Part 5 of 8
I don’t know how many of them are born in a single round of egg laying, but how many could possibly survive long enough to evolve? One or two? Maybe even none at all?
That means my odds of survival were probably less than 1 percent, and somehow I still made it.
That said, since I got a reincarnation bonus in the form of the Skanda skill, I don’t think it’s really the same.
Wow. Thinking about how hard I struggled back then is making me sorta sad. It’s enough to make me feel a bit of sympathy for my little brothers and sisters or whatever.
But oh well, that’s survival of the fittest for you. Better shake it off and get slaughtering.
Huh? Cruel?
Come on, I don’t have any other choice.
As I dispose of the small lesser taratects in huge swaths, some adult taratects hear the commotion and come running.
I finish them off with equal ease.
Sure, an adult taratect gets a big jump in stats, but that’s nothing to me now.
Only a greater class or above can compete with me at this point.
Even then, a greater wouldn’t beat me unless some kind of miracle occurred.
Sure, I was shocked when I first saw a greater taratect in the Lower Stratum, but now the only thing that’s shocking is how much stronger I am than them, if I do say so myself.
Continuing the massacre as I reflect on these thoughts, my Detection warns me of something rapidly approaching.
It’s moving at a very high speed and seems to be about the size of a human.
No doubt about it. It’s the puppet spider.
The second I sense this, I flee in the opposite direction while whipping up a Teleport rune.
Then I teleport away before it can catch up to me.
The scenery around me warps, and now I’m outside, where Mother almost killed me.
If I just stay in the labyrinth, I’ll probably run out of places to hide eventually. I might as well take this chance to expand my range outside a little, which has the added bonus of increasing my number of potential teleport spots.
I wander around outside for a while as I wait for things to cool down in the labyrinth.
Then, after a day or so, I teleport back into the Upper Stratum and get back to spider hunting.
Rinse and repeat.
After several days of this routine, my spider hunt is coming along nicely. I’ve bagged one arch and six greaters and racked up countless other, lesser kills in the process.
I’m particularly proud that I was able to beat even one arch.
I might talk big, but archs are still a pretty powerful enemy.
I can manage a single one well enough, but if there’re two or more, my chances of winning drop like a stone.
I don’t know how many other archs there are altogether, but being able to take even one out of the equation is a pretty big deal.
Also, judging by the way the puppet spider keeps coming after me, I’m pretty sure there’s only one.
It seems to be the same individual every time, and I’m sure Mother wouldn’t hold back in this situation, so that makes me think that it’s probably the only one she has.
Of course, even that could be one of Mother’s tricks. It’s possible that a second one will appear when I least expect it or something.
If that happens, well, I guess I’ll just accept defeat.
I mean, I don’t think she’d be able to make a second one appear with such perfect timing, nor do I think a second one exists in the first place.
But even with just the one, all I can do right now is run away from it.
Sure, my levels have gone up a few times during my spider hunt, but that’s not enough to close the huge gap between our stats.
Maybe if I beat Mother, it’ll give up on trying to chase me around, but I probably shouldn’t bank on that.
If anything, it might get extra vengeful if I beat her, and it’d come after me twice as hard.
If that happens, I’ll have to deal with it somehow, but nothing comes to mind at the moment.
For the time being, I guess I just have to keep avoiding Mother and the puppet spider and keep reducing the rest of her ranks.
So that’s the latest in the labyrinth. Meanwhile, outside, I’ve arrived at the ocean.
I’m traveling next to it right now, though I’ve yet to come across any human villages or anything.
I’m guessing I’ll find some kind of port or fishing village eventually if I keep traveling along the beach, but I’m not sure what to do if that happens.
I guess I’ll probably just avoid it and keep moving.
Also, I still can’t get in contact with my Parallel Minds.
But I can still feel the connection, so I don’t think they’ve been done in or anything.
I just have to believe that they’re hard at work over there.
If they can defeat Mother, my situation will improve considerably.
Until then, I just have to keep whittling away at her forces and make sure I don’t get killed.
If I keep buying time like this, I’m sure I’ll beat Mother eventually.
For now, everything’s going according to plan.
Yep, things are looking up.
Even if worse comes to worst, I still have my insurance in the form of Immortality.
I was careless.
At the time, I thought I was staying on guard, but now I think I should’ve been more vigilant.
Back then, I had no idea.
When D mentioned defeating “her,” I just assumed that was referring to Mother.
I never even imagined that it was someone else entirely, and that she was already hot on my trail.
THE DARK SECRETS OF THE OTHER WORLD
“Thank you for everything.”
We bow our heads to Basgath.
After leaving the Great Elroe Labyrinth, we stayed overnight at Basgath’s base.
And now, early in the morning, we’re leaving for the elf village.
This is where we part ways with Basgath.
“Don’t mention it.”
Basgath nods.
“Are yeh sure I can take all the earth dragon parts, though? They’ll sell for a fortune, y’know.”
“Of course. We can’t afford to bring anything that would slow us down anyway. Think of it as our thanks for all your help.”
“Well, all right, then,” the guide says with a grin.
“Mr. Basgath. Would you perhaps—?”
“I’m just a simple guide, boy.” Basgath responds before I can even finish speaking.
He seems to know what I was about to say.
Basgath is a seasoned warrior.
That became very clear in our time in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
Moreover, he has incredibly good judgment thanks to his abundance of experience.
To be honest, I wanted him to come with us.
But Basgath promptly declined.
