LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 314
“……”
Kim Hana shut her mouth at those words.
Praying to a monster? Where could anything fit worse than that?
Just one time, back when she lived as a mutant slime before becoming the Slime Empress and human Kim Hana, she couldn’t even fathom the concept of praying.
There is no joy in the life of a monster. It’s not that they’re devoid of things to be happy about; the emotional spectrum that allows joy to exist is extremely limited or entirely severed.
In cases of higher intelligence, it’s somewhat better, but even highly intelligent monsters like the Slime Mother often lack emotions when compared to humans.
“There are many who will pray and mourn for humans.”
“Elves or dwarves, it’s the same for other subspecies of humanity.”
“But who will pray for monsters? Who would pray for beings that live only out of hatred, anger, and hostility, like Lilybet did?”
“So Lilybet made a somewhat extreme choice.”
She became the wedge of this city.
By merging with a fragment of the Demon King, she became both a wedge and the heart of Green City itself.
“Tsk, tsk, it was never something to do with a sane mind… when the long-standing rage and hatred of Lilybet’s soul made a crack, the demon king’s fragment seeped in, and she had no way to endure it!”
“…So did she become a Demon King or what?”
“Oh ho! Of course not! Hahaha, I still love romance! The fragment of the Demon King couldn’t achieve its purpose and was rather swallowed by Princess Lilybet!”
What was that called…?
Someone from San Guild said that the affinity to the fragment was so high that it ended up swallowing all the power and initiative of the fragment!
“Ms. Kim Hana, the Slime Mother you call ‘Mother’ was never alive.”
“Excuse me…? What do you mean she wasn’t alive? Surely Mother attacked us…”
“Your mother died in the Blood Swamp. What reason could there be for her to be summoned here? How could a dead person come back to life?”
“……..”
At those words, Hana’s expression stiffened.
“Don’t tell me that from the beginning, the monsters of this city…”
“Are all dead beings.”
“……”
“The city itself is under a massive enchantment caused by me and the fragment of the Demon King.”
A place where the souls of monsters, beings, and creatures dead from mana are bound, and the physical body’s manifestation painstakingly built up through mana.
Enchantments imbued directly in the souls.
The meat and fragments clinging to the souls.
Here, they can be revived.
In this place, even the dead monsters will find a sanctuary.
A paradise solely for the dead monsters.
“A paradise for monsters! Quite a romantic ring to it, isn’t it?!”
I still like romance.
I still yearn for what came from fairy tales.
“While it may be quite twisted, Lilybet became the Queen who created the paradise for monsters, so isn’t that pretty cool?!”
With exaggerated gestures like a musical actor, Lilybet spread her arms wide, but there was absolutely no trace of satisfaction on her face.
“But you don’t look happy at all.”
“Hahaha! Well, it makes sense since I expected paradise, but it isn’t that, is it?”
Far from paradise, it ended up creating a living hell resembling a sewage!
The problem was that she had recklessly acted without considering the consequences.
“Using the fragment’s power to bring countless monster souls that met death from other dimensions was fine. Building Green City for them to live again was also good. But when monsters and creatures met one another, all that remained was killing and eating each other!”
After a time of slaughter and chaos, gangs, clans, mafia, yakuza filled the void.
Various groups of creatures formed, leading to faction wars.
Lilybet, who imagined paradise, was overwhelmed by the thought that she had created another hell, yet couldn’t give up on this city.
Because, in a fragmented way, she had created paradise.
An undying paradise.
She was the only one who could pray for the dead monsters.
“At least it’s a relief that it’s possible to revive, right? No, some of them who know about resurrection are even happy they can fight forever! I don’t find it pleasant at all! I tried to create paradise but ended up making a hellhole! Hahahahahaha!!!”
Yeah, my work always ends up like this!
Lilybet sneered.
She looked at the poor queen, now the heart of Green City, connected with countless pipes and wires, supplying her mana throughout Green City, Elizaveta Lilybet Rose.
“So what about you?”
