CHAPTER 2
PHANTOMA
THE HERO FLEES!
Garad Golm……
The home of Demonia located on Galarm, Disboard’s smallest continent. Evidently, Demonia’s territory spanned the entire continent, and the land they laid claim to had never been under the control of another race.
There was one reason for this: The Devil—the Tower and its domain had stood in Galarm for as long as history could remember.
But as it would turn out, that long history might come to an end, for seven brave souls sought to challenge the immortal Devil anew. It was a party of heroes, who set foot on the continent after arriving via long-distance shifting.
Well, at least they believed they set foot there… It was where they were told they were going before they teleported…
“It’s fr-fr-fr-freezing here!! Wh-wh-wh-where the hell are we?! The South Pole?!”
“ Br-Br-Brother! I-i-it’s…so c-c-cold—e-e-everything, hurts…”
Of the seven heroes, Sora and Shiro stood out in their usual outfits with nothing but a backpack each. Their favorite outfits, however, offered minimal protection against the loud, blistering wind, which drowned out any shouts for dear life in complete darkness. Thankfully, they received an answer from a friend, who must have been right next to them.
“Explanation: Galarm, closest continent to Disboard’s southern pole. Current season in the Devil’s capital is winter. Complex geographical features and sea currents bring cold wind from the southern pole. Blizzards are frequent. Current temperature is minus thirty-one degrees Celsius.”
Apparently, they had arrived at the capital of the Devil’s territory. They only barely managed to hear the report provided by the party’s third hero—Emir-Eins—over the relentless wind.
You could’ve told us that before we left Elkia…
Though Sora couldn’t actually voice this—his teeth were too busy chattering while he and his sister clung to one another—his sentiment was evident.
“Report: This unit’s surface temperature has been adjusted to fifty-four degrees Celsius. Hold me, Master?”
As it turned out keeping the siblings in the literal dark was all part of Emir-Eins’s plan…but Sora and Shiro were in no position to express their discontent. They immediately took the opportunity to latch on to their mechanical companion—
“My apologies for the wait, Master. It took me a moment to appropriately calibrate my magic. ”
The fourth hero, Jibril, could be heard from the darkness as she cast her magic. A small orb appeared above the trio, putting a quick end to Emir-Eins’s devious plan.
“…Tch/Request: Irregular Number, disclose your reason for casting magic at a speed far faster than normal.”
“I’m always willing to push the limit for Master. You needn’t worry about this, though. I doubt a false servant who causes Master harm for its own gain would understand in the first place. ”
By the bead of light above them, they could see the two women glaring at each other.
Plus, the fierce wind had been blocked off and the harshness of the cold had been softened to a slight briskness.
W-wow…that was too close for comfort…
Sora and Shiro were at ease knowing they wouldn’t freeze to death.
“…It’s still goddamn freezing, please. I hate the cold, please…”
“Hey, pooch! I’m not your toy, and I’m not your hot water bottle, either! I am the DEV—”
The fifth and littlest hero was Izuna Hatsuse. She must’ve instinctively dug her own foxhole upon arriving in the new frozen world, because she was sharing her hate for the climate from the tiniest opening in the ground.
Which left the sixth and seventh heroes. They, too, like Sora and Shiro, were initially relieved to have found a lifeline in the dark frozen hellscape, but they quickly switched gears and hollered in confusion.
“Uh, uh, uhhh?! Why did you bring me and not the chieftain, Sir?!”
“That goes double for me!! My presence here is the biggest mystery!”
And these members were: Til and Steph. Their questions both asked well before departure, but thoroughly ignored by the group…
“I—I mean, it’s common knowledge how inept I am at games. Forget about games—we’re going into combat, where we have to defeat any Demonias that try to kill us!! What are you expecting from me?!”
According to both Schira Ha’s explanation of the game and Til’s understanding of past records, the game was essentially—
—a dungeon crawler.
The seven-member party—five active combatants and two substitutes—were to enter the dungeon and defeat any Demonia mobs that aggroed them until they reached the hundredth floor, where they would need to defeat the Devil, who awaited them. The dungeon itself was the Devil’s Tower, and since it was a part of the Devil, it was affected by his Domain of Despair—an area of effect that consumed all hope of those who entered it.
In addition, the only weapon the party could use to fight the enemies in the game was their hope, or so Schira Ha had said.
These two aspects notwithstanding, the game itself was fairly simple.
In a game such as this, it made sense why a Flügel, an Ex Machina, and a bloodbreaker Werebeast were present. Til’s presence made some sense, too, as the Dwarves had probably reached a tie game with the Devil once before. That being said, the question remained why the party would bring Dwarf’s weakest member, Til, over its strongest, her uncle Veig. Steph’s presence there was an even bigger puzzle, and she and Til wanted answers.
Sora looked at the two and took a deep breath before nodding confidently and sharing his long-awaited answer—which was!
“It just felt right! My gamer senses tell me that this is the best makeup for our party!!”
“You’re starting to sound like the chieftain, you are!!”
“And here I always pegged you as more of the logical, strategic type…”
Heh… Of course, this is a logical party build. My logic just needed some help from my gut to fill in the gaps, is all.
Sora, flashing a bold grin, kept this to himself. Suddenly:
“Erm…Sora? I thought you were worried about us making the first move?”
Yes, while it’s true we mustn’t allow the Domain of Despair to run rampant and are thus left without much of a choice…if we make a move that ends in failure at this stage, it could spell the end for the Commonwealth, which has kept us from doing anything so far. We don’t even know if we can beat the Devil, nor do we have an inkling of what’s in store for us if we do manage to defeat him…
Steph had discernable worry on her face as she whispered to Sora, who responded…
“Yeah, it’s fine. We were actually waiting for something exactly like this, and it’s the ideal time to get started,” Sora answered confidently, leaving Steph slightly confused, yet nonetheless ignored.
“So…Schira Ha. Where to next?” he asked.
Thanks to Jibril’s magic, the party had access to the bare minimal light and warmth, but what awaited on the other side of their magical refuge was a blistering blizzard in the dead of night—they couldn’t even see anything.
This was a problem when they needed to rely on shifting, which could take them only as far as Jibril’s or Emir-Eins’s eyes could see. While they were in Garad Golm, they were going to have to walk the rest of the way.
There was a good chance they could get lost before they ever reached the Tower…
Sora winced at Schira Ha.
“Mweh-heh-heh… Fret not, O Heroes… For it appears our escort has arrived.”
Schira Ha, who did seem to be quietly waiting for something up until this point, finally spoke up. She gazed into the darkness, and from within its harsh winds emerged a single source of flickering light.
“His Evilness has already prepared a guide for us, mweh-heh-heh…”
“Gah-ha-HAAA! But of course! We wouldn’t want our heroes dying of frostbite before they even got to the Tower, now would we?”
Evidently, the furball, still in Izuna’s clutches, had called for someone to come and escort the party to his Tower.
It’s not every day you get a Devil who saves the heroes who are supposed to slay him…
The group kept this shared sense of irony to themselves as they watched what the source of light was emerge from the darkness.
It was a large carriage pulled not by horses but by…centaurs?
There were two of them…each with the lower body of a horse and the upper body of a human. Either way, the centaur-like creatures pulling the wagon must’ve been Demonias.
Its doors soon opened, revealing a humanlike figure.
He was smiling evilly—or so one could only assume. It was difficult to tell what kind of face he was making, because his expression wasn’t so easily readable—or perhaps more aptly, he didn’t have an expression.
The escort was wearing an expensive-looking tailored suit, and with one hand pressed to his chest, he gave an elegant bow.
“Kah-kah… It is truly a pleasure to meet your acquaintances, heroes. I am—”
“ YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK?!”
Steph interrupted the skeleton’s self-introduction with a loud scream……
It turned out centaurs really were pulling the carriage.
It looked like it was made of human bones, but it had quite a lavish, inviting interior. Save for Jibril and Emir-Eins, who had a natural resistance to the frigid weather, the rest of the party sat comfortably within the roomy carriage.
“Kah-kah… Let’s try that again, shall we? I am Genau Ih, leader of the Skeleton Lords and Schira Ha’s successor as the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
His jaw rattled as he spoke with what the party imagined was a wicked grin.
Following Schira Ha’s retirement, Genau Ih was Demonia’s second-in-command under the Devil.
The polite Demonia finished his self-introduction with a deep bow.
“Nice to meet you… So, uh, where’s your voice coming from—?”
What piqued Sora’s interest most of all was the physicality of how the skeleton projected his voice without…a voice box, among other things. Sora’s intrusive question for the overly polite gentleman, however, was cut off abruptly by Steph:
“I am so, so sorry!! You surprised me, and it was dark, and I just—!!”
Steph was more embarrassed by her initial reaction to his appearance than anything.
“Kah-kah…kah-kah-kah— It’s quite all right! On the contrary, it was truly an honor for me to receive such a reaction!”
Her shame was wasted on the Demonia, however, for he seemed to take her fear as a compliment.
“That’s not fair, Genau Ih! These heroes aren’t even the slightest bit afraid of me!!”
“Oh, Your Evilness! Their fear stems from the terrifying way you created me!”
“Mweh-heh… Which means that any fear they have for us is fear for Your Evilness…!”
“ Why, yes!! Gah-ha-ha! Perhaps the heroes have finally come to realize how terrifyingly evil I truly am!!”
The little furball must have liked the flattery his underlings showered him with. They seemed sincere, too, or as far as the group could tell, at least.
“So…you guys want people to be afraid of you?” Sora asked.
“It isn’t necessarily that we want you to be afraid of us, but that your fear is inevitable! For I am the Devil!!” the furball insisted yet again, trying to release himself from Izuna’s unforgiving clutches.
“Kah-kah… Demonia will lead the world to its destruction. So it only makes sense that we are feared! It may come as a surprise that you, ma’am, were the first to have ever shown your fear, for which I thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I find you quite the wonderful Immanity damsel for it!”
Genau Ih finished by taking Steph’s hand and kissing it. Seeing this, Sora and Shiro thought…
Okay, so this is the race that wants destroy the world more than anything else…but they were shrugged off and ignored during the Great War, only to be considered worthless once the Covenants were established…
The idea that a Demonia would feel gratitude after being feared made a bit more sense considering how rare it must’ve been until then…
“Kah-kah… But I must say, Schira Ha. It is a delight to see you in such good health and vigor.”
Meanwhile, the polite skeleton touched upon something that the siblings were curious about.
Namely…
“I feared for your fate when the Devil ordered your death.”
“ Huh? I ordered no such thing.”
“But of course, Your Evilness! However, upon your most recent revival—”
“Mwa-ha-ha… GAH-HA-HA-HA!! The material world feels incredible after my four-hundred-and-eight-year slumber!! Let us make haste and destroy it! SCHIRA HA! I command you to go forth, find the hero candidates, and bring them to me!!”
