Now there was only one thing left to do.

‘Show me the secret between Aktion and… Impelium. The one that reveals Aktion’s weakness.’

If anyone would know, it would be Impelium.

[O-okay.]

I waited, clinging to that faint hope.

But then…

<Error. ‘Secret between Aktion and Impelium.’ Classification: ??? tier.>

<Accessible from Eye of Omniscience level ??? and above.>

Damn it.

Not again. My level was too low once more.

What more do I have to do to obtain the complete Eye of Omniscience?

That was when.

“Done talking now? So, that was your last word?”

“……”

“Then all of you can die. Except for Idria, you stay.”

Aktion waved his hand lazily.

And in the next instant.

I couldn’t breathe.

A crushing pressure squeezed my entire body.

What the hell…? Where am I?

It took less than a second to grasp the situation.

Thankfully, Adwin was still acting as a medium from the underworld, so I was able to shout without issue.

[The sea! We are in the deep sea!]

[Ugh.]

[Neril, Serein, now!]

Serein shouted first, her voice urgent.

[Shield!]

Whirrr.

A barrier of protection surrounded us.

The bone-crushing water pressure vanished in an instant.

Next.

Swoosh.

Neril’s fingers formed seals in a flash.

And soon, we could breathe again.

“Phew. Thought I was gonna die.”

“Neril, what spell did you just use? The water inside the barrier disappeared.”

Neril brushed back her soaked hair and said,

“I turned the water into oxygen.”

“Ah, right… that makes sense.”

“……”

“No, wait, what?”

“You know Iori’s element-erasure spell? I just tweaked it a bit. Water and oxygen share some elemental traits, so…”

“Sorry. You lost me already.”

Anyway, with that, both pressure and breathing were solved.

I looked up through the barrier.

Actually, “looked” wasn’t the right word, there was nothing but perfect darkness.

Lisel spoke cautiously.

“We’re… under the sea, right? Like you said earlier, Mr. Mide?”

“Yeah.”

“But we were on land just moments ago, weren’t we?”

“Right.”

“Then what in the world… ah! Did Aktion transport us here instantly? Does he have spatial authority too?”

No.

I shook my head.

“He didn’t move us.”

“……?”

Everyone looked completely lost.

Even the Fingers of Lies seemed baffled, ironically enough.

Of them, the most talkative, Pirensha, asked,

“What kind of nonsense is that supposed to be?”

“Would you kindly shut up, Miss Serein?”

“You shut up, Miss Serein.”

“Both of you, shut up.”

Neril silenced them all and turned to me.

I took a deep breath and said,

“He didn’t move us. He changed the place we were standing into the sea.”

It was an attack I had never even imagined.

At this point, having someone like Adin shoot light from his mouth felt almost more reasonable.

To think he could transform the entire location itself into the deep ocean.

I tried to sigh but stopped, realizing the air inside the barrier wasn’t infinite.

Offense spoke up.

“I don’t know what happened, but we should head upward first.”

“Yeah.”

“My shadow sorcery won’t work here, no light at all. I mean, we could create some with magic, but…”

“You can’t use it unless you know the shadow shape of the destination, right?”

“Mm.”

“No helping it, then. Idria, I will need you again.”

But no answer came.

We all glanced around.

Of course, the abyssal darkness hid everything.

Neril cast a simple spell.

“Light.”

A soft glow appeared.

It wasn’t enough to illuminate the deep sea, but within the barrier, it shone plenty bright.

That’s how we noticed.

“Mom?”

“Mother!”

“Lady Idria!”

“Geez, pick one person to call out.”

“Shut up! Can’t you see she is gone?”

Indeed.

Then Idria’s voice reached us.

It was her soul speaking through Adwin’s mediation.

[I’m fine. You, on the other hand, don’t look so fine.]

“Mother? Where are you?”

[Aktion took me again. I’m chained by those cursed shackles, watching the ocean that suddenly appeared beneath me.]

