Chapter 42 part 2
Having exchanged light greetings with Rina, I recall there’s still some loose ends.
Ah! What happened to the members of the hero party that ran away?
After excusing myself from Rina, I operate my smartphone and check the live stream.
There are three survivors in the retreating hero party. With the largely built man in the lead, they sprinted through the second floor at an amazing pace.Now then, what should I do? Turning them into bloodkin is impossible since I’m out of CP. To begin with, in Rina’s eyes they are her comrades who abandoned her. Even if I won them over as subordinates, the relationship between her and the others would likely be complicated.
I’d like to kill them in order to prevent any future issues, but…
They can get away from the ghouls as those are too slow, and the wolves are lacking offensive power. Even if I mobilize all the giant bats and rats on the first floor, I think it’d be difficult to kill them.
I guess I have no other choice but to head out myself then.
“Rina? They are your former comrades, but is it fine for me to kill them?” (Shion)
It’s weird for me, the master, to get permission from Rina, the subordinate, but right now it’s my highest priority to build a friendly relationship with her.
“T-That’s…h-having become a subordinate, I can’t really say anything… I entrust it to you, Shion.” (Rina)Rina mumbles her answer with an expression full of mortification.
“I see. They are enemies who trespassed into my Domain. I will kil――” (Shion)
“Wait! You won’t give those people the option to become your subordinates?” (Rina)
I was about to transfer after informing her of my decision, but I’m held back by Rina.
“Theoretically I can do that, but…in the end it’s impossible right now. I’m lacking CP.” (Shion)
“Cee pee? Okay. I don’t get the meaning behind your words, but I comprehended that you can’t offer those people that option. …Sorry for stopping you.” (Rina)
Being seen off with Rina’s powerless voice as she looks down, I transferred.
◆
The destination of the transfer was next to a rat that roamed the vicinity of the first floor’s deepest part. Since I was assaulted by a light dizziness immediately after transferring, I decided to ambush them on the first floor.
I waited five hours for the surviving heroes.
Looks like I moved here too early… Even if I go back, transfer requires a cooldown time of eight hours.
I continued waiting by myself while feeding trash to the slimes and thinking about my future plans.
Suddenly,
“Haa haa…finally the first floor.”
“It’s necessary to amend the hazard rank of this Domain…”
“A little bit…a little bit more until the university…”
Two young men and a woman appeared from the stairs coming from the second floor while out of breath.
“””――!?”””
Ugh!? Being deep in thought, I forgot to activate my 《Darkness Veil》.
Meeting my eyes, the three look shocked.
“Y-You are…”
“Why…here…?”
“Why!? Why are you here!?”
“Whoa, wait a minute! You selfishly invade my home and then without even greeting the host――” (Shion)
――!?
Suddenly my vision whited out due to a brightness caused by an intense flash alongside a bang that burst my ears.
A flash orb!? A flash orb is an item that can be created with Alchemy D.
Was it put into a treasure chest by some stupid Demon King, or did some human with special abilities create it…?
Shit! I was totally caught off-guard.
“Now! Run past him!”
“Cut across!”
“W-Wait!”
I randomly swing my Mithril Spear while being blind.
“―gh!?”
A response!
Once the dazzling light covering the vicinity fades away ― the tall man was crouching while bleeding from his flank.
“Yuuya…I leave the rest to you.” (Hideya)
“Yuuya-senpai…sorry…” (Saori)
“――!? Wha-, wait!” (Yuuya)
The bespectacled young man and the woman with dyed brown hair look at the crouching man ― Yuuya only once, then run away. The abandoned Yuuya stretched a hand towards his leaving comrades as if imploring them.
Can I catch up with them…after killing Yuuya?
《Transfer》 still has a cooldown time of three hours left. Killing him and transferring…I wonder, will I be in time in three hours?
Based on my simulation, a total annihilation is impossible. I guess…I failed.
I sigh lightly and turn to confront Yuuya.
Chapter 43
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuuuuck!! I won’t die…! Definitely not! I’m a hero… A hero carrying everyone’s hoooopesss!!” (Yuuya)
The hero who was left behind alone ― Yuuya stands up and roars at the same time.
“If you’re a hero, then don’t abandon your comrades and run away. Well, you were discarded as well, though.” (Shion)
I laugh, obviously ridiculing Yuuya.
“…ill. …kill. I will beat ya to deeeeeeeeath!” (Yuuya)
Yuuya, who transformed into a frenzied warrior with bloodshot eyes, rushed at me while swinging the spear in his hand.
An exchange of blows from the front is dangerous, isn’t it?
――《Dark Arrow》!
Several darkness arrows that appeared in front of me rain down on Yuuya.
“Tsk!” (Yuuya)
Yuuya readies his shield and defends against the downpour of arrows.
Yuuya is heavily equipped. To express it in western terms, a knight. If it’s gaming terminology, then a tank. As might be expected of a hero officially recognized by Kanezawa, his equipment is fairly extravagant.
What a troublesome enemy…
“Uoooooh!” (Yuuya)
Yuuya makes some kind of noise in his heavy armor and charges towards me with his shield at the ready.
The opponent’s Body value is likely D. In contrast, mine is C.
Is it going to work?
I put strength into my arms and thrust the Mithril Spear at the rushing Yuuya.
――Clang!
“gh!?”
“Guhaa!?”
A sound of metal clashing reverberates. My hands become numb from the recoil force holding the spear and Yuuya is blown backwards.
“That’s quite the nice shield you got there.” (Shion)
“Hah! It’s the inheritance of a friend of yours!” (Yuuya)
A friend…I suppose he means the Demon King of another Domain. This world has an annoying drop rate of 100%. If you want to call that a natural phenomenon, it sure is.
