My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! - Volume 10 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14 — I Don’t Really Care; I’m Happy If I Can Just Relax Here

After leaving the forest behind, a rural landscape sat before Hiruko. Cultivated fields stretched out into the distance, dotted with small houses here and there. Though it was a scene full of idyllic beauty, Hiruko barely saw it. She was busy trying to see if it was truly impossible for her to escape. She knew there was no way a barrier made by a human could contain a god, but as far as she could tell, there were no seams through which she could slip.

She had agreed to come here through something like a contract, so even as a god, she was now bound by the rules of this place. If the rules said she couldn’t leave without permission, she had no choice but to obey.

I’m starting to regret forcing my way into this world.

In her own world, she could unilaterally break something as feeble as a human-made contract. But she was an intruder here. Since she had entered without permission, she couldn’t access her full power.

What the heck is going on in this world? Ma being split into pieces is already plenty strange.

As hard as it was to believe, it seemed there was someone on the same level as Luu’s somewhere in this world. Of course, it was unthinkable that Luu could be defeated in a direct fight. Their enemy must have had some sort of trick for beating her, but still, they would have to be someone of incredible power.

I didn’t want to bring Ma home with the job half-done, but at this rate, I should have just gone even if she was incomplete...

Hiruko knew where Luu was. She should have gone back home, collected her strength, and then come back at full power. Of course, it was too late for that now. She had been separated from Luu and locked away within this place. It was basically the worst possible situation.

“We’re here.” Yuuri’s voice brought Hiruko back to the present.

In front of her was a small wooden house. Hiruko was underwhelmed. She was meeting her faction’s leader and had been expecting a luxurious mansion or a castle.

“Don’t look so disappointed. We’re the Slow Life League, remember?”

“Didn’t you say you were taking me to your bosses?”

“We don’t have leaders, so I brought you to League Member Touichirou. There’s no real difference between any of the league members, but I guess he can solve your problem.”

“Is League Member the highest rank for you guys?”

“I guess so. Under the League Members are the Provisional League Members like me. Beneath us are the Laborers, who work outside. Other places have a more militaristic structure, but those three are the only ranks we have here, I guess.”

“Whatever. Let’s go in.”

Hiruko opened the door and stepped inside. The interior wasn’t particularly extravagant. There was a kitchen, a table, and a bed but not much else. There seemed to be another room deeper in the house, but that was likely only the washroom. It looked like a place where one person would live alone.

Sitting at the table was a man in workers’ clothes. That must have been Touichirou. As Hiruko made to comment on the dull appearance of the room and its occupant, she froze.

He was a god.

The criteria for determining godhood were rather vague. There were some general characteristics that gods shared, but the primary determining factor was being recognized by other gods. Hiruko noticed instantly that he was not only a god, but one stronger than herself.

“Why...Why are you here?!”

“That’s a pretty aggressive greeting,” Touichirou replied in a gentle voice. “You want to talk, right? Why don’t you have a seat?”

“Sure...”

Overwhelmed by her first impression of him, Hiruko did as she was told. “There’s a lot I want to ask you,” she began. “You picked me in the draft, so I thought you guys were the weakest faction here.”

“As far as strength in battle, we are. I’m pretty strong, and I feel like the other League Members are too, but we’re outnumbered. But hey, we have enough people to defend our territory.”

“With someone as strong as you, couldn’t you crush the humans yourself?” If a god like this fought against humans, he would annihilate them in an instant.

“You need humans to make things work in Belm. Take a look at this map.”

Touichirou spread a map of the continent out on the table. It was a simple map, showing a rough idea of where things were in relation to each other. It was divided up into hexagons by faint lines and looked like a hex map one would use in a board game.

“Seems pretty detailed.”

“These are the smallest units of territory in Belm. Each is a hexagon, ten kilometers long on each side. They’re all numbered, making a total of...well, there are a lot. The war is about taking these hexagons from each other.”

“So what?”

“There’s a limit to how many people can enter each area. We’re all given a cost based on how strong we are. The cost limit for an army in one territory is one thousand. Super strong beings like you and me are ‘L’ units with a cost of five hundred. Those who are fairly strong are ‘M’ units with a cost of one hundred, and those who are so weak they don’t matter are ‘S’ units with a cost of one. Basically, you can’t make an army out of L units.

“I have a few questions.”

“Ask away.”

“First, about those L units. You made it sound like you’ve got a bunch of them here. Aren’t you over the cost limit, then?”

“The home bases are special in that they have no cost limit. That makes attacking the home base of the other factions very difficult.”

“If there’s such a strict cost limit, shouldn’t you be able to go and crush their armies by yourself?”

“There are rules about taking territory,” Touichirou explained. “First, you can’t just enter territory owned by another faction.”

“How’re you supposed to have a war like that? There’s no way you could fight properly.”

“That’s where the second rule comes in. If you have two or more areas connecting to an enemy area, you can invade. Once you defeat their leader, you take control of the area. In other words, to hold an area, you need to always have a presence there.”

