“Gaaaaah!!”
“Monster! A monster has appeared!!”
“Everyone, get away… Ugh!”
Thud!
Thud, thud…!
Somewhere in the southern castle.
Amid the loud noises and a bloodbath, countless black sharks with sharp teeth were rampaging through the castle.
The castle was filled with powerful guards, including users over level 100, but the opponent was the high-ranker, Shark.
With just a gesture from her, sharks infused with tons of magic began devouring everything in sight.
Shark felt ecstatic watching the countless sharks.
“Ugh… ha… eat it all… that’s right… useless things. Just become food…”
In the past, they were just loud but ineffective.
All they did was grunt in front while she worked hard to support them.
If that was the case, it was most efficient for them to just become shark food…
Beeeeeep—
“Ugh…”
Thud!
Shark clutched her dizzy head and slowly moved towards the core.
It was chaotic.
What exactly was she supposed to do?
“Ah, the core. I must break the core. Right… break the core and dodge the enemies…”
It was confusing.
So, to break the core, doesn’t that mean she shouldn’t kill other users or NPCs?
But aren’t they useless anyway? Can’t she just eat them?
“……”
It was dizzying.
Surely, from what she heard from the ‘doll’…
‘…Shark. Can you hear me? Tsk. Have you lost your mind? You looked somewhat fine the last time I saw you.’
‘……’
‘It can’t be helped. For now, I can only impose suggestions with the Puppet Technique. There might be a backlash later, but the situation is urgent… please understand.’
‘……’
‘…Is it working? You seem fine for the moment. Speak up.’
‘Speak.’
‘Okay… for now, prioritize capturing the castle’s core. Exclude everything else and just seize the core. If a strong enemy appears, just suppress it or escape.’
Remember.
“Definitely break the core… and avoid strong enemies…”
She would break the core, and strong enemies hadn’t appeared yet.
“Alright.”
Then, it would be fine to kill a bit more, right?
Beep!
[■Medium and Small Alliance -Shark- ▶ □Elbrite -Lily Elbrite-]
[The Abyss Castle has been conquered!]
There were many letters appearing and disappearing before her eyes that she couldn’t understand why they were popping up, but she could understand them.
Having broken the core, it was time to move to the next castle.
Of course…
“Ahhh!!!”
“Why are these crazy sharks so strong!”
“Be careful! There’s an evil aura! Don’t engage, just fight!”
“Hey! Don’t get close, just fight!”
Ugh…
“Seriously, I need to feed them more.”
I can’t call those things ‘strong opponents.’
If the doll’s words are true, then it wouldn’t matter if I killed a few.
Kaaah!!
As Shark clenched her fist, the sharks that were already rampaging inside the castle began to go wild.
No matter how sturdy the armor or shield is, it can’t block these magic-infused teeth.
All I can do is struggle as much as possible while my whole body is being torn apart.
By the time it had devoured about half of the castle…
Flap.
“…Strong opponent?”
“……”
A pure white angel descended.
For some reason, her wings radiated an aura of hostility, and her beautiful face… along with the pure white spear in her hand.
I don’t know why an angel came to mind, but I definitely recognized her.
‘…Lily? Is that you? I think it is…’
She was definitely the woman from my memories.
Moreover, she was evaluated as the overwhelming strongest among users.
‘Is the strong opponent escaping?’
I have to run.
Shark prepared to leave immediately while riding one of the sharks.
Lily looked at the castle and the corpses rolling around, half devoured, then raised her head.
She was staring at Shark intently.
“…This has crossed the line.”
“I have to escape.”
“This is exactly why you shouldn’t mess with powers you can’t handle.”
Hooomph.
She spun her spear like a pen.
And then…
“!!!”
Kwagagagaga!!!
Countless sharks that were rampaging and violating the residents and users of the castle were all pierced by her spear at once.
The sacred spear was embedded in the shark’s abdomen, and Shark also had five spears stuck in her shoulder, leg, and arms.
“…! Aaaah!!!”
It hurts! It really hurts!
I’ve never experienced such pain as a ‘user,’ and it felt absolutely maddening.
It wasn’t just the pain of being pierced by a spear.
The pure white ‘poison’ embedded in the spear was destroying my body!
Shark grit her teeth, trembling, and summoned a new shark to pull out one of the spears.
Swoosh.
“!”
Rescraaak!!!
“Pulling that out will hurt even more. When the holy power comes out, it crushes all the magic while escaping.”
