Part 5 of 8
Heh-heh. Yes. This is perfect!
Now I can win!
The perfect form I imagined has become even more incredible in one fell swoop!
If I just keep training without resting on my laurels, perhaps I’ll be able to beat Ael sooner than I expected!
Heh-heh. Heh-heh-heh!
Just you wait!
For now, I’ll start by raising my Acid Attack skill level.
And I’ll try to keep the fact that I’ve acquired Envy a secret, if at all possible.
I’m sure I still can’t beat Miss Ariel or White, after all.
As I cackle to myself in the dead of night, Sael seems to look on in silence.
ARRIVAL AT THE GREAT ELROE LABYRINTH
Ever since the upside-down-girls incident, Vampy has been in a very bad mood.
Well, I guess I can’t blame her. She gave me the whole story, and apparently, I caused that whole debacle while I was drunk.
She tried to calm me down when I went on a drunken rampage, and instead I went wild. If I were her, I’d get mad, too.
But I don’t know why that means she has to invade my room every chance she gets.
Even now, while I’m testing out my abilities, she’s sitting there having a tea party with Sael and company. Plus, since Vampy is the only one of them who talks, that means their little tea parties consist of sipping tea in silence and watching something.
Normally, their entertainment is Fiel goofing around when she gets bored of the stuffy silence or Riel suddenly doing some bizarre activity.
Otherwise, they have to actually just sit there in boredom, or Vampy has to start talking by herself.
But now, they have the exciting new option of observing ME.
And that’s exactly what they’ve been doing lately.
Four pairs of eyes stare at me expectantly, making it difficult to get anything done.
But I do feel guilty for putting them through the upside-down incident, so I can’t be rude to them about it.
So I just try to ignore them as best I can while I test out my abilities.
My powers finally returned to me when I got drunk.
…Yeah, I know that sounds pretty terrible, but I have to ignore it.
While my powers are back, that doesn’t mean I can use them exactly the same way I did before.
I still don’t have skills or stats, after all.
What I’m doing now is basically just imitating those.
What exactly are skills and stats, you ask? Well, they’re part of a crazy-huge act of conjuring called the “system.”
Most phenomena in this world that defy the laws of physics are actually brought about using energy that works by entirely separate rules.
Artificially manipulating this energy is the basis of magic.
In a broader sense, that means that skills and stats are a kind of conjuring, too.
The giant act of conjuring known as the system supports humans so that they can easily harness said conjuring, in the forms of skills and stats.
When I underwent deification, I became exempt from the system, so I don’t get the support of skills and stats anymore. That’s why I wasn’t able to use my powers.
After all, that requires sensing and manipulating the energy that forms the basis of all this, and I no longer have the Magic Power Perception or Magic Power Operation skills that used to do that for me.
You have to use energy for conjuring, but I wasn’t able to see or feel that energy, never mind know how to manipulate it, so I wasn’t getting anywhere.
But I was able to do it before, even if the skills were helping me.
I thought I might be able to get a sense for how I did that if only I had some kind of chance.
Although I never thought that “chance” would consist of getting drunk.
If drinking was all I needed to do to get my powers back, then why did I suffer so miserably for almost two years…?
Unreal.
Well, whatever. They’re back now, so there’s no point dwelling on the past.
Anyway, skills and stats support the residents of this world so that they can perform conjuring more easily.
So if I can use conjuring now, that means I should be able to do all the same things I did before, even without the support of skills…in theory, at least. In practice, it’s not so easy.
It’s like the difference between riding a bike with training wheels and a bike without them. Obviously, it’s gonna be hard at first.
I have to control the whole thing myself, without the support of skills.
For some reason, I can produce thread without really thinking about it, but for everything else, I have to consciously produce the runes and such.
It’s not like using a skill, where you know how to do it right off the bat.
I have to figure out what the system’s support was doing when I used each skill and control that part myself.
I guess it’s kinda like the difference between automatic and manual.
It’s pretty hard, though.
I mean, I can sorta remember the runes and stuff for skills I used relatively often. But it’s more like I remember the feeling of using them than the detailed steps.
I have to rely on vague feelings like, I dunno, was it kinda like this? which actually seems to work more often than not.
I guess it’s sorta like muscle memory…or maybe soul memory?
Well, as long as I can use those, that’s fine with me.
The problem is the stuff I can’t use yet.
I don’t remember the skills I didn’t use as often, so it’s been tough to get them to work.
There are some skills that I constantly had on by default in order to raise their skill levels, but there’s plenty more that I never did that with.
At the moment, I have no idea how to re-create about half of those lesser-used skills.
I do have a vague sense for most of them, so I think if I keep practicing, I’ll be able to do it eventually.
But there are a few others that I can’t seem to use at all.
The biggest example being magic.
