Ch.111Deviation (6)

The mother’s lifeless limbs lay motionless.

The Death Touch worked well. Even necromancers suffer critical damage from it, and these creatures were just heads with no way to defend themselves.

Among my abilities, nothing stops regeneration better than this, and unlike with Selma, these creatures were just heads with no means to block or evade.

The effect was remarkable.

“Is this the young lord’s talent?”

“Indeed. Bringing them to me was a good decision.”

I wasn’t sure if she brought them to me because their regeneration was too strong to kill them, but she didn’t seem to know about my ability beforehand.

Just a coincidence.

But even if it was a coincidentally matched skill, if it gave me an assist, praising her would be the proper warrior’s virtue.

I gestured to Esha.

Without standing on ceremony, Esha approached me and slightly tilted her head forward. I covered her lips with one hand and vigorously ruffled her hair with the other.

Speaking of which, even though it was just 15 minutes, meditation was quite effective.

‘It doesn’t provide magical power, but it’s good for mental stability. Would you like to learn?’

Thank you, Melody.

Thanks to that, I could calmly pet the elven assassin like a dog while smelling the pleasant scent from Esha’s body. Though she seemed displeased at first, Esha soon quietly accepted being petted.

“…Ah, young lord is excellent at petting.”

She even closed her eyes, trembled slightly, and showed joy.

She was a bit like a dog.

In a good way.

“Is one of your parents perhaps a dog beastkin?”

“No, I’m an orphan, so I don’t know.”

“What a coincidence. Me too.”

“Oh my. I didn’t know that.”

I knew she had been adopted by the southern elven monastery’s abbot, but I didn’t realize she knew nothing about her parents.

But in a way, it made sense. Judging by her completely terrible manners, she probably didn’t have anyone to properly teach her etiquette as a child.

Feeling grateful toward my sister, I scanned the surroundings.

“How many potential enemies do you think remain inside?”

“None. I killed them all because they were in the way.”

Not something to say so cheerfully, but I suppose it’s one less thing to worry about.

They probably never expected their hired assassin would betray them.

Especially when the payment was just a few kisses on the forehead and lips, plus some petting.

They must have died with regrets.

Now that I think about it, I felt like a brothel employee who sold my body to commission an assassination.

That self-loathing was something I’d have to bear.

As I was swallowing that bitterness:

“So what are we going to do now?”

“I’m not sure.”

The threat was quickly crushed.

More simply than if I had fought directly, I sent the world’s most excellent assassin to handle it.

It felt like being a person of power, but unlike actual powerful people, I had nothing to capitalize on after this.

At most, I’d look around this dungeon for useful items, figure out where we are, and find a way back.

“Shall we look around?”

“Yes. May I come with you?”

“Well, I don’t see why not.”

And Esha in real life, rather than in the game, was quieter than I expected.

In the game, she never showed much bloodlust, so I had thought it was just a “game limitation.”

Perhaps she was actually more docile than I thought.

“Would you like to hold hands?”

“That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“So you won’t hold my hand?”

“Say ‘please.'”

“Please.”

“…Here.”

Her dog-like aspects actually made her tolerable.

If I control her well, wouldn’t it be fine?

Since her betrayal potential is low given how devoted she is to “lord” and “young lord,” I might even be able to use her services for free.

And since I tend to be soft on my own people, I wouldn’t work her too hard anyway.

That might be better for her too—as I was thinking this, the hand I was holding wiggled and interlaced our fingers.

The touch made me flinch as it reminded me of Isla.

I desperately tried to distract myself.

Ah, come to think of it.

“I think you mentioned things ended badly with my sister. What happened?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard? Well, it’s not something worth telling others.”

Esha covered her mouth with an expressionless smile.

She swung our interlaced hands and smiled.

“She kept bothering lord, so I killed her.”

Wait, what?

Is this bitch crazy?

“Who did you…?”

“A nobleman, and some influential candidate for academy headmaster… yes.”

“What did they do to bother her?”

