The Greatest Estate Developer - Chapter 397: The Final Attempt (2)
“I’m sorry, Javier.”
Gritting his teeth, Lloyd made up his mind.
He struggled to lift his battered body.
‘Ugh.’
Simply standing on his two legs made every joint and muscle in his body scream in pain.
It felt as though he had been thrown down a flight of stairs with no protection.
‘But in the end, there’s no other way. I should’ve tried this from the start.’
He regretted it.
He had harbored a small, foolish hope.
Because of his empty expectations, everyone had struggled to this point and ended up injured.
“Everyone…”
He took a step forward.
At that moment, meteors rained down on everyone again.
A blinding flash.
Explosions burst from the ground in all directions, accompanied by a deafening roar.
He saw Arosh lose consciousness and get flung away.
Even Elf Muira was caught in an explosion, dropping her bow.
He saw Queen Alicia tumbling to the side, only to faint.
The shield of the fallen angel Raphael shattered.
Sir Geo-Rexius, the Hell Knight, was grazed by a meteor, causing his lower half to shatter.
Yongyong wasn’t unscathed either.
Trying to shield the large and bulky Bibeong, he ended up losing both wings.
He collapsed, caught in the fierce explosion.
Bibeong, too, was knocked unconscious by the shock.
“Everyone…”
I’m sorry.
I tried to find a way for all of us to leave with a smile today, no matter what.
But clearly, that was too much to ask.
And so, I have no choice but to do this.
“Hell King!”
Lloyd took a deep breath and shouted.
The Hell King hesitated at the shout.
He cast his gaze in Lloyd’s direction.
“Instead of this, let’s have a little chat!”
– A chat?
“Yes!”
– About what?
The Hell King tilted his head slightly.
Even as he did so, his eyes burned with a cold blue flame.
There wasn’t the slightest hint of friendliness.
‘Well, that’s understandable.’
They had been chatting earlier.
And Lloyd had used that to distract him so Javier could launch a surprise attack.
Lloyd shouted, as if dusting off the trust he had lost earlier.
“I think I might have been a bit mistaken!”
– Hmm. You were mistaken?
“Yes! It feels like I’ve had an epiphany!”
He shouted while taking another step forward.
Continuously, slowly.
Steadily.
He kept walking.
Closing the distance between him and the Hell King.
Of course, he didn’t stop talking.
“Remember that employment contract I mentioned earlier? Would you consider writing one up?”
– An employment contract. What would change with such a document?
“A lot of things would change.”
That’s absolutely true.
Seriously.
“For starters, I could work for you with full trust and dedication, adhering to the terms of the contract.”
– Voluntarily and with dedication? Hmm. There’s no need for that.
“Pardon?”
– Given how things have turned out, I only need to kill you.
“But if I die by force, I won’t work diligently.”
– I don’t care.
“Why not?”
– Because I can control any being that becomes a resident of Hell. I can force them to act against their will by dominating their mind and spirit.
“……”
– In some ways, that’s the easiest method for me. So why should I bother with an employment contract for someone who can be eternally enslaved with a single gesture or command?
“Hua.”
This guy isn’t messing around.
He’s not even bothering with negotiations now; he’s just planning to kill me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have taunted him with those sharp words earlier.
For a moment, I felt a hint of regret.
So I put on my best, most friendly smile.
“But, Hell King, please reconsider just once.”
– Reconsider? Reconsider what?
“The difference I could make if I were to work for you voluntarily and with enthusiasm.”
– Hmm.
“No matter how much you can force someone to act, there’s a difference between a soulless slave working with no motivation and someone who willingly drives themselves with passion. Isn’t that right?”
– Hmm.
“That’s why I’m asking. Could you please write up just one employment contract?”
– Does this mean you’re willing to obey me?
“Ah, well…”
– Well?
“I’d need to see the terms first.”
– Are you saying you want to negotiate the terms of an employment contract with me? How dare you?
“Hey, isn’t that what an employment contract is for?”
Lloyd smiled even more cheerfully.
He continued his steady approach.
He finally got close enough to be right next to the Hell King.
Of course, he could also feel the gazes flying at him from all directions.
The fallen angel Raphael, who had been collapsed on the ground.
Sir Geo-Rexius, the Hell Knight, who was crawling with great difficulty.
They were all looking at him with expressions of disbelief.
Their eyes seemed to be saying:
‘Is that bastard really betraying us?’
So he had to suppress a bitter smile.
He felt sorry for everyone.
They had trusted him and come this far.
