I know that writing ‘a kin’ sounds really weird, but please bear with me. Trying to decide on how to translate 眷属 was like the biggest headache ever, since it has connotations of ‘kin’, ‘retainer’, ‘subordinate god’ or ‘messenger’ in terms of a god, ‘offspring vampire’ in terms of a vampire… it’s just hard, you know?

Chapter 19 – The Evil God’s Temptation

When I came to, I was in a pitch dark place with not a single source of light.
Being a place that I had memory of, I checked my clothes in a fluster. …Thank goodness, I’m still wearing them.

The sound of clapping reached my ears, and when I turned that way, there stood the person I expected.
A boy with long black hair… The Evil God that sent me into this world.

“Yo, ‘s been a while.”

With his usual mocking smile, the Evil God spoke to me.

“What do you want?”

“So cold. Even though it’s our touching reunion.”

This isn’t a joke. At the very least, I’m not touched in the slightest. Thinking about it, all of the hardships I went through this year were mostly because of the Evil God in front of me. Truly a god of misfortune.
Being called into this place with this kind of timing gives me nothing but a bad feeling about this.

“Well whatever. The reason I called you here today was just as my earlier applause indicated – I wanted to offer my gratitude and reward for your achievements so far.”

“Gratitude and reward?”

Hearing these unexpected words, I accidentally asked him again. And what does he mean by achievements so far?

“First is my gratitude. It was terribly fun watching you do things. It was just a whim of an idea, but I’m really glad I sent you into this world.”

Jerk.
I had faintly noticed it, but it seems that I really am a toy to this Evil God.

“To begin with, why did you even send me there?”

“If you’re asking why I sent a servant in, then it was to make use of the floating faith to create a kin. As for why it was you, well, you seemed like you’d be interesting.”

“In other words, the fact that I joined the Divine Race was all predetermined?”

“Nah, you’re wrong. It’s true that I made it easier for you, but even I didn’t know if you would become one or not. I was actually pretty surprised you know? To think that you’d become a divine that quickly. Even I didn’t expect it.”

Hearing his reply, I felt a little relieved. If all my actions so far were just dancing on the palm of his hand, honestly speaking, it would have been a major shock.

“And, what would you have done if I hadn’t become a divine?”

“Nothing really? If that time came, then I was gunna think about it then. If you became one then great, I thought, but it’s not like I absolutely needed you to become one.”

I got treated pretty casually, but I’m not particularly angry.

“Is there some merit to creating kin?”

I have Tena and Imperial Death as kin, but they’re useful because they’re my allies. To the Evil God in front of me, I may be his kin, but I don’t intend on serving him, and I don’t intend on doing anything for him either.
Just what kind of merit would there be in creating a kin like me?

“The number of your kin and their quality is like a status symbol, you know. It’s better to have more than less, better to have divines than apostles, and better to have chief gods than stray gods. There’s more value that way. In that sense, given that you have the hegemony in this world, you’re pretty valuable.”

“Have the hegemony?”

Was he talking about the match with Sophia and Anbaal? I lost though.

“Well, there were some developments far beyond expectations, but in the end you gained a lot of 『Authorities』, so it’s fine to say you have the hegemony in this world. What’s important is the result, not the process, so I don’t care who you guys decided won and lost.”

It’s true that because I lost the match and had a lot of work pushed onto me, I had the most 『Authorities』 of us three gods.

“And so, since I saw you working so hard, I thought that I’d give you a little reward.”

“Like I said, reward?”

“Yep. So anyway, about the reward in question… if you want, I can turn you back into a human, and teleport you to Earth.”

*imouto*

───────!?

*imouto*

Hearing these completely unexpected words, I caught my breath.
I can turn back into a human? And not just that, I can go back to my original world?

“Not a bad offer, right? Either way, it’d normally be an impossible reward. If you don’t take it now, there won’t be a second time, okay?”

The Evil God spoke as though pressing me for an answer, but my mind was in so much chaos that I couldn’t really comprehend his words. I tried desperately to calm myself down, and voiced my doubt.

“Even though your objective was to create a kin, is it okay for you to turn me back into a human?”

From our conversation just now, his goal was to create high quality kin, and I achieved that by turning into a divine. But now he was saying that he would turn me back into a human as a reward, and I could only see it as putting the cart before the horse.

“I say turning you back into a human, but strictly speaking it’s splitting your 『Divine Self』 and your 『Human Self』 I guess. Just leaving the 『Divine You』 is plenty as my kin.”

I have no idea how he’d even do something like that, but looking at how casually he said it, he probably really can.
I’ll be able to return to being a human…?

“If the 『Divine You』 stays in this world as my kin, I don’t really need the 『Human You』. Like I said earlier, if you want, I’ll teleport you to Earth.”

Not only returning to being a human, but I’ll even be able to return to my old world…
Up until now, I tried not to really think about it, but the moment I heard his words, it brought up the memories of my family and friends in my old world, and immediately the feelings of nostalgia and longing──

“However, it’ll be a one-way transfer of course. After I teleport you to Earth, I won’t accept you wanting to come back here.”

It felt like cold water had been poured over me.
Wait, that’s…

“Of course, I can’t teleport anybody other than you to Earth. If you choose Earth, then you’ll be saying goodbye to the people here.”

If I return to my old world, then I won’t ever be able to see Tena, Leonora or Lili again. If I cross over to another world, you could call that much obvious, but that reality stabbed deeply into my heart.
My friends and family in my old world, or the people that I met in this world? If I chose one, I had to abandon the other.

I closed my eyes and in my mind I weighed the two on a scale.
The people I spent many months and years with in my old world, and the people I had a short, but meaningful time with in this world.
It was painful to choose either one, and I couldn’t come to a decision.

*imouto*

…That’s how it should have been.
But despite that, the scales in my heart tipped with unnatural ease in one direction.

*imouto*

It really is strange.
Even a while ago when I heard that I could go back to my old world, mysteriously the nostalgia didn’t gush out.
Something was weird. Something important and defining was wrong.

Right. I can’t just eat up this Evil God’s words. That was the mistake I made last time too.
I still don’t know if he intentionally misinterpreted my words, but everything began when he granted my wish in a warped way.
This time it was his suggestion, but there was plenty of risk that he meant something different than what I thought.

Now that I was calm, I thought back on the conversation thus far, and checked to see if there was anything weird.

“Now then, which world will you pick? Earth, or thi──”

“Why?”

“Eh?”

Discovering what was wrong, I cut off his words.

“Why did you not say──

*imouto*

──『return you to your old world』, and say 『teleport you to Earth』 instead?”

“…”

The constant mocking smile from the Evil God’s face disappeared, and he turned expressionless.

Thinking about it, from the moment that we met, he never once mentioned taking me from somewhere else.
I had naturally thought that I had been taken right after the last memories of 『my old world』, so I hadn’t particularly noticed.

Also, I was supposed to have been suddenly taken away from my friends and family, and then sent to another world, so normally you’d expect that I’d want to return, but for some reason I never had that feeling, and even when I heard that I would be able to meet them, I didn’t feel any longing.

And there was one more thing. Right now, I was wearing clothes. Even though last time I was naked. I can’t imagine that the Evil God in front of me was the type who would go out of his way to strip me, so that naturally brings up the question of why I was naked the first time.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Tell me one thing? Is the 『me』 in 『my old world』 doing well?”

*imouto*

*imouto*

“…………………Huhu, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

When I questioned him, the expressionless Evil God suddenly roared with laughter.

“Ahahaha, I’m beat. It’s my loss. Good job noticing, hey? Even though plenty of the humans I’d met so far couldn’t accept it even if they noticed the possibility.”

Aah, his words just verified everything.
I wasn’t born in 『my old world』…

“Yeah, you’re a flesh and memory copy of a girl born in the 『old world』 that you call 『Earth』, and you were something that I created. It’s easier to create kin who end up as divines that way, you see. Incidentally, the girl that was your original is living life normally and doing just fine.”

The reason I was naked last time was because I was literally “naked as the day I was born”. It wasn’t that I was taken there, but that I was born there, so of course I had no clothes.

“In other words, even if I went to my 『old world』 …or rather, even if I went to Earth…”

“There wouldn’t be anywhere that you belonged, and nobody would be waiting for you either.”

My original on Earth was already there, so of course. Even if I went there, at best I’d just be treated as a doppelganger.

“If I hadn’t noticed and chose to 『teleport to Earth』, what would you have done?”

“I wouldn’t have cared, and would’ve 『teleported you to Earth』 just as you wanted.”

That was so close… I almost got trapped by an option that would turn out terribly no matter what.

