Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 1 (light novel)

by Hiro Ainana

  But no sooner did the arm hit the ground than the hell demon grew a new one in its place. The severed limb morphed like a ball of clay, forming into a lesser hell demon.

  “That’s A Sharp Sword You Have There, But The More You Cut Me Up, The More Demon Spawn I’ll Create. The Great I, Cautioning.”

  The arm demon rushed to attack the captain and his soldiers. Luckily, he didn’t have any magic skills, so they should be able to handle him. Just to make their job a little easier, I used my Magic Gun to shoot his legs.

  “No Matter How Good You Are With That Sword, You Won’t Be Able To Beat Me If You Can’t Use Its Full Power. The Great I, Derisive.”

  So it’s like the Oracle said: “Only the Holy Sword of a hero can defeat a demon lord.” Damn, does the same rule apply to greater hell demons?

  But I have just two kinds of magic spells.

  Zena had said weaker magic wouldn’t work on greater hell demons, so Fire Shot was no good.

  And using Meteor Shower here was out of the question. It could probably beat this guy, but Zena and the beastfolk girls could get caught in it, too. Even the people of Seiryuu City and I probably wouldn’t get out unscathed.

  While I was distracted thinking about this, I dodged the demon’s claws only to get hit squarely by his tail, sending me flying across the ground and into the opposite wall.

  The impact made me dizzy, and I shook my head quickly before standing back up.

  Things were only going to get worse if I didn’t do something soon.

  My Holy Sword could cut the demon, but not only would he heal, he’d produce more enemies.

  The only two spells I had were either too weak or too strong.

  And he could dodge the Magic Gun.

  Hmm? Or can he?

  “The Great I, Attacking.”

  The hell demon came at me with a dropkick. Several tons of weight crushed down on me, and pieces of the floor scattered everywhere as I was slammed back against the wall.

  Man, if I didn’t have “Pain Resistance,” that definitely would’ve made me faint.

  “… Air Hammer Kitsui!”

  “… Flame Spear Honoo no Yari!”

  “… Sacred Javelin Seinaru Yari!”

  Just then, Zena, Viscount Belton, and the Oracle all struck the hell demon with their magic.

  He resisted most of the magic, so he didn’t take much damage, but they’d created more than enough of a gap for me. I’d dropped the Magic Gun and the Holy Sword, but I still had a backup Magic Gun ready in my Storage.

  “How Dare You Interrupt My Fun With Your Weak Magic? The Great I, Offended.”

  Still pinning me down with one of his feet, the monster lifted a nearby boulder and prepared to throw it at Zena and the others.

  Like I’m gonna let you do that.

  I took the Magic Gun out of Storage and fired it point-blank. With the power on maximum, of course.

  “Gunhghgh! The Great I, Careless.”

  The first shot hit the demon, but he was quick to abandon the boulder and jump away, so he dodged my other attacks. I hate the stupid one-second lag after I fire this thing.

  But the damage I’d inflicted was barely 1 percent of his HP. He seemed to recover from magic attacks slower than sword cuts, though, so maybe if I could hit him over and over…

  I’ll distract him with Fire Shot and then shoot him at point-blank range. My MP gauge seems to regenerate really fast, so as long as I don’t use Meteor Shower or anything, I shouldn’t have to worry about running out.

  Hoping to make the Fire Shot at least a little more powerful, I put away the Holy Sword I’d just recovered and took out a staff instead. The viscount and Zena used them, so it must have some effect on the strength of magic.

  “Given Up On The Holy Sword You Couldn’t Use, Have You? The Great I, Observant.”

  The demon was half crouching some distance away, ready to dodge in any direction.

  I selected Fire Shot from my magic menu.

  Eat this!

  BOOM!!

  White light blinded my view, and a thunderous roar echoed so loudly, my ears seemed to fail me for a moment.

  When my vision returned, I saw the half-charred and smoking hell demon, plus a huge hole in the labyrinth wall behind him. The surface was still bright red, bubbling like lava.

