Man on the ark, forced to become king

"What happened?"

"I was caught in the aftershocks of that thing's awakening, and this is what happened. I'm lucky; none of the people living in the town escaped. They were all turned into crystallized puppets."

Thinking of the townspeople, Warfarin sighed almost imperceptibly, her eyes dimming for a moment, but she quickly recovered, pointing to her legs and pleading pitifully, "Kal'tsit, quickly use your invincible Mon3tr to think of a way! You must have a way, right?"

"I'm a beautiful young woman in the prime of my life, I can't be confined to a wheelchair at such a young age!"

"Theoretically speaking, you are not related to any of the words described above."

Kal'tsit casually remarked, then leaned closer to examine it, tapping it with her gloved fingers to confirm.

These two legs are completely beyond saving.

There were no residual energy fluctuations or visible flesh and blood tissue. The entire structure had been directly transformed into inorganic crystals. In other words, these were just two stones, and there was no possibility of them ever returning to their original state.

That deity's authority is extremely dangerous, far more so than it appears.

With this method of directly transforming living organisms into crystals, those who cannot isolate themselves from the influence of divine power are not even qualified to participate in the battle.

In fact, although Warfarin is not known for her strength, she is quite old and her strength is already greater than that of many elite Babel operators.

Even she was helpless, her legs were taken away, and those weaker than her had no chance at all.

This means that to deal with the awakened behemoth, it would likely require the intervention of an equal being, namely... a god-level powerhouse.

"Hey, hey, hey, Kal'tsit, say something! Even you can't do anything about it? You're the all-knowing Kal'tsit!"

Seeing Kal'tsit staring at her legs with a sullen, cat-like face, motionless as if petrified, Warfarin grew anxious.

She was really counting on this guy to have a solution.

Although Blood Demons can perform the feat of regenerating severed limbs, there are differences among Blood Demons. Her innate talent, Originium Arts, is not in that area at all. To do it, she would need a very strict ritual and would need to buy a lot of rare materials. With her own savings, she doesn't know how long she would have to wait.

Wait a minute... it seems she couldn't take her savings with her; they were all left at the clinic...

Suddenly realizing this rather cruel truth, Warfarin stood there stunned, her whole body turning ashen.

"There is a way."

Interrupted from her thoughts, Kal'tsit pondered for a moment and gave Warfarin an answer that greatly surprised and delighted her.

"I knew it! I knew you'd have a way!"

Warfarin perked up, looked over expectantly, and clutched Kal'tsit's clothes with her little hand.

"Close your eyes first."

Kal'tsit hesitated slightly, but ultimately did not reveal her solution directly.

Miss Blood Demon blinked suspiciously, looked at her legs which had turned into a statue, and chose to comply.

She had no other choice but to believe him.

She and Kal'tsit have been good friends for many years, so she probably wouldn't harm her.

"Ah! It hurts, it hurts!"

The sudden, excruciating pain nearly caused Warfarin to faint on the spot. Her closed eyes snapped open, and she immediately saw two calf segments lying on the ground, still connected by a bit of flesh and bone, and Mon3tr dripping blood from the limbs beside them.

A cool sensation spread up the broken section, relieving the pain. She subconsciously lifted her leg, and a feeling of emptiness welled up inside her.

"My legs hurt—"

"That's an illusion; your legs are on the ground."

A gentle golden light shone from Kal'tsit's palms as she placed her hands on the severed leg, stopping the bleeding.

"You are the Blood Demon, so you should be able to control the wound from getting worse. Let's leave it at that for now."

"Of course I can."

Warfarin nodded blankly, then realized what she meant and flew into a rage: "This...this is your plan?!"

"You chopped off my leg without even saying goodbye? What use are you to me if you do that?!"

"Waaaaah, my legs! My legs that can run and jump!"

"Alright, stop howling. The conditions are simple for now, so let's leave it at that for the time being. I'll find a way to help your calves grow back later."

Actually...maybe it would be better without legs?

After all, without legs, you can't just run around randomly, and you can't cause trouble even if you want to.

Once you put her in the chair, she can only sit there obediently to handle official business and can't go anywhere, making her more convenient to use.

A wicked thought suddenly popped into her mind, and Kal'tsit hurriedly shook her head, extinguishing it.

No, no, that would be too inhuman...

The main thing is that this guy is a blood demon, so he definitely has a way to grow his legs back. Even if she doesn't help, it won't last long.

