Chapter 143: Frustration and Care

"...Thank you, Nio... I thought you were going to abandon me or leave everything to me... You’re actually being pretty nice... It’s a good thing we’re powerful. I was genuinely afraid of what would happen to me, and without you here, I would’ve been in serious trouble," Nioh murmurs to Nio, who is sniffing every part of Nioh’s body.

Using the [Divine Beast] class that Nio possesses, she is trying to detect the smell of the anomaly in Nioh’s body. As it turns out, the problem wasn’t as serious as it seemed, thanks to the fact that the two of them are powerful.

"...Nioh, I think it’s in your right arm. It’s the only part that seems different from the others, but there’s no way for us to know for sure... Do you want to risk it? It’s going to hurt a-" Nioh ignores what Nio says as she grabs her own arm and starts pulling on it to tear it off.

"Hey!! Hey! Hey!! Are you seriously doing this, Nioh? You’re just going to rip your arm off?"

"Yes, Nio, I’m going to tear my arm off. There’s no way I could sniff every inch of my body looking for this damn plant, but thanks to you, I managed to get rid of it. It wasn’t as troublesome as I thought, but it shows that we should never underestimate Hell!"

"Don’t watch if you don’t want to, but I’m not going to let this thing grow inside me and end up like those people up there... This is also something we forgot about. We should be more careful with the portals. We should at least do a quick check of our bodies whenever we change floors." Nioh finishes ripping off her entire arm and throws it onto the ground with a sigh.

"Nioh... Doesn’t that hurt?"

Nio looks at Nioh’s cold expression and is surprised that everything was resolved more easily than it seemed, but that was only possible because they were a pair. In any other scenario, Nioh would have been in serious trouble.

"It hurts... It hurts quite a lot, but not more than everything Typhon has already done to my body, and it’s a good learning experience. We were starting to underestimate how terrible Hell is. We were only focusing on the major problems and forgetting that even small things in Hell can cause us trouble... Do you smell anything else strange anywhere on my body?" Nioh asks, now paranoid about whether she was infected with something else.

"No... You seem completely clean. That person you found really helped a lot by warning us, although I doubt you wouldn’t have noticed when this thing pierced through your bone... Probably."

Nio walks over to the severed arm and picks it up, sniffing it despite the strong smell of blood. She catches another scent, takes a deep breath, and grabs the bone, pulling it out of the flesh.

"I think it’s here... We need to check to make sure we didn’t remove the wrong part... And please, Nioh, don’t dismember yourself like this again. It’s disturbing to me!! I couldn’t do the same thing, and I don’t even want to try." Despite hating it, Nio still does it for Nioh’s safety.

’She’s really doing this for me... Why didn’t she just leave me to deal with the problem on my own?’ Nioh doesn’t understand. Nio is so selfish, yet she readily wanted to help with this problem.

"Nio... Why are you going out of your way to do something you don’t like? It’s true that I got scared and a little desperate when I found out this was inside me, but ironically, once it grew, I would’ve felt it and cut off the infected part before it spread too much. It would only be a problem if the spores spread into my veins and the blood carried them to my brain, but since they’re in the bones, that would be difficult."

"...Nioh, I did this because we’re allies... Ah, I understand what you mean... I’m so selfish that it seems like I’d just throw you away if everything went wrong... Being selfish doesn’t mean being a traitor, you know?" Nio breaks the bone in her hands, revealing a small green spot inside it, spreading tiny roots and "gnawing" at the bone to get out.

"Looks like we were right. Good thing we’re dragons. We can smell plants inside our bodies..." Nio tosses the bones aside, her hands covered in blood as she casually wipes them off on her clothes.

"And look at that, Nioh. Your arm has already regenerated. It’s nice how our bodies regenerate so quickly in Hell. It’s the only advantage besides immortality... We should head to the location we were given. We should be able to leave this floor in about three days if we fly low at full speed." Nio looks around, already having gotten quite accustomed to this floor.

"...Nio... Are you planning to conquer Hell? Are you planning to recover the power I originally had?" Nioh tries to see how far Nio’s greed goes as she gets up from the ground and takes a deep breath.

"Actually... I think that would be pretty cool! Like, I could have everything for myself. If I had that kind of divine power, I could have, like, the greatest empire of all!! And considering that nobody actually owns Hell and it’s the sinners themselves who take care of everything here, I think I really could have everything for myself." Nio says with a smile as she hands Nio a potion.

"A potion? Where did you get that?"

"I managed to open my inventory while you were going to see that person covered in magic, but I only took three potions before the time ran out... Besides, I’ve already drunk two of them... I was testing a few things and, well... forget it. Are you going to drink it or not? Judging from the effect description, it should be good for you, and I’d rather use it now than save it and never use it." Nio speaks evasively.

"Alright... Thanks for the help. You were much colder and more practical than I expected, and you didn’t panic... Not bad for someone who used to be human." Nioh gives a small smile as she drinks the potion.

"Ha, ha, ha, what a joke. It doesn’t matter if I used to be human. This place is literally Hell. I have to adapt quickly if I don’t want to suffer."

"The taste of this potion is... kind of strange... But whatever... I feel a little more relaxed. Shall we keep going? Before we get sleepy... Wait... Where the hell were those potions!?" Nioh didn’t see where Nio hid the potions after taking them out of her inventory.

"You don’t want to know, Nioh. I discovered a few new things about magic... Just forget it! From what I remember, the fifth floor of Hell is mentioned in the game, and it should be better than this one! Let’s go before Typhon gets to this floor." Nio opens her wings and starts flying in the direction Nioh mentioned.

"We were lucky to be strong, Nio, but luck doesn’t last!! We need to get you experience as soon as possible and become stronger." Nioh follows her, talking to her, happy that she received Nio’s help.

"I agree, Nioh!! Let’s hurry and try to get off this floor. If the next floor is better, we should settle there. Climbing nonstop without ever staying on a floor has been... exhausting for my mind." Nio is starting to feel her sanity wavering from seeing so many horrible things one after another.

"Alright." Nioh simply accepts.