No one knew how long EeDechi spent searching in every direction, but she found nothing. In the end, she returned to the skyship, disappointed.
Barrett, on the other hand, wasn't particularly bothered. Easygoing by nature, he simply lit a campfire, set a pot over it, and began making beef soup.
He and Franco had unearthed quite a haul from the ancient battlefield. Better yet, they had found large stores of rations left behind by the Eight Greed Kings' army: air-dried beef strips, vegetables, cheese, butter, oat flour, dried fish, ham, cured pork, and numerous bottles of precious, centuries-old wine.
Although the food was five hundred years old, time had never touched it, and everything remained perfectly fresh. Under Barrett's skillful hands, the ingredients soon filled the air with a mouthwatering aroma.
EeDechi sat dejectedly beside the fire, helping Barrett chop a five-hundred-year-old cauliflower. As she watched the thick, milky-white soup bubbling in the pot and breathed in its delicious aroma, she began to feel a little better.
"Ahhh!"
A bloodcurdling scream shattered the silence of the ancient battlefield.
It was Kilua!
"What happened?" EeDechi dropped the knife, sprang to her feet, and raced toward the sound.
After vaulting over a wall-like mound of corpses, she saw a battered suit of animated armor limping after Kilua with a broken blade raised in one hand.
Kilua fled in a panicked stumble, not even looking where she was going. She was in terrible shape—her entire right arm had been severed, and she was drenched in blood!
EeDechi kicked off the ground and became a streak of black lightning. One punch pulverized the armored figure, leaving only scattered debris behind.
Barrett and Franco hurried over as well.
Kilua collapsed beside a corpse, leaning against it as she struggled to recover from the shock. Her voice was strained and choked with tears.
"My arm! My arm—my arm!"
She pointed into the distance. Her severed right arm lay on the ground, its pale hand covered in blood.
EeDechi's heart ached at the pitiful sight. She rushed over, picked up the arm, and hurried back to Kilua.
"Don't be afraid," she said gently. "I'll reattach it right now."
Kilua's expression shifted slightly.
No one noticed the strange symbol drawn in blood on her left palm.
She threw herself into EeDechi's arms and began sobbing. Under cover of the embrace, she took hold of EeDechi's wrist and pressed her blood-marked palm against it, leaving the symbol's bloody imprint on EeDechi.
EeDechi was still holding Kilua's severed arm. White bone protruded from the mangled stump, dripping with blood.
Kilua buried her face against EeDechi's chest while blood spraying from the wound soaked EeDechi's clothes red.
A golden-red radiance flared in Kilua's eyes.
She intoned forcefully within her mind:
"Let my blood be the conduit and bone the bridge. Open the way to the realm beyond!"
Boom!
Suddenly, heaven and earth shifted before EeDechi's eyes.
The ancient battlefield vanished, replaced by a silent realm of luminous white. It stretched endlessly in every direction, without boundary or limit, as though she stood within an infinite world.
"This place is…"
Clarity washed over EeDechi, and she understood at once.
"World's Will! You finally showed yourself!"
"Otherworldly abominable bug... An outsider like you actually made it here. Even my last sanctuary can no longer know peace."
A light, ethereal voice drifted through the void.
It came from every direction at once, making its source impossible to pinpoint. Its tone was crystal clear and seemed to reach straight into her heart, like a voice from heaven.
EeDechi raised the giant sword Delete in her right hand and gripped the bronze seal Ban in her left.
"Come, World's Will!" she declared. "Once I defeat you, I'll be able to surpass level 100!"
"Ah…"
The sigh was deep and drawn out, as though it had drifted out of the primordial ages.
"Why do you also seek to surpass level 100?"
"To defeat another level-100 Demon King and protect the living beings of this world from slaughter!"
"No wonder…" the voice murmured softly. "No wonder…"
Meanwhile, within another similar void, Kilua knelt with her head bowed to the ground.
When she spoke, her voice was no longer young and childish. It had become deep and sonorous, booming like a war drum.
