Part 3 of 8
The armored knight leaps into action.
He unsheathes his sword and swings it toward me.
Despite my confusion, my training takes over, and I automatically draw my own sword to parry the strike.
But then the attacking knight cuts my sword in two.
This can’t be happening.
Even if it wasn’t enhanced or anything, since I just pulled it out, there’s no way a sword wielded by the hero should be so easily broken.
And yet, my sword has been divided clean in half.
My thoughts can’t keep up with all these sudden developments.
The armored knight makes his move during my momentary pause.
The blade swings again and cuts into me.
I managed to take a step back at the last second, so it’s not a fatal wound.
However, the diagonal slash crossing my chest from the shoulder is still a serious injury.
If he attacks again, I’ll be killed.
“Yo. You don’t look so good, Mr. Hero.”
The armored knight scoffs at me.
His voice is muffled by his helmet, but it’s still unmistakable.
“You… Hugo…?”
“That’s right.”
The knight takes off his helmet.
Sure enough, it’s Hugo. I thought he lost all his skills and ran off somewhere.
“Hugo. Don’t go giving yourself away like that.”
“C’mon, why not? I wanted him to get a good look at me before he dies.”
My brother Cylis appears to have known exactly who was in the suit of armor.
But why?
“You’re curious, right? See, your big brother here wants the throne. I want revenge on you and Oka. You’re a thorn in both our sides, get it?”
“But…why…? Cylis is already next in line for the throne…”
“Funny you should mention that. See, before he kicked the bucket, that stupid king was planning to make you his heir. He figured if he named you the next king before you could be declared as the hero, they wouldn’t wanna send you into battle!”
“As if I would let my throne be stolen away for such a foolish reason!”
My elder brother Cylis exclaims darkly, seemingly without thinking.
Thanks to a new Silencing spell set up around us, no one else can hear his interjection.
I look to the person who must have cast the spell.
“Brother. Unfortunately, you must now die here.”
Her tone is no different from how it usually is, yet her voice sounds as if it belongs to someone else entirely.
Unlike how it normally sounds, which is level but somehow still full of passion, her words are cold and full of contempt.
“Sue, why?”
“I have opened my eyes to true love, dear brother. I would do anything for the sake of that love, even if I must kill my own brother.”
This isn’t right.
Sue is definitely acting strangely.
I activate Appraisal.
The status conditions Hypnosis, Brainwashed, and Charmed appear.
“Hugo! Is this your doing?!”
“Oh dear. You noticed, huh? Took you long enough. Yeah, I did it. What do you think? How’s it feel to have something stolen from you? Sucks, right? I should know, since the same thing happened to me! Ga-ha-ha-ha!”
“Change her back right now!”
“Like I’m gonna do that just ’cause you asked nicely? What a moron.”
My vision turns red.
Dropping my broken sword, I charge at Hugo and knock him off his feet.
Blood drips from my open wound, but Auto-Recovery should take care of that.
“Oof! How do you still have so much strength?!”
Hugo groans and raises his sword.
In response, I start casting a spell to counter him.
“Oh? He’s got more fight in him than I expected.”
My magic composition dissipates.
At the same moment, I suddenly feel a horribly powerful presence behind me that I didn’t detect at all before.
“?!”
I quickly roll to one side.
It’s not any conscious thought that makes me do it. My body just reacts automatically due to fear.
Standing up, I look at the source of this sensation.
It’s a girl who looks to be around my age.
Her skin is white as death, her eyes bloodred, and her features as beautiful as a princess from a picture book.
But her ominous aura contradicts that appearance.
I immediately use Appraisal.
<Appraisal blocked>
I’ve never seen this result before.
A skill that interferes with Appraisal?
Does that really exist?
I’ve definitely never heard of it.
But the fact that I can’t Appraise her is proof enough that this is no ordinary girl.
I wish I knew more, but there’s no doubt she’s a formidable enemy.
“Sophia! This one’s mine! Don’t go stickin’ your nose where it don’t belong!”
“Oh really? Looked like he was beating you up to me.”
Judging by their interactions, it doesn’t seem like this “Sophia” girl is being brainwashed by Hugo.
Is she working with him toward some common goal, then, like Cylis?
“Enough! Stop arguing and finish Schlain off quickly!”
At Cylis’s beckoning, Hugo and Sue turn their attention back toward me.
Sophia alone ignores Cylis’s words, instead flashing a meaningful smile.
“I won’t let you!”
At that very moment, the tiny frame of an elf cuts in.
A powerful blast of wind hits Hugo and sends him flying.
“Ooookaaaaa!!”
With a roar of fury, Hugo tries to stand up, but Ms. Oka fires another spell at him.
However, the spell evaporates into nothing as soon as it hits Sophia, who’s now standing in front of Hugo as if to protect him.
Can she erase magic, like what happened to my spell before?