“They persistently courted her.”

Ah, that I could understand a bit.

Of course, being the merciful person I am, I wouldn’t have killed them, but I might have broken a limb or two.

On the other hand, I understood my sister. She probably killed people like that occasionally.

And of all people, a nobleman and a candidate for academy headmaster. It would be normal for the academy to hunt her down, and being wanted by nobility wouldn’t be surprising.

That must be why my sister kept her distance.

Then, perhaps the reason my sister acted so aggressively, so thorny was…

“Your expression doesn’t look good.”

“I have my reasons.”

Suddenly I recalled the expression Lorian had when she drank my blood, and the expression my sister had when she was on Earth.

Just thinking about that possibility made my heart flutter.

I already had Isla. Though Isla did say she’d be fine with me taking a concubine…

For someone with a modern mindset like me, it was a source of anguish.

Anyway, we continued walking until we reached the core of the dungeon.

A place with rewards and a separate reward mechanism for homunculi.

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been in a dungeon.

I don’t think I’ve used them much since obtaining the Sacred Blood. I wasn’t used to using items and often forgot about them.

Ah, I should have used the Sacred Blood earlier when fighting.

I would have been injured less. As I swallowed my regret, Esha tilted her head.

“Why did we come here? The person sitting here is already dead.”

“To get the reward.”

“Reward? I already got mine.”

“No, not for you. For me. Why do people only think about themselves?”

“I have to look after my own life.”

“That’s true. Painfully true.”

I pretended to flick her forehead, but Esha nimbly avoided my attack and laughed.

That’s a bit annoying.

But as she was grasping at straws, there wasn’t much reward left in the reward room.

At most, there was the corpse of a half-naked upper body lying face down on the floor and a pedestal that was obviously a reward acquisition device for homunculi.

Tsk, that’s disappointing.

Usually, the rewards synergize well with homunculus rewards, so it’s good to get both.

But there’s nothing I can do about it. With a regretful expression, I headed toward the conspicuously protruding spot meant for a handprint.

Somehow, I rarely seem to properly clear dungeons, and mostly end up looting places someone else has already cleared.

Still, it’s fine. I placed my hand on the device, and something visibly filled my field of vision as something pricked my palm.

“Hmm? This is…”

[Exoskeleton Maturity]

[“Father was born mighty. Our creations must rightfully be the same.”

-Orthemilia, Alchemist.

This is a prototype created with great care by Orthemilia, a scholar of the three renowned clans. It is a trace of an attempt to recreate the fate that follows one who was once a god, and a failure.]

[After injection, when the user is affected by an effect with a duration, they gain temporary health proportional to the duration.

This temporary health is consumed along with the duration, and the consumption of temporary health affects the duration.

Temporary health is granted at a rate of 1 per 6 seconds.]

“Oh.”

The effect was much better than I expected.

It had particularly good synergy with my Mourning and Repeated Commemoration.

As with my fight against Selma before, the longer the duration accumulated through Repeated Commemoration, the more beneficial it would be for me.

As the name and description suggest, this would truly make me as mighty as a god.

“I want to test it.”

“I don’t like tests.”

“Not you. Or maybe you?”

I rolled my eyes and saw Esha. The expressionless elf puppy still holding my hand with interlaced fingers.

After a moment’s consideration, I closed my eyes.

[Mourning]

[Time remaining: 60 seconds]

[Temporary health: 10]

I thought of Selma. The image of her becoming a tree, pulsing like a natural object without life.

Something stirred in my heart, and I exhaled.

Power flowed through my body. The usual subtle pain I felt when using Mourning wasn’t there—only power flowed.

So that was my mother’s influence after all. I opened my eyes, thinking about this.

Strangely, my skin felt itchy.

“Esha.”

“Young lord.”

“Hit me.”

“Gladly.”

Huh, she didn’t even hesitate—

A cracking sound rang out. My head tilted, and my body was about to be thrown backward but stopped.

It was because our hands were still interlaced.

