Chapter 42: Malicious Wishing Machine

In the suffocating deep sea.

“Adelle!” Dounia, floating in the water, called out loudly, but no one answered.

‘Damn it… as expected, mental forms can’t transmit sounds to the outside world, at least not at her current stage.’

The black spider’s limb swept across again like a sharp blade, carving an arc-shaped mark on the icy surface. Dounia spread her arms and struggled to swim, desperately dodging.

Gurgle—

A string of bubbles rose in the water.

While dodging back and forth, Dounia’s mind raced—

Adelle clearly hadn’t anticipated that the process of completing her abilities would be so difficult. Therefore, there were only two possibilities for the sudden increase in difficulty.

One, her own unique nature.

Two, because she had added “pigment” — “Wrath” — into the glass shard.

This increased the quality of the glass shard but also increased the difficulty and danger.

The Chalice of Malice instantly appeared in her hand. Dounia’s eyes widened slightly; even in her conscious form, she could successfully summon it.

But just as she concentrated and wove it into threads, that annoying limb swept over!

There was no time to use the Chalice of Malice!

Gurgle, gurgle—

Dounia tried to swim to the right. The giant black spider also moved its limbs, crawling in the same direction as her, making an unpleasant grinding sound on the icy surface.

Her arms and legs gradually began to ache, and her speed became slower and slower. The distance between the spider and her was slowly closing…

‘I can’t shake it off, and I can’t call Adelle. What do I do?’

Fear enveloped Dounia’s heart. She trembled slightly, feeling the brushes with death, but her slightly teary eyes became resolute.

She was a coward, yes, but don’t push her too far!

Consciousness wove into threads, intertwining…

Splat—

A slender, sharp limb pierced through Dounia’s collarbone. The cold blade was only a few centimeters from her heart.

‘Thankfully, she’s only a mental form; if this were reality, it would have been a fatal penetrating wound!’ The limb was pulled out, scattering a pool of gray blood in the ocean.

Dounia’s red eyes stared intently at the giant spider, weaving her intertwined mental power threads into a bramble and thrusting it into the Chalice of Malice.

Gulp.

The mental power bramble instantly turned black, tainted with the power of curses, and the giant spider suddenly twitched all over, its eight legs performing a tap dance on the icy surface.

One of the uses of the Chalice of Malice—to inflict a random negative curse!

Feeling her body gradually growing cold from the loss of gray blood, Dounia didn’t hesitate. She wove her mental power and shook the Chalice again.

A hesitant, somewhat paralyzed limb stabbed towards her position, but Dounia merely turned sideways, allowing the limb to pass through her shoulder blade.

Dounia coughed up a mouthful of gray blood, an unshakeable determination in her blood-red eyes.

She had no time to dodge!

If the battle continued for a few more seconds, at her rate of blood loss, she would quickly lose a large amount of memories…

More than dying, she feared becoming a completely unrecognizable person.

More than dying, she feared becoming a helpless, wailing infant.

The Chalice shook.

The limb descended.

“Then let’s see who’s faster!”

As the Chalice swayed, black liquid erupted from the giant black spider’s entire body. Its legs buckled, but the thrusting limb suddenly veered off, abruptly accelerating, stabbing straight towards Dounia’s head!

Even if a mental form couldn’t sustain fatal injuries, the head was still the symbol of where ‘consciousness’ was stored.

Facing the unavoidable attack, Dounia tightly closed her eyes, only to hear a crisp ding—

A golden, translucent barrier appeared before Dounia, firmly blocking the limb that was about to claim her life, not yielding an inch.

“Adelle…”

A sense of relief, having narrowly escaped death, surged from the depths of Dounia’s heart. Dounia held the Chalice of Malice high!

Accompanying the final sway, the spider roared in frustrated fury, spraying black liquid that seeped through the icy surface like ink. Its countless mirror-like compound eyes fell off, converging into a gleaming mirror shard that landed in Dounia’s palm.

Whoosh—

The melodious whale call sounded again.

Dounia, who had been tightly closing her eyes, suddenly opened them, still shaken as she touched her shoulder.

“Phew… I survived. And no memory loss.”

“Are you alright?” Adelle asked, frowning, gently placing her hand on Dounia’s hand, which was on the table.
Feeling the warmth radiating through, Dounia didn’t pull her hand away.

“I’m fine… but how did you know I needed help?” Dounia asked, puzzled.

“You were constantly frowning, and your expression didn’t look like things were going smoothly,” Adelle explained. “And… it was taking a little too long. I was worried, so I used the Mimicry Command Seal in advance.”

The golden runes on the back of her hand had dimmed considerably, appearing as if they would completely crumble with the next use.

Dounia looked at the alarm clock on the table; only a few dozen seconds had passed.

‘I already know that the sense of time flow inside consciousness is several times faster, or even more, than in the outside world.’

“Did you… encounter a very dangerous situation in there?” Adelle asked cautiously. “I’m sorry, it might have been my miscalculation that put you through an unnecessary risk…”

“It’s not your fault,” Dounia replied with effort. “I’m going to the restroom.”

Under Adelle’s worried gaze, Dounia rushed into the empty restroom, pulled the door shut, and locked it.

“Hah… hah…”

Dounia panted, turning on the faucet and splashing cold water on her face.

Water droplets trickled down her cheeks. She looked at herself in the mirror, her gaze complicated.

If her relationship with Adelle hadn’t improved, if she had faced the monster in the Mirror Shard alone, she probably would have truly exchanged her life for it, paying a severe price.

Dounia looked at her fingers; the intense sense of danger still made her tremble slightly.

The Chalice of Malice could indeed help her, but with this effect, she always felt as though Lilith had calculated something.

“It’s about time you let me see its true name, isn’t it? Lilith?” Dounia’s tone was somewhat unfriendly.
After this incident, she finally guessed the true name of this item, which was originally tied to the protagonist!

“Hehe, so eager, alright then~” Lilith’s voice echoed in her mind, and scarlet text appeared.

Name: [Chalice of Malice] (Malicious Wishing Machine)

Level: [Level 1 Sealed Artifact]

‘Level 1 Sealed Artifact,’ Dounia’s eyelids twitched.

Appearance: [Typically appears as a gashapon machine or other lottery machine, but manifests in different forms depending on the holder.]

Abilities: [1. Collects and stores original sin to convert into energy, and can actively release it for ‘repayment.’ If released randomly, it will inflict a random curse on the target.]

[2. Consumes stored ‘Sacred Liquid’ for wishes. Depending on the magnitude of the wish, it will extend the time span in a ‘reasonable’ manner to ultimately fulfill the wish.]

Negative Effect: [The holder will gradually descend into the abyss of original sin, suffering the scorching flames of red lotus.]

Sealing Measure: [Offer pleasure!]

Dounia looked at herself in the mirror.

“Did you omit some information and not make it clear?” she said, suppressing her voice, silently clenching her fists.

“Hehe, you knew it, didn’t you?” Lilith’s playful voice resonated in Dounia’s mind.