My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! - Volume 14 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 — Do You Really Think That Counts as Hiding?

Van and another boy landed on the roof of the half-ruined pyramid. The rooftop had likely once been square, but now it had been shaved down to a long rectangle. The two new arrivals touched down at the center of what floor remained.

“Hey everyone. I’m Mitsuki, the Great Sage who manages the other Sages. I know it’s a little rude to be wearing a mask like this, but please forgive me. Normally it doesn’t bother me, but showing my face to large crowds can be a bit of a problem sometimes.” The boy, Mitsuki, spoke with a gentle voice. The mask hid his age, but judging by his voice, he was still quite young. “So, as for what’s happening next... Oh, sorry, I kind of took over, didn’t I? Do you mind?”

“Whatever. Do what you want,” Van replied with a sigh. Cavern Quest was Van’s creation, so management of the last quest should have fallen to him.

The scattered adventurers slowly gathered around the two Sages, Hanakawa and the two girls included. There were some who listened from a short distance, perhaps still on guard against their peers. The Great Sage’s voice carried quite far, so there was no need to listen from up close.

I recognize a good number of these people...

There were a number of people who had already left an impression on Hanakawa here. The witch Evon was one—the woman who had multiplied the Philosopher’s Stones and handed them out on the beach.

The next was a pair he remembered seeing in the Garula Canyon before the world was reset. One was a woman in extremely revealing clothing, the other a young, lanky man. They hadn’t been at the beach, so they must have found another way to the top of the pyramid. Back when Hanakawa met them the first time, the woman had been firing lasers indiscriminately in all directions, so she seemed plenty dangerous. The man didn’t seem like much of a threat, and in fact, Hanakawa felt a small kind of affinity for him.

“The succubus does not seem to be present. Do you think she failed to make it through?” Hanakawa asked.

“Probably,” Carol answered. “She may have been strong, but given what happened to the pyramid, that wouldn’t have helped her.”

“Quite true. Well, everyone participating seems to have powers that feel like cheating, so a good number of them managed to survive even that...but considering all those who died, does it not make it impressive that I somehow survived?”

“Yes, beginner’s luck! Luck of the draw! Blind luck and nothing else! Your abilities didn’t have anything to do with it!” Carol retorted.

“I am not sure all of those idioms are quite appropriate here...but regardless, it appears there are some nonhumans among us, no?”

Another group now present that hadn’t been on the beach was a party of clearly nonhuman adventurers. The party was made up of a boy with horns growing from his forehead, a huge man with skin like stone, a slender man with three pairs of eyes, a woman with hair that covered her face entirely and was long enough to reach the ground, and another black-haired boy wearing a T-shirt and jeans.

“I recall seeing that horned boy previously. I believe he was one of the first to receive a Philosopher’s Stone from Van. Perhaps they are Gorbagion’s Four Heavenly Kings?”

The original Philosopher’s Stones had been divided up among six people and a dog. Hanakawa had been part of that group, along with the horned boy.

“Hm? Wait, were parties not limited to four people? That appears to be a group of five...”

“Just because they’re standing together doesn’t mean they’re all in one party,” Carol said.

“I suppose so. There is always the possibility one of them is sort of like a familiar as well.” If he really wanted to press the issue, he’d have to ask about the numerous fans who had appeared around Sora as well. Worrying about it now seemed like a waste of effort.

“Ah, looks like there are more people...coming,” Carol noted, looking behind them.

Uneasy about her suspicious tone, Hanakawa turned to look and immediately began to sputter in disbelief. The person standing behind him was so unexpected he lost all composure.

The world had been reset. Time had been rewound. Many of those who had died in the previous world had returned to life. Even so, he had never expected to see this one here.

It was a monster. Though it had a humanoid shape, it was black from head to toe, covered entirely in blades. The sinister creature was like an incarnation of bloodlust, one very familiar to Hanakawa.

“Why would the Hedgehog be here?!” Back during his brief journey with Aoi, he had encountered the monstrosity in the Garula Canyon. “And wait, is that Luu? Why is she here?!” Though the impact was deadened by the previous sight of the Hedgehog, Hanakawa also noticed a group of four women standing behind it: the goddess Luu, her supposed daughter Hiruko, an elf, and a warrior of some sort. The Hedgehog should have been going after Luu, but right now it showed no signs of hostility.