I can use Dark and Spatial Magic without a problem, but the rest of them are tougher.
I know what you’re thinking. C’mon, conjuring and magic are basically the same, so what’s the problem?
But listen, those are totally different.
In fact, magic is just one small part of the giant conjuring known as the system.
D added some gamelike elements and fancy effects to give the impression of “magic.”
It’s sort of like an illusion, except it actually affects reality.
Sure, that magic produces fire or water or whatever, but it’s not quite the same as the regular kind of fire or water.
It has some stupid extra parts like attributes and resistances, for one thing.
In fact, most of it is superfluous stuff, to the point where the rune producing the all-important fire, water, etc. is more like a bonus than anything…
Skills have attributes, and there are resistances that oppose them.
This is embedded in the gamelike system, which also creates affinities.
That’s why runes are so unnecessarily complicated.
So, since I know only the runes produced by my old skills, I don’t know which parts of them are actually necessary for pure conjuring that’s not related to the system.
When I try to reproduce those same runes, they’re inevitably connected to the system—and since I’m cut off from the system, I can’t activate them.
Since all magic has these stupid “attributes” attached, that means I can’t use most of it.
That goes for non-magic skills that have attributes, too.
Like Jinx Evil Eye, for instance. It has the Curse attribute, and it directly attacks HP and MP and stuff, all of which are directly connected to the system.
If I want to re-create Jinx Evil Eye, it might be better just to build a new rune from scratch.
Not that I have the know-how to do that!
On the other hand, there are two kinds of skills I can use even though they have attributes: Dark and Rot.
But wait just a minute.
Okay, Dark is one thing.
I don’t know why I can use something that’s so obviously attribute-based, but it’s useful, so I’m not gonna worry about that.
But what is Rot doing here?!
The Rot attribute was always a last resort among my many strategies.
Of course, when I did use it, it was very reliable.
But that’s only if I could use it properly.
’Cause the Rot attribute is a total double-edged sword!
It’s so damn strong that it causes recoil damage to the user. And that’s when I had it under the control of skills thanks to the system!
What’s going to happen if I use it without any of those restraints?
I’m so scared that I don’t even dare test it out.
My giant scythe still seems to have that kind of attribute, so I thought maybe I’d be able to use it all right, but that was a failure.
It started to activate without a problem, so I panicked and shut it off.
I still got a little recoil, since I stopped it so abruptly, but I’m sure it’s nothing compared to what would happen if I actually activated it.
But warning bells were going off in my head so loudly in that moment that I’m not sure I would’ve survived. Letting it activate all the way wouldn’t have led to anything good.
It’d be one thing if it misfired and I lost an arm or something, but in the worst-case scenario, I could’ve actually died.
That nasty evil god told me that I would’ve died from using it if I didn’t have the resistance, and that was when I had skills.
Now that I don’t have that safety net, I have no idea what’ll happen.
So I’m going to be super-careful when it comes to the Rot attribute. Yeah.
And Rot’s not the only thing I have to be careful about.
I was able to handle everything easily with the help of skills, but now I have to keep it under perfect control without any help.
I’ve got to handle everything with care, not just Rot, or I could easily make something misfire at any moment.
So I’m keeping my practice relatively simple, not to mention sticking to stuff that wouldn’t cause too much damage if it did go awry.
Right now, I’m working on seeing through stuff.
My eyes have a whole bunch of pupils, so I have to keep ’em closed when I’m in town and stuff so I don’t freak out other people.
Obviously, I can’t see with my eyes shut, so it’s pretty damn inconvenient.
If I can learn to see through things like I used to with Clairvoyance, I can look right through my eyelids at the outside world, so I won’t have to deal with all that nonsense.
Plus, it wouldn’t do any real harm if I mess this up, so it’s perfect for practicing in my room.
To an outside observer, it probably just looks like I’m sitting here with my eyes closed, but for some reason, the peanut gallery seems to find this interesting enough to keep watching me.
Even Fiel, who normally doesn’t have the patience for this kind of thing, is staring at me.
It’s starting to stress me out, so I turn away from my audience of little girls.
Then Fiel silently sneaks around my side and waves her hand in front of my face.
I can see you.
Even with my eyes closed, I can see you with Clairvoyance.
But if I react now, she’ll probably get carried away and distract me even more, so I ignore her.
The speed of Fiel’s hand waving steadily increases, and soon she starts moving the rest of her body, too, until finally she’s demonstrating some bizarrely feverish dance in front of me.
Oh, come on! You got carried away anyway?!
It’s getting annoying, so I open my eyes and use Inert Evil Eye.
Fiel freezes in a shee! pose.
Okay. I wasn’t expecting the pose, but I guess it worked.
