NOVEL NEXT Chapter 253: Descent of the Goddess
༺ Descent of the Goddess ༻
In a worn-out inn on the outskirts of the empire, along the road to the bustling city center…
“Nom nom…”
“……..”
In the inn’s dining area, Frey wearily observed Serena enjoying her spaghetti.
“Why spaghetti, though?”
“Huh?”
Serena looked up while eating spaghetti.
“…Never mind.”
Sensing that talking to Serena might be troublesome, Frey grabbed his fork and started eating.“Slurp.”
The spaghetti had a strong and greasy flavor, typical in such a run-down inn.
While slurping noodles and looking fatigued, Frey’s eyes suddenly widened.
“…♥”
Serena, chewing on the other end of the spaghetti strand he was eating, moved closer, her eyes sparkling.
‘Maybe if I keep using this tactic, Frey’s heart might flutter for me one day, even if just once.’
Serena’s strategy was intricate and calculated.
“Chup.”
“…..!?”
Frey maintained his expression and leaned in until he finished the spaghetti strand.
“Lick.”
“Eek…!”
As Frey gently licked Serena’s lips. She felt a surge of emotions as if a volcano had erupted in her mind, and she covered her face with her hands.
“You had sauce on your lips.”
“I-I didn’t know…”
“What didn’t you know?”
“W-well, whatever it is… I just didn’t.”
Watching Serena acting strange again, Frey playfully tapped his fingers on the table, finding her antics amusing.
They acted like a new couple out on a date, so their affectionate display caught everyone’s attention in the restaurant.
Their charm was evident, even with Serena’s perception-altering magic. They created a beautiful scene just by being together.
A sudden chill made them shiver, likely from the winter wind coming through the old inn’s gaps.
“Um, Frey.”
After enjoying a surreal time with Frey, Serena, with a slightly tense expression, eventually questioned.
“How should we deal with them… I mean, the Hero Party?”
“What do you mean?”
As Frey tilted his head, Serena, who had used soundproof magic to speak, continued with a colder tone.
“They are trying to kill you both socially and physically, right?”
When Frey didn’t respond to her, she continued while getting a bit emotional.
“Especially that Vener bitc— I mean, girl, she’s the worst.”
“Is that so?”
“She’s aiming to attack your wealth, tarnish your reputation, and trap you, patiently waiting for the right moment to ruin you, you know?”
She continued to speak as if it were her own affair, breaking down her words. Afterward, she turned her gaze to Frey, awaiting his reaction before posing a question.
“Should I handle it my way…? Actually, not only her, but most of the dangerous folks have everything set up, ready to start the operation with just a snap of the fingers…”
– Flick!
“…Ouch.”
Serena winced as she took a hit on her forehead and looked at Frey.
“I… I’m willing to do anything if it’s for you.”
With determination in her eyes, she resumed the conversation.
“So, please don’t refuse. Trust me to handle it.”
“……….”
“If needed, I can even become an adviser to the Demon King’s army…”
“Enough, stop it. “
Frey responded with a cold tone, abruptly interrupting Serena.
“Do only what I ask.”
“Alright…”
Seeing Serena bowing her head dejectedly, Frey wiped his mouth with a tissue and spoke.
“I already have a plan to deal with her.”
“What?”
“I know a fatal weakness of Vener—a flaw that, if exposed, would bring her great embarrassment.”
Frey continued with a smirk, looking at Serena, who widened her eyes.
“Don’t you dislike her?”
“Y-yes, well… to be honest…”
“Okay, then I’ll ensure she disappears from your sight in the future since I don’t like her either. So, don’t do anything silly for now.”
“…Hehe.”
Despite feeling discouraged earlier, Serena suddenly burst into laughter.
– Flutter!
“Eaaaakk!!”
Serena hastily pulled out a fan in surprise at the sound of flapping wings near them.
“G-go away! You pests!!”
This had become a repetitive scenario where their animal friends, huddled together, intruded and disrupted their meal. It had become quite tiresome for Serena.
“Gu?”
“…..?”
However, only Gugu had entered the shop.
– Looking around…
Serena, remembering she had left the animals confined in the mansion before leaving, cautiously started looking around like a wary cat.
“I-it’s okay if it’s just you alone… I can handle you.”
After ensuring there were no more escapees, she placed Gugu on her shoulder, gently placed her hand on Frey’s, and whispered to him.