“Ah, that’s what you mean by being short on manpower.”

“Exactly. To invade an enemy area, we need to take multiple areas around it, and then we need to station people permanently in those areas to maintain control of them. No matter how strong I am, if we don’t have the numbers, they’ll just take back any territory we gain.”

“But the home bases are in the corners of the continent, right? Wouldn’t you be stuck if you got surrounded?”

“That’s another special case with home bases. You can invade any territory that connects to your home base.”

“All right, I got the rules. But aren’t you strong enough that you could just ignore them?”

“Maybe, but I have no intention of doing so. I’m perfectly happy with this place. I have no reason to attack anyone else or to destroy the system.”

“All right. This whole conversation was mostly pointless. I wanna head up to Himeln. Give me permission to go.”

“You can leave if you want, but you won’t be able to enter Himeln.”

“In other words, you don’t have any territory around there?”

“All we have is some land on the west side of the continent. Some guys got very motivated a long time ago and managed to carve out their own space there.”

“So basically, if I wanna go to Himeln, I have to conquer my way there?”

“That’s right.”

“Got it. Get me out of here, then. As far north as you can.”

“Our farthest territory north is 110:10, but the best we can do is teleport you to 125:17. We don’t have enough points to go any farther.”

“Even more jargon?! What are points?!”

“Points are obtained from mobs on the continent. Moving between areas costs points.”

Troops could be teleported between their home base and controlled territories in either direction, but doing so cost points depending on how far away the destination was.

“Why the heck did someone make a system like this?” Hiruko asked after hearing his explanation. She couldn’t understand why someone had set up such bizarre, roundabout rules.

“Who knows? I don’t really care; I’m happy if I can just relax here.”

“Fine. Send me as far as you can.”

“Okay. For now, take this with you.” Touichirou handed her a tube.

“What’s this?”

“It’s called a cylinder. If you stick it into a mob, you can collect energy from them. Filling one gives you one point.”

“No idea what I’ll need it for, but I guess I’ll figure it out on the way.”

“If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask any time. Anyone in the League can use telepathy. Do you need a map?”

“It’s fine; seeing that one is enough.”

In the top right was the Himeln home base, marked as 1:1. As she looked down the map, the tiles proceeded as 2:1, 3:1, and so on. All the way at the bottom was the Slow Life League’s home base, 140:1.

From right to left the numbers increased from 1:2, to 1:3, and so on. It appeared the first number determined vertical position, while the second represented horizontal position. The home base of Momurus in the top left was at 1:230, and Suudoria Academy was in the bottom left at 140:230.

If Hiruko was being sent to 125:17, she wasn’t making it that far from the Slow Life League’s home base. Himeln was still rather far away, and she had no guarantee Luu would remain at her own home base. If Luu headed towards her, they would be able to reunite sooner. Hiruko had no idea what Luu would do, but for now she had nothing to do but set out after her.

“See you around.”

As Touichirou said that, the scenery around Hiruko suddenly changed. She was now standing on a stone road in the middle of a grassland.

She immediately received a telepathic message.

Oh, I almost forgot. Most of the animals and plants in Belm are immortal, and if you touch them, even gods like us will get infected, so be careful.”

“Tell me that at the start!”

“I don’t go outside much, so I kind of forgot. I’m sure you can make a barrier for yourself.”

“Of course I can!”

If she wanted to, she could create an infinite space between herself and the outside world. Hiruko swung her hand in a chopping motion. The shock wave it created sliced through the grass in front of her, but in moments, the grass was back to normal. The split blades immediately stitched themselves back together. It felt like she was being made fun of somehow.

She tried unleashing fire from her palm next, and in moments the entire field was up in flames. All that should have been left was scorched earth, but the incinerated grass immediately returned to normal, waving unnaturally like nothing had happened.

“The heck is this? Is it regeneration or some kind of time reversal? And for something like grass? Gross!”

Hiruko had met people who could regenerate in an instant or control time, but she had no idea why some grass would have the same ability.

“Whatever. Not like I’m going to touch it. I just need to go north.”

She floated up into the air. She had no intention of slowly walking to her destination and quickly accelerated. She would be in the Slow Life League’s territory for a while, so she intended to cross as much distance as possible all at once.

Instead, she ran into another wall.

“What the heck?! This is getting stupid!”

There was a translucent, pale wall in front of her. It stretched out to the right and left, as well as up into the sky.

“That’s an area boundary. I told you that you need points to pass through them, right?”

“So I’m supposed to stick this cylinder into things to get points? Don’t you have any?”

“I used all the points I had to teleport you, but either way, it’s the unit moving that needs the points.”

Hiruko looked at the device in her hand. It was used to absorb energy, and if full, would give her one point.

“What a pain in the ass. What’s with this place?! It’s so stupid!”

She inspected the wall to see if she could find another way through but found nothing. It seemed she would have to find a sacrifice to fill up the cylinder after all.

With no other options, Hiruko began searching for the mobs Touichirou had told her about.