Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells Vol. 1

by Kaoru Shinozaki

  I don’t want that Soul Eater thing to see me coming.

  I returned to the room with the large door and made my way slowly, keeping my back to the wall at all times. I peeked out into the dim light of this new room from behind a large stone pillar.

  What’s this room for, anyway—?

  A face…?

  There was a huge stone face carved into the earthen wall in the center of the room with a giant gold crystal set into its forehead. It reminded me of a Buddha statue, or the Virgin Mary—the kind of statue you’d make of a revered figure.

  I looked back toward the door. I’d overlooked it at first, but…there was a hole in the door that was the exact same size and shape as the crystal.

  I looked back down at the stone face.

  I get it now… You’ve gotta take the crystal and put it in the door, huh?

  “…”

  I let out a breath. I was pretty sure I knew where this was going.

  That’s the Soul Eater, isn’t it? If I try to take that crystal, it’s going to move.

  I shifted a little to get a good angle on the stone face and stretched out my hand towards it.

  “Pa—”

  Kzzzzzk!

  I yanked my arm back reflexively.

  “Aah?! Aaah!!”

  Blood dripped onto the floor below.

  “Ngh…ouch!”

  I got out of the way just in time! Even a moment later and it would’ve taken my arm off!

  I checked the bleeding.

  Okay…I’m okay. It took off some fingernails and skin…hurts about as much as ripping off a nail. It’s fine.

  My real parents had torn off my fingernails before—

  I was used to pain like this. I pulled out a scrap of fabric from my robes and wrapped it around my fingers.

  What was that…?

  It had looked almost like Kirihara’s unique skill, a beam attack. The wall glowed brightly, there was a flash of light, and then it hit me instantly.

  At the speed of light, more like. That stone face must know I have to say my skill names before I use them—I’m predicting its moves, but it’s reading me right back. It’ll happen again the moment I try to attack, I bet.

  So…how do I use my skills?

  What do I do? I need that crystal, and I need to kill the stone face to get it…but how? With that beam pointed at me, I can’t get through a single syllable.

  While testing out my skills on my climb through the caves, I’d discovered that I always need to say the names out loud to activate them—even whispering wasn’t enough.

  How do I beat it, then? Do I need to level up more? I could try to pick up a new skill by starting right back at the beginning and working my way back up…

  No, that wouldn’t solve the issue—if I don’t have time to speak, I can’t use any skill. Do I just need to be faster? Raise my speed stat? Maybe I should go back to the ruins and hunt some monsters…or even further?

  Or I could just live in these ruins forever, right?

  “No way in hell.”

  I’m not wasting my life in this hole. I’m finding a way out, then I’m going to crush that Goddess.

  Rrrrumble…

  “What’s that…?”

  The stone wall opposite me began to crumble.

  It’s coming for me. I didn’t make a move, so it’s coming for me.

  It sounded like the stone face had torn itself off the wall and crashed to the ground.

  Its attacks are as fast as light…does that just mean that its speed stat is way higher than mine? As soon as I raised my arm, it struck. Maybe it just doesn’t hesitate or even stop to think, unlike the other monsters I’ve fought. It isn’t taking any chances.

  I looked down at my bleeding hand.

  The heroes who made it here before me must’ve had incredible stats, but they all lost to this thing, even the Hero of Darkness. This Soul Eater is why nobody leaves these ruins alive. It’s the master of the ruins, the final boss. This is it.

  It hasn’t tried a second beam attack yet. Is it powerful enough to break down the pillars? That thing must know I’m hiding here, so why hasn’t it taken another shot?

  Squelch…

  “Huh…?”

  A large wad of sludge landed a few feet from my hiding place.

  What is that stuff? Did the Soul Eater shoot it at me?

  The sludge oozed and welled up, forming itself into…three human shapes.

  They looked like intricately detailed clay models, sculpted in moments before my eyes. I was used to seeing humanoids in these ruins, but these were different. Their heads were bizarre and unsettling, like human lips turned on their side.