I thought only wyrms and dragons had skills like that.
“Y-you?!”
When she sees Sophia, her eyes widen with shock.
“Shun! Run for it!”
Ms. Oka smashes the floor with Wind Magic, throwing dust everywhere to hinder the enemy.
“But!”
I can’t just leave Sue in Hugo’s control and run away!
“No buts! We have to withdraw for now!”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ms. Oka sound this agitated before.
Is that girl Sophia really that dangerous?
Ms. Oka seems to know her, based on her reaction.
When I hesitate nonetheless, someone grabs my hand.
“Hyrince?”
“Leston told me you were in danger, so I came running. I’m sure you’re confused, but we just have to get you out of here for now.”
With that, Hyrince takes off running and pulls me along, so I reluctantly follow.
Ms. Oka’s magic blows away a guard who charges toward us.
All over the place, I see soldiers fighting one another.
“What in the world is going on?”
“It’s a rebellion.”
“A rebellion?”
“Yes. Hugo and Prince Cylis are the ones behind it. But they’re planning to blame it on you and make it look as if they’re the ones who quelled the rebellion.”
My teacher’s explanation makes my blood run cold.
“Leston’s forces are fighting them right now. He’s buying time so that we can get you out of here.”
With that, we flee from the castle.
After our escape, we arrive at a lone mansion.
“Leston is supposed to meet us here. Once he arrives, we’ll leave the kingdom.”
“Ms. Oka, wait! We have to do something about Hugo, or Sue will…!”
“We can’t.”
“But, Ms. Oka, if we can stop Hugo, this whole thing should blow over. We have to go back and catch him…”
“No.”
“Ms. Oka!”
“The Church has announced the new hero. His name is Hugo Baint Renxandt.”
“Huh?!”
“Even the Church is cooperating with him.”
I can’t help but stumble.
Hyrince offers a shoulder to prop me up.
“Do the elves have any idea why the Church would be complicit in such an absurd plot?”
“It’s safe to assume that Hugo’s brainwashing has reached within the Church.”
“Impossible. The effects of Brainwashing are only temporary. It’s not powerful enough to incite a situation like this, is it?”
“Usually, no. But there is one exception.”
“An exception?”
“One of the top-tier Seven Deadly Sins–class skills, Lust. Its brainwashing effect is far more powerful than any other skill can induce. I have no doubt that Hugo now holds this skill.”
The Seven Deadly Sins?
Does something like that really exist?
I’ve never seen anything like that on my list of acquirable skills.
Which means they must be highly unusual skills that can’t be acquired even with 100,000 skill points.
“At any rate, we have no way of knowing how far Hugo’s influence has spread. It’s best to assume that this entire kingdom has been lost.”
“That can’t be…”
I’m speechless.
The entire kingdom is lost?
The kingdom that my father ruled, that my brother Julius loved so dearly?
“I can’t let that happen. That’s all the more reason we can’t simply let Hugo go! If we do something about him now, we might still be able to stop this in time!”
“No!”
Ms. Oka cuts down my sliver of hope with a sharp voice.
“As long as Sophia is there, we have no chance of winning.”
Ms. Oka’s expression is bitter as she speaks.
I can’t believe she would say something like that without even trying to put up a fight.
Just who or what is that girl named Sophia?
“Teacher, who in the world is she?”
“Sophia is…”
Just as Ms. Oka starts to explain, the door bursts open.
Along with my brother Leston, two familiar faces enter.
“Shun, are you hurt?”
“Your Highness, it’s good to see you again.”
“You’ve grown into a fine young man, Your Highness.”
Leston is flanked by Anna and Klevea, two women who used to be maids for Sue and me.
Anna has been helping Fei level up, so I’ve seen her once in a while, but I haven’t seen Klevea since we left for school.
Compared with Anna, whose youthful appearance is preserved by her part-elf blood, Klevea looks considerably older.
And yet, it seems she’s come running to my aid in my time of need.
But all I feel is despair.
“You too, Anna?”
“Pardon?”
“You’re under Hugo’s control, too!”
When I Appraised Anna, I saw the Hypnosis, Brainwashed, and Charmed statuses clearly.
At the same time as my shout, Anna’s eyes narrow.
She begins constructing magic at a high speed.
I interrupt her, striking her with the side of my hand to knock her unconscious.
While I’m at it, I try to use Healing Magic to cancel out the status conditions.
But the letters describing her altered state refuse to disappear.
“Dammit! Not Anna, too!”
Leston clenches his fist in frustration.
“Shit. We’re surrounded.”
At Hyrince’s words, I look outside the house to see a large crowd of soldiers.
“We’ll have to force our way through.”
All of us nod at Ms. Oka’s statement.
“Shun, use my sword.”
Leston passes me a weapon.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a divine sword handed down through the royal family. Since you’re the hero, I think it’s better if you use it. It’s outside my expertise anyway.”
