The Remaining Ones (6)
The Remaining Ones (6)
"Waaah~"
The woman opened her mouth wide.
Her eyes were filled with genuine happiness, as if she had delicious food before her, brimming with laughter.
Salome thought it would be nice if she could enjoy the meal with her too.
If only what she was eating wasn't the same demonkin as herself.
Crunch!
Another Nightmare had its neck bitten off by the woman.
After convulsing for just a brief moment, the Nightmare lost its life and went completely limp.
This made the sixty-second one so far.
Salome had been kneeling and trembling for over an hour, watching that terrifying meal.
'Fuck, shiiit......! How did it come to this?!'
After being miserably defeated by humans and even losing her power as a Chosen One, Salome had been living a wretched life.
Managing the remaining Nightmare remnants here, her days were filled with being dragged to the Lust Demon Luxuria and subjected to all kinds of sexual torture.
Then came the news that the Demon God of Greed Gula—the being now intensely focused on her meal before her eyes—was coming, and she had prepared a grand welcome.
She thought if she caught his eye and became a Chosen One, she could show her majesty before those weak humans again.
But the moment Gula arrived, he began devouring the Nightmares that had come to greet him.
Just one bite from the nape of their necks each time.
He seemed intent on completely exterminating this black horse-like race, of which so few remained.
"Munch, munch...... Hey there, succubus friend."
"Eeek! Yes!"
At Gula's call, Salome wet herself a little.
She couldn't bear the fear that she might be eaten like that too.
'No......! I can't die like this! I haven't even gotten my revenge on that arrogant Saintess bitch yet......!'
The area around the Demon God's mouth was stained red with a massive amount of blood, and every time she chewed the meat, blood spurted out between her teeth with a sickening sound.
"This horse meat is delicious. Where can I get more?"
"Wh-what?!"
The Nightmares were a race that served the Demon God Acedia.
Most of them inhabit this region, and probably after Gula finishes his meal, not a single one will remain in this world.
"I, um, d-don't know......!"
"Is that so? I see."
Salome, who had blurted out that she didn't know, deeply regretted not lying instead.
It was fortunate that Gula didn't seem offended——
"Then you're useless."
"Huh?"
Crunch!
The beautiful neck, captivating enough to enchant all the men in the world, was mercilessly torn away.
Gula's teeth filling her vision was the last sight Salome saw while alive and breathing.
Introducing the taste of succubus meat to the Demon God of Greed was Salome's final purpose.
"Munch munch...... Hmm?"
Gula, who had been letting the overflowing blood from her mouth drip down her chin and chest, suddenly turned her head toward somewhere.
"......A delicious smell......."
Gula smacked her lips and began sprinting in that direction.
* * *
"Gula cannot recover his power on his own like other Demon Gods. He must constantly devour living beings."
Yuri, who was watching Gula's direction through a telescope, spoke.
Melanie looked at the woman sitting behind her with her eyes closed.
"......So you're luring him with food."
"You caught on. That's right."
That woman was also a character who appeared in Sephemo's story.
Though originally she should have appeared much later.
She possessed immense life force within her body, and they were using that trait to lure Gula.
"After luring him, what will you do?"
"We'll incapacitate him somehow. If we join forces with you and our people..."
"We must kill him."
The woman opened her eyes and spoke decisively.
Yuri turned her head toward her with an apologetic smile.
"We agreed to discuss that later. Killing the Demon God will only accelerate his plan further."
"It would be different if we killed every single one without exception."
"We don't have the power to do that right now."
"So you're saying if you had the power, you would kill him?"
"Asil......."
The woman called Asil ignored Yuri's words and closed her eyes again.
She was trying to focus on manifesting her life force to lure Gula.
Yuri also turned her head away without saying anything more.
[I sense <Distortion> from both of those bitches.]
'What? Really?'
[Yes. It becomes even stronger when they're together. Can you not guess why?]
'......Both of them meet a rather hollow end, but.......'
Luxuria senses Distortion in parts of the story that were significantly changed after the Sephemo Renewal.
However, Melanie couldn't determine if Yuri and Asil's story fell under that Distortion.
Because their ends occur in an episode that didn't even exist before the Renewal.
The Sephemo Renewal happened before the story was completed.
The latter part of the story was originally written by a successor to the scenario writer who had quit.