“A guide’s job is just that—to guide people. Besides, I’ve already retired. There’s no need for an old man like me to stick my nose where it don’t belong anymore.”
He chuckles a little.
But then his face grows serious again.
“Boy. This is just a gut feelin’, but I think something big’s gonna happen soon. I got no proof, o’course. But that fear’s been hangin’ over me for the past few years now. This mess yer caught up in now might be a harbinger of things to come.”
That makes sense.
It’s not just what’s happening with Hugo.
The massive war with the demons.
The Hero title being passed on to someone new.
There’s been a lot going on with the world lately.
“I just hope that guidin’ yeh all here has made the world even a little bit better. Then I’ll feel like I’ve done my part and then some.”
Basgath holds out his hand.
“We’ll do our very best to make sure that happens.”
I grasp his hand tightly for a firm handshake.
“My job is just navigatin’ the labyrinth. But I think yer job is much bigger, boy. Good luck.”
These words encourage me a great deal.
After parting ways with Basgath, we continue on our journey to the elf village.
Riding on Fei’s back, it’ll take about two days.
We’ve arrived at a town on the edge of a region called Sariella.
Before we enter, Fei turns back into human form and dons a loose cloak to cover her wings.
This is on top of wrapping them around her body, too.
Otherwise, her wings would draw attention.
This might be a fantasy world, but there aren’t any races like beastfolk or anything.
Which means there’s no humanoid species that has wings.
I’ve imagined that if anyone were to catch sight of her wings under her cloak, they’d probably be either curious or suspicious.
But apparently, the situation is more serious than I thought.
“The people of Sariella all worship the Goddess. And in the legends, the Goddess has white wings. Who knows what they would do if they saw Fei’s wings?”
Ahh.
According to Ms. Oka, in the worst-case scenario, they might even attack her for falsely impersonating the Goddess.
It’s more likely that they would do the opposite—namely, try to worship her—but our teacher doesn’t want to take any chances.
Since people in this region fervently believe in the Goddess, they have a unique way of thinking.
Because of that, their relationship with the Followers of the Word of God is rocky, to the point where they’ve waged war on one another in the past.
I myself don’t subscribe to the Word of God religion, but they’ve been in charge of the hero for generations.
If they found out that I’m the new hero, I might get dragged into unnecessary conflict.
So it’s best if we avoid standing out as much as possible.
I hate to put Fei through that kind of discomfort, but it’s our only option while we’re in this region.
Because knowing what I know, I can’t help but feel that all of this world’s religions are extremely shady.
“This world was essentially created as part of a game among gods.”
This was the day before we left for the elf village.
With that introduction, Ms. Oka launched into an explanation.
“First of all, since we’re bringing Hyrince and Anna to the elf village, I would like to tell them about our true nature. Is that all right with you, Shun and Katia?”
What she meant was that she was planning to tell them that we’re all reincarnations.
I nodded right away, but Katia seemed less convinced.
“May I ask whether that is connected to the elf village?”
“Yes. I’ll do my best to explain why.”
Ms. Oka nodded firmly.
After thinking for a moment, Katia nodded as well.
“Shun, Katia, Fei, and I are all reincarnations. We were born with memories of our lives in another world.”
At first, Hyrince and Anna just looked confused.
Fortunately, though, the concept of reincarnation does exist in this world, so they accepted it with more explanation.
“I guess that does explain a few things,” Hyrince said at last.
“But…Ms. Oka, was it? What does that have to do with what we were discussing before?”
“It’s related to the elves’ predictions and my desires,” Ms. Oka responded.
“First, as I’ve already told Shun, the elves have been looking after the reincarnations for some time. The reason is a combination of what the elves have predicted and what I implored them to do. Naturally, my desire is to make sure all the reincarnations are safe. As you all know, this world is very dangerous, full of monsters and even hostile demons. The world we came from was peaceful, so none of us are accustomed to fighting. That’s what makes it so difficult for reincarnations to get by in this world. I’ve been protecting them by taking them to live in safety in the elf village.”
That couldn’t have been as easy as she made it sound.
Searching the world for reincarnations, without a single clue to go on.
And as she said herself, this world is a dangerous one.
When I was still just a child, Ms. Oka was bustling all over the world, gathering the reincarnations.
I was sure that journey was harder than I could imagine.
If anything, our teacher’s excellent magical ability is proof of that.
“However, the elves’ plan was slightly different. They want to make sure that certain powerful beings cannot use the reincarnations for their own ends. These beings are called administrators, but you could also call them gods.”
That put things on a much larger scale all of a sudden, but I guessed that it had to do with her statement about this world being a “game among gods.”
“This may seem sudden, but let me ask you all a question. What do you think ‘status’ is?”
“It represents our strength, right?”
“That’s correct. But why do you think such a thing exists?”
“Well, because the Word of God made it that way.”
Hyrince answered Ms. Oka’s questions naturally.
But Katia and I realized the meaning behind her words.
People who were born in this world would probably never question it.
Not status, or the “Word of God,” or any of it.
It’s just something that’s existed for them since the moment they were born.
But we reincarnations know of a world where this “status” doesn’t exist.
To us, having stats and such does seem strange.
“That’s right. ‘Status’ was indeed created by a god. Now, do you know why that god created it?”
For that, Hyrince didn’t have an answer.
