I’m Asking You

“How interesting.”

Vivian looked coldly at Adrian, a guess already forming in her mind.

“Damn it! Demon Lord Vivian, why are you here! How could you possibly be here!”

Adrian was clearly very flustered.

After all, he was just a city lord; directly confronting a Demon Lord was a fantasy—but soon, a thought struck him and he came to his senses.

If the Vivian before him truly possessed the power of a Demon Lord, his head would have probably been forfeit the moment they met.

“Don’t even think about ruining my plans! You captured Demon Lord, your strength surely hasn’t returned to its peak!”

Adrian shouted, and then he pulled out a crystal ball—the motion was so fast that Vivian didn’t even see where he had pulled it from.

The next moment, the crystal ball shattered, releasing a powerful life force.

“Boom—”

With a deafening roar, a massive armored golem rose from the ground, blocking Adrian’s path.

Its body was engraved with holy crosses and religious decorations, and waves of divine power pulsed from it—a 【War Shrine】.

This was a metal behemoth, about five meters tall.

It was a living war altar, the horns on its body echoing with the sound of prayers.

Its exterior was covered in spikes and barbs.

In its left hand, it held a breaking wheel instrument of torture, with the corpse of a punished person bound to it, and in its right, it wielded a chastisement warhammer.

This was a creation of divine power, something that originally only the chosen and blessed were qualified to pilot, yet now Adrian had forcibly activated it.

And ironically, a creation that should have been driven by devout faith was now being powered by Adrian using life force.

“This is a 【War Shrine】 driven by the pure life force of a hundred lives. Even you! You can’t possibly defeat it easily!”

Adrian laughed triumphantly.

At the same time, this fellow was also a magician by trade.

Hiding behind the War Shrine, he began to continuously cast spells, and one after another, magical beams shot toward her.

Vivian frowned and began to dodge.

No matter how she twisted and turned, the War Shrine remained locked onto her, guarding its position as stubbornly as a dung beetle guarding its dung heap.

She could feel that this 【War Shrine】 did indeed possess extraordinary power.

This thing was originally a troublesome tank unit—and most crucially, it wasn’t being driven by ordinary divine power, but by life force from Adrian!

It was bad enough that its outer shell was infused with holy power and highly resistant to demonic attacks, but at the same time, this thing also carried that power Vivian loathed, a power that felt human yet not human.

‘Let’s test it first… 【Nightfall】, and then… 【Whip of Evernight】!’

Vivian took a breath, gathered her mana, and then darkness descended.

From within the shadows, an invisible dark whip lashed out at the War Shrine.

“Crack!”

The attack Vivian launched struck the War Shrine with unerring accuracy.

The massive war machine shook violently, a strange ripple spreading across its body before it returned to calm.

A blow from a Demon Lord had only left a faint whip mark on its body.

‘Its attribute resistance is maxed out? What a pain.’

Vivian’s brow furrowed tightly.

Every mobile shrine was developed by the Rhine Holy Church, a weapon specifically designed to combat most demons.

Each one required seven hundred and seventy-seven craftsmen, using seventy-seven tons of metal and various materials, forged over seven full years.

After completion, it still required a full seven months and seven days of chanting and blessings.

The various religious symbols and biblical decorations engraved on its body were not simple ornaments, but tangible blessings and divine power.

To put it plainly, this thing’s resistance to dark attribute attacks was maxed out.

Now, with the addition of that strange power, the non-peak Demon Lord Vivian would need a considerable amount of time to destroy it.

According to game mechanics, dark power attacks against it were subject to mandatory damage reduction!

An attack that should have dealt one hundred damage would land and do less than ten!

And the current Vivian didn’t dare to recklessly engage in close-quarters combat.

With her constitution, she didn’t know what would happen if she took a hammer blow, not to mention she had a child in her belly.

She didn’t dare to rush in rashly.

If she could take it down without getting hurt, that would naturally be for the best—so even though the effect was minimal, Vivian continued to attack, one dark power strike after another landing on the War Shrine, making it sway and tremble.

In the end, this thing was only good at taking hits.

“Hmph!”

Adrian, after casting spells for a good while and finding that his magical attacks couldn’t even graze Vivian, knew he was making a futile effort.

He stopped fixating on Vivian and turned his gaze to the pregnant woman on the altar, who was still too frightened to move an inch, a cold smile spreading across his lips.

“Let us continue the unfinished ritual.”

“Tsk!”

Watching Adrian raise his dagger again, Vivian couldn’t help but click her tongue.

This was going to be troublesome.

She could feel that the being lurking in the altar was not far from being “born.”

Even sacrificing just one more pregnant woman and her unborn fetus could bring about its “birth.”

What to do?

Should she risk her life to rush forward and save the woman, or should she retreat directly?

If she retreated, none of the pregnant women and their children would survive.

If she attacked, the risk was too great—but what did the former have to do with her?

Her goal was to survive, not to be a great hero… being a hero was the job of a Hero, not her, a Demon Lord.

‘I should retreat—huh?’

And just as Vivian felt that continuing the fight was not worth it and the thought of retreating sprouted, she suddenly felt a sensation well up from her abdomen!

It was not power, nor was it any specific thought.

It was 【Guidance】.

“…You really are a willful child. I’m helpless against you.”

In that instant, Vivian understood.

This was guidance transmitted to her from the fetus that had not even fully formed yet.

If that was the case, then there was nothing more to be said.

“Adrian, what do you think you’re doing?”

Vivian said coldly.

The next moment, darkness once again enveloped the underground space.

Then, a flash of purple-black light streaked through the darkness.

The Demon Lord of Evernight, within her own darkness, instantly closed the distance to her target.
Ducking slightly to evade the machine’s automatic counter-attack, a dark blade infused with a hint of holy light power pierced through the armor of the 【War Shrine】, shattering the core that drove its internal formula.

Then, she withdrew and stood beside Adrian, looking at the dagger he was about to plunge into the pregnant woman, and asked again.

“I’m asking you, what do you think you’re doing?”