Chapter 134
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 136
Chapter Title: Unexpected Encounter
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The plague surged up in such a disgustingly massive wave that it could swallow even mountains, targeting only me alone. It looked as though the entire world had been dyed black and was pouring down all at once.
It was a spectacle I would never witness again in my lifetime, but at the same time, the pressure was immense.
Blood streamed from my eyes and nose, to that extent.
It must mean the plague was infused with an enormous amount of power, and of an incredibly high order.
The elves, seeing my state, cried out in horror at the top of their lungs.
"Incarnation Alzen!?"
"The Savior is in danger!"
"No! The Avatar of Nature!!"
"Savior!!"
"Proxy of the World Tree! Fall back!"
The titles were quite varied.
I couldn't help but chuckle softly, then activated the Ring of Absolute Evasion as I observed the repulsive writhing of the plague enveloping me.
Squelch! Squuuuish!
"Hm..."
It wasn't my imagination.
This plague was infused with a far denser and more concentrated power than what had dwelled in the elves and the World Tree.
"What in the world..."
Blood streamed down from the overwhelming difference in presence and order crushing me, yet I activated the Ring of Absolute Counterattack.
The black energy shot out with terrifying momentum like a reverse-falling waterfall, melting away all the plague in an instant, like a vaccine designed solely to annihilate it.
"Hoo..."
"Are you alright?"
Murel had come to my side before I knew it, wiping my eyes and nose with a handkerchief.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
"Please don't push yourself too hard. It hurts my heart."
"...You have these moments where you just swoop in like that."
I wrapped my arm around Murel's waist and gently stroked her side, and she leaned into me, hugging back affectionately.
"Hey. Moderation with the flirting. And you, weak as you are, why do you always charge ahead? Do you wanna die that bad? Or are you doing it on purpose to get the girls to baby you like this?"
Weller's scolding was sharp, but I could sense the worry beneath it, so it felt a bit ticklish.
"I don't know what to do when my foolish little sister worries about me like this."
"Who said I was worried? If you die, there's no one left to spill the info."
"Then here, take the rings, and you do it instead, sis? I'll tell you everything about conquering Sukra too. I can just lounge around."
"...Get in front, you annoying bastard."
I burst out laughing at her fierce glare.
"Heh heh, yeah. I will. Let's see..."
The horde of grotesque monsters that had been surging toward the elf village like waves now lay scattered powerlessly, the plague forged by power ripped clean from them, painting a bizarre scene.
They could be called corpses, but since their foundation was all the life in the forest, they oddly gave off fresh scents of grass and earth.
"...I don't wanna go."
"Truly. I'd rather walk over a pile of corpses; it'd be more comfortable."
Agreeing with Rebecca, I carefully took a step forward.
Squelch! Sstiiick!
The sensation of stepping on the monsters was truly the worst.
Dry and crumbly like withered grass in one spot, dense muscle in another, like rotten mud here, wrinkled folds there.
Flesh that gathered every repulsive and disgusting thing into one lump.
For the first time, I realized that unstable footing could itself become a sense of crisis and threat.
"...This is... truly... a blasphemy against life. How dare they...!"
Sisilia, unable to hold back her anger and disgust, grimaced deeply, her fists trembling.
We didn't respond, but deeply agreeing, we slowly advanced into the Great Forest.
The lush, abundant forest of before was gone now.
The forest that had become material for the plague and power had lost its freshness, refreshment, and mystery, transforming into a pitch-black, grotesque, dense forest of death.
Trees cloaked in fur or scales writhed, twitching with countless eyeballs, tongues, and fingers.
Leaves with legs pounced on insects to devour them and crawled about, while small animals bounced around, indiscriminately attacking nearby living things and splattering blood.
Larger ones stretched their bodies long or flattened themselves to move through the dense trees.
What was chilling was that amid this horrific scene, an ominous, heavy silence enveloped everything.
The disconnect between sight and sound was so extreme it was disorienting.
"...Everyone took the antidote, right?"
"Yes. Everyone without fail."
"Hey. But does this even work?"
"Honestly, barely. But better than nothing."
"Hmm..."
To quell that confusion even a little, we advanced while chatting idly about anything.
Perhaps because it was a high demon's domain, Weller gripped her staff tensely, frowning as she scanned the surroundings.
—Kieeeek!
—Giiiik!
—Grrruk, grrruk...!
Around us, unidentified creature corpses were strewn haphazardly.
Those that had approached rashly, attacked with murderous intent, or blocked our path.
"Sisilia. No need to focus too much on the barrier. Conserve your holy power."
"Y-yes...!"
Sisilia, visibly more tense than necessary, fumbled to adjust the holy barrier at my words.
"Hiyaap!"
"Ei!"
Vivian and Pascualtra busily circled the area, eliminating aggressive or annoying aberrant lifeforms.
It was to conserve stamina even a bit for master-class fighters, but it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say nearly all the corpses around us were their doing.
"But do you even know the way?"
I shook my head with a smile at Weller's question.
"Nope? How would I know where that guy is? Even the World Tree doesn't. I'm just wandering around."
"What? I thought you were tracking it with your know-it-all ability."
