Chapter 109: The Boy Smiled And The Monster Greeted

The tank Dora was in cracked and a powerful explosion destroyed it.Everyone nearby, bearing the power of emissaries, froze and looked in the same direction.

Elizabeth was momentarily paralyzed but quickly leaned back and jumped.

She destroyed every material above her and got closer and closer to the laboratory, a heavy feeling in her chest.

It was too late, the moment she decided to change her focus, she couldn't help but realize that she had made one single mistake.

Hope was nowhere to be seen, thus she abandoned Dora for nothing.

She entered the laboratory, blasting a hole in the ground, and looked at the source of the strange energy she felt.

Dora emitted a jet of yellow, black, and white energy that spread throughout the room like a tornado.

His pressure was released randomly in single waves and knocked out many scientists each time.

Because of the energy he gave off, he was difficult to see, but the glimpse of his silhouette showed that he was observing his hands.

Elizabeth watched, powerless, wondering what she could do.

Gradually, the energy waves softened, the pressure waves fading.

Dora was now clearly visible.

Covered in a yellow aura, he lowered his arms, his eyes staring at a wall.

He raised his head once more, everyone was watching in great fear of what was coming.

But what their eyes couldn't see, was the System screen that he was watching.

|Greed: 25%

|????: 25%

|Player: 50%

He nodded and sighed, then turned toward Agiel.

The man was standing just a few meters behind him, a satisfied smile on the lips. This chapter was first shared on the N0v3l-B1n platform.

"Well then, your eyes tell us that everything just went as you planned. I feel tempted to congratulate you."

Agiel curtsied.

"Coming from the origin of the tree, I feel honored."

Dora stayed silent for a while then walked toward him.

"The tree? Origin? Curious... sounds familiar to us, but how come you seem to know our memory better than us? Who are you?"

"Just a humble gentleman who talks too much, my friend."

Dora looked at him head to toe, trying to remember him, but eventually shook his head.

"No matter how we look at it, you can't be one of the blond people in our memories, you shouldn't exist there... Let's see, if you can give us an answer, we'll put you in a preserving list, tell us, do you know anything about the world of origin?"

A silence hung over the room, and for the first time, Agiel stopped smiling.

His eyes were shaking and his lips were tight.

No one could understand the conversation between these two, but suddenly, a tear fell from Agiel's right eye.

"... So you're really."

"Aurum Serra"

The air in the room seemed to twist and warp, the space distorted and suddenly, the entire room was bathed in an eerie yellow light. The space cracked like shattering glass and the air was blinding in white.

White particles rained down on everyone in the room.

Agiel collapsed to the ground, his body immobile. A bright, luminous ball appeared above him as he lay there, hovering in mid-air. The ball then shot toward Dora before disappearing.

As the others looked on in fear and confusion, the young boy giggled as he crouched down beside Agiel's inert body. The boy's eyes shone with a strange, otherworldly light.

The young boy laughed and crouched down in front of Agiel's inert body, under the frightened eyes of everyone.

"Here, your memory is preserved forever, as promised! Now, please sleep."

He observed everyone around him with curiosity.

Elizabeth, still far away, was disturbed by the scene.

She expected to see the Queen and save Dora, but Gloria was nowhere nearby and Dora looked more and more like what Peters was describing.

The young boy crossed his arms.

"You all worked so hard to help us. You fed us so much, more than we needed, that we had to stop consuming these gems to keep from passing out, but we never would have done it without you. You deserve our thanks and as a sign of gratitude... Let us immortalize you.

His eyes shone brightly, Elizabeth flinched and barely had time to reach out to him.

"Dora, no!"

A blinding light covered the room, it only lasted a moment, almost shorter than the blink of an eye.

Dora had disappeared from his position.

Elizabeth remained still, not only because of the shock, but above all because of a change in the room: the feeling of heat in certain places of her body.

She turned around slowly and opened her eyes wide.

Dora stood among the corpses of scientists in a pool of blood.

His back was turned, but a smile was visible on the side of his face.

Elizabeth took her sword, trembling with anger.

"You... Who are you? You're not Dora!"

