Part 6 of 8
I gaze at Gakia’s fallen remains.
I didn’t have any particular attachment to him.
However, knowing that one of the ancient dragons has perished, I feel a sentiment that’s hard to describe.
Another one of the elders is gone.
It’s all the more painful because it was by my own hand.
I shake free of the pointless emotion.
There is still something that I must do.
I must consume Gakia’s remains, as well as the remains of the other earth dragons.
Because the battle took us all over the Bottom Stratum, the remains of those dragons who fell along the way are scattered in various places.
Troublesome though it might be, I must go retrieve and eat them.
It goes against my principles to leave leftovers behind.
Wait.
That’s strange.
Have I always had such a principle?
Hmm…?
Well, it’s fine.
No.
This is not fine.
This is not fine at all.
My thoughts are diverging more and more from my original self.
I feel that something is mixed in with my soul.
It’s the individual eating away at my soul, the same thing I felt before this battle began.
It seems to have advanced significantly during the battle.
And yet, something feels different.
Before I started fighting the earth dragons, it felt as if I was being attacked, but now it feels more like we’re melding together.
We’re becoming one.
I cannot tell if that is a good thing or not.
But in the process, memories of what the unique individual is have merged into my consciousness.
A reincarnation, another world, and its life thus far in this one.
It’s only bits and pieces, but now I understand how and why the individual attacked the queen.
Although that does not mean I have any intention of forgiving it.
I do not really understand my own condition at the moment.
I am me, and yet a part of me is not, making me question whether I am really myself at all.
It is not a good feeling.
However, I am still functioning as myself without any issue.
At this point, I cannot tell whether I am succeeding in preserving my own self or not.
And yet, I do not feel too uneasy.
The only thought I can summon is a lighthearted “Well, it’ll work out, I bet.”
Perhaps even my personality has been changed by the spiritual assault now.
I may simply feel like myself still, when in reality I have already been all but devoured.
To be honest, the part of me that believes everything will be fine…frightens me.
But obsessing over it will do me no good.
Clearly, not eating the earth dragons is not an option for me now.
I am indeed hungry anyway, and considering the effects of Gluttony, it would no doubt be best to eat them regardless.
Then there is no reason to hesitate.
“Time to eat.”
“It certainly is not.”
Someone responds to my soliloquy.
Turning around, I see Gülie there, looking troubled.
The dark man some call “Black,” the administrator Güliedistodiez.
One of the gods who control this world’s system.
“Which one are you right now?” he asks shortly.
I think for a moment before I respond. “Which one do I seem like to you?”
I’m answering a question with a question, but I have no choice.
Because I myself don’t know the answer to what he asked me.
“Both and neither at once. You have blended together such that I can no longer say whether you are one or the other. Though your consciousness appears to be closer to Ariel.”
“Aw, man, you think so?”
I scratch my head with a grin.
I had figured as much, but when someone else points it out, I can’t help thinking, Oh wow, yeah.
“Your tone more closely resembles the other, however.”
“Yep. While I’m at it, I think my thoughts are leaning that way, too.”
Otherwise I doubt I could be so optimistic.
The old me was cautious, even cowardly.
The fact that I am experiencing the process of no longer being myself and still simply enduring it is good proof of that.
“What do you intend to do now, then?”
“I don’t know.”
I really don’t.
Now that our souls have become so intermingled, it would likely be too late even if I destroyed the other’s real body now.
And the biggest issue is that I still have no idea how to defeat that body anyway.
It somehow revives itself even if I kill it, and since it has Teleport, it wouldn’t be terribly easy to catch it in the first place.
The only reason I was able to catch it before is that I was lucky, and that the main body is a fool.
I can’t catch it by chasing it around, and even if I did, I can’t truly kill it.
Even if I could, I do not think I could return to my old self.
I don’t even know if the corrosion would stop.
I’m beset on all sides.
“Honestly, I’ve pretty much lost already. It’s a fifty-fifty chance whether I’ll retain my sense of self at all, but I don’t know if I can even say that if I’m already not myself anymore. In a sense, the being known as Ariel has already been altered. She may already be gone.”
I would not say that Ariel is dead.
I still retain my feelings and memories as Ariel.
However, my thought process is very different from how it once was.
Given these circumstances, can I really say that I am still me?
It’s a question with no right answer.
“Gülie, what is a reincarnation?”
Putting aside this difficult thought exercise, I instead ask Gülie a question he should know the answer to.
“I suppose the best way to describe them is as guests who have been invited into this world by Administrator D.”
“Invited, eh?”
Something in me resists that knowledge.
All I know of Administrator D is what I have heard from Gülie.
According to him, D is a god with far more power than Gülie.
And now, at a time like this, that god has deliberately welcomed new souls from another world.
Perhaps D was trying to call a new wind into this world, like earth dragon Gakia said.
To change this world’s fate as it careens toward destruction.