“Me? Just a doll made of scrap metal, wires, and some mechanical bits! No, rather than a doll, I’m more like a Gundam! The Association even gave me the ridiculous ability name [Mechanical Infection] when they learned my body was fully mechanical! But I get it…”
“Gundam, huh…?”
“Oh no! You don’t know Gundam?!”
Lilybet spread her metallic wings wide.
“Princess Lilybet…no, now she’s a queen, right? Anyway, she loved mecha very much! A Gundam girl, how about that? Isn’t it romantic? I could even shoot hundreds of magnificent beams…”
“No, that’s not important! What’s really important is that Lilybet is perfectly fine, but what about you?!”
“Me? Well…”
As she spread her wings, Lilybet stroked her chest, then looked back at the heart of the city, Lilybet.
“Is it myself? Or just my mind and memories moved? Well, I’m not so sure!”
“Excuse me? Didn’t Lilybet create you?”
“Ha! That much is correct! But I don’t know! Am I a clone, another me? Or something else altogether…? Huh, what if I’m a secret clone made by the fragment of the Demon King?!”
“I don’t really understand what you’re saying.”
Hah, I didn’t think you would get it anyway.
“But Ms. Hana, do you know how the Hunter Train selects dungeons to invade?”
“Dungeon invasion?”
Hana needed to dig through her knowledge of humans in her brain again.
“For large-scale dungeons, requests come from the nation or Association, right…?”
“You’re knowledgeable. Then it’s common for the Hunter Train to act to explore dangerous dungeons when it invades them, right?”
“That makes sense…?”
Although it was publicly known that the Hunter Train docked due to a direct request from the Association, it seemed Lilybet was hinting that the reality was different.
“Then why, in this Green City, are they letting most of the hunters take a vacation instead of pursuing dungeon exploration? Why did they only give direct assignments to only specific members?”
“How would I know? The raids from the Blood Swamp Dungeon and the Uranium Dragons came in succession, so maybe they were just letting hunters rest for a while, right?”
“Haha, to get to the point, my request for docking in this Green City was made by me!”
“Excuse me?”
“Though I’m just a doll… no, a Gundam girl, this body is also the Queen of England and an S-grade Hunter! In the name of the Queen, I requested the Association to attack this dungeon!”
“Wait, you created it and then requested an attack!?”
“Haha!”
With a cheerful voice, Lilybet burst into laughter and looked up at the ceiling.
“The Association’s thinking is simple. This ridiculous dungeon with resurrection gimmicks would pose a threat to humanity in the future.”
Yet, the Hunter Association could only act through regular means.
They request dungeon exploration from Hunters or Guilds, but can’t operate in the illegal domain.
“But the Demon King’s fragment came to me. The fragment isn’t a singular entity, you see.”
“…..!”
“The Hunter Association can’t handle this place. But neither can they just sit back and do nothing! So, naturally, discussions would flow towards something illegal with some hidden ace up its sleeve. For example, very powerful beings or another existence or group that possesses the Demon King’s fragment.”
There’s San Guild, there’s the Promise’s Finger, and even America’s Pentagon.
It wouldn’t be surprising if there’s a host with a piece of the Demon King even within the Hunter Association.
“So now it’s simple. They brought the fragment to this Green City. Just as I expected.”
Upon arriving in Green City and getting closer to her heart, Lilybet could feel it.
Fragments resonate with each other.
In addition to the fragment lodged in Lilybet’s chest, there would be another piece somewhere in Green City.
“…So you’re planning to turn the entire Earth into a sewage like this?”
“Whoa, what a terrifying thought!”
“Um, so will you just obliterate Green City and free yourself, the heart of Lilybet?”
“Wahahaha! To liberate a mountain of corpses? Don’t make me laugh! Hahaha!”
“Then is suicide your plan?”
“Eh, I don’t want to die! Even if I’m buried in sewage, I want to live more! Even if I eat seagrass slime, this life is better!”
“Then what do you plan to do with two fragments of the Demon King…?”
“To put it simply, I will completely separate this Green City from the Earth!”
