Chapter 91

“So, I said, stop spouting nonsense.”

“…….”

“Tell me, what goblin shaman in the world could command thousands of goblins and kobolds and maintain such a high-level barrier? If that were possible, goblins would already rule the world. Honestly, if you lie, at least make it believable. This… isn’t even a joke.”

“Hmm….”

The goblin shaman straightened his hunched back with an embarrassed expression, then spoke in a beautiful voice, soft and clear like rolling silver bells.

“True… I did think so. Eh. I wanted to play a little longer, but… I suppose there’s no choice.”

“So, who are you? Why gather thousands of goblins here and do all this? If it was just to kill a few adventurers, this seems like a massive waste.”

The goblin gave a surprisingly bright smile that didn’t match his filthy face.

“Oh, right. I haven’t introduced myself yet.”

With a clap of his hands, a wave of malevolent psychic energy radiated outward from him.

“Psychic attack…! Damn it!”

I reflexively turned Tipola and Clio’s jaws to knock them unconscious, since the wave was too fast to do anything else.

Then…

Krrrrrrrr…!

Thousands of goblins, hundreds of kobolds, and the rest of my party whose consciousness I hadn’t taken over all drew their weapons with wild, bulging eyes… and then slit their own throats deeply and fully.

Thok! Fububububuk! Thok! Zzziit!

Shraaahhh!!

“This is insane…!!”

Finally, the goblin shaman also stabbed his own neck with a ritual dagger.

Fubuk!

He collapsed…

A total, chaotic suicide spectacle.

Some of the overflowing blood pooled together, then formed the shape of a beautiful woman.

“Haah…”

The blood-crafted woman slightly lifted a skirt made of blood and bowed elegantly toward me and Shia.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am “Disis.”

Disis? That name… sounds familiar.

At that moment, Shia grabbed my hair with a grip so strong it almost hurt.

I understood why from what the crimson woman said next.

-I am also called Disis of Omnipotence, or Disis of Sunset. I look forward to working with you.

“…The Demon King? The Disis of the Western Continent?”

-Yes. That’s another name they use to call me.

“…Insane.”

-Now that my identity is revealed, we must first deal with the most important matter.

“…And that is?”

-Abduction.

“Who?”

-You.

Immediately, a lake of blood poured from the monsters, surging like a tsunami toward me. And I mean a literal wave of blood.

I reflexively threw Shia out of the attack zone, then stabbed at the air with my hand.

Kwa-dd-dd-dd-deuk!

A tear in space opened, and I barely avoided being swept away by the blood, but the situation didn’t improve.

By then, a dome made entirely of the immense blood had trapped me.

“Damn…!”

I dashed like lightning, tearing the blood dome apart.

Ching! Kwa-dd-dd-dd-deuk!

The divine force in my sword split the dome like a miracle of Moses, but a new cascade of blood quickly refilled it, restoring the dome.

A method of using mass to recreate matter. The exact kind of magic I, unable to manipulate spiritual energy well, found most troublesome.

Inside the dome, a crimson three-dimensional magical array covered everything.

The space shivered—or more precisely, the spatial coordinates fluctuated.

“Could it be…!?”

Having experienced teleportation several times before, I realized this was a form of spatial transfer magic.

“An abduction, and it’s real?”

I swung my sword quickly, tearing the space itself. By destabilizing the space like this, I could block the spatial transfer.

Yet still, the light of the magical array did not stop.

‘…A spell far stronger than teleportation. She’s trying to send me somewhere by any means. But why? What did I even do?’

‘I can’t stop it just by tearing space. That means there’s no way to avoid being moved.’

Then, what’s the best move I can make right now?

‘Protect Shia…!’

Even in this desperate moment, I gritted my teeth and drew a steady breath. What I was about to attempt was a technique I had never tried, only imagined in my mind.

“Huuh….”

The spatial flux grew more violent. I probably had only one chance.

I pulled Astrafe back with all my focus and concentration.

And I stabbed.

Kwa-jik!

The sword pierced through the unstable space.

Normally, it would have ended there, but now I had to go one step further.

Following intuition alone, I pushed Astrafe further into the rift.

Pook!

The sensation in my hands… and when I drew the sword out, a silvery liquid reminiscent of mercury coated the blade.

‘Damn… so desperation really does work.’

I felt my vision flip and, unlike me, prayed fervently.

‘Shia. Please… stay safe…!’

Flash!!

Shia, seeing the sword trapped inside the blood dome, threw her spring-loaded mechanism and screamed.

“Break it!!”

Krrhahahaha!! Kaaaahhh!!

A massive tiger and an equally enormous wolf lunged at the dome, slamming their bodies against it repeatedly. Over and over.

Kwaaaang! Kwaaaaang!!

The blood dome rippled with the force, but refused to collapse.

The tiger and wolf, sharing their master’s urgency, clawed and bit like mad, but could only chip away at parts of the dome.

Seeing this, Disis burst into laughter.

