Part 7 of 8
Not to mention, it’s got those nasty stats that exceed 10,000 across the board.
At least it doesn’t have a type advantage over me or anything, but in terms of sheer power, things aren’t looking too good.
Like, the only stats I have that are nearly that high are my magic stats.
And aside from that and speed, all my other stats are waaay lower.
Plus, even if my speed is decent, I don’t have much yellow instant stamina, meaning I can’t keep up my top speed for long.
In other words, magic is the only area where I have it beat.
If I want to win against that puppet spider, I definitely can’t do it head-on.
I might be able to pull it off with my tried-and-true method of setting lots of traps, but if I want to do that, I have to clear out the rest of the spider army first.
In the end, I’m stuck just slowly but steadily whittling down those numbers.
For now, as long as the Demon Lord is off searching the ocean, I guess I’ll head back to the labyrinth and wreak a little havoc.
THE REINCARNATIONS IN THE ELF VILLAGE
The day after we arrive in the elf village, Ms. Oka brings Katia, Fei, and me to a certain location.
Honestly, I didn’t really want to leave Anna alone when she has such horrific trauma associated with this place.
However, considering where we’re going now, we thought it was best if only us reincarnations went.
When I explained all this to Hyrince, he told me confidently that I could count on him, so we left Anna and him behind.
Our destination is a special protected area.
The place where the reincarnations are kept in order to protect them.
“Ms. Okaaaa, are we there yet?”
Fei complains.
I suppose we have been walking for a pretty long time.
With Fei’s high stats, I doubt she’s actually worn out from that. But none of us realized it was this far away. I can’t blame her for being a little bored.
“Just a bit farther. The elf village is quite large, you know. Please try to be patient.”
Frankly, it’s so large that I don’t know if it should be called a “village” at all.
But I suppose that makes sense when you consider that most of an entire race’s population is concentrated here.
It’s so massive that it would take an entire day to travel from one end to another.
When you think of it that way, the distance to the reincarnations’ area might even seem small by comparison.
“Still, I can’t believe there’s a barrier big enough to cover this entire place. It must take some incredible magic.”
“Yes. Thanks to the barrier, the elf village has never been attacked before.”
“How exactly does it work anyway?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know that much about it myself.”
Normally, I’d expect Ms. Oka to know these things, but I guess it is a matter of national security.
“What I do know is that it’s so strong that even an attack from a queen taratect can’t affect it. In the long history of the elves, it’s never once been broken.”
It can withstand a direct hit from a queen taratect?
That surprises me, but it also makes sense.
The queen taratect is in the strongest class of monsters.
When one appeared in a battle between humans and demons a while ago, it trampled both sides indiscriminately.
And the queen taratect’s destructive power permanently altered the terrain around that Great Elroe Labyrinth exit.
If one of those same monsters lives in the Great Garam Forest, it’s only logical that the barrier would have to be strong enough to hold it off.
Otherwise, the history of the elves would probably have ended by now.
“Considering how long they live, the elves must have a pretty long history, right? How far back does it go, exactly?”
“I don’t know. But from what I’ve heard from my grandfather, who is the eldest in the village at five hundred years old, the barrier already existed in the time of his own grandfather.”
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
I can’t imagine living through that much history.
In fact, much of the history of this world has been lost.
This is partly because books are often destroyed in the constant wars between humans, and unlike on Earth, paper here degrades very quickly.
Since it’s difficult to preserve books, the history we do know is extrapolated from the few remaining documents or passed down through oral tradition.
And it’s hard to say how much of that is true, since many of them seem to contain fictional stories and fairy tales.
In which case, the long-lived elves might be important living witnesses to history.
However, since the elves are so closed off from the rest of the world, most of them probably never even leave the elf village, meaning they might not know that much about human history.
“Do you think Hugo can get through the barrier somehow?”
That barrier has been protecting the elf village for such a long time that it’s like a part of history itself.
Does Hugo really think he can break through something that powerful?
Does he know something we don’t?
“I’m not sure. However, just because it’s never been broken before doesn’t mean it’s impossible. We mustn’t rely on it too much.”
If anything, it sounds like Ms. Oka is assuming the barrier might break.
That gives me the impression that Hugo knows some way to break it.
And Ms. Oka must know about it, too.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had us go on such a dangerous journey through the Great Elroe Labyrinth to defend the village.
Not if she thought its barrier was unbreakable.
I remember Katia’s warning again.
Ms. Oka is still hiding something.
At this point, I think Katia is probably right.
There’s clearly a line somewhere between what she’s telling us and what she’s keeping to herself.
“From what you’ve told us, it’s hard to imagine any human could break such a barrier. Do you believe Hugo has some kind of secret weapon?”
Katia cuts in sharply.
Of course. If it’s obvious to me, then it must be doubly obvious to Katia.
“Again, I don’t know. However, he most certainly knows that there is a barrier around the elf village. Surely even Hugo wouldn’t bring such a large army here if he wasn’t confident that he could break through the barrier. I suspect that he must have some kind of method in mind, though whether it will actually work is another story.”