“In the world we came from, we didn’t hear any ‘Word of God.’ There were no levels, stats, or skills, either. If you worked hard, you could certainly increase your abilities, but not in any form that was visible as a numeric value. For us reincarnations, having levels, stats, skills, and so on is very unusual indeed.”
Hyrince seemed surprised at Ms. Oka’s words.
He’d always taken their existence for granted, so it never seemed “unusual” to him.
“By all rights, levels, skills, and stats are not necessary for a world to exist. The world we came from functioned perfectly without them, so it’s plain to see that much.”
Right. On Earth, we lived without those things just fine.
I was starting to get a faint inkling of why Ms. Oka brought up this subject.
Basically, these “administrators” created levels, stats, skills, and the like for a particular purpose.
That was probably what she was getting at.
“Ms. Oka, what was the gods’ goal in creating all this? To get people to fight?”
Clearly, Katia had come to a similar conclusion.
In fact, she’d gotten a step further than I had.
To make people fight…
That hadn’t occurred to me.
But now that she mentioned it, I realized that all the skills in this world were battle related.
As if to encourage people to fight.
“That’s right. In this world, the more you fight, the more your levels, stats, and skills improve. And if you lose a fight, you die. The more battles there are, the more deaths there are.”
That made sense.
Lots of battles meant lots of casualties.
But I couldn’t figure out why she was explaining something so obvious.
“And when a living thing dies, the power it’s built up until then is collected…by the administrators.”
Now that information was shocking.
Rationally, from what she’d said so far, it made sense that this would be the reason the administrators created levels, stats, and so on.
However, the whole thing was so absurd that I could scarcely believe it.
“The administrators force people to fight in order to gain more power for themselves. That is why humans and demons are pitted against each other. And why they have designated representatives in the form of the hero and the Demon Lord. To be honest, when I heard that Shun had become the hero, my vision went dark.”
When she turned the subject toward me, I could hear my heart pounding in my ears.
The hero was a representative of humans, chosen by the administrators?
And a part of their plan to force humans and demons to fight?
“Ms. Oka, how credible is all this information?”
It made sense that Katia would ask that question.
Her story was consistent, but given its almost fairy-tale-like nature, it was possible that it was exaggerated or even made up entirely.
“It has been passed down among the elves since ancient times.”
“Does that mean it’s true, though?”
I couldn’t blame Katia for sounding increasingly alarmed and annoyed, either.
Just because the elves had believed it for a long time didn’t necessarily mean that it was true.
“Frankly, I don’t know for sure whether all of this is true, either. However, I can confirm that the beings called ‘administrators’ are real. I’ve seen one of their subordinates with my own eyes. Besides, the elves believe this quite seriously, to the extent that they’ll endanger themselves to secure the reincarnations.”
If Ms. Oka saw one of the administrators’ subordinates, then I was sure administrators actually existed.
But what did this story have to do with the elves’ desire to secure the reincarnations?
Before I could ask, Ms. Oka was already explaining.
“We reincarnations have powerful skills and a large amount of skill points from birth. If used well, they can become very strong indeed. Like us, for example.”
Ms. Oka looked pointedly at Katia and me.
Katia, Fei—who wasn’t with us at the time—and I have certainly all had skills and excess skill points since we were born.
We’re living proof that these advantages can help us get stronger much more quickly than the people around us.
“And when one of us dies, the administrators steal all that power. The elves fear that, so they do not want the reincarnations to gain so much power. So we’ve been gathering the reincarnations and keeping them isolated so that they don’t train up their skills and stats.”
Why were the elves so desperate to keep the administrators from gaining power?
Desperate enough to gather reincarnations from all over the world…
“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to dispose of the lot of us before we get too powerful?”
Katia’s question made my breath catch in my throat.
It wouldn’t be too surprising for things to take that turn, from what we’d heard before. In fact, it would seem only natural.
From what our teacher had explained so far, the elves considered these “administrators” enemies.
If they were that concerned about reincarnations getting too powerful, simply getting rid of them before they got the chance would be much easier than quarantining and monitoring them.
But until Katia spoke up, that possibility hadn’t even occurred to me.
“Not to worry. Potimas, the elves’ chief, had the final say that the reincarnations should be kept alive. Although even I don’t know why he decided that.”
Sophia killed Potimas when we fled the capital.
He’d been staying in the kingdom as a friendship ambassador of the elves for a while, but I’d never heard until then that he was also their chief.
From what Ms. Oka said, I guessed that meant he had a lot of power.
He chose to keep the reincarnations alive, but since he was now dead, we’d never know his motives.
“I’m sure that Potimas had some plans of his own. He was a very analytical person, so I doubt he would have chosen to spare the reincarnations’ lives out of sheer kindness.”
It sounded like Ms. Oka must have known Potimas pretty well.
That would make sense. He was her father.
“Shun, please don’t make that face. Yes, Potimas was my father, but we hardly had a familial relationship. He and I were simply using each other and nothing more. So though it may sound heartless, I’m not too broken up about his death.”
I wondered what kind of face I was making.
Despite her tight smile, Ms. Oka looked upset to me.
“To return to the matter at hand, the elves’ aim is to overthrow the administrators. To that end, they intended to stop the war between humans and demons, then mediate a better relationship between the two races. Without war, people won’t fight, and they won’t need to raise their skills and stats. Which means that the power the administrators gain would also be weakened. That may sound like a drawn-out plan to humans, but since elves live much longer, they have the time and patience to carry it out. In fact, I’m told that they were able to stop the battle between the previous hero and Demon Lord in that way.”
