God of Death…?! Crossed…Thanatos?!
Kilkapul pulls a dagger out from his pocket and slits his throat!
“Wh-what…?!”
The sinister black monster blood spills out from his gaping wound and onto the ground, creating a puddle. With a fatal wound, the dwarf falls to his knees, but even then, he gazes up at the sky with a sense of satisfaction.
“Demon Lord…! Please transform this world…into the netherworld…we have longed…for…”
Kilkapul falls facedown onto the ground, never to move again.
“I-i-is he dead?”
Without even checking the body, Seiya whispers to me:
“Rista, open a gate to the spirit world.”
“What?! Now?! But nothing has happened yet!”
“Just do it. His confidence wasn’t normal, so I’m telling you to open a gate just in case.”
“O-okay.”
But the moment I try, something suddenly crawls up out of the pool of black blood around Kilkapul’s dead body. A jet-black shadow the same color as the blood instantly takes the form of a human.
“Th-this is Crossed Thanatos?! This is the God of Death that Kilkapul sacrificed his life to summon?!”
It’s bizarre. A small body entirely hidden under a black robe. Like staring into the abyss, the part of his face that can be seen under the hood is pitch-black as well. And despite being called the God of Death, a giant iron cross is in his hand. I feel like there is something contradictory about the symbol of evil holding a holy cross.
I wonder how strong this ominous-looking God of Death actually is?
I use Scan on the enemy before my eyes…
Cr@ssd Tha tz8z
LV: umu?
HP:
ATK: %9rr6%87%…
DEF:
SPD: c8o%..!
MAG:
Resistance: #!7s& 0 arU’)#{
Special Abilities: E7s&
Skills:
Personality:
“What…?”
Thinking I must be seeing things, I use Scan again, but I am still unable to decipher Crossed Thanatos’s status.
“Wh-what is going on?! I can’t see his stats! Is something like this even possible?! Seiya?!”
“It’s all corrupted text for me as well.”
“Could he be using Fake Out like you do?!”
“No, it doesn’t appear to be that. Those are probably his actual stats.”
“What?! This illegible gibberish?! B-but what does this mean?!”
“…It means it defies common sense.”
While we are talking, Thanatos sticks the bottom of the large cross into the ground. Immediately, a massive fissure tears the ground apart.
“E-earth magic?!”
While I scream, the crevice shoots straight for Seiya with blistering speed before the crack tries to swallow him. However…before it can reach him, Seiya is already floating in the air!
Wh-whoa…! Even though he doesn’t know what the enemy’s abilities are, he still decides to float! What cautiousness!
But my admiration for Seiya’s precognitive, overcautious demeanor is short-lived, for lightning immediately shoots out of the cracked ground! It’s heading right for him!
As the lightning magic roars out of the surface…
“Double Wind Blade!”
Promptly unsheathing the platinum sword, Seiya cuts through the air with a double tempest strike, creating a gust of wind that changes the direction of the lightning. Then he immediately creates another tempest and launches it at Thanatos. As if he were taken by surprise, the God of Death is easily hit, and his body is split in two.
Mash and Elulu rush over to Seiya.
“Master Seiya! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“B-but what was that?! Lightning shot out of the ground! It doesn’t make any sense!”
Lightning magic that shoots out of the surface after earth magic is used… Elulu is right. That attack seems to have defied the laws of magic. But…
“At any rate, it looks like it’s dead.”
Despite my relief, Seiya is looking at the bisected God of Death with a piercing glare.
“Rista, what are you doing? Create a gate.”
“Huh? B-but—”
“Now. Create one and open it.”
“O-okay.”
When I finally create a gate and open it, Thanatos’s severed torso slowly rises into the air before his lower half instantly regenerates. To make matters even more surprising, his severed lower body creates a new upper body as well.
“The hell?! It split into two monsters!”
“Wh-what is going on?!”