“—that is how your humble servant remembers you wording your orders.”
“Oh, well…I suppose I did say that, but…”
You actually said that…?
The Devil was oblivious to the carriage full of people squinting at him in disbelief. The polite skeleton used his tone and gestures to skillfully convey his concern.
“With the Front being under the Devil’s Army’s flag, the hero candidates would have to be selected from the Commonwealth…”
“Y-yes… This much should be obvious.”
“My lesser intellect perceived these orders—sending Schira Ha the Wise against the Elkian monarch who has defeated and now commands the Flügel and Ex Machina—as a death sentence…”
…………?
…………?
“ I, wait… Hmmm?”
Thirty seconds of silence passed before the Devil eventually processed the chain of logic, and it was all the rest of the group needed to finally understand why he’d sent Schira Ha against Jibril and Emir-Eins without a plan.
He gave his orders without really putting too much thought into them…
“Mweh-heh… It seems the likes of you, Genau Ih, cannot fathom the depths of the Devil’s Greater Plan… It is inevitable, I suppose… Please, feel at ease—but do be mindful of your place.”
“ !”
However…Schira Ha had a different view of the matter. She maintained her wicked smile and elegant mannerisms while firmly reprimanding her successor.
“Do you truly believe the Devil lacked the far-reaching foresight to comprehend your own measly concerns?”
Her sharp snake eyes homed in on the skeleton, who shuddered as if he’d been zapped by lightning.
Foresight…? What foresight…?
Even Mr. Evilness himself let an awkward “wait” slip out from Izuna’s arms just now…
The entire group stared in disbelief at Schira Ha, who ignored their gazes and proceeded to lay out the facts for them!
“For after I relinquished myself of my position as head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I forfeited myself to the party of heroes!! And as would be proven true through the power of the Covenants, I was able to make it known to them that they had no choice to but accept this journey! This—this was surely the Devil’s Greater Plan!”
“I-is it true…?! Y-Your Evilness!!”
“Mweh-heh… The Devil also foresaw the party of heroes’ disposition to opt for the path of least sacrifice, even when it went against their interest. Thus, he knew his humble servant would remain unscathed while in their custody!”
“It’s all so clear to me now!! Oooh! Your Evilness!! Please forgive this brainless pile of bones’s disparagement unto you!!”
………,
“Ah… V-verily… You are forgiven… For I am a magnanimous ruler… Heh, heh-ha-ha…”
Though he maintained his arrogant persona, it was fairly evident that the Devil knew what he was doing, because he averted his gaze as he said this. Nevertheless, the skeleton’s bones were literally shaking with gratitude at the Devil’s supposed generosity.
“Only you, Schira Ha, have the incredible perception required to read into the Devil’s words with such profound depth…!”
“Mweh-heh… It was His Evilness who blessed me with my wisdom. Wisdom only second to His—it would be blasphemy unto Him for me to miss such details despite this gifted wisdom!”
Watching Schira Ha gloat over her boundless wisdom and loyalty once more, Sora realized:
I’m starting to think Demonias are smarter than people give them credit for…
Even if they let their imaginations run wild when it came to hidden meanings behind their leader’s words…
“Well…with that issue cleared up, I would now like to guide you to the accommodations the Devil has prepared for you, O Heroes.”
The skeleton bowed after being granted amnesty for his blasphemous obliviousness, but as it would turn out:
“ Or at least I had come here with that very intention, but if you would, please allow me to guide you straight to the Devil’s Tower instead…”
…………?
“Er… That’s where we were planning on going anyway, but what’s all this talk about accommodations…?” Sora asked.
Evidently, the skeleton’s bow was out of sorrow, which left the group confused.
“Hey!! You’re not trying to pit a party of tired heroes against me, are you?! I order you to give them a full night’s rest at our finest inn!!”
Apparently, the Devil wanted the party in their best condition for the game.
The furball was livid that his servant had rejected his orders, however:
“Oh! I beg your forgiveness, Your Evilness!! Given the sudden nature of the decree—all inns are currently closed for the day!!”
“Ack! Hmm… Mmm… Th-then so be it…”
“Closed for the day” was a good enough reason to put an end to the exchange.
The Devil’s decree was shut down by…business hours…
“…Y-you don’t think that the Devil…isn’t all that respected around here, do you…?” Til couldn’t help but whisper into Sora’s ear, but…
“Mweh-heh?! Wh-wh-what are you trying to say?!”
“Kah-kah-kah!! The Devil’s authority is a shining beacon of darkness that dims the lands far and wide!!”
“Eeep?! I-I’m sorry, I am! But what does shining darkness even mean?!”
Schira Ha and the rattling skeleton must have caught Til’s off-the-cuff remark; they ran straight toward her, and she immediately took refuge under Shiro’s skirt, though not without pointing out the irony in the statement just made.
Schira Ha cleared her throat before addressing their confusion:
“Mweh-heh… Garad Golm follows a strict eight-hour workday and four-day workweek.”
She bowed her head politely for her sudden show of dishevelment.
“Mweh-heh… Work outside of these hours is paid threefold and requires the worker’s consent, and its application must be submitted to our Labor Department at least two days in advance. This merely means that it isn’t so easy for us to bend these rules on such short notice.”
Though spoken in the wickedest of tones, Schira Ha described what sounded like a very hospitable work environment.
Unable to suppress his surprise at the seemingly paradoxical presentation, Sora asked, “Even if it’s the Devil’s orders…?”
“Mweh-heh… Nonsense! Should the Devil order it, not only the inns but all of Demonia would awaken and go straight to work with tears of joy streaming down their faces! However—”
“That would be abusing my power!! But enough of this!! You shall take the heroes directly to my Tower!!”
The Devil seemed as magnanimous as he touted himself to be, at least in terms of workers’ rights.
The Devil… The so-called Phantom of Destruction who was trying to end the world…
In any case…setting aside the surprisingly lenient working environment…
The centaur-drawn carriage appeared to have finally reached the capital.
The snow was weaker than it was in the wilderness, and from the window, the group could see the flickering lights of a town dotting the townscape.
“Y’know, when I heard we’d be going to Garad Golm—basically a nation of monsters—I just…”
“…You’d think…it’d be, in a cave…or something…”
“This town seems to be on the same level of Elkia in terms of civilization…”
Sora, Shiro, and Steph were shocked by the sight as they advanced into the city.
While everything was made of stone, the many tall structures clearly marked it as a city. Perhaps due to the diversity of their people, from its buildings to its doors, everything was massive. At the same time, it took only a glance to recognize that the placement and the structure of these giant buildings were meticulously planned.
“…Also, I’ve been wondering this entire time, but are these seats made of silk…?”
“Mweh-heh… Indeed, the silk spun by the arachne tribe is among the world’s top quality, which was dyed by the slime tribe, who is known for their dyeing techniques. The body of the carriage was fashioned out of wood provided by the orc tribe, which was then built by the goblin tribe, known for their woodwork. Have you taken a liking to it?”
Schira Ha flashed yet another wicked smirk. She took great pride in her nation’s industry, but this left Sora groaning with yet another question.
“Sooo you mind tellin’ me why…the race trying to end the world is this civilized…?”
One would expect a more rough-and-tough, barbarian feel from the people who wanted to destroy the world.
Not to mention that, if there was such a difference in the intellect and ability between species of Demonia, it wouldn’t be shocking if it were a more starkly disparate nation.
Sora and the others had pictured something more rustic, but Schira Ha and the skeleton addressed their doubts.
“Mweh-heh-heh…? Why else would they be this civilized if not for the sole purpose of bringing about the world’s destruction?”
“Kah-kah… Yes, it is all Schira Ha the Wise’s—and transitively, the Devil’s—will!”
Really now…?
The group turned to the Devil, who was still trapped in Izuna’s hands, but…he exercised his right to remain silent and let Schira Ha do the talking.
“All wisdom exercised by me, Schira Ha the Wise, is a mere by-product of the Devil’s own will.”
So Schira Ha is responsible for Demonia’s level of civilization.
This was Sora and Shiro’s interpretation, and Schira Ha was quick to ask a question of her own.
“Mweh-heh… What do you think is necessary for destroying the world, if you don’t mind me asking…?”
Hmmm……
It was Sora’s first time thinking about world destruction, as opposed to world peace.
It didn’t require much deep thought in his original world. In fact, it was more likely the world would find a way to destroy itself.
“Maybe, like…immense military might…?” Sora replied.
Schira Ha nodded wickedly in agreement, but not without specifying one detail.
“Mweh-heh… It is as you say. Though, to be more precise, it is immense national might.”
She continued with her usual wicked smile and evil tone.
“Mweh-heh… Then, what makes a nation mighty if not its own people?”
She spoke plainly with words that made Sora, a ruler himself, want to run for the hills…
“The great and powerful Devil created a diverse people, each of them receiving their own unique characteristics. Though we may be different, there is no higher or lower social standing in our society, and we’ve sculpted our nation into a place where all beings can excel—this is what makes us powerful.”
“…………”
Sora and Shiro were struck dumb by what seemed like a perfect answer, but Schira Ha wasn’t finished yet.
“For example, we could not have cultivated the frozen earth of this frigid environment without the help of the wyrm tribe. The slime tribe excretes a liquid that can be made into medicine, and the orc tribe’s strong bodies allow them to handle a wide variety of labor-intensive jobs, while the goblin tribe focuses more on fine-tuned craftsmanship. Each of these tribes was a necessary piece of the puzzle that went into creating the city you see before you, mweh-heh.”
“…………”
“In the same vein, without their help, I, too, would starve. As it is my duty to keep my people alive and thriving, I used the wisdom bestowed unto me by the Devil to do so. This much should be a given, should it not?”
Yeah, it definitely should. Everything she said is highly logical…but such logic is usually written off as pie-in-the-sky ideals.
When it comes to actualization of such ideals, there are many problems that arise, namely…
“Does this mean Garad Golm follows a feudal system? What do you do about your people’s career choice in relation to the fluidity of your economy when—?” Steph began to ask before a wickedly grinning Schira Ha interrupted.
“Mweh-heh… Allow me to stop you there, for Demonia boasts a diverse population. Let’s take some of the larger species, for example—they receive a tax break on their food as they require more sustenance than most. When it comes to career choice, we impose no path on any individual—in some cases, even extra-tribal careers have proven highly fruitful—we do intend on eventually creating a support system for such individuals, and—”
She went on to list example after example of intricate political systems implemented to balance out the minutiae that made the so-called ideal perceived as difficult. Somewhere along the way, Steph had taken out a pencil and paper and listened as if it were a lecture, when—
“Mweh-heh-heh… My apologies. It was not my intention to allow myself to get too caught up in the many details. What I mean to say is—”
Schira Ha brought a quick end to her lecture:
“Our diverse people require a society where they retain the ability and will to be able to use their diverse talents. In other words, each and every Demonia is a member of the Devil’s Army—and a special treasure made by the Devil himself! He takes firm responsibility for his people, and immense pride in each and every one of them!! We are a powerful nation all moving toward one shared goal! That is, in my best estimation, the bare minimum required for us to eventually realize the world’s destruction.”