But the story doesn’t end there.
“Eventually, however, both of them disappeared. The elves suspect it was the work of the administrators. And now, the current Demon Lord seems to be working with them. Otherwise, there would be no reason to instigate such a large-scale war.”
I’ll never forget Hyrince’s expression in that moment.
It was part anger, part suffering, part something that I couldn’t quite place.
Hyrince fought in that very war.
And all his comrades, including Julius, were slain before his eyes.
Learning that it was simply for some “administrators” to gain more power must have been hard to swallow.
Even I couldn’t accept that my brother was killed for such a futile reason.
I don’t want to believe that Ms. Oka’s story is true.
I mean, how could it be?
My older brother wished for world peace more than anyone.
But if what Ms. Oka says is true, then his role as the hero was to lead humanity into war.
He only took up his sword to put an end to the fighting.
But according to Ms. Oka, he did the exact opposite.
He was playing right into the hands of the administrators by taking part in the war.
I won’t forgive them.
I can’t.
They might as well exist just to trample on my brother’s beliefs.
If all this is true, then I can’t just let the administrators get away with it.
I’m sure Hyrince feels the exact same way.
That would explain his dark expression.
“When I wasn’t at the academy, I was away helping the elves try to avert the war. No matter what their reasons, I still owe them a great debt for protecting the reincarnations. But all those efforts were in vain, for the war has already started.”
“So that’s why you were gone so often…”
Ms. Oka rarely showed up in class at the academy.
And now we know why.
She wouldn’t tell us specifically what she was doing, but knowing her, it was because she didn’t want us to know what she’d been through.
“I believe that the administrators figured out what the elves were doing. They disposed of the demon that was secretly working with the elves. And most likely, their goal in recent events was to take out Potimas, as well as the humans who were allied with the elves, like Shun’s father and Leston.”
“Wait a minute! Wasn’t Hugo responsible for all that?!”
Ms. Oka’s phrasing seemed to indicate that the administrators were behind everything that happened recently.
Clearly, that was no mistake.
“This doesn’t change what Hugo did, but I think he’s most likely being used. The fact that Sophia was with him is proof of that.”
Sophia. The girl who outmatched us so easily.
Ms. Oka took a deep breath and revealed the truth:
“Her name is Sophia Keren. And in her previous life, she was Shouko Negishi. She is one of the reincarnations who has sided with the administrators.”
GOD’S HUNTING DOG
A beautiful young woman gazes at the ever-changing landscape outside the carriage with an expression steeped in melancholy.
Sitting directly across from me, Sophia Keren is so beautiful that even a fellow woman like me could be tempted to stare.
Although she’s still fairly young, something about her alluring visage makes her seem more mature.
She’s literally a femme fatale, and she looks the part, too.
It’s hard to believe that we’re the same age.
However, what most people don’t know is that she can actually be very childish.
Her personality is incredibly selfish, to the point where everything she does is solely for her own amusement.
Perhaps she inherited this trait from Master.
Even now, though she looks dramatic as she stares longingly out the window, I’m sure all she’s thinking about is how bored she is.
Sophia is selfish and freewheeling and never thinks things through.
However, she also happens to be incredibly powerful.
In a word, I think she can only be described as a menace.
As if reading my thoughts, Sophia turns to look at me.
“What is it?” I ask evenly.
“I’m bored.”
I guess she wasn’t reading my thoughts, then.
Still, what does she expect me to do about her boredom?
“Just be patient, please.”
“Ugh. If I knew it was going to take this long, I could’ve just run there myself.”
“Feel free to do so now, if you wish.”
Her face twists into an obvious grimace at my curt remark.
So childish.
The idea that running would be faster than the carriage is childish in itself, too. Unbelievable.
Currently, we are traveling with the advance guard of Prince Hugo’s imperial army.
Though we are essentially honored guests, we are still commanders, progressing along with the troops.
Why in the world would she suggest that running would be faster? We must keep pace with the rest of the army.
Yes, I’m sure she could move faster on her own.
But even if she got there early, she would just be stuck waiting for the rest of the army to catch up, so she would still be bored.
Does she not even realize that?
“Hmm. You really hate me, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
Why ask such an obvious question?
Her face grows only more sullen at my response.
The fact that her childish personality prevents her from recognizing the position I’m in only frustrates me more.
Though I suppose I could still be doing a better job of controlling my emotions myself.
I do my best to keep things from showing on my face, but I can’t quite keep my bitter thoughts in check.
I must be diligent.
Perhaps that’s the reason Master put me in charge of supervising her?
No, I doubt even our master would make a major decision like this for such a trivial reason.
“Please make an effort to be more serious. This is not a game, you realize.”
“I knooow. But when I’m bored, I’m bored.”
So she doesn’t actually realize that, then.
“Well, you must keep such complaints to yourself. How do you think the brave soldiers marching outside feel?”
While we get to ride in a carriage, the soldiers traveling with us are on foot.
Some are riding on beast mounts, but most are foot soldiers, wearing heavy armor and carrying their weapons as they walk.
If they were to hear such a petty complaint from someone with the privilege of riding in a carriage, surely that would only foster resentment.
“Besides, Sir Wald is hard at work even as we speak. We cannot waste time trifling.”
Our comrade and mutual friend Sir Wald is stationed at Prince Hugo’s side.
His role is to keep watch on the prince in case he attempts anything that runs contrary to our plans.
