Ch.258Chapter 258 – God Was Evicted by Him

“It’s been a while.”

I absentmindedly muttered those words toward the weapon in my hand.

I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination, but the sword’s handle felt slightly warm.

I even had the faint impression that it was happy to see me.

The weapon’s true identity was the transforming sword, once a sacred relic of the Zeoley Order.

It seemed Chris had resolved the repair issues and brought it back.

I transformed my armor again to match it.

Unlike before, I made the armor thinner.

Instead, the overall design was sharper.

Behind me, six exhaust ports—three on each of the uniquely shaped wings—spewed fire.

If my form during the fight with Kara and Emiris had maximized strength and defense while sacrificing wings, this was the opposite.

I minimized defense and instead enhanced the wings to maximize speed.

‘Though changing direction is a pain in the ass.’

The speed optimization made direction changes difficult.

Because of that, using ordinary weapons was challenging.

While I could transform independently, there were no suitable weapons that could withstand such extreme speed.

Even if there were, I couldn’t be sure they’d hold up.

It was a form I had designed but lacked a weapon for.

And now, with Chris bringing the weapon, it was finally complete.

‘It’s possible.’

I thought as I thrust forward the lance that was spinning ferociously like a drill.

At the tip of the lance, I could see the holy power of Chris’s blessing, magical energy, and dragon power flowing together.

Golden, blue, and red lights intertwined and flowed as one.

‘It’s possible.’

With this power, it was possible.

I kept the spinning lance extended as it made contact with the surface of the enemy’s heart.

-KAGAGAGAGAGAK!!!

A terrible sound of destruction began to emanate from the lance and the heart.

And then, as if mocking me, a voice came from the heart.

[It’s useless. You cannot pierce this heart with just a shock or two.]

The voice was triumphant, sensing victory.

But as if in response, there was a cracking sound followed by something breaking.

[What… are you doing?]

The triumphant voice turned to confusion.

And the next moment, it changed to shock.

Because cracks began to form from where the lance was touching.

[What are you doing!]

The urgent voice echoed.

But it was already too late.

The cracks grew uncontrollably, and starting from the thick wall of holy power, the holy energy inside began to rapidly leak out.

[Wha—!]

The voice cut off with a sound like air escaping from a balloon.

An enormous amount of holy power leaked through the hole that had been forcibly created.

I continued to thrust the lance forward, destroying the interior as I advanced.

I began to move at high speed, drilling holes through the thick walls of holy power.

‘There it is.’

I finally spotted my target.

Rapidly decreasing my speed, I quietly extended my arm.

With perfect timing, I quickly pulled my target into my arms.

“Secured.”

With the unconscious Kara in my arms, I increased my speed again.

The spinning lance continued to tear through the holy power ahead.

And suddenly, the clear blue sky came into view.

-KWANG!!!

With the sound of destruction all around, I escaped from inside the heart.

I could no longer maintain the transformed state, so I returned to my original armor form while carefully holding Kara in my arms.

And I saw the collapsing heart transform into an arm.

[You… can’t… here…!]

“I don’t know what you’re saying.”

Realizing that fragments of holy power still remained and were moving, I gathered the magical energy in my body.

Moving my body was now impossible.

The magical energy I could still use was truly minimal.

‘…Then that’s the only way.’

I gathered as much of that magical energy as possible within my body.

Just like when I had checked on Chris’s condition inside the egg, following Rubrum’s advice.

I gathered my magical power.

Gathered and amplified it.

Gathered, condensed, and amplified it more and more.

And then, with the help of Chris’s blessing, I released that amplified energy powerfully.

[Dragon… Fear…!!]

A voice immediately came from the arm.

Meanwhile, the powerful wave of magical energy enhanced by the blessing began to spread from me.

The wave started to envelop the surroundings and drive away the holy power.

[This is not the end…!]

The silvery holy power writhed and shouted.

[What disappears here is just a part of my will. I remain intact!]

The gradually disappearing holy power shouted.

[Next time, it won’t end so easily. Surely, sure—]

“Just go quietly. You talk too much.”

I said briefly as I watched the crumbling holy power disappear.

“Get out of here.”

An indescribable sound spread around.

A voice like a curse, like a vow of murderous intent, spread out.

For a while, the silvery holy power struggled.

