There’s a gaping hole in its stomach! After a slight delay, copious amounts of purple liquid begin pouring out of its body!
Before I even realize it, six birds are flying around Beel Bub. They’re similar to the Automatic Phoenixes Seiya creates using fire magic, but they’re moderately different. These are brilliantly shining birds of light.
Beel Bub coughs up another pint of purple liquid.
“L-light magic birds…! Where did those come from…?!”
Seiya must have created them, and one of them must have torn through Beel Bub’s stomach! B-but when did he conjure six birds out of light magic? …W-wait! Six birds? If you count the one that drilled through Beel Bub’s body and self-destructed, then that makes seven in total—the same number of arrows Beel Bub just dodged! It all makes sense now! After Beel Bub dodged Seven-Shot Shining Arrow, the arrows transformed into Garudas! Then they must have flown back and attacked Beel Bub when its guard was down! In other words…
“Transform: Automatic Garuda!”
Beel Bub probably realizes now what Seiya’s strategy was.
“You…little piece of…!”
The monster’s utterance drips with spite, but those end up being Beel Bub’s final words. As the demon starts slowing down, the birds of light ram into it, exploding at an ultrahigh temperature and emitting a blinding flash. The only thing before me when the light fades is Beel Bub’s charred remains as they plummet to the surface.
…My entire body is riddled with goose bumps.
Wh-what is with this Hero?! He isn’t satisfied just learning the divine skill Seven-Shot Shining Arrow, despite it apparently being an impossible feat for humans? He even considered what to do if all the arrows missed?! Even though Mitis said no monster would be able to dodge the attack?! I mean, what kind of person would doubt the Goddess of Archery?! I-it’s like… It’s like he doesn’t even listen!
Floating in the distance, Seiya watches Beel Bub drop to the surface, but without showing even a hint of satisfaction, he disappears into the clouds below.
But it’s fine! It’s absolutely okay! If he didn’t pursue the monster’s charred remains, he wouldn’t be Seiya Ryuuguuin! The only one who can save the S-ranked world Gaeabrande is this man—a man who won’t even let the words of the gods sway him from his overly cautious ways!
I descend back into the woods where Elulu and Mash are waiting, taking the emperor’s daughter with me. When I see Seiya, the first words that come out of my mouth are:
“I saw what you did! Transform: Automatic Garuda! That was amazing!”
Thereupon, Seiya twists his head.
“Trans-what? What are you talking about?”
“Oh…sorry! I came up with that name myself! Hey, what was that move you just used? The one where the light arrows transformed into magic birds!”
“Oh, you mean Birdie Boom Boom?”
“…! What kind of name is that?! Since when did you start naming things like that?!”
“What? I’ve never put much thought into it.”
“Th-then you can use the name I came up with. Take it.”
“Hmph. That ‘transform’ something or other? It’s just long and drawn out. It’s not even a good name.”
“It still beats Birdie Boom Boom at the very least!”
Mash and Elulu push me out of the way to rush over to Seiya.
“Master Seiya! That was insane!”
“Yeah, seriously, nobody can beat you!”
As they shower Seiya with praise, Bhat and the other soldiers crowd around Rosalie.
“Ah, Madam Rosalie! I am so glad you’re safe!”
But she bluntly tells the moved soldiers to get out of the way and approaches us. I think Rosalie is going to thank us for saving her, but she pins Seiya with a frigid stare.
“You are no Hero, just as I thought. There is no honor in winning with a surprise attack like that. A true Hero would risk their life to confront the enemy head-on in a fair fight. Just like my father.”
Rosalie wastes no time in vilifying Seiya, causing me to lose all sense of propriety as a goddess.
“Listen here, you! The only reason you’re alive is because Seiya saved you! Would it kill you to show some respect and thank him?!”
But Seiya sticks his hand out in front of me as I rage.
“Seiya?! Say something to her!”
“Just let it go, Rista.”
“B-but…!”
“Just let the dog bark.”
