Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Volume Chapter 14

Crime doesn’t happen in a meeting room.

It happens somewhere far away from us, but somehow we get caught up in it anyway.

That is the truth I have come to realize.

Or something like that. I’m quoting some police show or detective show or whatever, although I don’t really know what it means.

In other words, I’m in the middle of an escapist fantasy.

“Graaaah!”

Before me is a howling boy with bloodshot eyes.

He might look like a young boy at a glance, but that howl and his terrifying aura suggest otherwise. The howl shakes the very air as well as my eardrums, and his aura distorts the scenery around us.

In fact, the heat from one of the magic swords in his hands is literally making my vision wavy.

The other one is producing purple lightning that crackles all over his body.

He kinda looks like a supervillain who’s awakened to his murderous rage…

Hey there, Mr. Oni.

You’ve gotten pretty wild-looking in the short time since we last saw each other.

I mean, you were pretty wild that time, too, but I guess you didn’t stop there.

Wow, you really surpassed my expectations there, bud.

Ha-ha-ha!

…Now what?

Why am I in this situation?

In short, it’s because of a guy named Güli-güli.

That’s right. Güli-güli is the culprit!

If this really were a police or detective show, that’d be the end of that, but I guess things aren’t gonna wrap up so easily, huh?

Let’s rewind a bit to figure out how I got into this mess.

Güli-güli appeared out of nowhere.

“I have a favor to ask.”

A mysterious figure clad all in black suddenly interrupted our afternoon teatime, which was becoming a daily ritual.

Normally I would complain about the security in the duke’s mansion, but in this case, I can’t really blame them.

This guy is a genuine god, after all.

No amount of security could stop him from teleporting right on in if he felt like it.

Since Güli-güli showed up so abruptly and announced that he had a request equally abruptly, of course I didn’t know how to respond right away.

Besides, if I went around blurting out answers right off the bat whenever someone talked to me, I’d lose credibility as the strong, silent type, dammit!

Meanwhile, while I was frozen in a panic, Fiel brought Güli-güli a chair for some reason, so he joined our tea party.

Riel poured some tea into an extra cup and handed it to Güli-güli.

The man in black elegantly brought the cup to his lips.

A bunch of little girls and a grown man in black armor, sitting at a table together, having a tea party.

How surreal can you get?!

This is seriously unreal.

“This favor has to do with none other than the reincarnation you encountered in the Mystic Mountains. I want you to stop him.”

After a sip of tea, Güli-güli cut straight to the chase.

At that, Vampy’s eyes glittered dangerously.

“Would you care to give us the details?”

Uh, sure, go ahead and speak for all of us, I guess.

Güli-güli hesitated for a moment, looking away.

“…I suppose this is within the limits of acceptability,” he muttered.

Talk about an ominous statement. What exactly is he so worried about?

Well, I guess there’s only one person who could make Güli-güli sweat like that!

What in the world has that rotten evil god done this time…?

Actually, knowing her, isn’t said evil god probably listening right now?

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Why would you mutter something like that?

Or did you want her to hear you on purpose?

“I suppose I owe you a show of good faith before I ask for your assistance.”

Güli-güli took another sip of tea.

Then he put down the cup and raised his hand.

With a light flick of the hand, he produced a rune.

The rune seemed to be some kind of visual conjuring, as it produced an image in midair.

It displayed what looked like a satellite photograph, an aerial view of the planet from outer space.

Specifically, it was a view of the Mystic Mountains, covered in white ice and snow.

Ooh. So that’s what the Mystic Mountains look like from above, huh?

I knew it was a bunch of really tall mountains next to each other, but wow, the mountain range is bigger than I thought.

Looking at it from above like that, I realized that the mountains I saw from ground level were just one small part of an enormous whole.

The route we took from human lands to demon lands was literally nothing more than a tiny corner of the icy mountains.

As I stared blankly at the image, I realized something.

There was a flat area of land beyond the mountain range.

It wasn’t human or demon territory.

It was a different place entirely, separated from both by the mountains and the ocean.

Hmm?

What’s this place? Unexplored land?

“After you fought him, he wandered the Mystic Mountains until he reached this place,” Güli-güli began to explain. “This is a resting area for souls that I myself created.”

