Chapter 232
Ark isn't the kind of person who would waste a year and a half; in fact, it used a year and a half to completely transform itself into the most terrifying monster at present.
The ability to directly take other people's magic cores and magic seals and turn them into monsters that one can use is a power possessed only by the Demon God Seal.
Clearly, Ark is not a demon god species, because its own demon core had long been destroyed, and the original demon seal was just an ordinary demon seal.
It possesses the abilities that only a Demon God should have, but it lacks a Demon God Seal and a sufficient Demon Core.
However, they still possess this ability outside the rules, which is completely unreasonable.
If it weren't for the precedent of Ark, there would naturally be no need to pay so much attention to Ghost Lord, who has also broken the rules.
If I had to name it, it would be "Failure Product," or more precisely, "Failed Demon God Container," also known as "Sub-Successful Magic Counter Container." In short, it's called "Ark."
A product of the land of the dead, similar to specially enhanced zombies.
The initial purpose of the creation was to be able to accommodate any magic seal or "seal," whether it be a demon god seal or a demon seal, it had to be able to accommodate it.
Then he failed. After inserting the Demon God Seal, more than 70% of it collapsed within six minutes.
Once the repairs were completed, the battle between the monsters and the church was over. It ended with the monsters' defeat and the church's victory.
As a wartime reserve weapon, Ark was modified into a normal monster. Calling it a modification is an exaggeration; it was merely a simple disguise.
The king of the land of the dead was, in a strict sense, also Ark's father. Although they were not related by blood, he was indeed brothers with the vampire siblings.
It's just that nobody wants to admit it.
This relationship provided Yak with initial capital as a merchant, a wagon, personnel, and a somewhat vague goal.
"I want to see how big the world is," he asked softly.
"You will be disappointed," said the king of the land of the dead at that time.
Only by seeing it with your own eyes can you understand how small this world really is, and how suffocating it can feel.
However, despite this, there was no place for Ark in the Land of the Dead at that time. It was a weapon intended to fight the Church, and to signify acceptance of defeat, it could not remain in the monsters' stronghold.
So it started as a merchant, and ever since it left the land of the dead, it has been feared by the church.
Until he personally dealt with the Demon Seed and expressed his sincerity to the Church, the Church hesitated every day about whether to kill him.
After that, Benny entered the central church and started to get bored.
In short, simply put, Ark is someone born at the wrong time. As a monster, he is forced to live like a rabbit.
But judging from his expression, he seemed dissatisfied with continuing to be a rabbit.
"Benny, don't do this. At least I've helped you get rid of a lot of demon lords." Ark shrugged, looking at Benny who was pointing her blade at him. "Aren't you going a bit too far?"
“I’ve kept your whereabouts a secret for the church. While I’m the only one who sees you, get out of here,” Benny said softly. “What kind of madness got you here? Do you think you can beat me?”
Yak didn't say anything, only scratched his head a little embarrassedly.
The protruding demonic core on his arm was enough to send chills down one's spine.
"You want to kill me, which has nothing to do with me in the first place." He said with a hint of helplessness, "After all, whether you win or not depends entirely on whether you want to win or not."
"So what? Coming all this way to your death is a bit much." Benedict sighed softly, then looked at him and said, "What use is the Demon God Seal to you? You're a failed experiment. Even if you were to put the Demon God Seal on you again, it wouldn't make you a threat to us. We have thousands of saints and five saints. Even if you become something extraordinary, you still have no hope of winning."
“As long as you’re on the church’s side, I have no hope of victory. That’s how I would put it.” Ark tilted his head and looked at her. “On another note, I want to know your stance. You’re not on my side anymore, are you?”
“Don’t force me to make this choice, Ark. I don’t want to talk about it, and you certainly don’t want to hear it either,” Benny said softly. “You said a long time ago that if you ever changed, I could kill you to stop you.”
She planted the greatsword in the ground, pressed her hands on the hilt, slowly closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the golden through-hole looked menacing and terrifying.
Behind her, it seemed as if angel wings had spread out. These were skin without flesh and blood, and upon closer inspection, one could see that all the feathers were tied to bones with ropes, swaying back and forth, looking like a child's toy.
But the moment this thing opened, a fierce wind arose around it, sand and stones surged, and the light seemed like a holy sword piercing through the dark clouds.
“If we hadn’t met here, I wouldn’t have been so resolute with you,” Benny said softly. “Ark, there is love between us. Although I’m not entirely sure if my concept of love has been distorted by the benevolent, it is true that I don’t want to be your enemy.”
Her voice was soft, yet she frankly expressed her fear and compassion.
But Ark just twitched his lips and then showed a helpless expression.
This is a sign that she is truly determined to take action.
She frankly admitted her weakness and her reluctance to act. But none of that mattered; she was now a defender of honor, no longer human in a sense. Human problems arising from personal emotions were, from the very beginning, acceptable.
But this has nothing to do with what she's supposed to do. She could kill Ark with tears in her eyes and feel sad afterwards, but that doesn't mean she'll have any soft spot when carrying out her duties.
"Sorry." Ark raised his hands above his head and said helplessly, "At least for now, I've given up on my previous idea. Long time no see, how about we chat?"
“Yes, but not here.” Benny didn’t say much, but walked over and grabbed his collar. In just a moment, she used her speed, which had been enhanced many times over, to take him far away.
The moment it stopped, Ark was thrown out, smashing through several rocks due to inertia.
Benny sighed, and the light emanating from her body and the greatsword vanished. She quickly tidied her hair and made her clothes look a little neater.
