Chapter 102: Waving Curtains
"You..... you still hungry? really?"
Arshella, who had a look of disbelief on her face, offered Lydia a chip.
She takes a bite from it and rolls on the bed.
Arshella slumped back, feeling exhausted.
"If we're going to get Ferris back, there's a chance that Gevaudan will become our enemy."
She paused, looking at the ceiling.
"Dupont says he's coming with us, but we're not going to beat that thing without proper planning."
On the night of Gevaudan's escape. Arshella used her clan weapon, Lexel to strike a blow that was faster than sound: <Shooting Star>. With Lexel, She uses this skill with the highest penetrating force of any of the spears she uses. She has used this skill to bury countless subhuman golems (human weaponry).
Although Gevaudan was unable to guard himself due to Tiriel's restraints at the time, he was able to easily withstand the deadly Shooting Star.
Arshella was always the rational one when it came to fighting. Normally, she would have been pissed off, but she instantly accepted the difference in their abilities and chose to withdraw.
And then....
(The skill that was unleashed right after...... What the hell was that skill ...... the power that instantly reduced a section of the city to ashes......)
The scene of that night came to Arshella's mind.
She looked down from the sky with Tiriel in her arms and saw the Faymbaum covered in the darkness of the night. In the midst of that darkness, as if a cauldron of hell had been opened, a sea of burning red copper was spreading out.
Arshella could still clearly remember the intensity of the radiant heat she had felt on her face.
In the burning landscape, even stone and metal had been melted. Everything, including buildings, everything was gone.
Even out of all the dragon breaths I've heard, I've never seen one with such devastating power. It's like the breath of the legendary Dragon Monarch.
Even if I and Dupont teamed up, we wouldn't be able to win in a fair fight.
--The power of that beast is unimaginable.
The only human (alien) who has survived multiple encounters with Gevaudan is Arshella. She informed the three generals of Dantalion, Orlando, and Phoenicia of her opinion, but she was not sure if they understood her sense of crisis.
Arshella felt goosebumps rising on her arms.
"Do you even know where they are in the first place?"
Tiriel, who had been lying on her back, fiddled with the ends of her hair and asked.
"...... Actually, Makomo came back this morning."
"What? She survived?"
Arshella nodded to Tiriel, who sat up in surprise.
"umm. I haven't heard the details yet, but it seems that the communication grimoire was destroyed over there and we lost contact."
Makomo was the ninja who had been tracking Gevaudan and Titania.
From time to time, she had been using her communication grimoire to keep Faymbaum informed of her movements, but a few days ago, she had suddenly lost contact with them, causing an uproar in the upper echelon.
"By Gevaudan? You mean he's seen through Makomo's Intonjutsu? (disappearing technique) Are you kidding me? How tough is that Butcher?"
"It's hard to believe, but it seems so. Well, I don't know the details yet. I'll ask Dantalion tomorrow."
"Gevaudan----"
Lydia, who had been staring at the ceiling and pondering in silence, suddenly interrupted.
"There is no need to kill him, right?"
"What, are you going to stand on the shoulders of that butcher just because he slept with you once? ...... or however many times he slept with you?"
Arshella looks dumbfounded. Lydia raised her body and continued.
"There's a little bit of that, too, but we've only done it ...... once....... Still, I've had about a year's worth of vaginal cumshot in me......... I wonder if I should call that vaginal cumshot ...... I never had my tummy that swollen before ? ....... I don't think Gevaudan is in Titania's control after all! He'll understand if we talk to him, and he will return Ferris to us. Yeah. That sounds right"
"You're being too optimistic. Ferris's <soma> can't heal itself......"
Tiriel continued with concern.
"If she gets to the point where even Resurrection doesn't recover, we're screwed. Titania is by her side, you know? We have to get her back as soon as possible."
The Agartha forces are usually peaceful and kind, but they are known to be merciless once a war breaks out.
They are feared by humans as nature itself, holding life in its embrace, nurturing it, and then suddenly changing into a beast, baring its fangs and reaping life on a whim.
Lydia snorted, "Hmm."
"Even if the Gevaudan was in control, wouldn't it be easier to break that control than to kill him? If Arshella says she can't win, wouldn't it be more practical to give up on fighting and look for other means?"
"That may be so, but ......"
Tiriel flinched at the unexpectedly reasonable remark.
"Well there's also a matter of Tulyal-san, right? Tiriel "
"Well, my brother's case is different ......"
Tulyal is Tiriel's brother. There was a strong possibility that he had been slaughtered by Gevaudan in the cell. Initially, the body was not allowed to be shown to her. It was too heavily damaged, so there was a concern.
There was talk of transferring the body to the home country for resurrection, but it was decided that this would not be possible in such a state of shredded remains. Tiriel received words of consolation from many people, and on the surface, she seemed to be very sad. She even cried out loud at the sight.
--but the truth is.
Tiriel hated Tulyar. Secretly, she was clutching her hands tightly.
She pretended to be delirious and uncovered the body of her brother. When she saw how badly damaged his body was, she cried In front of everyone, convinced that he would never come back. She cried with joy. For the first time in her life, she knew what it felt like to be overcome with emotion.
A single blow.
I must take him by surprise with a single blow. My brother is too strong. There won't be a second chance.