I was sure I wasn’t the only one who had a question mark floating over her head after that statement.

A resting area for souls?

Whaddaya mean?

“I suppose my description was insufficient. You are familiar with the system’s method of energy collection, correct? It’s certainly revolutionary if you only look at the numbers, but it isn’t without its problems. Namely, the gradual deterioration of souls.”

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The grimace on Güli-güli’s face made it clear that he thinks this is inhumane, even if he can’t say it out loud.

Hrmmm. Soul degradation, huh?

Vampy and the puppet spiders still had those question marks, but I thought I kinda got it.

The system exploits the souls of people living in this world.

And if that goes on long enough, it’s not surprising that it would damage people’s souls.

So what would happen if it just kept using them without giving them any time to heal?

Ultimately, it’d mean those souls got destroyed.

A road that led to absolute nothingness, beyond even death.

Güli-güli must have made this little retirement spot to temporarily shelter people whose souls are overused in order to avoid that.

Hmm. I’m guessing that means he makes sure people in this place don’t fight and has them refrain from acquiring skills as much as possible?

It’s definitely not a permanent solution, but not bad as a stopgap measure.

“…You already understand based on that short explanation? That makes this easier.”

Güli-güli didn’t actually look happy, though.

If anything, he seemed to find this inconvenient.

See, he probably told me the details about this little rest stop, which he would normally keep secret as a show of good faith.

But still, having me fully understand its purpose probably isn’t ideal for him.

’Cause it really just drives home what a severe situation this world is in.

So I guess even though he wanted to make a gesture, he was hoping I wouldn’t actually understand his explanation.

“Most of the people here cannot fight. So if he reaches there, driven mad by the Wrath skill, you can imagine what would happen, yes?”

Hmm. Yeah, it’d be a bloodbath.

And if these guys all die, they’ll go from enjoying a peaceful life in this rest stop right back to getting their souls worn down.

Although honestly, there is a part of me that’s thinking, So what?

But this is clearly important to Güli-güli. Otherwise he wouldn’t be here asking for our help.

“I cannot lay a hand on a reincarnation because of an agreement with D. But I also cannot simply allow this disaster to happen. So I am asking you to stop him in my place.”

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Ahhh, so D is stopping him. Figures.

Knowing Güli-güli’s personality, he probably did try to stop Mr. Oni himself at some point.

But D must have gotten in his way.

Because it wouldn’t be fun for her that way, I’m sure.

That’s exactly the kind of stunt that rotten god would pull.

And now, since Güli-güli can’t do anything about it himself, he’s here to request our help.

He needs people who D would allow to interfere and who are also strong enough to stop that crazy Mr. Oni.

In other words, Vampy and me.

I’m sure Güli-güli already knows that I got my powers back, and while I hate to admit it, I seem to be a favorite of D’s.

So D probably wouldn’t scold one of her favorites for getting involved in this.

If anything, she’d probably be psyched.

Yep. Guess I’m the perfect choice!

“Will you accept my request?”

“Of course!”

Naturally, it was Vampy who responded so promptly, not me.

Seriously, is it really your place to make that decision for both of us?

But I guess it’s fine, since I was going to agree anyway.

“Thank you. Then, if you don’t mind, I’d like to head over right away. Are you ready?”

“Huh? Right now?”

Vampy sounded hysterical. She must not have expected that part.

“Yes. As soon as possible. I will take you there via teleportation and bring you back the same way, so no need to bring traveling necessities. Please take only what you need for the battle. We will leave as soon as you are ready.”

At that, Vampy flew out of the room, probably to get her beloved broadsword.

She didn’t have a weapon last time, which made the battle tougher than it needed to be.

“In addition, for this battle, I would prefer if only you reincarnations participate.”

I was planning on just lounging around until Vampy got back, but then Güli-güli went and dropped that bomb on me.

Say what?!

You mean only Vampy and I are supposed to fight that guy?

“If you bring Ariel’s kin, no doubt you would win easily. But that might spoil D’s fun. The fact that I am bringing you there, even if I’m not fighting directly, is already pushing the limits of what is acceptable to her. I understand that this is a big request, but please.”