“Oh, he’s just trying to make up for his little blunder however he can, that’s all. It’s cute how hard he’s trying, don’t you think?”
“Please don’t ever say that to his face.”
Wald is deeply concerned about that situation.
The “blunder” in question is that he was burned by the wyrm’s breath when the hero and his allies got away.
Of course, we intended to let them go from the start, so that isn’t a problem. However, since he was the only one of us to be wounded, he seems to have taken the incident as a personal failure.
All the more since it happened in front of the person he’s in love with, no doubt.
Personally, the way he scrambles like a faithful dog to do anything that might improve his value in her eyes, no matter how troublesome the task, only makes me think less of him.
And judging by her remark just now, it doesn’t seem like her opinion of him has gone up or down at all.
Does she even see him as a potential romantic interest?
Since I have no romantic experience myself, I can’t say either way.
“But that wyrm is a reincarnation, too. There’s no shame in losing that fight, if you ask me.”
The white wyrm that interrupted our battle with the hero and his compatriots.
According to Master, that creature is a reincarnation, too.
Sophia affirmed this when we saw it in person, so there is no doubt in my mind.
“Still, it must have been frustrating for him. And surely he didn’t want to look incompetent in front of the object of his affection, so try to be more considerate. Besides, you wouldn’t like to lose to a reincarnation yourself, would you?”
Certainly, reincarnations have the potential to become very powerful.
The proof of that is sitting right in front of me.
Sophia is a reincarnation, too, after all.
However, one cannot simply use that as an excuse for losing.
“Yeah, I guess not.”
Sophia herself hates to lose, so she makes no attempt to deny my point.
“D’you think you could’ve won if you fought the hero then and there?” she asks suddenly.
It’s a somewhat abrupt shift in subject, though not entirely unexpected.
However, I would have preferred to avoid it.
“I suppose I likely would have lost. All I did was slow him down from a distance. If we were to fight in a one-on-one battle, my odds of winning would be slim.”
When we fought the hero, I threw my chakram at him from a distance.
At the time, he was carrying an unconscious woman in one arm and was surrounded by soldiers, yet he still managed to ward off my attacks.
I wasn’t seriously attempting to kill him, of course, but I still must commend his ability to hold his own in that situation.
If I had to fight him head-on, without any such conditions, I can only assume that the odds would be against me.
Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say I wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Huh. So you admit you would lose?”
Sophia smiles nastily.
This is why I despise her.
“One must always be accurate in analyzing an opponent’s strength. It would be unwise to underestimate their strength or overestimate one’s own.”
“Doesn’t it bother you, though?”
“Is that so wrong?”
Yes, I’ll admit it.
It does bother me that the hero is stronger than I am.
However, the fact that this woman has to point it out is far more vexing.
“No, I didn’t say that. I mean, no one likes to lose, really.”
Her glossy lips curve into a smile as she continues.
“I just wanted to see that annoyed look on your face.”
“You hate me right back, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
Truly, what a frustrating person she is.
DEMON LORD ATTACK
The waves rock me gently as I float.
Scorching sun.
Blue sea.
It’s enough to make anyone want to swim, so I figured I’d give it a try.
Unfortunately, as it turns out, my spider body is structured in a way that it can only float on top of the water.
So since I can’t swim properly, I’m just floating on the surface.
Not exactly sure what I was expecting.
I mean, I might as well be sitting on a pool float.
If I really try, I can dive a little bit.
But as soon as I lose focus for a second, I pop right back up to the surface.
You can’t really call that swimming.
But in my old life, my incredible form in the water would’ve put mermaids to shame!
…Sorry, that was a blatant lie.
I could barely even pull off a dead man’s float.
Don’t underestimate my laziness!
I don’t even remember swimming properly in a pool, never mind the ocean!
Blue sky, blue sea.
And now my heart is blue, too.
No waaay.
On top of that, as I’m floating on the water, something attacks me.
It’s a water wyrm, which looks sort of like a huge shark.
I beat it at its own game, of course, so now the area around me is an ocean of blood.
And that blood must have attracted other sharks, because now there are a bunch of fins circling around me in the water.
Ugh, what a pain. I blow them all up with magic, making the ocean of blood even bigger.
Man, what am I doing?
I came here to relax a little, to take my mind off the brutal attacks I’ve been launching on the spider army.
But now I’m just massacring water wyrms instead.
Am I bloodthirsty or what?
I mean, Spider vs Shark sounds like a B movie at best.
How did taking a nice beach break turn into another emotionally exhausting waste of time?
No, I guess I can’t say that. The sharks were pretty strong, so I got a delicious amount of EXP.
I even went up a level.
Still, at this point, going up a single level doesn’t mean much.
I can’t even come close to the puppet spider, never mind Mother.
In terms of magic alone, I could probably go head-to-head with the puppet spider, but in every other stat, it’s way stronger than I am.
The gap in our physical stats is particularly devastating, aside from maybe speed.
What should I do?
Finally, a signal!
Wha—?!
Geez, that scared me!
Sorry to interrupt, real me, but you’ve gotta run for it!
Huh?
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard from Parallel Mind former magic brain number one. And now it’s suddenly telling me to run?
I look around, but I don’t see Mother anywhere.
No sign of the puppet spider, either. In fact, I don’t see any monsters at all.
Do I really have to run? I’m not sensing any danger.
No time to explain! Okay, maybe just a little. Basically, the worst monstrosity ever is heading toward you right now!
Huh?! Mother?!
