312. Goddess, and Empress (2)
312. Goddess, and Empress (2)
- 1 -
- Something is coming...!
Arpina looked up at the sky with shock and horror.
That presence had begun from there.
Kkamppak. Kkamppak.
The stars. The eyes of observers living in another world.
They blinked their eyes and stared at me, then suddenly turned their gazes elsewhere and vanished.
As if hurried, like servants discovering their master.
Sasasak...
And so, above the world of my consciousness where only darkness remained, something began to 'cover' it.
It was warm, and also cool, comfortable, yet alien. It was tranquil, yet unsettling.
All sorts of contradictory sensations impossible to express in language were coiling around my entire existence.
'Mother.'
Instinctively, that word arose.
This sensation, this feeling.
Perhaps the touch that others felt before birth and could never recall while living—the sensation a human might have felt in a mother's womb in primordial times, a feeling akin to returning to that original source.
『My child.』
As I thought that, a realization came to me.
I was now, held in the 'embrace of a god.'
『How much you must have wandered, my star.』
A voice that filled the space.
That voice, too, was a harmony of incompatible things.
Extreme cold and blazing heat, deep darkness and unparalleled radiance coexisted.
A voice impossible to describe in any language of the world.
No, perhaps it was a 'benevolent' voice that did not conform to the standards of this world.
『At last, I have become able to converse with you.』
Was this what it felt like when a god spoke to a mortal?
If facing the Demon King brought a feeling of 'dark, cold splendor,' what emanated from this existence was an 'exalted, profound connection (緣).'
As if, like the meaning of my trait, 「Lofty Profundity」.
An alien sensation where time and space twisted, making contradictions and impossibilities possible.
If I had not been lying in the bathtub, I might have immediately knelt.
Not in submission, but out of worship and reverence.
But that gracious impulse paradoxically stirred my pride.
I do not submit just because someone is my 'mother.'
I raised my head.
Beyond my sight, her form was slowly becoming clearer.
Sarak.
『My baby...』
Immediately after, I felt the movement of a 'hand' at my chin.
I soon realized.
It was not essentially a 'hand,' but she was transforming some indescribable shape into a human form to make contact with me.
She was being considerate of me.
I raised my eyes further and 'saw' her.
- It is the first time I am meeting you.
Her appearance was still veiled behind a dark curtain.
Only the two 'hands' holding my chin were revealed.
Beyond my gaze, she was slowly drawing back the veil.
Kureureureung...!
- 2 -
Kureureureung...!
"Ugh...!"
A bolt of lightning exploded and flew past, grazing Yuran's face.
Within that alien lightning was a streak of black malice.
She avoided a fatal wound with instantaneous defense and evasion, but red blood trickled down her cheek.
"Ran!"
Shue's eyes blazed a deeper red.
A powerful radiance flashed in the red light dyeing her hair, and a blood-red aura wavered throughout her entire body.
「Ferocious Peril」
Kwang!!
The moment she took a step, the marble floor shattered and cracked.
It was not a simple step, but the starting point of an attack.
Kwadeudeudeuk — !
"Kuaaak!!"
The blood-red force erupted, overturning the ground.
The ground jutted out like teeth, and the crimson light bursting from between them became steel blades that fell upon the enemies.
With a single movement, Shue tore Botis's soldiers to shreds.
It was a sight truly worthy of her name.
Chwarararak!
The blood drawn from the dead swirled and gathered at a single point.
Shue gathered the blood onto her upright index finger, then immediately wrapped it around one arm, transmuting it into even more powerful claws.
"You dare scar the face my lord is to look upon...?!"
Yuran, her brow furrowed with a fierce rage oddly unsuited to the battlefield, unfurled her fan.
As she elegantly flicked her fan, purple and golden flames erupted from her six tails, three from each.
"「Six Tails Guidance, Manifestation of Ten Thousand Calamities, Law of Heaven and Earth」!"
Hwareureureuk!
