Chapter 34
Ominous Contract (5)
Who wouldn’t be fooled by that face?
Moreover, his demon-like demeanor, feigning a slow, repetitive speech while shivering, was beyond words.
No, he’s truly a demon…
As long as Therion didn’t encounter a true priest, it seemed he could live a deceitful life until the day he found a way for me to die.
“More importantly, about what I asked… You mean the extermination of monsters?”
“Would you like to see?”
Wondering if exterminating monsters could be done without moving a step, it must have shown in my eyes, as Therion invited me to come to his side.
I obediently approached him at the edge of the cliff.
As I stood with him at the cliff’s edge, a vast panorama of the entire ravine spread out before us.
‘Ah, here.’
This is exactly where Therion was standing. At that time, a winged monster had risen from behind, and Ethan had rushed in from the opposite side.
Events that had occurred just a few hours ago somehow felt like a distant memory.
Blood flowed like rivers on the ravine floor where the stone dust had settled, and all kinds of monsters crawled on the ground here and there.
Despite all the efforts Ethan Behemoth and I had made, I wondered if there were any survivors left.
As I narrowed my eyes and looked down the cliff, my hair whipped painfully against my cheeks in the strong wind.
Therion reached out and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me back.
“It’s dangerous. Look from the inside.”
“What?”
What’s more dangerous now? The crawling monsters? Or you?
As I made a puzzled expression, Therion, without taking his eyes off the ravine, snapped his fingers.
“……!”
Then my doubts were resolved. At that moment, the not-so-loud snap echoed strangely loud in my ears.
It was at that moment.
From that point on, the eerie wind-like screams blowing throughout the ravine gradually stopped.
“…This is….”
First, the volume of the writhing monsters noticeably decreased.
Then the ominous fog enveloping the ravine lifted, and the wind scattered amidst the smell of blood.
Soon, the monsters strangely withered and stopped moving.
It happened in an instant.
“I couldn’t deal with the monsters that went as far as the campsite, but I’ve taken care of the ‘monsters that appeared in the ravine,’ right?”
“Wow….”
Therion’s expression, looking at me with a smile as if expecting praise….
I was dumbfounded.
‘…You could have done this from the beginning.’
“…Can you normally kill just by snapping your fingers?”
“Retrieving the curse was the more important task, but dealing with the monsters that shouldn’t have appeared here was also part of the original plan. But I got distracted by Lady Edith.”
So, it was a device he had prepared beforehand.
Yet instead of quickly dealing with the monsters, he sent flying monsters after me, made swarms of spiders rush into the fire, and just watched as I struggled with all my might to subjugate the Gigantic Arachne.
‘Hah….’
Suddenly, I couldn’t be more disgusted with Therion, and my insides were boiling with anger.
I felt like I might vomit blood soon.
Only Therion maintained a very calm tone.
“The place where the curse was will soon be completely buried so that even high-level search magic won’t be able to find it.”
“…I know.”
How much futile effort I had put in because of that. I never thought there would come a day when my hundreds of lives visiting this place would feel so empty.
As I was rubbing my face dry with both hands, Therion spoke to me in a languid voice.
“Then, would you like to look down below?”
Below?
The monsters are done now. What else…
At his words, I frowned deeply and looked down into the ravine, and something strange caught my eye among the withering dead monsters.
“……? Wait, Therion. That’s….”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Clearly, a corpse that had been lying pale among the monsters was now standing up naturally without any warning.
It was so natural that I almost didn’t notice.
Despite seeing the withered monsters around it, the corpse looked up at us without surprise or confusion.
Our eyes met with its empty gaze.
Turning to Therion, he smiled gently, rubbing the back of his neck, pretending to be shy.
“You seemed to like saving people, so…”
“…Who said I wanted to bring the dead back to life?”
This is driving me crazy.
My headache got even worse. How should I point this out?
As I held my forehead, Therion drooped his eyebrows as if he was very wronged.
“I carefully selected only the corpses with intact limbs.”
What follows is even more outrageous.
“Except for a few minor restrictions, they’ll be able to live ‘just like before.’ They won’t even remember that they died once… Lady Edith, you’re not giving me any praise.”
“…Hah.”
In the end, a deep sigh escaped me. After all, a demon is a demon.
There’s not even a hint of respect or reverence for human memories, lives, or souls. Reviving them from death in any way is tantamount to disturbing their peace.
Killing at will… and reviving at will.
My voice naturally sharpened.
“Rimos Therion.”
“Yes? Is it finally praise?”
I turned towards him as he spoke so casually, and grabbed him by the collar. He bent his waist slightly towards me as I gripped his collar.
My hair fluttered in the rough wind, mirroring my emotions.
“Put them back. Right now.”
“What?”
“Let the dead be dead and the living live. Put things back in their natural order. Don’t disturb human peace.”
“…Lady Edith…”
Still gripping his collar, I brought my face close to his, staring into his violet eyes as if to devour them, spitting out each word separately.
Death is a tragedy.
And treating that tragedy in this way is nothing short of mockery.
In response to my firm order, Rimos Therion muttered with narrowed eyes.
“You’re equating yourself with those worms.”
…No. It’s not about equating. From the beginning.
“There’s no difference between me and them.”
What could be different? Even if I’ve been worn down by countless repeated lives, I’m still human.
But Therion gently shook his head while still in my grip.
“No. You’re different. Very different.”
…He’s not someone who can be reasoned with.
“Enough. Let’s stop this pointless argument. Therion, return them to where they should be. Now.”
As I released Therion’s collar with a push, he stepped back and answered docilely.
“I can’t.”
…What?
“Why not?”
Wouldn’t killing them be even simpler since he had revived them?
It was infuriating how casually he could manipulate life, but that was the reality.
And the moment I met eyes with Rimos Therion, who wore a devilish smile, I realized.
‘…He made contracts.’
“…Hah.”
Since these were recently deceased humans, there must have been a chance left.
Did he demand their souls as payment?
‘To make contracts with so many humans in an instant.’
I couldn’t fully gauge the power of ‘Rimos Therion’. I had never heard of a demon with this kind of power.
I closed my eyes tightly, bowing my head briefly towards the gathered corpses at the bottom of the cliff in a moment of silent mourning.
…Even if they were meaningless lives that would have certainly died in this lifetime. They didn’t deserve to be revived and humiliated like this.
Slowly opening my somewhat moist eyes, I warned Therion in a low voice.
“Never, ever, do this again.”
To a demon like him, human life seems to be this meaningless unless it’s layered with hundreds of repetitions.
Rimos Therion scanned the anger settled beneath my eyes, then nodded lightly.
“Alright.”
“Fine.”
As soon as I finished my brief memorial, he approached and stuck close to my side like a well-trained dog.
When I maintained silence for a long while after that, he glanced at my complexion and brought up a new topic.
“About the monsters. From what I can tell… most of them died here. It seems only a few made it to the campsite.”
“…That’s fortunate. Then let’s move quickly.”
How many people died in this ravine? Compared to before when the entire academy was nearly wiped out, something had clearly changed.
Still, there must have been casualties at the campsite too.
The mood was already quite somber, so it’s likely they couldn’t respond properly to the attack.
‘Unless the Imperial Knights responded immediately to the call.’
We need to check quickly. I was particularly worried about whether Ian and Camilla had evacuated properly.
“Just a moment.”
Strangely, Therion was dawdling without supporting Ethan, despite my words about leaving.
“Aren’t you going?”
“There’s one more surprise gift…”
I turned to him quizzically, and he smiled slightly, gesturing with his chin behind my back.
…An unbelievable sound came from behind.
It was the sound of people walking.
Are there more survivors?
🥀
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