No! We got it all wrong. We thought Mother was the strongest, but she’s not. There’s something even worse than her!
Wait, what?
I don’t get it.
Something even stronger than Mother?
How could that possibly exist?
It does. And it’s heading your way right now!
It’s hard to believe this out of nowhere, but if I can communicate with my Parallel Minds again, that must mean Mother restored the link between us to figure out where I am.
She must have done that for a reason.
Besides, I’m the one giving myself this information.
If I can’t believe myself, who can I believe?
In any case, I’d better run for now.
But my decision comes too late.
Or perhaps it was impossible to run from the very beginning.
“****!”
An explosion.
And a voice that somehow comes through the noise clearly.
As everything erupts into chaos, the calm part of my mind tries to analyze what happened.
Something just appeared here.
It didn’t even teleport. It was just that fast.
The explosive sound was the impact of its arrival.
There was nothing in my range of vision just seconds ago, and now something arrived from outside that range so quickly that it caused a powerful shock wave.
Unbelievable speed.
It appeared right in front of my eyes, so fast that it could easily have leaped straight from the pages of a battle manga.
Yes, right in front of me.
The powerful shock has damaged my body significantly, as if a meteor had landed right next to me.
But the enemy who just appeared is so far out of the ordinary that I have no choice but to ignore that damage.
<Appraisal Blocked>
That’s what happens at first.
However, I try it again, this time adding the power of Wisdom to my Appraisal.
After a bit of resistance, I can feel it break through, and my Appraisal succeeds.
<Origin taratect LV 139 Name: Ariel
Status: HP: 90,098/90,098 (green)
+99,999 (details)
SP: 89,862/89,862 (yellow) (details)
Average Offensive Ability: 90,021 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 87,504 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 89,518 (details)
MP: 87,655/87,655 (blue) +99,999 (details)
: 89,856/89,856 (red)
+99,567 (details)
Average Defensive Ability: 89,997 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 87,489 (details)
Skills:
[HP Ultra-Fast Recovery LV 4] [MP Rapid Recovery LV 10] [MP Lessened Consumption LV 10] [Precise Magic Power Operation LV 10]
[Magic Divinity LV 10] [Magic Power Conferment LV 10] [Magic Conferment LV 10] [Magic Power Super-Attack LV 10]
[SP Rapid Recovery LV 10] [SP Minimized Consumption LV 10] [Destruction Super-Enhancement LV 10] [Impact Super-Enhancement LV 10]
[Cutting Super-Enhancement LV 8] [Piercing Super-Enhancement LV 10] [Shock Super-Enhancement LV 10] [Status Condition Super-Enhancement LV 10]
[Battle Divinity LV 10] [Energy Conferment LV 10] [Ability Conferment LV 10] [Energy Super-Attack LV 10]
[Divine Dragon Power LV 10] [Divine Dragon Barrier LV 10] [Deadly Poison Attack LV 10] [Enhanced Paralysis Attack LV 10]
[Poison Synthesis LV 10] [Medicine Synthesis LV 10] [Thread Genius LV 10] [Divine Thread Weaving]
[Thread Control LV 10] [Psychokinesis LV 10] [Throw LV 10] [Expel LV 10]
[Dimensional Maneuvering LV 10] [Cooperation LV 10] [Tactician LV 10] [Fartalk LV 10]
[Kin Control LV 10] [Egg-Laying LV 10] [Summoning LV 10] [Concentration LV 10]
[Thought Super-Acceleration LV 6] [Future Sight LV 6] [Parallel Minds LV 4] [High-Speed Processing LV 10]
[Hit LV 10] [Evasion LV 10] [Probability Super-Correction LV 10] [Stealth LV 10]
[Concealment LV 10] [Silence LV 10] [Odorless LV 10] [Emperor]
[Appraisal LV 10] [Detection LV 10] [Sublimation] [Heretic Magic LV 10]
[Fire Magic LV 8] [Water Magic LV 10] [Flood Magic LV 5] [Wind Magic LV 10]
[Gale Magic LV 10] [Tempest Magic LV 10] [Earth Magic LV 10] [Terrain Magic LV 10]
[Seismic Magic LV 10] [Lightning Magic LV 10] [Bolt Magic LV 8] [Light Magic LV 10]
[Holy Light Magic LV 2] [Shadow Magic LV 10] [Dark Magic LV 10] [Black Magic LV 10]
[Poison Magic LV 10] [Healing Magic LV 10] [Spatial Magic LV 2] [Heavy Magic LV 10]
[Abyss Magic LV 10] [Great Demon Lord LV 10] [Dignity LV 5] [Rage LV 9]
[Gluttony] [Usurp LV 8] [Rest LV 9] [Depraved LV 4]
[Physical Nullification] [Flame Resistance LV 5] [Flood Nullification] [Gale Nullification]
[Terrain Nullification] [Bolt Nullification] [Holy Light Resistance LV 8] [Black Nullification]
[Heavy Nullification] [Status Condition Nullification] [Acid Nullification] [Rot Super-Resistance LV 7]
[Faint Nullification] [Fear Nullification] [Heresy Super-Resistance LV 6] [Pain Nullification]
[Suffering Nullification] [Night Vision LV 10] [Clairvoyance LV 10] [Five Senses Super-Enhancement LV 10]
[Perception Expansion LV 10] [Divinity Expansion LV 3] [Ultimate Life LV 10] [Ultimate Magic LV 10]
[Ultimate Movement LV 10] [Fortune LV 10] [Fortitude LV 10] [Stronghold LV 10]
[Deva LV 10] [Sanctum LV 10] [Skanda LV 10] [Taboo LV 10]
Skill Points: 0
Titles:
[Human Slayer] [Human Slaughterer] [Human Calamity] [Demon Slayer]
[Demon Slaughterer] [Demon Calamity] [Fairy Slayer] [Fairy Slaughterer]
[Fairy Calamity] [Monster Slayer] [Monster Slaughterer] [Monster Calamity]
[Wyrm Slayer] [Wyrm Slaughterer] [Wyrm Calamity] [Dragon Slayer]
[Dragon Slaughterer] [Merciless] [Foul Feeder] [Kin Eater]
[Assassin] [Poison Technique User] [Thread User] [Puppet User]
[Commander] [Champion] [Lord] [Ancient Divine Beast]
[Ruler of Gluttony] [Demon Lord]
>
I’ll be honest. I would have been better off not knowing.
