Chapter 887
“What on earth…?”
“Ah. I was just conducting a little experiment.”
An overwhelmingly intense gaze.
The purple eyes filling the sky sparkled like stars in the universe, seemingly weighing down everything below.
It was an utterly mad look, yet it was not without reason.
With such authority, it could only belong to ‘Haelro,’ the upper angel giving power to the Angel Guild.
“No.”
No, it felt more like an entity above that, comparable to the boss of the angels…
Hmmmm…
“What?!”
“Phew…”
Boom!
The oppressive energy dissipated.
Countless spells scattered throughout the mansion and the gaze overlooking it remained, but the previous pressure was nowhere to be felt.
Neris seemed to relax as she took a breath.
Was that all? Just a sigh of relief after seeing ‘that gaze’?
Uriel, witnessing Neris, wore a confused expression but assumed she hadn’t been influenced just by the contract and straightened herself.
Moments later, the distant eyes closed and someone descended.
It was a face everyone recognized.
“It’s an important experiment. Is it alright now?”
Following Lily was the Black Lily.
Unlike the bright-haired Lily, the woman had black hair and purple eyes.
She wore a black dress that was anything but ordinary.
A garment intertwined with many spells and powers that Uriel knew nothing about.
As Uriel looked at the patterns on the dress, a wave of dizziness hit him, and he shook his head.
“I thought I was going to die…”
“Hehe. To pierce the ‘domain’ of the God of the Dead requires a certain caliber, you know? Temporarily, it’s not so shabby, right?”
“…It was impressive.”
“Fortunately, it seems to have functioned normally.”
Uriel, feeling somewhat cheerful at Black Lily’s words, offered some light banter in return.
Black Lily was not just any ‘user.’
She was a full-fledged ‘boss monster,’ just like the numerous disaster-level world bosses he had seen before.
She was a presence to be quelled, but messing with her could certainly lead to disasters worse than Lily herself.
‘Still, given her connection to the users, she doesn’t seem entirely hostile…’
“How perfect! I needed a ‘light’ user.”
“…Huh?”
“I’m working on a large-scale dimensional transformation spell that encompasses the entire realm of the God of the Dead, but it’s not going well on my own.”
“…?”
“Oh, more accurately, it’s not so much a lack of my ability, but rather a limitation of the system, you could say? As long as I’m classified as a ‘boss monster’, I fall short of the influence of a user…”
…What’s going on?
Uriel felt a chill down his spine watching the rambling Black Lily.
‘Is this person really an ‘NPC’?’
The way she talks is scarcely different from a user.
Even those great angels were not this well-informed about the game.
At most, they were aware of the existence of the ‘system’ and could use it to a certain extent.
In comparison, Black Lily was intricately and skillfully utilizing the system’s weaknesses and characteristics.
‘Like a user strategizing the game.’
“……”
“So, to balance the powers at both ends of the connection, I need a user from the light… Are you listening?”
“Yes.”
“Mmm, anyway, apart from the final eastern area, I’ve done some work on the other three.”
It felt ominous.
But even if it felt ominous, nothing was going to change.
Even if I refuse, Black Lily wouldn’t accept it, let alone the Challenger Alliance.
‘…Should I give it a shot?’
“But I’m busy…”
“Oh my. Am I busier than someone trying to kill all demons? Just a moment will do. It won’t take long.”
“…What about Laguiel and Sandalphon?”
“I just thought of that later. Originally, I thought I could do it alone. Hehe… This world is pretty convenient for you users, isn’t it?”
“……”
“It’d be great if the three of you could join.”
No way.
I wanted to escape, but all teleportation-related skills, spells, and powers had been completely blocked, and I couldn’t even dare bring out the holy power.
In a world filled with magic, pulling out holy power would be akin to suicide.
Maybe against an ordinary demon, but I would stand no chance against Black Lily.
Uriel suddenly turned to look at Neris.
She had been silently looking around, her eyes rolling back and forth.
It seemed that the tension had almost completely disappeared, and her expression was rather comfortable.
‘No matter how much she’s contracted, she shouldn’t be that unaffected…’
What kind of contract could make her look so relaxed?
“……”
“What, what?”
‘An obvious betrayer.’
I wanted to deal with it right away, but as long as I received Black Lily’s blessing, that would be meaningless.
It could be addressed later through proper notification to the alliance or revenge.
Sighing softly, Uriel asked the still-creating Black Lily, who was assembling thousands, tens of thousands of spells.
“So what do you intend to do?”
“It’s simple. Break through the domain of the God of the Dead.”
“Then that demon boss will come down, right?”
“Correct.”