Yet here he was, forced to make such a choice.
“Sorry, everyone.”
Suppressing his bitter smile in his heart.
He put on a friendly, sales-like smile.
He bowed courteously before the Hell King.
“So please, I beg you. If we talk and negotiate in earnest, I’m sure we can come up with mutually satisfactory terms. Then I could work with my utmost passion and ability. What do you say? And… oh, here, take a look at this.”
He reached into his inner pocket.
Quickly, he pulled out a few sheets of neatly folded documents.
He had prepared these in advance, just in case they’d be useful in a situation like this.
– What is this?
“A sample employment contract for your reference.”
– A sample? For reference?
“Yes.”
He quickly handed over the sample.
The Hell King, caught off guard, accepted it.
He unfolded the neatly folded documents.
Or rather, he tried to unfold them.
At that moment.
A shovel came flying.
…Boom!
Lloyd’s shovel struck the side of the Hell King’s head.
The aura on the shovel partially caved in the Hell King’s skull.
The upper half of the Hell King’s body swayed to the side.
Lloyd shouted.
“A sample contract, my ass! Here’s your sample, you bastard!”
Thwack! Thud! Thwack!
The shovel danced wildly with violent force.
The so-called sample documents the Hell King had dropped fluttered in the air.
Inside, the sheets were blank—just empty white paper.
Lloyd’s eyes flashed like lightning.
‘Good. It’s going according to plan.’
He gripped the shovel even tighter.
He couldn’t give the Hell King any time to recover.
He had to press on while he still could.
Resolutely, he swung the shovel in various ways.
The legs, the waist, the head, the shins, and then the side.
Thwack! Thud! Bang! Crash! Crack!
He struck with the head of the shovel.
He jabbed with the handle.
He slashed with the aura.
He tore with the blasts.
But Lloyd didn’t just blindly focus on attacking.
‘Anyway, these attacks won’t work.’
The Hell King had been fine even after the combined attacks from everyone earlier.
He had also recovered without issue after being cut into dozens of pieces by Javier’s ambush.
So would Lloyd’s attacks like these be any more effective?
‘It would probably just tickle.’
He knew.
His attacks wouldn’t work.
But to execute this plan, he had to do this.
Determined, he continued his relentless assault.
Meanwhile, he kept a close watch on the Hell King’s wand.
He also paid attention to the giant scythe the Hell King had pulled out at some point.
Then, at some moment.
The wand tilted, moving slightly.
‘Now!’
Ding dong!
[Emergency situation detected!]
[Skill Exclusive Option ⑦: Instantaneous Foresight has been activated.]
[Due to the influence of the divine relic, Summer’s Eye, your body temperature increases by 1°C.]
Whoosh!
Even without his conscious prompting.
Lloyd’s mana heart rapidly emitted mana.
The divine relic, Summer’s Eye, manifested its power.
His whole body suddenly heated up.
At the same time, he saw a vision of five seconds into the future.
After seeing everything.
‘Over here!’
He fired a blast with his shovel.
He aimed it at the ground beneath his feet.
Thwack—!
A fierce torrent of mana erupted violently!
The recoil propelled his entire body.
Just after that, a flash streaked from the sky.
It was a meteor strike falling from beyond the atmosphere.
Boom—!
A meteor the size of a baseball descended at Mach 25.
It collided with the ground, unleashing a roar and a shockwave.
Of course, Lloyd couldn’t completely escape the range of the shockwave.
“…Ugh!”
Even though he had launched himself with the recoil of the blast.
He was flung away once more by the explosion and shockwave.
[Warning: The efficiency of your Mana Heart and Mana Circles has decreased by 40%.]
‘Gah!’
Was this what it felt like to be hit by a giant hammer over your entire body?
Red messages appeared in quick succession before his eyes.
[You have taken simultaneous physical and spiritual damage.]
[If you receive one more hit like the one you just took, you will lose 60% efficiency of your Mana Heart and Circles, and you will immediately enter a severe panic state.]
[If you receive two more hits like the one you just took…]
‘Ugh.’
Maybe because he was being thrown around.
Or maybe because of the impact he’d received.
His stomach churned.
He could feel his mana heart and circles trembling.
But he couldn’t afford to fall to the ground peacefully.
Before he even finished tumbling through the air like a kite with its string cut from the explosion, the Hell King was charging directly at him.
Ding dong!
[Emergency situation detected!]
[Skill Exclusive Option ⑦: Instantaneous Foresight has been activated.]