This being with the Demon Lord title.
The girl who appeared before me was a demon lord and the strongest spider of all.
“******, *******!”
This monstrosity in the shape of a young girl speaks to me rather affably.
But of course, I don’t know the language of this world.
So I have no idea what the Demon Lord is saying.
“***********, ****************?”
She’s asking me something.
I can tell that much by her tone, but I don’t understand the question itself.
Anyway, I have to show some kind of reaction, if only to buy time.
I tilt my head, point at my mouth, then wave cautiously.
Hopefully, this will convey that I can’t understand what she’s saying.
It doesn’t look like she’s going to attack me right away.
The fact that she’s trying to communicate is proof of that. Or so I thought.
“***. ***************.”
But apparently she didn’t like my reaction.
The Demon Lord’s stance changes very plainly.
From that of someone chatting to that of someone ready to attack.
Teleport? I won’t make it in time.
If I could’ve bought a little more time with conversation, it might’ve been a different story, but now I’m going to be killed before I can complete the rune.
There’s no point even trying to fight back.
Her stats overshadow even Mother’s.
And almost all of her crazy-long list of skills is maxed out.
Not to mention that resistance.
How could I possibly win when most attacks won’t even work?
I don’t stand a chance.
“***, ***********, ****.”
The Demon Lord waves an arm.
That’s it. Just like that, my body is smashed into splinters.
The main body went down.
At my words, the other Parallel Minds fly into a panic.
Don’t worry. I don’t know what kind of trick she used, but since we haven’t disappeared, that means she’s not dead yet… I think.
To be honest, I don’t really know myself why we haven’t disappeared.
That’s why I had no choice but to be so vague.
It’s not entirely impossible that the main body really is dead, and we just happened to stay alive because we’re half cut off from it.
Does that mean we’re just souls without a body now?
In that case, we could disappear at any moment.
We have no way of knowing how the system will respond to such an unusual situation, but I doubt that ghosts exist in this world.
What should we do?
This all started right after we lost contact with the main body.
We were concerned about what was going on with our body, but aside from occasionally checking on the status of our connection, all we could do was keep waging our spiritual battle against Mother.
The battle was going pretty well.
Things were starting to turn in our favor, and though it may have just been my imagination, I got the sense that we were getting stronger as we consumed Mother’s spiritual body.
That hypothesis was probably correct.
Mother’s spirit body is essentially her soul.
And it would be no exaggeration to say that the power of stats, skills, and so on in this world is actually the power of the soul.
By eating her soul, not only did we reduce her power, we also absorbed it for ourselves.
Thanks to that, the more time passed, the more we started to gain the upper hand.
But of course, Mother wasn’t just going to take that lying down.
I was the first one to sense it.
Mother was making contact with something.
Just like our contact with the main body, she was using a skill’s connection to communicate with someone.
I didn’t know who it was.
But as soon as I noticed it, I felt an indescribable uneasiness.
And soon, my fears were realized.
I looked through Mother’s eyes and saw that girl.
The second I laid eyes on her, even without Appraisal, I could tell for certain that she was a truly monstrous foe.
Or maybe that conviction came from memories in the portion of Mother’s soul that I’d eaten.
Either way, I knew this girl was more powerful even than Mother.
Then, Mother restored the connection with our main body to figure out where it was.
And now, we’re back to the present.
I think I had the right idea warning the main body.
However, our opponent was just too far out of the norm.
How could I have guessed that she could imitate Teleport just by running?
I knew she was beastly, but this went far beyond my wildest imagination.
I couldn’t even run away from that thing, never mind fight it.
You could say it was inevitable for my main body to be destroyed.
In that moment, I was prepared for death.
But for some reason, we’re not dead yet.
I don’t know whether our body is alive or not, but I have no choice but to hope that it is.
And if our body is still alive, then our job here hasn’t changed.
Actually, it’s just gotten more urgent.
Listen up, everyone.
I gather the other Parallel Minds to tell them my plan.
We’re going to beat Mother. And then we’re going to beat her ruler.
All we can do is keep up our spiritual attack.
Since we’re soul fragments, we’re protected by Heresy Nullification, which cancels out any attacks that directly affect the soul.
Thus, we should be able to beat a far more powerful spiritual opponent.
Even if that opponent is heads and shoulders above us.
Or heads and spiders, I guess.
We don’t know when our main body will recover or if it’ll even recover at all. But that’s why we have to do whatever we can!
Not one of the other Parallel Minds objects to my proposal.