One of the Death Gods immediately aims the cross at Seiya, shooting a ray of light similar to Shining Arrow! Seiya tilts his body to the side and dodges, but the other God of Death lifts its cross into the air and charges right for him! This time, it’s going to use the gigantic cross to hit Seiya with like a weapon. Seiya backsteps, creating a considerable amount of distance between them to dodge, but the cross expands. The ever-growing cross almost reaches Seiya’s chest until it suddenly comes to a complete stop. However, just when I think he missed, icicles begin to shoot out of the tip like bullets!
“Hmph…!”
Seiya grunts. He tries to knock the icicles away with his sword, but there are too many. A single crystal of ice hits Seiya in the stomach, powerfully knocking him back and causing him to roll on the ground.
“S-Seiya?!”
This is the first time I have ever seen Seiya hit by the enemy. However, he immediately gets back up to his feet and recovers.
The two Thanatoses slowly walk into each other as they head this way until they eventually merge back into one monster. After sheathing his sword, Seiya points both of his hands at Thanatos.
“Maximum Inferno…”
A furious explosion swallows Thanatos. Nothing can survive the power of that wicked Hellfire, but nevertheless, Seiya immediately rushes over to Mash as if he knows that won’t be enough to defeat the God of Death.
“Huh? Master…?”
Seiya lifts Mash up onto his shoulder, then hurls him into the gate I opened!
“Ahhh!”
Mash soars through the air before disappearing into the gate. Seiya immediately lifts up Elulu in the very same way…
“W-w-w-w-wait…!”
Then he swiftly pitches her into the gate just like Mash. Following this, Seiya charges at me as well.
I-is he going to throw me, too?! Okay! But be gentle! Also, if possible, I want you to hold me in your arms like a princess before lightly dropping me through the gate! Please…!
But Seiya kicks his right leg into the air. Then, at the very next moment, the ball of his long foot sinks into my stomach!
“Bwaaaaaafff!”
I am launched to the other side of the portal, nearly fainting in agony due to the vicious kick! Almost immediately following, Seiya plunges in after me. I immediately close the gate the moment we arrive in the unified spirit world.
Rolling around in the spirit world’s public square, I…
“Heeey!! What was that for?! Why am I the only one who gets treated like garbage!!” I scream at Seiya, but he isn’t himself. He clutches his stomach where Thanatos hit him, then crouches down without saying a word.
“S-Seiya?! Are you okay?!”
“Yeah, somehow. But…I’ve been seriously wounded.”
I-I’m such an idiot! Seiya was severely injured by Thanatos’s attack and was just barely able to keep himself together to escape. And yet, he brought us with him even though he could have simply abandoned us.
“This is the first time I’ve taken damage. I have to heal.”
“Let me see the wound! I’ll heal you!”
“Be quick, if you can.”
Seiya takes off his armor and shows me the wound.
“…Huh?”
I’m taken aback. Seiya’s injury looks to be nothing more than some slight
ly red skin, as if his armor chafed his stomach.
“Um… Seiya? How much damage did you take? Like, give me the number of HP.”
Seiya puts on a distressed expression, then utters:
“I had 300,000 HP before, but now…I only have 299,900…”
“…?! What part of that is ‘seriously wounded’?!”
I try to point out how ridiculous he’s being, but Seiya’s face is the epitome of seriousness.
“I don’t feel comfortable not having max HP. At any rate, hurry up and heal me.”
While staggered by his usual overcautiousness and astonished that he has three hundred thousand HP, I use my magic to heal his scratch.
“Although it wasn’t much, I still can’t believe he was able to damage Master Seiya at all… Just what is that thing…?”
Elulu seems to agree as well.
“That was crazy. It’s like it ignored the laws of magic and the laws of nature…”
I can sense the fear from their voices, so I decide to cheer them up.
“For now, let’s just stay here until we come up with a plan! We’ll be safe here since the unified spirit world’s in another dimension!”
The moment those words slip off my tongue…gods and goddesses in the public square begin making a lot of noise.
