“…yeah, thanks. You can come back now.”

 

I told Panda to get back from his hiding spot near the broken barrier magitool.

I used to only be able to know where my kins were, but now I could even share their senses and use my [Causality Alteration] through them. Perhaps it was due to my level increase into [Archdemon], strengthening the bond I had with them.

Originally, it had been a power I could use as long as there was a connection — internet or otherwise — and magic, but now, this new development had opened up even more options in my plans.

I was actually short of hands now. If only I got a few more kins. Sadly, normal monsters either just ran away from me or tried to fight me. Monsters like those two were really rare, it seemed.

 

The shoddy plan I was using this time was nothing more than a gamble beholden to luck. I couldn’t even call it a real plan. But well, luck was something I could handle.

To be honest, while it’s true the plan was meant to hide my existence, I had to admit that destabilizing a spell from afar to destroy the magitool was quite a bit easier than directly modifying the magitool to do what I wanted it to.

And then I tried to get a group of players to lure in monsters. I think I saw them before somewhere… what’s his name… Cardi? Anyway, apparently the “trickster and guide of man’s fate” part in my description had worked a little too well. They actually got the Troll King himself.

His combat power was 36000. That’s a Dark General all right. Before, he would have made for a tough opponent even for me.

If I’d known they’d managed to bag the Troll King, maybe I wouldn’t have needed to go through all that trouble to get those monsters inside the barrier.

…well, whatever. You can never have too much preparation.

 

The swarm of Rock Lizards I chased into the station was tearing up the place.

Just like the tricks I’d used before, the more I repeated it, the better the humans would respond, and the more stringent their security would become. Still, I think I could use this a few more times.

Honestly, places with Saplings generally had more security anyway, both in terms of personnel and magic. Even if I could break through, I’d need time, which the humans could use to summon more reinforcements. It’s a pain in the ass. Now, with the monsters showing up at the station, some of the guards in the building housing the Sapling had to be sent there.

All these were what one of the younger guards told me. I pretty much just asked. Disguising as an adventurer really made things simple. If anything, maybe my grown-up look actually helped out here?

Also, according to what Panda told me on his way here, the Troll King’s army had split into two. The one led by the Troll General was attacking the Republic of Savanhuit, while the Troll King’s was heading here. I anonymously fed the info to the adventurer’s guild.

They probably wouldn’t just believe it out of hand, but once they got confirmation, they’d most likely be forced to share most of their military supplies.

Anyway, until the Troll King gets here, maybe I’d deal with the buzzing watcher drones I’d been seeing all over the place. Just enough to not be suspicious, of course.

***

“Gather up the resident guards and surround the station, now! Send the order for the knights to gather to the south of the castle!”

“”Yes, sir!””

After his return to Torrann Caliphate, Gold gave his order to the soldiers. He watched the men ran off, his fists white-knuckled, then turned to head toward the castle in the capital.

If it had been up to Gold, he would have stayed at the railway segment that had lost its barrier to stop the Troll King’s army, but the situation and his position did not allow that.

He ascended the castle. They must have had already heard the news. The knight who came to pick him up guided him right toward the caliph’s office.

“So you’re here, Gold! Come.”

“…hello, brother.”

Gold was the seventh child of the previous caliph, as well as the younger brother of the current caliph.

The caliph was an obese man clad in gaudy clothes. As soon as he saw Gold, he began impatiently tapping the table.

“Why did monsters show up at the station?! And the trolls, they should’ve been inactive ever since Father’s time. Gold, explain!”

“A part of the railway’s barrier was gone. It seemed the adventurers had something to do with it, but we hadn’t determined their motive…”

“Who cares about that! Damn those Temple adventurers! I’m the caliph of this country. I am God here! …no, wait, maybe I can use this to discredit the Temples and get them off my land…”

“Brother, this is not the time. We need to deploy the Holy Knights right away!” Gold said, interrupting whatever plot his elder brother was muttering. The corpulent man opened wide his squinting eyes and began to panic.

“N-no! Isn’t the rumored Dark Lady aiming for the Sapling?! We can’t weaken the castle’s defense!”

“But we need the Holy Knights’ thaumaturgy to defend the walls from the Troll King! Else, the citizens will be…”

 

The Holy Knights of Torrann were users of a kind of holy magic called ‘Thaumaturgy’. It was more defensive than offensive, which was why the caliph wanted to keep them at the castle. But holy magic users were rare. If they were protecting the castle, they could only focus on erecting barriers for the Sapling and the caliph. If the troll horde could invade the castle, then their magic was only good for buying time.

In that case, Gold thought it’d be better for them to help reinforce the walls, stopping the trolls’ advance, and healing the wounded soldiers. Unfortunately, his idea was shot down immediately.

 

“This country only needs the Sapling and me, their god! As long as we survive, that’s all that matters! Gold… the Warrior. I’ll lend you my Royal Guards. Take your responsibility and deal with the trolls!”

“…understood, Your Majesty.”

 

Goldi von Torrann. The Hero called the Warrior.

He was one of the only three Heroes of this world. At the same time, he was royalty. As his brother, the current caliph feared him for his possible claim to the throne. He was not allowed the freedom to act.

Gold had no intention to take the throne. To prove it, he hadn’t taken a wife over the three-and-a-half decades of his life; he had sealed the equipment made from materials of the dragon he had hunted, never to be worn; and he had even parted ways with his former comrades once he was made the Hero. His life was spent following his brother’s wishes.

Partly, it was due to his love for the country. But also, he wanted to fulfill his father’s last wishes for him and his brother to stay as good siblings, to support each other.

Yet he could not see an inkling of worthiness in his older brother, the caliph. The man was not fit to rule.

 

“…we’re moving out!”

“””Yes, sir!”””

The young men of the Royal Knights replied, their faces stiff.

Unlike the other countries, for the past few years, Torrann’s Royal Knights had turned into an order of knights-in-name only. Their recruits joined only to have the suitable standing to work as escorts for foreign nobility, and the young noble kids joined only for the prestige.

There were still veteran knights remaining in the order, as well as some trained men with an actual sense of duty, but overall, the order was having problems both in the quantity and quality of their men.

At the moment, Gold had nothing more than simple equipment, nor were his old comrades here. He didn’t know if he could win against the Troll King, one of the Dark Generals.

[Goldi von Torrann] [Race: Human ♂] [The Hero “Warrior”]
[Magic Points (MP): 700/700] [Hit Points (HP): 500/500]
[Strength: 90] [Vitality: 80] [Agility: 80] [Dexterity: 7]
[Swordsmanship 5] [Defense 4] [Offensive Magic 3] [Healing Magic 4] [Self-Reinforcement]
[Total Combat Power: 14700] 

“Let’s go!”

But as the Hero of this world, he must fight.

 

On the way, he received further information. The troll army that had slipped through the barrier and escaped to the west had split into two, and they were heading for this Torrann Caliphate and the Republic of Savanhuit.

Fearing the Troll King, the country had always been focusing their defense on the south-eastern direction. Their west side, where the front gate was located, might have the barrier for protection, but the walls themselves were thin, and it had only a third of the amount of magitech weaponry compared to the south-eastern side.

Gold couldn’t recruit any more soldiers. The thousand resident guards were busy keeping the monsters at the station at bay, and there was no time to raise the militia. He had to make do with the existing force stationed at the west side: 400 knights and 1200 soldiers.

The military force of a large country was powerful. But on the flip side, a large country needed time to gather armies from their nobles and their rural areas.

“I’m not sure if I’m lucky or unlucky that the Troll King is coming here…”

As a hero, it was fortunate that the Troll King was coming to him instead of a country without a Hero. As royalty of this country, however, not so much.

He had wanted to recruit the help of adventurers. But while the caliph was plotting to eject the Temple — although the Guild might be a different story — then as long as the Sapling wasn’t in danger, Gold could expect some sort of interference.

 

The Troll King’s army was ignoring all the other towns, heading directly toward the capital. It would take them about three days. Meanwhile, it would be four days before the nobles could finish preparing their standing armies and arrive at the capital.

Simple math would say Gold needed to hold on for a day, yet even that single day of survival required preparations. And that precious time was wasted in the audience with the caliph. Gold was getting restless.

 

“The Hero!” “Victory to the Hero!”

 

Gold was on his way from the castle to the front gate when he was met with cheers, ringing out from the crowd of evacuating citizens.

They had the barrier, and they had the Hero. They believed they wouldn’t lose, and their expressions showed as much. Some weren’t even evacuating, instead drinking and making merry as if it was a holiday.

Yet the barrier was no absolute.

Some rare monsters, like the Troll King and the Troll General, could force their way in through the barrier. The reason they hadn’t done so was because even if they could get in by themselves, sheer number would still crush them, and they understood this.

All the same, if the Troll King could get inside, he would likely be heading straight for the barrier-generating magitool to destroy it.

The castle’s barrier was erected from right next to the Sapling, but the city’s barrier relied on several barrier stations. If just one of them was destroyed, the capital would fall.

In other words, the line of defense would have to hold the front gates and the walls from the troll army until noble reinforcements could arrive.

 

“…strange.”

Seated in a magitech carriage, Gold sensed a disturbance somewhere in the city.

He turned his head. In that direction was the facility to distribute converted magic power to the other establishments, as well as one of the stations holding a barrier magitool.

“Milord, is something wrong?”

“No…” Gold replied to the soldier, his unease still nothing more than just a vague feeling, “nothi-?!”

But before he could finish his words, a powerful magic signal pulsed from the magic distribution facility.

“Magic meltdown?!”

 

The very next moment, the dull roar of an explosion rang out from the facility.

“Whoa?!”

Despite the deafening sound, much of the explosion had been contained within the durable building. But judging from how one of the walls had collapsed and the flames were blazing, most of the explosion’s force must have been directed inside.

The city’s barrier flickered and disappeared. Horror kept Gold’s eyes pinned at the magic facility. There, he saw a girl slowly walking out of the flames.

Crimson eyes and scarlet dress.

Alabaster skin and snow-white hair.

And finally, a pair of long rabbit ears that could belong to no one else.

 

“…Whitehare, the Dark Lady!!”

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

“Cardi, stop sulking already.”

“…shut up.”

 

They’d met with a strange girl and accepted a strange proposal.

A cute-looking NPC girl in her mid-teens had talked to them, and Cardi’s comrades had quickly found themselves in a good mood. They were simply, honestly pleased they got an event quest. Yet looking at the girl, Cardi couldn’t help but be reminded of the monster of mist that had slaughtered him twice. The white rabbit demon. The Dark Lady.

He was intimidated by the NPC girl.

 

Of course, this was just a game. He didn’t feel the pain that came with death, only the force of the blow. And even then, even when his consciousness was immediately cut off from the Avatar and returned to the Temple to be resurrected, the mind of the real Cardi had still been dealt a severe blow.

He remembered the dull shine of the blade coming for his head.

He remembered those frosty red eyes, looking at him as if he was nothing more than a pebble by the roadside. He should have been using a fictional body in a fictional world, yet the bloodlust that he felt had seemed ready to take his real life. For some time, he couldn’t even look at the VR device without being assaulted by an inexplicable nausea.

All the same, Cardi still continued to play World of Yggdrasia. Not out of enjoyment, no. He just wanted to have the last laugh on the people who had reported him on the forums just because he was having a bit of fun in the game, and the people who had made a fool out of him in both real life and in-game. He wanted to prove himself superior to those who had created this game, as well as those who were enjoying it.

 

“Over here.”

“Yes yes! We’re coming, Mary!”

“Once it’s over, we’re all gonna be heroes too!”

Following the directions of the girl, who had named herself Mary, Cardi’s party headed toward their destination on an express carriage.

Mary’s story was as follows:

Provoked by Cardi’s party, the Troll King, said to be a Dark General, and his subordinates were now encroaching upon human territory. But while the trolls were showing up on the highways, they still weren’t getting close to the human towns, due to the barrier that protected the express railways connecting human countries together.

