by Hiro Ainana
What the hell was this “second coming,” though? Maybe he was setting up some trap for the Shigan king or something.
“…Your soul seems to be nice and dismal, indeed. The hatred is perhaps too strong but not half-bad overall, indeed.”
Whatever he was getting at, it sounded like I might be able to avoid getting swallowed by that slime thing.
“Do you have any of those, indeed?”
“Indeed, indeed, souvenir, indeed.”
The eyeball demon ceased his dancing and handed Poputema some kind of pouch.
“Not just a short horn but a long horn, too, indeed. Perfect, indeed.”
Poputema took a sinister-looking horn out of the pouch.
“I will give you options, indeed.”
He tossed the long horn to me.
I could probably use it as a weapon, but judging by how it felt when I caught it, it was probably some kind of magic tool or cursed item.
“What kinda choices?”
“It’s simple, indeed. You simply hold that horn to your forehead and speak a little password, indeed.”
“This some kinda enslavement collar?”
“How very rude, indeed. It is an artifact given to us by my god, indeed.”
An artifact?
No artifact this guy had could be anything good.
It was better than that pink sphere thing, but not by much.
“If you’re compatible, it will make you far stronger than any amount of demonic potion, indeed.”
“More than the Eight Swordsmen of Shiga?”
“With that horn, yes, indeed.”
I gazed at the horn in my hand.
It was a trap, no doubt about it.
But if I could be more powerful than the strongest swordsmen in the Shiga Kingdom…
My whole life had taught me that strength was everything, so I’d be lying if I said the offer wasn’t tempting.
“B-boss?”
I ignored my concerned-sounding subordinate’s voice, thinking.
Demonic potion already had side effects that made the user look less human.
If this horn made me more powerful than that, then I might lose my humanity entirely.
But even still…
It sounded much better than being eaten by that slime thing and being tortured alive until I eventually kicked the bucket.
“If you don’t wish to use it, you can make miasma for me in the pink sphere, indeed.”
Poputema challenged me as if reading my mind, so I sneered back at him.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
“B-boss, no. You don’t want to do that…”
Ignoring my henchman, I jerked my chin at Poputema.
“Tell me the password.”
“Such excellent determination, indeed. Your nastiness is worthy of this horn, indeed.”
He had no right to talk with that smug look on his face.
“If you succeed in adapting to the horn and gaining its power, I shall even let you meet His Highness, indeed.”
“Hmph. Like I’d waste my time meeting some damn king.”
Rebelling against a king would be way more interesting.
It might be nice to go at it against the Eight Swordsmen of Shiga, too.
“Hurry up and tell me the password.”
“‘Take my loathing as thy provisions and grant me tyrannical power’—no, I suppose that’s too complicated for someone like you, indeed. ‘Turn my hatred into strength’ will suffice, indeed.”
“You sure know how to piss a guy off.”
I glared at Poputema, held the horn to my forehead, and repeated the bastard’s words.
The simpler version, obviously.
As soon as I was done, searing pain spread from my forehead throughout my body.
Every part of me seemed to pulsate, like I was tearing myself apart. I tried to distract myself by focusing on the cold of the ground.
“Guraaaarrrgh!”
An ear-piercing roar echoed through the dungeon.
“Now, evolve into a being that can destroy any opponent, indeed.”
My bones cracked and splintered, piercing through my skin as I became something inhuman.
“Aaaaaaahhhwwwrggghgh!”
I didn’t realize that the awful howl was coming from me until the pain finally started to subside.
Just as it faded, I felt a new sensation course through my body like a muddy stream.
Fear, rage, bitterness, envy, hatred, every kind of dark emotion threatened to consume my mind.
“LIIIiiiIIKE… HEEeeEELLLLLL!”
I fought back against the forces attempting to crush me and warp me into something else.
“You won’t get the best of the Plunderer King Ludaman!”
I howled at the dirty ceiling with all my might.
Finally, the still-pulsing flood of dark emotions retreated somewhere deep into my body.
“What a surprise, indeed. I never imagined you’d be able to retain a sense of self after using the long horn, indeed. What a happy miscalculation on my part, indeed. You really are demonic to the core—”
Poputema applauded as he stepped toward the jail.
Dumbass.
I shot out an arm, which had become sharp and swordlike.
The iron bars were sliced neatly in half, along with that bastard Poputema, whose body fell to the floor in two pieces.
I couldn’t help sneering at the laughable sight.
This feels good.
Enjoying the emotional rush, I looked to the sky and laughed.
“B-boss?”
“You turned into some kinda monster…”
“N-no, that’s a…demon…”
A demon?
I see. So I’ve been reborn as a demon.
Suddenly, I felt all-powerful.
“H-help!”
“Mr. Ludaman…”
My henchmen trembled as they looked at me fearfully.
Ahhh, now, that feels good.
I want to hear them scream…
“How violent, indeed.”
Startled, I turned toward the voice.
“How the hell are you still alive?”
