228 Chapter 224: Falling into a Trap
(3rd person perspective)
The large stone gates opened letting in two people covered in wounds and exhausted expressions.
Of the two people, the one who looked in worse condition was a tall boy with brown hair and an attractive appearance. Two swords full of cracks were sheathed at his waist showing the intense battle the boy had faced.
The boy's injuries were so severe that an adorable blonde girl had to help him walk.
Although the girl also looked tired, she had no visible injuries and if it weren't for her burnt-out clothing it would be hard to imagine that she had been through a dangerous fight.
"Kouki, just rest" – The girl spoke with concern to the boy who was stubbornly trying to walk on his own.
The boy didn't have the strength to speak, but the look of determination on his face showed how strong his will was.
After entering the safe area both people were surprised to notice that the place was totally different from the rest of the dungeon.
Green gardens, clean and warm air, an artificial sun, and human architecture. This place gave a sense of peace that brought a bit of relief to the two people.
The boy was so tired and wounded that he couldn't fight so the vampire girl remained alert in case a new enemy appeared, but after walking for several minutes they both didn't see any enemy.
The vampire girl was worried about the boy's condition, so she took him to what looked like a residence built according to the aesthetic sense of humans.
Yue, the vampire girl, found a room with a good quality bed so she helped the boy to bed so he could rest.
After helping the boy rest, Yue undressed without the slightest trace of shame and settled in the boy's arms to sleep in the arms of the one she had fallen in love with.
While both adventurers slept in the safety of the residence, something strange was happening in the lower level of the dungeon.
The area where the residence was had been built as a safe area to reward those who managed to reach the bottom of the dungeon, but something off the set was going on.
A large amount of magical energy was activated using the artificial sun as the core.
Magical symbols surrounded the walls of the place, a powerful spatial manipulation magic had closed all the exits making the safe area turned into a cage.
A silver light appeared in front of the residence from which hundreds of beautiful women with silver hair, shining armor, and expressionless faces began to emerge.
These women were the Apostles of the god Ehit, an artificial race without soul or emotions, they were mere puppets in the service of the god, but due to the improvements they have received since the last war with the god's enemies, these puppets were the strongest entities in Tottus, surpassing dragons and vampires.
The 5,000 women held twin swords and stood in a combat formation.
After the women had surrounded the residence, out of the silvery light appeared a middle-aged man with slicked-back blond hair and crimson red eyes. His elegant clothes and noble demeanor made him look like a highly regarded aristocrat.
Despite the man's imposing appearance, he knelt as a blurry shadow appeared from the silvery light.
"The current chosen one is not as cunning and mistrustful as the original chosen one, so there is an opportunity to deceive them both" - The shadow spoke towards his servant with a tone of delight and expectation. – "Those conceited bastards wanted to use me as a whetstone, but now I will take the immortal body and the formula for Conceptual Magic…"
This shadow was the disembodied form of the god Ehit, the strongest entity in this world.
Thousands of years ago Ehit and his companions had developed their civilization to the point that they destroyed their own world by overexploitation of resources so they had to flee that world in search of a new home and so they came to Tortus.
Ehit had thought that he found a treasure as this world had a low level of magical development so they would be easy to conquer.
At first, there were some problems like a certain group of rebels who had created a series of magics capable of harming powerful entities like Ehit, but even with those setbacks, the god was victorious.
Everything was going well and even Ehit had found an immortal body to transfer his soul to, the vampire queen Aletia Galdea Vesperitio Avatarl.
The problem was that a relative of the queen had discovered Ehit's plans so he staged a coup to hide Aletia as a place out of Ehit's vision.
Ehit was so furious that he captured the person, separated his soul from his body, and to this day that soul is still being tortured, as for his body, it was handed over to Ehit's subordinate, the god of demons Alva.
Ehit was looking for a new vessel and after much searching, he decided to put in place a plan to summon heroes from another world to forge a suitable vessel.