The magitech railway was one of the means through which trade between rural regions and far-off countries could happen. It was no exaggeration to call the train a cornerstone of the world’s economy. The barrier protecting it was maintained by the vast amount of mana coming from the Saplings. It could handle even a low-ranked dragon.

The barrier was what restricted the scope of activity of monsters, including the trolls. It wasn’t the kind of barriers that enclosed whole cities — it only protected certain lines at risk of monster attack, and it was supported by magitech artillery and soldiers. The Troll King was aware of all this.

However, the railway-protective barrier wasn’t erected from the town. Every few kilometers, at every critical location, there was a station housing a magitool that was the core of the barrier. This knowledge didn’t take much of an investigation — it was the stations’ locations that were the more tightly-held secret. Only the garrison and the engineering magicians in charge of maintenance knew where they were.

Mary’s idea was to find out the location of one station, lower the barrier strength, then lure some weak trolls through the affected barrier segment. Then they would report the “troll attack” to the guards, receive their reward money, and help out the guards before any other adventurers could get there. Their reputation would get a boost.

 

“…no way are things gonna go so smoothly.” Cardi said. He wasn’t entirely willing to do the quest, partially because of his own discomfort with Mary. On the other hand, the other members of his party held no such reservations.

“This is where our skills shine, isn’t it? Judging from the quest content, it probably needed a ranger and a mage to trigger.”

“Come on, Cardi, what’re you talking about? Weird quest it may be, it’s still an event quest. Just follow along and we’re sure to succeed.”

In reality, they wouldn’t even know if the plan had any guarantee of success. In a game, an event quest would force the NPCs to follow a predetermined course of action.

Once it’s done, Cardi’s party would gain prestige with the guild. No one would suspect them, and they would be heroes of the country… or at least that was the theoretical future.

 

Their first step was to not get caught by the patrolling guards, and to that effect, they were following along the off-limits railroad.

For the main duration of their travel, they’d used the express magitech carriage paid by the money Mary gave them. Top-grade carriages were really only ‘horse carriage’ in name: they didn’t use horses, but magical engines instead. The jeep-lookalike vehicle worth 20 large gold coins were speedy things. The pleasant ride had gotten his party members even more excited, and even helped Cardi to slowly forget about his mistrust toward the quest.

“Alright, time for me to do my job.”

The ranger — a class composed mainly of assassins — of their party began searching for the barrier magitool as he followed the track.

Around two hours later, just when they’d almost given up, they found one of the hidden magitool.

“My turn… wait, what?”

As the magician got ready to work on the magitool, he soon found out he lacked the required specialist knowledge. But then, just like a game cutscene, Mary’s monkey jumped on the magitool and managed to do something with his flailing around.

Their next step was to find some trolls and lure them here. Cardi remembered Mary’s earlier warning.

 

“Take notice of their strength. Don’t pick any troll too powerful. You wouldn’t be able to win, and the whole plan would fail.”

“…don’t hafta tell me that.” Cardi replied sullenly.

Mary looked at him, gave a faint smile, then came close and whispered in his ears.

“But the reward money and the prestige you’d gain would also depend on the strength of the enemy. If you want the greatest reward, if you want to be called Heroes, then you know the troll you should target, right? The guards should have magitech weapons. If you can make use of them, you might just win.”

“…”

Cardi wondered if they were some kind of quest items to help newbies. With the weapons, even if they made a mistake and actually lured in the Dark General himself, they might still be able to handle the boss.

Cardi listened, his face set in a frown. Yet every time he heard Mary’s voice, every time he saw her face, he felt as if his mind was descending into a deeper and deeper fog.

 

Cardi’s party separated from Mary after that, then got on the jeep to head toward the troll colony.

“How about those?”

“Really, you think those can do much to the guards?”

They had found a group of several trolls on the way, but the identification crystal revealed their combat power was only about 500. They wouldn’t be able to push the guards into the crisis that Cardi’s party was aiming for.

Groups after groups, the trolls were still lacking the combat power they seek. At first, they had been looking for mobs they could easily handle, but their judgement had gotten more and more desensitized until they were only looking for powerful monsters.

They were approaching the troll colony now. With their fear long since paralyzed, Cardi’s party lay eyes upon a high-ranked monster of 3000 combat power: the Troll General.

“…no. Let’s go a bit deeper.” Cardi said.

Unsurprisingly, his party hesitated. “H-hey, don’t you think it’s getting pretty dangerous already?”

He didn’t reply. All he had in his mind was Mary’s words, cloying, whispering into his ears.

The greatest prestige. The fame of Heroes. Status above any other players. If Cardi could have that, he’d be able to turn the table on all those who looked down on him.

Deep inside him spoke the voice of a rational Cardi, a voice that said things couldn’t possibly end so well, that said he could not trust the girl. Yet that voice was silenced by the strange fog upon his mind. Unwittingly, Cardi stood up from behind the boulders hiding the party from the trolls’ sight.

“I…I’m gonna be a heroOOoO!!!”

 

He took out a consumable spell scroll of Fireball and aimed the projectile toward the troll colony.

The area attack burned the lower-leveled trolls, and howls of alarm rang out. From the stronghold made out of logs deep inside the colony, a huge troll appeared to answer their calls. The five-meters monstrosity roared at the sky in his rage.

[Troll King] [Dark General]
[Magic Points: 1200/1200] [Hit Points: 4600/4600]
[Total Combat Power: 36000]

Cardi’s party squeaked, seeing the information the identification crystal revealed. As the King’s roar rang out, all the trolls began moving.

“R-run-aagh!”

The warrior making a break for it was struck in his back by a flying boulder the size of a man’s head. That single hit was enough to turn him into specks of light.

As one, Cardi’s party all screamed and ran off. They didn’t even have the leisure to retrieve the warrior’s items.

If they could think clearly, they would have realized dying here would have limited their losses. But fear was ruling them. They were guzzling down stacks of precious healing potions that they’d collected and left to gather dust in their inventory until now. All the same, one by one, they fell without a single gain to their names.

Still, Cardi thought he’d be safe as long as he could get inside the railway’s barrier.

 

“Why…”

Yet all that awaited him was a lack of the barrier segment he was running for.

It was the same place with the magitool that Cardi’s party had found. But Mary should have only reduced the barrier strength, not disable it.

 

From the other side of the train tracks, a horse-riding man rode up to them.

“Boy, what the hell are you doing here?!” He shouted at Cardi.

Once the man heard of the disappearance of part of the barrier, he had immediately departed, leading a squad of guardsmen. Gold, the Warrior, was here.

“I-I…” Cardi stammered.

“Provoking the trolls wasn’t enough for you, fool?! You’ve even destroyed the barrier! Guards, arrest him!”

Upon the Hero’s command, the guardsmen approached Cardi.

“I… I… aaAAAGHH!”

I should have been a hero. The man of the hour. More than anything those bastards making a fool out of me could ever be.

Cardi’s obsession had blackened his heart and muddied his mind. He used a scroll of Explosion on Gold.

“Idiot!”

Gold jumped forward to cover for the guardsmen, parrying the explosion. But the deflection put the projectile on a path directly toward the magician who was repairing the barrier magitool, irrevocably destroying it.

 

“…impossible.”

Gold was struck dumb by the outrageous happening, coincidence though it might have been. But with the Troll King’s army advancing, he couldn’t afford to waste any more time being surprised.

“W-wait, if we can use the magitech weapons…” Cardi muttered, even as he too was dumbfounded.

“You think we can just lug that stuff around?!” Gold yelled at him. He then gave an order, his teeth clenched tight. “Tsk, dammit… we’re returning!”

Right at that moment, a soldier ran up at him.

“We have a problem, sir!”

“What the hell is it?!”

The soldier gulped, nervous in front of an angry Hero, then mustered up his courage to give the rest of his report.

 

“Monsters have appeared at the train stations of Torrann Caliphate and the Republic of Savanhuit!”

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Ever since I acquired Human Form (Wonderful) and continued with my evolution, the faithful recreation of my real body — which used to be tiny due to the malnourishment — had now gotten a lot more meat on it. My height had shot up to about 155 centimeters. I looked like a middle-schooler.

I guess it’s not surprising he didn’t believe me when I said I was just eleven…

 

“But I guess I’m going to be twelve soon?”

“Yeah, that’s right, gotta be it.”

“About half a year later?”

“God damn, you really are just a kid!”

 

I had no idea whether he wanted me to be a kid or an adult. He needed to make up his mind already.

This was the powerful presence that I detected, the one with high magic. The guy looked to be in his mid-thirties, with short-cut black hair, golden eyes, and a lot of muscles. The very moment I first saw him, I threw out an immediate Identification, but for some reason the skill was obstructed. I couldn’t get a clear look at his combat power.

Either he had an item to rein in his presence and interfere with other people’s perception, like me, or there was another power at work… like, say, a blessing upon him.

Anyway, so I wanted to meet him because of his strength, but then it turned out I couldn’t really figure it out. And then he just started his lecture, plus it seemed he’s just going to be a pain in the ass, so I decided I didn’t want anything to do with him.

“Well then, thank you, and excuse me-” I mechanically said and got ready to leave, but was interrupted.

“Hold on a minute.”

He was about to grab me from behind. I hastily blocked.

“Heey, that’s some good reflexes. You’re gonna be a great adventurer one day, kid.”

“…I am one.” At least that’s what my cover was.

Seemed like a nice guy, if a bit scary-looking. Still, I felt like we were people from different worlds. I just… didn’t want to be near him.

“Even the crowd isn’t a safe place for young ladies, much less alleyways. Come on, I’ll tag along until you get to the guild.”

“…what?”

“No need to be so reserved, girl. You’re an unfamiliar face. First time here? Oh, don’t worry about it, it’s where I’m going anyway.”

“…”

“Ook.” Panda tapped my shoulder, telling me to take the opportunity to get a guide.

The man’s clearly one of the good guys. I supposed I shouldn’t be making trouble here, considering all I had was a baseless feeling of discomfort.

“Name’s Gold. Nice to meet you!”

“…I’m Shedy.”

 

“Nice country, isn’t it. Everyone’s so energetic, so full of smiles!”

“I guess.”

On our way to the adventurer’s guild, Gold acted the part of a tour guide for me, the newcomer to the city.

Here and there were statues of the first-generation hero and fountains spewing endless water, all created from mana.

Gold attracted quite a few people coming to talk to him just by walking around town, and he always replied with a smile.

“And then evil appeared to threaten this peace. I don’t know what thoughts drove the Dark Lady to destroy the Saplings and sow such chaos, but I can’t forgive her.” Gold clenched his fists in apparent outrage.

I supposed to the humans of this world, world peace was really synonymous to nothing but human happiness, then.

“…what if she had a reason?”

“Impossible. Look at them, Shedy. What else could be more precious than the smiles of these people?”

“…I guess.”

I had to wonder if he was really looking. Behind the humans’ cheer, did he see the stick-thin dwarves lifelessly, mindlessly swinging their hammers in the forges? Did he see the beastman girls, virtually naked, being forced to dance for their whole lives?

“…”

Precious things, huh… I supposed so. Different people valued different things, after all.

 

The adventurer’s guild wasn’t all that far away. Gazes fell upon us as soon as we entered. For a short moment, a few looks of suspicion were aimed at me. I thought trouble would be finding me soon, but once they realized Gold was there, most of them turned friendly.

“That’s the reception. Just tell them my name, they’ll pick out a nice request for beginners. I have a special request, so we’ll part ways here.”

“Special request?” Hearing the unfamiliar term, I let slip a mutter.

Gold seemed to have finally settled on treating me as a child — he leaned in close, speaking as if he was colluding with a kid for secret conspiracies.

“Keep it a secret, alright? So there’s a huge wasteland between this Torrann Caliphate and the Savanhuit Republic to the south. The Dark General called the Troll King and his minions had been inhabiting the area since long ago, and they’d apparently been showing up near highways. Then a few adventurers poked at them, and now the trolls are actually starting to get on the highway and attack carriages.”

“Adventurers…”

“Yeah, those guys. The ones getting preferential treatment by the Temples. There’d been a lot more of them recently.”

