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The scenery reflected through the eyes of the Black Demon Lord was being transmitted to me who was sleeping inside her. 

Yugura Nariya set countless crystals in the throne room as a method for the Black Demon Lord, who can’t join the battle, to confirm the state of the war. 

It is most likely set with the familiars that the Colorless Demon Lord (Tedoral) uses normally to peek at us. 

The crystals are showing their respective Nethers and demons, and the Black Demon Lord was watching this silently. 

“Heya, can you hear me?” 

“…Won’t you get scolded for that?” 

The voice of Yugura Nariya reached my ears as if he were right by my side even though I should be inside the Black Demon Lord. 

The Black Demon Lord outside isn’t reacting at all, so Yugura Nariya himself must have used some sort of power to talk to me directly. 

“Her body is your weak body. She won’t notice even if I were to pull something like this.” (Yugura)

“I certainly have the confidence to say that I wouldn’t be able to notice even if you were to do the same to me. And so, did you have someone you wanted to complain to?” 

“Complain… You could take it as that. My words won’t reach Black no matter what I say to her. Tedoral is also out there, so you could say I don’t have anything to do.” (Yugura)

“Is the space-time spell fine then?” 

“It is not like I have to stay present the whole time to form it. I have to reform the mana into an exclusive one and have mana accumulate in the magic circle, so such waiting times are created.” (Yugura)

It is more scientific than I thought. No, it is most likely an Earth centric approach exactly because it is Yugura Nariya. 

“It is impressive. Even a normal person like me can see the battle of the demons.” 

“I tinkered a bit with the throne Black is sitting on, you see. I am changing the information that the five senses are taking in, so that the person’s brain can take it. Even if there’s a mass that’s moving at a speed that can’t be caught with the eye, it still doesn’t change the fact that it moved in front of your eyes. You just need to reprocess that information as something that the eyes have perceived, I guess.” (Yugura)

“I understand that I don’t understand.” 

Reperceive what you shouldn’t be able to see in terms of capability to something that you can. 

Just trying to think about how it works would require me to understand the thoughts of a person that has gone beyond the boundaries of logic, which might lower my lifespan. 

It would be best to just let that go. 

“I don’t plan to just give a lecture here. I will pour the theory into your brain later if you wish to.” (Yugura)

“I don’t need that. And so, what you want is my opinion on the demons?” 

“You could say that. The last strength that she left as someone with the power of Omnipotence. Don’t you think they are awfully pathetic?” (Yugura)

“Everything is pitiful no matter what’s left if you lose Omnipotence. But well, it is true that watching them hurts.” 

I direct my attention at Zahava who is fighting Ilias and the others in the Gahne Nether. 

She has thrown away her human appearance, changing into that of a spider. Thinking about how it led to that is truly painful. 

“You should have understood the meaning of awakening, right?” (Yugura)

“Yeah. Awakening for a demon is to become fear itself.” 

The easiest one to get information from was Zahava who is leaking out emotions. 

She is using her spider appearance as her own power, but that appearance is not keeping up.

“That’s right. The Demon Lords pay with their name, and demons are given trials to overcome their fear. Well, the definition of fear is so vague that there’s also other conditions to be met though.” (Yugura)

The target of fear from their deep subconscious. So that’s how you become a demon. 

And so, the ones who have overcome their fear will end up turning into their own fear.

So they would be an evolved human with no fears once they become fear itself, huh. What a horrible irrational argument.

“Obviously. Zahava may have been scared of spiders, but that was in her time as a village girl. She wouldn’t feel any fear even if a spider were to appear in front of her now.” 

“It isn’t bad to establish a factor though. In the first place, it is a magic formula that’s finally possible after using the mana of a Demon Lord. Doesn’t change the fact that it is an incomplete being though.” (Yugura)

“And the result was that monsters that can transform into their past traumas are born, huh. Could it be that if you hated bell peppers, you would become a bell pepper monster?” 

“Something like likes and dislikes wouldn’t become a factor. It would be a different story if you were to get food poisoning from eating a bell pepper though.” (Yugura)

I wouldn’t want such a development to happen even if it is possible. 

It makes sense for this to be a process in the evolution of people, but only 3 people managed to become their fears while maintaining their sanity. 

The other conditions must have been pretty tough then.

“That snake monster managed to overcome their fear, but their mind couldn’t endure the flow of time, so you could say that’s the fate of a snake hater, huh.” 

