Ch.324Old Ties (2)

‘A favor?’

“…What do you want? If it’s something I, no, we can do, I’ll do it.”

The Sky Mother asked, but Isabelle shook her head.

“First promise you’ll do it. I’ll tell you what the favor is after that.”

With those words, Isabelle fell silent.

She seemed unwilling to open her mouth until I agreed to follow her request.

‘From the way she talks, she seems to know quite a lot.’

It doesn’t seem like she’s bluffing. If that was her intention, she would have told outright lies or taken a different attitude.

‘Judging by her physical responses, the possibility of lying is slim.’

The auxiliary organs in each of my heads are monitoring Isabelle’s every movement. Eye movements, breathing rhythm, muscle tremors—all flow through the air to the ends of the auxiliary organs under my jaw.

No reactions indicating lies are detected. Except for the trembling in her leg muscles due to her severed toes.

At least it’s certain that she knows something about the illusion.

‘Let’s talk a bit more.’

I moved my four legs to stand beside the Sky Mother. She flinches, startled by the shock of what Isabelle said.

“I didn’t expect you to make a counter-proposal. That’s surprising.”

“It’s more surprising that a Morph freak chose ‘conversation’.”

“Enough with the useless talk. I have something to ask.”

Her response was sharp, but I ignored it and got straight to the point.

“You said you’d share your knowledge if we granted your favor, right?”

“Yes.”

“Is there any guarantee you won’t lie after we’ve finished the job?”

If I fulfill all the conditions but she just tells lies, I’ll be at a loss.

Isabelle twitched her antennae, seemingly displeased by my suspicion.

“Don’t put me in the same category as you.”

“I can’t grant your favor without being certain you’ll only tell the truth.”

“If you can’t trust me, then forget it.”

“Isabelle!”

The Sky Mother projected a thought wave meaning “that’s enough,” but Isabelle paid no attention.

“If dialogue doesn’t work, I’ll have to choose another method.”

“Do you think I’m here without any means of escape?”

Of course not.

I already know she’s hiding her abilities. The power of Voltex One, the true ability of Coldblood, and the perks that players who came to this world received.

What abilities and perks she possesses is unknown, but they must be sufficient to overcome the current crisis. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have survived until now.

But the same goes for me.

I’m also hiding my power. I have no intention of letting her go peacefully.

She holds information I need. The surest way to obtain that knowledge is to eat Isabelle and turn her into a face parasite. If I catch her, I’ll persuade her with my teeth, not words.

‘The problem is that there’s a big risk factor….’

If the Cult gets involved while I’m fighting Isabelle, things will get troublesome. Any Cult ranker on this planet thinks I’m dead. If they learn of my survival, they’ll try to kill me by any means. Then I’d have to fight both the Cult ranker and Isabelle simultaneously.

‘Still, considering priorities, getting her is more important.’

The reason I came to Beryan02 in the first place was to get information from Isabelle. Now that I’ve found her, I’ve achieved half my goal. Fighting here would expose my existence to the Cult, but that’s better than letting her slip away indecisively.

“Wait a moment.”

Just as I was about to make a decision, the Sky Mother intervened.

“The problem is that Isabelle might lie, right?”

[Zu (Yes)]

“That’s right.”

“Then I have a solution.”

She walked a few steps forward and stood between Isabelle and me.

“Isabelle, make a Voltex One contract. I’ll bear the consequences if you break it.”

“What?”

[Zu (What?)]

Isabelle’s eyes twitched at her old friend’s sudden proposal. Her heartbeat fluctuated significantly for the first time.

I was also surprised by what the Sky Mother suggested.

Voltex One, nicknamed the Demon of Space.

True to its nickname, all their activities are carried out through contracts. The reason Coldblood can use Voltex One’s power is all thanks to contracts.

Depending on what power of Voltex One you borrow—whether strengthening yourself or destroying something with tremendous force—you can use abilities with completely different effects.

Naturally, the stronger the borrowed ability, the greater the price required. The risk of not paying that price also increases.

While the price of contracts varies greatly depending on the severity and type of power borrowed, the risk of violation is completely different. It causes not only death but also permanent damage to the player.

Here, Coldblood has one way to minimize the risk of not fulfilling a contract as a racial characteristic.

That’s using a sacrifice. By transferring the risk that should be borne by oneself to the sacrifice when violating the contract, one can minimize the damage.