Rosalie’s face immediately turns red.
“Wh-who are you calling a dog?!”
Wh-whoa…! This Hero is amazing…! He dealt more damage with just five words than he could have yelling at her a hundred times!
“Mn…!”
Rosalie is on the verge of tears, but…
“Ah! Rosalie’s going to start acting like a dog again!”
Seeing Elulu’s eyes glowing with expectation forces Rosalie to swallow her tears and twitch her nose before walking away in silence. Bhat and the others bow before following after her as well.
Seiya lets out a deep sigh.
“…All right, then. Let’s go take care of the leftover flies.”
Oh yeah. Beel Bub may be dead, but there are still over a hundred of its giant underlings flying around their nest. We can’t afford to ignore them.
While I stare in admiration at the stoic Hero who doesn’t even let his amazing victory go to his head, he places his hand on Elulu’s and Mash’s shoulders.
“Mash, Elulu, you’re up.”
We’re all surprised by what we hear.
“I’m not blind. I know you two trained and acquired new abilities.”
“M-Master…!”
“S-Seiya…!”
“Let’s go. Show me these new skills of yours.”
“Y-you’ve got it!”
“I’ll do my best!”
With mirth in their steps, they follow Seiya in high spirits until they reach the nest…where Seiya repeatedly uses Seven-Shot Shining Arrow and annihilates the remaining flies in the blink of an eye.
“U-um… Master Seiya…?”
“Seiya…?”
Elulu and Mash stare at the hundred or so dead flies in muted shock. Seiya then shifts his focus to Elulu.
“Perfect. Now, Elulu, use Haste on Mash to increase his speed.”
“Uh… O-okay.”
After Elulu casts Haste, Seiya instructs Mash to transform his hand into a dragon claw.
“Next, I want you to use that giant hand and bring the dead fly carcasses over here.”
“O…kay…?”
Mash restlessly starts carrying the dead flies to a giant circle Seiya drew with a tree branch.
“Hmm. Haste really helps speed things along. It’s extremely satisfying to watch.”
After Mash finishes, Seiya—as pleased as can be—burns the gathered fly carcasses with Hellfire until they disintegrate into nothingness.
“Good work, you two.”
While Seiya is genuinely complimenting them from his point of view, they drop their shoulders and hang their heads low, clearly dejected. Staring hard at his hand, Mash mutters:
“What am I, a broom?”
While I try to come up with just the right words to cheer them up, I hear the sound of horses’ hooves from behind. When I turn, Rosalie is staring down at us from a white horse.
“Hmph. You disposed of the remnants of the enemy’s army? The Roseguard Imperial Knights could have taken care of that without your help.”
I glare at Rosalie before Bhat suddenly chimes in.
“M-Madam Rosalie! We must tell them about that!”
“I—I know! You’re an irritating bunch, but I suppose I’ll tell you.”
Rosalie takes in a deep breath as if trying to calm herself down.
“…Are you listening? The legendary armor is being kept in a shrine near Izale village. You will need it to defeat the Demon Lord.”
“‘Legendary armor’…?”
Bhat nods.
“It is said that, in the days of yore, the great sage Mustaf prepared the armor, for he believed that one day a great danger would befall Gaeabrande. We were planning on telling you earlier, but we didn’t get the chance to once the flies attacked the fortress.”
“The people of Roseguard have been carefully watching over this sacred armor for generations just for this moment. Make sure to show some gratitude when you take it.”
Seiya quizzically responds:
“You better be telling the truth. This armor isn’t cursed or anything, right?”
“Did… Did you not listen to anything we just said? It’s legendary armor that the great sage prepared for us! The people of Roseguard have been watching over this sacred equipment for generations! There is no way it would be cursed!”
“It could be ‘the sacred, legendary, cursed armor’ for all I know.”
“…?! Don’t be ridiculous!”
Rosalie violently shakes her head after screaming.
“Why does the Hero have to be someone so morbidly paranoid…? This is the height of absurdity! That armor was meant for the strongest warrior—such as my father…!”