Her analysis certainly makes sense.
I can’t find a single contradiction in that logic.
Still, it’s not quite enough to dispel my doubts completely.
Katia, too, narrows her eyes while Ms. Oka isn’t looking.
Fei says nothing, unable to keep up with the tension between the lines of the conversation.
I keep quiet, too, afraid I’ll mess things up if I say any more.
“Ah, there it is!”
Luckily, just as an awkward silence starts to fall over us, our destination comes into view.
I mentally heave a sigh of relief.
That kind of battle of wits just isn’t my forte.
Instead of being full of trees like the rest of the forest, the area Ms. Oka points at is a brightly lit clearing.
In most of the forest, the huge leaves and branches block out the sky.
But in this one area, instead of trees, all that’s growing are vegetables.
It’s a farm.
Tending to the field are a few young boys and girls, right around our age.
There seems to be livestock, too, with a few more people taking care of them.
Noticing us, one of the girls stops working and approaches.
“Welcome back, Ms. Oka.”
“Thank you.”
The pair exchanges greetings in Japanese.
This girl really is a reincarnation.
But although hearing Japanese should warm my heart, there’s a slight chill in the air somehow.
The girl’s greeting was very curt.
And Ms. Oka’s expression seems rather stiff as well.
“So? Are these three new victims or what?”
The girl’s words make the atmosphere even colder.
“Victims? Of course not.”
“Well, that’s your opinion. From my perspective, you’re definitely the villain… But whatever. You three, what are your names? I mean from there, not here.”
Coldly rejecting Ms. Oka, the girl turns toward us.
She looks at Katia and me, then turns suspicious when she sees Fei.
“I’m Shunsuke Yamada.”
“Mine is Kanata Ooshima.”
“I’m Mirei Shinohara, as if you didn’t already know.”
“Huh?”
She furrows her brow, but I can’t tell whether it’s because Katia is a woman now or because Fei’s appearance is incredibly similar to how she used to look.
“Wait a minute. Ooshima?”
“That’s right.”
“Wow…”
Her reaction seems involuntary.
“Excuse you! What kind of reaction is that?!”
“You’re right, sorry. It just surprised me, that’s all.”
“Well, now that you know who we are, shouldn’t you introduce yourself, too?”
As Katia sulks a little, Fei cuts in with slightly narrowed eyes.
“As if I can’t already tell from your attitude.”
“Fair enough. It wouldn’t be very polite to ask your names and not return the favor, would it? Sorry about that. I’m Sachi Kudo.”
“I knew it.”
Fei sighs rather irritably.
Sachi Kudo.
The girl who was our class rep.
We weren’t particularly close, but she stood out in class because of her blunt nature.
Since she was monstrously strict about the rules, she had a lot of enemies, too.
And since Fei tended to be a bit of a mess in various ways, they butted heads pretty often.
“Why do you look so much like your old self, Ms. Shinohara?”
Apparently, Kudo did notice that Fei looks a lot like she did in her previous life.
Since it’s been such a long time, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of us forgot one another’s faces, but I guess she remembered an old foe.
“Oh, y’know. I guess even death couldn’t take away my beauty.”
“Give me a real answer, please.”
Fei’s 100-percent lie is even more obvious because of the silly pose that comes along with it.
Kudo immediately shoots her down.
Now that’s a nostalgic exchange.
“Seriously, I dunno why I look like this, okay?”
Fei refuses to drop her jokey attitude, and Kudo continues to glare at her suspiciously.
“Mirei?”
“Huh? Is that really you?”
A few others notice our presence and drop their work to join Kudo in gathering around us.
Two of them notice Fei’s appearance and call out to her.
“Hmm? Wait, is that Ai and Himi?”
“You guessed it!”
“Oh my god, so it really is you, Mirei?! Wow, it’s been sooo long!”
Reunited with their old friend, the girls jump up and down with excitement.
Fei was the center of a particularly flashy group of girls and had a lot of friends.
It’s been more than ten years, yet they immediately clump together and chatter away like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Honestly, I think that level of sociability is pretty impressive.
“At any rate, let’s not keep standing around out here. Everyone, let’s put today’s work on hold for now and go inside.”
Kudo directs the first half at us and the second at everyone else.
“Are you coming, too, Ms. Oka? Not that you’re particularly welcome.”
I can’t help but feel a twinge in my heart at her harsh words.
It was clear from the beginning that Kudo strongly dislikes Ms. Oka, but I can’t understand why her rejection is this intense.
Since she was the class rep in our old world, Kudo spent a lot of time with Ms. Oka, and I seem to remember them being pretty close.
Something must have happened between them in this world to cause such a large rift.
As I dither uncertainly, Katia calmly looks around at the situation as a whole, while Fei stares right at Ms. Oka.
“Right…I understand. Well, I would hate to put a damper on everyone’s reunion, so I’ll take my leave here.”
With that, Ms. Oka quickly turns away.
Her expression looks as if she’s forcing a smile while holding back tears.
“Let’s go.”
Ignoring our teacher, Kudo starts walking.
Looking around, I see that several of the other students are looking at Ms. Oka with hard-to-read expressions.
