Chapter 172
Chapter 172
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Predation - 3
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Whoosh.
For a split second, I felt my body being dragged forward... toward Idria's hole.
But the hole I'd created caught me.
At first, I thought it was a relief.
But that was a ridiculous illusion.
The holes Idria and I had made were exerting tremendous attractive force toward each other.
'Damn it. It feels like my body's about to tear apart. Upper body's going that way, lower body's this way!'
[Which side should we keep?]
'Joking around at a time like this?'
Idria was in the same boat.
She was gritting her teeth, resisting the immense pull that threatened to rip her body in two from both sides.
-Swoooosh! Boom boom boom.
Everything in the world began getting sucked into the sphere we'd created.
Mountains crumbled, rocks shattered.
Trees were uprooted, the ground evaporated.
The clouds in the sky. Mountain birds and insects.
Even the air itself.
'I can't breathe.'
[Even the oxygen's been sucked up, huh? You okay?]
'How could I be okay if I can't breathe? Damn it, I didn't know there was a blind spot like this.'
[Idria's in the same spot, so just hold on a bit longer!]
Who would've thought the showdown with the Demon King would come down to lung capacity.
I could endure my body being torn with my sturdy flesh.
But not being able to breathe was something no great hero could overcome.
Apparently, it applied to the Demon King too.
"......"
Idria's face started turning deathly pale.
'Try shaking her up a bit. You can talk to her through souls, right?'
[What should I say?]
'Anything. If I speak out loud, it'll waste breath, and that's no good.'
Trail pondered for a moment before speaking to Idria through our souls.
[Idria. Cancel your hole.]
"......"
[You weren't planning to kill Maide right now anyway. This fight was just about who gains the upper hand and dominance—it was never a fight to the death from the start.]
"......"
[You were using Maide to kill that monster called Velosian, right? Maide was planning to do the same to you.]
Ah.
My consciousness was starting to fade.
This was really dangerous.
Through my blurring vision, I looked at Idria.
She had already propped herself up with her hand on the ground.
Trail kept pressing her.
[Using you means we won't kill you. Doesn't the hero not killing the Demon King right away count as a huge concession?]
"......"
[Cancel the ability. I don't want to see you die in some lung capacity contest.]
"Heh heh."
Idria wasted precious oxygen on that chuckle.
Snap.
Whirr. Swoosh.
She snapped her fingers, and the black hole vanished.
Naturally, the pull acted in only one direction now. Toward the hole I'd made.
Idria got sucked into the space I'd created at terrifying speed.
By that point, she had already passed out.
Swoosh.
Once I confirmed she'd fully entered the space, I hurriedly sealed it shut.
Then, as I canceled my black hole, the world began returning to normal.
"Huff. Huff."
[You okay?]
"If it'd been even a few seconds later, I'd have been touring the afterlife."
[You've already been there.]
I ignored him and kept pumping air into my lungs.
A few seconds later.
Once my condition normalized, I couldn't help but tremble with exhilaration.
I quietly looked up at the sky.
"I caught the Demon King."
I called my companions back.
They'd gotten down from Agril and were looking around.
Not that there was much to see.
Nothing was left.
"Even with Mime supporting Agril, we couldn't escape Maide and Idria's pull. If it'd been a few seconds later, you would've seen us getting sucked in too."
"You should've stayed farther away."
"Ahaha."
Jenia gave an awkward laugh, scratching her cheek.
Opense interpreted the meaning of that laugh.
"She probably means, 'How much farther could we have gone?'"
"Yeah. If you have a conscience, give it a try yourself, Maide."
At her words, I surveyed the surroundings.
Nothing.
The Sacred Forest had originally been a remote wilderness beyond any ordinary forest.
One of the places humanity's touch hadn't reached, along with our starting point.
But this was no longer a forest.
Everything had been shattered and absorbed, leaving only a deeply gouged basin in the earth.
Neril spoke up.
"You and us were at least five kilometers apart at minimum. That's roughly how far the pull reached."
"Hmm."
"Not 'hmm' about it. It's just that the aftermath of your fight wiped out five kilometers of forest. No, that's the radius, so make it ten kilometers?"
"Well, whatever, we turned divine prestige into raw power. Idria putting up a fight against it for so long is the real surprise."
Adwin chimed in.
"But in the end, you're stronger, right, bro?"
"By a slight margin, but yeah, for now."
"And Idria's beyond the space you made?"
"Yeah. Want to talk to her?"
My companions jumped in shock.
Serein asked.
"Can you even talk? The space is cut off, right?"
"It's my space. I just need to open it small enough that she can't escape."
"My head hurts..."
"We need to talk anyway. She should be coming to by now, so let's crack the space open a bit."
I thought about drawing my sword but decided against it.
No need.
Instead, I raised my hand at an angle and slashed downward like drawing a symbol.
Zzzzt.
A small crack about three centimeters wide appeared in the air.
I raised my voice toward it.
"Idria. Can you hear me?"
"......"
"I know you can. Don't expect me to widen the space any further."
"Hoo."
Idria's sigh leaked through the rift in space.
Neril said cynically.
"The world's most perfect prison. How's it feel getting done in by someone with similar powers?"
"I'm already pissed, so don't provoke me."
"Guess you didn't see this coming? Even after losing to Maide several times already."
"That's how great the power Adin's soul gave me was."
