Chapter 88
The sky was dyed black.
And the earth was torn.
Countless demons and minions of hell pour out through the torn gaps.
They were beings terribly twisted and filled with endless hatred and anger towards living things and things created to be good.
And as a red moon rose between the torn earth and blackened sky, it illuminated three figures.
A bizarre woman terribly thin and full of paranoid jealousy.
A muscular man with a body made of steel and a face made of brass.
And finally.
A woman with drowsy eyes who looked younger and more fragile than anyone.
Those three were looking at a woman collapsed on the ground.
Withered arms and legs and a hump protruding on her back, as if tortured since childhood.
A hunchbacked woman was lifted into the sky by the hands of the three.
As the three hands holding her begin to exert force, her body was pulled.
In the final moment, the hunchbacked woman quietly stared at me without even screaming.
"Save me."
After pleading in a chillingly calm voice like that.
The woman's body was torn apart.
And through that, a woman with a pained face was revealed.
The brilliant golden light soon faded into the three under the mocking red moon.
Before long, light no longer existed in this world.
***
[Fuck, you scared me!!]
I jolted awake from sleep so roughly that Corn shouted in surprise.
After being quiet for a while, it was another revelation.
Erpha.
This was the third after Iomene and Almene.
[It seems like a nightmare on the level of another blonde-maned stallion fucking the virgin mare I had my eye on right in front of you, are you okay?]
At Corn's words, I smiled despite my whole body being drenched in sweat.
"I had a really bad nightmare."
I smiled while wiping the sweat from my forehead.
"But it's a good nightmare."
[That's as contradictory a statement as a pure non-virgin. What kind of dream was it?]
"A dream of the world being destroyed."
[That's one hell of a dream. No wonder you reacted like that. But why is that good?]
"Because I found a way to die."
[What nonsense is that now?]
I looked down at my body.
Exactly what happened in Scrap Yard.
I didn't know that.
But what was clear was that Mammon alone couldn't defeat Asmodeus.
If Mammon had won, I wouldn't be here.
But the three under the red moon in the dream.
Aren't those Demon Kings?
There are three Demon Kings, right?
If it's 3 vs 1, there's a sufficient possibility Asmodeus could be defeated.
Then...
Then isn't there a sufficient possibility my soul could be destroyed too?
"Corn, change of plans."
[No, explain so I can understand too. What on earth is the situation?]
"For the sake of the world, I must die. Understand? But I can't die in an ordinary way, I need to die with my soul itself completely shattered. And I just saw in the nightmare a way to die with my soul shattered. So change of plans."
[What you just said. Doesn't it sound properly crazy?]
Right.
I'm a crazy guy.
A crazy guy obsessed with dying by having my soul destroyed.
"Corn. For world peace. And even for your sake, I must die. Understand? So help me out. It's probably better to have you with me than being alone. Right?"
[I don't understand what the situation is at all... but okay. I'll do it since you're asking for help. What do I need to do?]
"A woman. We need to find a woman. A hunchbacked woman with withered arms and legs."
If I died torn apart by the hands of three Demon Kings in place of that woman, everything would work out perfectly.
I'd be martyred and go to Korea.
The world would be good because the possibility of Asmodeus going berserk would disappear.
Hell would lose one Demon King throne, so they wouldn't be able to mess with the human realm.
Perfect.
But the problem was finding the woman from the prophecy again this time too.
We needed to find the woman first to hear her circumstances and then find a way to substitute for her or whatever.
But how do we find a hunchbacked woman with withered limbs in this vast continent?
"Damn it. How should we find her?"
Just as I was about to tear my hair out.
[About how old is she?]
"Early to mid 20s… She looked about that age."
[Withered limbs and hunchbacked. And early to mid 20s, right? Okay. I'll scan the surrounding area with psychic power based on those conditions.]
I felt dumbfounded by Corn's words answering as if it was so obvious.
"Wait. You can find her?"
[I may not know much else, but I'm very very good at finding females. I have the ability to distinguish whether a mare 20km away is a virgin or not by using psychic abilities! Don't underestimate my psychic power, Amael.]
To think this unicorn crazy about mating would be helpful at times.
The world was truly something one had to live long to see.
"Corn. I have a favor to ask. Find her quickly please."
[Hmm. She's not within my detectable range for now. We should move towards where there are more humans first. Let's go that way for now.]
"That way?"
[Yeah.]
I immediately cast Time Stop and changed my muscle strength with Body Modification before starting to run at tremendous speed in the direction Corn indicated.
[Ah damn. Still can't detect her. There's no hunchbacked woman. Ooooh!! There's a stable full of pure mares 10km northeast…!!]
"Shut up, Corn!! Hurry and find the woman I mentioned!! It's urgent!!"
[Damn it if only I had a body. Keep moving! I'll try to expand my psychic detection range!!]
Although the guy spouted nonsense about detecting mares in between, it was true that things became much easier thanks to Corn.
And so the two of us ran back and forth at high speed through the time-stopped world.
***
Her withered arms and legs were covered in scars.
The hump protruding on her back created a posture that made it difficult to walk properly, and her lungs pressed by her deformed spine made even breathing difficult.
She walked desperately again and again, but finally her ragged body reached its limit.
"I-I can't walk anymore, Goddess."
