Chapter 74: Mind Force - V

A gust of wind, guided by [Absolute Awareness], rushed into a discreet alleyway and blasted the body of one of Bliekon’s puppets.

The shadowy shackles that bound its feet held firm, tearing out its legs as it flew backwards into the nearby wall.

—Crackle!

—ZAP!

Lightning fell from the sky, piercing straight through its cranium and spreading throughout its body.

The electricity fried its nervous system—at least, what remained of it—before a fissure suddenly opened up beneath it, swallowing it whole and sending it deep into the Layers Beneath.

Bliekon, who had just escaped using a teleportation array, found herself baffled by the sudden ambush.

In the next moment, however, she gnashed her teeth.

"It’s him!"

She recognized the winds and the shadows. The utter lack of mana commanding their movements was a telltale sign. It had been a week, but the words he spoke to her through the shadows still lingered in her ears.

["Incompetent doll,"]

Oh, how much she hated the sound of those syllables!

She wanted nothing more than to turn him into a living rug for her to trample on, ad infinitum.

Unfortunately, something barred her fervent desire to pursue the bastard who humiliated her.

The Empire’s Guards were on her tail, earlier than she had hoped. Perhaps it was also because of that human escaping with her information.

Now, her identity was out in the open, and she slowly began to regret coming here.

’But I didn’t have a choice.’

A stronger monster had hunted her down, conquering her territories and turning her puppets into food.

Bliekon, with her 200,000 puppets, had been forced out. Her puppets were reduced to half in the process of escape.

For a moment, she was close to comprehending the pain of grief and loss.

...But only for a moment.

The chasm between fake emotions and a living being’s feelings was still impossible for her to cross.

Still, she felt ’relief’ if one could call it that.

After all, many other monsters in the Lawless Zones had been forced out by this gluttonous existence. She was just one of the many unlucky beings whom the new monarch fancied devouring.

Malevolent Soul Slime.

A monster that would soon be on the verge of godhood—if only it had consciousness.

Fortunately for everyone, it was incapable of any thoughts or sentiments other than fulfilling its endless hunger.

If any of them had stayed, they would have long been devoured by a starving blob.

Still, it was apparent that the Walvaskaz Empire was similarly hostile to her existence.

It had barely been more than a month since her first group of puppets arrived to scout her new hunting grounds.

Now, she was desperately running for her life, sending all her puppets to block her pursuers.

However, even as the hours went by, even those puppets she had sent into hiding were found and killed. It felt as if they had marked her from afar.

No matter where she or her puppets went, the Empire’s Guards gave chase.

It was already midnight.

More than half of the puppets she had snuck into Grakkis had been obliterated. Over a hundred were kidnapped and swallowed by the earth beneath their feet, making it tedious to get them out.

Bliekon had no choice but to flee—as far as she could.

Had she been capable of true emotions, she would have lamented her luck at this moment. Unfortunately, all she could do at the moment was focus on rerouting all of her puppets away from this accursed empire.

There was no time to fabricate her emotions and act frustrated.

’No choice... I’ll go to the human kingdoms to the West.’

With calm rationality befitting the emotionless Spindeiron that she was, Bliekon tugged at her Spirit Threads, commanding her army to flee as fast as they could.

She also forced them to maintain a distance of at least 238 meters from each other... lest the Dragonkins’ strikes spread across several puppets at once.

However...

"Hm?"

A flicker of hope flashed in Bliekon’s eyes.

Somehow, a few of her puppets were being left alive... As if the Empire’s Guards could not sense their presence.

Curious, she moved one of her puppets closer and was surprised to see that the Dragonkin did not even spare it a glance.

"Could it be?"

Taking a closer look, the puppets that the Empire’s Guards ignored... were her Snakespawn puppets, who numbered only in the dozens.

They were a recent addition to her collection.

Without fully understanding why it was so, she no longer called those Snakespawn puppets back.

She continued to flee with all the puppets that the Dragonkin could target. While she did this, she commanded a single Snakespawn to sneak out of the empire.

’Perhaps there’s no need to go to the humans.’

Bliekon could just transfer over into a Snakespawn puppet and hide until the empire’s rage subsided.

’This is good... this is good.’

There was still a hint of hope in her empty heart—the most real emotion she had ever felt.

The Spindeiron was stunned by this development, savoring the steady, liberating feeling of hope.

’Hope, huh?’

Bliekon had only ever heard about it before. But now that she felt the way it gave her greatest desires shape and form, she understood.

This was her first true step forward into becoming... complete.

’Finally...’ She thought, as an awkward smile appeared on her face.

Thus...

—Boom!

Even as spears tore through her puppets, and swords bisected her beloved collection, her smile remained.

All of her hard work for the past few decades was being torn to shreds.

And yet still, she felt it.

She continued to feel it.

The beauty of a possibility she never thought possible, yet endeavored to reach nonetheless.

** *

Aventine sighed in relief when he realized that Bliekon had changed her mind.

He had deliberately manipulated his own senses to completely and utterly shut out the existence of Bliekon’s Snakespawn puppets. As a result, they were no longer marked by the <True Star Astrolabe> and therefore ignored by the Empire’s Guards.

Thus, the Spindeiron no longer went for plan B. The human kingdoms would be spared, and Aventine’s own research could continue.

Indeed, he needed Bliekon to stay.

After all, her unique existence and the <Trait> in her body were all intriguing to him.

To have the main body remain here in Walvaskaz was paramount to understanding her <Trait>, <String Theory>.

Most important of all...

Bliekon was an artifact.

He wanted to add her to his collection...

At least, until she started comprehending hope.

"No way?"

Suddenly, Aventine intuitively understood what was hindering him from completing his Psychic Technique.