[Time remaining: 117 seconds]

[Temporary health: 19]

[Time remaining: 42 seconds]

[Temporary health: 7]

The sight flashed before my eyes and disappeared.

Along with an “Ahah” laugh.

“I like that young lord is sturdy.”

Though my head shook from the effect of Mourning, I wasn’t dizzy, but I was surprised.

Wait, when I said hit me, you kick me in the head without asking?

She really is crazy. I gritted my teeth and raised my arm to block.

Once more, bang.

“Oh? Something…”

[Time remaining: 90 seconds]

[Temporary health: 15]

Arrow-fast kicks aimed at my head, solar plexus, and chest in succession.

I blocked all those attacks with wide eyes.

Each time, the remaining time and temporary health decreased then increased again, and I saw Esha’s puzzled reaction.

It works. I could barely feel the pain, but just from Esha’s expression, I could tell I was becoming tougher.

“You’re hard.”

But there was no reason to keep getting hit. This was enough to confirm the effect.

I grabbed the leg trying to kick my head and shouted.

“Stop! Stop!”

“Okay.”

She stopped abruptly. She had been about to knee me with the caught leg but stopped, so it was close.

We looked at each other.

I opened my mouth. To ask how it felt, what the sensation was like when she kicked me.

If I seemed harder from her perspective as the kicker.

But the words that came out of my mouth weren’t heard.

What’s going on?

What’s happening?

That’s when it happened.

“Ideal Manifestation.”

The words from my mouth disappeared. They evaporated, and a hot wind blew into the empty space.

Esha’s eyes widened in rare surprise, with no time to retract her extended leg.

—!

A thunderous sound arrived.

The sound came from above. Heat followed. The roar and shockwave tore through to the depths where the dungeon was dug.

A rumbling thunder sound. Soil overturned and flying, stone fragments scattering.

Familiar structures were torn away. What was revealed was the blue sky.

A passage extending all the way to that sky, and soil pouring down from that passage.

Firepower that tore out the entire underground dungeon. As far as I knew, only one person possessed such firepower.

I looked up at the sky.

“Found you.”

A person was standing in the middle of that sky.

“…Sister.”

Did she not hear me? My sister floating in the air emitted an eerie light from her eyes and dropped toward the ground.

“I’ll kill you.”

Landing on the ground with a voice flowing with killing intent, she immediately stood up and clenched both fists. Like me, she gritted her teeth to suppress her anger.

It was useless, but it also told me something.

That there wasn’t much time left before a collision.

“Ahah.”

Esha seemed excited in her own way. She let go of my hand and quickly drew two daggers.

Seeing that, my cognition accelerated.

Esha had already become my potential ally. There was no room for betrayal, and she had proven her loyalty, if not exactly loyalty.

If I let her fight my sister here and either gets hurt, it would be a loss.

Then I needed to stop my sister, but she had seen Esha raising her knee at me.

A situation easily misunderstood. With anger from blood rushing to her head and lost rationality.

There was no time to calmly persuade my sister. Both my sister and Esha had high dexterity and mobility, and once they started fighting, it would be over quickly.

Moreover, Esha wouldn’t listen to me. This crazy woman was already thinking of fighting.

How much does she love fighting?

I looked at the two women in turn, conflicted.

We’re screwed.

There seems to be no room for dialogue.

Come to think of it, from my sister’s perspective, her brother was kidnapped right before her eyes.

It’s natural for her to lose her mind and go berserk.

Moreover, Esha had no intention of explaining, and my sister was even using Ideal Manifestation to destroy her.

There was only one way to stop them.

I made a nation-saving decision.

“Yoon Se-ah!”

My sister, who was about to charge, stiffened with a start, and Esha, seeing my frozen sister, smiled faintly and stopped.

Between the two women, I looked at my sister.

My sister’s startled face was staring blankly at me.

I opened my mouth with an awkward smile.

“I’m fine.”

Whether this was a good decision or not, I couldn’t tell.

But there’s no way to unspill water, so I accepted it.