NOVEL NEXT Chapter 300: Echidna
"I beg your pardon?" Noah asked, surprised beyond measure.
He never once thought that, one day, he would hear something like this.
In his past life, he had worked like a dog for a woman who dumped him the moment she spotted a better guy.
And now he was here — and not even considering his many wives — a girl was telling him she accepted being his side chick.
Willingly.
And that begged the question:
Do you need to be handsome, wealthy, and hold good power in society to receive this kind of treatment?
Unfortunately… yes.
I mean, let's be honest. A woman will never come to a broke guy and tell him, "I'm willing to be your side chick, just fuck me."
And as for the ugly ones? Well, if you're ugly and rich, then possibly yes.
But ugly and poor? That's the criminal combination.
No one on earth should be in this situation. Because honestly, you are cooked if you are.
But all that was just a small parenthesis to say only one thing…
You cannot be ugly and poor, guys.
You cannot.
…
"I said that I am willing to be your side chick," Lucie repeated without much hesitation, as if unaware of what she just said.
But not at all.
Lucie might lack emotions, but she doesn't lack mind. And even if there were many things she could not truly understand because of her state, some things are not so difficult.
And she knew what side chick meant. That's exactly why she said it.
She didn't know if she'd be able to gain the favor of all of Noah's wives, so the simplest solution was just to be his little woman hidden from the eyes of all.
For her, it's not that bad.
She'd get to have Noah fuck her and be with him from time to time.
Yes, for her.
She didn't consider at all Noah's side or his view of things.
But again… do you expect her to?
These types of things only occur to you when you feel emotions. If you don't… it won't even cross your mind.
And Noah noticed that but didn't say anything on the matter. He just stayed silent, locking his white threaded runic eyes on her red ones.
His mind was spinning. Not because of what Lucie said, but just because… Noah just realized how truly important emotions were.
He already knew they were important.
But there was one thing that he had overlooked in his earlier thoughts about emotions—
It's that without them… are you even alive? A living being? Are you…
"…human?"
Lucie tilted her head, confusion etched on her crow's face.
"Are you human?" Noah repeated again.
Because Lucie was not a demon. She was a human under Echidna. At least that's what Noah and everyone else thought.
But now… he was doubting that.
Hearing his question, Lucie responded. But her voice… her voice was filled with uncertainty.
"…yes?" she said.
Noah held her gaze for a long while before slowly—
"You have a way to contact Echidna, right?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Can it be done right now?"
"Yes. I just need a good amount of demon's blood to activate it. But it won't last long. At most it will be around 2–3 minutes. It's not much for a long discussion, Lord Absolute," Lucie explained calmly.
For the blood of demons, it wasn't that difficult to obtain, because as said before — there were some beings who chose not to become Elysiari, so Noah could just kill them without care and take their blood.
And as for the time limit…
Noah smiled faintly.
"Even one second can be as long as eternity if I wish it, my dear crow. So don't worry about that and just do your thing."
Lucie nodded. "I will go search for the blood," she said as she began to flap her wings, preparing to depart right away — but Noah held her tightly.
"Don't bother. I'll do it for you."
And the moment his words echoed through the air… was the same moment that hundreds of demons appeared on the colline with them.
They were disoriented, their faces bore expressions of confusion. All of them were in the midst of doing something — as you could tell by the state they were in.
And there was a weird one…you could see one particular scene where a male demon was in the process of thrusting into a female demon. Their faces were filled with sweat and dark, lustful grins.
Immediately, all eyes were on them. Some looked at them with contempt, others with envy.
But all of that lasted only for an instant — because the moment Noah turned his eyes to look at them, they all instantly dropped to their knees, their heads slamming into the ground with such a heavy thud that the colline trembled for a moment.
"WE GREET THE ABSOLUTE! THE ONE BLESSED BY THE RECORDS! THE HOLDER OF WORLDS! THE ULTIMATE CONQUEROR!" they shouted in unison, their voices filled with fear… but also unmistakable awe.
Noah smiled quietly.
"My people…" Noah began to speak. His voice was calm, smooth — but absolute.
The whole world froze. Space had no meaning at that moment. Time didn't even dare to exist around him.
Everything was in a completely static state.
Nothing moved except one thing — or rather, one being.
Noah.
"It just so happens that I need the sacrifice of demons for a thing of mine," he spoke clearly, then paused again, letting his words sink in.
"I plan to sacrifice you. Is there anyone amongst you who doesn't wish that fate?"
And only then did the world start to move again, giving the others a chance to speak.
The demons' response was instant:
"IT'S AN HONOR, O ABSOLUTE!" they said in unison, slamming their heads again on the solid earthy ground.
Noah nodded, pleased.
"For your sacrifice, you shall be revived in a better situation… and a good destiny, if you seek it right," he said.
No other words were needed.
Instantly, their bodies transformed into deep crimson blood, mixed with black.
At that moment, Lucie transformed into her own beautiful form — her two different colored eyes glowing — and she controlled the blood to transfer it into an artifact that looked like a slitted piece of an eye covered with deep red cracks.
It was eerie.
The moment the artifact absorbed all the blood, it began to glow with an intense red light that painted the world in a crimson hue — before it cracked and shattered into different pieces of flesh, slowly beginning to reconstruct.
Black flame began to flicker here and there, but soon the whole space around them was covered in that same black flame, making the temperature drop exponentially.
As the flesh began to take form, a womanly shape emerged.
It was a black-skinned woman with different kinds of tattoos on her body, each one seeming to tell the folklore of fire and destruction. Her hair was as black as midnight, falling behind her like a waterfall of black blood.
Her eyes were deep and profound — twin black flakes that seemed to whisper faint echoes of flame.
Echidna, the Demoness of Flame and Destruction, had arrived in Laeh.
But instead of the usual confidence she had infiltrated Laeh with in the past…
This time…
"Gods, Echidna… stop burning my little sister, will you?" Noah said in a calm, almost bored voice — and immediately the black flames around Echidna were snuffed out, as if they never existed.
Making the poor Echidna shudder in deep horror.
'W-what the…?'
—End of Chapter 300—