 

I moved only my eyes to follow Gold’s gaze. At a table in a corner of the guild, a few young adventurers were hanging out, seemingly being shunned by the rest.

…they were players. It’d be a different story if it was another country, one where the Temples held some measure of power, but this place revered heroes. The Temples didn’t seem to have much influence here. And so, with all the trouble players often got up to, they became targets of displeasure by the other adventurers.

 

“So you see, Shedy, remember, avoid those guys.”

“Yeah.”

Then Gold left, a receptionist guiding him deeper into the building.

I didn’t think I’d hear about the Dark Generals that were mentioned in my Dark Lady explanation text here.

The Troll King, was it? I didn’t know how powerful Dark Generals could be, but considering Gold said it was a special request, they should at least be quite a dangerous threat to human settlements.

 

“…tsk, damn fucker making fun of us.”

A voice reached my ears. It came from the group of players I’d been paying a bit of attention to.

The players were supposed to be playing a game, so I was curious why they were still staying in this country. I focused a bit more on their direction, and I heard something interesting.

 

“Come on, Cardi, let’s give up already. That’s too many mobs for us to handle.”

“Fucking hell, didn’t you see how they made fun of us? We can’t leave like this.”

“Yeah, I know, but look at them. One high-ranked troll had at least 3000 combat power. Just ten of them would be enough to overwhelm us.”

“Hero or not, no one fucking gets to lecture me. I’ll show him, one way or another.”

“Whaat? We gonna MPK again? Heheheh!”

 

I see. So to summarize: they had meddled with the trolls and led the monsters closer to the town; they got reprimanded by the supposed hero in this country; and then instead of having a rematch with the trolls to redeem themselves, they saw they were outmatched and decided to sabotage other people instead.

Each one of them only had around 1500 combat power, so I understood how unwinnable their rematch would be… but… hadn’t I heard that name somewhere? Cardi, Cardi… who was he?

And ‘MPK’… if I remembered correctly the lesson before I came to this world, it meant to lead monsters toward someone else and foist the problem on them.

Were they not even aware they were plotting? They didn’t even bother censoring themselves. Yet the other adventurers just ignored them, seemingly not bothering to listen to the words of idiots, or perhaps thinking it was just the puerile nonsense of children.

Oh well, if they really tried to do anything, somebody would be tattling on them to the guild. I wondered what would happen to them, then.

If they got a long jail sentence for their crime, they’d get their characters deleted, right? In that case… they shouldn’t mind helping me out a bit before they disappeared.

 

I quietly approached. “Hey.”

“Whaa?! The fuck are you?” Cardi, or whatever the thuggish player’s name was, raised his head.

I put on an unpracticed smile and whispered.

“I have something interesting for you… wanna hear about it?”

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Torrann Caliphate was a large country right in the middle of the Central Eastern continent.

It was a relatively new country, with not even a hundred years of history under its belt. Its caliph claimed to be a descendant of a Hero centuries ago, and the country revered Heroes as its religion… well, at least that was what the guidebook said.

Apparently, that first caliph of their line just showed up out of nowhere and said so, so who knew if it was true or not. Although supposedly, one of the actual Heroes of the current generation had been born in this country.

“A Hero, huh…”

I had to wonder if they really existed. Rumors had it they were stronger than a dragon, but as a human-turned-monster, I really couldn’t believe someone could be that powerful while still staying human.

 

“Oook.”

“Alright then, teacher, let’s begin.”

And this was where Panda, the monochrome monkey, came in with his knowledge of this world. He began his history lesson with a textbook we pilfered from the castle of ex-Quasix.

Generally, the strength of a lifeform on this world depended on the total amount of mana they possessed. Excluding spiritual lifeforms like me, as long as they were flesh and blood, the amount of energy they could contain would depend on their physical size, just like normal animals.

And dragons were monsters among monsters. They were big, tough, and due to the elemental power residing inside their bodies, they were especially magical, which made them powerful.

Then that meant spiritual lifeforms unrestricted by the physical form like me would be the strongest, right? Not quite. For example, elementals couldn’t exist in locations lacking their constituent element, and demons required a ‘reason’ for being, like ‘contracts’.

But well, apparently demons living for a few millennia knew quite a few loopholes like acquiring different attributes, so they didn’t have a problem there. And I got a Contract with the World Tree anyway.

 

“That’s quite the clever pet. That’s a monochrome monkey, right?” The peddler next to me said, sighing in admiration.

“Yeah.”

The man was bored, so he had joined in Panda’s lesson (which was really just the monkey opening the book and pointing at pages).

We were lining up for border control in order to get inside Torrann Caliphate.

One reason why I came here was, of course, due to Blobsy and Panda’s suggestion, but another reason was that I wanted to see what sort of defensive measures a large country was taking. I’d been blowing up Saplings quite spectacularly, after all.

That, and I wanted to actually do some serious intel gathering. The situation’s changed quite a bit. I couldn’t afford to keep relying on just the guidebook.

“With their intelligence, monochrome monkeys are really popular as pets, you know? Young lady, would you care to part with him? I can pay you ten small golds.”

“Don’t wanna.” I shot him down.

Apparently Panda’s fellow monkeys were quite popular, but their native habitat was the Southern Continent and the Southwestern Continent. I’d heard that ever since I went on my enthusiastic walks in that direction, it had gotten a lot more difficult for the humans to find any monochrome monkeys available for sale.

And that was just Panda. Blobsy was a lot rarer. I wondered if she would be targeted.

“I see, what a pity. Well then, it’s nearly your turn.”

“Yeah.”

The man seemed disappointed, but readily relented. I walked forward to the border control guards.

 

From my experience, newcomers to a city in the countryside generally didn’t have to deal with very strict immigration, comparing to a capital city.

The magitech trains handled some of the shipping, but for the medium-and-small scale merchant companies who dealt in goods for commoners, many still preferred magitech carriages over trains due to their lower fees.

Besides the merchants, the rural cities also saw heavy traffic from adventurers who were hunting nearby. This was why the lackluster security of rural cities, wherein the gate guards didn’t bother with anything more than just a peek at an identity card, was considered something desirable, rather than a flaw. Yet just as I feared, even towns in the boondocks were beginning to seriously look over my card.

“…alright, go ahead.”

Not like they were using magic or anything more meticulous, though. Thanks to Blobsy’s ‘Fashion’, I now looked like a chestnut-haired human girl. I showed them my adventurer’s card, and they let me in just like that.

Not the card Tiz had made for me back then, obviously. That would just be asking for trouble. The resistance’s demihumans had helped me make another one in an adventurer’s guild empty of any humans.

 

“Well then, miss adventurer, may we meet again.”

The middle-aged peddler, the man who had helped me kill some time with his talks, said his goodbyes and left.

Even after I took off my hood, both he and the gate guards displayed no suspicions. My disguise was holding. At this rate, maybe I could even enter the guild.

Ever since I came to this world, I hadn’t had a single moment to relax. Might as well have a tour around the town, then.

 

This Torrann Caliphate — or rather, the whole Eastern Continent — looked like Earth’s Middle East. According to a new book I bought, Lonely Yggdrasia, which was a series of guidebooks about each of the continents, the reason this country had developed so much despite existing for only around a century was due to their access to a kind of black oil coming from underground, entirely different from animal fats or vegetable oils. The common name for it was “Burning Water”. Processing it with mana resulted in a material that was both light and strong, and this was the source of their wealth.

…that’s plastic, right?

And so, due to what I guessed was an overindulgence in mana consumption, over the course of a century, their forests were being replaced by deserts. This led to plastic replacing wood as the main material for their products, and it all turned into a never-ending spiral of desertification, which had led to the current climate.

The guidebook just waved it off as a “strange” and “troubling development”, but really, I gave it a few more centuries before the whole place became an actual desert.

With how things were, the country was relying on food imports from other continents. Looked like their plastic products were fetching a good price thanks to the lightness and durability, but to search for and to dig up the raw materials that was the Burning Water, they were using up a vast amount of mana. Once the Sapling disappeared from this land, the country would collapse in no time.

Well, my goal was “the destruction and rebirth of Saplings”, not “human genocide”, so honestly it was all the same for me.

 

“Still…”

Looking around town, I’d had thoughts such as ‘this looks nice’, or ‘that building’s cool’, but that was all. I surprised myself with my own lack of emotions.

I never had any memories of going out with my family. The world I’d known was just a bubble: a closet and a balcony at first, and then after I moved to the orphanage, a room packed with bunk beds, and the facility for the experiment. I first thought that perhaps my lack of interest was because I had only ever known the outside world through library books, but after some time walking around town, the answer came to me unbidden.

I felt cold when I touched ice and felt hot when I neared flames. Obvious, perhaps, but what’s different about me was that fire couldn’t burn me, nor could the cold freeze me.

Outside, the townspeople had to cover themselves with fabric to prevent sunburn, while inside, the heat forced them to dress lightly. Yet to me, they felt like characters on a screen. ‘Must be tough’, I thought blandly, and that was the most sympathy I could dredge up for them.

At first, I thought it made me similar to those players who hadn’t realized this world was real, but then I realized the main reason for my attitude: I had become something different from humans, something more. I was a High-ranked Demon.

And now that I had become a true demon, what I considered to be ‘happiness’ was no longer the same as a human’s.

When I was human, I wanted food when I was hungry, I wanted a bed that wasn’t cold, and I wanted my wounds to heal faster. I wanted a lot of things.

But now, my desires had gone… and with them, a few other things.

 

As I walked around, idle contemplations in my mind, Panda on my shoulder told me we were being tailed by some strange people.

Both I and Blobsy had realized their gazes and their presence, but the annoying part was that we couldn’t know whether it was simple interest, or actual malice.

Before, I would have hidden myself somehow. This time, though, my curiosity led me toward an alley to lure them in. I wondered if ‘fear’ was one of those things I’d lost together with my humanity.

Out of the presence nearby, one of them had quite a bit of power. I was interested.

 

“Hey there, little lady, don’t you know it’s dangerous around here?”

A short while after I entered the alley, the three men tailing me approached. One of them spoke a line so trite it wouldn’t have been out of place in a museum.

“What do you mean, misters?” I replied.

“Oh, just a bit of a warning. That’s a monochrome monkey there, right? It’s quite a rare thing around here, surprisingly. You should know bringing it along out in the open like that’s gonna attract some… unsavory people. But don’t worry, we’ll take care of it for you.”

“And we know a good job for such a cute lady like you, too. Oh, it’s nothing difficult, you just need to spread your legs for a few old men.”

“We’ll just be taking your pay as the referral fee, though.”

The three laughed in sync, as if something was funny about all this.

 

So Panda’s pretty popular. That merchant guy offered ten small golds for him, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d fetch for twice the amount.

Normally, I would have frozen them all right away and let Blobsy snack on a few popsicles, but not this time. I stayed quiet, waiting for their move.

They must have thought I was tongue-tied out of fear. The three smirked, swaggering forward, posturing for intimidation.

 

“That’s right, just follow us and you won’t get-”

“-Gah?!”

One of the approaching men suddenly screamed and dropped to the ground.

“W-Wha?!”

“Uff…”

As the first man turned around in surprise, another one groaned and collapsed in a heap. The last man remaining whipped out his dagger in a panic. Something fast flew at him, shattering the dagger’s blade and smashing into the man’s head, sending him to unconsciousness.

 

The three men were dealt with in an instant. And then, a man hidden in the alley’s shadow squeaked and dashed off toward the main street.

Huh, that was the nice-looking merchant guy. I’d thought it strange he relented so easily. Turned out he had a hand in this.

Again, something flew forward and slammed into his back, effortlessly taking his consciousness. It was a small thing, perhaps just a rock, and it had sent all the men into dreamland in a blink of an eye.

I stayed still. A man, tall and broad-shouldered, showed up at the alley entrance, the glare of the sun behind him. He barged his way into the alley and suddenly yelled at me.