Ugh! I guess he has a point.

I was definitely planning on bringing the three puppet spiders. Sael alone could fend off Mr. Oni, and if you added Riel and Fiel on top of that, I assumed it’d be in the bag.

But would D really permit such a guaranteed victory?

Yeah, of course she wouldn’t!

A battle that boring wouldn’t satisfy that jerky evil god.

As soon as Güli-güli brought us in, she’d use that as an excuse to get in our way by any means possible!

From that perspective, bringing the puppet spiders might make things even more dangerous.

I wasn’t sure whether Vampy and I could beat Mr. Oni alone, but it’d be waaay stupider to knowingly make D mad.

We had no choice, then.

The puppet spiders would have to sit this one out at home.

Immediately, three pairs of eyes fixated on me with a silent You’re gonna leave us behind?

They somehow looked teary-eyed, even though that’s not possible.

Cut it out!

Don’t look at me like that!

You’re making it hard for me to leave!

“I’m ready!”

As I desperately fended off the three girls’ silent pleas to take them with us, Vampy came back fully armed and ready.

Although all that really meant was that she’d changed into a more flexible outfit and grabbed her broadsword.

Her clothes are made out of my thread, so they’ve got way more defensive power than your average armor. And the broadsword, which is longer than Vampy is tall, was made from the claw of the legendary-class monster Fenrir.

By the way, I’m told that Fenrir wasn’t actually defeated, it just attacked a human fortress a long time ago and lost a claw in the process. I guess that must’ve hurt pretty badly, because it was enough to make Fenrir retreat.

A broadsword made out of such a rare and valuable claw is probably, like, national-treasure levels of important.

Apparently, it really was being kept under lock and key in some country’s treasury, but then that place suffered catastrophic damage in some battle or other, so they were forced to reluctantly part with it to pay for repairs.

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Apparently, the battle had to do with a bunch of white spiders going on a rampage or something. Sooo random, right? I wonder who was responsible for that one…

Anyway, that’s how this broadsword wound up on the market, and the Demon Lord bought it with her ridiculously vast assets.

Then Vampy took a liking to it and made it her personal weapon.

So she had my thread for defense and the Fenrir broadsword for offense.

Yeah. I don’t think you can get any better equipped than that.

And yes, I was armed and ready, too. I always wear clothes made out of my thread, and I had my giant scythe fully equipped.

It’s dangerous to go alone, so I’m taking this!

“Good. Let’s go.”

Güli-güli activated Teleport.

We slipped through space with ease, and Vampy and I found ourselves in an unknown land.

“Graaaah!”

I definitely recognized the angry Mr. Oni right in front of our eyes, though.

This is all happening a little too quickly, don’t you think?

End flashback.

No, my life isn’t flashing before my eyes just yet.

Which means I can still die!

So I quickly dodge Mr. Oni’s attack as he charges me faster than the eye can follow.

Bwa-ha-ha! This isn’t gonna be like last time! My powers are back!

Although, unlike when I used to have stats and stuff, I can’t just keep my body perpetually enhanced.

Stats automatically strengthen your body and physique in accordance with the numbers, but with conjuring, you have to control that stuff manually.

I’m still not used to conjuring, so it’s not easy to keep it all up at once.

Sometimes my attack power goes higher than I intended, and my defense implodes on itself trying to keep up.

The defense part is especially important. Whether I’m moving or attacking, I have to maintain defense high enough to withstand my enhanced speed and strength, or I’ll take some serious recoil damage.

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So keeping my defense high is my top priority.

Which means I’ll probably be okay even if Mr. Oni does hit me, but if I can dodge him, I’d much rather do that.

There are still too many uncertainties when it comes to my conjuring.

“I’ll be your opponent, thank you very much!”

Meanwhile, as I’m getting as far away from Mr. Oni’s attack as possible, Vampy charges right in with her broadsword.

She seems pretty enthusiastic for someone who got beaten to a pulp last time.

And hey, wait a minute. You’ve been learning manners and stuff at the duke’s mansion much more than battle training, so why exactly are you so confident about this?

