Chapter 363 Volume V - Chapter 81: The Chained Lord's Desire
I turned my eyes to Sue.
She had been staring straight ahead for a while, probably checking the status window. And judging by the changes in her facial expression... everything the gigantic woman in front of us had said was true.
We were talking to a Lord.
A god.
I swallowed, glanced at Lucia, who looked as surprised as we were. No, surprised was not the right word. It was as if she was out of her mind, absent-minded. She was in shock.
I turned my head again, looking at the chains wrapped around the body of Attracta, the Lord of Attraction.
If she is a Lord... how is she chained here? How did she end up like this?
It just doesn't make sense that one of the so-called Gods would be in such a state...
But it's also unlikely that she's lying. Sue's reactions are real, and if she saw anything wrong, she would have said so.
But... it still doesn't make sense.
I feel like there's something... wrong.
"Can I... ask you a question?"
Attracta's eyes suddenly fixed on me. It was so sudden that my body trembled for a moment.
"Continue, human."
I coughed slightly, cleared my throat, then continued.
"Who are the people who... imprisoned you here? Why did they chain you?"
Her eyes narrowed, her lips straighter than they had been.
As if... she didn't like these questions.
"I have enemies, as everyone has them."
"Why... didn't they kill you then?"
"The only thing that can kill a Lord is oneself, human."
I waited for a while, making a mental note of what she had said, but I had other questions.
For example... why was she so needy and trying to convince us? Now that Sue was her apostle, couldn't she give her orders? Even though her powers were limited, there were things she could do, after all. She wasn't completely sealed.
The silence continued.
Attracta, who answered most of my questions before I asked them, before I spoke, was also silent.
My brow furrowed. But... my next question was not what I had in mind.
"Are you really going to get us out of here?"
"Lords do not lie, foolish human. Do you doubt me?"
Ah, I angered her...
I think I'd better be a little more careful, but...
My eyebrows furrowed once more. I raised my hand and looked at my ring as the uneasiness inside me continued to grow.
Although I had angered the Lord in front of me, it sensed no danger.
"Why did the other Lords... imprison you?"
Her eyes narrowed even more than they already were. Even if her tone did not change, her next words were... almost pressured.
"Why ask a question you already have the answer to? You are even more stupid than I thought, human."
The ring on my finger was still quieter.
"No, I am looking for a different answer to my previous question. Even if they imprisoned you simply because you were 'enemies'... why were you enemies?"
"Differences of opinion. It happens a lot with you humans too."
No matter how angry she gets, I can't sense any danger.
Then...
"I understand, thank you for your answers to my questions."
Attracta said nothing. I didn't say anything either.
I turned around and looked at Lucia and Sue.
They both had their eyes on me. They were both waiting for my decision.
"You still trust me... don't you?"
I looked at Sue, especially her.
She had trusted me before and... yet... she had ended up here. I had betrayed her trust.
But...
"Yes."
I didn't say anything. Sue also didn't. Lucia was silent too.
I took a deep breath, grabbed my spear, which was not far from me, and... turned to the chain closest to us.
"We just need to break the chains... right?"
"Thirteen. Just break thirteen of them."
A smile appeared on my face as I started walking toward the chain I had my eye on.
I transferred mana to my spear, tensed all my muscles, and then jumped.
It was easy to get on the chain. Even though it was a big one, it was not too high.
I took my stance, took a deep breath, and prepared to attack the chain.
But that was not the only thing I did. I also looked at the fingers on my left hand, then turned my head back to the chained Lord.
"You can read my mind..."
Attracta said nothing, her eyes were on me.
"And you know what I'm thinking right now, don't you?"
She was silent, completely silent... Her expression didn't even change.
I raised my left hand, pointing to the tiny ring on my pinky finger.
It wasn't very obvious from the outside, but for me... it was different.
"The moment I try to break the chain... my ring trembles like crazy."
