“I refuse.”
As I firmly rejected her, Lilith pouted and began poking my forehead.
“Isn’t that a bit heartless? Is it because I’m not an Incubus?”
“…Regardless of preference, isn’t having relations with a Succubus going to drain my energy?”
“But it gets recharged anyway. Just think of it as a donation.”
“Isn’t extorting donations from others completely wrong? No way.”
When I calmly rebutted, for some reason the Succubus who just met me started giggling happily.
What part of my words did she find so delightful?
“I like someone with a strong personality like you. How about becoming my disciple, our Pope?”
“I decline.”
“Ah, why not? I’ll even give you the blessing to charm men!”
That’s not a blessing, it sounds more like a seduction spell.
I definitely didn’t want some witchcraft like that attached to me.
Besides, proposing a blessing to entice men to someone already married with kids was just absurd.
“I politely decline.”
“Not outright rejecting means you’re somewhat interested?”
“I was just being courteous.”
“Come on, be honest. Don’t you sometimes want to sleep with fresh spirits?”
“……”
As expected, the Succubus, for whom lewdness was an identity, was the complete opposite of the Pope, who valued etiquette and purity.
Still, since she wasn’t an outright villain, I could accept her into the Order. But if she tried to seduce other members, she’d have to go.
“Then let me go now.”
I calmly requested, still stuck as she had a firm grip on my waist.
But instead of releasing me, Lilith merely continued to poke my cheeks while chuckling.
She seemed quite taken with me.
“Don’t rush, just stay a little longer with your sister.”
“I refuse.”
“Why not?”
“I need to hurry and go take down the Great Demon.”
“He can’t escape, so no need to rush.”
He can’t escape?
When I asked what she meant, Lilith poked my nose as she replied.
“I heard intel that he hasn’t been able to move an inch in his domain lately. Apparently, he’s bedridden and being cared for by his subordinates.”
“Do you happen to know why?”
“Apparently, the shards you sent down to your world are suffering. According to him, it’s pain a hundred times worse than tooth pain.”
Just ordinary tooth pain is unbearable; a hundred times that…
Even the Great Demon would struggle to endure that kind of suffering.
Is that shard hiding in America being tortured?
It seemed quite likely.
So I was left wondering.
“Quick Eagle is torturing him?”
The hero-aspiring eagle who would do something like that?
It didn’t fit his character at all, and there was no way he’d act like that in the first place.
The Returnee known as Quick Eagle I had met was a guy who had enough honor to honor the rules even against villains.
So what on earth was happening in America right now?
I felt uneasy.
As ominous feelings began to rise, I frowned.
“Lady Lilith.”
Psycheless approached and took off his Taeguk mask.
At that, Lilith let me go and immediately embraced her only follower.
“Our Psyche!”
“Lady Lilith…!”
Watching their affectionate hug from the side, I fell into a strange sentiment.
“How nice.”
I never thought I’d feel good looking at the friendly relationship between a Demon and a Demon’s disciple.
Indeed, there are no absolute impossibilities in the world.
Even events with a very low probability were bound to happen somewhere.
That’s also why the Black Sun came to be.
A monster born from a series of highly unlikely misfortunes overlapping at once.
The Black Sun became an Evil God by piercing through the miracle-like odds of finding a needle dropped in the desert.
It was a story too cruel to be called fate, and too absurd to be called coincidence.
Just as I was lost in that sudden thought…
“But this is the forest from earlier, isn’t it?”
Wip, who had been looking around nearby, suddenly spoke up.
At that comment, I looked around and nodded. Indeed, the scenery here almost matched the reality of the Great Forest.
“That’s just how it is.”
While cradling Psycheless tightly, Lilith replied.
“A dream is essentially a muddled combination of various experiences from reality. And the monster you all used to enter the dream has lived in this forest its whole life.”
So it was only natural to have such a dream.
With that easy-to-understand explanation, Wip and I almost simultaneously nodded.
Then Rive raised her hand.
“Um, then how do we go about entering someone else’s dream from here?”
“Oh my! You’re quite cute. How about becoming my disciple?”
“…….”
Rive shook her head in disgust.
Lilith seemed quite pleased with that reaction.
“Kihit! I really like you all. How did you gather such handsome men and beautiful women?”
Well, most Returnees are reborn with good looks anyway.
Researchers of this other world referred to this as “the whims of Providence,” which couldn’t be more appropriate.
In any case, thanks to our remarkable appearances, it seemed that Lilith found favor with all the expedition members. Even Kim Ji-yeon, who is humanoid.
“Hey, machine. Do you want to sleep with me?”
“Haha, no idea. So shy, shy.”
