Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 273

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Cha Cha, who stood roughly the same height as Reina, was dragged along by the female informant, his feet scraping the ground. Kanna flicked a disposable wooden fork at Reina’s feet with such force that it embedded itself in the titanium floor—a feat only Kanna could accomplish.
“P-please, let Evan rest.”
“You’re the crazy poison dealer who nearly killed him, so why are you complaining to me?”
“W-want to fight?”
“Stop it! If you two fight, the entire dungeon will collapse!”
Cha Cha, who had a rough sense of both their abilities, stood between Kanna and Reina, whimpering. Being the Underworld King’s babysitter was truly exhausting. He’d come up from underground after breaking up fights, only to find himself mediating quarrels between Evan’s friends. His fate was too cruel.
“All I want is to spend a thousand years in marital bliss with Evan! Why are there so many obstacles in my dreams!”
“That’s literally the hardest problem of this century.”
When Reina expressed reluctance, saying she’d rather solve the Riemann Hypothesis than get involved with that, Cha Cha burst into tears. He himself knew well that being alone together with Evan was a distant dream. To achieve it, the first obstacle he’d have to overcome was Gerth, who was like his younger sibling.
“Why did Mother even give birth to that lizard!”
“If you insult Gerth, Evan will come after you.”
“Waaaaaah! Evan is mean!”
Cha Cha wept miserably, but no one offered comfort. Reina had no interest in involving herself with Cha Cha unless it resulted in a loss for her, and Kanna cared about nothing in the world except matters related to her friendship with Evan. In fact, she was thinking that if Evan ended up with multiple husbands, it would be troublesome—perhaps it would be better if Cha Cha simply ceased to exist.
“You’re all terrible. Every single one of you.”
Amid the indifference of these twenty-year-olds, Cha Cha clenched his fists and stood up. Without anyone coddling him, he had no desire to cry. He missed Evan. If Evan had been here, she would have held him and told him not to cry.
“Even if you all go extinct, I won’t let you into the Underworld!”
Having said something that neither Kanna nor Reina found remotely concerning, Cha Cha shut himself away in the Medical Facility to care for Evan.
Evan remained unconscious even after two days had passed. Kanna’s poison was formidable, and Reina was terrified because everyone except herself was on the verge of descending into madness.