Inert Evil Eye originally evolved from Paralyzing Evil Eye. Since the latter has the Paralysis attribute, I normally wouldn’t be able to use it, but Inert Evil Eye has a sort of time-stopping effect.
I guess that effect is unrelated to Paralysis, which is why I’m able to use it.
That’s the only explanation I can think of anyway.
By the way, I can technically still use it even with my eyes closed.
If I combine it with the see-through effect of Clairvoyance, it still works, but it’s less effective and harder to control.
I can activate several at the same time, too, but I don’t want to push it too hard while I’m still learning the ropes.
Although I’m hoping that eventually I’ll be able to combine Evil Eyes with Clairvoyance and do super-long-distance Evil Eye attacks like I could before.
But first, I have to figure out what I can and can’t do and practice hard to improve.
…So? How long is Fiel going to stay frozen?
Oh? It won’t wear off until I stop it?
How exactly do I do that?
After that, I struggled for a while until I finally managed to release Fiel from her inert state.
Yep. It’s important to understand how these powers work.
That was definitely a good reminder.
So I’ve been testing out my powers pretty successfully, and guess where I am now? The Great Elroe Labyrinth.
Why? Because I teleported here.
It’s not like I actually wanted to come here even a little bit, but when I was trying to decide where to go to test out teleporting, it was the first place that came to mind.
And as soon as I thought about it, I found myself here.
I teleported so naturally, it’s almost shocking, if I do say so myself.
Just like when I make thread, I don’t even have to think about constructing runes or anything like that. What’s up with that?
Isn’t teleporting, like, a super-advanced skill?
Well, I guess I did use it all the time.
It was literally my lifeline, y’know?
But I didn’t think it was going to be this easy to use it.
The Spatial Magic skill was always pretty hard, since you had to designate a destination and use it as a starting point while activating Teleport.
The farther away the destination, the longer it takes to designate it.
And it takes a pretty long time before you can actually teleport there, too.
Again, with an even longer waiting period for faraway places.
In other words, it always took a crazy-long amount of time to activate Teleport.
Even with my cheat skill Height of Occultism, Teleport took anywhere from seconds to even minutes to prepare, depending on the distance.
But when I teleported just now, all I had to do was think about a place, and I found myself there right away.
Seriously, what the hell?
I don’t get it. Why would it be faster to do this without the support of skills?
Hmm? Did the skill actually kinda slow me down?
Skills are essentially a form of assistance that activate conjuring for you. They’re a structure that makes it easy and safe to produce runes.
But it’s trickier than it seems: It also means that the system itself is doing the dangerous part of the work in place of the user.
But what if the system was slower at constructing that part than the user?
Then it might actually be faster to do it without the assistance of the system.
But is such a thing even possible?
I can kind of understand it with the thread, since I’ve been using it nonstop since I was reborn here.
But why would I be able to use an advanced technique like Teleport faster than when I had the system’s help?
Hrmmm.
I mean, it’s obvious that I must be some kind of genius, but still.
I guess there’s no point in dwelling on something I can do when I should really be focusing on the things I still can’t.
I’ll just try to be grateful that I was able to do it more easily than I expected.
So anyway.
Here I am in the Upper Stratum of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
Specifically, I’m in that big space on the border with the Middle Stratum.
I called this area home for a long time, so it makes sense that it’d be deeply ingrained in my mind.
After all, this is the first place I thought of when I tried to teleport.
And now, a swarm of white spiders is clamoring around my former home.
So I’m surrounded, so what?
Sure, I might be screaming EEEEEK! on the inside, but it doesn’t look like these guys are going to attack me.
On the contrary, they actually seem happy to see me.
They’re showing their joy by bouncing up and down, almost like they’re dancing.
Huh.
Teleporting here to find myself surrounded by spiders dredged up some unpleasant memories, so I panicked at first, but I guess I don’t mind as long as they don’t attack me.
Being surrounded by spiders reminded me of the first thing I saw in this world, the bloodbath of my spider siblings. I wasn’t exactly looking to relive my first traumatic experience here.
By the way, my second traumatic experience was seeing Mother right after that.
The third was when my home got destroyed, and the fourth was Mr. Araba.
What’s this? When I look back on it, it kinda seems like I’ve had a lot of traumatic incidents in my life, no?
Oh, but I’ve conquered most of those fears by now.
Trauma’s nothing to be scared of!
What? My legs are trembling?
Th-that’s just because I’m so excited!
I’m definitely not shaking because this situation brought back traumatic memories!
I’m not, okay?!
…Fine, so what if I am?! Everyone shakes a little once in a while!
Besides, the moment I was reborn wasn’t the only time I’ve been surrounded by spiders, remember?!
There was also the time I got chased around by Mother right after I escaped the labyrinth, barely managed to escape with my life via Teleport, and then found myself surrounded by an army of spiders and almost got squashed!
