novelShuraba
| ← Ch.529 | Ch.531 → |
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
"... So, Goddess, I wonder what ranking you are in Roland's favorability ratings?"
[Hmph, I'm a hidden character. You want to conquer me on just the fourth playthrough? The option isn't even available!]
"... Paha, so that means his favorability rating towards you is zero? No, you're probably not even on his favorability rating list. Could it be that he doesn't even see you as a woman?"
[No, the more playthroughs it takes before you can access that character, the stronger that character is. Just look at that yandere over there that he's obtained in his second playthrough. Tsk, tsk, tsk, Roland truly deserves what he got. He thought that a hidden character would be special. He didn't even consider how much of a yandere she would be... ]
I basically ignored the fact that my mind was just like a busy chatroom right now. I had gotten quite used to the fact that Harloys and Astrya would often joke around with each other at my expense. The ghost Undead Emperor who was gathering the power of death in the sky was most important for me to focus on right now...
"Damn it! Ow, ow, ow!"
But as the vines tightened around me, my bones kept creaking, and it became impossible to even think.
Alright then, fine, I admit that the crazy woman behind me who was glaring so viciously was the most important to focus on right now. My dear Goddess Astrya and dear cat, if you have the free time to chat, please save me first!
The witch Amelia's beauty was just the same as always. Her naturally curly long green hair flowed in the wind. Her blood-red eyes were just as beautiful as gems... But first, I would have to ignore the fact that her vine hair was already ripping my skin apart, and how her gem-like eyes had absolutely unconcealed killing intent.
"Um, could you please let go of me..."
Amelia's bright red lips curved upward as she whispered lightly into my ears.
"I, can't, do, that~"
Her sweet words made my ears rather itchy, and she even licked my ear with her tongue's tip. That felt rather icy yet also warm. But, of course, I would have to first ignore the fact that her vines were tightening even more, causing my bones to creak ever more loudly in protest.
"Who knows what you'll do after I let go of you..."
Her ambiguous words had such a sweet tone as if it was scratching an itch in your heart. But the next instant, my entire body started making loud popping noises.
*Pop!*
That was clearly the sound of my bones in danger, which made me quite worried. But the even more worrisome part was that I actually felt no pain. This could only mean that Amelia's tentacle vines had already begun taking over my nervous system.
While I was still trying my best to command my fingers and toes to move, Amelia's soft whispers suddenly turned into a harsh interrogation.
"... You'll probably just run off to that damned thieving cat again!"
My ear's senses suddenly returned. Amelia was actually softly licking... licking, no, biting, she was really biting my ear!
"Ouch!"
Hey, hey, hey, please just lecture me, but don't actually hurt me like that! She was now chewing on half of a bloody ear. Could that have been mine... ? Although I was quite grateful that she'd instantly created a new ear and helped put it back on me, and I knew already that Amelia now possessed the ridiculous power of Creation, could she please not scare me like that! I'll have nightmares!
"Despair!"
At this moment, since my life was greatly endangered, that troublesome Undead Emperor in the sky wasn't even that much trouble anymore.
"Before, you weren't this vicious and evil...
"There's a big difference after a man skips out on a marriage promise not once, but two times. Isn't that right? My dear."
My current physical body had been created by Amelia. Now that she was so close, I was no longer even able to control my body. In fact, even my inner thoughts were being exposed.
"No, no, I'm not reading your mind. Even I still have my moral boundaries. It's just that it's quite easy for me to guess what you're thinking at this time."
However, such a deadly crisis still wouldn't faze me. I had long since expected such a situation to occur. That was why I had prepared a trump card. Even if she had bone-piercing hate for me right now, as long as I said these prepared words of mine, she would open up her heart once more...
"There was once a sincere love in front of me—"
"... Yet I didn't value it, and only regretted it after I lost that love! That's the most painful thing in the world. If the heavens could just give me one more chance, I would surely tell that girl three words: 'I love you!' And if there has to be a time limit, I would wish for ten thousand years!"
"How did you know what I was about to say—"
"Although it would be nice to hear sweet words from you, I'd rather not hear the classical lines from the play 'Romeo and Joker. ' Oh, I forgot that you were the one who wrote that story. In that case, I should really try hearing it from you. I'd like to find out how the original author wrote such a moving story that caused countless young women to cry so many tears."
"Romeo and Joker?"
It would seem that I had accidentally forgotten something from my past yet again. But judging by this story's name, I had probably still been in my antisocial period when I wanted revenge against the entire world when I wrote this. Was it actually a twisted version of a story from Earth, but involving love between men instead?
"Crying so many tears? You did?"
"No, I'm no little girl who believes that obtaining love is more important than the physical body. If I was that Romeo who only knew how to cry and regret, I would have instead broken every bone in that heartless Joker's body and dragged him home with me."
