Chapter 335
However, an unexpected event occurred.
Paaaaaaah!
With a deep darkness, Idrinne's soul recovered again.
The devil could not just stand by and watch, and had made a move.
[You bastard….]
The devil uttered a ghastly voice.
However, Chris wore an even more relaxed expression.
It was a scene that clearly showed who had the upper hand between the two of them.
“Let me be honest. I don't want to die either. But I would rather die than let things go your way. Idrinne would want that as well.”
He was being sincere.
He could feel the being fall silent.
“I will count to three. Within that time, release Idrinne and be gone. Otherwise, you will lose all of your vessels.”
Woooooo.
Andril began to howl.
Its power was being unleashed.
“One.”
A low murmur.
The devil stood still, unmoving. As if it had no intention of obeying.
Chris, paying it no mind, continued his count.
“Two.”
Kiiiiiaaaaaaaah.
Perhaps rejoicing at the coming feast?
Andril let out a monstrous scream, as if it would tear souls apart.
An intense energy surged forth like a typhoon.
A suffocating tension descended.
The devil was still not moving.
This was the last chance.
He had to make a choice.
Whether to really annihilate Idrinne’s soul as he had said, and then offer his own as well.
Perhaps the devil was remaining still, thinking that Chris would not be able to do it.
However.
‘If you flinch, you lose.’
This was the Chris who had not lost even in a match against the greatest gambler in the Alliance in his past life.
He knew better than anyone that to back down now would be the end.
Whether it worked or not, even if it would lead to his own destruction, this was the time to go for it.
“Three. It's over.”
Paaaaaaaaaaah!!!!
Chris cleared his mind.
With the true intention of annihilating Idrinne and following her in death, he thrust his sword.
In the instant that Andril was about to pierce the core of Idrinne’s soul.
A low, heavy voice held him back.
[…Stop.]
Chris stared blankly at the devil.
[Insolent… bastard. As you wish, I will retreat this time.]
The devil’s energy began to fade.
It was really leaving Idrinne!
[However, do not rejoice. I have merely granted you a grace period.]
Chris let out a sneer.
“For a Great Rank, you talk too much. Shut your mouth with that third-rate villain talk and if you're going to leave, then leave.”
[!!]
To dare to mock a Great Rank.
The devil emitted a wrathful presence, but Chris wore an indifferent expression.
‘It's not like it would have treated me any better if I were polite anyway.’
The Great Rank spoke, as if in warning.
[…Be prepared. This child, and you, will both eventually become the tools of our Gehenna and the protagonists of the world's destruction.]
“You're the ones who should be prepared. As long as I am here, things will never go your way.”
[!!]
At Christian, who refused to back down to the very end, the surrounding space churned with a rumble, as if it were grinding its teeth.
But it could not actually make a move and disappeared.
Afterward, a stillness descended.
‘Hoo.’
Chris let out a low sigh.
Fortunately, things had worked out.
‘No, did they really work out?’
Just then, a trembling voice was heard.
“Why did you do such a reckless thing?!”
Idrinne’s consciousness appeared.
“Even if you do something like this, I can never be freed from that devil anyway.”
She wasn't wrong.
Chris looked around.
Idrinne’s mental world was still mostly dyed in the devil’s energy.
Only an extremely small part belonged to Chris’s darkness.
In other words, although the devil had temporarily left, her soul was still in the devil’s grasp.
-I have merely granted you a grace period.
‘The moment the dominion I've secured over Idrinne's soul disappears, it will be the end.’
The reason the devil had obediently retreated was because Chris could use his dominion over her soul to annihilate it with Andril.
But the dominion Chris had obtained was nothing but weak and unstable.
The dominion Chris had obtained through a 'trick' would, over time, naturally and little by little, be passed on to the rightful 'contractor', the devil, and at that time, the devil would descend upon Idrinne once again.
“Kill me now, while you still can! It’s not too late!”
Idrinne cried out with a desperate voice, but.
“No.”
“You?”
Idrinne’s eyes trembled.
“Why on earth, for my sake?”
“……”
Chris was silent for a moment.
‘…I think she's misunderstanding something.’
The biggest reason Chris was trying to save Idrinne was to make her his sucker.
Because Idrinne possessed the qualities to become a sucker even greater than Evan.
‘In terms of potential, the power she holds, and her foolish sucker-ness, she’s the best.’
Especially considering the coming apocalypse, she was a sucker he could absolutely not afford to lose.
And, above all.
“I will never let you be taken by the devil. Trust me.”
“!!”
This was his resolve.
‘I have to face Gehenna anyway.’
If he couldn't even manage to save her, he would not be able to save the world.
He had hardened his resolve with that thought, but for some reason?
Drip.
A tear trickled down from Idrinne’s eye.
As if she were moved.
‘…Uh, that’s not what I meant.’
It seemed the misunderstanding was growing deeper and deeper.
Chris hastily tried to clear it up.
“Don't worry about it. You're my suc—... friend. You can become a sucker... Ah, no, you can repay me as a friend.”
At those words, Idrinne wiped the corners of her eyes with her hand and nodded her head firmly.
“I understand. I will surely repay your grace. Be prepared. I will pay you back ten… no, a hundred, a thousand… no, even more than that.”