You can’t blame me if I’m a little traumatized!
I really thought I was gonna die at the time!
But there’s no reason to be afraid now.
’Cause it occurs to me that the white spiders around me are actually kind of my family.
Or family that was created by my Parallel Minds anyway.
These are the extra underlings my Parallel Minds made with the Egg-Laying skill while they were temporarily separated from me.
But when I got deified, I absorbed all my Parallel Minds, so they really are my family now, aren’t they?
In fact, if my Parallel Minds laid these eggs, doesn’t that mean I’m their mother by blood?
Hey, Demon Lord, you’re a great-grandma nooow!
Once I dealt with those Parallel Minds, I just shoved these guys in here and left them to their own devices. They were simply obeying my Parallel Minds, so I couldn’t bring myself to kill ’em.
But I wasn’t gonna start looking after them, either.
Which is why I just teleported the lot of them into the Great Elroe Labyrinth and left ’em here.
I didn’t know what had happened to them after that, but from the looks of things, they’ve been getting on just fine.
Good, good.
Okay, your mom’s going home now, so keep up the good woooork.
Child neglect? No, that definitely doesn’t apply in this situation.
But the white spiders seem to sense somehow that I’m getting ready to teleport away, because they suddenly freeze.
All that happiness dissipates at once, and suddenly they’re looking like a bunch of abandoned puppies.
I guess in a way, that expression is accurate. Although they’re spiders, not puppies.
Still, those eight eyes of theirs somehow look tearful to me.
Cut it out!
Don’t look at me like that!
You’re making it hard for me to leave!
In the end, I wound up staying over for the next several days…
It’s all because of those cute little eyes!
But I guess it’s fine, since I’ve managed to do some good experimenting in the process.
The Great Elroe Labyrinth works pretty well as a space where you can use dangerous techniques without inconveniencing anyone.
As a result, I’ve been able to figure out some things I couldn’t do in the duke’s mansion.
This has been a pretty productive span of time.
The white spiders keep presenting me with monster corpses, but…I guess that’s sorta cute.
Although now that I’m a human, monster meat doesn’t really suit my tastes anymore.
Well. Y’know. Since they insist on offering them to me, I’m doing my best to eat them, but I’ve got a pretty small stomach these days, so I can’t eat a whole monster in one sitting anymore.
But I don’t like to waste food, so I’m doing my best…
I have occasionally been pretending to eat while storing it in subspace, but that’s our little secret.
These guys just keep bringing me way more food than I can eat!
Since I’ve been away for so long, they seem excited to be able to serve me devotedly.
Who raised them like this anyway? It’s a mystery.
In the end, I had to pull myself away from the white spiders as their eyes begged me not to go and return to the duke’s mansion with Teleport.
The whole thing was a little painful for my heart, so I guess I’ll check in on them from time to time.
“Where were you?”
Besides, there’s a scary little girl here, glaring at me like a wife who’s accusing her husband of cheating.
I can’t spend all my time in a house with a scary girl like this!
I have another family who’s actually happy to see me!
“Don’t go wandering off on your own like that. Understood?”
…Yes, ma’am.
In the end, I couldn’t stand up to the anger of Vampy.
From now on, I’ll have to get her permission before spending the night elsewhere.
ICE DRAGON NIA
Oh, dear me.
As I dodge the blade that swoops toward me, I sense I’ve made a mistake.
A blunder.
And not just one—I have made several mistakes.
The first was allowing this whelp to live.
It was a mistake to obey my lord’s orders and refrain from attacking it directly.
I thought that perhaps if I started a blizzard, the creature would die on its own, but the thing has stubbornly clung to life.
If I had known this would happen, I would have confirmed it breathed its last with my own eyes, even if it meant disobeying my lord’s orders.
The second mistake was instructing my brethren to hinder the whelp’s progress.
Many of them lost their lives as a result, which also led to the significant increase in the whelp’s level.
If I had put it down in the beginning, surely things would not have turned out this way.
…The fact that I didn’t do it because I had a hangover is a shameful truth indeed.
It’s all because that blasted alcohol Ariel gave me was so delicious!
I put on a brave face for my lord, but even now, my stomach churns, both from stress and indigestion.
The third mistake was agreeing to fight this whelp now in order to smooth over the first two mistakes.
Alas, I have no fondness for battle.
Though I did not wish to let on as much in front of my lord, the truth is that I would prefer not to fight.
Why should I have to face such a fate?
I miss the days when I could simply loll about at the peak of the Mystic Mountains.
Yes, I am partially responsible for sowing these seeds, but half the blame also lies with the little brat for committing such heinous acts.
Even after I gave it a good scolding, it insisted upon rampaging about like a child throwing a tantrum.
And the fourth mistake is the action I took just now.
