Ronandt
Bouncing along on the backs of greater taratects, we arrive at what’s known as the Bottom Stratum of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
I myself have once been to the Lower Stratum of the labyrinth, and that in itself was already a hellscape of dreadful monsters into which no man could ever tread.
The Bottom Stratum must be truly beyond human comprehension.
In other words, we may very well be the first humanoids to ever set foot here.
’Tis a shame we have no time to relish such a remarkable feeling.
“Hey, you made it.”
Demon Lord Ariel herself was waiting for us when we arrived.
She sits in a white chair that is probably made out of hardened spider thread.
Behind her stands Sophia and…I believe his name was Merazophis? With demon commanders on either side, she truly cuts the dignified figure of a true Demon Lord.
There are four small spiders at the corners of her chair, and for some reason, one of them is frantically flailing its legs at me specifically.
…What in the world?
Intrigued, I Appraise the spider despite myself.
The result shows that it is a monster called a puppet taratect with the name of Fiel.
…Hrmmm?
Fiel?
FIEL?!
That tiny spider is the little girl who was hanging all over me in the elf village?!
So this is that girl’s true form?!
Hah…now that is a surprise.
“Curious about my kids?”
“Hrm? I suppose you could say that. I’m just surprised to see this little one looking so different from the last time we met.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Her favorite outfit got burned up in battle earlier.”
Demon Lord Ariel addresses me amiably.
Outfit, eh…would you really call that an outfit?
Well, no matter. Clearly she is still the same on the inside, no matter how she looks.
That much is obvious from the fact that Fiel has now hopped onto my head and is poking and prodding my cheeks.
“Argh! Get off me, missy!”
“Fiel, behave yourself.”
Scolded by the Demon Lord, Fiel skitters away.
That rascal! Where is her sense of seriousness in this dire situation?!
Now she’s gone and ruined the whole mood!
“Elder Ronandt…”
Young Hyrince is staring at me in exasperation. But that wasn’t my fault, I tell you!
“Now then, shall we get started?”
“May I have a moment to speak with you first?”
Demon Lord Ariel attempts to get right down to business, only to be interrupted by the representative of the demons, Mr. Balto.
“Hrm. I’ve got nothing to say to you, but sure, I guess. Go ahead.”
“Thank you.”
Mr. Balto bows his head to Demon Lord Ariel. I wonder what he’s going to ask her?
I doubt any answer she gives will be what he wants to hear…
“Demon Lord, might I ask what exactly we demons meant to you?”
…Yeah, I figured it’d be something like that.
I fear her response is only going to hurt the lad further.
“What’s the point of asking me that? I don’t think any good will come of me telling you, y’know?”
“Even so, I want to hear it from you personally.”
The Demon Lord shakes her head and sighs.
“Then I’ll give it to you straight, okay? I don’t have any strong feelings at all about demonkind. That’s the honest truth.”
In a way, that’s harsher than saying that she hated them or some such thing.
Even after using them to her own ends and forcing them to fight a massive war against humanity not long ago, the Demon Lord doesn’t care one iota about demonkind.
How must Mr. Balto feel about this?
“I…see.”
Balto heaves a deep, long sigh.
“Thank you. It’s a bit of a relief to hear you say it out loud.”
“Oh? I was expecting you to have a few choice words for me, no?”
Even Ariel seems surprised at how quickly Mr. Balto backed down.
“Of course, I have much more than a few choice words. But that would hardly change your mind about the path you’ve chosen, would it? Surely you didn’t start all of this with such half-hearted conviction that you could be talked out of it. If you were not utterly devoted to your cause, that would be far more disrespectful to my fallen brethren.”
“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t turn the whole world against me if I wasn’t damn sure about it.”
“Then I doubt anything I say would make a difference. Our paths have simply diverged, for better or worse. All that is left for me to do is to devote all of my efforts to demonkind as its representative.”
Oh-ho, I see.
