Ch.277Chapter 277: Imprisonment (2)

“Welcome. I’ve been waiting for you. There’s an empty seat over there.”

The warm greeting directed at the unexpected visitor to the private room was short-lived.

“…Hmm.”

Despite Desire’s invitation, the visitor—dressed in a black suit with a pocket watch in his right hand, his face obscured by shadows—let out a playful hum and showed no sign of sitting down.

It would have been perfectly reasonable for Desire to get angry at this breach of etiquette—a guest refusing to sit when invited by the host.

“Come now, have a seat. The tea I’ve been brewing while waiting for you has reached just the right temperature.”

Instead, Desire maintained a pleasant expression and gestured toward the chair, letting out a genial laugh.

Only then did the visitor reluctantly settle into the chair Desire had indicated.

Though the shadows still concealed the visitor’s identity…

“I thought you might have come to your senses, but seeing you still can’t let go of your attachments shows you have a long way to go, my friend.”

From the visitor’s slightly playful tone of voice and the aura emanating from him—similar to Desire’s own—it wasn’t difficult to guess who he might be.

#

My first thought upon hearing Paphnir’s voice was relief.

After being imprisoned in the underground dungeon and having the dragon sword taken by Desire.

How could I not be glad to hear Paphnir’s voice at a moment when I should have been laughing with satisfaction at having put her in a difficult position?

It was especially reassuring since I had worried something might have happened to him when he screamed each time Desire snapped her fingers in that cold private room, severing our connection.

I was curious how he was speaking to me without the sword being in my possession.

But rather than wasting time resolving that question…

[After getting smacked by that Desire woman, you’re still not coming to your senses? I called but got no answer.]

-I’m glad you’re safe.

[Oh, you were listening? Pretend you didn’t hear what I just said.]

It seemed more important to play along with Paphnir’s banter.

It wouldn’t be right to respond with a world-weary tone to his cheerful greeting, especially when his voice already sounded exhausted.

-Yes. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.

[Huh… you have no charm. No charm at all.]

Without hesitation, I matched his playful tone, and even his disgusted response sounded welcome to my ears.

#

The conversation with the reunited Paphnir wasn’t much.

It was just his explanation of why we couldn’t communicate for a while.

[It might seem strange, but just go with it. As you’ve experienced, even though I haven’t fully recovered my power, this unpleasant space made of obsidian is like a fortress where that damned woman can use all her power without restraint.]

Really, it wasn’t much.

Before the regression—when, though unwillingly, I briefly became a vessel for twisted divinity.

The evil god who awoke from slumber to establish an order based on his desires in this land once more.

Even after being directly hit by the power that took the lives of intruders who dared enter what was essentially his home…

[Still hurts like hell though. When I had a physical body, I was already weakened to the limit, and the impact was so severe I eventually lost that body…]

It wasn’t much—just listening to Paphnir’s calm assessment that Desire’s “touch” was as fierce now as it had been before, while reminiscing about the past.

If it had ended there, it truly would have been nothing significant, but…

[Still, with an opportunity like that, you couldn’t take that damned woman’s head?]

‘…Even rotten, a croaker is still a fish. I didn’t expect an evil god to block with just two fingers.’

[No grit at all. In that situation, you should have at least cut off a finger or two.]

‘Even if I had, they would grow back faster than new flesh forms. I needed to behead her…’

[So you do know. Still, you lack grit. Real grit. If I had been there instead of you, I would have put at least one hole in that woman’s heart.]

‘Yes, says the one who fainted after one finger snap from Desire.’

[…You haven’t trained lately, so you must be missing the taste of my fist?]

The problem was that our conversation devolved into something like an argument because I grew tired of Paphnir’s scathing critique of my confrontation with Desire after he lost consciousness.

His remarks were so cutting that I felt intimidated and irritated, leading me to talk back slightly.