"When did I say I know everything? I've told you a bunch of times, I'm not a prophet or incarnation."
"Then how do you plan to find Sukra?"
"We're not finding him. We make him come to us. He'll probably pop out if we keep pushing forward like this."
"...What does that mean?"
Weller raised her voice in disbelief, but I just shrugged.
For me, this was truly unavoidable.
Sukra's stealth ability was unmatched, as stated even in the setting notes.
How could I possibly find a guy like that?
"You sure that's okay? Sounds super dangerous."
"Honestly, no. I told you, didn't I? For him, terrain or traps are easy. So if we let our guard down, we'll get picked off one by one—"
"...!?"
"Alzen. Behind me."
Mid-sentence, I sensed something eerie and clamped my mouth shut.
The others felt it too, quickly turning weapons toward the same direction.
"...Looks like we can save some effort."
"Yeah. Coming to us like this... grateful."
"This presence... the enemy of my kin...!"
"Seems dumber than expected. Or just underestimating us?"
Hearing Murel, Rebecca, Nemes, and Weller in order, I focused on the Ring Set.
Drip.
Blood flowed from my nose again.
"Master. You okay?"
"Alzen. Blood again..."
Kachiora and Lampoon Pascualtra looked at me worriedly, but I nodded with a smile.
"I'm fine. Surprisingly tolerable."
Not passing out was probably thanks to the Permaflesh and World Tree Fruit.
Good thing I ate them.
If I'd blacked out the moment I sensed the high demon, nothing could've been more pathetic.
"...It's coming."
Soon after, an unpleasant noise echoed in my ears.
The sound of viscous mud being forcibly squished, expelling trapped air from within.
The noise repeated at regular intervals, drawing closer, as the dense aberrant lifeforms twisted and broke their own bodies to clear a path.
And at the end of that opened path, the source of the noise revealed itself.
"...Hey, is that it?"
I could only tilt my head silently at Weller's question.
Because it looked nothing like the Sukra I remembered.
"Why's it even grosser?"
Half-melted limbs and red head on a black body matched my memory, but it had way too many extra eyes, noses, and mouths I didn't recall.
As if dozens of large and small heads had been shoved under the skin whole, with eye and mouth holes poked through the thinned flesh—a horrific sight.
On top of that, the main body Sukra looked emaciated, bones threatening to pierce the skin.
Bat wings and avian tail feathers confirmed its identity, but... seeing an already ugly guy get even uglier filled me with dismay.
"...Seems like Sukra."
Unexpected, but what needed doing hadn't changed.
No need for introductions or talk.
Stepping forward while focusing on the ring, the others swelled their auras into combat stance.
"Ah, aah... Found you..."
The moment I tried activating the ring, a weak, listless voice leaked out.
"S-Starnassila... Alzen...?"
"...Yeah?"
Feeling off about the voice and tone, I halted the ring's activation.
Our eyes met, and Sukra's gaunt, wrinkled face twisted effortfully into a smile.
"Heh heh, uh heh heh heh... F-found you. Found you. Found you..."
"......"
Did Sukra talk like that?
I didn't know.
I'd read the settings on him, but not details like speech patterns or intonations.
But... considering his arrogant, overbearing personality, even in that state, he wouldn't speak so feebly.
"Y-you, I'll take you with me. D-don't worry. I'll package you nice, not too dead... E-even keep you alive? Ah, ah! P-plus! If you come quietly... I-I won't touch your friends...!"
Saying that, he glanced around shyly, shrinking like a bashful maiden and fidgeting.
...Repulsive enough to induce vomiting.
"Different. Way too different from what I know. Wait... no way?"
A sudden realization hit.
If it wasn't Sukra but someone else, the appearance made sense.
"...Lord Alzen. How long must we endure?"
Nemes, grinding her teeth, unleashed her Aura Blade and radiated killing intent, unable to hold back.
"Wait a sec. Hm, just a hunch, but..."
Drip.
Wiping the blood from my eyes and nose, I stared straight at it.
"H-heek...!"
Our eyes met, and it flinched, turning away and huddling more.
Seeing that, I was half-convinced.
"You're Demon King Otiliev."
"...!?"
"!?"
I felt the party's shock, but I focused entirely on it.
"Wh-what!? N-no, I'm not?"
"Don't play dumb. Clearly, you mutated Sukra's body into a 'clone.' Absorbed Sukra's abilities too?"
Not 'possession' or 'control.'
The total shut-in Demon King Otiliev couldn't do that stuff.
Her only way to observe and hear from afar was using the 'power of life' to create a 'clone'—another self.
A 'clone' was no different from a copy of herself.
Thought processes, behaviors, even minor habits.
The only difference was power compared to the main body.
"Heeeh!? H-how did you know...!?"
I didn't answer its question, just smirked.
"It was mock Demon King battle, but didn't expect a real one."
"Wh-what...?"
"Chant it: I'm dead. You little shit."
As I said, our current force could slay even the real Demon King.
Even here in the demon realm.
Though real demon realm would mean casualties.
Fwaaash!
An unexpected variable, but no reason to hesitate.
Sukra or Demon King, both needed killing anyway.
Even if just a clone... Anyway, I immediately activated the Ring of Absolute Provocation.