Do you think you can beat Mr. Oni now, even though you’ve barely had enough time to train since our last fight?

Although Mr. Oni definitely seems to have gotten a lot stronger in that short period of time.

“Hmph!”

Vampy swings the broadsword down from overhead.

I mean, the sword’s bigger than she is, so her only real options are swinging it down or sweeping it sideways.

Instead of dodging, Mr. Oni raises one of his katanas to block it.

Oh, come on. You can’t really expect to block that with one hand, can you?

He must be seriously underestimating Vampy.

Vampy grins wickedly, as if she’s having the same thought.

“Wha—?!”

But then her smile turns to shock.

Mr. Oni’s katana easily parries Vampy’s swing and knocks the broadsword aside.

Then, while her guard is completely down mid-swing, he attacks mercilessly with the blade in his other hand, aiming for Vampy’s neck.

In theory, she should be able to react.

But when he parried the broadsword, his katana-style magic sword activated its power, sending lightning down Vampy’s blade.

The electric shock paralyzed Vampy for a moment, so now she can’t do anything to stop the fiery blade that’s flying toward her.

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Wait a minute, Mr. Oni!

Since when can a mindless berserker execute such a clever strategy?!

I immediately send out some thread to wrap around Mr. Oni’s arm.

Heh-heh. Thread and Spatial Magic are the two things I can conjure and control freely without having to worry too much about the details!

Looks like I saved Vampy yet again. Am I cool or whaaaAAAAAAAAAT?!

“Graaaaah!”

Mr. Oni just swung his sword with sheer brute strength, despite the fact that his arm’s wrapped in thread!

And what do you think that means?

I get yanked along with the thread and go flying into the air!

Even if I use body strengthening to enhance my physique, that doesn’t mean my weight actually changes.

And I was so focused on arm strength that I all but forgot about my feet.

So I lose my footing instantly and get sent flying.

Boy, at times like these, I sure do miss how my stats used to enhance my whole body equally!

But even if I had strengthened my feet, I doubt I would’ve been able to stay put. Considering this freakish strength, the ground probably would’ve gotten yanked right into the air with me.

If I had the Spatial Maneuvering skill, I might’ve been able to make a foothold and stop myself, but I’m not proficient enough to reproduce that on command yet!

While I panic in midair, I manage to regain control of myself and flip upright.

I cut the thread connecting me to Mr. Oni and land safely on the ground.

Whew. But just as I sigh in relief, I realize something major.

Oh shit. Vampy might be dead.

My interference didn’t end up helping much, so if he managed to finish that sword swing, he might’ve just sliced Vampy’s head right off.

“Ouch! Excuse you—that really hurt!”

But then an energetic shout from Vampy clears up my worries.

Um, what?

It looks like Mr. Oni landed a hit and sent Vampy flying just like me, but I don’t see so much as a scratch on her neck.

Instead, something like scales have appeared.

What are those?

It doesn’t look like they’re stuck on there—more like she’s grown scales or something.

Did the scales protect her from Mr. Oni’s attack?

That’s all well and good, but why scales?

Since when did Vampy evolve into some kind of scaly monster?

Meanwhile, Vampy charges at Mr. Oni again.

But since the broadsword can take only really big swings, Mr. Oni’s quick-moving katana prevents it from getting anywhere near him.

On the other hand, Mr. Oni’s attacks keep hitting Vampy dead-on.

But between her clothes made out of my thread and those mysterious scales, she’s not taking any serious damage.

It does knock her HP down a little, but Vampy has one of the more advanced HP-recovery skills, so I don’t think her life is in any serious danger.

In other words, this could be a long battle.

Since Vampy’s attacks can’t even graze Mr. Oni and his are doing at least a little bit of damage, he has a leg up in this situation.

But still, I’m sure Vampy isn’t just blindly attacking without a plan, so she must have a chance of winning.

“Argh! Enough already! Quit dodging around so much!”

…She does have a plan, right? …Right?

I trust you, Vampy.

Besides, considering that she’s got those crazy scales all of a sudden, I guess she’s been getting stronger every day after all.

Yeah. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

So I guess that means I have a little more leeway to take a look at our surroundings.

