[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 185: Absurdity (5)

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In one of the ruins of an abandoned building on the outskirts of Eisen.

Terneth walked down the ruins at a constant speed. Not fast, not slow. He scrunched his forehead as he looked back.

"It's been 4 days since then. What happened to them? "

He asked someone who had been behind him since when.

He looked like a boy in a white shirt and a formal red tuxedo. A platinum-white butterfly tie was also seen hanging from his collar.

Even though he looked like a boy, Terneth–people who had been in contact with him for a certain period of time were aware, that he was not a human.

In fact, he was not worthy to be called a human, his existence must be even higher.

'He' floated around Terneth, and gave him an innocent smile that would make everyone think he was nothing more than an ordinary boy.

"I did it the way you wanted. Then what's your problem? You wanted to trap them in the 'park' I created, but you didn't specifically ask me to do anything. So, I did the rest as I wanted."

Terneth clicked his tongue, and continued walking. "I know that. It was my carelessness that gave no specific instructions. But, what exactly did you do to them? "

The boy stopped moving, silent like a statue, before finally giving a mysterious smile to Terneth.

"Let me ask you one thing. What do you really expect about them? "

"That's obvious. I want them to experience division and hurt each other. That way, I don't need to intervene directly in the execution. Did you do it the way I wanted? "

'He' widened his smile and gave a condescending look at Terneth.

"Then, it's unfortunate. I'm the one who loves fairy tales and the past, I love stories that end happily. That ending you hoped for was against my will."

"Then what's the problem?! Didn't I already give you the contract fee?! I let you enjoy all those memories! What is less?! "

This time Terneth snapped, but did not give the slightest fear to 'Him'.

'He' smiled too.

"That's true. I enjoyed all the food they gave me. There are so many happy memories that I like so much."

"Then–"

Terneth intended to interrupt, but He immediately narrowed his eyes sharply and gave full intimidation to Terneth using only the aura of his being.

"But I have my own principles. If I liked the banquet, then I would be happy to share it with everyone. If I don't like it, then I'll give them nightmares that are worth the price of ruining my pleasure. Do you still not understand that? "

" ……… "

Terneth did not reply, he just kept silent while staring at 'He' who gave him intimidation.

Slowly, there was a change in the figure of the boy. He had some sharp tentacles that looked stiff growing on his waist. Not only that, each of the tentacles also had several eyeballs growing there, making it look even more disgusting.

Terneth could not help but frown as he looked at it.

Indeed, he had already realized that the figure of the boy was not his true form. But, he had also never seen his true form.

Whether he had a humanoid form, or even a combination of several creatures that made him look terrible and disgusting.

Clearly, Terneth did not want to get involved with the 'unknown existence' any further.

He was indeed interested in the strength he exerted, but more than anything else, he still valued his goals that he had to achieve with his own strength.

Borrowing power from this 'unknown existence' is just insurance that increases his percentage of success in getting rid of distractions.

"I gave you the strength to lock them up and get rid of them. Then what's the problem? Don't forget that from the beginning, I wasn't affiliated with you at all. You can accept my power only because Olpus and Nuko want it."

" ……… "

That was indeed true, and Terneth could not refute it.

After all, he had been at such lows that he had no right or qualification to protest against everything Voyager did. He could only obediently accept their treatment.

In fact, he was lucky that he was still allowed to act freely to some extent.

The figure that was before him, was one of the 'They' that was referred to as a god from the outside world. Terneth never knew of their existence before, only after he teamed up with Voyager did he discover the root of its existence.

Not because they are hiding. Instead, they exist all over the place, and are scattered all over the world. Only, they were in a dimension that no human could reach. No one can see or make contact with them.

Even Terneth still needed the mysterious help of the Voyagers to see one of his existences.

If he tried to peek more, he was sure that it would not end with just a painful death.

Previously, he had received several medicines and potions that helped him to see and hear the existence of 'They', so that Terneth could come into contact with those unknown existences to some extent.

It was a thing that even Werli could not do, as he could only hear whispers from 'They'.

"You should be grateful that I'm the one who helped you, and not the old man. If you make contact with him, I doubt you'll retain your sanity for a long time."

"That Swallows Wisdom, huh … "

Terneth began to imagine the figure of an old man in his head. His form was not very clear, but Terneth was faintly able to understand how the human form of the 'old man' was.

Terneth has restored his calm. He finally refocused and began to organize all his thoughts.

Various guesses about the figure beyond human comprehension were gathered one by one, then formed into a simple conclusion in his head.

" … How many are you all? "

The intensity of the threat from the boy began to fade, and he smiled cynically in response.

"There's plenty. Much more than you imagine. If you know of the many gods who served Anastasia, then we are more numerous than that. You can call us gods, but we don't have any power in this world, so we need the help of other beings to manifest our souls or consciousness here."

The explanation sounds pretty simple to Terneth.

