Chương 292: Unlimited Possibilities

The movement of adventurers and such has been picking up in momentum rapidly. It was quite surprising, frankly. It was to the point that other entities were unable to ignore it, leading to knight establishments, guilds, and even freaking magic academies getting interested… Without me having to lift a finger, I became the number one boogeyman throughout large spans of the continent. Absolutely insane amounts of negative emotions flowed into me constantly.

It was a bit overwhelming at first, but I got used to it–At least until my existence became such an important matter that even the leaders of nations felt the need to publicly speak about it, leading to even more negative emotions. I had to learn to filter through such dire amounts of negative emotions that I could barely do anything properly. Before I figured out the trick, it felt like I was pushing through a thick fog that clouded each and every one of my senses.

It was a bit like when I had absorbed great amounts of curses or spirits all at once, but instead of one sudden intake, it was a constant flood that refused to stop, and only seemed to grow. Most of it was either emotions of anger or fear, but there was basically everything. Even sadness. Thankfully, my absorption of these great quantities of negative emotions was efficient, as the passage of it didn't seem to have much of an effect on other people.

The guards of Leou's tower were a bit affected, but the snow leopard herself didn't experience any adverse effect, and neither did Mari. … Speaking of Mari, ever since I had encouraged her to figure something out, she had been a bit restless.

I had given her a few more spirits of my creation to assist her in this endeavour, and even these undead creatures that had been warped to specifically do the jobs they were performing–Even they seemed to get tired from all the work Mari was doing, and also from how she was performing this work. She was simultaneously chaotic beyond belief, but also perfectly orderly.

Most of what she did was planned out ahead of time, except for when she had a spark of genius and would suddenly completely shift her attention to something else. Her workshop was filled with possible upgrades for me. She could create them faster than she could actually grant them to me. Indeed, there were limitations on what she could do. I couldn't receive upgrades in this manner constantly. There was a 'cooldown' as Nara would put it.

Additional limb-replacement upgrades were the ones that were most present as ready to be used. Especially since one upgrade could only cover one limb at a time, but there were also a few others, some being more experimental than the rest… There were no penalties if an upgrade failed to be integrated. She could try until one stuck, so Mari allowed herself to try some wilder things. Though the most impressive thing was that she could even attempt to create such things.

Mari was actually an incredibly talented mechanist, and she had reached this level in a very short amount of time. It was no wonder that she had been guided toward me–Or perhaps it was all a coincidence, and she had only gotten this weird compass because she had grown obsessed.

It was hard to tell what was pure happenstance and what was deliberate, but what mattered was that Mari was a perfect fit for the team, and since the one slot she could occupy to become a proper part of the family apparently had room for more than just Leou, it was without a doubt that Mari would get what she so dearly desired. But since I wanted her to pour everything into this, I had set it as the reward and intentionally made her all worked up. It was easy. I just needed to do whatever would work on a man.

In the meantime, I was doing research in my own workshop. Leou was working with the rest of the organisation's council to prepare the mission against Baron Hyotrask Devilblood, while also monitoring the situation outside involving not just the movement that wanted me dead, but Lunovis as well. The snow leopard seemed quite miffed every time she discovered something new.

Such as the fact that he had begun working with Binibelle–I swear this halfling is everywhere–Or the fact that people were talking about me and circulating rumours that made me sound like a terrible person. … Most of these rumours were one-hundred per cent true. They didn't even need to exaggerate to get the point across, and Leou knew it, but she was still quite upset that people were rightfully speaking ill of me.

I am not a lunatic living in an illusion of my own making, even if I believe that some of the things I've done were justified and even good things, I understood that from the perspective of pretty much anyone else, my actions were heinous and qualified me as perhaps the worst person to ever live… Of the century. If we took into account anything beyond a hundred years ago, I had to admit that I was just a cute little gal compared to what some people had done. I am no Revenger of Noktronne.

I am no Lataniel the Suneater… And I certainly am nowhere near Volthaim, The Ailing. These guys are big boys in terms of being awful people… Although I would argue that Lataniel was a pretty cool guy, all things considered. He did end a war for the greater good. The fact that he did so by scaring the shit out of everyone else via the impaling of soldiers and civilians alike is another story, but if it works, it works. I guess I would be more comparable to Clatamicus.

He did something similar to the Nightmare Plague, though he used an actual plague. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. You know, Nara… Now that I think about it, I am actually not that bad. What's the fuss all about? I killed a bunch of people, wiped out orphanages, and desecrated tombs, amongst other things… But I really didn't do that much. I mean… That's only by comparing yourself to some of the worst, and besides…

It had been a long time since any such figures had been active. Few are the people who were actually around to witness what happened at such times. To the layman who only heard about such things via word of mouth or from a book… You might as well be worse than them, for the simple reason that you are active at the same time as all of these people are alive You are directly affecting their lives, whilst Revenger of Noktronne, for example, won't be affecting anyone's life.