 

“You! Young girls shouldn’t be going inside alleys so carelessly! At your age, you should already know how to avoid fishy men like that. How old are you?!”

“Eleven.”

“Fucking way too young?!!”

 

He showed up out of the blue to save me, and he began his lecture just as abruptly. And when I gave my honest answer, he was so surprised he staggered backward a few steps.

This was my first encounter of a man that I would be seeing time and time again.

---

Author’s Note: Wow, who could this guy be?

Map update below.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

“The Dark Lady is attacking!!”

 

News from Quanneuf, the neighboring country, arrived through the magitech telecommunication system. The governor of Quanthuit jumped to his feet, eyes wide, his glass of rum — a luxury, now that the world’s commerce was grinding to a halt — clattering on the floor.

“Impossible… why?! What grudge does she have for this region?!”

 

Just the other day, the five countries that were their friends and neighbors had collapsed, one after another. It hadn’t been even a week.

It had been a wake-up call for the whole world. Large countries worldwide had held a meeting, and they had declared the rabbit beastman behind it all to be the Dark Lady.

The last time an official Dark Lord Declaration happened was centuries ago, when half of today’s countries hadn’t even existed. At the time, the demihuman races, including the Elves and the Dwarves, had come together to defeat what had been considered a Calamitous threat, the Vile Dragon. But in most of the human countries, the story went that the credit belonged solely to the humans.

Back then, there had been two Heroes. They had left the Central Continent to start their own countries in the Western Continent and the Eastern Continent, bringing the whole world into the grasp of humans.

And today, there were three Heroes.

The vast majority of humans believed they would win against any Dark Lord or Lady, as long as they had Heroes. They might be fearful, but they held not a hint of pessimism.

 

The human countries had begun preparations for war against the Dark Lady. Among the countries of the small continental group Shedy attacked, only Quanneuf and Quanthuit had been spared, by virtue of holing up inside their borders. They were aggressively hiring adventurers to add to their soldiers and militia as part of their defensive measures.

But while large countries might have the ability to keep up their guard for long periods of time, the small countries certainly did not. Forming the militia meant lost production, and hiring high-rank adventurers costed several times the pay of a normal soldier.

So the only thing the small countries could do was to rely on the Dark Lady Prediction report that the Temples had sent to every single country’s ministry of foreign affairs. According to the report, the next Dark Lady attack was most likely to happen in either the eastern region of the Central Continent, or the western region of the Northern Continent.

The report calculated a 40% probability even for those most likely regions. This small group of continents, a region just recently attacked, only had less than a 10% chance of another assault, and so the governor couldn’t afford for the country to stay in their shell forever. The militia had to be disbanded, and citizens returned to their usual lives.

But now, the Dark Lady was attacking the neighboring country of Quanneuf. This wasn’t right. They were supposed to be a low-probability region.

 

“Your Majesty, please give the order! We must save Quanneuf!” An army general shouted, impatient to set off.

The governor blanched. “W-wait, no, we don’t have enough soldiers! Scout out the situation first!”

“Your Majesty…”

The nobility of the two surviving countries of the region had relatives living in both, so there was no lack of sympathy for the general. But even if the army set off right away, just the preparations alone would take up two days, plus another two at the very least if they took the magitech train. It was very unlikely Quanneuf could hold on by then.

 

The officers of both countries were keeping in contact by the magitech telecommunication system, and what they understood about the situation could be summarized as follows: Quanneuf had changed their monster-repelling barrier into the more mana-intensive magic-repelling barrier, as the target of their caution was a beastman. And so, the Dark Lady hadn’t been able to infiltrate the capital as easily as she used to do.

So she covered the whole capital in arctic mist instead.

Like Quanthuit, Quanneuf had disbanded their militia. They lacked the soldiers for a counteroffensive. The citizens had their hands full just trying to survive the blizzard, and even their plumbing had frozen over. They needed immediate support.

 

“Would we be in time…?”

“In time or not, what about the humanitarian aid…”

“But what if even our country falls…”

 

“Oh, you won’t need to worry about that.”

 

A voice cut through the clamoring nobles. It was a maid with chestnut-colored hair and eyes. Plain colors, but cute-looking.

She looked in her early teens. Was she a noble’s apprentice maid?

No one knew how long she’d been here. The sudden interruption to the meeting prompted the general to stand up, his face set in a frown of irritation.

“The adults are talking here, little girl! Guards, throw her out!”

Several soldiers approached her. But the moment they grabbed the maid’s arm, they stood stock-still, as if frozen.

No. They were actually frozen. The soldiers turned white in a blink of an eye. The warmth of spring suddenly turned into the freezing cold of arctic winter, and right in front of the crowd’s shivering eyes, the girl’s hair and maid uniform melted into a small little slime, revealing scarlet hair and a crimson dress. The very embodiment of their fear.

 

“…the Dark Lady…?”

The governor’s whisper of despair echoed in the silent room. A blizzard of glacial mist ravaged the castle, and the inhabitants did not even realize they had already drawn their last warm breath.

 

***

 

“—My Lady, were you successful?—”

 

In a room now devoid of living people, a voice rang out from the magitech communication device. I gave it a glance.

“Thanks for the help. But I don’t plan on being your ruler.”

“—of course, we understand. We simply do not want to repeat our mistake, that is all.—”

The voice cut out. Panda stopped working the communication device and joined my former disguise, Blobsy, in returning to their usual places on my waist and shoulder.

“Good job.”

*boing*

“Ook.”

 

Ever since I got declared a Dark Lady, the humans had raised their security up a notch. I couldn’t just stroll into their countries like I used to.

My original plan, if I could call it one, was to freeze them all from outside, forcing them to choose between dying out or waiting for rescue. Just as I got ready to begin, however, some people contacted me.

Well, it was less them contacting me and more Panda finding them when they were on their desperate search, really.

They were demihumans. A group of beastmen and elves who hadn’t been captured by the humans, or had managed to escape. I had snuck into the city with their help, got into the castle with everyone none the wiser thanks to my disguise, dealt with the witnesses, then destroyed Quanthuit’s Sapling.

Quanneuf’s Sapling was already gone, of course. The people talking to Quanthuit just a while ago were elves, using their own magic to work the magitech communication devices.

 

The middle-aged elven leader of the group had said it was a “mistake”.

Elves were long-living. Perhaps this leader person even knew of the time when their race still considered humans to be their brothers and sisters.

This mistake… would be them allowing the humans to parasite on the Saplings, right?

…well, whatever. If some other people decided to follow the humans’ footsteps, I just needed to crush them once more.

 

The demihumans’ help was helpful, for sure, but much more useful was the effect of my Disguise.

No, I didn’t get any skill to change my looks. The ones with new skills were my kins.

[Blobsy] [Race: Jelly Slime] [Kin of Shedy, the Demon]
[Magic Points: 10/10] [Hit Points: 10/10]
[Total Combat Power: 10]
[Special Skill: Laundry - Cleaning - Fashion]

[Panda] [Race: Monochrome Monkey] [Kin of Shedy, the Demon]
[Magic Points: 20/20] [Hit Points: 20/20]
[Total Combat Power: 20]
[Special Skill: Makeup Artist - Banana]

Where did I even start.

Blobsy got a new skill called [Fashion]. Apparently it was what she used to stretch herself around me and mimic clothes.

…so I don’t really care, but this probably came about because Blobsy cared more about the clothes I wore than myself. She’s more feminine than I was.

The amazing thing about her skill was that it could even hide the rabbit ears on my head. Even so, it couldn’t change my face, nor could it change my eye color. If anyone looked, they might realize who I was. And here was where Panda’s skill came in.

[Makeup Artist]… huh, why the name? Anyway, Panda’s skill had changed my eye color and my looks a little bit. The rest, Blobsy’s mimicry could cover up and make to look more natural.

Amazing. The two of them were amazing. They covered for so much of my weaknesses. They were so impressive I forgot myself and petted them for a whole hour.

 

Also, if I let those two picked my next target instead of doing it myself, I almost never got ambushed.

There were some players this time around, but not many. Rather than their numbers, however, I was more curious about how they seemed to be a lot less willing to fight me ever since last time.

Did they realize the difference in power? Those I met didn’t even pull out their weapons, they just smiled and took a commemorative picture. And when I killed them, they just cheered, looking absolutely radiant, before disappearing into dust.

Were those true gamers…? Such unfathomable creatures.

 

“Where next?”

I asked my kins with a map of the world spread out before us. Surprisingly, they looked indecisive. Was everywhere difficult now?

“Then tell me where it would be interesting.”

I had access to a disguise now, anyway. Maybe I could go scout things out and sightsee at the same time.

They pointed right at the center of the eastern continent.

The Torrann Caliphate… looked like a troublesome one, judging from its name.

 

And there… I met a certain somebody.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

The Deputy Director of the 7th research center, Brian, had ignored the corporation’s orders and went ahead with his own recklessness. The militarized monster avatars driven by soldiers — the secret beta testers — had been overcharged far beyond the allowed values, and nearly all of them had been deployed into the fight at Yggdrasia.

And at that battle, they had been wiped out by a large-scale frost attack. The majority of the soldiers had begun to display signs of mental instability. They had to be hospitalized in an isolation ward affiliated to the facility.

And the man behind it all, Brian. Possibly as a reaction to improper use of a VR device, his old wounds had abruptly worsened, leading to the loss of both his eyes and arms. Combined with the delirium he showed, Brian had been transferred to a specialized isolation ward.

 

“Well then, do your best, Audrey.”

She sighed.

With Brian now hospitalized, his secretary and chief researcher, Audrey, had been appointed the interim Deputy Director.

Despite her youth, being only in her late twenties, she was chosen thanks to her familiarity to the current experiment and workplace. But more importantly, she was chosen after most of the other candidates had run away with tails between their legs when they learned of Brian’s fate.

The Director, an old man who had gained his station through politics, showed up at the research center after about half a year’s absence, looking like he was about to go golfing afterwards. And after handing the metaphorical keys of the facility to Audrey, he immediately made himself scarce.

As the 7th research center’s acting Deputy Director, Audrey was practically the boss now. All the same, things weren’t looking optimistic.

The World Tree’s Saplings, precious mana sources for the corporation, were being destroyed. Attempts to stop the culprit didn’t so much fail as blew up on their faces. If things didn’t change, the 7th research center’s mana avatar development project would soon find itself in trouble.

 

“…no other choice, I suppose.”

Audrey made the decision to offload a part of the work to another department, even if the researcher inside her was railing against the prospect.

More specifically, the 7th research center would now only be working on the development of militarized monster avatars. The magical weapon project, which had been expanded thanks to Brian’s savviness, and the capture of the rabbit beastman girl responsible for it all would now be inherited by the 4th research center, the original owners of the magical weapons project before it was transferred to the 7th.

 

“Hah! Brian snatched the project out of our hands, and now look at what happened! That world had dragons with over ten thousand combat power. You people should have expected the same sort of opposition. Well, it’s back in professional hands now. Just watch us,” a plump man said, sneering.

Audrey had turned the magical weapon project data over to the Deputy Director of the 4th research center. He heaped snide remarks and sarcastic complaints at her all the while, but considering it was all true, there was nothing she could say in response.

But she had something else more important to worry about. She needed to foist the job of capturing the rabbit to some other research center, no matter what else she must give up.

The 7th research center had had their data ransacked by the 4th, yet the staff members had stayed strangely quiet about it.

All of them, including Audrey, had once been the target of the White Rabbit Girl’s displeasure. And none of them wanted to be her enemy.

 

***

 

The VR chat boards of World of Yggdrasia was aflame with talks of the event quest the other day — the so-called Operation: Capture the Bunny.

 

“I came! I joined! I died in one hit!”

“Goddamn was she overpowered!”

“I’m a Rank 5 tank, but my head exploded from a single palm strike. Why?”

“Lolol you’re that guy right at the beginning?! Go tank with your shield if you’re a tank, dumbass.”

“Man, the whole place got filled with mosaics. The Bunny’s way too brutal!”

“What about those crapton of spiders? They weren’t the Dark Bunny Lady’s minions, right?”