As already explained, the outer gods like them could not exert any direct influence on this world, that is because they do not have the roots associated with the place where all the roots of this world are located.

But that gives it another advantage. The advantage is the right to escape the absolute limits that bind the original gods of this world; like Anastasia.

"Wait, you said that all of you can't exert any influence on the world unless you find a suitable medium. But how can you influence the media? "

Another question came from Terne. But now, he couldn't find the answer himself.

The question sounds a bit complicated, but it's actually simple. He was puzzled by how the first contact between the outside gods, with the local media, could have occurred. If the outer gods could indeed not exert any influence as 'He Who Loves Fairy Tales and the Past' said, then how could they make contact with entities in this world?

He also smiled wryly. "For a human being, you ask a lot. All right, I'll answer, but this is the last one. After this, I want you to focus on what you have to do. It's just a suggestion, but maybe you should stick to it. Otherwise, you might get into the condition you all call 'serk."

Terneth gulped his saliva nervously as he waited for an explanation.

"Right, it's just like I said before. Without the media, we cannot exert any influence. But, how was the first contact made? It was easy. If there is one creature who qualifies to hear the whisper and feel our presence, then we just need to make him make contact based on his own wishes. The way we do it is by giving a whisper which will then affect his mind. After making the first contact, the media can become a container that will then spread our influence throughout the world, making our presence thicker and easier to feel."

"That means .. There is an entity that has previously made contact with one of you all, yes .. Who is he? "

"I'm sorry, but your chance is up. I won't answer any more questions. Focus on finding a catalyst that we'll use to create more doppelgangers."

Too bad, Terneth felt he would be killed for his own curiosity. There was still much he wanted to ask, such as their origin, how they could reach this world, and what to do to connect with them. However, he would not have a chance to find out.

He also wanted to limit the knowledge he had, given how great of a danger he would have to encounter if he had been in too long a relationship with them.

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"Noelle! "

Cryll's screams did not enter Noelle's ears at all. His voice seemed to have been muffled by a burst of hot lava that stood upright like a tower.

'Stands upright', that's a strange way to describe it, but that's the reality. Several pillars of hot lava seemed to support the vast cave, and dozens of balls of reddish orange lava were continuously fired in all directions.

Noelle tried to block every lava ball that tried to hit him, but it all felt futile because of the lava balls that kept popping.

Not only was the amount seemingly unlimited, the lava ball also renewed its movement in the air as if it had its own awareness to maneuver.

It made the defense system Noelle made almost unable to work.

The barrier was unable to withstand the hot lava, so he could only take shelter behind the stone wall coated with his own blood.

Noelle quickly ran and jumped onto one of the stone footings she created, and began to protect herself there.

He couldn't protect everyone at once under these circumstances. So, the best he could do, was to loan Norman his gun—Aligma which each shot of him could somehow get rid of one lava ball.

Cryll himself is seen hanging from the ceiling. He made use of the long chain Noelle gave him, and began maneuvering in mid-air to avoid a barrage of lava ball attacks that invaded like a missile.

More than anything else, they haven't found a way out.

The only strangeness there was a clown masked man wearing a tuxedo suit and a luxurious black hat.

The clown is seen dancing and enjoying a scene where Noelle, Cryll, and Norman are painstakingly avoiding the lava balls.

Noelle felt a bit irritated by the clown, so she sent out a few swords whose ends pointed directly at the clown, but the clown just dodged everything casually while making a mock gesture.

"Cryll's! Can't you do something to that clown?! "

A silly question, Noelle herself already knew the answer. For a moment, he regretted the question he had just asked, before finally looking at Norman.

"You can shoot him? "

"I'm trying to."

A short answer was given by Norman who painstakingly aimed at the clown, but the barrage of lava balls continued to disturb his concentration.

When Norman manages to take aim at the clown and pull the trigger, the clown casually moves his body and dodges the magic bullet Norman fired.

"Tch. What the fuck is that clown … "

Cryll clicked his tongue in annoyance as he watched the clown performing the dance to avoid the death.

He thought that there was something strange about the clown, and a different response came from Noelle.

"It's weird … "

Noelle shared her consciousness and gave Norman support by creating a wall of blood that surrounded her, then muttered.

His mutter was heard by Cryll, who gave him a look of astonishment. However, before Cryll can question his point, he already has to get back on the move as some of the lava balls that fly towards him are right.

"If it follows the previous pattern, then this place should be a projection of one's memory. But ... Neither me, you, nor even Norman have any memory of this. Where did all this come from? "

Of course Noelle could remove all those suspicions and assume that everything was just a coincidence. But, after all that happened, it felt a bit strange to think of this as just a mere coincidence.

There were absolutely no clues, and he did not have any information that could serve as the basis for his guess.

It's really an annoying situation. Of course the three automatically thought so.

"Kurasa .. For now, bsrtarung is the only thing we can do. Noelle, you want to go berserk a little bit? "

Cryll gave a defiant smile to Noelle, which Noelle then replied with a cynical smile.