While Vampy and Mr. Oni exchange blows like crazy, a gigantic, bloodied creature is lying nearby.

It’s a beautiful dragon with transparent, crystalline scales.

But right now, those scales are dyed red with blood. Appearing on the verge of death detracts from its beauty a little bit.

And Güli-güli is reaching out toward that dragon’s injuries as if to nurse it back to health.

That bastard! So that’s where he went after dumping us in front of Mr. Oni and disappearing!

I guess that dragon must’ve been fighting Mr. Oni not long ago, but it looks like things got pretty down to the wire. No wonder Güli-güli was in such a hurry.

He must’ve teleported us in front of Mr. Oni to draw his attention away from the dying dragon.

I’ve got a few choice words I’d like to say about that, but he probably had no other choice in that situation, so I guess I’ll forgive him.

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Wow, I’m sooo generous!

Hrmmm.

That dragon looks pretty strong at a glance, though.

I mean, it sorta looks exactly like how the Demon Lord was describing the dragon who’s the head honcho of the Mystic Mountains, but…it can’t be, right?

…But I guess since Güli-güli is here, even if he can’t intervene directly, there’s a good chance that the top dragon would be here, too.

From what the Demon Lord told me, the top dragon of the Mystic Mountains is in the same category as Hyuvan, the wind dragon who helped us out during the UFO incident. But this dragon still got beat up that badly?

Huh? Is Mr. Oni stronger than I realized?

Vampy’s in danger!

“Come on! What happened to all that energy you had before?! Die! Just die already!”

Turning around, I see Vampy viciously attacking, while Mr. Oni has switched to defense only.

Oh. Okay.

I guess there was no point worrying, then.

Vampy is swinging her broadsword around every which way while also attacking Mr. Oni with Ice and Water Magic.

Plus, judging by the fact that the ice and water both contain a tinge of red, I’m guessing it’s no ordinary magic. Since it’s red, I’d bet it has to do with some kind of vampire blood-control ability, but I don’t know what it does exactly.

Mr. Oni’s skin is sort of inflamed in places, so maybe it’s some kind of acid?

Yikes, Vampy. Such smol, very stronk.

Between those scales blocking Mr. Oni’s attacks and that red ice and water, I guess Vampy’s been advancing in lots of ways without my knowing.

When did she get so powerful?

I mean, I always knew she was strong, but she definitely seems to have gotten even more so in a short period of time.

Mr. Oni beat her and Mera into the ground last time, but now she’s successfully fighting him on her own, so that proves how much she’s grown.

In fact, it seems like Mr. Oni has gotten stronger, too, so that means Vampy’s growth rate is even more impressive.

She must’ve been really mad that he beat her, huh…?

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Using the bitterness of defeat as motivation to grow sounds like something a shonen manga hero would do.

“DIIIIIiiiiiEEEEEE!!”

A hero… Riiiight…

Yeah, I’ll just leave dealing with her mental growth to the Demon Lord. Good luck with that.

I want no part of it, thanks.

I try to ignore the warning signs of Vampy’s developing inclinations as I watch over her fight.

What’s that? Am I going to help her?

What, you want ME to cooperate with someone else?

Nah, I’m mostly kidding. I’m sure I could do it if I wanted to, okay?

I could, but for a battle this intense, supporting her would actually be pretty tough.

Vampy and Mr. Oni are moving all over the place, so they keep switching positions.

If I try to hop in there while I’m still struggling to control my powers, it could easily lead to Vampy getting caught in some not-so-friendly fire.

Thread isn’t a problem to control, but they’re moving so fast right now that there aren’t really any openings for me to intervene.

Cooperation is the kind of thing you can do only when you’re at least as strong as the person you’re trying to fight alongside, y’know?

And unfortunately, I don’t think I can keep up with Vampy’s and Mr. Oni’s speed as I am now.

When Mr. Oni sent me flying earlier, I learned without a doubt that just strengthening my physique won’t allow me to move around and fight as freely as I used to.

It’s clear to me now that I was able to do that only with the support of my stats, plus skills like Dimensional Maneuvering.

Now I would have to enhance my movement, strengthen my defenses to withstand the recoil from that movement, and then anticipate the effects of external factors like the ground I’m standing on and include solutions for all that in advance.

