The milkshake-soft warmth against his cheek made Lan Ze give up thinking after a brief moment of contemplation.
Whatever. If he didn't do the mission, then he didn't do it... It wasn't a loss anyway.
Curled up in Tiamat's arms, Lan Ze rubbed the back of his head against her chest, like a cat searching for a comfortable sleeping position. Before he knew it, drowsiness soon washed over him.
Lan Ze didn't know whether it was because he'd stayed up all night and lacked sleep, or because Tiamat was humming that "Aaaa" lullaby.
In any case, he quickly fell asleep in Tiamat's warm embrace.
The sound of waves clearly reached his ears, and in the distance, he could vaguely see large birds of some unknown species.
Tiamat stood quietly by the shore, opened her little mouth, and let out a soft yawn. Tears glistened in her eyes.
Looking down at the child in her arms, her gaze softened considerably. She gently swayed the enormous horns atop her head, looking to be in an exceptionally good mood.
Uruk, temple.
With an earth-shattering boom, Ishtar blasted through the temple's ceiling. Riding atop the Heavenly Ark, she panted heavily and glared down at the unbearably arrogant Golden King on the ground as she demanded fiercely,
"Golden Flash, since I'm in a good mood today, return my Divine Messenger to me, and I'll let you off the hook!"
"Divine Messenger?" Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow slightly and gave Ishtar a disdainful glance. "You abandoned your own Divine Messenger in battle, and now you demand that I return the hostage? Has water gotten into your brain, incompetent goddess?"
Ishtar narrowed her beautiful eyes. "It seems you don't intend to hand over my Divine Messenger?"
"Fine, then—"
Just as Ishtar was about to attack, Siduri's voice suddenly came from afar.
"Lady Goddess, your Divine Messenger has already left on the Heavenly Ark!"
The beam cannon in Ishtar's hand had already gathered power. At those words, she immediately turned her head and blinked. "Huh?!"
Then, with a bang, the beam cannon fired. Caught completely off guard, Ishtar cried out and nearly fell off Ma'anna.
Still, she barely managed to steady herself. Bracing both hands against the edge of the Heavenly Ark, she stared at Siduri. "What did you just say? That guy has a Heavenly Ark too?"
Siduri lowered her head slightly. "Yes, I saw it with my own eyes."
"Oh..." Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes, as though he had discovered something interesting.
Ishtar still looked utterly incredulous. She swept her gaze over Siduri from head to toe once more. "Which direction did he go?"
Siduri pointed in a direction, then continued, "It wasn't just me. Uruk's soldiers witnessed it as well. If Lady Goddess does not believe me, you may ask the others."
Ishtar pondered for a moment. "Fine, I'll believe you this once. But if you're lying to me, heh heh..."
Ishtar cast a threatening glance at Gilgamesh on the ground. "Then it won't be as simple as it was today."
But Gilgamesh could not be bothered to acknowledge her at all, infuriating Ishtar beyond measure.
She gave a light snort, mounted Ma'anna, and flew in the direction Siduri had pointed.
Lan Ze had a dream.
He dreamed that he was standing in a sea of red flowers. He knew this flower field well, considering he had just been trained there last night in such brutally cruel fashion.
It was impossible to forget.
"Master, why are you here again..." Lan Ze said helplessly.
"Training must not be neglected for even a single day. From now on, I will come find you every night," Scathach said calmly.
As she spoke, she saw the fear on Lan Ze's face and could not help but smile faintly. "Don't worry. This time, I will show appropriate restraint."
"You said that last night too!" Lan Ze said loudly.
Scathach pressed her lips together, suppressing the smile that nearly surfaced, and said calmly, "This time, I will hold back. Don't worry. Aren't you happy to learn new magecraft?"
Lan Ze froze, then fell silent.
"That is true," he said softly.
Although that terrifying training had left him with a bit of psychological trauma, the rewards he received in the end had indeed been plentiful. At the very least, Lan Ze himself was quite satisfied.
"Then without further delay, let's begin—"
Just as Scathach said this, a beautiful song suddenly drifted faintly into their ears.
"Aaaa."
It was a sorrowful, melodious voice, as though mourning the world itself. Like a Siren's song, it made one unable to resist becoming intoxicated by it.
Scathach's body stiffened slightly. Her brows lifted as she looked at Lan Ze with a few more traces of oddness in her eyes. "Where are you right now?"
"At home," Lan Ze answered instinctively.
"How could there be singing like this at home? And this level of magical power..." By the end, Scathach seemed less like she was speaking to Lan Ze and more like she was muttering to herself.
This terrifying magical power was like facing a god... No, it was magical power that only a chief god, or even a Creation God, could possess.
But I really am at home... Lan Ze was filled with unease.
Wait... Lan Ze suddenly thought of something, and the possibility made his entire body tremble slightly.
Could it be that this game area he was currently in was also a "reality"?
Perhaps noticing that something was off about Lan Ze's expression, Scathach asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Lan Ze forced himself to calm down somewhat. He raised his head and stared into Scathach's eyes. "...I'm with Tiamat right now."
