I sent the two away.
“Now it feels like I can live a bit.”
Now, only Ai and I are in the room.
“Uhh~”
Ai leaned back against the sofa’s backrest and stretched out her arms and legs.
“You, your skin looks radiant?”
Her beauty, which was always dazzling, now shines even more. Probably because she has recovered the energy she had overly expended when infiltrating the Dragon’s sanctuary.
“Yes. Bazet… is that what you said? Despite having no power, he had an immense amount of energy.”
“That makes sense. He’s the Incubus King, after all. And it’s Bazet.”
Given that he’s the Incubus King, the energy he possesses must be the best in the world.
“But that man, is he really the leader of the Mongma race, the Incubus King?”
“Yes. Why?”
Ai tilted her head in confusion.
“For someone of that title, he seemed incredibly weak.”
“…Was he really that weak?”
I had expected Ai’s ability to overwhelm Bazet, but was the difference that significant?
“Yes. From the speed of energy absorption to my overall capacity, I was overwhelmingly superior.”
Ai fluttered a pink aura from her fingertips. It seemed about five times denser than what I saw three hours ago. She might have become even stronger than before she entered the Dragon’s Sanctuary.
“Given the amount of energy, he couldn’t endure and ended up self-destructing. Even though you said I’d be fine, I was somewhat nervous having to face the king of the Mongma race. How disappointing.”
“…I see.”
Ai’s ability, which might seem like a lower-grade version of the true Mongma at first glance, isn’t that at all. It’s the opposite.
“True, Mongma isn’t that great.”
“You’re the exceptional one.”
Ai is superior to the Mongma.
“Special? Me?”
“Yes. Whether it’s the Queen or the King of Mongma, none can unconsciously absorb energy like you.”
“…Really?”
“Others can only absorb energy when they activate their ability, they’re not always active like you.”
Ai’s face turned gloomy in an instant as if she embraced all the worries and sadness in the world.
“It seems the curse that tails me is indeed potent…”
Ai perceives her ability as a ‘curse’. Whether she likes it or not, just physical contact with others causes her to absorb their energy. She describes it as the worst curse that ruined her life.
“Your ability isn’t a curse.”
But that’s incorrect.
Shirakawa Ai, Lust’s ability is not a curse. It can even be considered a blessing.
“If this isn’t a curse then…”
“That energy absorption is like an aftershock because your power is so strong.”
“Excuse me?”
It was only when I traveled back ten thousand years and heard from Ai that I truly understood her ability. The trait Ai possesses isn’t one held by typical Mongma races.
No, from the start, the term I had in mind wasn’t the correct one.
“Your power is so immense that, even when inactive, it naturally flows out. That’s why simple physical contact steals others’ energy.”
The official name of the ability Ai possesses wasn’t [Transcendent Lineage: Succubus].
“You didn’t inherit the power of a typical Mongma, but that of the Demon King.”
“…What?”
It was [Transcendent Lineage: Lust].
“The power of Lust, the Demon King who was born a Mongma and rose to the throne.”
The being at the pinnacle of the Mongma hierarchy.
That’s precisely who Shirakawa Ai, Lust, truly is.
* * *
Meanwhile, during that time on the Chinese mainland.
A land of death, where corpses piled up like mountains, and blood flowed like rivers.
“…What… What in the world are you?!”
In this land, which had become a domain of death, a demon crawled on the ground.
“A mere being, from which I can’t feel any power at all…! How do you possess such strength?!”
The two horns on his head signified his status as a ‘mid-tier demon’. A demon on the same level as Mephisto.
The soft sound of sand being tread upon.
“Do you think after killing me, you’ll survive? Once the Demon Lord learns of this, a mere creature like you!”
He crawled, his face filled with fear. He felt an intense dread towards the small being before him.
“If you spare me now…”
“The Demon Lord.”
A low voice resounded, filled with ecstasy, a captivating baritone.
“If there’s a Demon Lord, does it mean there are gods as well?”
The man smirked, taking one step after another towards the demon.
“You, you…”
“Why don’t you answer?”
With every step the man took, the demon retreated little by little.
“Can’t you answer? Or do you just not want to?”
The man stretched out both of his arms and took a step.
At that moment.
Kugugugu-!
“Kwaaaak!”
The demon’s body slammed into the ground.
It seemed as if an intangible force from above was pressing the demon down directly.
“Answer. You have 10 seconds.”
Watching the squished demon, the man nonchalantly continued his steps.
One step every second.
He moved his feet slowly.
“Demon God-nim won’t forgive you…”
Unable to bear the immense gravitational force and barely able to articulate, the demon tried to convey a message.
“10 seconds are up.”
The man grabbed the demon’s head.
“I’ll find out the details myself.”
“Kwaaak!”
At that moment, a tearing scream burst from the demon’s mouth.
It seemed like an intangible energy was being sucked from the demon into the man.
“Please, pleeease!”
Held by the man, the demon’s body writhed like a squid, gradually losing strength.
About a minute might have passed.
Thud.
Soon, the demon slumped lifelessly onto the ground.
It appeared as if its soul, or its very being, had been [devoured] by the man.
“Haha…”
The man laughed, without even glancing at the defeated demon.
At first softly.
“Kwahahahaha!”
Then louder and louder.
The man looked up at the sky, laughing arrogantly.
“So it was! That’s how it was!”
Staring at the bright full moon in the night sky, the man’s eyes sparkled with a mad euphoria.
“Is this the truth from ten thousand years ago…!”
The man, known as Unknown, laughed as if he was about to ascend to the heavens.
< Chapter 175: Clash (2) > End.
[Mongma also means Succubus]