“…Can you catch it?”
It wasn’t that Uriel was underestimating Black Lily’s strength.
He had seen that ‘overwhelming gaze’ firsthand, and the power of the original Lily was something even angels feared.
The grand ‘Haelro’ didn’t dare show his face and merely supported from behind.
Likewise, Black Lily had the opposite properties but wielded a similar level of strength.
Even demons couldn’t catch Black Lily.
“The boss will come down. Isn’t that ‘top-tier’ demon much stronger than you?”
“……”
The top-tier strength was certainly not something to be dismissed.
If it was something to be dismissed, a frenzied Lily would have already killed the top-tier angel.
Black Lily smiled as she withdrew her magic.
“Hmmm… That’s true. I’m not capable of that right now.”
“Then why…”
“Because it’s impossible, I need to actively use your strength, right? As you know, users have a system.”
It was impossible with just Black Lily’s power.
So, she planned to utilize the users who possessed the system.
It was only natural that if Black Lily and the God of the Dead were to fight, they would have to engage in a pure battle without any support or interference.
But.
“The battle between the user and the God of the Dead will be handled by the system that will ‘somehow’ protect you.”
Things would change if the user intervened.
The quests they held, their white and black relics, special achievements, and weapons…
Countless factors would undoubtedly protect the users and, at the same time, weaken the power of the God of the Dead.
“……”
“So please help me. Originally, disasters are meant to be tackled together, right?”
“Help is being forced on me?”
“Oh my. If everyone else is working, you can’t just take a break. That would make others feel neglected.”
Black Lily said that and smiled.
Strangely reminiscent of Lily, yet with a different mindset.
Currently, Lily was out of her mind, but Black Lily too didn’t seem to be in a sane state.
What could have broken her?
Could it be the same reason as Lily?
■
“Uriel!”
“Uriel!”
“Is that you, Uriel?!”
“…Are you all here? No, weren’t you here?”
The eastern area of the divided demon realm.
As per Black Lily’s earlier command to go ahead, I reached the destination after an awkward journey with Neris.
The central area of the demon realm had fallen to Black Lily, and this was the last remaining section.
On the outskirts of that area, there were quite a few users from the Challenger Alliance, whose whereabouts had been unknown.
‘About 100 people?’
Having been through a lot, their appearances were quite disheveled, and Uriel shot a glare at Neris, who was desperately looking away.
“What? You didn’t know about this treacherous place?”
“…It’s not that I wasn’t told when it should have been…”
“And yes, it is a treacherous place! You wouldn’t know!”
“You betrayer!!”
Uriel seized Neris by the collar as if he would swallow her whole.
Though he couldn’t bring out the hammer made of holy power, Neris was sweating bullets and quickly released his grip, stepping back.
“W-well, just go get a mission from that knight in the tent. I have something else to do…”
“Stop. You won’t want to die.”
“Ah, I didn’t know!”
“Hey!!”
Just before Uriel’s fist could close in, Neris hastily used magic and fled.
Uriel gritted his teeth and kicked open the tent.
Inside the tent was the somewhat tired-looking Alliance Leader Knight.
“…Good to see a normal member of the Angel Guild at last. Finally, we might make some progress.”
“What’s going on?”
“The intermediate boss, the ‘Wild Dog,’ has a level of 179, which is quite high. The help from the Angel Guild is essential. How fortunate…”
“That’s not what I’m asking!”
Why were the users moving according to the will of the boss monster, the Black Lily?
Was Neris the only one who made a contract with Black Lily, and why didn’t the others possess any magic?
“At first, I thought this was a land of traitors, but now it doesn’t seem that way. But neither are they actively resisting. What’s going on?”
“A lot have died.”
“Eh?”
“When we first entered, the majority of users died, and I did too. This is already the fourth expedition.”
“……”
“I know the danger of Black Lily well, but… isn’t she less dangerous than Lily?”
Black Lily was trying to kill the demons.
But compared to Lily, who wanted to kill all angels and their users, she was relatively more benevolent.
“If our goals align, there’s no reason to fight. Rather, if she’s offering help, we should be grateful.”
“But…”
“Is there a method available? With our strength, we can’t even catch a ‘Wild Dog,’ let alone its puppy.”
“……”
“The fact that only Neris made a contract is merely her individuality. Of course, many users did express a desire to contract after seeing her… but no one else was accepted except Neris.”
“…Fine.”
It seemed unavoidable.
Holy power and magic are dangerous, yet enticing powers.
No matter how much one may shout that it’s betrayal, from the moment they form a contract with an angel, it was nothing but hypocrisy.
“So what should we do?”
