Ch.122What I Want to Protect (3)

After entering the strategy planning area with confidence, I called out to Rebecca with a voice full of assurance.

“I finally manifested my first supernatural power!”

“What kind of power did you manifest?”

“It’s a power that transfers whatever I shoot as a bullet directly to the target. For example, if I shoot mana, the target who gets hit recovers mana.”

“Isn’t that a really good power?”

Ju-an, who was busy writing something on some blueprint, chimed in. He probably had another good idea this time.

“How would you use this power if you were me?”

“There are so many possibilities that it’s hard to narrow it down.”

“Then just tell me what you think would be the strongest technique.”

“Probably sending your entire body. That would completely crush and kill either the target or yourself.”

“…Ju-an? You’re not hoping for my death, are you?”

“…That wasn’t my intention. I’m sorry.”

Ju-an lowered his gaze and spoke in a somewhat gloomy voice. The way he was fidgeting with his pinky finger showed he was genuinely sorry.

Since way back, Ju-an always had this habit of acting that way whenever he felt guilty.

“Alright, so what do you think would be the strongest technique that wouldn’t put me in danger?”

“Well… perhaps sending blood would be the best option?”

It was exactly the same idea I had thought of earlier. Is this what they mean when they say people who like each other start to resemble one another?

If that saying is true, I wish I could become as smart as Ju-an. But that’s probably not going to happen.

Well, it doesn’t matter anyway since Ju-an will be by my side until he dies, right?

Anyway, I moved on to the main point and confidently said to Rebecca:

“Please look into the future again. Maybe we can all survive now.”

“Alright. Please wait a moment.”

As soon as Rebecca finished speaking, she swallowed a sleeping pill and lay down on the cot. So that’s how she utilizes her ability to see the future.

Forcing sleep might be a bit inconvenient, but it’s good that there aren’t any other requirements. Thanks to that, she can see the future without any problems.

What should I do while waiting for Rebecca to return from seeing the future? Should I memorize the building structure?

While thinking about this and skimming through various documents, I discovered an extremely important document.

[List of Four Heavenly Kings in the Demon King’s Army.]

[Mage, Leo.]

[Undead, Patrice.]

[Chimera, Diabolos.]

[Bone Dragon.]

I had fully expected Leo to be there. But there was one name I couldn’t possibly ignore.

Patrice. That’s definitely the name of Partia’s father and the former Demon King. Does this mean he exists as an undead now?

“Excuse me… is Patrice possibly…”

“…Yes, he’s my father.”

Partia spoke through gritted teeth with difficulty. Leo being our enemy was already challenging enough, but now the former Demon King is also our enemy? Can we really win?

While thinking about this and examining the floor plans of the Demon King’s castle to understand its structure, Rebecca quickly woke up.

“You woke up fast. So how was the future?”

“…I couldn’t see it clearly.”

Rebecca continued with a pale face and a trembling voice.

“The dream was too faint to make out any details…”

And then Rebecca immediately took another sleeping pill, trying to force herself to sleep again.

“Please wait a little longer! I’ll check just one more time!”

After about the same amount of time as before, Rebecca woke up again. But her expression remained dark.

“Did you still not see anything this time?”

“…No. The future I once hated seeing so much is no longer visible to me.”

Rebecca barely managed to speak through her sobbing voice and then shouted loudly:

“Even when I didn’t want to see it before, it kept showing me! But why won’t it show me now? Why won’t it show me now when I actually want to see it!”

It was almost a wail. Clearly, anyone in her situation would react the same way.

Just when she was finally trying to make use of the cursed ability that had ruined her life, it suddenly vanished like bubbles.

Maybe I messed everything up again? If my manifestation of the first supernatural power caused this…

The more I think about it, the more self-loathing I feel. But it’s hard to think about anything else in this situation.

After all, it’s true that I’ve negated fate multiple times because of me. Maybe this time I needlessly negated fate again.

As my self-loathing, which had barely stopped, began to rapidly progress again, Agath asked Rebecca:

“So you can’t see the future anymore?”

“No… now… now I can’t see anything…”

“Isn’t that actually a good thing? All the futures we saw before only showed us losing.”

“But that doesn’t guarantee this will definitely be a good future…”

“This is just a hypothesis, but hear me out. What if we were destined to lose? But suddenly fate twisted and changed. And this is the reaction to that change?”

