A Secret Night
Satou here. There’s this line I read in an exorcism novel once: “One must never negotiate with demons. They tempt and seduce humans with their honeyed words.” I still think back on that sometimes.
“Master! What’s wrong?”
As I stood frozen in shock, Arisa repeated her question.
“Go back to the ship without me. I have a little business to take care of first.”
“Wh-what do you mean? Come on…tell me.”
Arisa looked pale. Unlike her usually joking expressions, this one was completely serious.
“Lady Sara is in danger in the old capital. I’m going to go and help her.”
“The oracle priestess…? You don’t think they’re trying to resurrect a demon lord, do you?!”
That was probably taking it too far.
We’d destroyed the chaos jar necessary for the ritual, after all, and I’d also confiscated the malice urn I found on the way here. If a demon lord was going to be resurrected, it shouldn’t happen for a very long time.
For now, they had probably summoned a minion as a first step toward their ultimate goal.
“No, no. It should only be a lesser demon.”
“D-don’t go! What if it does turn out to be a demon lord?!”
The other children seemed convinced, but Arisa was unusually worried.
“It’ll be fine. I’ll come back safely; don’t worry. I promised I’d make you some tasty kobumaki, remember?”
“D-don’t jinx yourself, stupid!”
True enough, it did sound like the kind of line you’d say before going off to your death, but I had no intention of getting myself killed.
Uncharacteristically distressed, Arisa clutched my robe so tightly that I thought her delicate fingers might break if I pulled it away.
“Lady Sara has been possessed. I have to go help her before things get really bad. Let go of my robe, Arisa.”
“I can’t… Do you remember when I mentioned having a bad dream this afternoon?” Arisa’s voice trembled. “I was lying… It was actually about you fighting a giant man with a boar’s head. You were wielding a black sword, but the giant used a golden blade to cut you down…”
Arisa’s halting confession was a bit too serious to dismiss out of hand as “just a dream.”
For one thing, she didn’t know about my black Holy Sword. But even if there was a demon lord there, I couldn’t just leave Miss Sara to fend for herself. If I just waited for a hero to come from the Saga Empire, it would probably cost Miss Sara her life.
“Don’t worry. Even if a demon lord is there, I’ll just beat him. So let me go.”
“No! Don’t go… I’m worried.” Arisa shook her head obstinately.
I felt guilty about the tears in her eyes, but I had no time to argue like this.
“If you won’t listen to me, I’ll have to give you an order, all right?”
“Go ahead and try… My heart won’t lose to some stupid order.”
I had no choice. I didn’t like to use orders, but right now, Miss Sara’s life was on the line.
“Then…this is an order. Let go of my robe, Arisa. I order you to go back to the ship and wait.”
“I won’t! I won’t let you go!”
Even after that, Arisa refused to release my robe. Her breathing grew ragged, and drops of sweat formed on her forehead.
She was probably suffering for disobeying her slave contract.
“D-don’t go… Sa…tou…”
The pain rendered Arisa unconscious, and she collapsed, still hanging on to my robe.
“A-Arisa!”
Anxiously watching the proceedings, Lulu rushed over and caught her by the shoulder.
I carefully pried the unconscious girl’s fingers from my robe and put her hand in her lap as Lulu held her.
I patted Arisa’s head. She still looked agonized even in unconsciousness, so I murmured in her ear that I was calling off the order.
I wasn’t sure whether it would work, but after a moment, the pained expression left her face.
“Lulu, take care of her, please.”
“O-of course.”
I gave a gentle kiss to Arisa’s cheek, wiping away her tears. “May fortune favor you.”
“Master, good luck, I encourage.”
“Please don’t push yourself too hard, master.”
“Satou. Come back safely, okay? You can’t get hurt. Promise?”
I nodded at Liza, Nana, Lulu, and finally Mia’s uncharacteristically long statement, then disappeared into the night dressed as the silver-masked hero.
Incidentally, Tama and Pochi stayed asleep the whole time.
Before my urgent trip to the old capital, I stopped at the viceroy’s mansion to see Miss Karina. I needed to borrow the demon-sealing bell back from her.
When I looked up her location on the map, though, I noticed something strange.
Condition: Paralyzed
Guess there’s trouble at the viceroy’s place, too.
I came down from the sky onto the balcony of the evening party’s venue.
“Now, where should the torment start? Which of you will be the first to offer your despair to the malice urn?”
A man in a purple robe was standing on a table in the center of the room.
He was a member of the Wings of Freedom and a level-31 necromancer. The spirits floating around him had the inherent ability Paralysis. Without my AR indicator, they would’ve just looked like translucent brown objects.
“Well, who better to sacrifice than a maiden? Go, my poltergeists…!”
At the necromancer’s instructions, a rope flew out of his bag and wrapped around the fallen Miss Karina, hauling her up.
She must have left Raka behind to participate in the banquet.
“Ngh, Satou…”
“Bwa-ha-ha! Calling the name of your beloved in your final moments? By the time this man arrives, you’ll be in such a state that he’ll cry out in despair at the sight of you!” The necromancer sneered down nastily at Miss Karina. “Let’s start with that chest of yo… Gah!”
I rained Short Stun spells on the man to protect Miss Karina and her magical breasts.
With an utterly unoriginal screech, the man flew backward, crashed through a wall, and disappeared from the room.
I was careful not to kill him, but his condition read Serious Injury, and his HP was almost gone.
The spirits and the rope-wielding poltergeist came after me, but I used a Holy Sword from Storage to destroy them in a single blow.
I also collected the malice urn from the table into Storage.
“It seems you lead quite a turbulent life, Daughter of Muno.”
Trying to remember how I’d played the hero last time, I gave Miss Karina a potion to heal her paralysis.
“…Th-thank you, S-Sir Hero.”
“I apologize for asking this in such a situation, but I must request that you lend me your demon-sealing bell. I’m afraid it is terribly urgent.”
Miss Karina hesitated a moment, then undid the top button of her shirt and pulled out the bell from her chest.
The valley from which it came threatened to steal my gaze, but I forcibly resisted, reminding myself of the situation at hand.
“H-here you are…”
“Yes, this is it. Thank you.”
Miss Karina looked like she wanted to say something, but I simply promised her, “I’ll bring it back to you when it’s all over,” handed her enough anti-paralysis potions for the other guests, and left the mansion behind.
Later, when the viceroy returned with the troops he’d gone to summon, they collected the near-dead necromancer.
I soared through the night sky above the river on my hang glider, arriving over the old capital in less than a half hour.
According to my map, Miss Sara’s current position was in the Boar Lord’s Labyrinth: Ruins.
When I turned on the map’s 3-D display, I found her marker shining far below the capital in a blank zone of the map.
Using that information, I searched for a way underground.
Beneath the old capital was a complicated mazelike sewer. There was even a shelter below the nobles’ quarters.
As I continued my survey, I found dozens of the Wings of Freedom moving through the sewers.
That’s suspicious.
I put markers on all the members in the old capital, then headed toward the entrance to the sewers.
I kept the markers open in a corner of my vision, where I soon saw the location for some of them change from Ougoch Duchy to Boar Lord’s Labyrinth: Ruins.
So my hunch was right.
As I monitored their movements, the members all collected in the same place and somehow moved into the labyrinth.
Once I’d determined the fastest route to their meeting place, I headed into the tunnels.
As I approached the entrance to the tunnels, I had to use a perfumed handkerchief to cover my nose and mouth and ward off the horrible smell.
The passages of the sewer were filthy, so I used “Skyrunning” to sprint through the air without touching the ground.
As I flew along, I checked my equipment.
I definitely had enough weapons. Aside from the Divine Blade, I had the Holy Sword I usually used, Excalibur, as well as three other Holy Swords and a Holy Spear, plus two magic blades and the Magic Bow that the giants gave me.
Most of them had been stashed away in Storage since I first got them in the Valley of Dragons, but I should be able to use them without a problem.
In addition, I had ten disposable Holy Arrows, plus the three Holy Short Spears I made in the same batch.
With the help of my “Overload” skill, I had already filled these disposable weapons to the brim with magic power.
My armor, on the other hand, was a bit of a problem.
My Meteor Shower had destroyed most of the high-quality armor from the Valley of Dragons, I think, so all I had was a single Holy Shield. The rest was armor I’d made myself.
Still, it was better than nothing. I used my “Quick Change” skill to put on some armor.
On the off chance that there really was a demon lord waiting for me, I didn’t want to be the idiot who showed up in a cloth outfit.
Before long, I arrived in the area where the cultists were congregating.
There were a few alarms disguised as spiderwebs along the way, but I used my “Trap Detection” and “Sense Danger” skills to avoid them with ease.
As I continued through the sewers, I stole a purple robe from a lone member and put it on.
The uniform was designed to hide the wearer’s face and body shape, as befitting a secret society. It was so loose that I could even wear it over my leather armor.
“The wings dance…”
“In the skies of freedom.”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on a conversation from the other side of the tunnel.
This was probably a code members used to identify each other.
I passed through the tunnel quickly, repeating the password to the man standing in front of a suspicious-looking door at the end.
The man stepped aside silently, allowing me through.
On the other side of the door was an enormous room. A scarlet object, perhaps a giant magical device of some kind, was enshrined in the center. Conveniently, the room was dimly lit, so my face was barely visible under the hood.
Several members were gathered around the object, arguing about something.
“What shall we do? Our young nobleman Purple Three has yet to arrive.”
“Knowing him, he may just be resting somewhere.”
Apparently, one of the executives was running late.
“There is little time left before the ritual. We shall have to go on without him. Do you have enough magic?”
“Indeed.”
The male who spoke first seemed to be the leader, while the woman who responded was checking the control panel of the magic device.
The word ritual definitely disturbed me a little, but I took comfort in the fact that it hadn’t taken place yet.
If they’d just send me along with these guys, I should be able to save Miss Sara.
“…The gate has opened.”
“The time is now, comrades! Let us set forth toward the ritual!”
All the members responded to the executive’s words by raising one arm toward the sky, so I imitated them just to be safe.
Once we stepped into the circle at the center of the object, we were transported from the room to a vast underground cave.
The circle must be some kind of teleportation device. My radar was now showing the unexplored area where I’d seen Miss Sara’s marker.
I used “Search Entire Map” from the magic menu to learn about my new location.
As it turned out, I was in the deepest part of the labyrinth underneath the old capital.
There were no monsters in this maze, and the only people present were the ones in this large cave. It was shaped like an egg laid on its side, and it was almost two miles across in width alone. I was surprised it didn’t collapse in on itself.
There were several strange objects lined up in the enormous cavern, the smallest being about six feet across and the largest being upward of sixteen.
I touched one curiously; it seemed to be made of stone, about as hard as marble.
There was a noticeably brighter region in the distance, where the members appeared to be performing some kind of ceremony. I could hear voices chanting something, maybe sutras. It was somewhat different from the usual incantations for casting spells.
“So the ceremony has already begun…”
Wait, what?!
“Hurry! We must make it in time for the Rite of the Second Coming!”
At the executive’s words, the members all hurried through the forest of stone objects.
As I followed them to the site of the ritual, I gathered the information I’d need to rescue Miss Sara and escape. In addition to Miss Sara, there were two other girls around her age with the same “Oracle Priestess” skill. Like her, they seemed to be possessed.
There were a total of two hundred Wings of Freedom present. Most of them were below level 5, while three were above level 30, including the cult’s leader.
The leader could use Gravity Magic and Space Magic. On top of that, I noticed that the two high-ranking executives around the same level each possessed a short horn, so I’d have to be careful of those.
There were three escape routes to the top floor. The northern route seemed like the best way to lose anyone trailing us.
By the time I finished my information check, the ritual was right before my eyes.
In the shrine where the leader stood was a stone bed, where Miss Sara was lying unconscious.
As for the other two captured maidens, the high-level executives had tied their hands and were holding them over Miss Sara’s body. They each held one oracle priestess’s wrists in one hand and grasped a frightening ceremonial dagger in the other.
The pair of young women were stone-faced, probably because of their possessed condition.
All three of the captured women were entirely exposed, with mysterious purple patterns painted over their skin.
I absorbed all this information in a flash. However, before I could determine the best timing for my rescue operation, the ritual proceeded.
“We offer these pure maidens in prayer for the second coming of the great lord!”
“““The second coming!”””
The members echoed the leader’s shout.
The executives holding the two oracle priestesses raised their daggers.
Immediately, I shot forward like an arrow. There was more than six hundred feet of distance between us.
A loud crack echoed through the cavern, and I heard cultists shrieking behind me.
The recoil from my sudden launch into “Skyrunning” had probably blown a few of them off their feet. As I took my second stride forward, I threw a few pebbles from my pocket.
Startled by the commotion, the cult leaders turned toward me.
Before I took my third step, the pebbles smashed the ceremonial daggers to pieces.
However, this wasn’t enough to stop the executives, and the shattered daggers plunged toward the maidens’ hearts.
Almost there!
At that moment, I felt a strange sensation around my body, as if I were running through water.
The next thing I knew, I was right on top of the cult executives, kicking the daggers out of their hands.
> Skill Acquired: “Warp”
It seemed potentially useful, but given the urgency of the current situation, I’d have to postpone it for now.
The executives still hadn’t let go of the priestesses, so I sent each one flying with a strike to the jaw and yanked the young women away.
“Who dares?!”
That’s probably what the man who seemed to be the leader of the cult wanted to say, but before the words could leave his mouth, I fired a barrage of Short Stuns into his stomach to knock him out. No matter what rare skills he might have, it didn’t matter if I beat him before he got the chance to use them.
Paying no attention to the leader as he keeled over in a spray of blood, I took a bell out of Storage and directed it toward the possessed maidens.
It was the demon-sealing bell, of course.
A clear sound rang out, and two translucent shapes, one red and one blue, were driven out of the two young women.
For some reason, there was no effect on Miss Sara.
This chilled me to the bone with an awful sense of dread, but I decided to finish off the ones who’d been exorcised first.
Grabbing the blue and red shapes, I flung them far away from the site of the ritual and sent a pair of Fire Shots after them. If they were lesser demons, that should be enough to disable them.
The cult members closed in around us with staffs in hand, so I knocked them out with a shower of Short Stuns.
Unlike their leader, these guys would probably die from a direct hit, so of course I was careful only to graze them.
Behind the mob of cultists who were dropping like flies, two demonic figures appeared—the same two I’d just thrown away.
So they’re not lesser demons?
I felt the same intense power from them that I’d sensed from the greater demon I fought in the Seiryuu City labyrinth.
“What A Boorish Fellow, Interrupting Our Ritual, Indeed.”
“Truly A Vulgar Human, Yes.”
“Indeed” had red skin, elk-like horns, and was thirteen feet long from head to tail, while “Yes” was a little shorter with bluish-bronze skin, water-buffalo horns, and two sets of wings.
The former used Space Magic, while the latter used Gravity Magic. Both were level 63.
The blue-skinned demon howled, and Miss Sara appeared in his crossed arms.
Was that Teleportation Magic?
“Quite so. You must be incredibly foolish to interrupt the rites of my second coming, surely.” Miss Sara showed not an ounce of shame as she addressed me, using the kneeling demon as an armrest.
Her eyes flashed open, glimmering purple.
…That’s not right.
Miss Sara’s eyes were light green.
I rang the demon-sealing bell again, trying to banish the creature that had possessed Miss Sara.
This time, I tried putting magic into it to strengthen its effect like Arisa had done in the fight in Gururian City.
“Hmm. How unpleasant, surely.”
…But the result was the same.
The demon possessing Miss Sara was barely perturbed.
“Master, Leave This To Us, Yes.”
“Very well. You will defeat the hero, surely.”
The blue demon stepped forward, and a rift like a mouth opened up in his shoulder, unleashing a howl.
Without waiting for “Sense Danger” to warn me, I picked up the two priestesses and leaped backward.
The cult leader and two executives lying at my feet were crushed as if by an invisible hammer.
There was no way I could’ve helped them, and I had to at least save the two kidnapped maidens first.
To aid in my escape, I allotted some skill points to “Warp” and activated it.
“Rather Impressive Reaction Speed, Indeed.”
If I ran away, they would probably chase me.
With that in mind, I leaped back to put distance between the demons and myself, then created a series of barriers with the Wall spell.
“Earth Magic Seems Plain For A Human, Indeed.”
“But Walls Are No Use If I Can Fly Over Them, Yes.”
The winged, blue-skinned demon poked his head over the wall.
As soon as I laid eyes on him, I launched a salvo of Magic Arrows, Short Stuns, and Fire Shots right at his face.
It probably wouldn’t be enough to defeat him, but it should at least delay him for a moment.
Without waiting to see the results of my attack, I grabbed the maidens and escaped with “Warp.”
I was a bit worried about damaging the delicate young women by warping too quickly, but they seemed to be fine. There was no change in their HP.
“Warp” used some magical means to move the user like the Practical Magic spell Skyrunning, not a physical technique. Each “Warp” used about ten points of MP.
After using the skill over and over, I reached the northern passage in the blink of an eye.
I glanced back at the site of the ritual, but the demons didn’t seem to be chasing me. Laying down the unconscious maidens, I used Shelter and Wall to create a barrier to protect them.
This way, they should be safe even if the ceiling caved in.
When I returned to the site of the ritual, it had become a sea of blood.
“…You slaughtered them all? Weren’t they your followers?”
“As my devotees, their greatest desire must have been fertilizing my revival, surely,” the creature answered with Miss Sara’s body.
The red and blue greater demons stood behind her.
“You have no intention of leaving that body, then?”
“Hmph. This girl is important to you, surely?” The demon smirked and casually laid Miss Sara’s hand on one of her breasts. “Would you still say that if I were to cut these breasts, surely? Or how about this beautiful face?”
He held the dagger in Miss Sara’s other hand to her cheek threateningly.
Unfortunately, since the demon-sealing bell didn’t seem to work on him, my only hope to win her back was through a war of words.
I decided to take a shot at betting on his pride.
“Release Sara, and fight me yourself! Or are you afraid to take me on without a hostage…”
If this creature had greater demons as his servants, then he could be only one thing…
“…demon lord?!”
“Bwa-ha-ha, you dare to challenge me? Then you must be a hero, surely!”
Oh, that went surprisingly well.
“I may have lost once to the hero Shiga Yamato and the sky dragons but only when they worked together. I have no time to waste on mediocre heroes. If you wish to fight me, defeat my subordinates. If you win, then I’ll return this girl’s body to you as a prize before our battle.”
I’d gained the demon lord’s word, though I had no way of knowing if he would keep that promise.
If it came down to it, maybe I could get the holy woman of Tenion Temple to perform an exorcism.
“Be Careful Of His Magic, Yes.”
“Fear Not, I Have The Reflection Defense On My Side, Indeed.”
Just to be sure that Miss Sara’s possessed body wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire of our battle, I used “Skyrunning” to get some distance from the altar.
“You Shall Not Escape, Indeed.”
The red demon appeared before my eyes, splitting through the air itself. He was probably using his Space Magic.
I fired a barrage of Remote Arrows and Short Stuns from the magic menu to ward him off. Of course, I chose 120 arrows, the maximum amount.
“I Shall Return These, Indeed.”
The spells I’d fired at the red demon all bounced back toward me.
The homing arrows changed course back toward the demon right away, but the Short Stuns continued to fly right at me.
That had to be the “Reflection Defense” thing the demon mentioned earlier. That could be a bit of a pain.
I avoided the shots using “Warp.”
Behind me, I heard a rumbling as the Short Stuns struck the odd stone figures and knocked them over.
“How Annoying, Indeed.”
The red-skinned demon gave a howl, and a crack appeared in the air before the Remote Arrows, destroying them.
I pulled the Holy Sword Durandal out of Storage.
I normally would’ve used Excalibur, but it was chockablock with magic as part of an “Overload” experiment, so I was reluctant to start waving it around.
The last thing I wanted was to throw away a Holy Sword like that.
Durandal wasn’t quite as powerful as Excalibur, but it was still much stronger than Gjallarhorn, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
My “Sense Danger” skill alerted me to something on my left, so I used “Warp” to get away.
The ground where I’d been standing just moments ago suddenly caved in.
“Don’t Keep All The Fun For Yourself, Yes.”
This must have been the blue-skinned demon’s Gravity Magic.
I used “Warp” to teleport around, landed directly in front of the blue demon, and sprang up to slash my Holy Sword—
Suddenly, an enormous pressure weighed down on me.
> Skill Acquired: “Gravity Magic: Demon”
> Skill Acquired: “Gravity Resistance”
I forced my sword upward against the powerful gravity, but just as the Holy Sword was about to slash the blue demon, I stopped abruptly and jumped back.
“This New Hero Has Sharp Intuition, Yes.”
“If Only He Had Cut Me, He Would Have Been Sliced In Two As Well, Indeed.”
So both of them had Reflection Defense.
If my “Sense Danger” hadn’t sounded an alarm at the last second, I would’ve been in trouble.
Just then, I felt my body being pulled slightly toward the red-skinned demon. The log told me he’d used a spell called Attract, another technique you’d expect to see a boss use in a game.
> Skill Acquired: “Space Magic: Demon”
> Skill Acquired: “Space Resistance”
I activated my two new resistance skills.
“For Such A Low Level, Magic Hardly Works On Him, Indeed.”
“Har-Har-Har, You Are Making Excuses In Your Old Age, Yes?”
While the two greater demons bickered among themselves, I decided to try my next trick.
I fired more Short Stuns at the two demons. Sure enough, they reflected back at me, so I avoided them with a light backstep.
When I observed the trajectory of the attacks, the reflected shots didn’t move in the exact opposite of their original direction.
Once again, I fired a bunch of Short Stuns at the two.
“No Matter How Many Times You Try, It Will Not Work, Indeed.”
So this Reflection Defense didn’t have limited uses… What a pain.
The red and blue demons’ extra mouths each howled incantations.
My “Sense Danger” skill tingling, I dodged to the side.
A deep crack opened in the ground where I’d been, and an invisible gravity hammer struck large craters in the ground, moving toward me.
I dodged with “Skyrunning,” then made more walls between the blue demon and myself to buy time.
First, I wanted to defeat the red demon so I wouldn’t have to deal with that troublesome Space Magic.
When the attacks stopped for a moment, I made my next move.
I used the Wind Magic spell Blow from the magic menu and scattered salt from Storage into the gale.
The fine grains floated through the air.
“What A Poorly Planned Distraction, Indeed.”
But the whirling salt did render the red demon’s Reflection Defense visible to my eyes.
Old-fashioned as the method was, the results were excellent.
Instead of a perfect reflector, Reflection Defense seemed to be made up of countless holes that floated around the user at random, some absorbing objects and others ejecting them.
Each hole was smaller than a dust particle, which was why I couldn’t see them.
The salt grains were clearly larger, but as soon as one made contact with an absorber, it would immediately be transferred to an ejector. So they weren’t physical holes but minuscule teleportation gates.
Just to be sure, I threw a thin nail toward a gap between the absorbers.
As soon as it started to pass between them, it was sucked into the nearest absorber and spat back out by a nearby ejector.
So even a rapier or an arrow wouldn’t be able to get through.
Noticing that the blue demon hadn’t attacked in a while, I looked around and saw that he was standing off to the side with his arms folded, watching my fight against the red demon with great interest. He seemed unworried.
I pulled out a wad of thread from Storage. It was made from the fibers of Mountain-Tree fruit, with excellent magic conduction.
I poured magic power into the wad, creating Spellblade in all the threads.
“Making A Hedgehog, Hero? If You Think That Thread Will Pass Through The Gaps In My Reflection Defense, Go Ahead And Try, Indeed.”
The red-skinned demon chuckled confidently.
Laugh it up while you still can, pal.
I leaped in front of the red demon with “Warp,” jabbing him with the ball of Spellbladed thread he’d called a “hedgehog.”
“A Suicide Attack, Indeed?”
As soon as the countless bits of thread shot back at me, I used the Shield spell that I’d already invoked to block them.
The Shield broke in an instant, but that was all I needed.
Got you.
I canceled the Spellblade in the threads but left alone the magic power strengthening them. Next, I grabbed a handful of the thread shooting back at me from the ejectors and gave it a sharp tug to the side.
The countless holes filled with the thread went along with it.
The confident sneer vanished from the red demon’s face and was replaced by an expression of surprise.
The free absorbers moved to fill the gap—but it was too late for that.
A single moment’s opening was all I needed.
By the time the blue light trails of the Holy Sword Durandal melted into the darkness, the red demon had already dissolved into black dust and scattered.
> Skill Acquired: “Light-Speed Attack”
> Title Acquired: Thread Master
“That Was A Surprise, Yes.”
The blue-skinned demon used Gravity Magic to destroy the Reflection Defense around his body. He wouldn’t be falling for the same trick, I guess.
I activated the skill I’d just acquired.
“I Will Show You My Secret Technique, Yes.”
The mouths on both his shoulders began to howl alarmingly. At the same time, I infused my Holy Sword with magic.
Demons’ chants are much faster than humans’…
The Holy Sword glowed blue with devastating magic power.
…but they still take time.
I used “Warp” to clear the distance between the blue demon and myself, and before he could finish his chant, I struck with “Light-Speed Attack.”
My sword sliced right through with almost no resistance, and the blue-skinned demon turned into black dust and vanished.
…Well, that was anticlimactic.
It was truly impressive how effective Holy Swords were against demons. As long as I could reach them with the blade, there was hardly even a difference between lesser and greater demons.
When I returned to the altar via “Skyrunning,” the demon lord in Miss Sara’s body was sitting with one knee drawn up on the edge of the stone bed.
As I approached, he stood up and applauded me.
“Wonderfully done, surely. I must apologize for mistaking you for a small-time hero, surely.” Standing naked in an imposing stance, the demon lord spoke like a stage actress. “I did not expect a lone hero to defeat my courtiers entirely on his own, surely.”
Miss Sara’s body glowed with a faint purple light.
Something feels wrong here.
I had to get the demon lord out of her right away.
“I’ve upheld my end of the bargain, demon lord! Leave Sara’s body at once!”
“Very well. It is a ruler’s duty to reward those who have completed a trial, surely.”
Good. He was cooperating more than I’d expected.
The demon lord cast his arms open, and the purple light covering Miss Sara’s body deepened in color.
“Hero. I have judged you to be a worthy opponent, surely,” he declared, and an intense violet glow burst forth from Sara’s eyes and mouth.
What’s going on?
“Black-haired hero, hunting dog of Parion. I know not why you disguise your appearance, but you will entertain me as Yamato did, surely? I will not forgive any disappointment, surely.”
At the demon lord’s words, I touched my hair and realized that my blond wig was no longer there.
I did have spare wigs and masks, but this was hardly the time to worry about that.
I have to get him out of her body or…
“Certainly! Once you leave that body, I’ll gladly take you on!”
“Then I accept your challenge, surely.”
I heard a crackling sound.
Sara’s back tore open.
The head of a boar emerged.
…No…
“Satou…can I ask you something?”
“I have enough power now that you have sacrificed my courtiers for me, surely.”
The boar-headed, purple-skinned demon lord appeared and cast Miss Sara off like old clothes. His childlike form expanded immediately, growing to five times larger than a normal adult.
Violet rings of light rippled across his body, turning his skin to a shining gold.
…Why had I believed a demon lord?
“Do you think…you can change fate?”
My conversation with Sara replayed in the back of my mind.
As soon as the hairless demon lord started to appear, the flame of Sara’s life was extinguished.
How could I promise her I’d “save her from a demon lord”?!
A storm of regret raged inside me.
However, it lasted only a moment.
In real time, it was probably less than a second.
My high MND stat quickly restored my mind to its normal state, clearing away the clouds of guilt.
Once I was lucid again, something in my memories sparked a glimmer of hope.
Resurrection Magic.
The phrase suddenly came back to me.
Sara had denied it at first, but Tolma had confirmed that Resurrection Magic existed. And if I remembered right, Sara hadn’t contradicted him.
Which meant it was too early to give in to despair.
“The Time Of My Resurrection Has Come. Quiver In Fear, Humans! Today The World Takes Its First Step Toward Utter Destruction, Surely!”
I warped closer to the demon lord during his triumphant speech and shoved him away from Sara’s body with a full-power palm strike.
Then, I picked up the still-warm body and collected it into Storage. Including the blood that had spilled onto the ground.
In my Storage system, things didn’t deteriorate over time. It might be possible for the holy woman of Tenion Temple to restore a recently deceased body back to life.
There might very well be risks and specific conditions for the use of Resurrection Magic, as Sara had hinted at back in Gururian Castle.
But there was no point in worrying about that right now.
So…pull it together, Satou.
For now, all I had to think about was pouring my all into destroying this guy.
“Hmm? What Are You Trying To Do, Surely? You Ought To Be Coming After Me, Not Recovering A Corpse, Surely.”
Ignoring the demon lord’s arrogant goading, I prepared for battle.
Before the fight started, I checked over the demon lord’s information.
His name was Golden Boar Lord, and he was a level-120 orc demon lord.
In addition to this unprecedentedly high level, he had three unique skills: “Unbeatable Strength,” “Mighty Warrior,” and “Protean.”
I guessed by the names that these skills were strength-enhancing, endurance-enhancing, and some kind of transformation, respectively.
As befitting a demon lord, he had a great deal of other battle abilities, too, including normal physical skills like “Sword” and “Evasion,” along with rarer ones like Destruction Magic and Explosion Magic.
The gold covering his skin seemed to be one of his unique skills or support magic; the AR displays next to it read Physical damage cut by 99 percent and Magical damage cut by 90 percent.
What ridiculously high defense.
In this case, magic attacks would probably be better, except he also had an annoying skill called “Lesser Magic Nullification.”
This had to be the advanced version of the “Lesser Magic Resistance” skill belonging to the demon I fought in the battle for Muno City.
“As I Have Just Been Revived, I Am Weaker Than I Once Was, Surely. This Is A Rare Chance At Victory For You, Surely?”
If this was him at his weakest, how strong must he have been normally…?
The black rift of an Item Box opened up next to the demon lord, and he removed a mantle and two sabers.
When the demon lord donned the red mantle, it transformed into an extravagant outfit.
According to the AR, the sabers were classified as Magic Swords and boasted impressive stats on par with those of a Holy Sword.
The golden shroud of light around the demon lord spread to bathe his swords.
As it did so, the sabers’ attack power increased in my AR display. They’d already been comparable to a Holy Sword, but now they were actually stronger than Durandal.