“I—I am a part of a greater demon, you know, indeed. Even if this avatar is destroyed, I will just wake up in my own castle, indeed…”
Poputema coughed up blood as he muttered.
“…H-how strange, indeed. Why can I not discard this avatar, indeed?”
“Indeed, indeed, it’s obvious, indeed.”
Looking down at the confused Poputema, the eyeball demon cackled mockingly.
“…Now I remember, indeed.”
Poputema stared up at the lesser demon, then widened his eyes, still bleeding.
“I was abducted by a demon and—mind controlled? Or was my personality overwritten…?”
As Poputema murmured to himself vaguely, the light left his eyes.
“Indeed, indeed, such a fool, indeed.”
The eyeball demon waved his arm, and the pink slime swallowed up the two halves of Poputema’s corpse.
“Hey, Mr. Eyeball. Who’s this ‘His Majesty’ Poputema was talking about, huh?”
Even the king of a huge land like the Shiga Kingdom couldn’t turn someone into a demon.
“Indeed, indeed, it’s obvious, indeed.”
“Just tell me.”
The eyeball demon looked mocking, so I kicked him as I gave him an order.
I didn’t really need to ask, but I wanted to be sure.
“Indeed, indeed, His Majesty, indeed.”
Cackling, the eyeball demon landed on the pink ooze.
The slime reached up with a tentacle and ensnared him.
“Indeed, indeed, the demon lord—”
Before he could complete his sentence, the eyeball demon was pulled into the ooze and melted away into nothing.
I knew it. “His Majesty” was a demon lord.
“…Boss?”
Ignoring my henchman, I pushed out the bars that I’d a
lready sliced up with my claws, picking up the pouch Poputema had dropped when I killed him.
I couldn’t hold it properly with my bladelike limbs, though, and several horns fell out of the ripped pouch.
There were more long horns like the one I’d used, as well as some shorter ones.
I picked up a few and looked around at my lackeys as they quaked in the cell.
Now, this could be fun.
I would rampage with the ones bold enough to follow, and any fools who couldn’t commit would be fed to the slime.
“What’s it gonna be?”
I held out the horn in my hand and challenged them.
Battle of Labyrinth City
Satou here. I wish villains would wait to cause trouble until after mealtime is over. Anyone who causes mass chaos when people are in the middle of enjoying delicious food deserves punishment of the utmost severity.
“Mew?”
“What is it, Tama?”
Hearing Pochi’s uncertain tone, I turned to see Tama looking around with her ears flat and her spine stretched.
I know this pattern.
A feeling of dread set in as I expanded my radar and map displays.
“Oh-ho? What’s going on outside the guild there?”
“The clerks are running outside. ’Sthere a fire or what?”
I heard the foxfolk officer and Mr. Dozon commenting nearby.
Quickly, I skimmed the information on my map.
Are you serious?
The cluster of red dots indicating the plunderers locked up in the dungeon had started getting sucked into a new, much bigger red dot—no, a red area—that was heading aboveground.
According to the details on my map, it was a slime-type monster called a Squish Sphere.
“Liza!”
I closed my map and stood up.
Liza quickly choked down the meat skewer she was holding and grabbed the Magic Spear leaning against the wall behind her.
“Mew!”
“Ish an emergenshee, shir.”
Sensing the imminent danger from Liza’s posture, Tama and Pochi quickly gobbled up all the meat on their plates, hopped to their feet, and grabbed their helmets from the floor.
They would’ve almost looked cool if their cheeks weren’t stuffed like chipmunks.
“What’s going on?”
“Damn, I’m sensin’ somethin’ powerful over there…”
“Huh? What is it?”
The more experienced explorers seemed to grasp the situation immediately, while the newer ones were confused.
In fact, some of the rookies kept obliviously eating their food.
“Waaaah!”
“Wh-what is thaaat?!”
As the onlookers screamed, a pink liquid burst out of the guild entrance.
No, wait. That’s the thing I saw on my map…
“Master, it is a giant slime, I report.”
Nana’s face was emotionless as usual while she tightened the strap on her helmet.
The pink liquid crashed into the plaza in waves, coming to a halt in a large, round shape.
My AR display showed detailed information next to the giant slime.
I was on guard because of its giant size, but in reality it was only a slime of level 40 or so.
It had skills and a unique race ability like “Life Regeneration,” “Absorb,” “Amplify,” and Miasma Production.
That last one was probably the most important point. And if I just activated my spirit light once I defeated it, I could probably purify the miasma caused by the skill in question, too.
The more pressing matter was probably figuring out who’d set this giant pink slime loose to wreak havoc in the guild.
And before I could even search my map, the culprits showed up of their own accord.
“Master, look! Something came out!”
“Black shadooows?”
“They’re like people in strange armor, sir.”
The black shadows that the beastfolk girls were pointing to emerged from behind the giant slime. According to my AR, they were lesser and intermediate demons.
The demons glared at the fleeing humans and cackled maliciously.
There were two intermediate demons and as many as ten lesser ones.