◇ ◆ ◇

“Ugh, ugh! It’s always banana flavor!”
Surrounded by madmen, Reina Letem felt herself slipping into madness too, so she deliberately whined loudly, hoping to clear the oppressive atmosphere. And truthfully, eating nothing but banana-flavored desserts for two consecutive days was genuinely problematic.
“Huh, huh? I, I got, apple flavor…”
“What? There are other flavors besides banana?!”
“The desserts come in thirty-six different flavors.”
“Then why do I always get banana?!”
“You like bananas, don’t you?”
Cha Cha looked bewildered, and Reina felt deeply insulted. When she demanded to know why he assumed she liked bananas, Cha Cha proudly boasted the common knowledge he’d learned from Evan.
“Gorillas love bananas the most! That’s what Evan said!”
“Yaaaagh! Evan Laef!”
Before Reina could grab Evan by the collar, she punched Cha Cha squarely in the gut. Strangely, Cha Cha felt delighted even after being hit. This was the first time he’d experienced the joy of being teased.
“Aaaaagh!”
When Reina’s scream echoed from the Medical Facility, Kanna and Cha Cha jolted to their feet in alarm. They weren’t particularly concerned about Reina—they were worried something had happened to Evan.
“E, Evan!”
“Evan, what happened! What did the gorilla do?!”
In the Medical Facility lay a startled Reina, and Evan—having emerged victorious from a prolonged battle against poison and death—sat cross-legged in the air, floating weightlessly as if having achieved profound enlightenment.
The Space Station Dungeon existed in a state of zero gravity.
“If you meet the Buddha, slay the Buddha. If you meet the Patriarch, slay the Patriarch. If you meet an Arhat, slay the Arhat. If you meet your parents, slay your parents.”
I had truly achieved some profound enlightenment. I casually closed the status window showing I’d become a Mana Master through deep understanding.
“If I meet a Dungeon, I’ll slay the Dungeon!”
As I bellowed with a sharp cry, mana erupted into a tempest, swirling violently. I drew in all the mana that naturally existed in the environment, along with the mana that Cha Cha, Kanna, and Reina normally carried around them, weaving it into magic. Those caught in it could only scream.
“You madman! What are you doing, you madman!”
“I, ice!”
“Evan’s creating an ice storm!”
Sharp, jagged ice shards tore through the titanium walls. The Medical Facility was being shredded by my magic, and soon the entire Dungeon seemed destined to be torn apart.
Outside was the vacuum of space. Cha Cha prepared to erect a defensive barrier to save Evan and the others, but when the woman who’d achieved enlightenment through battling poison suddenly grabbed him by the waist, he couldn’t think of anything else.
“Gasp!”
“Who decides whether I love you or not?”
For two whole days, I remained in a comatose state, wrestling with this question. My consciousness had awakened not long after the poison took effect, but I refused to speak until I’d reached this conclusion.
“W, well…”
“Ursula was the one who gave you the trial. Do you want to entrust even my emotions to Mother’s judgment?”
“N, no, Evan! That would make me seem like I have a mother complex!”
In truth, Cha Cha was a mama’s boy, but I wasn’t in the mood to argue that point now. What mattered wasn’t the emotional state that Mother Goddess judged, but my own will.
“I love you, Cha Cha. If I didn’t, who would go through all that trouble to save you and create Underworld Citizens for you?”
I’d certainly run around for the time limit, for my friends, for Mother Eleanor, for Gerth and Seian Crowell, but in the end, I’d also worried about Cha Cha and created Underworld Citizens. I feared Gerth with his bloodshot eyes, but I never disliked Cha Cha.
“Whether I love you or not—I decide that. I won’t leave it to Ursula’s judgment.”
I kissed Cha Cha while holding him close, tearing through the Dungeon. For Reina, it was like a bolt from the blue, but Cha Cha’s heart raced so wildly he could barely breathe.
‘Evan! Evan, you’re so cool! Evan’s the best! Evan!’
Cha Cha kept his eyes wide open, reluctant for this moment to pass, gazing at Evan. The most beautiful and handsome woman in the world was whispering love to him and kissing him.
It was all Evan’s will, all her love for Cha Cha. Honestly, this was better than getting Mother’s approval through a kiss and escaping the Dungeon. I could feel that she would cherish Cha Cha without regard for Ursula’s opinion or anyone else’s judgment.
“I love Evan more than anything in the world too!”
Tears welled up in Cha Cha’s eyes as he wrapped his arms tightly around Evan’s neck.
Watching Evan and Cha Cha lost in their own world, exchanging affection, Reina felt her chest tighten and her breathing grow shallow.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
She couldn’t breathe, and the pressure was causing her body to swell. Just as she thought she might perish, Ursula’s intervention saved the human, the human prototype, and the half-breed drifting through the void.
“Phew! Did that little one finally activate a barrier?”
“N-no, not yet. L-looking at them, they’re still k-kissing, so it s-seems the Mother Goddess is e-exerting her power.”
As Kanna plummeted under gravity and pointed toward the artificial satellite, Ursula’s lens gleamed in agreement.
“Hey! Evan! Stop smooching and prepare for the heat wave!”
Though everyone’s bodies were resilient, there was no telling what would happen if they caught fire in the heat wave. At Reina’s thunderous cry, Evan and Cha Cha looked at her with expressions of pity for someone who knew nothing of love.
“I’ll burn your eyes out! Whether the kiss survives or not is beside the point!”
That was a fair point.
Evan created an ice barrier and wing set while holding Cha Cha, then rotated the propeller to reduce their falling speed. Cha Cha, happily nestled in Evan’s embrace, deployed a barrier for survival.
“But where are we falling toward? Shouldn’t we be heading back to the Fire Lizard Settlement?”
“Evan! If you adjust the direction slightly northeast, it should work!”
“Where’s northeast?”
“Where my right pigtail is pointing right now, Evan!”
“Got it.”
Cha Cha’s navigation skills remained sharp even in the air, not just underground. Did she have a compass embedded in her body? Evan felt a complex tangle of emotions—finding Cha Cha fascinating, adorable, impressive, and utterly peculiar all at once.
One demon, one human, and one that was neither demon nor human. Quite the curated selection by type. Evan had made peace with this lineup that would follow him for life, but the real question was whether Gerth would accept it. Of course, Seian would vehemently oppose it, but Evan wasn’t afraid of Seian. He seemed like the type who would quietly relent once given honeyed words, wealth, and prestige.
“Hey, add more ice! It’s hot!”
“It’s just right and comfortable.”
“Don’t talk like you’re a grandmother!”
Following Reina’s fussy demands, Evan added more ice and, as the ground drew near, spun the ice wings forcefully to create a state of levitation. Just a few years ago, he’d thought the Department Head Professor who casually soared into space was a monster, but now he’d become something far more monstrous. Evan felt a strange sense of nostalgia wash over him.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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