Chapter 148
"Why has it been so noisy outside since just now?" Ghost Duke yawned as he got up from the ground, picking at the scab on his shoulder wound until he stopped because of the pain.
"It's probably because a huge monster has appeared outside."
Aren't you going to help?
“There are saints here, unfathomable merchants, numerous clergy, and a considerable number of mercenaries and sorcerers. Am I going to embarrass myself?” Denos said softly, sipping his tea. “Now that I have some free time, I’d like to rest for a bit.”
As he said this, he turned to look at the tangled pile of hair lying motionless on the table.
"Nina, is she still alive?"
"He's not dead." A beautiful face emerged from the tangled hair, though it looked somewhat tired.
However, there were no symptoms of staying up late.
"It doesn't make sense. I haven't had a proper night's sleep in ages, or rather, I haven't had a really, really good night's sleep in ages. But for some reason, I feel so tired." Nina said, picking up her breakfast from the plate, frowning as she looked at Denos across from her.
"What's wrong? Does it not suit your taste, Miss?"
“The white bread is yours.” Nina put the bread back and pushed it over, then pulled the black bread from in front of Denos: “This is what someone like me who came here to freeload should eat.”
Don't dwell on such things.
“There’s no need to haggle. I already owe you a lot, and if I owe you any more, I’ll never be able to pay it back.” Nina looked at Denos and said, “Besides, isn’t the tea in your cup leftover from yesterday? Why did you serve me fresh tea?”
"The overnight tea is quite sweet."
“The city’s supplies aren’t as plentiful as they seem. Even this big house only has the bare minimum of food stored inside, just for the people who live here.” Nina looked at him seriously. “So you shouldn’t give me, an outsider, so much food. I can get my own food reserves after I register. There’s no need to pity me for this.”
"It shouldn't be called pitying, it's just the care that a man should give to a cute girl."
"If you're talking about food, then just eat me." Ghost Duke had just woken up and was recovering from his serious injuries—or rather, being completely resurrected—and was still a little unaccustomed to it. "Anyway, the guy who attacked me was probably starving."
He looked at his hands, hesitated for a moment, then looked at them and asked:
"Aren't you supporting too many people?"
"Um?"
Denos sipped his tea, then turned to look at Ghost Duke, who was propping his head up and muttering to himself.
"At first I thought it was because the food was monopolized by the higher-ups, or that it was embezzled by the church."
“I’m more curious why you think that way. Those guys in the church are all abnormally self-disciplined.”
“That’s why I said you’re raising too many people.” Ghost Duke looked at them and said, “The population of this city is obviously more than its safe zone can support. If the population were only a third of what it is now, or even less, then you would be able to live more comfortably in this other world.”
"Abandon two-thirds of humanity?" Denos raised an eyebrow, his expression darkening. "Ghost Lord, your thinking is strange. Those are all vibrant lives, still alive. As long as these people are alive, we have no right to take their lives."
"How rigid," Ghost Duke said casually, then looked at the blanket in front of him.
Was the tea you poured for yourself?
Come to think of it, this world is inexplicably... harmonious.
It looked outside, thinking about the differences between its world and its previous one.
The people here are willing to eat their own kind to survive. But even if it means starving themselves, they hope that even just one more person can live.
Perhaps everyone in this world is lonely—every person, every village, every country. They've all been separated into individual entities, each one solitary. This already borders on absurd and dangerous; they're all further divided.
So he lonely hoped that at least one more person could accompany him.
For this purpose, the dead are left with no room for remembrance. The dead become food for the living. Just to ensure one more person lives, everyone is willing to endure food shortages, and the dead are willing to be dismembered and eaten as a matter of course.
It's a strange worldview, but Ghost Lord doesn't find it unpleasant at all. He's just trying to survive in this hopeless world, a world that's so unstable it might collapse on its own one day without the Great Demon King.
When that time comes, everyone will be destroyed anyway. Wouldn't it be better to live a more comfortable life?
When Ghost Lord first learned about this world's worldview, he assumed these guys should live in a safe zone. This safe zone is so big it could easily accommodate a small village, right?
But in order to allow more people to survive, they choose to endure the dreaded place where it snows heavily at night, scorching in the sun during the day, the ground occasionally turns into a mud pit, and the big light bulb in the sky occasionally flickers.
Ghost Duke's mind was filled with random thoughts, constantly pondering these kinds of trivial matters.
But this strange thing didn't help me at all. It's probably because I often think about such worthless things that I'm living such a miserable life in this world.
However, I don't even know where I am right now. Anyway, I'm not going to die, so it doesn't matter how I live my life.
The cup slipped from his hand and landed on him. The lukewarm tea splashed directly onto him, scalding him and making him shiver.
"Don't move!" Suddenly, Denos shouted at him, startling Ghost Duke. Just as Ghost Duke was wondering if he had broken the commemorative cup or something, a huge force came from the side, and several metal rods pierced through the wall and then further pierced through Ghost Duke.
"Ichidō! (A pun on the Japanese word for 'it hurts')"
The stone bricks began to shift, and the tower, which was about to collapse due to the impact, was supported by the stones that suddenly rose up, saving it from falling.
"Looks like that thing isn't a monster. It's not like whoever attacks gets focused down. Cough cough, it really hurts. What is this thing?" Ghost Duke pulled the broken metal rods out of his wound, his breath coming in gasps from the pain.
"I really envy someone like you who can survive just by talking nonsense." Nina helped him remove one of the cigarettes, twirled it twice, and then held it tightly in her hand.
Strange language was uttered, and black lightning made the whole room appear somewhat dim, with broken lightning bolts wrapped around it like black lightning spears.
"So cool!" Ghost Duke spat out blood and gave a thumbs up: "As expected, this other world should have such beautiful girls to hold..."
puff.
