Chapter 142
Chapter 142
Chapter 142
Evil God Apophis (1)
"Is that...really true?"
"Yes, in this world, you alone possess the talent to fully accept my power."
A Demon Eater who accepts all demons and makes them her own power.
Of course, even among Demon Eaters, each individual had limits to how much they could absorb or handle.
Take Sarah Bloodrain behind them—she could handle the magic energy of a considerable Demon King level, but was helplessly defeated when faced with Baal using his power in earnest.
Alba, no. Baal whispered to Rebecca.
"But Rebecca, you are different. You are truly the world's greatest irregular with infinite possibilities, emerging only at the time of the end... Among all those by Rudian's side, none is more special than you."
"Is... is that so?"
Rebecca's eyes began to waver slightly.
If she just took that hand, she could gain great power that would help Rudian.
"You can become it. The goddess of demons most fitting to be by his side..."
At Baal's temptation, Rebecca trembled as she slowly opened her mouth.
"I... I am..."
***
Having received the Blue World from Kirchrus, Rudian briefly left the Hall of Heroes and headed toward Calesta's sealed location.
Yev accompanied Rudian's side with quick steps.
"Keep your promise."
Puff!
Yev, who had returned to her original form that Rudian knew, puffed out her cheeks and nagged at Rudian.
Having heard the same thing dozens of times since earlier, Rudian felt a headache coming on and waved his hand dismissively.
"I know, I know. I understand it wasn't your fault."
"Two servings?"
"Don't get sneakily greedy."
Actually, doing it was somehow possible, but if he kept compromising like this, it would become irreversible later.
"Tch."
When her negotiation didn't work, Yev turned her head away and clicked her tongue briefly.
Seeing this behavior, he really felt that this girl had endured quite well until now.
Even now, she wouldn't let go of the snacks in her mouth...
"After we defeat Apophis and everyone's training is finished, we'll return to the capital for a while. I'll feed you until your belly bursts then. Just wait a little longer."
"Really?"
Color immediately returned to Yev's face.
"So let's quickly beat that guy and restore peace."
"He's dead meat!"
"......"
Seeing her march forward with fighting spirit blazing, he quietly prayed for Apophis's soul, imagining what would befall him.
'Did I borrow her for nothing?'
Rudian gazed at the Blue World thoughtfully and shook his head slightly.
***
Several hours later.
Rudian looked at the massive body of the sealed Red Dragon Calesta with admiration.
"Magnificent!"
Calesta was sleeping with his wings folded and body curled up.
In terms of size among all he had seen, the Pope of the Apophis Cult was the largest, but from Calesta's dragon body, the dignity of an ancient dragon—that kind of weighty feeling—was vividly transmitted.
However, the Red Dragon's characteristic vivid red scales had turned dark and murky from corruption by magic energy, and special chains engraved with magic circles pierced through various parts of his body.
As he encountered Calesta's body, Diablo noisily began to speak.
—Hmph, it's been a while since I've seen this one too. It feels like yesterday when he arrogantly came looking for me to use as a weapon against the gods.
"Didn't you cheer him on back then?"
Rudian remembered every single word of the enthusiastic and vivid Demon King's encouragement he had heard when he first picked up Diablo.
At that casual remark, Diablo showed a rare flustered reaction.
—A-ahem! Back then there were quite a few challengers so it was less boring, and I did examine various qualifications...but if someone could truly wield me, I was thinking of pretending to lose and lending my power!
"And then after that, the footsteps completely stopped coming."
—......
Diablo didn't answer.
This guy, he definitely tormented Calesta enthusiastically back then and things went wrong later—100% certain.
The pitiful voice he had heard when first grasping the sword hilt was definitely not something that could accumulate over just 100-200 years.
—A-ahem! Anyway, let's stop that story there.
"Right, Layla will be coming soon, so let's prepare for battle properly."
It was simple for Kirchrus to guide Layla here.
He just had to find Layla and tell her where they were—she would definitely come running with fury blazing in her eyes.
