Chapter 5 — It’s Like He Is Saying “We Can Just Use the Whatever Balls to Bring You Back to Life, So It’s Okay to Die!”
The “ruins field” zone was characterized by numerous abandoned, collapsed buildings, a cracked and broken paved road, and mounds of rubble. The shells of ruined buildings made visibility poor, meaning one had to constantly be on the lookout for ambushes.
Carol and Ryouko slid stealthily between the shadows of the buildings while Hanakawa walked brazenly down the open roads. In effect, he was bait. Enemies often attacked from hiding places among the buildings, so by luring them out with Hanakawa as a target, they could find where those enemies were hiding. To others, it looked like he was walking aimlessly down the street. He gave no impression of being aware of his surroundings, making him quite an enticing target.
The attack began. Arrows and magic struck him from the shadows of the buildings, but he was unharmed. A defensive field of energy around him blocked all of the attacks.
“Geh heh heh... Useless... It is all useless! And this is my protection at its weakest, the defense offered just from the energy naturally exuding from my body! Is that the best you can manage?” Hanakawa taunted his attackers.
Having discovered the source of the attack, Carol and Ryouko were already in motion, easily restraining a mage and archer. The last was a swordsman, staring dumbly at Hanakawa after the wave of energy launched from his sword had failed to make a mark. They weren’t monsters, but adventurers who were hunting Philosopher’s Stones. News that the Philosopher’s Stones were necessary to defeat the last boss had recently become widespread. The locations of each of the stones’ holders had become common knowledge among the high-level players.
“Dammit!” Realizing the situation had rapidly turned against him, the swordsman turned to flee.
“Oh? And where are you going? Are you not interested in this Philosopher’s Stone?”
“Wha?”
Hanakawa suddenly appeared in front of the fleeing swordsman. His class of Monk had the ability to store up energy over time, then spend it to temporarily boost his physical abilities. He had empowered his legs to the point where his movement seemed instantaneous, practically teleporting in front of his enemy.
“Tch! If I run away from a scrub like this, there’s no way I can handle Lasbo!” The swordsman leaped forward, striking at Hanakawa, but his blade passed harmlessly through him.
“Wha?!”
“That was no more than an illusion,” Hanakawa chortled. He had used the Monk skill Illusionary Fist, leaving energy behind him as he moved to create a false image of himself. However, his skill level was rather low, so it was just a harmless image. There weren’t many practical applications for it at this point.
“Very annoying, Hanakawa!” As if the sight of Hanakawa lording his skills over his opponent was irritating her, Carol intervened, striking the swordsman from behind and knocking him unconscious.
“He seems to be getting rather full of himself,” Ryouko sighed beside her. “It may be best to dispose of him now while we still can.”
Though Hanakawa had been effectively useless at first, Monk was a high-level class. Once he began gaining levels, his strength grew in leaps and bounds.
“Yeah. We’re the ones who helped him level up, so I guess we’re responsible for putting him down,” Carol agreed.
The three of them were working together to complete quests. At first, Ryouko and Carol had fought without him, so Hanakawa was able to level up without putting in any effort himself, bringing him to his current state. At this point, Carol could still likely defeat him on her own, but if he continued to grow at the same pace, it might not be long before he was untouchable.
“Huh? Should you not be celebrating my growth? Why are you complaining now that I have become useful?”
“Because you’re annoying!” snapped Carol.
“It is honestly difficult to watch you,” added her friend.
“Ugh... However! A reversal of my fortunes here is quite possible! Should the two of you ladies find yourselves in a pinch, a gallant rescue from me should serve to greatly increase your favor towards me! Such is a very common development!”
“So if Hanakawa ever ends up saving us, I’ll just chalk it up to random chance,” Carol said.
“We’ve saved you plenty of times already, so any rescue of us is just paying back your debt,” Ryouko added.
“Anyway, the goal is up ahead, so let’s keep going!”
Yo, my name is Mitsuki. You may not recognize the name, so maybe you’d understand better if I said I was the Great Sage, the one who created the Sages.
“Huh? Who is speaking?” Hanakawa looked around. Carol did too, but neither of them could see the source of the voice.
This message is going out to everyone in the world except for one person. I’m going to explain what happened to all of you. It might be hard to believe, but that’s okay. This is the truth, so you can definitely trust me.
“This is...similar to the message delivered by Sage Van, isn’t it?” Ryouko said, thinking back to the message announcing Cavern Quest to them.
This world was about to be destroyed, so I reset it. You should all still have vague memories of what happened before the reset, right? Some things are different from last time, but many of you probably haven’t noticed that yet. Actually, everyone that a certain person killed before the reset has failed to come back, so you probably don’t remember them. That’s kind of a problem, isn’t it? So let me start by reminding you of everyone that’s gone. You probably won’t recognize most of them, but the number will be pretty surprising, so please take a look.
Images of people started flitting through Carol’s mind. One, two, ten, a hundred, and in no time at all the number of images quickly surpassed counting. In the end, all she could see were indistinguishable points, but somehow she knew they were all people.