It isn't a matter of actually comparing things. It is purely a matter of whether it affects them or not… … And with the Nightmare Plague looming in the distance, you are very much someone they think and worry about You're right, and besides, my career has only begun recently. I could surpass these tyrants, and besides… Have you ever seen the illustrations of Lataniel the Suneater? If I had been alive while he was alive, finding a proper husband wouldn't have been the problem. In any case!

Inside the Mindscape, I was seeking to further refine my disguise while in the 'Gynoid Form'. In particular, I was building a perfect demoness costume for when I would infiltrate Hyotrask Devilblood's residence. Since the goal was to assassinate him and I would be on a time limit due to the constraints of the 'Gynoid Form', I had to get close to him rapidly. As such, I got a bit of help from Leou to get to learn what kind of women this demon was into…

Unfortunately, unlike Hulil, who had had quite specific tastes, Devilblood was rather omnivorous. His wife had passed away a while ago, and ever since, he has never attempted to get remarried, and just juggled between many random women, most of whom were maids of his that he would eventually send to a secondary residence of his due to them becoming pregnant.

It was quite nice for a noble to do, considering that all of these children were illegitimate, but he only gained his noble title fairly recently, so it wasn't surprising that he lacked many of the quirks and habits of noblehood. At heart, he was still a knight and controlled his territory not just as a place to develop for profit, but primarily as land to protect from threats. Regardless… Getting close to him was definitely not much of a problem.

He would be very receptive to any amount of flirting, especially when cooped with my 'Charm' ability, but getting close in this manner wasn't exactly ideal. Once again, going back to Hulil, Hyotrask wouldn't just obediently turn around if asked, and he definitely wouldn't be weak enough not to sense impending danger. Not to mention that he was known to be impressively physically resilient and even energy resilient. This guy was a living fortress wall.

I needed to get him in a vulnerable, isolated spot where he would be relaxed. I needed him to have his guard completely down… I had thought about using a poison, but Leou had informed me that it was risky. The fucker was also known to be greatly resilient to poison. As evidenced by the public event in which he strangled a powerful serpentine monster whilst being pelted by noxious acid, bathing in an acidic swamp, and breathing in toxic fumes. All of this with open wounds on his body.

It was safe to say that a very powerful toxin would be required to even make him a little bit sick. It was frankly impressive just how resilient he was. The demon was strong, but compared to his natural defences, his physical strength was nothing. According to Leou's analysis, my 'Base Form' was quite close to him in terms of physical might, so I truly had no idea where he got this crazy constitution from. …

Though I was only close to him normally, if he started using mana reinforcement, it would be a vastly different story. Mmh… This will all require a lot more thought… I should try to ask for something from Ergonip. He surely has a death-infused dagger or something… By just infusing it with negative energy, I could smuggle it in through the Mindscape, and if that didn't work, I could smuggle it in through the Gravescape. If I couldn't kill the guy with my own strength, I might as well just use some help. …

Or I guess I could go another route completely… They just need him gone to access the blood ocean, right? Now THAT is evil I know, I know. I'm pretty good at this… Let's go back to making the disguise, though. It is the crux of it all. Regardless of the plan I go with, I'll still need to get close to him. I had managed to further enhance the recipe used to create the false skin, but I had also figured out how to properly attach horns to my head, as well as a tail. I needed everything to move naturally.

Thankfully, I had a demoness just within reach. Gigi was a kind of demon that most people thought of first when thinking about demons in general. An unusual skin colour, horns, and a tail. Gigi's tail was actually a rare sight, but it was indeed present. A thin tail that ended in a small, round protuberance. With her help, I was able to come up with something life-like.

Well, that's because the final result was pretty much an actual tail due to me using flesh from my 'Base Form' to craft it, but the outcome was a good one. Once attached to the right spot on my lower back, I was able to move it. I used the same design as Gigi's, which she very much enjoyed. Considering the sort of mission I would be going on, though. This was where the similarities ended. I went for the classic red skin, blue eyes, and medium-sized, smooth horns with rounded points.

After testing it out with a maid uniform, the illusion proved perfect. Heheh, this is making me wonder about what I would actually look like as a demon. Maybe a final trial would be so kind as to demonstrate? With a smile on my new face, I inspected my nails. Surprisingly, these were some of the hardest things to recreate. Getting it right had taken the most time. I really can create anything using the Mindscape, huh…