episode_0238

“The banquet hall must be bustling right now, completely unaware of the signal you sent. Your obsession with that sorceress seems stronger than I thought. By now, she’s probably wielding her sword in anger against the hero, don’t you think?”

“To stoop so low as to involve your own sister…”

“Calling me cowardly, when you tried to trap and kill me by manipulating the hero and the saint, shows that this was the right move after all.”

“….”

“You must have undoubtedly asked for help from that hero and sorceress, right? Otherwise, there’s no way you would have attended a noble social gathering with such a peculiar combination.”

“In that situation, it would be impossible for the hero and sorceress to arrive here without avoiding the eyes of others, and if those two weren’t here, I wouldn’t have any reason to fear you. Isn’t that right?”

…It was frustrating, but he was right. Even though MacHart hadn’t fully awakened as a demon yet, he wasn’t an opponent I could defeat without protagonist buffs.

Even if Cerista were to appear alone in the chaos to help, it would only buy time. Of course, that would be better than facing it alone.

As I mentioned earlier, Edan would find it difficult to leave easily due to the attention I had drawn to him.

“From the start, I didn’t think things would be resolved so easily, did you?”

“Well….”

“It’s strange, isn’t it? Suddenly, guests who have never attended this uncouth noble social gathering before are participating in large numbers.

Seeing you, who was trembling enough for the academy to have guards by your side 24/7, suddenly creating conflicts with others and trying to be alone, I didn’t think of it as a trap, did I?”

“….”

“But if you miss this opportunity, you’ll once again stick to that annoying monk and sorceress to avoid me. So, I decided to use this as a good opportunity.

Of course, I didn’t expect to fall even from that useless female sorceress and create discord with the dead noble monk.”

Thanks to that, I had less trouble. MacHart, who spat out the last words, seemed to be at his wit’s end.

I wanted to stab a vertical dagger into that face in my mind. But I didn’t have that ability, which was a problem.

Realizing through his words that my plan was flawed, I started to regret it too late.

“That stupid guy wouldn’t have doubted himself and thought of a way to deal with it. Probably Evelyn’s nonsense was involved.”

Evelyn may not have had the intelligence of a scholar, but if she could use MacHart, it meant she was smarter than MacHart.

In the end, my plan to deceive only one prince was flawed. There was no room for excuses. If I had considered Evelyn’s presence, I could have come up with a much more sophisticated plan or even attempted a direct approach.

Adding an uncertain element by analyzing MacHart’s psyche alone was my downfall. It was a sloppy trap, but I should have set up a more secure safety net.

If I had received help from one or two more people, the situation would have turned out differently. Even though I couldn’t convey my words because of the issue of suspecting the same royal family, asking for help from Seraphine might have been better.

-Whack!

“….!”

Nonchalantly conversing, MacHart approached me once again with a leap in magical power. I managed to avoid his approach with instinctive reflexes, but my limits were slowly being reached.

Without magical power, there was a limit to dodging the guy with just physical strength, and the gradual decrease in stamina was felt in both legs.

…And soon, there was also a gut feeling that if things continued like this, I would soon be caught by the guy and dragged back into the simulation world once again.

‘Maybe it would have been better to join the elite hero party from the beginning.’

I wished I had joined the party to deal with MacHart in the final story of the 4th part of MacHeart. Then, at least, I wouldn’t have to face such a disappointing end in a situation like this.

Ultimately, I didn’t know if I had unnecessarily dragged Agnes and Cerista into this trouble. If I ended up in such a bad situation here, the two of them would probably feel guilty about me for a long time.

…Especially to Edan, it was a regrettable action. I had created a scene of me fighting with MacHart for no reason. How much self-blame would I have for not being by his side when I was wrong?

Amidst the sense of crisis, various thoughts came to mind, and the chase continued in the backyard, gradually pushing my stamina to its limits.

“What’s wrong, why are you slowing down like this? You’ll soon be caught up at this rate?!”

“Heuk, heuk, heuk….”

“Are you starting to give up because you think no one will come to save you? If that’s the case, you can give up anytime!”

…Even if I die, I must put a knife to that damn face before I die.

Thinking that I wouldn’t be able to close my eyes if I didn’t do that, I turned my fleeing steps on the spot and attempted a counterattack in the direction MacHart was chasing.

-Paah!

“What…?!”

Suddenly changing direction and rushing towards my dagger, MacHart, who was surprised and flustered in mid-air, was caught off guard, as his body entered the range of my dagger in an instant.

‘Please, fall with one blow!’

