Chapter 120
by Shini
“Lucy?” Lucy, where are you!”
Asha was looking around for Lucia, who hadn’t been seen since evening. She had thought Lucia would just be out for a little while, but when she didn’t return after several hours, Asha began to worry.
“She’s not the type to disappear without a word…”
A voice quietly echoed in her anxious mind.
[Come here]
“Huh? What was that?”
[Come here]
Asha, thinking it was a hallucination, realized that the voice in her head was directed at her. She looked around and saw that she was the only one hearing the voice.
[Look down]
Asha looked down and found a small Tentacle crawling at her feet.
“Eek! What is that!”
Surprised, she instinctively tried to step on the Tentacle, but it quickly dodged Asha’s descending leather boots.
[Listen to me]
At that moment, another Tentacle latched onto Asha’s head, and she began to see completely different things.
“Ugh!”
Asha clutched her head and knelt down, feeling a pain like a needle piercing her brain. But even more horrifying were the countless Tentacle she saw in her vision.
“No, it can’t be…”
Asha felt like she knew why she hadn’t seen the Tentacle until now. Countless visions overlapped, showing her an immeasurable number of Tentacle. As dozens of images appeared, like the eyes of an insect, Asha, who had been feeling a headache, saw Maximilian struggling in one of the dozens of visions.
“Prince!”
She was horrified to see the Prince, disheveled from the continuous battles, struggling to fend off the Tentacle. Asha realized why Maximilian hadn’t come even when it was time.
‘I wondered why he wasn’t coming, but all the Tentacle were going there!’
“No, stop!”
[I will stop the attack]
“…Huh?”
As she said that, the Tentacle that had been rushing towards Maximilian and the Soldiers stopped attacking. Asha could clearly see the Prince and the Soldiers looking confused by the situation, which she also couldn’t understand. Clutching her head, Asha moved away from the camp where the people were, and grabbed the wriggling Tentacle on her head, which was covered in Slime.
“What is this? Could it be you…?”
[I am the entity that commands them]
Asha realized that she was talking to a Mind entity.
‘So you could talk all along… Lucy was right.’
Asha had once heard from Lucia that Mind entities could communicate. But she wondered what good it would do to know this now, when the entire place was already densely surrounded by Tentacle.
Asha couldn’t understand why the Mind entity was talking to her. If all the Tentacle she had seen were to rush in, none of the humans here would be able to withstand it.
“…Why are you talking to me?”
[I need your cooperation]
“You can do whatever you want. Just like you’ve always done. To me, and to countless others.”
Even if the Mind entity was talking to her, Asha thought it was just playing games. She felt empty, thinking that all the healing and fighting she had done so far had been in vain. Suddenly, she thought of a separate matter that she had considered unrelated.
“You, by any chance, Lucia…”
[I have her]
At the same time as the Mind entity’s words, another scene appeared in Asha’s vision. In a dark underground, a silver-haired woman was tied to a mass of flesh, tangled haphazardly, but Asha instinctively knew that the woman she was seeing was Lucia.
“Lucy! Ugh!”
Hearing her daughter’s terrible scream, Asha instinctively tried to rush over, but her vision became tangled and she stumbled. Asha’s eyes were still seeing a mixture of the scenery she was seeing with her own eyes and the scenery she was observing through the Mind entity’s eyes.
It was her daughter’s scream, filled with despair and anger, that brought Asha back to reality.
“You! What are you doing to Lucy!”
[Nothing. She is only like that because she can’t do anything.]
“Why is Lucy there!”
[She approached me, not the other way around]
“…What?”
Asha realized why Lucia had disappeared. Seeing Lucia captured by the Mind entity, her last hope shattered, and she felt utterly helpless. More than anything, she didn’t want to see Lucia struggling anymore.
“Let Lucy go. It won’t be a problem for you.”
[You don’t understand. Suppressing her is a serious threat to my safety]
“What threat could she possibly be!”
[She is the one who removed all the Tentacle near you. She has also destroyed all the structures in my location.]
“Near me, you mean the capital?”
Asha looked at the capital in her vision. There must have been millions of Tentacle there. She was furious that the Mind entity kept talking nonsense while Lucia continued to scream in the distance.
“You, you son of a bitch, are you going to keep talking nonsense! How could Lucy catch all those! And she said she didn’t do it, so why are you lying, you fucking bastard!”
Asha was furious at the Mind entity for talking nonsense and cursed at it.
