novelraw Chapter 207: Negotiations Are Over
Chapter 207: Negotiations Are Over
As the Greater Demon’s hundred eyes snapped open, Letum didn’t waste a second.
He dropped something of a smoke pellet and lunged for the exit tunnel, moving with the desperation of a rat on a sinking ship.
"Oh no, you don’t!"
Ignotus, fueled by [Living Ligature], tore through the smoke, his gravity field acting like a plow, clearing the air instantly, allowing him to spot the escaping bastard.
He caught up to Letum in two strides, grabbing him by the cloak.
"Are you going somewhere?"
Ignotus raised his fist to crush the man’s skull.
Letum cut off his own cloak and jumped back.
He didn’t fight; instead, he chuckled and pointed a trembling finger over Ignotus’s shoulder.
"Priorities, o fool. Are you willing to let them die just to kill me?"
Ignotus looked back.
The Greater Demon had fully risen.
It towered over the cavern, a mountain of scales and muscle.
And right now, it was staring down the tiny, insignificant figures of his cohort.
They were all frozen in terror.
Letum mockingly laughed.
"Tick tock."
Ignotus looked at Letum.
Usually, besides the need for revenge, Ignotus felt nothing for long.
Annoyance? Sure. Amusement? Often. But true, burning emotion? That was rare.
He didn’t hate his family for abandoning him. He didn’t hate the monsters trying to eat him. They were just obstacles in his path.
But now... looking at this bald, smiling coward who was using his friends as leverage...
Ignotus felt something deeply.
Cold and absolute hate.
"I will kill you."
That was a promise and a prophecy.
"...we both know that you can’t."
Letum’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second under the weight of that gaze, but he knew that he had won this round.
"You want me to be afraid of you, Letum. Yes, you are strong, but that’s also true for me. I can be terrifying if I wish. Word of advice: think long and hard before attacking me again. Or I’ll have you learn to fear life itself."
Ignotus stepped away from him.
He didn’t bother to look back as Letum disappeared into the dark tunnel and sprinted towards his people.
"DEFEND!"
Ignotus’s scream was near panicked, and that alone had the cohort react instantly.
"Ice Wall!"
Lykos joined his Lord, summoning layers of glaciers.
"Bedrock Wall!"
Gaia slammed her hands down, raising a fortress of stone.
"Wind Barrier!"
Aur created a localized hurricane.
"Fire Wall!"
Behind it was Mer’s wall.
They layered their strongest defenses, creating a bunker of spells meant to withstand an army.
The Greater Demon looked at their cute little fort.
It looked bored.
Without a sound, it raised one massive hand...
SNAP.
And flicked its finger.
The air pressure alone was catastrophic.
Invisible shockwaves hit the defenses, shattering, crumbling, and popping what once stood.
"GAAH!"
The six students were lifted off their feet and blasted backward, slamming into the far wall of the cavern in a heap of bruised limbs and broken bones.
They groaned in incredible pain, barely conscious.
It was an extermination.
Ignotus skidded to a halt between the monster and his people.
He stood alone, his sword trembling in his hand before the Greater Demon.
’...I failed.’
They had failed completely.
This wasn’t a battle they could win with damage.
It was a battle for their very survival.
And their first step?
"Eris!"
The Goddess, who had been hiding in a crack in the wall, shot out and ran right towards the Demon.
’On it!’
Eris leaped into the air.
Once close, She attacked its mind.
Closing Her eyes, Eris forced Her divine consciousness into the Demon’s soul.
The cavern, the magma, and the blood were all replaced by a blinding, endless white void.
It would have been disorienting to a mortal, but to Eris, this felt like home. After all, this was a Soul Space, a domain where both Divinity and Corruption reigned supreme, unburdened by the laws of the world.
But here, in another’s Soul, She wasn’t the Goddess.
She was the guest.
The Great Demon appeared before her.
It wasn’t the chaotic monster from the outside.
Here, it was a towering entity of pure light and order, stretching infinitely upward.
This was almost the complete opposite of its true nature made manifest, an obvious attempt at intimidation.
Yet Eris didn’t even blink.
"Stop. I am not your enemy."
The entity paused, its silence stretched for what felt like an eternity in this timeless space.