And then it vanished from this place.

+

“…A Fear with physical form.”

From a distance, Mask was quietly observing Kay.

Normally, a dragon’s Fear would stimulate the survival instinct of living beings, but that didn’t apply to her.

“It doesn’t seem like he used it consciously… more like unconsciously.”

Still, she was certain that his attack wouldn’t have harmed allies.

From the beginning, that man would have made sure, even unconsciously, that his Fear wouldn’t affect his allies.

Because he cared for his comrades, he would certainly have done so.

“Still, he really doesn’t value his life.”

Mask had heard that just wearing that armor consumed a significant portion of one’s lifespan.

Moreover, he had transformed twice—a process that was said to put tremendous strain on the wearer—after wearing it for an extended period.

That man must be running out of time.

“There is a solution, as far as I know…”

But to implement it, she needed to fulfill her purpose.

It wasn’t time yet.

“Truly interesting and admirable fellows.”

Mask said with a smile.

“I thought so when I first saw them… but I like them more and more.”

If given the chance, she wanted to introduce them to her old comrades.

And she hoped to continue moving forward with them in the future.

As Mask was lost in such thoughts, she quickly returned to reality with a change in demeanor.

And she drew her sword.

“So it was you who orchestrated this.”

Mask looked at those who had appeared before her with a cold voice.

“…Step aside, half-demon.”

Winged gorilla-like demons threatened Mask.

“…Lord’s plan has failed. At the very least, we need to take that dragon’s head to break even.”

“I doubt you can do that, sneaking in like rats.”

Mask thought they had some nerve to show up now after hiding so well while the corpse golems were rampaging, only to emerge once the situation had settled.

“And you call that a plan? That pathetic soul-absorbing formation?”

“That’s right.”

Mask looked at them with cold eyes and spoke.

Turning her gaze, she saw a blue sky spread out as if the previous red sky had been a lie.

The meaning was simple.

‘The Knights and Beatrice must have succeeded.’

Mask had been worried about both the Knights and Beatrice.

But it seemed that Beatrice’s usual confident attitude was indeed based on real skill.

‘It seemed like the tough opponents were concentrated on our side, so the other side was probably relatively easier.’

Mask smiled lightly, relieved that her concerns had turned out to be needless worries.

“…That aside, I don’t like what I don’t like.”

Mask spoke in a cold voice.

“To think you’d insult the souls of the dead with something like a soul-absorbing formation.”

“The previous Demon Lord strengthened himself with it.”

“Strange. Wasn’t that the Demon Lord before the previous one?”

Mask narrowed her eyes and spoke.

“The previous Demon Lord I knew would have forbidden that.”

“…Would we acknowledge such a weak Demon Lord?”

The demon laughed unpleasantly and said.

“We merely bowed our heads temporarily because he was the strongest at that time, but we never acknowledged that soft Demon Lord.”

“That’s why Lord continued to devise his great plan.”

The demons spoke as if mocking her.

And with a slightly incredulous emotion, Mask said.

“Are you saying that this ‘great plan’ involves joining hands with the Emiris Order?”

The surroundings fell silent.

And Mask asked coldly again.

“…Or are those demon worshippers actually connected to the Emiris Order? Which is it?”

“…You don’t need to know.”

“Right, you don’t need to tell me.”

Because either way, the conclusion would be the same.

Whether the Demon Lord had joined hands with the Emiris Order or with demon worshippers who were connected to them, the conclusion wouldn’t differ.

“It seems you support that weak Demon Lord.”

“Wearing that ridiculous mask.”

“We’ll take your head too. Along with that dragon’s head, who’s now collapsed from exhaustion.”

When Mask turned her gaze, she saw Chris urgently grabbing Kay, whose armor had been deactivated.

He must have fainted due to reaching his limit.

“That’s absolutely not going to happen.”

Mask stated firmly.

“If you want to take his head, you’ll have to get past me first.”

“…Do you think it’s impossible for us to take your head?”

“In front of these numbers?”

Somehow, ten demons had already surrounded her.

“We’ll tear off that funny mask.”

“We’ll make you beg for your life.”

“…Now that I look at you, your body seems quite nice. We could capture you, strip you, and make you crawl on the ground as a pet.”

The demons made crude jokes and mocked her.