“I really love you… Frey…”
“I heard you. Now step away.”
“I love you… Frey…”
For some reason, as Serena’s affectionate advances became more persistent, Frey, who had been pushing her away, soon wore a startled expression.
“Hehehe…”
It was because the liquid in her glass at the table corner looked unusual.
“Darn it.”
It was alcohol.
Suddenly, Serena, who became uncontrollable when she drank, gulped down the cheap liquor placed on the table for promotion.
“Frey… ♥”
Already getting tipsy, Serena slumped on the table, reaching out to Frey while floundering.
“…Tsk.”
Frey looked at her, puzzled, and the faces of the people around them shifted oddly.
– Ding!
A quest window popped up before Frey.
Hidden Quest
Quest Content: Remove Serena’s Curse of Familial Subordination
< Date Mission in Progres Completed! >
Progress: 80%
“Sigh.”
Reading the window before him, Frey sighed.
“This is troublesome.”
He found himself torn between being pleased with the progress jumping from 60% to 80% after Serena consumed alcohol or feeling concerned about it.
Hidden Quest
Quest Content: Remove Serena’s Curse of Familial Subordination
< New Mission! >
“…..?”
As he shook his head while assisting Serena to stand, an unexpected notification appeared under the window. Frey instinctively reached out to press it.
– Zap…!
“W-what’s happening here?”
Before his finger could touch it, sparks suddenly flew from the system.
– Zap-zap…!
Startled, Frey got up from his seat in confusion. He drew his sword as sparks covered the system window.
Suddenly, a sinister aura emanated from the bright red text before him.
Sensing imminent danger in those words, Frey instinctively shielded Serena behind him, yet…
“…..What is this?”
He soon found himself in shock.
“………..”
Everyone in the shop was dead, bleeding profusely.
“What… is happening… Huh?”
Frey broke out in a cold sweat in this unbelievable situation and stepped back in confusion. He felt a moist sensation under his foot and hesitantly looked down.
“Aaah.”
Then, despair set in.
“This is a new patch I made just for you. I’ll even make special modifications to the game rules just for her. How does that sound? Merciful, isn’t it?”
“Ahhhh…”
Her body oozed blood, and she grew cold.
.
.
.
.
.
“Ahhhh… ahhhhh…..”
“Pftttt hehehe… hehehe…”
The paladin watched as Frey panicked.
The paladin was actually the Demon God, Eclipse, who covered her mouth, bursting into uncontrollable laughter.
‘Beautiful… truly beautiful…’
The negative energies she had savored before—despair, filth, and sadness—now seemed like a faux pleasure. The emotions emanating from Frey were a delightful feast for the Demon God, who thrived on negativity. Her eyes rolled back in pleasure.
‘…Oh, right. It’s not the time for this.’
She quickly regained composure, recalling that she had twisted the world’s fate to be in this realm for a reason beyond a mere meal.
“Let’s see, I should do it like this… hmm…”
Gazing at Serena with lifeless eyes, Eclipse summoned a complex system window.
“I need to combine this code like this… hmm…”
After jotting down a complicated array of English and numbers, she scratched her head momentarily and muttered coldly.
“I should choose a medium to send to this world that’s easy to modify, like a novel or a comic, but why did I get fixated on a game system… Anyway, it’s all my darn sister’s fault.”
After pounding the window, she pressed a button with a wicked smile.
Sudden Quest
Quest Content: Become Corrupted
Reward: Serena and everyone else’s resurrection.
[Accept? Y/N]
A system window suddenly appeared before Frey.
“………..”
A deep silence from Frey followed this.
“Hehehe…”
Demon God, who had been smiling contentedly in the deep silence, murmured.
“This will diminish my divinity, but it doesn’t matter with ‘That Being’ present.”
Frey’s eyes trembled without a word.
“Hehehe.”
To the Demon God, this showed hesitation.
“Just surrender, Frey…”
The Demon God slowly neared Frey, pushing for a decision.
“Let go of your sense of duty, responsibility, and heroism…”
Her lips formed a thin curve.
“Feel the joy!”
As the Demon God tried to touch Frey’s cheek, she abruptly fell silent, the corners of her lips twisted in a frown.
“……Egeuk.”
Frey’s sword had pierced her side.
“H-how…?”