So she was above the sea surface?

[He must have taken inspiration from your earlier words, Mide. You said it yourself, lava or the sea, you would survive either one.]

[Yeah.]

[The mouth is the root of all evil, my dear. A hero should remember that.]

[Hey, this one is not on me!]

So he overheard my words and decided to test it by throwing us into the ocean?

What kind of deranged logic was that?

[What’s Aktion doing now?]

[Just grinning beside me, watching the sea. Probably waiting to see you die.]

[Can’t you help us somehow?]

[As I said before, these chains nullify all authority.]

[Aren’t you supposed to be a Demon King?]

[Silence.]

I couldn’t help but sigh.

Neril said,

“Annoying as this is, there is no choice. Let’s go up.”

“How?”

“If I tweak the flying spell a bit, no, forget it, I will just do it.”

Whoosh.

Our bodies began to rise.

But we weren’t moving very fast.

Beads of sweat appeared on Neril’s forehead.

“This is rough. The pressure is too strong, it’s burning through mana ten times faster than normal flight.”

“Can you hold until the surface?”

“I don’t know how far it is, but I can manage. I didn’t earn seventy-two hundred thousand fame points for nothing.”

That was a relief, somewhat.

But of course, misfortune wasn’t done with us.

Crack.

A sound that should never be heard echoed around us.

Fractures spread across the barrier.

We all turned to Serein.

She smiled faintly and muttered,

“Shit.”

Crack.

From the moment the shield began to crack, she had already reached for the Branch of Corruption.

Maybe she didn’t have Mide’s intuition, but she must have known.

That with her current strength, she couldn’t possibly maintain the barrier until the surface.

She had once fought side by side with Xenia to block even an attack from the celestial god.

‘But this pressure… it’s way stronger than that. Just how deep are we?’

Not that it mattered.

The barrier would break any second now.

Mide asked,

“You holding up?”

“Nope. This will shatter soon. Maybe… three minutes, tops.”

“……”

“Don’t worry. I kinda figured it would come to this anyway.”

Serein took out the Branch of Corruption.

But she couldn’t bring herself to break it easily.

Mide spoke.

“Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“No. Could you not make me sound like the bad guy here? It’s not just my life on the line, but everyone’s in the party too. Did you really think I would hesitate because of my own greed?”

“Huh? Then what is it?”

“I’m not really sure what my wish is.”

Everyone tilted their heads.

Lisel said,

“It’s money. Isn’t that your wish, Serein?”

“Wow. You sound awfully confident about that.”

“So it’s not? No way.”

“……”

“Yeah.”

“Ha. It used to be money…”

That used to be true.

But that changed just a moment ago.

When Offense entered the special room and broke his branch, he had said…

—I will bear the loneliness and solitude of being left alone.

The moment she heard those words, Serein found herself thinking the same thing.

‘I don’t want to be left alone anymore.’

After joining this party and spending all those joyful times together, she no longer wanted solitude.

But she hadn’t realized that such a thought could rise to rival gold itself as her deepest wish.

Murmuring to herself, she said softly,

“To be exact, I can’t tell what my number one wish actually is.”

Then Offense asked,

“You have another wish? What is it?”

“I can’t say.”

No way she could admit that it was the same as his.

Serein quietly closed her eyes.

“Just thirty seconds.”

“Alright.”

She slowly turned her gaze inward.

What do I truly want right now? What do I desire above all else?

Serein imagined a scale within her heart.

On one side, she piled all the gold in the world.

On the other, she placed her party members.

“……!”

What the… there wasn’t even any need to think about it.

The scale nearly broke under the overwhelming weight of her party members’ side.

She smiled softly.

‘I won’t make the same mistake as Offense.’

I will only recite my wish inwardly.

Just as she was about to do that…

Offense asked again,

“Not yet?”

“I’m done.”

