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

Chapter 8 — Why Would They Kidnap Him?! He’s Useless!

“Where did that bastard Hanakawa go?! Did he run away?! After all I did for him!” Yoshifumi ranted.

“Did you really do that much for him? It seemed like you were neglecting him an awful lot,” Rena said with a sigh.

“Leaving him alone was doing plenty for him!”

They were in the Elven Forest. They had made it there on Yoshifumi’s palanquin, but with the slaves carrying it all dead, they were now forced to walk. After an attack by a mysterious woman, Hanakawa had suddenly disappeared. The events had infuriated Yoshifumi, putting him in a terrible mood.

With Hanakawa gone, there were only four of them left: the Sage, Yoshifumi; two of the Four Heavenly Kings, Rei Kushima and Rena; and the Sage candidate, Shigeto Mitadera. While his position hadn’t been made clear back in the capital, it seemed the newcomer was being treated as one of Rei’s subordinates.

“Hey, Shigeto! Can’t you find out where Hanakawa went?!”

“I can’t tell you anything about unexpected events.” Shigeto’s class was Master Oracle. It gave him the ability to see his destiny. However, it did not give him knowledge of anything and everything, so he couldn’t find out where Hanakawa had suddenly disappeared to. To put it simply, he could only access information that would help him progress with his current path.

“Dammit! I’m not gonna let you get away with this, Hanakawa!”

“Hanakawa is too much of a coward to run away, so it could be that he was abducted,” Shigeto offered.

“You mean kidnapped? Why would they kidnap him?! He’s useless!”

Shigeto thought Yoshifumi was treating this “useless” person as awfully important, but he decided not to say anything. He was one of Yoshifumi’s subordinates for now, but if he made the Sage angry, he’d be dead in an instant. It was better to avoid speaking unnecessarily. “That weird woman attacked him. Did she take him with her?” he asked instead.

“Dammit! Why is everyone trying to make me mad?!” The woman in the black dress was still a mystery. She had suddenly appeared, attacked Hanakawa, and then left without killing him. Hanakawa had said he had no idea who she was, so they knew nothing about her. “If we don’t get the World Sword or whatever after this, the stress is going to kill me! Shigeto! We’re heading the right way, right?!”

“Yes. We should make it out of the Lost Woods shortly. After that, it should be a straight line to our destination.”

The Elven Forest could be broadly divided into three sections: the outer forest, the inner forest, and the center. The inner forest they were currently traveling through was an irritating place where space was warped and twisted. If one wandered in without a plan, they would walk in circles forever. But Shigeto knew the correct path thanks to his power as a Master Oracle. Even if it seemed like they were walking across the same place multiple times, if they followed the right route, they would be able to make it through.

The forest was full of huge insects that constantly attacked them, but Rei and Rena dealt with them easily enough. Rei’s class was Femme Fatale. It allowed her to seduce the opposite sex, and it worked just fine on the insects. She was able to make the male insects turn and fight the females. In cases where that wasn’t sufficient, Rena could step in. Shigeto wasn’t exactly sure what her power was, but she was incredibly strong. Even without using any special powers, her physical prowess was more than enough to fight off their attackers.

“What a pain in the ass. Hey, Rena, can’t you teleport me out of here?”

“Nope. I can only teleport to chase a fleeing opponent or show up behind someone I’m fighting against.” In short, she didn’t have much of a range.

“Useless.” Yoshifumi grudgingly continued walking.

Before long, they were out of the Lost Woods.

“We should reach the village of the elves soon,” Shigeto said. “That’s our next destination.”

“Oh, elves, huh? They’re the ones who’ve got the World Sword?”

“No, but from the village, we can take a secret path that leads into the sealed ruins. That’s the fastest path to reach it.”

“All right!” the Sage shouted. “Let’s grab some elves to take home with us, then! I’ve already got a few back home, I think. Let’s get them partners so they can start producing more!”

“Can’t we do that on our way back?” Rena asked. “Do you really want to drag them with us the whole way?”

“Oh, we don’t have anyone who can restrain them, do we? Wait, shouldn’t you be able to do something about that, Rei?”

“That’s true. I could control the men to restrain the women and send them both back to the capital.”

“Good! Let’s do that!” Yoshifumi’s mood had suddenly improved. It seemed like he had already gotten over Hanakawa’s disappearance.

Following the instructions from his Book of Prophecy, Shigeto led them on the easiest path through the forest. It was hard to tell just by looking, but there was a place where the plant life had been cut back to form something of a road. Once they reached it, it was easy to get to the village.

