47. However, in the fleeting moment of dying, he held on…!
It was a tranquil blacksmith shop prepared by Balkan, not far from a clear lake.
Although the water level had dropped due to recent damming upstream, it was still a lake area big enough to fit ten soccer fields.
Gurgle.
In the midst of it, Penelope submerged her body in the water, with only her head poking out, blowing bubbles.
It seemed like her dissatisfaction had piled up as the ball swelled clumsily.
It had been nearly nine hours since she entered the water.
As a Balkan contractor, she had a more trained body, but still, staying in cold water for so long couldn’t be without consequences.
Her body became sluggish, whimpering like a slime, but Penelope was holding on, just a bit more, a bit more.
In her mind, the relentless replay was the match in the arena from the past.
When she first faced Yudahee, Barisada, who confidently extended the gravitational field but lost control.
Yuseongrak, who succeeded in dealing only 0.05% damage to the demon king despite giving everything.
And, despite being intoxicated with power, failing to find control of the gravitational field underwater, unable to activate her ability, being pulled out by Yudahee.
Even when I went out, sticking closely to Yudahee with a body soaked in water…!
“Ugh-urgh-urgh-urgh-urgh”
I dunked my head in the water for a while.
No matter how much of my rationality had flown away, the loss of control was painfully evident. And if that was a decisive defeat, even more so.
I gently moved the gravitational field with my locked hands, and slowly, very slowly, the water in the lake began to swirl.
But that was it.
As I paid less attention, irregular currents formed, and the uncontrolled stream of water soon turned into a water cannon, ready to attack Penelope just like before.
“What’s the difference from the outside…”
I already knew in my head.
The background she controlled was no longer just gas, but liquid, and despite calculating density and surrounding weight and attempting manipulation, there was hardly any change.
Is it an area that I can never understand with my head?
From Noble mtl dot com
I tried to separate the surrounding water thoroughly from the air using the gravitational field, but ultimately, it was a failure.
“Phew!”
I tried for the last time, and it was the same as before.
It’s been several days already.
Bulkan seemed to know something, but when he bluntly refused, saying “You shouldn’t realize it on your own,” there was nothing more to say.
Today, Penelope, who was about to go out without any significant gain, suddenly realized.
“Huh? Why am I in the same place-“
Despite struggling to move towards the outside, the situation was not getting any closer but rather drifting further away.
The current was gradually growing stronger.
It wasn’t because of Penelope’s abilities but due to external factors that she finally understood, as she gazed at the distant water vortex.
“Today was the dam release?!”
Simultaneously, it seemed as if the current began to reveal its true form.
It wasn’t a flow pushing in one direction, but a whirlpool dragging Penelope towards the center, deep into the water.
“Ugh!”
She tried to control the flow with all her might, inhaling deeply against the gravitational force, but—
“Impossible! It’s impossible!”
Could a single human withstand the force of the dam releasing 10,000 tons of water per second?
Not a direct impact, but she couldn’t possibly resist the current.
Various floating objects scratched her skin as they passed by, as if someone was pulling her ankles and dragging her down to the bottom.
Seaweed wrapped around her ankles.
The entanglement was faster than any attempt to break free.
In the critical situation where she couldn’t even catch her breath, her exhaled breath turned into bubbles and dispersed in the water.
Penelope’s consciousness grew hazy as something struck her head forcefully.
Ah—.
Her body weakened, and a sense of weightlessness enveloped her entire being.
Her body fluttered like a leaf in the wind, swirling in the water in all directions.
So, this is how it feels to die.
Already, in the submerged gaze, within the circumstances drawn down to the bottom of the lake, she had thought there was nothing darker than this.
One side of the field of vision is increasingly dyed in black.
Ironically, as she relaxed her body, as she floated and moved downstream, the flow of water gradually weakened, and she began to get used to it.
As unnecessary thoughts were erased, the flow of water surrounding her… Why did the gravitational force feel so finely?
The last breath, the air bubble exhaled just before touching the surface.
Penelope finally realized.
The flow of water surrounding her body was no different from reality.
She had failed to succeed because she tried to push it away, reject it, thinking of it as something separate.
Recognizing that it was no different, Penelope observed the flow of gravity acting on it as a line in her mind.
Handling the notes on the staff like a treble clef, manipulating gravity as she pleased.
The true use of strength, not just swinging down, gathering and amassing, was engraved in her mind.
All these things were coming together to give Penelope a new sensation.
It started with a floating leaf on the water.
It didn’t flow along the current but seemed to be fixed in place as if someone had caught it.
The water flow, about to become a whirlpool pulling downwards, gradually began to stop, completely unrelated to the dam’s discharge, as if the water flow had come to a complete halt, as if trapped in a rectangular frame.