Purple and golden flames erupted from Yuran's six tails, three from each.
A total of eighteen flames danced and merged in the void.
The power she had evolved from a five-tailed fox to a six-tailed fox was not simply an increase of a single tail.
The number of chants she could use had also increased exponentially, more than doubled.
The golden flames of the Gold-furred Nine-tailed Fox and the purple foxfire flames she developed alongside Libertas intertwined, advancing in all directions.
"Kkuaaak!!!"
- Save me! Save me, I beg you!!!
A hell that burned both spirit and body manifested.
Two high-rank demon beasts under Botis's command writhed within the pillars of fire before turning to ash and vanishing.
"You wretches..."
Botis's face contorted.
The two women were alternating in facing him while whittling down his army.
Nor was the army fighting alongside them incompetent.
'When they advance, not a single formation is disturbed; when they retreat, not a single dead is left behind, all acting in perfect unity.'
The army of Libertas before his eyes was far too different from his information that this dungeon was merely elite-grade.
It was a discipline unimaginable for a legion mixed with all sorts of demon beasts like undead, corrupted humans, orcs, and ogres.
Furthermore, the two women were also a problem.
The abilities of high-rank demon beasts guarding an elite-grade dungeon had their limits.
Moreover, in a place that had achieved such rapid growth as this, it should have been normal for its internal substance to be weak.
But these two women...
'This is absurd!'
At times, they seemed even more proficient in their abilities than Botis himself.
Botis felt a sense of urgency.
This task was an 'opportunity' his lord had given him, and he was failing to seize it.
'No.'
But soon, he changed his mind.
For a noble who had reached such a high state to ascend further, he had to consume a 'truly vast amount' of humans, or absorb an existence powerful enough to replace them.
But now that the territories of the demon realm were solidified, no matter how much war he waged on humans, he could not monopolize the results, nor were opportunities to consume powerful beings common.
That was why a high-rank marquis like him lacked a lord-level demon beast.
Opportunities to grow oneself were rare enough, so where would he find the leeway to raise a subordinate demon beast to lord-level?
Such luxury was only possible for the Grand Dukes of the Demon Realm.
"Therefore...!!"
If he could absorb such a powerful being, he would become even stronger.
Perhaps even more so than Kimaris, who possessed the strongest power among the surface marquises.
"Just die already!!"
Kwakwakwakwak!!
Filled with that rage and resentment, Botis struck the void, and dozens of tentacles burst forth from the empty space.
"Keuk...!"
His target was Shue.
She gritted her teeth and evaded on the spot, but the attack had burst out so fast that it left a wound.
Her sturdy officer's uniform, like armor, was torn, and a web-like blood-red gash remained on one of her arms.
If it weren't for the force she always maintained beneath her skin like inner armor, her arm would have been rendered useless immediately.
Botis's eyes flashed as he seized the opportunity.
"I will finish you — !"
His hand transformed in an instant.
Dozens of hook-like claws grew out, and the sound of them tearing through the void rang out sharply.
But Shue was already prepared.
「Red Lightning」
Kwareureung!!
A blood-red explosion erupted in front of Shue.
The crimson force burst and spread in all directions.
"Keuk...!"
A bombardment that paid no heed to her own safety.
Her torn arm became tattered, but Botis's face, as he was flung back, was also clearly filled with bewilderment.
"... Huuuuu..."
Shue pressed down on her roughly torn arm and laughed.
The blood-red aura surrounded the wound and slowly began to regenerate it.
"You're tough, I'll give you that."
Immediately after, following her attack, Yuran's beautiful flames embroidered the void.
"「Soul Art, Ten Thousand Phantoms, Divine Dignity」 — "
The moment her chant flowed out, dozens of phantoms rose up in every direction.
Dokkaebi, egg ghosts, duoxini, mongdal ghosts, arang, crimson flame ghosts, vengeful spirits...
All sorts of bizarre shapes rose up and charged in all directions, most of them swarming towards Botis.