“Why did you try and trap me like that?”

I asked the Evil God as I glared at him. Even if I glared at him, naturally the effect of my mystic eyes weren’t even a gentle breeze to him.

“Guess you could call it the final test before your reward.”

“Reward…”

Is that thing still valid? But since I only just avoided that nasty trap, I can’t help but look at him with suspicious eyes.

“No, no, this time I’m serious.”

His level of credibility was already zero, but for now I decided to hear him out first before choosing, so I prompted him to continue.

“Having said that though, the reward is the same as before. The second half is gone though.”

What I heard earlier was “change me back to human, and teleport me to Earth”. If the second half was gone, then did he mean that he would grant me just “returning to a human”?

“Of course, it’s a reward so I won’t force you. I’ll give you the choice, so you can choose whatever you want.”

Certainly, it was a reward worth considering.
When I first became a divine it didn’t really feel real, and I tried not to think about it, but over the last year the difference between 『god』 and 『human』 has been getting big. Leaving the Apostle Race Tena aside, Leonora and Lili are both going to age, and eventually die, but only us two are going to be left behind.
If I said that I didn’t want to spend time together with everyone as a human, then it would be a lie.

But because of what happened just now, I couldn’t just simply nod either.

“Doesn’t it have any demerits?”

Leaving aside differences in interpretation aside, if I asked him questions he would answer, and up until now he had never lied before. I proactively questioned him to see if there was anything out of place in order to pick the better option.

“Demerits? Let’s see… Mn?”

The Evil God looked like he was thinking, but he seemed to notice something, because he turned his gaze to my side. I was lured by his reaction too, so I turned to face that way but in the darkness I didn’t see anyt… no, wait, just as I noticed a streak of light running vertically, a strong light suddenly shone in from there.
Getting a bad feeling, I reflexively moved my body away from the line of light.
And when I did, in the very next instant, a beam of light shot in from it, flying past me far into the distance.

“Anri! Are you all right!?”

“I thought I was going to die…”

Where the line of light used to be was a hole from which Sophia charged in with sword in hand. Honestly, I don’t even know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t evaded it.

“Ain’t ya doin’ just fine?”

“I almost got blown away.”

It’s true that I don’t have a single scratch though.
I replied to Anbaal who appeared next, but it seemed that he didn’t know what I was talking about.

“Anri-sama, are you all right!?”

“Are you okay!? …!?”

“Hii!?”

Next, Tena, Leonora, and Lili jumped into that dark space as well, but the moment they met eyes with the Evil God, Leonora immediately fell into a dogeza, and Lili hide behind Tena and clung to her. But well, if they can’t deal with my eyes, then it can’t be helped that they can’t deal with his.

“Though I am late, I hastened to your side. Please command me as you will.”

Last to appear was Imperial Death, clad in a jet black robe, and standing between the Evil God and I. His scythe was already in hand, and he was prepared for battle.

*imouto*

*imouto*

It seems that everybody ran here worried for me but… things were basically over already.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“Although you were pretty close, to think that you even chased her in here.”

For now I calmed everybody down, and we sat around a table the Evil God prepared to continue the conversation.
After explaining what happened so far to everyone, the Evil God let out that line.

“We had Anri’s kin Tena, so we were able to find this place by following the master-servant bond. After that was just a bet on whether or not we could open a hole though.”

“I handed my power over to that overly serious woman, and with two gods’ worth, we finally got in here.”

I’m glad that they did that much to reach me, but I wished that they would remember that following the link meant that I was at the other end of the hole.

“Leaving her friend and kin over there aside, to think that you two would go that far to save her.”

“Of course. It would be troubling for us without her.”

“We finally got a person to push- …to entrust the work to after all. If she suddenly disappeared, we’d be troubled, yanno.”

When they jumped in they seemed seriously worried for me, but although that wasn’t the only reason, let’s leave that all aside. I’m a little shy.

“About the thing earlier, if I turn back into a human, what’s going to happen to Tena and him as my kin?”

Tena turned into my kin from when I gave her the divine protection, but when I turned into a divine she turned into an apostle with me.
Imperial Death became my kin when I gave him my divine protection as the No Life King, but at the time he wasn’t this outstanding. I think he broke through the barrier when I turned into a divine too.
Both of them were affected my by change into a divine. In that case, what would happen if I returned to being a human?

“Your kin will end up choosing either the 『Divine You』 or the 『Human You』. If they picked the 『Divine You』, they stay as they are. If they pick the 『Human you』, they’ll probably return to from before you became a divine.”

“If I choose the 『Human Me』, will I lose my connection with the 『Divine Me』? What about the other way around?”

“They won’t be directly related, but it won’t change the fact that the 『Human You』 is a part of the 『Divine You』. Once your life as a human ends, your soul will unify with the 『Divine You』. In that sense, no matter which you pick, there won’t be much of a difference in a hundred years.”

In other words, it’s the difference between whether we continue to live as divine and apostle, or whether we live a lifetime as a human first?
From a glance there didn’t seem to be any demerits, but since he had zero credibility, I decided to ask the observers.

“Was everything he said true, Sophia?”

“I have never seen a precedent, but I believe the theory is correct. Normally becoming a human from a divine would be impossible, but as somebody who turned into a divine from a human, and who still retains their flesh body, you are an exception. If I were to add another comment, the 『Divine You』 separated from the 『Human You』 would become a purer existence as a divine. We don’t understand kin as being a status symbol, but having a purer kin should be more valuable for him.”

Hearing that and turning to the Evil God, he immediately averted his eyes.
It seems that he purposefully avoided mentioning the merits for himself, but if it was just that much, you couldn’t call it a demerit for me, so I guess it didn’t matter?

“If I choose to return to being a human, what will you two do?”

“I…”

I asked Tena and Imperial Death. Tena seemed at a loss as to how to reply. I wanted to live with her, but I thought that it was something she should decide on herself.

“I think I really will choose the 『Human Anri-sama』　after all. I think that I would be useful in helping her with her everyday needs after all.”

“I see. What about you?”

After hearing Tena’s reply, I turned to Imperial Death next.

“I shall serve the 『Anri-sama as a God』. As an undead to begin with, I feel it would be better than serving by the side of the 『Anri-sama as a Human』.”

He replied unwaveringly. To begin with, he was somebody who worshipped the Evil God, so it was probably an obvious choice.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Now then, guess that’s settled. It’s about to time to ask you what you’ve chosen. Are you going to live as a 『God』, or as a 『Human』?”

After hearing the wishes of my kin, I was asked for an answer by the Evil God.

“I…”

Next up, the final chapter.

Also, it will not be a multi-choice ending. There is only one route.

TL: Odd God, or 『変神』 is read as ‘henjin’ – it sounds exactly the same as for the word 変人 (weirdo), so it’s basically the same as calling her a weirdo.

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Chapter 18 – Conclusion

The mixed party achieved the record of reaching the lowest floor yet, but the last stronghold and 30th floor boss──Imperial Death, defeated them and they failed.
Also, because they were defeated within the dungeon, there was no reason to exempt them from the rule of taking their weapons and items even if they were the Heroes and Demon King, so the Holy Sword, Holy Spear, Holy Bow and Demon Sword were properly collected. Of course, the other items and gold were as well.

And that moment could be said to be the moment that it became impossible for them to conquer the dungeon.

The source of the Heroes’ strength were the Holy Weapons that held Sophia’s blessing, and now that they had been taken away, the Heroes lost most of their strength.
As for Ojisama, it wasn’t as though he was that dependent on his weapon, but as you’d expect, there was a huge difference in fighting strength once he didn’t have the Demon Sword.
With their blessed weapons gone, they had already lost the power needed to conquer the dungeon.

*imouto*

And like that, it spelt the end to the match.

*imouto*

Incidentally, since Sophia and Anbaal demanded the weapons, I was just keeping a hold of them temporarily, and it was decided that I would return them after the match.
Now that I had collected them, they were mine, so I could have ignored the two, but apparently now that the Holy Weapons had Sophia’s blessings they had the function of flying back to the owner when they called for it, and there was nothing more dangerous than weapons flying about the dungeon.
For now I had a hold of them, and tossed them into a room locked from the outside, but from the sounds inside the room you could tell that they were rampaging about. The Heroes were probably continuing to call for them without giving up.
I personally want to return these troubling weapons as soon as possible. Considering the situation, I wouldn’t be able to sell them after all, and I couldn’t use them as dungeon drops either.
The Demon Sword didn’t have that function and so it was behaving, but if I was returning the Holy Weapons, it wouldn’t be fair not to return the Demon Sword. And what’s more, apparently the Demon Sword was passed down each generation, and would one day be passed down to Leonora, so as a friend I felt that I ought to return it.
But well, I really don’t have any obligation to give them back, so it should be fine if I demand some compensation, right?