“Well, I don’t know what D was thinking, and I don’t care. I’m going to get payback, that’s all.”
I will fight against that individual once more.
That’s all.
“How likely do you think it is that I’ll remain, Gülie?”
“Fifty-fifty, indeed. At this point, even I can no longer separate your souls. Either way, I believe your existence will live on in some form, but I cannot imagine what that form might be.”
“I see.”
“It seems as though even the one grappling with your soul can no longer stop the fusion of its own will. I cannot tell whose thoughts will emerge victorious. You may even be reduced to a different person entirely when the melding is complete.”
I hope that doesn’t happen.
I want to retain as much of myself as possible and resist as much as I can.
“Hmm. Well, allow me to make up for my subordinates causing you trouble. I will send you to that creature’s location.”
At that offer, my jaw hits the floor for a moment.
“Are you sure that’s all right? Even when it clearly has an administrator’s favor?”
“No, it is not all right. D has specifically instructed me not to interfere with the reincarnations. Indirectly or no, D may decide to punish me for putting a reincarnation in a difficult spot.”
It seems that lending me a hand is even more dangerous for Gülie than I realized.
“Then why—?”
Gülie cuts me off. “Nevertheless, I would like to help my old friend’s daughter if I can.”
“Aren’t you acting cool. Can’t you ever show that side to Lady Sariel?”
“Say what you will.”
Gülie begins to form the Teleport spell.
“But come back alive.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Whether I win or lose, I do not know if I will remain myself.
But I must win if I wish to proceed.
Gülie’s Teleport magic activates, sending me to a different place.
When I arrive, I’m at some kind of battlefield.
The strange individual is right before my eyes, wreaking havoc on some humans.
“Sorry to interrupt your fun.”
I apologize frankly for disturbing whatever is going on here.
“I’m going to have to ask you to die now, okay?”
And then I declare war.
Oh, I just realized. I forgot to eat the earth dragons.
SPIDER VS DEMON LORD VS HERO
Noooooo!
How did this happen?!
In front of me is my mortal enemy, the Demon Lord.
She’s currently attacking me, in the midst of the swirl of shrieking and destruction that is the battlefield.
There’s no longer any distinction between Sariella and the Ohts Alliance troops. My battle with the Demon Lord has thrown it all into chaos.
Battle?
Yeah, you could call it a battle.
It’s a defensive one for me, but I’m still holding my own.
The first time, I got blown to bits by a single attack, but my stats have gone up ridiculously high since I absorbed Mother’s power.
I’m not going to get utterly annihilated like last time!
Although I still have to be on the defensive!
I release a single Light Magic shot toward the Demon Lord.
She already has Divine Dragon Barrier invoked over the area, so I can’t put together any complicated magic.
That means I can’t teleport, and I’d be hard-pressed to use more powerful attack magic than this, too.
All I can really do are simple one-shot attacks.
And since the Demon Lord’s high resistances can nullify most attributes, those aren’t going to work.
My only hope is the Light series of magic that I acquired when I was doing all that healing near town.
But even if my Light Magic shots hit, they do only one damage, which gets recovered pretty much instantly!
The Demon Lord keeps charging at me, paying no mind to the Light Magic shots hitting her, so I create a wall with Earth Magic to stall her.
Since this magic works on the ground and not an opponent, even Divine Dragon Barrier has a hard time blocking it.
A wall of earth rises up, blocking the Demon Lord’s charge.
But then the wall disappears with a crunching sound.
The Demon Lord keeps moving, visibly chewing something as she goes.
Then she gulps it down, and her SP recovers.
Enough of this already!
No matter what I do or don’t do, it just ends up restoring the Demon Lord’s SP!
The reason for this is the totally broken effect of one of the Demon Lord’s skills, Gluttony.
<Gluttony: n% of the power to reach godhood. Allows the user to eat anything and stock it away as pure energy. In addition, the user will gain the ability to surpass the W system and interfere with the MA field.>
<Ruler of Gluttony: Acquires skills [Fortune LV 1] [Sublimation]. Acquisition conditions: Obtain [Gluttony] skill. Effect: Increases HP, MP, and SP + correction to strength skill proficiencies. Grants ruling class privileges. Description: A title granted to one who has conquered gluttony.>
So basically, the Demon Lord can eat literally anything.
That means earth or anything else that has substance.
No, she can even eat invisible things like magic!
I activate Dragon Barrier to counter the Demon Lord’s Divine Dragon Barrier.
I was hoping this would neutralize the Divine Dragon Barrier somehow so I can use magic properly, but it doesn’t work.
One, my barrier’s not as powerful as the Demon Lord’s, and two, the Demon Lord can eat mine.
She can consume even things that have no physical form and absorb them as her own strength.
Considering that she already has cheat code–tier stats, the addition of this overpowered skill makes her pretty much unbeatable.