All of these people were killed by a single person: Yogiri Takatou. Of course, seeing people like this won’t make you understand, so I’ll show you the people that you know next.
Then came images of people that Carol somehow recognized. Though she had forgotten them, she had the vague feeling that these people were her classmates. With their images in front of her, the lost memories snapped back clearly.
“It’s true that I had forgotten about them...but if he’s singling out Takatou...” Ryouko seemed to share Carol’s unease. If the Great Sage was telling the truth, this message was going out to everyone in the world. She had a terrible feeling about what he intended to do.
He killed many people who tried to attack him. That’s understandable, I guess. But for some reason I can’t figure out, he also killed millions of others that did nothing to him.
“I cannot help but admit that killing people just because they may become enemies in the future is going too far...” Hanakawa mumbled.
“Why are you believing him so easily, Hanakawa?”
“He was taking preventative action, wasn’t he?” Killing potential enemies before they could strike made perfect sense to Carol.
Many of you suddenly lost friends, family, and loved ones one day for no reason, right? Normally, all the people who died should have come back to life with the reset. I have the power to do that. But it didn’t happen. It looks like a rule has been placed on this world that anyone Yogiri Takatou kills cannot come back to life. Breaking that rule myself is kind of difficult, but if Yogiri Takatou doesn’t exist, the rule will stop applying as well.
It was impossible to prove whether he was telling the truth, but Carol had no difficulty accepting what the Great Sage was saying. Maybe the Great Sage’s power was making his words impossible to doubt.
In short, we just need to get rid of him. Then all of the problems will be solved. When he’s gone, I’ll reset the world again and turn everything back to normal.
“Huh? Does this not mean that Sir Takatou has become public enemy number one?!”
“Looks that way. I’m not sure why the Great Sage doesn’t just deal with him directly, though.” It was possible he was on guard against Yogiri’s ability, but it was also likely he just didn’t want to step onto the stage himself, and was therefore making others do his dirty work.
But there’s still one problem. Yogiri Takatou is incredibly strong. He can kill anyone just by thinking it. He can also detect your intent to kill him and kill you in response. Ordinary people can’t stand against him. So I’ve decided to help you out. I will give any power requested to the first ten people to make it to Cavern Quest’s final area. So please think of an ability that can beat him.
“Any power...” Hanakawa murmured.
“You’re thinking of something stupid, aren’t you?” Carol commented.
“How rude! Sir Takatou is entirely invincible, so I only thought of obtaining the power to build a harem and fleeing!”
“Wow...that was even worse than I expected.”
Now, Yogiri Takatou is still incredibly strong. Even with the powers I give you, you could still lose. But if all of humanity works against him, you’ll be fine. There’s probably at least one person out there who can beat him. And as long as someone does, it doesn’t matter how many people die trying. Once he’s gone, everyone who died will come back to life.
“It’s like he is saying, ‘We can just use the whatever balls to bring you back to life, so it’s okay to die!’” Hanakawa cried.
I’m sure you’ll find a way to win if you all work together. That’s all for my message.
The sudden broadcast from the Great Sage ended as quickly as it began.
“So what are we to do? We intended to reunite with Sir Takatou, but doing so now may be dangerous...”
“True. Meeting up with him without a plan sounds risky,” Ryouko agreed.
“I’m sure he’ll kill everyone who attacks him, so things will calm down eventually, right?” Even with the Great Sage granting any power people asked for, Carol couldn’t imagine a situation in which Yogiri would lose.
“That would mean almost all of humanity had been wiped out, though... A-Anyway! No matter what path we take, we should begin by completing this quest! We can think carefully about our next move after that!” Hanakawa tried to force the conversation to a close, but before he could urge them onward, a somewhat familiar woman appeared on the road ahead of them. Wearing a white dress and possessing a sublime beauty, there was no way someone could forget her after seeing her once, but for some reason Carol’s memories of her were vague.
“Huh? Have we perchance met before?” Hanakawa asked.
“She looks familiar...” Ryouko said with a shiver. The woman had managed to sneak up on them without Carol noticing a thing.
“Hanakawa, can I call in that favor you owe us? You said you’d save us when we were in a pinch, didn’t you?”
“Huh? Uh, now that I have become stronger myself I have gained some ability to gauge my opponent’s strength, so I can tell I have absolutely no chance of defeating her. But are you sure she is an enemy? Perhaps she is not but a new entry into my harem?”
Despite Hanakawa’s protests, Carol couldn’t see this woman as anything but a threat. She couldn’t shake the feeling that if they made one wrong move, they’d all be dead.
“You’re Hanakawa, right? I know you’re one of daddy’s friends, so I’ll let you choose if you want to rip the stone out of yourself or if you want me to do it.”
“Wait, are you perhaps Luu? Were you not much smaller before? Wait, are you saying the stone will be torn out of me regardless?!”
Apparently, the woman standing before them was the adult form of Luu, the child Yogiri had half-heartedly named.
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