Chapter : 212

Was it possible that I did not truly know a single thing about Iris?

As that question—one I had thrown at myself again and again—repeated in my mind, it felt as though my breath was being strangled.

A despair that screamed I could never win boiled up from deep under my skin, threatening to choke me.

There is no way we can beat this.

I dreamed too big.

We are going to lose, horribly. In the end, we will be swallowed by that greedy snake.

Despair, terror, fear—everything surged up to the crown of my head until I felt as though I was about to be devoured.

“I promise you our victory!!!”

It snapped me back as sharply as a glass shattering.

My vision cleared, and I could breathe again.

“I did not know the Hero had that sort of personality,” Iris murmured softly.

I dragged in air in quick, ragged gulps and looked around. It seemed I was not the only one overwhelmed by her presence for that brief instant.

Everyone but Lucian was breathing hard like me, struggling to judge the situation with a delay that felt humiliating.

“Iris Viden….”

“Are you angry?”

Iris laughed, and something inside me roiled up like boiling bile.

What, exactly, was the difference between the Iris Viden from the Original Storyline and the Iris Viden standing before me?

I wanted to know, and yet I also wanted to never know for the rest of my life. I wanted to leave this being as an incomprehensible mystery I would never be able to understand.

Grinding my teeth, I clenched my fist and stared straight at Iris.

“Good. Let us do this, then.”

“Go on. Start spouting.”

“I will not ask for you, at least. Give me Lerwon.”

For a moment, my breath caught.

If it was Lerwon, he would have a hundred percent—no, two hundred percent—started thinking the wrong thing.

He would decide that rather than gamble on a fight he might not win, it would be better if he simply sacrificed himself instead.

I felt Iris smiling at me.

That woman was saying it with her eyes.

‘The hope you saved is urging sacrifice.’

And the emotion I felt in response was, of course, pure fury.

“Even insanity has a limit before it becomes worth listening to.”

I shouted with all my strength at Lerwon.

“Why are you just standing there listening to nonsense? Did I teach you that?!”

“…I have never learned anything from you.”

“Is there anyone here who wants to cover this up with Lerwon’s one-sided sacrifice?!”

There was no answer to my question, which was closer to a shout.

And of course there was not. Even if none of us would wager our lives for Lerwon, at the very least, no one here would offer him up as a scapegoat for their own safety.

“How bothersome. You brought quite a crowd,” Iris drawled.

“Thank you so much for your filthy generosity.”

“How insincere.”

“Expecting sincerity is greedy.”

Holding my staff, I stared at Iris.

As ice swords formed one by one, a fine crack appeared in Iris’s expression—only faint, but unmistakable.

Earlier, I had been too pressed for time to even use my staff properly, but the moment she saw it, she must have known by instinct.

This might be “a little” dangerous.

“Are you a little scared now?”

My hunch was right.

I lightly swung the staff, poured mana into it, and cast.

The ice swords flew straight at Iris.

Her expression hardened; unlike before, when she had responded leisurely, she dodged the magic openly, with no pretense of ease.

“Mordegar!!!”

Iris shouted, sounding furious.

Hearing her cry, I let a confident smile spread across my face.

“It is a staff that exerts an even stronger effect on a being that carries the possibility of destroying the world.”

A being that carries the possibility of destroying the world.

Just hearing it, it sounded like something grand. No—she truly was grand.

This world did not feel as large as Earth, but Ouroboros was still a monster capable of swallowing a world whole.

Could it possibly be easy to face an obsessive beast with a record of destroying a world once already?

But precisely because of that, was it not something I could exploit?

Because of that, was it not possible to hold even the smallest chance of overcoming her?

Could it really work? I did not have great expectations. There was no guarantee that what was possible in a game would be possible in reality.

But if I abandoned every other function and focused on this alone, then maybe—just maybe—it could work.

「If you want that to be possible, you will have to give up some of the other functions.」

When Mordin answered that way, neither he nor Iris could have known how much exhilaration I felt.

Yes. It was far too early to give up.

“There is still a lot left.”

I clenched the staff until it creaked.

I will defeat Iris, no matter what.

I did not want to see Father and the Academy professors swallowed by Ouroboros the way the Original Storyline had.

“To say there is still a lot left—you sound awfully relaxed.”

Iris laughed, as though the unexpected variable had robbed her of some of her composure.

“How relaxed.”

Iris probably was not saying that just to provoke me. She truly believed I was at a disadvantage. After all, Laurel—our sturdiest vanguard—had been taken out so easily.

She must have judged that our situation had turned sharply against us.

“To think you believed one week would be enough to stand against me. You really are amusing.”

At that careless attitude, I laughed for the first time.

Ah. Iris is looking down on us.

She was certain that even a week of preparation would not be enough to win.

It was an attitude that would have been unthinkable if I remembered the Iris who had once been defined by “caution.”