Only then will I be able to actually attempt a high-speed battle.

Right now, just doing any one of those things alone is hard enough for me to handle, so I don’t think I could do all of them at once anytime soon.

Man, stats and skills really were awesome.

Actually, I guess it seems kinda weird that the system applies those things to everyone who lives in this world.

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I’m working my butt off trying to control my conjuring over here, while everyone else gets to just do whatever they want while the system takes care of it automatically for them! It’s not fair!

I keep complaining to myself while I watch Vampy and Mr. Oni battle.

At a glance, Vampy seems to be taking the lead.

Yeah, Mr. Oni is deflecting her broadsword easily, so she’s not even making a scratch with that.

But in the meantime, that red-tinted water is revolving around Vampy’s body, and it goes after Mr. Oni whenever he tries to counterattack.

Wherever that water touches him, Mr. Oni’s skin sizzles and burns.

And if he ignores it too long, it freezes over, too.

The freezing doesn’t seem to stop the water from burning his skin, because whenever Mr. Oni uses his magic sword’s flames to melt the ice, the flesh underneath is nastily exposed.

Vampy must be combining the Acid Attack skill with Water Magic and Ice Magic, I think.

Maybe she’s even using Telekinesis or something, too.

Which means she’s managing multiple skills at once now.

That seems pretty unfair, considering that I can barely even control one thing at a time.

Unlike the broadsword, the red water attacks are difficult to predict, so Mr. Oni can’t quite dodge without getting hit.

Well, yeah. It’s water. It can change shape freely, and if Vampy’s moving it with Telekinesis, then she can use it to attack at will.

Pinpoint attacks, beam attacks, broad surface attacks—whatever she wants.

It’d be impossible to dodge all that.

Getting hit with a little spray of droplets doesn’t do that much damage, but if he really gets drenched in the red water, the acid seriously burns large areas of skin.

And on top of that, the water freezes and makes it harder for him to move, causing him to get hit even more.

Talk about nasty.

And I don’t just mean the appearance of skin being burned with acid. The strategy itself is nasty, too.

Of course, Mr. Oni isn’t going to take all that lying down.

He’s using the magic swords in his hands to try to scatter the red water with fire and lightning.

But unfortunately for him, it’s not a good matchup.

Fire and lightning are great for killing and wounding, but not so much for intercepting attacks, since neither of them has physical mass.

If he wants to completely block the physical attack of the red water, he’d be better off with the defense of Earth Magic or something like that.

Even if the explosive power of the fire and lightning can scatter the spray of the red water, part of it’s bound to land on Mr. Oni, and the rest of the water just gathers right back around Vampy.

Plus, while he’s having a tough time defending himself, Vampy can easily produce more red water to replace what’s been scattered.

I don’t know how much MP it costs to use the powers of those magic swords, but it looks to me like Vampy’s spending a lot less than he is.

He has to block her attacks or take major damage, but doing so costs him serious MP.

But it’s not like he can just attack, either.

Vampy’s red water can actually block Mr. Oni’s fire and lightning.

Yeah. It’s water. So it has mass.

Even the dumbest grade-school kid knows that water beats fire, and the electric currents of lightning can’t pass through it very easily, either.

Perfect offense and defense. Her opponent can’t block her attacks, but she can block his.

Yep, you gotta admit, it’s pretty nasty.

It hasn’t even been that long since our last fight with Mr. Oni.

I didn’t think Vampy had enough time to raise her level in the duke’s mansion, and I never saw her doing any intense training.

So her stats and skills probably haven’t changed that much.

Which means her advantage now is because she reflected on her loss, reconsidered her strategies, and came up with new methods specifically to beat Mr. Oni.

It’s like they say: If you know your enemy and know yourself, you can fight a hundred battles and never lose.

Analyze your enemy, polish your tactics and countermeasures, and hone your repertoire to its limits. If you do that, as long as there’s not an insurmountable difference in strength, you’ll stand a damn good chance of winning.

That’s how I won many a battle against opponents who were stronger than I was.

Although most of them besides Araba were just surprise attacks, so I didn’t have any real tactics or countermeasures to speak of!