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

In only thirty minutes, it would be a whole year since the match began.
In order to check up on the 『Proof of Capture』 that I placed on the 31st floor, we all gathered there.

“The 『Proof of Capture』 is…”

“Don’t tell me it’s that?”

Seeing the 『Proof of Capture』, both Tena and Leonora’s expressions cramped. Speaking of which, Sophia and Anbaal already knew, but I never told these two.
There was a round-table-shaped pedestal in the middle of the room, and on top of it was an eerie patchwork doll.
This was the 『Proof of Capture』 that I left here, and was the proxy I used when Leonora first came here; the cursed Tena doll.

Also, since I became a member of the Divine Race myself, I conquered the cursed equipment problem, but that didn’t mean that the curse on the doll itself was gone. Because of that, if anyone but myself or my kin Tena touched it, the doll would be their present – curse and all. Or at least that was my plan.
It’s not like I was thinking something treacherous like “Conquer my dungeon huh? Curse you!” or anything. It was a nuisance though, so I did hope that somebody would take it away though.

“There is only a little time left, isn’t there.”

“Tsk.”

“Hii!?”

Although it basically spelt their defeat when the Heroes and Ojisama lost their weapons, Sophia and Anbaal never declared defeat. But at this point, as you’d expect they had no choice but to give up on victory. Sophia seemed discouraged, but Anbaal was clearly in a bad mood.
Because Anbaal was being too obvious with his irritation, Lili got scared and hid behind my back.

“No invaders are ever going to reach here in time, so I suppose your match is set, huh.”

“Congratulations, Anri-sama.”

Hearing Leonora and Tena congratulate me, my victory finally felt real. In order to pick up the 『Proof of Capture』 as a victory trophy, I headed… or at least I tried to head towards the pedestal, but I stacked it.
Having lost my balance and begun to fall, I looked back and saw that Lili was standing on top of my dress hem. Apparently when she hid behind me in fear of Anbaal, she stood on my dress by accident. Unlike the robe that I used to wear, the dress was pretty long, and if I wasn’t careful, it could get stepped on.
As though being pulled from behind, while I was falling I reflexively reached out to grab the table in front of me, and somehow managed to avoid falling right to the ground.

“Are you all right, Anri-sama!?”

“I-, I’m sorry…”

Tena hurried over to help me up. And Lili… you don’t have to apologise, so please get off my dress.

“Oioi, the hell ya doin’?”

“Well, it seems that you managed to avoid falling.”

Anbaal and Sophia called out to me in astonishment.

“The hem is longer than your old clothing, so if you aren’t careful it’ll be dangerous, you know. Also, you sent the doll flying all this way.”

It happened in an instant so I didn’t realise, but when I grabbed at the table earlier, apparently the cursed Tena doll had been sent flying by Leonora’s feet.
Saying that, she bent over and picked up the doll.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“……………………Ah.”

Seeing that, Tena let out a sound. Everybody in the room heard that, and following Tena’s gaze, we moved our eyes to Leonora.

“……………………Ah.”

“……………………Ah.”

“……………………Ah.”

“……………………Ah.”

Everybody let out the exact same, stupid voice.

“Eh? ……………………Ah.”

Leonora was perplexed by everybody’s gaze suddenly turning to her, but she followed our gazes to what was in her hand, and after realising what it was, she let out the same sound.

“”””””AAAHHHHHH!?””””””

In the midst of this room filled with cries, the teleportation magic activated, and Leonora disappeared.

*imouto*

*imouto*

Leonora, you idiot…

*imouto*

*imouto*

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“I can’t accept this.”

Moving to the round table in the office, that was the first thing I said.

“The winner is whoever has their patroned race touch the 『Proof of Capture』 first, ain’t it? There ain’t any basis for you to complain.”

It’s true that since Leonora is a demon, it’s Anbaal’s win based on the rules. But I can’t accept an accident like that overturning the outcome of the match. To begin with, it all began when he scared Lili.

“What do you think, Sophia?”

“Let’s see. It is true that it was a sloppy way to decide things, but according to the rules, I do not think we can help but acknowledge Anbaal’s victory.”

From her point of view, no matter whose victory it was, she would still be the loser, so I suppose it can’t be helped that she wasn’t interested in changing the rules.
I knew myself that my opinion was at a disadvantage. But, it was a little… no, it was very frustrating.

“A-, Anri… I was wrong, so can’t you forgive me already?”

“No. Continue your seiza.”

A voice called to me from the corner of the room, but I replied a little coldly. It was Leonora, and a little while ago I had her sit in seiza to reflect on her actions.
It was partially my fault as well for having the doll fall from the table, which is why I don’t intend to scold her all that harshly, but even so a large part of it was her carelessness, so I wanted her to reflect.

“Then leaving the seiza aside, could you at least take away this doll…?”

“No. Hold onto it for a while.”

On top of Leonora’s lap as she sat in seiza was the cursed Tena doll. Originally the curse of the doll made it so that once you threw it away, it would suddenly come back to you at some point, but perhaps the curse began stronger while I left it alone, because now it leveled up, and would quickly toddle back to you when you let go of it. Thanks to that, Leonora couldn’t get rid of it even if she wanted, and had been holding it the whole time.

“Well, you can settle things with her however you like. But no matter how it happened, win’s a win, yanno. Know when ta give up.”

“………………Fine.”

At Anbaal’s reminder, I reluctantly accepted my defeat. It was frustrating though.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“And so, guess I better hand out the 『Authories』, ey.”

Saying that, Anbaal sat down at the round table, and a countless number of letters appeared around him. Next, the same thing happened around Sophia.

“These are the 『Sub-Authories』 we have. There ain’t anything new we oughta add to them, so we’ll just be handing over a fraction of the ones we already have to ya.”

“Specifically, what fraction will we be handing over?”

“Let’s see… How ’bout 2/5ths.”

Each of them separated 2/5ths of their 『Sub-Authorities』, and our ratio became 6:6:8, Sophia:Anbaal:myself.

“Then I’m the only one with more. Unfair.”

“As long as it is to an extent that there is no disruption to the balance, there should be no problem.”

It’s true that we had the match because they wanted a little less, so I didn’t intend to complain about the distribution being unfair.
What I was complaining about was that only I was getting more.
The one who won the match was Anbaal, so it should have been fine if he just increased both Sophia and mine, so I couldn’t accept that he targetted only me.

“Why is it just me?”

“You’re the newbie, so dontcha need experience. I’m giving ya work outta the goodness of my heart, so be grateful.”

I glared at him, but Anbaal ignored me with a nonchalant expression.
Or rather, that’s definitely a lie. There’s definitely no mistake that this was revenge for the hardships he had with the dungeon capture.
But it was in the rules that the winner would be deciding the ratios, so since it wasn’t large enough that it destroyed the balance, even if it was frustrating I wouldn’t change a thing even if I made a fuss.

“Well then, how ’bout we go from my Deadly Sin Types. Lessee, I’ll give ya 『Gluttony』, 『Greed』, 『Lust』 and 『Envy』.”

Hah? By Deadly Sins is that the Seven Deadly Sins? So they had the same concept in this world too?
But still, the selection he handed me sure was cruel. I’d better protest.

“I’m not that big of an eater.”

“If a divine who doesn’t even need food eats three meals a day, ain’t that gluttonous enough?”

Being told that, I couldn’t even go “Guu…” in frustration, but lately haven’t you and Sophia been eating three meals too…?

“Then about 『Greed』…”

“No, no matter how ya look at it, it suits you perfectly, right?”

…………Well, I did take an entrance fee, so I guess that can’t be helped.
But the last two definitely do not fit me.

“『Lust』 and 『Envy』 don’t match me.”

“To begin with, it just helps if you have a reference, so it doesn’t even really matter, yanno?”

That’s way too different from what you said earlier.
Or rather, if the Deadly Sins are the same as the Seven Deadly Sins, the only ones left are 『Sloth』, 『Pride』 and 『Wrath』 …He definitely kept those because he thought they were cool, that guy.
Also, that’s not following the ratio. If you say 2/5ths then don’t hand me over half.

“Well then, I shall hand you some from my Virtue Types. I will give you 『Moderation』, 『Thrift』 and 『Endurance』.”

