Chapter 10 — Sorry, I’m Not Sure I Understand
On the sixth level of the Underworld, the Sage candidates were treading new ground. The environment changed with each level. While the first level, where Yogiri had once ventured, seemed like a network of natural caves, this level looked more like it was on the surface. The sky above them was blue, with thin wisps of clouds and a bright sun. There were forests, soil, grasslands, rivers, small mountains, and cliffs. It was enough to make them forget they were even underground.
The eighteen remaining Sage candidates were currently walking through a forest on the sixth level, along with a royal observer. Although there was no reason for people to be down there, for some reason, there were roads winding along the landscape, one of which they were following now. It felt like they were being guided somewhere, but as the road led directly to the center of the sixth level, it didn’t really matter.
It seemed like the Underworld had been built with some consideration for explorers in mind. Up until then, they hadn’t run into any large-scale traps.
“Looks like you pulled the short straw, huh?” Yogiri said to David as he walked beside him.
They were currently in a double file, arranged in nine pairs. Yogiri and Tomochika walked as a pair at the back, with David following freely, independent of their formation.
After asking them to leave, the Kingdom of Manii had accepted the students’ plan for the entire class to relocate to the Underworld. But even there, they could easily use their skills to return to the surface, so David was sent along to keep an eye on them.
“Not at all. I volunteered. I’d have no other chance to see the sixth level for myself, and I wanted to know what it was like. Besides, the royal family’s sealing ability will be useful for you, won’t it?”
There wasn’t much meaning to his keeping an eye on the Sage candidates. David wasn’t strong enough to resist them, and he had no way of contacting the capital if they were to move against him. Yogiri had been wondering why the officials had bothered sending a chaperone, but David had obviously come of his own volition.
“If you don’t mind, I guess it’s fine. But make sure you go home when you get the chance. Don’t push yourself too hard.” Thanks to the swordsmanship lessons Yogiri had been taking from him, the two of them had developed a friendship of sorts.
“Well, it’s not like I can get back without your help. Anyway, all you have to do is defeat the Dark God and your vengeful compatriot. That might not solve everything, but if you manage it, I’m sure the rest will be easy enough.”
“The Dark God, huh? Honestly, I’m not sure why we’re even doing this...”
Yogiri didn’t care one way or the other about the Underworld or the Dark God. Even if they defeated it and earned the right to become Sages, there was no guarantee they would find a way back home. Right now, they didn’t have a method of getting back, but the chances that Sion knew a way were high, so talking with her seemed like their best option. He’d assumed if they stuck with their classmates then she would show up eventually, but there’d been no sign of her so far. If he wanted to draw her out, he’d likely have to defeat this Dark God first.
“Hey, couldn’t you just kill it from here?” Tomochika whispered.
“I don’t have any idea who ‘it’ is, though. It’s not trying to hurt me. And even if I did kill it, we’d have no proof that I was the one responsible.”
When he had killed the Dark God in the Garula Canyon, it had been a reflexive response to the toxic aura the creature had been giving off. But here in the Underworld, there was nothing presenting such a direct danger to Yogiri. He couldn’t kill something that he didn’t even know existed.
“I’m sure things will work out once we get to the bottom floor,” he added. Once he met the monster, he would be able to kill it off secretly. He didn’t have anything against the Dark God, but it was his only way to connect with the Sage.
“I thought everyone would be scared at this point, but they all seem pretty relaxed, don’t they?” Tomochika observed.
They couldn’t see everything from their place in the back, but there wasn’t much in the way of nerves among the teens. Their experience traveling together to the capital must have given them all a strong sense of self-confidence.
The group continued onwards. Having made it through the forest, over the mountains, and across a river, they were now walking through open grassland. Although the landscape had a soft roll to it, they could see quite far into the distance.
They were able to proceed smoothly, with no attacks from monsters slowing them down. And once they reached the top of a hill, they finally saw it: an extraordinarily high wall, stretching out in either direction as far as they could see. Judging from the way it curved, it encircled the very center of the Underworld. Something resembling a gate was visible at one point along the wall, but there was no obvious way of getting through it.
