Part 5 of 9
And their usual forms as dragons are probably enormous.
All the water dragons I’ve seen have been in human form.
While most dragons can transform into humans, their powers definitely shine brightest when they’re in their original form.
With all these constraints and their lack of battle experience, it’s only natural that they wouldn’t be able to beat me.
Honestly, I feel a little bad. They’ve lived long enough to be called ancient dragons, and now I’m bringing their lives to an end without them even being able to fight at their full strength.
But I wouldn’t say their deaths will be in vain.
The holes they created linking the Upper Stratum to the ocean are still open.
Sophia can freeze the water to cut off the flow, at least temporarily, but all I can do is destroy things with fire and lightning.
There’s nothing I can do to close up a hole in the ceiling.
It certainly makes me wish I’d studied Earth Magic or something, although there’s no point in complaining about that now.
I feel foolish for only being able to destroy things, even though I chose to build up my strength in that direction.
At any rate, we have to take out the water dragons as quickly as possible and seal the holes they created.
The only one of us with the ability to do the latter is Sophia.
Which probably means that I should take over her battle against the chief of the water dragons, freeing her up to go around sealing those holes.
That’s why I’ve been making my way toward Sophia, defeating any water dragons I encounter along the way…except those two keep moving around as they fight.
I’m barely getting any closer, even though I’m chasing them as fast as I can.
All because the chief of the water dragons is keeping away from Sophia as they do battle, prompting Sophia to get annoyed and go after her.
She’s pretty good, that water dragon chief.
I’m guessing she’s realized that she can’t beat Sophia and is stalling for time instead.
She’s trying to survive as long as she can, in hopes of putting us on the ropes, even if she likely won’t manage to drag it out until the Great Elroe Labyrinth is sunk completely.
Sophia must realize that, too.
But she still can’t finish her off.
It wouldn’t be wise to just let the water dragon chief run free, either.
If such a powerful enemy was left to her own devices, I’m sure she would open another massive hole somewhere, flooding the place that much faster.
That leaves Sophia with no choice but to keep chasing after the chief, even knowing that she’s only stalling for time.
…At least, I’d certainly like to think that Sophia is not just getting wound up and chasing her around.
Ideally, I was hoping Sophia and I could catch the water dragon chief in a pincer attack and make short work of her, but clearly it’s not going to be that easy.
The fact that the two of them are moving away from me as I go after them means that the water dragon chief has already sensed my presence and is acting accordingly.
She’s quick at assessing the situation and making smart judgments.
This is going to be tough.
I have to get to Sophia as soon as possible, even if we can’t pull off a pincer attack.
Except water keeps blocking my path.
I’ve entered a zone that’s already completely submerged.
The Upper Stratum is already hard enough to navigate at full speed with its narrow, winding passages, and now parts of it are underwater as well?
Talk about frustrating.
On top of that, I already sense another water dragon obstructing my way forward.
Fighting will take up more time, making it even harder for me to catch up to Sophia.
Still, I can’t just ignore the water dragon and keep moving, either.
“What a pain…”
I groan aloud despite myself.
I’ll just have to take out this frustration on the water dragon blocking my way.
But just as I’m bracing myself for a fight…
Four shadows speed past me and attack the waiting water dragon.
Aren’t those the puppet taratects?
Why are they here instead of guarding Miss Ariel?
No, I guess that’s a silly question.
Miss Ariel must have seen the current situation, decided that we needed backup, and sent them in to help.
Honestly, I am grateful.
But what about Miss Ariel’s safety?
The enemy could easily launch a surprise attack on the Lower or Bottom Stratum while we’re busy here in the Upper Stratum.
As strong as she was before, Miss Ariel can barely even fight anymore.
Will sending her guards away work out in her favor, or against her?
I’d hate to see Miss White’s reaction if something happens to Miss Ariel…
Now I have even more reason to hurry it up.
“I’m going on ahead!”
With a quick word to the puppet taratects, I rush onward, leaving them to take care of the water dragon.
The four of them together should be able to handle it, even if the water dragon is more powerful individually.
Besides, while the water dragon can’t fight at its full strength due to the terrain, the spider girls have home-field advantage in this cramped space.
The Upper Stratum is basically their hunting ground.
It might be a little harder to navigate now that it’s partly submerged, but that shouldn’t be too big of a problem for them.
They were able to catch up to me easily enough, anyway.
The fact that my speed stat is probably higher than theirs didn’t stop them.
That’s probably because they’re much better at using the walls and even ceilings of the labyrinth to move even faster.
Between that and my inability to seal a hole, I guess I’ve still got a long ways to go in many respects.
It’s ironic that I’m realizing my own inadequacy in what will be our final battle.
Too bad I’ll never have a chance to put that knowledge to use.
…Too bad, huh?
If I’m thinking about it that way, maybe I still have attachments to this life after all?
I never planned to survive this battle.
My hands are stained with so much blood already.
Enough is enough.
The moment I killed Buirimus and avenged my goblin clan, my life lost all meaning and purpose.
In fact, when I died back in the classroom, I probably should have just stayed dead.
I only stayed alive in this world out of habit.