“All right. Thank you.”
I accept the sword and lift up the unconscious Anna.
“Let’s go!”
We charge out into the encirclement, with Hyrince leading the way.
At the same time, Leston’s hidden troops launch a surprise attack.
“Now!”
We push our way through the besieging forces.
Hyrince, who protected the hero Julius for so long, and Ms. Oka, who’s traveled around the world to track down her reincarnated students.
Even the royal guard doesn’t stand a chance of stopping us.
We beat back the soldiers, cutting a path in the crowd.
But when we break through, another unit is waiting for us.
And leading them…
“Shun. You don’t know when to give up, do you?”
“Katia…”
My best friend from my previous life stands in my way.
FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH AN ADMINISTRATOR
Since gaining those levels netted me 200 skill points, it’s time to pick up a new Evil Eye skill.
This time, I’m going with Heavy Evil Eye.
It increases the effect of gravity on any target in my field of vision.
Now I can slow my opponent’s movements with Heavy Evil Eye, weaken them with Cursed Evil Eye, and finally seal their movements completely with Paralyzing Evil Eye.
My triple-threat Evil Eye combo is complete!
This whole arrangement is based on the goal of stopping my enemies in their tracks.
I already have plenty of other moves for attacking.
If I have to, I can always pick up some magic skill or other for 100 points.
Huh? Why don’t I just do that in the first place, you ask?
I’ve gotten a little obsessed with the whole Evil Eye thing, but if my stats are anything to go by, I think I’m supposed to specialize in magic?
Does that mean I should really be focusing on only magic skills in the first place?
C’mon, that’s not true.
At least, let’s say it isn’t.
I’m definitely not getting hung up on this simply because I like the idea of having eight different Evil Eyes at once.
I’m not, okay?
Anyway, I’ll be saving the rest of these points for a while.
I don’t know how many more I’ll get as an evolutionary bonus.
I’ll adjust my strategy based on that as I go on.
If I get a really big amount, I might even be able to aim for skills that’ve been too expensive to get so far, like Sloth.
Aaanyway.
Its usefulness in any kind of battle isn’t the only reason I picked Heavy Evil Eye.
Now, let’s test this out. Evil Eye Activate!
Oof! What’re you doing, information brain?!
What do you mean, what? I’m increasing my own gravity.
It’s heavy!
Well, I was thinking. What is it I lack, if anything? Muscle, of course!
Great, here comes a speech.
When the Z warriors trained in super-high gravity, they became strong enough to defeat the ultrapowerful enemies who came after them!
Yeah, yeah. I get what you’re saying and all, but it’s making de-scaling kinda difficult, you know.
Well, the whole point is to get used to it by keeping it active all the time.
Great idea! Good luck, body brain!
Let’s try one thousand times the gravity next!
No, that’d kill me!
So, yeah. I decided to try applying extra gravity to myself all the time.
If I’m constantly using it on myself, I bet it’ll raise my physical stats, not to mention give me more Evil Eye proficiency points to boot.
It might even increase my Herculean Strength skill level or something.
Since this Evil Eye skill’s only at level 1, it doesn’t feel like anything but a little extra weight right now, but I’m sure it’ll be quite a burden once it levels up.
Then, if I deactivate it during battle and return to normal gravity, I’ll get to have a “remove the power limiter”-type moment!
Sweet.
I’m definitely gonna yell “RELEASE RESTRAINTS!” or something when I do it.
Well, I can’t actually speak, but you know what I mean.
Huh?! My Space Perception is reacting to something!
A distortion in the air?
I’ve never experienced this before, but somehow, I know exactly what’s happening.
Teleportation.
Something is about to teleport here.
I have no way of stopping it.
At my Spatial Magic level, I can’t even teleport myself, never mind interfere with someone else’s ability to do so.
Judging by the distortion in space I’m sensing, I’m guessing whoever’s teleporting here must be really good at Spatial Magic.
That means they’re way stronger than me, at least when it comes to Spatial Magic.
Most concerning of all is that they’re using magic in the first place.
That means, without a doubt, that the user must be on a very high level of intelligence.
So far, I haven’t seen a single monster use magic.
Even the fire dragon I defeated earlier is no exception.
It had magic skills, but it never once used them.
That’s only natural.
Magic involves a very complicated process of composing spells.
The user needs a certain amount of intellect to be able to accomplish that.
In the fire dragon’s case, it was far more effective to use its own skills to create fireballs than trying to construct magic spells.
There may be some monster species that can use magic, but they have simpler and more powerful skills to use instead.
However, whatever’s about to teleport here is utilizing some seriously complicated magic.
Which means it must have a specific reason for coming here.
But what could that be?
All that’s here is…me.
In other words, it must be coming here because of me.