I know I can’t figure out any way to do it!
Dammit!
How am I supposed to fight this beast?!
The Demon Lord swings her arm, slamming it into my body.
Guh?!
Some kinda liquid is coming out of my mouth!
That’s blood, you idiot!
I get blown away so fast it’s almost funny and roll along the ground, tangling up with soldiers along the way.
The soldiers caught in my path get shredded into mincemeat.
If my defense was lower, the same thing probably would’ve happened to me, too.
Stats are the best.
But I have no more time to appreciate my own high stats.
Chasing me down as I roll away, the Demon Lord descends from the sky.
I hurriedly avoid her feet as she lands, but the explosion when she hits the ground sends me flying again.
Yeah. She drop-kicked the ground so hard it exploded.
Look, I don’t really get it, either.
Excuse me, Miss Demon Lord, are you sure you’re not in the wrong story?
’Cause to me, it seems like a character from some power creep–ridden shonen manga has made her way into a fantasy story by mistake.
I tumble away from the crater the Demon Lord has made.
The soldiers from both sides are fleeing all over the place, their war basically abandoned.
Seriously, how did this happen?!
Actually, the only reason I’ve survived all the damage I’ve taken is the people around us.
I seem to be gaining experience points for the ones who get killed in the aftershocks.
Thanks to that, I get to level up and fully recover.
I’m sorry, soldiers whose names I don’t even know!
Your deaths are the reason I get to live!
Thank you!
Unfortunately, the molting and recovery from my level-up aren’t perfect.
Since my stats are so high now, it doesn’t fully heal me anymore, and every time my skin molts off, it trips me up for a few seconds.
Besides, there are fewer and fewer people around now, for obvious reasons.
At this rate, my level-up recovery won’t be able to keep up with the damage, and I’ll lose for sure.
I have to find a way to escape before that happens!
“I am your opponent, monster!”
A courageous but very young male voice reaches my ears.
Honestly, I don’t have time to deal with this, but I can’t help glancing over to see who’s speaking.
Then I look again.
Uh, what is a little kid doing here?
It’s an actual child, wearing kinda fancy clothes and looking completely out of place.
He trembles as he stands in front of me, sword in hand.
Huh? What’s going on exactly?
Somebody, please explain!
“Hero?”
Oddly enough, the one who answers my unspoken question is the Demon Lord.
She’s looking directly at the young boy.
Dumbfounded, I Appraise the child.
Sure enough, much to my surprise, the boy really is a hero.
<Human LV 14 Name: Julius Zagan Analeit
Status: HP: 476/476 (green)
SP: 455/455 (yellow)
Average Offensive Ability: 469 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 488 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 435 (details)
MP: 497/497 (blue)
: 401/455 (red)
Average Defensive Ability: 465 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 476 (details)
Skills:
[Magic Power Perception LV 10] [Precise Magic Power Operation LV 1] [Magic Warfare LV 9] [Magic Power Conferment LV 8]
[Magic Power Super-Attack LV 1] [MP Rapid Recovery LV 1] [MP Minimized Consumption LV 1] [Swordsmanship LV 7]
[Destruction Enhancement LV 6] [Cutting Enhancement LV 2] [Impact Enhancement LV 1] [Mental Warfare LV 4]
[Energy Conferment LV 2] [Concentration LV 9] [Hit LV 5] [Evasion LV 5]
[Light Magic LV 10] [Holy Light Magic LV 1] [Vision Enhancement LV 9] [Auditory Enhancement LV 8]
[Olfactory Enhancement LV 6] [Taste Enhancement LV 2] [Tactile Enhancement LV 5] [Life LV 9]
[Magic Hoard LV 2] [Instantaneous LV 8] [Endurance LV 8] [Strength LV 9]
[Solidity LV 9] [Monk LV 2] [Talisman LV 1] [Running LV 7]
[Hero LV 3]
>
First a demon lord, now a hero?!
Wait, but is it just me, or are his stats pretty weak?
I guess they’re probably pretty good for a child, but still.
In fact, his stats are way better than most of the soldiers around here.
That’s about it, though.
I guess he doesn’t have many skills yet because he’s still a kid?
Okay, now’s not the time to stand around analyzing this!
What’s the Demon Lord doing?
Huh? She seems kinda wary of the kid hero?
Why?
An awkward three-way standoff ensues, with the kid hero, the Demon Lord, and me all frozen in place.
I don’t know why the Demon Lord’s so nervous about this kid.
Discreetly booting up Professor Wisdom, I do a search for “hero.”
<Hero: As a hidden effect of the title, temporarily grants the ability to defeat a demon lord.>
Ahaaa!
Now, that’s the kinda system loophole I like to see!
The Demon Lord is too wary of this hidden effect to lay a hand on the kid hero!
I don’t think “ability to defeat” necessarily means it’s a guaranteed win, but now I’ve got one card to play against the Demon Lord!
