I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 175

CHAPTER 175

“Is it okay to just let it go like this, Master?” 

Lionel, passing by Detmé who stood listlessly with drooped shoulders, asked quietly.

“It’s suspicious to just let her go like that.”

“True.” 

Pendrade nodded.

“What if she changes her mind later and comes after us?”

“Could happen.”

I replied lightly.

“Now isn’t the time for pretenses.”

She sent us off, thinking this was the right path, but there was still lingering doubt.

‘No matter how corrupted this place has become.’

I turned my head, still gazing at Detmé standing alone in the corridor.

‘This place is her homeland and home.’

Who would stand by as their foundation crumbles?

If she hesitated or if regret began to surface, she might change her mind and try to keep us.

Honestly, just letting her go is remarkable in itself.

“Let’s go quickly.”

I turned my head.

And I pushed open the door where someone might have offered help.

“Wow, this place is even more of a mess.”

I laughed.

It was true.

Normally, a place that would have awe-inspiring grandeur, enough to command reverence from every living being, was in shambles.

The columns that would have supported the ceiling were mostly broken, and the ceiling itself was partially collapsed.

The floor looked dangerous, scattered with cracks.

There were still places where the power of the gods remained, as indicated by crackling flames.

And in the space that could accommodate tens or hundreds of people standing side by side, only two stood.

It was the Lord and the evil god.

“Oh my…”

The evil god was the first to notice me. 

It looked precarious standing in front of the Lord.

“Wanderer, you’ve finally come.”

Blood dripped between its laughing lips. 

Its frail body swayed.

“You should have come a little later, then you could have seen me sitting there.”

“Nonsense.”

I chuckled.

“If you came a little later, you would have seen me lying on the floor.”

“…Would you?”

“Probably. Looks like I’m all out of strength, can’t even use the god’s prophecy right now.”

As I shrugged, the evil god just laughed, blood staining its lips.

That, that.

Isn’t that precarious?

<…Wanderer.>

This time it was the Lord who spoke.

It seemed like he had briefly closed his mouth to confirm whether I had not allied with the evil god.

<Why have you come here? Have you come to the side of neither light nor darkness?>

The Lord, though wounded and seemingly precarious, still stood on both legs.

There was strength in his voice.

<Or have you come to submit to me?>

“Hahaha!”

I laughed at the Lord’s words.

It was obvious that the Lord was in a precarious situation right now.

The plan to make nectar using my soul was discovered and crumbled.

I found myself cornered by the evil god.

Well, if I draw out all my strength, I could probably defeat the evil god and its forces.

‘I underestimated the situation, preparing half-heartedly while looking down on the evil god.’

The preparations made by the Lord to face me and the evil god were nothing more than summoning minor and intermediate gods.

However, the evil god’s power turned out to be greater than expected.

The summoned minor gods were being overwhelmed and couldn’t exert their full power.

‘It’s a lack of experience.’

The divine realm had never been invaded for tens of thousands of years.

I smirked.

‘To use the word ‘submit’ even in such a situation.’

“I’m not here to take anyone’s side, you know?”

I raised one corner of my mouth.

“If I have to take someone’s side… Hm.”

I hesitated for a moment and then smiled broadly.

“Let’s fight.”

<…What?>

“…Huh?”

Both the Lord and the evil god expressed incredulity simultaneously.

For better or worse.

I sank to the floor.

My legs had been hurting from standing for so long anyway.

“I’ll support whoever wins in a fight.”

The evil god’s face twisted.

“…Wanderer. Should I remind you that arrogance is poison?”

The Lord was no different.

<…>

If they had a little more leeway, they might have torn me to shreds with their eyes.

“Why, feeling dirty?”

I retorted.

“After all the things you’ve been doing until now?”

“….”

“You’ve been judging and evaluating people for a long time. After all that…”

It’s laughable that you feel dirty over just this.

As I laughed, the faces of the two gods twisted more and more menacingly.

A sinister aura began to creep in.

‘No.’

You should fight among yourselves, right?

Right?

CRASH!

With a tremendous roar, part of the temple collapsed.

<Krrrr…>

Breaking through the ceiling and descending with claws on the pillars was a dragon.

The White Dragon appeared in its true form.

‘I thought it was supposed to confront the other gods besides the Lord.’

It seemed to be facing the Lord alongside the evil god.

Its scales, which should have been pristine white, were now stained with blood.

Some bore marks scorched black by lightning.

Some wounds were so severe that they didn’t even bleed.

“…Raaz!”

The evil god’s face lit up.

