I Returned and Started Streaming

Ding!

[World – Blood Demon (EP. 4) completed.]

[A large amount of experience has been gained.]

[Title – Demon Stalker (Quasi-Transcendent) has been obtained.]

[True Blood (Large) has been obtained.]

[All stats increase by 50% when facing Non-Living beings.]

…

[World Quests within Erbenus Blodia will be deactivated.]

“All done.”

“Yeah.”

Thud.

Lasty, who had been holding my hand, lightly jumped and sat on the red coffin.

A red coffin, floating in the air, waiting since who knows when.

Despite the great battle between me, the Kraken, and the Pharaoh, which consumed much blood, the coffin was still filled with a tremendous amount.

[End?]

[Is it over?]

[Oh.]

[Is Lasty back?]

[The rain has stopped.]

[Lasty eyes!]

[The red rain has ended?]

[Did we defeat it…?]

“It seems to have absorbed enough.”

“Should we return it?”

As Lasty slightly opened the lid of the coffin, an eerie aura escaped.

I nodded, watching the system window which, aside from stating ‘will be deactivated,’ did not hint at any further episodes.

“Let’s keep some blood fiends alive. We’re not staying here forever, you know?”

“That’s true.”

“In that case, we should complete the necessary steps.”

After all, Lasty can no longer be a ‘queen’.

Since a single drop of blood remains in her body, she can no longer dominate or rule over others.

Were she to do so, the Blood Calamity would threaten the world again.

Clattering!

The vast amount of blood within the coffin spread throughout the world.

Though many blood fiends perished in the events, only a few lost their souls entirely.

We can revive the rest who still retain their souls.

‘Even reviving them is somewhat paradoxical.’

Blood fiends, after all, are little more than walking corpses.

The coffin continued to expel blood for a long time before finally shutting with a heavy sound.

“Alright. Except for a few who exploded along with their souls, everyone has been revived. Most of them are back, so they’ll serve their purpose.”

“What about Riven and Blodia?”

“Riven’s in Blood Prison. Blodia disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“Yeah.”

She casually sat back on the closed coffin as if it were expected.

“From the moment she tried to merge her consciousness and take over my body, the outcome was predictable. It was dubious even if she had succeeded, but with her failure…”

“She ceased to exist?”

“Probably. Neither my soul nor any part of the world perceives Blodia’s energy anymore. She couldn’t hold on.”

According to Riven, Blodia used up her physical form and most of her soul attempting to seize control of Lasty’s body in order to keep up with the overwhelming force of Lasty’s rank.

The situation was dire, but it seemed unlikely that Riven was lying.

He seemed genuinely truthful.

“…Maybe.”

“Huh?”

‘Riven likely knew the truth.’

Ultimately, the Black Lily guided us here.

If my assumptions are correct, the reason Blodia ceased to exist wasn’t solely because she couldn’t endure the difference in rank.

Rather, her ‘real’ goal might have been…

“Did she aim for this from the start? Was she concerned about Lasty’s countermeasures? But I didn’t think she would move like this…”

“Countermeasures?”

“It’s irrelevant for now since it’s unclear.”

I shook my head while closing the system window that still didn’t come to anything.

An episode, if any, will probably appear a long time later.

We can almost say that the story here has ended; however, since we failed to obtain the key item, the ‘Fruit of Blood.’

Ultimately, until I see it with my own eyes, I can’t be 100% certain of anything.

Even if my assumption turns out to be correct, it’s hardly a problem that would significantly affect anything.

[Why?]

[???]

[Le Lily knows something, tell us!]

[Dang it!]

[What’s going on?]

[Hmm]

[Will there be no more episodes?]

[Is Lasty now the ruler here?]

[So what next?]

“What else is there to do?”

With a wave of my hand, a rift formed in space, revealing a dimension gate.

Under normal circumstances, such travel would have been impossible, but with the Holy Seal (Ho Bu) present, it was possible.

“We should head back.”

Including Pharaoh.

…

■

At the same moment.

Somewhere far away from the central continent of the main dimension.

-“Grrrrr!!”

“AAAAAAHH!”

“Run! Everyone, escape!!!”

Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!

Countless people fled as behind them a giant monster made of iron rampaged.

An ancient monster which fed on iron, the more it consumed, the stronger and more durable it became.

Thus, the Iron Devourer always roamed beneath the ground seeking veins of ore. However, once the underground resources began to run out, it began attacking human villages searching for iron.

Of course, iron was its main diet; it didn’t eat humans, so people were not directly targeted.