[You should have shattered her body and banished her from this world, even if it killed you…]

I understood Paphnir’s feelings as he clicked his tongue, lamenting my failure to inflict a fatal wound on Desire.

[Next time, we’ll make sure she can’t defeat us even if she shakes her entire body, not just her fingers.]

His sincerity was palpable as he encouraged me with such confident words.

It was clear that Paphnir’s grudge against Desire ran as deep as my own twisted life caused by her desires—his resentment barely concealed beneath his seemingly cheerful tone.

Anyway, as I spent time discussing the events that had transpired with him…

[By the way.]

Paphnir’s voice came through calmly, changing the subject.

Unlike his earlier forced cheerfulness that tried to hide his fatigue…

[Though the situation is strange, we’ve made it to where we wanted…]

‘…And?’

[If we’re going to accomplish our task, we need to think about getting out of here first. What do you think we should do?]

Paphnir’s voice was infinitely solemn as he contemplated our next move.

It’s not a difficult task.

Before the regression, when I inherited part of her divine writ and the position of agent, I was frequently imprisoned in this underground dungeon for repeatedly rebelling against her.

‘…Getting past these bars that bend with just a little force is easy enough.’

I informed Paphnir in a rather deflated voice that escaping from here would be simple.

[The problem is getting from here to the main hall where that woman will be.]

‘That’s right.’

Paphnir’s contemplative voice echoed in my mind as he considered what we should do next.

Literally, escaping was easy. My experience as an agent who frequently broke out and rebelled hadn’t disappeared.

I could immediately visualize which parts of the prison bars would bend easily with applied pressure.

But what came after was the problem. The path from this underground dungeon to the throne room where she would be arrogantly seated would be lined with numerous powerful beings who wouldn’t let me pass easily.

In the past, my position as an agent meant that no one except Desire had the authority to command me, making it easier to act.

But now I was just an ordinary human and an intruder, without even that title to protect me.

Well, I did have the advantage of receiving the evil god’s attention to an almost excessive degree.

But in other words, this was also a factor that would provoke the numerous powerful beings in this demonic realm who were thirsty for the favor of their newly awakened lord.

“Ugh.”

The first audible sound to escape my throat since being imprisoned—apart from my mental conversations with Paphnir—was a groan of frustration at the difficult situation.

What to do? Even wearing the Crimson Dragon Armor and drawing on Paphnir’s borrowed fighting spirit and flames to their maximum would be insufficient to burn through this demonic realm.

And I wasn’t confident I could conserve that power for a straight path to the throne room while fighting the beings that would stand in my way.

“This is troublesome…”

I couldn’t help but let out this lament when…

[The situation is worse than you think.]

‘What do you mean?’

[A possessor of divine power rivaling Desire’s has arrived here.]

‘…You’ve got to be kidding.’

Alarmed by Paphnir’s words that seemed to drive the final nail in our coffin, I expanded my spiritual perception.

“…This is.”

I could sense Desire’s divine power—familiar from my time in the private room before losing consciousness—along with another nearly identical divine presence.

It was an aura I had felt somewhere before, but its identity was difficult to discern due to an inexplicable ambiguity surrounding it.

For whatever reason, feeling two divine powers surging in the same place could hardly be called a good situation. It was already life-threatening to face one, let alone another likely hostile divinity possessor.

“Sigh…”

I exhaled to calm my frustration, but…

[Hmm, someone’s coming.]

At Paphnir’s words—somehow detecting the outside situation more sensitively than I could—I paused my thoughts and sharpened my hearing.

Thud, thud

I could hear steady footsteps approaching from a distance.

I was just thinking how remarkable Paphnir’s ability was, detecting this through spiritual perception before I could sense it through my physical senses, when…

Screech-!! Screeeeech-!!

The door to the dungeon opened with a sound that assaulted my ears, much faster than I had estimated from the footsteps.

…Who could it be?

I gathered the light energy I had been circulating since regaining consciousness, strengthening it in preparation for whatever might come.