The problem was that before Ehit could put his plan into motion, he discovered the cruelest truth, he was not an absolute and perfect existence, he was just an ant slightly bigger than other ants.
Torturs was visited by a group of entities capable of erasing Ehit with a simple gesture, these entities called themselves Divine Envoys and belonged to an organization called Paradise.
Ehit was unable to fight these entities and for the sake of his own survival, he had to lower his head in a humiliating manner.
Ehit collaborated with the Divine Envoys to deliver magical resources from Tortus, but even that was not enough for those entities.
Because the Divine Envoys didn't even pay attention to Ehit, they talked about their plans without considering that one of Ehit's servants could hear them.
Ehit discovered that the true purpose of Paradise was to obtain the formula for something called Basic Conceptual Magic.
Apparently, this magic was highly coveted by Paradise as it would allow them to build a powerful army that can be disposed of without great loss.
This magic would allow a deadly entity lacking a Concept to harm what they called 'Higher Entities'.
This magic was far from the power of a 'Devourer' to erase all traces of existence, but it would still be useful in forging a powerful disposable army capable of facing Higher Entities.
Ehit did not understand what a Higher Entity, Devourer or other concepts used by Divine Envoys were, but he had one thing clear, Conceptual Magic was an overwhelming power even if it was only at the Basic level.
In order to obtain this formula, there were two mandatory requirements related to Destiny.
The first requirement was that only a 'Chosen One' (Protagonist) could obtain it.
The second requirement was that the Chosen One followed the Path of Destiny (Plot).
Ehit discovered that as part of the Path of Destiny, he was to die at the hands of the Chosen One as he was what was classified as the 'Antagonist'.
Ehit was furious upon hearing this, but he was unable to oppose the Divine Envoys as the strength of those entities was overwhelming.
So Ehit prepared a plan, he began to act like a servant without dignity so he was present in many conversations between the Divine Envoys who only treated him as a slave.
Ehit heard many key points about the Path of Destiny and thus prepared his plan.
Luckily for Ehit, a week before the hero summoning began, the Divine Envoys had to leave Tortus.
Ehit didn't know what had happened, but he heard that a problem occurred in Paradise so they let a servant manage things in Tortus.
Ehit was cunning and managed to convince the overseer by saying that he would take charge of helping the heroes while the overseer could take a break.
Thus Ehit made several preparations in the most important place of the Path of Destiny, the refuge of Oscar Orcus, members of the rebels who opposed the gods long ago.
Ehit knew that Paradise had made changes to Destiny to have a Chosen One easier to manipulate so he had several ideas to control that Chosen One, and in case his first plan failed, he had the confidence to control the mind of the Chosen One to later obtain the formula of the Basic Conceptual Magic.
The plan was to have his servant, Alva, talk to the Chosen One and the vampire girl by making them think that Alva was the girl's uncle.
Ehit would use one of the Contracts left behind by the Divine Envoys and thus be able to the Chosen One under his command while he made the vampire girl the vessel of his soul.
Ehit was confident in this plan as the Chosen One's current strength was too weak plus thanks to an artifact Ehit stole from the overseer, the god was able to ignore some effects of the powerful Destiny that protects the Chosen One.
Ehit was about to order his subordinate to advance to the residence, but then he felt a piercing pain coming from his chest.
Ehit couldn't look at his own chest as at that moment a sea of fire covered the ceiling while a sinister shadow spread across the floor.
Millions of undead began to emerge from the shadow and began to attack the Apostles.
The women spread their wings, but when they tried to fly the sea of fire covered them and began to melt their bodies.
Thick roots emerged from the ground and began to obstruct the Apostles' movements as seemingly normal arrows hit the women, but each arrow had powerful energy capable of destroying mountains causing the winged women to explode instantly.
Ehit watched in horror as his army was destroyed by strange abilities with an energy he had never experienced.
"It is called divine energy, this is the power of true deities"
Ehit heard a sigh which made him remember that his chest ached as if something was tearing him apart.
Ehit looked at his chest and noticed that a curved sword had pierced through his spirit body causing him great agony.
