Ch.227Disease(?)(4)

At the moment when the Servant of Jealousy uttered those words, I wasn’t actually shocked by the revelation that he had orchestrated all this to recruit me.

After all, demons are the embodiment of injustice, so rather than feeling guilty as the victim, I should prioritize understanding the situation.

Instead, what first crossed my mind was whether Charlotte, who had become the medium for this incident, might have turned into a cultist.

However… this hypothesis was immediately disproven by myself.

First, she’s been with me almost all day handling tasks, so my “hyper-intuition” would have triggered first if anything were wrong. Additionally, our village regularly conducts cultist inspections.

The fundamental reason I could be certain was the former—my “hyper-intuition.” As long as I was confident that this intuition never lies to me, I chose to question the situation rather than my instincts.

Specifically, I questioned this space that he described as being inside Charlotte’s mind.

After carefully sensing it following his statement, it was undeniably true that this space was based on Charlotte’s inner mental landscape.

The essence of humans and their inner mental imagery is surprisingly vulnerable to external interference, but at the same time, the mental landscape is literally a microcosm existing within that sentient being.

Particularly, control over one’s mental landscape always belongs solely to its owner, so that demon probably infiltrated based on Charlotte’s feeling of jealousy, as he claimed, and directly “persuaded” her.

…However, I had my doubts about whether this persuasion was what we typically understand it to be.

Distortion of truth, delusion of reality. Gaslighting—using information confusion to warp what the target sees—is a basic skill that any demon should possess.

Especially in this incident, there seemed to be a lack of plausibility connecting each event, and I happened to know several wicked methods that could instantly supplement such plausibility.

‘…You crazy bastard. You’re treating a non-cultist as a cultist by brute-forcing it with all those resources?’

To put it in real-world terms, it’s like consuming massive amounts of “resources”—equivalent to hard cash—to forcibly drag something impossible into the realm of possibility.

Resources—special assets used in the spiritual realm such as sacrificial souls or the dedicated life force of mortals—are like when someone says, “It cost so much money that it’s not even funny.”

My expression naturally soured at this situation, where insufficient plausibility was completed solely by throwing in vast amounts of resources.

Anyway, he created this situation supposedly to make me an offer.

It was obvious he intended to take Charlotte hostage and force me into a contract, which was quite an efficient method in terms of pricking and stimulating my conscience.

If I succumbed to my conscience and accepted the contract, I would essentially become a slave with my soul sold to a demon. Even if I refused, he could create cracks in my psyche to exploit later.

However, I am surprisingly self-preserving… just an ordinary human wearing the mask of someone extraordinary.

Even with superhuman strength, I don’t possess a superhuman mind. Far from being altruistic enough to sacrifice myself for others, I’m selfish enough to sacrifice others if necessary.

Though I might suffer and agonize, ultimately I would choose what’s best for me—and that tendency was about to manifest in my hands.

[Oh! So you are that kind of human—]

“…Cut it out!”

As soon as I interrupted and gave the command, the fragments of my blade shield, which had been on standby, instantly launched and split apart, then flew freely through the air toward him.

Charlotte’s mind, which he had taken hostage, was already effectively under his control and infected by the power of “jealousy,” making outside interference unlikely… but there’s always that “what if.”

Judging it too early to give up and submit, I launched the blades and simultaneously—

—CRASH!!

‘…Huh?’

What I saw was an unexpected sight. A massive coral formation suddenly appeared out of nowhere in midair, catching my blades and inexplicably cutting off my control over them.

Only then did I belatedly remember that this space was Charlotte’s mental landscape, and the demon before me controlled Charlotte’s mind, which held dominion over this landscape.

“It was a trap…!”

In other words, this entire space was designed as a trap to ensnare me completely.

[…You’re slow to catch on, Maggot Duke.]

The liquefied magical power floating around my body suddenly solidified, and furthermore, the space around me completely froze, leaving me unable to move.

This spatial fixation applied to everything except the space physically occupied by my body, meaning I could barely even breathe, let alone open my mouth.

In other words, I was cornered more decisively than in any previous situation.

Indeed, there was a reason he had maintained such a leisurely, composed demeanor throughout.

Look at this bizarre space created by bringing demonic resources into reality based on control over someone’s mental landscape, then infusing it with demonic power.

From the moment I walked in here of my own accord, I had virtually no chance of winning—that’s why he had been watching me with such obvious composure.

However—that didn’t mean I had to just stand by and watch whatever he was about to do.

“Gus!”

—FLASH!!!

No sooner had I given the command than Gus, as previously agreed, enveloped my body in holy light—purifying light that returns magic tainted by any will to its basic state.

Of course, holy energy used for attacks isn’t much different from magic with holy attributes, so I did suffer minor injuries with a stinging sensation across my skin, but…

—Hissss…

With “troll regeneration,” I instantly recovered and unleashed the purifying power contained in the Unicorn Longsword I held.

The “purification” ability inherent in the material itself has the power to revert specific substances to their pure state, free from any interference or impurities.

So whenever he tried to interfere with the surrounding magic, I would swing my sword to erase it. I urgently split open a pouch of holy water with purifying power, doused myself with its contents, and charged forward.

Whenever something tried to wrap around my body, I swung my sword; whenever obstacles suddenly appeared in midair, I cut through them in one stroke—even using them as stepping stones to advance.

—CRASH!!

I deflected incoming harpoons and tridents, cut off any traces of creatures trying to grab me. Seeing him trying to create distance, I pursued him instead, determined to cut off his breath for good.

Having prepared myself even for the worst-case scenario of failing to save Charlotte, I was now displaying a ferocious killing intent that I had kept hidden for a long time, but…

‘…The holy water!!’

Unfortunately, the holy water I had doused myself with to block enemy interference was completely depleted during my advance, leading to a very troublesome outcome.

—Clang.

‘Damn it…!!’

A substance formed between my palm and the sword handle, causing me to lose grip of the blade. No matter how physically strong I am, there’s nothing I can do if the sword itself is pushed far away.

Moreover, the Unicorn Longsword was almost certainly the most effective means of blocking that interference, so now unarmed, I was truly in a desperate crisis.

‘…Is this really the end?’

In a direct confrontation, I would have cut him down with a single stroke, but the situation had unfolded this way, putting me in mortal danger.

The desperation of facing a meaningless death was overwhelming, yet at the same time—my intuition showed no reaction.

If there were even the slightest possibility of death, my intuition should definitely activate, but it wasn’t working, which meant…

[Draw it.]

…Draw what?

[Draw the sword.]

From where? I have no sword left.

[No, you’re wrong. Right now, you have… a magnificent sword in your heart, don’t you?]

…A sword in my heart.

I grasp a sword. I hold a sword. I swing my arm through the void, through space, forming a “sword.”

And then, I draw—