“If it’s too hard, I could offer some advice.”

“No need. And even if I wanted advice, you would be the last person I would ask.”

“Why?”

“Why else? Because it’s the same wish as yours.”

With that, she snapped the Branch of Corruption.

Then she declared firmly in her heart.

‘I will bear the loneliness and solitude of being left alone!’

With a confident look, she turned to the others.

“Mhm. Perfect. I will reinforce the shield spell now.”

“……”

“Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“……”

“……Ah.”

What did I just say out loud?

The shield Serein created became sturdier.

And ridiculously huge.

It pushed back the surrounding water pressure, creating a space nearly hundreds of meters wide.

Neril looked up at the massive barrier spell and said,

“With this much space cleared, we can move a lot faster.”

“……”

“Good work, Serein.”

“N-no…”

“Now, keep the spell moving in sync with our flying speed. We will reach the surface in no time.”

Serein’s ears turned red as she only managed to nod.

Lisel said playfully,

“So you have the same wish as Offense.”

“……”

“The same as Offense…”

“I can hear you the first time, you know?”

Offense nodded as well.

“Didn’t expect that, Serein.”

“……”

“No need to be embarrassed. Even my top wish got pushed down the list.”

“Ugh. You’re the real problem here!”

Vwoom…

Neril’s magic accelerated.

We shot toward the surface like lightning.

I approached the Fingers of Lies.

The first one I saw was, surprisingly, Pirensha, smirking to herself.

But the moment she saw me coming, that grin vanished like a ghost.

“What is it?”

“Why were you smiling?”

“I just thought Serein is an idiot.”

“Why spit upward? You were once the same soul, remember?”

“……”

“Well, that’s not what matters right now.”

I extended my hand toward Sobius.

Sobius frowned.

“What do you want.”

“Hand it over.”

“What.”

“The Hero’s Sword. Hand it over.”

“You say that like I owe it to you.”

“If you don’t like it, go be brave and save Idria yourself with that sword.”

Sobius stayed silent.

Sabach, watching the exchange, stepped in.

“It would be best to hand it over, Sobius.”

“……This sword holds memories with Lady Idria.”

“Didn’t it originally rest in the tomb of the three Heroes? That’s the Empire’s custom, isn’t it?”

“It did. And Lady Idria entrusted it to me…”

I cut him off sharply.

“Enough with the sentimental crap. Just hand it over.”

“Mide.”

“Why do I even have to listen to your rambling? Did you forget? You’re a traitor to humanity and a filthy liar.”

He growled,

“You think I joined hands with her for no reason? I was born to a fallen knightly house…”

“I said enough.”

“……!”

“Let me ask the opposite, do you care about any of our circumstances?”

Sobius fell silent.

I continued.

“Didn’t think so. And I don’t care if you don’t.”

“……”

“Because I don’t care about any of you either. You’re the Demon King’s lackeys. We are humans.”

“……”

“The only thing left for us is to kill or be killed. Whose blade pierces whose throat, that’s the only thing left uncertain. But until that moment, there’s no understanding between us.”

I lowered my voice.

“It’s not blame or condemnation. We are simply different beings.”

“……”

“But one thing is certain: this world was made for humans. This isn’t your resting place. That’s why Idria is trying to leave and create a fake world.”

“And you’re the one standing in her way.”

“Of course. I’m human. I can only think from a human’s perspective. And from that view, you have all committed too many sins against humanity.”

I clicked my tongue softly and went on.

“So, face humanity’s judgment.”

“Heh. You mean that same ‘plan’ you supposedly told Mother about?”

“Yeah. But before we get there, we have to escape this special room first. I will say it again, give me the sword.”

His trembling hands finally held it out.

I took it and drew it from its sheath.

Shrrk.

It gleamed with sharpness, rivaling or perhaps even surpassing the fake Hero’s Sword.

Neril said,

“Looks like that sword has finally found its true master.”

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