He asked her that to clarify things in his own mind, not to try to make the Demon Lord feel guilty.
In that case, Mr. Balto is a remarkable man, worthy of representing demonkind.
“Gotcha… By the way, Balto. I don’t have any strong feelings about demonkind, but I do feel grateful to you for working so hard for me all those years.”
“…I am honored.”
Balto smiles back, somehow looking tearful and frustrated all at once.
“All right, then. Let’s get this party started for real this time. The system core is just beyond that door.”
Demon Lord Ariel points behind her.
A door looms in the wall.
Beyond it is the system core.
The place where the goddess Sariel is trapped.
“From here on out, if any of you make one wrong move, I’ll kill you on the spot.”
That statement is no lie, I’m sure.
The piercingly murderous glint in her eyes is proof enough of that.
I hear someone gulp quietly.
“If anyone turns traitor and tries to stop the destruction of the system, I swear I’ll make sure all of humanity dies after this, even if the ivory god’s side loses. I’m talking utter extinction, not just half.”
This, too, is no lie.
She would do it, no doubt about it.
Betrayal comes at a high price.
“I solemnly swear that we will do no such thing.”
“Yeah, I sure hope not.”
The Demon Lord doesn’t seem to trust the pontiff’s vow.
She did say in her speech during the world quest sequence that she doesn’t expect much out of humanity.
She’s never trusted us in the first place.
The only way to prove that we are trustworthy, then, is to make sure we do not betray her.
“Okay, let’s get going. Oh, right, before we go…catch.”
“Huh? Whoa!”
The Demon Lord tosses something to Schlain the Hero, who manages to catch it.
It’s…a sword?
“Oh, isn’t this the royal family’s sword?”
“What in the…?!”
Hyrince stares at the sword in shock, then at Demon Lord Ariel.
“That’s the Sword of the Hero. It’s the counterpart to the Sword of the Demon Lord, which only I can use. It’s a sword that can only be wielded by the Hero, and can produce a single attack strong enough to kill a god, but only once.”
Schlain looks back and forth between the Demon Lord and the sword.
“And also…hey, wake up. I know you’re in there, Byaku.”
“Leave me alone.”
“Wha…?!”
A voice responds to Demon Lord Ariel’s call.
Then a small white dragon slithers out of the sword in Schlain’s hands.
“Took you long enough, sleepyhead. Let me guess, you’ve been sulking because your favorite hero got killed?”
“Hmph.”
Byaku, who is presumably a light dragon, lets out a huff.
It appears that the Demon Lord hit the nail on the head.
“Well, I don’t really care why you were sleeping. Just protect the current hero there, will ya?”
“As if I need you to tell me that.”
“Whoa?! U-um, hello?”
Byaku twines around Schlain the Hero’s arm.
“That’s Byaku the Light Dragon. He’s an ancient dragon chief who’s been guarding the Sword of the Hero. Better keep him with you just in case.”
“Hmph.”
The light dragon huffs again, while Schlain looks bewildered.
“…Are you sure about this? Putting a powerful weapon in the hands of the enemy?”
“Fine by me. Even with the Sword of the Hero and Byaku both, we could still kill you all easily.”
The Demon Lord responds to Hyrince’s question with unshakable confidence.
As if she could kill us all with one hand tied behind her back.
What a frightening little lady.
“All you guys have to do is not double-cross me. Easy, right?”
That’s rich coming from someone who clearly doesn’t trust us as far as she can throw us.
I certainly have no intention of betraying anyone, though I can’t speak for the others…
It seems prudent to refrain from such foolishness, but I suppose we’ll see what happens, eh?
“Come on, let’s go for real this time.”
Still seated, the Demon Lord gives the signal, and Fiel and the other small spiders lift her chair and carry her forward.
Those must be the four little girls I saw in the elf village.
I’m sure of it, though I only Appraised Fiel.
If so, those tiny creatures are actually legendary-class monsters with stats in the ten thousands.
