Hans, Snoc, and Elena ran to the place where Zich was while holding up their guard against the meat clumps in their surroundings. Their movements made Zich very satisfied.
‘Even Elena is sort of keeping up.’
Her movements didn’t belong to a mage stuck in a corner of her room, researching all day. As expected, it appeared that Lyla trained her quite well. Of course, Finel didn’t stand by and let the group reunite with Zich. Magic and the power of water struck them again. Yet, Hans, Snoc, and Elena masterfully used each of their special skills and succeeded in reaching Zich’s side. However, the reason why they were able to reach their destination safely wasn’t only because of their skills.
“Didn’t its attacks become a bit weaker?”
Koo! Nowem agreed with Snoc’s statement. Hans also thought that the shocks he felt on Estellade while blocking the spells were much lower than before. The mage among them, Elena, gave her own explanation.
“Isn’t it because the meat clumps covering this room have come out of that monster’s body? Their dispersion might have also scattered its powers.”
“That’s probably the case.” Elena’s words gained more validity than Zich’s words.
Finel had separated her body, so the authority she had over the tree fell; moreover, she was probably spending a lot of her powers encapsulating Lyla.
‘Since she talked about taking her body and whatnot, she is probably pouring huge amounts of her power into that process.’
There were several other guesses they could make, but they were sure about one thing: Finel could no longer use the ginormous power like before. Of course, her current powers were no laughing matter, but it wasn’t at a point where the rest of the group couldn’t block them anymore. Zich stared at Hans, Snoc, and Elena. ‘These guys would be enough.’
However, Zich wondered why these guys were still here.
“Didn’t Lyla let you guys escape?” Zich asked.
“Yes, she let us escape by putting her life on the line. However, since we weren’t sure if you were completely defeated, we hid a bit of a distance away in a hole that Snoc dug. We thought we could be of some help if a battle erupted again.”
“What if both Lyla and I were completely done for? It would’ve slowed down your escape.”
“We judged that it was more convincing that you left the frontlines for a bit rather than dying or escaping, sir. However, since we couldn’t wait the whole time, we decided to use a sand clock to see how long we should wait.”
“What about the escape method?”
“We thought we could take full advantage of Snoc’s abilities since his abilities worked in other areas besides the room where the monster was. We didn’t think Snoc would be able to dig a hole way up to the surface, and we also considered the danger of the hole falling into the ocean. Thus, we thought we could keep using the passageways and immediately dug a hole and hid there when we noticed dangers. Since we each have a plenty amount of food and water, we thought we would be able to get out even if it takes a couple of days.”
If they had stayed behind thoughtlessly out of guilt with no plan in mind, Zich had planned to scold them later. He was satisfied to hear that Hans had a bit of a sloppy but definite plan.
“Whose idea was this?”
“I thought of the main idea and got help from Snoc and Elena,” Hans said. His usually shy and hesitant demeanor towards Zich was nowhere to be found. Hans had a strong conviction; it wasn’t that he didn’t think he could be wrong. His conviction stemmed from the belief that his plan was the best one he could possibly come up with, and there was nothing he could do if he was wrong. This made Zich laugh heartily.
“Good job!”
The fact that Hans had acted on his own judgments made Zich very happy. Regardless of the situation, anyone could move on orders; but a person like that had an extremely difficult time exceeding a certain level or surviving for a long time in unexpected situations—especially for Zich’s companions who experienced all kinds of events.
‘Yeah! I don’t need some puppet who only moves according to my orders.’ At the very least, Zich had no intention of letting Hans and Snoc grow like such idiots; it was probably the same for Lyla. Zich pointed at the meat clumps near him. “I am going to go save Lyla starting now. In the meantime, you have to block that guy. Are you confident you can do that?”
“Our opponents’ attacks have become much weaker than before. I don’t know about killing it, but I’m sure we can endure its attacks. Above all, I believe that I can’t escape when I have to protect someone to be a worthy wielder of Estellade.”
“Like Senior said, we can’t leave Lady Lyla considering our dreams. Sir Zich, you told us that a cry for justice without any strength backing it up is useless, but I think we at least have the strength to protect you both right now!”
“Yes, Lady Lyla is also my master!” Elena added.
The three responded with their individual aspirations and will.
“Good. So, you guys will protect us. Well, I don’t think it will take long since all I have to do is take her out.”
—Do you think it will be that easy!
Finel shouted.
—Even if it’s far away from me, that is also part of my body! Moreover, it’s specially made so I poured in a lot of my powers! Even you wouldn’t be able to break it easily.
“I don’t plan on breaking it. I am just going to make a hole and pull her out. I’m sure at least that much would be possible.”
—How ridiculous! Even if it’s disconnected from the main body, do you think I won’t be able to kill something that has come inside my body!
“We will only know that once I’m inside it.”
The mana inside Zich’s body circled around once. ‘There’s barely any left.’
After Finel gained authority over the tree again, his mana was decreasing at an exceedingly fast pace, but he still had a tiny bit left.
