Ch.270Unforgettable Memory (9)

To catch a big fish, you need to exert more strength; similarly, to trap a stronger Outer God requires a proportional amount of time.

For an ordinary Outer God, a few seconds would suffice. The problem is with the higher-ranked ones.

[Estimated time remaining: 4 minutes 45 seconds]

A waiting time of nearly 5 minutes.

Evidence that the creature before me was no ordinary monster.

[“I should end this quickly.”]

The Outer God’s arm transformed into a spike and pierced through the heads of the knights, breaking their formation and exposing the front line. Tentacles exploited the gap, burrowing through. They were flying toward me.

Clang!

Rustila Kersil deflected the incoming tentacles.

“I see it.”

Despite her comrades turning into corpses one by one, Rustila’s voice remained as calm as a lake.

In truth, it wasn’t just her. All the knights participating in this battle were the same. They maintained their composure even as their comrades had their necks pierced and limbs severed.

If anything, I was the one with blood running cold.

Of course. The sight of people dying before my eyes never becomes familiar, no matter how many times I witness it. Moreover, these people were sacrificing themselves to save me.

I clenched my teeth with guilt.

“Protect Commander Rheinland!”

“Winning isn’t the objective! Just hold out for 3 minutes—no, 2 minutes until the trap activates!”

In just a few minutes, over a hundred elite knights crossed the river of no return. As their numbers dwindled, the remaining knights concentrated their spirit and attention. They devoted all their efforts to protecting me.

“Everyone has held out well!”

Reinforcements arrived.

“We’ll join the battle!”

Units from Leo Palace, Thousand Gallows Palace, Human-Horse Palace, and Giant Palace moved in to fill the gaps. With these additions, there were now six Great Omega-grade knights protecting me.

This was practically half of the Federation’s greatest fighting force. And yet, a single Outer God was casually handling this much power.

There was no solution.

Truly, if not for the research I had been conducting, this world would have been without hope.

Despite lamenting my combat ability moments ago, I didn’t regret not going all-in on sword training.

I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

[“These insects are struggling desperately to die together. You should have simply handed over Eidel Rheinland.”]

“We will never surrender our commander, no matter what.”

“Mr. Leo is right. Commander Rheinland is our hope. There are no fools in this world who would abandon hope.”

“Indeed, someone who sells out civilians isn’t a soldier at all.”

[“Useless struggling.”]

Creak, creak.

The corpses scattered everywhere began to rise. They lifted their heads, revealing rotting faces.

Soon their bodies swelled, and tentacles like horsehair worms grew over their suits.

“Does fighting an Outer God deny even the dignity of death…”

“No, they’re not dead! Look at that!”

The knights who had been allies just minutes ago opened their mouths. They made hissing sounds through damaged vocal organs. And some of them managed to form words.

“M-mommy.”

“Commander, please, save, us.”

Damn it.

“Com-commander, why, why did you, k-kill us.”

“Rheinland family head, if you, hadn’t, initiated this, operation.”

“Then, we… would have, lived.”

Each word flew like a dagger and pierced me.

These people became like this while protecting me.

No matter how much I tried to stabilize my mind, guilt welled up from deep within, making me grind my teeth.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

They were multiplying.

Very rapidly.

Flesh soaked in blood surged like a tsunami, forcing us into a war of attrition. With former comrades now attacking as enemies, I could see the knights’ fatigue rapidly accumulating.

“Everyone who came here was prepared to die. Respond without hesitation!”

Unlike me, the veterans remained steadfast. The Omega-grade knights showed no signs of wavering.

But no matter how strong their mental fortitude…

Even Aether isn’t infinite.

Eventually, they had to give ground.

“Ugh!”

The Giant Palace knight who had been blocking all attacks from the front was pushed back. As his stance crumbled, tentacles and spikes launched a carpet bombing attack at the opening.

The Leo Palace knight deflected that gap. But then an opening appeared for the Leo Palace knight. The Thousand Gallows Palace knight covered that.

The Human-Horse Palace knight covered the Thousand Gallows Palace knight’s gap, the Infantry Palace knight covered the Human-Horse Palace knight’s gap, and the Virgo Palace knight covered the Infantry Palace knight’s gap.

Then who would fill the Virgo Palace knight’s gap?

“Rustila!”

Ireh Hazlen and I threw ourselves forward simultaneously.

I predicted the incoming death with future vision and swung my calipers ahead of time. Ireh read my trajectory and fired a holy bullet.

Screech!

We altered the direction of the undulating projectile. It was a very slight angle adjustment, but enough to save Rustila.

The price was nearly having my wrist twisted backward. My palm stung. Unable to overcome the inertia, my stance faltered.

[“Full of openings.”]

“Eidel——!!”

[“Farewell.”]

Hundreds of pairs of tentacles came crashing down in a cross-fire. My vision literally turned bright red. A structure where I would be hit no matter where I dodged. My future vision was pronouncing a death sentence.

I’m going to die.

My life flashes before my eyes.

The first image appearing in this panorama of memories is Sonia.

Her dignified appearance as a maid. Although I shouldn’t die here, if it were an unavoidable fate, I wished I could have seen her recover her memories just once.

“Young master.”

Yes, I wanted to hear her call me that way too.

“You’re still such a child.”

Wait.

This is too real to be an auditory hallucination.