“Wh-what is this feeling…?”
“Is this perchance…malice? Wh-what is going on?”
The gods and goddesses start looking around with panic-stricken expressions.
“Wh-what’s that?!”
I look in the direction that a god is pointing to find a black vortex appear over the fountain.
Th-th-this can’t be happening!
But my gut is right. From the black vortex, a giant iron cross emerges, and the God of Death soon comes crawling out after it!
“What?! It came all the way to the unified spirit world after us?!”
I was just trying to cheer up Mash and Elulu, but now I’m the one pale and shivering.
Th-that’s impossible! It can break through dimensions?! This creature… This is a mythic-class monster!
Now it’s Elulu and Mash who speak up as if to calm me down.
“B-b-but…! It doesn’t matter how frightening that thing is! All monsters have weaknesses, right?!”
“Y-yeah, Elulu! There’s no such thing as an invincible monster!”
Yeah! What am I freaking out about?! We have Seiya on our side! He’ll be able to do something about this monster! In fact, I bet he has already…
“Seiya! What’s Thanatos’s weakness? Surely, you’ve figured it out by now!”
Showered in our desperate gazes, the Hero softly mutters:
“I don’t know.”
“““What?!”””
“…I have no idea how to defeat it.”
“S-Seiya?!”
“Master?!”
Ahhhhhh! Say it isn’t soooooo! What happened to the confident Seiya I know?! We’re screwed! We are completely screwed!
…The unified spirit world is filled with screams and cries at the appearance of the sudden monster.
…After it crawls out of the vortex, the God of Death picks up the cross, then slowly walks toward us. Just like the shrieking angels trying to run away in the public square, our minds go blank as well.
CHAPTER 38
Gate of Valhalla
The God of Death, Crossed Thanatos, is drawing near, ripping through dimensions to find Seiya. We helplessly shrink back.
However, a ray of light appears in the midst of the emerging darkness.
“Stop right there, creature of darkness.”
Before Thanatos stand numerous deities, speaking with strong voices as they surround the supremely evil being in the public square.
“I do not know where you wandered here from…”
“…But this is no place for evil such as yourself.”
“You shall perish for your sin!”
Whoa! The Goddess of Wind, Fraala; the God of Lightning, Orand; and the God of Ice, Kiorne! Three well-known deities have come to help! Looks like we got lucky! They’ll take care of that monster for us!
As if they are trying to live up to my expectations, Fraala casts a wind spell, Orand throws a bolt of lightning, and Kiorne shoots a crystal of ice…but Thanatos continues its methodical approach as if nothing happened.
“N-nothing’s working on it!”
Fire doesn’t work and neither does wind, lightning, or ice! Does any magic work on this thing?!
“Hey…Ristie…”
There is a hint of worry in Elulu’s voice. I want to tell her everything is going to be okay, but I’m not even confident I can force a smile onto my face right now. I hesitate when…
“Rista! Rista, you in there!”
Now Mash is shaking me.
“Look! Master Seiya’s…!”
“Huh…?”
When I look in the direction they’re pointing, I see Seiya already hastily running away without us.
“…?! Th-that jerk…! Where do you think you’re going?”
We chase after Seiya, who appears to be running in the direction of the sanctuary… Hold up. I’m getting some serious déjà vu!
“Wait up for us, you jerk!”
But even then, Seiya doesn’t slow down. When he arrives at the sanctuary, he throws open the door and dives in.
I arrive at the sanctuary’s entrance, struggling to catch my breath. Curious, I suddenly look back and find that Thanatos is already close behind, dodging the deities’ magic while floating in the air.
“Eek! Ristie, he’s right behind us!”
“H-hurry! Get inside!”
After plunging inside, we immediately close the entrance door. Thereupon, I hear footsteps. When I look up, I see Seiya running up the staircase to the second floor. However, right as I try to follow him, the entrance bursts open with a bang and the God of Death comes in.
