Free Web NovelAfter handling what she had at hand, Vieya no longer paid attention to the turmoil outside. She returned beneath the World Tree and linked again.
“Revive the Demon King!”
Repeating the old trick, Vieya pressed her palm against the World Tree. The thought that had lingered and entangled in her heart for so many years flashed through her mind like lightning.
Heaven and earth fell silent for a moment. The World Tree’s information once again reached the slime’s heart.
【As you wish.】
At that moment, a sudden change occurred. freēwēbnovel.com
Vieya’s feet were clearly still planted on the ground, yet everything before her abruptly changed. She felt her eyelids grow heavy, as if she were about to fall asleep.
Her body no longer felt strong—empty, weightless. Like in a dream, she felt she could see clearly in front, behind, left, and right at the same time. She didn’t know where she was standing, only that the sky above her head was very low, exceptionally dark.
It seemed to be raining. Cold rain.
“Where is this...? Wasn’t I inside the World Tree’s space?” Vieya asked herself and answered herself.
“Where’s the World Tree? Say something already?!”
“Hey! You didn’t just use me as material and sacrifice me to your Demon King daughter, did you?”
“How can you do this...”
Receiving no response at all, she began to grope forward in the darkness.
But before her there was only darkness. Rainwater. Endless darkness, wet and cold rain.
Where is this? Where is this?
Vieya grew anxious. She needed to fulfill the revival contract quickly, then take the Demon King back—go back and live peacefully with her daughter.
That’s right.
She couldn’t rush. She had to stay calm.
Flaviel was waiting for her to save her. Her daughter was waiting for her to come home.
【Holy Sword】
After calming down, Vieya began to call for the Holy Sword in her heart, trying to invoke her own power. But no matter what it was, at this moment, everything had lost its response.
It was as if she had returned to the very beginning, to the time she first descended into this world. Back then, her level was low, her authorities were not unlocked, and she could even only use the Holy Sword as a fire poker. She was a weakling who couldn’t even beat a goblin.
Later, her master taught her pure swordsmanship for a period of time, then sent her out to walk her own path. Heroes would never be born in a greenhouse.
Coincidentally, she had long wanted to leave the Royal Capital—that newbie village—and go out to train. She fantasized about being the “Sword God of Ten-Mile Slope,” emerging from seclusion invincible, shocking her master into a fool, then trampling all the other powerhouse beings from different worlds underfoot while laughing loudly.
In reality, the first monster Vieya faced after leaving seclusion was a slime. A blue slime. She didn’t even bother to draw her sword, directly treating the slime as a «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» roadblock to step on—and thus welcomed her first spectacular wipeout.
Fortunately, she was saved by a passing adventurer party...
In such pitch-black surroundings, being alone made it easy to sink into memories. But suddenly, Vieya heard something softly calling her from a corner of the darkness.
She didn’t know whether it was a trap or an exit, but the hero who had become a monster girl would never fall to evil—even so, she had already instinctively begun walking toward the direction of the voice.
Slowly, the devil-like thing buried deepest in her memories seemed about to rise before her eyes. She wanted to run away, yet also wanted to go over and embrace that devil.
But she could no longer tell the direction.
Vieya was lost in the darkness.
After an unknown amount of time, Vieya woke up again. She had returned to the starting point, but retained the memories of the previous experience.
‘This... what’s going on? The one calling me seemed to be the Demon King? Does that mean as long as I find her in this darkness, it’ll work?’
‘But why did I suddenly return here? This is the origin point. Do I get sent back whenever I fail? Never mind. I’ll try again.’
Vieya didn’t get discouraged. She pumped herself up and once again set off alone, groping her way through the darkness.
In the pitch-black darkness where one couldn’t see even an outstretched hand, the slime girl’s thin, swaying figure was once more swallowed by the dark.
Vieya suddenly opened her eyes wide and discovered she had returned to the original starting point again—but this time, a bright light flickered in her gem-like eyes!
‘I get it!’
‘My top priority right now is to find Flaviel—find the one who’s calling me in the darkness!’
Vieya set out again.
Once, twice... forty-nine times.
Thus it looped again and again, until after the fiftieth time.
The slime girl once again opened her eyes at the origin point. This time, she was a bit dazed, and her eyes were no longer bright. She looked exactly like a salted fish utterly crushed by life.
‘Damn it, can I really not hold on after just fifty times?’
Vieya pouted, kneeling alone in the darkness. The surroundings were so silent that she could hear her heartbeat pounding like a drum.
‘Slimes don’t have hearts, but I do. Sigh. If it were someone else with my invincible lifespan and overwhelming power, they would’ve long since taken their daughter to some small town where no one knew them and just lain flat, freeloading until death. Who would still remember you, Demon King?’
‘But the paths of the hero and the Demon King are destined to intersect. Since the Demon King doesn’t dare approach me on her own, then I’ll personally go approach the Demon King.’
‘I’ve made it this far entirely through my talent and effort.’
Vieya stood up and gazed into the depths of the darkness, her heart once more filled with confidence.
The road is beneath my feet. freewёbnoνel.com
Walk on. Keep walking!
Like a salted fish flipping over and regaining vitality, the revived slime girl stepped into the darkness again, beginning her journey to find her wife.
Fifty-two times, fifty-three times... all the way to one hundred and eight times!
Suddenly, Vieya felt something surrounding her. Breathing hidden in the gloom, towering shadows encircled her, like a ring of walls closing her in.
And that soft calling voice was coming precisely from those towering shadows.
What were they? Hideous, enraged demons? Or evil dragons with lightning and molten lava flashing between their teeth? Did they all have sharp, murderous claws, cold water-dipped whips?
Whips? Why whips?
Like a rope of memory, constantly connected to the deepest well.
A well? What’s in the well? What’s in the well?
In the well, there is a slime...
Vieya saw the well she had crawled out of many years ago—the well at the Mount Aisa shrine.
Inside the well was her.
But today—here, now.
Vieya once again came before that well. When her hand touched the slippery, moss-covered bricks of the well’s edge, the world brightened.
Centered on her, the darkness gradually receded. Beneath her feet was soft green grass; in her nose was the earthy fragrance of soil; in her ears were exquisitely beautiful insect chirps and pleasant birdsong.
She recalled the day she had crawled out of the well, and also recalled a blurry silhouette of a person. All her life, she had gripped the Holy Sword and slain demons, yet drifted farther and farther away from that silhouette. In truth, at the bottom of the deep well lay a silver moon. She was meant to retrieve it, but even if one exhausted all the ropes of the mortal world, one could not touch that reflected firmament.
Vieya looked down into the dried well.
There was no slime girl there.
There was a petite girl... golden pupils... soft golden hair.
Rain fell from the mouth of the well, and the golden pupils slowly came to life. The girl looked up at the sky—and at Vieya—and gently smiled.
“You... found me.”