Yet even though I was living on nothing but inertia, I still sent countless others to their deaths.
Eventually, I have to pay the price.
And all I have to offer for that is my own life.
So whether we win or lose this battle, I had no intention of surviving.
And yet…
The chaotic days of the recent past flash across my mind.
Sophia flaring up at me, Mr. Merazophis panicking behind her, Miss Ariel gently trying to calm everyone down, and Miss White watching in silence, or occasionally kicking Sophia to the curb.
Those times might have been crazy, but they weren’t bad.
But that’s all over now.
We can never go back to that again.
I’ve known that for ages, or at least I thought I did.
So I can’t falter now.
Stay sharp.
Finish what you started.
And the first step is taking over this fight against the chief of the water dragons!
There!
Running as fast as I can, occasionally swimming through a sunken passage, I finally catch up to where Sophia and the water dragon are locked in battle.
The water dragon chief is purely focused on keeping away from Sophia and attacking from afar, while Sophia is determinedly chasing after her.
They’re evenly matched in terms of long-distance warfare.
However, the nature of the water and ice seems to have Sophia at a bit of a loss as to how to break through.
Sophia can freeze her opponent’s water, except then the ice ends up serving as an obstacle that aids in the water dragon chief’s retreat.
But if she doesn’t freeze the water, her opponent will be able to control it and move freely.
No wonder this battle has been taking so long.
I’m sure Sophia would win eventually, due to her superior abilities…if the Great Elroe Labyrinth doesn’t flood completely first.
“Sophia!”
“…Tch!”
Noticing me, Sophia clicks her tongue, looking annoyed.
“Leave this to me and go seal the holes!”
“…Ugh, fine, I know! You handle it, then!”
With that, Sophia crossly turns on her heel and leaves.
Knowing her, she probably wanted to finish this fight herself.
But she still let me take over because she knows our overall victory is more important than her winning this particular battle.
Otherwise, there’s no way someone as prideful as Sophia would hand over her prey.
Since she was selfless enough to prioritize the team’s goals over her own satisfaction, I’d better make sure I live up to her expectations.
“Oh dear. I’ve been dealt quite the difficult hand.”
The water dragon chief quirks an eyebrow.
“But are you sure you oughtn’t have come at me two against one?”
“No need. This won’t take long.”
She wrinkles her nose in apparent displeasure at my statement.
“You’d do well not to underestimate me, hmm?”
“I’m not. That’s why I’m going to use all of my strength to finish you as quickly as possible.”
The water dragon chief must be very strong.
If we fought in the ocean, where her full strength would be on display, she might very well have defeated Sophia and me both.
She has far more finesse than the other water dragons, too.
That much is clear from the fact that she was able to keep Sophia at bay for so long.
So I’m going to give it everything I’ve got, too.
Because I have no other choice.
“Such overconfidence! Oh, I can hardly wait to smash it to pieces!”
No, it’s not overconfidence.
It’s just that because I recognize how powerful the water dragon chief is, I’m going to break out my ace in the hole right away.
My Wrath.
“GRAAAAAAHHH!”
As soon as I activate the Wrath skill, the world is dyed a deep red.
My brain, my body, my pulse, every fiber of my being demands that I slaughter every living thing in sight.
I let that overpowering urge take control, swinging my magic sword at the water dragon chief before my eyes.
Though my war cry seemed to intimidate her for a moment, she quickly recovers and sends a wave of water toward me.
The torrent takes up the entire narrow passageway.
There’s no way to dodge it.
But I don’t need to, anyway.
I unleash the full power of my magic swords, surrounding my body with their might.
Flames and lightning twine around me, evaporating the wave of water.
“But…how…?”
The evaporating torrent produces shock waves that churn toward me, but I ignore them, press forward, and slice the water dragon chief in half.
When Wrath is activated, all my stats reach 99,999.
That’s the max value they can have, stronger than even Miss Ariel in her prime, at least in terms of numbers alone.
In this state, no ordinary attack can lay a scratch on me, and almost nothing can withstand my blade.
However, it comes at a high cost.
“Hfff…hfff…! Calm down! That’s enough!”
I turn off Wrath and stop my spirit from being swallowed up.
The Wrath skill makes the user lose all sense of reason.
If it fully consumes me, even once, I’ll be permanently transformed into a senseless monster that attacks anything in sight.
Even after training up the Heresy Resistance skill, which reduces negative effects on the soul and spirit, to the point of becoming Heresy Nullification, it still wasn’t enough to get rid of the effects of the Wrath skill completely.
For now, I can bring myself back like this if I only use it for a short time. But if I keep using the skill, I know for a fact that eventually I won’t be able to come back anymore.
I imagine the Wrath skill has special settings that prevent its consequences from being fully negated.
All this is why I’ve avoided using it at all costs, but against the water dragon chief, I had no other choice.
Sophia and I are about equal in power, I think.
If she couldn’t defeat that opponent over a long period of time, this was the only way I’d be able to do it quickly.
“Koff! I’m…sorr…I…offer…”
The water dragon chief murmurs something, despite her upper and lower half being neatly separated.