The kid hero’s stats are pathetic even compared to mine, never mind the Demon Lord’s.
However, the Demon Lord is definitely afraid of this weird hidden hero effect.
Can I use that to improve this situation somehow?
As I contemplate how to do that, the standoff continues.
What finally ends it isn’t because of me, the Demon Lord, or even the kid hero.
No, it’s a huge ball of fire falling from the sky.
I don’t know which army caused it, but are they trying to get rid of all three of us at once?!
Of course, that spell’s not gonna make it through the Demon Lord’s Divine Dragon Barrier.
But the kid hero doesn’t know that, so he stares up at the flames in horror.
The Demon Lord takes that opportunity to move.
Specifically, she starts aiming a spell at me.
Crap!
That spell is bad news!
The spell she’s invoking is Abyss Magic.
Magic that destroys even the soul itself.
Abyss Magic is no ordinary attack magic.
It has a hidden effect, too: disintegrating the soul.
It’s the ultimate execution magic, smashing the soul to bits until it can’t be reincarnated again.
If that hits me, even Immortality won’t save me from dying when my soul is destroyed.
But I don’t have enough time to get away.
Steeling myself, I make a life-or-death gamble.
The Demon Lord’s Abyss Magic activates, and something that looks like all the darkness in existence condensed into one spot swoops toward me.
Unable to avoid it, my body is swallowed up inside the darkness and disintegrates without the slightest resistance.
A TERRIBLE REUNION
What do I do?
How can I win against Sophia?
In fact, how can I even damage Sophia?
Is it even possible for me to defeat her?
Still being held up by Hyrince, I rack my brain until Fei’s large wings suddenly block my view of Sophia.
“What’s this? Finally done observing?”
At Sophia’s words, I realize that Fei hasn’t participated at all in the fight so far.
I thought for a moment that she figured her giant dragon form would get in our way, but I guess I was wrong.
“I suppose.”
Speaking through Telepathy, Fei’s voice sounds somehow different than usual.
“Anyway, I’d like to surrender. Think you could spare our lives?”
I stare at Fei’s back in disbelief.
It can’t be.
This isn’t like her at all.
Even in our old lives, Fei has always been stubborn and a sore loser.
I can’t believe that she would admit defeat before even fighting.
But at the same time, contradictory as it might be, part of me thinks it’s exactly what Fei would do.
Fei actually cares about us a lot.
Maybe when she saw that I couldn’t lay a hand on Sophia, she determined that we can’t win this fight, and that’s why she’s raising the white flag.
To protect us.
“Hmm.”
Sophia taps her chin thoughtfully at Fei’s declaration.
There’s a faint smile on her face, as if she finds the whole thing funny.
“So you can tell what will happen if you try to fight me, hmm?”
“More or less,” Fei responds.
Which means she knew even before the battle began that we could never beat Sophia.
“Well, it can’t have been Appraisal. A dragon’s intuition, perhaps?”
“Something like that. It’s sort of a gut feeling, not the kind of thing I can explain, you know?”
Fei knows just how strong Sophia is.
The second she first laid eyes on her back at the capital, she immediately chose to flee without a fight.
She must have known ever since that moment that we can’t win against Sophia.
“Why didn’t you stop your friends, if you knew they didn’t stand a chance of winning?” Sophia inquires.
“Even if I told them, Shun wouldn’t have listened to me.”
Her answer hits me right in the gut like no other answer could.
It’s my fault?
It’s true that even if Fei tried to tell me we couldn’t win, I probably would have said something about having to fight anyway and kept leading us down the path to battle.
And this is where that led us.
Fei predicted all of this and has just been waiting for the right time to surrender, I guess.
I’m so ashamed.
I dragged my friends into a battle we had no chance of winning, and now one of them has to protect me and beg for our lives.
I’m so ashamed, I could die.
“What? That’s ridiculous,” Sophia says dubiously.
Her expression says that she really, truly doesn’t understand this logic.
I guess only my friends who understand me would get it.
“It’s his pride as a man, basically.”
“Pride, eh…?”
Sophia’s reaction to Fei’s explanation is surprisingly serious.
I was expecting her to be more mocking about it.
“Life and pride. There are times when you have to fight for your pride rather than your life, I suppose. Not that I’ve ever done it myself,” Sophia murmurs contemplatively. “Very well, then. I shall defer to that pride and spare your lives. Then again, I never intended to take any reincarnations’ lives here in the first place.”
She giggles, not unlike a child who’s pulled off a funny prank.
With her already lovely features, it makes for an unexpectedly pretty expression, but all that does is make me feel even worse.
“Well, thanks for that. Not that we asked you.”
As Tagawa’s voice rings out, Merazophis lands unceremoniously at Sophia’s feet.
His body is in tatters.
However, it’s not blood that leaks from his wounds but something like a black mist.
“Oh? They got you, did they?”