I leveled the staff at her.

“There is nothing amusing about it.”

Once, I had misjudged Iris. The price had been harsher than I could have imagined.

I would not allow myself even a moment of carelessness facing her again.

“Who is more wary of you than I am?”

“After everything you have suffered, you would have to be a fool not to be wary.”

Laurel—who had been smashed into the wall—laughed with ease and charged at Iris.

“Let us fight properly now!”

Laurel’s shout became the signal flare.

—

The first thing Iris identified was Fel’s presence.

Naturally. An exceptional holy power user was always the top priority threat. A single outstanding powerhouse could always change the course of battle.

And among those here, the one with that kind of potential was not the Hero, but Ferdiel Levian.

The Pope’s greatest masterpiece—created with his own hands to carry on his succession.

Unlike the other incomplete brats, that one was already finished.

As for Hartain Ignos, he would lunge like a mad dog, but if Fel did not support him with holy power, there was no need to be especially wary.

That was Iris’s assessment.

And her assessment was correct.

If the “Golden Elixir” had not existed.

That was why they devised a strategy to strike Iris where she least expected it.

‘Conserve the Golden Elixir as much as possible, and do not heal with holy power.’

Fel used his holy magic only to “attack” Iris—he did not heal anyone, not even once.

More than anything, Iris seemed to know more about holy power than expected. She appeared to understand, to some degree, what level of injury could not be healed even by holy power.

‘The culprit is probably the former Pope.’

There was no other holy power user who would have both the ability and the motive to cooperate with Iris.

Useless to the very end.

Laurel’s kick struck straight into Iris, but Iris immediately grit her teeth and grabbed Laurel’s foot, trying to shatter her ankle.

But Lucian and Cecilia reached Iris first.

Iris did not want to be wounded by the Holy Sword, so in the end she threw Laurel away with all her strength and slipped out of the line of attack.

As Laurel flew through the air, Zephyros slowed her with wind, and Mordin caught her.

“Are you all right?”

“I let my guard down.”

Iris’s reaction speed seemed faster than last time.

Or perhaps she had been playing with us before and no longer had the leisure to do so.

If it was the first, things would get harder.

If it was the second, that was good.

Laurel curled the corner of her mouth into a grin and charged straight back at Iris.

Like a beast, Laurel rushed her and threw a punch. In the paths where Iris could dodge, Hartain’s greatsword came swinging in.

If she could not dodge, she could simply catch.

Iris moved to seize the greatsword and Laurel’s fist, clearly intending to crush them this time—but a massive flame falling from above forced her to retreat.

And waiting behind her were Fel, Lucian, and Cecilia.

“This is rather disadvantageous for me.”

Among the trajectories of the three swords, the weakest impact came from Cecilia’s.

Iris dodged Fel and Lucian’s blades and let Cecilia’s sword pierce her heart, then murmured with a slick smile.

“Theo, tell your senior to let go of the sword!”

At Theo’s shout, Cecilia immediately released the sword, and it melted down so quickly that there was not even a shape left to recognize.

“You block me so I cannot even use magic. Do you not think that is cruel?”

“I do not know what you are talking about.”

“You are good at playing innocent, too.”

Iris darted toward Cecilia and reached out a hand for her.

Watching, Lilia reacted in shock and cast fire magic.

“How dare you lay a hand on her!!”

“Senior Lilia!!”

“Ah, I know!!”

Because of that, the flow of mana wavered for a brief moment.

Iris did not miss it. She shook the invisible chains that bound her, the ones meant to keep her from using magic.

“Khup!!!”

When Theo faltered to maintain the skill, Iris did not let that instant pass.

So you were the one holding the chains.

Iris’s eyes flashed coldly as she charged straight at Theo.

“What are you, some kind of missile?!”

Mordin and Lilia stepped in front of Theo.

“This is insane!!”

Under pressure beyond anything she expected, Lilia spat out a curse as if vomiting it up.

But even that brief instant was enough.

Fel, rushing in a beat too late, forced Iris away from the two of them and fired an arrow formed of holy power at Iris.

Holy power was dangerous.

Iris leapt lightly, almost as if floating, and dodged the attack, grinding her teeth.

“This is… damn miserable.”

An assault that seemed like it should break, but never truly broke.

If someone was in danger, the others rushed in without sparing a thought for their own safety.

It felt like fighting a massive snake, all linked together as one.

‘But if the head dies, the snake ends.’

And their head was clear.

Theo Lisitoel.

The mage who, with that strange ability of his, was blocking Iris’s magic.

Staring into the eyes that held her so directly, Iris smiled.

Facing her chilling grin, Theo smiled back with calm confidence.

“It is Plan B!!”

As if he had anticipated even this, Theo Lisitoel—the battlefield mage—shouted at the top of his lungs.

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