“Pretty sure they opposed her, considering they fought her and all. I’m not sure on the details, but I’ve heard there were fifty monsters with four thousand combat power that were as powerful as draconic-class monsters, like wyverns, maybe. Were we supposed to take the Bunny’s side back then?”

“Nah, I mean, if we consider the whole thing to be a story quest, then it’s probably the part of the story when the Bunny becomes the Dark Lady, right?”

“Which means that last part where she blew up a whole city happened because the devs wanted to emphasize to the players that the Dark Lady’s evil, right? And to introduce her as the final boss.”

“Then the devs failed epically. It just made her more popular!”

“AAAA FUCKING HELL I KNEW IT! Should have borrowed my parents’ money for the figurine, fuck!”

“Behold my collection. I got both the grown-up and the kiddie versions right here!”

“Go find an auction, dude. The resalers are selling them for ten times the price.”

 

“So the Bunny’s getting way stronger with every single event quest. Has anyone analyzed her power?”

“Her combat power’s not identifiable, just like always, but judging from the fights she had with the spiders, she should have twenty thousand at the very least.”

“That’s the Dark Bunny Lady for you. And then she awakened as a Dark Lady right after that, so it’s possible she’d gotten even stronger now.”

“How the hell do we win? I got two combat skills at level 5 now, yet my total combat power only just broke 1000.”

“Well, she’s the final boss, I guess we’ll have to get to Rank 10 first? The game just updated to allow for skill level 6, right?”

“Unlike the other games, there’s actually just one Dark Lord in this one. I wouldn’t want her to be easily defeated.”

“Even if she can be defeated, that just makes things unfair for whoever’s late to the boss fight.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why she’s so strong. My guess is that it’s going to be a raid with a few thousand people.”

“Hot damn, I’m not even sure my battlestation can handle that amount.”

“It’s not the combat power’s that scary, it’s her batshit insane special abilities. I can’t imagine how we can win.”

“The super cold mist is annoying, but not impossible to deal with. We know it’s weak to wind spells, so just be careful and we won’t get OHKO. Probably.”

“That thing where she points her hand at you? What the fuck is that? My spells just fizzled out.”

“There’s been a lot of talk about that. The conclusion’s that it’s probably some sort of probability manipulation.”

“Does it means both spells and combat arts can fail?! How the fuck do we win against that?!”

“R-rank 10… maybe… hopefully…”

“Excuse me, how do I join the Dark Army?”

 

***

 

“Phew…”

I returned to the World Tree on the connection I’ve unlocked. I could finally relax.

My body hadn’t changed a fraction. But I felt like something inside of me, something critical, had been swapped.

I knew, somehow, that the Human inside me — the one in charge of all my thinking — were gone, and something else had taken her place. What happened back then… perhaps it was the moment I became a true Demon.

And my appearance that time might have been a reflection of that. I’d been worried for a while that it’d ruin any later attempts to infiltrate human settlements, but once I’d calmed down, my bleached skin and bloodied eyes returned to normal. I wondered if that was my Demonic look…

 

Before, I’d been restraining myself, trying to keep from any unnecessary killing, since my opponents were Humans. Now, however, the distinction was no longer there. I no longer had any reason to hesitate.

Of course, that wasn’t to say I’d lost all hesitation when it comes to killing human children. I’d play with puppies and kittens, but if a pack of wild dogs attacked me I’d wipe them out, lair and all. It’s the same thing to me.

In other words, I now saw Humans as no different from packs of animal or lairs of goblins. That was all that’s changed.

If someone was friendly to me, I’d extend my hand to them even if they were kobolds. If someone stood in my way, I’d exterminate them like I would a nest of wasps, even if they were humans.

That didn’t mean I’d poke the beehive for honey, however. Not worth it.

By which I meant normal humans weren’t worth much.

 

[Shedy] [Race: Bunny Girl] [Archdemon Lv. 10]
・The rabbit demon of Laplace. Trickster and guide of man’s fate.

[Magic Points: 56,000/56,000] 
[Total Combat Power: 61,600/61,600]
[Unique Skill: <Causality Alteration> <Cyber-Manipulation> <Absorption> <Materialization>] 
[Racial Skill: <Fear> <Mist Form>]
[Simple Identification] [Human Form (Wonderful)] [Subspace Inventory]
[Dark Lady]

 

My magic went up by around twenty thousand, but considering I destroyed a whole city, that wasn’t much of an increase. The place should’ve had at least a hundred thousand people living there. With how much I’d gained, that meant each person didn’t even give me a point of magic.

I still remembered that time my rank increased when I was a low demon, and how the experience I gained from the caterpillars were lessened. I supposed it was no surprise I wouldn’t gain much from powerless humans.

I should go for the strong ones. The stronger, the better. And horrifically sinful too, if possible. The more evil they were, the tastier they smelled.

 

Once I became a true demon, my rank finally turned into Archdemon. Got to level 10, too. What was the level cap, I wondered? If I gained as many as the Saplings I revived, would the cap be 100? Wow, it’s going to take a while.

But I was curious about something else. This strange title that I’d gotten.

[Dark Lady]… what was this?

How curious. I identified it. Some text showed up to the side of the title.

 

[Dark Lady]
・One recognized as ‘Evil’, or as a threat, by the vast majority of a world’s sentient life.
・Some beings are called ‘Dark Generals’ due to their threat level.

 

…so to summarize, I supposed that was how the human race here saw me after I destroyed a whole city?

And I thought I was a Dark Lady due to my demonic heritage, but it looked like there wasn’t really a relation. I could’ve been called ‘God of Destruction’ or ‘Evil Overlord’ and it would have been much the same.

Finally, apparently Dark Generals were a thing. Huh.

 

*boing*

“Ook.”

As I sat down on the World Tree’s roots for a quick breather, Blobsy clambered up to my shoulder, while Panda jumped on my lap and gave me a banana.

Thanks. But you still haven’t told me where that banana came from.

Ah well, whatever. Let’s get to the next Sapling after the break. Pretty sure the humans wouldn’t be so careless this time, but that was exactly what I wanted. More strong people for me.

I think there was a ‘Hero’ somewhere in this world, right?

 

***

 

The Saplings of five countries on the small continental group in the southern hemisphere had been destroyed in barely any time at all. What’s more, two of them were large countries. The whole world was struck dumb.

The final battle at Xontdix, and the 150,000 citizen casualty of its capital, was a wake-up call for everyone. Royalties of the remaining 30 large countries came together in a conference call. They officially designated the culprit behind it all — the rabbit beastman girl — to be an existential threat: the Dark Lady. They pledged to work together to defeat this enemy.

 

At the same time, the three Heroes of this world had also received a request to subdue the Dark Lady Whitehare, coming from the Holy City Ayune and the Temples themselves.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

My conquest of Xontdix’s castle was interrupted by more militarized monster avatars.

They looked similar to the crab-spiders I encountered that first time. Their design was seemingly less armored in comparison, instead focusing on mobility judging from their long legs. But higher combat power meant higher defense in the end, anyway. At least that’s what I thought.

They had around 4,000 in combat power. 1,200 magic, too, so they were going to be slinging quite a bit of spells. How did they get so strong? There were even fifty of them. I might have ten times the power of each, but that was enough number to overwhelm me.

Also, I’m surprised they sent so many monster avatars inside a human country’s barrier. There weren’t just humans here, there were tons of players too. What was that corporation thinking?

 

Oh, crap, all of them just started buzzing. I immediately jumped away. A blast of force exploded not a second later, shattering the frozen statues and turning even uninjured players and soldiers into minced meat, spraying the pristine castle wall with a new coat of paint.

Mute screams from the blood-splattered survivors and the spectators from inside the castle rang out, echoing, coming together to form a low rumble of horror.

I mounted an immediate counterattack, spraying out cold mist, but their response was no less prompt. Several spiders shot out smaller blasts of shockwave to blow away my fog.

Damn them and their training. So annoying.

My unique skill [Causality Alteration] was also not very effective against avatars. Sure I could force them to fail their actions just like always, but that was it. They had just been created, after all. Their past barely held any significant events for me to mess with, and Earth was still much too far away for me to actually try to reach all the way over there. Still, there was something I could do.

I created some more mist. The spiders attempted to blast it away once more, and I forced their spells to fail.

My mist touched and froze a few of them, but did no damage other than simply stopping their movements. Looked like they’d taken measures against the cold.

I instantly attempted to follow up and destroy them, but interference came in the form of more explosive bullets from the other spiders. I pretended to dodge the projectiles, swerving ninety-degrees to the side and utilizing my 40,000 combat power to accelerate towards a few of the spiders. My claws tore them apart as I ran.

 

…and even all that only netted me two kills.

They weren’t impossible to put down, but I had to expend too much mana in comparison.

This couldn’t continue. I couldn’t stay like this.

To pick a fight with two worlds and survive, I needed more than just power. I needed to change.

Just a little more… just one more, and my transformation would be complete.

 

***

 

“Deputy Director, what in the world are you thinking?!”

The secretary slammed open the door. Inside the room, Brian was setting up his personal VR device. He turned to look at her, a beaming grin in his face.

“Heeey, Audrey, what’s up?”

 

The individual thought to be No. 13, the girl who had attacked the facility on Earth, had begun destroying the corporation’s sources of mana over in Yggdrasia. Security and surveillance was more stringent than ever, and the top brass was demanding the white girl be captured as soon as possible.

And so Brian had requested more budget for his special plan, which was an operation to capture the girl by utilizing the players, as a surveillance network, and the guild. But just as soon as it began, every single one of the new militarized monster avatar models were deployed. The operation did not call for this.

 

“Why did you deploy the new models in front of the public?! And what was with that amount of magic and power?! That was far beyond the allowed value!”

“You’re asking me why…? Isn’t it obvious? I’m killing the bunny.”

“What…”

Seeing Brian’s twisted smile, Audrey clenched her teeth.

 

With the current technology, 800 was the limit for the militarized avatars’ starting magic power. Any further and the link between the user and the avatar would degrade, causing unpredictable behaviors on the avatar side and increasing the mental burden on the user side. Originally, the militarized models were supposed to be gradually building up their magic in a process similar to ‘leveling’. The corporation would then move to analysis for several years before beginning development of high-leveled monster avatars.

Pushing the starting magic all the way up to 1200 must have been Brian’s own unsanctioned idea.

Ever since the white girl had taken his leg, Brian had been displaying more and more instabilities with every single passing day, and now, he was even ignoring his orders. Vengeance was the only thing on his mind.

 

“Come on, little bunny…” Brian chuckled darkly, “let me hear you scream…”

 

***

 

Despite the large-scale monster-repelling barrier, dozens of black spiders had suddenly appeared and began attacking people.

At first, many had thought the monsters were minions of Shedy’s, the mysterious rabbit beastman girl possessing an unknown mean of transport. Contrary to their expectations, however, the girl was no exception to the black spiders’ assault. Battle was joined between the two.

“Infighting?!”

“Regroup! Regroup while they’re still busy! Bring the magicannons, now!”

Those who had recovered from the chaos were beginning preparations for a counterattack.

The magicannon was an enlarged version of the guns that used magic to shoot out lead bullets. Due to the mana consumption, the cannons required a supply line directly from the Sapling in order to shoot. They had enough power to shoot down a flying dragon from several kilometers away.

As they expected Shedy to fight their soldiers and adventurers in a melee, their original plan did not call for the cannon. But now that she was busy with the spiders, there was no more reason to hesitate.

Three cannons were set up on top of the castle wall to point inward. With a roar of thunder, the whole courtyard was blown away, ground and all.

“Got you!”

“Serves you right, damn rabbit!”

“Fucking rabid demihuman, that’s what you get for biting your masters!”

 

Between the spiders and Shedy, who was more dangerous here? To humankind, the girl destroying Saplings was Evil, that much was true, yet it was not what had guided their aim in truth. No, it was simply the hatred they felt for the cattle that dared to rise up against humankind.