Then her body crumbles into dust and disappears.
…I see.
She must have offered herself up…sacrificing her soul to the system.
By offering your soul to the system, you can turn all its energy into the system’s fuel.
Of course, that means you’ll never be reborn again, since your soul itself is lost.
It’s a fate beyond death: nothingness.
Yet as she was about to die, she offered up her soul.
That proves she must have come into this battle fully prepared to end it all.
Just like me.
“Wait a little longer. I’ll offer myself up, too, before this battle is over.”
Whether we win or lose, I intend to sacrifice my own soul.
Death alone wouldn’t be enough to atone for everything I’ve done.
So I’m going to give up all that I am.
But the time hasn’t come for that, not just yet.
First, I have to fight my hardest for the ivory god’s victory, so that the deaths of everyone I’ve killed won’t be in vain.
Even if it ends with me disappearing forever.
I take a moment of silence for the place where the water dragons’ chief fell, then move on in order to defeat the rest of them.
What in the world am I supposed to do?
After learning the deeds of Potimas and the elves, I realized that instead of protecting my precious students, I had only put them in danger.
And that everything I’ve done all this time has been in vain.
Then, before I had time to dwell on my regrets, this calamitous world quest arose.
I don’t want to think about anything anymore.
I just want to scream and cry, curl up under a blanket, and fall asleep.
And then wake up back in my own bed in Japan.
I want to open my eyes and feel the relief of knowing that this was all just a bad dream.
But none of that is going to happen.
This is reality, not a bad dream.
So there’s nowhere to run.
All I can do is hug my knees to my chest and try to close my heart and mind.
“Ms. Oka! Please, get a hold of yourself!”
Yet this situation won’t even allow me that much.
Miss Kudo grabs my hand, forcing me to my feet.
“Can’t we just fly away?!”
“I dunno how to control this thing!”
“I found the button that shoots laser beams! Fire, fire!”
My students’ shouts echo around the cockpit.
We’re currently inside a UFO-like flying vehicle that the elves apparently created.
The Demon Lord used this to get us out of the elf village.
Then she left, telling us we could use it however we wanted.
Tagawa and Kushitani declared that they were joining the ebony god’s side and left, and Kusama said he was going to check in with the Word of God church. Most of the remaining reincarnations have nowhere else to go since they spent most of their lives in the elf village.
Left with no direction, the reincarnations gathered aboard the UFO to have a meeting about what to do next.
Then, out of nowhere, monsters attacked the UFO.
More monsters kept showing up, and now here we are.
“Dammit! Why are there so many of them?!”
“Maybe because this is a product of Taboo?”
Why would all these monsters start attacking the UFO?
Probably because it’s an advanced technological weapon that shouldn’t exist in this world.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the monsters were programmed to be hostile toward such things.
Monsters are aggressive toward humans, but I’ve never seen nor heard of them attacking all at once with such determination, heedless of their different monster species.
Or perhaps the world quest had some effect on the monsters, too, causing them to attack.
It could even be a combination of both.
In the cockpit, my students scramble madly, trying to figure out how to control the UFO.
They seem to have at least found the defense controls, shooting beams from the UFO to mow down monsters.
Normally, that would be enough to make the other monsters scatter and flee; instead, they become even more aggressive.
A large monster slams against the UFO with a loud crash.
Since this UFO is much bigger than the monster, the impact doesn’t reach us in the cockpit, but the students still look shaken.
This must be a shocking experience for them since they never encountered any kind of violence in the elf village.
“Ms. Oka, please help us find a manual and figure out how to fly this thing! Your fellow elves built it, right?!”
Miss Kudo leads me over to what looks like a control panel and presses me into the seat.
But I didn’t even know that the elves could make such things, nor do I have any idea how to control it myself.
Still, time refuses to wait for me, and I can do nothing but watch blankly as my students frantically fire back at the monsters.
I really am a failure as a teacher…
I’ve got no words of wisdom for them in their time of need, no energy to do anything at all.
My mind is bizarrely blank, robbing me of any desire to move.
I can’t do this anymore.
“Ms. Oka!”
“Forget it, class rep! We’ve got bigger fish to fry right now!”
“But…!”
Kudo and another student are arguing about something.
But I still can’t move.
I don’t want to.
I’ve persevered long enough already.
And all of that was for nothing.
My efforts were in vain.
So clearly there’s no point in even trying.
Why bother moving when I’m clearly not good for anything?
“Oh god…”
I pull my knees up into the chair and cry.
I’m much too old to let my students see me in such a pathetic state, yet I don’t even feel any shame.
My mind must have gotten just as childish as my small elf body.
“Ah! There’s someone outside?!”
The surprised shout prompts me to look at the screen, where I see two people fighting the monsters as if to protect the UFO.
It’s a man using his shield to knock the monsters back, while a woman shoots magic from behind him.
Aren’t those Shun’s friends, Hyrince and Anna?!
There are way too many monsters for them to handle, even if Hyrince is a former member of the hero’s party and Anna is an experienced mage.
“Ms. Oka?!”
That thought prompts my body to move on its own.
Even though I’ve been sitting here refusing to do anything.