I can’t imagine that it’s just teleporting here by coincidence.
All this reasoning flashes through my mind in seconds with Thought Acceleration.
I stand on guard.
The air cracks open, and a man appears.
A very dark man.
I don’t know how else to explain it.
He’s wearing black armor so tight, it’s as if it’s part of his body.
The small section of his face that’s visible is dark, too.
So is his hair.
Only his eyes are eerily red.
I know the moment I lay eyes on this guy:
I can’t win here.
He’s on a different level.
And something else confirms this suspicion.
<Cannot be Appraised>
Those words.
Yet, for some reason, I don’t feel like I’m in danger.
In fact, I feel a strange sense of kinship with this man.
And at the same time, I feel a little bit of irritation toward him.
Why is that?
I’ve definitely never met this dark man before.
I don’t know why I would feel this way toward such a strange figure appearing out of nowhere.
What in the world are these feelings?
“*********?”
The man speaks.
But I don’t recognize the language.
Without thinking, I tilt my head.
“+++++++++?”
The man says something else.
Could you please speak Japanese?
Otherwise I’m not gonna understand.
No hablo…whatever language this world uses.
The man frowns.
Hmm.
Well, he doesn’t seem hostile at the moment.
But what do I do?
I don’t understand him, and even if I did, I can’t talk.
I could probably communicate in writing, but all I know is Japanese.
Either way, we wouldn’t be able to understand each other.
This is a problem.
The man seems a bit flummoxed as well.
As we stand in awkward silence, something suddenly drops onto the ground between us.
It’s a smartphone.
Huh?
Wait a sec.
It’s weird enough that a smartphone exists here at all, but how did it appear in front of me like that?
This thing just popped up out of nowhere without my Detection picking up anything!
“Hello? This is Administrator D speaking.”
A voice suddenly comes out of the smartphone.
Two voices, in fact.
One speaks in Japanese, and one is a language I’ve never heard before.
No, wait, is it the language the guy was speaking earlier?
“******?!”
Ah, the man sounds really surprised.
Which means the other language is the one he was speaking before: the language of this world.
“Yes. This is D. Ms. Spider, please wait a moment.”
Oh, okay.
I was asked to wait, so that’s what I’ll do.
The voice on the smartphone speaks with the man in this parallel world’s language.
It’s a woman’s voice.
A very beautiful voice, but deeply unsettling for some reason.
It’s that sort of thing.
She speaks in a flat, emotionless tone that’s kind of frightening, too.
What’s going on here?
Just hearing her voice is enough to make me tremble.
With each new statement, the man’s expression changes.
The changes are pretty minor, but I can see his eyebrows furrowing or his eyes widening.
Eventually, the conversation seems to reach a stopping point. The man heaves a long sigh and turns around.
Then he teleports away with Spatial Magic, just like that.
Leaving me alone with the mysterious smartphone.
“Thank you for waiting. I’ve had a word with my friend there, so he shouldn’t be bothering you anymore.”
Oh, I see.
Wait, who are you anyway?
“I am D.”
Oh, okay.
?!
Wait, what?!
Did you just read my mind?!
“Yes. I did.”
That’s an invasion of my privacy!
“Well, since you can’t speak, I had to take temporary measures. I wouldn’t normally go so far as to read your mind.”
Normally? So does that mean you’ve been monitoring me this whole time?
“‘Monitoring’ isn’t the most pleasant way to put it. I think ‘spectating’ would be more fitting.”
Whatever.
Either way, you’re a stalker, right?
“I suppose. I simply never get tired of watching you.”
D… Now I remember.
I heard that name when I got the Wisdom skill.
“Yes. That was a reward for how hard you’ve worked. I’m pleased you seem to be making such effective use of it.”
So what’s your goal here?
“Amusement, that’s all.”
Huh?
“Simple amusement, nothing more. I have no deeper motives or purpose than that.”
Seriously?
“Yes. After all, I am this world’s most evil god.”
Everything about this sounds absurd, but for some reason, it doesn’t seem like you’re lying.
It’s like I really am hearing the thoughts of an evil god who thinks of me as a plaything or something but bears me no ill will.
Given how much my body is shaking of its own accord, I guess I might actually believe that the person speaking really is an evil god.
“Of course I am. As an evil god, nothing pleases me more than watching people struggle and suffer.”
Then was this whole world made for your entertainment?
“I’m afraid not. From this world’s point of view, I am an outsider.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
“I’m afraid I cannot tell you any more. If you knew everything, it would be quite boring.”
So you’re just going to keep toying with me.
“Indeed. So please continue to entertain me by struggling with everything you have. Perhaps then you’ll find the answers you’re looking for?”
Why, you…!
“Well, until next time.”
The smartphone disappears.
Without the slightest hint of a distortion in space.
That was my first encounter with Administrator D and the Administrator called Black.