“I’m terribly sorry.”
Still on the ground, Merazophis bows his head humbly.
“Your real body might be one thing, but did you really think you could stop us with a double?”
Tagawa glares irritably at Merazophis.
Or rather, evidently, a copy of him made with some sort of skill.
Unlike Kusama’s duplicates from earlier, evidently this skill makes copies strong enough to hold their own in battle.
Tagawa and Kushitani aren’t unharmed, either.
Tagawa’s armor is bloodied in a few places, purple lightning still crackling along his blade.
Although I can’t see any injuries on Kushitani as she holds her wind-clad staff, she’s definitely breathing hard, her shoulders heaving.
Between them, I can tell they had a hard battle against Merazophis’s double.
And that was only a double.
How strong must the real thing be?
“Please forgive my worthlessness in being unable to protect you.” Merazophis is still expressionless, but his voice is pained.
“You’re always protecting me, Merazophis. Don’t say you’re worthless,” Sophia responds with a gentle expression I’ve never seen on her before.
I don’t know much about these two, but from that exchange, it’s clear they share a trusting master-servant bond of some kind.
“All right. We’re just about done here. You focus on commanding the army.”
“Yes, madam.”
Merazophis’s body disappears, melting away into the ground.
“The real Merazophis is going to lead the invading army now. If you want to fight him, why not head over there?”
“Yeah. We’ll do that later. But first we’re going to defeat you.”
Tagawa and Kushitani face down Sophia.
Are they really planning to fight her?
Both of them certainly are strong.
But their stats aren’t much different from mine. They’re lower, in fact.
They can’t beat Sophia.
And there’s no way they don’t realize that.
Still, their eyes are blazing, ready for battle.
“I’m sorry, Fei. I don’t think I can give up after all.”
Inspired by the two of them, I extract myself from Hyrince’s arms and stand.
That’s right.
I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t win.
I’ve known it since we ran away in the capital.
But ever since then, I haven’t been able to let it go.
I can’t help feeling that I have to surpass her somehow.
I don’t see how I can win.
Even so, I have to face her.
That’s just how it is.
I’m sure my brother Julius wouldn’t be running away at a time like this.
Which means I can’t run away, either.
“Oh, all right, then.”
Sensing my determination, Fei assumes a battle posture, too.
Seeing that our group is ready to fight again, Sophia smiles sweetly.
“If you insist. I suppose I’ll play with you a bit lon—”
“There’s no time for that.”
For a moment, I don’t understand what’s happened.
Tagawa starts bleeding and collapses, and Kushitani hits the ground at the same time.
Standing before their now-prostrate figures is a man who wasn’t there moments earlier.
Just figuring out what’s going on takes me several seconds.
And it takes even longer for my brain to fully process the situation.
The man came down from above and cut Tagawa.
Tagawa reacted quickly and blocked him but was cut down along with his dragon-made magic sword.
Near Tagawa’s fallen form, the magic sword lies in two pieces.
After cutting down Tagawa, the man grabbed Kushitani with his other hand and slammed her into the ground.
Just like that, both of them are out of commission.
Two strong allies, down in an instant.
“Hmm? My, you’re early.”
“No, I’m not. You’re just late.”
The man addresses Sophia in a calm tone, as if he hadn’t just knocked Tagawa and Kushitani out cold.
But the pair lying on the ground and the overwhelming bloodlust rolling off the man who did it tell me that it was no illusion.
There’s a terrifying distance between his quiet tone and his powerful presence, frightening even to look at.
If Sophia’s presence is that of subtle strength, this man’s is like an unsheathed sword.
“You didn’t kill them, did you?”
“Nah, they’re not dead. But it’d be a bad idea to let them take up any more time, so I decided to shut them up for a little while.”
However, these reasons aren’t why I’m so startled by the man’s abrupt appearance.
It’s not the fact that he was strong enough to beat Tagawa and Kushitani in an instant or the overwhelming sharpness of his presence.
No, it’s that this particular person is here at all.
“Hey, it’s been a while. Or have you forgotten me after all these years?”
The man looks back at me and speaks in a familiar tone.
There’s no way I could ever forget.
Many of my memories of our old world have faded, but I still remember his face very clearly.
I’ve been searching for him for so long.
And after what Ms. Oka told us, I had been bracing myself a little.
I thought this might happen.
And now here he is, right before my eyes.
“Kyouya.”
Katia’s and my closest friend from our previous lives, Kyouya Sasajima.
That’s the man who’s standing before us now.
On the administrators’ side, along with Sophia.
RESURRECTION
Gwaaaaah!
Screaming pointlessly in my mind, I break through the shell in front of me.
My body’s movements are clumsy and weak.
Even breaking through the thin shell takes time.
Finally I succeed in cracking it open and crawling out.
Looking around, I’m surrounded by what look like eggs.
The same kind that I just emerged from.