After her brief complaints, Rosalie tugs the reins and turns her horse around. Then she rides off without even glancing in our direction. Only Bhat and his men express their gratitude before disappearing into the distance as well.
“So, Seiya…”
I look back at Seiya.
“Since we’re going all the way back to Izale village to get that armor…how about resting for a bit while we’re there?”
We were originally planning on doing that after leaving the Dragons’ Den, but we were immediately summoned to fight the flies.
“Come on. We need to take a break every once in a while! Let’s just sit back and relax today!”
Elulu’s and Mash’s faces light up the moment I suggest it—Seiya’s, too, surprisingly.
“Okay. I’m running low on MP thanks to the magic bow, so let’s go to the inn and rest a bit.”
He genuinely agrees with me for a change. I don’t know if it’s because I’m tired, but I feel a little chilly, so I’m relieved to hear Seiya say that.
“Then to the village we go!”
I chant a spell and create a gate that will take us to Izale village. It’s a small town, but the warm atmosphere will surely bring us the peace and rest we need. However…the moment I open the gate and arrive at the village, I freeze.
…I wasn’t feeling chilly because I was exhausted. My goddess intuition was just trying to warn me.
The ravaged fields…
The horribly devastated houses…
Izale village has been destroyed.
CHAPTER 37
Hero Slayer
Izale village is no more than a shell of its former self. For a moment, I thought I had created a gate taking us to the wrong place. The village looks as if it were hit by a powerful natural disaster.
“The hell happened here?!” Mash utters in a daze.
Elulu, on the other hand, is speechless and covers her mouth.
Did the Demon Lord’s army do this?! But why would they attack such a tiny village?!
Seiya simply points into the distance. When I follow his gaze, I see a pillar of smoke rising in the sky.
“Someone’s there, but it’s probably a trap. Be careful.”
Seiya has a point. It’s highly possible that whoever did this to the village is over there. We quietly begin advancing toward the smoke.
It becomes clear where the smoke is coming from when we get close enough. The dwarf’s item shop where we bought torches before is on fire.
“Guys…! L-look at that!”
Elulu strains her voice, and our eyes are immediately fixed on the monster beside the smoldering building. It’s a gigantic turtle with ashen, hard-looking skin underneath its rooflike shell. The monster closely resembles the Great Mother of Dragons in size after she transformed into a dragon. The turtle opens its mouth, baring its fangs, as it reaches out to kill the owner of the shop.
“Th-this isn’t good! It’s gonna kill that old dwarf!”
“We have to save him!”
Mash and I instinctively lunge forward, slipping in between the giant turtle and the shopkeeper.
“Are you okay, old man?!”
When Mash looks back, the plump dwarf puts on a smile and claims:
“Yes, I’m fine. There is nothing to worry about. That monster won’t attack me, for I’m the one who summoned it.”
“…What?”
“Adamantoise. It’s a monster I summoned from another world.”
Before I even realize it, Seiya has already unsheathed the platinum sword. However, he is pointing the blade not at the monster but the dwarf.
“…Just who are you?”
With an unchanging, mirthful smile, the short dwarf introduces himself.
“A member of the Demon Lord’s army and one of the four generals… Summoner Kilkapul.”
“O-one of the four generals?!”
I grunt.
“Eek!”
Elulu takes a step back. Then Kilkapul gently rubs Adamantoise’s throat.
“Hero, I have been watching your success through my crystal ball ever since you first visited this village. And let me tell you: With awe-inspiring power like that, it’s almost hard to believe you’re human. You’re attentive and smart as well—a true threat to us.”
“So is that why you summoned that turtle?! To defeat Seiya?!”
“Oh no. This is for something else. I summoned Adamantoise for this…”
Kilkapul knocks on Adamantoise’s throat, causing the turtle to open its massive, fang-filled mouth. Immediately, something falls to the ground with a thud. The fragment that fell from the beast’s maw glitters even shinier than gold.