Whoa, whoa, it’s weird once you mix it in with the Deadly Sins. You can’t have both 『Gluttony』 and 『Moderation』 after all.
Also that means she left behind 『Diligence』, 『Chastity』, 『Compassion』, 『Humility』; all the good sounding ones for herself.
While I was in blank amazement at how unreasonable it was, the letters floating around Sophia and Anbaal flew towards me.
Do not want. Do not want, I said.

“Well then, next are the Living Being Types, huh…”

Wait, please wait. At this rate, something outrageous is going too…

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

A few hours later, ignoring me as I lay burn out over the table, Sophia and Anbaal left the room with satisfied expression after completing pushing 『Authorities』 onto me.

“Um, Anri-sama… Are you all right?”

“I’m… not.”

Raising my head in bother, I looked at the words floating around me. They were completely random. Governing over such a hodgepodge of 『Authorities』, I don’t even know if I can be called the Evil God anymore.
In the end, Anbaal said “Since you made this whole bloody mess, this suits ya just fine.” and left the word 『Chaos』 in front of me, so I was completely angry.

*imouto*

『Gained title “Odd God”.』

*imouto*

I heard the 『System』’s voice for the first time in a while, but 『Odd God』? What the heck is 『Odd God』.
You’re supposed at least make it “Chaos God”, right!?

*imouto*

How on earth am I supposed to get rid of this irritation.

“Ummm… C-, Can I stop with the seiza soon?”

And while I was thinking that, what reached my ears was the voice of Leonora, who had been sitting in seiza for the entire time. It seems that the numbness in her legs had just about reached the limit, and just stirring a little would send incredible stimulation down her legs, so she was stuck frozen solid unable to move.
Speaking of which, the reason this happened was half her fault, wasn’t it.

Finding a place to point my sword, I smiled darkly inside, before reaching my fingers out to her legs.

There are two chapters left until the main story is finished.

TL: Odd God, or 『変神』 is read as ‘henjin’ – it sounds exactly the same as for the word 変人 (weirdo), so it’s basically the same as calling her a weirdo.

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Kitaseno-sensei:

It’s the last boss fight.
Please play your choice of BGM.

Chapter 17 – Imperial Death

The large doors creaked as they opened.
With nothing to block it, the overwhelming sense of presence from inside the room increased, and the mixed party faintly trembled before the door.

『…Let us go.』

With the Demon King’s voice, the party came back to their senses, and their vigilance naturally made their steps slow.
Ahead of them was a throne on a platform a step higher than the rest of the room, and upon it sat the lord of the room.
Sitting on the luxurious throne and waiting for the Heroes and demons was a skeleton clad in a jet black robe. He was much smaller than the Black Dragon and Armour of the Evil God, and could only be taken as the size of a normal human. However, the people gathered in that room withered in face of the pressure greater than any of the previous foes.

『…………………』

『…………………』

The party advanced as far as just before the throne, but he merely sat there and gazed at them with his dark, eyeless sockets, and showed no further reaction.
Because of the feeling of pressure that he released, the party found themselves unable to speak first, and waited wordlessly.
In that tense silence that discouraged even clearing their throat, when the party was about to reach their mental limits, the skeleton spoke first.
In a voice that may well have invited death upon anybody with a weak mind, a low voice that seemed to shake the soul, he welcomed them.

『Welcome, my guests. You are the first to have reached here.』

That line was similar to his previous one, but the only one who knew that was Leonora and myself.

『You… “What” are you?』

『Fumu. In the past I may have answered “a King”, but at present I am nothing more than a single servant of my God──Anri-sama.』

『Anri… Evil God Anri?』

The skeleton had quietly replied to the Demon King’s question. Hearing my name, the expressions of the Heroes turned grave.

『So we can take it to mean that you’re the boss here, right?』

『Indeed. I have been appointed by my God as the guardian of this room. Therefore, I cannot allow you to proceed beyond here.』

Hearing the skeleton’s words, their vigilance heightened, and they prepared their weapons.

『Hu-』

『!? What’s so funny!?』

The skeleton laughed at them, and Orlaine gave an exaggerated reaction. It told of her nervousness.

『Not funny, but joyous, …Young Miss.』

『Young-…!? T-, Then joyous about what?』

『As I stated earlier, you are the first ones to have reached this floor. Although it was an honour to be appointed as guardian of this place and I had not an iota of dissatisfaction, it is also the truth that I found it vexing to have no opportunity to display my loyalty to my God. And in this moment, that opportunity has finally arrived; what could this be but joyous?』

Having said that, the skeleton stood up, flicked back his jet back robe, before spreading his arms wide.

『Let us exchange our names; I am Imperial Death. A retainer and kin of my exalted God──Anri-sama, as well as the one appointed as guardian of this room.』

The skeleton──Imperial Death, gave his name, and in response the Heroes held out the weapons that could be called their symbols, and the party members named themselves one by one.

『Hero of the Holy Sword, Arc.』

『Hero of the Holy Spear, Lionel.』

『Hero of the Holy Bow, Orlaine.』

『Demon King, Eligor Romariel.』

『One of the Four Heavenly Kings, Fierce Gale Knight Renarve.』

『Likewise, Bloodfrost General Vikuto.』

Imperial Death gave a satisfied nod in response, and displayed his intent to fight.

『Now then. Come. To demonstrate my loyalty, I shall be your opponent with all my power.』

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

『I’m going to attack!』

『Please leave the support to me!』

The first move was taken by Orlain and Vikuto, who had begun to attack from afar. They released as many arrows as they could at once, and they rained down towards Imperial Death. However, he raised his right hand, and a round barrier appeared, easily blocking the rain of arrows.

『An opening!』

Seeing Imperial Death defend against the arrows, Lionel rushed up and aimed for the torso with his Holy Spear. No matter how overwhelming he might have been, Imperial Death was still an undead. In that case, the Holy Weapon that was effective against undead should have dealt him huge damage. Lionel had attacked with that belief, but the strike was all too easily stopped.

『I-, Impossible…』

With his right hand still maintaining the barrier, Imperial Death blocked the incoming Holy Spear with just his left hand. No, more accurately, he stopped it with just the index finger of his left hand. The brittle-looking finger bone blocked a strike from one of the strongest weapons in the world; seeing that seemingly impossible scene, not only Lionel, but everyone in the room froze. Did this mean that Imperial Death himself boasted greater defence than the Armour of the Evil God?

『If you wish to aim for an opening, then you ought not shout your intentions to do so.』

Saying so, Imperial Death reached out and grabbed the Holy Spear, before casually waving his hand. His strength was impossible to imagine from a mere skeleton the size of a human, and together with his Holy Spear, Lionel was sent flying parallel the ground.

『UOOHHHHHHHH!?』

『Kuh-, make it in time!』

Renarve immediately reacted and ran towards the flying Lionel, before catching him. Had Renarve not been there, Lionel would have hit the wall dozens of metres away, and become unable to fight in that instant.

『Guh-, sorry!』

『It is no big deal.』

Lionel thanked Renarve for saving him, and Renarve shook his head with a smile.

『Watch out!』

『Would I let you!』

While Lionel and Renarve exchanged their short lines, they heard a voice from somewhere else.
Wondering what had happened and turning around, Renarve and Lionel found that right next to them, something black was flying their way at incredible speed. The other voice had come from the direction of the Demon King and Arc, who were attacking Imperial Death with their swords.
Realising that they were saved by a hair’s breath because Imperial Death had been attacked when he was about to fire, Lionel and Renarve got up and ran to join the two engaged with Imperial Death.

『Sorry, you saved me!』

『My apologies, Your Majesty.』

Because Arc and the others were fighting at close range, Orlaine and Vikuto had stopped their attacks and watched for an opening. Because of that, Imperial Death’s free right hand turned to the two he had been fighting with. However, with Renarve and Lionel joining the frame, the situation began to change.
Perhaps because he really could not handle a four-on-one close combat battle, Imperial Death released mana from his whole body, and blew the four away to gain some distance.

『Speaking of which…』

『?』

Just as Arc and the others were about to close the distance to attack again, Imperial Death spoke before they could. Having lost the timing to attack, they could now do nothing but lend him an ear.

『Although I said that I would be your opponent with all my power, if I remain barehanded it would hardly be truth, would it.』

『What-!?』

In front of the surprised party, Imperial Death held his right hand out. The party watched with bated breath. Under his hand, a black pole of some sort came out from his shadows. Grasping it in his right hand and swiftly pulling it out of the shadows, Imperial Death held the weapon with both hands.

It was a single-edged scythe, that was about as long as he was tall. A skeleton clad in jet black robes, holding a scythe… It was the very image of the grim reaper from the legends. It might have seemed ironic that the undead emperor who rejected death was taking the form of the reaper that invited it, but it was probably partially because of the image I had when I gave him the divine protection.

『I have kept you waiting. Shall we continue?』

Hearing this, the party couldn’t make any careless moves. The overwhelmingly powerful barehanded enemy was now holding a weapon. Nobody in the room was foolish enough to not be vigilant about that.

『Whatever is the matter? Will you not come? Then I shall move instead.』

With those words, Imperial Death suddenly disappeared.

『Wha-!? Where did he go?』

They frantically searched for him, but couldn’t find him anywhere. Then in the next moment, in front of the backline support Orlaine and Vikuto, Imperial Death suddenly made his appearance.

『Impossible!』

『It can’t be!?』

Cutting through Vikuto’s promptly made water barrier as though it was paper, and smacking away like a twig the Holy Bow that Orlaine tried to shield herself with, Imperial Death’s swinging scythe cut deeply into the Orlain’s shoulder and Vikuto’s abdomen.

『KYAAH!?』

『Guh- …!!』

『Orlaine!』

『Vikuto!』

The other tried to run up to the two who had collapsed with a cry, but before they could, Imperial Death disappeared once again.

『Kuh-, he disappeared again.』

『Incredible speed… is not, what he’s using. Short distance teleportation?』

『Yes, although this ability is limited to use in the dungeon.』

Hearing the words from behind himself, the Demon King immediately cut backwards without even turning his head.

『Mu-, this will not do. The one who advised against speaking when attacking an opening was I myself, wasn’t it.』

Blocking the Demon King’s swing with his scythe, Imperial Death laughed wryly as he disappeared.

『Kuh-, this is bad! At this rate, it’ll just be one-sided attacks.』

『Take up a circular formation! We will remove our blind spots!』

Following the Demon King’s instructions, Arc, Lionel and Renarve gathered together, and they stood back-to-back so that they could defend against attacks from every angle.

『Where. Where will he attack from?』

The four searched in vigilance, but Imperial Death wouldn’t appear at all. Although they grew tired of waiting, they desperately tried to concentrate, when a voice called out to them.

『Remove all blind angles… huh. Not a bad idea…』

The party turned to the voice, and found that Imperial Death was seated back on his throne, with his right hand aimed towards them.

『However, just because I am holding a weapon, does not by any means suggest that I cannot use magic, you know.』

『!? Scatter!』

Faster than they could react to the Demon King’s voice came a mass of darkness from Imperial Death’s hand, flying towards where they were gathered.
They immediately jumped down on the spot, but Lionel who was closest to the throne was hit, unable to dodge.

『GUAHHHHHHHHHH-…!?』

『Uwah!?』

『Kuh…』

『Nu…』

Lionel was hit terribly hard, and collapsed on the spot with a groan. Although the other three avoided a direct hit, they still received damage from the aftermath.

『Kuh-, what strength!』

『He certainly is far stronger than any enemy before. Even if we continue to fight, our defeat will probably be inevitable.』

『Your Majesty, and also Arc-dono… I will try to block the next attack. Can I leave the offence to you?』

『Renarve!?』

『…Understood.』

Arc raised a shocked voice at Renarve’s determined suggestion, but the Demon King agreed with a stern expression.

『Are you finished with your discussion? Well then, let us continue… No, perhaps it is about time to end it. You all fought well. I shall remember this fight for eternity.』

Muttering this quietly, Imperial Death once again disappeared.
Up until now, they had frantically searched for him when he vanished, but this time they just wordlessly concentrated, swords at the ready. Also, Renarve had closed his eyes quietly, and spread wind magic through the area.

『There!』

Renarve thrust with all his might towards the disturbance in the air flow. Although Imperial Death’s skull made a shocked expression, as he had appeared right before the attack, he calmly dealt with Renarve’s attack and swung his scythe.
If he had retreated then he could have avoided any large damage, but instead Renarve chose to stand there and block the scythe’s attack with his body.

『What-!?』

『Guh-… Now!』

Renarve gave the signal even with his expression twisted in anguish, and Arc responded.

『AHH!』

Imperial Death tried to respond to Arc’s swing of the Holy Sword, but Renarve had gripped the scythe, and unable to block with the scythe, he let go of it and stopped the Holy Sword with his arm.

『Your aim was fine, but I see you lack power… Nu?』

Imperial Death had laughed after blocking the Holy Sword, but after seeing that Arc’s expression was not one of despair, he raised a quizzical voice.

『Then I shall… add to that power.』

The Demon King ran up, and smacked his Demon Sword onto the Holy Sword pressed against the skeleton arm. The impact caused the Holy Sword to push deeply into it, and snapped the arm beneath it.

『NU, OOHHHHHHH!?』

The Holy Sword with two people’s strength had snapped Imperial Death’s arm, and continued to swing down. The flash of the sword had failed to reach the enemy, but it cut into his robe, and black cloth danced through the air.

『Kuh-, he evaded it?』

『But it is a fact that we have pressured him. There is nothing to do but continue to attack… Mn?』

Arc and the Demon King had jumped back to observe their enemy, but seeing Imperial Death’s lack of reaction, the two made puzzled expressions. Looking carefully, he was looking at the ground a small distance away from him, and paid no heed to Arc or the Demon King.
Although he was much too filled with openings, that instead begged suspicion, and the two could not attack. Wondering what was happening, he followed Imperial Death’s gaze, and found that something black was lying there.

『…………r』

『What?』

Noticing Imperial Death’s quiet murmur, the Demon King raised a voice of question, but Imperial Death continued to stare at the floor, completely motionless. The black thing on the ground was part of the robe that had been cut earlier.

『…Cur』

『O-, Oi?』

Hearing the deep, ominous voice that seemed to come from Hell itself, the two of them reflexively flinched.

『CURCURCURCURCUR! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU CUT THE ROBE BESTOWED BY ANRI-SAMA!』

『──────!?』

『──────!?』

Imperial Death began to fly into a rage, and the two of them stiffened at his intense anger.
And then, floating into the air, Imperial Death began to release incredible pressure. But although I say pressure, it wasn’t the type that seemed to put force on the surroundings, and instead the surroundings seemed to be drawn into an invisible ‘something’. Continually sucking and concentrating, that ‘something’ started to be dense enough to see… It was miasma from all across the dungeon.
The miasma was thicker the deeper it was in the dungeon, and on the 30th floor that was close to the very bottom, the air was filled with the thickest miasma. And that miasma was now being drawn into a single undead.
Imperial Death took that concentrated miasma into himself, and his figure changed into something ever more sinister.

『Looks like we stepped on the tail of a dragon, huh.』

『So this is as far as we go…』

In front of the two exchanging their words of resignation, Imperial Death placed the concentrated miasma around his scythe, and he swung.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

(¯¯¯-¯¯¯)
Chudooon.
(eyes closed, facing up to the sky)

The scene was such a tragedy that I couldn’t bear to look, so I closed my eyes, shielded my ears, and accompanied it with a sound effect in my mind.
Wondering if I could open them yet, I had a peek, and found on-screen the tattered Arc and Ojisama lying on the floor. With the collapse of the final party members, the party was now wiped out.

Wondering why there was no reaction, I looked at the people in the room, and found that everyone had their mouths hanging open in a daze. Since it was a climax, everyone was here today, but every single one of them was dumbfounded.
Seeing this, I decided to stealthily head to the exit.

“Stop.”

But my efforts were fruitless, and I had the nape of my neck violently caught by Sophia.

“What on earth is that?”

“What, you ask? It’s the other kin that I told you about earlier.”

When I replied as such, Sophia gave a deep sigh.

“No matter how I look at it, that is no regular kin. Isn’t he already close to reaching the realm of a divine? That has to be foul play, right!?”

“There was no rule like that.”

“No, I have to agree with her, yanno? That ain’t something a human or demon can stand up to, right?”

“But even so, I’m not breaking the rules.”

“To begin with, why does somebody who just became a divine have a kin that became something like that?”

“She’s got a point, yanno. Unless a kin with terribly strong faith spends a few hundred years like that, then they basically ain’t gunna turn into something like that, but…”

“Well I don’t know why he’s like that either.”

I thought things would turn out like this. Since he completely ignores words like prudence or restraint, I thought that Sophia and Anbaal would get mad if they found out about him so I was really depressed when I realised that the mixed party had made it this far.
But there’s no option left to me except talking back.
It’s true that it wasn’t breaking the rules, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

Side-stepping Sophia and Anbaal’s questioning, while avoiding Tena, Leonora and Lili’s stares, I silently came to that conclusion all by myself.

Mixed party was defeated!
Anri obtained Holy Sword, Holy Spear, Holy Bow, Demon Sword!