“This is kind of pathetic.” Whatever his expectations had been, the village itself disappointed Yoshifumi.

“I mean, it is a village in the middle of the forest,” Rena pointed out.

The sight was more or less what Shigeto had been expecting. The village was merely an assortment of crude wooden buildings.

“There must be some sort of elder around. Let’s go take him out!”

“We’ve done all the work so far. Why don’t you do something yourself for once?” Rena complained.

“Fine. I guess I’ll show off my power for a bit!”

But the Sage never had the chance to do so. In the blink of an eye, the elven village was blown away. The four of them stared, speechless. A beam of intensely hot light passed right in front of them, leaving nothing but wasteland in its wake.

“What was that?” Yoshifumi’s face was frozen in a look of blank shock.

“I have no idea...” Shigeto was equally at a loss.

◇ ◇ ◇

Vivian had once been extremely confident in herself thanks to the power given to her by God, but that was now long past. She was completely lost as they stood stranded in the middle of the forest.

Vivian was invincible. She could create shields that could stop any attack, and even if she died, she would come right back to life. But even though she had no fear of dying, she wasn’t sure what to do. They had headed for the ruins in the center of the Elven Forest and had found them, but after being driven off by the guardians protecting it, they had been attacked by another apostle while they fled: the adventurer, Kris.

Her adventures throughout West Ent had made her infamous as a Hero. Her attack had claimed the lives of Vivian’s brothers, the princes, and her bodyguard. The only survivors were Vivian, her sister, Matilda, and her servant, Maanu.

“What do I do?” Could they simply run home after making it this far? With the elves’ defense being so thin, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. If they left now, they might never be able to make it back. The idea of returning home without anything to show for it made her pause.

But the ruins were still guarded. The trap set for them there was enough to wipe out their entourage before they could make it inside. It made sense that within the ruins lay an even more powerful form of defense.

“Vivian, just to let you know, the anti-insect incense won’t last forever. We can’t just stand around here indefinitely.” Maanu spoke with a bitter expression, knowing how harsh her words sounded.

“Th-That’s true! For now, we should continue forward! Luckily, I am invincible, so no matter what happens, I’ll be fine!” If she went on alone, she likely would have been able to manage. She didn’t know where the object they were looking for was, but there was no choice.

“Hold on! Are you saying you’re going to go alone?!” Matilda clung to Vivian. She had discarded her usual haughty air, making no attempt to hide her fear. “You can’t just leave us out here!”

They had found a place to catch their breath after escaping the ruins. The incense would protect them from the insects, but only for the time being. Their current location wasn’t all that safe.

“It’s better than going into the ruins, isn’t it?”

“How is it better?! That murderer might show up again!”

“Should we head back and regroup?” Maanu suggested. “Honestly, I hesitate to leave everything to Vivian.”

Thinking of their safety, leaving was the best plan. But it was unlikely that they would be able to organize another effort after returning. Their strongest defender, Gale, and the princes had all been slain. While Vivian and Matilda had the right to succeed the royal family, they had never been considered for that role and therefore hadn’t been educated as future rulers. And if their incense was limited, they would have to deal with the insects next time they tried traversing the forest. In short, turning back now meant giving up on the World Sword Omega Blade.

“So we’ll just go home? There may be some other way for us to retake our country...” The World Sword wasn’t necessarily the only way to defeat the Sage and retake their homeland, even if it was the only option they knew of at present.

“What other way would that be?! How are we supposed to fight the adventurers or the Sage?! Isn’t this our last ditch effort?!” Matilda wasn’t nearly as optimistic as Vivian. They had only come this far because of how much thought and effort had gone into planning the rebuilding of their country.

“Then what do you want to do?”

“Do as you wish. I’ll follow you, Vivian.” Maanu had been like a parent to Vivian, but as her servant, she didn’t try to press her. At this point, she had no idea what was best either.

“Then...should we all go together? If we sneak into the ruins, they might not notice us.”

“Th-That’s right!” Matilda said. “We let our guard down the first time, but now that we know what’s waiting for us, we might be able to fight it!”

“Sure. Whether we’re continuing forward or heading home, we have to go to the ruins anyway,” Maanu agreed.

The supplies they needed for their journey home had been left in the ruins. The servants who had been carrying them had been killed there, so their possessions had been abandoned. The three of them now had nothing on them. They wouldn’t be able to make it home without those supplies.

“Okay, then take these.” Vivian created two shields, giving one each to Matilda and Maanu. “They’re invincible shields that can block anything!”

“I kind of wish you had given these to us earlier, but thank you,” Matilda said as she took it.