I withdrew all the mana I had put into my spear, jumped off the chain back onto the ground, and walked over to Lucia and Sue, both of whom were looking at me and the ring on my pinky finger.
They didn't know what it was for, of course. But I didn't take the time to explain.
They trusted me, after all.
"Do you think you have a choice... human?"
I tilted my head slightly to the side, raised my eyebrows, and Attracta continued.
"You cannot leave without me, the only reason your ring senses danger is because my existence as a Lord is suppressed, and that restriction will be lifted when you break the chain. I don't need to tell you that this restriction protects you from my very existence, do I?"
"So... how do we survive if I break the chains?"
"I will protect you from that pressure, it's as simple as that... you stupid human."
I waited a short while, narrowing my eyes, and looking into eyes that looked like rainbows.
"Will you... protect us from yourself, then?"
Silence.
A deep silence.
I let out a deep sigh.
"You just told me you were our only choice, didn't you?"
The silence continued. But I continued, ignoring the silence.
"But... this is a dungeon. A Recta-type dungeon."
The fact that she didn't speak at all, that she was in complete silence... I don't know why, but it was fun in a way.
"There is only one way out of Recta-type dungeons that have never been cleaned before."
I took slow steps forward and came to Lucia and Sue, taking my eyes off the Lord of Charm, and turning them to them.
"Kill the boss."
I saw their eyes widen, looking at me and then at Attracta, who was right behind me. They realized what was happening.
"This is a boss room, even though it's quite big for one."
My lips curled upward, this time smiling as I turned back to the chained Lord.
"And besides the three of us, you're the only living thing I can see."
I pointed my spear at her, directly between her eyes.
"The boss of this dungeon... is you, right?"
*******
The Boss... is a Lord?
It was something I couldn't have imagined before, no matter how much I thought about it. The boss of a dungeon, a god... who could have imagined it?
But... it was right in front of my eyes.
And not only that.
The Lord we identified as the boss... was the very Lord of whom I was an apostle.
And despite everything that was said against her, she was silent. As if... as if she approved of everything, even though she didn't want to.
"Your stupidity is really pushing the limits... I said only a few minutes ago that the only thing that can kill a Lord is oneself."
The smile on Adrian's face grew wider.
"I know, I didn't forget that."
His eyes left Attracta again, looking directly into my eyes as he turned toward me.
"But... you said yourself that the apostles got their power from the Lords."
Adrian withdrew the spear he had pointed at Attracta.
"There's only one problem with what I'm thinking. And that is... if you can choose an apostle, you can also withdraw your powers. As soon as you do that, we really are trapped here forever."
The smile on his face retreated, turning serious. His emerald-
green eyes were sharp and confident.
"But you won't."
Attracta's eyebrows rose slightly.
"Why, I won't?"
"This is a B grade dungeon. No matter how strange it is, no matter how full of things we've never seen before... the grade of a Recta-type dungeon is determined by the strength of the creatures inside. And most importantly... the strength of the boss. So, even if you are restricted, you still have the power of a B or B+ grade creature."
His eyes wandered to the chains.
"When I first saw you, I was ready to commit suicide in your name if you hadn't brought me to my senses, but you stopped me. You can also control the vines and those balls of light around you. I remember well how I bounced back the first time I attacked Sue, and yet... why don't you use the same power now to force me to break your chains? Most likely the chains limit even your charm, and you won't even try because even if I'm bewitched, I might somehow realize that something is wrong in time."
He paused, inhaled slightly, and continued.
"And then there's the matter of making Sue an apostle... I can understand that at first your intention was really to use her as a tool if we break the chains, and now I can understand why you didn't withdraw your powers from her when things went wrong."
Attracta, silent until now, finally parted her lips. She was calm, too calm even.
"I take it back, human. You are not a fool."
Adrian sighed deeply.
"You... you were willing to die from the very beginning, weren't you? You really want to get out, and you're taking your chances... But if the three of us die, you'll be trapped here forever, and you don't want that. You don't attack us because you'd rather die than stay here forever."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel