IRM Chapter 38

Sheryl was made dizzy by the little angel’s laughter, nearly fainting. She could clearly feel her hands and feet beginning to tremble, and her throat tightening in waves.

She clasped her hands behind her back, gripping them together to prevent the Archbishop from noticing her abnormal trembling. She managed a strained smile. “I understand. I will do my best to guide her.”

The Archbishop heard the tension in her voice but didn’t think much of it. He lowered his head and pressed his chest. “Of course, everything is according to your wishes. You are God’s most beloved child.”

After bidding farewell to the Archbishop, Sheryl brought Saintess Coralie back to her room. She hurriedly closed the doors and windows, released her magic power to detect the surroundings, and after confirming there were no traces of others, slowly turned to face Saintess Coralie.

Saintess Coralie lifted her bright, sweet little face and sweetly called out. “Moth—”

Slap—This was the first time Sheryl had struck her beloved daughter.

Saintess Coralie covered her flushed cheek, her big blue eyes looking at Sheryl with disbelief.

This was also the first time Saintess Coralie had seen her gentle mother cry so sadly and painfully, like a nightingale whose wings had been cruelly broken.

The grievance and anger in Saintess Coralie’s heart were extinguished by her tears. She slowly moved to Sheryl’s side and gently tugged at the corner of Sheryl’s clothes. “Moth… Teacher, I was wrong, but I really missed you so much…”

Sheryl pulled her into her arms. Being in the Church of Light, bearing the suspicious gazes of a group of people, how could she dare to exchange messages with the Demon King’s castle?

Like a drowning person clutching at straws, her bitter anxiety and longing exploded at this moment. “I missed you too, baby… but how could you come here!”

As a high-ranking member of the Church, she naturally knew some dirty secrets that couldn’t be made public. Previously, when she was at others’ mercy, she could still endure and watch coldly from the sidelines, but when it came to her own daughter, she would never allow a group of people to harm her because of Saintess Coralie’s talent.

She took a deep breath, feeling the abundant light elements within Saintess Coralie’s body, her eyes gradually becoming determined. “Since you’ve already been discovered by them… Saintess Coralie, you have the best light talent and are a natural saint. You must stand high enough—so high that no one can harm you.”

“Saintess Coralie, forget about the Demon King’s castle. We would only bring disaster there.”

Only now did Saintess Coralie learn of the Church’s true intentions, her chest blocked by a mass of stifled anger. “Those bastards! I knew it! In their eyes, a saint is worth nothing!”

She spun around furiously in place. “Then isn’t mother in great danger? The Church people don’t care about our lives at all!”

…..

From the Demon King’s awakening until now, only a short period had actually passed. He didn’t see Sheryl, as if he had long been accustomed to this scene.

He had thought Sheryl must still be safely staying at the Church. Now, hearing Saintess Coralie’s tone, he realized something was wrong and suddenly turned around. “What happened to your mother?”

Saintess Coralie instantly deflated. She lowered her eyes and pressed her lips together, taking out Sheryl’s rose, her whole person becoming dejected. “I’m sorry, father. I was too willful…”

The Demon King stiffened for a long while before taking it, his entire aura extremely low. After thinking for a long time, he asked in a low voice. “Who sent this?”

Saintess Coralie briefly told him about Reize.

The Demon King suddenly paused, looked up, a strange light flashing in his eyes. “Reize? How could it be him? He didn’t die?”

The Demon King turned his gaze and stared at Ji Chi, who had remained silent all along, instructing, “Lilith, take them out first. I have something to discuss with him.”

Saintess Coralie obviously hadn’t forgotten what had happened before and frowned as she stepped forward. “Father…”

The Demon King raised his hand to stop her words. “It’s alright. I won’t harm your friend again. I just want to ask him a few questions.”

When only the Demon King and Ji Chi remained in the study, Ji Chi was no longer in a hurry. He lowered his eyes to check his equipment—his armor value had dropped by over nine thousand, his student uniform was completely tattered from that strike, and the legendary amulet that had been reflected back by Evan once was also completely destroyed.

Fortunately, in the game, players could equip at most five types of clothing with defensive properties. Apart from his obviously worn academy uniform, the other accessories he wore were all orange equipment.

These accessories were all worn in inconspicuous places, so even the Demon King didn’t notice them for the time being.

Therefore, in the Demon King’s eyes, this otherworlder before him had a pale complexion due to blood loss (mages were naturally like this), revealing a slender, fair body beneath his torn and ragged clothes (mages were naturally like this), and looked completely vulnerable (mages were naturally like this).

A rare hint of embarrassment appeared in the Demon King’s eyes. He took out a vial of obviously precious blood-replenishing potion and handed it to Ji Chi. “I apologize. I overreacted earlier. I truly didn’t expect someone would choose to save Reize. No wonder Harvey let you live until now…”

The latter words were very quiet, and Ji Chi could barely hear them, but he wasn’t in a hurry either. He calmly glanced at the Demon King and naturally reached out to accept the potion.

The Demon King showed some curiosity. “You’re very special, much better than those otherworlders who make a big fuss and tremble at every turn.”

Ji Chi paused upon hearing this, unable to hide his surprise. “Are there others besides me?”

The Demon King turned the rose in his hand, many emotions hidden in his lowered eyes. “I can’t tell you too much information because we still can’t determine whether we should trust you or—kill you.”

As he spoke, he cast his now sharp gaze toward Ji Chi. “I know what you otherworlders think—relying on your abnormally sturdy bodies, treating this world like a game, doing whatever you want, acting without restraint, playing around carelessly!”

The Demon King seemed to think of some disgusting past events, and his expression toward Ji Chi also became unpleasant. “But you should know that this world isn’t yours. You’re just a bit more resilient than others, which means nothing in the hands of those in control!”

Ji Chi had been listening alertly at first, but the more he heard, the more something seemed off.

This Demon King spoke as if he understood otherworlders very well, but why did all his topics revolve around health points? What was so great about having high health points that would make one act recklessly…

He continued to look at the potion bottle in his hand with confusion. And this—why give me a blood-replenishing potion when I haven’t lost a single drop of blood?

The Demon King was still mockingly chattering away. “I don’t know where you get your sense of superiority from, acting like you fear nothing. After a few squeezes, don’t you still obediently kneel down and beg for mercy?”

Ji Chi couldn’t bear it anymore. “Those players… otherworlders don’t fight back?”

The Demon King seemed to hear something laughable. “Fight back like a kitten scratching? That’s exactly what I don’t understand—what do you have to be proud of? You’re just walking diamonds. How rare could that be?”

Saintess Coralie’s taunting ability really was learned from you, wasn’t it?

Ji Chi looked at the Demon King expressionlessly. Although the Demon King was a neutral NPC in the game who couldn’t be attacked, since he now had a health bar…

As everyone knew, players were natural enemies of all creatures with health bars, so why would he say player attacks were ineffective?

Ji Chi’s damned curiosity rose again. He stared at the Demon King with eager anticipation, his black eyes gradually brightening like when he first faced the final boss of the Demon Sword, the Archangel. “Could I scratch you once? Considering I’ve somewhat helped you?”

The Demon King looked at him contemptuously and spread his hands. “Such an ordinary yet confident otherworlder… Do as you please. In my case—”

Ji Chi didn’t wait for him to finish before swinging his sword and slashing across his chest.

The next second, bright red blood shot out like a fountain from the Demon King’s chest, staining half the study red.

Ji Chi silently observed the Demon King’s health bar, which had dropped by nearly a third, and conscientiously returned the potion in his hand. After the Demon King casually took it and gulped it down, Ji Chi finally asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

The Demon King finally managed to stop the bleeding, recovering from the sharp sword intent that lingered in his pain receptors, and asked in shock, “What’s wrong with you?! How could you hurt me?!”

Ji Chi looked down at the sword in his hand. “Why couldn’t I? Can’t you be injured?”

Following his gaze to Ji Chi’s sword, the Demon King asked in shock again. “You’re a student from a magic academy—where did you get an epic sword?!”

Ji Chi paused in his movements, seeming to understand something. “Wait, are all otherworlders the same?”

The Demon King moved away from him, standing in the corner of the study. Hearing his question, he couldn’t help but complain, “How could they be the same? You people are really strange. Some can be more beautiful than the Elf King, while others are so bizarre they look like they crawled out of the abyss…”

Ah, I know about this—there are way too many players who carefully customize their faces versus those who use random character generation.

“But they…” The Demon King frowned and finally took a careful look at Ji Chi, only then noticing that he looked completely fine, not at all like someone who had suffered serious injuries. “I’ve also killed quite a few otherworlders. I know your limits. You should only have one breath left right now.”

Ji Chi counted on his fingers, adding and subtracting the armor that had been destroyed, and realized he had indeed taken 9999 points of damage.

So according to the Demon King’s description, there had been fellow transmigrators in this world who had all trained to max level with ten thousand health points, but they had no attack power, no equipment, and probably no skills either…

Compared to them, he seemed much luckier—he just hadn’t unlocked his max-level skills yet.

Although he still didn’t know what caused this difference, indeed, without comparison, there was no complaint! Ji Chi suddenly wanted to take out his round companion and give it a kiss.

The Demon King frowned as he studied him, his expression very complex, seeming both expectant and wary. He murmured in a low voice, “I hope that one day, we won’t have to waste our strength killing you.”

The Demon King was unwilling to reveal any more information that Ji Chi tried to probe for. He gazed absent-mindedly at the rose forever frozen in its most brilliant moment and said softly, “You may go. Now is not the time yet. When the day comes that we all acknowledge you, you will understand everything.”

Ji Chi knew he probably couldn’t extract any more information from the Demon King. Pushing further might result in him going red-named. He returned to outside the castle, casually dealing with his little companions who came to show concern, and stared absent-mindedly at the quest [The Demon King’s Wish] still prominently displayed in his quest log.

So what exactly is this…

Ji Chi pondered the information he currently possessed. First was the conflict between the Demon King’s castle and the Church—while the game didn’t feature a struggle for godhood, these two forces were indeed antagonistic and would inevitably clash. Second was the rose sent by Reize, indicating that the former saint Sheryl was in danger and would likely be used by the Church to threaten the Demon King during the conflict. Finally, Saintess Coralie had become a demon—there wasn’t much to say about this, as no one could fathom the little Demon King’s thought process, but it seemed she never wanted to return to the Church again.

Alright then. Ji Chi casually closed his interface. He roughly knew what needed to be done.

He looked back at the lonely light in the Demon King’s study. Even gods weren’t as powerful as others imagined—they too had desires, ambitions, and people they had been waiting for.

And they too hoped for someone to help them.