But nobody makes any move to call out to her.
As we start off in the opposite direction, I steal a glance at Ms. Oka as she walks away.
I’ve never seen her look so small.
PLAYING WITH DOLLS
These days, my life basically involves moving in and out of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
When the Demon Lord is getting close to catching up with me, I use Teleport to return to the labyrinth, where I work on reducing the ranks of Mother’s army.
Then, when the Demon Lord gets an SOS from Mother that I’m causing trouble and comes back toward the labyrinth, I teleport outside again.
And so on and so forth.
Apparently, even the Demon Lord can’t catch up with me as long as I have Teleport and the ability to monitor her location.
Still, if I let my guard down, she’ll catch me for sure, meaning I have to use Exhaustion Nullification to stay awake around the clock.
The skill keeps my body from getting worn out even if I don’t sleep, but the lack of rest is pretty tough on my spirit.
Besides, the Demon Lord is no fool, so she’s been taking measures to put an end to this game of cat and mouse.
Specifically, the number of puppet spiders has increased.
The puppet spiders are under the Demon Lord’s command, separate from Mother.
In addition to the one that Mother already had, the Demon Lord has thrown in ten more of the damn things.
Even just one was a headache in itself, and now I have to deal with eleven?
Come on—give me a break.
Half the new puppet spiders are on guard in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
The other five are outside pursuing me, as I found out the hard way.
The Demon Lord was returning to the labyrinth, so I teleported back outside only to find a puppet spider waiting for me.
I managed to escape with my life somehow and even succeeded in Appraising it so I could mark the thing on my map, but one wrong move and it would’ve been curtains for me.
In fact, I took enough damage that I would be dead right now if it weren’t for Immortality.
Long live Immortality!
However, the situation is getting worse by the minute.
The Demon Lord and her puppet spider tracking team are constantly on my tail, and in the Great Elroe Labyrinth, I’ve got Mother and six more puppet spiders to contend with.
Mother’s not as strong as she used to be, but at the same time, I’m running into the puppet spiders more and more often.
At this rate, I’ll eventually be backed into a corner with no more places to run.
So I have to somehow reduce the number of puppet spiders before that happens.
Right now, I could beat Mother if given enough time, but the Demon Lord is nearly invincible, and the puppet spiders all have higher stats than I do.
I’m definitely outclassed here.
But I have to do something, or I’m done for.
Who cares if they’re all stronger than me?
I’ve been fighting enemies who far outclassed me all my life here.
There’s no point in wimping out now.
Thus far, I’ve been able to beat enemies who are stronger than I am through a combination of resourcefulness and sheer guts.
The resourcefulness to make various traps using my thread and the guts to never give up, no matter how bad the situation.
It’s no exaggeration to say that those are the two things that have kept me alive all this time.
I’m just going to stick with what works.
For the moment, I can’t beat a puppet spider in a fair fight.
But I’ve come up with a trap that might do the trick.
Anyway, that’s what’s on my mind as I’m running around like crazy.
Fleeing from the Demon Lord and the puppet spiders, slowly whittling away the spider army.
And now, I’ve been chased into a dead end.
The Great Elroe Labyrinth, Upper Stratum.
I’m in a small dome-shaped room, surrounded by six puppet spiders.
To an onlooker, this probably seems like a desperate situation.
The dolls likely think they have me cornered, but what they don’t know is that they’ve been drawn right into my trap.
I’ve been playing tag in the Great Elroe Labyrinth for longer than usual in order to lure all six of the puppet spiders here into one place.
It might look like these dumb dolls have secured my escape route, which isn’t wrong, but if that same route gets sealed off, they won’t be able to escape, either.
And so: Earth Magic, activate!
I close the only way out with Earth Magic.
Now this little room is totally sealed off.
And with that, it’s time for even more magic!
Spatial Magic: Spatial Storage!
This is basically one of those Item Box–type spells that store items in a separate dimension, but I’ve never had to carry things before, so it was basically gathering dust.
But this time, I’ve got a little something stored away in there.
A whole bunch of seawater.
I release the seawater into the little room while stashing away the air that was in there instead.
The seawater fills the entire room, submerging it completely.
Just as I predicted, the puppet spiders can’t swim, so they’re pressed against the ceiling.
For whatever reason, my body is composed in a way that makes it extremely buoyant.
Even if I try to dive underwater, I just pop right back up.
I started thinking, even if they’re not the same exact race, wouldn’t other spider monsters have similar properties?
To test my theory, I captured a single small lesser taratect from the spider army and tested it out in the ocean.
Sure enough, it floated on the water just like I did.
That wasn’t a guarantee that the puppet spiders would work the same way, but it looks like I won that bet.
The puppet spiders are helplessly buoyed up against the ceiling.
On top of being pressed forcefully against the ceiling because of their natural makeup as spiders, the thread they use to control the puppets’ limbs is damp, hindering their movements a little.
And I’m observing all this from the bottom of the room.
Heh-heh-heh.
That’s right. In order to carry out this strategy, I paid the high cost to acquire the Swim skill!
