Read Novel Full Chapter 530: Negotiation
Chapter 530: Negotiation
"GAAHHH!!" Tsukiyo screams as I step on her so hard she sinks into the ground, crushing her further. I lift my foot off her, kicking her sword away, watching as she’s pressed against the floor by my aura and gravity.
"P-Please... l-let me live!" she begs, looking at me with obvious fear. In the end, everyone in the Abyss is still "bestial"—life is worth more than pride.
"Answer my questions, and I’ll let you live..." I lie to her, though I suppose I might actually let her live. Just not in the way she thinks.
"Your master, my mother’s true servant who sent you after me—what does he want with me?"
"I-I don’t know—GYAAAA!!" She shrieks as I tear off her other arm and devour it. She can’t regenerate and now, without her weapon, she’s lost any means of attack.
"That’s not what I asked," I say coldly, staring at her. She shudders, knowing lying to me won’t work.
"S-She wants to see you!! T-To evaluate you!! T-To see if you’re worthy to m-meet Echidna-sama!" She spills the information in fear.
’Considering this girl lost... the same trick won’t work again...’ Beings in the Abyss are arrogant, not idiots. Tsukiyo lost due to arrogance and underestimating me, but now that she’s lost, the servant who is Tsukiyo’s master won’t treat her as just a failure.
She’ll see me as a threat capable of defeating them, so she won’t underestimate me anymore.
’I need to play this survival game with calm and control...’ I think calmly and patiently about what to do.
"Rejoice, Tsukiyo. I’ve found a use for you." I tear off both her legs, listening to her screams as I finish dismembering her and eat her limbs. For a moment, half my vision returns.
’Oh, has it been enough time?’ I’d been waiting for my vision to return to normal, having sacrificed part of it to the Doom element for a while.
"There, that’s better... now..." I grab her body—or what’s left of it—using fire magic to cauterize the wounds and stop the bleeding completely.
Then I use the enslavement magic, that low-level spell I never thought I’d use. Who knew it would come in handy here in the Abyss.
"What do you think now, slave?... Let’s move on. Tell me where your master is..." She’s crying from the pain, a reflex from the damage she’s taken.
"S-She’s in an Abyss rift t-that teleports you to her place..." she says, taking deep breaths, trying to calm down. I stop using the [Demon King’s Gravitational Pressure] magic because now she’s just a dismembered slave who can’t fight back.
"Good..." I start flying in the direction she points with the stump of her arm.
"Tsukiyo, how strong is this servant of my mother? And does this servant plan to kill me, enslave me, or something similar?"
"I-I don’t know... I SWEAR I DON’T!" she screams desperately as I use the tongue on my belly, which wraps around her waist, savoring her as if I were about to devour her.
"Don’t worry so much. You’ll be the bargaining chip I use. You’re strong—I bet your master will want you back." In the Abyss ecosystem, where getting stronger is difficult, abandoning someone like Tsukiyo must be a loss.
"Haaa... Haa..." She pants in pain.
’Honestly... I would have loved to see her full power... but that would have been foolish...’ I would have loved a fair fight, a battle to the death with both of us at full strength, but she’d probably kill me. I knew that, so I couldn’t let her start taking things seriously.
’A battle of attrition... If I had fought her at her maximum and held on long enough... I might have leveled up... tsk...’ That was my mistake. I didn’t trust that I could avoid being killed, because she has a weapon.
’Violet, can you hear me?’ I call out to Violet, but she gives no response.
"Hmmm...?" I look at this girl. My instincts scream that something is wrong.
’It’s not her?...’ My large eye scans our surroundings for a moment. The ambient Mana has completely vanished.
"You bitch, did you know about this?" I ask, irritated.
"K-Know about what?" she asks nervously, and she seems genuinely unaware.
"Never mind... Your master is coming to see you, and whoever it is seems furious... Looks like your master adores you very much..."
"We’re... friends..."
"I see... Friendship, then... Who’d have thought such a strong friendship existed in the Abyss? So whoever it is must be really pissed at me for hurting you and making you a slave..." Without any fear, I continue moving forward.
"...Y-You won’t be able to beat her..." she snarls at me.
"Probably not, but who knows, right? I might win. We’ll see if I lose or not. So, what’s my enemy’s name?"
"Zhian’Thar..."
’Seems like many names in the Abyss have that strange pronunciation...’ With my giant eye, which sees much farther than I expected, I spot my new enemy, the master of this dismembered bitch.
She’s a large girl with pale skin, standing 8 meters tall. She has long, pure white hair cascading down to her knees, one blood-red eye and one black eye. A large halo made of hands floats behind her back—like black hands grasping and writhing to form a circle. On her belly is a perfectly round hole where her womb would be, letting you see straight through to the other side.
