Chapter 440 From Behind the Scenes to the Forefront

"Loser! I’ve already given you two chances!"

A hoarse roar assaulted everyone’s eardrums as a foul, black wind rose. Within this gale, which felt like a personal domain, the Holy Emblem in Victoria’s hand flickered between light and dark before finally extinguishing! The Magic it had cast was annihilated along with it, crushed by this terrifying power!

"A Priest of Heim?" In the blink of an eye, Victoria felt an incomparably powerful gaze sweep over her entire body. That single glance nearly corroded her to nothing. "I remember we had an agreement: no Priests allowed!"

"Much less a Priest of Heim!"

"Y-yes, yes," the Vampire Count, held in a death grip, had his face turn an unnatural purplish-red—a sign his body was about to be crushed. He gasped for breath with great difficulty, as if he were still a living man. "B-but I didn’t bring her here. I’m not the one in charge! My lord, you must see the truth!"

Ron felt that gaze fall upon him. The same intense, corrosive pressure that Victoria had felt now weighed down on his shoulders. But soon, a few faint wisps of energy slowly rose from his brain, his heart, and his navel, shielding him from the terrifying pressure. The being in the deeper darkness, likely noticing its power had been blocked, let out a soft sound of surprise.

"You are... you’re not from this world?"

Aive and his other companions immediately shot Ron questioning glances, but there wasn’t much surprise. After all, in this Multiverse, such a thing wasn’t exactly rare.

"No wonder you fell from the sky back then..." the Goblin Hunter muttered under his breath, shrugging his shoulders.

"That’s right." Ron licked his lips. He could feel the energies protecting him and could guess the origins of a few of them. Under these circumstances, he didn’t need to worry too much for the time being; he just had to admit the truth.

After all, there was no point in deliberately hiding it. His opponent’s power was far beyond his own. Since the being had already noticed something was off, it wouldn’t be difficult for it to forcibly uncover the truth. It was better to make things easier for everyone.

"Hmm... so it’s you. The boy who fled here with a band of goblins and refugees," the being said, as if it had long known of Ron’s existence. But that was precisely why it was surprised. "That you could make it this far is something I never expected. You didn’t die from the infighting among the goblins and refugees?"

"When faced with greater pressure to survive, other conflicts can be temporarily set aside," Ron said, his hand slowly moving to the alchemy pouch on his back. But even he knew that nothing inside would likely have any effect. "Contradictions are divided into principal and secondary contradictions, and the aspects of a contradiction are divided into principal and secondary aspects."

"That sounds very reasonable, but no matter which Wise Man said it, those are certainly not your own insights. If you truly understood that point, you would have left the Delusional Land immediately instead of coming all the way here," the being sneered. "But it doesn’t matter, because I have ’principal contradictions’ and ’secondary contradictions’ here as well."

"Finding your way here was definitely not a matter of simple good or bad luck. You should have some understanding of the situation in the Delusional Land. I’ll ask you just one thing: Do you want a seat at the table?"

"Just like those archdevils or Demon Lords."

As soon as those words were spoken, not just Ron, but everyone, including Jilannis, was stunned. They all had a general idea of the being’s status, but no one expected it to ask so directly.

"That depends on the game," Ron said after a pause. "If it’s one where the Banker takes all, then I’m afraid I must decline."

"Those archdevils and Demon Lords don’t think so," the being sneered again. "While the Banker can always win, the players don’t necessarily lose everything. At least, after losing many times, some beings are still trying to win it back."

’That’s just a gambler’s mentality—and a wealthy gambler’s at that.’ Ron mentally counted the ones he had met: a royal from the Hailan Empire, a dual believer in devils and demons, a Lord personally favored by this Banker, and a plant giant likely created by the being itself. ’So what about me?’

His territory was the ultimate Frankenstein’s monster, a combination of everything from humans, Elves, and Dwarves to goblins and Kobolds. Although they were still managing to live together for now, no one could say how long that situation would last.

’So why would it invite me?’

"It’s simple. Because you’re one of the few who has started to unravel the threads of the Delusional Land," the being said. In the darkness, the giant, black-scaled claw seemed to loosen its grip on Count Richthofen slightly. As the Vampire’s violent gasps began to subside, the claw’s owner’s voice rang out again. "Every successful Lord has great ambitions and long-term vision, but they all overlook one thing: before the foundation is stable, all plans for the future are nothing but a Mirror Flower Water Moon, a castle in the sky."

