Chapter 834 – Can Someone Who Has No Brain and Cannot Think Dream?

000

＂Huh…?＂

While walking down the street, a resident of Asteris wondered if something unfamiliar had passed by him.

He turned his head back, feeling uncomfortable.

However, there is nothing there, just the usual crowd of people.

＂Is it because of my mood… I think there was a girl wearing a very strange outfit just now… ＂

He tilted his head as he said that, but soon he thought he was mistaken and hurried to the center of Asteris to pray for the sacred tree to bloom.

Leaving behind the man who said that, Lilim quietly looked behind her, but then she forgot about him and walked towards the gate that Aisha had mentioned.

It’s as if she stands on the border between the world of the soul and physical reality, which ordinary people cannot perceive, and passes through everything she touches like her fog.

Although she has lost most of her powers from her days as a demon, the method of controlling magical power she learned during those days and the techniques imprinted on her brain and heart remain.

The ability to move freely anywhere, as if she were invisible to others, made her existence even more mysterious among the abilities she knew how to use.

Of course, even so, it does not mean that we have completely left the physical world, so for people with good ‘intuition’ like we just did, there are times when the image of Lilim can be seen blurry or just crossing the border.

Moreover, even in this state, it is impossible to pass through a solid barrier, and the power of walking through this boundary does not work against opponents who use magic power or who have a high amount of magic power and can erase Lillim’s magic through magic pressure.〈 Br〉

This ability, which seems to embody strength and weakness, can certainly be said to be the power of a mean devil.

As he mentioned ‘strange clothes’, Lilim looked down at her own clothes.

Certainly, it may be a strange outfit by their standards.

It is thin, almost like lingerie, and is made of one piece, like a dress, and when the wind blows, it whips around and the bottom part flips over, leaving various parts visible.

First, she was wearing underwear, but the outfit was so revealing that it didn’t matter.

If you are a person with normal senses, this would be clothes you would not wear outside.

But there was nothing that could be done – this was the most efficient clothing for Lilim right now.

It is simply possible to absorb magical power in the atmosphere by maximizing the area of ​​skin in contact with the air, so I am wearing clothes for that purpose.

If I wear this outfit in front of other group members, I will be stopped (especially by Kuon), so I don’t wear this outfit when I’m with them.

When I was alone like today, I didn’t have to worry about hearing those words from anyone.

Especially when walking on the border, you always consume magic power, so there’s no need to say how efficient this is.

By no means did she have exposed walls, she rationalized to herself.

However, the thought of her being seen by someone and her nervousness secreted some endorphins and dopamine into her, helping her move her body.

… Who on earth am I making excuses over and over again in my head?

In any case, with her lighter steps, she was able to arrive at the gate of her castle that Aisha had mentioned, much earlier than she had thought.

As she looked back at the numerous carriages parked outside the gates, her eyes sparkled.

Naturally, she was able to use her magic power too.

However, she soon stopped practicing magic midway.

Even though she didn’t use anything like that, she did have a fancy carriage that made her stand out from the outside.

＂… What is that? If you’re going to attack, do you mean to attack?”

The carriage, made of luxurious red wood with a silver frame, was like a carriage made by a witch for a princess in a fairy tale.

＇Decoration made of fire lizard skin. Is that silver frame mithril? And… No, I feel stupid trying to figure it all out…’

Each of the ingredients was a magical item that was a little – no, quite difficult – for the average person to obtain, so at first glance, it seemed like an item made simply out of the unpleasant taste of an aristocratic family.

Thanks to this, it stood out to the extent that other carriages had to park far away around the carriage.

Thanking the other coachmen for their attention, Lilim puts her hands out in front and closes her eyes.

＂Isu Barrier [Hypnos]＂

Her magic floating in the air and her magic flowing through her own body react and combine to form a thin film like the shell of her egg.

The shield of her magical power created around her first spread out in an appropriate location, then slowly contracted, anchoring its existence to reality and –

Finally, after a minute or so, the magic that had been translucent gray turned dark black and enveloped the ornate carriage that had been her target.

She turned into a demon and became a dream demon, and her specialty is her genjutsu.

In particular, interfering with a person’s mind and putting the subject to sleep was the most basic technique for a dream demon.

That’s right, because showing dreams is their traditional way.

The demons summoned to Astarote were absorbing reality in accordance with Ishtal’s policy.

And, this small area of ​​dark magic that she created was imbued with the magic of sleep that she created, and was a powerful illusion that forced all living beings within it to fall asleep.

Although this was the first time she had used it since returning to human form, Lilim realized that her power to manipulate shadows and this sleep illusion had become considerably weaker than when she was a demon.

In the past, it wouldn’t have taken a minute to create a barrier like this, and if we wanted, we could have covered the entire area with a barrier.

Fortunately, the other person was not a professional wizard, so he did not notice until the barrier surrounding his carriage was completely formed.

By now, Darwin would be asleep in that carriage, like an old lady in an armchair, befitting her age.

