Chapter 131: A Hero for Fun

Raviss’s expression changed abruptly.

“Void” was not the name of the weapon in her hand, but the collective term for this class of spiritual armament.

Raviss had received that name as an oracle from Her after obtaining the Blessing. But how did the man before her know it?

“Who are you?”

Raviss’s expression darkened further. Her eyes filled with wariness, the carefree ease that had rested within them instantly replaced by a bone-chilling cold.

“Just a hero who does it for fun.”

A smile curled at Roland’s lips, as though some long-standing doubt had finally been laid to rest. His curiosity grew increasingly intense as he studied Raviss and the purple crystals covering her face.

“Even the physical qualities produced by combining human and monster should not be enough to resist this infection so easily. Someone has been helping you suppress it… And the way you just referred to Her…”

“Shut up!”

The anger in Raviss’s eyes deepened. She felt as though the secret she was willing to sacrifice everything to protect had been completely seen through by Roland.

She could not allow the hero before her to continue. She swiftly drew several strange magic stones from her bosom, each resembling a burning gray-green flame, and forcefully fitted them into the hilt of the Void sword in her hand.

Astonishingly, the Void in Raviss’s grasp seemed almost alive. After devouring the magic stones, even its form underwent a drastic transformation.

Crystalline vines surged from the hilt, spreading across the entire blade before extending outward like tentacles. They pulsed like veins, and at the points where the interwoven crystal vines crossed, magic stones emerged once more, connected to the vines and flashing with light like ominous eyes.

A trace of resolve flashed through Raviss’s eyes.

She was a hybrid life-form born from human intelligence and a monster’s body, a heretic rejected by this world.

At the moment she received her new life, Raviss had decided to repay that mercy. Thus, faced with the sleeping will that had yet to fully awaken, she had willingly become its most devoted guardian.

Nor had her efforts been in vain. As she continuously carried out her plans, she had received new blessings. This body, whose infection had been suppressed, and the spiritual armament more powerful than any weapon were the clearest proof.

“Hero, I don’t know how you learned these secrets, but I absolutely cannot tolerate the existence of an irregularity like you!”

Several traces of fanaticism appeared abruptly on Raviss’s usually cold face.

“You are nothing more than a mortal. How could you possibly understand Her greatness? She will bring change to this old world! Just wait and see. Even if you wish to do something now, it is already too late. The coming of the Apocalypse is already inevitable!”

As she spoke those wild, disjointed words, Raviss suddenly hurled the orb fetus from her arms.

As an executor who had always operated on the front line, Raviss could invariably minimize losses through the most decisive actions.

Since her plan to reclaim the original body and replenish Her strength had failed, she might as well make use of it as a last resort. The two people before her—whether the hero accompanied by a fairy spirit or Aria’s original body—were both precious. Whichever one she obtained, she would not lose out.

“Awaken! Though you are merely the original body, you are still enough to let you mortals glimpse a fraction of Her power. Soon, this damned city and the hateful Babel will collapse beneath Her might, becoming the omen of the new world’s arrival!”

As the orb fetus landed upon a man-eating flower that had somehow emerged from underground, a sudden mutation took place.

The seemingly incomplete fetus abruptly shifted its body and opened its eyes. Its distorted limbs swelled rapidly, soon replacing the brilliantly colored flower that had formed the man-eating plant’s main body. Amid a trembling hum, its elongated body continued stretching.

Countless vine-like tentacles burrowed deeper underground. Before long, they dragged more man-eating flowers into the mass and fused with them, forming a gigantic monster.

The place where the flower had once been became a faceless female body. Its skin was vivid in color, and its upper torso possessed distinct feminine features. Yet apart from rows of sharp teeth resembling those of a shark, there were no other features on its face.

The orb fetus had now grown to a size no smaller than the Goliath Roland had encountered before, and its presence was even more imposing.

The monster had only just been born, yet it seemed to have already identified its enemies. Countless tentacles like octopus arms extended from its roots, surging toward Roland and Ais with astonishing speed and tremors that shook the earth.

It charged straight across the ground without the slightest regard for obstacles. Crystals and scattered buildings alike were easily smashed beneath its enormous body and strength, while shock waves spread like hurricanes, sending countless pieces of rubble and debris swirling through the air.

The moment they entered its hunting range, the female-bodied monster raised its tentacles and brought them crashing down like a torrential rainstorm.

The limbs appeared sluggish as they swung, but the speed at which their tips struck effortlessly surpassed the sound barrier. At this level, calling them whips would no longer do justice to their power. A rain of javelins hurled across a battlefield was a far more fitting comparison.

Even when they missed, the tentacles did not stop searching for their prey. They instinctively latched onto and swept through everything around them, gouging twisted pits into the ground and shredding whatever they touched in the blink of an eye. Anyone struck by them would likely be swallowed whole without even the chance to resist.

Ais flashed aside, evading the female monster’s attack. Roland was even more direct. He looked coldly at the creature, as though his interest had been interrupted, then abruptly swung Aster.

The tentacles rushing in from all directions shattered inch by inch, turning into ashes that were swept away by the raging wind.

With a ringing clang, a cold silver sword-light flashed through the air and continued toward the female-bodied monster, whose roar sounded almost like a song.

The slash was so terrifying that even the atmosphere seemed to recoil and space itself trembled. Instinctively sensing the overwhelming threat of death, the monster gathered the tentacles around its body into a wall of green flesh, desperately attempting to block the blow.