  What was THAT?

  …Oh yeah, now I remember.

  When I’d used Meteor Shower from the magic menu instead of the icon, it was dozens of times more powerful. I guess it would be the same way with other spells, too.

  A gust of hot steam blew toward me. It seemed like it’d burn my throat if I inhaled it, so I held my breath.

  “How Could One So Skilled In Combat Also Be A Sorcerer? The Great I, Uncomprehending.”

  From behind a rock somewhere, I heard the viscount exclaiming. “That could only have been the greater spell Crimson Javelin!”

  Nope, sorry, it was just a super-basic Fire Shot.

  But if it was going to be this powerful, that might actually make it harder to use. I could definitely beat this guy with three more hits like that, but he seemed to have realized that, too, because he was moving to hide behind Zena and the others so I couldn’t attack.

  Sorry, Mr. Eyesore.

  But you’re already in checkmate.

  I put away the staff and switched back to the Holy Sword.

  Because when I remembered the thing about the magic menu, I also remembered something else.

  I launched myself forward, kicking rocks aside as I charged toward the demon.

  “Only the Holy Sword of a hero can defeat a demon lord.”

  I fended off the demon’s desperate “Petrifying Breath” with a tent from Storage, then slid right under his legs.

  Greater hell demons rule over lesser demons. They’re the “right-hand man” of a demon lord—they’re even “godlike.”

  The petrified tent served to shield me from sight.

  From its shadow, I hit the ceiling with a Fire Shot, distracting everyone in the area.

  But while I have Holy Swords, I don’t have the Hero title.

  Using the radar as my guide, I leaped off the ground, then kicked off the ceiling, altering my direction. My feet felt kind of hot.

  So I can’t deliver the killing blow.

  Leaping around in a triangle, I slashed at the hell demon’s wings, snatching away his ability to fly.

  But is that really true?

  I now had only seconds to win before he regenerated his wings.

  Think about your titles. What do you have?

  I changed my title and my sword, and as my foe paused to grow back his wings, I brought my weapon straight down on the crown of his head.

  The blade, so dark it seemed to absorb all the light around it, cut right through the jet-black demon. Black dust spewed from his body as he began to crumble away.

  “What Kind Of Sword Is That?! The Great…I…Defeated…”

  As soon as the demon finished speaking, the dust turned to a faint gray haze and disappeared.

  The lack of resistance unnerved me a little bit, as if I’d killed only an illusion, but when I checked my log, it showed that I really had defeated him.

  While everyone around me was stunned, I quickly put the sword back in its scabbard and took my leave.

  Now that I thought about it, the method I had used to defeat him was simple.

  If the title Hero and a Holy Sword could kill a demigod-like demon, then surely the Godkiller title and a Divine Blade could kill a god, too.

  Something like that, anyway.

  I returned to the small room where I’d made my transformation before, changed back into my old clothes, and climbed back up the pit. The dungeon walls were made of tougher stuff than normal rock, so it was a little more difficult to make footholds with my fingers.

  “Master!”

  When I was about fifteen feet away from the top, Tama came down toward me, tied to a lifeline. She must have been on her way to rescue me.
I could see Liza and Pochi peering down from the hole above.

  “Thanks for coming to get me.”

  “Yeah!”

  I put Tama on my shoulders and climbed the rest of the way.

  “Pochi, Liza, thank you, too.”

  “I’m so glad…”

  “You’re all right, sir!”

  Liza was so overwhelmed with emotion that she looked about to cry, so I handed her a fresh handkerchief from my bag. Pochi and Tama immediately grabbed on to me and cried, possibly wanting handkerchiefs of their own.

  All right, all right. As long as they’re just tears of relief, you can cry as much as you like.

  Zena raced toward me, and I waved at her. It hadn’t even been two days since we got trapped in the labyrinth, but it felt like we’d been in there much longer.

