Free Web NovelVieya’s decision wasn’t made on a whim.
If she didn’t take this chance to investigate everything about Flaviel, she would never again be able to sleep with peace of mind.
If nothing else—if she took the Holy Sword and the space it supported truly collapsed, then she would never be able to return here again, losing her one and only opportunity...
That alone was enough to make her wake in the middle of the night for years to come.
But as things stood now—
Someone had appeared, wanting to seize or control the Holy Sword.
For that, they had plotted for a long time. Not only had they lured adventurers in to die as scouts, they were also trying to use that method to select the one capable of drawing the Holy Sword from the Hero’s Armor.
And yet now—
Vieya had actually taken the Holy Sword. But those people were dissatisfied once again—not only refusing to let her leave Mount Aisa easily, but even stepping out to provoke her, wearing the arrogance of people who intended to keep them all there.
From the moment she saw the half-severed corpse lying before the armor, she had already foreseen this day would come.
Only—
She hadn’t expected that even the Demon King known as the Lord of Time would vanish along with the reset of this space.
Vieya suddenly felt a twinge of sadness.
Flaviel, once the master of time, was now trapped together with the very loop she herself had created, forced to repeat endlessly alongside the souls of the dead.
Again and again, who knew how many times she had circled through this place?
But why had she done it?
To wait for the day I would return here? To deliver that diary so clearly written for me into my hands? Or... to see me one last time?
Vieya rubbed her stiff cheeks.
And in the end, she hadn’t even gotten a chance to properly say goodbye.
She sighed softly and activated the sixth authority ranked within her—
the one called Viper: Divine Concealment.
An authority that could turn an ordinary person into a top-class assassin.
At that same moment—
In the eyes of birds, trees, and grass, the white-haired girl whose face had shown no emotion since leaving the trio, who had radiated cold indifference, suddenly vanished.
Her figure was gone, and even her faintest trace of presence could no longer be sensed. freewebnøvel.com
It was as though she had simply evaporated from Mount Aisa.
But those watching through the flowers, birds, and insects didn’t believe that their target had simply left this time-space so easily.
“This... girl isn’t simple. She’s almost evaded every form of surveillance. No wonder she could take the Holy Sword from the Radiant Armor. What a pain...” The masked figure sounded troubled, yet her tone held not a shred of distress—only an almost childlike excitement.
Like a child who had just found a new toy.
“Notify that messy bunch to head to where the target vanished. As for those adventurer groups, ignore them for now. Oh... I nearly forgot—they have a Hero with them, don’t they?”
“That’s troublesome too... I’ll have to, I’ll have to—”
Mid-sentence, the masked woman froze. From her wide sleeve, a pale wrist like carved jade slipped into view, and her voice turned sweet, trembling, beautiful—
“...I’ll have to make them remember me—for the rest of their lives.”
...
A red moon hung in the sky, casting a chilling glow over the town.
At the same time— fгeewebnovёl.com
Vieya, following her memory, returned to the shrine at the town’s center. But before she even got close, she smelled something strange.
“So fragrant... smells like crispy roast chicken...”
She couldn’t help taking a few more whiffs. After confirming that breathing it in had no effect on her body, she boldly stepped inside.
These damn villains sure are living well. We’re out there with nothing to eat or drink, sleeping under the open sky, pitiful as hell—
And they’re here feasting in a mansion, eating roast chicken and duck. Must be nice.
“When I was a Hero running missions, I never got treatment like this... Fine, I’ll just turn you all into ashes!”
Seething inwardly, Vieya strode into the shrine.
But when she lifted her head—she froze.
What the hell... where even am I?
Before her was no shrine filled with solemn, heavy air as in her memory, but a lavish theater draped in red silk, carved beams and painted pillars gleaming under soft light.
Behind the translucent crimson veils, a woman wearing a fox mask moved gracefully, her figure elegant and alluring. With each layer of gauze she shed, the slime girl felt her own temperature rise a little higher.
“......”
What now? Do I attack?
Vieya suddenly grew uneasy. She was a monster girl without a heart, yet she could feel her heartbeat racing abnormally.
This was strange—she could swear that even if Flaviel herself performed a strip dance before her, she wouldn’t feel this kind of restless fluttering.
The air was still thick with fragrance.
But she was sure her body wasn’t reacting to poison or charm. Vieya lowered her head, took a deep breath, and sealed off her sense of smell.
That was the advantage of a slime’s body—she could control her five senses at will, and even suspend passive functions.
Good.
Not wasting a moment pitying her sensory shutdown, the one now standing ready for battle was Saint Vieya.
“A common vixen like you thinks she can seduce me?”
Without any weakness left to exploit, her tone turned firm and haughty. And thinking that Flaviel might be secretly watching her somewhere, Vieya straightened her posture even more.
The thin veil parted slowly. The fox-masked beauty’s enchanting figure appeared before Vieya—the only spectator. Several fluffy tails half-covered and half-revealed her body; the blend of innocence and desire was perfectly wielded by this fox. She bowed gracefully and spoke in a soft, melodious voice.
“Honored guest, does this performance—‘The Painted Fox Play’—please your eyes?”
“I... I’m not interested in you at all... Also, what is this place? I came into a shrine, not your theater.” Vieya frowned. “If you’re the mastermind behind those people, I don’t mind tearing this place apart.”
She was rather satisfied with her own response. “You have three minutes to explain everything clearly. Don’t test my patience.”
“Forgive me, honored guest... If my dance displeased you, then it is my fault.”
The fox-masked woman’s voice was soft, tinged with the faintest quiver—like a girl wronged by her lover, or a performer trembling under her only audience’s disapproval.
“I am but a humble fox, low-born and pitiful. I only wanted to make a living in this cruel world, and so I had no choice but to invite you here to ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ this small building...”
Under the lamplight, the beauty frowned in sorrow, tears glittering at her lashes. The flickering candlelight painted shadows across her face—clearly an act, yet Vieya couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.
Hah. Better liar than me.
Vieya pinched the back of her hand, snapping herself out of the fox’s honeyed words.
She wanted to attack immediately, but the other woman was also a monster girl—and she hadn’t used any charm, poison, or hidden attack at all. She had simply danced a lovely dance and offered a tearful apology.
Honestly, Vieya would’ve preferred if the enemy just attacked outright, shouting something like, “You’ve sealed your own fate! I can’t let you live!”
Or, better yet, skipped the talk entirely and held a blade to her throat.
No... this is weird.
Vieya suddenly realized—she might just be a little masochistic.