Grooong!!

“Goddamn! Too soon…”

“Everyone, run out of the village!”

“Sorcerers! Where are the sorcerers? Call those bastards immediately… Gah!”

-“Graaaaaa!!”

Nevertheless, among the humans were many who wore iron items.

The monster’s patience was abysmal; it was not so benevolent as to remove iron from humans and eat it separately. Indeed, it couldn’t comprehend why it should do such a thing.

With a CRACK!

In the end, the Iron Devourer’s choice was clear: to chew and swallow both the iron and the humans together.

During the process, the iron was absorbed into its body, while what was human was compacted into clumps and spat out as waste.

And so, with a Kaboom! Kaboom!, after flipping the entire village upside down, the Iron Devourer leisurely departed.

Two women floating in the air witnessed this event: a tall woman with black hair, and a small girl with red eyes.

“How is it?”

“…It’s like a mindless rock.”

“Correct. A mindless rock.”

Chuckle.

“The Iron Devourer is a mindless boulder bereft of wisdom. While it doesn’t care about humans or living creatures, the presence of even a bit of iron draws its attention.”

The visual, auditory, and olfactory senses of the Iron Devourer aren’t particularly advanced, but its ability to detect ‘iron’ rivals the perceptive abilities of mid-tier Celestial and Demon races.

To Celestials and Demons, it’s probably no more than a silly rock, but to humans and other life forms, nothing more terrifying exists.

Thus, the Iron Devourer is considered a calamity to humans and a nightmare to knights.

As Black Lily raised her hand, the humans it had just devoured reconstituted themselves, rising up again.

The grotesque transformation looked like a malevolent sorcery, but in reality, it was a life-saving process.

One of the magic spells possessed by Black Lily, derived from the Demon Race, called ‘Immortality Field.’

This magical area compels the reassembly of the physical bodies of those who have died. It differs from the Celestial Race’s ‘Sacred Resurrection.’

While ‘Sacred Resurrection’ truly brings one back to life, restoring their original body before death, ‘Immortality Field’ operates more like piecing things together.

“Like… glueing a torn picture back together.”

“Exactly. Reassembling the ‘material’ that is the body. I guess it’s easier for you to understand since you’re from the same ‘School.’ Blodia could probably learn it too.”

“Hmm… Is she really not you?”

“Of course not.”

Black Lily nodded while looking at the figures on the ground, confused after their revival.

“Compared to even the humans below and the Iron Devourer, Lily and I are quite distinct in composition. We’re made from entirely different elements.”

“Even me?”

“Blodia, on the contrary, shares the same elements as Lasty, from head to toe. The only differing factor might be the rank of her soul.”

“Mmm…”

“…What. On a mental level, you two are quite similar, I guess.”

Chuckle.

Black Lily smiled and gently stroked Blodia’s head as she was lost in thought.

“That’s why I’m here already.”

“Why didn’t you stop it just now? According to the knowledge passed onto me by Riven, Lily was supposed to capture the beast.”

“Someone else is destined to do that.”

The Iron Devourer presents a significant enough threat to humanity.

Iron has become a staple in human society; even a simple glance at the buildings in the village reveals how metals are everywhere.

Although the Iron Devourer’s primary target is iron, it doesn’t restrict itself to iron alone.

Since we can’t revert to the agricultural era, we’ll have to keep battling this monstrous creature.

But Black Lily is not a user.

She is a ‘World Boss’ designated by the system.

Even though she managed to escape the system’s confines, she still remains bound by various restrictions and possesses many limitations.

‘Not to mention insufficient strength…’

Most importantly, she has yet to regain her full power.

“The first thing to confront is Lily. Like Piarro, we need some kind of trigger first. Right now, we don’t have one…”

“Like me?”

“Yes. We should address this first.”

The tip of Black Lily’s finger created a crack in the air and transitioned into another place within the continent.

Blodia soon followed behind her.

At their destination stood a temple, tightly bound with chains and talismans.

Nearby were abundant warnings about hidden traps and forbidden entry, but due to the ravages of time, most of the traps had rusted and failed.

Creak…

The temple’s door that shouldn’t have opened even with numerous seals, opened ajar.

The state within the temple was worse; the talismans that assisted with the sealing had been ripped apart, and the magical artifacts imbued with divine energy that supported it were long since shattered.

At the empty seal’s base lay an inscription.

“Iron Soul Sword.”

“The cause of most calamities usually starts from curiosity and greed.”

Much like someone awakening the iron calamity.

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