Chapter 15 – Last Boss Battle

Another few days have passed since the shiver-inducing hero party invasion.

Their actions which betrayed my expectations in an odd way, and the anti-climax coupled with the tension gave me an intense sense of wasted energy. To damage the dungeon master without even fighting… The Hero is fearsome.
Those muscleheads can just stay as hero(lol)es.

But there’s one thing that I realised.
In my old world, solving puzzles in dungeons was a matter of course, but in this world, that isn’t the case. I unexpectedly drove off the hero party, but thinking about it, the dungeon’s level of difficulty rising means that the level of my safety rises, so it’s something I should welcome.
And so, I’ve decided to try remodelling the 11th to 20th floors by adding puzzles and gimmicks.
While recalling the tricks in an RPG I played long ago and using it as reference, I gave adding in various things a try. Quizzes, moving floors, rotating floors, rail carts, switches that you need to press in order, places where you need to fall into the hole on purpose or you won’t progress, invisible floors, 2 containers that you have to balance the water levels for, corridors that will infinitely send you back to the start unless you follow a certain path…
Mn, I might have gone a bit over the top. Well, it is something I’m betting my life on, so there’s probably no need to hold back. At the very least, that Hero Party probably won’t reach the bottom floor for their entire lives.
Ah-, of course I’ve replaced the stolen stone slabs too.

Just as I finished remodelling, feeling satisfied, the sound of the alarm resounded in my ears.
Another person has gotten to the 4th floor… Wai-, it couldn’t be that the Hero Party is already back, could it?
Thinking that, I looked at the screen, when I found that a beautiful girl with long silver hair flowing behind her was reflected on the screen. The girl who wore a red outfit that gave the impression of being a mix of a dress and a set of armour wasn’t using a sword, and instead ripping apart black iron golems with her bare hands.

Name:  Leonora Romariel
Race:    Demon Race
Sex:       Female
Age:      16
Job:       Magic Boxer
Level:   24
Title:      Demon King Successor

“Demon King…?”

First the Hero, now the Demon King!? Is this dungeon cursed or something? Wai-, looking carefully, it wasn’t “Demon King” but “Demon King Successor”. Since it’s a successor, could she be his daughter or something?

It’s my first time seeing somebody from the demon race, but ignoring the fact that she’s an incredible bishoujo, there’s no difference with humans appearance-wise. But that power is on a different level. So far there have been other intruders of her level, but however you look at it, she seems even stronger than the Hero Party from the other day.
It seems that for a level, each race has their own strength, and it seems that even on the same level, their strength can differ based on their race. To begin with, a person who can make it to the 4th floor by themselves is totally estranged from the human level 20s.
Terrifyingly, she’s erasing the wraiths with her bare hands even though physical attacks shouldn’t work on them… Wai-, that’s impossible.
Ah, could it be that she’s attacking with mana clad around her hands? In that case, I can assent to her being able to touch a spirit. Either way, it’s not the act of a human though.

『Hmph, is this it?』

Miss Leonora muttered to herself as she dusted her hands against her dress armour. Seeing that majestic and dignified attitude of hers, if it wasn’t for the fact that I saw her ‘Demon King’s Successor’ title, I might have mistaken her for a battle maiden.

『Going from just this, it seems that this dungeon master that calls themselves the Evil God isn’t a big deal, huh. Before long I’ll reach them and beat them down, and make them regret picking a fight with our demon race.』

Pardon?
It seems that I’m getting some incredible hatred for something I have no idea about. Call myself the Evil God? When did I do something like that? She’s the first demon I’ve ever met, so there’s no way I have any memory of picking a fight with them.
Unaffected by my confusion, she found the stairs that led to the 5th floor and continued down.

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The energy she had in advancing was incredible, and she made way downwards at the incredible speed of 1 floor an hour. All the monsters she met on the way were destroyed with just one blow as well, and she didn’t slow down at all.
I hadn’t even imagined that somebody would hit the 10th floor today.

『Hmhmph, did you think a child’s game like this could stop me?』

Unlike a certain Hero(lol), she cleared the 10th floor pedestal puzzle. Hmm, what’s with this? Even though she broke through my puzzle, I want to thank her.
Let’s not mention that it made her agonise for close to an hour.
Upon putting the 3 stone slabs into the pedestal, the wall in front of her split into 2 halves, and opened the way to the audience hall.