-Akatasthasia. How pitiful. How can you be weaker than me, who is only a projection?

“You… you… how dare you touch my… my… my Sword God!”

-That so-called Sword God is gone now.

Immediately, the dome trapping Sword God wavered violently, then collapsed into a wave of blood.

But Sword God was already gone from that place.

“Sword God… Sword God…?”

Shia’s legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the pool of blood with a thud!

-Now, it’s your turn, Akatasthasia. Ah, I almost stopped breathing from jealousy… but thank goodness. Really, thank goodness. I can make you unhappy again.

At Disis’s gesture, the blood that had formed the dome gathered once more, slowly floating into the air.

Sensing their master in danger, the wolf and tiger hurriedly moved to surround Shia…

“You think you can stop it with just that?”

Just as the gathered blood began transforming into hundreds, even thousands of chains, trying to snatch Shia’s small body—

Pook!

A golden sword suddenly shot out from nowhere, piercing Disis’s neck.

“Uh… uh…?”

Chwaaaak!

Silver liquid gushed from her neck. She hurriedly absorbed the blood to close the wound, but the flowing liquid showed no sign of stopping.

-A real sword… crossed the space? No, how did it even happen in that situation…?

“Sword God…?”

Disis glared at Shia with eyes full of hatred, then let out a hollow laugh.

-Ah… with this body, I can do nothing. About a minute left, I suppose? Half success? Or half failure?

“You…”

-Heh. Truly an incredible man. Your hero… no wonder you were rescued from the chains of being a Demon King.

“…Where did you send Sword God?”

-Why you? Huh? Answer me. Why you, and not me?

“Tell me!!”

-Why you! Why not me!? What’s the difference between us?

“You… I will never forgive you…!”

-Do you know? The Eastern and Southern guys are going mad with curiosity too. How could he survive that terrible binding?

“Shut up! Shut up and tell me where Sword God is!”

-That man is dead.

Shia clenched the sealed sword pendant at her chest and shouted.

“Don’t make me laugh! Sword God and I are connected! He can’t be dead! Tell me! Where is he!?”

-Ah, so that’s it. That pendant… that’s what sealed you. As a Demon King. But how? What must be offered to seal a ‘Demon King’? Does such a thing even exist in Kion?

-Even if it did, why? Why throw something so valuable away for you? What is it about you?

-Jealous. Jealous. Jealous. Jealous. Jealous. Jealous. Jealous!!!

-I could do it too! I could do it better than you! Why you!!

“……”

-I’ll beg too. I’ll ask to be released. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll tear your limbs. Crush your soul.

“…The Western Continent. He was taken to the Western Continent.”

Having poured out all the silver liquid, she curled her cracked lips into a sneer.

-Even if you knew, you couldn’t meet him. Never. I will block all sea routes, all sanctuaries.

With those words, Disis crumbled away.

Then, Shia, regaining her composure, clenched the warmth of her pendant tightly and smiled faintly.

“You don’t know Sword God.”

The red-eyed woman sitting alone on the throne snapped her eyes open and exhaled heavily.

“Ugh! Huff… huff huff huff…”

After a while, buried in the throne, she finally broke into laughter.

“Hahaha! Hahaha! Ahahaha!!”

Half failure. And half success.

No, the failure side could be recovered later.

For now, it was time to rejoice in the success. Above all, she had made contact with the man before the Eastern ‘Anatore’ and Southern ‘Notos.’

No, not just contact. She had even succeeded in dragging him into her territory, the Western Continent.

“Heh… lucky.”

Yes. She was lucky. Very lucky.

In truth, she had no interest in how Demon Kings from other continents, like Akatasthasia, were faring. It was hard enough to manage her own body; why care about others?

But last winter, as soon as she instinctively realized that Akatasthasia had broken free from her trial chains, she became her primary concern.

Chains. Damnable chains. Chains that even prevented suicide.

She had thought she would never escape. That she would roll eternally, miserably.

But no.

There existed someone who had broken free. And if someone could break free, that meant it could be done.

Thus, the first thing she did was move her heavy body to corner herself in a Western Continent labyrinth and consume the ‘Goblin God Krusha’.

Like other Demon Kings, she was under a confinement curse… but her special traits could partially offset it, making it possible.

By becoming the new Goblin God instead of Krusha, she used all the eyes of Northern Continent goblins to search for Akatasthasia.

The criterion was simple:

“Beauty unbound by chains.”

As it was for her, it would be for Akatasthasia.

And astonishingly, it worked.

A few months ago, in a territory called Seol, at a place named Gilphon Mountain… she spotted a “crazy beautiful girl” with a male adventurer.

She instinctively knew:

This girl is the Northern Demon King, Akatasthasia.

So she gathered goblins here and there.

The goblin forces would inevitably summon the adventurer.

And at last…

“…Caught.”

-You don’t know Sword God.

The last words Akatasthasia left behind.

“Haha…! Ahahaha!!”

She sank into the throne’s backrest and laughed once more.

“If I don’t know, I just have to find out.”