Schira Ha’s conclusion, based on the wisdom given to her by the Devil, was cause for Sora to let out an audible gulp.
“Wow… Who would’ve imagined that this world already had a country where diverse people lived together, hand in hand…”
If only they didn’t have the whole world annihilation part…, he mused, clutching his head.
Ah, so this is the society Elkia is working toward. A society I thought didn’t exist in this world…
But here it exists…to destroy the world. They’re so close to perfect, and yet so far away. Why does it have to be like this? If only it was just a little more, you know…
“Sora… Why not use your dominion over Schira Ha to make her work with us?” Steph asked. “We could definitely use her as an adviser… Honestly, I wouldn’t mind working under her myself.”
Demonia, a race of idiots? It couldn’t be.
At the very least, Schira Ha the Wise was as intelligent as her name suggested. She was, without a doubt, among this world’s wisest individuals. The problem was…what she was trying to use her knowledge for…and that was a big problem……
They continued riding the carriage through the capital for another hour before finally reaching their destination. The group—with the exception of Jibril and Emir-Eins—all gazed in awe at the sight.
“Mweh-heh… Ahem, if you would, please.”
“Kah-kah… Welcome, party of heroes. You stand before the Devil.”
The Devil—Schira Ha and Genau Ih’s creator and leader.
The two bowed pridefully, and behind them, Sora, Shiro, Steph, Til, and Izuna got their first glimpse of their opponent, which elicited an audible gulp from the entire group.
So this is the Devil…
It had finally sunk in, making them tremble.
This was the tallest structure any of them had ever seen, and though strange in nature, it was indeed a tower.
It was less of a physical structure and more of an illusionary nightmare.
The Tower was uncannily similar to the sort of non-Euclidean geometric structure people imagine from the well-known Cthulhu Mythos—unlike any physical structure one would expect in a three-dimensional-space world that twisted and turned randomly and jutted toward the sky in a difficult-to-describe way. It filled all who gazed upon it with dread and made several things very clear:
Were it not for the Covenants, whoever laid their eyes on this Tower would certainly lose their sanity.
This Tower would sap the hope from all who entered it.
This was the Hope-Consuming Beast. The Phantom of Destruction. The Domain of Despair… The Devil…
“Ga-ha-ha-HAAA!! How’s THAT for a tower?! Pretty frightening, eh?! Has it finally set in? The TERROR of the DEVIL?! SCHIRA HA!! Begin the game now before the heroes succumb to their fear and attempt to flee!!”
“Mweh-heh… Ah, I’m afraid I cannot assist, Your Evilness. Your humble servant is currently in the possession of the heroes…”
“Sir! Then with Your Evilness’s permission, I shall head the Joint Chiefs of Staff and oversee the game.”
“Oh…you’re stuck with them…and now you’re the…? …Right! GENAU IH! LET THE GAME BEGIN!!”
What should’ve been a moment for the party to feel some real fear was ruined by the furball forgetting who did what, and the intensity of it all just kind of…fizzled out.
Once everyone had returned to their senses, the suited skeleton made an announcement:
“With that, O party of Heroes, I believe you’ve been informed as to your task, but allow me to…”
He bowed and proceeded to rehash the outline of the game they would be participating in:
The seven-member heroes’ party was to clear the Tower dungeon.
Of the seven members, five could be active, with the other two waiting inside their inventory.
The heroes could use only hope to fight whatever Demonias appeared within the dungeon until they made it to its top floor, where they would have to destroy the Devil’s core. Should they emerge victorious, they would become the owners of the Devil and everything in his possession.
If the entire party’s hope was consumed before doing so, they would lose, and the game would come to an end.
There was one last thing for the skeleton to add:
“Should anyone in the party abandon the game, that will be considered a loss, and their hope will be promptly consumed.”
And:
“Please note that you may not leave the Tower during the game.”
He made it clear that quitting halfway through and leaving the Tower was against the rules.
“That is all. If you have no further questions, then we shall begin the game by the Covenants.”
Are you ready…? The skeleton awaited their answer.
“Hm… ’Kay, mind if I ask three questions?”
With the rules fresh in his mind, Sora presented a few issues that were eating away at him.
“First: What’s to keep you from jumping us the moment we enter the Tower?”
“Mweh-heh… At ease, heroes. There is a preparation room where you will acquire your weapons of hope. It is a safe zone where we cannot attack each other.”
Weapons of hope…
Sora watched as the skeleton nodded at Schira Ha’s mention of the hope-derived armaments. The idea of using hope as a weapon was something he’d been thinking about since Schira Ha had first mentioned it back in Elkia.
Which brought him to his next question:
“Okay, question number two: What exactly do you guys mean by hope?”
That was going to be their only weapon for the duration of the game.
Should their hope be consumed, they would lose. Hope was a key aspect of the game, but the concept itself was still way too nebulous. Sora took this chance to ask the same question he’d asked Schira Ha before they left Elkia.
But it was neither the skeleton nor Schira Ha who answered him:
“Review: A spiritual activity that makes up the ‘soul.’ Defined as part of the ‘heart.’ A feeling.”
“It is primarily a mechanism of the soul’s desire to exist—a concept shared by all living beings.”
“…Yeeeaaah… That’s what I thought you two would say…”
“…We can’t…get a straight answer…around here…”
It was exactly as Schira Ha had said before, but this time, Jibril and Emir-Eins were the ones who broke Sora’s and Shiro’s brains.
Evidently, just as souls seemed to exist in definite terms in this world, the idea of hope stemmed from the “soul” and was clearly defined.
The siblings were forced to accept the definitions being given to them as fact, it looked like…
“My last question might sound kinda random, but it could be the most important one of all.”
Since figuring out what “hope” really meant was not in the cards, Sora had one more query:
“This country runs on a strict four-day workweek with eight-hour workdays, right…? What happens if the schedule runs awry…?”
Once they entered the Tower, they would not be able to leave.
Would the staff inside the Tower have to go home at a certain time? Say there was a boss enemy that the party couldn’t beat; would they have to wait for it to come to work the next day?
“Kah-kah… You needn’t worry about that… I shall see to it personally that the game operates twenty-four seven.”
The skeleton politely answered Sora’s question, to which he responded with, “Oh, so you guys bend the rules there a bit, eh…?”
A country could only be so lenient with these sorts of things. There were always exceptions. Ideals were, in the end, ideals. Sora was almost disappointed upon hearing this, but there was more to the game’s operation than just that…
“Yes… Four overseers are set to manage the game on six-hour shifts each. The boss monsters are being kept on standby with bonus pay, and they will be dispatched when the heroes close in on their posts… On the whole, this game has required tremendous coordination between all of Demonia and the Labor Department… My bones ache thinking what I would have done if not for the schedule produced by Schira Ha the Wise before she relinquished her position…”
“Mweh-heh… Yes, the planning that went into that did quite the number on me as well.”
Sora’s disappointment was wasted, for the response was superb. The country ran like a well-oiled machine, one where the pressure fell not on the workers but on the higher-ups. Sora and the others were impressed.
“But of course!! What kind of Devil would I be if I forced my heroes to fight on a four-day workweek?!”
And yet the leader of all this was apparently oblivious to his subordinates’ efforts.
Ideals will always be ideals…, Sora thought as he stared off into the distance.
And then came the time
“If there are no further questions, then let us make our pledge to the Covenants.”
With that, the skeleton raised his hand, and all eyes fell on Sora.
During the Great War and since its end—not a single soul had beaten the Devil. Not even an Old Deus.
Should they really be challenging him to a game…?
Everyone waited for Sora’s answer.
“Yeah, let’s do this. Aschente!”
If Sora was this confident in his decision, then his friends were with him. Shiro, Steph, Til, Izuna, Jibril, and Emir-Eins: All seven party members joined the skeleton—and the Demonia staff that awaited inside the Tower—in making the mass pledge:
Aschente.
“Mweh-heh… Oh, Your Evilness? If you wouldn’t mind…you, too, must Aschente…”
“Hm? Oh…right, you’re all waiting for my consent to begin! Yes, of course! Then so be it! The Devil, too, agrees to your challenge, O Heroes!! Face mine wrath—Aschente!!”
With Schira Ha’s reminder, the furball agreed to the game from within Izuna’s embrace.
The door to the dark, evil Tower ominously opened.
“Kah-kah… I will be excusing myself to the staff office. Ta-ta for now, O Heroes…”
The skeleton offered one last deep bow before departing.
“Mweh-heh… Come, heroes. I shall take you to where you will begin.”
With Schira Ha leading them, Sora and the party entered the Tower
Through the massive door and into the Tower they went, where they found an expansive room void of life. It was not unlike Elkia Royal Castle’s throne room in terms of size and scale, but taking into consideration the massive size of the door they’d just passed through, it felt unusually small. When they turned to look back, the door they’d originally passed through had turned into a size that matched the room’s.
Just as its outward appearance suggested, the Tower didn’t follow the conventional concept of physics.
Either way, this must’ve been the safe zone that Schira Ha had described to them before. There was a small window through which the night sky peered into the massive room, and in its center was a large magic circle made of strange patterns and symbols.
At the very center of said magic circle were seven balls of light, each swaying ever so slightly, and a small floating bag.
“Mweh-heh… Now, heroes… Each of you must touch one of the lights.”
Though cautious, the party followed Schira Ha’s directions and held their hands out to the light nearest them.
The next instant…
“I see what’s going on here… These must be our weapons of hope.”
It was one of the rules of the game: Their hope was their only weapon. The rules made more sense now that they were physically holding those weapons.
A dimly glowing weapon materialized into each party member’s hands. Sora looked around at them all before nodding to himself.
“So basically—our hope takes on the form of an actual weapon?”
“…Mm-hmm… I can…work with…this…”
Sora and Shiro each examined their armaments, which seemed to fit perfectly in their hands. Schira Ha affirmed their suppositions with a nod of her own, only to cock her head to the side with a bit of confusion.
“Mweh-heh… Impressive of you to understand, heroes…but I must ask: What race ever used weapons such as those, and in what time period…?”
Seeing as each person’s weapon took on a shape of its own, the only sort of weapons that could materialize were weapons that actually existed within the beholder’s mind.
It must’ve been strange for Schira Ha, who’d been alive for tens of thousands of years, to see any given weapon for the first time.
The siblings shared a wry chuckle; it was no wonder she’d never seen their weapons before.