“I must admit I am quite curious about what has led to these developments...but as they say, no curse comes from a sleeping god.”

As its appearance indicated, the Hedgehog was a violent creature. There was no telling how it would react if he approached it. Hanakawa slipped behind Carol in an attempt to hide.

“Do you really think that counts as hiding?” Carol quipped.

With the Hedgehog in the lead, the group of five approached the Great Sage.

“Yo. You’re going by Luu now, right? Long time no see.”

“Mitsuki...”

Hanakawa had no idea what kind of relationship the two had, but he could tell there was something abnormal in the air between them, as expressions of love and hate warred on Luu’s face.

“I’m sure you have a lot to say, but can you hold on to it for now?” Mitsuki said. “If you attack me, I’ll just run away anyway. If you play the game, I’ll probably save some time for you later.”

Apparently satisfied by his offer, Luu said nothing more.

“Okay. It looks like there might be a few more people coming in late, so maybe we should wait a bit.”

“I don’t think you need to bother,” Van said. “Anyone who couldn’t make it to the rooftop as of now should just be disqualified.”

The last boss battle was supposed to be a battle royale between the seven parties that possessed a Philosopher’s Stone. However, there were far more than seven stones now, so there was no hope of sticking to that plan.

“Okay. Then, congratulations. Everyone here has qualified for the last battle in the final area. We’ll lose all the tension if we wait forever, so I’ll cut it off there. Anyone else who shows up is disqualified...though I guess there’s no point in telling you guys that, is there?”

It seemed most of the people on the beach had made it to the rooftop, as well as a fair number who had taken other routes, so there was a large number of parties present.

“Normally, you’d go into the Antechamber Area in the order you arrived, but the door got destroyed, so I’ll just explain the rules here.”

Though he wasn’t there to hear it, the same explanation would be given to Yogiri.

“The final area is in the clouds above us. The field is called Castle in the Sky, so of course there’s actually a castle up there, but it’s not super important. We’re going to be holding a tournament. How many people do we have now?”

“Seventy parties,” Van answered.

“We’ll have you guys fight each other, with the winners moving on. Once about half of you are gone, we’ll start the next round. The numbers don’t add up nicely, though, so we’ll only accept thirty-two winners. That’ll make it six rounds in all. Though, if any of you manage to beat Yogiri Takatou before the finals, that will end the tournament right there.”

The main goal of the tournament was to kill Yogiri so the world could be reset again. There was no point in continuing once Yogiri was dead. That said, the fact he was setting it up as a winner-goes-on tournament meant that he must have had some desire to watch the fights themselves.

“Well, depending on the matchup, I think we have...absolutely no chance at all!” Hanakawa exclaimed. Ryouko and Carol were strong, but they were nowhere near the levels of the cheat-powered individuals they had met on the beach. They would be hopeless against virtually anyone here.

“This is...a problem. I had hoped we could reunite with Takatou first...” Ryouko said, her face darkening.

“Ha ha ha! If your goal is to help Takatou win, then meeting him would mean we’d have to let him kill us!”

“This is not a laughing matter!” Hanakawa chastised Carol. “Excuse me! Is it perhaps possible for us to bow out of the competition early?!” Hanakawa asked, hurriedly approaching Mitsuki.

“That’s a funny thought. If you’re that funny, I’d rather you stayed in.” Though it was hard to tell through the mask, the Sage’s tone suggested he found genuine humor in what Hanakawa had said.

“Ah, umm! Losing does not necessitate death, does it? After all, you said nothing about these being fights to the death!”

“Hmm. The point of this isn’t just to watch people die, so whatever means you come up with, if both sides can agree on a winner, that’s fine with me.”

That laid the foundation for the tournament. The rules of each match would be decided at the start of that match. If no agreement could be reached, the match would end when one party was wiped out. Parties were freely able to surrender and withdraw.

“Van, can you open a door for us?” Mitsuki asked.