Carrying a chair would be a simple matter for them.
Still, I have to wonder why Demon Lord Ariel would go out of her way to have the little spiders cart her around like that.
Judging by her complexion, I suspect she is in poor health.
Her overall presence isn’t as strong as I expected, either.
It looks to me as if she’s in a significantly weakened state.
Not that I’m going to Appraise her to confirm that theory, of course.
The Demon Lord puts her hand on the door.
It lights up and gradually opens.
And beyond the door is…
“O-ooooh…?!”
So this is what it means to be at a loss for words!
The spectacle beyond the door is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
The floor, walls, and even the ceiling are covered in magic circles.
They’re so incredibly complex and artistically crafted that I cannot begin to read their meaning.
But I can tell at a glance that this is a truly stupendous working!
Incredible! Who knew such things could exist in this world?!
I am reminded yet again that my knowledge is still but a paltry sliver!
Oh dear. Everyone went on ahead while I was standing here awestruck.
I attempt to catch up to them quickly, yet with easy enough steps that I will not give away my flustered state.
One gets better at such maneuvers with age.
Then, when I catch up to where the others have stopped, I am struck breathless yet again.
There is someone in the center of the room.
Her lower body is gone, her upper body suspended in midair as if pinned to an invisible cross.
This must be none other than Goddess Sariel.
The savior of this world.
The pontiff falls to his knees in front of her.
Following suit, the rest of us kneel as well.
Yes, I see now.
Demon Lord Ariel’s wrath seems all the more justified upon witnessing this painful sight…
A few moments pass in that state.
Not one of us says a word.
“Proficiency has reached the required level.”
Only the voice of the goddess Sariel echoes in the room.
“All right. Ronandt, was it? Go ahead and start.”
“Hrm. Very well.”
When the Demon Lord finally breaks the silence, I obey and walk up to the goddess.
“Please pardon me for touching you, O Goddess.”
After asking permission, I place my hands on Goddess Sariel.
Focusing, I close my eyes.
You can do it, self. I know you can.
Just remember how you used the master-familiar connection to teleport to Schlain’s location.
This is no different from that time.
I must simply use the connection to the system to teleport to D’s location.
I will find where the evil god hides.
And I will follow the path to reach her.
I can sense it. Two powerful presences connected to the system.
But one of them is overwhelmingly larger than the other.
It’s so unknowably vast that it fills me with fear.
This must be the evil god’s presence.
The other one is likely the ebony god.
All I must do, then, is use this connection to teleport to the evil god.
I focus all my energy on constructing the spell.
Hrrgh! It’s consuming my MP so fast!
Teleportation always requires a lot of MP, but in this case, my entire stores might not even be enough?!
Nng! But I cannot fail!
I boasted to everyone that they could count on me.
I will succeed no matter what!
Gritting my teeth, I form the teleportation spell.
Stop screaming, brain! Surely humanity’s strongest mage can handle this much!
“I’m going to activate it! Prepare yourselves!”
This teleportation will take us beyond our world.
We must expect the unexpected.
That is why I shouted a warning before activating the spell, though I do not know if it made a difference in the end.
The teleportation spell activates, sure and true.
I did it, even if my MP is empty.
I quickly gulp down an MP recovery potion.
Though it’s far from a complete recovery, at least I’ve gotten a little MP back.
Only after that, and one deep breath, can I finally manage to look at my surroundings.
Everyone who was by my side before the spell went off is standing there safe and sound.
“It appears I succeeded, eh?”
“Yes, very well done.”
It’s clear at a glance that this is no ordinary place.
In fact, I cannot see anything at all.
There is only darkness as far as the eye can see.
And yet I can see everyone around me clearly, even though there is no light source in sight.
The people are visible, yet our surroundings seem empty.
What a strange sight indeed.
And in the midst of it all sits something stranger still.
A lone young lady, disturbingly beautiful.
I am certain as soon as I lay eyes upon her.
This must be the evil god D.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login