Sora had what looked like a high-caliber Anti-Matter Rifle, and Shiro held two fully automatic Machine Pistols, one in each hand. Both weapons were not of this world.
As for the rest of the heroes
“…Hey, is this thing supposed to be some kinda…weapon, please?”
“Gahhh-ha-ha! One befitting a Werebeast, whose greatest weapon is their body! Speaking of which, how about you let me go now?! Are you listening, pooch?!”
Izuna held the rowdy furball tight in two large paw-shaped Kitty Gloves that glowed faintly like the siblings’ guns.
“Does this look right…? Setting aside the fact that it’s all glowy and stuff, this looks like my spirit arm, it does…”
Til appeared concerned, seeing as this Great Hammer was much like her usual weapon, just shinier.
“Oh? I’ve never understood the novelty of a weapon before…but I quite like this.”
Jibril took a liking to the weapon her own hope had chosen for her: an evil-looking Scythe.
“Analysis/Estimation: Remote-control-operated miniature aerial attack aircraft. An ideal weapon. This unit is not a Kämpfer battle unit.”
Floating around Emir-Eins and similarly glowing was a group of Drones that looked like they could shoot laser beams.
So this is what they meant by hope. Doesn’t seem like we have to worry about the game operators tampering with our weapons.
Sora felt much better now that this ambiguity had been cleared up.
“Um…,” Steph began. “I’ve only ever heard about weapons in stories, but—”
All forms of violence and weapons had been eliminated six thousand years ago. For a modern person, the idea of a weapon was nothing more than a long-lost artifact of history. Steph was aware of this going into the Tower, but even then, what manifested in her hands didn’t quite fit what she had in mind…
“—I’m fairly sure this isn’t even categorized as a weapon!!”
She cried out in confusion as she held up a giant shield, eliciting wide-eyed stares from Sora, Shiro, and Izuna.
It was…a Great Shield… The perfect weapon for someone who wished no harm to others and sought only to protect them… Someone like Steph.
Not only that, but despite strict definitions, it was nevertheless a valid weapon.
What had everyone wide-eyed was not the shield, but—
“…Steph…what’s with…your stats…?”
“…S-Stuch… A-are you a monster, please…?!”
—the bar—or bars—that hovered above her head…
Two bars appeared above each party member’s head when their weapons materialized. Based on the rule that loss of all hope meant losing the game:
“These must be our status bars. Lemme guess: The red bar on top is our HP, which goes down when we get hit, and the blue bar on the bottom is our MP, which we use to attack, right?”
“Mweh-heh… Indeed, hero…… But that’s quite the pinpoint guess you’ve made.”
Schira Ha was caught entirely off guard by Sora’s remark, which was less of a guess and more of an inference from his own world’s tried-and-true game mechanics. Now that the rest of the party was caught up on the status bars, Til yelled out a new question:
“…D-does that mean Lady Steph is immortal?!”
“Stuch has three goddamn HP bars… I think you broke her, please…?”
“What’s everyone talking about…? Is there something wrong with me…?”
Steph soon realized she was the odd one out with how everyone was looking at the space above her in shock. The group stared at Steph’s HP bars with a strange, almost anxious curiosity, when…
“Huh. Looks like Steph will be the key to this game after all,” mumbled Sora, the only one who appeared to grasp the situation.
“The key—?! What’s that supposed to mean?! …Oh!!” Steph’s eyes glimmered with excitement. “So you did have something in mind for me when you brought me along! Let’s face it: No one would expect me to be useful for this sort of game, but you must have insight on how to win! Don’t you, Sora—?!”
I knew it! There’s no way Sora would so flippantly include me in the party!
Steph looked to Sora, eager to hear about his well-thought-out plan, but…
“I mean…since we’re gonna use hope as our weapons, I figured that, out of all of us, you have your head in the clouds—er, uh, want to protect your friends the most.”
“Right! I’m not quite sure if you’re complimenting or disparaging me, but I’ll take it!!”
Steph rolled her head back, her expression rife with equal parts hope and despair.
Sora and Shiro, meanwhile, had a very different problem. They stared at each other’s status bars and muttered among themselves.
“I’m a bit concerned about our own lack of HP and abundance of MP…”
“…I think…we’re well…within one-shot range…”
Unlike Steph, who had three long bars’ worth of HP and only slightly less than average MP, Sora and Shiro had almost no HP and the longest MP bars of anyone in the party.
Izuna, Til, Jibril, and Emir-Eins, on the other hand, seemed to have a decent balance of both, even if their distributions varied slightly between them.
“I guess we may as well ask, but…Schira Ha, is there a reason behind the difference in our distributions?”
“Mweh-heh…? Not at all. They are, as you say, but a visualization of your hope,” Schira Ha answered in her usual wicked tone, her head tilted to one side.
Sora and Shiro owned Schira Ha, so she couldn’t lie to them.
Her claim was backed by Izuna and Emir-Eins, who both sensed that she was telling the truth, something they communicated to Sora with a nod. Everyone’s statuses were evidently a function of the game’s inherent mechanics—
Right… Then I guess we’ll have to test out these game mechanics ourselves.
“Jibril, Emir-Eins—I’m assuming you can’t use your magic?”
Seeing as they were only allowed to use hope as their weapon, then it was safe to assume that they could not use their magic… But to Sora’s surprise:
“Oh… Actually, Master…it appears that we can.”
“Report: Sensing presence of functioning quasi-spirit corridor junction nerves. Magic presumed usable.”
Oh?
With this news, all eyes fell dubiously on one person.
“Mweh-heh-heh…? Ah, yes. Within this Tower—inside the Devil—you may use magic if you so choose. But I recommend against it, as doing so consumes large amounts of hope.”
Their gazes were met by a strange response from Schira Ha.
This game is supposed to be fought with hope alone, and yet we can use magic? And…magic consumes our hope…?
“Jibril…I want you to use as little magic as possible to do something. Say…lighting up your fingertip?”
Jibril promptly held out her hand and concentrated her magic into her pointer finger—but.
…………,
“I know I told you to do it…but I’m surprised you can suppress your magic this much.”
The tip of her pointer finger was only as bright as a firefly.
Sora was impressed by this, although Jibril seemed confused.
“Oh…? But I intended to use a rite that creates about one hundred times more light than this…”
“Conjecture: Use of magic within the Tower is possible—but its effect is reduced by a factor of more than one hundred…? Incidental/Report: Irregular Number’s MP has been reduced by zero point zero three percent. Current use of magic determined to be the cause.”
Emir-Eins’s summation seemed accurate.
Upon closer inspection, Jibril’s MP bar had indeed been reduced by the slightest of slivers.
………Hmmm……
“How about this, Jibril: If you were to, say, shift under these conditions, how much more MP do you think it would use?”
“……………I daresay my best guess would be over a few thousand times more MP.”
“Approximation: Magic using three thousand three hundred and thirty-four times more MP would reduce Irregular Number’s MP to zero. Conclusion: Use of magic unrealistic.”
So while magic was physically possible to use during the game, it was essentially pointless. Sora was thrown into deep thought over this
…………,
“……Hmm, well, I guess we’ll figure it out as we go along…”
Nodding to himself as he spoke, he then turned to the party to discuss their strategy for running the Tower dungeon.
“So, Steph. You’re gonna be our tank.”
“…You’re our…meat shield… Thanks, Steph…”
“I’m not sure what a tank is, but meat shield certainly doesn’t have a safe ring to it!!”
Sora ignored Steph’s question about her role and continued:
“Sorry I gotta ask this, but Izuna—you’re gonna carry me and Shiro, and Til will carry Steph. Do you guys think you can do that?”
“Yup, you got it, please. Leave it to me, please.”
“Lady Steph is light, she is. I always thought she should eat more, I did.”
Just as Sora asked, the two petite party members easily hoisted the party’s three Immanity heroes onto their backs.
“Jibril and Emir-Eins will be our subs. Get in the bag.”
“…Come again, Master?”
“…Confusion:”
As soon as Sora made this call, the pair was sucked into the floating bag before they could object.
Per the rules, the party could have only five members active at once. Therefore, two out of their seven members would have to stay in the bag at any given moment. The bag acted as the party’s inventory, where their substitutes would wait to be switched out.
According to what Schira Ha had told them back in Elkia, the bag would float behind the party automatically.
This magical bag could also store items. The group took this opportunity to put their backpacks and other things inside when—
“Report: Space within inventory bag is far more cramped than initially anticipated. Warning: This unit feels intense dissatisfaction about touching Irregular Number. It’s too tight in here. Don’t touch me. Go away.”
“You don’t think I’d ever willingly touch a heap of scrap metal, do you? As you are a machine, why not fold into something more compact? ”
“Rebuttal: Flügel are a magical race and therefore capable of shape-shifting. Recommendation: Maybe turn into a mushroom or something?”
There’s gotta be better game mechanics than just stuffing people into bags, Sora thought while he heard his two friends bickering from within the opened sack.
With that out of the way, Sora moved on to his next and final set of orders to win the game. Which were!!
“We’re gonna have Izuna and Til carry us through the dungeon up to the hundredth floor! Between a Werebeast and a Dwarf, we should be able to avoid any enemies and make it through without a fight!!”
…You expect us to fight every orc, slime, and goblin who comes outta the woodwork …? Not gonna happen—!!
“ So you’re not even going to try playing the game… I suppose that’s typical of you…,” Steph muttered from atop Til’s back after hearing Sora shout out his directions.
“Not even try? Avoiding unnecessary battles is how these games work!”
Sora defended his idea from roughly the same height—atop Izuna’s back, with Shiro on his shoulders.
“Or what, Steph? Are you the type who has to kill every monster you see in an RPG? Take a second to think about what you’re saying. That would be a literal massacre in this world. I’m actually appalled…”
“There you go again! I don’t even know what an are-pee-gee is!!”
Sora didn’t miss an opportunity to tease Steph—but nevertheless:
“Hope is all we have in this game. We lose it via MP if we attack, and we lose it via HP when we get attacked. We have to keep our hope at all costs, so there’s no reason to go out of our way to use it in a fight. Avoiding enemies is our only option.”
“I…suppose you’re right about that…”
Normally, in these sorts of games, the party gets experience points, money, maybe the chance at a rare item drop by defeating enemies—fighting is how you grow your characters. But with their hope being a set value in this game, it was doubtful there was anything to gain from combat in terms of levels or loot, so there wasn’t much reason to fight in the first place.
Looks like the UI is on our left wrists, too…
There’s something curious about the blank space between my wrist and my status bars, but…oh well.
“That said, it sounds like we’ll be up against bosses on each floor, so we probably won’t be able to avoid all the fights.”
There was also the question of whether they could skip the floor bosses the skeleton was so kind in alluding to for them before.
Either way, though avoiding as much confrontation as reasonably possible seemed to be the best course of action in Sora’s mind, his directive did not go unquestioned—
“Master…I would like to ask for permission to pose a question about your orders…”
“Evident: Master and Little Sister have critically low HP pools. Advice: Avoid combat.”
Two voices could be heard raising their concerns from within the party’s inventory.
They were right: Sora and Shiro both had HP pools so thin that it was well within the realm of possibility they would be taken out of the game in one hit.
Even on Izuna’s back, all it would take was one stray shot for it to be Game Over, You Died.
While Jibril and Emir-Eins’s shared concern was legitimate—
“We need to keep you guys away for an emergency, since you’re the only two who can use magic.”
…Technically Til—a Dwarf—should’ve been able to use magic, too, except she was more confident in her ability to accidentally blow up the party than to actually be of any use. Therefore, Jibril and Emir-Eins would have to be tucked away to save their MP pools for a real emergency—
There’s still a lot we don’t know about this game.
Sora made this implicitly clear.
“…Understood. Your wish is my command, Master.”
“…Consent: Please be careful, Master.”
The pair solemnly withheld their concerns, and the party outside of their inventory looked to the far edge of the safe zone.
There sat a door, beyond which undoubtedly extended a vast dungeon.
It was time for them to enter the Tower dungeon—but before that…
“So…Izuna…I think you’re gonna have to leave your stuffed toy behind…”
“…We’d like you…to carry us with, both hands…if you can…”
“Uuugh?! I don’t wanna, please! Th-this thing’s mine, please!”
“As I’ve made clear, I am no one’s thing!!”
Izuna clung to her fuzzy toy—the Devil—with great zeal, which left her with only one arm to carry both Sora and Shiro on her back. This gave the siblings pause. Then:
“Mweh-heh-heh… I understand how one could fall to His Evilness’s cute allure, but the Devil that you hold in your hands is my own possession.”
Going somewhat against the Devil’s claim that he was no one’s thing, Schira Ha bowed her head.
“The fragment of His Evilness that you hold maintains its manifestation through me as its catalyst. Should you move too far away from me, it shall vanish, so you will not be able to take him into the dungeon either way…”
“See? We gotta leave him behind, so give it here—whoa?! I knew you were strong, but holy crap?!”
Schira Ha and her owners, Sora and Shiro, finally motioned to free the Devil. But someone didn’t want to give him up just yet.
“Nooo… Uuuugh!”
“…C’mon…Izzy… We’ll see him on the…hundredth floor… Okay…?”
Izuna sank her claws into the stone floor, refusing to budge one bit, until the trio eventually managed to convince her to drop her toy.
With that, the siblings climbed onto her back and—
“All right, guys!! Off to the hundredth floor we go!! Let’s bust this dungeon as quick as we can!!”
“…Whoo-hoo…!”
“Y-yes, of course!!”
“Yessir indeed!!”
“Hmph… Fine, please!!”
With Sora, Shiro, and Steph on the backs of Til and Izuna, the party rallied themselves before moving forward. Their inventory bag was close behind, floating quickly through the air as they went.
The party rushed through the door at breakneck speed in their quest to beat the Tower dungeon.
…………
“Schira Ha…tell me, do you truly believe these heroes will make it to me?”
“But of course, Your Evilness. The wisdom you’ve gifted me tells me so.”
The furball and the snake-eyed woman silently watched the party leave the safe zone before exchanging these words.
“They will make it to you… And if Your Evilness so wishes for it, they will go even farther than that—”
Schira Ha didn’t just believe this—she knew it, as if she’d already seen it for herself with her serpentine eyes.
Schira Ha held the Devil in her arms and quietly left the Tower……
When the party passed through the door, what awaited them was a whole new world of its own. Compared to the safe zone they’d just left, this was…
“Is this supposed to be some sort of big cathedral…? This is the last place you’d expect to find the so-called Devil…”
“…They’re kind of…the same…in Fr*m games…”
“…What are you two talking about this time?”
It was a marble palace, adorned in mystical holy markings with a ceiling over twenty meters high. Before them extended an endlessly long hall that was supported by tall, lavishly decorated pillars for as far as the eye could see, with multiple offshoots from the main path in eyeshot as well—but that wasn’t all.
A large group of Demonias—skeletons clad in armor—could be seen rushing the party from afar.
And just like the heroes, above each of the skeletons’ heads were red and blue bars. They likely worked the same way: The enemy would be rendered incapacitated should their HP fall to zero.
Without paying much mind to their attacks, Izuna kicked into high gear and followed her party’s strategy by slamming her hands into the ground.
Ka-boooom!!
Two small fists slammed loudly against the floor, leaving a crater and creating an echo.
“There! I can hear some stairs, please! This way, please!!”
Through echolocation, Izuna was able to pinpoint the stairs to the next floor within seconds. The path to the stairs was not without traps, but Izuna saw right through each and every one of them using her incredible perception. She did this all while carrying Sora and Shiro piggyback, and following close behind was Til, who did the same for Steph.
“ I knew this going in, but…you guys are so OP as a race…”
“…B-B-Brother…! D-don’t drop…meee…!”
“AAAAAAACK! I’m gonna fall!! I DON’T WANNA DIEEEEE!!”
“L-Lady Steph! Please don’t scream into my ear!”
The brilliantly ornate walls and pillars, as well as the high ceiling, were easily scaled by the dynamic duo as they zoomed through the wide halls shouldering their three companions, who clung on for dear life.
No Demonias were capable of catching them—let alone getting a glimpse of them. Those who attempted to chase the group blindly were quickly picked off by Sora and Shiro, who skillfully fired their projectile weapons from Izuna’s back.
Less than eighteen minutes passed before the party finally reached the end of the ninth floor and ran up the stairs to the tenth when they came across something new: a door that sat in the middle of a distorted magic circle…
…Yeah, that just screams, “Welcome… Beyond this door awaits the room of the tenth-floor boss. ”
From the looks of it, I bet we’re not gonna be able to skip the boss fight…
Sora, Shiro, and Steph hopped off Izuna’s and Til’s backs to discuss their next move.
“I’m guessing there’s a boss waiting behind that door. One that we won’t be able to ignore like the rest of the enemies. In other words, this will be our first battle.”
As Sora said this to his party members, each of them clutched their weapons.
“Here’s the plan,” Sora continued:
“Steph, you’re our tank. You’re gonna be on the front lines. I want you to get as close to the enemy as you can, and catch as many attacks as you can with your shield. You are going to be our literal shield—our lives are in your hands… We’re depending on you.”
“ I know. You can count on me.”
Steph shook off the doubts she had about this weighty role before giving a firm nod. Sora nodded back.
“Izuna and Til, you two are gonna be our melee DPS. Use your agility to dodge any attacks the enemy throws your way, then deal as much damage as you can from behind Steph’s shield. If possible, try to draw aggro away from Steph so she isn’t being constantly attacked. Me and Shiro will be the ranged DPS—we’ll attack from a distance. You guys got that?”
It was a clear and simple plan, but Sora’s eyes invited any questions they may have had.
“…Wh-who’s gonna protect you and Queen Shiro, Sir…?”
Til had the same concern that Jibril and Emir-Eins had shared earlier.
It was almost as if she asked the question for them once more, as they were in the inventory bag, but with a bold grin—
“…We won’t…need it… They won’t even…hit us…”
Did you guys forget what happened when we fought the Eastern Union? Not even a bloodbroken Izuna could hit us with her hail of bullets.
The siblings’ confidence almost felt arrogant, and elicited a group-wide gulp.
But their confidence wasn’t as unwarranted as their initial response made it seem—
“Don’t worry. If there are multiple enemies, or if the boss uses some kinda attack that can’t be dodged, we’ll put our backs to Steph’s. You two only need to focus on supporting her, and we’ll be safe.”
Their confidence had its foundation in a contingency for attacks they couldn’t handle—it was all part of the plan.
With each party member knowing their role, the group nodded to each other.
Sora then turned to the door that stood between them and the boss once more, and Shiro muttered to him:
“…Brother… This’ll be, tough…without a healer…”
She’s right… There’s no way to heal ourselves in this game. This is likely the reason no one’s been able to beat it so far.
“Let’s go.”
With unusual tension in his voice, Sora said this before touching the magic circle that encompassed the door.
Doing so caused the magic circle to shatter into pieces, and then the door opened with a loud, heavy sound. And then—
A low sound erupted from the center of the room—so low, in fact, that the Immanity party members couldn’t even initially hear it, but they sure could feel it. The sound echoed in their bowels, but what shook them even more was the imposing figure that was the source of the growl.
Standing before them with a massive ax was a Minotaur. At five meters tall, the bovine-headed Goliath growled viciously as it stared them down.
Just like the enemies they’d encountered up until this point, there were two bars above the Minotaur’s head—each extra-long, just as one would expect from a boss monster.
Steph couldn’t hold back a brief “Eeep!” when she and the rest of the party charged forward.
As soon as they stepped into the boss room, the door behind them roared once more while it closed. The magic circle from before reappeared, this time behind the Minotaur.
Looks like I was right! We gotta beat this guy if we wanna go up!
Sora shouted this to himself on the inside as he cocked his Anti-Matter Rifle, the sound of which acted as a signal for the rest of the party.
Shiro, Izuna, Til, and Steph all followed suit and readied their weapons.
Okay… This guy doesn’t look all that quick, but we won’t know until we try…
“We need to rush him!! Use as little of your power as you can to beat him as quickly as possible!!”
Sora shouted these words so loudly that his companions were only just barely able to hear them over the Minotaur bellowing another deep roar. The battle then commenced, with both sides charging toward each other at once, and the party’s first real battle began…
All in all—the battle went smoothly.
In terms of physical strength, the Werebeasts lived up to their reputation as the Ixseeds’ strongest race, with Izuna as their representative—especially with her bloodbreak ability active.
Dwarves were always known to be a close second, with their dynamic visual acuity and brute strength; Til, too, did her people justice by adeptly wielding her weapon.
Appearances didn’t betray the Minotaur boss, as its sluggish attacks didn’t even come close to connecting to the party’s two speedsters.
The pair invited attacks that they skillfully dodged by using the walls and ceilings for footing.
Then there was Steph; her Great Shield was more powerful than anyone could’ve imagined.
Only slivers of damage from the Minotaur’s mighty great ax managed to chip through her shield.
Far behind Steph were the siblings—the boss launched throwing axes at Sora and Shiro, but they skillfully dodged any that came their way.
This was how the battle quickly approached its end…
“We almost have him!!” Steph called out to the party.
The massive Demonia was under a constant barrage of blows between Izuna’s Kitty Gloves, Til’s Great Hammer, and the siblings’ bullets.
The long HP bar above its head slowly depleted to its last bit when it happened.
………
“Oh…? What’s this…?” said Steph.
The Minotaur suddenly fell to one knee and, without making a sound, was engulfed in light before disappearing.
“Whew… That was pretty good for our first fight… It sure ate up a lot of resources, though…”
Steph was caught off guard by the sudden finish while Sora looked at each party member’s HP-MP bars and reviewed the battle.
This was our party’s first battle. Up against a strong enemy, the only damage we took was chip damage through Steph’s shield. We still have over 90 percent of our MP left as well. In normal circumstances, this would easily be considered a flawless victory.
But…the problem is, this is only the tenth floor. You don’t need to be a galaxy-brain gamer to know that the Minotaur will be the weakest boss we’re gonna face. And not just the bosses—the mobs we’re gonna try avoiding will get stronger and stronger, too… Losing roughly 10 percent of our MP on the tenth floor of a hundred-floor dungeon is not great…
Shiro, Til, and Izuna all shared Sora’s concern, but the fifth hero had other worries on her mind.
“U-um, hello?! You’re acting like this is over, but the boss still had some HP left!! Wh-what if he pops out and attacks us again?!”
What if he’s only hiding?
The vigilant Steph looked frantically around the room for a potentially hidden enemy, but Sora filled her in:
“Oh…you didn’t notice? The Demonias we defeated all disappeared the same way.”
“ Come again?”
“You saw how me and Shiro were picking some off on the way here, right? Izuna and Til beat some, too.”
“Oh, yes…I did find it a bit strange, given that your orders were to ignore any enemies before the boss.”
“I mean…you didn’t think we were gonna go up against the boss without knowing how the system works, did you…?”
Steph cocked her head in befuddlement. Sora winced and explained what the rest of the party had already noticed.
“First, whenever we defeat an enemy, we recover some MP. This goes for the boss and the random mobs we defeated on our way here.”
“ Wait, really…?”
The entire party nodded, which caused Steph to blush with embarrassment, but Sora continued.
“Yup, and since this was the first time any of us took any damage, it looks like our HP recovers a bit, too. Take a look at yours.”
There were next to no ways for the party to heal their HP in this game.
While they could get some back this way, there was one little problem…
“Here’s the thing, though: The MP it takes to defeat an enemy outweighs the amount of HP we get back.”
On the way to the boss, the party—save for Steph—defeated a handful of mobs, mainly skeletons and slimes, but…
Even when they distributed the attacks between the four of them, the MP they received upon a single victory just wasn’t worth it. It was a net loss between the four, who were using their MP to make attacks. Though they received a bit more after defeating the boss, it was still a net loss, with them each losing nearly a tenth of their MP pool.
“It looks like I was right about there being little to gain from fights.”
Though there was still the question of why they recovered HP and MP in the first place…
“But…we have some bigger problems to deal with. Three, to be exact.”
Sora said this, then held out his hand and extended up the first of three fingers.
“One, the attacks in this game deliver no impact physics.”
Were the attacks limited to only Sora’s and Shiro’s bullets, this could be chalked up to the toughness of the Demonias; but neither the random mobs nor the boss budged an inch when taking a hit from Izuna’s Kitty Gloves, which had all the force of a truck.
“I mean…seeing as we’re using our hope to fight…I’m guessing our HP bars must be some hope barrier, and any attacks we or the enemy make are against each other’s barriers. How else do you think you stopped that giant Minotaur’s ax like that?”
“ ”
Now that you mention it, the boss monster’s big ax should have sent me flying… Why did I think I could receive an attack like that without dying in the first place…?
The blood drained from Steph’s face once she finally came to this realization, but she was actually glad she’d gone in oblivious.
Regardless, these settings would likely remain in place because of the Ten Covenants.
This may have been a battle game, but harming one another was still physically impossible.
So this much Sora was able to predict beforehand. The problem was that this aspect applied to the enemies as well…
“This means that we can’t stop our enemies from attacking unless we fully defeat them.”
The enemies wouldn’t flinch or budge no matter what kind of attack the party threw at them—the heroes had no stopping power.
This meant that they wouldn’t be able to mow down big groups of mobs because they’d run out of MP too quickly.
This would be a problem should they end up in a map where Izuna and Til could get surrounded—
Steph gulped at the thought, but Sora still had two fingers left to raise.
“Which brings us to problem two: The enemies disappear before we KO them.”
It was the very thing that Steph had worried about only moments ago, and Sora explained why this was a problem.
“The enemies in the Tower are Demonia staff operating on a lenient four-person-shift, four-day workweek.”
“Huh…? Yes, I suppose Genau Ih did mention something along the lines of that…”
Then it should be clear why the enemies disappeared before dying—
“Basically, the staff running the game are protecting their employees from a welfare standpoint.”
“Okay…?”
And this means…?
The significance of this was lost on Steph, who Sora set aside for a moment.
“Hey! I know you’re listening! What’s the deal here, Schira Ha?!”
He called out for someone who wasn’t there, leaving Steph and the rest of the party confused for a good ten seconds, until—
“…H-His Evilness has given the green light…so if you would please, Schira Ha the Wise…”
“Mweh-heh… I suppose I should no longer be surprised by your cunningness, O Heroes.”
Schira Ha must’ve been outside the Tower, likely with the skeleton in the Joint Chiefs of Staff office.
It must’ve gone against their company’s compliance for someone who wasn’t even staff, let alone owned by the participants, to answer them.
But seeing as the little furball allowed it, Schira Ha’s voice, in all its wicked elegance, could be heard over a broadcast.
“Mweh-heh… Yes, what you heroes call HP is, as you say, your hope being depleted… In the case of our staff, we warp them to a work-related injury rehabilitation center just before they run out of hope and give them the time off they require to recuperate outside the Tower.”
It was well established that the benefits of the Demonia employment system never disappointed. But this spelled something else for the party—
“ ”
Steph, too, gulped upon hearing Schira Ha’s explanation, which elicited a wry chuckle from Sora as he returned to his point.
While there was a safety net for the Demonia staff who competed against them in the Tower—
“If our hope, on the other hand, runs out, we lose the game, correct? And since we’re the challengers, it’s safe to assume Demonia’s awesome benefits don’t extend to us?”
“……………”
“And we all know what happens when someone runs out of hope and loses in this game.”
They would end up the same way as the people who entered this Tower before.
Losing all hope—or falling into despair, which meant:
“So if we run out of MP, then there’s no way for us to defeat the enemy, and then it’s only a matter of time before our HP is finished. We end up either killing ourselves, or worse, become living husks of who we were…although which of the two outcomes is worse depends on how you think, I guess.”
Thus, with losing one’s hope being the losing condition of this game, every attack they made drew them closer to their own demise—little by little.
They couldn’t move forward without using their own life force to attack, and there was no way to realistically replenish any hope they lost…
“……………”
After hearing Sora colorfully articulate the direness of the straits the party was in, Steph was joined by Shiro, Til, and Izuna in tensing up at the thought of the desperate game they had been thrown into—
“…Though it pains me to say, Master, perhaps it would be better for you to remain in the party’s inventory bag instead of us…”
A voice came from the bag. The speaker must have been able to tell what was going on.
Jibril made the same suggestion she’d made before, and this time, Sora thought about it for a moment, before—
“Jibril and Emir-Eins…swap in for Til and Izuna.”
As Sora muttered this, Til and Izuna were instantly sucked into the bag and replaced by Jibril and Emir-Eins, who came swirling out.
Why swap out Til and Izuna and not Sora and Shiro themselves?
Jibril and Emir-Eins wondered this in confusion while the rest of the party was looking at their status bars.
“You two… Why are you missing HP and MP…?” Sora asked them.
“ Oh?”
“…Confirmation: Both this unit and Irregular Number are missing just under two percent of HP and MP. Question: Why…?”
These two had yet to fight, and yet they’d already lost a small amount of their HP and MP.
No one had an answer for Sora or Emir-Eins, and they spent a few moments at a loss—
“…Til and Izuna. Swap in for Jibril and Emir-Eins.”
In the same fashion as before, the two tiniest party members came out with a swirl.
Sora then addressed Jibril and Emir-Eins, who he sent back into the bag.
“We can swap out anytime in an instant. I’m gonna save you guys for an emergency, just like we planned.”
“…Yes, I understand.”
“…Doubt:… Reluctance: …Understood.”
While it was true that it was dangerous for Sora and Shiro to be out of the bag, as they were one hit away from death, there was a new, even bigger risk that Sora had just realized.
Our trump cards in Jibril and Emir-Eins may only have one use each…
“Til…let me ask you one more time. The Dwarf party that supposedly tied at this game did it in a little over a day, right?”
“Um… Yes, that’s right. I don’t know the details, but they went into the Tower, and thirty hours passed before the Devil disappeared—or so I heard from the chieftain, I did!”
This was the same four-hundred-and-eight-year-old information that Til had shared with the party before they departed Elkia.
With this in mind, Sora’s original goal was to clear the Tower in under a day. The party needed to use as little of their hope reserves to pass through the dungeon as fast as they could, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to win.
Or so…one would assume. Right…? But—was this really the case?
“…Aaaanyway… Schira Ha!! I gotta ask: Why does my weapon suck so much?!”
This had been on Sora’s mind both during the boss fight and during the trip there.
As it would play into how he would allocate the party’s resources, Sora barked out his question angrily.
“Despite how menacing it looks, my bullets only hit as hard as a single shot from Shiro’s Machine Pistols!! Between a slow firing speed, a seven-bullet cartridge, and a long reload time, my DPS is in the dumps! What gives?!”
Lemme guess…’cause it’s ThE sHaPe Of My HoPe.
Sure, the weapon weighs nothing and has no recoil, so it’s actually pretty easy to use despite its large frame. But something about my rifle doing the same damage as Shiro’s fully automatic Machine Pistols seems ridiculously unbalanced!
Sora’s complaint was met by confusion spoken wickedly over the speakers…
“Mweh-heh… I’m…not quite sure what to say to that. The weapons you possess are the physical manifestations of your own hope, and not something we staff have a hand in designing…”
“…Brother…you’re, all talk… Tiny…weak…limp… Your weapon…personifies you…”
“Ahhh, my dear sister… You are talking about my weapon, right? Okay, you know what—those are your expectations, not mine!! It’s not even that tiny!! Or limp for that matter!! WE’RE TALKIN’ ABOUT THE GUN, RIGHT?!”
“Um, Stuch. What the hell else could Shiro be talking about, please?”
“Izuna…that’s something you don’t need to know for another ten years—or, no, maybe even a lifetime. I lament the fact that I’ve come to understand this aspect of their banter…”
“King Sora! It’s like you told me before! It’s not the specs of the weapon that matter, but how you use it, it is!!”
“Indeed, Master. Size and speed pale in comparison to technique in the grand scheme of things.”
“Affirmative/Conjecture: Its high accuracy makes it a superior model. Master should be proud.”
Sora was being teased from all directions—even his friends pocketed in the party’s inventory had their minds in the gutter. Sora tore at his hair and reeled back in agony, but he was also plagued by a new question.
There’s nothing to laugh about; this is way too complex. Of course, Steph’s boatload of HP stands out a lot, but it’s not just that. Her shield mitigates almost everything that comes her way without costing any MP. It’s way too OP.
Then there’s Izuna’s Kitty Gloves and Til’s Great Hammer. Both super powerful, but they eat their MP pools like there’s no tomorrow.
Just like how our HP and MP varies, our weapons function differently, and in too many different ways to keep track of.
Our HP and MP are the visualization of our hope, and our weapons are its physical manifestation…
…Hope…
It stems from the soul, which has a distinct definition in this world.
But is that really true? If it is, then what causes such significant differences in our weapons?
“……We don’t have time for this. Let’s keep going…”
There were so many questions with no answers in sight. Worrying over them wasn’t going to get Sora anywhere. He had a game to play.
“We’re gonna keep rolling with this strategy. Ignore any mobs we encounter and head straight for the boss. That said, if this dungeon follows the same conventional gaming logic it has so far, then the next ten floors will be different from the first.”
The party turned to the door from before, the magic circle that blocked it off having disappeared…
“The stage and mobs are gonna look and act differently than the first level, so stay on your toes.”
The party nodded at Sora’s warning, and with that, the Immanity members mounted Til and Izuna once more before getting back to the dungeon. Jibril and Emir-Eins followed from within the floating bag.
They went on…but Sora never raised his last finger. His final question was something he himself wasn’t sure of, but had been eating away at him in the back of his mind.
That Minotaur boss we just beat… It started acting different when we got it down to around half health…
It was a second phase, something pretty common in these kinds of games. Usually, you’d expect the boss to get stronger, but it was the opposite; the boss had grown weaker. The Minotaur’s attacks became more telegraphed after the halfway point, making them easier to dodge than they already were.
HP and MP were the player’s hope levels put into numbers. If the boss grew weaker due to the reason Sora thought he did, and if the same game mechanic applied to the party members…
No…it can’t work like that… Or else there’s absolutely no way the Dwarves could’ve ever cleared this game.
Sora shook his head, relieving his mind of this concern and leaving it behind in the boss room as Izuna and Til ran through the door and up the stairs beyond it to the next floor.
The party had no way of knowing, however, that Sora’s worst fear—the very fear he had left behind in the boss room—would come back to bite him only an hour later…
Just as Sora had predicted, the eleventh floor revealed an entirely new world. The party left the grand marble castle for a mystical forest. It was hard to believe they were even in a tower, and while there was no distinct path to follow where they emerged, there was a pack of rabid humanoid mandrakes ready to greet them.
Izuna swiftly passed through the horde of mobs with Sora and Shiro on her back, following a path that only she could discern to the next floor.
Not too far behind—and above—were Steph and Til, the latter of the two jumping from tree to tree to keep on the Werebeast’s tail.
At this pace, it didn’t take long for them to reach the twentieth floor and its boss: a massive Triffid plant creature.
The Triffid used its vines like whips to attack the party while also clouding their vision with pollen, which it spread with each attack. The gimmick didn’t amount to much up against Izuna’s and Til’s visual acuity and high mobility. And despite the high speed of their mount, it was no challenge for Shiro to calculate the trajectory for her Machine Pistol fire, which Sora used as tracers for his own. While the Triffid did manage to connect some attacks here and there, they were met by Steph’s shield for little to no effect. Yet another easy fight.
Which brought them to the twenty-first floor. This time, the stage was a complex series of beautiful cavernous limestone tunnels. The first five floors went by easily, bringing the party to floor twenty-six.
“…………”
“…………”
The party continued to spelunk their way through the long series of tunnels in search of the stairs to the next floor, but their momentum compared to even only an hour ago had dwindled as they quietly pushed forward.
Sora, swaying atop Izuna’s back, reviewed what had happened so far:
First, there was the battle with the twentieth-floor boss, the Triffid.
The cave terrain they’d been on since the twenty-first floor hindered Izuna’s and Til’s mobility, forcing the party to fight the groups of goblins and orcs blocking their path, which had cost way more MP than anticipated…
The active party members had used almost half of their total MP.
“S-Sora…perhaps now would be a good time for a short break…?” Steph suggested, sensing how grim things were getting for her companions.
Steph was right—they’d been on the move for two hours straight since entering the Tower dungeon… She was keeping everyone’s physical stamina in mind.
But Sora and Shiro had spent these two hours on Izuna’s back. They’d stuck to safe areas whenever they weren’t in battle. Basically, they hadn’t moved much more than they’d needed to so far. They were tired—but not in a physical sense. A different sort of exhaustion, one Sora was all too familiar with—the worst kind in the context of this game.
…There’s no doubting it anymore. This is definitely…
“ ?! Shit—I stepped on a trap! I’m sorry, please!!”
Sora’s train of thought was abruptly interrupted by a turn of events Izuna’s highly acute five senses should’ve seen coming from a mile away.
There was a flash, and in the next instant—the party found itself transported to a dead end—
“…Crap!! We’re right in the middle of a spawn point!!”
They were up against more than fifty orcs, who growled as they each clutched their axes and stared them down. Down the corridor that appeared to be the sole exit was a familiar sight: a magic circle.
We’re gonna have to beat them all if we wanna leave…?!
Sora clicked his tongue at the realization before giving his orders.
“Steph! Get in front of me and Shiro! Izuna and Til, ignore the enemies on Steph and take them out from their flank!!”
His party members nodded. The commands were simple enough, but their execution didn’t go so smoothly—
“ ?! Whoops. Sorry, please…”
“Eeeep?! Lady Izuna?! Now’s not the time for apologies, it’s not! Look out behind you!!”
Izuna and Til leaped forward, except their lack of focus made it difficult for them to coordinate with one another. But that wasn’t the end of their problems…
“…What…? Did…I…just…?”
The unimaginable happened: Shiro missed her target.
Sora tried to give his little sister cover fire, but his weapon lacked the speed and power to help effectively.
Without any stopping power to keep the enemy from advancing, the orcs ignored his bullets and pushed forward—
“S-S-S-Sora?! We may be a bit in over our heads heeerrreee!!” Steph screeched.
Sora clicked his tongue loudly under his breath.
It was time for one of their trump cards!!
“Emir-Eins!! Switch with Izuna and mow ’em down!”
In the next instant, Izuna was sucked up into the party’s inventory bag, and—
“Acknowledgment: This unit has been deployed. Orders received. Commencing destruction. Auf wiedersehen.”
Emir-Eins’s maid outfit fluttered as she gently landed on the ground in Izuna’s place and bowed. A series of bright lights came surging out from the multiple Drones that floated around her, whiting out the entire cavern.
………
……
The flash slowly dimmed, revealing the light the enemies shed while they slowly vanished. The party was dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events, but their confusion turned to relief as they slowly processed what had happened. They all sank to the floor.
“Y-you saved us… Hey, Sora! If Emir-Eins is this strong, we should have had her out from—”
The start. But Steph didn’t get to finish her sentence.
“Emir-Eins…switch back with Izuna…”
Sora ignored Steph and made the switch, and just like that:
“……I…hate…this……”
Shiro dropped her Machine Pistols and fell to her knees, wailing. She hid her face in her hands as large teardrops fell down her cheeks.
“ Oh. H-huh…?” said Steph. “Sh-Shiro?! What’s the matter?!”
Had she been hit by stray fire or otherwise hurt somehow?
Steph ran over to Shiro, who was white as a sheet—but otherwise unscathed. Her HP was still full as well, which left Steph in even more dismay as her words didn’t even reach the weeping Shiro.
It’s happening, Sora thought.
His greatest fear about this game came true, and it happened to his sister first. He ran to her, and Shiro finally shared what had her in such despair.
And that was:
“Why… Brother…?! Why won’t my boobs grow?!”
“Shiro!! My sister!! Are you really gonna let that be the thing that gets you down?!”
Meanwhile—close by, Izuna was curled up in a ball on the floor…
“…Uuuugghhh… I’m so goddamn hungry, please…!”
“Oh, come on! Now you’re just being cute!!”
While these seemed like trifles to Sora, the two youngest party members lamented over problems that caused the utmost despair for them personally.
Tears were pouring down their cheeks like rivers when a voice came from the inventory bag:
“Already Known: …This unit is useless. This unit betrayed the Spieler six thousand years ago. This unit lied to him. This unit couldn’t protect him. This unit failed her master as well… This unit cannot keep her promises…or protect those important to her…”
“See?! That’s what despair sounds like—whoaaa, holy crap!! That took a serious turn!! I think I just got whiplash!!”
“M-Master…what happened…? The scrap metal’s MP has been completely drained…”
Yeah, I know… All it took was one fight for Emir-Eins to use up her entire MP.
It’s why he switched Emir-Eins out for Izuna so soon. The problem was, he still didn’t know the reason why her MP had bottomed out. Sora was scratching his head from all the stress, when:
“Wh-what’s the matter with everyone…? What happened—?”
Steph was deeply confused by the sudden vibe shift, forcing Sora to find the strength to fill her in.
“Nothing’s the matter… This is exactly what happened to the tenth-floor boss at around half his HP that caused him to slow down… Dammit, I had a bad feeling about that, and it looks like I was right…”
It’s a funny part of playing any RPG—and most other video games, for that matter: The PC can usually move unperturbed no matter how little HP or MP they have. They could be beaten half to death and still be running around and jumping as if they’d just woken up fresh—it’s very unrealistic.
That wasn’t all… Sora looked at the HP and MP bars above his head and at the bar on his left wrist.
“These HP and MP bars are a visualization of our hope, she said. We lose hope when we attack and get attacked. These two bars are how much hope we have left.”
So if they ran out of hope, their bars would reach zero.
There’s a path you have to go down before you reach utter despair, though…
Although the party was physically okay, the stress was taking its toll.
Just like how Shiro and Izuna had succumbed to anxiety and collapsed in tears, there were phases they would go through, and losing a certain amount of hope most likely triggered these phases. Sora doubted Izuna and his sister could even bring themselves to move at this point.
“Then why am I…and you and Til, for that matter, still all right?”
“Do we look all right…? Hmmm… In your case, it’s probably ’cause you’re a tank—you aren’t attacking at all.”
Indeed… Steph’s MP bar was still completely full.
Even her HP was still over 80 percent—she’d retained most of her hope.
Til and Sora, on the other hand, had about half their MP left, just like Shiro and Izuna.