"Laine was like that, only caring about restoring his old country. Farama was like that, obsessed with eliminating demons. Nu Hava was like that, plotting a counterattack on the Red Mould after his ’revival.’ As for this one..." The claw squeezed the Vampire in its grasp like a toy, who immediately let out a wretched scream. "He pursued power to the point of losing his wife and daughter, his country was ruined, he became neither human nor ghost, and he still ended up with nothing."

The Vampire Mage subconsciously shrank behind Ron. Fortunately, the being seemed uninterested in her, not caring who had stripped Richthofen of the power he should have obtained.

"Isn’t this all your doing?" Ron, hearing the being pontificate and pass judgment on every failure, could no longer hold back and interrupted. "Or are you trying to absolve yourself by claiming this has nothing to do with you?"

"No, this all has to do with me. I even had a direct hand in several of them," the being admitted frankly, with no intention of defending itself. "But you should think of it like this: if you plan to eat a potato, would you eat it when it’s still good? Or would you wait until it has sprouted or even rotted?"

"It’s the same principle. I’m merely ensuring my own interests are not harmed."

"Then why are you telling me all this? You could have just kept waiting and revealed yourself when I was about to ’sprout’."

"Because I can’t wait any longer!" Ron’s retort seemed to have struck a nerve. The hoarse roar echoed once more. "I have interfered as little as possible, but the result is that almost every civilization is unpalatable to me! Every single one! The examples I gave are merely the ones you know, the food that is relatively edible. In the corners you don’t know about, beneath the earth’s strata, there are even more failures!"

"I can’t even take a bite! I can only let them rot and waste my time! I have a near-infinite lifespan, but not infinite patience!"

As the being’s emotions fluctuated violently, the entire Delusional Land trembled. "I can’t be bothered with all that anymore! Even a chaotic stew is more nutritious than mashed potatoes! And you, you’re the most recent power to appear here, and you’re still searching for shadows of the past."

"Let me tell you myself: Very good! You’re on the right track in the grand scheme of things! You should continue down this path! Until I can devour the entire force you’ve single-handedly built!"

"Rest assured, I won’t kill you. I won’t kill any of the cards that have been on the table, or the people who have sat in the chairs. You are all witnesses to my feast!"

"I was supposed to reveal myself later, but since you found this place, found my old arrangements, there’s no harm in notifying you in advance: Your general direction is correct, but there are problems with the details! And that pisses me off!"

The corner of Ron’s mouth twitched. He could clearly sense the being’s impatience in its tone, so... he decided to ask for clarification, just to annoy it further.

"I’m all ears?"

’Oh, there’s something you don’t like? I’ll be sure to keep it up.’

"You should be building a true kingdom, or even an empire, not a stitched-together body of ants and rabble! Those pests who can’t even be called intelligent beings—you should eliminate every last one of them!" The "Banker" of the Delusional Land was blunt, showing no regard for the feelings of those present.

"(Expletives in Goblin)! You son of a rat, I can’t listen to this anymore!" Delaford angrily ripped off his cloak and threw it to the ground. "Ron, I’m gonna fight this big-assed windbag to the death!"

"And if I don’t intend to do as you ask?" Ron put a hand on the Goblin Hunter’s shoulder, stopping him from rushing forward in a fit of rage. "What do you plan to do?"

"Simple. I’ll just replace you with someone who listens, won’t I?" In the darkness, a pair of eyes as black as Obsidian suddenly lit up, seeming to absorb all the darkness around them. "Don’t worry. Although this is only the second time I’ve actively intervened in the development of a civilization, I’ve seen the methods of those from the Abyss and the Hells more than once."

"Since you’re not going to cooperate with me, I’ll just have to pick someone who will. This is an old acquaintance of yours, so you probably won’t have any objections, right?" As the pair of eyes drew closer, the being’s voice grew more distant, until it finally disappeared into the darkness along with Count Richthofen. "I’m taking this loser with me. Every second he’s active out here is a great insult to me!"

"As for the rest of you—aside from the man from another world and that disgusting goblin—I don’t care if you live or die," the malicious voice echoed through the room, which was no longer shrouded in darkness. The tall, slender figure of an Elf was completely revealed before them. "Have fun playing with your old friend."

"Ming Datiss."