I run from the cockpit and toward the entrance of the UFO.
Then I open the hatch, jump outside, and realize I don’t have any weapons.
But I can still use magic.
“Get down, please!”
Sprinting up behind Hyrince and Anna, I cast a spell.
A fearsome gust of wind swallows up a swathe of monsters, clearing a path.
“Quick, come inside!”
“Don’t worry about us! Just hurry and take off!”
“We don’t know how to fly it! Please, come in with us! It should at least be safer than outside!”
“You what?! Ugh, damn her! She couldn’t even show you that much before she left?!”
Hyrince curses as he grabs Anna’s hand and comes running.
The monsters that avoided the wind blast chase after them, but Anna and I use our magic to hold them off.
We manage to make it back to the still-open hatch of the UFO, and all three of us jump inside.
Just as Hyrince reaches up to close the hatch, a monster tries to jump in after us.
I knock it back with another wind spell.
Then Hyrince pulls the hatch shut.
“Whew. Wait, no, I can’t catch my breath just yet.”
Hyrince heads deeper into the UFO.
I follow him, a little taken aback by his confident steps.
“That was awesome, Ms. Oka!”
Though I’m happy to hear my students cheer when I return to the cockpit, we’re not out of the woods just yet.
“Please keep shooting for now!”
“Yes’m!”
“Right!”
The students turn back to their respective control panels.
“Looks like you’ve finally recovered, Ms. Oka.”
I’m not entirely sure whether Miss Kudo is right about that or not.
I just reacted instinctively, and part of me fears that I might curl up and cry again at any moment.
Ignoring our exchange, Hyrince starts operating one of the control panels.
His hands move quickly, as if he knows exactly how to use it.
“Mr. Hyrince?”
Just as I start to address him, the UFO vibrates once and rises into the air.
“We’re flying?!”
“All of you, hang on to something!”
Hyrince’s shout prompts me to hurry over to the nearest wall.
Immediately, the UFO shoots into the air, shaking off the monsters and taking flight.
In spite of this sudden movement, the cockpit scarcely shakes at all—perhaps a testament to the elves’ technology.
Even if I hadn’t grabbed on to anything, I don’t think I would have lost my balance.
The ground shrinks beneath us.
Soon, the monsters are out of sight.
The students breathe a sigh of relief as they see this.
“Phew. Just in time.”
Hyrince, too, lets his shoulders slump in relief.
“Erm, Mr. Hyrince, who are you really…?”
Why in the world did he know how to operate this UFO?
Hyrince catches the meaning in my question.
And his response shakes me to my core.
“Ah, right. I guess there’s no use hiding it anymore. I am Hyrince Quarto, and that is no lie. But I have another face, as well. I’m also a part of Güliedistodiez, the administrator of this planet whom the world quest calls the ‘ebony god.’”
“When I say I’m a part of the ebony god, I mean that I am a sort of double that he created in order to watch and listen to humans, since he cannot be directly involved in their society. He’s been observing humanity through my eyes, basically. But it’s not a surveillance thing—more like a means of relieving many years of boredom, if anything. So honestly, I don’t serve any particular purpose in this world. This situation doesn’t change that. The only power I have of my own is that of a normal human, the man called Hyrince. Sure, there have been times when I synchronized with the ebony god and so on, but for the most part I’ve lived my life purely as Hyrince. And even though the ebony god can meddle with me, I can’t do a thing to him. So we’re not in communication at the moment.”
With that speech, Hyrince shrugs.
In other words, Hyrince was able to control this UFO because he has the ebony god’s memories.
Judging by Anna’s shocked expression throughout this explanation, she didn’t know Hyrince was connected to the ebony god, either.
“So to summarize, is it safe to say you are the human called Hyrince, and not the ebony god?”
“That’s a fine way to look at it. In fact, maybe it’s not so different from you reincarnations. If you think of me as a normal human with the memories of my previous life as the ebony god, you wouldn’t be too far off.”
I see. That’s certainly something all of us can understand.
“Does this mean that you’ll be fighting for the ebony god?”
“…No. Like I said, I only have the power of a normal human. I’m not strong enough to make a difference in this battle. So I wasn’t really planning on doing anything…until I happened to spot this ship being attacked, anyway.”
Hyrince chuckles awkwardly.
It doesn’t seem to me like he’s lying.
“But I guess I’m rooting for the ebony god, even if I’m not siding with him. I understand very well how he feels, since I have his memories and all.”
“You’re not going to side with him even though you understand his feelings?”
“It’s because I understand him that I can’t side with him, see. I don’t think what the ebony god’s side is doing is right. I doubt he thinks so himself, either. But he’s going to do it anyway, just because he has to, even if it’s not right. That’s why I’m rooting for him, but not siding with him.”
I see…maybe?
It sounds like the ebony god has a lot of complicated feelings, too.
Even from the perspective of a partial outsider like me, it’s hard to say that either side is right, based on the contents of Taboo. The situation is too complex.
I’m sure it’s even harder for someone like the ebony god, who’s right at the center of the conflict.