“It wasn’t my friend though ― 《Fire Lance》!” (Shion)
I unleash a spell which I absorbed from a dark elf while denying Yuuya’s words.
The magic lance, which was formed out of hellish flames, directly impacts on Yuuya’s shield.
――Release ultrasonic waves!
A flock of giant bats that was hidden in the vicinity releases ultrasonic waves at Yuuya, who totters after receiving the flame lance.
“Kuh…that’s dirty…” (Yuuya)
Dirty? Are you an idiot? We are in the middle of killing each other.
I dash towards Yuuya, who reveals an anguished expression, and thrust my Mithril Spear at his neck.
“!?”
Yuuya twists his body, evading being directly hit by my thrust by a hair’s breadth.
I unleash a chain of thrusts…Yuuya’s whole body is gradually being dyed by the color of blood.
――Go!
A rat jumped from the side at Yuuya, who’s completely focused on my spear, and bit the hand holding the shield.
“nh!? That friggin’ hurts! Small fries are a nuisance――” (Yuuya)
He blew away the rat with his shield out of irritation, allowing me to stab his unguarded torso with my spear.
“…Wh-!?” (Yuuya)
Yuuya lowers his eyes full of disbelief at the Mithril piercing his body.
“It’s the end.” (Shion)
I put strength into the hand holding the spear and make it rotate.
“Guhaa!?” (Yuuya)
Yuuya vomits a large amount of blood, and lets his shield and spear fall to the ground.
I delivered a final thrust at Yuuya who had become defenseless.
〜♪
A simple sound similar to the mail ringtone from the smartphone could be heard.
Oh!? I leveled up!
There’s still 2 hours and 40 minutes left for 《Transfer》.
If I return while walking, it will take even more time. Even if I pursue the escaping heroes, I won’t catch up to them.
I alchemize the favorite food of the giant bats and rats with the CP that had fully recovered due to the level up. While thanking them for their achievements in the previous battle, I thought about my future plans.
◆
2 hours and 40 minutes later.
It was a truly, meaningful waiting time. In the end the two heroes managed to escape, but…the opportunity to immerse myself in thought after such a long time was worthwhile.
Using the excess-time, I first alchemized a weapon, consuming 500 CP in the process. With this I avoided the worry of a CP overflow. Next I assigned the BP I obtained from the level up, and made Creation go up from C to B. The number of subordinates and facilities I can create greatly increased. Moreover, I acquired several new special abilities.
There are many entries I want to examine.
I quickly restrained my excitement, and transferred over to Google-chan.
“I’m back.” (Shion)
“Welcome back.” (Kanon)
“W-Welcome…” (Rina)
Kanon greeted me with a familiar tone when I returned, whereas Rina faltered somewhat.
“So…how did it go?”
Rina questions me with a probing tone.
“I killed the human called Yuuya. Glasses and the female hero managed to get away.” (Shion)
I concisely report the outcome.
“I see…Yuuya has…” (Rina)
Hearing of the death of the young man, who had been her comrade until just recently, Rina looks downwards.
“Are you alright?” (Shion)
What can I, who killed him, say anyway, but she’s a precious bloodkin. I talk to her to follow up.
“I am…I made my resolve when I accepted your words, Shion.” (Rina)
Rina looks straight into my eyes and answers me with a quiet voice at the start, but with a powerful one towards the end.
“Then it’s fine. Ah! It’s not meant to be an apology, but I have a present for you, Rina.” (Shion)
I hand the weapon ― Dáinsleif, which I had alchemized not long ago, to her.
“Eh? T-This is…” (Rina)
“A Rank B weapon. It’s Dáinsleif. Since it’s completely black, I thought that it might suit you as 『Hero of the Black Sword』.” (Shion)
“R-Rank B weapon!?” (Rina)
Rina looks with shock at the Dáinsleif which she accepted from me.
“Eeeeeeh!? D-Dáinsleif!? Isn’t that a 500 CP weapon!?” (Kanon)
And Kanon raises her voice in surprise as well for some reason.
“Did you know about it, Kanon?” (Shion)
“I do. Isn’t it one of the unique items?” (Kanon)
“Unique items?” (Shion)
“Yes. Unique items are those items that you can alchemize only once.” (Kanon)
“Ha? That means there’s only one Dáinsleif in this world?” (Shion)
“No. Given that each Demon King can alchemize only one of it, there exists as many Dáinsleifs as there are Demon Kings that reached Alchemy B, based on the logic of this world.” (Kanon)
One million Demon Kings exist in this world. Even without all of them reaching Alchemy B, even by a low estimation, more than 10,000 Demon Kings will likely do so. If you consider it like that, I guess it’s a unique item with more than 10,000 copies existing. Somehow I feel slightly complicated about that.
If it were possible to alchemize 『Excalibur』 someday, would there be hundreds or thousands of 『Excaliburs』 in the world? If one is unlucky, their numbers could even go beyond several tens of thousands? Where’s the dream in that…
“Bah, rather than that! Why is it a 500 CP item for Rina-san, who just became your subordinate, and I, a veteran and former Demon King, only get the 150 CP Koro-pok-guru’s Wand?” (Kanon)
“The right item for the right person? Kanon, what’s your role?” (Shion)
“Ah! My role is that of a staff off――” (Kanon)
“Google-chan, right?” (Shion)
If I compare Kanon, who’s expected to basically work as a search tool at my side, and Rina, who’s soon going to invade the Domains of other Demon Kings upon my orders, it’s a natural decision.
“Is it really alright…?” (Rina)
Rina, who had listened to my conversation with Kanon, asked shyly.
“I didn’t know that it’s a unique item, but I can’t use swords anyway. It’s no problem as it suits your image.” (Shion)
“I see…got it.” (Rina)
After Rina consented to receiving it, I began to talk about the real issue at hand.
