Too low in purity?
What... was this guy talking about?
Othinus felt bewildered.
Then came the fear born of that bewilderment.
Crack-
Only after standing frozen for a full two or three seconds did Othinus come to her senses amid the incessant sound of ice cracking inside her.
The girl could clearly feel something like little snakes writhing beneath the skin of the part of her face covered by her leather eyepatch, trying to burst out.
It was the pulsing of her blood vessels.
The intense pain erupting in her mind was unexpectedly severe.
Under that pressure, so painful she could almost hear herself being crushed, murmurs of defiance spilled from Othinus's lips.
"You've got to be... kidding. Why am I turning into this... it hurts!"
Watching Othinus's contorted face, Roland leisurely spread his hands.
"To think you'd still ask a question like that. Weren't you arrogantly declaring, 'I haven't lost yet,' just a moment ago?"
"It seems that attitude was nothing more than a bluff born of believing the situation was still under your control."
Ignoring the girl's swaying figure, Roland spoke regretfully.
"Compared to how you were back then, when you knew you had a Demon God's power to fall back on and could instead regard success and failure with equal indifference, you're truly disappointing now."
"What... is going on?"
Othinus desperately tried to steady her body, which would sway the instant she relaxed.
Pain involuntarily twisted the girl's face.
But even though every movement doubled her pain again, she still thrust the Spear of the Main God into the soil and leaned against its shaft, supporting herself as she raised her head and stared fixedly at Roland.
"Do you still not understand? You're a Demon God, at least. With the whole process spelled out for you, I