Ch.161Evil+

# 161. Malice+

“Don’t rush. Going in a half-ready state will only make things worse.”

“I have a bad feeling. I feel like I need to get there even a second faster…”

“You still don’t trust your teammates?”

“No, I do trust them. I do, but I just have this really bad feeling. Don’t you feel it too, Danya?”

Having activated “One for All,” I was staying on the 4th floor due to the side effects, but I couldn’t recover peacefully.

Regardless of trust, it was impossible not to worry.

Logically, I knew Danya was right, so I had been resting quietly, but the feeling was just too unsettling.

Eventually, after about a minute, I forced myself to get up halfway.

“Are you ignoring my advice?”

“No, not that… but the scales in my heart are tipping too far to one side. I just can’t sit still anymore.”

Thanks to Danya, I’d taken potions and recovered somewhat. I figured I wouldn’t dramatically improve by resting more here anyway, so resolving this anxiety even a second sooner seemed better.

Of course, I was only thinking this because Danya was with me. Alone, I wouldn’t have dared.

“I knew you’d say that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Well, that’s just who you are. Come on, let’s go.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Our height difference made the posture a bit awkward, but Danya seemed used to supporting someone larger than herself, skillfully guiding me toward the 5th floor.

“I want to tell you not to worry too much, but… this really does feel ominous.”

As we got closer to the 5th floor, anxiety—or more precisely, a chilling unease that made my body tremble involuntarily—intensified.

When I faced Iseratio, the intimidation came from encountering a named demon itself, its enormous size, and its scorching flames. But this… it was more like an instinctive aversion that didn’t even require conscious thought.

“You said you wanted to go quickly, so why are you hesitating?”

“…Me?”

“Yes. You’ve slowed down.”

I thought I was walking as fast as possible, but if Danya said so, she must be right. I felt embarrassed. At the same time, I grew more anxious realizing my body wasn’t moving as my will commanded.

“I understand. If it were just you and me here, I would have carried you on my back and run from this place at full speed.”

“Danya carrying me and running away… that would be embarrassing in its own way.”

“Instead of ‘running away,’ could you call it a ‘strategic retreat’?”

Danya appeared composed as she said this, but I noticed her ears and tail trembling slightly.

I habitually stroked her head, then belatedly realized she wasn’t in her cat form and tried to withdraw my hand, but she caught it instead.

“I really don’t understand you sometimes.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

It seemed completely inappropriate for the situation, but my stroking Danya’s head brought a small measure of peace to both of us.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes.”

Before anxiety could build up again, we approached the 5th floor at an even faster pace than before.

**

The moment you look directly into those eyes, to put it bluntly, you’re fucked.

This thought occurred simultaneously to everyone present, not just Subin.

“Dodge!”

Thanks to this, as soon as Subin’s order came down, everyone maintained their formation while creating distance and averting their gaze…

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZT——*

Soon, black burning beams swept past them, confirming their thoughts and actions were correct, but that didn’t make anyone feel better.

‘Couldn’t this prediction have been wrong for once!’

A giant one-eyed monster, and one that shoots eye beams no less!

“Kyaah!”

“Unni!”

“Stay calm!”

“Serva nos!”

They thought they had all dodged, but the dark beam shot by the giant one-eyed monster (hereafter “eye monster”) grazed Yehyun. It only slightly touched her right arm, but her clothes instantly burned away and her skin began turning black, causing immediate alarm.

Fortunately, Soyu’s immediate healing prevented the symptoms from worsening, but the burned clothes and slightly darkened skin didn’t recover.

“Hahahahaha! Watching you flee is like seeing insects scattering in all directions!”

It was clear to anyone that they needed to take down the deranged wizard rather than the eye monster, but they simply couldn’t get close.

As if mocking them for thinking they could ever reach him, the wizard hadn’t moved an inch from where he first stood, just taunting and laughing, which made their blood boil.

“Haha, are you truly the demon slayers?”