  At some point, I had gotten a few new titles.

  > Title Acquired: Labyrinth Conqueror

  > Title Acquired: Dances with Demons

  > Title Acquired: Demon Slayer [Greater]

  > Title Acquired: Hero

  …I wouldn’t have minded getting that last one a little earlier, you know.

  Back to the Surface

  Satou here. One time, due to a combination of human error and good fortune, I ended up staying in a high-class suite in a fancy hotel. I’m just a lowly middle-class commoner, so I was too nervous to enjoy it fully in the end. I guess you can have too much of a good thing.

  With Pochi and Tama each hanging on to one of my hands, I headed up the spiral staircase to the exit. I was the very last one of the civilians to exit. The battle-crazy warrior and a few of his subordinates were still below, standing guard at the door.

  I thought there might be a bag check when we got to the surface, so I switched out my Garage Bag with the normal stand-in while nobody was looking. I also took about two-thirds of the cores that Pochi was carrying, putting the rest in Storage by way of the Garage Bag.

  The real number of cores was way more than other people had, so I figured this was best in order to avoid any trouble.

  “Once we get outside, we should find something good to eat. Is there any food you want in particular?”

  “Meeeat?”

  “Meat, please, sir! We saw some huuuge meat on a carriage earlier, sir!”

  These kids really love meat, huh?

  I had assumed it was because they were beastfolk, but I guess most kids do like it.

  But the “huge meat” Pochi was talking about was probably wyvern, wasn’t it? If possible, I’d rather avoid that, so I did my best to guide her toward some other kind.

  “Pochi, Tama. Meat certainly is a wonderful thing. But for slaves to demand it like that is reaching far beyond our means.”

  “Our…means?”

  “Liza uses hard words, sir.”

  “Meat is a luxury.”

  Liza had stepped in to rebuke them for me, but as long as we went to street stalls, I didn’t think it would be that expensive. Even the wild boar steak I had before was only a few coppers.

  “Well, we should celebrate getting out of the labyrinth alive. Why don’t we get some meat?”

  “Yaaay!”

  “Thanks, sir!”

  “If that is your will, master. I’ll be sure to savor every last bite!”

  Still holding hands with me, Pochi and Tama jumped around for joy. When I looked back at Liza, she was wearing a grave expression and clenching her fist as if making a solemn vow.

  You know you don’t have to get that serious about it, right?

  The sunlight was blinding when we walked out of the labyrinth’s exit.

  Pochi and Tama dragged me forward, bounding into the light of the outside world.

  When we emerged, we were met by the anxious faces and loud clamoring of the people who’d come out before us.

  Looking around, the reason became fairly evident.

  The exit led into an empty lot about the size of a school yard. Rather than being perfectly level, the ground formed a spiral that centered on the dungeon’s mouth. Most likely, this was a remnant of the creation of the labyrinth, when it had sucked in the plaza and the buildings around it.

  Surrounding the exit, as if to wall it in, was a makeshift fence supported by sandbags, with cannons like the sort I’d seen in the anti-dragon defense tower. Behind these cannons, archers stood with large crossbows at the ready.

  Of course, all the weapons were all pointed at the opening—in other words, the very place we were standing.

  Pochi, Tama, and even Liza looked nervous, so I asked somebody who looked like they had a better grasp on the situation.

  “Well, they’re telling us we have to stay here until they figure out if any of us are monsters disguised as humans, or infected with a disease from demons, or anything like that.”

  I see… So we have to be quarantined.

  According to the checks I’d done earlier, there were no monsters in the group and nobody affected by disease or poison of any kind. Of course, I wasn’t about to announce that to anyone, but even if I did, it wasn’t as though anyone would believe me anyway.

  I checked the soldiers around the barricade, but none of them had any judgment-based skills, so we would just have to wait until a person or machine that could determine these things arrived.

