Chapter 173 All Of Them Are Dead
Believe it or not, the Foolish God actually agreed with my solution.
Well, the real question was whether the stakes were high enough for him to downright.
It wasn't like he had a simple justification to avoid my alternative, especially with all that had been established in our conversations.
Thinking clearly on things, his plans weren't even greatly affected by this one event.
He had many other ways to win.
For example, if I died once again, I would really have no other choice but to be his Apostle.
And, since I wasn't getting his help after I revived, the chances of dying soon after returning to the world was pretty high.
Then, there was the fact that he could still somewhat monitor the world using my Arcana Call and the other few Apostles he had running around.
All in all, this wasn't a total loss for him. We both won this round.
'I made it this far... thank goodness!'
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"Samuel Peterson, you are now going to return to the world you just left. Nothing will change except your resurrection. Are you certain this is the choice you want to make?" For the umpteenth time, the Foolish God asked.
I nodded, donning nothing short of an innocent confidence. I couldn't tell whether he bought it or not, so I could only assume.
"Very well. Do what you must to return. I must leave now. As a God, I have various other concerns that I need to attend to."
Once he said this, his white body, having gold outlines and glitters around it, began fading away.
'Nest trick.' I thought to myself, watching as he vanished.
A God was busy with many duties, so one could only imagine how many things the Foolish God had to attend to.
Well... the real answer was zero.
'He's probably just gonna be watching me from a distance. I can't sense him anyway, so...' I sighed.
Once the Foolish God went into hiding, I decided to have a few moments of silence to myself—confirming the plan I had sketched up in my head.
'It's going to be incredibly dangerous and risky...'
However, at this point, I was desperate.
"Alright. I should begin resonating my soul to the anchor."
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While creating the barrier that shrouded Dulum, I imbued two effects. One was for protection, while the other was for attraction.
Generally speaking, when a person died, their souls would be broken down into particles and merge with their surroundings.
That's right—they became the nutrients of the world.
However, when I died, my Soul was instantly raptured into the Foolish God's realm. It was being preserved due to this very reason.
'It takes some time for a person's soul to be completely broken down. That's what makes the attracting effect of the barrier very efficient.'
Like a magnet, it was designed to absorb the souls of everything in the vicinity—and it was also connected to mine, thanks to the wonderful asspull effects of Rune Craft.
If I used the barrier as an anchor, I could return to reality... and back to my body.
'The Foolish God has granted me permission, so I can transfer my soul from this Realm.'
Finally!
"Please let this work."
*****************
"He's dead." Demon Lord Valefor muttered in disinterest as he dropped the crushed heart of the Hero.
Groaning sounds of the denizens of Dulum permeated the air, as many screamed in shock and horror.
The only source of hope they clung to had been extinguished by the enemy.
"N-no... no way. I can't... I can't believe it." Sarah Lyniette's voice was in shambles as her mind broke apart.
She could not comprehend the sight—or rather, she didn't want to.
Her heart ached to the point of torture. It filled her with such despair that she felt like ripping it out.
Hot tears descended from the Priestess' eyes, and she simply could not believe her sight. The only man she had ever relied on so heavily... he was gone.
"H-he can't be dead... he can't... be... dea—"
Sarah could not complete her sentence before she fell into deathly silence. To her, this was quote literally the end.
Everything had lost all meaning.
It was all pointless.
As for the rest of the witnesses, they were no better off.
Sure, none of them grieved as much as Sarah, but their hearts wallowed in deep despair and unspeakable agony.
Lucy shed tears... TEARS! The hardened warrior gave in to her most sensitive emotions and cried like a baby.
Her injured body could do nothing but tremble in tears and bawling. She didn't mind the snot or immature wailing.
She simply let it all out.
As for Byron, he was too dazed to speak. His body was simply paralyzed, and his mouth was wide open.
The one who stood above all else was now dead.
"H-he... the Legendary Dragon Slayer. Sam. N-no..."
Asa was in the deepest slump.
'I-I thought he... I hoped he... no...not like this. Please don't leave me.'
After finding her source of hope, she didn't think it would be snuffed out so soon.
'Y-you taught me that it was possible. You showed me. So, why...,'
Her high hopes—for the present, and the future—were now shattered. Just when she thought he was the savior—that he was the invincible champion she required.
How did it all end up like this?!
'... Why are you gone...?'
The Legendary Dragon Slayer was certainly not as invincible as she had thought.
"Disgusting voices." The hateful mutter of the Demon Lord attracted no change in the tone of everyone around.
They were paralyzed in fear, but even their gasps and wailings were unstoppable.
It was enough to tick Valefor off.
"That's about enough." With the snap of his fingers, several hundreds—no, most definitely thousands—of dark orb-like bullets appeared behind and above him.
They swirled dangerously, distorting space and oozing darkness so dense that anyone could sense the malevolence a distance away.
"Be silenced."
>WHOOOOOSSSSHHHH<
In an instant, the numerous bullets riddled holes into the bodies of every single resident of the City.
It took some one second. Others two seconds. A few lasted up to three. However, none reached five seconds... before they were rendered completely dead.
A pool of blood slowly converged as each villager collapsed to the ground—for those who hadn't done so already.
The dark red liquid approached Valefor, but he ignored the stream. The moment the blood got close to him, they evaporated.
'Staining myself with something as bile as human blood? Never!'
Though, Valefor had to admit as he looked at his hand... the human he fought earlier was different.
Sure, this city's was weaker than him, but he couldn't imagine facing five—or maybe a little more than that—of them.
That would be unfair.
'He also had to worry about the lives of these people. What an interesting person.'
It was unfortunate that both the human champion and the ones he was trying to save were all dead.
'It just works that way. Inferior creatures should always meet such an end.' As a firm believer in Demon superiority—much like most of his Demon counterparts—Valefor malevolently grinned as he created a dark portal in front of him.
His goal remained the same—the unbelievable reserves that existed at the very bottom of the City of Dulum.
"Since I conquered this land, it's mine. I have legal stakes on it, and the resources underneath... they're all mine!"
He slowly entered the swirling rupture of space, taking one last glance around to savor the sight of death.
Nothing and no one was standing in his way any longer. There were a few sacrifices, but none that couldn't be replaced.
'So Adu didn't manage to get himself killed. Tch, that's regretful. I didn't want to resort to assassination or poisoning, but...'
He simply had to come up with a more definitive way to kill Adu. Perhaps he could hire 'that' hired assassin.
'Perhaps...' Most of Valefor's body had now vebtured into his portal and a dark smile remained planted his face.
His destination, was of course the underground wonder that would secure his future as the top of the Demon Lords.
As his head and the rest of his body were almost through the portal, Valefor thought he felt something.
'Did I just see—? No, it's probably my eye problem.'
Once again, he nodded and smiled. Afterward, he completely vanished from the landscape.
....
"If only he stuck around for a little more..." A voice emerged from among those who were dead.
The voice was that of a man—relieved and confident. A smile formed on the person's face and he swiftly took his position.
"Let's get to work!"
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Valefor teleported to the very front of the Great Helios Labyrinth. He would have transported himself inside, but a spatial interference chose his current position as his starting point.
Though it annoyed him, Valefor put up with this restriction.
Due to being unaware of the kind of Limiting or Spatial Interference Spell that was at work, he decided to ignore the spell and speed to the room where his promised resources were.
>VWOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHH<