Kim Youra didnât answer. But no, was it that she couldnât answer?
When I looked at the expression in her eyes, I knew. She was still unable to grasp the situation because of me appearing so suddenly.
âIf your response is too late, then I wonât be able to save her. Iâd say you have about 20 seconds at most.â
I pressed her for an answer. It hadnât actually been that long since Kim Minjiâs life came to an end. If I wanted to, I could save her easily. Of course, she probably wouldnât be able to maintain the same state as she did before, but it was possible to resume her life.
âAhâŚahâŚâ
Kim Youra, who had just then recovered her senses, nodded.
âIf I save your little sister, what will you give me in return?â
But that didnât mean it was free. My generosity wasnât large enough to just give something to this woman who wasnât one of my own.
I was a demon, and, strictly speaking, this act was like a contract to me.
Not a contract under normal circumstances, but one that was very advantageous to me.
Since time was running short, she wouldnât have room to make any different choice.
As for Kim Youra, there was nothing she could offer me, except one.
âMy whole selfâŚâ
It was as though Kim Youra was saying this to me. All that her two eyes were holding was the pure desire to save her sister.
In the previous life, Kim Youra was no slouch of a Holy Woman.
She couldnât have been. Martinâs aggression had only appeared because of me. It wasnât supposed to be there originally.
And in the previous life, Kim Youra had fully awakened and taken her place as the Holy Woman who beat down the demons and monsters without mercy. Although she had never become very well known, she definitely had the dignity that the Holy Woman gives off.
I couldnât know what effect an incomplete awakening would trigger, but I was a powerful man because of the fact that I had in my hands a previous Holy Woman.
I pulled a medicine bottle out of my magical pocket.
âAlthough this is usually only used in the creation of a homunculus,â I pondered.
I shrugged my shoulders. It was a liquid medicine that Gaparam made. It was the fruit of six months of effort, using the highest level ingredients obtained from the Tree of Origin, as well as various other expensive items he had purchased with the research grant that was given to him.
It had a much better effect than the elixir of life. This kind of drug wouldnât apply well to a being that had achieved a higher level, but for just one ordinary human, there was nothing impossible for it to do.
Gaparam had made two of them in total, and one of them came to me. I mixed just a bit of my blood to the medicine.
At the same instant that my blood mixed with the substance, it turned a dark red color.
After that, I cleared away the rebar and forced Kim Minji to drink it. The substance, which dripped down her esophagus, soon spread throughout her entire body and quickly began regenerating it. In the case of her severed lower body, it could be reattached, but it didnât do so. I had to use all of the medicine to make that process work.
The remaining half was for Kim Youra.
The blood stopped flowing, and Kim Minjiâs complexion was rosy as her life gradually found its way back.
Then her eyes opened, and Kim Minji spoke with a puzzled expression on her face.
âSister?â
âAaah!â
Kim Youra tightly held her sister and continually bowed her head to me. It seemed as though her tears would not dry up, but it remained to be unseen whether this gratitude would endure until the end.
âDrink this.â
I held out the bottle with the remaining half of the liquid in it.
Kim Youra hesitated for a moment, and I continued.
âIt will turn your condition around.â
Even now, the bubble continued to form over Kim Youra. It wasnât a very pretty sight as this bubble formed over her skin, which had already suffered great burns. However, it was obvious that if she continued to not do anything like this, then she would soon destroy herself.
The problem was the side-effects that would come because it was mixed with my bloodâŚ
âThis is a contract of subordination. Itâs a necessary act for me to make her drink my blood,â I thought.
I considered taking her sister to use as a hostage, but if I did that, she wouldnât be able to act completely on her own. If I wanted to make her go out and help me voluntarily, a contract would be an essential prerequisite. This was to prevent any potential situation.
However, as the blood of a demon would resist the godly power, there was a possibility that a situation would arise that would be impossible to undo. Actually, there was a high chance of this happening.
Still, I paid attention to her incomplete awakening.
The imperfect godly power was enough to swallow her entire body. If anything, couldnât my blood play the role of neutralizing it? I decided to take this 50/50 gamble.
As the Holy Woman was already in my clutches, it wouldnât be a big loss for me if she died, as long as she didnât go over to Martin. In any case, with the forest, the sword, and the light that had just appeared, the âomenâ had definitely become visible; and Martin would be making his way here. It was as if it wouldnât be unreasonable to forcefully show off something else.
Gulp!
Kim Youra accepted the medicine bottle and downed it without hesitation. It seemed that she had seen her revived sister and thought that the drug itself couldnât be harmful.
ButâŚ
âArgh!â
âSister? Sister!â
Its effect was apparent the instant she drank it.
Her body became twisted, and the godly power and my mana began to become entangled.
âItâs a battle for control, then.â
I quietly watched this scene with my arms folded.
As I thought, there was a space left due to her incomplete awakening. My mana had pulled open and was permeating this place, promptly starting a turf war.
âArgh!â
Kim Youraâs whole body convulsed. Unlike the mana or godly power, her body was actually being healed little by little. Her burns disappeared, and her nerves returned to her legs, and even her posture, which had been twisted by her bad habits, returned slightly to normal.
âHmmâŚâ
I stroked my chin.
I wanted to observe this entire process, but an uninvited guest had interfered.
âMartin⌠Heâs directly taking action!â
I couldnât help but chuckle.
It was a spot several kilometers away from here.
I could sense a strong being slowly approaching.
This familiar scent was clearly Martin.
âHe must have been anxious,â I speculated.
He deployed the monsters of the dungeon and completely held off the assault on the forest. In the end, Martin realized he was in a situation where it was impossible to obtain the sacred sword. Just when he was stomping his feet, the omen that foretold the coming of the true Holy Woman appeared.
It was at that point he had this thought.
