episode_0098

She began to reveal one fact after another that she knew. Lian started resolving her curiosity by piling up new questions.

Summarizing the long conversation briefly:

Who are you?

– I am a faithful servant of that being, a god from another realm.

Where is this place?

– It’s my mental space. A place where power can be strongly manifested. Being pulled in mentally is similar to dreaming.

Why did you bring me here?

– …A colleague disappeared and the trail ended here, so I wanted to investigate properly.

Who is the colleague?

– Hamulina. But I’m not curious anymore.

For what purpose did Hamulina approach me?

In response to the final question, the extraterrestrial deity remained silent for a while but soon, unable to withstand Lian’s intense gaze, began to sweat profusely and even started revealing unnecessary facts.

The term “deity from another realm” refers to gods who have perished or been expelled from their worlds and thrown into the crevices of dimensions collectively.

There are many types of deities from other realms, some considered good and others evil by human standards.

Although she is a deity from another realm, her status is not very high. Therefore, she lives as a servant, worshipping ‘that being.’

The deity of this world made a foolish mistake, weakening the dimensional barrier. To strengthen their power, ‘that being’ decided to rule this world.

Apart from them, there are other deities from other realms in a competitive relationship.

Therefore, she, as a follower of ‘that being,’ considers deities from other realms who do not follow ‘that being’ as enemies.

Beyond those deities, there exists a more antagonistic relationship, namely with the deity of the dark fantasy world.

Even if he messed up the world, since this world belonged to the deity of dark fantasy, if he intervened significantly, things could become difficult.

Amidst this, Lian appeared, bearing the power of the deity of dark fantasy, making her a target for all deities invading this world.

However, so far, the only deities who discovered Lian were her and Hamulina. As long as other deities from other realms didn’t find Lian, there was no immediate threat.

After hesitating for a moment, she mentioned that there was a real problem.

“A real problem?”

“Since Hamulina is a faithful servant of ‘that being,’ she must have passed on information about you to ‘that being.’”

“What? What does that mean…?”

“It means that ‘that being’ will take action.”

She deliberately didn’t mention that ‘that being’ was the leader of the demon army, but Lian had already figured it out.

This was because Potensien, who had been with Hamulina, was known as one of the Four Kings.

“At first, I didn’t recognize him because he looked different from what I knew…”

In the original work, Potensien resembled a merman more than a human. Only later did she realize that his weapons and unique way of speaking closely resembled the Four Kings in the original.

“In conclusion, the Demon King’s army is targeting me, right?”

It was a more serious situation than she thought. She wasn’t afraid of the Demon King’s army itself. Lian had already witnessed regions that had opposed her crumble before her eyes.

What worried her were the other people.

“…Other people could get involved.”

No matter how much Noah wielded great power within Cardisan, the land they resided in belonged to the Demon King. It felt like a state of uncertainty, not knowing when or from where a threat might come.

“If I run away alone – …No, that’s not it. I can’t guarantee that the Demon Lord Army will only chase after me.”

Noah, Iris, and Jest were all included in the future hero party. Even if the appearance of the hero party was not visible right now, they would eventually show a suitable appearance as time passed.

By then, they would either stand out to the Demon Lord Army and become corrupted or be killed. Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they wouldn’t look unscathed.

“Although we haven’t discovered the knight of the Duke yet -…”

Lian made up her mind with a firm face.

“We have to leave Cardisan, not the Demon Lord’s land.”

As her thoughts cleared, her narrow vision widened again. The deity from another realm, shaped like a mascot, rolled its eyes while watching Lian.

“Considering the fact that you were targeting me or that you are a deity from another realm, I should deal with you here immediately. But… there is no way.”

Apart from deciding whether to deal with the being in front of her, she couldn’t even know if she could leave this space.

Lian looked down at her palm. Although the mark was engraved, nothing was summoned even when she called for Gargandoa.

She suspected that this space was unique in some way.

“Ugh, I need to quickly make a plan to leave the Demon Lord’s land.”

After pondering for a moment without coming up with a proper answer, Lian said to the deity from another realm with a feeling of ‘I don’t know!’

“How can I get out of here?”

“In that case, you just have to go over there.”

The deity from another realm raised its short arm and pointed to one side. There was something shimmering black there, resembling a portal leading to another location.