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Chapter 16 – Boss Rush

The top floors of the “Holy Land of the Evil God” were built as an orthodox dungeon.
The monsters and traps were normal, and more annoying than the dungeon itself was the miasma, but it wasn’t as though there were fatal traps, and as long as they were properly prepared, it wouldn’t be impossible for a high level adventurer party to conquer them.

Following that, the middle floors were completely different and were floors that focused on solving puzzles. In exchange for a huge decrease in monsters and traps, various puzzles lay in wait. Unlike the top floors, it was impossible to break through with simple battle power.
A dungeon like this was the only one in this world, and the lack of know-how on how to conquer it was one of the reasons for the heightened difficulty.

Then what about the lower floors that awaited beneath it?
It didn’t have ferocious traps; on the contrary, there wasn’t a single one. It didn’t have complicated puzzles either. The miasma was something that became stronger the deeper you went, but that was it.
However, even compared to the upper floors and middle floors, the difficult of the lower floors were far higher/.

The reason was extremely simple──the monsters were strong.

The monsters that appeared in the top and middle floors were stronger than those in other dungeons, but they were a miscellaneous lot that would respawn infinitely, so no matter how strong they might have been, there was a limit.
But on the other hand, the monsters that appeared on the lower floors were…

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“What is the meaning of this, Anri!?”

“This ain’t what we agreed on, yanno!”

Seeing the lower floors on-screen, Sophia and Anbaal came screaming at me.

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you intending to play the fool? I was speaking of those monsters… Aren’t they unique monsters! According to the rules, you were only allowed to summon a single dragon.”

“Boldly breakin’ the rules like this. You sure got guts, huh.”

The reason they were angry was because they saw the strength of the monsters on the lower floors.
Vampire Lord, Dragon Zombie, High Spectre, Ogre Zombie… The screen depicted an abnormal scene where high level undead that might normally be bosses in other dungeons were appearing as regular monsters.
Of course, they were miscellaneous monsters that spawned endlessly, and it goes without saying each of them was a unique monster without exception.

“『During the duration of the match, Evil God Anri will not summon additional monsters. However, a single dragon is permitted.』”

“AAHN?”

“That’s right. Did we not clearly decide on the rules already!”

Right; the rules meant that I wasn’t able to summon unique monsters. With Vnee as an exception though.
But if you were asking if I broke the rules, then that wasn’t the case either.

“I’m not breaking the rules.”

“Eh?”

“Watcha mean?”

“I’m not breaking the rules, because the one who summoned those 『wasn’t me』.”

Right. In the end, the rules only stated that it was against the rules for “me to” summon. It stated “Evil God Anri” in the writing. The rules didn’t forbid somebody “other than me” to summon unique monsters. Because of that, somebody other than me summoning unique monsters was still consistent with the rules.

“Wha-? Are you saying that there is somebody other than you who can summon that many monsters?”

“The 30th floor boss, my other kin.”

“Your other kin, you say?”

Right, it was the former 10th floor boss No Life King after I gave him my divine protection and made him my kin.
To begin with, as the king of all undead, he had the ability to summon lower class undead, but even after he evolved into something else due to my blessing, that ability was in good health. Rather, you could say that it was strengthened.
He could even summon a Vampire Lord who should have been the same tier as him back when he was still the No Life King, and he had these undead stationed between the 21st and 29th floors.

“It is true that it wouldn’t be strange for a divine’s kin to be capable of such a thing, but… don’t you feel that you are being a little sly?”

“I’m not breaking the rules.”

“Well yeah, ya aren’t, but…”

Sophia and Anbaal still looked a little dissatisfied, but they reluctantly accepted it since it wasn’t breaking the rules.

*imouto*

“But still, that is quite the gathering of fairly high-class undead, isn’t it.”

“The 30th floor boss is an undead, so that’s natural.”

“No matter how our match goes, it’s basically settled that your patroned race is gunna be all the undead, ey?”

By patroned races, Sophia’s is 『the Human Race』, Anbaal’s is 『the Demon Race』, and mine is 『Undead』 huh? I don’t particularly like undead or anything, and zombies and rotting ones like that are actually something I’m bad with, but since it fits the image of an Evil God, I can’t find any words to reply with.

“…I’ll think about it.”

“Yeah, do so.”

“But Anbaal. As long as the undead are not high-class, almost all of them lack a will. Will the faith she gathers from them not be quite trivial?”

“Well yeah, but it ain’t a big deal. Once she combines it with 『Fear』, it ain’t bad, right? Undead themselves are pretty feared, after all.”

“I see. That is certainly true.”

Personally, I would prefer not to be more feared than I already am but… being feared gets me more faith, so my feelings are a little complex.
Having thought that far, I remembered a question about faith that I had been wanting to ask Sophia for a while now.

“I remembered it since you mentioned faith, but are you okay with the humans that turned into my followers?”

She’s in charge of the Human Race and they’re the basis for her faith, but the Pope and the humans of this country worship me instead. Wouldn’t she look unkindly upon it? Or so I’ve been wondering.

“It would trouble me if they increase too much, but just a portion of them is fine. Moreover, rather than being faithful towards you, they were closer to rejecting faith towards myself, so the responsibility lies with me.”

“I see. Then that’s great.”

It’s true that they weren’t originally faithful towards me, but rather that they were rebelling against the Church of Sacred Light, and I just sort of hijacked it. As the darkness that’s naturally born from light, although their beliefs were in the form of rejection, you could say that they did believe in Sophia in a way.

“Guess since ya had the right attributes as a divine, it worked out. Tough stuff. Well, I did have some problems when you first popped into this world though.”

“………………Eh?”

Hearing this for the first time, I accidentally let my voice leak out. They noticed me from that long ago?

“You knew about me?”

“Well of course we did. From a long time ago, visitors from another world have not been particularly rare, but even amongst them, you were by far the most different, after all. Most of them had the light attribute, but you…”

“And it wasn’t even a simple darkness attribute, yanno? To begin with, even though basically all the visitors have appeared on a magic circle on our end, you completely ignored that and forcefully came in here, so you stood out.”

“I was just sent in here.”

It’s not like I came here of my own will. I was just forcefully sent here by that Evil God.

“We understand that much. At the very least, when you had first arrived in our world, you did not have enough power to cross the walls of the worlds.”

“Just as we were thinking that we’d just watch ya for a bit, ya suddenly turned into a divine, so we were pretty anxious at the time, yanno?”

That wasn’t my intention either. It was all things that couldn’t be helped.

“After that I was on guard more, but all ya did was gather followers, or create a country, or spread a scripture, and nothing particularly suspicious.”

“There were some points of doubt, but it was fact that there was a new Administrator. It would not have done to ignore the issue of 『Authorities』 so we decided to come into direct contact with you.”

“You’re telling me this now because you trust me more?”

“Well, at the very least we have confirmed that you yourself have no schemes.”

“Personality sucks though.”

Quiet, Anbaal. Also I don’t want to hear that from you.

“From the way you said that, you mean that somebody other than me is scheming?”

“The intention of the one that sent you in here is unknown, after all. Did you hear anything from them?”

“…Nothing at all.”

Being asked that by Sophia, I searched my memories, but couldn’t remember hearing anything in particular from when I was sent in here by that Evil God. He didn’t tell me what to do in this world either.

“Considering that he did not contact you before, nor after you became a divine, should we perhaps consider it as a mere whim…?”

“Well, can’t hurt to be cautious, ey?”

“Indeed.”

“Got it.”

It’s true that I don’t know anything about that Evil God. I don’t know if I’ll ever know why I was sent into this world, but I’ll bear it in mind.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

The monsters that appeared on the lower floors were all high-class undead. And the strength of each one was on par with the old No Life King. Considering that No Life King was more or less on par with Leonora, the party was facing a group of enemies that all had the strength of a Heavenly King.
If it was just one battle, then the mixed party with both the Demon King and two of the Four Heavenly Kings would probably have the advantage. But once they repeated the fighting over and over, they would eventually grow tired, and it was clear as day that the disadvantage would fall to the challengers.

…That’s what I thought.

After crossing swords with the monsters and then leaping back in retreat, Ojisama spoke to Arc.

『It seems that the weapons used by you lot would be more effective on these.』

『Arc.』

『What?』

『My name. Not ‘you lot’, but Arc.』

Ojisama looked at Arc’s expression with a dubious expression, but perhaps eventually sensing his intention, he gave a manly smile and brandished his sword.