"Rudian... Belstad!"
"Hmm, she came faster than expected."
As expected... No, much faster than expected, Layla had found them.
Rudian came out to the entrance of the cave where Calesta was sealed to greet Layla.
Sure enough, as soon as Layla saw Rudian emerge from the cave, she twisted her expression like a demon.
"The enemy of Galdran and... Dugrid!"
"Zigmund would be disappointed."
Well, he understood not wanting to treat that fraudster called the 'Deceiver' as a comrade...
"Shut up! I didn't come here to play word games with you!"
Layla approached with the intent to tear Rudian apart, completely losing her reason and emanating deadly aura continuously.
"Well, I have no intention of playing word games with you for long either."
Rudian looked directly into Layla's eyes, beyond them, and continued.
"Evil God Apophis, if it were you, devouring the weakened and reason-lost Layla wouldn't have been difficult, so why are you staying quietly hidden?"
"......!"
At that moment, Layla's form swayed greatly once.
Then her pupils turned black as if being eroded by something, and a completely different tone of voice began to flow out.
"Kuhuhuh..."
Layla... No, Evil God Apophis, who had taken control of Layla's body, emerged with the characteristic vertical pupils of a snake's eyes.
"I remember. You are the one who killed my beloved servant. Was it Rudian?"
"If you're someone who takes great interest in worldly affairs, you would have known my name before then, so why pretend not to know?"
"Kuhuhuh, an impudent human like you..."
Even at Rudian's provocation, Apophis seemed to be in a very good mood and showed no particular anger.
"This body is quite excellent. Much better than my first servant. It's been tens of thousands of years since I obtained such a body, so I'll magnanimously overlook your petty rudeness."
At Apophis's words, Rudian's eyes sharpened as he asked.
"No matter what, there's no way you could have subdued Layla alone when you can't interfere with this world... Whose help did you receive?"
"Hehe, it's someone you know very well."
"......"
From Rudian's perspective, there was only one being with both the motive and ability to pull off this level of massive trolling.
"Baal."
"You know well indeed!"
"That damn dog brat..."
Why had he been so quiet all this time, only to backstab like this?
Apophis asked Rudian with killing intent flashing.
"I don't have time to deal with the likes of you now. Where is that Giovanni bastard?"
"Hmm..."
"If you tell me his location, I'll forget the rudeness of you killing my servant."
For Apophis, this was generosity equivalent to heaven and earth turning upside down.
Well, conversely, it was also proof that the aggro Giovanni had drawn was tremendous enough for such words to come from an evil god's mouth.
Instead of answering, Rudian asked this:
"If you take control of that body, are you confident you can definitely defeat Giovanni?"
"Don't ask obvious things. With this human woman's body, it's possible. No matter how much that bastard handles chaos, he's just a human in the end. I can definitely eliminate him!"
Right, if he didn't consider Layla's body's durability, it would definitely be possible.
"But will it be okay? After fighting Giovanni, that body will definitely collapse from being unable to withstand your power. Isn't it too wasteful when you've finally come out into the world?"
"What are you trying to say?"
The serpent's tongue.
If someone had heard it, they would have given this evaluation of Rudian's tongue as it began to work.
"What if you obtained a dragon's body?"
"......What?"
Apophis's form flinched slightly.
"Of course, if it were a hatchling or young dragon, that body would be better. But... what if it were definitely an Ancient-class ancient dragon's body?"
"......"
Toward the silent one, Rudian continued working his tongue.
"Evil Dragon God Apophis. You who ruled the dragon race together with Tiamat in the super-ancient times—wouldn't a dragon's body have better compatibility than any other race's body?"
Intrigued!
"Are you saying you can give me such a body?"
"Of course! Come, follow me!"
Rudian led Apophis inside the seal.
Apophis showed some hesitation, but trusting the body of Layla he currently possessed, he followed Rudian into the cave's interior.
And there, he discovered Calesta's body, corrupted by magic energy and sealed.
"Ooooh!"