『So it is finally time to meet you.』

Miss Leonora stepped into the audience room without hesitation. At the end of the luxurious red carpet lay an elevated throne, upon which say the King of the Undead.

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

『I see. So you’re the No Life King mentioned on the pedestal? It seems that you have what it takes to be arrogant, huh.』

To Miss Leonora who was standing right in front of the throne and gazing at him, the No Life King spoke to her magnanimously. This was the first time that Miss Leonora looked nervous.

『Indeed, the one before you is the one who governs many retainers, the King of the Undead. Even in the face of a Demon King, I have no intention of kneeling.』

『It seems that you know what I am. I originally planned on just beating you down, but I’ve changed my mind. You can just quit being a dungeon master, and serve I who will one day inherit the throne.』

『I said that I would not kneel. Do not push your luck, lass.』

Despite speaking quietly, the tension between the two reached its climax.

『Then I’ll make you submit by force!』

『Come. Adding the daughter of a demon king to my retainers would also be amusing!』

The air of tension that had continually built up was ripped apart when the two fired their magic, and a fierce battle began.

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The battle was fierce to the extreme.
When the No Life King shot darkness bullets, Miss Leonora dodged them, and when Miss Leonora let out flames to occupy him, the No Life King used his summoned zombies and skeletons as a shield. High level undead like dullahans and spectres were also summoned and surrounded Miss Leonora, but with mana wrapped around her hands, dense enough that it was visible, she mowed them down without hesitation.
It looked like Miss Leonora had the upper hand, but as the battle dragged on, that situation changed. The No Life King and his retainers weren’t living so they didn’t get tired, but even if Leonora was a demon, she was still alive, meaning that she had a limit to her stamina and a long fight was something she ought to avoid.
When there was a gap in her concentration because she was out of breath, one of the dullahan’s arms that had been cut off grabbed her ankle. Because of the unexpected hand, Miss Leonora lost her balance and fell diagonally. The No Life King who excelled at coordinating with his retainers did not overlook this opening, and fired the largest darkness bullet thus far at Miss Leonora.
Because she was on the ground, Miss Leonora couldn’t avoid it, and being hit dead on she was sent flying for almost 10 metres before hitting the ground.

『Gu… Uu…』

『It seems that this is as far as you go.』

Perhaps to confirm his victory, the No Life King leisurely walked towards Miss Leonora, who was lying face down in agony.

『Gotcha!』

However, perhaps her laying down was an act, because the moment the No Life King entered her range, Miss Leonora raised her body and created a flame at her hand.

『Hmph, cease your futile… What!?』

Although he was in her range, he probably could have dealt with any number of spells created in desperation. However, Miss Leonora exploded the flame magic that fired from her hand on purpose. The out-of-control flame burnt even her own right arm.
She jumped towards the No Life King who was frozen from the shock, and with her fist still wrapped in flame, she hit him.

『Take this!』

『I-, Impossi… ble…』

Unable to react to the unexpected attack, the No Life King suffered a direct hit to his chest. The high-pitched sound of his bones breaking rang out, and on top of that, the flames that clad Miss Leonora’s arms lit up the robe he was wearing.
The No Life King fell backwards, but Miss Leonora who had staked everything on that one punch collapsed forward as well. Laying on the ground, she somehow managed to succeed in putting on the fire on her arm.

『Hur-… -!』

It seemed that pain shot through her because she stifled a scream as she got up. Even speaking conservatively, with wounds all over and a heavily burnt right arm, you’d be right in saying that she was battered, but even so, she was dignified and beautiful.
Miss Leonora walked towards the No Life King burning on the ground, and looked down on him. The undead around her had also crumbled because of their lord’s defeat.

『To think that you burned yourself to defeat me. You’re a mad girl.』

『As if I did this because I wanted to. I planned on making you submit without destroying you, but I didn’t have that leisure. You can feel proud for having driven me this far, O King of the Undead.』

『Haughty to the end, you are… Well… that’s fine… …n… ri… sa… …apo… gies…』

The No Life King eventually crumbled away, and only his crown fell to the ground, but that too eventually became dust.