Now, I can more or less dive underwater.
I can’t really swim around freely, though, since the skill level is super-low.
Still, it works well enough to make this plan a success.
Now that the puppet spiders can’t move, I fire Black Magic at them.
I figured out when I was fighting the water wyrms and dragons that dark-related magic isn’t affected by water.
Apparently, Dark Magic hits the puppet spiders with the same power it would have on land.
No matter how high their stats are, if they can’t move, they can’t put those stats to use.
And since I can move underwater, they can’t hit me with magic of their own, either.
Wait, no, I spoke too soon.
Since my Swim skill level is low, I can’t really get around fast enough to dodge all their magic.
But that’s okay.
My magic defense is high, so even the puppet spiders’ magic attacks don’t do much damage.
Wait, sorry, I was wrong again.
I’m actually taking a lot of damage.
I mean, those guys are really strong, y’know?
Even with my high magic defense, of course they’re going to cause some damage.
But that’s still all right.
Having the puppet spiders aim their magic at me is an important part of the plan.
See, stats that exceed 10,000 can cause so much damage that they could basically bring about a natural disaster.
If they tried, I’m pretty sure the puppet spiders could make this whole room collapse.
That’s why I wanted to give them a target to attack, so that thought doesn’t occur to them.
Basically, I’m using myself as bait.
If the puppet spiders calmed down a little, they would probably prioritize destroying the room.
But since I’m right here before their eyes, and attacking them at that, of course they’ll want to destroy me instead.
Especially if they’re panicking because they can’t breathe.
As I attack the puppet spiders, I take little hits of the air I stored away earlier.
That way, I won’t suffocate.
But what about the puppets?
I doubt they can breathe underwater.
Last time I checked, spiders didn’t have that convenient little feature.
I mean, we’re not fish.
Normally, our bodies are constructed in a way that we can’t even go underwater.
Their high stats might give a boost to their lung capacity or something, but no living thing that needs air can survive without it for long.
And the more they move, the faster they run out of oxygen.
Since they’re locked in a magical shoot-out with little old me, they’ll be out of air in no time flat.
I don’t need to get rid of their HP with magic.
All I have to do is keep their attention on me and wait for them to run out of air.
The trade-off is that I have to take some hits from their magic, but between my high magic defense and my Perseverance skill, I calculated that I should be able to endure.
Even if I take more damage than I expected, there’s always the last resort of Immortality.
And even if they do manage to kill me temporarily, they should be completely exhausted by then themselves due to the lack of air.
I doubt they could muster enough strength to destroy the room then, and even if they do, it’ll just cause a cave-in.
In their weakened state, that means they’ll be buried alive.
Sure, I’ll get buried along with them, but I have Immortality, so I won’t actually die.
Worst-case scenario, it’s possible I’ll stay buried and lose consciousness permanently, but you can’t fight a far stronger opponent without taking on some degree of risk.
The puppet spiders are stronger than I am, even though I’m clearly kicking their butts right now.
In fact, I’m almost surprised that it’s going this well.
One of the puppet spiders starts flailing its arms, attacking the ceiling.
But with water soaking into its limbs and the thread that controls them, it doesn’t appear to be able to move very well.
It strikes its weapons sluggishly against the ceiling, but since there’s so little strength behind the blows, it’s not even making a dent.
Just to be safe, I fire more magic at the struggling puppet spider, hindering its movements.
Then, as the puppets drown, their resistance slows down and finally stops completely.
Since I’ve defeated six much stronger opponents at once, my level shoots up right away.
Still, I Appraise each one just to make sure they’ve all breathed their last.
All six have turned into corpses.
No matter how high your stats are, sometimes death can come for you unexpectedly, just like this.
This time, it worked out in my favor, but I also have to remember never to underestimate a foe just because it’s weaker than I am.
At any rate, I’ve successfully wiped out a bunch of annoying enemies all at once.
My opponents who still remain: the Demon Lord, Mother, and the other five puppet spiders.
THE REINCARNATIONS GATHER
Kudo leads us into a dining hall.
Like the rest of the elf village, it’s built inside a large tree.
This one is particularly big, but it’s still cramped because of all the desks and chairs inside.
Somehow, it reminds me of the outdoors school I went to for junior high.
Inside the dining hall, four other kids are already cooking.
One of the boys notices us and pauses.
He seems skeptical when he looks at Katia and me, but his eyes widen when he notices Fei.
Even after all these years, it seems like a lot of people remember her well.
I guess that probably has to do with how intense she is.
“Kudo, are those three by any chance…?”
“Yes, they are.”
Kudo calls the four people over from their cooking.
Everyone goes to what I assume are their usual seats, while Kudo brings the three of us to the front of the dining hall.
“First of all, could I ask you to introduce yourselves again?”
“I’m Shunsuke Yamada.”
“Kanata Ooshima.”
“And I’m Mirei Shinohara, obviously.”
As soon as we finish introducing ourselves, the whole room erupts into chatter.
Inevitably, most of the eyes in the room seem to be on Katia.
“Shun and Kanata? Is that really you?”
