episode_0277

“Antoine Dessel Oblean?”

Anastasia opened her mouth with a blank look, as if she were about to drop a bomb.

Regarding him, Elizabeth’s attitude was one of confidence, waiting to see what great thing would come out of Anastasia.

But soon her expression became as if time had stopped.

The snake-like person mentioned as having entered the Demon God’s Eclipse Zone and awakened the Demon God’s Eye,

was none other than her father, Antoine Dessel Oblean.

“That’s right. Your father, Antoine Dessel Oblean, that man opened the Demon God’s Eye back then.”

To Elizabeth, who was doubting whether what she heard was true or if she had misheard,

the ancient demon priestess Anastasia hammered it in with a tone that was beyond firm, leaving no room for disagreement.

“That can’t be. My teacher clearly said that Ulysses Schneider alone entered the Demon God’s Eclipse Zone with my teacher’s support. If my father was with him, there’s no way he wouldn’t have told me.”

Elizabeth denied Anastasia’s words.

A fierce denial,

but it’s unlike her.

The fourth-dimensional crazy Elizabeth shows more conviction than even Anastasia when she is certain.

In other words, Elizabeth herself knows that there are many contradictions in her words.

“It’s simple. He entered without being related to Ulysses, and without Samantha’s support. The fact that he opened the Demon God’s Eye already means the preparations were sufficient.”

Anastasia, who has no intention of looking out for Elizabeth’s circumstances, calmly summarized the situation with a composure that transcends coldness.

Antoine Dessel Oblean had completed his personal preparations to the point where he didn’t need Samantha’s support.

It was planned and a purely personal endeavor unrelated to the Empire.

‘Why… why did Father open the Demon God’s Eye… the Demon God’s Eye that can only be opened by someone with a snake-like mind…’

Eventually, Elizabeth’s eyes showed that she had accepted the truth.

Yes. Simply put, Antoine stepping into the Demon God’s Eclipse Zone and opening the Demon God’s Eye is not the whole story.

What it essentially means is that Antoine is the darkness referred to by Drake of Enclema, the being standing on the opposite side of Eugene.

“Even I was quite surprised by his appearance back then. Unlike Ulysses Schneider, he wasn’t receiving Samantha’s support.”

Anastasia continued to tell the story of the situation she recognized at the time.

“But I began to understand as I saw the Demon God’s Eye begin to react.”

Psss…!!

Then, suddenly, she summoned a crystal ball from her right hand.

“Magical energy, it is originally created by being connected to the impure hearts of intellectual life forms to a certain extent. Violence, selfishness, perverted lust, etc. The violence and lust of the demons clearly provide a good structure for magical energy to take root.”

Surprisingly, various life forms reacted to magical energy. Humans also react to magical energy, but those who survived after accepting magical energy were separate, and they became the current demons.

“But there was a weakness in the genes of the demons. Violence and lust had great sustainability and explosiveness, but as impure motives, they lacked depth. And the Demon God’s Eye needed a motive with the depth of the abyss.”

Because of the power of the Demon King who received the Demon God’s grace, the demons tried to open the Demon God’s Eye themselves and bring down such a Demon King.

A project from ancient times that had been researched for a long time and carried out hundreds of times, but all failed.

Because demons have evolved by focusing on stability in maintaining magical energy, they could not satisfy the Demon God’s Eye, which desires a fundamental abyss.

“But strangely enough, the beings who achieved the opening of the Demon God’s Eye, which has only occurred a few times, have all been humans.”

Anastasia, who was explaining while looking at the magical energy inside crystal, meaningfully looked at Elizabeth, who is of the human race.

There are various races on the continent of Gaia besides the human race.

And those races possess much stronger bodies and mana utilization abilities than the average human.

However, in the survival competition that has taken place over a long period of time, the ones who are now dominating the continent are none other than humans.

The desires of weak humans, it was a circuit of deeply profound and complex desires at a level incomparable to other races.

As a result of that desire, other races showed little difference between ancient times and the present, but humans have made crazy progress in all fields.

Human desires that would make even the devil stick out his tongue for the sake of their goals,

the Demon God’s Eye reacted to such human desires.

“The moment I saw Antoine Dessel Oblean reacting to the Demon God’s Eye, I could feel how deep an abyss he possessed and how much he had prepared to achieve that abyss.”

The key is proven the moment it opens the door.

Similarly, even though it was an unexpected appearance of Antoine Dessel Oblean, Anastasia was convinced by the fact that he summoned the Demon God’s Eye in the Demon God’s Eclipse.

“Why… why did Father open the Demon God’s Eye…”

If the Demon God’s Eye hadn’t been opened, it might have been possible to rationalize it in some way.

But didn’t Elizabeth come here already knowing that the Demon God’s Eye had been opened?

Therefore, Elizabeth, who acknowledged that her father had opened the Demon God’s Eye and that her father had harbored such a wrong mind, wanted to know the clear motive.

“I can’t know the very deep and specific motive, but the moment he connected to the Demon God’s Eye and opened it, his wish came to me.”

Swish…!

Anastasia closed her eyes.