A MAN’S FINAL STUBBORNNESS
How did this happen?
I watch the other me with only vague consciousness.
The other me is flinging magic at Shun without a moment’s hesitation alongside the soldiers around me.
My magic won’t work on Shun, though.
There’s always been a difference between our capabilities.
It was a small difference at first, when we were little, but as we grew up, the difference grew as well.
There were times when I was jealous of his talent.
But when I saw how earnestly Shun worked to constantly improve himself, that jealousy turned into pure respect.
Ah, come to think of it, he was like that in our old lives, too. When he has a goal, he pushes toward it without hesitation.
In his past life, that enthusiasm was focused on games, but in this world, it was always his brother Julius, the hero.
The combination of his innate talent and his drive to reach an even higher goal is what led to the scene before my eyes.
The Flame Magic I’m using is a ranged attack that burns everything in a wide area.
It’s not as powerful as bigger spells, but it can still do a lot of damage if you use it against a group of targets.
But Shun cancels it out with magic of his own, going as far as protecting the soldiers around him from harm.
He’s both as stupidly strong and as stupidly softhearted as ever.
Only an idiot would go out of his way to protect his enemies.
I try to smile wryly, but contrary to my will, my face only contorts into a hateful expression.
“Katia! Come back to your senses!”
“How very rude. My senses are fine, thank you. You are a traitor, and traitors must be punished.”
Words that I would never think come out of my mouth.
But deep down, I know.
It’s the real me who’s saying these words.
There have been plenty of signs, ever since I was a child.
In my old life, I was a man.
In this life, I’m a woman.
I have the soul of a man, but I’m living as a woman.
It doesn’t quite match up.
Like water and oil, there’s always been something that refused to mix properly.
And as I grew, that feeling only deepened.
As I entered puberty and my body began to transform further into a woman’s, it became all the more obvious.
It wasn’t just my body.
My inner self was gradually changing.
I didn’t even notice.
But when Shun was attacked by Hugo, I realized something was different.
At that moment, I was so upset that even I didn’t understand why.
When I realized Shun could’ve been killed, it was like my vision went blank.
At first, I thought it was just because Shun was a close friend from my old life, maybe the only close friend I had in this new one.
But from then on, whenever I saw him, I felt strangely uncomfortable.
I didn’t know what that feeling was exactly.
All I knew was that I desperately didn’t want to lose Shun.
And that feeling grew stronger every day.
When I’m near Shun, I feel restless and uneasy.
And yet, when he’s not with me, I feel lonely and equally uneasy.
Either way, whether I’m with him or not, I feel strange.
I was bewildered by my own instability.
It was like I was being controlled by emotions I didn’t understand.
But to be honest, I already knew what that feeling was.
I just didn’t want to admit it.
Originally, I was a man.
Now I’m a woman.
I think that was around the time my heart finally broke in two.
Whenever I saw Sue or Yuri hanging off Shun, my heart began to splinter.
Still, part of me refused to admit it.
My heart and mind were at odds with each other.
But the scales had already been tipped in one direction.
The soul is dependent on the body.
My old self couldn’t outmatch my new feelings.
So the part of me watching myself fight Shun now isn’t what remains of Katia.
It’s what remains of Kanata Ooshima.
I think it’s because the traces of my old spirit still remained that I was able to resist Hugo’s brainwashing a little.
After that first incident, Hugo was strictly monitored, though Shun doesn’t know that.
My family took the lead in building a surveillance system to keep watch over him every single day.
And yet, somewhere along the line, we started to see suspicious signs in the reports.
We used only people we could trust for the surveillance.
People who would never betray us.
Nevertheless, information that was unquestionably false began cropping up in the reports.
I had the personnel changed.
In retrospect, that might have been a bad idea.
Shun inherited the Hero title and left the academy.
After that, other changes happened in the blink of an eye.
Yuri was the first to start acting strange.
She was always so obsessed with the Word of God religion, yet she suddenly stopped mentioning it at all.
Next was Sue.
She’s never been the type to show her emotions, so I didn’t notice the change.
Thinking back now, she started saying even less than usual at some point, but by then I was too distracted by the other changes to notice.
Something was starting to go terribly wrong.
I realized that, but I didn’t know what was causing it.
I was called by the duke’s people who were observing Hugo, became caught in their trap, then was ultimately brainwashed by Hugo.
It was only later that I finally understood.
By that time, most of the duke’s people had already been brainwashed by him.
And now, I’ve ended up fighting Shun.
Hugo’s brainwashing is terrifyingly powerful.
In a way, it’s a miracle that even a tiny portion of my normal consciousness remains like this.
I’m sure everyone else who’s been brainwashed now simply admires Hugo from the bottom of their hearts.
And even though I’m still faintly aware of what’s happening, there’s nothing I can do.
But still.
Even if there’s nothing I can do, I can’t just give up!