Idrinne cleared her throat, then carefully opened her mouth.
“By the way, I have something to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“…Are we still the most precious of friends?”
Idrinne asked, watching his reaction.
Chris had a bewildered expression.
He now knew that Lia and Idrinne were one and the same idiot.
“The most precious of friends? No, we're not.”
“N-no?”
Idrinne, with her statue-like face, wore a devastated expression, as if the sky were falling.
“D-don't lie! I know all about your feelings for me!”
“Well, think whatever you want. It's not like you're in elementary school.”
“Y-you're too much!!”
Idrinne cried out with a resolute face.
“I will repay the grace you've shown me a thousandfold in a grand fashion! I will show you my good and excellent side, and make you acknowledge me as your most precious person!”
Chris let out a sneer.
“Yes, yes. Do your best. I'll be going now. You get some rest, too.”
Having been dominated and exploited by the devil, Idrinne's soul had reached its limit.
Idrinne’s spiritual form began to grow faint.
“Be… pre… pared. When I… wake… up… I will… make you… my most… precious…”
“……”
At the sight of her not letting go of her obsession even as she lost consciousness, Chris wore a sour expression.
‘That somehow looks familiar.’
The method was different, but there was one other idiot of a similar level.
Paaaat!
Chris’s consciousness returned to reality.
When he came to his senses, Evan's face was right there.
It was this guy. An idiot on par with Idrinne.
After listening to Idrinne's mental assault, seeing Evan as soon as he opened his eyes made his head throb.
“Christian.”
“…Stop.”
“…Hm?”
“I know what you're going to say, so don't say it.”
Chris preemptively blocked Evan’s mental assault.
But Evan’s foolishness was even more powerful than he had thought.
“You're being shy. When you were just about to sacrifice yourself for the sake of the world again. Honestly, you. I understand. I'll pretend I don't know. However, do not worry. I will remember your noble heart.”
“……”
‘Throw away that Mind's Eye, you bastard.’
It was an Evan whose perception was getting worse by the day.
“…Anyway, let’s go.”
Christian looked down at the lower level of the ruins.
It was time to get his hands on his original objective, the ‘Life Vessels’.
* * *
There were a full fifteen Life Vessels in the ruins.
As explained before, the higher a lich’s level, the higher the purity of death energy they required, so the Life Vessels of the Twelve Legion Commanders and other high-ranking liches had been concentrated here.
‘Done.’
After the work was finished, Ranya and Evan returned to the Alliance’s side.
“Thank you.”
Before they parted, Chris expressed his sincere gratitude.
Evan nodded his head gruffly as if to say it was nothing, and Ranya raised her chin haughtily.
“So you finally admit it. The greatness of this genius mage! If you're grateful to me….”
“No, I was thanking Evan? To be honest, you didn't really do much, did you?”
“Hmph. It’s useless to pretend you’re not. I already know that you were amazed by me.”
Ranya, as if she had no intention of listening to whatever Chris said, wore an expression that said, ‘I am the best, no matter what’.
“Christian, you should be the one to understand. Ranya has a somewhat young and childish side to her. Ranya, you should learn from Christian.”
“Hey, what the shoe? Brother Evan? Please just shut up! You're the most annoying one here!”
At the sight of Ranya flaring up and huffing, Chris let out a chuckle.
‘Ranya is certainly brighter now. Because she hasn’t experienced ‘that incident’ yet.’
Soon.
Ranya would experience a horrific incident.
One where her entire world would collapse.
Unfortunately, there was no way to stop it.
It was already too late.
‘The most I can do is probably to minimize the aftermath so that Ranya doesn't break down.’
Afterward, the two returned to the Alliance’s side, and Chris brought all of the Life Vessels to the camp of the Dark Alliance.
And immediately, he broke three of the Life Vessels.
‘First, let's take down three.’
Chris whistled.
Although he couldn't see them, far away in the camp of the Four Kings' Castle, three liches must have met their end.
“Why don't you break them all at once?”
Count Khazar asked, as if puzzled.
“If I did that, it wouldn't be any fun, would it?”
Chris gave a smirk.
“Please relay this to those bastards from the Four Kings' Castle. That from now on, I will break one of these Life Vessels a day.”
The Four Kings' Castle showed an extremely enraged reaction.
But with hostages taken, they couldn't do anything.
Chris, as he had declared, leisurely smashed one Life Vessel a day.
‘Whose is this one? Well, does it matter?’
Crack!
It was after he had thus broken six Life Vessels.
“…Stop at once.”
An envoy from the Four Kings' Castle had come to see him.
* * *
‘A big shot has arrived.’
Chris whistled.
One of the Four Kings.
One of the four Archliches who stood at the pinnacle of the Necromancy Demonic House had come.
“For the 'Murderer of Silence', famous for being hard to move, to personally come to this place. How surprising. What is your business?”
As Chris asked with a sneer, the ‘Murderer of Silence’, Linote, spoke in a ghastly voice.
[Stop your atrocities at once.]
“What are you talking about?”
[Do you ask because you do not know? I warn you, if you do not hand over the Life Vessels right now….]
“Wait. Your tone is insolent.”
Chris let out a sneer.
“I believe you should show a more polite attitude?”