"... Haha, that sounds like such a powerful threat. Um, could you please at least loosen the vines around me?"
There would always be a way out. It was beneficial to have an optimistic way of thinking. Although my continued personal safety was quite doubtful right now, there would always be an upside somewhere.
I highly doubted that Amelia would allow someone else to kill me right now... at least not until she had enough of taking revenge on me. I would thus be safe for the time being...
Why did this sound so awkward even to myself?
Meanwhile, in the sky, the pale and ethereal ghost Conservation was gathering all the power of death here. Far too many undead had already died here, so there was plenty of remaining soul shards that kept floating towards the sky and being absorbed by her. All these soul shards as nourishment helped to make her colors much more solid.
I could easily understand what Conservation was doing. She was using her powers of death to summon the broken soul shards of the undead here to replenish her own powers.
No matter how she managed to survive that nuclear level explosion, she absolutely must have paid a high price to do so. Logically speaking, we should have been attacking her while she was weakened, but judging from how powerful she still seemed, even attacking this weakened Conservation likely wouldn't be so easy.
Amelia hadn't come here by herself. She had arrived here before certain others primarily because of the giant plant battleship currently in midair.
This divine tree battleship somewhat resembled the divine tree battleships I'd seen previously at the Forest of Dreams, except this battleship was much larger. Although the battleship appeared to be just like a tree, and it even had green flowers and branches splitting off, judging from the high energy reactions from the parts and all the smaller ships flying out of it, this tree battleship was no airship used for tourists.
Apart from the cute and young-appearing wood spirits flying in the sky, there were also all sorts of magical plants evolved to resemble various flying beasts flying in the sky as well. But, the most frightening of all was just how numerous they were.
Countless abnormal plants and animals were whirling in the sky. As I looked up from the ground below, I could only see dense black dots in the sky. And, the body of that giant tree battleship was far larger than any castle wall.
I recognized this ship—it was the "Mother" royal airship, which had been a wedding present from the wood spirits to celebrate their "mother" and "father's" marriage... alright then, I should really pretend not to see the angry glare directed at my black.
There were at minimum more than three thousand wood spirits operating the "Mother" airship, with at least two of the Seven Virtues commanding on board. After learning about my whereabouts, Amelia had directly brought one of the greatest treasures of the wood spirits to come find me. Should I feel honored about this?
Even if the undead army had been here, it would have surely been destroyed quickly by this battleship's powerful attacks. However, the situation in the sky was quite different from expected.
Conservation was actually calmly absorbing the power of death in the midst of countless attacks and explosions.
She didn't even attempt to dodge the wood spirits' attacks. It would also be impossible for any existence to dodge such a dense array of attacks. Instead, every single attack directly pierced through her and kept going through to the other side. Some wood spirits got within touching range of her, but actually passed right through her body and even overlapped with her. It was as if she didn't even exist in this plane.
I had seen Conservation use such an ability before back when she had been Zero. At that time, she was using an astral projection which had the hazy state of being in between existence and non-existence. Although she was unable to directly interfere with the world around her, it was also impossible for the world to interfere with her.
But now, the current Conservation had evidently become far stronger. All the wood spirits' attacks went right through her, yet she was still able to interfere with the world around her. She was still absorbing soul shards via the power of death to recover.
In our previous fight, I had modified the natural laws of my Frigidwinter Earth to have all the heat energy she stole be returned to her true body in order to defeat her. But, right now, she wasn't using a Soul World to steal energy, and the previous method I'd used to defeat her was obviously no longer usable by the current me.
Still, it wasn't that I had no way of dealing with this. Since I already knew about this ability of hers, I naturally understood that it was highly possible I would have to deal with it again. Of course I would prepare beforehand against it. But, the prerequisite was...
"Amelia, could you please let me go? I have a method to deal with her."
"I can't. Right, my dear, do you prefer fried or boiled food?"
"... Haha, do you really think that I can't tell that you're asking me which method of cooking I want to die by? Still, since you're asking me to choose my way of dying, could I recommend one to you... ?"
"Death by old age? You've already used that joke in your story 'Zhu Yingtai and Juliet'... Why do you have such a subtle expression?"
I felt even more helpless about my past self who had come up with such ridiculous story names which were a mix of different stories from my original world.
"Nothing, I was just curious how much I hated society back in the day. Um, I hope that I can at least die with some pride. It's rather embarrassing to die as a virgin yet again. Could you please find several dozen succubi for me? I choose to die of pleasure... Ahhhh!!! Why have my pain senses suddenly returned at this time! It really hurts!"TL/N: Zhu Yingtai is the female main character of Butterfly Lovers, a famous Chinese tragic love story.
| ← Ch. 529 | Ch. 531 → |