Chapter 674.
Chapter 674.
Screeeeeech!!
The Abyssal creature collapsed with a terrible scream. Still, it did not die. How in the world did this thing manage to survive? Davey grimaced as he watched it endure, even after defeating it with the Power of Taboo that partially denied even the divine authority.
"Hey, it's getting up again,” Princess Davey, who had been silently watching, said. Then, with a slightly tired expression, she pointed at the creature that was rising again from the slime. "He even revived that thing."
The creature was none other than the Princess of the Abyss.
She rose to her feet with a massive spear in her hand. She then moved to stand behind Davey and Princess Davey, pointing her weapon at them.
With Overmind in front of them and the Princess of the Abyss behind them, the faces of Princess Davey and Davey had no hint of a troubled expression.
"You deal with the tentacles. They look disgusting, so I don't want to deal with them,” Princess Davey said with a frown. All because the way the tentacles that had slipped through her clothes earlier felt so unpleasant.
"You hate tentacles? You don't seem like Davey O’Rowane."
"Damn it! Why don’t you try it yourself then?!"
Was that even possible? Davey was always on the giving end, not the receiving end.
Cling...
Despite their bickering, Davey and Princess Davey proved they were both Davey O’Rowanes, as they simultaneously aimed and lifted the tip of Super Ribbons toward the enemy. Then they both started to emit the same kind of qi.
"Let's kill them at the same time. Understand? If they don’t die simultaneously, one of them will use some kind of power to resurrect the other."
Princess Davey closed her eyes. With both hands, she drew the sword closer to her face while holding it with the blade facing forward. She then said, "Just keep up."
Right then and there, power surged out of her body as if she was about to go berserk.
"I'm not sure if I can make this work properly," she muttered as a supremely powerful Heavenly Destroyer energy began emanating from her.
Davey did the same. He held Super Ribbon and manifested Heavenly Destroyer energy.
The swordsmanship that both Davey and Princess Davey displayed was identical. Even the heroes of the Hall of Heroes had never witnessed two beings known as Davey O'Rowane perform the same sword technique.
[Demonic Sword]
[80th Form]
Cling...
[Dying to Live, Living to Die]
To attempt to live meant to die, and to fight intending to die meant to live[1]. One of Davey O’Rowanes had a demi-god level spirit, but another Davey O’Rowane didn’t. Still, she had overwhelming power. The two Davey O’Rowanes unleashed their blade energy at the same time. The Princess of the Abyss then tried to stab Princess Davey with her spear, and the mostly disintegrated Overmind split its eye, which then released a black spectral essence toward Davey.
That eye must have been one of its main bodies.
Without the time to finish his thought, Davey and Princess Davey leaped from the floor that was filled with slime and made it cumbersome to move around.
Thud!!!
The impact of their leap further damaged the already wrecked ground and utterly destroyed the underground altar.
Crack!!!
The sound was not loud. Then, in the blink of an eye, Davey and Princess Davey landed lightly on the ground, finding themselves on the other side where the enemies they were battling with were. Davey had not been able to fully tap into the strength that comes with his spirit's demi-god level yet. Having the demi-god level of spirit definitely had pros and cons, but it was no time to be picky.
Eventually, the two monsters began to move again slowly. The Princess of the Abyss extended her spear and began to crumble into dust with a rustling noise, just as the black spectral essences released by Overmind also lost its form and fell down like a liquid.
The already-dead Princess of the Abyss could not be revived to fight once more since Overmind had taken a fatal wound and had fallen again. As the two monsters gradually disintegrated completely, the slimy liquid they left behind began to seep into the ground through the fissures.
Woosh!!!
Just then, a great light began pouring over Davey.
"..."
None of them uttered a sound. Having successfully undergone Metamorphosis, Perserque regained control of her power. After elevating the level of his spirit, Davey finally located and killed Overmind, which had been causing him to fail and regress over and over again.
That was enough. Though it was a trial imposed by Goddess Freyja, it was as if he had snatched another chance from her while being engulfed in a dream-like world.
"In the end, Sullivan could not be saved, and the Pallan Empire has fallen..."
"But we saved many others."
"Be sure to protect your Pallan Empire," she replied as she approached Davey. She then grabbed his collar and added, “You are well aware of the chaos that will erupt across the continent in the event that the Pallan Empire falls. Right now, the continent is already teetering with power struggles.”
Davey's body began to scatter into particles, as if being expelled from the dream-like world, as Princess Davey went on to say, "Remember. Just before Perserque detected the anomaly, she had made me a dress. A dress with a blue hue. You’re a man, so maybe she’ll make you a suit or something."
Davey had heard that Perserque had recently begun learning from Amy how to make clothes as a hobby in his world. That had to be taken as a signal.
"Okay. Anything else?"
"No. So, protect your world. Please."
After saying so, she finally lowered her head with a bitter expression. Then she pleaded, saying, "Sullivan... Please save that man."
As she wept with tears streaming down her face, Davey felt for the first time that she was indeed a different being from him.
***
When Davey regained his consciousness, the sight that welcomed him was of Rinne, who was looking around, and of Milpieu, who was clutching her own head.
They were still at the underground ruins where Rinne had awakened.
"Time..."
He took out the specially made watch that Aeonitia had given him to check the time that had passed, and it was...
"One second..."
The time spent in the dream-like world felt like months to Davey. But in his world, only a second had passed. Even if the influence of the goddess weakened, the distortion of space and time still started to take place. The degree of her weakened interference still seemed preposterous. Nonetheless, he had been in a dream-like world made by a goddess, so anything could be possible. ,
“Ah... Master Davey.” Rinne called out. She then sat down on the floor, looked up at Davey and said, “Rinne reports that the regression has been undone.”