『Hmph, very well. Then Arc, this will be the opposite of the time with the Living Armour earlier. I shall cut open a path, so you put them down.』

『Leave it to me!』

Arc and Ojisama──

『Can’t be helped. I’ll support ya.』

『Hmph, somebody of your calibre is going to support me?』

『Heh! Aren’t you the one bumping into me by accident?!』

『I would not commit such a blunder!』

Lionel and Vikuto──

『You were, Miss Orlaine, weren’t you.』

『M-, Miss!?』

『I shall take care of all the enemy attacks, so I would like to have you concentrate on attacking.』

『…Yes!』

Orlaine and Renarve──

Each of them paired up, and began attacking the enemy in combination. Certainly, making use of the Heroes’ Holy Weapons against the undead was the best strategy. But who on earth could have predicted that these two groups that should have been hostile until just a few days ago could work together this well.

Seeing them get along so well was instead making me worry about the future.
They look so close that in the worst case, Ojisama might even say something like “Hmph, falling in a place like this is pathetic. Were you not going to defeat me?” and save the Heroes in a pinch.
Or maybe on their journey together they would realise the existence of the mastermind, or some great evil, and stand together as companions to defeat it or something… Wai-, isn’t that exactly this situation?

No, no, whether it’s ‘mastermind’ or ‘great evil’, neither of them fit me no matter how you think about it, so it has to be different. Leaving my public image aside.
While I was thinking about such things, the mixed party pushed back against the pressure of the monsters.

Ojisama opened a path with his flames, and Arc leapt in with determination and cut at the Vampire Lord.
Weaving skilfully through the gaps created by Vikuto’s ice arrows, Lionel stabbed at the Dragon Zombie.
Renarve parried the High Spectre’s magic with a sword clad in wind magic, and protected by him, Orlaine hit it with light arrows.

It was a scene worthy of being sung in legends or myths.

『Alright! Found the stairs!』

『Jump in in turn! Our objective is not to defeat the monsters, but to advance ahead!』

『You guys can go right ahead, leave the rearguard up to me!』

『Renarve, Miss Orlaine, please go ahead first!』

『Understood!』

『Y-, You’re calling me ‘Miss’ as well…? Geez, understood!』

This was only the 21st first floor, and with all the floors up until the 29th, the road ahead was still long. Normally, seeing them struggle so much on the first floor, you wouldn’t imagine them reaching the bottom floor no matter what. But for some reason I basically expected that they would reach there.

It seems that I might finally need to prepare myself for the worst.

It’s a rule that the early game bosses appear in the end of the dungeon as normal monsters, after all.

No Life King-sama? He’s still in the middle of warming up.

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Sitting with one knee raised =

Chapter 15 – Armour of the Evil God

Observing the dungeon capture was basically an everyday routine to me now, but the people joining me always changed. I basically watched every single day, but the most frequent observers after me were Sophia and Anbaal, and then Leonora, Lili and Tena.
Today there just happened to be more people than usual, and almost everyone was gathered and sitting on chairs in my office while watching the screen.
Lili was sitting on Sophia’s lap, while Leonora was waiting on Anbaal next to him just like last time. And Tena was standing behind me… or so I’d like to say, but unfortunately she had something else to attend to, and wasn’t here.
How strange. Even though this is supposed to be a Home Game, it feels like I’m the Away Team.

“So Esteemed Father and the others have made it to the 20th floor today, huh.

“Took damn long, huh…”

“Yes, honestly…”

Perhaps feeling cornered by the last few days of puzzle solving, Sophia and Anbaal looked a little worn out. Well, members of the Divine Race shouldn’t be tired from just that much, so it was probably my imagination.

“Good work.”

“…Phew.”

“…Hahh.”

Hm? I was sure they were going to say “I don’t want to hear that from you!” or a reaction like that, but the two just gave deep sighs and didn’t react any further.
It seems that they were a lot more dejected than expected.

“So Anri, there is a boss on the 20th floor as well, is there not?”

“Of course.”

“If I remember right, wasn’t it a living armour or somethin’?”

“Mn, that’s right.”

“Compared to the 10th floor boss, sounds a lot more ordinary, don’t it?”

“Really?”

Was it ordinary? Whenever I look at it, I really can’t feel that way.

By the way, although they’re called ‘Living Armour’, there are actually two main types.
There are the living armour animated by a remaining grudge that are closer to undead, and then the living armours that are animated by magic that are closer to golems. Also, they’re titled ‘living’ but neither are actually living organisms.
The one stationed as the 20th floor boss was the latter; a Living Armour similar to a golem.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

The mixed party vigilantly stepped into the boss room when the door automatically closed behind them. Orlaine was preoccupied with the shut door for a moment, but quickly turned her focus to what was in front of her.

『That’s…』

『The owner of this room, I suppose.』

In the middle of the empty room a few dozen metres in front of them stood something with eye-catching presence. Sitting with one knee raised, it was a huge set of jet black armour with a height of five metres.

“Oi, wait a moment. How the heck is that a Living Armour.”

“Mn?”

Watching the boss in the middle of the screen, Anbaal questioned me with a spasming mouth.

“No, I mean, yeah, I don’t wanna admit it but it’s a Living Armour, but no matter how you look at it that ain’t normal, right?”

“It has not retained its original form, but that is orichalcum isn’t it.”

“Not just that. She freaking hardened the thing to hell with divine protection.”

The two of them were mostly correct. The 20th floor boss was an orichalcum-type Living Armour that I gave my divine protection to. Anbaal said “freaking hardened the thing to hell” but all I did was give it divine protection the way I usually do, so I didn’t do anything special.
When I summoned it, it was a set of white armour a little bigger than the size of a human, but because of the divine protection it turned black and more than doubled in size. On top of that it was an orichalcum type to begin with so it already had high strength and magic resistance, but these rose as well.

The result was the 20th floor boss──Armour of the Evil God: Anril Armour.

As they approached it, the Anril Armour stood up, and raised its sword and shield. Although the movements were smooth, they were somewhat mechanical. Now that its entire figure was clear after standing up, the mixed party became even more vigilant. Although it wasn’t as strong as the Black Dragon, even so it was plenty big enough to be called gigantic. And being gigantic meant that it made for an even bigger threat.

『Brace yourselves, Renarve, Vikuto. With some bad luck, it may even be above the dragon from before.』

『Yessir. I understand.』

『I see. This may become quite a tricky one.』

The Demon King side were the first to ready themselves for combat. At Ojisama’s warnings, Renarve and Vikuto both kept an eye on the Anril Armour’s movements, whilst taking up combat positions so that they could deal with whatever happened.

『Let’s go Lionel, Orlaine! I’ll leave the support to you guys.』

『Gotcha.』

『Understood. Please leave it to us.』

The Hero side took their formations as well, with weapons at the ready. Seeing their weapons, I suddenly had a question, and turned to Sophia.

“Speaking of which, what are the Holy Sword and Holy Spear made of?”

“They are also made from orichalcum. They have my divine protection as well, but it mainly focuses on the protection of their users, and does not increase their power very much.”

“The sword that the current Demon King’s using is the same. But well, I wasn’t really thinking about their safety or whatever, so I focused it on power though.”

It’s kind of turned into an ‘Orichalcum and Divine Protection Fair’.
They’re all the same in that they’re orichalcum with divine protection, but since the focus of the blessing was different, that will probably become important. The divine protection on the Anril Armour was focused on defence so from what I’ve heard, it’ll probably be hard for the Heroes to do any damage with the weapons they’re holding. The key to this match will be Ojisama’s Demonic Sword, due to the offensive divine protection on it.
Renarve and Vikuto’s attacks probably won’t even damage it.

『Kuh-! So hard!』

『Unfortunately, it appears that it would be best that we focus on supporting Your Majesty.』

Renarve had aimed for the opening created when the Anril Armour blocked Vikuto’s ice arrows, but he grimaced at the feedback from the impact, and immediately withdrew to avoid the counterattack.
After attacking just once they noticed that their attacks had no effect, so the two Heavenly Kings immediately switched to harassment and support.

『Hah!』

With the support of the two, Ojisama began to attack. The strike succeeded in wounding the Anril Armour, but despite the fact that Ojisama’s attack was enough to force back the Black Dragon, the Anril Armour simply stood on the spot and countered with a swing of its greatsword.

『Kuh-!?』

Promptly taking the blow with his Demon Sword, Ojisama was sent flying through the air, and twisting his body, he landed.

『Are you all right, Your Majesty!?』

『I am fine. More importantly, what a troublesome opponent. Unlike the dragon, it is not a living being, and does not falter in the face of attacks.』

『It doesn’t seem that the Hero side are managing to do much damage either.』

At a loss as to how to continue, the Demon King side exchanged their opinions while they continued to distract it.
On the other hand, just as Vikuto said, the Hero side weren’t making any progress either.