The students broke into excited chatter.
“What should we do?”
“Can’t we go around it?”
“It seems weirdly inviting, doesn’t it?”
The candidates took a small break to have an impromptu meeting. But in the middle of their discussion, a shrill noise rang out. As if it were some sort of signal, the gate in the wall opened and monsters began spilling out from within. It wasn’t long before their numbers swelled beyond counting.
“Hmm, looks like five thousand and ninety-seven.”
“That many?!” Tomochika blurted out in response to Romiko.
She knew that her friend’s class was Counter, which gave her the ability to count anything. Even facing a huge mess like the horde before them, Romiko could determine the exact number of enemies in an instant, but that was about the limit of her power’s usefulness. This was one of the rare instances where it served any purpose at all.
“Seems like they’ve found us,” Yazaki announced, clad in his General’s armor. It was clear that the enemy force had gathered with the intention of fighting them. Although there were a wide variety of creatures in the crowd, they were still busy forming ranks. If the students did nothing, they’d be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. “But we have numbers of our own. Let’s crush them.”
Yazaki gathered a group around him: the Death God, Seiichi Fukai; the Samurai, Ryouko Ninomiya; the Ninja, Carol S Lane; the Saint, Mei Hanamiya; the Gunslinger, Kiyoko Takekura; and he himself, the General, Suguru Yazaki at the helm.
“Is six people enough?” Tomochika asked, concerned. No matter how strong each of them was individually, the odds were staggering. It was hard to imagine they could put up much of a fight.
“Don’t worry. As long as we have my skills, we’ll be fine.” With those words, Yazaki ran off down the hill, the other five quickly following him. “Siege Formation!” he bellowed.
“This isn’t really a ‘siege,’ though...” Tomochika muttered as she watched.
Raising his sword, Yazaki roared and dove into the mass of monsters. The battle was as one-sided as a fight could be. Each time the General swung his weapon, dozens of monsters were sent flying. The Ninja’s throwing knives punched straight through their ranks, and the Samurai’s blade cut them down in droves. Everything in the Death God’s field of view collapsed lifelessly to the ground. The Gunslinger’s twin handguns made Swiss cheese of the remaining beasts, and each monster the Saint’s fists struck dissolved in a flash of light.
In short order, the mob of over five thousand had simply been wiped out.
“They didn’t even get to surround us!”
The skill that Yazaki had used was no doubt meant for combat against overwhelming numbers, but he had just run straight for a frontal assault. It was nice that they had won and all, but Tomochika felt it was a bit anticlimactic.
Lute and Hanakawa stood in front of the powerful lock that was binding the Dark God Mana. Lying on the bed within, she patiently waited for them to release it.
Hanakawa currently held the key in his hand, and the keyhole was right in front of him. Basically, the decision was his.
“Perhaps it’s not my place to say, but I feel like setting her free isn’t such a good idea!” He tried to make light of the situation, but Lute maintained a nervous silence. “Umm, actually, if you act so serious, it’ll make it hard for me to do this, so...”
“Lady Mana, there is something I need to tell you.” Having finally resolved himself, Lute turned to his master’s sister.
“Oh? What is it?”
“Umm...my lord — the Dark God Albagarma...has passed away...”
Hanakawa felt like the temperature in the room had dropped sharply. Nothing had actually changed, but the atmosphere felt completely different.
“Oh. What happened?” Mana seemed totally calm. With a small smile, she pressed him for information.
“It’s...very hard to believe, but...”
Lute told her everything he knew: the goddess Vahanato’s plan to release Albagarma, how everything seemed to have gone well, but Albagarma was found dead where he stood. And the fact that the one responsible was a human named Yogiri Takatou.
“I see...that woman...” There was a heat in Mana’s voice that one would rarely dare to use when speaking of a goddess. But given her calm reaction, Hanakawa felt a little let down.
“Master Lute, things seem to be going an awful lot better than anticipated, don’t you think? I expected her to be enraged, or to go crazy, or not to believe us. I was terrified of her having a super yandere reaction or something.”