A man has to protect his pride, you know!
I try to rouse my hazy mind into action.
While my main consciousness is focused on composing a magic spell, I use all my strength to interrupt the construction.
Sabotaged by its own creator, the spell misfires.
I put all my power into it, forcing it to go explosively wrong.
“Katia?!”
Shocked, Shun runs over to me.
He catches me just before I fall to the ground.
But I can tell that the life is already draining out of me.
I attacked myself at point-blank range with the full strength of my own magic.
There’s no coming back from that, huh?
But I’m fine with that.
This is what I was trying to do anyway.
Through my blurring vision, I see Shun’s desperate expression.
Wow, what a face.
Makes me want to laugh.
Unlike before, this time my face does what I tell it to.
At least I’ll get to die laughing.
My consciousness starts to slip away into the depths, but it’s suddenly yanked back up by a warm light.
“Ah… Shun…?”
“Katia, are you back to normal?”
“Huh? My wounds…?”
The injuries from my spell’s misfire are gone.
“I healed them.”
Shun’s response is simple.
So much for that. I thought I was dead.
“You’re…so…ridicu…lous.”
“Stop trying to talk. We’re getting out of here.”
He lifts me up in his arms, carrying me bridal-style.
All at once, my heart starts pounding so fast that it feels like it might explode.
Despite the dire situation, my face flushes.
Ah, it’s no use.
I can’t fight it anymore.
What was left of my male spirit probably died just now.
As of this moment, Kanata Ooshima has truly become Karnatia Seri Anabald.
MIDDLE STRATUM CLEARED
I eat.
And eat.
And eat.
It’s bitter.
So bitter.
Bitter, just a little sweet, and sad.
<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Taboo LV 8] has become [Taboo LV 9].>
I’ve been proceeding through the Middle Stratum without any incident worth mentioning since my encounter with the self-proclaimed “evil god” D or whatever.
I still don’t really know what that was all about.
The possibility that it was the real thing and not just “self-proclaimed” scares me.
At any rate, since D could read my mind, I know they must be far, far stronger than I am.
If D really did give me the Wisdom skill, they must be an administrator.
But either way, that doesn’t really change anything.
I don’t even understand what an administrator is.
If I had to guess, I’d say they probably manage the skills that exist in this world.
But that’s only a guess, and even if it’s true, I don’t know what the significance is.
Before I acquired Wisdom, it did cross my mind that all these skills and stats were very gamelike, but I didn’t really question it.
This is a parallel world, so I just assumed that’s how things are here.
But if there are “administrators” who manage the skill system, there must be some purpose behind it.
I wouldn’t think that if skills just existed as a natural phenomenon of this world, but when you throw in beings with intentions of their own, I have to assume there’s some deeper reason.
Otherwise, why would someone make such a big, elaborate system?
Ugh, I dunno.
If D really is an administrator, I guess it’s not impossible they’d make this whole thing just for the sake of entertainment…
That would explain all the gamelike mechanics, too.
But no, there must be a much deeper goal far beyond my understanding!
Otherwise, that would mean this whole world exists as a sideshow for D’s amusement.
I don’t like the sound of that.
Who would just roll over and accept it if they found out they’re only a plaything?!
But I do know one thing about D.
The smartphone, the fluent command of Japanese…several signs pointing straight to Japan.
D must be somehow connected to Earth.
In which case, D might also know why I was reincarnated into this world.
If there really is a “next time,” maybe I’ll try asking about it.
Although I have no idea if D will give me a clear answer.
Aside from that, I don’t have enough information to do anything but speculate.
So I have to conclude there’s no point in racking my brains about “D,” “administrators,” and all that jazz any further.
Honestly, it’s not like I can do anything about it anyway.
If beings that can control the skill system want to mess with me, I doubt I could put up much resistance.
Trying to go against an administrator would be like trying to stop a meteor from destroying the earth.
That’s not the kinda thing I can win against.
Not just D, either. The dark guy who showed up in front of me earlier seemed way more powerful than me, too.
Since he used that mysterious language I’d never heard before, I’m guessing he’s a native of this world.
Though since Appraisal didn’t work, I couldn’t confirm if he’s human.
There’s always someone stronger.
And there’s no limit to how far up that goes.
I feel like I’ve been made even more aware of that now.
No matter how much I improve my skills and level up, that’s all just transient power given to me by the “administrators.” If they felt like it, they could take it away anytime.
Never mind a contest of strength. I wouldn’t even be able to qualify for the game.
Well, there’s no point in worrying about all that now.
I might as well forget about evil gods, administrators, and everything else unless they bother me again.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep concentrating on escaping the Middle Stratum.
And I’m not likely to suddenly lose all my skills and levels unless I get more involved with those guys (I hope), plus there’s no harm in raising them anyway, so I might as well keep doing that.