However, their decision had led to a tragedy. The cannon shots had damaged the black spiders, making them lose track of the girl that had been their objective. Abnormalities began to show in the monsters’ actions, and they started attacking humans with no discrimination.

 

“AaaaaaAAaRGhh!!”

“Exterminate those spiders!”

“Fuck, they’re toug-aaAAAAAAGH!!!”

The spiders clung to the castle wall, attacking the nobles standing behind windows or on terraces. Several black shadows descended upon the cannons, massacring the adventurers and soldiers nearby. In his desperation, the last soldier managed to fire a single cannon shot moments before his death. The projectile punched a hole through the castle wall. The spiders began pouring inside through the new opening.

 

“Your Majesty, please evacuate!”

Led by his knights, Tiz left the terrace. No matter how confident of his skills he was, Tiz could not stand up to the spiders and their 4000 combat power.

Still, he did not think Shedy would be so easily brought down. He looked back for a moment. In what remained of the courtyard, he saw a mass of white mist bursting out from the cloud of dust. It streamed through the hole in the castle wall as if it had a will of its own.

Something is about to happen, Tiz thought, and I’m not going to miss it.

“I’m going down! Follow me!”

 

***

 

“The secret beta testers are showing signs of mental collapses! The experiment can’t go on!”

The staff members monitoring the secret beta testers shouted, panic coloring their voices. Audrey hurried to give her order.

“I authorize the cessation of-”

“Oh no no no, Audrey, can’t have that now.”

The muzzle of a handgun was touching the back of her head, she realized. Audrey gasped.

“W-Why…”

“Oh, you sure asked some silly questions.” Brian laughed. “Anyway. By my order, freeze Audrey’s authority for today.”

With Brian’s voice, the green lights on Audrey’s mobile device all turned red.

The secret beta testers were showing signs of mental collapses much too quickly. Yet despite that, Brian seemed intent on driving them to their limits in order to kill No. 13.

Audrey stood, aghast. Brian took a look at her, nodded in satisfaction, then booted up his personal full-dive VR system.

“You just stay there and watch. I’m going to kill that little bunny myself.”

 

***

 

Inside, the castle was a mess.

I managed to turn into mist right before that surprise bombardment hit me. Once I flew into the castle, I returned to human form.

The militarized avatars had suddenly gone on a rampage. They weren’t moving mechanically like they did before; they were acting like a swarm of actual locusts, attacking anything alive and devouring humans left and right. Messy eaters, too.

Metallic screeches reached my ears.

Some of them had found me, and they promptly attacked. Their combat power hadn’t changed, but their movements had gotten much smoother, displaying a kind of animalistic nimbleness.

I immediately froze one of them, gouging out its head with my claws.

They might have gotten individually stronger, but they’d lost their cooperation in exchange. One on one, they posed no threat to me. Well, the humans being attacked probably wouldn’t think so, but it wasn’t like I had any obligation to save them anyway.

At any rate, I needed to deal with this group. Just as I finished off the last of them, I noticed a few humans approaching me from behind.

 

“Shedy!”

“…Tiz.”

He was still here? I thought he’d skipped town already.

Well, it wasn’t like I cared what happened to him anyway. I made to return to my search for the Sapling, when Tiz called out to me again.

“Are you so set on killing humans that you would even recruit monsters to do your bidding, Shedy?!”

It was his tone of voice, not what he said, that made me stop. I quietly turned around.

“…no. The spiders are enemies. I’ve nothing to do with them.”

“Then-”

“But,” I looked into his eyes and declared, “destroying the Saplings is my wish. Humans are just reaping what they sowed.” If you must hate, then hate me. That’s the only thing I can do for you. For humankind.

Tiz heard what I left unsaid. He scowled. After a few moments of thought, he raised his hand toward a direction.

“…Xontdix’s Sapling is over there. The path’s tricky, so go through the walls if you’re in a hurry,” he said, his words bordering on treason.

“Boy!” The old butler raised his voice in rebuke. The young emperor paid no heed to him and continued.

“I’m taking Xontdix’s royalty family to escape. I won’t stand in your way, but do something about those spiders until we can get out of here.”

“…understood.” I quietly nodded.

 

I didn’t care all that much, but if people I knew were to die, I’d prefer they at least do so away from my sight.

 

We shared one final glance, then turned away from each other and ran.

I took his advice and simply went through the walls. Several minutes later, I arrived at the Sapling.

 

I was greeted with a cackling laugh.

“Did you think you could save them?! Too bad for you, rabbit!”

Salia, the supposed bodyguard of Tiz, was standing there together with the knights of this country.

Below her feet lay dozens of beastmen and elven corpses, all cut into ribbons and charred black.

“How’s the taste of despair?! That’s what you get for getting in my way and making me look like a fool… t-the hell is that look for?! Brazen vermin!”

Salia had killed the demihuman slaves of this castle. Apparently, her grudge had convinced her I was trying to rescue them.

I supposed it wasn’t surprising people would think so. I had saved demihumans, even if it was all on a whim of mine.

 

“Out of my way.”

I clenched my right hand. The knights, including Salia, instantly had their arms and legs broken. They collapsed into pools of blood, howling cries of agony.

I leisurely walked through them. Salia still struggled. She reached a hand toward me, eyes full of hatred. I froze only the surface of her face.

The woman renewed her screams and scrabbled at her iced-over skin. It only made things worse. Oh well, I’d be spending some time with her later on anyway.

 

“…sorry I made you wait.”

I whispered. Xontdix’s Sapling scattered into light, and I grabbed hold of the white magic stone inside.

 

***

 

“Where, oh where are you, little bunny…”

 

While the dozens of spiders were ravaging the castle interior, an enormous monster appeared outside. A bluish-black centipede twenty meters long and one meter in diameter went through the castle wall, crushing the fortifications with claws and the sheer weight of its armored body. Whoever could use [Identification] despaired, when the skill revealed its combat power to be over seven thousand.

At that moment, the barrier protecting the castle disappeared, announcing to the world the destruction of the Sapling. All hope was gone for the humans.

From inside the ruined castle, the source of the calamity quietly walked out. The white rabbit showed herself.

 

“There you are!!”

The giant centipede attacked as soon as it caught sight of Shedy. The knights ran towards her in a last-ditch attempt of revenge.

“Gah-”

And as she raised her right hand, everything stopped moving.

Her cold, impassive eyes swept through the men and monster standing stock-still as if frozen in time. Her hand clenched into a fist, and corpses of knights fell down in bloody showers.

 

Brian, sitting in his VR device, was forcibly logged out when both his eyes and arms were suddenly pulverized.

 

And Shedy began her silent transformation.

Pale skin, yet still faintly pink of flesh and blood, was now being bleached of all color, turning alabaster white. Scarlet pupils bled out to stain the white of her eyes crimson-red.

An enormous cloud of fog billowed, exploding to cover the whole capital city in a blink of an eye. All living creatures — including the human population of one hundred and fifty thousand — were turned into ice sculptures.

 

Tiz looked back from the airship that had just barely cleared the blast zone. He saw Shedy standing in the center of a wasteland of frost, of deathly silence, as though the ice had entombed even the resentment of the deceased. He thought her cold gaze was pointed at him. He forgot to breath for a moment.

 

And so, Shedy had shown herself to be the worst Evil of this world. People started calling the sorcerous rabbit something else.

Whitehare, the Dark Lady.

 

[Shedy] [Race: Bunny Girl] [Archdemon Lv. 10]
・The rabbit demon of Laplace. Trickster and guide of man’s fate.

[Magic Points: 56,000/56,000] 19,800↑
[Total Combat Power: 61,600/61,600] 21,800↑
[Unique Skill: <Causality Alteration> <Cyber-Manipulation> <Absorption> <Materialization>] 
[Racial Skill: <Fear> <Mist Form>]
[Simple Identification] [Human Form (Wonderful)] [Subspace Inventory]
[Dark Lady]

---

A/N: Readers who have read my other work might think something’s a bit strange. That’s because Shedy isn’t the ‘savage’ or the ‘hedonistic’ kind of demon. She’s a ‘ruthless’ demon.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

A/N: Newest map. Story currently taking place in the southern part of the map, slightly to the east.

*Destroyed Saplings are crossed out.

---

 

“Quasix… has fallen?”

The Crown Prince Aslan muttered in a daze upon hearing the news. Tiz next to him was silent, his face grim.

 

Quarrevingts, Kancinq, and now Chisept. Small countries they might be, the fact that three Saplings were destroyed in a row was undeniable. Their governments had broken down.

There had been zero casualties among the governors’ families and barely any among the citizen population. However, the vast majority of their magitech weapons had been rendered useless, and the large-scale barriers protecting their cities had disappeared. The inevitable monster attacks would soon turn these countries into ruins.

Until now, a country’s refugees could rely on the prompt support and protection of their neighboring nation. But what would happen if even their neighbors lost their home?

On this isolated subgroup of continents, far away from the other landmasses, what few countries there were had forged a deep alliance with each other. But now, the small alliance had further diminished with their members being picked off one by one, and the very isolation that had been their strength was now pushing the survivors into a corner.

 

And now finally, the Sapling of a large country, Quasix Kingdom, was destroyed.

Part of it was because they had carelessly believed she wouldn’t be keeping her assault up for so long. Mainly, however, no one had thought a large country would fall so easily.

The reason was plain to see: Quasix had sent away too much of its soldier in helping the other countries, and the rabbit beastman girl – Shedy – had been far more powerful than anyone could possibly imagine.

 

The northern and southern landmasses of this subgroup of continents had held five countries. Now, only Xontdix was left standing.

Rumors had it that Quasix’s king had immediately given up on his own country when he saw what had happened to his neighbors, and that the royal family had escaped to the Central Continent on their private airship together with their riches.

‘Gramps.’

‘Understood.’

Tiz looked at his butler. The old servant quietly left, heading toward Touze’s airship to give the order to hasten the mana recharging.

They needed to plan for the worst, even if the worst was something that could not be allowed to happen. With that said, they could not openly prepare their escape. Fear had driven this country’s nobilities and soldiers into a frenzy. There was a very real chance Touze’s entourage would be attacked if they were seen to be getting ready to leave.

“Damn that rabbit! I had always known she was nothing more than a foul villain ever since I first lay eyes on her. By my hand, the hammer of justice shall strike her down!”

Simple-minded Salia was getting worked up in front of Xontdix’s knights, forgetting about her own position of being the Emperor’s bodyguard. At the same time, she was unwittingly making for a great distraction to keep eyes away from their escape preparations.

 

Two small countries in the east still survived, but none of them had more than a hundred thousand in population. They did not have the power to help anyone else. They could only help each other to coordinate their defenses and hole up in their castles. They stayed on utmost alert for Shedy, while praying she never appeared.

In these trying times, both the adventurer’s guild and the Temples had spared no expenses in providing support. Airships carrying adventurers of Rank 4 and 5 gathered from all over the world. At Rank 5, an adventurer was practically equivalent to an officer knight.

 

Since half a year ago, new adventurers with explosive speed of growth were coming out of the woodwork, and a few among them had shown true talent.

But these new adventurers didn’t bring only their talents. They had also brought their own problems.

While not everyone was the same, those to whom the moniker of ‘troublemaker’ would apply were causing no small amount of headaches. Some looked as if they were coming to a festival, even when the country’s very own survival were hinging upon them. Some started fights with the tense soldiers, and in worse cases, even injuring them and getting arrested afterwards.

Ostensibly, the guild was there to provide adventurer support to individuals or small-scale mercenary groups, in order to combat the monsters that had started multiplying in recent years. Keeping the peace – for example, patrolling the streets – in place of the guards was one of their missions. Yet these new adventurers were neglecting their job. They were only there to fight the rabbit beastman girl, all the while making more problems for the knights.

 

“Still, this is quite the sight…”

There were hundreds of Rank 4 and 5 adventurers in Xontdix’s palace courtyard. They made for a force practically equivalent to the whole of Xontdix’s order of knights.

How would Shedy react if she saw this? If she actually attacked this place, how would she do it?