My map said there was another lesser demon patrolling near the west guild building, but there were no humans in danger there, so I decided he could wait until later.
“A-are those demons?” Arisa gasped.
“How can there be that many demons if a demon lord hasn’t been revived?” Dozon shook his head disbelievingly.
“Kinkuri, can you see?”
“Juuust a minute…”
Next to Dozon, the captain asked the foxfolk officer to have a look with his longscope.
“…Geh, they really are demons. And I can’t even see the information for two of them. The big ones in the middle—I think they’re intermediate.”
At that, the rookie explorers turned pale and started fleeing along with the staff of the bar.
“Looks like this’ll be my last battle.”
General Erthal stepped forward with his mithril sword in hand.
“Guildmaster, I’ll buy you some time for a chant. As soon as it’s finished, burn up those demons and the giant slime, and me along with them.”
Speaking without looking back, General Erthal looked like a badass legendary hero.
Between the level-41 general, the level-37 captain, the level-52 magic-using guildmaster, and the level-43 Miss Sebelkeya, I didn’t think we were in such dire straits, but I didn’t want to ruin the mood.
If things got too out of hand, I could step in for them.
“Goodness, talk about putting an old lady to work.”
The guildmaster grumbled as she drank a potion that instantly cured her inebriation.
“I’ve no intention of burning you with them, though. Just delay them somehow and get out of there.”
“I’ll give you the signal,” Sebelkeya added.
“Come with me, Bahman.”
“Of course, sir.”
The captain followed behind the general.
“I’d really rather not…”
The foxfolk man covered his head preemptively, but the usual punishing fist didn’t come.
“Kinkuri, go down to the labyrinth army barracks and get backup.”
“All right. Don’t die, you two…”
The foxfolk officer saluted and ran off at considerable speed.
“…… Iron Protection Koutetsu Shugo.”
Sebelkeya finished a chant.
With a mysterious visual effect like armor wrapping around his clothes, General Erthal’s outfit suddenly took on the defense power of full armor.
Of course, I also cast Enchant: Physical Protection on him in time with her spell.
Sebelkeya looked confused for a second but then glanced at me and seemed to understand.
I didn’t want to attract any attention by clarifying what I’d done, so I just pretended not to notice.
“Huh! So this is the support magic of a former Hero’s follower… See ya later, Guildmaster. I’m gonna back up His Excellency the general.”
Patting his own arms, Mr. Dozon hefted a giant hammer and ran after General Erthal.
If what he said was true, then Miss Sebelkeya was in a previous Hero’s party. I’d have to ask her about it sometime over drinks.
“Lady Ravna, could you take Princess Meetia to safety and inform His Excellency the viceroy of this situation?”
“Understood!”
“W-wait, Ravna—”
The stern-faced knight lifted the tiny princess under one arm and rushed out of the bar.
The two Lovely Wings were still around, so I asked them to start evacuating nearby residents.
“Shall we get going, too, then?”
There was a brief flash of surprise across my companions’ faces when I called to them.
Did they think I was going to leave them here even though they
were battle ready?
“Now, that’s more like it!”
Arisa recovered and exclaimed with her usual excitement, and the other kids gave a chorus of cheers in response.
“Of course, master!”
“I’m gonna wiiin?”
“Pochi’ll work hard, too, sir!”
“Yes, master.”
“Mm. Got it.”
“I’ll try to snipe them from a distance.”
Our enemies’ levels ranged from 30 to 40 at the highest.
The intermediate demons were higher levels than my kids, but none of them had any particularly threatening skills or magic except one lesser demon inside the building, so they would probably be fine with my support.
“Satou, wait.”
But for some reason, the guildmaster stopped me.
“What is it?”
If we didn’t hurry up and help them, General Erthal and the others might get hurt.
“Intermediate demons aren’t like lesser ones. We can’t lose promising youngsters like you here. Go meet up with the viceroy to make a comeback plan and leave this to us adults.”
The guildmaster was uncharacteristically serious.
Judging by her grim expression, she probably thought they were going to lose to these demons and the giant slime, just like General Erthal did.
“We’ll be fine—don’t worry.”
I smiled reassuringly.
Intermediate or not, I could still defeat it with one strike if I aimed for its core; the only real difference was the slightly higher level.
“Satou, pride will only lead to your own—”
“Let him go, Zona.”
Miss Sebelkeya interrupted the guildmaster, gesturing for us to go on ahead.
The guildmaster turned to argue with her, but I had no time to watch the two bickering, so my group and I left the bar.
For some reason, there were fires breaking out all over the ground leading to the guild plaza.
“Master, here they come!”
I followed Liza’s gaze upward to see countless fireballs streaking toward us.
They landed some distance away from us, setting fire to the ground like napalm bombs from a movie and producing black smoke as they continued to burn.
All the smoke made it difficult to see, but when I looked around, I saw explorers fighting lesser demons and their minions all over the plaza.
There seemed to be many a courageous fighter in Labyrinth City; I saw several bloodied battle junkies grinning ferociously as they fought.