Tsk, what a pity.

"I always feel like you're thinking something bad."

Warfarin, who had been shouting, stopped yelling, shrank back warily, picked up the crystallized leg that had fallen to the ground and put it behind her, her big eyes full of suspicion.

"You...you really have a way?"

"When have I ever lied? This time I really have a way."

Kal'tsit twitched her ears, intending to say, "When have I ever lied to you?" but then she remembered that she had indeed lied to this guy quite a few times, so she had to change her answer.

"Alright, I'll reluctantly believe you this once."

Miss Blood Demon pouted and nodded.

She was just saying it casually. This old man with a stoic expression never jokes about important matters. If he says he can find a solution, he definitely can. He wouldn't lie to her about something like this.

"Aren't you with Princess Theresa? What brings you here to find me? Don't tell me it was just a chance encounter; I don't believe it."

"No, I came here specifically to see you."

Kal'tsit shook her head and said seriously, "Kazdel has been unified again, and Babel has changed. I can't tell you the specifics now. I've come to you to invite you to join us. I need your help."

"Does it have to be me?"

"It has to be you. No one else has your experience and can't do the job. Only you can."

"Hmph, since you put it that way, then I'll..."

Warfarin puffed out her not-so-ample chest, about to agree immediately, but stopped halfway through her sentence, asking suspiciously, "You're not trying to fool me again, are you?"

"No this time, but I do need your help."

"Besides, you have no choice. If you don't agree, I'll have Mon3tr drag you back."

"Kal'tsit! You've gone too far!"

"kindness?"

The dark green behemoth peeked half its head out of the shadows, its sharp limbs reflecting the cold moonlight. Warfarin immediately cowered and put on a show of changing her expression.

"Kal'tsit! You've gone too far! Why didn't you think of me sooner?! I've wanted to help you for hundreds of years! I'm so happy!"

“Good awareness.”

Kal'tsit was quite satisfied with the attitude of the certain blood demon. With a wave of her hand, Mon3tr turned into fragments and slipped back into her clothes.

"I'm not lying to you this time. Due to certain restrictions, I can't reveal more information. I can only tell you now that we have found a way to completely cure Oripathy and have achieved initial results. The medicine used to inhibit the worsening of Oripathy is already in small-scale production."

"Cure Oripathy? Are you serious?"

When this matter was brought up, Warfarin put away her playful expression and became serious.

She has a profound expertise in the medical field and is renowned internationally under the pseudonym "Mr. Blood." Because of this, she is very aware of how difficult it is to cure Oripathy; it is almost an impossible fantasy.

But now, someone has told her that a cure for Oripathy has been found, and there have been initial successes...

Even if it was Kal'tsit who said that, she found it hard to believe.

“You know me, I don’t joke about this kind of thing. Oripathy can indeed be treated, and there are successful examples. It’s just that the method cannot be widely used and is still under research. The limit that can be achieved at present is to inhibit the further deterioration of Oripathy in the patient’s body.”

"You really are... quietly accomplished something big."

Upon hearing such a definite answer, Warfarin's expression faltered for a moment, and a mocking look appeared on her face, which looked no different from that of a young girl.

"But so what? Even if we have a treatment plan, we can't use it because there's no one to support us in doing so."

"Face reality, Kal'tsit. This world is sick, very sick. Oripathy is just a facade, isn't it?"

"In the end, Oripathy is just a disease that can only be transmitted through direct blood contact or direct inhalation of high concentrations of Originium dust. It is less contagious than the common cold. Even after infection, infected people can live for a long time with proper care, or even die of old age."

"I do not deny the pain and harm caused by Oripathy, but the diseases of this world have never been the so-called Oripathy."

"Even if we cure Oripathy, those people will find other alternatives."

"You can cure diseases, but can you also heal people's hearts?"

Although she looks like a young girl and behaves similarly, Warfarin is ultimately an immortal who has lived for a very long time.

She has seen many people and experienced many things, and has a clear understanding of the dark side of this world.

The Oripathy disease that everyone fears is merely a tool in the hands of those in power and those with ambitions; it is so 'terrifying' because they need it.

To truly solve Oripathy, a specific treatment alone is not enough.

So what if they have it? Even if they do, they dare not and cannot make it public. If they did, it would be tantamount to standing on the opposite side of the world.