『So hard! This is even more troublesome than the dragon!』

『Even my Holy Spear can only make scratches like that!?』

『It vexes me to say this, but my Holy Bow doesn’t seem like it will damage it.』

Orlain’s Holy Bow itself was orichalcum, but was not something you used to directly attack, and made use of mana to attack with light arrows. No matter how even the bow might have been in material, it was something that used magic attacks, so it wouldn’t make much impact on the Anril Armour.
Arc’s Holy Sword and Lionel’s Holy Spear were doing damage at least, but they were by no mean large wounds.

『Vikuto, do you have no plans?』

『Let’s see… From what I can see, the enemy seems to react automatically to our attacks. The proof is in the fact that it reacts to every attack from Renarve and I without fail, even though we do no damage. I believe that our best option may be in having the two of us distract it, while Your Majesty attacks through the openings in its counterattacks.』

『I see. Then we shall go with that.』

『Understood.』

After promptly deciding on their strategy, the Demon King side ran into action.
Vikuto shot an ice arrow towards the Anril Armour’s head, and it raised the shield in its left hand to block. Aiming for the opening below the shield, Renarve immediately ran by its feet and slashed. Of course, the slash did no damage at all in the face of the Anril Armour’s defensive power. But the Anril Armour reacted to the attack, and countered by swinging a sword down at Renarve.

『OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!』

Aiming for that large opening, Ojisama jumped in as Renarve retreated with wind magic, and he swung his Demonic Sword with all his might. The attack struck against the Anril Armour’s torso, and succeeded in causing the biggest wound yet.

『Fumu, it seems like this will work.』

Perhaps realising that it would be dangerously to aim for another attack against the Anril Armour that didn’t hesitate from taking damage, Ojisama decided on hit-and-run tactics and temporarily retreated.
In the end, the Anril Armour only reacted mechanically, so as long as you attacked, it would continue to earnestly respond to you. Because of that, just by repeating the tactic from earlier, Ojisama was able to stack up damage.
Although they weren’t coordinating, the Heroes’ attacks served as perfect distractions as well, and the number of wounds on the jet black armour continued to increase.

*imouto*

“At first I wondered how things might progress, but the situation appears favourable, doesn’t it.”

“Yeah. As long as they keep repeating this, they’ll probably win.”

“Well, as expected of Esteemed Father and the rest, perhaps I should say.”

“…?”

Sophia and Anbaal were watching the mixed party’s valiant struggle as though they had already won, and Leonora agreed while looking my way in worry. Lili didn’t seem to know what was going on, and tilted her head in wonder.

So naïve.
I had used a revelation, and gave orders to a certain person.

*imouto*

『Mu?』

The first to notice was Renarve. Next, both Vikuto and Orlaine noticed as they were watching from afar, and then finally Ojisama, Arc and Lionel.

『The movements… have changed?』

Up until now, the Anril Armour had reacted even to ineffective attacks like Renarve, Vikuto and Orlaine’s, but now it had begun ignoring them and instead changed its target to the damaging Ojisama, Arc and Lionel.

That wasn’t the only change. With sword still in hand, the Anril Armour raised its arm, and from it a number of shadow bullets assaulted the party.

『Kyah!?』

『Whoa! So close!』

『Impossible! An armour with no will using magic!?』

『Impossible! …That armour?』

The mixed party was shocked that the Anril Armour fired darkness magic. Using the openings from their frozen surprise, the Anril Armour swept its greatsword towards Arc and Lionel.

『Gugu… Uwah!?』

『Fuck! …Gahu-!?』

The Holy Sword and Spear managed to stop it for just an instant, but the large difference in power and size sent them flying a few metres away. Lionel was unfortunately sent flying towards a wall, so he ended up crashing into it.

*imouto*

“Oi, the fuck you do?”

“There is somebody inside that armour, isn’t there.”

With the change in the Anril Armour’s behaviour, Anbaal and Sophia sent questions my way.

Sophia’s guess was right. The Anril Armour is an armour set that’s animated by magic, but there are two ways it can do so. Up until now it had been on autopilot mode, and was following a set pattern. Because of that, its behaviour was mechanical. In contrast, right now it was using manual mode and was being directly piloted. Because of that, it was able to adapt its behaviour to the situation, and it was able to use magic too.
However, the people able to pilot it were limited, and unless they were my kin, it was impossible to move it.

“Speaking of which, I’ve been wondering why I haven’t seen Tena around but… it can’t be…”

“Tena-oneechan?”

Right. The reason Tena wasn’t participating in our peeping party was because of that. As a member of my kin who could use darkness magic as well, Tena easily met the requirements needed to pilot the Armour of the Evil God: Anril Armour. She’s gentle and not really suited for combat, but to begin with we weren’t killing in this battle, so in that regards, I could rest easy with her as the pilot.
The only problem was that she didn’t have much combat experience, but unlike a direct battle with her body, this time she was piloting the armour, so you could even say it was better than she didn’t have any battle experience. A skilled warrior might have been bewildered by the huge difference in feeling, but there was no need to worry about that with Tena.

『This does not bode well. The movements are completely different from a while ago.』

『Yes. Using the same tactics will not work. It ignores Vikuto and I.』

『So we can’t distract it any more, huh. Unless we do even a little damage, it will probably not work…』

Saying that, Vikuto glanced in Arc and Lionel’s direction.
Since Renarve and Vikuto couldn’t damage it enough to distract it, they needed somebody who could damage it enough to allow Ojisama to get a real hit in. And the only ones there who could do something like that were the Heroes.

『Your Majesty…』

『Nu… I suppose it cannot be helped.』

With Vikuto’s silent suggestion, Ojisama nodded with a reluctant expression, and approached Arc and Lionel without failing to watch out for the Anril Armour.

『Oi.』

『Demon King?』

Noticing that the Ojisama had approached and called out to him, Arc replied in wonder.

『I shall only say this once. We need your power to defeat him and advance. …Lend us a hand.』

『Don’t fuck with us, who the hell is going to… Arc?』

Lionel had reflexively refused, but before he could finish, Arc held up a hand to stop him.

『What do we need to do?』

『Oi, Arc!?』

『You already get it too, don’t you, Lionel? We can’t beat that thing alone.』

『That’s…』

Unable to react to Arc’s persuasion, Lionel fell silent. It was truth that although the Anril Armour wasn’t impervious to their attacks, they could only leave scratches at best. No matter how many times they attacked by themselves, it was impossible to defeat the Anril Armour.

『Aah, damnit! I got it. I’ll help out too!』

『Hmph.』

In the end, Lionel folded, and they faced the Anril Armour again, Arc and Lionel at the front, and Ojisama at the back.

『Leave the offence to me. You lot bring out an opening with his attacks!』

『I don’t have a damn choice, so I’ll do it, but just this once, got it!』

『Let’s go!』

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Huh? They suddenly started getting along…?
While I was watching the drama unfolding onscreen with a faraway look, Sophia began letting out a a voice of admiration from behind me.

“I had no idea Anri. You gave them a trial in order to reconcile them?”

“Oh? So ya do have a good idea from time to time.”

“You sure thought it through, Anri.”

“Anri-sama, you’re amazing.”

Eh? Nono, what kind of merit would that hold for me? Or so I wanted to say, but seeing Lili’s pure eyes of admiration, it became really hard to.
Without thinking a thing, I just continued to stare at the screen. While I was doing so, a frantic and cornered voice arrived at my ears.

『Anri-sama, I can’t anymore! I can’t hold on any longer!』

The owner of the voice was Tena, who was currently being exposed to fierce attacks from the Heroes and Demon King. Of course, the one taking the attacks was the armour outside so Tena herself wasn’t injured, but once the Anril Armour broke, she’d be in danger as well.

『Well done. You can come back now.』

Either way, it didn’t seem like she would be able to stop them anyway. After judging so, I teleported Tena from inside the Anril Armour to the office we were in.

“I-, I thought I was going to die…”

Stroking the slightly teary-eyed Tena on the head, I turned to look at the screen and found that the Anril Armour was quickly being wounded now that it had returned to autopilot mode. It was only a matter of time before it broke.

The middle floors were broken through as well. I finally had my back to the wall.
The only ones left were the lower floors, so I was a little anxious now.

TL: I think you’ve already guessed, but the name of the Living Armour is basically a stupid pun on “unreal”, and perhaps a stupid pun on “mithril”.
Also, generally if the stuff at the top and bottom of page is in italics, it’s me, Estelion.

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