226 Scheming. Scheming. Scheming.
Chinpira activated.
The spider exited the room.
“W-what!? Gone!? Spatial magic!?”
Something sounded, but likely just imagination.
Unlike the serious Balt, dealing with a man who looked like a gangster was beyond me.
Dodge casually. Return when it’s convenient.
Avoiding pointless conflict is one of adulthood’s essentials.
Certainly not afraid of the man’s appearance.
No, not at all.
Observing the man through the remaining fragment’s eye, hidden in the room.
The man stood motionless for a moment, then began a light search of the space.
Peered under the bed. Opened the closet.
No, he’s not hiding there.
Why search places clearly too small for me?
Hey, wait— that’s underwear storage!?
Ah, shut it fast.
Oh— red as blood.
Contrary to appearance, a novice?
Ah— no, he’s the serious type. Maybe he really is as he seems.
In the end, the man failed to find me and left the room.
Phew.
I wasn’t there, so finding me was impossible—but my fragment could have been discovered.
Well, even if found, it’s manageable.
Returning too soon is risky. I’ll wait until the commotion dies down and find somewhere to pass the time.
Hmm.
Since I’m here, might as well deal with the matter I left behind.
Crossing through a rift, I arrive at the familiar Elro Great Labyrinth.
Between the upper and middle layers.
The place I once used as a base.
There, a massive object lies sprawled.
The empty shell of Queen Talatekt.
The one whose soul I extracted during my ascension.
Originally, this Queen housed one of my parallel consciousnesses. Now, without a soul, it’s in a state of temporary stasis.
Not brain death—soul death.
The body remains alive, but with a dead soul, it is biologically terminated.
Inject a minimal amount of soul into the queen’s body, as a detached fragment.
Do not activate it.
Activating something this large would cause energy consumption to spike uncontrollably.
Maintain it in a state of temporary stasis. Activate only when needed.
As a combat asset against the Black, it offers little promise. Originally, it was among the strongest creatures in this world. It can only handle threats outside the Black.
Still, it is merely a husk infused with my power. It gains no benefit from skills. Its original strength is altered.
Hmm.
Slightly weaker, perhaps?
Yet it should still possess the power of a high-tier dragon species. That remains sufficient in this world.
As for the other queens, leave them to the Demon King.
The other queens should still hold faint traces of soul.
I managed to hijack only this one and another—others are still in progress.
There is another soul-dead queen in a state of temporary stasis, but she’s far away and I’ve never visited her before—transferring there would be difficult.
Leave her for now.
The other queens shouldn’t have reached soul-death yet—so they should still be alive.
They’re likely severely weakened, but even so, large mass organisms remain a threat.
That’s about all I’ll do regarding the queens.
Initiate transfer to the next location.
Arrived at a forest.
The elven forest, discovered through the fragment.
Before the barrier at its center.
I’ve conducted preliminary surveys through the fragment, but I still believe the main body should verify directly.
Thus, observe the barrier carefully.
Yes, this isn’t a skill-based effect.
It exceeds the system’s defined limits of power.
Even if the Demon King is near the cap on his status values, he still cannot break through this barrier.
Regardless, this barrier is definitely powered by MA energy.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to sustain a barrier of this magnitude.
Why are you leaving this unattended?
Hmm… hmm… hmm…
I don’t know.
Should the device be destroyed immediately, at the very least halting the generator?
Hmm, but if we do that, the state of the world might shift with tremendous speed.
It could amount to eliminating the current period of inactivity—or preparation time—and is not necessarily a favorable development.
Being watched from all directions by clairvoyance, and elves seem likely to have many enemies.
If the barrier breaks, we’ll be beaten to a pulp, won’t we?
Elves may not rely solely on barriers, after all. Counterattacks are also possible.
Either way, large-scale combat seems inevitable.
If that occurs, we risk interfering with the Demon King’s preparations for war.
We cannot block the Demon King’s path at this stage.
Achieving my objective may happen regardless if casualties mount, but I must maintain the appearance of compliance with the Demon King’s will—just barely, without arousing suspicion from the Black.
The Black will attack the elves left unattended.
They will surely notice.
It would be safer to refrain.
Yet returning without action after coming this far feels unwise.
At minimum, I’d like to send a fragment inside the barrier to observe the interior.
Scouting the surroundings.
There.
Elves exist, albeit sparsely, beyond the barrier.
Likely patrols.
Among them, target those moving in small groups.
Three.
Unaware of our presence.
Open your eyes. Release the curse sight.
Immediately, the three elves froze in place.
A stillness mimicking the curse sight—stopping the movement of anyone I have locked onto.
Approach the frozen trio. Force their mouths open.
Insert a sphere roughly the size of a ping-pong ball into their mouths. Make them swallow.
That will do.
Step back from the trio. Dismiss the curse sight’s effect.
The three elves resumed their patrol as if nothing had happened.
The advantage of this curse sight is that no memory of the effect remains during its duration.
No matter what I do, the target cannot resist while under the curse, and remembers nothing afterward.
Even if their face is defaced, they will not notice until someone points it out—or they see themselves in a mirror.
Now, all that remains is for one of these three to enter the barrier.
The egg within the abdomen hatches. The clone emerges within the barrier.
Then it becomes ours.
To avoid disturbance, the parasitic host will not be killed. It will crawl out through the mouth while the host is asleep.
I have performed well. Satisfied, I returned to the manor.