“Now Then, Come At Me With All Your Body And Soul, Surely.”
I was already planning to do just that.
This demon lord would suffer my revenge for Sara and my own personal rage. Besides…
“…I have no intention of holding back.”
The demon lord smirked with pleasure at my words.
I drew the black sword from Storage and glared at the demon lord.
I would go all-out from the beginning this time. I had no reason to try to hide my power here.
In fact, in order to destroy the demon lord with my first blow, I decided to strengthen the Holy Sword.
Normally, adding magic to a mere wooden sword would enhance it, never mind a Magic or Holy Sword. Surely that would apply to a Divine Blade, too.
I pushed some of my magic power into the sword.
What the—?!
I added a mere ten points to start, but immediately afterward, all the magic in my body started getting sucked into the Divine Blade at an alarming speed.
Stop, damn it!
I managed to slow the consumption of my magic power, which hadn’t been drained this much since I used Meteor Shower, with sheer force of will.
By the time it slowed down, though, it had drained nearly half my MP, and the Divine Blade was continuing to absorb it at a rate of about ten points per second.
“Only An Inexperienced Hero Would Be Thus Hindered By A Sword Unbefitting His Stature.”
The words of the demon lord stung.
As my “Sense Danger” skill alerted me to something, I looked to see a jet-black aura around the Divine Blade. There was no information on it in the AR display.
What’s going on?
“If You Are Unsure How To Proceed, Allow Me To Demonstrate, Surely.”
I used “Warp” to dodge away from the right-hand saber as it swung down at me, then used “Skyrunning” to dodge over the left one sweeping in from that side. Moving forward at the same time, of course!
The demon lord’s violet eyes glinted with a light that made me suspicious.
I’ll have to finish him off before he can do anything.
I slashed the Divine Blade straight down toward the demon lord’s boar-shaped head.
Before the sword reached its target, magical shields like the ones Raka created around Miss Karina sprang up to stop it.
Then, crackling like a thin film of ice, the shields shattered into shards of white light.
It was probably some very powerful defensive magic, but that meant nothing to a Divine Blade.
“Imposs—”
I had no interest in hearing his last words.
Before he could finish speaking, I sliced right through the demon lord’s head.
As soon as the sword made contact with it, the demon lord’s face began crumbling away. Only a Divine Blade could do that.
Suddenly, “Sense Danger” was screaming on my right!
I used “Skyrunning” to escape high into the air.
Moments later, a saber cut through where I’d just been with a heavy whoosh.
It would be one thing if this were just a dying spasm, but that wasn’t the case.
I could scarcely believe my eyes as a new head grew from the demon lord’s neck.
…Guess a demon lord wouldn’t go down that easily.
“To Think That You Would Force Me To Use The Effects Of ‘Mighty Warrior’…”
The restored demon lord sprang backward, keeping his distance.
…Strange. Even after the demon lord backed off, my “Sense Danger” skill was still sounding strong.
At first, I’d been sensing danger from the demon lord, but now I was having a stronger reaction to the Divine Blade in my hands.
“What A Terrifying Sword, Surely. It Is Far Stronger Than Yamato’s Sword, Claíomh Solais, Surely.”
As I steadied the sword in front of me to point it toward the demon lord, something strange caught my eye.
The jet-black aura coiled around the sword was writhing like a living creature, reaching from the blade toward my hands.
…Not good.
This was undoubtedly a sign of something very bad.
I quickly put the Divine Blade back in Storage.
Then I took out Durandal, the sword I’d used against the greater demons, and changed my title back to Hero.
It certainly wasn’t as strong as the demon lord’s sabers, but using the Divine Blade any longer seemed like a worse idea.
When I checked my log for any strange status conditions afflicting me, a chill ran down my spine.
> Skill Acquired: “Instant Death Resistance”
> Skill Acquired: “Helmet Splitter”
So that strange glint in his eyes earlier had been an insta-kill attack.
If I didn’t have a high level and the “Evil-Eye Resistance” skill, I might’ve been done for then and there. I quickly activated “Instant Death Resistance.”
“I Shall Take This Seriously As Well, Then, Surely.”
A second purple glimmer covered the demon lord’s body.
This was the same light I’d seen before. It looked like when Arisa used her unique skills.
Judging by my foe’s declaration, he had probably used his other two uniques.
“What Happened To That Black Sword Of Yours, Surely?”
Noticing that I was holding a different sword, he seemed dubious.
“Sorry, but I switched it out. You’ll have to make do with this Holy Sword now.”
The demon lord’s lips curled.
“I See, So It Had A Limited Number Of Uses, Surely.”
I actually just couldn’t use it anymore because I did something stupid, but I didn’t really want to explain that to him.
Instead, I strengthened the Holy Sword Durandal with a little bit of magic power, then protected the surface with Sacredblade, the holy equivalent of Spellblade.
This sort of thing was probably necessary if I was going to face off against the demon lord’s “Saber III” or whatever.
Here goes.
First, a diversion.
To test whether they would work, I first fired a barrage of my usual combination of Remote Arrow, Short Stun, and Fire Shot at the demon lord.
But the three types of magic all disappeared just before touching his golden skin. All that reached him were the last traces of the Fire Shots.
Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, it looked like I wouldn’t be able to scratch the demon lord with lesser magic spells; he did have “Lesser Magic Nullification,” after all.
Using the spells as cover, I warped into the demon lord’s blind spot and swept my Holy Sword up at him.
Far before my sword reached the demon lord, the same shields that had blocked the Divine Blade hindered Durandal as well.
They broke easily when the Holy Sword touched them, but…
Slowly but surely…
Yes, ever so slowly, they were whittling away at the momentum of my blade.
After it had broken through nearly a hundred shields and advanced about eighteen inches, the Holy Sword stopped in place.
I tried to use more force to push it through, but of course the demon lord wouldn’t simply stand by and watch.
“You Shall Not Reach Me With Such A Weak Attack, Surely!”
With a roar, the demon lord slashed down at me.
I caught the saber with the Holy Sword Durandal.
Immediately, blue and gold sparks lit up the underground cavern, blinding me for a moment.
What a powerful attack. It took all the strength in my legs to bear it.
Unable to withstand the pressure, the floor beneath my feet started to cave in with a loud crack.
My “Light Intensity Adjustment” skill quickly restored my vision.
As I lost my balance slightly, the demon lord aimed another swing with the saber in his left hand.
I instantly pulled a Holy Shield out of Storage to block it.
However, since the shield wasn’t secured to my arm with a belt, the blow launched it across the cavern.
As the demon lord recovered from his swing, I took that moment to jump back and put some distance between us.
Then, I heard a bass-heavy boom from the demon lord’s direction.
“Take This, Surely!”
Jet-black rings began forming around the demon lord.
They attacked me as if they were independent creatures. I used Short Stun and Homing Arrows to try to intercept them, but both spells evaporated when they hit the rings.
An anti-magic attack?
I threw some stones from Storage at the rings, but they fizzled out like water hitting a hot frying pan. So physical attacks wouldn’t work, either.
This time, I stowed away my sword and pulled out a bronze spike infused with Sacredblade, then flung it toward one of the rings.
With a loud crack like a plate being broken, the jet-black ring shattered. In that case, I should be able to fend them off with a Holy Sword.
My “Sense Danger” skill suddenly reacted to something.
I instantly jumped to the side to avoid some invisible attack.
The stone object behind where I’d been was immediately pulverized.
“How Did You Avoid My Greater Destruction Magic, Surely?!”
So the demon lord could use magic without a chant, just like Arisa and I could.
He is a demon lord, after all. No wonder he’s so strong.
Even if I counterattacked now, the scale shields would just get in the way. If I wanted my attacks to reach him, I’d have to do something about those first.