This scene is certainly similar to when I first got reincarnated into this world, but the eggs around me haven’t hatched yet.
They’re rattling around a bit, though, so they’ll probably hatch soon.
Where am I right now? Well, it’s somewhere between the Middle and Upper Stratums of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
In other words, the place where my old home used to be.
Mother knew about this location, which means it wouldn’t be too surprising if the Demon Lord knows about it, too, but it was the first place that came to mind as an emergency escape spot.
My memories of this place run pretty deep, after all.
If you’re wondering how I escaped the Demon Lord’s Abyss Magic, the short of it is that I abandoned my body and got reborn.
That’s not a good explanation?
Yeah, I know. But that’s what happened.
To elaborate, I used the Egg-Laying skill I got from Mother a while back.
As the name implies, it obviously allows me to lay eggs. And when the eggs hatch, I can put the babies to work as my kin.
I tested it out right away, but, y’know. They were still eggs.
They take a while to hatch.
I left my mass-produced eggs in this hopefully safe area, my old base of operations in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
The thing about this skill is, as you may have guessed from the fact that I can produce the eggs by myself, it’s actually more like making little mes than bearing children.
It’s basically a skill that creates inferior copies of yourself with minds of their own.
Although considering that Mother’s babies were all small lesser taratects, I think they’re a little too inferior.
My thought process was, if this skill can make inferior copies of me, doesn’t that mean I could transplant my Parallel Minds into them?
That’s probably not how this skill was intended to be used, but when it comes to Parallel Minds, I tend to operate waaay outside the intended framework.
I figured it was worth a try, just for kicks.
To be honest, my current Parallel Minds have started to have a difference of opinion with the original (me), probably as an effect of eating Mother’s soul.
I mean, up until then, it was basically just like there were a whole bunch of mes in my head.
That might be hard to imagine for an ordinary person, but I don’t know how else to explain it.
But now, the Parallel Minds are different.
It’s like there are other people inside me, which isn’t a great feeling.
If possible, I wouldn’t mind getting rid of them.
I might be able to deal with it by turning off the Parallel Minds skill, but that would basically be like killing my Parallel Minds, which I’d feel a bit guilty about.
Besides, it’s possible that if I turned it off, I’d give in to that outside influence myself.
I definitely don’t want that.
So I decided to transplant my Parallel Minds into some of the babies in these eggs.
See, as soon as they hatch, our souls are connected thanks to Kin Control.
I figured it seemed like a decent possibility.
But before I got to try it, that whole war went down.
The war itself was one thing, but why’d the Demon Lord have to show up at that exact moment?
Unreal.
So when it was looking like the Demon Lord might kill me, a light bulb went off in my head.
If I can transplant my Parallel Minds, can’t I transplant myself along with them?
There’s not much difference between transplanting a part or transplanting the whole thing, right?
In which case, if I transplant my whole consciousness, doesn’t that mean I can escape?
So I tried it out, and presto, I’m reborn.
No doubt the Demon Lord’s Abyss Magic has vaporized my original body.
But guess what! My consciousness lives on in a whole different body!
Heh-heh-heh.
Between the Immortality skill and this egg revival technique, my body and soul are both indestructible!
Bwa-ha-ha-ha! It’s impossible to kill me now!
Well, unless I get caught off guard with some Abyss Magic or something. So I better not get too cocky.
Hoo, boy.
I’m lucky that worked when I hadn’t even tested it out. Otherwise, I really would’ve died that time.
Yikes, I don’t even wanna think about it.
So what do I do now?
First, I better see what’s up with my current body.
Right now I’m a newborn baby spider, fresh out of the box.
As a result, this body’s a whole lot smaller than my old one.
I’m talking the size of a tarantula back on Earth, small enough to fit in a human’s palm.
I guess that’s because my old body couldn’t lay giant eggs like Mother.
Physically speaking, it’d be impossible to lay eggs almost as big as yourself.
Even in a world that has magic and stuff, physics doesn’t simply cease to exist.
Consequently, the eggs I laid aren’t much bigger than a chicken’s.
Smaller than ostrich eggs, maybe?
So it makes sense that my body would be around the same size, since it hatched from one of those eggs.
So how are my stats looking, then?
Buh?!
I can’t help sputtering when I look at my stats with Appraisal.
All my stats are at 3.
3.
No ifs, ands, or buts. Just the number 3.
Thankfully, my original stats are still listed as the maximum values, with a note next to my status saying that they’re currently lowered.
Does that mean my stats went down temporarily because I switched bodies?
My skills are still the same, but I definitely can’t do any fighting in this state.
Well, that ain’t good.
How am I even going to obtain food like this?
I do have some supplies in my Spatial Storage via Spatial Magic, but I don’t even have enough MP to activate that.
If I could at least get my max MP back, I could use magic again, but I’m kinda worried that I’ll starve to death before then.