Miss Leonora quietly overlooked it.

The next moment, the sound of applause rang out through the throne room.

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Chapter 14 – Natural Enemy

An ishibitsu is a Japanese funerary urn made of stone. They’ve been around for at least a millenium.

Picture of an ishibitsu with its lid: http://www.fufufufu.com/fufufufu_image/p_image/3/20338_3.jpg

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When the day broke, I put on the robe that I had draped around my body, and headed to the bathroom. For now, since the forced equipping doesn’t happen as long as I’m touching it, when I go to bed, I drape the robe around me in place of a blanket.
After washing my face and getting rid of my drowsiness, I headed to the dining area that was part of the kitchen, and found that Tena was already in there preparing breakfast.

“Morning.”

“Ah-, good morning, Anri-sama.”

When I called out to her, she replied back energetically.
When I sat at the dining table, my breakfast was carried over to me in an instant. Toasted bread and fried egg with salad and soup; a healthy breakfast. If I had to be greedy, then I’d have liked a Japanese-style breakfast, but since there’s no rice nor miso, even demanding it wouldn’t help.
Tena set down the same meal on the other side of the table, and then sat down as well. Because she kept firmly refusing, it took quite a bit of effort to get her to eat with me, but now its basically how we spend every breakfast. I’m not a noble, so it’s tough on me to have somebody stand behind me while I eat breakfast by myself.

“Itadakimasu.”

“Itadakimasu.”

Nomnom, yummy. It’s a simple meal, but Tena’s cooking is generally delicious. I’ve decided not to ask Tena yet what her life in the village was like, but judging from her personality, she probably earnestly helped her parents.

“Speaking of which,”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Does ‘Sacred Goddess Sophia’ ring any bells?”

“Sacred Goddess-sama? Well, of course, but…”

When I gave that question a try while eating, I found out that apparently, the deity worshipped in the standard religion for this world, the Sacred Light Faith, was the Sacred Goddess in question. She was apparently the deity that created this world, fights against the Evil God as the Goddess of Light, and guides the people through divine protection and divine revelations. Those who receive particularly strong divine protection become heroes, and becomes those that defeat the Demon King, the being born from the Evil God to bring calamity to humanity.

“U-, Um… of course I swear loyalty, to you, Anri-sama! Sacred Goddess-sa-, I mean, the Sacred Goddess means nothing to me!”

“I don’t really mind if you just keep calling her Sacred Goddess-sama.”

Perhaps because she misunderstood my silence while I was thinking, but Tena followed up on her words in a fluster. Although it was the cost of saving her life, I did give something like the divine protection of an evil god to Tena, so I had decided that I needed to tell her that the power came from an evil god, and did so. I left out the part about coming from another world, though.
Only, unfortunately I’m just a human who was given too much power by an evil god, so it’s not like I’m particularly opposed to Sacred Goddess-sama or anything, and as long as it doesn’t harm me, I’d rather her try her best to beat the crap out of that evil god, really.

“Do you know anything about the Hero?”

“Hero-sa-… I mean, the Hero? I’ve heard that the Hero is a special person who’s received divine protection, and fights with the Demon King to defeat him. Also, if I remember correctly, when Obaachan’s Okaasan was a child, there was a great celebration across the nation because the Hero had defeated the Demon King.”

Eh? The Demon King has already been subjugated?
I don’t know about the average lifespan in this world, but I think that Tena’s great-grandmother being a child was fifty years ago at the very least. Going by his age, the Hero that’s invading this dungeon should be a different person. In that case, why was he given divine protection? Could it be that there’s another Demon King?

“Are there lots of Demon Kings?”

“No, at the very least, I have only heard of one. Only, the priest that came to the village to teach us said that even if the Demon King is defeated, he eventually revives.”

I see, the Demon King defeated 50 years ago has revived, and to defeat that, the [current] Hero Arc was chosen to face him?

“Do you know where the Demon King is?”

“I don’t. People say that in the Demon Race Territory, there’s a Demon King Castle, and he’s in there.”

“Demon Race Territory?”

“Ah-, yes. The western part of this continent is controlled by the demon race. The eastern side are divided into a number of human countries, but they say that all of the Demon Race Territory is controlled by the Demon King.”

