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HELHEIM SCANS
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Chapter 155
The creature's massive head nodded in response to the question.
Although it was incapable of speech, the King of the Forbidden Zone possessed an incredibly high level of intelligence.
“What the hell is this…?! What’s going on?!!”
From Vania’s perspective, this situation was beyond absurd.
She had spent an immense amount of time preparing the ritual to summon the King of the Forbidden Zone and made a contract with it.
And yet, when she made her first request—to eliminate her enemy—the King of the Forbidden Zone not only tore apart the contract but also acted as if it was acquainted with the enemy?
It was a situation that defied common sense.
Even I was taken aback by this unexpected turn of events.
I had helped this creature during a territorial dispute while exploring the Forbidden Zone, and now that snowball was rolling out of control.
The creature, which had once given me a gift, simply stared at me in silence.
To this octopus-whale hybrid, the concept of summoning or contracting was irrelevant.
It had no real reason to fight me or be bound by anything.
It seemed that this ritual had merely brought forth a being from the abyss, but it lacked any means of true control.
Or rather, to be precise, they had managed to put a leash on it—but a leash alone was not enough to restrain it.
As a result, the ultimate weapon they had spent so many years preparing had vanished in vain.
Had I never ventured into the Forbidden Zone, this octopus-whale creature would have lost its territorial struggle.
The battle between the two monsters had been evenly matched, but the battlefield had been home turf for the monster with dark tendrils.
It was an inevitable outcome.
And if that battle had played out as expected, the other monster with dark tendrils would have been the one summoned here.
The Pinas Archipelago would have then prepared for war against that monstrosity.
However, the outcome of the territorial dispute had been overturned, leading to the rise of a new king—one that was now favorable to me.
Everything had completely changed because of that one battle.
“This really gives off a cult-like vibe.”
Controlling a powerful entity and using it for one’s own power—this was a classic tactic of cultists.
Vania slumped to the ground with a look of utter despair, and the rest of her forces wore similar expressions, their fighting spirit extinguished.
Their faces, stripped of hope… it was a sight to behold.
“This can’t be happening… this can’t be real… How did this…?”
Vania, half in shock, mumbled incoherently.
Her trembling eyes finally locked onto me.
The most powerful force at her disposal, the Swordmaster, had sacrificed his life as an offering to summon this entity—only for it to provide no help whatsoever before vanishing.
Her forces, including the knights, had already suffered severe losses.
In this situation, she had no idea how to stop me.
That desperation led her to make reckless decisions.
“Listen to me!!! I am your contractor!! Kill that man right now!!”
At her command, the octopus-whale quietly stared at Vania before shifting its gaze toward me.
It didn’t speak, but from its body language…
—Did she just tell me to kill you?
That was the impression it gave me.
Without hesitation, I made my request.
“Friend, it seems like they’re threatening me.”
At those words, the octopus-whale’s gaze immediately returned to Vania.
“W-what are you saying?! I’m your contractor! You should obey me, not him!!”
The creature turned its eyes back toward me.
“Oh, come on, friend. They forcibly dragged you here, didn’t they? And now you’re supposed to listen to them? Where’s your pride?”
The creature’s gaze returned to Vania.
“We sacrificed so much to summon you!! Listen to me right now!!”
It seemed the octopus-whale had made its decision.
It clenched its massive hand into a fist and swung at Vania.
Had an Expert-ranked knight not immediately pushed her aside, she would have been killed on the spot.
“T-this doesn’t make sense… The King of the Forbidden Zone is supposed to be restrained when summoned through a ritual…”
“Just so you know, the King of the Forbidden Zone you were trying to summon is already dead.”
In other words, the ritual that offered up Ropal as a sacrifice had little to no binding effect on the octopus-whale.
“N-no!! This can’t be happening!! We spent years—years preparing for this!!”
“Friend, can I ask you for a favor?”
The octopus-whale stared straight at me.
“My younger sister was captured here. She was brutally tortured.”
What would bring the greatest agony to the Remilish family?
The answer was simple.
Their painstakingly prepared summoning ritual—the King of the Forbidden Zone itself—annihilating them.
Moreover, using this creature to eliminate them ensured there would be no repercussions.
If the summoned monster went berserk and wiped them out, the Pinas Archipelago wouldn’t have any grounds to protest to the Central Continent.
Unlike the situation with Tyvel, where I had gone on a rampage, this time, I didn’t want to burden Melissa.
Even now, she was handling things on her own to avoid troubling me.
I didn’t want to add to her burdens.
—So… should we do it, friend?
Though the octopus-whale showed no expression, it looked at me as if asking that very question.
I nodded.
Wipe them out.
Without hesitation, the King of the Forbidden Zone opened its massive maw.