When Antoine entered the Demon God’s Eclipse Zone, she could see his energy and rough form quite clearly. On the other hand, it was different when the Demon God’s Eye, a sacred object that could not be measured even with her abilities, began to activate.

She herself felt like she was being possessed and receiving an oracle, and the situation at that time came to her in an abstract and symbolic form.

“The advent of the Demon King, Antoine wished for the advent of the Demon King. And he wanted to resolve the pent-up wishes within him by killing that Demon King.”

Anastasia once again collected and interpreted the symbolic fragments that flashed through her mind.

Anastasia tells Elizabeth her conclusion based on that,

it seemed like a reason that wasn’t too strange compared to opening the Demon God’s Eye with a snake-like mind.

“Are you saying he’s trying to summon the goddess?”

However, it was interpreted differently by Elizabeth, who possesses a wealth of knowledge.

“That’s right. Antoine wants to fulfill his wish through the special talent that the Demon King born with the grace of the Demon God possesses, the advent of the goddess.”

The Demon King where the opening of the Demon God’s Eye is latent is the Demon King created through the intervention of the Demon God, that is, with the grace of the Demon God. This shows differences from the demons’ own Demon King in various aspects, but another clear characteristic that is not very well known is that it brings about the advent of the goddess.

‘Dimensions try to maintain balance, and because the Demon God has intervened, justification is created for the goddess to intervene as well! Is Father trying to use that!’

This is the principle of the balance of the other world that is not officially taught by the Holy See at this point.

This is because if they acknowledge this, they would be putting the Demon God and the goddess on the same level.

But since Elizabeth is not only a magician but also has deeply studied black magic,

Antoine’s calculations were read as clearly as possible to her.

[Welcome, Imperial Knights who have come to take my life…]

Victoria and her party crossed the passage leading underground for about 10 minutes,

and Raonjena, the target of their quest, revealed himself in front of them.

As if imprisoning the most dangerous prisoner in an underground prison, a giant cliff rose up like an island under the protection of an abyss that could not be seen, and Raonjena was standing there.

“Is that Raonjena, Victoria?”

Although they were Victoria’s party of Sword Experts, it was a cliff distance that was difficult for them to cross with their abilities.

However, Farnese and Vincent showed reactions full of surprise to something else.

It was none other than Raonjena’s appearance.

[Keu keu keut… It’s been a while since I’ve had guests, but I’m showing them this appearance. Once upon a time, I was praised as a swordsman with a fairly beautiful girl’s visual…]

Raonjena, who suffered from extreme side effects from the potion, had an appearance almost on par with the demons from ancient times.

Light purple skin, dark red blood vessels protruding from the upper body and face, and even the hair was as rough as a lion’s mane.

“What exactly is his intention? Judging from the structure of the passage, it would have been much later if you hadn’t spoken to us first. Did you rather want us to find you?”

However, quest leader Victoria didn’t seem very interested in that.

She was more interested in Raonjena’s attitude.

Raonjena, who spoke to them as if letting them know where he was,

made her wonder if he was ready to face them with full preparedness.

However, even if a certain level of safety is secured, it is not perfect enough to show such bravado. That’s why Victoria doesn’t understand the intention at all.

[I want to confirm. Are you perhaps Victoria von Bayern, the daughter of Constantine von Bayern?]

Then Raonjena threw a rather unexpected question.

“Are you curious about my identity? Why are you curious about that?”

Victoria tried to block Raonjena’s tricks.

[Didn’t you wonder about my intentions? I’m asking in order to answer that.]

However, Raonjena appealed that it was not at all unrelated to Victoria’s question.

“…”

Victoria was silent for a moment, lost in thought.

“That’s right. I am Victoria von Bayern.”

Since Raonjena was holding the knife now that the passage was closed, Victoria confirmed that his guess was correct.

[I see. Keu keu keut… Antoine is meticulous as well. He’s getting rid of me and fulfilling his private purpose at the same time.]

Raonjena, after confirming that his guess was correct, once again mocked Antoine.

[You want to get rid of me and escape. But escape won’t be easy.]

After that, he started mentioning Victoria’s side again.

[However, if you accept my offer, I will give you my neck and also provide you with a way to escape from this place.]

Then he threw a sweet offer with an unknown meaning.

“What offer?”

Victoria, who was interested in Raonjena’s attitude, wanted to first understand his intentions in detail.

[Have the other knights besides you step back. And I want you to come here and have a direct conversation with me after I lower the bridge.]

Raonjena demanded a one-on-one conversation with Victoria.

“Outrageous!”

“No, Victoria! There’s no reason to accept such an offer!”

Farnese and Vincent protested. No matter how weakened Raonjena is due to the side effects of the potion, it is difficult for Victoria, an expert, to face him alone.

“Is there any reason I should accept such an offer? That’s a very absurd demand, Raonjena.”

Victoria was naturally indifferent as well.

At that moment, Raonjena threw a keyword that she could never ignore.

“It’s a story related to your mother, Adrian von Bayern.”

It was none other than Adrian, her mother, who passed away when she was young.