“I believe you,” Mana interrupted. “A servant of my brother could never seek to deceive me, isn’t that right?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t be able to lie to you.”
“I do love my brother very much, but that doesn’t mean I’m foolish enough to believe he couldn’t die. He was weaker than I am, so if he tried to take on a higher-ranked god, he might not have been able to manage it. I’ve worried about something like this happening for a while.”
“Really? I expected a far more twisted response from you, but that sounds pretty normal,” Hanakawa remarked.
“Yes, it wasn’t pleasant to think about, but his death was always a possibility. So while I am unhappy to hear of it, I can’t help but accept that it’s true.”
“So, uhh...in that case, what about revenge? Master Lute was thinking of asking you for help in taking revenge on his killer.”
“Revenge? Of course I’ll have to do that much.”
“Ah! Master Lute, we’ve done it!” Having accomplished their preliminary goal, Hanakawa felt relief. He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about being on the same side as the Dark Gods, but if it meant that Yogiri was going to be dealt with, he couldn’t have been happier.
“However, there is something I must do first.”
“Oh? Something that takes priority over your desire for revenge?”
“Indeed. I must give birth to my brother.”
“Umm...sorry, I’m not sure I understand.”
“As sad as it is, as I said, there was always the possibility that my brother would die. So naturally, I had to come up with a contingency plan should such a thing ever happen. If he’s dead, he simply needs to be born again!”
“Ah, dammit! She really is totally gone!”
“Now, as you might expect, I’m a bit restricted at the moment, so would you release the seal for me?”
Hanakawa hesitated. “What will happen if I do?”
“I’ll give birth to enough of my brothers that no matter how many die, the surface will be completely overwhelmed. Or perhaps I’ll create the most powerful brother ever, and the two of us will take our children to crush humanity together.”
“So, the surface is done for either way. Wait, that doesn’t sound good! I would think killing Takatou should be enough!” Hanakawa instinctively took a step back. Unleashing this woman suddenly seemed like a terrible idea. Even without thinking things through, that much was obvious.
A sudden scream from Lute drew Hanakawa’s attention. Both of his arms were missing. Everything from the elbow down on both arms was completely gone. It seemed impossible, but when Hanakawa looked over at Mana, he saw the missing limbs clutched in her own hands. He had no idea how she’d done it, but she had taken Lute’s arms.
“My brother’s essence still clings to these. I’m going to hold on to them for now, okay? They’ll be helpful in bringing him back.”
Hanakawa shuddered, looking down at the key in his hand. The key had been on Albagarma’s body. It would likely also have his essence or whatever. “Ah...umm...actually...” He wanted to run away. He knew he should run away. But his legs just wouldn’t move.
“Now, as the holder of the key, you must be the representative of my brother’s will. I’m sure the decision of whether to release the seal was left up to you, so what must I do to convince you?”
Hanakawa’s usual glibness was nowhere to be found. He knew that he couldn’t fancy-talk his way out of this. But he couldn’t release the seal, either. If he did, the world would end. Mana’s spawn would cover the surface and it would no longer be a place where humans could live. Even if he were to survive, a world without other people meant nothing to him.
“It does me no good if you go quiet like that. Let’s see, I suppose I’ll take the servant’s brain for now? I’m sure it remembers my brother’s form.”
“P-Please, wait! Could you maybe, uhh, spare Master Lute? H-He’s the last remaining servant of your brother, isn’t he?!” Although he should have been begging for his own life, Hanakawa ended up blurting that out instead. Perhaps all the flags Lute had been raising had moved him somehow.
“Of course. I’ll gladly spare him, if you release the seal.”
Hanakawa approached the pedestal. With shaking hands, he inserted the key and turned it.
Administrator rights acknowledged. Full access granted.
He heard a voice in the back of his head. At the same time, he learned exactly how to operate the seal. It was similar to using a skill granted by the Gift.
And so Hanakawa did just that, destroying the last defense of the world above.
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