I dodged the brat’s attack, but it was a feint.
The real attack from its other sword lands squarely on my body.
A keening noise echoes as the brat’s blade clashes with my scales.
“That hurts, you fool!”
In truth, I do not feel pain because of my Suffering Nullification skill, but the spirit of the thing remains the same.
I whip around my tail to knock away the brat.
But much to my irritation, it easily dodges my attack.
Ah, enough already!
I do so hate fighting.
Damn this brat.
Precious little time has passed since our previous bout, yet it has grown almost unrecognizably in power.
Before, it couldn’t even leave a scratch on my scales, try as it might.
But now? The place where its sword hit me is bleeding, the scale shattered.
It broke through the defenses of my Divine Scales.
My defense is second only to that of the earth dragon Gakia.
No, since Gakia has died, I suppose now I am first.
And yet, the whelp has injured me.
When was the last time I sustained a single wound?
I cannot even remember.
Even if I spend much of my time lazing about, I am still far more powerful than most, you know.
Just hearing my name would be enough to bring most warriors to their knees!
Not that I ever really run into anyone who would try to harm me, since I never leave the Mystic Mountains.
At any rate, what I wish to say is: No thank you.
I’ve been wounded!
If I get wounded enough, I’ll die!
This is the first time I’ve seen my own blood in hundreds of years!
No, I don’t like this one bit.
I may have acted cool in front of my lord, but the truth is I do not want to die.
Of course, if it truly comes down to it, I am willing to sacrifice my life for him.
But this?
This foolish squabble is not how I wish to die.
I do feel a degree of sympathy for the whelp’s plight, but it has already exacted its revenge, so this violence is nothing more than taking out its anger on others.
Perhaps it has lost its senses due to Wrath, but that is no excuse.
At least, not to me.
No excuse would be sufficient for injuring me like this.
Oh dear. It’s starting to go to my head, too.
My apologies to my lord, but I do not wish to hear complaints if I kill this whelp in the heat of the moment.
“Listen, cur. Don’t blame me if you die, all right? If you must blame anything, blame your own ill fate.”
A freezing cold wind whips up around me.
It is the pinnacle of Ice Magic, freezing anyone instantly at the lightest touch.
The houses around us freeze, then break and scatter on the increasingly violent winds.
Ice and wind.
And let us add a jinx, as well.
Even if the whelp withstands the ice, the jinx will eat away at it while its body loses its warmth, whittling down its health.
And my Indolence skill will expedite that even further.
Indolence, a skill that is linked to the Seven Deadly Sins skill Sloth, increases the rate of reduction of the target’s HP, MP, and SP.
You see, brat, I may not look it, but the truth is that I am known to play dirtiest of all the dragons.
I use my powerful defense to endure lengthy battles, all while slowly wearing down my opponent with a field of cursed ice.
Since I have been warned not to kill the brat, I will refrain from finishing it off with a single blow.
But there is no need.
I shall simply keep fighting until the brat reaches its limits.
Just then, the brat’s power receives an enormous boost.
Huh?
What’s this?
Excuse me?!
Wait a minute!
Where did this power come from?!
I wasn’t told about this!
“Grrraaaaaagh!”
The whelp howls and charges toward me.
So fast!
I can’t dodge in time!
In my panic, I try to take to the skies, but too late—the whelp’s sword cuts into my torso.
I feel the sword break through not just the scales but the hide and even the flesh beneath.
This is not good!
“Grrrr!”
Unleashing a roar of my own, I let loose with my Breath at full power.
In the blink of an eye, the village that was on the border freezes over, shatters, and is destroyed without a trace.
But the brat isn’t there—no, I see in the corner of my eye that it’s trying to get behind me.
I am not slow-footed by any means, but this creature is far faster than I.
How can it move like this in my cursed ice territory?!
What in the world is going on here?!
Oh dear!
All I know is that things are not looking good.
The wound it just inflicted is by no means shallow.
I must put some distance between us so that I can recover.
Spreading my wings, I decide to escape into the sky for now.
But just as I attempt to take off again, a sword slashes into one of my wings, interrupting my actions.
Grrr! It’s made a huge cut through my wing!
Unlike the rest of my body, the scales on my wings are thin.
No matter how high my defense might be, even I have my weak points.
The wound will not prevent me from flying, but it will certainly reduce my mobility.
If it attacks again while I’m taking off, I’ll be in serious danger.
Giving up on fleeing into the air, I resolve to intercept the brat on the ground instead.
Honestly! Why should I have to go through such an awful experience?!
I have had no luck whatsoever in recent times!
I flap my uninjured wing with all my strength, whipping up a powerful wind.
Yet somehow, the whelp cuts through that wind and charges toward my neck.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, whelp!”
As the brat soars toward me, I lash out with a big bite.