“Long story short, I’m not getting involved in this fight. So I don’t care that you have ruler authority or anything, Ms. Oka. I’ll just be the bouncer for this ship or something.”
Mr. Hyrince raises both palms to emphasize that he means no harm.
“I do want to talk to you alone for a minute, though. Is that okay?”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
“Wait a minute, please.”
Miss Kudo interrupts my agreement and comes over to whisper in my ear.
“Can we really trust him?”
“It’ll be fine, I think.”
I don’t sense any ill intent from Hyrince.
“…I’m sorry, but we can’t count on your judgment alone.”
…I suppose I can’t argue with that, since I let Potimas take advantage of me for so long.
“If you’re worried, we can stay in sight. How about we stay on this side of the room? That way you can see us but not hear us.”
Hyrince’s suggestion makes perfect sense: The cockpit is large enough that our conversation shouldn’t be audible if we stand at the other end.
It would allow the others to keep an eye on us, too.
“That’s all right with me.”
“…Boys, if anything happens to Ms. Oka, go rescue her right away.”
The boys nod uncertainly at Miss Kudo’s command, although I doubt they’d stand a chance against Hyrince even if they all came after him at once.
He was in the former hero’s party for good reason.
By comparison, these students who barely raised their levels in the elf village probably wouldn’t be able to fight Hyrince at all.
If anyone here could be a match for Mr. Hyrince, it would be myself or Ms. Anna.
Now that we’ve let him into the UFO, if Hyrince had any treacherous intentions, it would already be too late to stop him.
If he does try anything, I’ll just have to handle it somehow.
Though personally…I think we can trust him.
Hyrince and I walk to the other side of the cockpit.
“Now, we can’t have anyone overhearing this. Let’s use Telepathy to talk.”
“All right.”
“Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.”
Our conversation begins by way of Telepathy, though I can’t imagine what Mr. Hyrince wants to talk to me about.
What could be so secret that he would go to such lengths to avoid having the students hear it?
“I believe you have a skill that shows you certain information about the reincarnations. What does it currently say about their future?”
“How did you know that?!”
I’ve never told Hyrince about my unique skill, Student Roster.
It gives me brief information about my reincarnated students’ pasts, presents, and futures.
The reason I decided to keep them in custody in the elf village in the first place is because the “future” column showed that most of my students would die.
I used the “past” column to deduce their hometowns.
“It’s easy enough to guess. You were able to track down the exact locations of the reincarnations all over the world and bring them to the elf village for safekeeping, which means you had some way of getting information about them. And since you were certain that they had to be protected, you must have known something about their future. For instance, that they were going to die, perhaps.”
…He’s exactly right.
“And yet, you never told them this. Which means there must be a restriction that prevents you from discussing it. That’s the logical conclusion, anyway. Am I right? Ah, no need to respond if you can’t talk about that, either, of course.”
…That’s all correct, too.
“If you can’t say anything about it at all, that’s all right. But I would appreciate it if you could check what that skill says about the reincarnations’ futures right now.”
“…Very well.”
In all the chaos, I haven’t checked my Student Roster since the battle at the elf village.
At the time, it showed that all the students who have lots of skills were going to die by having their skills stripped away from them.
And it also said that Hugo—Natsume—was going to die in battle in the elf village.
But Natsume survived that battle.
The future has changed.
So it’s entirely possible that the other reincarnations’ described futures might be different now as well.
If anything, it’s very likely that they’ve changed, now that the world quest has been thrown into the mix.
Nervously, I close my eyes and activate Student Roster.
Information about my students appears in my mind’s eye.
And it says…
“Huh?! …Whah?!”
I let out two exclamations in a row.
The first is out of surprise at the information I saw in my Student Roster.
The second is at the shaking of the UFO.
“We’re under attack!”
One of the students shouts.
I look at the giant monitor in the cockpit and see flying monsters swarming around the UFO.
“They’re really still chasing us?!”
Miss Kudo’s cry echoes my own bewildered thoughts.
“Looks like we’d better discuss this later.”
“Ah…”
Hyrince starts to walk away.
It’s true, we should probably wait to talk until we’re not under enemy fire.
But if what I just read is true, then…!
I grab Hyrince’s hand.
“What is it?”
Hyrince turns around in surprise.
This is no time for chatting.
But I have to relay this information right away!
“No, wait! This is terrible! At this rate, mankind will be doomed!”
“What?!”
“We had it all wrong! The ‘evil god’ isn’t the ivory god!”
“…What do you mean?”
We had the wrong idea entirely!
We misunderstood about the “evil god” the world quest mentioned!
<An evil god is plotting to sacrifice humanity in order to prevent the destruction of the world. You must either prevent this plot, or assist with it.>
That’s what the world quest announcement said.
The sequence that followed revealed the truth about this world, and that the ivory god was planning to sacrifice more than half of humanity to free the goddess Sariel.
Along with the fact that we could pray to help or hinder the ivory god.
Based on all that, we just assumed that the “evil god” referred to the ivory god.
But we were wrong.
<The Evil God D rings the final bell of judgment. Evil God D will exterminate half of humanity.>
For some reason, this was stated in my Student Roster.
