Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: The First Time Should Be Dramatic
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The Colosseum of Strife, split clean in half, was tilting and sinking. Like someone had sliced an apple right down the middle, letting each half tumble to the ground.
People were losing their footing everywhere, screaming as they rolled about.
“Teacher, we have to get away—!”
“You, what are you standing there staring for—!”
Liru’s and Eliya’s screams reached my ears.
But they were growing distant in my mind, slow, fading fainter by the second.
“...”
Even so, the entire scene was starting to ‘slow down.’
Because the gray mist billowing from Elnor’s body was enveloping everything around us.
The Gray Devil’s authority, ‘Erosion.’ A power that exerted absolute dominion over all space-time in its vicinity.
And recalling how it played out in the original story, a space caught in Erosion didn’t just freeze time—it twisted, warped, and ultimately got crushed to oblivion.
A ability that ‘erased’ parts of the world. That was what happened when the Gray Devil unleashed its true power.
She hadn’t gathered all three fragments yet, so it wouldn’t reach the final boss’s full might, but even this was more than enough to wreck the entire Colosseum of Strife.
[ Crisis detected. ]
[ Judged as a direct threat to life. ]
[ Skill: Desperate Situation applied at EX rank. ]
Amid the slowing world around me, that window popped up before my eyes.
A Devil rampage event was a ‘game over’ trigger in most cases, barring a tiny fraction of the main scenario.
As evident from how she’d created this scene without me doing a thing, it wasn’t empty talk that a rampaging Devil could end the world.
〚...〛
And then.
Even with nowhere solid to stand, Elnor hovered in midair, glaring at me like she was drilling holes through me with those red eyes. There was no mistaking the raw killing intent in them.
The system window hadn’t marked survival odds at 0% for nothing. The power gap made even searching for a way out pointless from the start.
If the Gray Devil itself had emerged, maybe I could talk, but right now, that wasn’t an option.
A vessel’s rampage wasn’t the Devil descending—it was the inherent malice within the vessel amplified wildly by the fragments.
The vessel wielded the Devil’s demonic energy, sure, but the entity causing this was Elnor ‘herself,’ not the Devil.
In other words.
There was nothing I could do.
I’d just been handed a death sentence.
Blood drained from my entire body.
[Get a grip, you idiot! You gonna just stand there and die?!]
Through that sensation, Caliban’s bellow flashed into my mind.
[...You think explaining it wasn’t your fault would work? You were just twisting away to escape a second ago yourself?]
Caliban said in a serious tone, reading my mood.
Earlier, when I was struggling right before getting the ring from Elnor, he’d been all nonchalant, but not now.
The ferocious aura exploding from her right before my eyes made that obvious.
“...That won’t cut it.”
[What?]
“There’s no reasoning with her if they’re calling it a rampage.”
Lately, a bunch of stuff had piled up against me, and it felt like it all erupted at once. This wasn’t something words alone could fix.
She wouldn’t even hear explanations—she’d just draw her sword and hack me to bits, and no one would blink.
“...”
Hang on.
That realization cleared my head instead.
Like the system said, survival odds were 0%.
If Elnor wanted me dead, she could’ve done it ages ago.
So why hadn’t she killed me yet, even in her rampage with no sanity left?
There had to be something holding her back from lashing out violently at me, despite her current state.
In fact, ever since the rampage started, Elnor hadn’t said a word, made any further moves, or done anything but float there, staring at me.
I examined her demeanor closely.
[If talk won’t work, run for it now, idiot! Take Eliya and—]
“No.”
And then, it hit me.
“She’s fighting it.”
[...What?]
Compared to before, her eyes had zero focus. Like someone completely unconscious.
Instead, the ‘atmosphere’ in those eyes kept shifting every second, every minute.
Considering her setup, this was a battle for control.
Her amplified malice from the rampage was probably screaming to kill me, while her rational side refused.
“...”
In other words.
Even as her mind was being overtaken by the rampaging Devil fragment in a fit of extreme anger.
She was instinctively fighting it.
To keep herself from killing me with her own hands.
[...Touching, sure. But how does that help right now...!]
“It does.”
As long as her mind wasn’t fully overtaken, it absolutely would.
It meant there was still room for ‘convincing’ her.
[...How?]
“I need to calm her down.”
Then the task was simple.
If she rampaged from anger, soothe the anger.
The system window had spelled out plain as day what set her off.
Just make her truly understand the reason.
[You said she can’t even hear you right now?]
“Even if she can’t hear words, there’s something worth trying.”
No matter how unreachable she was for talk.
I could get an ‘action’ through to convey my intent.
So.
If I was right, just give her side a ‘shock,’ and that’d do it.
Decision made in a flash. Action even faster.
[ Activating ‘Skill: King of Pandemonium.’ ]
[ Absolute advantage over Devil-type enemies for 5 minutes! ]
[ Facing a target with equal ability. ]
[ Resisting target’s unique authority ‘Erosion’! ]
Activating that skill restored speed to my slowing body. While every physical law ground to a halt around me, I alone could move ‘normally’ here.
Everything else dragged slower and slower, but I planted my feet.
Impossible before, but I’d recently pumped my strength, agility, and endurance to E-rank.
With Desperate Situation at EX, it had to be doable.
“...Hup!”
With that grunt, I leaped toward Elnor.
The recoil from kicking off shattered part of the floor, sending shockwaves rippling out.
The already tilting surroundings shook like an earthquake.
“...What the—crazy—!”
Eliya’s slow-motion scream nearby, Liru’s mouth gaping wide in sluggish surprise—they registered in my vision.
Then.
Like a rocket with thrusters, my body shot forward.
“...”
Kinda ridiculous, honestly.
I’d raised my rank by just one letter. F to E.
It was already insane growth before, but now I could match Elnor—who’d consumed two fragments—even if I couldn’t top Kratos.
Mulling over how broken my skills were, I triggered the others in sequence.
[ Activating ‘Skill: Proof of Faith.’ ]
[ All stat bonuses temporarily converted to ‘Endurance’ stat! ]
Right before colliding with Elnor, I maxed out my toughness.
Probably.
In my guess.
This was gonna hurt.
“...Hngh...!”
The impact stole my breath the instant we hit. Like bare-tackling a utility pole.
And compared to the pain that followed, even that was nothing.
“...!”
Direct contact with Elnor’s body let the Gray Devil’s energy flood into mine.
My whole body felt like it was burning, melting away.
A sensation that instantly showed how much the manifested Gray Devil had held back before.
I’d grown numb to pain lately, but this was hell I couldn’t endure.
〚...〛
Yet even as I went through that.
Elnor didn’t budge an inch.
Still hovering motionless in midair, she didn’t even register me slamming into her.
She stayed that way until I clung to her body, gasping through the agony.
[...Right. So you’ve latched on. Now what?]
“Caliban.”
I muttered that, adjusting my position.
No ground to stand on, so supporting my whole body with just my arms was tricky.
But I managed the pose I wanted.
Our faces ‘facing’ each other.
“First experiences should always be dramatic, right?”
Honestly, this might be a bit too dramatic.
But anyway.
[What kinda nonsense is—]
Before his sentence finished.
My lips pressed over Elnor’s.
“...!”
Her vacant eyes went wide.
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