“The legendary armor in Mustaf’s shrine was created using adamantite, the strongest material on Gaeabrande—thus, it is also known as adamantite armor. Not even the Demon Lord’s attacks could destroy it. In fact, a way to destroy the armor doesn’t exist. That is, except for Adamantoise, whose body is made of the very same material.”
“D-don’t tell me you…!”
I cast my eyes down at the metal fragment that Adamantoise spit up.
“That’s a fragment of the legendary armor that Adamantoise just ate. I broke the shrine’s seal and destroyed the armor before you got here.”
Wh-what?! Not only did we not get the monster power weapon Igzasion but the legendary armor was destroyed as well?! Does that mean we can no longer…?!
“The Demon Lord is the strongest being in the world. However, if even the slightest chance that you could defeat him exists, I am going to need you to die.”
Adamantoise unleashes a mighty roar.
We brace ourselves in preparation for the attack, but Kilkapul cheerfully smiles while shaking his head. He places a hand on the monster’s thick leg.
“Your work here is done. You may go.”
Thereupon, the giant turtle starts fading out of existence as if it were dissolving.
“Wh-what…? Don’t tell me that you plan on fighting Seiya yourself.”
I send the tiny dwarf a piercing stare, but he calmly smiles as expected.
“Of course not. He isn’t someone I can defeat. Of course, that goes for Adamantoise as well. I told you. I have been watching the Hero and studying him.”
Kilkapul continues with a philosophical attitude.
“The final general after me, Eraser Kaiser—a god incarnate—boasts an attack and defense that exceed two hundred thousand. However, not even he would be able to defeat your Hero.”
…Huh? Wh-what is this dwarf trying to say?
“I sense a strong power from the Hero that surpasses both logic and reason. It is the same power possessed by the Demon Lord. It is hard to put into words, but you could call it the power to control the fate of the world—something that lackeys such as ourselves do not possess. That is why…”
Kilkapul picks up the two bundles by his side, then places them before us.
“Please have a look.”
I look inside the cloth, thinking he’s offering us fruit or something, when…
“Ahhhhhh!!”
Elulu screams. I am trembling internally, as well. Inside are the heads of the old woman and the small boy who we met before, at the item shop.
“These are the heads of my wife and son.”
“Th-this can’t be happening! These must be fake!” I cry out, but Kilkapul affectionately rubs the head of the young boy.
“He looks just like me, doesn’t he? These are the actual heads of my wife and son.”
“But why?! Why would you do such a thing?!”
“Because I must defeat the Hero at all costs…using the heads of the ones I love and the lives of the Izale villagers as catalysts to awaken my most powerful summoning sorcery…!”
I catch a glimpse of the madness hidden behind Kilkapul’s smile, which gives me chills.
“This isn’t normal! This is insane!”
“Yes, the only way to win is to stray from what is normal. That is the conclusion I came to, for that is how much of a threat this Hero is. Even monsters have emotions. It was heartbreaking. It was painful and nauseating. But even then, the Demon Lord said to me: ‘Kilkapul, you will be the one who kills the Hero.’ It was an honor. Of course, my wife and son understood and died for me. Please see for yourself. Look at the cheerful expressions on their faces. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“Wh-what did you have to summon so badly that warranted all this?!”
“An evil that will defeat the Hero. Intelligence, talent, and even power are meaningless before it. Even the Igzasion you obtained at Dragon Village would be powerless.”
He even knows about Igzasion?! B-but at least it looks like he doesn’t know this one is a fake!
“M-Master! We should probably take care of him now while we have the chance!”
“No, it’s probably already too late. The summoning is going to happen regardless if we kill him or not. That’s why he showed himself before us and isn’t even worried.”
“That is correct. It is too late for anything… Crossed Thanatos, I call thee forth from another dimension. I offer the lives of the villagers, my loved ones, and even myself! Oh, one who is beyond concept, hear my calls! Arise unto me, God of Death!”
The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious, Vol. 2 Page 7