Chapter 304-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
On the scorching, wind-swept wasteland, humanoid monsters made of stacked rock patrolled in every direction. Lucy pressed her back against a mound of earth and cautiously peered out.
The rock creatures walked with ponderous heaviness, their reactions sluggish. They looked like ambulatory stone sculptures—the kind weathered beyond recognition after years of wind erosion. Lucy couldn't even locate where their eyes were.
The heavy footfalls suddenly seemed to shift direction, lumbering closer. Lucy instantly pulled back, hugging the mound, not daring to move.
Dodging them wasn't hard, but if everyone just hid, who would deal with this Demonic Domain?
Lucy glanced to her left. A stone statue lay toppled on the cracked, dry earth, its expression frozen in a single instant of shock and panic.
She was utterly dejected. After all that observation, she still hadn't found a single weakness—only that touching the rock creatures was forbidden. Contact spread like a contagion, rapidly turning the victim to stone.
On top of that, these monsters seemed to possess cunning, predatory intelligence. She and her teammates had been scattered and separated; she couldn't spot any of them.
Listening to the footsteps drawing nearer, Lucy hesitated briefly, then chose not to slip around the mound to relocate.
They had been dragging this out too long. If they waited any longer, the teammates who'd been turned to stone might never be restored...
Lucy had joined this squad as a last-minute addition. The knight originally assigned to the support role had died in the recent ambush. Lucy had briefly considered going back to her hometown—what was happening here was far more brutal than she'd imagined, and her mother and the neighbors might need her protection too—
But the pack her mother had prepared was still heavy on her back, enough supplies for a long journey.
Her teammates needed her right now, even if she hadn't memorized all their names yet.
Lucy set down her backpack and wrapped both fists tightly with bandages. The white-wrapped fists bumped together in front of her chest.
Observation alone would yield nothing. Time to go in herself!
The youth held her breath, waited patiently, and the moment a rock creature appeared at the edge of the mound—just half its head visible—Lucy sprang onto the mound, launched herself skyward, and brought her descending fist crashing down on the rock creature's head, toppling it with a heavy thud.
While its ponderous body struggled to right itself, Lucy hammered it with blow after blow, each fist striking the fissures in the rock. The stony exterior began to crack.
Lucy's heart leaped. She punched harder and faster, blood seeping through the white bandages, sweat streaming down her cheeks and dripping onto the rock creature's body without her noticing.
This Demonic Domain was only B-rank—no way it could stop her!
"You... you... wa... water... give... me..."
The fallen rock creature emitted a halting, broken sound. At first, Lucy dismissed it as meaningless noise, but when she realized she could understand what it was saying, her movements slowed.
"Wh-what did you say?"
"Wait—how can you talk!"
Lucy froze, eyes wide.
She watched the rock creature slowly climb back up. Beneath the cracked stone skin, red flesh was exposed, veins and arteries faintly visible.
This was a B-rank Demonic Domain. Intelligent beings couldn't possibly appear in one—if they did, the Domain would be at least S-rank!
The rock creature turned to face her. Its features were no longer crude stone; a single dark eye, indistinguishable from a human's, was now visible, undisguised desire and malice on full display.
It walked toward Lucy, reaching out its hand and chanting "Help me," the words growing clearer by the second. Lucy, her mind turned to mush, stumbled backward in bewilderment.
She had no water—only a body full of blood and flesh that could be wrung for moisture. The creature clearly intended to kill her and take her blood.
Her iridescent ability-butterflies scrambled to position themselves between Lucy and the creature. Lucy quickly pulled herself out of the panic, her eyes locking onto the exposed red skin. A flash of animal-like, instinctive killing intent crossed her gaze.
The butterflies swarmed in. The rock creature suddenly let out a roar, alerting its sluggish companions in the distance. More monsters began converging on her position.
"What the hell are you things!"
The butterflies dusted the air with toxic powder, and the rock creature swayed unsteadily. Lucy had no time to run. She yanked a stiletto from her boot, screaming as she drove it into the exposed flesh.
They were monsters—so why did they speak the same language as her? This shattered everything Lucy understood about Demonic Domains.
"We... just... want... wa... water..."
Just as Lucy's blade sank precisely into the creature's flesh, a second rock creature peeked out from behind the mound, emitting garbled syllables.
She couldn't help baring her teeth. As a second, then a third rock creature appeared, even the ever-optimistic Lucy felt her composure cracking. Hot, sand-laden wind blasted her face and stung her eyes.
