Episode 191
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Lady Scarlett soared across the night sky, spreading her bat wings. At first glance, it was a sight that made you wonder if she really was the devil.
After seeing her shadow disappear across the night sky of Baekjakyeong, Dale quickly turned his head.
By the command of the Shadow Lord, the Grave Walkers had already taken control of the entire County of Wallachia. That was why Aurelia hid behind her and spoke to the terrified maid.
“It would be dangerous for her to be with us any longer. Let’s leave her to the court assassins or the mountain assassins.”
Dale nodded at Aurelia’s words.
“I will do as you wish, Lady Aurelia.”
It was a rare sight to see her speak on her own accord. Dale nodded, and a dark elf who happened to be waiting in the castle’s courtyard bowed his head.
“Please take her safely to the court in Harlem.”
“Respect.”
The mountain assassin lowered his head, then nodded at the terrified maid.
“Don’t worry. She will protect you until things are sorted out.”
“Thank you… …! Prince Dale! And you too, Lady Knight!”
The maid bowed her head to the two, and Lady Shadow remained silent beneath her black helm.
“I just did what I had to do.”
After a moment of silence, she opened her mouth.
“We can’t delay any longer.”
Dale spoke, and Salgem and Lady Shadow readied their swords.
At the same time, the Grave Walkers who were guarding the area under the Shadow Lord’s command knelt.
Dale’s direct intelligence unit, comprised of high-ranking assassins from the Shadow Court and mountain assassins active throughout the Empire.
The County of Wallachia was already like a butterfly caught in Dale’s web.
Yet Dale also knew that no prey was more susceptible to being caught in a web than those who thought they were spiders.
The Shadow Lord moved forward without letting down his guard until the last moment.
Lady Scarlett had already conceived ‘one demon’ and disappeared. However, the three demons still remained there, and at the same time, the ghost that haunted the virgin’s past was also there.
There was no reason to hesitate.
* * *
“I’ve been waiting for you!”
The Great Hall of the Count of Wallachia. The Shadow Lord and his two swords, and the most trusted assassins of the mountain, walked forward, and a voice rang out as if it had been waiting.
《Decision》 was there. Leaving behind a horrific scene that could be described as nothing short of hell.
“Oh my, this is so crap.”
Master Baro spat out a curse.
Countless corpses adorned the Great Hall. Severed torsos hung like chandeliers throughout the hall, and pieces of flesh were displayed everywhere like violent grotesque objects. Arms, legs, entrails, heads and torsos… .
“It is a hell that is more than enough for the devil to descend.”
There the Count of Wallachia, wearing a mask, laughed.
“No matter how much they cried out the name of the goddess, none of the victims decorating this hell responded.”
“Do you think that justifies your one-sided slaughter?”
“One-sided massacre? How could that be! I gave them a chance.”
The Count of Wallachia cried out in amazement at Dale’s taunts.
“It was a fair opportunity to willingly cry out and pray to her name so that her kindness and mercy could reach them!”
“… … .”
Again, I could sense Aurelia’s agitation next to Dale. I don’t think the man could even imagine her agitation hidden beneath her armor. It was so funny.
“This is the result of that fair game. What more convincing evidence could there be to prove the absence of the Goddess?”
Only then did I realize that the physical objects decorating this hell were all the bodies of devoutly religious boys. I felt like I was going to vomit again.
“Either the goddess abandoned this world, or it was a world without gods from the beginning, one of the two.”
Gilles de Rais, Count of Wallachia, shouted, spreading his arms.
It was just then.
Taang!
A shadow bullet struck from Dale’s shadow. A single sniper shot from the Muyeongchang. As if he had no time to listen to any more nonsense. Not to the Count of Wallachia who was stretching his arms out exaggeratedly, but to the ‘gentleman’ who was keeping silent beside him.
The bullet tore through his mask and sank into his smooth, egg-like flesh. No, it wasn’t even a bullet. His face literally burst open.
In addition, the Shadow Lord’s avatar, which had been temporarily released to replenish his magical power, wrapped itself around Dark Blood’s body once again.
The ‘Eye of Truth’, from which even the Shadow Lord himself could not escape, gazed upon them.
It would not be an ordinary task to handle all of these people here. Because I know the meaning of weighing their shadows and weight.
Still, Dale steeled his resolve.
“This is the end of listening to nonsense.”
“I guess this long-winded talk was a bit boring for Confucius.”
At that very moment, the ‘gentleman’ whose face should have burst spoke. He still had the mask of the ‘Laughing Man’ on his egg-like face, but he looked so normal.
“… … .”
It was expected. I didn’t think I could kill him like this.
At the same time, the eyes of truth stared at the gentleman’s shadow, hoping to catch a glimpse of the truth within it.
It should have been so.
Nothing was visible.
“Haha, the truth isn’t something that can be known so easily.”
It wasn’t about the shadow of the gentleman. Dale’s world itself was engulfed in darkness. It wasn’t a metaphor or anything.
Literally, Dale’s very sight disappeared, as if he had gone blind.