With the appearance of the White Dragon, the tide slightly turned in favor of the evil god.

The dragon could face the Lord while the evil god aimed for a decisive attack with Gaia’s sickle.

“Let’s fight together!”

He reached out his hand. 

In response, the dragon spread its massive wings.

The barely holding pillars collapsed one after another, raising a cloud of dust.

A flame started gathering in the dragon’s gaping mouth. 

Its chest swelled, and light seeped between its scales.

‘Dragon Breath!’

It was one of the dragon’s powerful attacks.

But the Lord just smiled as if it was pitiful.

<Where do you think you’re going, dragon?!>

With just a single word, the entire temple trembled. 

The sky started to violently sway.

<Are you defying me?!>

Power began to gather in his hands. 

The blinding light in his eyes grew larger and larger.

A direct hit from them seemed like it would reduce even a dragon to dust, leaving not a single bone or scale behind.

‘Is that… dangerous?’

He gathered the resolve to blow away part of the divine realm.

It wasn’t an attack to be blocked.

It was an attack that had to be avoided.

“Lionel, Pendrade. For now…”

I was about to say we needed to get out of there to avoid the attack.

But Pendrade wasn’t there.

“Pendrade!!”

He was already darting out.

More accurately, he was leaping between the White Dragon and the Lord.

Even though he knew he would be turned to ash if he took that attack!

His long red hair fluttered.

“Has that crazy lizard lost its mind coming into the divine realm?!”

“Master!”

Lionel stopped me from rushing out, grabbing my arm.

What on earth was he trying to do by jumping into the middle of them?

What should I do?

For a few seconds, dozens of thoughts came and went in my mind.

Meanwhile, Pendrade got even closer.

<Kyaaaah!>

<…!!>

Reverting to his true form, he seized the neck of the White Dragon, who was about to breathe fire.

With a grunt, Raaz was mercilessly trampled on, tumbling to the side.

The power of the Lord attacked right where Raaz had been, grazing Pendrade’s wings.

<Kyah!>

Pendrade, with his torn wings, writhed in agony. 

His cries filled the temple.

But the force pinning Raaz down didn’t weaken. 

Instead, it started to tighten around his neck even more forcefully.

It wasn’t an attack, but rather a protective stance over the dragon.

<Here.>

A voice, trembling as if in pain, flowed out.

Tears fell from his golden eyes.

<What are you doing here?>

<Kyaaaah!>

<What are you doing here?!>

Raaz didn’t answer. 

He just struggled even more desperately to escape from under the claws.

Thump, thump, thump!

The temple resonated with the beating of wings and tails.

<Don’t you recognize me?>

<Krrrkrkr!>

He kept asking questions, but all Raaz responded with was a beast-like wail.

<You probably don’t remember. Your own abandoned child.?>

Pendrade bared his teeth.

<Yet I still wanted to see you, Father.>

With a surge of strength to his choking grip, Raaz convulsed violently.

<I wanted to see the face of the man who abandoned me to save my mother and fled.>

<….>

<But instead, you’re groveling under the evil god’s command in the underworld.>

Pendrade’s eyes glinted dangerously.

<I’m disappointed, Father.>

“Pendrade!!”

…!!

Once again, the gathered divine light struck fiercely.

Pendrade, barely avoiding it, soon crashed to the ground.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m… fine.”

Pendrade emerged from the smoke, reverting to his human form. 

One of his arms was soaked in blood.

“Damn it…”

“That’s why I told you not to rush out without thinking!”

Where was the medicine? 

I had it prepared in advance. Ah, there it is!

“Stay still, you stubborn lizard.”

“Hey, isn’t ‘lizard’ a bit too much?”

“If you get hurt again, you’ll be demoted to a worm.”

“…”

I quickly applied the medicine to his injured arm. 

Pendrade’s face contorted in pain.

“Hey.”

As I put the medicine bottle back into the bag hanging from my waist, I asked.

“Do you want to save him?”

At the edge of my vision, Raaz, now back in his human form, stood. 

Long hair, sharp features.

It seems like father and son have similar tastes.

“From what you’ve been saying, you seemed to hold a deep grudge. Still, do you want to save him?”

“…”

Pendrade pursed his lips, his brow furrowing in apparent contemplation.

“I… want to save him.”

But the answer came out soon enough. 

He chuckled bitterly.

“Damn, I’m such a fool. What’s so good about the father who abandoned me?”

“Everyone feels that way sometimes.”

I replied casually as I pulled out leather gloves from my bag.

“It’s complicated, but let’s give it a try.”

Killing the Lord and saving dragons, that’s what I mean.