“Excuse me?”
Not world domination or some grand ambition, but merely that?
No, is that even possible?
“It’s too early to give up without even trying! If I could create Green City with just one fragment, separating it eternally from this dimension shouldn’t be impossible!”
Monsters among monsters.
Monsters should surely be eternally banished.
And the queen who became a monster should be banished too!
“Eternally banished, the paradise of monsters and the queen of the sewage! Quite romantic! Hahahah! Ah, what a trivial accumulation of remnants and fragments to make this nonsense.”
Isn’t that incredibly insignificant?
“By the way, I thought the Saint Isia would be the most dangerous and obstructive. Other S-grade Hunters are strong, but having a saint and hero party with powers that seem ripped right from a book made me tremble! I worried they might try to kill me just because I possess the Demon King’s fragment….”
So, I made that ridiculous suggestion of opening a restaurant to divert their attention.
Fortunately, Isia seemed to have been that way from the start, so she willingly accepted my suggestion and opened a restaurant in the heart of Green City!
Well, there was that moment where a witch and a hero shot dubious glances at me, but somehow I managed to escape.
Hahahaha!
And surprisingly, running the restaurant was fun!
All I did was stand as a mascot and steal the customers’ mint choco chicken, but still!
“I completely excluded the Saint Isia. Those guys from the Promise’s Finger or whatever brought their fragment somewhere in the city. With this, it should be sufficient to banish this sewage paradise from Earth.”
“What about you!? What will happen to the Hunters trapped here….!”
“Hahaha! Of course, before the expulsion is completed, I will chase them all out! The Hunter Train will be able to conduct its operations without anyone else lost, with only Elizaveta Lilybet Rose as w casualty!”
What remains in the sewage will be just the monsters and the queen of the sewage!
“By the way, the reason I tied up Kim Hana is that you pose quite a threat to Green City! If you were to be parasitized by the monsters like your mother, not dying or being revived would be a huge problem!”
“I would never do such a thing!!!”
“Wahaha! In Korea, there’s a saying that you may know the depths of oceans but not a person’s heart! Don’t worry, I will ensure you safely get expelled!”
Saying that, Lilybet snapped her fingers.
“So I will declare from here!”
Ku-Whooom!
As Lilybet’s declaration resounded through the Underground Cavern, the many pipes and ducts intertwined like creatures began to squirm.
At that moment, the green mana infused with Lilybet began to spread everywhere.
As if it had been prepared for a long time, the green mana emanating from the pipes throughout Green City began to puff out with a pffft.
“I, Elizaveta Lilybet Rose.”
“Having lost myself, lost my resentments, and gathered the lives that will not return, dreaming of romance for eternity, I have built a mountain of corpses and blood under the name of romance! This is Green City!”
The girl who could have been a hero bore fury and hatred against monsters.
Consumed by anger, she became a mindless machine and a butcher.
Looking back, regretting amidst the shadows of the piled blood and corpses, she reached out to the lost monsters, yet only succeeded in creating a sewage world devoid of paradise.
“There is no mutual ideal or happiness. In this lawless world of slaughter and this filthy sewage city, paradise cannot exist, and what remains is the ugly self-hatred and destroy or be destroyed mentality!”
“Today, at this moment, I will declare as the queen of this trash-filled sewage city that I have chased after romance to the point of being unable to even atone!”
At the doll’s declaration, all the pipes and ducts began to writhe.
And the real Lilybet, who had become the heart of Green City, slowly began to open her eyes.
“Oh, you are monsters! You are trash. But I am also a monster, so I shall caress you as I must!”
[Now, let us leave. This world, this earth has no place for us.]
As Lilybet spoke, the heart of the city opened its mouth as well.
“There are many who will pray for humans! But there’s no one to pray for monsters!”
[Then I will pray for you. I’m neither a saint nor a divinely blessed child, but I will pray for you, monsters.]
“Let us be joyfully cast away from the earth, children of the sewage.”
“Eh, no way, Your Majesty!”