Holding the shields up in front of them, they advanced carefully towards the ruins. They hadn’t gone far after fleeing, so it didn’t take long for them to make it back.

“How does it look?”

“Hmm...it looks like the giant golems have turned back into buildings.”

The area was filled with rows of buildings built from stones that had been piled up on top of each other. The first time around, those buildings had transformed and attacked them.

“I guess they’ll attack us if we get close to our people’s bodies,” Maanu said, holding up the Bell of Guidance. It rang faintly as she held it out towards their destination. According to the bell, the World Sword was in the large triangular structure at the center of the ruins. “If we head straight in, it’ll be the same as last time, right?”

“Let’s head to the edge instead!”

“Is it really that easy?” Last time they had strolled down the main road heading to the center of the ruins. Since that hadn’t worked, they would have to avoid it this time.

“We’ll get as close to the edge as possible.”

They moved along the boundary of the forest and ruins. Once they reached the far right side, they turned to head into the center. It might have all been meaningless, but they proceeded as slowly and stealthily as possible.

“Looks like we’re about halfway,” Matilda noted.

“It seems fine so far,” said Vivian.

“What about the supplies?” Maanu asked.

“Leave them. They’ll just be in our way if we pick them up now!”

They continued slowly. After a considerable amount of time, they made it to a point where the large triangular structure was visible to their left. To go any farther, they’d have to pass between the buildings.

“All right, carefully.”

“Yeah.”

Their steps grew even more cautious. The most they could do was run away at the first sign of something happening, but that was better than walking in without paying attention.

“The buildings here are pretty small, so maybe they won’t transform?” Vivian said.

“That’s just wishful thinking,” Matilda replied.

They could see the enormous triangular structure right in front of them now. If nothing happened, they could head straight for it—but of course, things were never that simple. The ground began to shake, and the buildings started to tremble. The structures on either side of them began to squirm.

“We’re this far; we’ll just have to run!” Vivian cried.

Luckily, it seemed like the transformation would take some time. Vivian created a huge shield along with four others to function as wheels, which allowed them to operate together as a sort of simple vehicle.

“Get on!”

“This is a shield?!”

The three of them jumped on. The shields functioning as wheels began to spin, rapidly accelerating and moving them forward. In no time at all they passed through the gap between the buildings and reached the main road.

“We made it!”

“Why didn’t we just do this from the start?!”

“Because I was hoping we wouldn’t be noticed!”

If they had tried to charge down the main street, they might have been crushed by the giants appearing on either side of them. This had been Vivian’s last desperate gambit.

“We can make it!”

There was nothing else blocking their path. All they had to do was continue forward in a straight line. The giants born from the buildings behind them gave chase, but the trio’s shield-car was faster, so the creatures couldn’t catch up.

“Now we just need to get—huh?” Vivian doubted her eyes. The huge triangular structure they were heading for began to shake. “Is that going to transform too?!” she wailed.

Maybe they should have seen it coming. The structure began to change shape. It wasn’t hard to believe it could become a giant as well, but they hadn’t expected it. They seemed to be out of options.

“The Bell of Guidance is pointing under it!” Maanu moved the bell around. Aiming the bell at the structure made it ring, but pointing it down made it ring even louder.

“So it’s underground?!” Matilda cried.

“We’re going in!”

Without getting closer, they couldn’t see another way, so Vivian continued onward. The structure sprouted arms and legs, lifting itself to its feet. It was so large that they had to look up to see it as it took on a shape that could only be called titanic.

“There it is!” At the titan’s feet was a hole that looked tiny in comparison. The titan lifted a foot, intending to crush them, but it was their best chance.

“Giant Chainsaw Shield!”

Vivian lifted a hand above her head, and an enormous shield appeared. She heaved it forward, where it struck the monstrous foot that was still on the ground. She knew her shields couldn’t damage the giant, but she figured if she threw something heavy enough, it would have at least a minimal impact. As she had hoped, it was enough to throw the titan off balance, sending it hurtling to the ground.

“Hey! It’s falling towards us!” Matilda shouted again.

Vivian hurriedly changed direction, accelerating as fast as possible to avoid the falling monster. It hit the ground, crushing the ruins beneath it and launching the shield-car briefly into the air.

“Now’s our chance! We can make it!”

“If you could do this from the start, couldn’t you have saved everybody?!”

“I didn’t think about it until now!”

Vivian pointed the shield-car towards the underground entrance. The greatest obstacle, the titan, had yet to move after falling. The pursuing giants had also pulled back. There was nothing left in their way.

But something entirely unexpected hit them instead.

A beam of white-hot light filled Vivian’s vision.