On top of that, if I tried to put distance between us, he would just attack with magic.
I had to come up with more ways to deal with his offense.
After the last exchange of blows, with a quick glance, I checked the condition of the Holy Sword, which had lost its Sacredblade protection.
The blade had a few chips. If I kept using it to block, I might even be down a Holy Sword.
Instead, I decided to hang on to my spare Holy Swords and Holy Spear and instead use a magic blade to deal with the sabers.
With that, I took out the Magic Sword Balmung in my free left hand.
It wasn’t a Holy Sword, but its attack power was on par with Durandal’s. And not that it mattered, but they both had gold-patterned hilts.
I infused the Holy Sword with Sacredblade and the Magic Sword with Spellblade. It was impossible to use Sacredblade on a Magic Sword.
“Using Spellblade And Sacredblade At The Same Time, Surely?!”
The surprised demon lord nonetheless bore down on me with his twin sabers.
I fended off the attacks with the two weapons of my own.
I could barely keep up with parrying and evading the demon lord’s unpredictable onslaught of attacks from all sides.
> Skill Acquired: “Two-Sword Style”
Judging that the sabers alone wouldn’t be enough to defeat me, the demon lord started tossing in more of those invisible bullet attacks.
One shot grazed me. My skill sensed more danger from the sabers, so it was difficult to avoid the invisible shots.
> Skill Acquired: “Destruction Magic: Demon”
> Skill Acquired: “Destruction Resistance”
I promptly activated the resistance skill and “Two-Sword Style.”
The invisible bullets could evaporate bits of my clothes just by whizzing by me, so my battle-torn state probably would have thrilled Arisa.
I tried using Shield from my menu, but a single invisible attack destroyed it. I guess lesser magic couldn’t block greater magic.
Every time one of the imperceptible shots grazed my body, it left a prickling itch on my skin. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to get distracted and take a direct hit pretty soon.
I wanted to block the invisible attacks with the Sacredbladed Holy Sword, but I was too busy using it to fend off the sabers.
Even with the help of my Magic Sword, I was barely able to keep parrying.
“What Sort of Half-Baked Hero Are You, Surely? You Can Command Both Spellblade And Sacredblade, And Your Speed In Evasion And Swordsmanship May Surpass Even Me, Yet Your Attacks Ring Hollow, Surely. And Your Magic Is Nothing But Absurdly Strong Lesser Magic.”
Even as he spoke, the demon lord’s attacks with the sabers and invisible bullets didn’t let up in the slightest.
Thanks to the “Two-Sword Style” skill, it felt like parrying had gotten a little bit easier.
“You Do Not Seem To Be Holding Back. It Is As If You Have Been Given Power But No Training, Surely.”
His analysis was painfully accurate.
“Your Resistance Is Bizarrely High As Well, Surely. Instant Death, Petrification, Curse, Paralysis… None Of My Evil Eyes Have Affected You, Surely.”
I did see an array of special attacks in my log, from Petrification to Paralysis, but I had resisted all of them.
“It Is As If I Were Fighting A God…”
Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement. I’m just a little over-leveled with a bunch of defensive skills.
Between silently responding to the demon lord’s words and the itching pain, I lost concentration long enough to bungle a parry.
My Magic Sword Balmung flew across the cavern.
As a desperate measure to avoid his follow-through, I fired off the Forge spell.
I was hoping it would at least cloud his vision for a moment. But the effect turned out to be more powerful than I was expecting.
The shields that had warded off my Holy Sword started burning up like scraps of paper.
“Inferno?! So That’s Your Secret Weapon, Surely!”
As the demon lord shouted, I heard an enormous roar.
There was an immense amount of light and pressure directly in front of me. Instead of resisting, I let it throw me backward.
It seemed I’d taken a direct hit from a wide-range magical attack.
The strange stone objects in the area had all been blown clean away.
> Skill Acquired: “Explosion Magic: Demon”
> Skill Acquired: “Explosion Resistance”
I wasn’t sure what the difference between “destruction” and “explosion” was exactly, but for now I was just grateful for the resistance.
Frankly, that attack hurt way too much. Where was my “Pain Resistance” when I needed it?
My HP barely even went down, but this pain… If I was in agony from that, I shuddered to think what a direct hit from one of those sabers would feel like.
My “Self-Healing” skill quickly fixed the injury, but my already tattered clothes had pretty much dissolved away.
I didn’t really want to fight naked, so I pulled out some clothes that were easy to move in and equipped them in an instant with my “Quick Change” skill. No transformation sequence needed.
While I had the chance, I pulled out the Magic Sword Nothung to stand in for the one that had been knocked out of my hand, Balmung.
Oh, that’s right.
To prevent any further blunders due to the itch, I used the Everyday Magic spell Anti-Itch from the magic menu for the first time.
A cooling sensation wrapped around my body, erasing the distracting situation. Magic really is wonderful.
As I was appreciating anew the wonders of the supernatural, the demon lord emerged from the cloud of dust.
“Hmph. It Seems That Was A Draw, Surely.”
A draw?
It didn’t look that way to me.
Half the demon lord’s body was covered in burns.
The flames of my Forge spell had broken through his shields somehow. Was he weak to fire? Or maybe it was because Forge was an intermediate magic spell.
“How About This, Surely?!”
The demon lord fired another explosion attack and more of the black rings at the same time.
As soon as I heard the roar of the bomb spell, I fired a Short Stun at the ground for a smoke screen, then used that moment to somersault into the air and skyrun over the demon lord to get behind him.
Below me, I watched the jet-black ring shooting past.
The dust cloud from my Short Stun revealed the path of an invisible bullet attack.
Looked like the demon lord had fired three spells at once, not two. For some reason, I felt like I could see the invisible bullets now even without the dust cloud.
> Skill Acquired: “Magic Vision”
Oh dear. That was a handy-sounding skill, but I had no time to activate it now.
I swooped down to attack the demon lord from far above and behind like a bird of prey.
As I entered attacking range, I activated Forge again, simultaneously slashing down with the Holy Sword and Magic Sword in my hands.
The flames from the Forge spell started burning the shields away.
My swords reached the shields before they had burned away completely, but there were few enough left that the swords didn’t lose too much momentum before they reached the demon lord’s body.
Tearing through the flames, my swords left blue and red traces in the air as they slashed into the demon lord’s skin.
However, ripples of light spread across the surface of the demon lord’s golden body, blocking the attack.
As he blocked the attack, though, I felt my swords starting to break through some kind of film.
It was a strong defense, all right, but it probably wouldn’t withstand too many attacks. I hacked away with all my might, trying to break through and hit him.
Sneering at my determination, the demon lord swung his arm around like a whip and attacked with a saber.
It didn’t seem like it should be physically possible, but I assumed that it was an effect of his unique skill “Protean,” and I parried the attack with both my swords.
But it was a trap.
Just as I detected that with my “Sense Danger” skill, countless white spears ripped out of the demon lord’s back, straight at me.
I quickly took evasive action, but the lances moved too fast for me to dodge them all completely.
Several white spears pierced through my body.
Ow, ow, owww!
I used my “Poker Face” skill to suppress the shriek threatening to escape my lips.
Overcoming the searing agony with the help of my “Pain Resistance” skill, I broke the spikes over my knee and flung them away. Though I’d mistaken them for white spears at first, they seemed to actually be the transformed ribs of the demon lord.
The pain was intense for only a moment before it washed away like the tide. There was still a dull throb, but I ignored it.
With no intention of letting me alone when the pain briefly immobilized me, the demon lord tossed aside his sabers, snatched me up with both hands, and squeezed.
His grasp was viselike, even though his arms were bent in the wrong direction.
Theoretically, my higher level should have made me stronger, but I couldn’t shake him off. His unique skills must have been enhancing his strength several times over.