It’s the same boy who was cooking earlier.
“Yeah.”
As soon as I answer, his face breaks into a grin.
“Good to see you, man!”
Something about that smile gives me déjà vu.
Though his features are different, I’d recognize that genuine friendliness anywhere.
“Ogi?”
“Yep, it’s me. How could you tell?”
“You’re the only person I know with such a goofy smile.”
Kenichi Ogiwara, also known as Ogi, smiles even harder.
He’s a friend from back in the soccer club.
Incidentally, his nickname is based on his surname because his first name was too similar to Kengo Natsume, Hugo’s old identity.
After Ogi, the rest of the class introduces themselves.
Some of them I missed dearly, while others I admittedly can barely remember.
All in all, there are thirteen reincarnations here.
That’s two more than the eleven Ms. Oka told us about before.
The two newcomers are Kunihiko Tagawa and Asaka Kushitani.
“You two were adventurers?”
“’Course. If you’re in a fantasy world, you gotta go on adventures, right?”
“I’m not sure about that…”
Tagawa and Kushitani were apparently mercenaries before they came here.
Specifically, both their parents belonged to their own mercenary groups, so they grew up as childhood friends.
However, those mercenary groups were wiped out in a battle against demons.
After that, the pair decided to switch from being mercenaries to being adventurers, striking out on their own.
During their journey, they were contacted by the elves, and that’s why they came here.
They only arrived in the village quite recently.
“Wait, why are you a babe now, Kanata?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
Katia’s shoulders sag.
Evidently, she’s the only person whose gender changed.
“Whatever, at least you’re still human. I’m a monster, you know!”
Fei starts talking about herself, and the girls all flock to her.
For some reason, this leads to their touching her wings and shrieking.
She always was the center of the girls in the class, one way or another.
Before long, the girls have all gathered around Fei, while the boys all gather around Katia and me.
Of the thirteen people here, there are five boys and eight girls.
It seems like the boys are a little self-conscious about being outnumbered.
We start exchanging information.
“So that dumbass Natsume is coming to attack us?” Tagawa asks incredulously.
“Yeah.”
I nod gravely.
“Natsume, huh…?”
Ogi’s face clearly shows his conflicted emotions.
He was good friends with us but also with Hugo.
It’s only natural that he would be shocked to learn that one of his old friends has changed so drastically.
The other boys were dismayed as well, but I could see in their expressions that they weren’t quite as surprised.
The old Natsume wouldn’t do anything as insane as Hugo is doing now, but he always had a pushy, disagreeable personality.
Many of the boys privately disliked Natsume, even if they didn’t dare say it aloud.
That’s probably why the majority of reactions were along the lines of “Yeah, I’d believe it.”
“Did the elves not tell you what’s going on in the outside world?” Katia asks.
Ogi hesitates for a second before responding.
“Yeah. They try to have as little to do with us as possible.”
“I see. What was with that weird pause, though?”
This time, Ogi exchanges glances with the other guys.
“Uh, sorry if I was acting weird. It’s just, it’s hard to believe a pretty girl like you is really Kanata, y’know?”
The other guys all nod in agreement.
Katia’s expression is difficult to read.
“Yeah, I guess it would be, huh.”
“Crap, I’m sorry! I know it’s not like you chose to be a girl or anything, and I’m sure it’s been super-hard for you! It’s just that you kinda seem like a different person now…”
Ogi’s panic makes it painfully clear that he has no idea how to interact with Katia.
“That’s all right, dude. Just talk to me like you would’ve normally, okay?”
“That’s easy for you to say…”
“If it bothers you that much, I’ll just go join the girls. Okay?”
“No, please stay here.”
Ogi is practically tripping over himself now.
It’s all too obvious why he wants her to stay.
I mean, Katia is almost stunningly beautiful.
I’m sure he’s excited just to be able to talk to someone that pretty.
“Shun, you traveled here with Kanata and Shinohara, right? Man, I’m so jealous. You’ve got a girl for each arm!”
Ogi turns on me to complain.
Even though one of those girls is right in front of us.
“But one of ’em is Kanata, and the other one’s…well…Shinohara.”
At least Tagawa’s defending me.
“Besides, is it just me, or are all of us reincarnations totally hotter than average?”
At that comment, I take another look at the faces of the people around me.
He’s right, actually: Every one of them is quite good-looking.
I was pretty plain in my old life, and aside from standouts like Fei and Wakaba, most of my classmates were similarly average-looking.
But while there’s a wide variety of appearances here, overall everyone is gorgeous.
Maybe the gods who reincarnated us wanted to do us all a favor.
“You’re right. Guess you shouldn’t be complaining, huh?”
Katia nudges Ogi teasingly, and he throws his hands up jokingly in surrender.
For a moment, it’s almost as if we’re back in our old lives.
But that’s just an illusion, of course.
We’ve all spent the same amount of time in this world by now.
“So most of you were basically kidnapped by the elves and brought here?”
Katia’s voice brings me back to the present. While I was busy getting absorbed in emotions, the subject changed to how everyone got to the elf village.
Ogi and the others nod.