REINCARNATIONS
“Sacrifice your skills! This is the path to salvation!”
As we head into town to buy food and supplies, a voice calls out to us.
“The people of Sariella worship the administrator Sariel as their god. It would be best to avoid engaging with them unless absolutely necessary.”
I agree with Ms. Oka’s whispered advice.
The shouting man doesn’t seem sane.
If this is the work of a so-called administrator, it’s not exactly pleasant.
I still don’t entirely believe everything Ms. Oka told us.
But I have no evidence to disprove it.
Besides, if supernatural beings called administrators really do exist, it would explain a lot about Sophia’s behavior.
Sophia used the word “Master.”
And it seemed like she was acting on orders from whoever that is.
They’d have to be insanely powerful for someone as strong as Sophia to obey their orders.
It would make sense, then, if her “master” is essentially a god of this world.
But if I couldn’t even defeat Sophia, how am I supposed to fight back against something even stronger than she is?
If one of those things is among the forces that attack the elf village…
“What does ‘sacrifice your skills’ mean?”
Trying to drive away my invasive thoughts, I ask Ms. Oka a question.
“It is said to have two meanings. One is to use a skill called Skill Elimination to delete your own skills.”
“Is that possible?”
“Quite so. Skill Elimination can be acquired without any skill points and deletes skills over the course of several days. Once it’s been activated, it won’t stop until it’s deleted all of the user’s skills, so it can’t be used to remove just certain targets. The deleted skills can’t be recovered, either. Unless you train up and acquire them again, of course.”
“What’s the point of that, exactly?”
I don’t understand why a skill like that would exist.
There’s no benefit to losing your skills.
Even if you can get them back by training again, you won’t regain all the time you spent on them before or the skill points you might have spent to get them.
It’s like deliberately throwing your hard work down the drain.
“In other words, it transfers your power to the administrators.”
“Ah.”
So that’s it.
A way for humans to sacrifice their accumulated power to the administrators.
That’s the purpose of Skill Elimination?
“Come to think of it, didn’t you delete Hugo’s skills once, Ms. Oka?”
“Yes, but that was a glitch of sorts, a secret method for deleting another person’s skills by paying a high price. When I use it, I lose several of my own skills, and I also fall into a deep sleep for several days afterward. In the worst-case scenario, it could even kill both the target and the user, so I hope never to use that technique again.”
“I had no idea…”
Thinking back, when the earth wyrm who was Fei’s parent attacked the school, Ms. Oka didn’t participate in the battle.
Most likely, it wasn’t because she didn’t want to but because she couldn’t.
“At the time, I thought it was the best course of action. I truly believed that if he lost all his skills, Hugo’s arrogance would stop growing out of control. I know now that I should have helped him recover his humanity afterward, but I failed to do that, and now this is the result. I’m a failure as a teacher.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
I know that isn’t much help, but it’s all I can say.
Hugo is the one to blame for his actions.
“Thank you. But I know now what I must do. As his teacher, it is my job to correct my former student who has strayed too far from his path.”
Our teacher’s eyes are full of bitter determination.
She intends to kill Hugo.
I have no response for that.
“So what was the second meaning?”
I change the subject.
Despite feeling pathetic for not being able to do anything more.
“I’m not entirely sure. Something about sacrificing skills to bring one closer to godhood.”
“That certainly sounds very religious.”
“I agree.”
The priest continues to shout on the streets.
As a dark atmosphere settles over us, I can’t help wanting to get out of here as soon as we can.
“Shun, could I speak with you for a moment?”
Just as it’s getting late enough to start preparing for bed, Katia comes to visit my room with Fei in tow.
Ms. Oka is out meeting up with the elves’ allies in town.
I thought that someone should go with her, but she insisted on going alone.
Hyrince said that most likely, the people she’s meeting with are part of this society’s underworld.
By nature, people like that won’t meet with anyone they don’t recognize.
He said that was probably why Ms. Oka was acting alone.
I don’t like the idea of letting our teacher get involved with such a suspicious bunch, but she informed me that sometimes you have to dirty your hands to get things done, and I was forced to reluctantly see her off.
“What is it?”
Since she chose a time to talk while Ms. Oka is absent, I can guess what it’s about.
Most likely, she wants to discuss something she wouldn’t want our teacher to hear.
“Mr. Hyrince, I’m terribly sorry, but could I ask you to step out?”
And it looks like she doesn’t want Hyrince to know about it, either.
“Hrm. All right. I’ll go kill some time at a bar or something.”
“Thank you very much.”
“C’mon, I don’t mind. I’m sure you reincarnations have things you don’t want other folks hearing about, right?”
With that, the ever-considerate Hyrince leaves the room.
“What about Anna?”
“I got her to go wait in the room.”
Once Hyrince leaves, Katia drops the propriety and starts speaking brusquely in Japanese.
“Man, Hyrince is sooo mature. What a hunk!”
Fei dives onto the bed.
Now that she can turn into human form, she seems quite pleased to be able to sleep in a bed again.
When she was smaller, she would occasionally take over part of my bed, but after she got bigger, she had no choice but to sleep outside.
Being able to sleep in a bed again has put her in a great mood.
However, the one downside she complains about is not being able to roll over properly because of her wings.
“So? What’s this about?”
“The other reincarnations, of course.”
Katia sits down next to Fei with a grave expression.
Looks like she’s expecting this conversation to take a while.
I sit across from her and get ready to listen.
Part 5 of 8