To my surprise, Idria admitted it readily.
Risel asked.
"So what now? ...Wait, why am I using polite speech with the Demon King?"
"Shouldn't you be asking Maide that, not me?"
"You're the one in a bad spot right now. Be good and answer the question."
Don't force it if it doesn't suit your personality, Risel.
Idria answered then.
"I planned to use Maide."
"So how?"
"I was going to boost Maide's prestige even higher."
Her unexpected words left us all stunned.
Idria let out a light giggle.
"From Adin's memories, it seems ancient Impellium could convert prestige to power. Something about having to give up something precious?"
"......"
"Raising prestige is my specialty. I made that idiot Kaild a 'hero,' even if just for a while. Well... seems like that was wrong now."
No way, this girl?
Idria nodded at my expression.
"Yeah. The play I originally planned for Kaild—'the play of slaying the Demon King'—I was going to have you do it."
"......!"
"Of course, it's decisively different from Kaild's case."
"Whether you harvest the lies?"
"......Hmph. So you noticed. Yeah, all the lies you've spread so far haven't turned into power for me."
According to Impellium, the world probably judged my lies as beneficial to humanity.
Of course, I didn't reveal that.
Instead, I asked something else.
"Why boost my prestige? If you can't harvest the lies, it just benefits me unilaterally."
"Why ask something so obvious? I planned to ask you to convert that prestige to power and kill Velosian for me. Call it a proxy killing."
She fell silent for a moment before continuing.
"From Adin's memories, I learned humans can grow infinitely stronger just by raising prestige. What an absurdly human-friendly world."
"......"
"Velosian is an enemy of unknowable power. Only humans, who can grow infinitely with rising prestige... only you, Maide, can kill him."
"Why not do it yourself?"
"That's......"
She trailed off.
But I could guess the rest.
Just as I'd suspected last time.
Idria gained power by deceiving humans, but Velosian deceived the world itself.
So Idria could never beat Velosian.
It wasn't about raw power; their very natures were mismatched.
That's why she'd given up handling Velosian herself and was asking me.
But I didn't voice it.
Serein cut in, sounding baffled.
"Anyway, Maide is the hero. Does it make sense for the hero to take an assassination request from the Demon King?"
"Isn't Velosian an enemy you all need to deal with too? What does it matter whose request it is?"
"......"
"Besides, 'assassination request' is the wrong term. Velosian isn't human."
I scratched my head and said.
"Why do you want him dead?"
"What?"
"You said it during the fight. Velosian wants something from you, and it disgusts you."
"......"
"What does he want from you? Why did he help you?"
No answer came for a while.
Just as I was about to press her again, her voice finally emerged.
"Velosian wants to rewrite the world's laws."
"That's what he always does. He used that authority to transfer Adin's prestige to Kaild."
"No. Transferring prestige was just 'interference' at best. I said 'rewrite.'"
"What?"
"He's trying to turn this world into 'a place for the Demon King.'"
I didn't quite get it.
Idria continued in a self-mocking tone.
"Not escaping a Demon King-unfriendly world like I am, but rewriting the world itself to favor the Demon King. Should I praise his ambition?"
"Be more specific."
"He's rewriting the world's laws so all humans perceive malice as benevolence."
It didn't click at first.
But Risel, with her randomly insightful instincts, covered her mouth.
Her words came out muffled.
"N-No way. Then...... then."
"What? What'd you realize?"
"Demon Kings are born from the malice humans create, right? Destruction, greed, corruption, that stuff."
"And?"
"People know those emotions are 'bad.' They're taught that way."
Obvious stuff.
No one preaches malice as good.
Even if their hearts are black, they hide it on the surface, restraining themselves to avoid showing it.
Society and individual lives couldn't hold otherwise.
"Ah."
Then it hit me.
Idria sneered.
"If all those emotions you people shun were seen as positive, how much malice would spread through the world?"
"......"
"And how many Demon Kings would descend from that?"
"N-No way."
"Yeah. Velosian plans to fill this world with Demon Kings. Turn it into a world for Demon Kings. A world ruled by Demon Kings, not humans."
Chills ran down my spine.
Even one Demon King descending forced all humanity's efforts into survival.
But 'many' Demon Kings?
It'd be hell unleashed on earth.
"And among those malicious emotions, lies are the chief one. Something humanity mutters from morning till night."
"......"
"If every human thinks 'lies are good,' how strong would Velosian get?"
"......"
"He'd probably break out of the 'Special Realm.' Velosian emerging from the Special Realm would take the top seat among the countless descended Demon Kings. Hmm... If I compare it to heavenly gods, he'd be a 'Demon God'?"
In short.
"Velosian wants to become a Demon God?"
"That's one way to put it."
"......Hold on. There's something off. If he rewrites the laws so lies are good, the benefits aren't just for him. Wouldn't that be good for you too?"
"......"
"Why try to kill Velosian? You could just sit back and become a Demon God alongside him."
Idria chuckled lightly.
"I can't become a Demon God."
"Why?"
"Because I'd die by Velosian's hand first."
"......!"
"As I said, his scheme isn't interference with laws—it's rewriting them. That requires immense power. Power so vast it's laughable compared to what I need to create a fake world and leave."
Lightning flashed in my mind.
Was the reason Idria opposed Velosian...?
"He planned to raise you up and devour you?"