Ignis Ashbringer.
I turned that self-proclaimed God of Destruction, the Conductor of Flames, into a puppet.
Brrruru—Whoa, it’s puppet time! Shouldn’t have been so cocky!
Mysticism—A man who can even kill gods! 😮
Rize Nova—A god killer indeed.
Before reading the memories of Puppet Ignis, I washed myself in the pond and called out to Iara beside me.
“Iara.”
“···Yes.”
“Did you hear that guy mumbling earlier? About bringing his two companions?”
“······Yes, I did.”
So now there are four drifters left.
Two on our side, two elsewhere.
But since Ignis said he has two companions, it’s clear that all of Iara’s companions are dead.
Looking at Iara’s expression, it seemed she had accepted her companions’ deaths completely.
Brrruru—Hang in there, Iara…
Boglebogle—It’s tough. Accepting a companion’s death isn’t easy…
Yumi—Stay strong, Iara.
Mysticism—🤣
Brrruru—Are you laughing? Are you a psycho?
Mysticism—Ah, I pressed the wrong button. Seriously.
Mysticism—😭
Mysticism—That was it. Sorry.
Brrruru—Shut up, psycho girl.
Rize Nova—Hmm. Honestly, I’m not that sad. It’s a fitting end for traitors.
Rize Nova—Lady Iara has a kind heart, but honestly, she’s nothing but a pushover. If you forgive and embrace traitors, there’ll come a day when you’ll be stabbed in the back again. It’s something I can’t say to Iara, but it’s better that they’re all dead for her.
I thought similarly to Rize.
I didn’t say it out loud, though.
“Then, shall we rush back… No, if you’re not in a hurry to return, would you like to find your companions’ bodies?”
“···Is that okay?”
I nodded.
I could help with that much.
After all, she had handed over her precious heirloom, the magic sword, a symbol of a hero.
Honestly, it was worth much more than just a single transferable return ticket.
“I won’t be going with you directly, but I can attach a strong monster for you.”
“Thank you…”
It was unlikely we could return the bodies.
The odds of being able to bring corpses back were extremely low.
Even so, the reason for wanting to find the bodies was to allow her to bury them and pay her respects.
Yumi—But why are we naturally bathing together?
Rize Nova—Why the sudden fuss? Haven’t we bathed together often?
Yumi—That was with monsters!
Rize Nova—Now you’re making a discriminatory remark against monsters. Apologize.
Mysticism—Exactly! Humans can also become monsters! So discrimination is a no-go!
Brrruru—We’re all covered up anyway, so it’s fine. Important parts are covered, right?
Boglebogle—If we had all stripped and bathed together, I wouldn’t have stayed quiet.
After finishing the conversation with Iara, I called Ignis, standing blankly outside the pond, and ordered him to recite any important memories that could help me.
Ignis began to share various information.
How they came to the ancient labyrinth.
Information about his companions, and so on.
At first, the two companions of Ignis were as follows.
Corruption God, the Twilight Temptress.
Lilith Morphea.
Creation God, the Author of the Abyss.
Niarah Nepensys.
Lilith is on the same level as Ignis, while Niarah is said to possess much greater power than Ignis.
Lilith is around S-class.
Niarah seems to be above that.
Boglebogle—A Creation God, huh…
Brrruru—A god stronger than S-class came? Whoa!
Yumi—Niarah sounds dangerous.
Mysticism—Not dangerous! Goony Oppa can win everything!
And then, how the Celestial beings came to this place was as follows.
Lilith, who was being transported to a celestial prison.
Niarah, who was guiding her along with Ignis.
As the three of them headed toward the celestial prison, they accidentally discovered a dark portal, and Lilith fled through it, prompting the two guides to follow her through the portal.
Upon arriving here, they realized shortly after that it was the ancient labyrinth.
It seemed that there were quite a few in the celestial realm who knew about the existence of the ancient labyrinth.
Niarah knew that if all explorers were killed, the drifters could become the next generation of explorers.
Anyway.
The three of them were elated to obtain the opportunity to become absolute gods and agreed to cooperate until they became explorers.
It didn’t make sense to exhaust their energy fighting among themselves when they were already at a disadvantage.
Finally.
When I asked if they had seen a group of six humans wandering around, Ignis replied like this.
Recently, I killed six humans.
Yumi—???
Mysticism—😱
Brrruru—No way, was that jerk the culprit?
Boglebogle—It seems so…
It appeared that Ignis was likely the one who killed Iara’s six companions.
“And what was the reason for killing them? Was it because you suspected they were explorers? Or did you just kill them because there was no way to tell if they were explorers or drifters?”
Neither. I killed them because I was bored. Their presence irritated me… Oh, this is just what I read from his memories. I, born as a puppet of the Necro Puppetmaster, am not the same trash as the original Ignis.
That’s what he said.
I cleared my throat and cast a quick glance at Iara.
“…Iara. Did you hear that?”
“Yes…”
“You’re allowed to hit that jerk until the curse is lifted. Though he’s a different entity with no soul, he’s still the form of your companions’ murderer.”
That’s right. I’m prepared to be hit at any time. I’ll humbly accept the karma for my original body being trash.
Ignis also agreed.
He was reborn and perfected his character.
He no longer had that arrogant attitude from before.
Iara stared at Ignis, sighed, and turned her head.