The demon lord squeezed harder. He had to be trying to crush me with his bare hands.
Ngh, that hurts.
My arms were pinned at my sides, so I couldn’t use my swords. I put both of them away in Storage.
Then I called upon my last hope, Forge, at full power. The crimson flames, hot enough to melt even heat-resistant mithril, seared the demon lord’s body.
Of course, since I’d fired it at point-blank range, I didn’t get off without a scratch, either.
The flames weren’t engulfing me directly like they were the demon lord, but they were still strong enough to burn up my second set of clothes in an instant.
My skin turned red, but thanks to my “Fire Resistance” skill, I didn’t get any burns.
Of course, it was unbearably hot.
But I was the winner of this game of chicken, as it turned out.
The demon lord’s hands slackened.
Just that moment was enough. I forced the fingers apart and freed myself.
I’d lost some feeling in my arms. It would probably take a few seconds before they recovered enough to use a sword normally.
I pulled out one of the disposable Holy Short Spears from Storage, already overloaded with magical power.
Blue light filled the underground cavern.
The excess magical power was converting the Blue in the magic circuit at the center of the Holy Spear to holy light.
The explosive beam carved straight through the demon’s defenses, blowing a huge hole through his abdomen and leaving blue tracks of light in its wake.
But it wasn’t over yet.
My foe’s HP hadn’t yet reached zero.
Despite the enormous hole through his stomach and smoking flames enshrouding his body, the demon lord still managed to raise a fist.
Now that’s an impressive fighting spirit.
I pulled out the Holy Sword Durandal from Storage, filled it with magic, and activated Sacredblade.
This ends now.
The blazing blue light of the slash was absorbed into the demon lord’s heart—and then it gushed out all at once. The holy glow exploded the upper half of the demon lord’s body.
I took several strides back and retrieved a recovery item from Storage.
I used an HP recovery potion to restore what little health was missing, then used the magic inside the Holy Sword Excalibur, which I’d been using for an experiment, to fully recover my MP. Finally, I changed clothes and equipped some heavy-duty shoes.
Now I was ready for the next battle.
Yup, it was too soon to let my guard down.
When I had defeated him with the Divine Blade before, he’d still recovered. It would be foolishly optimistic to assume he could revive himself only once.
Golden light welled up from the body of the demon lord.
The third round had begun.
When the golden light faded, the demon lord’s upper body was fully restored. It was like there was no point in trying to beat him at all.
At least there was one silver lining—his two sabers had flown off to parts unknown when I destroyed his upper body.
I had two more Holy Short Spears like the one I’d just used, but I couldn’t afford to waste them when I didn’t know how many times the demon lord could be revived.
“I Have Not Had To Use ‘Mighty Warrior’ Twice Since I Battled Doghead, Surely.”
Wait, who’s “Doghead”?
It sounded vaguely familiar, but if he was going to start prattling about some guy I didn’t know, I wished he’d save it for someone who cared.
As I grumbled in the back of my mind, I activated the “Magic Vision” skill I’d just acquired.
“The Hero Yamato Only Defeated My ‘Mighty Warrior’ Skill By Working With The Sky Dragons. Tell Me, Nameless Hero, How Do You Plan To Destroy Me Without Their Breath Of Light, Surely?”
Hmm. He called me that because my name field is blank, huh? Maybe I should start calling myself “Nanashi,” the Japanese word for “Nameless,” instead.
“The sky dragons are on vacation right now.”
In the Graveyard folder of my Storage, that is.
So I would have to fight hard to make up for their absence.
The demon lord attacked with Destruction Magic, but I altered its course with a palm strike.
“Impossible!” the demon lord exclaimed, but I ignored him. My hand was tingling painfully. Better not touch that magic too much.
Instead, I prepared for battle by magically infusing the swords that were back where they belonged: the Holy Sword Durandal and the Magic Sword Nothung.
“By the way, the full-time hero is also on vacation. He’s off with a pretty girl with huge boobs.”
I cracked a random joke, trying to keep the demon lord distracted.
If there really were a hero on vacation, I’d like to give him a good smack.
“The Full-Time Hero, You Say? Then What Are You, Surely?”
“I’m just a part-timer. Normally, I’m just a traveler who likes sightseeing.”
I gave my body a quick once-over.
Thanks to the recovery potion and my “Self-Healing” skill, the wounds from the rib spears had healed.
They still hurt, but not enough that I couldn’t fight. My guess was that I wasn’t going to have time to heal anymore for a while.
He used Destruction Magic again, but his aim was easy to read. If you really want to hit me, try using ranged magic.
As if the boar had read my thoughts, a ranged area-of-effect spell came flying at me.
I crossed my Magic Sword and Holy Sword to parry the attack, then jumped backward to cancel out its power.
But that wasn’t all. The demon lord followed up with a Breath attack, and I kicked off the ground to evade it in midair. At this distance, my swords couldn’t reach.
The gray Breath attack kept chasing me, so I used “Skyrunning” to get some distance.
I stowed away both swords and swapped them out for the Magic Bow.
Just as I was passing directly over the demon lord, I aimed the bow at him and fired an arrow.
It was a magically enhanced Holy Arrow, of course.
The blue light shot straight through the Breath attack and pierced through his mouth into his stomach.
I landed behind the demon lord, turned at the hip, and shot three Holy Arrows at him as the golden glow of resurrection began to engulf his body.
But the bolts passed right through the golden glow.
He’s invincible while resurrecting? Enough with the game mechanics!!
I was just going to have to keep this up until he ran out of lives.
“To Think You Would Throw Away Even More Holy Weapons—”
I had no motivation to listen to whatever the resurrected boar was trying to say.
Before he finished recovering, I surrounded him with walls and fired three more Holy Arrows while he was unable to dodge, felling him again.
But of course, the golden light appeared and revived him once more.
“Impossible… My Forbidden Technique—”
I continued ignoring him and focused on reducing his remaining lives.
Another three Holy Arrows settled round five. However, those were my last ones.
With no further use for it, I put the Magic Bow in Storage and created more walls around the resurrecting demon lord.
“How Can You Use The Divine Gift Of A Holy Sword So Carel—?”
I flung two Holy Short Spears overloaded with magic at him, cutting off his latest complaint.
This time, I tried destroying his head and heart at the same time, but he still started reviving again.
At this rate, I’d have to mince him and incinerate the pieces or something.
I switched back to the Holy Sword Durandal and invoked Sacredblade on it.
“Where Did You Get So Many Magic Weap—?”
I made them myself.
Answering silently, I burned up the boar’s defense with Forge, then used the “Light-Speed Attack” skill with Durandal to slice him in half.
Before the halves could hit the floor, I brought the blade back around to bisect those, too.
As his hand reached toward me in the throes of death, I stabbed through it, only to meet the bone in his arm flying at me like a bolt from a crossbow.
I gave up on attacking further and flipped out of the way like an acrobat.
These attacks were getting more ridiculous by the minute.
Watching the golden light washing over the demon lord yet again, I took out the Magic Sword Nothung and invoked Spellblade.
“What’s Wrong, Hero? You Have No Way Of Destroying This Immortal Body, Surely?”
The moment the resurrection finished, the demon lord fired wide-range Explosion Magic at me.
My “Light-Speed Attack” cut deeply but failed to bring him down completely.
The boar reached into the wound and pulled out two ribs. Then he gave a short howl, and black flames wreathed the bones.
“Taste The Wrath Of My Black Flame Bone Swords, Surely. Let Us Begin The Dance Of Death!”
My opponent attacked with a sword in each hand, but the bone swords were brittle compared to the sabers. When our blades met, the black flames scalded my hands a little, but that was all.
“Who In The World Are You, Surely? How Can You Be Unharmed By The Black Flames Of Destruction, Which Burn Even Dragons To Cinders?!”