Hearing what Agath said reminded me of something that happened before. When we had the request to defeat the high-ranking demon.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say that your dreams changed periodically when we fought the high-ranking demon?”

“…Yes, back then, dreams that should never have changed once they were set kept changing multiple times.”

Maybe this time we’ve changed a doomed fate into something positive. Even if that’s not the case, I’ll choose to believe it.

Even if it changed to a bad fate, we can just change it back to a good one.

Agath can be helpful like this sometimes. Of course, she causes trouble much more often.

Anyway, Rebecca quickly calmed down and spoke again in a composed voice.

“I got too excited for a moment, I’m sorry. Anyway, we can no longer see the future. So now we have no choice but to do what we can with our own strength.”

The precognitive ability we had been relying on since Monday has been blocked. But everyone’s enthusiasm is burning much brighter than it was on Monday.

“Then we should start by allocating personnel. Does anyone have any good ideas?”

“I’ll handle the undead.”

As soon as Rebecca finished speaking, Partia quickly responded. And then a somewhat desperate voice continued:

“I still have so many questions to ask him. So I must be the one to face the undead!”

“I’ll also face the undead.”

“I’ll join you as well.”

Selene and the dragon person also chimed in. All three of them seem to have unfinished business with the former Demon King.

It doesn’t matter to me anyway since I have someone else I need to face, not the undead.

“I’ll take on Leo.”

I’ll use this power to somehow subdue Leo. That’s how I’ll make up for the mistake I made.

“Then I’ll go with Lite. At the very least, I can stop time, so I can definitely hit him with bullets.”

Ju-an, my most reliable ally, said he would join me. Thanks to him, I felt confident that we could easily subdue Leo.

If we stop time and then shoot bullets, it should be easy to subdue him. As long as no special variables arise.

“Then Taeyang and I will handle the chimera.”

“…Do I have to fight the chimera too?”

“Is there anyone else you could face?”

There really isn’t anyone suitable for Taeyang to face right now. The undead and bone dragon would be too disadvantageous in terms of compatibility, and Leo’s mind is too strong to handle.

So the chimera is probably the easiest enemy to face. At least the chimera should have some intelligence. And Taeyang seemed to realize this fact as he quickly agreed.

“Alright. Then I’ll fight the chimera too.”

Taeyang said with a frightened voice. He’s still as timid as ever. I wonder if he’ll faint when he meets the Demon King?

While I was thinking about this, Agath spoke in an unusually serious tone:

“Then Rebecca and I will handle the bone dragon. It’s perfect since we have an advantageous matchup. Anyway, we’ll use the same strategy we planned yesterday.”

Everyone nodded as if they understood. But since I wasn’t here yesterday, I couldn’t understand what they were talking about.

“What strategy did you plan yesterday?”

“The Demon King is trying to perform some ritual. The Four Heavenly Kings are protecting the location with barriers. So we plan to deal with those four first and then gather to attack the Demon King.”

“Isn’t that too simple of a strategy?”

“I’m just explaining it in a way that’s easy to understand. Or would you like me to explain everything in detail?”

“No, that’s okay.”

Since Ju-an is with me, I’ll just do as I’m told. That should get us at least halfway there.

“Oh right, we must fight the enemy leader right after he becomes the Demon King.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to fight before he becomes the Demon King?”

“If we do that, the demonic energy will scatter and who knows what will happen to the world. So it’s much better to deal with the enemy leader right after he becomes the Demon King, when he’s not yet accustomed to his power or demonic energy.”

I was wondering why they wanted to attack right after the Demon King appears, but they had their reasons.

Honestly, I can see some flaws in this plan, but everyone must have their own thoughts on this. After all, Ju-an would have contributed to this plan, so it’s trustworthy enough.

“Let’s wrap up here and make our final preparations individually. Then let’s meet here again on Sunday for the last time.”

With Agath’s final words, everyone except Ju-an and me headed somewhere. Now I should make my final preparations too.

While walking with Ju-an, a question suddenly came to mind.

Was Agath always like this? The Agath I knew was definitely someone who lived without much thought, always doing whatever she wanted.

Well, she’s probably like this because the situation is desperate. Still, her current behavior feels awkward.

And so, Ju-an and I began our final preparations for the battle against the Demon King.