  From the shaking of the floor, I could tell the Soul Eater was slowly but surely moving closer.

  “Okay, first I’ve gotta paralyze these gross th—”

  Gloop.

  “Huh…?”

  Three pairs of lips opened, and three pale, bloodless, crying human faces emerged.

  They look like they’re in agony, overwhelmed by despair…

  I finally understood. The Soul Eater was no different from the lizardmen I’d fought earlier, acting out the deaths of the heroes they’d killed. These faces of agony, right before death…they were the Soul Eater’s trophies. It was showing them to me, taunting me, begging for a reaction.

  This was all just a game to the Soul Eater.

  Sweat rolled down my forehead. My mouth twitched into a faint smile.

  “You… You monsters are all the same… Barbarians, all of you…”

  The sludge zombies trudged closer, their crying faces staring at me wordlessly.

  Drip. Drip.

  It was like…their faces were almost calling out to me, begging me to save them from their torment.

  I took a step backwards.

  “Y-you’ve gotta be kidding me…”

  These weren’t like the monsters I’d faced on the earlier levels. I’d fought humanoid monsters before, but never anything that looked this much like people.

  “Th-they’re so… I can’t…”

  Maybe it was wrong for me to feel so emotional, but it hit me hard in that moment.

  The wall to my left collapsed and the giant stone face appeared out of the dust. It was floating, with a mass of tentacles like catfish whiskers writhing behind it, a giant lump of meat, stone, and earth. The tentacles were thick, black, and squirming like a sea anemone, with a faint gold tint—they must have been the source of that beam attack.

  The Soul Eater closed its stony eyes, and red liquid started pouring from the slits like tears of blood. It opened its mouth wide and more blood came pouring out.

  The sickening sound of the stone face vomiting blood reverberated in my ears along with the Soul Eater’s battle cry, an unbearable, piercing sound straight out of a horror movie. When the screaming finally stopped, the Soul Eater opened its eyes a little and its bloody mouth curled into a smile. Its gold eyes were overflowing with heartless laughter.

  “I can’t believe it…”

  It’s enjoying this…

  Still, I couldn’t find a window to make my attack. I couldn’t see any way of beating it. There was no chink in the Soul Eater’s armor—the moment I tried to attack it’d blow me away with that beam attack, probably taking an arm or a leg with it.

  The sludge zombies’ footsteps squelched closer.

  “Y-you monster…! Playing with people’s souls like this…”

  The creatures dripped with nauseating purple liquid as they advanced toward me. I held out my arm.

  “Nh…! Par—”

  I could feel its eyes on me. Sweating hard, my robes clinging to my body, I opened my eyes, gritted my teeth, and yelled.

  “Paralyze!”

  It worked—no beam attack. The three zombies stopped in their tracks. The Soul Eater looked on indifferently.

  Is it ignoring me because I didn’t target it directly?

  Breathing hard, I stared uncomfortably at the three frozen zombies
. “N-next…” My voice shook. The people’s faces were crying and begging for relief.

  “P-poi…so—! Aaaah!”

  I screamed and looked up at the ceiling.

  “I… I can’t do it…! Even if they’re half dead, these things…they look human…! Poisoning them would be too cruel, dammit!”

  I felt tears welling up.

  Those are heroes who went through hell just to die in this godforsaken place…they’re…

  “They’re just like me…!”

  I turned towards the Soul Eater with all the hate I could muster.

  “I-I’m not that far gone yet! I don’t play with people’s souls like you do! I can’t—I won’t—use poison against another human. I won’t do it! Those human faces…they aren’t like you monsters, they didn’t do anything wrong!”

  Tears were streaming down my cheeks.

  “I’m still human…!”

  The face contorted in joy, baring its stone teeth in a wide grin.

