Chapter 442 441- Foolish One

'I messed up. I could have lasted ten minutes if I tried, but now that 'hell' can control the concentration of the aphrodisiac in the atmosphere, my defeat is all but certain. I messed up… I messed up a big big time.

However, since he himself said that there are no rules, I won't play fair either!'

"You know… I was starting to understand you. Your existence was to exist. Unlike living beings, you have to protect the demon lord to survive. But… you are just like every other enemy I have met so far. So blind by their power…"

[Why are you acting like you are any different?]

"I am not, but I am only half blind."

Hell was the only opponent who had cornered Zach like this. Sure, he had been in various near-death situations so far, but none of them were as serious as the one he was currently in.

After all, he managed to survive the other situation; even after being cornered, he found a way out. However, this one seemed like a dead end, or was it?

Zach picked Asmodeus and jabbed her on the back of her neck to knock her unconscious.

[...!]

"Hah!" Zach scoffed after seeing the change of reaction on the hell's face.

[That's against the rules! That's cheating!]

"Stop you whining, bitch. It's not against the rules unless stated otherwise."

[You…! I won't let you get away with this!]

"You don't have to." Zach raised his hand below his head and said, "See you after ten minutes."

[Not so fast!]

Zach was leaning on the debris of the mountains, and there were no trees behind him. Yet, a tree branch emerged from the ground and wrapped around Zach's hand.

Zach tried to use his other hand, but the same thing happened.

[What now?]

Zach conjured a dagger in his hand and cut the branch in one strike. However, two more branches emerged from the ground and wrapped around Rudy's wrist and shoulder.

The same happened with his other hand and his legs. Then, small branches appeared from branches wrapped around Zach's hand and covered his finger completely. All the voluntary parts of his body were trapped under the branches. .

[You need to make a hand movement to cast a domain. Even to conjure a weapon, you have to move your fingers. But now you are completely trapped. You can't do anything. You can't! I win! Yes! I win! Again! One more time! I won!]

"Heh… hahahaha! Oh, you are such a fool."

[What are you talking about?! Have you finally lost your sanity?!]

"I never planned to knock myself out. There was no way I would do that as there was no guarantee you wouldn't kill us when we were unconscious! I simply pretended to knock myself out so you would stop me from doing that, and you did just that!

Thanks for trapping me in a way I can't even move my fingers. Still, I never thought this would actually work. But as I said… you are blinded by your power, and you can't see something so obvious. Who is the fool now, huh?"

[Noooo! No! No!] Hell yelled furiously.

The branches retracted and freed Zach completely.

[What about now? You are the foolish one. Why would you tell me your plan if it was working? Now I freed you, and you are back to square one! All your effort was in vain!]

"Aah~" Zach let out a contended groan and said, "Seriously, you seem so immature. Falling for my tricks one after another."

[What now?! You are just bluffing because your plan failed! I will not fall for this trick!]

"Good luck with that."

Zach opened a portal in front of him and jumped inside with Asmodeus.

[...!]

And then the portal disappeared after Zach said, "See you in seven minutes, bitch!"

[No! It's cheating! It's against the rules!]

Zach had opened the portal to Aria's domain. But that wasn't an easy solution.

He had tried to open Aria's domain before after entering hell, but that didn't work as he wasn't in the Gods' Impact. However, amid his thoughts, an idea crossed his mind.

'What if I use the spatial ring and use it to open Aria's domain? It's like selecting a waypoint and then fast traveling to it.'

Still, executing the technique wasn't as easy as it seemed. Zach needed time, and hence he messed around with 'hell' for a while and kept him busy while he connected Aria's domain with a spatial ring.

SIGH!

He let out a sigh of relief and lay down with his eyes closed.

Asmodeus' eyes were closed. Seemingly, she was still unconscious.

"I will… let her sleep… I, too… feel… sleepy."

Zach was strained both mentally and physically.

'I have never been so exhausted before. Fuck you, hell. You will pay for this. I don't know if he will still consider the challenge valid. There is a high chance that he would go back to his words and try to kill me, but now I know his weakness.

He was arrogant, and I broke his arrogance by defeating him. If I could beat him once, I could defeat him again and again. Now… he should be afraid of me. He was underestimating me, and that cost him a big time.

Anyway… I am not returning to hell until I am done resting. I am really glad I didn't do anything to Asmo. I doubt she would remember a single thing she did when she was under the aphrodisiac effect. Although she would be confused as fuck when she wakes up.'

"Layla, come out."

Layla came out of Zach's shadow and sat beside him.

"This place is safe, but protect us in case something happens."

Layla nodded and said, "Is it a bad time to ask for some Mana?"

"It's not…" Zach touched Layla's face and released mana.

"Thank you, master."

After that, Zach fell asleep or, rather, passed out.

Layla placed Zach's head on her lap and played with his hair.