Slowly, the geometric form shifted and condensed, shrinking down until it resembled a vaguely humanoid shape.
Its eyes glowed with furious light.
"YOU ARE ALL ENEMIES."
Its voice boomed, sounding mechanical.
"STEALING. KILLING. BREAKING MY WALLS. YOU HAVE TAMPERED WITH MY DUNGEON. THREATENED MY EXISTENCE. FOR THAT, YOU MUST BE ELIMINATED."
Eris put on Her best smile and channeled Her inner salesman.
"I understand why you’re angry, but this wasn’t done by us. We didn’t come here to destroy you. We came to stop the ones who syphoned from you and kept you in this state. We fixed the leaks... only a little too late."
The form wavered.
"IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE. MY MONSTERS DO NOT FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS. THE CORRUPTION IS LEAKING. I MUST DESTROY EVERYTHING. I MUST RESET THE INSTANCE."
"Maybe not."
Eris interjected quickly.
"If you reset and the dungeon collapses, you’ll die. You know this."
The Demon paused.
It knew that such a move would bring those of a higher Class, ones able to destroy it.
"But we can prevent that if you calm down."
There was a long silence.
A very long, heavy silence.
The Demon scrutinized Eris, weighing Her essence and calculating the probabilities.
Eventually, it spoke, its tone less robotic and more contemplative:
"WHAT DO YOU PROPOSE?"
Eris felt a glimmer of hope.
She confidently stepped forward.
"You’ve been protecting this dungeon for centuries. Kept it alive, but the humans that come here are pests. Let me help you handle the pest control."
She spread Her hands.
"I can make this ruin inaccessible to them. I will have the House that owns this land cut off. I will place guards outside—Runebearers who work for us—to protect your gates. No more intrusions or theft. You keep your secrets and your hoard."
Eris pointed at the ground.
"And in return, you quietly stay here. That is, you don’t attract their attention and live to terrorize them another day."
The Demon looked away, processing the logic, until it slowly nodded its head.
"HOW SO?"
"I will create a secure link between us."
Eris explained, suppressing a triumphant grin.
"You will receive information on any threats without gaps or delays. We will be your outer defense system."
The Demon’s color shifted from angry orange to a calmer yellow.
It seemed to accept the logic.
"ACCEPTABLE. PROVIDE YOUR TRUST."
Eris nodded and stepped forward to finalize their deal, preparing to transfer the Contract Rune, with relief washing over Her.
’Fate is bypassable after all.’
She extended Her hand.
The Demon extended its own.
They touched.
"NO!"
That word was screamed.
The Demon’s form shuddered violently.
A shockwave of red lightning tore through the white void.
It was as if a wave of recognition had washed over it...
Something terrifying triggered in its core.
The yellow light vanished, replaced by a menacing, hateful crimson.
"YOU..."
Long gone was the mechanical voice. It boomed now, exploding with fury.
Eris’s dead heart sank.
She knew what was coming.
"YOU ARE CALAMITY!"
The void shattered.
"A PARASITE SENT TO DECEIVE ME!"
"No..."
Eris tried to maintain the connection, Her form being ruined.
"I am here to help—"
"LIAR!"
It had detected Her true nature.
She was Eris, Goddess of Strangers, of Strife and Discord, of Calamity.
Her very essence was the opposite of a dungeon’s stability.
"TRAITOR! INTRUDER! YOU DARE TO DECEIVE ME?!"
The Demon unleashed a wave of pure psychic wrath.
"DIE!"
It was so concentrated, so violent, that it shattered the white space like a mirror hit by a sledgehammer.
"Gah..."
Eris, now a cat once more, was flung backward through the air.
She hit the stone floor hard, tumbling and vomiting black ichor.
KRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAH!
The Greater Demon roared, making the chamber shake violently, debris falling from the ceiling as the dungeon responded to its master’s absolute rage.
Ignotus, meanwhile, was at Eris’s side in an instant, scooping Her up.
His eyes burned into Hers.
’What happened?’
Eris shook Her little head, trembling.
’It knows... It knows what I am, Ignotus. I failed.’
She looked up at the hundred-headed giant, which was now glowing with apocalyptic power.
Ding!
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║QUEST UPDATED!║
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[New Objective: Survive The Greater Demon’s Wrath]
—
’Negotiations are over.’