Chapter 374

Chapter 374

For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Episode 374: Boiling Silence (3)

“I can’t allow it. Everything must be tainted like me…”

“……”

Ah, yeah.

The apostle of an Evil God can’t be in her right mind.

I was momentarily stunned by the content that I didn’t think would come out of Carla’s mouth. Carla’s cry came into my ear.

“It’s dangerous, Master!”

“Huh?”

When I belatedly came to my senses, a bunch of tentacles had already come close to my nose.

Kwaaang!!

I had reinforced the shield firmly just in case, so I was able to block it without any problems, but the fact that I was attacked by Carla was more shocking than that.

I know that that Carla is not this Carla… I know, but it’s shocking. Because the face is the same anyway.

I saw gloomy ruby eyes frowning and another pair of ruby eyes burning with anger at the same time.

“You! You fake! How dare you attack Master with my face?!”

“The Grotesque Proliferation really died.”

Carla growled, blocking my front. But the other Carla just sighed as if she didn’t care.

Even if the god dies, the power remains. That’s why she can maintain those tentacles… but the output must have dropped.

I decided to try persuading her one more time, just in case. If she knew that the Grotesque Proliferation was dead, she might change a bit.

“Yeah. I killed them. I don’t know how it happened, but if you’re the Carla I know, there’s nothing binding you now, so…”

“There’s one thing. I think you’re mistaken.”

Carla, who interrupted my words, tilted her head.

“I’ve never been forced to do anything by the Grotesque Proliferation.”

“…What?”

“Wishing for revenge, killing people unrelated to revenge, and even wishing everyone to fall to my level were all my own will. The Grotesque Proliferation just gave me the power and the direction to wield it.”

“That’s…”

“In the first place, you, Yandel, right? According to the Boiling Silence, you should already know what kind of life I lived.”

“……”

That’s right. H&A’s Carla was already broken. The Grotesque Proliferation just took in such Carla.

I lost my words and just stared blankly at Carla’s eyes. In the bottom of her deeply sunken red eyes, I could feel the surging hatred and anger.

I realized from her words that persuasion is impossible.

Just as I hate cultists and have no intention of converting to the Evil Gods’ forces, Carla’s fire will never go out.

Until she burns the world or burns herself.

This Carla is a monster that is just as, no, much more terribly insane than any other cultist.

It’s natural that she awakened as an apostle similar to Fiona, whom the Boiling Silence had worked on for a long time.

So I have to kill her. I have to kill her…

I can’t move my mana.

A brief hesitation caused by the fact that she had the same face as Carla. Maybe others paused for the same reason.

Except for one person: Carla herself.

“Burn! Prominence Flare!”

Carla sent out the maximum power magic she could perform without any hesitation.

The small sun shone brightly on the void, and the blood that filled the floor boiled.

A power that is hard to see as intermediate magic. But Carla, who had to deal with that magic, raised the corners of her lips crookedly and held out her hand.

“Ah, magic. Something that was once my everything. It’s still beautiful… but it can’t kill me anymore.”

The tentacles on her back wriggled and hugged the magic just before it exploded. Then I heard a chewing sound.

She swallowed Carla’s magic just like she ate the head of the Boiling Silence.

I know what that is from seeing it in H&A. A power of the energy drain type similar to a succubus.

Carla, who looked better than a moment ago, smiled mockingly.

“Thank you. For not killing me right away.”

Then she grabbed her outstretched hand and brought it to her chest. At the same time, black sewage gushed out from Carla’s center.

Carla, who was being wrapped in the divine power of the Boiling Silence that she had absorbed a moment ago, continued.

“Thanks to you, I’ll be able to escape safely. As a token of gratitude, I’ll kill you without pain when we meet next time.”

“Wait a minute!”

I hurriedly pulled up my mana, but it was too late. The boiling sewage covered Carla and sank to the floor in an instant, as if melting her whole body.

All that was left was a handful of black puddles. But even that evaporated in an instant.

She must have left this place with the power she gained by absorbing the head of the Boiling Silence.

“……”

“……”

“……”

Silence fell on the void. While no one could easily open their mouths, a bell rang that only I could hear.

Ting!

An alarm that I defeated the Boiling Silence. It was the reward I wanted so much, but now I didn’t care.

“What’s going on…?”

I couldn’t understand the current situation at all.

First, we left the cave and teleported to the nearest village.

Then, after renting a suitable inn room and setting up a soundproof barrier, I opened my mouth.

“…Let’s organize it.”

“What’s there to organize? The Boiling Silence and the Grotesque Proliferation joined forces to create my fake!”

Carla, who was still angry, stomped her feet. I nodded, gently stroking such Carla as if to calm her down.

“That’s probably it. How they made that Carla is…”

“Master. Please don’t call that fake by my name. That crazy bitch isn’t me.”

“Huh? Yeah… let’s call her Fake-rla.”

Only then did Carla slowly calm her breathing. I guess she can’t admit that she’s the same Carla.