Tiz had poured a fortune into his bounty to capture her. But with the situation being what it was, he doubted many would think of taking her alive.

Alongside the awareness of being the representative of an allied country was a perverse desire to see her breaking apart this army of adventurers. A peculiarly childish excitement welled up inside him. He felt like he was once again that boy who had just acquired his magic sword for the first time.

 

It began the next day, in the early morning.

The three small continents had the typical climate of southern countries, only stabilized thanks to the Saplings. But many of the countries on these continents were near the ocean and thus, constantly humid. No one thought the morning fog was anything out of the ordinary.

Some of the adventurers were mysteriously and unexpectedly disappearing from time to time. The lack of people on watch had been one of the contributing factors to this disaster.

“What is this chill…?”

“Weird mist, don’t you think?”

“Wait, that’s no mist!”

The several soldiers and adventurers blocking the castle gate turned into frozen statues in an instant, and the ice-covered gate shattered inward. People inside the castle witnessed the rabbit beastman girl marching right through the front door.

 

“That’s the bunny!!”

Whistles and bells announced her assault. As the knights attempted to leave their barracks, they found out the drifting mist was more than just a show.

“The doors are all frozen!”

“Break them open! If you can’t, then break the windows!”

Outside, there were 300 soldiers and 100 adventurers. They would need to hold on until the troops from the barracks and castle interior arrived. Against a single normal teenage beastman girl, it would have been considered excessive firepower.

She was not normal.

 

“There she is!”

“The Fluffy Bunny’s here!”

Some of the adventurers rushed forward in the drifting chill, sparing not a single glance for the fearful soldiers.

No one would have thought these men to be high-rank adventurers. They looked far more like clowns prancing around in their inefficiently huge weapons, spiky pauldrons, and overly revealing armor. They leered at Shedy, the girl now mid-way through her teen standing in front of them. They charged at her, looking more like they were trying to push her down rather than actually fighting.

She turned her cool gaze upon them. She dashed, several times faster than the speed the adventurers’ 1,000 combat power could afford them. Her palm smashed into the face of the man leading the charge.

He gurgled and exploded into glimmering light. The adventurer right behind him jumped toward her. She bent backwards to dodge his wild swing, leg snapping upward to deflect the enormous scythe, then twisting her torso to deliver a roundhouse kick. Her razor-sharp heel pulverized his head.

“Holy sheeeiiiit, that’s OP as fuck!!”

“Front line, surround her!”

“Back line, debuff magic now!”

The latecomers were beginning to work together. They seemed to have finally realized the threat Shedy posed.

Enfeebling spells clashed against her resistance and lost, disappearing into sparks and ear-grating crackles. She faintly frowned. The girl turned on her side, pointing her right palm at them and squeezed.

“Whoa?!” “What the fuck?!”

The adventurers’ spells failed, disturbing their battle lines. Shedy spread her chilly mist and ran through the gap in their formation, felling the now-sluggish adventurers with flashes of claws and kicks.

 

Since the fight started, dozens of adventurers had already fallen in just as many seconds. Around eighty percent of the corpses had disappeared, the sight chilling the spines of the soldiers and rooting them to the spot. It was then that the knights finally broke out of their frozen prison.

“Take down the rabbit!”

The officer knight’s shout turned the desperate knights and soldiers into a veritable tsunami of spears and swords.

As Shedy took in their vehemence, their zeal, her countenance turned just a little gentler than what she had shown the adventurers. Frosty mist dripped off of her, sapping heat and magic from everyone in the area, and finally freezing them all.

 

“What is that…?”

Tiz was watching from the upper floor terrace. He turned to his butler, seeking confirmation once more. The old man only grimly shook his head.

Just as before, they could not [Identify] Shedy’s combat power. But they did not need the skill to know that her power was far beyond imagination.

The Rank 5 adventurers with over 1000 combat power were being effortlessly dispatched, and the soldiers and knights with 300 to 500 power might as well be a mob of feeble kobolds facing a Hero.

 

…a Hero.

Indeed, a Hero might be able to do what Shedy was doing right now.

In this world, there were three persons acknowledged as Heroes by the Holy City Ayune.

The Hero of Might, the [Warrior].

The Hero of Knights, the [Blademaster].

The Heroine of Magic, the [Sage].

Rumors had it that these people, chosen by the elementals of light, had combat power over ten thousand; that they were acting upon a different set of principles than what the Temple at Ayune espoused; and that they were vanquishing evil all around the world.

Tiz had met the Warrior before. He thought the man truly deserved being called a Hero.

The Warrior, the Blademaster, and the Sage were all humans. Then what if the other races – the demihumans – had a Hero of their own?

And if such a person existed, then who would be their enemy? Who would be the Villain to the demihumans’ Hero?

 

To humans, Shedy was inarguably Evil.

But then, to the other races, what was she?

 

“…no, that’s just stupid.”

Tiz shook his head, getting rid of a notion much too silly for an emperor of a human country to hold.

He liked Shedy. But he didn’t covet her so much that he would forget his throne, his empire.

To prevent any further losses, Shedy must be the Evil they must destroy, right here and right now.

But was it even possible? It had been only a few days, yet it seemed like she had had another boost in power. They had hundreds of adventurers, over a thousand knights, and several thousand soldiers. Would it be enough…?

 

“Gramps, how are the preparations?”

“Going well. However, lady Salia is currently joining His Highness Aslan in combat…”

“…worst case, we leave her.”

If this army could not defeat Shedy here, then Tiz must immediately return to Touze Empire. He gave his order: if needs must, Salia – the bodyguard who had let her personal indignation and enmity pull her away from her post – would be left behind. Then he turned his sight back to Shedy.

Suddenly, pools of liquid darkness began to seep out from thin air, coalescing into monstrosities.

“What… are those…?!”

 

Grotesque spiders of Stygian blackness. Three meters tall. Fifteen meters wide, including their twelve legs.

There were nearly fifty of them.

[MO—07—B] [Militarized Monster Avatar]
[Magic Points: 1200/1200] [Hit Points: 2000/2000]
[Total Combat Power: 4000]

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

After sniping the barrier magitool at Xontdix’s castle, I jumped on the unstable connection, forcing it to carry me back to the World Tree.

“I actually did it, yessss.”

So many things could have gone wrong back there.

There were hundreds of adventurers and almost a thousand of knights at the castle. Even if each of them only had 300 to 500 combat power at most, that was still enough people to grind down my own 26,000. If I took too long back then and allowed the corporation to interfere, I might have gotten into real trouble.

I had needed the trap-setters to fear me as preparations for my next move. To that end, I had pulled out all the stops.

 

I had shown the hundreds of adventurers the full power of my magic without reservations, to get them to become wary of me.

When I noticed Tiz’s group, I had attempted to use [Causality Alteration] on those important-looking people. They were there so I might as well take the shot, I thought. It failed when a few others jumped into my aim, but well, that wasn’t important.

I was a lot more worried about whether I could destroy the castle’s barrier.

In the countries I’d been to, the barrier’s magitool was always at the center of the castle, near the Sapling, and so I had aimed my [Causality Alteration] at that general direction. If it hadn’t been there, or if the magitool’s supervisor hadn’t been nearby, the skill would have failed. I would have wasted a ton of magic for absolutely no reason.

Then, with the cloud of mist already scattered, I forced a connection to the network. I had had to repeatedly use [Causality Alteration] to get the unstable line to work right.

So much mana spent. Thankfully, I was regenerating a lot faster just by staying near the World Tree. I stayed for an hour, getting my magic back up and calming my racing nerves. And then it was time to go back to Quarrevingts, where a part of me awaited.

 

Panda was lazing about in the shadow of the Sapling’s branches. As I arrived, he jumped at me, clinging to my waist.

“Hello Panda. I’m here.”

“Ook.”

I told you, I didn’t need bananas.

“…wha-who are you?!”

“A beastman?! Rabbit ears?!”

Shouts rang out. A few researcher-ish humans, who had been harvesting mana near the Sapling, were spooked by my sudden appearance..

“Get her! She’s that rabbit in the bounty!”

Thinking their opponent was just a single normal beastman girl, the researchers didn’t even call for the guards. They charged at me all by themselves. Really, if they knew I had a bounty, they should have known I was going around destroying Saplings. That I was a “dangerous terrorist”.

“I’m gonna be rich-aaaaaAARGH!?”

I blasted icy mist at the five, freezing them in an instant.

Hearing the noises and feeling the chilly air, the guards quickly showed up. I disabled them with [Causality Alteration], turning their old scars into debilitating wounds. I made them watch me grind the Sapling down into dust right in front of their eyes.

“Bye.”

Despair pulled all the color out of their faces. I gave them a casual wave, then jumped on the now-available connection to go back to the World Tree.

 

To the next one.

 

***

 

“Quarrevingts’ Sapling was destroyed?! The country had fallen?!”

 

Xontdix’s Crown Prince grabbed his messenger by the lapels and roared.

Thanks to the geographical closeness of the landmasses, the countries on these three small continents had forged a powerful bond, stronger than any relationship another continent’s country could have with their neighbors. Bloodlines frequently crossed beyond borders. Xontdix’s princess, Aslan’s little sister, had married the Crown Prince of Quarrevingts several years ago. She was expecting their first child soon.

“Then what was father… what was the king’s decision? We need to send help right away!”

“Y-your Royal Highness… R-reportedly, the culprit was the rumored rabbit. His Majesty believed the rabbit will come here again, so he had ordered priority to be given to our own country’s defense.”

“Then what would happen to Quarrevingts?! What would happen to my sister?!”

Aslan looked ready to set off with his own army at any moment. He would have, if it hadn’t been for Tiz’s intervention.

“Aslan, calm down!”

 

When Shedy showed up within their trap, they had thought her no more than a bagged rat. When she suddenly disappeared, they had thought she was either hiding in the castle or the royal capital. Yet just a few hours later, she had shown up at Quarrevingts thousands of kilometers away and destroyed their Sapling.

Their hypothesis was that she possessed an unknown mean of transportation. With her unpredictable appearances, Xontdix’s king had made the right decision to focus on the security of their own Sapling.

Even if Quarrevingts’ Sapling was destroyed, the continent still had Xontdix’s own. The climate hadn’t changed much. Quarrevingts might have lost their mana source and all the conveniences born from it, but if their royalties still lived and there was no official request for assistance, then the most a foreign country could do was to ask if they needed help or not. No more.

 

“Y-Yes… that’s right… it’s not like Quarrevingts’ royal family are gone, after all.”

“Right. Things would get much worse if this country’s Sapling was also destroyed. For the time being, you should send a few people to confirm the situation first.”

 

All the same, Tiz thought there was no way Quarrevingts could get back up again after this.

There had been countries attempting to recover after the destruction of their Saplings. But before they could start to deal with the loss of their markets and utilities, they had to face a far more fundamental problem: how would they eat when all the animals and fish had all left for more abundant lands?

There were talks of going home among Tiz’s group, his entourage from Touze Empire. They decided to stay in the end, however.

Even if Xontdix did nothing, there would still be refugees coming in. People who had given up on their country the moment the Sapling was gone.

Monsters that had never appeared near towns and highways before were now attacking settlements and the refugees on the move. The country was forced to send out most of its knights and soldiers, which left the Sapling’s defense understaffed. As soldiers of a country with friendly relations, the smattering of knights from Touze Empire were voluntold into helping to watch over the Sapling.

Three days later, the situation changed.

The large country Quasix Kingdom, situated on the neighboring continent to the north, had announced their intention to send several thousand soldiers as help in maintaining public order, as well as large quantities of food as aid.

The two continents were separated only by a thin strip of ocean. Ships, merchants’ or otherwise, filled the channel.

Travel preparations were already done. By their schedule, the soldiers would cross the ocean and begin peacekeeping one week later.

 

However, just as Quasix Kingdom’s support fleet left port, disaster befell the small country Kancinq to the west of Quasix. Its Sapling was destroyed by Shedy.

