Chapter 162
Chapter 162
Chapter 162
Legion (3)
"Like this... so futilely!"
"Life is originally futile."
It might seem ridiculous to lecture about life to an elder who has lived for at least tens of thousands of years longer... But isn't this the enjoyable privilege that the victor gets to indulge in?
"......"
At Rudian's nonsense, Elpis raised her head with an absurd expression.
Then she twisted her expression for a moment before releasing the divine possession.
THUD!
Rudian caught Evangeline as she collapsed forward and quietly laid her body down.
Of course, Elpis could have forcibly controlled Evangeline's body to continue the battle, but if she had done such a thing, she would have had to be prepared for backlash and even annihilation.
Naturally, she hadn't earned that level of hostility, so she obediently disappeared, but...
"...Hm?"
Rudian felt that the spirit of darkness was not leaving but watching him for some reason.
"......"
"...Do you also have something to say?"
Just as Berus, who had no connection with him, had delivered an unexpected message, he wondered if the Demon King on the opposite side also had something...
"Someday..."
There was something indeed.
"You said that you looked forward to the day when someone would officially succeed the Seven Seats."
"......"
"Of course, you wouldn't choose that path, but if it happened, it would be interesting, and you laughed joyfully."
"...Laughed joyfully?"
That Demon King fellow had a rather solemn image, but he seemed to have an unexpectedly cheerful side.
However, at what the spirit of darkness said next, Rudian's expression hardened completely.
"The Demon King said that among your companions, someone who would lead all the demon race in the demon realm would be born someday."
"......"
"And that future would come soon."
He had heard something he didn't want to hear.
It seemed that the demon forces had suffered a major blow in the middle realm, but strictly speaking in terms of overall proportion, it was only about 2-3%.
Currently, among the Seven Seats, Baal and the cooperative Lucifer were still intact, and there were the highest-ranking Demon Kings Agares, Vasago, and Gamigin... and even Iblis and Barbatos, who were equal to them in terms of combat power alone.
Moreover, when combined with Diablo, whose power itself remained intact despite being sealed, and the missing Lilith, the demon realm's forces were not weak enough to be subordinated to someone of human origin.
"Then, farewell."
Leaving behind the Demon King's ominous prophecy, the spirit of darkness also disappeared.
Well, even though it disappeared, it was an existence that was a natural phenomenon itself, so it would appear immediately if Evangeline called for it...
'Should I see this as a good future?'
He couldn't be certain yet.
Someone came to mind immediately, but it would be dangerous to hastily confirm who it was.
Rudian decided to think about that prophecy later and first examined Evangeline.
'Hmm... she should be okay, right?'
He had managed to control his strength somehow, but Rudian's technique was not yet mature.
Fortunately, there was no bruising on the back of her neck or broken bones, but if he had failed even slightly in controlling his strength against an ordinary person like her, her neck could have been snapped off instead of just fainting.
"It seems to have ended somehow."
As the main body Evangeline was subdued, the battle between spirits and demons naturally concluded as well.
The Spirit Kings of the five attributes gathered around Evangeline to check her condition.
"Fortunately, there are no external injuries."
"But her life force is still hanging by a thread. We must take measures."
"The Death King... will that cunning bastard really extend this child's life?"
"He's a jackal-like creature who schemes from behind, but he's not one to break promises. Human, the Death King made a request of you?"
The serious Wind Spirit sent an earnest gaze to Rudian.
"That's right."
"Can you tell us what it is?"
"He asked me to find his sacred relic that was lost long ago."
In ancient times, there existed a sect that worshipped and followed the Death King as the god of death, in addition to the Seven Great Gods.
Of course, that prosperity didn't last long, and during the ancient religious revolution, they suffered great persecution, and the Death King's sect declined, being branded as a heretical cult like Apophis.
Because of this, the Death King, who had a falling out with the heavenly realm, stayed close to the demon realm, waiting for his opportunity...
"Hmph, his intention to extend his influence to the earth again is transparent. Even with the day of destruction approaching... what a greedy bastard."
"But there must be that level of compensation to gain his cooperation and save the contractor."
The Spirit Kings' expressions all crumpled identically.
The relationship between the Death King, a symbol of death, and the spirits, symbols of life, couldn't be good.
However, from their perspective, only the Death King could save Evangeline, so even if they found it disagreeable, they had no choice but to bow their heads and submit.
"So, do you know where that sacred relic is?"
"He said it's in North's secret temple."
At those words, the Spirit Kings let out sighs.
"...Of all places."
"That paranoid goddess?"
The Seven Great Gods, North of darkness.
She was the goddess of darkness who shared domains with the Demon King, but from the fact that the spirit of darkness followed the Demon King's commands rather than hers, one could easily guess what her influence was like.
She had an extremely bad relationship with not only the Demon King but also the Death King, making her a clear figure who had planned this invasion from another world.
She was a mad goddess who was trying to reduce the Death King's influence, who was in charge of the axis of circulation, by eliminating life forms on earth, and had brought in extraterrestrial forces with the intention of sweeping away the demons on earth as well.
The Earth Spirit King opened his mouth with a cautious expression.
"Even though there are hardly any matches for you among the life forms on earth, targeting the Death King's sacred relic means directly opposing the Seven Great Gods. If things go wrong, the entire pantheon might become hostile to you. Will you be okay?"
Rudian answered calmly.
"North and Garganta already provided the justification first. Of course, preventing their hostility from extending to the entire pantheon is most important, but... well, it should be fine."
The gods of the pantheon were basically uninterested in earthly affairs, but like the Celestials in the past, if someone tried to match their level, they had a tendency to ruthlessly crush their enemies.
"We need to keep that indifference as indifference until the end."