“His name was Idorak. A man that pledged his loyalty to Black in a straightlaced fashion towards Black since the time he was alive. His heart has already died and his body alone is moving by instinct though.” (Yugura)

The demon themself probably need to grow in order to enter the awakened state. 

Continuously recreating your body through the long passing of time to prepare the groundwork for awakening. 

But even if your human heart can endure it, your demon body won’t match it, and you will wear down together with time. 

As time goes on, the body will continue to change, and that friction will increase.

I am reminded of the fate of Nektohal. 

A pitiful servant that continued wishing to stand by the side of Green, was obsessed about it, and ended up breaking. 

Centuries mercilessly ate into the hearts of the demons even though they had their king to support them nearby. 

In that case, the tragedy of the Serende Nether must have been worse with the Black Demon Lord absent. 

The passing of time itself is the true trial the demons must overcome. 

“How ironic, isn’t it? You need to be warped as a person in order to endure all the way to awakening.” (Yugura)

You will be murdered by the friction of the demon body if you keep your human heart. 

But if you are warped as a human to begin with, the friction on the demon body will be lessened.

Niruryates and Zahava showed abnormal degrees of attachment to their own lord. It is exactly because they are attached to a sickening degree that they managed to live for such a long time without changing. 

There may have been people with equal or higher loyalty, but they were way too human. 

Their way too normal emotions are scraped off with the passing of time and are killed. 

“It fits the end of a Demon Lord that hates humans though. Now then, what do you think the conclusion of this battle will be?” (Yugura)

“You should be able to predict it without asking me this.” 

“I don’t want Black to notice and be displeased. You would also be annoyed if you were to be poked on the side while you are reading, right?” (Yugura)

“So there’s the slight chance of being noticed, huh. But I feel like you would poke her side if the Black Demon Lord were to really be in the middle of reading.” 

“I have a decent amount of experience in being punched. It is etiquette to poke at an alluring side with your finger.” (Yugura)

“Of course you would be punched.” 

I tried thinking of a number of things that Yugura Nariya would react to, but there was no noticeable reaction. 

Looks like he is only using thought transmission to the bare minimum so that the Black Demon Lord doesn’t notice his interference. 

It seems like my worry of having my thoughts read by Yugura Nariya in this state will only be happening in a further future. 

I guess the first gamble has been cleared. 

“Let’s see… It is true that the demons are a gathering of monsters, but there’s a lot of warped points exactly because they are monsters. They won’t lose easily even if I am not there.” 

“Implying they would be able to win with you present?” (Yugura)

“They are people who have maintained their warped hearts for centuries. Them being that stubborn makes them easy to read instead.” 

Their strength is outside my expertise, but Ilias and the others have managed to hang on. In that case, what’s left would be how to comprehend them and deal with them. 

I have already planted the seeds for the signs. 

I believe they will surely win. 

“You are full of confidence. But you are internally scared, right? You are not strong enough to smile boldly in a situation where people you know might die at any moment after all.” (Yugura)

“Yeah. I even want to cry right now. I am thinking of several plans in my mind out of my desire to kill the demons, and enraged at the fact that I can’t do anything.” 

I may not have been able to think of any other way, but I ended up getting the whole world caught up in it. 

My heart shook after seeing Lord Leano and Archbishop Ukka. 

Ilias and Maya-san are currently fighting monsters beyond the boundaries of the world even now. 

I am sure many people will die. 

There might be people I want to protect within those. Just thinking about it scares me to an unbearable degree. 

“It is not like you believe in the victory of your allies, but that you have no choice but to. I am jealous of how human that is.” (Yugura)

“Right? You have a lot of things I don’t, but I have a clear hold on the things that you have thrown away.” 

That’s why, let’s continue walking on. 

I will continue believing that they will be cutting open the path. While fearing, trembling, enduring tears, and smiling in a distorted manner; all for the sake of the last move that only I can do. 

◇◇

“Hah?! That snake was also a former demon?!” (Blue)

I moved away from the snake, returned to Blue, and told her what I realized. 

Blue raised her voice in surprise, but Marito was still silent. He must have noticed the possibility. 

“No doubt about it. I managed to read the memories of the time when that snake was a demon from its mana. But it is a pretty old memory. He must have lost his sanity a pretty long time ago.” (Ekdoik)

<<That regeneration speed was not like that of a demon, but that of a demon, huh… Ekdoik, if that’s the shadow of a demon, it means he definitely has a core, right?>> (Marito)

Cores are different depending on the monster. 