Apophis was amazed.
Ancient-class... No, that tremendous life force and magic was definitely Lord-class.
"Such...such a supreme body exists in this world!"
"How about it? Isn't this much better than some human body?"
Apophis was literally drooling as he couldn't take his eyes off Calesta.
"Certainly! The finest body I've never possessed! With this alone, I could surpass all those gods and be the first to challenge the Avatar of Destruction at the time of the end!"
Muttering thus, he whipped his head around and glared at Rudian.
"Kuh, such sweet prey is rather suspicious. You, what's your reason for trying to curry favor with me like this?"
"Who knows?"
"Do you want the position of apostle? I could make you my first servant."
I wouldn't take that position even if offered, you bastard.
Rudian thought this while reciting the prepared lines.
"If there's something I want, it's to screw over North and Garganta. Those bastards tried to target me using their servants."
"Hahahaha! Right, you certainly had such enemies that you thought of this. You were looking for an alliance!"
The guy began to misunderstand on his own.
"Good, good. I was already planning to deal with those damn bastards who swagger around calling themselves the Seven Great Gods someday. I'll use this body to dominate the earth and achieve my great ambition!"
Toward Apophis, who was rejoicing merrily, Rudian brought up the real main point he had prepared in a subtle tone.
"But as you know, this body has been stained with magic energy for too long. Magic energy doesn't match well with your power—will purification be possible?"
At those words, Apophis finally returned to a somewhat serious expression.
He narrowed his eyes and examined Calesta's entire body.
"Hmm, it's certainly been exposed to that Diablo bastard's magic energy for far too long."
"......"
Just as he was about to think whether Apophis's power wasn't quite up to that level...
"But there's nothing to worry about. It will take considerable divine power and time, but purification itself isn't impossible. Since it will become my body, I'll eliminate every trace of Diablo's remnants without leaving a single speck. Hehe!"
"That's...fortunate."
Rudian secretly sighed in relief.
But then, Apophis began sending sharp suspicion toward Rudian.
"However, the biggest reason I haven't attempted to possess a dragon's body until now was because the moment I possessed one, those other lizard bastards would definitely come charging desperately. You're not thinking of using them to eliminate me, are you?"
"Come on..."
Apophis's strike that instantly hit the core.
Since only the word 'eliminate' was correct while everything else was wrong, Rudian could barely maintain his composure.
Rudian pointed to various parts of Calesta and sold his pitch.
"Look carefully at this appearance, corrupted by magic energy and miserably sealed like this. He obviously caused great trouble and was thoroughly marked by his own kind, so what would be the problem?"
"Hmm..."
"And I also got permission from Kirchrus, the manager of this seal. He said he didn't care what we did with this guy as long as we didn't touch the dragon race. This is the proof."
When Rudian pulled out a grimoire from his bosom, surprise appeared in Apophis's eyes.
"The Blue World...!"
And simultaneously, immense greed that couldn't be hidden briefly appeared in his eyes before disappearing.
"A-ahem! Certainly, if it's the Blue World managed by the dragon race, it would serve as proof."
Rudian chuckled seeing Apophis continuously glancing at the Blue World.
'His greed for the body overcame his greed for the Blue World.'
His thoughts were crystal clear.
The fact that he prioritized Calesta's body over the Seven-Colored World right now obviously meant he was calculating to take Calesta's body first, then target the Blue World to devour both, right?
Seeing the Blue World made Apophis urgent, and he accepted Rudian's proposal without much deliberation.
"Then, then I'll transfer this body to that magic dragon's body now. Purifying the magic energy will take some time, so you thoroughly guard against anyone coming."
"Don't worry about that and just purify well. If purification fails, it'll be neither fish nor fowl."
"There's nothing to worry about. There's absolutely no possibility of this body failing!"
With those words, Apophis released his possession of Layla, then in soul form, penetrated the seal and burrowed into Calesta's body.
......
"Kuhuh!"
It was right after that when Rudian imitated Apophis's characteristic laughter.