I can’t quite shake a little bit of anxiety, but this is all I can do, so I might as well do it to the best of my ability.
So I keep walking through the Middle Stratum, working on my skills as I go.
I inspect my skills as I proceed.
The new skills I got from defeating the fire dragon—Dimensional Maneuvering, Dragon Power, and Spatial Magic—are all super-useful.
As I guessed, Dimensional Maneuvering allows me to perform double jumps in midair.
When I activate it, near-invisible footholds appear in the air, and I can dash around by kicking off them.
Since it’s level 1 right now, the footholds are too fragile for me to run at full speed, but once it levels up some, I should be able to move just as freely through the air as I can on the ground.
It does use up my red stamina, but considering its effect, that’s not that surprising.
Dragon Power is an improved form of Wyrm Power. When I activate it, it consumes MP and SP to temporarily increase my stats.
In addition, when it’s active, I can use some of a dragon’s abilities.
Specifically, the magic obstruction effect and breath attacks.
With Dragon Power activated, I can cover myself in the same magic-dispersing power seen in dragons’ scale skills.
Testing out the breath part, I discover it produces some kind of Dark attribute attack.
Neither of them is as powerful as the real thing, of course, but they’re nonetheless quite strong.
Since Spatial Magic is still low-level, I can’t do any useful spells yet.
Once it levels up, I’m sure it’ll be useful, so I’m going to try and level it up over time.
Unfortunately, both Dimensional Maneuvering and Dragon Power consume SP.
Since monsters are still avoiding me like the plague, I’m having trouble getting any food.
That means I can’t recover SP, so I have to avoid using it whenever possible.
Ultimately, that means even though I got these nice new skills, I can’t level them up at all!
I’m loaded with MP, though, so I’m focusing on skills that use that for now.
Various magic types, Poison Synthesis, Magic Warfare, Evil Eye skills, and so on.
My Shadow Magic skill reached level 10.
The offshoot skill I got as a result was Dark Magic.
Even maxed out, Shadow Magic is still kinda sketchy, so I’m planning to work on Dark Magic instead.
I maxed out Poison Synthesis and Poison Magic, too.
For some reason, they both produced sort of unexpected skills: Medicine Synthesis and Healing Magic, respectively.
I guess maybe it’s true what they say about one man’s poison being another man’s cure or whatever?
At any rate, this means I finally have the means to heal myself.
Up until now, my recovery’s depended on leveling up and HP Auto-Recovery, so being able to heal wounds whenever I want is huge.
That being said, it’s still pretty low-level. And since my HP is full, I can’t test out its effects just yet.
If I get a chance sometime, maybe I’ll reduce my own HP so I can test it.
I also maxed out Heretic Magic.
But you’ll never guess what god-awful skill derived from that.
Taboo.
Luckily, it didn’t level up, but I thought my heart was gonna stop for a second.
Actually, even though it definitely didn’t level up at that moment, it’s hit level 9 at some point without my noticing.
One more level and it’ll be maxed out.
This could be really bad.
A few of my Evil Eyes maxed out, too.
Cursed Evil Eye evolved into Jinx Evil Eye.
This Evil Eye transfers the HP and stuff reduced by the curse over to me.
It also deals more damage than before, so definitely an improvement over the first form.
I can’t absorb stats or anything, but being able to absorb SP is very cool.
Combined with eating, now I can get even more SP out of enemies!
Paralyzing Evil Eye evolved, too, into Inert Evil Eye.
Instead of simple paralysis, this apparently inflicts an attribute similar to being frozen in time.
With paralysis, monsters could still twitch and squirm a little, but now they’ll be frozen solid.
I’m guessing this is a combination of paralysis and some attribute I’m not familiar with.
Although I can’t say for sure, since I don’t see any attribute like that in the skill list.
Well, either way, I’ve still won as soon as this takes effect, so that just means I’ve gotten that much stronger.
Heavy Evil Eye has leveled up, but I obtained it only a short while ago, so it isn’t maxed out yet.
Instead, since I’ve been using it on myself this whole time, I got a resistance skill to counteract the extra weight.
Unfortunately, this skill is kind of reducing the effectiveness of my muscle training. Dammit.
Lastly, Telescopic Sight.
This ended up evolving into Clairvoyance.
It improves on the effects of Telescopic Sight and adds an X-ray effect.
Now I can see through walls to the scenery on the other side.
However, it’s not quite as cool as the “seeing anywhere in the world” effect you think of when you hear “Clairvoyance.”
In the end, it’s just an extension of Telescopic Sight.
But thanks to Clairvoyance, I’ve started to notice something.
A long slope, climbing upward.
It’s been a long journey.
I’ve gone through a lot of troubles along the way.
But now I can finally settle down.
And leave this god-awful hellhole behind.
Good to see you again, Upper Stratum.
