Chapter 146

After seeing off Smoothie, Kanoko, Mufy, and Vintelo, my two consciousnesses returned to one.

Oortez had just finished his talk and was doing a final check on the portal device.

"... By the way, Oortez, I hate to break it to you but your portal device won't work."

"Why not?"

"Did you forget? This subspace is still under lockdown."

"Then just unlock it."

"We can talk about it after you touch some grass."

"Why would I touch grass? That's absurd."

"Never mind. Let's go grab your assistant."

"A sensible decision."

Before we headed off, there was one thing I had to address as a priority, and that was |dedicated will|. It had been operating behind the scenes following the directives I had set it to accomplish. Since I was no longer within the Great Labyrinth of Daedel, half of those directives would no longer be applicable so this was a good chance to see its progress.

Re-attach secondary core as a separate entity.

Data sharing initialized.

Looking at the secondary core, it seemed to have gained two new traits, |hacker| and |engineer|. I wasn't surprised at the least. Knowing that |creator| normally absorbed traits like |engineer|, I decided not reintegrate this secondary core into myself unless the need arose. In the previous instance, it was inevitable that I had to use my full power against the devil, Ikebas.

One of my directives was to completely analyze Ikebas's fey core. I kind of felt bad having her soul laid bare before my eyes but it couldn't be helped since I wanted to authenticate her story.

And just what did I find?

Her story was mostly authentic, though with minor discrepancies.

There were signs of memory tampering but since my super amazing |dedicated will| had the capability to reinstate original memories using |soul indemnity|, her memories were now in order.

The story of my life was quite something I could hardly believe.

No. Way! No way? This isn't completely made up or something?

I doubted checked again, and again.

Yep... Did I make a mistake somewhere along the line? Not possible, right? She probably read a novel and turned it into her own memory. Yep, that's likely!

Maybe I've been working too hard these days. But hey! If I can get the time thing to work, maybe, just maybe things will be alright?

In the first place, the flow of time should not be synchronized across the world. Yep, let's just be optimistic. I'm a sunny person... No, I don't want to go back. This world is so much more interesting. I can use magic and I can fly!

Seriously, it's too surreal. There's no way one person, me, could have been such a big deal. My existence shouldn't have been a big deal. World collapse? Pssh, oh please, it wasn't my fault. Entire star systems could be in danger? Not quite there.

I held no such power myself.

Everything was related to the Seed of Life.

Whatever the case, I didn't cause that accident! And, I'm not obligated to return.

Even if I returned, there was nothing I could do. I shouldn't have a body left...?

Since I couldn't see the full picture, I decided to ignore it for now and check the result of the analysis on Minute, the sword staff. Meanwhile, I had |dedicated will| check my own memories.

Having the sword staff, Minute, in my hand felt quite nice.

"Let's go. I want to do some test runs with this weapon."

"Interesting proposal... Won't you let me have this honor?"

"Nawh, but I can try it on you!"

"Ah, please leave that matter to my assistant. She will be more than happy."

I really doubt it.

Thus, we headed off to the location east of the Kingdom of Appallia where Mitasan, Oortez's assistant, was likely located.

To get a sense of distance, the place I started this life was approximately two days walking distance from the border. Then, to reach our intended location, I would add another fifteen days of continuous walking at the minimum.

A vast plain sparsely populated with stubby trees displayed itself before us. To the distant north and south were mountainous terrains with snowy peaks. As we flew further eastward, the size of the plain shrunk as the mountains closed in.

Occasionally, I could spot monstrous trolls wandering the land.

"Oortez, can demons detect other demons from far away?"

"I would say 'yes', to some extent but nowhere near as reliable as your senses, milady."

"Heh, I'm amazing like that, you know?"

"But of course!"

"By the way, I'm thinking of capturing the Great Labyrinth of Daedel sometime later. How powerful do you think Perdia is?"

"What a marvelous aspiration! Regarding Lady Perdia, hearsay is what I can only offer. It's unfortunate that I had not the privilege to greet her in person. According to rumors, her character can be described as whimsical."

"Hmm... I heard she's the one in charge of the subspace and responsible for the crisis at the elf nation. Oh right, I never asked. How exactly did you and that other fellow enter my subspace? It wasn't connected to the labyrinth by any chance, right?"

"You caught her interest or so I was informed. I assume you have visited the Great Labyrinth of Daedel, correct?"

"Just the other day, yes."

"By her will, a teleportation gate spawned, connecting to your subspace."

"Hmm? And she wasn't there?"

"No. Only the two of us were present."

So you couldn't even confirm it was Perdia who spawned the gate. Either she's super secretive or you're useless!

"That doesn't explain how my subspace was sealed from the exterior?"

"It was a spherical gate." He answered without given a detailed explanation as if that was enough for a normal person to figure out what he meant.

Spherical gate... Spherical gate... Spherical gate? I don't remember seeing one. But, if it's a spherical gate, I guess it's possible to lock into my entire subspace.

"I've not seen a spherical gate in the outer chambers. Was it later destroyed or did you go into the inner chambers?"

"Don't be stupid. There's no way I'd be allowed into the rumored inner chambers!"

"I see..."

Well, I don't want to agitate him anymore. That spherical gate was either destroyed later on or he wasn't aware that he entered the inner chambers.