"You think you can catch me with these mere wandering ghosts!!"
Jureureuk!
Black liquid dripped down beneath Botis's mask.
Not simple blood, but a living organism that moved on its own.
The liquid scattered everywhere with a gesture of wiping his face, and in an instant, vastly enlarged his body.
Ujeok!
They became black shapes without eyes, ears, or noses, and in turn devoured the charging ghosts.
"Kulleok!"
A trickle of blood ran from the corner of Yuran's mouth.
She was overexerting herself.
While Botis had yet to draw out his otherworldly power and could not exert his full strength, now was the time to whittle down his power as much as possible.
"I will finish this here."
Dozens of black spears rapidly grew from Botis's hands.
They were not hard, but flexible, elongated objects.
"I will kill you two, and take your master's head and core as well."
A triumphant smile rose on his lips as his anxiety faded.
The battle had already dragged on for two hours.
Yuran and Shue's capabilities had made him anxious, but they still could not exceed his weight class.
But soon, he had no choice but to stiffen his expression.
"How dare you so carelessly speak my master's name."
Along with a cold voice, a black shadow moved.
Botis felt the tip of a blade touch his cheek.
Saya.
Her short black hair and pink eyes shone coldly.
The thin, beautiful blade held in one of her hands was reflecting the black light.
"You wench...! Since when...?"
Botis's eyes widened in shock.
He, a marquis-grade dungeon lord, had failed to detect Saya's presence.
"You don't need to know."
The next moment, Saya's sword moved like lightning.
- 3 -
- Mother.
The moment that word escaped my lips, the world trembled.
The hands caressing my cheek flinched slightly, and the speed at which the veil was drawn back also grew a little faster.
What was revealed beyond it was a face that seemed to have gathered all the beauty in this world.
No, the next moment, that face became the face of the most hideous witch in this world.
And after that, that face distorted entirely, turning into the shape of a swirling shadow.
Then again, it appeared as a 'familiar' form.
Slowly, like a dawn pushing back the darkness, her face gradually stabilized into a form closer to a human's.
Into a visage similar to, yet different from, my own face.
- That face.
『I mixed the faces of those familiar to you.』
At her words, I gave a faint, bitter smile.
Her face was a half-and-half mixture of my mother from Earth and the visage of Bellastella.
The face of one of the beings I hated most, and the one I now yearned for.
But, no matter the face.
The 'love' she was sending me was distinctly felt.
The love of a god made me feel a dull ache as if my heart were twisting, but it was bearable.
『Time is too short to share true feelings. No matter how I seize and slow the flow of your world, your vessel is still too small to contain the full memory of my existence.』
'Mother' murmured regretfully.
The sensibilities of the outer planes and this world might not be entirely identical, but at least for now, she was a 'normal mother' even by my standards.
『I had wanted to at least tell you my name. But it is hard, even for that.』
Her physical form was much larger than mine.
Within my sight, I could only see her face, her firm breasts, and her huge arms.
Even that was mostly veiled by the curtain, only partially revealed.
An overwhelming sense of presence, as if she could embrace the entire world in her arms.
- Still, I was able to meet you like this.
『Yes. Indeed.』
Even as she caressed my cheek, she did not come any closer than that.
She seemed worried that her own existence might harm me.
『I have come this close. That you...』
Her touch held deep emotion and regret.
- Mother.
The moment I uttered that word once more, a realization dawned on me.
She was truly the mother of my 'body.' But at the same time...
She was also the mother of my 'soul.'
It felt as if the truth was clicking into place.
The reason I existed in this world, the source of the special abilities I possessed, and the meaning of all the hardships I had endured.
'Perhaps I...'
Anger boiled up from deep within my chest.
But at the same time, a strange sense of relief was also felt.
- Why did you leave me alone?
A question that came out without me realizing.
That question carried the doubts that had been piled up my entire life within my heart.
And then.
Kudeudeudeuk...!!
The moment my words ended, the entire 'world' shook as if an earthquake had struck.