Even though she couldn’t escape the inevitable agony from Frey’s attack, as she had adopted a mortal form, the Demon God’s face grew pale as memories of Frey overwhelming her flooded back. Nevertheless, she pressed on with a question.
“I-I thought with this, I could finally corrupt you. But how could you refuse that…?”
The system window that had hovered in the air vanished with ‘N’ selected.
[Stats]
Name: Frey Raon Starlight
Strength: 10
Mana: 10
Intelligence: ???
Mental Strength: 10
Passive Status: Villainization Lv Max / Blessing of the Stars / Hero’s Power / Manic Rage
Disposition: Hero
Goodness Stat: 0-100 (Currently fluctuating in real-time)
“W-what is this…!”
Looking perplexed, the Demon God used her authority to open Frey’s status window and soon appeared astounded.
“You should already know that, shouldn’t you?”
While observing the Demon God’s reaction, Frey spoke deliberately.
“Star Hero… can unleash explosive power that can overpower everything instantly.”
“…….!”
“I can unleash that power most intensely and for a long duration when in a state of ‘rage.'”
His face displayed a ghostly expression unseen since his return from regression.
“S-so… are you abandoning Serena?”
“This might be an illusion you’ve created. When rage consumes someone entirely, things can seem peculiar.”
“Would you really risk your fiancée’s life for such a meager possibility? Seriously?”
With a forced smile, the Demon stepped back and presented the corruption quest to Frey again. However, he casually dismissed it.
“It doesn’t matter even if she dies.”
“What…?”
“If she dies, I can just pray to the Sun God to bring her back.”
“……..”
Hearing Frey’s matter-of-fact statement, the Demon God was momentarily speechless.
“T-this is the body of a paladin, you know? Even though I’m occupying it now, this body belongs to a human being.”
As she quickly expressed that, Frey momentarily stopped his steps.
“Is it fine for you to sacrifice this human to cause me momentary suffering? I can’t die, after all.”
While the Demon God spoke, she gripped the side of her body pierced by the sword, smiling. At her words, Frey’s eyebrows twitched briefly.
– Crook…!
“Also, what I mean is…”
Seizing the chance, the Demon God summoned many black chains from all directions by curling her finger.
“Keugh.”
“There’s something you missed.”
Denying any hint of being flustered, the Demon God displayed a chilling smile, instantly overpowering Frey and whispered.
“Mortals can’t defeat a God…”
“Uh…”
“Even if your system stats reach 10… You’ll still be within my grasp.”
Concluding her words like that, she immediately muttered, feeling uneasy.
“If I were to use this power, it would be a real problem… Even with this level of interference, the strength I’ve gathered so far…”
However, the Demon God shook her head while muttering.
“…No, no.”
Suddenly, fear appeared in her eyes.
“Regardless… it’s better than facing the consequences from ‘The One’ who’s coming from outside…”
Right after that, a black aura emanated from her body.
– Shaaaaa…
“Can you still stay good after absorbing all my dark mana as a Demon God?”
“K-khughh…”
Relentlessly releasing those energies, the Demon God pushed them through Frey’s mouth and nostrils, quietly smiling.
‘To turn this illusion into reality… you must embrace corruption, Frey…’
She muttered excitedly, anticipating what was about to unfold.
– Hisssss…
“Alright.”
After channeling all her energies, the Demon God finally unleashed the chains that had restrained him, letting him fall.
– Plop…!
“This is your last chance.”
Subsequently, the Demon God showed the corruption quest for the third time and gave orders coldly.
“Let go of everything and take a res…”
She couldn’t finish that command.
– Clash…!
“…Kyak!”
Because Frey’s sword had passed through the system window and pierced her eye.
“I-it hurts! I said it hurts! Agh…!”
“Now that you’ve exhausted all the dark mana in your body…”
Bleeding from his mouth as the price for using Hero’s Power, Frey spoke as the Demon God winced in pain while holding her left eye.
“You’re weaker than me, right?”
“It’s impossible… No matter how good you are, system-wise, it’s impossible…”
When her Plan B failed, too, the Demon God stared at Frey on the ground with disbelief.
“W-what is this?”
Despite absorbing centuries of dark mana into his body, there wasn’t a trace of it in Frey’s body.
– Oooong…!
Instead, peculiar black magic circle patterns emerged on Frey’s body.