“Everyone’s situation is a little different, but yeah. A lot of us were sold by our parents for money. I heard Temarikawa actually did get kidnapped.”
This revelation makes me feel a little dizzy.
I always believed in Ms. Oka and her efforts to protect the reincarnations, but now it’s clear that there’s a dark side to that.
My classmates were traded or captured like slaves?
Katia, on the other hand, seems strangely calm.
“Aren’t you shocked?”
“I mean, yeah, I guess. But I had my suspicions.”
Katia was suspicious of Ms. Oka from the beginning.
She must have had a lot of theories.
Including the unsavory things Ms. Oka might have done in the process.
I remember something Sophia said when we faced off against her.
She told Ms. Oka, “You’ve done plenty of killing yourself.”
Back then, I knew there had to be a good reason for that, and I still don’t believe that our teacher would kill anyone without a reason.
But at the same time, I can’t deny that my doubts about Ms. Oka have only been growing.
I want to trust her, but I can’t, at least not completely.
Should we really be protecting the elves at all?
Of course, if Hugo attacks this place, I have to fight to protect the reincarnations who live here.
Besides, I have my own reasons for wanting to defeat him.
But what am I supposed to do after that?
From what I’ve heard so far, pretty much no one here is satisfied with the way things are.
They’re constantly being monitored by the elves.
Based on what they’ve told us and the work they were doing earlier, they seem to be living more or less self-sufficiently here.
They grow vegetables in the field and raise livestock for meat.
If they need something that they can’t get here, the elves will give it to them, but for the most part, they take care of things themselves.
Most of them were brought here when they were babies or otherwise too young to be aware of the world around them.
At that age, the elves took care of them, but their presence gradually lessened, and now they rarely make contact outside of surveillance and providing supplies.
“They don’t want us to do too much, I guess,” Ogi says.
He’s probably right.
The elves don’t want the reincarnations to raise their skills.
Because of their battle with the administrators that Ms. Oka told us about.
But is that really the only reason?
Is that enough to justify committing crimes to gather the reincarnations and force them into this lifestyle?
There must be something else we don’t know about.
Is Ms. Oka hiding it from us?
And is that for our own good or not?
I have no idea.
But for right now, the situation with Hugo is more important.
Once that’s done, I’ll have to confront Ms. Oka once and for all.
Even if it means making enemies of the elves.
Anxiety eats away at me as I listen to Ogi and the others.
The excitement of reuniting with old friends went on for hours, and we ended up renewing our bonds until the sun went down.
This means that I’ve met most of the reincarnations now.
There are only two left who I haven’t seen yet, aside from the four who are apparently dead.
One of those two is a close friend of mine and Katia’s, Kyouya Sasajima.
When Ms. Oka told us about Sophia, she said:
“Her name is Sophia Keren. And in her previous life, she was Shouko Negishi. She is one of the reincarnations who has sided with the administrators.”
One of the reincarnations who has sided with the administrators.
Doesn’t that mean that there are other reincarnations besides Sophia who have done the same thing?
Thinking back, when I asked Ms. Oka about Kyouya, she blatantly dodged the question.
Does that mean he’s one of them?
Did she know about that and hide that information from us?
If so, it would explain a lot of things.
Unfortunately.
I haven’t talked to Katia about this yet.
I’m sure she reached the same conclusion long before I did.
And knowing Katia, she’s probably thought it through even further than I have.
About why Ms. Oka would have kept that from us.
Until now, I always believed that if Ms. Oka was keeping secrets, it must be for a good reason.
I didn’t think she would ever hide something from us, unless she had to.
There had to be some reason that she couldn’t tell us, for our own sakes.
But after hearing the other reincarnations’ side of things, now I’m not so sure.
What if I was wrong, and she was keeping this information from us not for our sakes but for hers?
Did she avoid telling us about Kyouya because it would be inconvenient for her if we knew?
I really want to trust her.
But more and more, I’m not sure if I can.
Would all this doubt clear away if I got to see Kyouya again?
Hey, Kyouya.
Where are you right now? What are you doing?
If we meet again, will it be as friends? Or as enemies?
All these questions go unanswered.
THE ADMINISTRATORS’ REINCARNATION ALLIES
“Hey.”
“Oh? Are you allowed to come over here?”
“As long as it’s not for too long.”
“I see. Well, what do you want?”
“How rude. I’m here to give you a message from your master, I’ll have you know.”
“…And what is that message?”
“‘You’ll be punished later.’”
“…What is this about?”
“Beats me. Shouldn’t you know better than I would?”
“There are too many possibilities to choose from!”
“Maybe it’s because you laid a hand on Ms. Oka?”
“That was justified self-defense.”
“Oh yeah? I dunno how justified it was, if you ask me. But if you’re gonna make excuses, tell it to your master, not me.”
“Master would never listen to my excuses.”
“True enough. Why don’t you just accept your punishment, then?”
“I don’t wanna!”
“Not sure if you have much of a choice.”
“La-la-la, I can’t heeear you!”
“Don’t be such a baby.”