In the case of a monster with regeneration, it is either regenerating with the core as the center, or they had that special trait from the very beginning. It is hard to tell which one it is. 

But it is certain that a demon has a core, and there’s no doubt this is a regeneration rate peculiar to that of demons. 

“I have narrowed it down to somewhere close to the torso where the snake heads separate. But if its survival instincts as a demon are still present, it will be almost impossible to accurately destroy the core that’s inside that massive body.” (Ekdoik)

Wolfe and the others fought Nektohal in Serende. 

He threw away his human body and became a bizarre monstrosity, but his core was apparently no different from that of a normal demon. 

In that case, the core of that snake is a small one. Targeting a small core with a long range attack is asking too much against that giant body. 

<<If it can freely control the pieces of flesh as well, it is possible that the core will be moved the moment an attack goes near it.>> (Marito)

“It is possible in theory with a powerful snipe, but…it would be rough to ask that from the combat power of the Mejis side.” (Ekdoik)

It is possible to capture the precise location, but I can’t shoot an attack that wouldn’t lose in power while piercing through that thick wall of meat. 

If it is just reaching the core, it should be possible to do so by diving my chains into the sea of meat, but that alone would just make the core move. 

I need a technique that can allow us to break through the meat with more momentum. 

<<Ekdoik, you know the word drill, right?>> (Marito)

“—! Aah, I remember now. There’s that.” (Ekdoik)

In the past, there was a time when I hid myself deep in a cave in the mountains of Taizu after I fought Comrade as an assassin of Raheight. 

I was asked by Comrade to investigate the ores deep in the unexplored caves as a means to help out in his attempt to raise money. 

I understood that I needed a method to clear away the obstructing rocks in order to dig through the hard earth. 

When I showed the technique I thought of for this, Comrade said: ‘It is like a drill’.

I asked the details of drills from Comrade. 

The tip is sharp, and it is shaped as a spiral to eject the scraps to the back. 

You don’t break it in one hit, but scrape it away constantly. 

I was mulling on a way to use this in real combat, but deploying my chains and keeping the form created was way too big of an opening, so I sealed it away. 

But it should be usable if the opponent is this gigantic and doesn’t evade. 

“Eh, what? Do you have a way to get out of this one?” (Blue)

“Yeah, but I will need your assistance for this. Please get on my back, Blue.” (Ekdoik)

“…?” 

I get Blue on my back and fix her in place with my chains. And then, I secure the necessary length of chains, and have Blue hold both ends of the chains. 

“W-Wait, what is this?! Why is it so firm?!” (Blue)

“I need to maintain the shape of the chains with both hands. It would waver a lot if I were to do that as well. It will be a bit rough, but please endure.” (Ekdoik)

“This looks horrible in a lot of ways though!” (Blue)

<<I would like to see it too.>> (Marito)

“You shut up, King!” (Blue)

I bore through one of the snake heads with chains that I prepared separately, and pulled my body to the top of the torso where the core is. 

“Blue, please pour your mana on those chains continuously. Leaking out bit by bit would be ideal.” (Ekdoik)

“You want to forcefully remove that meat with my mana? It is not like I can’t, but the chains won’t be able to endure.” (Blue)

“No, the chains you are holding are veins for the sake of sending mana. I will create chains that will gouge through its meat…with these eyes…!” (Ekdoik)

I concentrate mana into my eyes and activate the True Eyes of Blindness. 

There should be no issues with the durability of these chains, but it won’t work as well as normal chains, and it would lack the ability to scrape away the meat.

Weaving a drill with just chains would make it lack durability. In that case, I will imagine chains that have already taken that form, and increase the durability of it with that form. 

I created a chain spear the size of a battering ram. 

“A-A giant spear? Wait, the tip is spinning?!” (Blue)

“That’s right. This can pierce through even a solid wall. An indomitable spiral in one thrust! [Perforation Spear]!” (Ekdoik)

I descend and thrust the Perforation Spear on the body of the snake. The tip of the Perforation Spear gouged the meat, and the spiral ejects the meat to the back. 

The inside of the Perforation Spear created by the True Eyes of Blindness have the mana of Blue leaking out. 

The mana of Blue came out like a torrent from the hole in the spiral to match the spinning of the Perforation Spear, drawing an arc. 

With this, we can take away the regeneration of the gouged out meat and continue digging efficiently. 

The spiral grabbed the meat and increased its speed as if it were swimming. 