I also found a way of obtaining poison mushrooms that cannot be detected. The kind that dissolves the internal organs into sludge so they don't recover. I planned to mobilize Mustachio. I was also planning to buy out Makomo. After everything was over, I could abandon my position and my hometown and go wandering with Mustachio. I have also written a farewell letter to Lydia and the others and put it in the back of my desk. Thank you for everything, and please don't look for me. Now it's just a matter of when to kill him, but now...
historical
It was just before Tiriel made her darkest decision. It was Gevaudan who broke the chains of the abhorrent Tulyal, which she never expected.
As a result, Tiriel was able to keep her hands clean and have a free and bright future. She felt a strong sense of gratitude to Gevaudan, and even a sense of worship.
The reason why Tiriel disliked Tulyal so much was that she found evidence that Tulyal was secretly planning an incestual marriage with her - a story that she did not tell Lydia and the others. It was a disgrace to the whole clan.
As for the incident in the jail, I was not damaged irreparably. My purity is safe. The filth was at a level that I could pretend it never happened by taking a bath. My skin was even smoother for some reason.
After witnessing Gevaudan's merciless feast that night, she had settled down to the realization, she had received the greatest mercy for her humiliation at that time.
Anyway, in Tiriel's mind, there was almost no resentment for Gevaudan, Every negative feeling went away with Tulyal. She even wants to go to Gevaudan's house to greet him with a gift at this point.
However, there is still a strong sense of fear.
When Tiriel became silent, Lydia folded her arms and asked.
"What about Tiriel's dispel?"
"---- Dispel takes way too much time. It's not a skill that can be use in combat. I don't even know if it will work in the first place. And it probably won't."
<Dispel> is a skill that cancels the effects of any skill. However, as Tiriel said, it is also a type of skill called a <ritual> that requires complicated magic circles and extra procedures for invoking it. Like Gleipnir, a ritual that creates indestructible chains that temporarily restrains Gevaudan.
Dispel is a highly advanced and elite skill (a skill you are born with), but it has its fair share of users. If dispel could break that forbidden control skill, it wouldn't have been banned and marked as forbidden. Tiriel's guess was that it wouldn't be effective.
"You never know until you try ....... Why don't you let Arshella hold him down while you cast it?"
"Don't be absurd. There's no one who can hold down a beast like that by force. He even tore off Tiriel's <Noble Thorn Entangle> while she's casting it with <Cabrontia> with his arm strength alone, that guy. What kind of stupid power is that?"
Tiriel is a very talented elf. The power of her skills is maximized when she holds a staff called a <Cabrontia>. The <Noble Thorn Entangle> that Tiriel used was the most powerful restraint skill that an individual could use. If properly executed, it would have temporarily rendered even the top-tier Titans immobile.
"Listen, but don't laugh" She sniffed and Arshella raised her body.
"I was thinking maybe we could use Lydia's <charm> to get him to distract for a while. He's your friend, right? Why don't we try dispelling him while you're at it?"
"Ummm......."
Lydia crossed her arms and became bitter.
<Charm> is somewhat unreliable. The only effect it has is that it somehow makes one want to devote themselves to the user. It doesn't mean that you can manipulate your opponent as you wish. Moreover, it doesn't work if the person is hostile to you.
However, Gevaudan is fond of me. At least as a friend. Lydia was confident of that.
--Maybe it might work, if only a little.
"How much time do you need, Tiriel?"
"If we start from scratch, we'll need about an hour to prepare. If we have more than one caster, we can accelerate the process, but it'll still take thirty minutes."
"I can't keep him Charms for an hour......"
Lydia leaned unsteadily against Arshella. She sigh.
Even Tiriel gave a yawn.
"*yawn*......can we go to bed now? I'm getting sleepy."
She hugged Arshella, and the three of them fell on the bed together, pushing against her.
The scent of the night tickled Arshella's nostrils. The curtains swayed. The window was slightly open.
As she felt the weight of the two people jostling against her, she stared at the ceiling and thought.
Lydia's opinion of breaking Butcher's control and bringing him back into the Elysium side was worth considering. He was a very unique individual with that much fighting power. It was definitely better to have it as an ally than as an enemy. In fact, it has the potential to bring the stalemated subhuman war to an end with a victory for Elysium.
He has no position whatsoever. He has no ties to anything. A large, human-sized, powerhouse of the monarch dragon class that can appear anywhere at any time. The war will change. With Gevaudan, a subhuman stronghold (Fort) is nothing for him.
But I had no idea how to begin.
Arshella stops thinking.
instantly, slumber began to well up from behind her eyes.
"...... Let's go to bed."
"Hey, hey, hey, let's play a bamboo shoot[1]before we go to bed."
"A bamboo shoot game with three people is practically a chicken race..."
"So, what's the best game to play?"
"Let's play yuigadokuson[2] while we take a bath together!"
"It's too hard to judge a winner. We'll just end up choosing a theme."
"So, do you want to take a bath? It's just behind that door.
With that, Lydia raised her upper body and pointed to the door.
The curtains were swaying in the night air just beyond her gaze.
From behind it, a small figure stepped out timidly.
"Lydia....everyone ...... can I have a moment ?"
It's Ferris.
She was wearing a skimpy shirt dress. A ladybug-style brooch was attached to her chest, and she looked adorable.
Lydia suspected that she was hallucinating from her own erotic fantasies.
"Ferris?"
And then...
*Thump*.
The sound came from the window behind Ferris. The curtains were pushed open and a huge man in an apron and a paper bag entered the room.