“Sure.” Van snapped his fingers, causing a board to pop out of the ground. The surface of the board was pitch-black, similar to the gates in the pyramid. “When you go through this gate, you’ll appear somewhere in the final area. The placement is random, but it’s been set up so you won’t appear too close to another party. Once everyone is through, the round starts,” he explained.

“Hey, wasn’t there something about a prize for those who arrived first?” the horned boy from earlier said.

“Yeah, I said I’d give you powers. But do you really want to talk about what powers I’ll give you where everyone can hear?”

“I don’t need any powers. I want something else.”

“Oh, really? If it sounds interesting, I’ll hear you out.”

“One of your friends is that guy with glasses, right?” the boy asked. “I need to kill that guy. Tell me where he is.”

“The guy with glasses? I suppose that would be Shirou. He’s in the management area of the game, so players can’t get to him.” Mitsuki thought for a moment. “So let’s do this. Let’s have all of the Sages involved with Cavern Quest join the tournament!”

“What?!” Van jumped like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on him.

“Works for me,” the horned boy replied. “As long as I keep winning, I’ll get to him eventually. And if I get to kill you too, all the better,” he finished, glaring at Van. He still seemed to hold a grudge against Van for implanting the Philosopher’s Stone in him.

“You’re not busy with anything else, are you?” Mitsuki asked.

“Well...I guess there’s no point worrying about running the game anymore,” Van conceded.

“Even if you lose and die somehow, the world is going to be reset anyway, so you’ll be fine,” Mitsuki said nonchalantly. It seemed he was operating under the assumption that another reset was guaranteed. Whatever happened, Yogiri would die in the end and the world would be returned to the way it was before.

“You say that as if there’s no danger at all...but hey, if it’ll help you enjoy the game, then sure.” Though he was quite shocked, it didn’t seem Van was terribly bothered by the idea.

“Hey, can I say something too?” a young man in a full bodysuit asked. His clothing was clearly made from a smooth material that didn’t exist in this world, and it had solid chunks of armor placed around it. To Hanakawa, it looked like sci-fi battle gear.

“Sure. But I’m guessing this isn’t about the powers either?”

“Not really. My power is too big in scope. If I use it normally, it’ll destroy the planet. It’s not really going to work for one-on-one matches. I want to make sure it’s okay if I kill everyone else at once.”

“I see. Putting aside whether you’re actually capable of doing that, that would make the round system irrelevant. How about instead we set it up so that you fight in partitioned-off spaces, so you can’t affect the other matches going on? Is that possible?” Mitsuki asked, turning to Van.

“Sure. Cavern Quest is already set up with channels. So...I’ll make it so that when the parties are within ten meters of each other, the match will start, I guess,” Van answered.

“In that case,” Hanakawa interrupted, “what would happen if more than two parties came within ten meters of each other at once?”

“Working out every small detail now would take forever,” Van replied. “I’ll just deal with the fringe cases as they come up.”

Content with the conversation ending there, the Sage headed for the black gate, passing through and disappearing. In short order, the other adventurers began passing through the gate as well. In hopes of securing any tiny advantage they could, they wanted to get in early and see as much of the battle area as possible before the fighting started. But none of them seemed especially hurried. They were happy to patiently wait in line. It seemed they were all fully confident in their own abilities. They all thought they had a way to deal with Yogiri’s powers and defeat him.

All we hoped for was to reunite with Sir Takatou. How did we end up embroiled in this whole affair?

Had they made a mistake somewhere? Looking back, Hanakawa had plenty of regrets about his past actions, but for now it seemed his only option was to go with the flow. Passing through the gate, he emerged in a forest.

“He said we’d be up in the clouds, but this hardly looks like that kind of fantasy realm, does it?” Carol said.

“I don’t see the others who entered before us,” Ryouko commented as she looked around.

“Be that as it may...why exactly is the Great Sage with us?”

Hanakawa, Carol, and Ryouko had appeared beside each other, meaning they had probably been brought through as a party. However, in addition to those three, Mitsuki was also standing alongside them.

“I said I’d give you guys powers, right? It’s not really a conversation you’ll want to have in front of the others, so I decided to come to you personally.”