  With a disgusting slorp, more sludge zombies appeared—there were more than twenty now. They quickly took on human shapes, opening their sideways lips to reveal human faces with horrifying expressions—then their death march began. They were trying to surround me.

  Drip, Drip, Drip.

  “S-stay back…!”

  I covered my face with my hand, staggering back in retreat.

  “N-no…”

  Even if they’re just sludge monsters imprinted with human souls. Even if they’re just copies. They used to be heroes, just like me. And now they’re marching towards me—the discarded heroes of the Ruins of Disposal.

  “I-I’m one of you! Listen…!”

  Please. You have to listen. Show me a miracle.

  My arms were shaking.

  “G-get away from me…!”

  I backed up toward the wall as the hordes of the dead and the Soul Eater advanced on me, the stone face smiling like the shining sun, blinding and ecstatic. Its teeth were disturbingly white in the faint glow of the room.

  It’s enjoying my despair…savoring it. Like it just cornered its prey to play with…it’s having fun.

  Pale, ghostly, human shapes appeared around the Soul Eater’s body, twisting and thrashing in agony. Their eyes were black, and each mouth hung open, screaming in torment, crying out for help. It was a chorus of bound souls desperately begging for freedom.

  It wants me to see this…

  “This is too cruel…”

  A shiver ran down my spine.

  This thing is pure evil.

  “Uh?!”

  I felt my back hit the wall.

  Nowhere to run. No will to even try.

  My legs cramped—terror froze them in place.

  I’m scared…too scared.

  The dead crept closer, and the Soul Eater closed in. “St-Stop…!”

  I was done for.

  “Please, no… Don’t do this, I’m begging you… Stay back… Get away from me—!”

  The Soul Eater’s mouth opened wide, and its tentacles squirmed and danced even more excitedly. With every move of those tentacles, I sank deeper into despair.

  I tried to reach the surface on my own, tried to survive alone…but in the end, I had to ask for help.

  “What the hell! Isn’t this enough yet?! Somebody, anybody, save me! Isn’t this the part where someone swoops in and rescues me? Haven’t I earned that yet?”

  My desperate, rageful cry echoed around the room.

  “I don’t care who…anybody…somebody… Somebody save me!”

  Everything I’d endured came crashing down on me like a wave.

  I broke.

  The Soul Eater’s grin widened, blood tears pouring from its face. I could tell exactly what it was feeling…

  Euphoria!

  “Paralyze.”

  “Khhhh?!”

  The Soul Eater had been so distracted by its gloating superiority that it let its guard down for just a moment…and that’s when I struck. I’d kept an eye on it through the fingers covering my face and locked on—I’d left my hand raised on purpose after casting Paralyze last time.

  Target acquired. Arm out. That’s two of the three conditions I need to use my skills.

  “Khhh…?”

  The stone face’s expression fell in an instant as it froze in place. “That’s your weakness…”

  I stared up at the stone face—my prey.

  “That’s the fatal flaw of the strong and arrogant.”

  It’s that moment when they’re certain they’re better, when they believe that their victory is assured. They let their guard down. They lose their caution and give me an opening to use my weapon.

  Skill level up!

  Level 2 → Level 3

  My shaking stopped, my tears dried up. There was no need to continue the act.

  The Soul Eater tried to wriggle free, clashing its teeth and twitching violently against its invisible constraints.

  Its bulging eyes, bloodshot with thick golden veins, strained to glare at me.

  Hate. Humiliation. Murder.

  Blood dripped from its mouth. I stared back.

  “I think I even deceived myself.”

  A part of me really was horrified at being forced to fight something that looked human. Kind, quiet Mimori Touka is still inside me somewhere, and I used him to fool the Soul Eater.

  “You love to prey on people like him, don’t you?”

  The lizardmen and leopardmen were sadistic torturers who wanted me to cower pathetically before them, and I’d sensed that the Soul Eater might have the same weakness. It didn’t just want to finish me off, it wanted to show off its collection. So, I used that against it. I played the role of a pathetic weakling and let it gloat. I gave it exactly what it wanted.