Whether it was written based on some story framework left by the departed writer, or written entirely from scratch by the successor—Melanie had no way of knowing that.
......Perhaps Luxuria might perceive the entire latter part as Distortion, she thought.
It would be really troublesome if she decided to rewrite all of that.
I really must escape from Luxuria's grasp someday...
[They both die, you say? However, you don't seem to feel much sympathy for that woman named Asil. How strange.......]
'No, no, you're misunderstanding. It's not like I only sympathize with pretty women. I-It just so happened that until now, the objects of my sympathy were pretty women.'
[......Hmm...... Anyway, tell them you'll handle Gula somehow.]
'Me?'
[Yes. Say something like you know a way to seal him. I'll summon Gula to my Divine Hall at an appropriate time and hide him there.]
"......Huh?!"
Suddenly, Yuri let out a sound of panic.
"What's wrong?"
"Gu, Gula is heading in the wrong direction!"
"What?! Where to..."
"Th, the way we came from..."
"What did you say?!"
Alina, who had been quietly watching from behind, was horrified.
The reason wasn't hard to figure out.
This meant the Demon God would reach the place where Alino and the other refugees were.
"What do you mean! You said you could lure the Demon God!"
"W, wait, calm down!"
As Alina tried to rush at Yuri, Melanie grabbed her with her body to stop her.
"Ugh......!"
Held in Melanie's embrace, Alina felt herself calming down a little.
Even though they failed to lure the Demon God, the fact that he was heading in the wrong direction wasn't Melanie's fault.
Also, if Alino had just listened to Melanie, he wouldn't have been placed in the Demon God's path.
Therefore, blaming Melanie for the danger Alino was now in was foolish.
Alina was rational enough to recognize all these facts.
"......S, sorry for getting excited. But I have no choice but to rely on you all. Please find a way to save Alino......!"
"Uh, um...... So, L, Lili! Could you run to where Alino is right now and tell him to evacuate?"
"I, I could, but, uh, to where?!"
"Th, that's......!"
With Lili's fast feet, she could probably reach Alino in time to deliver the message.
But the problem was where to evacuate to.
They were people who had decided to head to the capital precisely because they had nowhere else to go.
"......Tell them to go to Pazurion."
"Hilda?"
"I will go directly to Pazurion. Although I've stepped down from my position as Saintess, I will try to persuade them somehow. To not attack the refugees."
Having no other choice, Melanie could only nod.
Hilda mounted her horse and headed toward Pazurion, while Lili sprinted at full speed toward where Alino was.
Yuri bowed her head to Melanie and Alina.
"I'm sorry. It's my mistake. I assured you all that I could lure the Demon God......."
"More than that, do you have any idea why Gula is heading that way?"
Yuri glanced back at Asil.
She also seemed bewildered by the fact that she had failed as bait.
"......There can only be one reason. There must be something over there that the Demon God judges to be better prey than Asil. I don't know what it is...... but there's only one person who could prepare such a thing."
Hearing Yuri's words, Melanie could only think of one person.
"Murgan......!"
* * *
"Huff......! Huff......!"
Lili, who had run until her lungs felt like bursting, barely managed to reach the campsite where Alino was.
"Everyone! You need to evacuate right no..."
Lili's pupils shook violently as she tried to shout from a distance.
Because the smell of fire and ash came flying on the wind.
With a foreboding feeling, Lili ran even faster.
The refugees' campsite was burning in crimson flames.
Seeing one refugee crawling on the ground with burns all over his body, Lili ran to him.
"Are you okay?! Wh, who did this?! I should have gotten here before the Demon God! Wh, who on earth......!"
"Knights......! Th, those knights, they...!"
The refugee pointed a finger beyond the flames before his breath ceased.
Beyond the flames, human figures could be seen swaying.
"You crazy bastard!!!! What are you doing!!!!"
"Yooouuu aaaareee tooooooo slooooooow......!"
The opponent shouted in a bizarrely drawn-out tone.
But for some reason, Lili felt that voice wasn't unfamiliar.
"Th, this annoying voice, don't tell me......!"
Withdrawing the flames, what revealed itself before Lili was a single knight imbued with a brilliant light like the sun.
However, his skin was full of stitch marks like a doll hastily repaired, and the joints of his limbs were abnormally numerous.
Even though he had transformed into such a miserable state, Lili could immediately recall who he was.
"Lancelot......!"