“No… It’s okay. You said you’re a different entity, and I don’t regard you as an enemy just because you killed my companions. Plus, revenge is quite distant from my character, anyway.”
What? A saint?
She might even be a truer hero than Alice.
Though her abilities might be lacking, her character was flawless to an incomparable degree.
Not exactly a compliment, but…
She had quite the pushover qualities.
Yumi—What a really nice person.
Brrruru—Totally doesn’t match her barbaric appearance. Oh, but she’s pretty. She’s definitely a beautiful example of a strong and pretty woman.
Mysticism—Not an example, she’s the real deal! Bad spelling! 🤭
Brrruru—What are you saying, you idiot?
Boglebogle—I want to be friends with that person.
Rize Nova—With her personality, I would have tried to recruit her if she were Lumina.
Anyway.
We found out the location of Iara’s companions’ bodies.
Now that we had the exact location, I would have to help her recover the bodies tomorrow.
It should be quick work.
*
Day 48 of the Labyrinth.
On our way to find Iara’s companions’ bodies.
“Oh my? Who are they?”
Once again, by chance, we encountered a drifter.
At the very spot I met Ignis yesterday.
“I was wondering why you weren’t coming back, and here you are suddenly hanging out with some strange folks? Surely you didn’t betray us…”
Just looking at her made my heart race strangely.
She was that beautiful.
And her danger level was B-class.
Her actual danger level was S-class.
“Ignis. That lady is Lilith Morphea, right?”
Yes. God of Corruption, the Twilight Temptress.
She looked more like a devil than a god.
Precisely a succubus.
“Hmm. Something feels off; why can’t I sense her soul? Also, it seems my power just suddenly weakened…”
Suddenly, Lilith’s eyes turned pink.
And her gaze swept across our monsters.
“Oh? What’s this? My allure isn’t working…?”
Lilith looked startled, her eyes flickering.
This time her gaze landed on me.
“Then toward that man—”
At that moment.
Boom—!
Ignis drew a flamethrower in an instant, unleashing a fierce blaze toward Lilith.
“Oh my! Warm fire!”
It didn’t work.
Ignis might be more pathetic than I thought.
Ignis blocked me.
Then turning his back said, Don’t look into Lilith’s eyes. You’ll be entranced.
“I thought so. Thanks.”
I was just doing what needed to be done. Anyway, be careful, as Lilith’s allure can ensnare even stronger beings than herself.
Brrruru—A succubus?
Boglebogle—But why didn’t her charm work on the monsters?
Mysticism—Tamed monsters will never betray! No matter what happens! 😝
The answer to breaking the allure was simple.
As long as you didn’t make eye contact, you were safe.
But if your eyes met, even the strongest would be entranced instantly.
“Hmm. A betrayal… won’t happen.”
Lilith looked intently at Ignis, muttering.
Ignis was surely avoiding her gaze. Although he was standing in front, he couldn’t see.
Brrruru—Hahaha!
Mysticism—🤣🤣🤣
Yumi—Just look down, you don’t need to act like that…
Boglebogle—Her eyes are pointing in different directions. How curious.
Rize Nova—It’s like a person with strabismus.
“You aren’t Ignis, are you?”
Lilith immediately saw through Ignis’s disguise.
“More importantly, if allure fails, we’re in trouble. There are too many monsters I can’t handle…”
She sighed deeply.
Oddly enough, even that looked attractive.
As our monsters surrounded Lilith, she pretended to be scared and raised her hands to show surrender.
“Oh. Wait, wait! I’m surrendering! Don’t attack!”
Could this be an actual deity?
It seemed even Lilith could quickly gauge the gap between us.
“Hey! Muscular guy? You must be an explorer, right? You look just like one!”
She called to me with a sultry voice.
Just in case, I slightly covered my ears.
With just her voice, she could start tempting, so I planned to only half-listen.
“Honestly, I’m not interested in hunting explorers! I’m just reluctantly following someone evil, who made me do it, okay?”
In other words, she wanted to join us just like Ignis.
She had no ill will towards me.
Let’s tackle that wicked woman together.
She even said she fell for me at first sight.
Lilith kept spewing nonsense to save her life.
That lie was immediately seen through.
I’m going to take advantage of this moment to kill that man.
The Necro Puppetmaster had used telepathy.
After killing him, I’ll violate the corpse until it decays. That’s what the lady is thinking right now.
“What are you saying?!”
I got found out. How did he know? Is he holding the ability to read minds?
“I didn’t… think that at all…”
The expressions of the monsters surrounding Lilith twisted severely.
Each one wore a face filled with anger.
Realizing she was in deep trouble, Lilith said,
“Uh, everyone…?”
As she glanced at the monsters surrounding her, she tried to feign pity to save her life.
“Could you spare me just once? If you let me live, I’ll genuinely reflect on my previous thoughts and never show up in front of you again…”
If I survive here, I’ll bring Niarah and slaughter you all! For now, surviving is the priority even if it’s ugly, she thought.
“Ah…”
Brrruru—Why keep lying when you’ll be found out anyway?
Yumi—She truly is a trashy woman.
Boglebogle—Let’s just kill her already. She’s not worth living. Raping a corpse? What a crazy lady.
Mysticism—🤬🤬🤬
Rize Nova—Farewell.
Hiccup.
As Lilith gulped, our monsters attacked without mercy.