The pattern on this magic circle was the same as the one that appeared when he had controlled the core during the hero appointment ceremony.
“I can’t even control it?”
The Demon God thought Frey redirected her dark mana elsewhere, so she tried to summon it back but couldn’t.
“Then what about me…?”
Having lost control of her dark mana to someone on the opposite continent overnight, the Demon God looked dumbfounded.
“…I should talk with Kania.”
Examining the patterns on his body, Frey muttered, then took a step ahead.
“Are you ready?”
“D-don’t be ridiculous… To think you’d really sacrifice someone…”
Frey held his sword and moved closer with a fierce look. The Demon God, who was watching, smirked and spoke.
– Crack…!
“Kyyaaack!!”
His sword hit her foot, making her scream.
“If it’s you, you should already understand the true nature of the ‘Saintess’s’ unique ability, right?”
Frey asked with a low voice as he looked down at her.
“…What I mean is the power to control the ‘soul.'”
“Ugh…”
“Serena mentioned that, in reality, the Saintess is not chosen by the gods; she chooses the gods with her power.”
“I-it hurts…”
“Whether dividing her soul to connect with the gods or bringing the gods into her body, it revolves around that ability. It’s likely her power that’s causing people’s memories etched into their souls to resurface after the third ordeal.”
With clarity of mind and full control, Frey made these deductions. He smiled, speaking again while subtly turning the sword.
“Well, that’s how it is.”
As he said, Frey revealed Ferloche’s pet, Gugu, engraved on his sword blade to the Demon God.
“This bird somehow entered the sword while I was holding Serena and did something.”
“…!”
It was only then that Demon God realized it.
The side where she was initially stabbed, followed by her eye and foot—all remained entirely unharmed.
“I’ve been cutting through your soul all along.”
“Heikkk…!”
“Of course, I can’t kill you, but even if I can’t strike you…”
Smiling broadly as he conveyed this, Frey quickly raised his sword and finished his statement.
“But I can make you experience excruciating pain.”
“Aaah…”
Due to this, the Demon God, gripped by terror, managed to break the connection she had desperately maintained. She abruptly severed ties with the paladin without saying anything. However…
– Clash, clash, clash.
At that point, Frey’s attack, with his physical abilities maxed out, had struck her body close to several hundred times.
“What a miserable… fellow…”
Despite quivering due to the undeniable pain, the Demon God still defiantly glared at Frey.
“Real terror… is coming…”
She maintained her gaze on Frey with a chilling smile until the end.
“Even if it’s you… you won’t be able to withstand that either…”
As Demon God concluded her words, the paladin’s eyes rolled back.
“…Heugh.”
In the silent room, Frey, breathing heavily, suddenly broke into a cold sweat and slumped to the floor.
– Hissss…
As the Demon God’s illusion dissipated, Serena and the people around them gradually changed. It now looked like they had just fallen asleep.
“Gu?”
In the calm, Gugu smoothly escaped from Frey’s sword blade.
“Gugu~♪”
Wearing a cheerful expression, it soared toward the paladin.
– Flash…!
Then, her body shone brightly.
.
.
.
.
.
“Ugh…..”
After a while, in the restaurant:
“I’m tired of the darkness now. I’m tired of the chains now.”
“……..”
Frey glanced down at the paladin writhing on the floor.
“I don’t want to be helplessly trapped too.”
Moments ago, she had absorbed the soul of the Demon God, but she currently wore an agonized expression.
“I want to be of help to the world now…”
She murmured for a while.
– Flick!
“Ouch!”
As Frey flicked her forehead, the startled paladin beneath her widened her eyes and stood up.
“…………”
And then, a moment of silence passed.
“…L-Lord Frey?”
“Hmm.”
“W-Where is this…?”
Watching Frey, who stood before her with an ‘it’s been a while’ expression, paladin quickly started to scan her surroundings.
“H-huh? Where is the darkness? The chains?”
Strangely, her eyes were not white or red but had a burning golden color.
“A-am I… free now…?”
After glancing around for a while, she mumbled with a foolish expression. Frey, who had been silently observing, subtly asked.
“Who are you?”
Upon hearing the question, the paladin blinked before cheerfully responding.
“…I’m the Sun God, I think?”
Frey’s expression underwent several changes within five seconds.
“…Really?”
“Hiiik…!”
Then a cold smile appeared on his face.
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