If I beat around the bush, I was going to miss my chance again!
And so he himself had come to move toward this area.
âSince youâve shown yourself, donât think you can get back alive,â I mused.
Until now, I couldnât find him because he was in hiding. But if he was in the midst of coming to the open and running over here like this, there was no reason I couldnât catch him.
Although I thought he would bide his time just a little longerâŚ
This was evidence that he was just that desperate.
Such that he was in a state where he didnât realize the fact that this very impatience was what would tighten the noose around his neck.
With a haughty smile, I disappeared, covering my tracks.
The feast of light had spread over the sky.
As soon as Martin saw it, he realized that the Holy Woman had appeared.
This was because a similar event had occurred in his foresight.
He had lost the majority of his vampires, but if he could just get the Holy Woman, it wasnât a loss.
âIâm going to go do it myself. All other monsters, follow me!â
With the combination of the monsters he had selected from his own dungeon and the monsters from this part of Korea, altogether he had about 30,000 troops.
A great battalion, reaching almost 20,000 monsters, marched forward with Martin at the lead.
The gargoyles had dyed the entire sky jet black. There were wyburns and king wyburns, too. There were all kinds of monsters squirming and starting to move on Earth.
Their destination was the place where that light had appeared.
âI canât miss my opportunity this time. Iâll quickly get the Holy Woman and then go back,â Martin decided.
He had no intention of taking on Koreaâs dungeon or its leader. It was unfortunate, but this was because the forces he possessed all fell short of that, both in number and in quality. But seeing this grand force, he simply let out a gasping sound, as if to marvel at how such an army had gathered.
***
It could be that according to what Pandemonium had said, this may be Randalf Brucielâs dungeon. It was irregular. It might lead to some incidents. And if there was anyone for whom it wouldnât be strange to start an incident, it would exactly be Randalf Bruciel.
In any case, whether it was Randalf or not, Martinâs ultimate goal was to escape this place after obtaining the Holy Woman. If he could just get safely back to his dungeon, he had the confidence that he could keep out any enemy no matter how strong they were.
In other words, it would be fine if he could just pass this place safely.
âThe m-monsters!â
âSave us!â
The monsters flocked together enough to stain the earth and the heavens jet black. From the perspective of humans, it was like a natural disaster they couldnât avoid. The humans that had been moving to the center for quite a while were now swept away by the monsters. The monsters didnât even leave a single fragment of bone in the areas they passed through.
This was all such a sudden occurrence that the humans were still unable to deal with it. All that remained were just a few of the awakened ones who escaped.
âIâm done waiting,â Martin firmly stated. âIâm going to extort the power of the Holy Woman and become more perfect.â
Perfect foresight!
If only that were possible, he thought he would have nothing to fear.
This Martin believed that no truly flawless being existed. Foresight simply gave one information, and, along with it, the ability to find out an opponentâs weak points. Martinâs pet theory was that, as long as they had a weakness, even an unimaginably powerful opponent couldnât help but fall eventually.
That was why he took such a dangerous risk.
Even now, the warnings of his weakness continued to sound. The word âdangerâ flashed in his mind. But the thought that he could also miss this chance if he dawdled again, as he did in the forest, pulled him out toward this place.
âIs thatâŚ?â
It was right around when he had almost arrived.
Martin stared at a single form, floating in the sky, and frowned deeply.
It was a familiar face, one he had seen a few times before at the Auction of Devildom.
The mana he felt was also overwhelming, so much that it was strange he hadnât realized it until he had just about arrived here.
âRandalf Bruciel!â
Randalf screamed, filled with astonishment.
Of course!
Was this spot really that bastardâs dungeon?
But he didnât see any other monsters in the area around him. This meant that the guy was completely alone.
He was the very one who had been obstructing him, too.
âKill that bastard. Take apart his flesh, cut off his head, and spread out his entrails!â
The almost 30,000 monsters raced to capture only Randalf Bruciel.
***
I was limited in what I could do alone.
It was certainly beyond my ability to actually kill at least 30,000 monsters by myself.
I was just one person in the endâit didnât matter that I had entered the realm of transcendence. Of course, I would have no problem taking on a couple thousand average monsters, but a considerable number of high-level monsters caught my eye.
Despite this, there was a simple reason why I had come out to meet them.
âMartin is here.â
I didnât need any other reason.
MartinâŚhe was within my field of vision.
I didnât necessarily even need to deal with the other 30,000 monsters.
It would all be fine if I just killed him.
âAbout half of those monsters are captive to Korea. If Martin dies and his right of control over them disappears, theyâll probably fight among each other and destroy themselves.â
If I could just deal with Martin, then I wouldnât even need to lay a hand on the other monsters.
They would probably just fight among themselves and meet their end on their own, so what would I need to dirty my hands for?
âItâs a spectacular sight.â
I stared at the monsters running toward me, my smile unchanging.
This was the first time I had ever faced such a large army before.
In my previous life, I had dreamed of such a scene, but the very situation that I wouldnât have been able to realize because I knew my own limitations was unfolding before my eyes.
I had grown stronger.
So much that it was incomparable to the previous life!
There was a clear difference looking at the world now compared to when I was weak.
This was because I had gained that much additional strength and had learned the method of handling it.
I spread both of my hands.
Crack!
Thousands of sparks rose up from my whole body.
At the same time, a very unfamiliar power appeared within me.
It was in fact the Power of Domination.
âItâs a skill that gives you a small chance to control your opponent when you get them in a situation close to death. It looks like itâs just activating now because Iâm fighting a huge army.â
Could there be a more appropriate skill for taking on a huge army all alone?
Buzz!
The Lightning God also sprang forth with a deeply excited spirit.
Fire and lightning shimmered all around me, prepared to fire at any moment.