The boy laughed like a child and turned his head towards her, his body still, he seemed to be about to break his own neck.

"You don't recognize us anymore, Elyza?"

His face was splattered with blood and his hands were red.

He laughed sinisterly and faced her.

"My God, it's so scary... Why are you getting angry? It's us, Dora. We did the usual, they attacked us, so we pinned them to the ground."

He stretched and snapped his wrists.

"Or maybe... Look at it this way: they want us to save the world, but we need more experience points... so what's the harm in taking that in them? We see this as a necessary sacrifice."

"Sicko." Elizabeth released her aura.

The building began to shake and white shockwaves spread from her.

Dora's eyes narrowed and his smile widened.

"Sicko? Please... Are you insulting us by calling our name?"

His aura exploded and melted with Elizabeth's.

In the street, the holy knights were gathered, Agharita in front.

"Damn... This doesn't sound like a friendly conversation." Said a female holy knight with red hair.

"I also felt several lights disappear, I guess it's safe to assume it's a failure."

Peters nodded and turned to Agharita.

"The Sin is in control and Elizabeth is alone to face it, yet you want us to stay here?"

Agharita, with a worried expression, looked up at the Rift.

"Please... You know my detection is second to none, I don't want to let Elizabeth fight, but... These things..."

Suddenly, a powerful explosion destroyed the roof of the building.

Debris were collapsing over the city and black smoke was rising.

Dora and Elizabeth were several meters apart.

The young boy immediately noticed a slight cut on his chest which healed itself.

"Interesting, so this is the weakness of our perfect defense... impressive... such power, such skills... Imagine how many experience points killing you could give us?"

Elizabeth carefully observed the pale blue light that reflected the surrounding light.

"So he uses the same technique as against Iris... That would be a problem."

She took an offensive stance and thought hard.

She had observed Dora's training for a long time and one day challenged him to a duel.

That day, she discovered the only weakness of Dora's Law in defensive mode.

The energy particles could prevent damage by mimicking the opponent's attack. Still, to do so they had to first replicate the attack, and in doing so they created a tiny margin of time where Dora was vulnerable.

But to defeat him, it was necessary to finish him in one blow, if Dora took the blow and survived, then his perfect defense would be fixed to the strength of the attack.

It was only a few hundredths of a second, but the red mark on his chest was proof that Elizabeth was capable of this feat.

Suddenly, the city was filled with a deafening noise that seemed to shake the very ground beneath their feet. People looked up at the Rift in awe as the Genesis ray emitted a brilliant light that illuminated the skyline. It was a wonder that someone had thought to utilize it before.

Although nobody knew what lay beyond the Rift, there was a sense of fear and despair in the air. Dora's face lit up with a broad grin, his eyebrows raised in admiration and amusement at the spectacle above him.

"That won't be enough... We really want what's inside you, but there are way more diamonds out there."

"... What? Underestimating me? Am I not to the liking of a monster?"

She adopted an offensive stance.

Dora looked back at her and snapped his fingers.

"That's the problem, you are, and that's why we shouldn't fight you before them."

Elizabeth prepared to jump forward but the presence behind her made her stop.

"Midgard?"

After Dora snapped his finger, the snake woman had been kicked out of the dimensional chamber and was back on the battlefield.

"Midgard, are you okay? I was so worried!" Elizabeth rushed to her and confirmed her condition.

The Player was still standing, fit, and healthy.

She had completely recovered from Gloria's attack but something was different about her attitude.

Her gaze was stern, fixed on Dora.

"... Midgard?" Elizabeth asked hesitantly.

Dora crossed his arms and scratched his cheek.

"Hm... As expected, you have also benefited from our evolution... Let's not waste any more time and move on to the final step of our contract: synchronizing our souls."

Elizabeth looked on in confusion. She turned to Midgard, looking for an answer, the latter finally showed signs of life and sighed.

"The final stage of a fusion between a Player and an Avatar is the fusion of our souls. After this, the one who is killed will be absorbed by the other, and the awakening will be completed."

"What?!... No, that's impossible! Dora, you called Midgard... just to kill her?"