“The Evil God D rings the bell of judgment! Evil God D is the one who’s going to sacrifice half of humanity!”
“…No way. Are you serious…?”
Hyrince covers his mouth with a trembling hand.
“That can’t be true…can it? …No, it can. This is D we’re talking about. If anything, that makes much more sense! Dammit! So that was the plan all along!”
He pushes his hair back roughly.
“No matter how the battle between the ebony and ivory gods plays out, D is going to sacrifice half of all humans and demons regardless!”
Wait, but if that’s true…what is the purpose of the battle that’s going on now?
“Why would this be in my Student Roster…?”
“That’s obvious. Because D is the one who gave you the Student Roster skill in the first place.”
“But even then, what was the point of sending me this message?”
“Maybe it’s supposed to be a hint? D is taunting us with a tiny glimmer of hope that we can avoid destruction somehow.”
But how would we even go about that…?
“Ah?!”
It seems the battle outside has progressed while Hyrince and I were talking.
There’s a blaze of bright light on the monitor, and I automatically close my eyes.
Then, when I cautiously crack them open, I see a familiar face sitting atop a wyrm.
“Shun?!”
“Shun!”
Hyrince and I exclaim almost in unison.
On the monitor, Shun and his friends had just defeated the flying monsters.
After we met with the pontiff, we were at a loss for what to do next.
To be honest, there aren’t any clear means of doing anything about this situation.
The ivory god’s army, including the Demon Lord, are holed up in the Great Elroe Labyrinth, which means we can’t really meet with them.
Though I figured it was worth a shot and went to peek at the situation for myself, I found that there was already a queen taratect guarding the entrance, surrounded by a swarm of her spider monster spawn.
Obviously, it didn’t look like they were open to talking things out.
Especially since our side includes me and Natsume, with access to that “ruler authority” thing, as well as former members of the ebony god’s side: the ancient Wind Dragon Hyuvan, Ice Dragon Nia, and Dark Dragon Reise.
If we approach, they might very well assume we’re enemies and attack.
As we were trying to decide what to do next, we spotted what appeared to be a UFO being attacked by monsters in the far-off sky.
Can you blame me if I did a double take at that?
I mean, what is a UFO doing in this fantasy world?
It wasn’t just me, either; Sue, Natsume, and the others were all stunned, too.
But since the pontiff mentioned during the meeting that the Demon Lord had taken possession of an elf-made spaceship and had flown to the Great Elroe Labyrinth, we quickly figured out that the UFO must be the spaceship in question.
So we decided to defend the UFO—especially since there might be someone from the ivory god’s side aboard.
What happened next was a slaughter.
“Bwa-ha-ha-haaa! You’re a hundred—no, a thousand!—years too young to try to take ME on in the skies!”
Wind Dragon Hyuvan whizzes around in the sky at speeds far faster than I would have expected from his giant size.
Once he transformed back into his original dragon form, Hyuvan wiped out the monsters swarming the UFO in a matter of seconds.
I rode on Fei’s back to fight a little, too, but honestly, he could’ve handled it fine without us.
That’s how overwhelmingly strong Hyuvan was.
So this is the power of an ancient dragon chief…
I don’t think I’d be able to beat him.
If the ivory god’s army is confident they can square off against several of those chiefs, there’s definitely no way I’d stand a chance against them.
From that point of view, I think my decision not to join either side was the right call.
If I’d joined one or the other, I would probably have died without contributing to the battle at all.
Once the monsters have been dealt with, the UFO lands on the newly cleared ground.
Then several familiar faces come climbing out.
It’s Ms. Oka, some of the other reincarnations, and even Hyrince and Anna!
“Heeey!”
I wave from atop Fei’s back, flying down closer.
“I’m glad you’re all right!”
“That’s my line, mister! Where in the world have you been?!”
Ms. Oka huffs at me crossly.
Ah, I guess she has a point.
From their perspective, it must have seemed like I just vanished into thin air.
“Well, I actually got teleported to who-knows-where by this little guy…”
I take out the little white spider that’s remained in my pocket all this time.
While a few of the girls draw back, Ms. Oka leans forward with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Is it alive?”
“It seems to be. It hasn’t moved at all, though.”
The white spider doesn’t react, even if I poke and prod at it.
This thing randomly fell on my head, then I was teleported to some sandy beach in the middle of nowhere.
Where Sue was lying in wait…
I managed to escape, thanks to Elder Ronandt, although we still have no idea where that place was, since we used teleportation to leave.
But I guess it doesn’t matter, since I’m sure we’ll never go back there again.
I put the unmoving white spider back in my pocket.
For some reason, even though it’s the culprit that sent me to that place, I can’t bring myself to throw it away.
“So, as you can see, we’re all safe. What about everyone else? I don’t see Tagawa or Kushitani, for a start…”
“The two of them said they were joining the ebony god’s side and left. Kusama did, too.”
“I see…”
I guess it makes sense that Tagawa and Kushitani would choose to fight, since they’ve worked as adventurers all this time.
And since Kusama was working for the Word of God religion from the start, that’s an obvious outcome, too.