  Then I killed it.

  Finding out for sure that my status effects worked on the Soul Eater was a big relief. A wide grin spread across my face.

  “Ha ha ah…how’d you like that? I’m not a bad actor, huh, boss? I’ve had a lot of practice.”

  Playing pretend. After my foster parents agreed to take me in…

  “For days, months, years…”

  I pretended to be harmless.

  Pretended to be normal.

  Pretended to be kind.

  I raised my blood-soaked fingers up to the Soul Eater’s face in defiance.

  “I even deceived myself.”

  I’d managed to forget who I really am.

  I opened my eyes wide and let out a demented laugh.

  “I’ve been pretending so long to be kind, unobtrusive Mimori Touka…”

  The sludge zombies that had followed and cornered me against the wall had really been lured into a formation where I could easily hit all of them.

  “You thought you had me cornered…but you were the ones being trapped, not me.”

  I stretched out both arms in front of me.

  “Poison.”

  The zombies around me began to change color.

  “These zombies want me dead. Even if they were made with the souls of dead heroes…I’m not holding back.”

  I have to fight evil with evil.

  Murder with murder.

  I’m going to crush them.

  I threaded my way past the stationary zombies. Some of them were already succumbing to the poison damage, their legs melting away, bringing them to their knees before their new king.

  At last, I was face to face with the Soul Eater.

  “I must have the weakest stats in this whole dungeon, huh? Being at the bottom isn’t always a bad thing, though.”

  The creature glared at me, its tentacles spasming and twitching as it tried in vain to move. It didn’t seem able to use its beam weapon, either.

  “I’m glad I’m the weakest thing down here. That’s how I survived—by being underestimated by monsters like you.”

  I made it, but so many didn’t…all the remains I found scattered along the way, the corpses used as toys by monsters, the four who made it all t
he way out here…and the Hero of Darkness.

  Maybe I’m not really like them…maybe I can never be like them. For all I know, they wouldn’t want anything to do with me. All the heroes sent down here by that foul Goddess must’ve been good people, or she wouldn’t have gotten rid of them…

  But I’m not a good person. All I want is revenge against the Goddess who did this to me. I don’t want recognition or praise. Saying I’m the same as those other heroes is probably just wishful thinking.

  Honestly, I’m just pissed off… After everything they went through, the humiliation, the despair, the regret…

  “It makes me so mad…”

  “Khhh!!”

  The souls kept captive by this monster had suffered for so long. Wasn’t dying in this place punishment enough? Even in death, their souls weren’t allowed to find peace.

  I want the Soul Eater to feel it all.

  Their regret.

  Their humiliation.

  Their despair.

  “Poison.”

  The Soul Eater’s face turned purple, and its tentacled body began to bubble ominously.

  Skill level up!

  Level 2 → Level 3

  I looked straight into the monster’s murderous gaze as I slowly walked up to it, close enough to touch. The hatred radiating off the thing was palpable.

  I looked down at the Soul Eater, sneering.

  “You used to think the heroes thrown down here were just prey to feed on, didn’t you?”

  I smiled broadly.

  “How the tables have turned.” I let out a laugh. “But now you’re the one lying on the floor, gasping for air. Right, Soul Eater?”

  The creature opened its mouth and stuck out its tongue. Its anger bubbled over as it tried and failed to roar.

  Can this thing understand what I’m saying? I wonder if it gets what’s happening.

  Its body began to convulse. Blue liquid started seeping out of it.

  Is that its blood?

  It seeped out onto the floor and pooled, like a new hot spring had just emerged from the ground. I retreated to a safe distance and continued watching the spectacle, feeling refreshed. I had an idea what was happening.

  “Hm. Maybe monsters that try to move while they’re under paralysis take extra damage.”

  Only the incredible raw strength of Soul Eater let me make field observations like that.