Thinking like that, Lilim approaches her carriage, and as she passes through the area she created, she opens the door of her carriage and goes inside –

What caught my eye was the interior of a room-like structure large enough for a person to comfortably lie down and stretch out.

Inside, a woman in fancy clothes was sitting on a chair that looked so comfortable that it was hard to tell if it was a carriage chair or a sofa in a mansion, with her eyes closed, and her head bowed.

“… Did you use space folding technology to make the inside bigger than the outside? Also, a regressor. A part of the original world’s lost technology is being used for something like this.”

It may have been a technology created to camouflage that a structure that originally appeared to be nothing was in fact an important military point.

It would not have been made to place a kettle and stove for making tea, and a bed or sofa inside the carriage.

Well, either way, it would be good for me if I were to sleep like that.

“… So? Where are the hostages…”

As Lilim thought so, she looked around to take a look inside again.

When she thought that a drop of water had fallen from above and burst in front of her feet, Lilim quickly took a step back due to that eerie and unpleasant feeling.

And, if you look up slowly.

There, a huge hand made of flesh extending from a hole leading somewhere was writhing, holding on to two men who appeared to be hostages.

＂…!＂

Excited, Excited.

The guy’s body was vibrating so loudly every second that you could hear a pulse coming from somewhere.

Seeing that it moves little by little, I predict that it is some type of monster with consciousness or will.

‘I’m a little surprised… What is this… A flash golem?’

For something like that, it’s quite a bizarre and inefficient form.

＇But… No matter what it is, if it is a living thing, it will be asleep… All we have to do is save the two like this…’

Lilim thinks so, and after pulling up her shadow from beneath her, she begins to move carefully to free those bound by the lump of flesh.

The shadow, which has changed into the shape of a large hand, squeezes through the lumps of flesh, grabs the two men inside, and then tries to pull them out with careful movements as if threading a needle.

But at that moment.

A lump of flesh that wriggles loudly even though it hasn’t been touched properly.

The guy suddenly started moving as if he was trying to avoid losing what he was holding, and he was crawling on the ceiling.

＂Kuh…!?＂

Lilim was taken aback because it was something that would never have happened if she was normally asleep.

However, the barrier is so compulsory that even one cannot designate a living being that does not sleep within one’s barrier.

This does not mean that it is a magic so powerful that it does not distinguish between allies, but it can be said to be a powerful magic because it does not distinguish between enemies.

With various limitations, it must be a magic that specializes only in ‘making people fall asleep,’ so why?

Thinking like that, she soon arrived at one possibility.

Living things fall asleep due to the action of the brain.

So, what creature does not have a brain?

It is not easy to imagine that such a huge creature does not have a brain, but the opponent is Darwin-

It is an excellent being in the technology of changing living things through artificial evolution.

If so, it might be possible to create a life form without a brain.

With that thought in mind, Lilim quickly recovered from her panic and ran straight to where Darwin was.

That’s because the creature was crawling on the ceiling and getting closer to Darwin, as if it was trying to wake him up from his sleep.

＂Chiit…!＂

Restriction effect due to forced sleep spell.

It was another restriction to prevent magic from being applied again to beings who woke up after falling asleep, in order to strengthen the ‘power that causes sleep’.

In any case, there was no problem in defeating an enemy with a single blow who was defenseless once he fell asleep, so such a limitation was not very meaningful.

Indeed, even Lilim had never thought that there would be a watchman who never sleeps.

That’s why it would be quite annoying if Darwin woke up now.

Thinking like that, he almost flies away with the shadow to prevent Darwin from waking up, blocking the lump of flesh from reaching Darwin.

In the nick of time, Lilim was relieved, thinking that she could stop it before it reached the flesh.

But then.

Lilim, who thought that the lump of flesh blocked by the shadow was trembling, suddenly felt the illusion that something was looking in this direction from beyond the gap in the space where the lump of flesh was extending.

An eerie feeling running down my spine.

At that moment when something became unsettling, he pushed away the lump of flesh and tried to tie his body.

It is heard clearly from beyond space.

That eerie voice that seemed to be filled with anger, unclear whether it was the voice of a baby or an adult man.

[Uuuuu…!!

A long, echoing voice, like a baby calling for its mother, extended from beyond the gap and vibrated throughout the space.

Lilim felt a chill that made her feel like she was going to lose her mind for a moment at that voice.

What is more important than that-

Immediately, she left the place.

Faaah! After recovering the shadow, covering the body, and moving to avoid the gap between Darwin and the lump of flesh that blocked him.

In that place, something was sprinkled.

Because it happened so quickly, the flesh monster could not avoid it, and it melted from the part where the sprayed liquid touched it.

Lilim swallows her breath as she sees the fleshy monster trembling, perhaps from pain, but quickly regenerates.

─And.

＂Oh my… An uninvited guest came into the carriage on his own, right? I fell asleep.”

Darwin opened his eyes and threw the medicine bottle he had taken out of his arms onto the ground.

Eyes that seem irritated and eyes that seem interesting.

It was showing both sides and looking towards Lilim.