[Due to the influence of the divine relic, Summer’s Eye, your body temperature increases by 1°C.]
Whoosh!
His body grew even hotter.
Dizzy with vertigo, he glimpsed a vision of five seconds into the future.
A massive scythe slicing horizontally.
It showed his neck being severed.
The moment he saw that, he twisted his body.
Shwink!
‘Ugh!’
The scythe brushed past his ear.
His earlobe burned as if seared by fire.
He saw drops of blood scattering in the air.
Red messages popped up once again.
[Warning: The efficiency of your Mana Heart and Mana Circles has decreased by 60%.]
[You have taken simultaneous physical and spiritual damage.]
[A severe panic state has gripped you!]
‘…Gah!’
He crashed to the ground without any chance to break his fall.
His breath was knocked out of him.
Was it from the impact?
No.
It was the extreme pain and terror that were far worse than the mere pain of being slammed into the ground.
It was the overwhelming fear, as if he’d been thrown into a bottomless abyss.
The suffocating dread of being abandoned in an endless universe.
‘H-Hah! Huff, huff!’
He couldn’t breathe.
Or rather, his breaths became too rapid on their own.
Breathing uncontrollably fast, shallow, fast, just barely brushing past his lips, unable to fill his lungs, fast, faster, endlessly fast, as the oxygen disappeared, the light dimmed, left alone, suffocating like this, please, just a little, please.
‘…!’
He couldn’t breathe.
The air around him felt like an invisible wall.
Walls seemed to close in from all directions.
Closing in.
Closer.
Crushing him.
Crushing and laughing.
Just like that Hell King.
Without hesitation.
‘Gah…! Huff, cough!’
It hurt.
The half-severed earlobe.
The blood dripping down.
The breath he couldn’t catch.
No, it was the endless surge of fear that hurt the most.
The terror that was most frightening and overwhelming.
He crawled on the ground like a worm.
He saw the Hell King approaching.
In one hand, the wand.
In the other, the scythe.
Which would he use to kill him?
Caught between surging fear and a strange sense of anticipation.
Desperately trying to gather his wits, struggling to breathe, he barely managed to speak.
“…Hah! Hah! Gah… Those meteors… you can’t… send anything bigger… huh, cough…”
Everything was going according to plan.
He just had to continue like this.
This fear, this despair, and pain.
If he could endure just a little more, he would achieve the result he desired.
Believing that, he struggled harder.
He struggled to breathe.
To speak.
To provoke the Hell King.
“…Huff, cough, haah! I… know… you… can’t send… anything… larger because you’re afraid… it’ll… affect… you too… So, all you can do… is throw those… pathetic… little ones… Huff! Cough!”
He spoke his guess.
Why the Hell King had only been dropping small meteors.
Why he hadn’t just killed them all at once with a larger one, instead of bothering with those.
‘It’s because, though he’s invincible against this side’s attacks, his own techniques hurt him too, so he’s been doing that.’
Even amidst the overwhelming fear and his wavering consciousness.
He managed to finish speaking, watching for the Hell King’s reaction.
And he saw it.
‘Success.’
The Hell King’s face, withered like a mummified corpse.
That face was wearing the expression of someone whose weak spot had been hit.
Seeing that, Lloyd was certain.
‘Got him.’
Now it was certain.
The final answer given by the Truth Jewel.
The conclusion of today’s battle.
The moment of triumph was approaching.
Despite the fear, the despair, and the distance, it was exhilarating.
He watched, eyes wide open, as the Hell King raised his scythe towards him.
He began to execute the plan he had for when that happened.
‘With my back…’
He needed to receive that blow.
So now, he had to flip his body over.
‘Please.’
He mustered his strength.
But he couldn’t do it.
Turning over from lying on his back.
Such a simple move.
He couldn’t do it.
He flailed around.
At that moment, the scythe came down.
Whoosh—!
A chilling sound pierced the air.
A gleam meant to steal his life.
‘Please!’
He wasn’t ready yet.
He couldn’t die lying down like this.
‘Argh, damn it!’
It was a disaster.
He realized that.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
Just then.
Clang, thunk!
He heard a sudden metallic sound and a strange noise.
Hot liquid splattered on his face.
It wasn’t from his body.
It wasn’t his blood.
He opened his eyes unconsciously.
“…Javier?”
Javier had somehow appeared in front of him.
The scythe had pierced through Javier’s shoulder.
Javier smiled at him, his expression tinged with sorrow.
“I’m sorry, Lord Lloyd.”
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