And within that, the lake waters forming into spheres resembled a scene of weightlessness, like watching water droplets in a space station.
Slowly rising from there was Penelope’s body.
From underwater to the surface, from the surface to the empty space.
As if someone had casually laid out an invisible thread in mid-air, Penelope comfortably stretched her body, filled her lungs, then gently opened her eyes.
It was different from when she was floating in the air just before casting meteor shower.
Simply making gravity close to zero for a brief period in the air is different from completely generating gravity as zero… No, making it collapse to values below that, a force that can repel.
If you hadn’t realized it by now, you would have been lying cold on the lake bottom.
“But at the moment of dying, I grasped it…!”
Penelope burst into laughter, reaching her hand towards the sky.
“The essence of gravity…!”
Penelope reached her hand towards the sky.
“Anti-gravity!”
Now, it was no longer the Penelope of the past.
“Supreme… self-reliance…”
There was a contractor there who perfectly observed without being swayed by Yudahee, not succumbing to his own power.
“Winning and losing is a three-round match…! There’s still one left, Yudahee!”
Penelope, who vowed to show her changed self, claiming to break and take revenge on Varisada, but…
She still didn’t know.
That Yudahee wouldn’t show up in the arena this time.
—–
“Hawawa… Maou Jang, coming down to Earth, feels so exhilarating.”
Astaroth, looking at the girl wandering around the park proudly showing off horns on both sides, was truly in a dilemma.
No, he had piles of documents to deal with by tomorrow, so why was he dragged to a place like this to play the role of a babysitter?
Why is the Demon Lord Jang, the leader of this Mamma-Jeon Company, not realizing anything about his position?
Dodo-dodo.
Every time Asta watched the bounding Demon Lord, she couldn’t help but sigh.
It all started with a transit permit from the Administration Department.
Since they were already collaborating with the Administration Department, the suggestion to come to the tourist district and have some fun was more of a statement than a proposal.
Of course, Ashtaroth had intended to refuse, but that darn Demon Lord not only accepted it but also responded with gusto. It was impossible to refuse, especially when they had set the date according to the Earth’s calendar.
Modifying a notification once it had been sent was not something the pride of the Demon race allowed.
And if it was the rival Administration Department, it was even more…!
And that’s how they ended up in the current situation.
Overwhelmed with work!
The roaring of the lower-ranking employees!
And even the higher-ups, too busy playing around to care about anything!
“Ha-wa-wa, ha-wa-wa-“
“Sigh…”
It was truly a hopeless situation.
Nevertheless, unless they finalized the approvals immediately, the matters at hand seemed like they would collapse at any moment, so Ashtaroth roughly organized them and arrived in this state…
The Finance Department must have been piling up the work during this time, but since they had come all this way, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look around instead of just worrying, Ashtaroth thought, and just like the Demon Lord, she let go and followed her.
If it weren’t for the fact that she was bounding around without going anywhere, it would have been no different from the appearance of a young human girl…
And the energy and stamina of a child were immeasurable…!
Just when she thought the Demon Lord was right in front of her, she found herself watching the Demon Lord bounding far away, and Ashtaroth understood the meaning behind those words.
“Since I won’t be able to catch you, how about you slow down a bit, Demon Lord?”
As soon as I turned the corner, the body of the demon king, Majang, collided with Astoroth’s knee.
“….Master?”
It’s not like him to stop like this. What could have caught Majang’s gaze to make him act like this?
Following his gaze, there was a woman there.
With crimson hair, she possessed a universal beauty, even from the demonic perspective, as she strolled through the riverside park with a man.
Come to think of it, that man seemed familiar…
“The arena champion?”
There was no mistaking it, it was Yoo Dahee.
His final blow had left a deep impression, even Astoroth found himself absentmindedly gazing at it.
Could it be mere coincidence that the demon king had also recognized it and stopped in his tracks?
I was about to approach them and start a conversation, but…
“D-Don’t come any closer.”
For some reason, Majang was sweating profusely on his forehead.
“Let’s just go back to the company like this… Earth… is actually a horse field…”
Could it be that he had finally lost his mind, for the demon king to suggest going back?
It sounded like the universe was letting out another big bang.
While Astoroth was feeling my forehead to check my temperature, Majang’s body stiffened as if he had seen something unbearable.
I thought she had gone far away, but – before I knew it, the woman with crimson hair was standing in front of Majang.
He was about to say something with a body tensed unlike his usual self, but he was stuck.
“Ah, At’lal.”
“Yu-na.”
The red-haired woman gently placed her index finger on the lips of the demon king, Jong, while stroking her head.
Shh.
“They call me Yu-na~”