After that, once I asked in more detail, I found that Riemel apparently belonged to the Kingdom of Fortera, and was right in the middle of the continent. Being in the middle of the continent has a nice ring to it, but if the east and west are divided up between the human race and demon race, then being in the middle makes it the front lines. I wonder if on the way to the Demon King, the Hero party heard about this dungeon and dropped by here.
Or more like, I wish they would avoid detours like this and just go fight the Demon King already. Hurry up and go.

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After finishing breakfast, I asked for just some red tea from Tena who had begun washing the dishes, and holding my tea cup, I headed to the office.
When I checked the screen, I found that the Hero Party had already packed up their simple camp, and begun exploring again. The floor they’re on right now is the 7th floor, so if they progress smoothly, I expect that they’ll make it to the 10th floor room that the No Life King is protecting in the evening.
Honestly, as a fighting amateur, I have no idea who’s stronger, but if my boss loses, I’ll have a lot I’ll need to think about.
Since they thought that this dungeon would have less floors, they came in here unprepared and I don’t think they’ll make it to where I am, but next time they’ll probably come to conquer this place, completely prepared. It won’t matter if they can’t win against the No Life King, but if it seems that they can beat him, then the chance that they’ll reach me eventually is high.
I’ll need to come up with various measures before they arrive here the next time. Uneffected by my nervous surveillance of them, they steadily made their way through the dungeon.

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The Hero party who had arrived at the 10th floor following my expectations were, contrary to expectations, stuck before the 10th floor boss room. What they were tilting their heads in thought about was the puzzle pedestal that I had installed there for aesthetics’ sake.

『“Thee who wouldst come in challenge before the throne of the undying one, arrange correctly the stars.” huh? Just what the heck could it mean?』

『There are many undead in this dungeon, so I believe that the “Undying One” refers to the boss of this dungeon.』

Widdi replied to the puzzled looking Zio.
Right right, having you think that makes me really happy. And having you go home satisfied after defeating the No Life King would make me even happier.

『I see. Then in other words, if we want to fight the dungeon master, then we have to “arrange correctly the skies”, huh? I wonder what “arrange correctly the skies” means.』

『They probably mean the celestial bodies, huh? I think that’s what these marks on the pedestal represent.』

Ah-, speaking of which, I had the symbols for the sun, moon, and stars, but I didn’t think about whether or not that would translate properly in this world.
Well, they did guess that it referred to the celestial bodies, so maybe there’s no problem.

『How are we supposed to arrange these marks? …They don’t bloody move.』

『Seems that putting mana into it doesn’t work either, huh.』

Eh? No, no, I know that you guys only have one of them, but you’ve still got one of the stone slabs, you know.
Could it be that they forgot? Or could it be that they didn’t see the marks on the slates properly?

『Arc-sama, has the guidance of the Holy Sword not given any clues?』

『Sorry, nothing really…』

『N-, No! I apologise for asking too much!』

So even that cheat-sword that even saw through traps can’t deal with this stupid puzzle, huh? I’m feeling this odd mix of relief and pity…

『Even the Holy Sword from Sacred Goddess-sama can’t do a thing? Seriously? It’s a pretty hard question, hey? As someone whose specialty is using my body, this kind of thing is a bit much for me.』

『Don’t say things like that, and think together with everyone!』

Huh…? Things seriously don’t look good. I put that thing there as a bonus question for aesthetics’ sake, but once they butted heads with it, they got seriously stuck. Collecting the slates from around the 10th floor is annoying, but I thought solving the riddle itself would’ve only taken 2 seconds, but…

Hey, don’t try and slash the pedestal!
It’s not an ishibitsu either, so stop trying to look for a lid to take off!
Cut it out, meatheads!

『It’s not good. I haven’t the tiniest idea how to get the dungeon master to come out. I thought this place would be a shallow dungeon, so we didn’t prepare enough. It’s frustrating, but let’s withdraw for now.』

『T-, To withdraw right before the dungeon master…-!』

Eh-? There’s no way you’ll come all the way here only to go home without fighting the boss, right?
It’ll trouble me too in various ways if I don’t find out if you guys or the No Life King are stronger.
Hey-, wait! Don’t seriously go home!
At least put back the slab you took, you thieves!

 

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