‘It’s enough for me to try this.’ Zich raised Windur and aimed it at the meat clump. Bam!
‘As I thought, it’s hard.’ Zich felt a vibration that traveled to his palms. It really wasn’t an easy task. However, his attacks weren’t futile; a hole that two or three people could crawl into appeared.
—This is…!
Finel’s face stiffened as she sensed Zich’s power. His power was still an extraordinary amount.
“Work hard in protecting us.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Sir, we got it!”
“Please take care of Teacher!”
Zich put his hand on the mushy hole and squeezed his body inside. The flesh clumps wriggled and attempted to patch up the hole. Arms began to threateningly come out and attack Zich. A few of them were also preparing small-scale magic attacks. Zich shot out mana towards them again.
Crasssh! The hole got a bit wider. Zich’s entire upper body almost disappeared fully into the hole.
—Even if you manage to survive there, do you think these pieces of trash can block me!
Zich halted. He lifted his head and looked at the meat clumps on the ceiling; an eye was attached over there. It was definitely connected to Finel’s sight, and an ear was also attached next to it. Zich put his mouth near the ear and said, “Don’t look down on Lyla and my disciples, you fucking bastard!”
After crushing the eye with his fingers, Zich continued to push into the meat clumps.
* * *
With vague memories, Lyla half-opened her eyes as if she was drunk. She wasn’t able to see anything, but she knew what kind of state she was in. A disgusting fishy smell wafted through her nose, the sound of crushing flesh reached her ears, and the sensation of sticky pressure surrounded her whole body. Lyla was sure that she was buried inside Finel’s flesh. She wanted to scream, but she had no strength to do so. Lyla didn’t even know how she was breathing while buried under Finel’s flesh.
No, was she even breathing? Perhaps she had already stopped breathing. Then, how was she able to smell this disgusting, fishy smell? All kinds of thoughts came up inside her mind. It felt as if she was in a half-conscious state when she was about to fall asleep. She tried to stay focused to assess her situation, but her attention quickly dissipated after only a few seconds.
However, Lyla was sure about one thing. If she continued to stay in her current state, her existence would completely disappear forever. With this thought in mind, Lyla suddenly felt fear. But even this fear did not last long. Memories, accidents, and emotions all mixed together, and Lyla was unable to distinguish which one was what. Then, a sudden memory popped into her mind. Lyla didn’t know why only this memory was clear even in her half-conscious state. It was the memory of Lyla’s cold face as she looked down at ‘herself’ (a memory of her face from Finel’s perspective).
It was during the time when she used to be called a Demon Lord, an existence who massacred countless people. Even though Lyla didn’t know the exact number of people she killed, from Zich’s words, Shootuol was completely destroyed. During Shootuol’s destruction, a great number of people probably died, and not even one person might have survived. It was probably all done to gain control of Clowon’s ruin near Shootuol. Even though this ruin was at a certain distance away from Shootuol, the Lyla in the past probably killed everyone to erase all possible variables, considering the fact that she killed Finel for this very reason.
After thinking this, another memory rose to the surface—it was Lyla’s own memory this time. Lyla remembered how she worried about Zich becoming a Demon Lord again and the efforts she put to lead him to the ‘right path.’ When Lyla remembered this, she felt extremely embarrassed. Even though she continuously requested Zich to not become a Demon Lord, in truth, she had also been a mass-murdering Demon Lord herself. The only difference between them was that Zich was faithful to his emotions and desires while Lyla was a cold-blooded person who only moved for Clowon’s restoration.
Why? Why did she suddenly remember what Finel said to her?
[Is your life worth living?]
Even though it was a memory that no one else remembered, she definitely killed a huge number of people.
[You should have never been born.]
She was not much different from her main source of concern: Zich. Even though Lyla had made all kinds of predictions and theories while worrying about her forgotten past and whether she was an experiment or not, she had never imagined that she could have been a Demon Lord like Zich Moore. Maybe, she was even more shocked because of this reason. When she thought this far, a new concern suddenly came up in her mind.
What would happen if she recovered all her past memories and reawakened her past self? Lyla’s plan to restore Clowon had definitely ended up in failure since the world without Clowon was continuing on. Yet, if she went back to when she was Clowon’s princess and not who she was anymore, she might start moving for Clowon’s restorations. And if she was successful…
Everything that happened after Clowon’s fall would be completely erased. Just thinking about this sent chills down her spine. Thousands, tens of thousands, or a possibly even longer history of all the humans who lived and all the people currently living would be completely gone. It really was a bone-chilling event. In a way, Finel might have been right that it would be better if she just died here.
When Lyla thought this, she closed her eyes. Since there was no light, this was a meaningless gesture. However, it was enough to let the subconscious tears that formed in her eyes drop down to her cheeks. Even if her current consciousness was not her original consciousness, her past self committed unforgivable sins, and her very existence had the potential to endanger the present world, even then…!
‘Even then, I want to live!’
Grab! Lyla opened her eyes as someone grabbed her hand. A faint light seeped through the darkness.
“I found you!”
She heard a familiar voice.