And Mask sighed lightly and…

Bringing her hand to her mask, she said.

“Who do you think I am?”

The mask was removed.

A beautiful woman with blue eyes appeared.

And the demons…

Began to visibly panic.

“That face…!”

“Now do you know who I am?”

The unmasked Mask said with a smile.

“…Actually, I was wearing this for show, thinking few would recognize my face, but surprisingly, there are some who know my bare face.”

“Impossible, why are you here…?”

“No, we need to report this quickly…!”

One demon turned around urgently.

And that demon was suddenly split vertically.

Mask had swung her sword and bisected him.

“Unfortunately, I can’t let you deliver that message.”

Mask said coldly.

“Here I come, youngsters. Don’t expect mercy.”

The next moment, Mask’s body momentarily disappeared.

And shortly after…

Where the ten demons had been, only twenty pieces of remains were left.

“…Those puppets were stronger.”

After lightly shaking the blood off her sword and passing a blue flame over it to erase all remaining traces, Mask returned the sword to its scabbard.

“…I need to deeply reconsider the overall level of the demon realm.”

Thinking that the level of the demon realm might have been too narrow-minded, Mask sighed lightly.

And as she was about to put the mask back on her face…

“Ah.”

The mask was broken.

“I liked that design…”

Mask muttered with a disappointed voice as she left the place.

+

“A familiar ceiling.”

I muttered that while sprawled on the floor of an all-white room.

And I heard a voice that sounded exasperated at my words.

“…This guy says weird things when he comes back after a long time.”

“Did he hit his head? Serves him right.”

I heard Pia’s bewildered voice and Yuto’s caustic remarks.

But honestly, it was something I’d wanted to say.

“How many times have I ended up here after finishing a job?”

“You’ve come here many times during jobs too.”

The probability of ending up here whenever I lost consciousness was way too high.

Sighing, I looked at Pia.

“…Do you happen to know what’s happening outside?”

“If you mean the three days since you fainted, I know the general situation.”

Pia hesitated slightly before speaking again.

“…First of all, there was chaos outside. You pushed yourself too hard, and the girls rushed to save you.”

“Your body was urgently moved to Rubrum’s lair.”

“He also helped save you.”

“Rubrum did?”

At my words, Yuto frowned.

And Pia hesitated slightly before speaking again.

“…Your situation is different from ours, so you don’t necessarily need to follow this, but when addressing Rubrum, please call him Lord Rubrum. From our perspective, he’s one of the oldest dragons, so he’s a high-ranking figure.”

“Even though he was exiled?”

“We still show respect. More precisely, we respect his power.”

That’s what Pia said, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to follow that.

He didn’t seem to care either.

Anyway, even Rubrum had stepped in to save me.

“…Why me, Rubrum?”

“He must have his reasons.”

Pia answered lightly.

Rubrum wasn’t the issue anyway.

The problem was my other companions.

“I’m going to get scolded…”

They had warned me not to push myself, but I ended up doing exactly that and losing consciousness.

My physical body outside might be drifting in and out of consciousness right now.

Seeing my expression, Pia smiled lightly.

“You deserve a scolding. The others say these things because they worry about you, so take it gracefully.”

“I will.”

Thinking that I had once again caused them worry, I nodded in agreement with Pia’s words.

It was my fault to begin with.

Satisfied with my answer, Pia just smiled and nodded.

And Yuto, with his arms crossed, looked at me and said.

“Serves you right.”

“Shut up.”

When will this guy ever improve his attitude?

“…By the way, I feel the need to remind you once more.”

“About going to the gap in the boundary, right?”

It was a request Pia had made to me long ago.

And Pia seemed slightly surprised as she spoke.

“You didn’t forget.”

“Of course not.”

It’s just that everything around me had been too busy.

“…I was planning to go once this current situation was resolved.”

“Please do. The Dragon Lord will have something to tell you.”

I nodded at Pia’s words.

And soon Pia smiled and gestured.

“Now go, your companions are waiting.”

“Yes.”

Gradually, Pia’s figure disappeared.

And when I closed my eyes and opened them again, the scenery around me had changed.

“Kay!”

“Kay-san!!”

“Kay-nim has woken up!!”

“Tch, that helmet!”

I saw the tearful faces of my companions.