“…Hm? Oh, heh-heh. I’m used to feeling depressed, I am. I feel like this every day of the week… But I suppose if I had the choice, I would rather be drinking myself to sleep, I would…”
“Same goes for me,” said Sora. “Maybe not as much as Til, but I’m pretty used to feeling like this…so I’m kinda just powering through it right now.”
Although they could feel the depression setting in, they were coping somehow. Sora kept getting awful flashbacks; if he let his guard down at all, he might succumb to them at any moment.
Steph, holding back her desire to shriek, asked her next question.
“Th-then what are we to do? We haven’t even made it to the thirtieth floor yet…”
She was correct…
The party wasn’t even a third of the way to the hundredth floor.
Sora, Shiro, Til, and Izuna were still at full HP and had a little less than half of their MP left. They could probably make it to at least the fiftieth floor if they pushed themselves.
But that was as far as they could get. This wasn’t even taking into account that the mobs would get tougher as they progressed. Not to mention their mental health would deteriorate further as they used more of their hope reserves.
All things considered, a more accurate prediction was that the party was probably going to fully wipe at the thirtieth-floor boss.
Steph must have gleaned this from Sora’s silence. She nodded and said:
“Sora…you must have a plan B—right?”
This is Sora we’re talking about. The strategic mastermind behind Immanity’s strongest gamer pair—Blank. There’s no way he would set foot in this dungeon without a contingency or two.
Steph was more than certain that there was a second plan to fall back on, and—
“There is… It’s what I’m saving our second trump card for…”
“I knew it! Then now is the time to use it! No use in holding back now!”
Steph’s expression brightened up as she said this, but it wasn’t that simple.
“We can’t use it yet! If we do without figuring out the game mechanics first, we’re screwed!!” Sora hollered.
“ !!”
Steph froze up from seeing him backed into a corner this much. Unfortunately…he wasn’t in a spot where he could tend to her in that moment, for he was busy dealing with the toxic memories that were running through his mind.
He took a deep breath…and steeled his nerves.
Now’s not the time for this. Quit it.
My friends—and most importantly, my sister—are depending on me to make a decision. I can’t afford to get caught up in my stupid past right now.
Able to clear his mind of any necessary thoughts for the time being, Sora approached the problem once more.
…Think, Sora.
That Dwarf party managed to beat this game in a little over a day. And that was without being able to heal their hope reserves. This could only mean they cleared it in the most efficient, speediest method possible. That was what Sora was trying to do—and yet this was where he ended up.
Sure, Sora’s party was probably different from that Dwarf party. They couldn’t bypass all the fights, especially from the twenty-first floor.
Were the Dwarves able to do it using their heightened sensibilities?
No—even if that were the case, they still had the bosses to deal with. Which meant there was no way for them to avoid losing at least their MP, which would ultimately lead to them losing hope.
Losing hope meant losing your ability to think and make decisions. Any combat that happened while in this state resulted in even more unnecessary loss of hope. It triggered a downward spiral.
That said, the Dwarf party had also been on their first run-through of this game. How did they make it four times farther than Sora’s party…all the way to the top…on their first try?
It just doesn’t add up. There has to be something!!
It’s impossible for a party to clear this game as it is—Dwarf or not!!
What if…there was no correlation between the Dwarf party and the Devil’s disappearance? Maybe there was another reason that the Devil vanished suddenly, and the dungeon was theoretically impossible?
No, Sora! Thinking like that will get you nowhere, you eighteen-year-old—er, nineteen-year-old idiot, you!!
Their hope was dwindling, and the slow onset of despair caused them more mental exhaustion.
Sora lifted his head, but then shook it and rejected the premise of impossibility.
It made no sense.
This game—it was made to be winnable; that was a given!
Schira Ha’s behavior, the way the Devil acted—it proved this more than anything else!!
It’s why I agreed to play a game with such ambiguous rules in the first place—!!
Yeah…there’s a way to clear this game, all right. Actually, I’d go as far as to say that the way has already been paved for us! But the question is—how do we beat this game?!
Why is there such a big difference in how our HP, MP, and weapons work?
Why do our HP and MP barely recover when we defeat an enemy?
Why can we use magic in a game where hope is supposed to be our only weapon? Why does it cost MP?!
Why did Emir-Eins lose her entire MP pool in one fight?!
Why did she and Jibril lose HP and MP without being in combat?!
The answers have to be somewhere in these details!!
Sora was falling deeper and deeper into thought, which was why…
“ S-Sora?!”
“King Sora?! They’re behind you, they are!!”
There must’ve been mobs patrolling the cavern, for a group of orcs had spotted Sora and were rushing the party. Sora hadn’t realized this until Steph and Til called out for him…
………
He turned and faced the aggro coming toward him head-on. Perhaps because he was lost in such deep thought, where he was thinking a mile a minute, the one orc’s sledge looked as if it were moving in slow motion.
But what hit him next was not the impact of the sledge, nor any sense of being damaged, nor despair.
It was two specific sensations that induced a sense of euphoria in him…a mysterious softness. But at the same time, markedly firm.
The sources of the mysterious feeling were his two friends’ bodies, which had collided with his as they ran forward to save him. Specifically: Til’s belly and Steph’s bosom.
And before Sora had time to process any of it—
“ I won’t let them get you, Soraaaa!!”
—Steph shouted out, then slammed her Great Shield into the ground while Til collected Sora in her arms and jumped to the far corner of the cavern—and in the next instant…
Sora witnessed Steph’s MP go down for the first time. The group of enemies stopped in their tracks and turned their undivided attention to Steph.
“…Brother…! I’m so…sorry…!”
“S-Sora…I’m sorry, please!!”
Izuna and Shiro had been crying too much to realize quickly enough what was going on.
They leaped toward him and apologized; Sora pulled both in for a hug.
And then:
“What exactly did you just do, Lady Steph?!”
“I-I’m not quite sure myself! M-my left wrist started flashing, and then I saw some writing, but—I—I don’t think this is going to last very long!!”
Sora saw it as well.
He was overcome by a strange calmness. He looked at his own left wrist.
And there, he saw what he needed to see.
He found what he was looking for.
He knew the exact reason why the blue bar at his wrist—his MP—had slightly replenished just now. And he knew what the blank space between the bars and the base of his left wrist was for.
He also knew what Steph had just done—she had pulled the enemies’ aggro…
Everything made sense. Everything…
Heh…
Ha-ha…
“…Ha-ha-ha… AHHH-HA-HA-HA-HAAA!!! Hope! Right!! You could call that hope, I guess?! I guess it is hope, in a way!!! AH-HA-HA-HA!!!”
“…B-Brother…?”
“S-Sir, did you bump your head…?!”
He’d gone from utter silence to maniacal laughter. The rest of the party wondered if he’d finally lost his sanity, but he ignored their confused stares.
Without an ounce of hesitation or doubt, Sora took up his weapon—his mighty Anti-Matter Rifle. He then lifted the lengthy barrel, pointed it at the enemies beyond Steph’s shield, and with every bit of his might, he imagined:
Hope is our only weapon in this game…
These weapons are the manifestation of our hope…
I get why my weapons sucked so much—I’d been using them like normal!!
I get why my bullets were so dinky despite the gun looking so cool!!
Sora visualized as clearly as he could what he believed his hope should look like.
With all his might, he pictured what he hoped he had, and then—it happened. In the blank space between his left wrist and his two status bars—a string of letters surged into his vision in a brief flash:
Unlocked: Flashbang Shot
The next instant—Sora felt the bullets within his cartridge switching into something else, which he used as a sign to pull the trigger.
Fire erupted from the vents of the gun as a bullet came rushing out of its barrel with a loud bang and bright flash. The bullet broke the sound barrier as it ripped through the space between its ejection point and its target, striking true. Steph could feel the air of the passing bullet blow gently by her shield and—
“ ?! What was ?!” she screamed, but her words were muffled by the deafening, blinding explosion.
Before she could even turn to Sora for an answer, she soon realized…
“Huh…? Wh-what just happened…?”
The bright light subsided, and the group of enemies that had been whaling away at her shield had folded into themselves like lifeless puppets.
A dazed Steph stared in confusion, for the enemies were still at full HP but had collapsed on the ground…
What just happened?
Steph wasn’t the only one with this question, and Sora had the answer the entire party wanted:
“Ha-ha-ha!! I knew it! Our weapons take on the shape of our hope—and there’s a skill system in place for learning how they work.”
The same went for the rest of the party—including Jibril and Emir-Eins within the floating inventory bag.
Sora knew his friends had no idea what he was talking about, but he laughed off their dubious stares and continued.
“Til!! Did you hear what kind of Dwarves were in the party that went when they cleared this shindig?!”
“ Huh? Well, uh, yessir! I did, indeed…?”
I should’ve checked with her sooner! Maybe then I would’ve been able to figure this out faster!!
“Lemme guess!! There was a married couple, or two people in a relationship, right?!”
“Uh, hmm… Oh, yeah! Yes indeed! It was the then-chieftain and his six wives, it was! Or so I heard!!”
“Goddamn it, Til!! You mean to tell me he went in with a literal harem for a party?!”
Sora spat with disdain; this answer went far and above his expectations.
But what mattered was that he was right. He finally figured out how this worked!!
“S-Sora?! The enemies are getting back up!!” Steph screamed.
Sora glanced over at them and grinned.
He knew this was coming. His skill, after all, did nothing more than stun the enemies.
It was only meant to last a moment, and that was about to end—which brought Sora to his next move.
“You wanted a plan B, Steph? Well, here it is! Jibril, switch with Steph!!”
Sora then summoned his second trump card from the party’s inventory. Steph was sucked into the bag while Jibril was spat out.
And without a moment’s delay, Sora gave his orders.
“I want you to shift us back to the safe zone at the bottom of the Tower!! Can you do it?!”
“But of course. For you, Master, I shall make the impossible possible—!!”
Jibril said this with a brief bow, and in the next instant, the entire party melted into space and disappeared.
………
Elsewhere…in the head staff office outside the Tower.
A large screen showed the heroes vanishing into thin air.
The footage left the suited skeleton and the rest of the staff in utter disbelief…
“…Hey, Schira Ha! Did they just leave?! Are you sure they will come and face me?!” the evil furball shouted from one corner of the office.
“Yes, they shall. That much is as certain as you are adorable, Your Evilness. But if I may be more precise: They are the only ones capable of ever making it to you.”
The wicked lady’s snake eyes were brimming with confidence.
“You still think that, even though they ran away before making it to the thirtieth floor…?”
“I do, Your Evilness. I will say it for you as many times as you wish.”
Her red lips smiled seductively as she cuddled this fragment of the Devil.
Schira Ha did just as she said—whispering lovingly into his ear for the umpteenth time:
“They are the heroes you have waited an eternity for. They are the only ones who can fully realize your true hopes and desires. The first-ever heroes’ party…”
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