In the past village of Ancient Beasts, kingdom raids were quite frequent, and each time I had to handle the monsters that initiated the attacks.
Dealing with the monsters was one problem, but a bigger issue was the ‘situation recovery’ that had to be done after each raid.
If we left the dead people and their land as it was due to the massacre, the remaining survivors would struggle to live.
Even if I couldn’t do anything about the lands that became completely uninhabitable or the direct impacts on the souls by the Celestial and Demon Race, I could restore the damages caused by the other monsters with my abilities.
And the various phenomena occurring here were quite similar to what I had done.
“Save those who can be saved, restore the destroyed buildings, and erase the memories that devour the mind.”
Those who have experienced a disaster find it hard to rise again.
No matter how much the family comes back to life and the land is restored, the memory of that day will linger deeply in their minds.
Even though there weren’t many, some of the monsters could strike directly or indirectly at the soul, so even if I tried to fix it, I couldn’t save everyone each time.
Restoring all that vast territory and those buildings was practically impossible, considering that incidents happen constantly across the universe.
“By the later years, I couldn’t save almost anyone.”
While the monsters rampaging was bad enough, the damage caused by Celestial and Demon Race was far greater.
“……”
Anyway, it’s actually more helpful to forget and live on rather than trying to resurrect every memory; it helps in overcoming the trauma.
But in the spirit of always being prepared, I left behind just enough memory to remind me that ‘something happened.’
“I’ve erased everything.”
However, Black Lily wiped out all the memories.
As for the memories, it’s fine since there shouldn’t be any special wars or raids coming in the future.
Restoring not only the village buildings but also the surrounding nature—every blade of grass, every tree—back to its original state was quite an odd method.
If I had done it, I would have thought it was a bit excessive and inefficient.
Perhaps because she carried the blood of the ‘Demon Race,’ she could do more than I could.
“What are you doing… meow?”
“It’s nothing special.”
I released the hand of Niaz, who I was holding, leaving Yena, who tilted her head in confusion, behind.
Niaz seemed startled for a moment, showing great vigilance as she stepped back.
I lifted my hands slightly to indicate not to worry.
“Don’t worry. I was just checking.”
“…It felt weird for a moment. It felt like my body was splitting into thousands of pieces…”
[?]
[Lily, what did you do?]
[OMG]
[You can’t do that to Grandma, Lily]
[Hahaha]
[Wait]
[Why’s Niaz trying to kill me?]
I shook my head at the startled Niaz and the chat window.
The reason Niaz was shocked was due to the technique ‘Immortal’s Shield’ that constituted her physical form.
It’s because of the “Immortal’s Mark.”
The Immortal’s Mark was written in the Book of Magia, but it was a spell that had been heard of long ago.
Unlike the celestial technique of “Resurrection,” which uses the Holy Power to bring back the target, the “Immortal’s Mark” through magic is not “Healing Magic.”
It’s merely reassembling the “substance” of a damaged body to mimic the original form convincingly.
In other words, Niaz’s body is just a mimicry created through regeneration and assembly using countless tiny fragments of the body.
This body is inherently less stable than the “Resurrection,” which forms a physical body through the power of authority, but given that the caster is the caster, the stability itself is relatively high.
It’s about the same level as the resurrection magic used by a high-ranking intermediate-level celestial being.
And the body created by the Immortal’s Mark is fundamentally a body composed of magic.
If holy power suddenly enters the body, the very composition might instinctively “shudder” in surprise.
With the hundreds of thousands of “fragments” constituting the body all startled at once, it’s no wonder Niaz feels goosebumps in that body.
If more holy power is injected here, one would witness the body literally “separating” into hundreds of thousands of fragments.
“Of course, I would never do such a thing.”
“It’s just a matter of putting it together and there shouldn’t be any problems. It was done by someone skilled.”
“…What?”
“There aren’t many who possess Holy Power… At least, one would need to be intermediate or higher to touch it, so there’s no need to worry.”
If someone had that level of power, it would be much easier to crush the Immortal’s Mark on the body than to do anything to it.
After dealing with the tired Niaz, who was feeling exhausted from earlier, I cast a healing spell using mana instead of holy magic and sent her back into the building.
Since the caster is the caster, she should recover quickly with just a little rest.
“Speaking of which…”
“…Could it be that you thought this was the price?”
[??]
[What is it?]
[Holy?]
[Do you know something, Lily?]
[Hmm?]
[What’s the price?]
“It’s about Black Lily. I feel like she’s involved in this somehow.”
“Meow?”
“So…”
I casually told Yena and the viewers about what happened here.
The “change” that disappeared along with the Iron Soul Sword resembles what I did in the past, and the magic cast on the people is magic I know well.
Upon hearing that, the chat window erupted with “Black Lily?” and Yena started looking around frantically.