“If you go in there, you might wake up.”

“Why are you telling me so willingly?”

“Benefit! Because of you guys, I ended up like this! If it weren’t for this appearance, I would have banished you myself…!”

As the deity from another realm once again got angry, Lian reflexively started shaking the deity up and down. Due to the vigorous shaking, the deity’s eyes began to roll around.

After releasing the teasing deity, Lian moved towards the portal. Just thinking about heading towards the portal made her body move forward on its own.

“Huff…”

“Well, I’ll be going now. Hopefully, I’ll live a good life from now on.”

After saying that, Lian hastily threw herself into the portal. In such mental worlds, the flow of reality and time could be different, making her anxious.

As Lian disappeared through the portal, the deity from another realm, who had been floating aimlessly in the dark space, suddenly burst into laughter.

“Kehehek! Kehehet! You foolish human!”

As Lian vanished, the deity gradually began to return to its original form. If a human were to meet the deity eye to eye, it had taken a form far beyond dimensions, to the extent that it would gouge out its own eyes.

The cute voice of a child changed into a strange mix of voices—female, male, young, and old.

Feeling its body returning to normal, the deity looked towards the portal.

“Hehehe, enjoy your meal.”

The portal that Lian had leaped into was not one leading back to reality. In the first place, there was no portal leading back to reality. To return to reality, Lian had no choice but to kill the deity from another realm. That was the nature of this space.

With a light gesture from the deity from another realm, the portal disappeared. Once Lian entered her body, she could no longer escape.

“In the infinite darkness, despair and shatter. Thus, become my nourishment.”

The interior of the otherworldly god is made up of endless darkness, causing one to wander eternally until gradually losing sanity, leading to the breaking of the soul.

A place where an ordinary human couldn’t endure even for a second, yet the god of the otherworld distinctly felt the presence of Lian within me, who was enduring quite well.

“Well, what despair will you feed on?”

The moment the god of the otherworld smiled at the banquet awaiting eagerly with saliva dripping.

Splat!

“Huh?”

Her abdominal area tore apart, something protruding. She looked at what could be called her abdomen. There was a part of ▉.

A part of ▉ began to move.

A part of ▉ split her belly.

A part of ▉ began to tear her apart into pieces.

Gulp.

▉ swallowed her whole.

***

“Meow meow, meow punch…”

On the soft bed, there was a 170cm-sized Dakikumara. In between, a deity of the gag world, wearing pajamas and a sleep mask with rabbit ears, was snoring.

“Nya meow… delicious… slurp..”

She snored and dribbled softly again. However, being asleep, she didn’t notice.

***

Chirp chirp, squeak.

“Ah.”

Lian woke up with a start, blinking her eyes. As she sat up, she saw the dawn outside.

“How long… cough, how long did I sleep?”

Her head felt fuzzy, but unlike when she slept for a week, she felt refreshed. It seemed she hadn’t slept that long this time. Thankfully.

With a dazed face, she looked out the window and shook her head vigorously like a dog shaking off water.

“Now’s not the time; I need to prepare to leave this land.”

With newfound enthusiasm, Lian jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. After a quick wash, she headed straight to the study desk in one corner of the room. Sitting down, she unfolded a piece of paper and picked up a pen.

“It’s been three years since I’ve been here -… it wouldn’t be strange if the knight arrived in Cardishan by now.”

Lian had asked Noah through Noah from time to time to confirm the existence of the knight. Since she knew the names and faces of those active here, asking for an investigation wasn’t difficult.

The results were always the same. ‘Not found.’

Thinking that she might miss something by searching haphazardly, she drew upon her original knowledge to deduce the likely arrival time of the knight. That time was this year.

“As the knight may arrive soon, I need to investigate whether the knight has arrived in Cardishan, choose people to leave with, prepare food and supplies accordingly.”

Lian had no intention of escaping the demon king’s land with all the organization members. Many among the lower-ranking members thought crime was nothing special.

Growing up in a place with such lack of morality, this aspect stood out more. It was necessary to select only those who wanted to escape from the demon king’s land after filtering them out.

“And…”

Lian meticulously organized her plans, as if the world were cheering her on.

“Brother! Noah, brother, has returned!”

Just in time, Noah returned from his trials.