North and Garganta were already conducting their affairs secretly from the other gods of the pantheon anyway.
They really couldn't make things big except in very extreme circumstances.
"Then that would be fortunate, but..."
The Spirit Kings looked at each other's faces for a moment, then shifted their gaze back to Rudian.
"As a token of asking you to take good care of that child."
"We'll give you a gift."
"...A gift, you say?"
"You can consider it a bribe asking you to look after that child well from now on. No matter how much she has a brother, the more sponsors the better."
POP!
Suddenly, a cute sound burst out and a round bead the size of a thumb appeared in the Wind Spirit King's hand.
It was transparent like a glass marble and emitting bright light, and Rudian was quite surprised when he recognized what it was.
"A Spirit Orb?"
"You know of this?"
"Well, I've only heard of it..."
The legendary elixir that the Spirit Kings of the five attributes gathered once every thousand years to create.
It didn't have effects like increasing the absolute amount of magic, but taking that Spirit Orb was the only way to artificially raise the innately determined 'natural sensitivity'.
'Oh, lucky!'
With probably just that one, he would be able to command high-level spirits without any problem immediately.
Given time, he would be able to summon Spirit Kings as well.
Most importantly, he could sufficiently overcome the current situation where movement methods were limited due to Adi's absence.
When Rudian quickly swallowed the Spirit Orb he had received, the Wind Spirit King chuckled and continued speaking.
"And we'll engrave the contractor's seal on you. When your sensitivity reaches an appropriate level in the future, you'll be able to summon us without any special contract."
'Even a contract? They're being quite generous?'
Since the Spirit Kings' power didn't consume magic separately, for Rudian it was like gaining an additional trump card.
"Then, please take good care of this child."
"See you again next time."
After engraving the seal of being a Spirit King's contractor on Rudian, they restored all the nature around them that had been completely destroyed by the battle and bid farewell to Rudian.
With the Spirit Kings gone, only Kimaris and the legion commanders who had been watching the situation from afar remained in the place.
Kimaris approached Rudian and shook his head with a bitter expression.
"This is... I wanted to show a cool appearance after a long time, but I only showed an unseemly side."
"Haha, not at all. There aren't many beings who can withstand a single blow from the Spirit of Light."
If it had been another legion commander instead of Kimaris, they would have lost their life in one strike.
"You can show better performance next time. There will be many opportunities."
"Next time..."
Kimaris made a strange expression.
But for some reason, at the word "next time," the eyes of the legion commanders behind Kimaris began to sparkle even more.
'...Hm?'
The legion commanders who received Rudian's gaze hurriedly bowed their heads and avoided his gaze as if they felt guilty about something.
At that sight, Kimaris chuckled and patted Rudian's shoulder.
"How about it? These guys fight quite well, don't they?"
"Mm, it was better than expected."
They became like rags while fighting the Spirit Kings, but they still performed well enough to be considered Demon King class.
"Then do you plan to call these guys next time too?"
"If necessary?"
He said this, but it was questionable whether he could properly summon them next time.
Summoning them once had consumed a huge chunk of magic that was equivalent to a god's level, so if this power disappeared, wouldn't it be difficult next time?
It would be better to bring other legion commanders hiding in Helheim instead.
Whether they read Rudian's somewhat reluctant mood, the four legion commanders immediately knelt and began bowing their heads.
"We will serve with loyalty!"
"Please make good use of us!"
"Uh, uh..."
For a moment, caught up in their momentum, he inadvertently nodded, but somehow his doubts wouldn't go away.
'Why are these guys, who are already dead and became souls, acting like this?'
Since the demon story was mostly finished in Chapter 1 and the Demon King's setting remained virtually as a MacGuffin, this part was beyond Rudian's knowledge.
'Can they be revived if they keep being summoned? If that's not it, I can't understand...'
Even if he asked, it seemed like there would be restrictions preventing them from answering.
Anyway, Kimaris and the legion commanders were also reverse-summoned like the Spirit Kings, having finished their roles during summoning.
Baskerville, who acted like a loyal dog until the end, was somewhat impressive.
With that, the plain that had been full of killing intent and commotion immediately became quiet.
As Rowen, who had been keeping his distance, returned, the situation became like the atmosphere when they had just been driven out from the Seven Arks headquarters.
"......"
However, Rowen was somehow unable to approach where Evangeline and Rudian were, hesitating.
Rudian chuckled and spoke to Rowen with the gaze of looking at a wary puppy.
"Anyone looking would think I'm going to eat you."
"That... I'm sorry. The battle just now was too unrealistic..."
It was the first time he had actually encountered Evangeline in spirit form, having only heard about how strong she was, and Rudian, who had driven that Evangeline to this result, probably didn't look human to him.
"From the moment the organization became hostile to you, the organization's fate was already decided."
"I suppose so."
"You don't need to be modest. That battle just now... even if everyone from Seven Arks rushed in, they couldn't have done anything to either of you two."
Well, that was true, but this was a special situation after all.
Rudian didn't particularly correct Rowen's misconception.
"Then, shall we wake up Miss Evangeline? Not a single matter has been resolved yet."
"...Right."
Rather, he had taken on a bunch more homework while fighting those spirit guys.
If he hadn't obtained the Spirit Orb and the contract seal, it would have been a battle where he only suffered losses.
Just as Rudian was about to gently touch Evangeline's shoulder to wake her up.
STEP!
"...!"
Rowen widened his eyes at the suddenly heard footsteps and immediately took a combat stance.
However, unlike Rowen, Rudian recognized the identity of the 'girl' who appeared and called out happily.
"Yev!"
"...I came."
Yev, who had been separated for a while since opening the door to Shub's temple, had come to find Rudian again.