I fell into the Lower Stratum, encountered a dreadful beast, and ran for my life.
I traveled all over the awful hellscape so hot it constantly drained my HP.
I came close to death many times.
But I made it back.
I survived! I made it!
ESCAPE
Katia passes out in my arms.
Her wounds are healed completely, but the HP and emotional energy she lost won’t come back so easily.
I do a quick Appraisal and breathe a sigh of relief when I see that her life isn’t in immediate danger.
At the same time, I confirm that Hugo’s brainwashing has been undone.
When she started to faint, I saw magic come flying out of her.
In a panic, I create a wall of ice, blocking the flying spell.
“Shun! Don’t lose focus!”
Hyrince’s words remind me we’re still surrounded.
He’s holding a large shield on his left arm while carrying Anna with his right.
Normally, he’d block attacks with the shield in one hand and cut down the enemy with a sword in the other, but since he’s holding the unconscious Anna, he’s solely focused on defense.
Still, he’s been doing an incredible job of using the size and weight of the enormous shield to bash the enemy back.
Seeing this, the other soldiers are too frightened to try to attack.
To be frank, no ordinary soldiers can stop us.
There’s a huge difference in our stats, and if we really wanted to, we could easily knock down all the people surrounding us.
But I’d rather avoid that if possible.
No matter how strong we are—no, because we’re so strong—if we fight without holding back, people will die.
I could try to restrain myself, but I’ve got Katia, and Hyrince is holding Anna.
And there are quite a few enemy soldiers, not just one.
I’m not so overconfident to think I can control my strength properly in this situation.
While Leston and Klevea are stronger than the average soldier, they’re not as strong as Hyrince and me.
Only Ms. Oka can thoroughly dominate the soldiers in this battle, but she seems to have bigger problems on her hands.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
Sophia stands in Ms. Oka’s way, facing her down.
“Negi…”
“Didn’t I tell you not to call me by that name?”
Ms. Oka starts to say something, but Sophia cuts her off.
Even though I’m not directly involved in the standoff, I feel overwhelming pressure that sends a shiver down my spine.
Negi…?
What’s she talking about?
No, now’s not the time to worry about that.
“Oh, here. Present for you, Ms. Oka.”
Sophia tosses something toward her.
It leaves a trail of red liquid on the ground as it rolls to Ms. Oka’s feet.
As soon as I catch a glimpse of it, my throat threatens to close up.
“P…Potimas?!”
Potimas, the goodwill ambassador of the elves, who was with Ms. Oka the first time we met in this world.
“I-it can’t be!”
The object on the ground is, beyond any doubt, his freshly severed head.
Watching Ms. Oka fly into a panic, Sophia smiles pleasantly and licks the blood off her hands.
“How disgusting. Perhaps his rotten personality made his blood taste bad?”
“You did this…to Potimas?”
“What other explanation could there be?”
Sophia shows genuine curiosity toward Ms. Oka’s cry of disbelief.
“But you…!”
“You’re not going to say I could never kill anyone, are you? You’ve done plenty of killing yourself, after all. This isn’t Japan. The same rules don’t apply here, and you know it.”
Ms. Oka has killed people?
No. Knowing her, if that’s true, it’s only because the situation didn’t leave her any other option.
Right now, Sophia’s other lines are more important.
Her words seem to imply she’s almost certainly a reincarnation herself.
If that’s the case, it would explain why Ms. Oka knows her, and why she might be working with Hugo, another reincarnation.
And in that case, if she can still murder people without a second thought, then I have no more chance of reaching an understanding with her than with Hugo.
Ms. Oka must feel the same way. Though still in shock, she’s clearly prepared to do battle with Sophia.
“Ms. Oka, you want to fight me? Oh, stop. Master told me not to lay a hand on you.”
Master?
Does she mean Hugo?
But then…something seems wrong about that.
“But I suppose you give me no choice. It’s not my fault if it’s just self-defense, right?”
Sophia takes a step forward.
As she does so, Ms. Oka launches a Wind Magic spell at her.
But while it should’ve been more than enough to blow a human body away, it loses power as it approaches Sophia. By the time it reaches her, it’s barely strong enough to ruffle her hair a little.
It’s happening again.
Just like in the castle, magic doesn’t work on her.
It evaporates as if she’s broken it up somehow.
She must have a skill that nullifies magic.
I don’t know what it is, but it’s probably best to assume that no magic can touch her.
If so, Ms. Oka is in danger.
Since Ms. Oka is an elf, magic is probably the core of her fighting technique.
Elves’ physical growth is slower than humans’, so they tend to have low physical stats.
She looks a lot younger than us, even though she was probably born around the same time we were in this world.
I know that appearances don’t always accurately reflect stats, but as far as I can tell from what I’ve seen so far, Ms. Oka specializes in magic more than physical attacks.
Part 3 of 8