My fangs clash against the brat’s swords.
The taste of blood fills my mouth, but it’s only a slight cut to my lip, not a major wound.
The brat fends off my bite with both swords.
Now that it is rendered immobile, I hit it with my Breath.
A point-blank attack.
It cannot possibly dodge this!
Surely, even the whelp will not survive a direct hit from my Breath attack.
But it is a sacrifice I am willing to make.
Apologies to my lord, but he will have come up with some excuse to that terrifying D for me.
…But it appears I am premature in thinking about what comes after this battle.
The whelp’s swords produce fire and lightning, clashing against my Breath.
My attack proves more powerful, but the flames and lightning on its blades have lessened its effect.
As the powers collide, they cause an explosion that sends the whelp flying backward.
Grrr! Insolent brat!
That was not enough to finish it off?
But this is the perfect chance. It’s been blown off its feet.
Now is the time to finish it with another Breath attack!
To that end, I draw in another lungful.
At that moment, something slips from inside my mouth into my throat.
What did I just swallow?
My mouth was so full of blood that I didn’t realize anything else was there.
The feeling of dread is immediate, but even then it is too late.
The thing that I swallowed causes a massive explosion in my stomach.
“Guh?!”
Instead of my Breath attack, flames spurt out of my mouth.
What just happened?
I swallowed something…and it exploded?
What was it?
The whelp wasn’t holding anything except its two swords.
Its…swords?
Oh no!
Swords!
The whelp’s power is to create magic swords.
It must have made a dagger-size exploding magic blade while I couldn’t see it!
I’ve been had!
Like my wings, there are other parts of me that are not nearly as tough, in spite of my high defense.
And of course that goes for my innards as well.
An ordinary dragon might very well have died from this attack.
Even I have taken a great deal of damage.
This…does not bode well.
The damage is severe.
On top of that, the little brat is back on its feet—not only that, it’s already charging at me while I am still reeling.
Its body is wreathed in fire and lightning.
That must be protecting it from my cursed ice.
The fearless creature’s attack closes in on me without mercy.
I raise my front legs to try to ward off the attack, but its sword slices deep into my legs instead.
Then the other sword swings and creates another wound.
No.
It can’t be!
I am truly going to die!
My lord!
Help me!
Pitifully, I look in the direction where my lord stood in order to plead for help, but he is no longer there.
What?!
My lord! Where have you gone?!
No, no, no!
I don’t want to diiie!
But my pleas are in vain, for the whelp’s attacks only become fiercer.
ARRIVAL AT MR. ONI’S PLACE
Crime doesn’t happen in a meeting room.
It happens somewhere far away from us, but somehow we get caught up in it anyway.
That is the truth I have come to realize.
Or something like that. I’m quoting some police show or detective show or whatever, although I don’t really know what it means.
In other words, I’m in the middle of an escapist fantasy.
“Graaaah!”
Before me is a howling boy with bloodshot eyes.
He might look like a young boy at a glance, but that howl and his terrifying aura suggest otherwise. The howl shakes the very air as well as my eardrums, and his aura distorts the scenery around us.
In fact, the heat from one of the magic swords in his hands is literally making my vision wavy.
The other one is producing purple lightning that crackles all over his body.
He kinda looks like a supervillain who’s awakened to his murderous rage…
Hey there, Mr. Oni.
You’ve gotten pretty wild-looking in the short time since we last saw each other.
I mean, you were pretty wild that time, too, but I guess you didn’t stop there.
Wow, you really surpassed my expectations there, bud.
Ha-ha-ha!
…Now what?
Why am I in this situation?
In short, it’s because of a guy named Güli-güli.
That’s right. Güli-güli is the culprit!
If this really were a police or detective show, that’d be the end of that, but I guess things aren’t gonna wrap up so easily, huh?
Let’s rewind a bit to figure out how I got into this mess.
Güli-güli appeared out of nowhere.
“I have a favor to ask.”
A mysterious figure clad all in black suddenly interrupted our afternoon teatime, which was becoming a daily ritual.
Normally I would complain about the security in the duke’s mansion, but in this case, I can’t really blame them.
This guy is a genuine god, after all.
No amount of security could stop him from teleporting right on in if he felt like it.
Since Güli-güli showed up so abruptly and announced that he had a request equally abruptly, of course I didn’t know how to respond right away.
Besides, if I went around blurting out answers right off the bat whenever someone talked to me, I’d lose credibility as the strong, silent type, dammit!
Meanwhile, while I was frozen in a panic, Fiel brought Güli-güli a chair for some reason, so he joined our tea party.
Riel poured some tea into an extra cup and handed it to Güli-güli.
The man in black elegantly brought the cup to his lips.
A bunch of little girls and a grown man in black armor, sitting at a table together, having a tea party.
How surreal can you get?!