"How does this look?" she asked softly, as if nothing had happened.
She smiled, and here, in the night, she looked as delicate and beautiful as a girl.
“It looks great,” Ark said softly, scratching his head helplessly.
"You've changed." It took him a long time to say this: "You've changed in just one year."
“I have changed, but some things haven’t,” Benny said, looking at him. “At least I still hope you can survive, and I’m willing to be your enemy for that.”
Ark sighed helplessly, looking at her: "Is that why you're fighting me too?"
“If it had been a benevolent or righteous person there, you would have had your head chopped off four or five times by now. If you could just let it grow back.” Benny’s voice was tinged with anger. “For my sake, have a little more respect for your life.”
As she spoke, she took a hairband from her pocket and tied her hair up tightly, then sat on the rock behind her and looked at the sky.
She specifically chose this place because the sky here is pleasant.
It's hard to imagine just how severe the turbulent elements must be there to create such a vibrant array of colors. The entire sky seemed like a palette, with all sorts of strange hues making one grateful for their own survival.
It would have been even better if it weren't for that falling fireball.
Yak looked at her, then slowly sat down on the ground, head down, like a child who had done something wrong.
“You weren’t like this before, you wouldn’t have done something like this. Why?” Benny looked at him and said, “I want to know what you’ve been through in the past year and a half.”
“I thought you knew everything,” Yak said softly. “Turns out you haven’t been paying much attention to me.”
"I can only guess roughly. To avoid revealing your whereabouts, I didn't have my eyes constantly watching you." Benny crossed her arms and tilted her head to look at him. "You know what kind of person you are now, right?"
"I guess I'll look pretty bad?" Yak tried to say. "I don't think I'll look any good. It would be good enough if I could just keep my human appearance."
“I’m puzzled by your insistence on retaining a human body. Isn’t it unnecessary to be so fixated on it? If you could grow dozens of times larger, you’d probably be even stronger now, right?” Benny hesitated for a moment. “Didn’t they ever intend to find a big one in the first place?”
“Actually, my true form is at least four times my size.” Ark hesitated for a moment before saying, “I only found out from what I heard. When I first came out, I looked like a slime, almost like mud.”
"Is it easy to shape?" Benny didn't intend to ask any further questions.
"That's probably the reason. After the first experiment, 70% of it was destroyed by the price of the Demon God's Seal. Most of the remaining 30% was also unusable." Ark poked himself and said, "So I created this version of myself. I've always known about my background. So all the time I was lying about my past. When I realized I couldn't keep up the pretense of being a demon, I decided to confess."
“What’s the way to be honest?” Benny glanced at him. “I haven’t received any noteworthy documents from Mud.”
“I killed a demon king and obtained his magic core.” As he spoke, he slowly raised his hand, revealing a black magic mark on the back of his hand: “This magic mark’s effect is Black Prison, which has a huge space. Because it’s secondhand, the space can’t be expanded. But thanks to this extra space, I can maintain my human form while accumulating magic power.”
He casually remarked that this magic seal was extremely powerful, capable of forcibly dragging the other party into its own space, making it very difficult to escape.
It's similar to the space Spider used to hold back the Arbiter, but there are some fundamental differences.
"Who is it?" Benny hadn't memorized the list of demon lords she had submitted, nor did she know all of them.
The church allows the existence of a demon king, provided that the demon king obeys its rules and does not pose a threat to human settlements.
If the Central Church were to obtain information that this clearly disobedient individual was harming humans, they would likely not spare his life.
“An unruly demon king, he intended to devour me, but he couldn’t defeat me.” Ark looked at her with lifeless eyes: “No matter what, I am an attack-specialized demon mark. Even if I face a demon king, as long as it’s not absolutely impossible to defeat, I have a way to deal with it.”
"So you killed him?" Benny asked expressionlessly. "You weren't like this before. You're more patient with your own kind than I thought."
"Do you think someone who suddenly loses everything can be in a good mood?" Ark said with a laugh, the first time he had ever laughed in this situation.
This guy looks so sad while he's laughing.
It's like a dog that has lost something it cherishes; it's a little pitiful, but you also feel that this guy shouldn't be cared about.
Benny looked at him, her mind simply recalling what that guy had looked like back then.
“How did you survive?” Benny said softly. “I asked the Benevolent One, and she seemed to have seen you. She’s also another person in the Central Church who knew you were still alive. I didn’t expect her to keep it a secret.”
"You used to hate her."
“I hate her now too.” Benny frowned. “You’ve been talking about other women in front of me for so long?”
“Sorry.” Ark shook his head. “Anyway, you don’t want to know how I survived, since I’m still sitting here now.”
"So you're trying to distract me?" Benny looked at him and sighed helplessly, "You're still the same as before."
"What are you talking about?" Ark tried to play dumb, but when he turned his head away out of guilt, he saw the huge airship that had landed not far away.
The thing had completely changed its appearance; it was pure white. It was made entirely of metal, with exaggeratedly large cannon muzzles hanging on both sides.
"As expected, your little schemes haven't changed at all," Benny said, looking at him. "Those people have already set off, and there should be a few left on the airship. Do you have any tea up there? I'm a bit thirsty."
"Didn't you forbid me from obtaining the Demon God's Seal?" Ark was dumbfounded: "Why are you doing this now?"
“I’ve said it from the beginning, I don’t want you to die. Even now, going there is just suicide.” Benny turned and walked towards the airship. “Your partner doesn’t really think he can take the Demon Seed away with two Saints around, does he? Let me tell you upfront, don’t have that kind of expectation.”
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