“Oh, shut up, you. Anyway, make sure you don’t mess up taking down the elf village, got it?”
“How could that possibly fail?”
“I suppose you’re right, but still. Didn’t two particularly bothersome reincarnations just join that little group?”
“Yeah. Tagawa and Kushitani.”
“And they were adventurers, were they not? I’d imagine they’re somewhat strong.”
“Only somewhat, at best.”
“Well, I hope so, for your sake.”
“You saw for yourself, didn’t you, Sophia? Even the hero can’t come anywhere near our level.”
“I suppose. But remember what Master said? Stats aren’t everything.”
“Right, right. No matter how much higher your stats are, that doesn’t mean you can’t lose. I know, okay? I won’t let my guard down.”
“I hope not. I’m sure those elves are hiding something. You wouldn’t wanna die because some stupid thing caught you off guard, would you?”
“’Course not. Oh yeah, speaking of the hero, I heard he and his little party are in the elf village now.”
“Oh? I thought I made it quite clear to them last time that they can’t possibly beat me.”
“They probably just figured they still can’t give up, right? That would be so like Shun.”
“Hmmmm.”
“You don’t sound too interested.”
“That’s because I’m not.”
“Well, I’m pretty interested, personally.”
“What, because you were friends in our old lives?”
“Yeah. I can’t wait to see the look on Shun’s and Kanata’s faces when we meet again.”
“Well, don’t let that nonsense distract you from our main order of business, all right?”
“I know.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to it, then. I want to see you go on a real rampage.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
“Maybe I’ll even put in a serious effort for once.”
“Ooh, scary.”
“Either way, the elf village is going down whether we make an effort or not. Master is coming, after all.”
MATRICIDE
Things are going great right now!
Bwa-ha-ha!
Ever since I wiped out all those puppet spiders at once, I haven’t been able to stop smiling.
After that, I succeeded in destroying another one, too.
The Demon Lord found out very quickly about the six puppet spiders I killed and took countermeasures of her own.
She dispatched the last remaining puppet spider in the labyrinth to go on the defensive.
I drowned that one, too, of course.
The Demon Lord must have told it how the other ones went down, because it already had the Swim skill when I found it.
But that didn’t make much of a difference.
I blocked it off, filled the room with water, used Short-Range Teleport to get out of the room, and waited.
And then, what do you know!
The small room caved in, and there you have it! One puppet spider, buried alive!
I figured the same trick probably wouldn’t work twice. This time I made a hasty exit so it would try to destroy the room and escape.
Once I wasn’t in the room anymore, there was no need for it to wait around in the water.
It would naturally try to escape by breaking through the walls or ceiling of the room.
But what it didn’t know was that I’d already done some deconstruction work in the room to make sure it would collapse easily.
There you have it, a lovely little room where rocks and dirt would fall everywhere if you so much as poked the walls.
It was an easy job with a little Earth Magic tampering.
Then I just had to teleport the buried puppet spider away, dirt and all.
Right into the magma of the Middle Stratum, of course.
Man, it wasn’t easy. On top of the large amount of weight to teleport, there was also the puppet spider’s magic resistance to deal with, meaning my MP shot waaay down.
But since the puppet spider was damaged by the cave-in on top of being encased in earth, I was able to finish the spell before it crawled out.
Ding! One magma-fied puppet spider, coming right up.
Just to be safe, I went to the Middle Stratum myself to make sure the stupid doll was dead, and guess what? It had somehow made it out of the magma alive!
I guess all the earth I teleported along with it actually ended up protecting it a little.
Still, its whole body was charred, the thread inside had burned away, and the mannequin shell had carbonized around it.
It probably would’ve died if I’d left it alone, but of course I had to finish it off myself to get those tasty experience points.
That’s seven puppet spiders I’ve defeated now.
There are four left, but I’m starting to get the hang of beating them.
The Demon Lord seems to have caught on to this, too, though. She’s got the last four traveling together now.
Taking on four of them at once definitely won’t be easy, so I’m avoiding them for the time being.
But since they’re working in a group now, that means their search range has narrowed considerably.
I’ve been avoiding them pretty easily and expanding my range outside while I’m at it.
The Demon Lord is still hot on my trail, but as long as I keep tabs on her and run away with Teleport, she’s not going to catch me unless something goes terribly wrong.
I keep exploring outside to expand my Teleport options, then popping back into the Great Elroe Labyrinth to do some spider hunting whenever the Demon Lord gets too close.
I can’t do anything about the insane powerhouse that is the Demon Lord herself, but it’s her forces that are getting whittled away right now, not mine.
Teleport is so convenient it’s a little scary.
In fact, Spatial Magic and Dimensional Magic in general are pretty broken.
It’s only thanks to them that I can keep hoodwinking the Demon Lord like this.
Not to mention I used them to defeat the puppet spiders, too.
Meanwhile, Mother is running pretty low on soldiers.
She doesn’t have a single arch or greater taratect left to her name.
There are still a few regular adult taratects left, but those don’t even count as a threat anymore.
The Demon Lord seems to have given up on stationing puppet spiders in the labyrinth, meaning I’ve been able to rampage as much as I please.