With a sharp blade buffed, the crimson blade flew towards MacHart’s forehead, and just as my blade was about to make the boundary between his left and right brain more certain.

-Kkeugeuk!

“……Huh?”

-Teup.

“I finally got you.”

In a moment, MacHart, who bizarrely twisted his neck as if he were not human, grabbed my hand holding the dagger as he dodged my blade.

‘Damn, some parts of his body are already turning into demonization…!’

As soon as I was caught by MacHart, the surroundings rapidly darkened. It felt like the colors around me were being eaten away, like changing a color TV to a black and white TV.

With that ominous feeling, MacHart, who was dragging me into the simulation world, the arm he caught me with was already impossible to pull away.

…Maybe this time, I won’t be able to escape alive. Last time, I was lucky to escape while facing an unprepared guy, but I probably won’t have the same chance again.

‘In the end, this is it.’

Yeah. I’ve lived quite tenaciously.

For the past 7 years, I’ve somehow managed to survive without being forcibly possessed by Edan. I’ve done everything I could do. Well, I even handed Agnes a flame spirit, prevented Edan and Kaham from turning into fallen mid-bosses, and even created a reason to subdue MacHart before he demonized. So, I’ve been quite helpful in the progression of the story.

No matter how I exit in the middle, there shouldn’t be any major issues with the completion of the game by the Salvationist guy.

The hero defeated the Demon King and returned to the real world, Agnes became the master of the Red Tower, Seraphine succeeded the throne, and Cerista awakened as a true saint… Well, in a few years, they were all supposed to have their own happy endings.

And Edan, looking much better than in the original work, would probably move on after my death, letting go of any lingering attachment to me, and marry someone suitable to continue the Blackwood lineage.

The years-long expedition to defeat the Demon King, and as long as a handful of memories of me lingered in their minds in their own lives, that was enough.

“If I had known it would turn out like this, should I have just let Edan have Adara completely?”

If I had known I couldn’t hold onto Macheart, I should have at least done that much out of loyalty in the end. But regretting the past was pointless now, as all that was left for me was hell, so I had no choice but to cover it with a slightly happier imagination.

No. If he was going to be used as he pleased in this damn world, maybe suicide right now would be the only way to escape his intentions.

“Lilith…!!!”

And so, as the last flicker of light dimmed and Macheart’s power completely enveloped me in darkness, I somehow heard Edan’s voice calling out to me.

It was a clear voice, vivid enough to make me wonder if I was starting to see something like a ghostly light in the face of death, and Edan’s voice immediately connected not just through my ears, but through my senses, giving it a sense of reality.

-Thump.

“Lilith!! Are you still safe?!”

“…Edan?”

A small one-inch hole that Macheart’s unique magic had not yet enveloped.

From that small hole, a familiar hand reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling my entire body out into the outside world.

…Or rather, attempting to pull.

-Crash!

“Lilith! It’s Lilith, right?! Answer me!”

“Wait, wait a minute!! My arm!! My arm is going to come off!!”

“Oh.”

While his intention to pull me out of Macheart’s imaginary world was virtual, his ignorant method was on the verge of ripping off my left arm.

With a premonition that if done wrong, it would be Lilith, not Lilith, my mind was filled with a different kind of horror, and this time, a sharp blade tore through space and appeared in front of me.

…Not a metaphorical expression, but a real one in front of my eyes.

-Swish!

“Aaaah?!”

The blade was so close to my face that I thought it might pierce my temple if I had been a little off, and a different kind of fear of death enveloped me, different from the one just moments ago.

It was a realistic fear, not like being sucked into Macheart’s imaginary world. If I lost an arm, I could ask Serista to fix it, but if I became a cripple, I would have to find a shady field doctor instead of a real doctor.

However, my fear left me no room to worry, as Edan’s blade that appeared in front of me continued to cut through my body line, starting to tear Macheart’s imaginary world. And through the gap that was cut, a light that I thought I would never see again began to seep in little by little.

‘Wait, could this be…’

The blue energy flowing endlessly through the blade, the power to tear through dimensions to another world.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that the owner of this blade had set up the awakening flag as a Sword Expert.

-Slice, Sizzle!

In an instant, Edan cut away about half of the space surrounding me, and with a tearing sound, he pulled me out of Macheart’s imaginary world.

As if waking up from an unbelievable dream, I found myself in his arms in a princess-like embrace.

“Rilis, are you okay?! Are you hurt?!”

“…Y-yes.”

I never would have thought that Edan would arrive before the knight. And to top it off, he was awakened as a sword expert.

For a moment, Edan seemed more reliable than the knight, but I quietly buried that thought in my heart.