“Urgh… Urgh…”
“It’s the same on the other side, too.”
Shark collapsed onto the ground, drooling.
Holy power? Magic?
What the hell is she talking about?
Shark’s mind was filled with endless pain and a conscious urge to run away due to the suggestion.
Lily approached with an even more stoic face and reached out her hand.
“Is she trying to inflict more pain?”
But Shark couldn’t endure any more suffering.
If she had been in her right mind, she would have logged out long ago, but ever since she had received the magic and ‘it’, she couldn’t think straight.
‘It’ was even affecting the heavily fortified ‘system’.
Plop.
Lily’s hand touched Shark’s forehead.
“Hmm… Aha? So it wasn’t the magic after all.”
“…?”
“Well, it could be seen as a problem, but for now, the suggestion has a bigger effect…”
Whoosh.
As Lily’s hand sliced through the air, numerous threads snapped.
And.
“Huh?”
Shark’s eyes opened.
■
I never intended to go this far.
I just wanted to subdue her and ask about the source of the magic, but when I arrived, it was a massacre in the name of the residents.
All children and old men had been thrown to the sharks.
And with everyone being consumed by magic, normal resurrection was impossible.
[Uwaah…]
[Lily…?]
[Don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t]
[Lily mad?]
[You killed a lot, huh]
[Is there pain correction? Sounds like a lot of screams]
[Scary]
[Lily’s angry…?]
[Looks so painful]
If Shark had gotten more accustomed to the magic and touched her ‘soul,’ she would’ve taken even harsher measures.
But that wasn’t the case; it stopped at this level.
‘She can still be saved.’
Just like how I saved the Emperor, I could absorb the magic to somehow bring her back.
“Now, Shark?”
“……”
“Are you okay? You shouldn’t be feeling pain anymore.”
She had been under someone’s ‘puppet technique.’
Since I lifted the suggestion, she should have regained some of her senses.
Of course, even without the puppet technique, she had originally been out of it.
“Maybe she was out of it, which made her more susceptible to the puppet technique.”
“What, what’s…”
“I’ve recovered all the spears. I dealt with all the sharks, too. There’s something I want to ask.”
“Why… am I here…”
“That’s what I want to ask. Why is Shark here? Who did you receive the magic from?”
“That is…”
Scratch scratch.
Shark scratched her arm with her sharp claws.
Blood flowed, but it seemed to recover quickly, perhaps due to her regeneration.
Even if regeneration didn’t work, I couldn’t heal her.
I may not be able to heal you.
Shark shook her head.
“I don’t know. I just came here. Why? I just came. No. It’s because of the doll.”
“The doll must have been summoned by Ayane.”
“Right. No? Actually, yes. We were on the same side.”
“So, who did you receive magic from?”
“…Skull.”
“Skull?”
“That… no. Was it Skull? No. It was different. Huge. No. I don’t know. I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know…!!”
Aaaah!!!
[Shivers]
[???]
[So scary]
[My mind just left me, LOL?]
[Lily, I’m scared, hug me]
[Magic is really terrifying.]
[A contract with a demon, shivers]
[What kind of holy power does Lily possess to suppress such a demon…]
[Gasp]
Shark was going wild.
Every time she let out a scream, shark teeth began to appear in the air, and the surrounding buildings started to crumble.
I used the holy power to clear away all the magic while guiding the surviving residents outside.
It seemed more like a power she couldn’t control rather than an attack for someone.
Right now, Shark was harboring magic at the “Intermediate-Class Demon” level.
The system that protects the user’s mind and soul was also malfunctioning for this reason.
Of course, like in the past, the raccoons managing Deoen would take care of it eventually.
They would either intervene like with the Kraken or elevate system security through updates to enhance user protection.
But there was one thing I was curious about.
“Even with the system, can the magic and powers of an intermediate-class demon be passed onto a human? Especially within such a short time?”
Such entities were pretty rare, even among celestial demons.
At least upper-class or perhaps even among the highest celestial demons.
“…I don’t know…”
Sre…
Shark went wild and then fainted.
“Lasty.”
“Yeah. I’ll check it out.”
“Don’t dig too deep.”
“Got it.”
Lasty, who jumped out from the blood wall in the air, took Shark and went back.
Lasty was more specialized in magic than I was, so she would yield meaningful results from the investigation.
Right now, there was something more important to do.
“We need to hurry.”
Even though Shark looked threatening, she was a supporter user.
The real danger lay with the other two wielding swords and angry spirits.
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