As a result, Mother is the only real fighting force the Demon Lord has left in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
And even Mother is on thin ice.
I use Professor Wisdom’s marking feature to Appraise her from a distance.
<Queen taratect (Weakened) LV 89
Status: HP: 6,488/6,488 (MAX 24,557) (green) +0 (details)
SP: 6,134/6,134 (MAX 23,097) (yellow) (details)
Average Offensive Ability: 6,456 (MAX 24,439) (details)
Average Magical Ability: 5,872 (MAX 21977) (details)
Average Speed Ability: 6,433 (MAX 24,400) (details)
MP: 5,911/5,911 (MAX 22,301) (blue) +0 (details)
: 6,134/6,134 (MAX 23,991) (red) +0 (details)
Average Defensive Ability: 6,447 (MAX 24,286) (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 5,869 (MAX 21,946) (details)
>
I’ll leave out the skills and all, but her stats have gone way down.
It’s all thanks to my Parallel Minds’ hard work.
Sure, her stats are still all around 6,000, but compared to the original numbers, that’s a huge step down.
They’re almost at a quarter of their original values by now.
I mean, 70 percent off? That’s like a store-closing-sale-level value right there!
That giant beast has lower stats than the puppet spiders by now.
I, on the other hand, have been leveling up like crazy with all the fighting I’ve been doing.
I’m now level 24.
That was really fast, considering how recently I evolved.
It’s probably because I’ve been beating super-strong monsters all over the place, like arch taratects, greater taratects, and of course those puppet spiders.
And in the ocean, I beat a bunch of water wyrms and even water dragons. It’s only natural that my EXP has gone up a ton.
If anything, it’s surprising that this impressive killing spree didn’t get me any higher than 24.
It’s probably because it takes longer to level up after so many evolutions.
Anyway, with all that leveling up, my stats are now as good or better than Mother’s current stats.
My magic attack and defense are more than 19,000.
Before you know it, I’ll break the 20,000 range.
In fact, my MP is already there.
The next-highest stat is speed at 13,000.
There’s another one that broke 10,000 and outclasses the puppet spiders now.
Now if one chases me, I can run away on foot!
Oh, but my SP is a little low at 4,500. I’d probably lose if it came down to a battle of endurance.
I guess Teleport is still the better option.
My HP is 7,500.
Physical attack and physical defense are at 5,000.
These physical stats and my SP are a little lower than Mother’s, but all my other stats are higher than hers.
My magic-related stats in particular are almost three times higher than hers.
Honestly, with my current stats, I think I could even beat a puppet spider in a one-on-one, no-traps-allowed, totally fair fight.
Hey, doesn’t that mean I can beat Mother, since her stats are lower than a puppet spider’s?
Yeah! Let’s go fight her right now!
Mother, I’m about to surpass you once and for all!
She’s currently located in the Bottom Stratum of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
I’ve never been there, so I’ll have to walk.
The giant pit where I had my epic showdown with Araba contains a shaft that leads down to the Bottom Stratum.
I climb down that hole until I finally reach the deepest part of the whole dungeon, the Bottom Stratum.
Unlike the other stratums, the Bottom Stratum is just one big space.
There are no paths, only a big dome-shaped area.
The ceiling is probably hundreds of feet high.
It’s so big that you can’t even see the end of it with the naked eye.
I could probably see it with Clairvoyance, but I’m not going to do that right now.
Mother is standing calmly right before my eyes.
Seeing her up close and in person, I’m again reminded of how huge she is.
The first time I saw her was right after I was born.
At the time, all I could do in the face of her majestic appearance was tremble in fear.
To be honest, I’m afraid even now.
Her size alone makes her very intimidating.
Now that’s a genuine giant monster.
Each of her eight enormous eyes looks as big as my whole body.
She is the absolute largest monster I’ve ever seen.
She could squash me just by stepping on me with those huge legs.
Yep. That’s a monstrosity, all right.
If she wasn’t in a weakened state, there’s no way I ever would have challenged this thing to a fight.
Even now, I’m starting to think I might’ve jumped the gun a bit.
Her eight eyes glare right through me.
Eek?! Scaryyyy!
Come on, me! Don’t wimp out!
I’m the one with the higher stats now!
There’s no way I can lose!
Mother takes one heavy step forward, then raises a huge front leg.
No fancy moves here. You couldn’t call this anything more than a stomp.
However, this is the super-giant Mother’s stomping we’re talking about.
The sheer force of her physical mass is coming down straight toward me.
Sure, her stats are lower.
But it’s not like she weighs any less because of it.
I can’t even imagine how many tons she weighs, but I know one thing: If she tramples on me with all her weight, it’s not going to end well for me.
However, my speed is more than double hers now.
I can dodge this without a problem.
Or so I thought.
By the time I notice what’s happening, it’s already too late.
My legs won’t move.
Not because I’m frozen out of fear or anything.
They’re just stuck to the ground, totally immobilized.
As if my feet are attached to the floor somehow.
Startled, I look down.
Then I see it.
Part 7 of 8