Chapter 122 – 17th Floor. If You Want to Do It, Do It

While receiving the kind guidance of navigation, I saw Levand rolling on the floor in four pieces, courtesy of my newly conceived secret technique ‘Heavenly Demon Backstab’ that I had thought up while scratching my belly. As I deliberately stepped on him, I flashed a great smile, showing my rice-noodle-white teeth to Albert, whose expression was surely dumbfounded behind his visor, and Blue Tongue, who was wagging her tail as if happy to see me.

“As expected, you can’t manage without me, can you?”

“Hmm…”

Albert made a subtle sound of discontent, his pride seemingly hurt, then suddenly remembered something and hurriedly rushed past me.

Blue Tongue did the same.

‘Were they so desperate without me that they didn’t know what to do? I suppose that’s understandable.’

Though they pretend otherwise, both rely on me about ninety-nine percent of the time, so with my generosity, I closed my eyes and nodded in understanding.

Kwagagagagagagang—!!!

A filthy-smelling hand brushed right past me, completely blowing away the corridor where the two had been standing moments ago, but my thoughts remained unchanged.

『Mass of National Corpses』Level: 30

Health: 1672/1826 ■■■■■■■■■□

【A masterpiece of the legendary Necromancer Levand. The sentinel of the source, meticulously created using all the people of the kingdom where he was born as materials.】

A giant that swept away a corridor spanning dozens of meters with just one swing of its arm.

Looking at the disgustingly ugly face of this undead made from an entire nation’s worth of people, one might certainly miss their own handsome face.

“Useless thoughts are free to have, but now is not the time, I believe!”

Albert and Blue Tongue moved urgently, deflecting showering debris, but I only rolled my eyeballs to find it.

The source of the fellow struggling to reassemble itself under my feet.

Finding it didn’t take long.

My gaze naturally turned to where I could feel power that would allow one to call that mass of corpses such.

Thump— Thump— Thump—

A pulsation like a heartbeat spread around before disappearing like a mirage.

‘Is that it?’

What existed where my gaze landed was something resembling a large glass tube.

It might be easier to understand if I say it was like a cylindrical tank with transparent jellyfish floating up and down, like those seen in aquariums I visited during childhood field trips.

Except that inside were not brainless jellyfish but human souls that couldn’t achieve enlightenment and had to remain trapped—otherwise, it looked quite similar.

“…Disgusting. This isn’t something humans should do.”

Severa, who had somehow returned to her original state, expressed her sentiment.

It wasn’t a fierce emotion like anger flaring up like fire, but the sympathy and grief in her expression created an illusion as if bloody tears were streaming down from her eyes.

“Which part?”

With the smooth sensitivity of a modern person, it seemed more horrific to me that tens of thousands of corpses had been gathered to create one giant, but exercising my ocean-deep soul sensitivity, from the perspective of Severa who had been a wraith, perhaps that Life Vessel looked more terrible.

My prediction seemed correct, as Severa wasn’t even looking at the mass of corpses.

But in the end, it was just a difference in degree; neither could be considered the result of rational behavior.

“Does it matter?”

“No, it doesn’t.”

I’ll smash them both.

With that thought, my eyes flashed, and my body lowered, ready to shoot forward at any moment.

‘I’ll destroy it in one strike.’

The condition of the Life Vessel wasn’t quite at the “would break with a light tap” level, but with cracks already spreading, it would collapse with enough force.

The damage was small but deep, likely Blue Tongue’s doing.

All the better. Attacking that part strongly would surely destroy it one hundred times out of one hundred.

I positioned myself with the sword raised to head height, ready to extend. Though the corridor had completely fallen away due to the corpse mass’s flailing, revealing the other side of the dimension below, this distance was no obstacle with my current physical abilities.

An immeasurable force entered the legs planted on the floor.

As my joints bent like springs, my body shot forward—

“Heavenly Dem…”

“W-Wait a moment!”

Waver—

“Kyaaaaa!!! I’m falling!!!”

Due to Severa’s untimely interruption, I showed a less-than-impressive display, but I deliberately maintained a haughty attitude to maintain my dignity.

“Another damn nuisance.”

“Hmm. Is this popular in the human world?”

I ignored the whispers from behind—surely such a minor, cute mistake could be overlooked by someone like me?

“So why did you stop me?”

“That’s…”

Severa hesitated as if uncomfortable speaking about it.

Of course, time was short and even such hesitation was costly, but as a magnanimous K-rank 9 citizen, I could endure this much to hear what the Onahole had to say.

I wouldn’t be embarrassed to call myself a great hero.

Crunch—

Though that didn’t mean I’d give the wriggling fellow underfoot time to recover, so I demonstrated the path of a lesser hero—I decided to compromise and call myself a middle hero.

If a great hero is 1 and a lesser hero is 0, then a middle hero would be 0.5, which rounded up is essentially a great hero, so there’s still no loss to me in this spirited calculation method.

“Give me a chance.”

“A chance? What kind of chance?”

Severa, having used up all her magic counts, could no longer participate in combat.

With her Fuel meter nearly at the bottom, giving her another magic staff wouldn’t help her accomplish much.

We’d gradually reached a point where more and more things couldn’t be resolved with Severa’s firepower.

But what Severa requested from me wasn’t her boastful firepower or anything within the capabilities she had shown so far.

“I want to liberate these souls.”

“Won’t they just fly away if we break the pillar?”

“They’re too worn down for that. If not properly guided, they won’t be able to escape the dimensional gap and will wander for a long time before completely perishing.”

That wouldn’t do.

These people were already unjustly killed by this idiot; carelessly disposing of them doesn’t suit my character.

“Do you have a method?”

A slightly hesitant appearance.

But that hesitation didn’t last long.

“Yes. I’ll accept these souls into my spirit form.”

“That cannot be allowed!”

The first to react to Severa’s words wasn’t me, Albert, or Blue Tongue, but the perverse Necromancer Levand, currently being stepped on.

Both Severa and I turned our gaze toward him at his seemingly urgent voice.

“For that complete and utterly perfect soul form, second to none in the world, to be mixed with such inferior things! It’s unacceptable!”

Levand cried out vehemently, forgetting even to regenerate.

But somehow, he seemed more concerned about Severa than his own Life Vessel.

“I say this because it’s true. Don’t you understand the value of such a pure, noble soul compared to millions of souls that would immediately wear away and disappear if not killed and imprisoned?”

If asked to weigh hundreds of thousands of strangers against Severa, I’d naturally choose the latter, but the feeling differs from how this guy speaks.

My choice would be based on personal connection, while this guy genuinely believes Severa’s value exceeds that of hundreds of thousands.

The temperature difference stemming from that distinction.

“One or two wouldn’t matter. But when the number reaches a million! Even a pure soul like yours won’t be able to maintain its self when doing such a thing!”

“…”

Severa didn’t deny Levand’s words.

She merely shot him a sharp glare, biting her lip tightly.

“Even worn down, they’ve lived dozens of years of life! Accepting them means you alone must endure all those years!”

“Is that true?”

“I don’t know. But… considering this guy is a necromancer, we can’t simply dismiss it.”

To save them, we might lose Severa.

And we might not even be able to save them.

“Severa, how do you plan to save these souls? Just accepting them into your body won’t solve everything.”

For souls not to perish, they must be guided.

That means Severa would have to become their guide, doesn’t it?

“…When I move on to the next.”

Next.

It sounded like grasping at clouds, but her words didn’t hide multiple meanings.

Rather, interpreting them literally made them easier to understand.

And with that, I could nod.

“You!!!”

Whack!

I kicked the shouting Levand and dropped him into the dimensional gap.

With a scream as if vomiting blood, the golden-haired moron disappeared beyond, and I smiled fiercely, showing my teeth.

Slap—!

“Kyaak?!”

Along with the crisp sound, I felt a juicy yet mirage-like ethereal touch in my palm.

Severa’s thin witch outfit fluttered as her knees slightly curled and her body trembled.

“Heavenly Demon Spanking.”

“Y-You…!”

Though her voice was moist with tears welling up, hearing it made me happier.

“If you want to do it, do it.”

Severa, rubbing her spanked bottom, made an expression as if I’d surprised her.

Of course, that too disappeared when I raised my hand.

Severa and I locked eyes.

Red eyes like when we first met, but with a gentler gaze unlike then.

No more conversation was needed.

Kuguuuuguuuguuung—

The moron who had fallen beyond the dimension reappeared, riding the giant filled with the energy of death.

“Yes, if you want to do something, you should do it.”

“After all…!”

Two pairs of angry eyes bore down on me.

But faster than that, Severa had already reached the Life Vessel.

“Now, while Severa-hedgehog does what she wants, let’s have some fun among ourselves.”