Kanya collapses on the ground.
"I'm so hungry. My throat is parched too... I have no strength at all."
The goddess didn't urge Kanya on either.
[You did well. Let's rest for a moment. And let's look for a place to get food and water.]
Kanya had walked for 6 hours straight without resting.
To be able to walk for 6 hours with such a body could be called a human triumph in itself.
Kanya breathed heavily.
Since she didn't know when Sloth's minions would come looking for her, she had walked avoiding places with many people as much as possible until now.
But now she was at her limit.
Even if she compromised on everything else, food and water were absolutely necessary.
"I'll try going to that village over there."
There was a village visible from the hill where she was resting.
Judging by the number of cars and people, it didn't seem to be a small town.
She took a deep breath and stood up again.
Moving her trembling limbs that had been overworked for too long, she entered the village.
And as soon as she entered the village.
"The smell!!"
"What's with that woman?"
"My goodness, what a smell…!”
People all frowned and tried to move away from her.
The stench coming from her body that hadn't been washed for a long time was extraordinary.
Moreover, her abnormally thin limbs and the hump protruding on her back didn't look good even as a white lie.
[This is better actually. It's more dangerous if people are near you. Let's just get food and water and leave quickly.]
Kanya nodded at the goddess' words.
A good smell reached her nose.
A restaurant.
Wouldn't there be food and water there?
She slowly approached the restaurant.
As she carefully entered after opening the restaurant door, the noisy sounds gradually died down and soon complete silence filled the restaurant.
Kanya shrunk at the gazes of shock, disgust, and surprise directed at her.
"P-please bestow f-food and water."
As she carefully said that, the customers in the restaurant looked at the owner.
The owner had a very fierce-looking face.
He began to walk towards Kanya with heavy steps at her words.
[That guy... If he dares do anything to my child!]
The goddess secretly raised her power, and Kanya also looked at the store owner with a tense face, but surprisingly.
The expected situation didn't occur.
"Miss. Are you alright?"
The fierce-faced owner surprisingly spoke to her in quite a gentle voice.
The owner smiled brightly.
"I'm a follower of Lilia. The goddess told us to give to the weak. Come this way. I'll prepare a place for you to wash, eat, and drink."
At the unexpected situation, Kanya had to blink her eyes.
"T-thank you. If possible, food and water first quickly..."
"I'll bring them right away. While you eat, please wait just a moment and I'll contact the nearby temple to call priests. They'll treat your injuries."
But at the words that immediately followed, Kanya who had been feeling relieved had to stop abruptly.
Priests?
Doesn't that mean people with divine power are coming?
The moment those people got near.
Her body and flesh would be torn apart and die.
"N-no... I don't want to!!"
Kanya screamed and frantically fleed out of the restaurant.
"Miss! Miss! Where are you going!?"
The owner who was trying to show kindness called out to Kanya in bewilderment, but Kanya had to hurriedly flee and disappear without answering.
After running out to the outskirts of the city and reaching a dilapidated hillside as far from people as possible, she collapsed.
[Lilia of Grace... It seems her followers have increased a lot while I was trapped. How strange. Lilia was the most badly injured during the celestial war...]
"I didn't know kindness would become poison, Goddess."
[That's right. This is troublesome.]
A serious hungry sound came from Kanya's stomach.
How many days had it been since she ate properly?
But if she ate any random weeds on the roadside, she could get an upset stomach with her already weakened body.
She needed proper food.
But where on earth could she get food and water?
[I'm sorry, child. My power is only for destroying evil things. I'm so pathetic that I can't even give you one thing to eat.]
"No. Don't say that."
Although she said that, Kanya also had a helpless expression.
She needed food and water, but if she went down to the city, she couldn't rule out the possibility of dying instantly by meeting someone with divine power.
A situation where she could neither do this nor that.
"What should I do…?"
As Kanya sighed and hung her head, at that moment.
"You seem to be hungry?"
A chilling voice speaks from behind her.
Kanya springs to her feet.
Almost simultaneously, a black magic circle covered the ground and suddenly the sky turned pitch black.
[Oh no!]
The goddess' divine power instantly enveloped Kanya's body.
Kanya thrust forward the cane she was holding like a spear, but the opponent merely laughed mockingly.
Black clothes.
A mask covering the face.
And Sloth's emblem clearly engraved on the chest.
It was a minion of the Demon King.
"Why did you run away? If you had just stayed quietly under our lord's hand, you wouldn't have had to starve."
Kanya slowly backed away, but soon she realized an unknown physical force was preventing her from leaving the magic circle when she reached the edge of the magic circle engraved on the ground.
"You won't be able to escape. The magic won't be undone unless you kill me."
[Kanya. We must fight.]
Divine power grew like a spear tip from the end of the cane.
Kanya gritted her teeth and pointed the cane at Sloth's minion.
"I'll try."
"You'll resist, huh? Well. That's not bad either."
The assailant took out a dagger from inside his clothes.
"I was told it's okay to bring you back even if I cut off an arm or leg or two."
[Here he comes! Be alert!!]
Almost simultaneously with the goddess' voice falling, the assailant rushed at Kanya, blackening the blade of the dagger.
The cane imbued with divine power and the dagger imbued with dark magic soon began to violently clash in midair.