They had no intention of responding anyway.

“No matter your talent, the demon you defeated was merely summoned by sacrificing one young noble and some peasants like livestock!”

The way this senile wizard talked was infuriating.

“True! That demon’s presence was impressive! Despite making a proper contract with due payment, I had to kneel and bow my head low even after channeling magic throughout my body! The demon’s flames were hot! Blinding! But to be defeated by mere adventurers, not even arch-mages or saints—it must have been that level all along!”

It was infuriating.

“Behold! This overwhelming presence! Behold! This overwhelming power! Witness the ‘Gaze of Doom’—a demon created by humans, the marvelous fruit of countless years of research and effort!”

She was extremely angry, but had to admit the name “Gaze of Doom” was quite intuitive. Additionally, she might agree that regardless of good or evil, the wizard had created a masterpiece.

That eye absolutely could not be looked at directly, and being hit by its beam was not an option—truly a gaze of doom.

While dodging the beams like insects as the wizard had said, Subin was trying to figure out how to approach him, but avoiding the deadly beams while keeping track of her party members and formulating a solution was… extremely difficult.

“Unni!”

“Just, just hold on a bit longer!”

This was a monster and pattern they’d never seen before. Even for Subin, who memorized everything, it was impossible to recall something she’d never encountered. Especially for someone with absolute confidence in her memory and experience, she couldn’t make any hasty judgments without baseline data.

“How fortunate that you’ve come to serve as excellent fertilizer! To devour demon slayers right after birth! Rest assured! Your achievements will never be forgotten! That will only strengthen our cause!”

“Just shut the f—!”

“Hahahahaha!”

Yuri, unable to contain herself, cursed while dodging, but her words were soon drowned out by the sound of beams firing.

’63, 14, 126, 72, 93….’

Subin resisted the urge to squeeze her eyes shut and tried to identify patterns in the dark beams. Seyeon and Yuri were trying to break through somehow, while Arang was looking for an opening to land a hit. Yehyun was trying to calm her trembling spirits to alter the terrain, and Soyu was focusing all her attention on healing the moment anyone was grazed by a beam.

Of course, despite these efforts, they were barely maintaining the status quo.

Actually, it wasn’t even maintaining the status quo. Their physical and mental strength was rapidly depleting.

Knowing this, the wizard maintained a leisurely attitude despite his words suggesting imminent annihilation.

He would use even their desperate struggles as experience and nourishment for the eye monster. Or perhaps this wasn’t even a battle but a ‘commemoration,’ so there was no need to rush.

Though he didn’t say it, the party members felt his intense malice and gritted their teeth, but willpower alone couldn’t solve everything.

After several minutes of desperate evasive maneuvers, they had advanced only a couple of steps.

They tried retreating as a test, but even that was repeatedly blocked.

At this rate, there was no solution.

This thought occurred to everyone. Everyone except Subin was desperately hoping she would give an order as soon as possible.

“Everyone behind Seyeon!”

At the peak of their anxiety, Subin finally drew the sword of decision. As soon as her order came down, the scattered party members who had been dodging beams began gathering behind Seyeon.

“Seyeon! Soyu! Maximum defensive techniques!”

The eye monster was impossible to deal with, so they needed to break through the beam zone to approach the wizard.

But there was no opportunity to cast spells from a distance.

Therefore, they themselves would become a single spear.

If Sunghyun were here, he might have demanded why she hadn’t used this strategy sooner, or perhaps agreed it was the best judgment.

What was clear was that the order had been given and action had been taken.

What remained was to hope the order was correct and to do their best.

As soon as Soyu cast a new protective barrier over the entire party, Seyeon, with holy power covering her entire body and shield raised high, charged forward.

“Hahaha! After all that deliberation, your conclusion is to imitate a wild boar! Go ahead then!”

The dark gaze that leads to doom for those who face it.

A pure white charge attempting to break through that gaze head-on.

Soon, the ominous beam and the snow-white mass collided head-on.