170: KILL THE WITCH
After a wonderful reunion with Lucy, I promptly dressed her in the same clothes she wore before. Right after that, we immediately proceeded to the mental education.
After roughly messing around with the Truth Room for three hours and making her do 10,000 repentance bows, I got a similar reaction as before.
“Ugghh…! I’m a piece of filth… I won’t be defiant against Lord Dot…! My arms hurts so much…! Lord, I’m sorry!”
Originally, I had plans to torment her further since it was infuriating that she had forgotten about me.
But seeing the reincarnated Lucy sniffling because of me made my heart soft, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
‘… Anyway, I’ve already found out everything I need to know.’
During the mental education cum interrogation, I found out one definite thing.
Lucy’s memories of everything related to me were completely erased.
― This is the first time I’ve encountered such a vague memory of a past life! I’m also confused!
Because of that, she barely remembered anything from her past life.
Whenever she recalls something, I, as a presence, suddenly interfere.
Then other memories start fading into a haze. All memories related to that are muddled and become unclear.
‘… Which means, my memories took up a lot of space.’
Thinking about that made me feel a bit melancholic, even as I watched Lucy, who was now somewhat foolish, muttering to herself and rubbing her shoulders.
Lucy glanced at me then cautiously spoke up.
“Nevertheless, I want to ask something… you.”
“What? What is it.”
“How should I address you… you.”
She’s asking such a thing.
I remained dazed for quite a while before finally managing to utter a single phrase.
“Call me the fun (fun), cool (cool), and sexy (sexy) Mr. Park Jeong-yong.”
“What? What is this thing?”
“Explaining that in itself is not sexy.”
“Are you insane…?”
The Lucy from the previous life didn’t ask such things.
She’d simply decide, “Being a servant is out of the question, I don’t want to call you by your name. We’ll just go with ‘Hero’ as a general term,” then stick with “Hero” thereafter.
While reminiscing about that, I flashed a wry smile.
“Hmm. As being a servant is out of the question, I don’t want to call you by your name, we’ll just go with ‘Hero’ as a general term… you.”
Lucy actually said that.
I immediately widened my eyes and stared at Lucy intently.
Lucy, thinking she had done something wrong, flinched and covered her head with both arms.
“No! Shall we go with ‘Hero-sama’… you?!”
A peculiar reaction. It took me quite some time before I could gather my thoughts.
Then I roughly ruffled her hair.
“Do as you please. And you don’t need to use honorifics.”
“Aahh! Don’t touch my hair so carelessly! You rude Hero!”
Lucy protested instantly, but I ignored her cleanly. Then, I took her straight to the meeting place with Adrang.
A faint smile lingered at the corner of my lips.
‘Lucy is indeed Lucy.’
The Lucy I knew had definitely died then.
But even the Lucy without memories was Lucy. Perhaps realizing this made me feel that way.
While walking along the path of the shrine of no gods, Lucy suddenly tugged at my collar from the side.
“Nevertheless, Hero.”
“What?”
“Why do you call me Lucy?”
“…”
“I am Ruthika. Ruthika Asmodeus. I’ve never been called Lucy even once. How does it shorten to Lucy?”
While walking, I looked at Lucy’s face carefully. Lucy also stared at me directly.
After quite some time, I smirked and, grabbing her horns, shook them vigorously.
“There was someone who resembled you… That was her name.”
*
“… The immortal Demon King is with us too, Mr. Jung Yong.”
“Yes. It turned out that way.”
When we reached the bamboo forest as the meeting place, Adrang murmured upon seeing Lucy who had come along.
Maybe I should’ve just sent someone from the household. Since she had just resurrected, I didn’t want to leave her alone if possible. While thinking that, I clicked my tongue and glanced at Lucy.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. She is actually the main topic of today, so it’s even better.”
However, Adrang said something with deep meaning. I immediately raised an eyebrow.
“… Hmm?”
“Come along. Let’s move the location.”
“A, yes.”
Instead of answering my question, Adrang strode through the bamboo grove.
After walking for a while through the still dim morning bamboo forest, just when the cool air and chirping birds were making me feel pleasant, Adrang suddenly stopped.
“Here. Let’s wait for a moment.”
In the middle of a bamboo forest with no particular distinguishing features, Adrang stopped us and walked around.