She has four arms, and each arm looks as if it’s covered in exposed bone armor, like a powerful exoskeleton. Her vital points—like her heart, neck, and privates—are protected by some kind of bone armor. On her head, a large pair of prominent white horns stand out.
"Seems your master is as monstrous as I am..." It seems the more "powerful and special" a monster in the Abyss is, the more unique its appearance—a good measure is my own body, which is quite unique in appearance.
"..." Before she reaches me, I use [Temporal Speed Blitz], appearing in front of her. She jumps back, retreating without me even attacking. She actually reacted to an instantaneous speed of zero seconds.
’Impressive.’
"You..." Her voice is filled with hatred and disgust for me, her sharp teeth bared as a threat.
"Hello, you must be the famous Zhian’Thar... By your scent and strength, I’d say you’re... level 4 billion."
"Correct," she snarls at me confidently.
’4 billion... That’s beyond what I can defeat...’ Even if I use the same trick I used on Tsukiyo, it won’t work due to the absurd level difference.
"How sweet to see friendship exists in the Abyss." I hold Tsukiyo’s body with one hand, my belly-tongue slithering out to lick her back as a threat. Zhian’Thar tenses, knowing her friend could be killed any second.
"What dirty tricks did you use to beat her? Tsukiyo would never lose to a weakling like you!! She may only be level 2 billion, but she can even fight Azraelith at level 25 billion! There’s no way she’d lose to a weakling who doesn’t even have 1 billion in level!!" She assesses everything with absurd precision.
’25 billion? This girl can face someone at that level...’
"Facing and defeating are two different things. This girl would hardly defeat someone at level 25 billion." When I say this, she snarls at me because I’m right.
"Give her back to me, and I can forget what happened here..."
"Do you have a bird brain, Zhian’Thar? You don’t need to forget anything, because a pathetic bitch who needs to send servants to lie to me isn’t worthy of my respect." The mouth on my belly opens, baring its teeth in a snarl toward her.
We’re two predators at the absolute top, but I’m weaker. Yet being weaker doesn’t make me less dangerous than her, and she instinctively knows it.
’She’s not necessarily underestimating me.’ Her posture is 100% defensive, without openings. Any physical attack I make will be met with a blow so strong it’ll take me out of the fight.
’My only trump card is this dismembered slave... Good thing I didn’t kill her too soon...’ I lick Tsukiyo’s body to provoke Zhian’Thar, and it works. Veins bulge on her forehead, and her gaze turns wild.
"GAAAH!" Tsukiyo screams as I squeeze her tightly, and Zhian’Thar reacts with concern—a slight slip that makes me react, appearing in front of her with a double hook using both left hands, shattering Zhian’Thar’s jaw.
Before she can react, she’s hit by a beam of pure Mana from the Doom element, but she manages to defend with a barrier while jumping back to create distance.
"..." Zhian’Thar puts a hand to her broken jaw, while I look at my fingers—they’re completely shattered.
’So hard... Her bones are too hard...’ She holds her jaw, and I hear a crack as she realigns it. She spits blood, and her gaze turns venomous, but also more cautious.
"Seems you’re not so pathetic after all... Give Tsukiyo back to me... and I won’t kill you." The hands in the halo floating behind her back clench tighter. She’s ready to fight.
"No, I don’t think I will. This is my little snack to eat later... Why would I give up my meal? First come, first served, isn’t that how it works?" I won’t kill Tsukiyo. If I do, Zhian’Thar will kill me right after.
’This stalemate will only last as long as Zhian’Thar can’t guarantee Tsukiyo’s safety...’ I squeeze Tsukiyo tighter. If I lose my grip on her, a truly dangerous fight will begin.
"...What do you want?" She opens negotiations—exactly what I wanted. A negotiation where I hold all the advantage because I’m willing to stake my life, while Zhian’Thar isn’t willing to risk her friend’s life.
’She seems to really adore Tsukiyo...’ I look at the colors of her emotions. You can tell they’re close friends, which satisfies me.
"You’d better be very careful about what you do, ’Pandora,’ because Tsukiyo is mine. And if she dies, nothing will stop me from erasing you forever!" She points at me with two of her arms. Her entire body is clearly built as a natural construct for brutal combat.
"Sure, sure. We can clearly reach a good agreement that benefits us both, shorty." At 10 meters tall, I’m slightly taller than her—a two-meter difference.
’She has six times my power... I need to keep things under control... If she realizes I stand no chance in a fight, she might decide it’s worth the risk to attack me before rescuing Tsukiyo...’ Fortunately, I don’t have a head, so she can’t see how nervous I am, having to figure out how to stay alive.