Worst-case scenario, do I eat what’s inside these eggs?
Mother did the same thing, so I guess I could theoretically sacrifice some of my children for my own survival.
We’ll save that for a last resort, though.
And then there’s my other option.
Yes, I do have one.
But I’m pretty sure that would be a serious gamble.
See, the level displayed in my Appraisal results is 50.
And next to that is the indicator that I can evolve.
My next evolutionary step is the one I’ve wanted for so long: arachne.
I really, really wanna evolve.
But when I evolve, it uses up a huge amount of SP.
And know what my current SP is?
You guessed it: 3.
I could easily starve to death in the process of evolving.
Once the evolution is complete, my stats might come back, which would let me use magic to get my supplies out of Spatial Storage, but I don’t know whether this fragile little body can survive evolution in the first place.
So yeah, it’s a gamble.
Hmm. What should I do?
If the evolution succeeds, my stats will probably recover, and all my problems will be solved.
The problem is, I don’t know whether it’ll succeed.
Man, I dunno what to do here.
As I’m waffling back and forth, I sense a fluctuation in the air.
Someone is trying to teleport here!
My blood runs cold.
Did the Demon Lord follow me?
If so, I’d be totally screwed.
I can’t resurrect into another egg if all the eggs here get destroyed.
Then I’d die for real this time.
I’d be killed.
But against all expectations, the person who arrives isn’t the Demon Lord.
Instead, a man emerges from thin air.
A slim body that seems to be fused with its armor.
All covered from head to toe in black.
I’ve met this dark man only once before.
In the Middle Stratum of the Great Elroe Labyrinth after I beat the fire dragon.
The administrator Güliedistodiez.
One of the gods who control this world.
“Th** is * surprise. I *** not expect y** to survi**.”
I still can’t pick it all up completely, but I’ve learned a good amount of this world’s language.
I can fill in the spotty parts with my imagination.
He’s saying that he’s surprised I survived, right?
Ah! That’s right!
The Demon Lord doesn’t have Spatial Magic!
Does that mean she was able to teleport to me because of this guy?!
Which would mean he’s my enemy, too!
“N* need to ** so guarded. I h*ve no **tent**n of h*rming you now.”
Administrator Güliedistodiez— Ugh, too long, let’s just call him Güli-güli.
I don’t sense any hostility from Güli-güli.
As long as he doesn’t intend to kill me, I guess we’re okay for now, right?
“Can you understand me like this?”
Suddenly, I hear a muted voice that seems to beam directly into my head.
It’s kinda like the Divine Voice (temp.).
And like our friend the DV, it comes through to me in Japanese.
Silently, I nod.
“I have altered a skill D made to add a translation function. This way, my telepathy will sound like your language to you, and your words should also come through to me in mine.”
Huh.
You can do that?
Is there a way to just have translation on all the time?
“Incidentally, I am implementing this function through force. It is not a function of the skill originally, so it would likely be very difficult for you to implement it yourself.”
Oh really?
That’s too bad.
Well, guess I might as well start asking questions.
Or I would, but I’m so bad at conversation that the words just won’t come out!
“You must find it strange. That I sent Ariel to you and yet I have come to you to have a conversation now. Allow me to begin by explaining.”
Sweet, thanks.
Mr. Güli-güli’s the best, guessing what I want to know before I even say it.
“Ariel and I are old friends, with a deep connection. I decided I would help her, just once. D has ordered me not to interfere with the reincarnations, but I did not do so directly in this case.”
Hrmm.
Isn’t that what people call a technicality?
But I do kinda get where you’re coming from, Güli-güli.
If someone you know is in trouble, of course you’d wanna help them.
But this time, it almost ended in me dying!
I’m not just gonna be like, “Okay, that’s fine, then!”
“Your anger is understandable. Thus, although it does not excuse my actions, I wish to offer you this.”
Güli-güli reaches into another space and pulls something out.
Something huge!
It’s the giant corpse of a dragon. No, several of them, in fact.
“These dragons fought for your sake. I am certain they would be honored to offer their flesh and blood for you as well.”
There’s a touch of sorrow in Güli-güli’s eyes.
I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but that means I can eat these, right?
“This is the last time I shall lend a hand to Ariel. From here on out, I swear never again to interfere with any reincarnations.”
Oh yeah?
Glad to hear it.
That means the Demon Lord’s not going to randomly teleport to me again.
As long as I keep an eye on her whereabouts with Professor Wisdom’s marking feature, she won’t catch me by surprise again, I hope.
“This is a gesture of good faith from me personally, in regards to the issues I have caused you as well.”
Hmm. Honestly, considering what I lost, I’m not really sure this makes up for it, but that’s all right.
I’m not gonna push my luck by asking for anything more.
“In addition, I have a selfish request.”
Hmm?
“Is there any way I could convince you to stop meddling with Ariel?”
Hrmmm?