“Oh my, so cute. Do you happen to have functions to feel pleasure?”
“This body was originally for sexual purpose. Of course I have sexual function.”
“Hmmm, really?”
And then Lilith began to look at Kim Ji-yeon with sparkling eyes.
Perhaps finding that unsatisfactory, Rive suddenly pulled me aside and whispered.
“Is it really okay to trust such a lewd Demon? Is this right?”
The events between Cubica and Lilith were already revealed directly by the parties involved on the first day of the expedition.
Moreover, she had also spoken about her dual personality.
So everyone felt sorry for Psycheless, but Rive was the only exception.
Shortly after, Rive whispered again.
“In the world I’ve lived in, there were many Demons. What I learned from fighting many of them is that they are a race you should never have dealings with. Don’t you know that too, Pope?”
It was a reasonable opinion, so I refrained from presenting a counterargument and calmly decided to reason with her.
“Rive, that Succubus saved Cubica, who was tormented by an order that worshipped light, out of goodwill. Had she been a typical demon, she wouldn’t have acted even in jest.”
“That’s true, but…”
Rive’s words trailed off, and she frowned suspiciously at Lilith.
From her expression, it seemed her rational side agreed to trust her, but her emotional side insisted she should never rely on a Demon.
The head wanting rational judgment and the heart overwhelmed by anxiety from experiences.
Neither side could definitively claim to be correct. Both sides had ample justification.
In situations like this, it was hard for me to resolve it.
In such times, there was no option but for Lilith to show what kind of being she is.
“For now, please watch carefully. If she does anything that seems problematic, you’ll have to intervene yourself. I won’t stop you then.”
“…Understood.”
Rive finally acquiesced, though her face wore a wry expression of resignation.
“Let’s move towards the Domain of the Great Demon with Lilith, for now.”
“Alright.”
Just as we were about to return to the group again…
Zing.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp sensation in my hand.
At that moment, Rive lifted me effortlessly and leaped forward. The speed was so fast that my surroundings became a blur.
Once we landed, Rive pointed back at me.
Sizzling.
The spot where I had been standing just moments before was now enveloped in dripping green slime, slowly dissolving away.
And above it was a monster that seemed to be spewing some kind of acidic liquid. It was an excessively elongated crocodile.
“If I hadn’t dodged, it could have been disastrous.”
“…Thank you.”
Everyone in our party had received the warnings of Liam’s danger-sensing magic seven times layered.
Moreover, our physical abilities were reinforced with eleven blessings.
However, due to the limits of my innate physical abilities, I couldn’t dodge even after sensing the danger, but thanks to Rive, I was saved.
“But will we die even in a dream?”
“At least you won’t come out unscathed.”
“…Guess that makes sense?”
With a somewhat stiff expression, Rive gazed beyond the newly appeared monster.
In that direction… an enormous horde of Demons and Monsters was rushing at us. Each exuding fierce killer instincts and toxic vibes.
“……”
“……”
After a brief exchange of glances.
We immediately fled towards where our party was.
Noticing the appearance of the army of monsters, everyone seemed to have already readied for battle.
Lilith, who welcomed our return with open arms, soon spoke.
“Those are the minions of the Great Demon. They must have anticipated that you’d move through dreams. Quite clever.”
“Lady Lilith, what happens if we die here?”
“You die. Not the body, but the mind.”
That was a rather heavy statement to say so casually.
“…For now, I’ll take the lead.”
I had already battled the Demon army plenty in that other world.
The Demon King’s army was always a persistent and nasty foe, but whenever they encountered me, they’d usually flee in terror. Sacred Power was like poison to vile beings.
And I possessed an abundance of Sacred Power that was particularly effective against Demon extermination.
Thus, there was no reason for me to run away.
“I can deal with a majority of them, so you all handle the rest…”
“Wait a moment.”
Just as I was solemnly issuing orders, Lilith interrupted with a mischievous smile.
“You all just observe.”
With those words, the Taeguk-wearing Psycheless stepped forward.
Radiating an odd energy across her entire body.
“This is our stage.”
Soon, dark pink wings resembling a shadow cast by sunlight unfurled from Psycheless’s back.
A dreamlike glow that tinged the heart with warmth just by looking at it.
Though sacred, it was dark. It held the nature of hell, yet radiated a holy aura.
“I’ll be back.”
Shaking the minds of the observers, Psycheless soared into the sky and shot towards the approaching monsters.
As I stood there, dumbstruck, Yao pulled something out from her bag.
It was my smartphone.
“Hey, Pope, shall we go record this?”
“…….”
After a moment’s hesitation, I replied.
“Let’s hurry up and go.”
It was a chance to film a promotional video for ‘national pride’ for the government.
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