This is seriously unreal.
“This favor has to do with none other than the reincarnation you encountered in the Mystic Mountains. I want you to stop him.”
After a sip of tea, Güli-güli cut straight to the chase.
At that, Vampy’s eyes glittered dangerously.
“Would you care to give us the details?”
Uh, sure, go ahead and speak for all of us, I guess.
Güli-güli hesitated for a moment, looking away.
“…I suppose this is within the limits of acceptability,” he muttered.
Talk about an ominous statement. What exactly is he so worried about?
Well, I guess there’s only one person who could make Güli-güli sweat like that!
What in the world has that rotten evil god done this time…?
Actually, knowing her, isn’t said evil god probably listening right now?
Why would you mutter something like that?
Or did you want her to hear you on purpose?
“I suppose I owe you a show of good faith before I ask for your assistance.”
Güli-güli took another sip of tea.
Then he put down the cup and raised his hand.
With a light flick of the hand, he produced a rune.
The rune seemed to be some kind of visual conjuring, as it produced an image in midair.
It displayed what looked like a satellite photograph, an aerial view of the planet from outer space.
Specifically, it was a view of the Mystic Mountains, covered in white ice and snow.
Ooh. So that’s what the Mystic Mountains look like from above, huh?
I knew it was a bunch of really tall mountains next to each other, but wow, the mountain range is bigger than I thought.
Looking at it from above like that, I realized that the mountains I saw from ground level were just one small part of an enormous whole.
The route we took from human lands to demon lands was literally nothing more than a tiny corner of the icy mountains.
As I stared blankly at the image, I realized something.
There was a flat area of land beyond the mountain range.
It wasn’t human or demon territory.
It was a different place entirely, separated from both by the mountains and the ocean.
Hmm?
What’s this place? Unexplored land?
“After you fought him, he wandered the Mystic Mountains until he reached this place,” Güli-güli began to explain. “This is a resting area for souls that I myself created.”
I was sure I wasn’t the only one who had a question mark floating over her head after that statement.
A resting area for souls?
Whaddaya mean?
“I suppose my description was insufficient. You are familiar with the system’s method of energy collection, correct? It’s certainly revolutionary if you only look at the numbers, but it isn’t without its problems. Namely, the gradual deterioration of souls.”
The grimace on Güli-güli’s face made it clear that he thinks this is inhumane, even if he can’t say it out loud.
Hrmmm. Soul degradation, huh?
Vampy and the puppet spiders still had those question marks, but I thought I kinda got it.
The system exploits the souls of people living in this world.
And if that goes on long enough, it’s not surprising that it would damage people’s souls.
So what would happen if it just kept using them without giving them any time to heal?
Ultimately, it’d mean those souls got destroyed.
A road that led to absolute nothingness, beyond even death.
Güli-güli must have made this little retirement spot to temporarily shelter people whose souls are overused in order to avoid that.
Hmm. I’m guessing that means he makes sure people in this place don’t fight and has them refrain from acquiring skills as much as possible?
It’s definitely not a permanent solution, but not bad as a stopgap measure.
“…You already understand based on that short explanation? That makes this easier.”
Güli-güli didn’t actually look happy, though.
If anything, he seemed to find this inconvenient.
See, he probably told me the details about this little rest stop, which he would normally keep secret as a show of good faith.
But still, having me fully understand its purpose probably isn’t ideal for him.
’Cause it really just drives home what a severe situation this world is in.
So I guess even though he wanted to make a gesture, he was hoping I wouldn’t actually understand his explanation.
“Most of the people here cannot fight. So if he reaches there, driven mad by the Wrath skill, you can imagine what would happen, yes?”
Hmm. Yeah, it’d be a bloodbath.
And if these guys all die, they’ll go from enjoying a peaceful life in this rest stop right back to getting their souls worn down.
Although honestly, there is a part of me that’s thinking, So what?
But this is clearly important to Güli-güli. Otherwise he wouldn’t be here asking for our help.
“I cannot lay a hand on a reincarnation because of an agreement with D. But I also cannot simply allow this disaster to happen. So I am asking you to stop him in my place.”
Ahhh, so D is stopping him. Figures.
Knowing Güli-güli’s personality, he probably did try to stop Mr. Oni himself at some point.
But D must have gotten in his way.
Because it wouldn’t be fun for her that way, I’m sure.
That’s exactly the kind of stunt that rotten god would pull.
And now, since Güli-güli can’t do anything about it himself, he’s here to request our help.
He needs people who D would allow to interfere and who are also strong enough to stop that crazy Mr. Oni.
In other words, Vampy and me.
I’m sure Güli-güli already knows that I got my powers back, and while I hate to admit it, I seem to be a favorite of D’s.
So D probably wouldn’t scold one of her favorites for getting involved in this.