Ehit wanted to yell at his subordinate to help him, but then he noticed that Alva was on the ground while a small, tan-skinned girl was chewing on the deity's limbs like candy.
What terrified Ehit the most was that not only was Alva's vessel being mutilated, he could tell that his servant's soul was being ripped out into small pieces causing Alva infinite suffering.
Ehit felt his vision darken, but he quickly understood that her face was being pressed to the ground while one foot was on his head.
"Well... I have a deal for you, obey or die"
When Ehit met the Divine Envoys he felt pure humiliation, but without fear since, despite the arrogance of those entities, they never showed cruelty.
The creature with his foot on Ehit's head was different.
The creature that had its foot on Ehit's head was different.
Ehit was clear that this creature was not a person but a monster.
Even he did not dare to permanently damage a soul and only a vicious and cruel creature would be able to mutilate a soul as a form of intimidation as even a false god like Ehit knew the risks of interfering with the balance of the reincarnation cycle.
[System Notification: The skill 'Reader's Perspective' has been disabled]
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(Luis perspective)
I sighed internally, even an ambitious idiot thinks I'm a cruel creature...
I'm not that bad, I don't even like torturing idiots, I prefer quick and efficient murder.
"Hey Listen! Shit bitch! You're wasting a lot of bitches for your harem!" – Navi yelled anxiously because my goddesses were destroying the Valkyrie-like women.
I rolled my eyes. – "Unlike Monika and her sisters who have self-awareness, these puppets do not even have emotions or souls so I do not care if they are destroyed"
"Hey Listen! They still serve as sex dolls!" – Navi shouts with joy even when he is anxious.
"Why the fuck do I want emotionless toys when I can have beautiful women with personalities of their own?" - I sighed tiredly.
"Hey Listen! Some of your women have the personality of a stone! Now shut up and add these puppets to your harem! You need to get past four digits!" – Navi kept shouting stupid things, although I can't deny that some of my lovers have less personality than a sheet of paper…
Well, whatever, I'll see if I can make these women develop a soul in the same way Monika is becoming a living entity, and if these women are unable to develop emotions then I'll keep them as a disposable army.
I sighed and took out the Chaos Sword that was stuck in Ehit's back. – "Order your apostles to surrender or I will cause you so much pain that you will beg to die"
When the Sword of Chaos pierced his spiritual body, I used [Anti-Rasen] to bind his Core of Existence so if this idiot tries to escape, his soul will be torn apart causing him unimaginable pain.
Ehit raised a hand with difficulty. – "D-Drop your weapons!"
There were still about 2,000 women left and after hearing Ehit's order, they dropped their weapons.
I gestured to Coco and the other goddesses to which they stopped attacking, though Rushia glared at the puppets' chests.
This girl even gets jealous of a mannequin...
I grabbed Ehit's neck and put a contract in front of his face. - "Sign here"
Ehit didn't reply right away so I used [Sadism].
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH I WILL SIGN I WILL SIGN STOP AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
I stopped my skill and let Ehit catch his breath to sign the contract.
[System Notification: Entity 'Ehit' is now owned by the user]
I released Ehit and pointed at the limbless man. – "Where is his soul?"
Ehit couldn't move and his body trembled, but he forced himself to speak so as not to be punished. – "I-In my laboratory… I will have to go to my base and it will take about four days to return…"
"Do it" - I agreed, by the Contract now he can't betray me, although just in case I made the divine bird Caladorius follow him. – "Oh, right, before you go, give me the authority over your apostles"
Ehit didn't even argue and gave me control of the valkyries, then left with Caladorius.
"What's next?" - Arisa asked me curiously. – "You already ruined the plot and technically you became the final boss so there is not much left to do"
"You're wrong" - I sighed. – "There is still a lot of work to do"
While my [Reader's Perspective] skill was active, I connected part of my consciousness with BB and System Goddess.
BB didn't know much about Conceptual Magic, but System Goddess explained that it was a set of spells capable of altering reality and ignoring the Laws.