It was closing the distance on the core in one go.

“We can do it…! We can do it with this!” (Blue)

“Not yet! With this speed, the core will move by the time we get near it!” (Ekdoik)

We are managing to dig faster than the regeneration, but there’s no way the snake wouldn’t react to this abnormal attack. 

Screams echo from the many snake heads, and I could feel the meat around moving. 

It may have lost its sanity, but its survival instincts when its core is targeted are still present. 

It is trying to forcefully eject us. 

“Then, what do we do?!” (Blue)

“The moment the core evades this attack is the moment we can get the closest to the core! We have to perceive that instant!” (Ekdoik)

It is not like the body is moving without any logic. 

It is making the best moves to protect the core from us. 

In that case, we have to read those movements and comprehend them. 

Predict where the core will move like a hunter cornering a beast by taking advantage of its instincts! 

“—! There!” (Ekdoik)

I undo the True Eyes of Blindness, erasing the Perforation Spear into nothing. 

I wrap the chains that are clad in the mana of Blue, and smash them onto the meat. 

I feel a spheric sensation at the tip of my fingers…

I grab that and pull it out in one go. A core that looked like a black stagnated gem. 

The core that had been basked in the mana of Blue directly began to crack, and crumbled in my hand. 

The ear-piercing screams of the snake reached my ears despite being inside the meat. 

Blue and I could tell instinctively what this meant. 

“We did it! We managed to destroy the core! …Hm, Ekdoik? Wait, why are you silent?” (Blue)

“…I didn’t think of a way to escape from here.” (Ekdoik)

The surroundings are being lit up by the mana of Blue, but it is meat everywhere with no telling where’s where. 

The path we dug through is still left to a certain degree, but the entrance has regenerated a long time ago.

“C-Can’t you bring out the spear once more?!” (Blue)

“I can’t properly utilize the True Eyes of Blindness in a warped space. It would be hard to employ it with such little space.” (Ekdoik)

“C-Can’t you protect it with barrier magic?” (Blue)

“I am not that good with barrier magic. It is to a degree where I was on the verge of being crushed to death by my own enlarged chains.” (Ekdoik)

The Yugura Church barriers like the ones Rakura uses that would be affixed in a space should be able to endure the pressure of this snake’s meat, but it is rough for the wrapping up type of barrier that doesn’t hamper movement in combat. 

I free Blue from the chains for now and try to gouge the meat around with my chains. 

It seems like it has lost its regeneration, but the mass is still present. 

The snake itself falling to the ground will happen faster than its body turning into dust. 

The pressure when that happens would be enough to crush us inside of it. 

“What should we do?! I don’t want the both of us crushed to death here!” (Blue)

“Yeah. I do think every day about wanting to get along with you, but I would like to choose the place at least.” (Ekdoik)

“R-Right… Wait, this isn’t the time for that! Uhm…uuuh…!” (Blue)

A floating sensation assailed our bodies after a big tremor happened. 

The meat around tore, and light poured inside. 

What I could see from the opening of the meat wall was a wall of white bones.

“Roooh!” 

“Daruagestia?! That’s right! We had this child!” (Blue)

Daruagestia had been swallowed by the snake’s body, but it dug through the sea of meat that had lost its ability to regenerate, and bit through the space where we were to let us escape. 

“Rooh…” 

“Ah, sorry. It is not like I forgot you. I was just panicking…” (Blue)

The meat was gouged out, and we could now see the state of the surroundings clearly. 

The body of the giant snake that fell on the ground slowly began to crumble and change into dust. 

Looks like we safely managed to defeat it. 

<<Ekdoik, are you okay?!>>

“Marito, huh. We somehow managed to defeat the snake monster.” (Ekdoik)

<<I see, that’s a relief. Sorry for bringing this up when you are feeling relieved here, but please head to where Maya and Dyuvuleori are at once. The two of them are already fighting a demon, and it is looking pretty bad.>> (Marito)

“…Got it. We will head there at once!” (Ekdoik)

I make wings with chains, clear away the flesh around as I float while carrying Blue. 

I would like to bring Daruagestia with us if possible, but its body is injured here and there, so it would be dangerous to make it push itself. 

“Daruagestia, burrow yourself and take a break for now! You’ve done well!” (Blue)

“Rooh…” 

“Let’s go, Blue. It is the real deal from here on.” (Ekdoik)

“Yeah, but getting all covered in gore before things get serious… It really makes me worry about the future…” (Blue)

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