I smiled bitterly and continued what I was saying.

“Anyway, I just thought of it now, but I have a guess as to how they made Fake-rla.”

“…How, Master?”

Carla was subtly rubbing her body against me as if she was sorry for raising her voice a moment ago. I patted her to mean it was okay.

“Maybe that small cocoon was the price the Boiling Silence paid to help the Grotesque Proliferation.”

“A price?”

“Yeah.”

If they had planned to make Fake-rla from the beginning, the Grotesque Proliferation would have given me some kind of sign.

But they didn’t show any such reaction until just before they died.

So it was highly likely that the Boiling Silence asked for a clone of Carla to be made in exchange for simply helping without revealing the details.

“Besides, our party was the one who took the lead in the war with the Grotesque Proliferation, right? Of course, there would have been many opportunities to obtain things like your hair, Carla.”

“Yes, but what does that– Wait a minute. Are you saying that the Grotesque Proliferation copied my body using my hair, Master? Even so, with just hair…”

“They could have obtained blood besides hair. There would have been many ways since it was a battlefield. What’s certain is that it’s not impossible. I’m a similar being, right?”

“Ah…”

My body was made by Fafnir processing his own body. But before that, he even said he had replicated himself.

He failed because he couldn’t form his own consciousness properly.

“With the Grotesque Proliferation’s power, it’s not impossible to create a body. The problem is the spirit that dwells within it.”

“…You’re assuming the Boiling Silence intervened there, right?”

“Y-yes! Now that I think about it, Master, you seemed to know the identity of that fake.”

“Technically, she wasn’t a fake. She was a possible future version of you—someone who might’ve existed.”

“…You’re telling me I could become that kind of lunatic?”

Carla opened her eyes wide as if she couldn’t believe it.

Until now, I had only explained the future I saw in H&A in general terms. But now I think I need to tell her in more detail.

(Mumble mumble mumble)

I explained in as much detail as possible about Carla, who became the apostle of the Evil God.

Carla, who had been keeping her mouth shut and listening to my story, reluctantly but firmly nodded her head.

“I see. So that’s how it happened. Do I fall that far if I don’t meet Master? I can understand going crazy and joining hands with an Evil God. But I still can’t forgive her for attacking Master with my face.”

Carla muttered, pouting her lips.

Is that the problem…?

I nodded with a hollow laugh.

“Don’t worry. You won’t have to forgive her.”

“Huh? What do you mean, Master?”

“Maybe, just like I obtained knowledge of the future, the Boiling Silence implanted memories of the future into the replicated body. Even if the god dies, the power remains, so the cocoon would have been intact even after the Grotesque Proliferation disappeared. Of course, the Boiling Silence would have had to replace the severed supply of divine power.”

The Boiling Silence was convinced that I knew the future. In other words, he believed that no matter what he did, it would be difficult to reverse the situation, which had already deteriorated.

That was why he chose Fake-rla instead of a plan with the divine power he made by squeezing out all the remaining believers and monsters.

This was clearly effective. In fact, when I faced Fake-rla, I was so agitated that I couldn’t even respond properly.

“…But I won’t hesitate when we meet next time.”

I affirmed with such a will to cut off her breath for sure, and Elisha, who was next to me, smiled and helped.

“Oh my? Please do. If you seem to hesitate a little, I’ll kill her instead.”

“…Elisha? Why are you saying that while looking at me?”

“I wonder? Why, Carla?”

“You know it’s that fake you have to kill, not me, right?!”

The two exaggeratedly quarreled as if to lift the sunken atmosphere. Iona, who was laughing at the sight, asked.

“By the way, by the way. If you know Fake-rla’s identity, can’t you predict where you’ll go next or where you’ll meet?”

“I have a few things in mind. The most likely thing is to become an apostle of another Evil God and meet on the battlefield.”

“…She was an apostle of the Grotesque Proliferation, can she become an apostle of another Evil God?”

“As I said before, she was crazy from the start. There will be some efficiency issues… but it won’t be a big deal for Evil Gods who haven’t found a proper apostle.”

So she confidently said that she would kill me without pain when we meet next time.

A proper apostle has power comparable to an archmage, and Fake-rla happens to be a veteran apostle.

“Th-that’s dangerous, junior?! I think we should go after her right now and do something before she meets another Evil God!”

“I want to do that too, but we have no way to chase her, Senior Faye. If it was a simple teleport, I would have traced the mana trail to find out where she flew, but… unfortunately, it’s impossible to track because she used the divine power extracted from the Boiling Silence’s corpse.”

“Then what do we do?! Do we just give up and wait for her to come back stronger?”

“No way. Did you forget our original plan?”

“Huh…?”

Faye blinked blankly as if she had really forgotten. I smiled and pointed to the bed at her dazed appearance.

“Let’s get some sleep for now. And go around the dungeon early tomorrow morning.”

If the opponent is preparing to level up, we can become stronger in the meantime, right?