But what about Ogi, who also worked for the Word of God?
“Who, me? I’m staying put. I was holed up in the elf village for so long that I wouldn’t be much help in a fight anyway.”
Ogi shrugs.
From what I’ve been told, Ogi has a unique skill called “Unlimited Telephone,” which he used to leak information through the elf village barrier to the outside.
He was apparently giving inside info to the Word of God church the whole time.
But he spent long enough in the elf village himself that he wouldn’t be much help to the church now, so he stayed behind.
I think that’s a perfectly fine choice, too.
“Well, I’m just glad you’re all right. Looks like you’ve been busy, too.”
Hyrince looks over my shoulder at the ancient dragon chiefs.
“I’m glad you and Anna are safe, too, Mr. Hyrince.”
I hadn’t seen either of them since I woke up in the elf village.
I’d been especially worried about Anna, since I revived her with my Mercy skill after Kyouya killed her.
Seeing her safe and sound is a big relief.
“Master Schlain, thank you. I owe you my life.”
“Not at all. I’m so glad you’re safe.”
I nod to acknowledge Anna’s thanks.
“We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, I’m sure, but we’ll have to save it for later. There’s something way more important that might change everything.”
Hyrince looks uncharacteristically grim.
Seeing that look on him when he’s usually so laid-back tells me that something really serious is happening here.
“What’s going on?”
“The evil god isn’t the ivory god.”
…What does that mean?
We follow the group into the UFO.
There, Hyrince reveals one surprising piece of information after another.
First, he tells us that he’s really a part of the ebony god.
Second, they’ve found out the ivory god isn’t the “evil god” from the world quest, although they can’t say where this information comes from.
Third, the real evil god is a god called D.
And finally, this D is the creator of the system, and the head administrator who reigns over this world and keeps it running.
There’s so much new information that my head is starting to hurt.
Ever since the world quest started, and especially after talking with the pontiff, there have been so many big reveals that my brain can’t keep up.
No, I guess that’s been going on even before the world quest, since Wakaba and the others told us what was going on…
“At any rate, no matter how things shake out between the ebony and ivory gods, D is planning to destroy half of humanity either way.”
Hyrince looks grave as he says this.
“…Isn’t there any way to stop that?”
“Yes…there probably is.”
I let out a breath of relief at that, although Hyrince’s tone still makes me a bit nervous.
“D is generally fair. She gives everyone a chance. So there is probably some method for preventing this catastrophe, too. Otherwise, she wouldn’t bother giving us a warning. But I haven’t the slightest idea what that method might be.”
Hyrince crosses his arms, furrows his brows, and closes his eyes.
He’s right. Without any kind of hint, we really don’t even know where to start.
“Pardon me…could we not perhaps turn the tables on this evil god D?”
That’s an extreme suggestion, Yuri…
“Impossible.”
“We won’t know that until we try!”
“Well, then, is there any way a human could stop the sun from falling to the Earth?”
…No, I’d say there’s not.
“It’s on the same kind of level. Even if the ebony and ivory gods worked together, they wouldn’t stand a chance of defeating D.”
If someone who’s a double of the ebony god is saying that, it must be true.
“So are you saying there’s nothing we can do but sit around and wait for it to happen?”
“……”
Hyrince grimaces at my question without a verbal response.
“…Well, if we do not have a hint, we shall just have to ask the mastermind directly.”
Elder Ronandt finally speaks up after listening in silence for so long.
“The mastermind?”
Hyrince looks bewildered.
“Indeed. This ‘D’ is the creator of the system, hrmmm? Surely there must be some considerable connection between creator and creation. We simply follow that connection with Spatial Magic and use it to teleport to wherever D might be.”
“But that cannot…no, wait. Can you actually do that?”
Hyrince’s eyes widen as he looks at the old mage.
In reality, Elder Ronandt did use the familiar-master connection between me and Fei to teleport to where I was.
That must be where he came up with the idea.
“…It is theoretically possible. Why, just look at the explosion in the other world that brought the reincarnations here. That was caused by a Dimensional Magic master in this world.”
“What?!”
There’s another unexpected revelation.
I had no idea something like that was behind the incident that caused our reincarnation…
“I suppose…it could be done. But it will be incredibly difficult, you realize?”
“Hmph! Who in the world do you think I am, young Hyrince? They call me humanity’s strongest mage, and for good reason! I was Julius’s teacher, too. Have a little faith, eh?”
“Heh. When you put it that way, I guess I’ve got no choice but to trust you.”
Hyrince’s oddly arrogant demeanor, possibly a manifestation of his “ebony god” side, fades back into his usual composure.
Oh, right. I guess since he was a member of Julius’s party, he probably knew Elder Ronandt as his teacher for a long time.
I’d completely forgotten.
“I shall begin testing at once whether I can teleport to this ‘D.’ The rest of you, perhaps you had best tell the pontiff about what we’ve learned, at the very least. You should be able to get there well enough with this newfangled ship. Now hurry up and put an end to this pointless war!”
On Elder Ronandt’s command, everyone jumps into action.
Thus, we began our efforts to counteract the true evil god.