"Water? I have plenty."
The voice was as light as dewdrops. Lucy recognized it at once, and the high ponytail on her head bounced with her excitement.
Threads of water snaked in every direction, boring into the fissures in the rock, piercing through to the flesh beneath. In an instant, the blood and tissue inside the rock creatures shriveled. Only hollow stone shells remained, shaped vaguely like humans, swaying faintly as the wind whistled through them.
"I didn't want to make such a bloody first impression."
Ye Zheng walked over to Lucy, brushed the dust off her clothes, and spoke in a cool, detached tone.
Lucy assumed Ye Zheng was talking to her and felt an inexplicable pang of guilt. Demonic Domains were rampaging ceaselessly outside; Ye Zheng was needed everywhere. Instead of easing Ye Zheng's burden, Lucy was wasting her time and energy by needing rescue...
"You—are you the ruler of this world?"
A nearby mound suddenly shook violently, earth crumbling away, accompanied by a deep, rumbling question. An enormous rock creature stirred awake from within the mound. It shook off the soil and sat cross-legged on the ground.
"Who I am is none of your concern."
Hearing Ye Zheng's reply, the rock giant sat motionless. Its rough stone surface betrayed no emotion, but its voice was heavy with sorrow.
"We were once human, just like you."
"Until one day, a petrification disease suddenly swept through our world. Only water could ease the symptoms. The world descended into chaos as everyone fought over water, and in the end, no one escaped the fate of transformation."
"We were guided here. This place is supposed to have the resources to save us. For the sake of our surviving companions, we had no choice."
Ye Zheng's expression was one of polite detachment. "That sounds like a story worth sympathizing with—if you weren't invaders."
"No! Your existence has changed our minds!"
"I can sense it—your power holds the hope of saving us. If you are willing, we will crown you as our ruler!"
At that, Ye Zheng blinked. She seemed, at last, faintly intrigued.
"And how would I rule over you, in such a desolate place? Hardly inspiring."
"No! All you need to do is fully merge this space with your world. The two worlds will become one, and you will command them both!"
Ye Zheng glanced downward, feeling Lucy grip her hand and give it a firm squeeze.
She arranged a look of helpless regret on her face. "Your origins are far too suspicious. I can't simply take you at your word."
"...We didn't want to invade. There is a force in this world that draws us in. We simply followed the pull."
"More and more visitors will come to this world in the future. Why not join forces? We are all human—only we can truly understand one another..."
Ye Zheng appeared deep in thought, as if swayed by the creature's words.
In truth, she was reflecting on the fact that, broadly speaking, they were all human—and yet humans were often the greatest threat to other humans.
"Is that force still pulling you?"
Though the creature didn't understand the purpose of the question, it answered honestly: "Yes, it's still there."
"Is there any way for you to leave this world on your own?"
"...In theory, yes. That force opened a passage between our worlds. But we're like driftwood carried downstream—it's extremely difficult to swim against that current and go back."
Ye Zheng listened intently, then suddenly complimented, "You're very articulate."
The rock giant's body, which had been rising and falling with its breath, went rigid—as if it sensed something. It said no more.
"This is my first time meeting a Demonic Domain creature I can communicate with so smoothly. Thank you for the information, but—"
"I don't consider us the same species. I don't believe you're still human."
The rock giant could no longer maintain its composure. It shot to its feet, blocking the hot wind, and the atmosphere turned tense and hostile in an instant.
"I came from that direction." Ye Zheng pointed to her right. "I saw... their bodies."
Lucy's pupils dilated instantly. She clapped a hand over her mouth, shoulders trembling.
"As their leader, just how much of your own kind's and others' blood and flesh did you feed yourself, for your speech and thinking to become this articulate?"
Before Ye Zheng had finished speaking, the giant's massive body was already bearing down on her—but Ye Zheng would always be faster.
Transparent water threads sliced through the rock giant's body. Rock-embedded chunks of flesh burst apart. Not even a final word escaped it before it was reduced to a neat stack of butchered meat on a chopping block. Lucy thought, dazed, that this was even more efficient than her mother wielding a cleaver on a whole sheep.
But—but—
"Where did they go?"
A sliver of hope still lingered in Lucy's eyes.