I had Professor Appraisal to cover for that, though.

The red water keeps attacking Mr. Oni, and it’s definitely damaging him.

He seems to have some kind of HP auto-recovery ability, so the wounds are gradually healing over time, but he gets more new injuries faster than the old ones can heal.

At this rate, Vampy will probably win sooner or later.

But I wonder if it’ll really be that easy?

“Urgh! Groooooaaahhh!”

Mr. Oni unleashes an even scarier howl than usual.

At the same time, the aura around him grows exponentially in size.

Fire and lightning dance wildly around his body, until I can even feel the heat from where I’m standing some distance away.

Mr. Oni moves forward, closing the distance between him and Vampy in an instant. His charge alone is enough to disperse the defensive wall of red water, and his two blades slash down at Vampy’s body at once.

Her eyes widening in surprise, Vampy has no time to dodge, and even those new scales of hers can’t block an all-out attack from Mr. Oni’s swords, so her body is slashed to ribbons…almost.

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In truth, Vampy is now standing next to me in shock.

Mr. Oni’s big attack slashes through nothing but air.

As if letting off rage that has nowhere else to go, he sets off fire and lightning that explode on the ground where Vampy was standing just seconds ago.

Mr. Oni gets caught up in the blast as shock waves blow through the area with a massive boom.

Damn, that was close!

Even Vampy would’ve been blown to bits if she took a direct hit from something like that!

“Huh? What? How?”

Vampy looks back and forth between the site of the explosion and me, evidently confused as to what just happened.

What did I do, you ask? Nothing much, really.

I just got a feeling that things looked dicey, so I teleported Vampy over to me.

I couldn’t teleport a far-off target closer to me back when I had the Teleport skill, but now I can do stuff like that easily.

Yep. When it comes to thread and teleporting, I can do even more than I could with skills, even if I mostly suck at everything else.

So while I couldn’t jump into the battle, I can definitely save someone who needs saving.

That’s why I’ve just been sitting around watching the battle from a safe distance.

Damn, though, Mr. Oni.

Who would’ve thought that you still had another power-up left? Scary.

Vampy’s defense might be high, but I doubt it’s higher than that dragon lying all beat-up on the ground.

Especially since I’m pretty sure those scales of Vampy’s are some kind of Dragon Scales skill.

I dunno how she got a skill like that, but I did find it suspicious that Mr. Oni couldn’t penetrate Vampy’s defense when he was able to beat a real live dragon.

So I thought he might have some kind of trump card up his sleeve, but I definitely never suspected it would be another power boost like that!

What is this? Your third form?

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Does that mean eventually you’re gonna turn blue and go into your fourth and final form or something?

Sorry, but I’m not some kind of battle maniac, so that doesn’t really excite me.

Hmm?

But how exactly do Mr. Oni’s power boosts work anyway?

What can you tell us about that with your precious Appraisal skill, Miss Vampy?

“Appraisal.”

“Huh? …Oh, right.”

Vampy hesitates a second, then obeys.

Appraisal has saved our butts before, after all. At least this time she understands my request, even if it took her a second there.

“Battle Divinity Level Ten? That’s one of the only really high-level skills. Maybe it’s a benefit of the Ruler of Wrath title? At any rate, that must be what he activated just now. Wrath enhances the degree of strengthening granted by Battle Divinity, too.”

Vampy analyzes Mr. Oni’s Appraisal results.

Ooh, I see.

While active, Mr. Oni’s anger-line skills spend MP, SP, and so on to increase his stats.

They seem to be pretty effective, and once they evolve to the final skill in the line, Wrath, the increase becomes almost exponential.

And the Battle Divinity skill reduces SP to raise stats, too.

Battle Divinity LV 10 adds about 1,000 to each stat, I think.

And then that number gets multiplied by Wrath, so of course his stats get crazy high.

I’m curious about exactly how high they can get.

“Stats?”

“…His physical attack is over twenty thousand.”

Good god.

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Maybe it really is for the best that we didn’t bring along the puppet spiders.

Twenty thousand is even higher than their best stats.