If anything, she’d probably be psyched.
Yep. Guess I’m the perfect choice!
“Will you accept my request?”
“Of course!”
Naturally, it was Vampy who responded so promptly, not me.
Seriously, is it really your place to make that decision for both of us?
But I guess it’s fine, since I was going to agree anyway.
“Thank you. Then, if you don’t mind, I’d like to head over right away. Are you ready?”
“Huh? Right now?”
Vampy sounded hysterical. She must not have expected that part.
“Yes. As soon as possible. I will take you there via teleportation and bring you back the same way, so no need to bring traveling necessities. Please take only what you need for the battle. We will leave as soon as you are ready.”
At that, Vampy flew out of the room, probably to get her beloved broadsword.
She didn’t have a weapon last time, which made the battle tougher than it needed to be.
“In addition, for this battle, I would prefer if only you reincarnations participate.”
I was planning on just lounging around until Vampy got back, but then Güli-güli went and dropped that bomb on me.
Say what?!
You mean only Vampy and I are supposed to fight that guy?
“If you bring Ariel’s kin, no doubt you would win easily. But that might spoil D’s fun. The fact that I am bringing you there, even if I’m not fighting directly, is already pushing the limits of what is acceptable to her. I understand that this is a big request, but please.”
Ugh! I guess he has a point.
I was definitely planning on bringing the three puppet spiders. Sael alone could fend off Mr. Oni, and if you added Riel and Fiel on top of that, I assumed it’d be in the bag.
But would D really permit such a guaranteed victory?
Yeah, of course she wouldn’t!
A battle that boring wouldn’t satisfy that jerky evil god.
As soon as Güli-güli brought us in, she’d use that as an excuse to get in our way by any means possible!
From that perspective, bringing the puppet spiders might make things even more dangerous.
I wasn’t sure whether Vampy and I could beat Mr. Oni alone, but it’d be waaay stupider to knowingly make D mad.
We had no choice, then.
The puppet spiders would have to sit this one out at home.
Immediately, three pairs of eyes fixated on me with a silent You’re gonna leave us behind?
They somehow looked teary-eyed, even though that’s not possible.
Cut it out!
Don’t look at me like that!
You’re making it hard for me to leave!
“I’m ready!”
As I desperately fended off the three girls’ silent pleas to take them with us, Vampy came back fully armed and ready.
Although all that really meant was that she’d changed into a more flexible outfit and grabbed her broadsword.
Her clothes are made out of my thread, so they’ve got way more defensive power than your average armor. And the broadsword, which is longer than Vampy is tall, was made from the claw of the legendary-class monster Fenrir.
By the way, I’m told that Fenrir wasn’t actually defeated, it just attacked a human fortress a long time ago and lost a claw in the process. I guess that must’ve hurt pretty badly, because it was enough to make Fenrir retreat.
A broadsword made out of such a rare and valuable claw is probably, like, national-treasure levels of important.
Apparently, it really was being kept under lock and key in some country’s treasury, but then that place suffered catastrophic damage in some battle or other, so they were forced to reluctantly part with it to pay for repairs.
Apparently, the battle had to do with a bunch of white spiders going on a rampage or something. Sooo random, right? I wonder who was responsible for that one…
Anyway, that’s how this broadsword wound up on the market, and the Demon Lord bought it with her ridiculously vast assets.
Then Vampy took a liking to it and made it her personal weapon.
So she had my thread for defense and the Fenrir broadsword for offense.
Yeah. I don’t think you can get any better equipped than that.
And yes, I was armed and ready, too. I always wear clothes made out of my thread, and I had my giant scythe fully equipped.
It’s dangerous to go alone, so I’m taking this!
“Good. Let’s go.”
Güli-güli activated Teleport.
We slipped through space with ease, and Vampy and I found ourselves in an unknown land.
“Graaaah!”
I definitely recognized the angry Mr. Oni right in front of our eyes, though.
This is all happening a little too quickly, don’t you think?
End flashback.
No, my life isn’t flashing before my eyes just yet.
Which means I can still die!
So I quickly dodge Mr. Oni’s attack as he charges me faster than the eye can follow.
Bwa-ha-ha! This isn’t gonna be like last time! My powers are back!
Although, unlike when I used to have stats and stuff, I can’t just keep my body perpetually enhanced.
Stats automatically strengthen your body and physique in accordance with the numbers, but with conjuring, you have to control that stuff manually.
I’m still not used to conjuring, so it’s not easy to keep it all up at once.
Sometimes my attack power goes higher than I intended, and my defense implodes on itself trying to keep up.
The defense part is especially important. Whether I’m moving or attacking, I have to maintain defense high enough to withstand my enhanced speed and strength, or I’ll take some serious recoil damage.
Part 5 of 8