Trade coming to and from the Southern Continent had to pass through the doorway that was Kancinq. It was a capital of commerce, a leader of fads and fashions. The country only had a population of 80,000, but its streets were always lively with sailors and merchants.

Of course, Kancinq was aware of the destruction of the Sapling in Quarrevingts, as well as that of Rantetrois Principality across the sea. They were on high alert. However, the king had requested ships, including the merchants’, to come to the channel to transport food and other daily goods. A large number of soldiers and adventurers had to accompany them by necessity.

Which left barely two hundred guards to protect the castle’s Sapling, including both knights and soldiers. They were powerless against Shedy’s night assault. They lost the Sapling in just a few hours.

And so, Quasix Kingdom had requested Chisept Principality in the east to come to Kancinq’s aid. But only half a day after the destruction of Kancinq’s Sapling, Shedy suddenly appeared inside Chisept’s castle and destroyed their Sapling.

 

***

 

I greeted Blobsy, still waiting for me at Chisept’s Sapling.

“Hey. Sorry I’m late.”

*boing*

She jumped, snuggling against me. She must have felt a bit lonely. Panda rewarded her with a banana to stuff herself with.

I broke the Sapling, took back the mana package I left behind, put up a token fight with the guards there, then jumped to the newly reborn Sapling.

“You too, sorry to have kept you waiting.”

Whenever I visited the reborn Saplings, they were always in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The World Tree must have picked locations humans would find difficult to live in.

As always, I built a small mulch hill to hide the young plant together with Blobsy and Panda. And as always, it sent me a white magic stone.

[Shedy] [Race: Bunny Girl] [Lesser Archdemon Lv. 8]
・The rabbit demon of Laplace. Trickster and guide of man’s fate.

[Magic Points: 33,000/36,200] 10,800↑
[Total Combat Power: 36,600/39,800] 11,900↑
[Unique Skill: <Causality Alteration> <Cyber-Manipulation> <Absorption> <Materialization>] 
[Racial Skill: <Fear> <Mist Form>]
[Simple Identification] [Human Form (Wonderful)] [Subspace Inventory]

After reviving three Saplings, I got to level 8. I got a ton more magic and combat power. By now, I should be able to pick a head-on fight with a developing small country and win.

But that didn’t mean I’d be any less careful.

The eastern continent in this group of three, the one with two small countries, would be left alone. I was pretty sure they were turtling up by now. I think I’d just forget about them for a while, actually.

And out of the countries in the two continents I had attacked, the only ones with Saplings left were the large countries Quasix and Xontdix.

Honestly, with how much attention was on me these days, it would be for the better that I ignored them too. But at the same time, I could feel something inside of me awakening, urging me to continue.

 

Well then, let’s.

The region around Xontdix was slowly descending into chaos. Just as I planned, the country had feared me. They didn’t dare make a move.

Soon, there would be a large wave of refugees pouring into Quasix Kingdom. Furthermore, most of their soldiers and adventurers had been sent to Xontdix’s countryside. They didn’t have enough manpower.

I used the new Tree connection at Chisept to get to the eastern side of Quasix. After half a day’s travel, I approached the capital. The town gate was closed, and the lack of soldiers was evident. I charged right through the gate as mist, shattering it.

“What happened?!”

“Mist?!”

The soldiers were making a fuss. I ignored them and rushed through the city, freezing anyone blocking my way. Once I arrived at the castle, I turned human for an instant, freezing the gate and making use of my high combat power to smash it apart with a palm strike.

The soldiers and the castle’s staff members were all struck dumb by the sight.

I twirled around, showing off my red dress and white ears. One of them must have recognized me. Their shout announced my arrival.

 

“That’s the bunnyyyyyyy!!!”

 

Knights and soldiers poured out.

I dove straight into the army of hundreds. I killed only the ones in my path, parrying spells on the move if they weren’t too dangerous. It took only thirty minutes for my blitzkrieg to carry me from the town gate to the Sapling’s destruction.

Next up, Xontdix.

I had a premonition. Somehow, in some way, I would be transformed by this next battle.

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“All right. Panda, if you’d please.”

“Ook.”

The little monkey confidently nodded. He gave me a banana.

It turned out that by leaving a part of me inside the Sapling and having one of my Kins near it, the network link to that Sapling would then be partially available to me. With Panda staying back, I used the now-active Quarrevingts connection to go back to the World Tree.

“Let’s go.”

*boing*

We immediately left for the continent above Quarrevingts. That one had the large country Quasix, but it wasn’t a country I could conquer quickly enough in a head-on fight. That left the two other small countries.

As usual, I bounced off the barrier and landed somewhere unfamiliar. With the awareness of the Tree’s and Panda’s locations in my mind, I quickly gained an approximation of my location. I moved toward the small country Chisept to the east.

According to the guidebook, the three countries on this continent were allied nations, with very strong ties to each other.

I arrived at Chisept after half a day’s travel. The security they had was still only to defend against other humans, so I easily slipped through. I did the same thing to the Sapling there, sending a part of me inside it to take over the connection. I left Blobsy there, then transit through the World Tree to go to Xontdix.

Finally, it was time to crack the trap wide open.

 

***

 

Inside the royal palace’s guest manor, Tiz was lounging around on a wicker sofa, sending a grumpy look to his ex-classmate sitting nearby. The other man was smiling. Sexily, at that.

“Heeeey, Tizzy. You sure that bunny’s gonna show up? It’s been four days. Foooouuur!”

“According to that Temple researcher, we should wait for ten days at least. If she still doesn’t show up by then, that means she’s going for the other countries high up on the list. Also, can you please speak normally?”

Tiz had come here to Xontdix to set a trap for Shedy, even if he didn’t quite trust the Temple scholar’s vague conjectures and numbers. Still, it was the only lead he had. Plus, Mason had been awfully eloquent in his presentation. Tiz thought it was worth a try, at least.

“That guy was called Mason, right? Yeah, so the guy also showed up at my place and told me the same thing. I thought he looked fishy as all hell, so I kicked him out. Looked mighty fine though. A pity he wasn’t even a little bit scared of me. Like, that’s just rude.”

“…huh, he wasn’t? That’s amazing.”

Tiz looked at his friend. Then he revised his opinion of Mason, just a little bit.

So Mason had come here to Xontdix first, then. The country he had predicted to have the highest chance Shedy would attack.

The Temples were an international power. Xontdix could not ignore them, and so the talking had been entrusted to Tiz’s classmate and close friend, who then proceeded to reject the whole deal on the grounds that it was ‘dubious’. Which was why Mason had come to negotiate with Tiz to get the young emperor’s help in convincing Xontdix.

“Teehee, you know me so well, Tiz!”

“…well, we do go way back, after all.”

 

Aslan von Xontdix. Crown Prince of Xontdix.

The two had become friends when they were studying abroad in the Academy City Cinqres. At 220 centimeters in height, the dark-skinned man was a giant. Short haired, with an aura of youthful liveliness.

Despite the impression one might get from hearing him talk, he had no interest in crossdressing, nor did he like men exclusively. He was simply in love with all things cute and/or beautiful. Salia, Tiz’s bodyguard, had good enough looks to have been asked out by Aslan. It was one of the few times she showed fear.

And if Mason didn’t even bat an eye at the prince’s advances, the scholar must’ve had nerves of steel.

 

“And you had such a cute butt back then! What a waste, Tiz. If only you never grew up from being that adorable boy.”

“Shut up… which reminds me, with how much you like cute stuff, I thought you’d be more excited.”

“What about?”

“Shedy… the bunny, I mean. She’s cute too, you know?”

“But she’s a beastman, right? I like playing with slaves, sure, but I’m not interested in taking care of them. Like, if I’m going to have a pet, a lion would be better.”

“Well, yeah, no wonder… you kill your pets all the time.”

The prince kept wild beasts in his room. With the blessed physique he was born with, he would choke them to death whenever they misbehaved. It was his hobby.

He used to have beastman slaves. With how often he was killing them, the king had forbidden him to own slaves.

“She’s mine, you know?” Tiz said.

“Nah, I don’t care. As long as you’re the one paying the adventurers and that the bounty money goes to us, she’s all yours.”

 

As they talked, the room door opened. The Temple scholar Mason and one of Xontdix’s civil officials walked in.

“Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, we are sincerely grateful for your cooperation. We have gathered the required amount of adventurers of Rank 3 and above, and they are currently within the knight’s training ground.”

“I see. Got it.”

“Eheheh, this is gonna be fun!”

Tiz and Aslan led their personal knights toward the training ground. Behind Tiz, Salia was tightly gripping her sword, white-knuckled. She looked like a woman heading for war.

 

There were over a hundred adventurers of Rank 3 and above in the training ground. Nearly a thousand knights stood at attention in a circle, surrounding the adventurers.

Following a short greeting from the Emperor of Touze and the Crown Prince of Xontdix, Mason began the explanation for the adventurers’ gathering.

“Your main mission will be to guard the Sapling. The duration is ten days, just as we’ve mentioned in our announcement. Even if nothing happens, you’ll still be compensated with one small gold coin. In case enemies appear, your reward will be increased depending on your contribution.”

The adventurers nodded. Many among them – players – were looking obviously apprehensive, their weapons ready for combat at any time. Their strange attitude garnered looks of skepticism from the native adventurers.

“First off… please search for anyone around you whose faces are hidden!”

At once, the adventurers blanched.

 

The adventurers were assembled in order to set a trap for the ‘rabbit beastman’.

She was attacking the World Tree Saplings for reasons unknown. If adventurers were gathered up in the castle, it was likely the rabbit would take the chance to infiltrate. To that end, the country had purposely relaxed their adventurer identity checks for the time being.

 

The moment the adventurers realized the assailant might be among them, they pointed their weapons to anyone still hiding their faces behind hoods, demanding them to reveal themselves. They complied, except for a single girl.

Several adventurers moved to surround her. The moment they reached out their hands, they were met with an explosion of mist, instantly turning them into ice.

Her claws shattered the frozen sculptures, and she threw off her cloak. Tiz, standing on stage, was greeted with the sight of a bewitching young woman of scarlet and snow. She was no longer that little rabbit girl he saw once before. He stared at her like a man lovestruck.

“Shedy…!”

 

Upon hearing his voice, Shedy turned her chilly gaze toward the stage. She gave him the faintest of smiles.

 

“Capture her!!”

With the command of a knight squadron leader, the adventurers shook off their stupor. They charged.

Shedy jumped over the carpet of swords and spears, freezing the wielders. Then she pointed her palm toward the stage and squeezed.

Driven by pure instinct, several knights jumped in front of Tiz’s group to cover for their lords. The veteran knights all collapsed in pools of blood, their old wounds reopened.

“Damn you! What did you do?!”

Aslan roared at the impossible sight.

After her attack, Shedy once again put distance between her and the stage, all the while spreading arctic mist to impede her opponents.

 

“Do not panic! Our enemy is but a cornered rabbit. The mist is weak to wind, use magic to block her escape!”

Being the person with relatively more experience fighting Shedy, Salia gave her orders to the adventurers. She sent a gust of air to blast away the cloak of mist around the rabbit girl. Seeing the sight, several adventurers followed suit and used their own wind magic. Outnumbered, Shedy stopped moving.

Then she pointed both her hands toward the direction of the castle center. Her palms joined together in a motion to crush something.

 

*crack…*

 

Several magicians took notice of the change. They shouted.

“The barrier?!”

The barrier covering the castle holding the Sapling was much sturdier than the one covering the city. Assaults from outside would have to break it, first. But if someone could enter the castle and break the barrier’s magitool, the protection would disappear.

The castle had spare magitools, so they could recover the barrier in just a few hours. The issue here, however, was that they had no idea how the magitool was broken.

 

The disappearance of the barrier prompted a panic among the people. The girl of white, wielder of powers inconceivable, coolly watched with a demonic smile on her face.

Then she melted into the mist. Everyone, from the adventurers to the royalties, were struck dumb by the sight.

And then, several hours later, news of the destruction of the Sapling of their neighboring country Quarrevingts reached them. Once more, she had made fools of them all.

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