"My Lord, please release EeDechi from her shackles. Lift her level cap, and hers alone. She is our only hope."
"Why?"
"Only otherworldly abominable bugs can defeat one another. We can no longer stand against beings as powerful as the Eight Greed Kings."
"I fear EeDechi. I fear she will tear me apart. My broken body can no longer contain a being of such magnitude."
"My Lord, I have watched EeDechi for a long time, and I believe in the nobility of her character. She is noble of spirit, radiant in virtue, and truly great. Not Ainz Ooal Gown of this age, not the Eight Greed Kings of five hundred years ago, not even the gods of the Slane Theocracy who once made a covenant with me—none can compare to her."
"You are wrong."
Kilua's heart trembled.
"My Lord, in what way am I mistaken?"
"…"
A long silence followed.
At last, the ethereal voice spoke again.
"EeDechi is already capable of destroying me. She frightens me. She is far more terrifying than the Eight Greed Kings. She is an anomaly even among otherworldly abominable bugs."
"My Lord, we have no other choice. Surely you can foresee what will happen. Even if you do not remove your restraints from her now, she will one day break every shackle binding her. When that happens, it will mean the end of the entire world! Mountains will crumble, oceans will burn away, and even the heavens themselves will be overturned!"
The ethereal voice let out a bitter laugh. "You are right. We have no choice. But I can remove only the shackles I placed upon her. I am powerless against those of her own making."
"Leave that to me. I will hasten the arrival of that day." Kilua bowed her head deeply.
…
EeDechi slashed her giant sword through the air. Her voice crashed like heaven-shaking thunder, and her bearing was magnificent and imposing.
"Come and fight me, World's Will!"
"There is no need," the clear, ethereal voice replied. "I will lift your level cap, allowing you to surpass level 100. Ah… Another gaping hole will be torn in my body."
Clang!
EeDechi thought she heard something shatter.
Her body suddenly felt light, like a student who had spent years carrying a heavy backpack and had finally taken it off.
"I have granted your request. Please leave. And take a construct lying on the ground with you. It is still alive, and I do not wish to see it again."
"My level cap is gone!" EeDechi clenched her fist in delight. "What construct are you talking about? Where is it?"
"A creation left behind by the Eight Greed Kings. Seek out the tallest thing, and you will find it."
"Hmm… Where did the Eight Greed Kings go? Did they all die in battle?"
EeDechi was intensely curious. Five hundred years ago, the goal of the Eight Greed Kings' great expedition had been to defeat the World's Will.
"They won. I yielded, and they departed. They left my body."
So the Eight Greed Kings really had defeated the World's Will. They had torn countless holes in its body, forcing it to back down and open a path for them. Then the Eight Greed Kings had led the remnants of their army out of this world.
"Where did they go?" EeDechi asked eagerly.
"I do not know," the voice replied with a quiet sigh. "Now go."
Time seemed to fold over itself, and EeDechi returned to the ancient battlefield.
She realized that she had entered some kind of mental realm. Not even an instant had passed in reality. Kilua's severed arm was still in her hand, and Kilua still had her face buried in EeDechi's chest, weeping.
EeDechi pressed the severed arm against Kilua's shoulder and chanted silently:
"If Gods Deny Salvation's Hand, With Sacred Blade I'll Reprimand!"
Warm light flowed across the ground like a gentle stream, gathering around Kilua's severed arm.
In the blink of an eye, the arm was restored.
"All done." EeDechi gently stroked Kilua's hair.
At that same moment, however, the ancient battlefield filled with the rustle and scrape of armor.
All across the battlefield, the corpses began to rise.
They had come back to life!
EeDechi had forgotten—her resurrection magic was an area-of-effect spell.
These soldiers of the Eight Greed Kings had died here five hundred years ago. Because time no longer flowed in this place, their bodies had remained perfectly preserved.
And now they had all been resurrected.
As wave after wave of living soldiers rose around them, EeDechi, Barrett, and Franco could only exchange baffled looks.