“Eeeeeep! He even followed us into the sanctuary!”
But a god with masculine features standing near the door steps in front of the God of Death as if he were a guard.
“Begone evil! How dare you step foot inside the sanctuary! I, Arx—God of the Fist—will crush you into a fine powder with my unrivaled— Blaaargh!!”
“Y-you shall pay for what you did to Arx! I—the God of Sumo—shall be your next opponent! Divine Hundred Hand Sla— Blaaargh!!”
One after another, various gods within the sanctuary valiantly challenge Thanatos, but unsurprisingly, nothing works. They’re at least doing a good job slowing him down. We sprint up the stairs.
“Seiya! Come on, wait for us!”
We somehow eventually manage to catch up with him.
“That monster is essentially only going to target me. All you three need to do is hide somewhere.”
“W-we’re not going to abandon you!”
Even after making it to the second floor, Seiya doesn’t stop running down the hallway. That’s when an all-too-familiar muscular man with a beard appears before him. While holding a platter with a large cake, Cerceus says:
“Hey! I see you’re back already! Check this out! I just baked a cake using a new recipe! I spent a lot of time and effort making this delicious, marvel—”
“I don’t care. Move.”
While Cerceus pridefully holds out his cake, Seiya pushes it back right into his face. Cerceus screams, “My caaaaaake!” before falling to the ground. After that, Mash, Elulu, and I run past Cerceus and his cake-covered face.
H-how horrible! I’m definitely going to eat the next cake he bakes to make it up to him!
Once that’s decided, we run into yet another goddess. The hunched-over recluse and Goddess of War, Adenela, smiles with unhealthy bags under her eyes.
“S-S-Seiya…! Y-you came back to me!”
Seiya stops before Adenela and says:
“Adenela, I need you to stop that monster following me. If you do that, I’ll make sure to spend some time with you on my next visit.”
“What…? R-r-r-r-really…?!”
Adenela unsheathes her sword, then glares at the nearing evil.
“I-I’ll protect y-you, Seiya!”
She gets into a unique stance as if she is drawing a circle.
“F-feast your eyes on this…! Ultimate…Eternal Sword…!”
After sliding in range of Thanatos, Adenela swings her sword, creating afterimages of the blade just like Seiya’s Double Eternal Sword or maybe even greater! Adenela repeatedly slashes his body in the blink of an eye.
Whoa…! I guess that’s the real thing for you! Her speed and power are incredible!
But each slash splits Thanatos into another monster. Two bodies become four. Four bodies become eight. Eight bodies become sixteen. Sixteen become…
Unable to take any more, I yell out to Adenela:
“You’re creating more monsters! Stop!”
But Adenela continues to attack as she looks over at me with a troubled expression.
“I—I can’t…stop…h-halfway through…the move…”
Seiya pats me on the shoulder.
“She’s useless. Just as I expected. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
H-how rude can you be?! I think that to myself, yet we leave Adenela behind and start to run off. Concerned, I look back—only to find her being crushed by so many Death Gods that they almost fill the entire hallway. But eventually, the Thanatos in the middle absorbs and merges with the others before coming after us again.
N-not even Adenela, the Goddess of War, can defeat it?! Wh-what are we gonna do?!
After running all the way across the long passage, Seiya sprints up the staircase to the third floor.
“Seiya! Aimlessly running away isn’t going to help!”
Before I even know it, I find myself panicking as the invincible monster slowly closes in on us.
“Ugh! What are we going to dooo?!”
When I cry out on the verge of tears, Seiya looks back at me.
“Rista. Relax.”
“I can’t! I mean, you said it yourself! You have no idea how to beat that thing! How do you expect me to relax at a time like this?!”
Seiya speaks with his usual indifferent tone despite our impending doom.
“Yes, I did say I have no idea how I’m going to defeat it. But I have already come up with a way to deal with enemies who I don’t know how to defeat.”
The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious, Vol. 2 Page 8