Part Two, Section Three: “The World of Asmodeus”
Chapter Seventy-one
Upon discovering that the victims of the mysterious disappearances caused by Asmodeus were trapped inside this “Castle of Eternal Darkness,” we infiltrated without hesitation. Surprisingly, there was no lock on the gate-like entrance, making it easy for us to enter, however…
“It’s strange that I sense no traps.”
“Sister Philia, devils don’t really get the concept of security, y’see. Their castles are always open, and things like guards and traps are what weaklings do in their view.”
I see, so that was how devils think. Their common sense seemed completely different from us humans. I was surprised there were no guards or anything in the castle.
“Oh, wait, there’s something here. Wasn’t around last time I came a long time ago.”
“Could these be… dolls?”
There were numerous dolls neatly lined up along the corridor. All of them were dolls with silver hair and dressed in white robes.
“This doll is numbered 163, and the one next to it is numbered 164…”
On closer inspection, each doll had a number on it. Just what did these numbers represent? And why placed so many dolls here…
“Hey, don’t these dolls kinda look like Sister Philia, or rather, Fiana?”
“Now that you mention it, they resemble Great Saint…”
“Do they?”
Mammon remarked that the dolls resemble me and Fiana, and Elsa agreed regarding their similarity to me. Since I couldn’t view my own appearance objectively, I couldn’t judge if we looked alike, but mentioning a resemblance to Fiana brought one hypothesis to my mind.
“Could it be that Asmodeus’ talk of reviving Lady Fiana involves transferring her soul into a doll? I’ve heard there were ancient rituals for that.”
“Hmm, your words make sense, Great Saint. Fiana’s body was said to be cremated, so how he’d obtain it was a mystery. But with a doll identical to her, if he transferred the soul of her reincarnation into it…”
“So that’s his logic for her becoming the real deal! Hahaha! As expected of him! His methods are too twisted! To think he would try to revive his crush through some kinda doll play! Sounds like something a lonely loser who can’t get a girl would think of!”
I speculated that Asmodeus was planning to resurrect Fiana using a doll like those. In ancient magic, there were numerous spells aimed at achieving immortality, including transferring one’s soul into a doll to achieve near-eternal life. However, to implant a soul, a large amount of magic power was required, so hardly any practitioners succeeded. And even on the rare occasion it works, the shock often destroys the soul’s sense of self.
With Asmodeus’ extraordinary magic power, he could probably manage it, however—
“Inttudeerr, ddicoerreeed!”
““…!?””
While we were observing the dolls Asmodeus likely created, a massive doll made of black, gleaming mineral suddenly appeared before us. It looked about five meters tall. It was speaking… could this be an artificial life form called a golem, made by transferring a soul into a giant doll using that ancient ritual? I couldn’t tell if it was originally a devil or human, but it seemed to have already lost its sanity.
“Inttudeerr, kkiil!”
There was no room for negotiation.
As the massive stony fists were swung down at us, Elsa, Mammon and I leaped away in the nick of time to dodge.
A large hole was left in the floor, conveying the golem’s monstrous strength.
“Hey, Mammon, didn’t you say devils don’t use guards?”
“Huh? Well, I haven’t been in the Demon Realm for ages, so maybe things changed?”
“Well, whatever. Destroy that thing!”
While blaming Mammon for his statement that devils don’t use guards, Elsa ordered him to destroy the golem. But if devils truly have no security awareness, what lies ahead past this guard must be…
“Good grief, what a rough way to treat a subordinate… Blast away! Dark Matter Cannon!”
What Mammon fired was a compressed ball of dark attribute magic power. It splendidly hit what seemed to be the Golem’s face, causing an explosion with a deafening roar. A blow like that would instantly kill a dragon of similar size.
“Inttudeerr, kkiil, kkiil, kiiill!”“It’s not working at all! You are useless!”
“It’s pretty sturdy and seems to be unable to feel pain. Defeating it looks difficult.”
“Well, running away might be the better option here.”
It differed from a normal living being, as it didn’t feel pain. We chose to escape from the golem because we thought that continuing to fight would be futile.
“The direction the golem came from… there might be something Asmodeus values there.”
“Yes, that’s plausible. Mammon, fire another shot.”
“Sure, sure. At my age, playing tag is not that exciting.”
Immobilizing it temporarily with another Dark Matter Cannon, we slipped past the golem and proceeded ahead. I had heard of a tag game before, but this was my first time experiencing it in such a manner.
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