I had seen it fight in the darkness before, but I had never gauged its full power.
This was a good opportunity to find out—who knew when it might come in handy in future naval battles?
A colossal amount of energy began gathering at its mouth.
A bizarre flow of magic.
This wasn’t something that even I, as a human, could replicate.
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HELHEIM SCANS
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It wasn’t quite Authority, but it was something close.
[Amplification]
In other words, while I couldn’t help it with magic, I could influence it with Word Magic.
The energy sphere it was forming immediately doubled in intensity.
Satisfied, the creature let out a massive roar, planted its massive arms into the ground like a fixed cannon, and unleashed its breath attack.
KWOAAAAAAA!!!
In an instant, the massive beam obliterated dozens of enemy soldiers and reduced the buildings behind them to ashes.
Several mages frantically cast protective spells in an attempt to block the attack, but the King of the Forbidden Zone merely tilted its head back slightly before leaning forward again to unleash another blast.
“Hold the line!!! Protect the lady!!”
“Activate every artifact!! Don’t hold back!!”
Dozens of mages coughed up blood as they desperately cast their spells, even using large-scale devices to reinforce their defenses.
As the range of the breath attack gradually began to shrink, their faces brightened with hope.
Even though it was a wide-area attack with somewhat dispersed firepower, they hadn’t expected to withstand the breath at all. Impressive, indeed...
Unfortunately, the god of fortune was not on their side.
The breath attack started compressing into a narrow beam, about 30 centimeters in diameter.
Naturally, its power was on an entirely different level.
“This is insane?!”
Ziiing!!
Like an enormous laser slicing through everything from the ground to the sky, it left behind a massive scar, incinerating everything in its path.
Even after that, the creature fired yet another breath attack.
As expected, this thing was ridiculously strong.
Unlike the Kraken, it hadn’t weakened.
No—if anything, it felt even stronger than when I had last seen it in the Forbidden Zone.
A true catastrophe, its breath attack reduced all the soldiers, knights, and mages in the vicinity to ashes before finally stopping.
The only survivor was Vania Remilish.
She alone remained.
“This... this can't be real… It's a lie.”
She muttered blankly, as if in a daze.
Her survival was a bit of a dilemma.
Should I take her with me?
If Melissa found out what had happened here, she would be furious beyond measure.
She would undoubtedly want to personally kill Vania Remilish, the one responsible for all this.
But that wouldn’t be the best decision.
Moreover, right now, Saintess Nadia was handling matters with the Hael tribe on her own.
My instincts told me something big was about to happen, so I made up my mind without hesitation—I would end her life here.
Regardless, thanks to the octowhale rampaging through the castle, rumors must already be spreading.
Most likely, the story would spread as "that creature went on a rampage" rather than "I infiltrated the place."
Besides, aside from her, there were no other survivors.
With that, I drew my cursed sword and stepped toward her.
As I did, I glanced at the King of the Forbidden Zone—the octowhale—and said,
“You can head back now. I’ll take care of the cleanup.”
At my words, the massive creature stirred, shifting its enormous body.
Then, strangely enough, the ground rippled like water, and its colossal form slowly sank beneath it as if diving.
“Oh, and try getting along with the mermaids. Even if you don’t go as far from the Forbidden Zone, keeping watch over the surrounding areas might earn you a nice gift someday. Who knows?”
The creature let out a short cry before vanishing completely.
Afterward, I stood before Vania Remilish, who slowly lifted her head to look at me.
Her eyes reflected a mixture of resignation and disbelief.
“How could this happen? This is unfair. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Arsha must have thought the same thing.”
“What?”
“She did nothing wrong, yet she was tormented in this place.”
Vania fell silent.
“And beyond that, you’d best abandon any thought of dying peacefully.”
“Hah. Do you think I’d ever bow my head to some Central Continent scum?”
At her words, I simply stared at her.
Yeah, that confirms it.
With my decision made, I turned away from her without hesitation and walked toward the castle’s exit.
“Kill me!! Just kill me! If you don’t, I swear I’ll tear you apart one day!!”
Ignoring her frantic screams, I kept walking and said briefly,
“How can a dead person take revenge?”
“What?”
At that moment, an eerie transformation began to take hold of her body.
“Ahhh! What’s happening to me?!”
All over her body, holes started appearing—like burned paper disintegrating piece by piece.
“What is this?! Tell me!”
There was no way she could escape the backlash.
No matter what means she had used, she had summoned the new King of the Forbidden Zone.
And that king had severed the contract tying them together through sheer force.
Naturally, she had to bear the consequences.
As the grotesque sensation and pain overwhelmed her, her eyes widened in horror.
She writhed on the ground, letting out bloodcurdling screams.
[PR/N: FUCKING DESERVED!!!]
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HELHEIM SCANS
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