It is something similar to what a Superior Entity does through the Concept, an example is that System Goddess has the Concept 'System' and therefore she can interfere with anything within that concept.
Conceptual Magic sounds powerful as it is theoretically the ability to manipulate and materialize any Concept through magic, but as with everything in the multiverse, there must be balance.
Conceptual Magic allows weak entities to take on strong entities, but it has limitations.
To begin with, this magic can destroy souls, but only of mortal entities and not Higher Entities. It is worth mentioning that the term 'mortal entities' encompasses everything that is not a Higher Entity, which includes gods, demons, vampires, cultivators, etc.
Another flaw is that possessing this magic negates the ability to gain a own Concept.
It can be said that Conceptual Magic is like gaining absolute ability in mortal standards, but it negates the possibility of becoming a Higher Entity.
Despite the flaws, this magic is very valuable for organizations in the multiverse as this magic can cause minor injuries to Higher Entities.
Compared to the total population of the multiverse, the Higher Entities make up less than 1% of the multiverse so the armies are relatively small.
This magic allows to take a mortal population and give them the ability to face Higher Entities and although that army will not be able to eliminate even a weak entity like System Goddess, they are still useful as cannon fodder.
An ant cannot eat a human, but millions of ants can eat an elephant. That is the logic of equipping an army with this magic.
Leaving aside that I will have to search for the important events of Arifureta to get that magic, there is something that worries me among the information I got from Ehit.
This magic is incredibly valuable, even more, valuable than the hero factory that was the first magic world I went to.
If Paradise was willing to neglect such a valuable treasure, it means that something very troublesome happened in Paradise.
Kanata has no idea what happened since Paradise hasn't contacted her and Seraph still doesn't reply to my messages so I can only make preparations.
I don't have a real safe place to shelter in case of emergency and becoming a wanderer in the multiverse is very dangerous so I rush my plan to make my own organization.
For now, I'll take a break, resurrect Yue's uncle, and then see what I'll do.
I had the Valkyrie puppets go to my personal world for Shiguma to analyze the manufacturing method, make sure to remove any traces of the fight that took place, and then returned to the residence.
I headed to the main room that was covered in chains of [Anti-Rasen], removed the barriers, and entered the room.
Yue was happily sleeping on the bed. I put my hand on her head and used [Reader's Madness] to remove the false memories I put in her mind.
In order to trick Ehit, I put false memories into Yue's surface mind and changed my appearance to Kouki's.
I made it look like I was injured in the fight against the hydra even though Yue was able to defeat the monster on her own.
I dislike using mind control on my lovers or future harem members, but I wanted to be prepared in case Ehit suspected his plan was foiled and wanted to escape.
Although System Goddess modified the magical barrier so that Ehit could not escape, it is important to be careful.
I changed my appearance and sat on a chair next to Yue.
Although she has inexhaustible vitality as long as she has magic, she was mentally exhausted since the hydra's fear magic caused her to hallucinate where I abandoned her and she was locked in eternal darkness.
When Yue fell into that hallucination, I immobilized the hydra and watched Yue silently.
It took Yue two days to come out of the hallucination and several times her mind was on the verge of breaking so I cheated a bit and helped her stay sane, or well, relatively sane. I accidentally think I made her a bit obsessive, kind of like a yandere...
In the end, Yue managed to face her own fears and came out of the hallucination, then spent another two days attacking the hydra until it was completely destroyed. She was furious...
Although I still think she's a spoiled brat, I was a bit moved when she cried while hugging me after destroying the hydra.
I think I'm developing a fatherly side… How troublesome.
Anyway, I'll let Yue rest for now, then I'll start mapping out a travel route to obtain Basic Concept Magic.
I also have to be careful since Paradise left an overseer, but according to the information I got from Ehit's mind, that entity is an alcohol addict so I have some ideas to move freely.
"Luis... You don't need to be gentle... My body will resist if you are rougher... I love you..." - Yue's murmur made my mouth contract.
Damn perverted brat…