“Gosh. So, does that mean we’re being ambushed right now? No way. Am I going crazy? Right?”
“They can’t come.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Because they would die.”
This is the second time.
Once in Blodia, and now in this Iron Devourer’s dungeon.
Just like in Blodia, Black Lily supported Riven and Blodia from behind, interfering with me in my quest.
I intervened.
As a result, the quest was somehow cleared, but the most crucial part, ‘Blodia,’ suddenly vanished.
I suspect with a high probability that ‘Black Lily’ took Blodia.
And this time is no different.
“Black Lily lost most of her magic in her fight against me. Of course, she must have regained some power by capturing a demon or dealing with various matters, but it’s not enough to defeat me.”
A weakened Black Lily is not a difficult opponent.
Summoned Lasty could easily overpower her if she went all out.
Of course, if she went overboard, that would change the situation, but if that happens, her recovery will only be delayed, so I don’t think that’ll happen.
“This time will be no different. Black Lily won’t confront me directly until she regains her strength.”
“Ah-ha.”
[Oh wow]
[I miss Black Lily]
[For real lol]
[Black Lily can’t beat Lily]
[Black Lily, oh my…]
[Hahahahahahahaha]
[Lily really knows Lily well haha]
[Oh my]
[Lily attacking Lily lol]
[So what about Iron Devourer?]
Ena nodded as if she understood and suddenly asked with a puzzled expression.
“But then, Lady Lily, did that iron monster get taken by Fake Lily?”
“Probably. That’s what I’ve been thinking.”
Regardless of what tricks Black Lily is up to, she is essentially ‘me.’
Assuming she wields ‘magic’ instead of ‘holy power,’ my powers, abilities, and physical structure may be distinctly different, but the ‘thoughts’ themselves should be similar.
That’s why Black Lily’s plans and schemes worked so well that she was able to achieve what she wanted twice with inadequate power.
Just as I know Black Lily well, she knows me just as well.
Yet this time, her actions are baffling.
“Taking Iron Devourer after helping to resolve the crisis?”
If Black Lily had actively assisted with the dungeon progression, that might make sense, but this is an excessive reward.
She was more of a hindrance than a help, teaching Myeosin’s techniques to Iron Devourer and even pulling out the strength of its main body.
It was a completely opposite situation compared to when Blodia achieved her goals without causing me harm.
“Is it because I carry the blood of demons that I’ve changed like this?”
Certainly, demons don’t place much importance on reciprocity compared to the celestial race.
They readily devour their own kin and demand unreasonable contracts—typical demon behavior.
However, the celestial race hasn’t always been innocent, and I didn’t resemble them much in the first place.
The same goes for Black Lily.
Thus, I needed to understand through the logic of ‘Lily’ rather than the logic of celestial and demon races.
“Black Lily doesn’t intend to oppose me. If she did, she’d have made a move since the Blodia incident.”
“Well, I would have done something since Black Lily’s time.”
Moreover, the Black Lily is an NPC designated as a World Boss, not a user.
She thought that there must be some restrictions on her actions; the reason she acted this way was to benefit both herself and me.
“So I gained something…”
First, this empty canister of a mythic item, the Iron Soul Sword, some experience points, and a title.
And the intimacy with Myeosin earned through training…
“Ah.”
“Huh?”
I noticed another message below the one indicating that my intimacy had increased.
Messages layered like a belated reward.
[You have perfectly fulfilled the training quest.]
[The ‘Ore Monster’s Land’ has been completely conquered by someone.]
[As the conqueror has given up their share, the rewards related to the conquest will be redistributed.]
[The Broken Iron Soul Sword has grown to ‘Sub-Transcendent’ grade.]
[The Representative of Kiki Island’s intimacy with Myeosin has reached the limit.]
[A massive amount of experience points…]
■
“Really. Is it okay?”
“Of course.”
Somewhere in the space above the continent.
In an unreachable dimension, Black Lily smiled as she watched the giant stone monster, the Iron Devourer.
On top of the stone monster stood a small girl, Blodia, who seemed oddly familiar with the spot for some reason.
“Lily’s goal has been Myeosin from the start. So now that I have a justification to bring Myeosin, I just need to regain a bit more power, and Lily can achieve her desired goal.”
-So, you’re giving Myeosin and bringing me along?
“Wasn’t that somewhat reasonable? You don’t really need to be involved since Karabus is available anyway.”
As Black Lily said this with a grin, Blodia nodded vigorously, creating a makeshift throne, while the Iron Devourer seemed somewhat dissatisfied but couldn’t voice it.
This being was as powerful as the “Destroyer.”
“Of course, there would be some dissatisfaction, but I think they’ll ‘understand’ since we took some losses too.”
-What if they can’t understand?
“Then, well…”
Black Lily recalled.
Using a total of three annihilations to wipe everything out.
“You better hide well.”
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