274: Hero's Assassination

Third entry today.

Brow was dead.

I stepped forward, having witnessed the end.

The Hero noticed me.

His face showed shock.

He seemed to intuit that I was the same entity as the dungeon nightmare he had once defeated.

Julius, the Hero, had tracked down and eliminated every fragment of me he could detect—relentlessly.

I could not defeat him, as I was a non-combat surveillance fragment.

As a result, I had been unable to monitor his movements.

He must have been deeply impressed by how powerless he had been against me before, making him hypersensitive to my presence.

Thus, his immediate charge toward me fell within expected parameters.

In accelerated thought, I observed the Hero's desperate expression.

Regrettably, no matter how much effort he exerted, the Hero could never overcome me.

Open your eyes.

As a mercy, I will kill you without letting you feel the pain.

My refined cursed eye—The Cursed Eye of Annihilation—strikes the Hero.

Two attributes I never lost, even when I became a god.

Darkness. Corruption.

More precisely, Darkness. Death.

Attributes governed by the Demon God D.

The Cursed Eye of Annihilation grants death to the Hero and destroys their body.

Weak compared to D’s true power, yet undeniably divine.

No Hero, not even one without divinity, can withstand it.

I will deliver the final blow to the Hero. Then, I will eliminate the Hero’s companions in the same manner.

One survived. Expected.

Unexpected was something else—something that occurred elsewhere.

“Leave the rest to me.”

“Huh?”

Due to emergency, I hand the battlefield over entirely to Wald and teleport away.

I arrive in a vast space filled with an immense magical array, its pattern formed by geometric shapes.

At the center stood the figure of a woman—only her upper body visible.

The deepest layer of the Elrow Great Labyrinth. The site of the goddess’s seal.

The core of the system that sustains this world.

I approach the goddess quickly.

Her form has diminished further than when I last saw her.

Far more than I anticipated.

I suppress the sudden surge of rage that threatens to boil over. Grasp the goddess’s jaw.

I do not crush it. I still believe I remain calm.

"Do you understand what you have done?"

My voice comes out harsh, uncontrolled.

Open my eyes. Stare directly into the goddess’s.

Her eyes are vacant. Only a system message whispers from her mouth.

"Stop playing."

Not a loud voice.

But the most furious tone possible.

Who, how, for what purpose, does she think this war was waged?

She has destroyed it all.

It was meant to be a setup to free the goddess from the system—yet this one ruined it on their own.

The purpose of this war was twofold: to reduce the number of combat-capable humans and demons, thereby securing energy, and to minimize the number of individuals caught in the system's collapse.

Additionally, defeating the hero would delete the hero-related data within the system, allowing the redirected energy to be reclaimed.

There were smaller reasons as well, but these two were the primary objectives.

Both were methods to concentrate energy rapidly.

Yet the gathered energy was lower than anticipated.

It was deliberately lowered.

Due to the goddess’s unnecessary interference.

She obstructed the dismantling of the hero system.

Using her own form and part of the energy that had just entered.

Communication is impossible. I can only speculate. The goddess likely comprehends the full scope of what I am attempting.

She is, after all, the core of the system. Hacking the system, manipulating its functions—she would know. It is not unexpected.

The issue is that she knows. And yet she intervenes.

“Do you really hate death so much? You know full well whose purpose this slaughter serves.”

The grip on the goddess’s jaw tightens.

The Demon King prepared to die. This woman renders that sacrifice meaningless.

Unforgivable.

You’re joking, right?

“Watch closely.”

A scene projects before the goddess’s eyes.

The battlefield appears.

The battlefield where the First Army fights.

Even this is horrific. A sight unbearable to her.

But she will not stop there.

I summon Queen Talatect upon that battlefield.

I issue the command: exterminate both demon and human alike.

"Look. Do not look away. Because of your meddling, I must take more lives than before. This sight—this is what you desired. This is what you caused."

No rebuttal.

Yet a faint motion, as if shaking the head, is visible.

I tighten my grip on the jaw, refusing to let the image break even for an instant.

Foolish goddess.

You who wished for peace more than anyone—yet you forced the world’s people down a path drenched in blood.

Even if this is the result of D’s malicious salvation.

This too.

Had you remained silent, I would not have intended such slaughter.

I still had use for Argner.

But now I must crush him prematurely.

The reason the Second and Fifth Armies were not destroyed was because, considering future contingencies, it was more advantageous to leave them intact.

The First Army was the elite of the demon race.

The human army opposing them was equally elite.

Thus, the energy yield recovered upon total annihilation was higher.

To maximize energy recovery with minimal casualties, destroying the First Army was the only option.

Sorry, Argner.

To fulfill the future you desired for the demons, I had no choice but to abandon you.

And even that may not be possible, depending on circumstances.

I will show the goddess every last detail of Queen Talatekt’s conquest of all living things.

Even after everything ends, the scene will remain filled with death for some time.

"Stop doing unnecessary things. Understand that each such act increases the number of dead."

The jaw he had gripped was violently released.

Something about the eyes—once already hollow—now seemed even more lifeless, like those of a dead fish.

Good riddance.

Yet irritation refuses to subside.

So furious, he speaks normally, without restraint.

To sacrifice Agner for such a trivial matter?

Damn it.

More pressing: must confirm who the new Hero is, as soon as possible.

Contact the Godword Sect and initiate a search.

While contemplating future plans, one of the fragments detects an anomaly.

The fragment assigned to monitor Yamada-kun.

Yamada-kun suddenly stands during class, exhibiting suspicious behavior.

Impossible.

Impossible, impossible, impossible!?

"You— you!"

She strikes the goddess violently.

Where must one interfere with others before feeling satisfied? Where must one trample on another’s feelings before feeling satisfied? Do you so desperately wish to save lives that you cannot comprehend this is what drives people to death?

Suppressing the urge to destroy this goddess immediately.

If I acted on it, I would lose sight of why I have acted thus far.

This goddess sustained the Hero System, then designated Yamada-kun as the next Hero.

A reincarnated one—Yamada-kun.

She must have known I cannot kill him. She chose a reincarnated one deliberately.

She knows why I attempted to dismantle the Hero System.

Energy recovery?

That is one objective, certainly.

But the primary objective is preventing the Demon King’s death.

By system design, the Demon King will be killed—inevitably—by a Hero.

Even if the Demon King’s stats were far higher than the Hero’s.

She had been trying to discard the Hero System—just to eliminate that sorrow.

“You really want the Demon King dead!? After all he’s done, tirelessly striving for you—no one else!”

Grind. Teeth clenched.

Staying here any longer would make me want to kill the goddess, seriously.

I turned my back on the goddess and vanished via teleportation.

I did not want to see her expression.