Volume 4 Chapter 81: This is getting way too dangerous—let’s bail. Call it a draw【Final Volume: Balor and Nanashi Arc】

Konoha’s devotion to Balor comes from a tale both deep and long.

Recalling every detail might be possible, but doing so while a Gorgon is right in front of them, trying to kill them, would be far too foolish.

In short, Konoha, too, was saved by the man named Balor.

Ashvin, Izun, Artemis—and Konoha as well.

Every maid serving the Apophis household bears a past so horrific you’d want to avert your eyes, and each one was rescued by Balor along the way.

Ashvin had been an enslaved member of a foreign tribe.
Izun had been abandoned as a cursed child.
Artemis had lived a blood‑soaked life as an assassin.

So, what was Konoha saved from?

That was—

“The Gorgon’s Mystic Eyes, huh…”

Konoha muttered.

A sinister light flickered in her eyes beneath her long green hair.

“I wonder which is stronger—my Evil Eye or hers?”

Konoha possesses an Evil Eye.

It is said that humans born already cursed enter the world together with such an eye.

If a Mystic Eye is the overwhelming demonic power of monsters and their kin, an Evil Eye is a power that arises when a human is cursed even before birth.

That much is common knowledge; if a newborn is discovered to have an Evil Eye, the child may be killed on the spot.

And even if they are not killed, the life that follows is bleak and painful.

Konoha was no exception.

Because an Evil Eye looks unmistakably different from an ordinary eye, it cannot be hidden.

The one who saved her from that tragic life was Balor, who had unusual eyes of his own.

“Balor‑chan, you have the same kind of eyes as me, and you saved me. Now it’s my turn to save you, right?”
“Heyyyyy!? Quit babbling and do something, nya! I’m already turning to stone!”
“…………”
“Whoa—crack, crack, craaack.”

Artemis screamed when she saw how relaxed Konoha was.

Stone had already crept up to Artemis’s feet.

The Gorgon’s Mystic Eyes, which can be neither blocked nor dispelled, were fully activated.

Watching the petrification slowly crawl upward, no one could stay calm.

Ashvin said nothing, but her cold gaze was fixed on Konoha.

The only one still giggling without a care was Izun.

Ignoring them all, Konoha unleashed her Evil Eye.

“Now then—how about you die for me?”

◆

The instant Konoha’s Evil Eye flashed, everything changed dramatically.

First, the stone creeping over Ashvin and the others crumbled away.

The curse of the Gorgon’s Mystic Eyes—said to be impossible to undo—had been lifted.

The Gorgon stared, dumbfounded.

Having never experienced such a thing, she froze in mid‑air.

“!?”

The shock was so great that she didn’t even notice the change in her own body right away.

Her once‑mighty flesh began to crumble to pieces.

There was no pain, no suffering.

It was as if something forcibly held together from the start had finally reached its limit.

Against her will, her body self‑destructed.

Naturally, this was the power of Konoha’s Evil Eye.

“…May I ask why the Gorgon’s body is falling apart?”

“I’m not hiding anything—Balor‑chan knows already, you see? Besides, the explanation’s quick.”

After confirming that the parts of her own body that had turned to stone were back to normal, Ashvin questioned Konoha.

Had the petrification not been lifted—had the damage merely stopped progressing while what was already stone remained so—she might have killed Konoha on the spot.

Allowing the body she still hadn’t received her beloved master’s love with to be rendered useless was out of the question.

Konoha guessed that was probably what Ashvin was thinking, but she didn’t care and stayed perfectly calm.

“My Evil Eye can erase its target. This time I used it on the power of the Gorgon’s Mystic Eyes—and on the Gorgon herself.”

Realizing how immense that power was, Ashvin and Artemis traded looks.

If true, it was unimaginably strong.

People often ask about its limits—just how much can be designated as the ‘target’?—but the fact that it could counter a Mystic Eye no one had ever overcome until now was more than enough.

“Power like that… There has to be some price, nya?”
“Nope, not really.”
“…………”

If Konoha’s words were to be believed, there was no price beyond the mana it consumed.

Frankly, she was a walking hazard.

If she weren’t Balor’s maid, Artemis would have killed her here and now.

“But I’m not that strong myself, so unless someone’s up front fighting like this, I can’t really pull my weight.”
“Amaaazing!”

The one squealing with delight was Izun.

Perhaps because she had endured a horrific past as a cursed child, she felt a kinship with someone burdened by an Evil Eye.

Artemis, who didn’t care about such things, was already thinking she’d just have to assassinate Konoha if it came to that, nya.

“Well, in any case—”

Ashvin’s eyes shifted to the disintegrating Gorgon.

“At this rate, the Gorgon won’t last much longer.”
“…You make it sound almost unpleasant, nya.”

The moment Artemis narrowed her eyes, her bad feeling proved correct.

The Gorgon collapsed.

Her eyes flashed one last, brilliant gleam.

“Wha—!?”

At once, every serpent the Gorgon had summoned lifted its body.

Instead of attacking Konoha and the others, the countless snakes merely stared at them.

With the same ominous, glowing Mystic Eyes as the Gorgon.

“She transferred her Mystic Eyes into the summoned snakes…!?”

Konoha tried to erase them with her Evil Eye, but she could erase only what was within her field of vision.

The snakes, pouring out in droves, scattered in every direction, staring at them from all sides.

Konoha’s Evil Eye alone couldn’t cope.

“I—I’ve never heard of anything like this…!!”

The petrification crept back over Konoha and the others.

In the future Konoha had experienced, the Gorgon had never managed such a desperate gambit.

Not that it would let the Gorgon survive—her death was already certain.

It was simply a new power the legendary monster had birthed for the sole purpose of dragging her enemies down with her.

Their bodies turned to stone—completely, irrevocably.

Just before that happened—

“Nuaaaaaaaaaaah!?”

Balor, who’d been thinking, This is way too bad, let’s just run for it—mutual kill and we’re out, burst onto the scene.