Using Panoptic Vision to keep an eye on all fronts of the battlefield, I give orders to the taratect monsters by way of Kin Control.
Even if I don’t have the strength to fight on the front lines anymore, taking command from the rear is a fine job, too.
In fact, since things are happening all over the enormous Great Elroe Labyrinth, I can’t turn off Panoptic Vision even if I wanted to.
Frankly, I’m working my butt off here!
But it seems to be helping, since the battle is definitely leaning in our favor.
Most of the water dragons that were attacking the Upper Stratum have already been dealt with.
I was definitely sweating it out when Iena, the water dragon chief, started leading Sophia around by the nose, but it didn’t take long once Wrath came running and tapped into the fight.
Even I was at a loss for words when I saw Iena go down like that.
She was one of the stronger ancient dragon chiefs—the strongest, in fact.
As the supreme ruler of the seas, she could always drown any opponent under the crushing weight of the ocean.
And beyond brute strength, she also excelled at a wide variety of water-based strategies to cunningly keep her enemies right where she wanted them.
Her control over water was breathtaking, and nearly impossible to defend against, since water is a freely flowing liquid.
I once saw Iena fight unbelievably dirty by flooding water into her opponent’s body, then tearing them apart from within.
If she gets water into your ears, eyes, or anywhere else, there’s nothing you can do.
You’d have to avoid all of that water to defend yourself, which isn’t easy to do when she can maneuver it into any shape or direction as she pleases.
Back in my prime, I could’ve just swallowed it all away with Gluttony. Without a move like that, however, the only way to deal with her would be to dispel or erase the water through brute force.
And to do that, you’d have to be more powerful than Iena.
Otherwise, you’d just get swallowed up by the waves.
No one weaker than she was would be able to win, and even someone who’s evenly matched would be in for a hard fight.
That was my assessment of Iena, anyway…
So I can’t believe she got killed instantly…
I mean, Wrath probably did that because he knew it was his best shot at winning.
He correctly assessed Iena’s threat level and chose to end the fight quickly by risking the use of the Wrath skill.
That was the right choice, for sure.
Wrath’s fire and lightning wouldn’t be very good at defending against Iena’s water.
Sophia’s ice was much better suited to fighting her.
Since Wrath didn’t have a reliable way of blocking Iena’s attacks like Sophia did, he would’ve had a hard time winning if he didn’t resort to that strategy.
But still, an insta-kill…
Isn’t that a little extreme?
I guess I should just be grateful that the most dangerous of the ancient dragons went down, though.
Still, it’s wild that even someone who’s lived as long as an ancient dragon chief can still die so abruptly as that.
When you look at it that way, maybe I’m one of the lucky ones, since I at least got to take out Potimas with my own two hands.
I got to fulfill my role, at least to the minimum extent.
The flooding of the Upper Stratum that Iena caused is already being dealt with as Sophia goes around sealing up the holes.
Since she’s also defeating any water dragons she finds, the situation in the Upper Stratum will soon be solved.
It looked real bad at first, but when you look at the end result, the enemy lost a ton of their forces while we took minimal damage.
And now…I change my viewpoint to a different area.
The giant pit the queen created leading from the Lower Stratum to the surface.
An intense battle is unfolding there now.
Fire Dragon Nguyen and Lightning Dragon Gohka, the two ancient dragon chiefs who fought the queen outside, are attacking once again.
And what they’re fighting is another queen.
There were originally five queen taratects in total.
White defeated the one that was here in the Great Elroe Labyrinth, while Potimas’s weapons brought down another one in the battle of the elf village.
But the other three were still alive and well.
I summoned all three of them for this battle.
One lost her life in battle against Fire Dragon Nguyen and Lightning Dragon Gohka, which means two remain.
And now, one of those two is also battling Nguyen and Gohka.
Incidentally, the one that Julius the Hero defeated in the war against humanity was a clone that White created, not one of the original queens.
These two ancient dragon chiefs have already defeated one queen.
So this will just be a rehash of the same fight, ending with the queen’s loss…or so you might think.
Lightning Dragon Gohka thrashes, entangled in the web that was strung up across the pit.
Then the queen assails the trapped dragon mercilessly.
Gohka, who’s relatively small for a dragon, is blown away like a piece of garbage.
Nguyen flies around the pit breathing fire, trying to burn up all the spiderwebs, but he clearly can’t keep up since Gohka was captured.
A spider monster’s strength is using thread in a narrow space.
Since the previous battle was in an open space outside, that queen couldn’t fight with her full strength. This battle, though, is another story entirely.
The queen moves nimbly for such an enormous creature, bouncing every whichway around the pit, easily maneuvering whether she’s on a wall or in midair.
Aside from the webs she’s strung up everywhere, she can also make footholds in the air with Dimensional Maneuvering, leaving both Gohka and Nguyen several steps behind.
On top of that, the queen’s underling arch and greater taratects are adding in long-distance attacks from farther down the pit.
And the queen’s sticky spider threads prevent the two ancient dragons from reaching the arches and greaters.
Meanwhile, those threads also serve as both shield and scaffolding for the spiders.
Part 5 of 9