“What is the truth?”
A gentleman’s voice was heard in the darkness.
“Do you really think that we can know the truth of this world with the sensory information we receive through our five imperfect senses?”
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Dale didn’t answer. He just sat there in silence, calmly assessing the situation.
“Let’s assume that some powerful demon is tricking our senses into giving us false information.”
It was a story Dale knew too.
“In fact, our bodies perished long ago, and only the brain remains. However, the brain is not dead, but is stored in a vat, and demons or wizards are manipulating our brains and injecting false information.”
The gentleman said.
“──Is there any evidence to disprove this?”
The devil of delusion. Dale burst into laughter at the absurdity.
“Humans are creatures that live by memory.”
Dale answered.
“Even if that memory is synonymous with fantasy.”
In the midst of the enchantment that enveloped him, there was no room for hesitation.
“Even if you assume that I am just a brain in a vat, a puppet of the devil, as you say, nothing will change.”
The Shadow Lord said.
“I just have to dance desperately.”
Clang!
At the same time, the darkness that had been enveloping the area broke away. Light returned. One of the five senses became active, and only then did the truth of the shrine before him become apparent.
“… … !”
There was no such thing as an egg ghost. As he said, his very existence was a delusion.
“Was that the real one?”
Dale smiled at the shadow. Above the shadow, a frightened ‘squat’ was hiding.
The magic of bewitchment and mind manipulation. It meant only one thing.
“You’re using blue magic.”
“Ah, ahh… … !”
The gentleman with the flesh of an egg ghost twisted grotesquely. Like a puppet that was incompetently clumsy. And the truth beyond the illusion that controlled it, the dwarf, fell down ugly on his butt.
“That’s not an ordinary skill. No, has it become an ordinary skill now?”
“You dare… …!”
The little rascal in the shadows, it was time for the gentleman to work his magic again.
A blue butterfly flew up.
─ Ah, you were hiding here. Poor little rat.
And then came a voice. Dale turned his head. The dark elf, who was supposed to be loyal to Dale as the mountain assassin, was whispering with unfocused eyes.
The blue curtain, the voice of Arachne.
“Hee, heek… … !”
As soon as he heard that voice, the little boy’s expression turned pale.
“Ah, uh, mother… … !”
─ Did you think you could escape my web?
The blue magic tower that resided in the mountain assassin smiled. The pinnacle of lies and schemes, the master of mind manipulation magic. Even though it was in a borrowed body, one of the pinnacles of magic without a doubt was there.
─ Ah, wise prince. Please carry out your work.
At the same time, Arachne smiled and said, as if her business was limited to this man.
“Was that your intention from the beginning?”
Dale asked coldly.
─ Of course not. My role is to protect the Shadow Lord. That won’t change.
“… … .”
─ Rather, it is truly shameful that the rat that should be loyal to the Shadow Lord tried to harm Him…
“Was it like that?”
Dale nodded silently. The truth that the gentleman was telling, it was not the devil who deceived his senses and gave him false information. It was the pinnacle of conspiracy and lies, the work of the Blue Tower.
“It wouldn’t be strange if you suffered from trauma.”
─ Asking for whispers is the reason these children, the ‘Homunculus’, exist, and we don’t need any rats who have lost their meaning.
The blue tower muttered coldly.
“Ah, ah, no… …! I, I don’t want to go back there! I don’t want to be a puppet again! Please, please, Mother!”
The man called Gentleman was backing away in fear, without even the slightest intention of resisting.
─ Oh, don’t worry. Soon you’ll forget what you were so afraid of.
The devil was not far away. It was so absurd that I couldn’t even laugh.
The blue tower stretched out its arms, and spider webs tangled around it. Spider webs flying from unknown sources began to wrap around his body and bind him, like prey trapped in a cocoon of spider webs.
The remaining members of 《Decision》 were also unable to hide their shock at the unexpected situation.
‘I didn’t know it would end so hopelessly.’
The Shadow Lord clicked his tongue silently, and that was it.
“Then, let us begin the ritual of Kangma, gentlemen.”
In the silence, a man wearing a mask quickly opened his mouth. It was the one with the name of the demon sorcerer Prelati.
─Do you need my help, Shadow Lord?
The blue curtain looked pleased at the sight and asked back. It would not be a problem for her to subdue them. However, Dale shook his head quietly.
“From here on out, it’s our job.”
The blue magician of the 8th circle. Her presence will soon be no different from Dale’s father’s presence. However, it is not satisfactory to rely on the power of their magic tower to handle matters.
─ Oh, I’d be happy to do that.
Because Dale will have to rise again as a strong man to take their place in the future.
The blood-red magic circle carved into the floor began to glow.
The 《Decision》 within the magic circle muttered something unintelligible, and Dale could only watch them.
“Oh, so there’s a rule that says you can’t attack while ordering?”
“Don’t you want to see it?”
Master Baro asked, spinning the magic wand, and Dale answered.
“In this world without God, do demons really exist?”