Because my level’s so high, maybe?
No, maybe it was because my “Destruction Resistance” skill was maxed out.
Besides, I was harmed a little. I just recovered really fast.
Still, “Self-Healing” used magic power, and I wanted to avoid injuries as much as possible. I didn’t like pain anyway.
“If You Are Not Hurt Now, I Will Attack Until You Are, Surely!”
Since the Black Flame Bone Swords endlessly regenerated every time they were destroyed, the damage to my Holy Sword Durandal and Magic Sword Nothung was reaching worrisome levels.
I used Forge as a distraction to get a bit of distance so I could switch weapons.
This time, I chose the Holy Sword Gallatin. According to the detailed description, it was a sister sword to Excalibur.
In my other hand, I equipped the Holy Spear Longinus. It was difficult to use with one hand, but Gjallarhorn probably wouldn’t be a match for the Black Flame Bone Swords.
I strengthened the Holy Sword and Spear with magic, then wrapped them in Sacredblade.
This combination was three times stronger than the last.
This should whittle him down.
“Let’s go, demon lord!”
“I Challenge Thee, Nameless Hero!”
When I gave a shout to motivate myself, the demon lord responded with a line straight out of an epic fantasy.
After that, I defeated the demon lord five more times, but he had still more lives to spare.
As he was going through yet another revival sequence, I assessed the situation.
My Holy Sword Gallatin and Holy Spear Longinus were wearing down, so I should probably replace them soon.
Over the course of the past few fights, I’d learned a skill called “Triple Helix Spear Attack,” which made for an even more powerful finisher than “Light-Speed Attack.”
But even that wasn’t enough to destroy the demon lord completely. I was stuck in an endless loop.
Of course, it might be possible to defeat him if I took certain risks.
If this were some desert wasteland, I could probably beat him down easily with Meteor Shower, but we were underneath the old capital.
If I used Meteor Shower here, the city above us would be destroyed. Then I’d be the one flaunting a Great Demon Lord title.
On the other hand, if I didn’t mind risking losing the Holy Sword Excalibur forever and making the whole labyrinth cave in, I could probably do it with the overloaded Holy Sword Excalibur.
With the Divine Blade, I risked getting swallowed in that mysterious black aura, but at least then I’d be the only casualty.
If possible, I wanted to avoid using any of these three solutions.
If I had only an intermediate or advanced attack spell stronger than Forge, I could defeat this thing so easily…
And I should’ve mass-produced more overloaded Holy Arrows.
I had enough Blue to make more Holy Weapons, but there wasn’t enough time to do that in the short breaks while the demon lord was reviving.
While I was preoccupied, the golden light covering the demon lord started fading.
Round thirteen was about to start.
“PUUUGUEEEEE!”
The demon lord raised a strange war cry while a suspicious purple glimmer filled his eyes.
I’d noticed the past few times that his pronunciation was breaking down. It appeared he had finally lost the capacity for human speech.
Maybe he was getting close at last.
“BUUUGWOOOOOO!”
Transforming his lower half into that of a snake, the demon lord struck at me with the tail.
I slashed at him with the Holy Sword Gallatin, and his scales came flying at me as if I’d struck a land mine.
I avoided them with “Warp,” then fired three “Triple Helix Spear” attacks with the Holy Spear Longinus, but his arms transformed into ten whips and knocked them away.
The creature’s chest opened up like a maintenance hatch.
In between the folds of purple flesh, I could see his ribs.
From their shroud of black flame, the bones shot out toward me like living things while I was briefly stationary.
I quickly retreated into the sky, but the ribs were faster than I thought.
Somehow, I managed to stop them with my Holy Sword and Spear.
Below me, I could see the demon lord’s mouth opening wide.
The same dark flame was rising from inside…
Immediately, I used Forge at full blast to counter the black flame breath.
There came a roar as blasting heat filled the cave.
The attacks seemed to be amplifying one another as they battled for supremacy.
If that Breath attack rivaled Forge, which was strong enough to evaporate mithril, I definitely wanted to avoid that.
Evaporate?
Something about that word stuck out to me.
When I checked my body, I discovered several minor burns.
An image floated across my mind’s eye.
That was when I’d figured out mithril’s evaporation point in an experiment, right?
My skin turned red, but I didn’t get any burns.
When was that?
Right, that was when I’d first used Forge at full power against the demon lord.
What was the difference?
Why did I get burned one time but not the other?
Of course. The difference had been the presence of metal particles heated with enough energy to evaporate.
Specifically, a magical metal that conducted MP easily.
A flicker of hope crossed my mind.
But at the same time, I knew.
It wouldn’t be enough to destroy the demon lord.
This thirteenth round was for all the marbles.
I needed just one more move to defeat the demon lord.
What appeared in my mind was a glittering blue bell.
“You must treasure it always so it can bring you fortune, understand?”
Right, of course.
Beneath me, the demon lord leaped up through the Breath attack with his arms transformed into sabers. But now, he looked about as threatening to me as a bug flying into a zapper.
I put the Holy Sword and Holy Spear in Storage and pulled out something else.
Instead of a bell, it was a silver vial full of cerulean liquid.
I poured the rest of my magic into the Blue, the metal solution that formed the core of Holy Weapons.
“This is it…”
In less than a second, it was overloaded with magic, and bright light beamed through the cracks between my fingers.
I reached toward the demon lord in the midst of his unswerving charge.
Then, as the shining blue beacon left my hand, I aimed at it and activated Forge at full throttle.
“…for yooooou!”
The metallic liquid evaporated under the inferno and turned into a conical shower of luminescent blue over the demon lord.
Within moments, the boar was completely engulfed in the holy aura. He burned away, without leaving so much as the shadow of a trace.
A rumble echoed through the underground cavern.
The cone of light bored deep into the hard floor of the labyrinth before vanishing completely.
Using “Skyrunning” to reach the bottom of the newly formed pit, I found a broken purple orb that must have been the demon lord’s core.
So this didn’t burn, huh?
I was concerned for a moment that he’d somehow resurrect from this, but it seemed like it was finally over.
As proof, I now had some visitors…
“Hee-hee, looks like he lost.”
“Just like he lost to Yamato…”
“Now he lost to the nameless hero.”
From the shards of the core rose three small violet lights like the ones I’d seen after the Undead King Zen passed on during the Cradle incident.
No, their color was a bit darker. It would have been better described as dark purple, bordering on black.
They felt quite similar to the ones I’d seen before, but maybe they were different individuals.
“So much for orcs.”
“What should we use next?”
“Those weasels seem rather clever…”
Their words suggested that they thought I couldn’t touch them, so they weren’t expecting me to attack.
My dark blade slashed three times.
The deep-purple lights vanished, leaving only faint traces behind.
I quickly put the Divine Blade and its black aura away in Storage and changed my title from Godkiller back to Hero.
At first, I thought I saw the black sword absorb the purple remnants, but the sword’s status hadn’t changed, so I must have imagined it.
My Holy Sword went straight through them last time, so I’d taken a gamble by using the Divine Blade.
After I crushed the three dark-violet lights, the rewards log filled at an absurdly high speed, but I scrolled back up just to be sure.
The words You defeated the fragments of a god! had appeared, so I must have really destroyed them.
In retrospect, I guess you could call that making an enemy of a god, but I had acted without really thinking. Still, if this “god” was the type to lend its power to a demon lord, it would be hostile toward me anyway, in all likelihood.
If it was going to retaliate, hopefully it would do it in a time frame befitting a god, like maybe a hundred years from now.
> Title Acquired: Demon Lord Slayer
> Title Acquired: Demon Lord Slayer: Golden Boar Lord
> Title Acquired: True Hero
> Title Acquired: Savior with No Name
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