The white light at the horizon gradually faded. The wasteland's scenery dissolved, and Ye Zheng took Lucy's hand, leading her outward. Her voice was as soft as it could be: "They completed their glorious mission. They can rest now."
The Demonic Domain dissipated, revealing the street's original appearance. Lucy stopped and pulled her hand free from Ye Zheng's.
She hadn't actually seen Ye Zheng in a long time. In just a few days, a bellyful of doubts had piled up. She knew she should hold her emotions in check at a time like this—in a disaster this brutal, everyone was prepared to make sacrifices.
"Captain Helen was the one who recruited me. She heard I was your friend and took great care of me." Lucy's voice was subdued. She didn't even know Helen's surname.
Ye Zheng replied softly, "Helen was a very thoughtful person. She often submitted articles to the newspaper. I've read the piece she wrote about me." So effusively passionate that it was almost overwhelming.
"How... did they die?"
"...Infected and turned to stone."
Ye Zheng said, tilting her head to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, casually averting her gaze.
Hearing this, Lucy felt a measure of solace—at least it hadn't been a painful death.
"Ye Zheng, after the four days are over, how many people in the East District—in the Holy Journey Knights Order—will survive?"
"Half. Roughly half will die."
Lucy's heart sank again.
Seeing her so distracted and shaken, Ye Zheng offered a few words of caution, then turned and left.
Her dark eyes turned somber almost instantly.
She had used the Demon Dragon to lure the most vicious and intractable Demonic Domains to the East District—concentrating their forces to minimize casualties as much as possible.
The price was condemning herself, and those closest and most loyal to her, to the most harrowing hell.
Watching another white barrier descend in the distance, Ye Zheng swallowed the taste of iron in her throat. Perhaps, she thought, she didn't have the patience to wait four days after all.
She was sure he was just as eager to settle things with her.
She would tell him to his face who truly commanded this story!
*
On an empty street, Ye Zheng walked with her head down, hurrying toward the next battlefield. She suddenly looked up, sensing a strange pull—her heartbeat quickened. Could an extremely dangerous Demonic Domain have appeared at the base?
But this feeling was different from before. It didn't resemble a typical premonition; it was more as if she were being drawn by some force...
In a flash, Ye Zheng recalled the conversation she'd just had with the Demonic Domain creature.
She quickened her pace. A shrill, piercing tone suddenly erupted in her mind, followed by an agonizing, compressive pain as though her body were being crushed. Her vision went black and she had to brace herself against a wall, channeling her ability to stabilize her body.
Was it overuse of her abilities recently?
When the pain passed, Ye Zheng opened her eyes again.
The first thing she noticed was the air—fresh, free of the scent of blood. The unfamiliarity was striking. She straightened up, looked ahead, and her dark eyes widened involuntarily.
"Are you all right?"
A girl who looked about fifteen approached her. She carried a colorful bag festooned with a doll—black-haired, blue-eyed. Strangely familiar.
"Your doll... is very cute."
The unexpected compliment made the girl a little bashful. She took a closer look and exclaimed in surprise, "Wait—are you cosplaying as Ye Zheng?"
"...Hm?"
Ye Zheng gave a thoroughly puzzled "Hm," though in truth she had already more or less figured out what was going on.
It seemed she had been pulled into the readers' world.
"Are you here to take photos? When did they set up a whole street over here?"
Ye Zheng glanced back, and everything clicked into place.
Just as the company had wanted—after throwing both worlds into chaos, they really were beginning to merge.
Ye Zheng looked at the girl's somewhat youthful, innocent face and let out a helpless yet indulgent smile.
In this world's terms, did she now count as a Demonic Domain monster?
System! she called silently. Static hummed through her consciousness.
The merger couldn't happen now. She had to stop it—
Before System could reply, the crushing pain hit again. The space around her warped and distorted. Ye Zheng gritted her teeth against the agony and slowly retreated back into her own world.
The girl with the Percy ita bag noticed nothing. She stood there holding her phone, torn—she didn't even like Ye Zheng, but this cosplayer's quality was genuinely incredible. Even a Percy fan like her couldn't help staring...
After an extended deliberation with her friend group, she looked up—and the Ye Zheng cosplayer was gone.
Not just the person—the slightly retro, slightly post-apocalyptic street had vanished too.
The girl's expression turned to one of pure horror, as if she'd seen a ghost in broad daylight.
Author's Note
When a brave adventurer stumbles into another world and chats up an ancient god, thinking it's just a regular NPC:
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