Suddenly, this floor was affected by a strange flash of light; the blue object instantly severed both of her legs below the knees, and cut her in half at the waist.
Why?
Ghost Duke was stunned for a moment, then fell to the ground.
Even a normal person could survive for a while after having half their body cut off, let alone a monster like myself.
"Hey, hey, hey, are you alright?" Ghost Duke propped himself up and picked up Nina's severed leg below the knee from the ground: "Can it be reattached?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think everyone is a monster?" Nina, who was in so much pain that tears were about to come out, was amused by this remark and quickly adjusted her kneeling position. The black lightning spear fell to the ground, and she pressed her hands against the wounds on her legs, tears streaming down her cheeks involuntarily from the pain.
Even with a trembling voice, the incantation was still chanted. Wood elements gathered at the wound, and green algae grew all over the injury, forcibly stopping the bleeding.
Then she turned to look at Ghost Duke, who seemed to be trying to reconnect his body and reconnect his nerves.
“What is this…” Denos looked at Nina’s amputated leg and suddenly felt a pang of pain in his heart.
The stone tower began to collapse. He rushed over and picked Nina up in his arms, trying to help Ghost Duke, but his hand was pushed away.
"I appreciate the thought, but don't worry about someone who won't die. You need to take her to a relatively safe place to hide!" Ghost Duke shouted, "Hurry up!"
"Feel sorry."
Denos didn't say anything more, picked up Nina, and jumped out of the tower window.
The moment you jump out, the entire city comes into view.
In just one night, the city had descended into chaos.
"What exactly is that thing?" He stared blankly at the object hovering in the sky above the city, his expression vacant.
A cross made of bones floated in the sky. Strictly speaking, it wasn't bones, but rather several withered hands extending from the skull of a emaciated old man, their ends tightly clasped together, with long bone spurs protruding from both sides. The ends were cervical vertebrae that grew down from the back of the head.
The head in the middle, after only a glance, rapidly expanded from it until it became an even more disgusting mess.
But there was no sense of evil about it; apart from the visual nausea, an indescribable sense of holiness emanated from it and spread throughout the city.
It was as if the kingdom of heaven had opened and God had descended.
The chaotic area revealed a view of the city below. It appeared as if a chase was underway, with rows of buildings being destroyed.
The pain brought Denos back to his senses; he had been so focused on his surroundings that he had forgotten about landing, resulting in the injury to his ankle. But now he couldn't afford to rest because of the pain; he had to move quickly.
"The Church is currently dealing with the demons. We apologize that the subjugation has escalated into a large-scale battle due to their resistance. Please seek refuge under the guidance of local clergy."
My head suddenly started to hurt, and that sentence was shoved directly into my head.
"That thing belongs to the church?" Denos murmured with a questioning tone as he looked at the disgusting object.
He really didn't remember having such a disgusting thing in the church; it was so terrifying that no one would believe it wasn't a demon.
But one has no choice but to believe it, because the feeling it exudes is just like that of an angel.
"It seems we haven't touched upon the truth of this world." Nina winced and closed her eyes in pain. "It hurts so much."
"Wait a moment, maybe a priest can heal your wounds." Denos forced a smile.
It looks painful; the entire knee and below were severed. If the wound hadn't been stopped sooner, the patient would probably have fainted from blood loss by now.
“I see those guys don’t seem to care at all about losing limbs or anything. That guy called Ghost Duke didn’t seem to feel any pain even when his body was cut off horizontally. But when I had my lower leg cut off, it hurt so much that I could barely open my eyes.” Nina said, almost groaning, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m not a monster after all. It hurts so much, it really hurts so much.”
"We'll talk after we've had our moments of reflection. Help me complete the Wood-type Spellbook, Chapter Twenty-Three." Denos took out two crystals from his waist, placing one into Nina's palm: "Ready!"
Suddenly, the vines began to grow wildly, enveloping the rooftops, while two wooden spikes simultaneously pierced through the entire roof that had been thrown at them.
Even so, the thing still slammed into the vines, and after being pressed down and sank, it bounced off, with Denos jumping out at the same time.
"Ouch, that hurts!" Denos limped along, having broken his ankle when he landed. It's nearly impossible for an ordinary human to heal such an injury quickly, so there wasn't time for him to recover before continuing to run; he had to leave on his own.
"Please follow us to the shelter." Several knights appeared before them without them noticing, taking Nina and supporting Denos respectively.
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm telling you guys, if you're really going to fight in the city, it'll be your church people, right? Can't you give us advance notice so we can prepare?" Denos tapped their metal plates with dissatisfaction: "You guys are so lazy."
"It happened so suddenly. They were personnel directly under the Central Church; I'm truly sorry we didn't notify them beforehand." The knight did indeed appear quite flustered, bearing injuries. He was likely accidentally hit by a collapsed building.
In short, the entire city is now in complete chaos because of that thing floating in the sky.
"Even if he really doesn't want to get involved in the mess, things have come to this point, can't Ark do something?" Denos muttered softly, looking at the thing.
If it were that guy, this matter might have been terminated before it even reached a decent scale.
Why didn't he stop them? He knew it. He was simply afraid the church would think he wasn't safe, or that these people had nothing to do with him.
Calling him cold-blooded is clearly inappropriate, because he also gets hurt by those guys. But he's just hurt, he doesn't intend to help. Even though he has the ability, he'll just watch, watch everything happen, and then mourn for it.
It felt as if I were observing from a distance.
Suddenly his knight stopped; he heard the sound of a longsword being drawn.
Denos looked up at the person standing in front of him and took a moment to figure out who this inhuman creature was.
"High Priest," he muttered softly, "it seems the work of a priest is not easy."
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