Meddling with the Demon Lord?
I haven’t been doing that, have I?
If anything, she’s the one who keeps meddling with me.
As far as I’m concerned, now that Mother is dead, our connection is severed, and we don’t need to bother each other any further.
“I understand that I am being unreasonably demanding. If you wish to reject my request, I will press the matter no further.”
I, uh, what?
Meddling with the Demon Lord, meddling, meddling…
Ah!
Maybe she’s behind this?!
My Parallel Mind who used to be my body brain!
That’s right! She went over to the Demon Lord!
I completely forgot about that!
The Demon Lord suddenly appeared while I was taking down Mother.
In order to deal with her, one of my Parallel Minds went over to start attacking the Demon Lord’s soul directly.
That was former body brain.
But when Mother died, the connection between Mother and me disappeared.
As a result, the connection I had to the Demon Lord through Mother was also severed, meaning that the Parallel Mind who was dispatched to the Demon Lord can no longer return to me.
I can’t even contact former body brain. She’s totally isolated.
I had no idea what happened to former body brain after that, but if what Güli-güli’s saying is true, she’s been fighting valiantly against the Demon Lord on her own all this time.
Unbelievable.
I’d just assumed the Demon Lord was chasing me to get revenge for me killing Mother, but she must have been trying to kill me because my former body brain has been attacking her this whole time!
Which means this is all your fault, former body brain!
Oops, rein it in.
I shouldn’t get too angry at former body brain.
She’s been fighting tooth and nail even though she lost her way back.
Anyway, how should I respond to Güli-güli?
It’s probably best to be honest about it, so that’s what I do.
“I can’t.”
It’s true. I really can’t.
I can’t even get in touch with former body brain, never mind bring her back.
So I can’t stop her meddling from here even if I wanted to.
I try to convey this to Güli-güli, rather incoherently.
Sorry that it took me so long to explain.
I’m just really bad at talking to people.
“I see. Then I have asked the impossible of you, ignorant of the circumstances. I apologize.”
Nah, it’s all good.
You gave me some valuable information in the process, so let’s call it even.
Now I have the wonderful little nugget of hope that if I keep running away, former body brain might eventually beat the Demon Lord for me.
“There is one more thing I would ask of you.”
Hrm? What now?
“I would have you cease your involvement with humans from this point onward. If possible, please live somewhere quietly in secret from now on.”
Pardon?
“D has given me a summary of your situation. I wish to apologize that you have gotten involved in this world’s predicament. I am sorry. I also ask you to not interfere with this world any further. I am well aware that this is an impolite request. But right now, you are already one of the most powerful creatures in this world. For each action you take, there is a wave of consequences too large to ignore. It threatens to plunge this world into chaos. Again, I know this is a large request to make of you. But would you by chance at least consider it?”
I can tell that Güli-güli is being very sincere.
“Might I hear your reply?”
Hmm.
Since he’s being so up-front, I should respond with equal sincerity. “Sorry, but no.”
I hate to be rude to Güli-güli, but I can’t agree to that.
I mean, he’s basically asking me to let the inhabitants of this world handle everything and just go hole up in a cave somewhere.
But the people of this world are too pathetic to get anything done, which is why it’s on the verge of destruction.
Clearly, they can’t be trusted to handle things from here.
I might be busy dealing with the Demon Lord right now, but I have my own plan of action, too.
And so, it’s unthinkable that I would just give up and go into hiding.
“You will not reconsider?”
Looking ponderous, Güli-güli seems to be making one last confirmation.
I shake my head silently.
“I see.”
Güli-güli looks up toward the sky.
“From the perspective of one from another world, does what I am doing seem laughable to you?”
His brow wrinkles as he telepathically asks the question.
His expression is that of an exhausted and anguished man, who has nevertheless resolved to keep moving forward.
I can’t really answer his question.
That’s his business, after all.
But I can say this much.
“You should do whatever you feel is best.”
In the end, that’s just how it is.
You have to push onward down the path you believe in.
That’s all I can really say to a question with no correct answer.
“I see. You are right, I suppose.”
Güli-güli looks a little surprised, then nods.
“Then I shall do what I feel is best, indeed. Still, D has a stake in your actions, as well. For the time being, I shall not harm you. But you would do well to remember this. If your actions lead to results that run counter to mine, then you shall likely find me standing in your way.”
Makes sense.
But I hope that doesn’t end up being the case.
“Our business is done for today, then. Farewell.”
Just like that, Güli-güli teleports away.
THE OGRE BARES HIS FANGS
When Katia and I were reunited, we were both deeply relieved.
Being reborn in a parallel world for unknown reasons and forced to start life over from babyhood was a lonely and distressing experience.
Meeting your best friend from your previous life in the middle of all that was a big deal.
Katia and I were able to support each other, finding reassurance from the fact that we weren’t alone.
Part 6 of 8