After all, there's no way anyone could explore that entire place even in decades, and certainly Oortez couldn't do it. Yep, let's leave it at that.

"We're almost there," I said as we started passing over mountain ranges.

"Good, good. I'm sure Mimi will be pleased to see me again. Assisting this great me in my profound research is an honor too great to let pass."

Yeah right. A demon is sentient, there's no way anyone would work for a freak like you. Also, seriously? You even nicknamed your assistant?

Since I knew better, I kept that thought to myself.

In a remote location tens of kilometers away from a massive troll settlement, there was a abyssal crevice thousands of meters deep and hundreds of meters across. Looking from the sky, it was as someone had left a deep black scar on the earth. The mountains within its immediate vicinity were barren and completely devoid of life.

On our way here, we passed by some eerie looking swamps that bubbled dangerous gases. For travellers that weren't careful, falling into one of those swamps would mean living their remaining life as slimy goo due to extreme corrosion effect. Occasionally, several bubbles would float up forming what appeared to look like a silly face.  

My guess was that this demon had wrecked havoc across this land and the trolls had sealed it away here. If that was the case then this demon was unable to escape via flight.

"I think this is the spot?"

"If you say so."

"Can you handle the corrosion?"

"I'm leaving it to you." He said it in a matter of fact tone.

What a shameless guy...

The two of us stood at the edge of the chasm.

Looking down, deep down, a vast cavern system existed below adorned with luminous blue crystal shards and columns. At the bottom of the chasm was flowing water along with some isolated puddles of corrosive slime.

"By the way, your assistant wasn't some kind of slime, right?"

"Hmm... That's a interesting way to put it. She was quite adaptable is all I can say. Perhaps she had evolved into something else altogether."

"All I can see down there is slime. I just hope she's intelligent enough to converse with us."

I wrapped the two of us in a layer of chaos barrier and hopped in.

As we descended, I shed some light into the horizontal tunnels for Oortez to grasp the terrain. Personally, I found the luminous crystals to be enough of a light source.

Even as we descended further, there were no signs of any crystals being dissolved or eroded by unnatural forces. By that, I concluded that the demon either couldn't dissolve minerals or that it only ate living things.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

"Do demons feel cold?"

"Yes, but not as much as mortal races."

"I have trouble feeling temperature. Tell me, is this place cold? I would assume it does since the crystals here are releasing a cooling aura."

Then, from out of one of his pocket somewhere, he took out a thermometer.

"Indeed... It is below freezing temperature of water."

Sunlight could not reach the bottom of this cavern system. Although all the surfaces here were slippery and wet, there were no signs of ice forming. A meandering stream was flowing next we stood at the bottom of the chasm.

"I'm guessing this is salt water then."

"These crystals are quite fascinating. You don't mind if I take a few chunks back to my lab, do you?"

He was already chipping at a crystal chunk with a chisel and a hammer in his hands before I had the chance to give permission.

"Sure?"

Crack.

Perhaps he had used too much oomph with his hammer swing but half a ton worth of crystal fell next to me.

"Hey... Oortez... What's the big idea?"

"The bigger the better, right? I don't want to have to come back again."

"Okay."

Crack.

Clunk.

Smash.

"Hey... Hey, hey, hey... Oortez, you're going to carry that many?"

"Not at all."

"What do you mean? Are you selecting the best sample to take back?"

"Of course not. You can just send them all back for me. That's why you're here, right?"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes out of irritation.

"Kuh! Fine, just this one time."

Since I was such a magnanimous being, I teleported them all into his excessively large laboratory.

"Appreciate it."

"Save your words. We're here to retrieve your assistant, are we not? I honestly cannot tell exactly where your assistant is. It's as if she's dispersed all around us..."

Out of curiosity, I thought to examine one of the largest suspicious puddle of blue slime sparsely scattered around us.

[Level 23 Demon;

Species: Mi-Laimu;

Physical: 499/499;

<Health: 499>

<Force: 211>

<Speed: 166>

<Agility: 121>

<Sense: 411 (enhanced)>

<Resistance: 499 (enhanced)>

Spiritual: 240/240;

<Mana: 240/240;

<Mass: 232>

<Mastery: 323>

<Detection: 491>

<Luck: 123>

Traits: Devious, Extreme Vitality, Shapeshifter, Ravenous Glutton, Servant, Chaos, Multiple Existences, Enhanced Physical, Enhanced Resistances;

Abilities: Division, Extreme Decomposition, Undying Breath, Synthesis, Paralysis;

Blessings: Lord of Gluttony;

Description: A type of demon evolved from fungi race.]

"...Never mind. I found her. Or rather, a piece of her. She certainly has a lot of health, a little too much for her level."

"No, no, that's not her main body." He shook his head.

"You don't mind if I keep its clone bodies, do you?" I asked after seeing some useful abilities that Smoothie might wish to have.

"By all means."

Sweet. Free food... Drink for me? But still... This thing doesn't look appetizing at all.

I let out a disappointed frown upon thinking I had to slurp it down even if it meant using my abilities.  

In the past I had certainly use [absorption] to eat bugs and animals, and people, but now the idea felt a bit repulsive.

I decided to just collect these puddles of slime instead and save them for later.

The two of us wandered around and searched for the main body. Thinking back to the status I saw, I doubted it had a main body especially when |multiple existences| trait was present. Oortez probably just meant to search for the biggest blob out there.

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