✦ ✦ ✦
Even without counting the Divine Voice, I had the equivalent of four monster Lilyxilas facing me—and that was a low estimate. There was no way I could take them all on at once.
“All you can do now is lower your head to the ground and beg for my forgiveness. I was in a good mood, so I chose to treat you like an equal, but you took Lilyxila’s idiotic advice to heart and decided to take advantage of me instead. So why don’t I put you to the test? If I kill one of your friends, are you really prepared to die trying to avenge them?”
How could I think I’d actually be able to force my own opinions on someone like this? The Divine Voice was totally nuts. In the end, it only cared about itself. That wasn’t the type of personality you could negotiate with.
‹H-hold on!› I exclaimed. ‹Wait a second! If you could guarantee the safety of all of us, I’m willing to at least cooperate with you. But I won’t let you use me to wipe out the entire world!›
This was the absolute minimum condition I wanted to make before I helped the Divine Voice. But I didn’t have the luxury to negotiate for more conditions; if this went on any longer, the Divine Voice seemed more than prepared to burn all the bridges between us. I needed to offer my own ideas for how to go about this. Ending this conversation with a pointless battle would be a loss for us both.
“It amazes me that you’re still pushing me to agree to your conditions. I’m tired of you underestimating me, Illusia. I went to the trouble of calling my Spirit Servants, and they seem eager to be cut loose.” The Divine Voice rose higher into the air. “I’ve already decided what I’m going to do with you. If you aren’t willing to obey me, then that’s fine. I’ll make you understand the consequences of that choice in the clearest way possible. Come on, Baal! Let’s show Illusia just how insignificant he really is!”
Baal’s three faces laughed, his spidery legs skittering in excitement.
Oh no. They’re going to attack!
‹R-run!› I warned my friends with Telepathy.
Originally, I felt certain that I’d rather die fighting than become the Divine Voice’s pawn and help it destroy the world. But…of course, I also had the idea that the Divine Voice might be willing to compromise if I showed it I was willing to risk it all to stop it. Now that the difference in our power was so clear, it felt hard to justify dying in vain for what would effectively be a suicide mission.
If it were just me on the line, I’d take that gamble. But if I let my emotions get the best of me here, my friends would get caught in the crossfire, and I’d only have myself to blame.
Treant was still in front of me, blocking me with its massive Tyrant Guardian trunk. If I ran away with the others, Treant would become Baal’s first victim.
I stepped in front of Treant and approached Baal.
‹Ah! M-Master?!› Treant called, panicked.
“Oooooooooooaaagh!” Baal stepped toward me as well, its human head shrieking. Before I had a chance to react, his hulking black figure collided with me head-on.
The impact shot through my entire body, sending me flying back with ease. My vision went black, and I fought to stay conscious.
No! If I pass out here, Baal will kill me!
I gathered my strength and somehow came to my senses. Then I struck the ground with my tail, using the recoil to rebalance my stance. That saved me from being blown to bits—but that’s all it did. My shoulder and rib bones had shattered from the impact. Every part of my body screamed in pain.
That…was a crazy strong body attack. In terms of stats, Baal was clearly a big step above me.
Treant rushed toward me. ‹M-Master! Look out! In front of you!›
I-In front…? I quickly tried to gather my thoughts, scrambled as they were from the pain, and looked up to see what was coming. But Baal was standing still, his three heads laughing cruelly. It didn’t seem like he received any damage from his full body collision. He was just toying with me; that much was obvious. That attack had been powerful, but it almost felt sloppy.
I thought Baal was supposed to be a Legendary rank monster, like me. So how can he almost kill me with a body slam and look completely unharmed? We’re the same rank. It doesn’t make sense for our statuses to be this different.
But Baal wasn’t the only threat I had to worry about right now. I looked around, checking the positions of the other Spirit Servants. Fortunately, it didn’t look like the others had moved yet.
At that moment, my Psychic Sense went off, alerting to a presence diagonally above me. I looked up and spotted the Divine Voice, floating higher and higher into the sky.
The Divine Voice wore a wide grin on its half-corrupted face. Black light gathered at the tip of its hand, which was raised high. “What’s wrong? Did you think I’d stay out of this fight just because I sicced my Spirit Servants on you? How in the world did you think you’d be able to outsmart me with that arrogant mindset?”
(Wh…what’re you…?!)
The black light gathering at its fingertips spread out, forming a large magic circle that covered the ground all around me.
A powerful sense of foreboding washed over me. This…is no simple attack. What’s coming?
As I scrambled backward, trying to get away, the Divine Voice lowered its free arm and caught me with the very ends of its fingertips. Another jolt of lightning shot through my body. My mind went white.
“Ghh…gaaagh…!”
“Resistance is futile. Don’t make me say it again, Illusia. You have no choice.”
U-ugh! Another psychic attack! Mia was right; it does like using this skill. It’s the perfect technique to bring opponents to their knees without killing them.
The black magic ring encircled my body. I couldn’t move, couldn’t even lift my paws. The skill seemed like it took a while to activate, but the Divine Voice bought that time with its odd psychic attack.
“Master Dragon!”
‹M-Master!›
Allo and Treant dashed toward me, crossing the edge of the magic circle.
‹No! Get away! You’ll get caught in its trap!›
The Divine Voice squinted at me. “Hmph. It seems like a few little flies have gotten caught in the mix. I’d rather they didn’t contaminate my garden too much…but it is what it is, I suppose.”
I squirmed around, kicking my hind legs wildly to try and get enough traction to get out of the magic circle. But my hind legs met no resistance. I looked back to see them sliding through the ground as if it were thin air.
Wh…what did it do to me…?
“Otherworld Warp,” the Divine Voice murmured. My surroundings were washed in white light that glowed brighter and brighter until they faded from my vision. “Go and level up as much as you can. I’ll keep all the little friends you’ve encountered along your journey in this world hostage, so you’d better make it quick if you don’t want them all to die.”
What’s it talking about…?
The Divine Voice’s laughter echoed through my mind, growing fainter and fainter until finally, it fell blissfully silent.