But its futile resistance was ultimately useless. The horrifying sword-light carved a deep, ink-black mark through the night. Distorted chaos churned along its edges, as if the slash intended to engrave all creation within its single stroke.

With a sharp tearing sound, the sword-light severed the female monster’s body and completely ended its life in an instant.

At the final moment of its existence, the monster seemed to regain its senses. It weakly reached toward Ais and let out a full-throated cry.

The cry was shrill and piercing, yet it carried a brightness and joy that stirred the heart, like the first wail of a newborn child.

But to Ais, it sounded like nothing more than pure greed and yearning.

Her mind, which had only just regained a trace of awareness, went blank once again. She collapsed onto the ground in a daze, panic spreading across a face that had always lacked emotion.

More astonishing still, although she had not chanted a spell, a pale blue breeze seemed to possess a life of its own. It wound around her body, like a mother wrapping her child in a garment.

Memories from the past flashed through her mind one after another. She had experienced so much, gained companions, and continued to grow stronger. Yet at this moment, Ais seemed to have become that same helpless child once more—left behind as she watched two figures depart, able only to cry in despair.

But this time, her breakdown did not last long.

A warm hand had already come to rest upon her head. The other person seemed not to understand her condition at all and spoke in a teasing tone.

“That’s why I’ve always said that the will of the heart matters more than strength. Ais, when you find yourself in a situation you can no longer endure, you should abandon all unnecessary thoughts and focus your consciousness on the goal you admire.”

Ais raised her head blankly and looked at Roland’s back. He had done nothing extraordinary, yet she felt as though a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. It was as if no problem in the world could exist so long as he was there.

Her lips pressed together slightly, as though she wanted to say something. In the end, however, Ais lowered her head, her lashes drooping as she fell into an eerie silence.

She had still been lost before, but now she seemed to have found her goal.

What the sword princess admired was a hero who belonged to her alone.

Though Roland sensed that something was different about Ais, his attention was now entirely drawn to Raviss before him. It was not that he had any improper interest in her body; rather, the situation itself was entirely unexpected.

A contracted spirit possessed only instinct and lacked even consciousness. Naturally, it could not independently undertake the subjective act of gathering subordinates.

Even a soul as powerful as the Holy Lord’s had merely brainwashed the possessed Ainzbern unconsciously. As for the other figures connected to him, it would be more accurate to say that they worshiped the talismans representing his divine power than that they worshiped him personally.

Raviss, however, was different. She had displayed unmistakable loyalty toward the individual possessed by the contracted spirit and had received unimaginable rewards from it.

Her ability to suppress crystallization and obtain the Void was the best proof. Such unnecessary actions could not have been carried out by a contracted spirit—unless both the contracted spirit’s personality and that of its host were extraordinarily unusual, resulting in this special unconscious response.

“Your latent ability is probably around Level Five. At most, two Level Fives working together would be enough to deal with you. If this is the fraction of power you were boasting about, then I have to say, I’m disappointed.”

“Tch…”

Raviss clicked her tongue, her expression turning ugly.

The strength required to eliminate the orb fetus in a single strike had completely exceeded her expectations. Her ordinary combat ability was merely that of a powerful Level Six. Judging from Roland’s relaxed appearance, he was probably just a little stronger than she was.

“Don’t get arrogant, hero. I still have another trick up my sleeve.”

Fortunately, Raviss was not a fool who could only summon monsters to give others experience.

“Her true power will only reveal itself when the original body and this blessing are combined!”

With the ease of someone thoroughly familiar with the process, Raviss extended the blade in her hand. The vines coiled around it suddenly lashed out, stabbing into the body of the orb fetus as it gradually turned to ash. They seized the clearly much larger magic stone and drew it into the Void.

The magic stone embedded itself directly in the hilt, its eye writhing like that of a living creature. The Void in Raviss’s hand seemed to have consumed some miraculous tonic. Its entire blade rapidly expanded. It had been no more than a one-handed sword, but now it transformed into an enormous greatsword.

“What an unusual transformation,” Roland said thoughtfully as he observed Raviss. “Is this an ability of your Void? Do you absorb magic stones to acquire a monster’s power?”

“Exactly!”

After the mutation, several vines extended from the hilt of the Void and pierced into Raviss’s wrist, continuing to spread through her body. Pain and an inexhaustible surge of power struck her simultaneously, drawing an increasingly savage smile across her face.

“Borrowing the power of the orb fetus’s magic stone, my abilities now rival those of Orario’s strongest adventurer. Even Ottar of the Freya Familia would have no reason to make me afraid! So, hero, do you like the gift I’ve prepared for you?”

There was a clear difference between fighting humans and fighting monsters. Their bodies and intelligence were entirely different. Even though they were both Level Five, the two monsters had been unable to evade Roland’s first sword-light, while Ais had dodged several strikes. That alone perfectly illustrated the gap between them.

Yet for some reason, the calm expression on Roland’s face gave Raviss an extremely ominous feeling.

“Hmm… I like it very much.”

Roland casually twirled Aster through the air, the corners of his mouth lifting into an eager smile.

“I was worried I might use too much force and kill you outright. But now it seems I can enjoy myself a little more.”

In the next instant, Roland’s voice rang out with a murderous double resonance.

“Then, Aster—go kill.”

(End of Chapter)