At that moment.

The death foretold by my future vision came to nothing. The red lines of death disappeared all at once as if they had never existed.

“Eidel!”

“Del!”

Taking advantage of the opening, Rustila and Ireh rolled with me. The other Great Omegas also deployed temporary Aether barriers.

I quickly regained my senses and assessed the situation.

The blade-like tentacles that had been rushing toward me were twitching as if paralyzed. They withered slowly like plants hit with defoliant and fell to the ground.

[“Ugh, ack.”]

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

No, everyone doubted what they were seeing.

A long pair of calipers was embedded in the body of the Outer God that had been overwhelming us with absolute superiority, not allowing even the slightest counterattack.

[— <Paralysis>, <Mental Destruction>]

[“Oh, oogh.”]

The Outer God made an unsightly noise and writhed. Then, I heard the clicking of heels approaching from behind me.

“Even if the young master is childish, what can I do? It is also a maid’s duty to assist such a person.”

There stood Sonia, wearing a brand-new maid uniform.

***

[— All data recovery and updates completed.]

[— As an avatar of the ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity,’ you can now use all functions again.]

Sonia, with all her memories restored, first assessed the current situation coldly.

An Outer God had directly attacked.

The Great Triangle effect, coupled with the young master’s innocent mental power, allowed humans to directly see and hear its form, but this wasn’t entirely advantageous.

They needed to hold out until the trap activated, but it seemed difficult for them to firmly hold out for 5 minutes on their own.

In other words, the young master was in danger.

She needed to help.

However, using her avatar abilities could raise suspicions among other knights that she might be an Outer God’s puppet.

But.

So what?

Protecting Young Master Eidel no matter what happens.

Wasn’t that her highest priority mission?

Sonia threw her calipers without hesitation. The blade embedded deeply into the Outer God’s body. She could feel the satisfying impact even from a distance.

Softly.

She descended to the main hall and faced Eidel.

“Sonia!”

“Young master.”

Sonia concealed her rising smile with dignity. Rather, it was Eidel who made no attempt to hide his delight.

“We don’t have time for greetings. Your safety takes priority. That weapon, may I borrow it?”

Sonia received the calipers from Eidel.

The Outer God rose, twisting its physical form. Having been hit with a mental attack, it was clearly struggling to maintain its balance.

The tide of battle had turned with a single attack.

[“…What, what are you?”]

“How impolite. If you wish to ask such a question, you should first identify yourself.”

[“How dare you.”]

[Estimated time remaining: 1 minute]

Both sides were running out of time.

Further dialogue was meaningless.

Creak, crunch!

The Outer God swelled its body, covering the entire ship with intestines and flesh. The corpses of knights who had died twice were assimilated into the walls and floor. Their bellies swelled. As if pregnant.

From cultivation to birth in mere seconds. An incomparable number of monsters were born compared to before.

“Block them!”

The remaining knights squeezed out their Aether to the limit.

Sonia left the defense to them and charged.

Attack is the best defense.

The Outer God must be captured and killed.

The Outer God, perhaps not expecting Sonia to charge in a straight line, gathered its remaining tentacles for defense. Spikes erupting from the floor also tried to entangle Sonia’s feet.

[Estimated time remaining: 30 seconds]

Sonia lightly jumped to avoid the spikes. She also deflected tentacles targeting her blind spots.

Whoosh.

The calipers, spinning in an arc, struck the center of the Outer God.

[“Kheok!”]

Sonia’s calipers, which had been embedded in the Outer God’s body, came loose. She grabbed them and swung again.

[— <Mental Destruction>, <Mental Gender Conversion>, <Delirium>, <Unconsciousness>, <Anxiety>, <Panic Disorder>, <Regression>]

With a thud, the Outer God was pushed to the edge. Both of its cilia were severed.

‘My body feels light.’

Sonia was inwardly surprised. Her body couldn’t possibly feel this light. Her combat sense was also vastly superior to before.

‘This is the power of my Outer God, Cartesia.’

She was not at all inferior to the Outer God before her. Rather, she was overwhelming it. The nameless Outer God let out a pained sound.

[“…Argh!”]

“Now you’re making sounds worth listening to.”

[“Damn it, damn it!”]

The Outer God tried to escape by breaking through the ceiling. Sonia, holding both calipers, attempted to pursue but stopped, judging that it would be difficult to keep up with the monster’s speed.

[10 seconds until sealing.]

[9 seconds, 8 seconds, 7 seconds.]

“Sonia, that’s enough. Come back!”

Protecting the young master was the priority. Sensing that she shouldn’t move any further away, she returned to Eidel’s side.

[6 seconds, 5 seconds, 4 seconds.]

The surviving knights were finishing up.

“Here you are.”

Sonia returned the calipers to Eidel. Just then, the last two monsters flew in from behind.

[3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second.]

Thud!

They simultaneously struck down one monster each.

And the next moment.

Screeeech!

The Outer God’s scream echoed from the bridge.

“…It’s over.”

Sonia sighed. The knights also put down their swords and collapsed one by one from exhaustion. Both Rustila and Ireh leaned against the wall, catching their breath.

“Young master.”

“…Sonia.”

Eidel smiled slightly.

“Don’t you have something you want to say to me?”

Sonia raised the corners of her mouth in response.

“First, let me hit you a bit.”