“Hmm... What exactly happened?”
Unlike Rinne’s memory, some of Milpieu's seemed to be lost, leaving her unable to accurately recall the events that happened in the dream-like world. Davey silently raised his hand and channeled the Power of Taboo. In the past, simply using it consumed a tremendous amount of energy even if he was just trying to use the power on himself.
The only way he could use the Power of Taboo on others was to imbue it into a weapon or his own body and then use it on his opponent in an instant by exploding it. But now that his spirit level had changed, it felt very different. He felt as though it became easier to use the Power of Taboo.
Though it was not an endless evolution, which would be the most overpowered upgrade for the Power of Taboo, he definitely became powerful. Following a power that allows independence from everything, the ability to corrupt and destroy powers with lessened penalties was equivalent to having attained the ultimate power. Naturally, it came at a heavy price.
“Metamorphosis has become impossible for me...”
With just 250 Stacks, Metamorphosis would have been feasible, but since his spirit level elevated, it had become impossible. But if Davey had decided to undergo Metamorphosis instead, it might have made elevating the level of his spirit impossible. Either way, a decision had to be made. He chose the most efficient way to become stronger and grow faster.
Once he drove away the most troublesome Abyssal beings and got rid ofNeltarid, Davey would be free to live independently and enjoy his hobbies in Tionis. The goal of simply living like a normal person and enjoying hobbies had somehow transformed so extensively, but there really was no need to ponder why. After all, nothing in life was predictable, and nobody could anticipate how a person's life would turn out.
“I must see Perserque.”
‘I have to touch the horns!’
Almost without thinking, Davey wrapped his arm around Rinne's waist and grabbed Milpieu, who was groaning, by the back of her neck.
The Overmind he killed was just a part of the future shown by Goddess Freyja. That meant that the real Overmind still existed in this world, currently awakened to unleash the power of Perserque and to corrupt the world. In the dream-like world, the simultaneous corruption of Perserque and Overmind had caused the instant collapse of Tionis. But Overmind in this world was unaware of one thing. It did not know how many simulations Davey had gone through to kill it. But before anything else, there was an extremely crucial task to complete.
Clunk!
As soon as he returned to the Heins Territory, he left Milpieu and Rinne behind to go and find Perserque's room. There, he met an unexpected person.
“Oh... brother?” Aeonitia said. She reluctantly looked at Davey, swiftly hiding the small dress she was holding.
“Did you make it, Perserque?”
“Hehe... My skills have improved quite a bit,” replied Perserque.
Davey stroked Aeonitia’s head and said, “It suits you.”
“Th...thank you.”
He looked at Aeonitia, who trusted him to a certain extent but still could not shake off her fear, and snapped his fingers as if he remembered something. He then went on to say, “Oh yeah. Aeonitia.”
“Yes?”
“I heard you aren’t busy nowadays.”
“Except for helping Lady Tiara, I really don’t have much to do. It’s quite boring.”
“Is that so? Then I wish you could make something for me.”
“A thing?”
“You know,” he started to say, but his voice trailed off as he pulled out a book from Perserque’s cabinet.
[The top ten techniques of a femme fatale to captivate a man’s heart.]
“...”
Thunk!
‘Let’s just leave it at that.’
As he put the book back, Perserque, who did not know what to do, blushed furiously. Aeonitia also blushed at the sight of the illustration on the book’s cover.
“Da... Davey! That is!”
But instead of answering Perserque, he pulled out another book and showed it to Aeonitia.
“See?”
“Yes?”
“What seems to be the problem?”
At his question, she tilted her head in confusion and asked, “Problem?”
“How long do you think it took to produce this book?”
“Well... If you use mana printing...”
“Is that process not cumbersome?”
She frowned. Paper and printing methods had advanced to some extent in this world, making it inexpensive to a degree. But it was still inefficient.
“Then...”
“Yes. We’re going to recreate paper and the printing method. Keeping people ignorant might make it easier to rule over them, but they’re deprived of their opportunities for no good reason.”
It was a dangerous choice, but Davey was going to put a stop to it.
“Oh! Do you have a good plan?!”
“Of course.”
His smile caused her eyes to sparkle with curiosity about the new quality of paper and better printing methods.
“How?!”
“That’s for you to think about,” he answered with a light smile as he stroke her head.
“Huh?”
“What? Go and research it.”
She looked up at Davey with a blank expression. But he only pushed her gently out of Perserque’s room and closed the door right after.
“What!!! How am I supposed to make it?!” Aeonitia screamed, her voice echoing loudly.
But Davey just smirked.
Nothing was impossible with a good engineer who would grind oneself away to get the job done. Therefore teaching everything from the beginning would only impede her growth in becoming such an engineer.
Davey then turned his head to look at Perserque, who flinched and sat back on the bed.
“Da... Davey. Wha... What’s on your mind right now?”
“What was it again? A femme fatale’s what for satisfying a man?”
She blushed even more and shrank back.
“Choose,” Davey spoke gravely. “Which would you prefer—giving me a kiss or letting me touch your horns?”
Blushing with embarrassment, she pulled the silk blanket over her face to hide. But she unknowingly allured him further instead.
“Forget it. Blame Goddess Freyja for locking me up for months.”
The months of not seeing his Perserque had taken a heavy toll on him. In fact, the most unsettling factor was his separation from Perserque.
1. This is a quote left by a famous general named Yi Sun-Shin in Joseon. It’s about how one should be very determined and ready to risk their life to win the war. ☜