  Luckily, we had the Oracle and her priestesses among us, so there was no cause for concern about anyone dying of their injuries. Those with minor wounds were left to their own devices for now, but people with broken bones or serious gashes had been healed with magic and were resting on cloaks spread out on the ground.

  Oh, right—I still have three potions and one unused salve, so I should offer them to the wounded. I’ll just buy more souvenirs for Martha and the others later. They probably wouldn’t want to use medicine from a stranger, so I asked Zena to use them instead to heal the others.

  The beastfolk kids must have been bored to tears with waiting, because Tama had sprawled out asleep on my lap while Pochi climbed on my shoulders.

  I didn’t want them to draw the ire of the other survivors by making too much noise, so I let them lean against me and rest. Liza was still holding her spear and seemed to be standing on guard, so I had her sit across from me and take a break, too.

  After we’d waited for an hour or so, some carriages arrived, and the quarantine operation began. Apparently, they’d be calling people over one at a time and checking them using a Yamato stone.

  The captain and the Oracle priestess were called first, then the magic soldier Zena. It seemed like they’d be checking on military personnel first, so we’d be toward the end.

  “Okay, I’m going next, but I’ll wait for you on the other side.”

  “’kay!”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Understood.”

  The three of them looked nervous as I proceeded to the carriages. I left my bag with the civil-official lady and proceeded to the Yamato stone.

  It would probably look weird for me to still be level 1 with no skills after escaping from a dungeon, right?

  I opened the networking tab on my menu. The girls were level 13 now, so I figured level 10 would be about right. I picked a few skills that a trader would have: “Haggling” and “Estimation.” Is it weird if I don’t have any combat skills? I added “Throwing” and “Evasion,” just to be safe.

  Following the official’s instructions, I placed my hands over the Yamato stone. My gaze was tempted toward the cleavage of the female official across from me, but I forcefully resisted. Instead I read the information displayed by the stone, making sure that it had updated with my changes.

  “My goodness. For someone who’s not a soldier or an explorer to be at this level at such a young age, you must have gone through a lot of hardships.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing so remarkable as that.”

  The female knight in heavy makeup standing over the stone was impressed with my level, but I deflected it like a true Japanese person.

  “I told you, hand ov
er the spear!”

  “My master made this for me—it’s as precious to me as my life. I cannot part with it, not even for a moment!”

  “I told you, your feelings have nothing to do with it!”

  Hearing arguing voices behind me, I turned around to see that Liza was putting up a fight about parting with her spear.

  “Liza, go ahead and give it to them. I’ll make sure they return it later.”

  “I-if that is your will, master…”

  At my words, Liza reluctantly gave up her spear to the civil official.

  I made a note of the woman’s name and affiliation in the memo pad of my networking screen. It’d be great if we could get it back right away, but judging by my map, it looked like everyone was getting loaded into carriages and brought to the castle.

  I doubted we’d be imprisoned or put to death to keep us quiet or anything, but we might be under house arrest until the situation was under control.

  I’d imagine a dungeon appearing in the middle of the city and a greater demon showing up makes for a pretty unusual case.

  I heard a small outcry behind me.

  Apparently, they were surprised that Liza, a slave, was level 13 and even had four skills.

  I couldn’t read her expression, so it was hard to tell what she was thinking, but her tail was twitching ever so slightly. I think she might be a little proud of herself.

  Pochi and Tama meekly handed over the bag of cores and rushed toward me. It looked like they’d been allowed through as a pair, probably because they were kids.

  Neither of them could reach the Yamato stone, so Liza had to lift them up. Pochi seemed to enjoy being held aloft, letting her arms and legs swing back and forth.

  Pochi placed her hands on the Yamato stone, as instructed by the civil official. This elicited even louder shouting than Liza’s had. They must have been amazed that a ten-year-old child was level 13. Pochi had three skills, too.

  Tama was last. Liza had to hold her up, like Pochi. Tama must have been looking forward to this part, because she eagerly played dead, letting her limbs dangle in the air.