[She lied]
“Lucy doesn’t lie to me, you bastard!”
Asha affirmed without the slightest hesitation. She thought she saw Lucia’s struggles in the distance falter for a moment, but she thought it was her imagination. The Mind entity seemed a little flustered by Asha’s unwavering belief in Lucia.
[…You trust her unconditionally?]
“Who else would I trust if not my daughter? You?”
[Blindness is a sin that erodes growth]
“Blindness, my ass! You didn’t contribute anything to raising Lucy, so what does it have to do with my daughter’s education, you impudent bastard! You! If you don’t let Lucy go right now, I’ll destroy you even if it kills me, I swear! Got it?!”
Whether it was overwhelmed by Asha’s fiery spirit or understood her desperate feelings, the Mind entity released Lucy without a word.
[She can’t resist properly in her current state, so it doesn’t matter much]
The restraints of the Tentacle that had been clinging to Lucia’s limbs fell off, and she stopped screaming, causing Asha to breathe a sigh of relief.
‘Lucy, you haven’t worried me for a while, and now you’re making up for it all at once.’
Lucia, now freed, looked around and then kicked the Tentacle that had restrained her at her feet with a touch of annoyance.
‘Come to think of it, Lucy’s had quite the temper since she was born, hasn’t she?’
Asha suddenly thought that this might be closer to Lucy’s true nature, recalling how Lucy had grabbed the Mind entity and beat it up when she was just born and saw her pregnant.
With Lucia freed and Asha a little calmer, she continued the conversation with the Mind entity.
“So, why did you propose a deal to me?”
[I need your voluntary cooperation, unlike before.]
“You need my cooperation, which means… you want me to give birth to Tentacle?”
Asha frowned and her face turned slightly red as she recalled her past stained with pleasure.
[To be precise, I need you to give birth to and raise specific Tentacle. No matter how many ordinary humans gather, it is difficult to replace them, so I need your cooperation.]
Asha understood why the Mind entity was making a deal with her. She could run away from here without looking back, and it seemed like there were things that Asha had to do actively. Asha looked at the garrison where the people could be seen in the distance.
“If I cooperate, will you release the people?”
[I need some humans for self-defense and minimal maintenance. I will release everyone else.]
‘Surprisingly, it’s easy to talk to him.’
For the first conversation, the Mind entity was quite communicative. If the people fought the Tentacle here, there would be a truly terrible sacrifice. Ironically, the Tentacle didn’t seem to think about using Lucia or the people as hostages while talking to her. She felt a little closer to the Mind entity, who showed a surprisingly goofy side that she hadn’t known before.
It was Geraldine who solidified Asha’s decision.
‘Zack, I’ll protect your sister at least…’
Asha wouldn’t be able to face the two of them even in death if something happened to her brother and then her sister. She spoke to the Tentacle connected to the Mind entity on her hand.
“Okay. I’ll cooperate. Make all the Tentacle that are rushing in and attacking the people retreat, and send Lucy back, and I’ll go there.”
[Understood]
At the same time as the Mind entity’s answer, the Tentacle that had been surrounding the people gradually retreated without anyone noticing. The Tentacle that had been surrounding Maximilian and the Soldiers also slowly retreated and disappeared completely. After confirming all of that, Asha asked the Mind entity.
“…How long will it take?”
[I don’t know exactly. It may take an immeasurable amount of time.]
Asha closed her eyes, feeling a flood of emotions. She felt tears welling up at the thought of parting with the people she had been with and perhaps never seeing them again.
‘I don’t want to worry the people by saying goodbye. If I disappear from here, they might just think I ran away to another place…’
Even if Asha and the Tentacle disappeared, the people would need food. She summoned as much food as possible for the people who would remain in her place, steeled her heart, and asked the Mind entity, feeling a constant tremor.
“Okay, where do I go?”
[I will send a Tentacle there]
“Huh? Kyaa!”
At that moment, a giant Tentacle rose from under Asha’s feet. She reflexively tried to activate her Magic armor, but she hurriedly deactivated the robe and armor. Soon, Asha’s naked figure was swallowed by the Tentacle and disappeared without a trace.
[Defeated the Tentacle that occupied the kingdom
Freed the majority of humans
Achieved the emergency quest]
[Emergency Quest Achievement Reward]
Tokens – Calculating…
Title – Guardian of the Kingdom
Title – Unknown Savior
[Achieved Sacrifice Achievement]
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