Apparently, he tapped a few bamboo trees in a certain direction and order. Soon, a dull rumbling sound was heard.
“Eeek?”
Lucy swayed and let out a surprised exclamation filled with confusion.
Cruuuhh. The ground covered in leaf litter began to shake. Before long, the trembling ground split into two.
‘This is…’
Rather than the ground actually splitting in half, it felt like a mirage disappearing.
Then, right before our eyes, a staircase leading underground appeared. It was clearly a man-made stone staircase.
For some time, we silently took in the sight.
“… Did you hide a transforming robot’s secret base here?”
Actually, pilots for the decisive battle weapon to kill the witch were needed. It’s not like that, is it?
We already have machine guns and reinforced skeleton suits. Considering the world’s top scientific power of Unterland, half of me was serious.
Fortunately, Adrang shook his head to deny my statement.
“A secret passage leading to the Cavern of Blue Flames.”
Still, the response was not something to be taken lightly.
The wind blowing through the bamboo forest, which had fallen into silence, sounded eerie. Narrowing my eyes, I glared at the back of his head.
“… A secret passage. The other Cavaliers don’t know about it, do they?”
“Since I’m the only remaining Cavalier among the witch hunters, it’s natural that they don’t know.”
The Cavern of Blue Flames is currently a highly hazardous area where high-level monsters and demons pour in.
They say the Cavaliers are risking their lives to protect that dungeon, yet supposedly the Cavaliers don’t know about the secret passage to it?
‘What kind of intention was behind withholding this information…?’
Adrang didn’t give me time to ask and descended the stairs.
Lucy and I hastily followed Adrang down the darkening stairs.
As we felt our way forward by leaning against the wall, I asked.
“Where does this passage lead to?”
“To the deepest part of the Cavern of Blue Flames. To where the core of the cave is located.”
…What?
I sharply turned my gaze to the back of Adrang’s head.
Right on cue, Lucy came closer to me. She tightly grabbed my sleeve and hid behind my back.
“Th-that… Hero. A terribly nasty smell is coming from that direction. It’s similar to me, but… it’s different. A strange widower’s smell…? Not that. It’s a smell like decaying corpses.”
The smell of decaying corpses. But I don’t sense any such smell.
The smell of corpses that only she, being a Demon King, can perceive makes me incredibly suspicious of the place we’re heading to.
“Indeed, Immortal Demon King. You’ve lost power, but your senses remain intact.”
Adrang reacted appropriately.
“The primary source of the fragments of Astarte that the Resurrection Sect repeatedly tries to revive, and also the source of demons that this cave spews out—Astarte’s remains are at the end of this passage.”
Involuntarily, I halted my steps.
The sound of my footsteps ceased as Adrang glanced at me. In the darkness, I stared at Adrang’s glowing eyes.
“Does this passage lead to such an absurd place? Then… why haven’t you informed the other Cavaliers?”
Undoubtedly, my gaze was filled with suspicion as I looked at Adrang.
Adrang nodded as if understanding.
“You’re thinking something like this, aren’t you?”
Adrang’s eyes curved into a crooked smile. Smirking bitterly, he said,
“Knowing about such a passage, what have you done until now? If you had at least crushed those remains of Astarte, wouldn’t the meaningless loss of lives have been unnecessary? What was your intention in keeping quiet and doing nothing? Are you planning something like overthrowing the state?”
“… No, I hadn’t thought that far… Can I confiscate two weeks of your paranoia?”
I know this guy has no interest in overthrowing the state.
Hate and love are separated by a mere sheet of paper. This guy is just a hardcore fan of the witch. He has no interest in anything but witch hunting.
‘I am genuinely curious about the reason, though.’
Adrang, who had once preached about the responsibility of those with power and outright disliked the Seven Demon Lords.
Why did he not report such an important finding and take no measures?
“Because it’s meaningless to inform the Cavaliers. It would only amplify pointless confusion.”
Shaking his head, Adrang advanced further into the darkness. I followed and asked back immediately.
“Meaningless? What do you mean by that?”
“Didn’t I attempt to destroy the remains of Astarte?”
“…!”
“Back then, the witch hunters were far larger in scale than they are now. They had sufficient power to destroy the remains. Naturally, I mobilized all the witch hunters to destroy the remains.”