“Aha, I am more than happy to receive them, but did you not say the prize was for the first ten to arrive? I believe we arrived rather late, did we not?” By the time Hanakawa’s group had made it to the rooftop, most of the other adventurers had already gathered. The only ones who had arrived after them were Luu’s group.

“That’s true, but a lot of people said they didn’t want anything.”

“Then I want one! I absolutely want one!”

“Anyway, going down the list, I made it to you guys,” the Great Sage said. “There are two prizes left. So going by the order you made it to the rooftop...that would be you two.”

Either he remembered offhand or had access to that information, because after thinking for a brief moment, Mitsuki pointed to Carol and Hanakawa. If they were going by the order they stepped onto the rooftop, that would have been correct. Carol had used her grappling hooks to get there first, and the first one Celestina had carried onto the roof was Hanakawa.

“So, what kind of power would you like?”

“Hmm...” Carol sank into thought. Being suddenly presented with the offer, it was only natural she’d need some time to think about it.

“Could you make up your mind in five minutes? The fighting is supposed to start, so I don’t want to hold things up too much.”

“Wait! Is that five minutes for both of us combined?!” Hanakawa exclaimed.

“You can think at the same time, can’t you?”

“I suppose, but—”

“We can ask for any power we like, right?” Carol asked.

“Sure, but remember the whole point is to come up with something that will help you defeat Yogiri Takatou. If it’s totally unrelated to that, I’m not sure I’m willing to do it.”

“So, for example, if I were to ask to become the most dashing individual in the universe and for the world to be restructured such that there is no greater joy for others than to perform adult acts with me, you would refuse?” Hanakawa asked.

“I’m really starting to think we should have killed this guy a lot earlier...” Ryouko muttered, looking down at Hanakawa with disgust.

“All right, I’ve made up my mind!” said Carol. “I want to be able to nullify others’ powers! I want it to work on anything, even on powers granted by you!”

“Done.” Mitsuki nodded.

“That will allow me to nullify any power this piece of garbage...ahem, that Hanakawa chooses, right?”

“I guess so. That’s how the rules work. Here, you can read this to see the details.” Mitsuki passed Carol a small slip of paper.

“Wh-What is this?! How am I supposed to select an ability to get revenge for the oppression I have suffered at your hands up until now?!”

“I had a bad feeling about it, so I’m really glad I decided to make it to the rooftop before you,” Carol replied.

“Then what am I supposed to pick?!”

“Hmm...looking at this, it seems there are quite a few restrictions on my power, so you better think carefully about what you want. But if you try to use it on us, I’ll just disable it anyway!”

“Limits?! I thought we were permitted any power we wished! Adding limits to it afterwards is hardly fair!” Hanakawa protested.

“That’s easy to say, but I can’t give you powers that are logically impossible, and I can’t supply you unlimited energy forever, right?”

So, what am I to do? I have never thought seriously about this issue. Should I think of a power to kill Yogiri? If I succeed, surely the Great Sage will reward me afterwards. But no matter what kind of combat power I think of, it will only lead to Takatou killing me in retaliation! I need something more clever to deal with him.

Ah, perhaps I should not think too deeply on it. Maybe an ability that allows me to avoid attacking him at all is preferable. In that case, a multipurpose ability of some sort would be preferred. That would be more effective, would it not? However, a jack-of-all-trades is a master of none. I fear that might lead to unexpected pitfalls somewhere.

And there are limits that will be placed on the power as well! And it will take some sort of resource to use? How am I supposed to make a decision with that in mind? Ahhhh! I need more time to think!

Anyway! Whether Takatou returns home or dies, what is important for me is what comes after! I need something that will help me survive this coming conflict and everything that comes after! But what kind of power would that be?!

“Time’s up.” Mitsuki interrupted Hanakawa’s train of thought.

“Uh...huh?”

“I don’t want to make the others wait any longer, and I’m already bored.”

“No! What will happen to my new power, then?!” Hanakawa cried.

“Giving you nothing at all would be too depressing, so I just picked something at random for you. Here, this will tell you how to use it.” Mitsuki handed him a slip of paper. The moment Hanakawa took it, Mitsuki vanished.

“Last Boss Quest, Final Stage, Round One: Start!”

A message appeared in the air above them as an announcement played, signaling the start of the tournament.