"Let's go, I'll do what I can to find information. To do that .. It never hurts to go crazy a little bit! "

Noelle leaped from her position and unhesitatingly swooped towards the hot lava pool below. A crazy smile was plastered on his face, and his body instantly fixed his position in the air, changing to the landing position.

Instantly, a foothold made of blood appeared and stopped Noelle from falling. Noelle gently landed her foot there, and took out a few swords which she then shot out at once in all directions.

Each of his swords had very sharp blades and edges, clearly of great quality.

One of his swords pierced through the lava pillar, and came out in a half-melted state, while the other sword that had only targeted empty air since the beginning returned to him.

Noelle regained control of all those swords to attack the laughing clown, and relentlessly gave him a crippling attack.

His maneuver easily ignored everything that was bothersome, and all the lava balls that targeted him only hit the walls and floor in vain. Some of the lava balls even fused with the lava pool that was down there.

Noelle didn't stop. He continued to give attacks to the clown, albeit in vain because none of the attacks managed to land on the clown's body.

Later, Noelle tries to use her blood-manipulation ability to kill the clown from the inside. As a result, the clown's body immediately had several sharp spears growing out from all over his body.

Even so, the clown looked painless, he just hardened his laughing voice and made his dance become much wilder than before.

Realizing her attack had failed, Noelle could only click her tongue in annoyance.

But the truth did not stop him. The blood spear sticking out of the clown's body had become something that sealed his movements. Even though the clown was not dead, he was still unable to move considering that there were some spears nailing themselves on the ground so forcefully.

Noelle uses that to keep attacking the clown. The slash and the stab of the sword he was flying, and got the help of a magic bullet shot from Aligma which was in Norman's hands.

All of that should have been enough to provide an incredible destructive power, but the clown was still alive without showing any sign of it would stop moving.

At that moment, Cryll suddenly appeared right above him and swung one of his arching swords right at the clown's body.

The blade of his sword which was a set of supplies from the star weapon easily pierced through and cut the clown's body from top to bottom, then split it in half.

At that moment, the clown showed a sign of death.

His movements slowly faded, and the sound of screams mixed with that horrifying laughter slowly disappeared.

Cryll wakes up and sees the clown's corpse. There is only one body that has been divided into two. However, there are absolutely no internal organs to be found in the body of any living thing.

What makes up his body is just bones and flesh, without other internal organs such as the heart, lungs, intestines, stomach, and others.

Naturally, the sight made the three suspicious.

Cryll intends to examine more closely by approaching the clown's corpse. But, it was immediately stopped by Noelle who suddenly shouted.

"Far from there! Crypim! "

Cryll's instincts scream. The intuition he had been training so hard for a long time commanded him to follow Noelle's instructions.

He should get out of there. The sentence kept repeating in his head like a broken radio.

However, even so, Cryll did not move at all.

His mind slowed down, and his body was unable to move as he wished.

Was it because of intimidation? No, it's not that. Cryll believes that's not the reason.

Even though his mind had been slowed down in such a way, he still understood that he would not easily be afraid just because of the intimidation from someone.

It must be the effect of something else.

Cryll was stunned at the scene that suddenly happened in front of him.

The split corpse of the clown spurted an awful lot of blood, and slowly stood up. Eyes with pupils as dark and as thick as mud were staring at him with a blank look, making him feel goosebumps on his back.

Only then did he realize the situation when the strong grip of Noelle's blood made him return to his original position.

Noelle realizes Cryll's strange condition, and instantly uses blood manipulation to create claws that will then forcefully pull Cryll away.

After pulling Cryll to his side, they begin to see changes in the clown.

Blood was still being expelled from the side of his body that was neatly cut off, and the screams mixed with laughter reappeared. This time, the clown felt like it was giving a terrible grin like a demon.

The clown had stood up, and his two arms that were spread to the side began to show movement.

Both of his arms covered in blood-soaked long-sleeved shirts bent and opened several times, as if testing whether his joints were still functioning or not.

After which, a black needle began to grow from the side of his body that had been cut off.

The thorn is so much. So many and large that it appears to blend with the spines that grow on the side of the other body parts.

"I think this has changed for the worse … "

Noelle can't deny it. He had the same premonition as Norman!

The screams grew louder and louder. His voice was loud, and the noses and ears of those who heard him were so hot that they let out a few drops of blood from there.

The three almost lost their balance due to the forcible capture of their senses, but were somehow able to maintain a standby position with weapons.

Soon, a big change began to take place.

The clown's body had completely transformed into the shape of a strange creature.

Although faint, Noelle could see how hundreds of maggots and transparent worms were coming out and stacking on each other in the clown's body.

Eventually, the clown transformation is complete.

Now, the one before them was not the same clown as the one before.

Rather a strange creature whose shape is similar to a mixture between a centipede and a giant scorpion.

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