Of course, if the unpaid price continues to accumulate, even the sacrifice becomes useless, but that’s not the important part right now.

No matter how light the contract, the risk is very severe. The Sky Mother must know this.

Knowing that, she declared that she would take responsibility if Isabelle lied.

“If I lie, you’ll die.”

“Then just tell the truth.”

“Why are you doing such a useless thing now?”

“I think fighting each other here is even more useless.”

“……”

Isabelle closed her mouth, seemingly at a loss for words. The Sky Mother turned to look at me, taking her gaze off her.

There was no sign of wavering in her beautiful amber eyes. She had already completely made up her mind.

“With this, AMorph, you can trust her, right?”

[Zu (Yes)]

I briefly expressed my agreement.

I didn’t agree because I thought it was okay for her to die.

Throughout our journey, the Sky Mother has become an important companion to me. Though less so than No. 26 or Adhigh Orr, whom I consider family, she is still precious to me.

The reason I agreed despite this is because Isabelle’s reaction was quite intense. The one who seemed detached from all relationships showed great agitation when the Sky Mother offered to risk her life.

That means she still has feelings for her old friend.

The possibility of lying at the cost of sacrificing a friend is low.

“…Fine.”

After thinking for several minutes, Isabelle sighed briefly and agreed to the condition.

She took out something similar to a shield generator from her worn clothes. While a shield generator is in the form of a hexagonal plate, this item was a pentagonal plate.

‘It’s an energy blocking device.’

Energy is always generated when making a contract with Voltex One. Even for a very small contract that prevents lying. The energy that can be blocked by an energy blocking device is extremely limited, but in this case, it’s sufficient. That small tool should be able to block energy leakage.

‘I’ve learned one more fact from this.’

She doesn’t have a good relationship with the Cult ranker in Beryan02. There might be some kind of relationship I don’t know about, but at least they’re not on openly friendly terms. That’s why she carries an energy blocking device.

While I was thinking this, she turned on the energy blocking device and made a contract with the Sky Mother. A black light flickered slightly inside the barrier, but no energy leaked outside.

“It’s done.”

Isabelle, who finished the contract in less than a minute, deactivated the barrier. The Sky Mother looked fine except for her fur being flattened, making her look less energetic.

“Now tell me what you want.”

“Alright. Follow me.”

Isabelle said while gathering her grocery basket and curved knife.

“Follow you?”

“It’s a safe place. Now that we’ve made a contract, I have no intention of harming you.”

She cannot lie until the deal is complete. I looked at the Sky Mother with a questioning glance, and she nodded.

We followed Isabelle out of the alley.

She moved only through areas that were in the blind spots of surveillance towers. Judging by her lack of hesitation, she seems to have moved around like this many times.

Eventually, she stopped at an old warehouse. Isabelle operated an old terminal to deactivate the barrier blocking the entrance.

The first thing we saw inside were odds and ends scattered everywhere. Beneath the messily spread junk was a floor covered in dust.

‘Huh?’

Though it appeared that no outsiders had set foot here for a long time, AMorph’s auxiliary organs couldn’t be fooled. I could sense traces of someone deliberately sprinkling fine sand to hide footprints.

And part of the floor was only identical on the surface; the material was completely different. I could hear the sound of air passing through beneath the floor with different material.

‘There’s an empty space under the warehouse.’

As expected, Isabelle traced a specific pattern on the differently textured floor with her foot. The floor disappeared with a thud, revealing stairs leading underground.

“Isabelle, what on earth have you done?”

“I did what Sister Seoa didn’t do.”

After throwing out these incomprehensible words, she went down the stairs.

[Zuzuzuzu (Let’s follow)]

We followed Isabelle underground. There wasn’t even a common light on the way down. The stairs themselves were too crude to be considered made by the Cult.

Only after descending the long stairs and arriving at the underground level did I understand why the stairs were in that form.

And what Isabelle meant when she spoke to the Sky Mother.

In the darkness underground, I sensed numerous presences. Dozens of Coldbloods were kneeling and praying.

Looking at them praying to an unknown being, Isabelle said,

“Isabelle, you…”

“Help me move them to a safe planet. That’s my request.”

Coldbloods searching for a lost paradise and salvation.

Isabelle was the underground messiah guiding them.