Thud thud. The sound of footsteps echoed unusually loud.
I remained silent for a while, then finally managed to speak.
“You tried, and what happened?”
“An unprecedented number of powerful monsters poured in beyond belief.”
“……”
“Of course, with the help of the witch hunters, we managed to hold them off. But the cost was enormous. Numerous witch hunters died, and only the meager current members remained. Even then, half of them were traitors.”
… As expected, Adrang didn’t keep quiet without a reason. I heavily nodded my head.
However, Adrang’s words did not end there.
“And thanks to Elfride, I reached a certain conclusion.”
“… A conclusion?”
“There was a large stone tablet in the chamber where the remains were located. The moment we attempted destruction, upon regaining our senses, a towering stone tablet had risen. Inscribed on it was a prophecy from the ancient holy nation of Schultez. Elfride deciphered it after great effort.”
“Oh ho. That woman…”
I see. If it was something Adrang asked, Elfride would jump into it without hesitation.
An image came to mind of her with her eyes lit up, deciphering the ancient language, and I couldn’t help but smirk.
“It contained the conditions for annihilating the remains of Astarte.”
“……!”
“The conditions. Essential elements were lacking. For completely suppressing Astarte. The summoning of all Demon Lords. And the witches…”
As he spoke of conditions and elements, Adrang swept his gaze over me and Lucy.
He then exited the narrow passage and entered a vast cavern, standing still as if waiting for us.
“Come in. This is where the remains of Astarte rest.”
I glanced at Lucy once, then slowly entered the cavern where Adrang was waiting.
At the center of the cavern, a massive object caught my eye. I lost myself as I stared at it.
“What’s… that?”
It was a heart.
Oddly, it resembled the form of a human.
No.
‘It looks like Lucy.’
It resembled Lucy, covered with bright red mucus and blood vessels, monstrous and gigantic.
It floated in the center of the cavern, violently pulsating with veins spreading out everywhere.
Thump.
Thump.
Indeed.
“… A-Astarte… How did she end up like this…?”
Lucy muttered as she took a few steps back. She spoke those words upon seeing the writhing heart-shaped human form.
I again focused on the grotesque lump of meat shuddering creepily.
‘Is this… Astarte?’
But… there’s no way.
It’s the spitting image of Lucy. No matter where you look, Lucy.
‘… No. No.’
I carefully observed the woman wrapped in crimson mucus and shook my head.
It’s subtly different. Instead of horns on her head, sharp ears like an animal’s are present. She lacks wings, and instead has a tail covered with soft animal fur. Moreover, her fingernails and toenails are unusually sharp.
If Lucy were to cosplay as a nine-tailed fox, she would appear like this.
“The Guiding Raven will come with a white vessel to take the witch’s heart. The Raven already knows the way.”
Thud Thud. Suddenly, a dull thumping sound was heard.
In the corner of the cavern on the left, Adrang was leaning against a massive stone tablet. The dull sound was made as his fingers tapped the stele.
“It’s one of the verses inscribed on the stone tablet’s prophecy.”
Adrang met my dumbfounded gaze. An unprecedentedly interested smile hovered around his eyes.
An ominous anticipation and gleam of madness reflected as he spoke:
“Guiding Raven Mr. Park Jeong-yong. Do you know the way to take the heart?”
There’s no way I would know… I was about to scold him.
Then I shut my mouth.
Because a quest panel that suddenly appeared filled my vision.
[Quest Triggered (Epic)]
The abruptly appearing quest panel completely filled my field of vision.
[Name: Eliminate the Witch ― First Ritual]
[Level: Legendary]
[Details: You have reached the witch’s vital essence, the remains of Astarte. Sever the wretched witch’s heart to guide her one step closer to rest.]
[Condition 1: Obtain the Fragment of Divine Artifact, the Extinction Sword – Completed]
[Condition 2: Obtain the Fragment of Divine Artifact, the Dragon-Slaying Sword – Completed]
[Condition 3: Destroy the witch’s heart using the fragments of divine artifacts – Incomplete]
[Reward: Divine Artifact of Extinction – Extinction Greatsword. All stats +50. Hero Sense +10]
“Do you know the method to take the heart?”
As I maintained silence, Adrang asked again.
I was startled and still couldn’t answer.
I merely stared intently at the black panel visible only to me with wide eyes.