"?" Scathach slowly produced a question mark.
"Tiamat...?"
Scathach stared into Lan Ze's eyes, surprise visible in those crimson eyes.
For some reason, beneath that gaze, Lan Ze inexplicably felt as though everything about him had been seen through.
"No wonder..."
Scathach murmured this to herself, then turned around and left without looking back.
"Master?" Lan Ze called.
Scathach stopped walking but did not turn around. "We'll talk about training tomorrow."
After a brief pause, she continued,
"For now, just spend some time with your mother."
After saying that, she gave Lan Ze no chance to speak again, and his vision returned to darkness.
Splash.
He heard the sound of waves beside his ears, exceptionally clear.
Lan Ze woke from his dream and slowly opened his eyes.
Even though he had merely slept within the game, it felt as though he had truly taken a nap. He felt refreshed and clear-headed.
The first thing he saw was Tiamat's face. She was gazing out at the distant sea, her eyes deep and tranquil.
What was she thinking about? Or was she simply spacing out?
Lan Ze fell into brief contemplation.
Seemingly sensing that the boy in her arms had awakened, Tiamat looked down at him, then picked Lan Ze up and hummed "Aaaa" as though soothing a child to sleep, seemingly intending to lull him back to sleep.
Lan Ze: "..."
He had just woken up! Shouldn't they eat first... Well, eating in a game didn't seem to have much meaning anyway.
"Um... I don't want to sleep for now. Is that okay?" Lan Ze cautiously glanced at Tiamat.
"Aaaaa (Good child, get some proper rest)," she said, patting Lan Ze's head.
"But I'm not sleepy right now..."
"Aaaa (Lack of sleep will keep you from growing taller)," she said seriously.
"But I just woke up..."
"Aaa (Keep sleeping, good child)." She brushed aside Lan Ze's bangs, patted his head, then pressed his face into her embrace, covering his eyes.
His vision plunged into darkness.
Seawater crashed against the shore, mingled with the faintly cool sea breeze. While Lan Ze's heart swayed with emotion, it was also filled with despair.
What else could I do? I was desperate too, but could I really force my way out of her arms?
That was clearly unrealistic, so Lan Ze simply gave up struggling. Immersed in the soft, warm embrace of the Creation Mother Goddess, he fell asleep once more.
"Haah... I only wanted an ordinary romance. Why does someone always want to stop me?"
Sajyou Manaka stood outside the door and sighed from the bottom of her heart.
She did not know why the magus from last night had taken an interest in Lan Ze, even going so far as to follow him to the room where he lived.
If the Magic Barrier had not activated in time and awakened her, that magus might truly have slipped inside.
Although she usually stayed at Lan Ze's house, Sajyou Manaka still obediently returned to her own home at night.
Because a book she had read said that people in a relationship needed to maintain a certain distance. Distance created a hazy kind of beauty.
A romance between two people was like reading a book. She could not let Lan Ze read through all the contents of the book—that was, fully understand her. Only by maintaining an air of mystery could she attract the opposite sex.
Sajyou Manaka had always followed the book's advice and maintained a certain distance.
But when they would finally become a couple... she did not know either. The book had not said.
She had something to do this morning and had not come over to make breakfast. If nothing unexpected had happened, Lan Ze should still be curled up in his room playing games.
The thought made the girl feel especially at ease.
Lan Ze would not run around everywhere, so naturally, he would not attract certain women.
"Cheer up. Let's make a hearty lunch!" With that thought, Sajyou Manaka snapped her fingers.
The tightly shut door opened without a sound. As though she were entering her own home, Sajyou Manaka said, "I'm home," while taking off her shoes. Her slippers pattered across the floor.
She arrived in the living room and glanced at the tightly closed door in the distance. "As expected, he's still playing games."
She casually placed the shopping bag in the dining room and was about to turn on the faucet to wash vegetables.
But the instant she turned on the tap, Sajyou Manaka seemed to smell something, and her body abruptly froze stiff.
Slowly, she turned her head and looked uncertainly toward Lan Ze's room.
...Beast?
"Why is there such an aura of world destruction in his room...?"
Sajyou Manaka's expression changed slightly. She quickly walked to the bedroom door and pushed it open.
The boy wearing virtual reality glasses lay on the soft bed. Other than that, there was nothing suspicious in sight.
She stared fixedly at Lan Ze's sleeping face, her heartbeat accelerating uncontrollably.
"The Principle of Regression..."
At that moment, Lan Ze's room was filled with the dense aura of a Beast.
The girl of Omniscience and Omnipotence sensed the source of that aura. It was precisely the lingering aura that could only be left behind by one of the Seven Evils of Humanity, the Beast that possessed the Principle of Regression.
"Why would his room have..."
Sajyou Manaka was full of confusion, but before long, she suddenly sensed the aura in the room quietly fading away. In the blink of an eye, the aura of the Beast of Regression had completely dissipated from the room.
Yet the girl still furrowed her brows tightly, staring at Lan Ze with confusion and shock filling her heart.
Could it be that Lan Ze had come into contact with the Beast of Regression today?
Before you continue