Chapter 584: Escape

Loren recognized the identity of the person who had come looking for him. She was Death.

So no matter how adorable she looked, Loren couldn't muster any other thoughts.

She was genuinely capable of completely killing Loren. His greatest asset right now was the Observer's authority, but Death was transformed from the Death Card, and the Death Card originated from the Observer.

So Loren wasn't even sure if he could survive a confrontation with Death.

"Loren?"

The people around him had also heard Death's words. In that moment, they completely confirmed that the person sitting here was indeed Loren, and they began scattering in panic.

"Hold on! Anyone who runs, I'll kill!"

Loren's warning was quite effective. Someone had one foot already out of the tavern but forcibly stepped back inside.

Having more people around worked in Loren's favor. Death would only kill those destined to die and wouldn't lay a hand on innocent victims. Loren could grab anyone at any time to use as a hostage.

"You should have died four years ago."

A scythe appeared in Death's hand out of thin air, utterly disproportionate to her height. The blade gleamed with cold light, exuding a dense aura of death.

Loren didn't know why she was addressing him with such respect, but there was no time to think about that now. He casually grabbed two people and shoved them in front of himself as shields.

To his surprise, Death actually halted the scythe mid-swing. This tactic genuinely worked.

"The gods should have died tens of thousands of years ago. Why don't you go kill them?"

Seeing that Loren had no intention of releasing his hostages, Death didn't press the attack either. She actually started chatting with him:

"They obtained the authority of the Final Singer. They count as gods too, so they fall outside my jurisdiction."

Hearing this, Loren felt he'd found an opening:

"I am the Perpetual Observer. I'm also a god. Why are you trying to kill me?"

"I know. You are my master. How could I not recognize you?"

Now Loren finally understood why she'd been using such respectful address earlier.

"Then why are you still trying to kill me?"

"The moment you abandoned your divine status, you ceased to be a god."

Death surveyed the area, seemingly contemplating from which angle she could cut Loren down without harming anyone else.

"..."

Looks like that approach wouldn't work. In the end, Loren could only choose to run. Death couldn't be killed, and now wasn't the time to face her head-on.

"What's that!"

Loren suddenly pointed behind Death. She instinctively turned her head, and Loren hurled his hostages at her.

Only after hearing their screams did Death turn back around. A slight sidestep, and she casually dodged them.

Death wouldn't kill the innocent, but that didn't mean she cared about other people's lives.

But by the time she recovered, Loren had already vanished.

...

"Death can't fly, but she can suddenly appear right beside me..."

Loren was holding Veronica, already soaring high into the sky. They hadn't even had time to eat.

"Then how do we deal with her? We can't escape, and we can't kill her..."

"There are only two ways to resolve this. Either face death calmly, or convince her..."

The simplest method was to face death calmly. Back when he was a Player, it didn't matter. Even if he couldn't respawn, dying just meant losing a save file. Death was death. No big deal.

But things were different now. Loren still had so much to do. How could he possibly face death calmly?

Indeed, if one could truly face death calmly, then perhaps one wouldn't die.

But if you harbored such thoughts, then it wasn't truly facing death calmly.

"If worse comes to worst, I could just hand Noah over..."

Noah also qualified as a target for Death's hunt, but right now Death was only fixated on Loren. Besides, Noah had disappeared somewhere, and finding him would take a while.

Death had vanished from Loren's sight. He let out a sigh of relief. His mobility was too high for her to catch up.

After being shaken off once, she'd probably lie low for a while.

Loren landed on the Church's rooftop. Before leaving, he needed to let everyone know he'd been here.

Just like before, Loren used Veronica's Arcane Ability to proclaim his identity as the Observer to the entire nation. Unlike the Free Church's laid-back attitude, the moment Loren published this information, a crowd burst out of the Church to capture him.

Most of them were Nuns, mixed with a few Sufferers. They were all instantly wiped out by a casual spell from Loren.

For Loren now, killing a Divine Envoy was no different from clearing out trash mobs.

"Where do we go next?"

"To the battlefield. We have to pass through it to get back to the Gedlan Kingdom. Besides, I heard some news earlier. The Battlefield Butcher is also on the Bountifulness and Pain battlefield. His blade is good. I want to take it."

Bloodbath might not be as good as Requiem, but it was still far superior to the Dull Light Loren currently carried.

Unlike Dull Light, which had mechanics, Bloodbath had pure stats. Really high stats. And killing made it stronger.

Though even at its peak evolution, it wouldn't surpass Requiem by much, and Requiem had mechanics on top of that.

However, Bloodbath had more than one evolution path. Loren needed its other path.

In this entire world, Loren was likely the only one who knew about it. Even its current owner had no idea.

"Besides, having an adorable loli chasing after me isn't bad either. Especially when she calls me master."

Death's threat wasn't insignificant, but Loren didn't fear her either. At most, she was a bit troublesome.

She wasn't a simple program. She had her own feelings. Perhaps Loren could slowly win her over during this process.

And if all else failed, once Loren reclaimed his divine status, he could completely resolve her.

"You wish to reclaim your divine status now? Wouldn't that be a little late?"

Loren had just finished dealing with the Church's people when Death appeared behind him.

"Before you kill me, can you grant me one wish?"

Loren didn't answer Death. Instead, he made a request.

"Speak. Since you are my master, I'll grant you this one exception."

"Show me your legs."

"?"

Both Veronica and Death were stunned for a moment. They couldn't understand why Loren would make such a request at a time like this.

"You can look at mine whenever you want..."

With that, Veronica directly rolled up her pant leg, revealing her calf wrapped in black stockings.

But Loren ignored her, keeping his eyes fixed on Death.

"Alright then. Since it is your wish..."

With that, Death lifted her black robe, revealing her legs.

She wore high boots, above which stretched a section of pristine white leg. The proportions were just right. Fleshy and full, yet not the least bit fat.

Loren seized the opportunity, grabbing Death's shoe with lightning speed. He yanked it off, tossed it on the ground, grabbed Veronica, and shot into the sky.

"Run!"

Veronica hadn't even realized what had happened before she was already airborne.

"..."

Death said nothing. She didn't try to chase either. She simply stared at Loren with those eyes that betrayed no emotion, then bent down to put her shoe back on.

It was inconvenient to continue the pursuit barefoot.