Last time we fought Mr. Oni, Sael was able to hold her own against him in battle, so I guess that means he’s done some serious leveling-up in this short amount of time.

If the three puppet spiders all fought together, I’m pretty sure they’d win, but someone might get hurt.

I don’t know if I’d be able to teleport multiple targets out of harm’s way at once.

Boom! An explosion sends dust flying through the air.

Mr. Oni appears from the center of the explosion, looking seriously injured but paying no mind to his injuries.

He doesn’t even care if he blows himself up.

Maybe his mind is just too far gone.

As soon as those rage-filled eyes lock on to us, he charges straight in our direction.

“Nnngh! Buy me a little time! My Envy skill will be able to deactivate his Wrath soon!”

Hmm?

Did Vampy just casually drop several huge bombshells on me?

Wait a second.

Asking me to buy time is one thing, but Envy?

Did she just say Envy? Not Jealousy?

“Graaaah!”

Shut up for a second, Mr. Oni.

As he charges toward us, I send him flying away with Teleport.

Vampy blinks in confusion, looking around for the angry opponent who was about to reach us just seconds ago.

Don’t bother, Vampy. He’s nowhere in sight right now.

At the moment, the only techniques I have a strong command over are thread and teleportation, but frankly, that means I won’t lose to anyone in this world.

How could I?

Teleport is a terrifying ability when it doesn’t have limits, so it makes it very easy for me to flee.

And it’s easy to send my opponent away somewhere, too.

Even if I have no way of winning against someone, I can just flee with Teleport or get rid of them the same way, and that’ll be that.

I won’t win, but I won’t lose.

At this point, I doubt anyone within the limits of the system would stand a chance of beating me, except maybe the Demon Lord?

Although there are forces outside the system like Güli-güli and Potimas, so I’m not completely unbeatable.

Obviously, the only reason I accepted Güli-güli’s request in this unstable situation is that I stand a chance of winning. Otherwise, I would’ve said no.

If Mr. Oni’s ace in the hole is the Wrath plus Battle Divinity combo, then this is pretty much in the bag already.

Battle Divinity uses SP, for one thing.

Unlike MP, SP doesn’t restore on its own. It restores only if you eat food. So if we just prevent him from restocking long enough, he’ll eventually run out of SP and collapse.

And my Teleport skill is perfect for buying time.

I can’t imagine us losing, y’know?

But more importantly.

“What do you mean, Envy?”

Before Mr. Oni gets back, there’s something I need to clarify here.

As I look down at her, Vampy freezes.

“Oh, erm…right! It’s, you know, a figure of speech!”

Uh-huh. Okay. Sure.

Presumably sensing my suppressed rage, Vampy takes a hurried step back.

But no amount of distance can stop me now that I have Teleport.

If you try to run now, I’ll chase you to the depths of hell and make you confess everything!

“Nnngh…” In the face of my determination, Vampy gives up and spills the truth. “I-I’m sorry, all right?! I put skill points into my Jealousy skill and made it evolve into Envy!”

Ah… She really went and did it, huh?

The Jealousy skill, which Vampy’s had for a while now, is the lesser form of one of the Seven Deadly Sins skills, like Mr. Oni’s Wrath skill.

And now she’s saying that she put skill points into it and turned it into the Seven Deadly Sins skill Envy.

Most of the Seven Deadly Sins skills have powerful benefits, but in exchange, just having one will affect your mind. So it’s better not to pick them up if possible.

One look at the way Mr. Oni has completely lost his mind is proof enough of that.

Even if it’s not to that extreme, the fact that Vampy also has a Seven Deadly Sins skill now means it’s probably having an effect on her mind.

The craziness she’s been displaying during this battle might even be because of that.

Huh? Wasn’t she always like that, you ask?

…No, I don’t think she was. Probably.

Honestly. The Demon Lord and I warned her over and over not to acquire a Seven Deadly Sins skill, and now she’s gone and done it anyway.

Admittedly, since Envy can disable a target’s skills, it’s a pretty good matchup against Mr. Oni.

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Wrath is a huge part of why he’s so strong. If she can disable that, he’ll be significantly weakened, and we might even be able to bring him back to his senses.

On top of that, when you get a Seven Deadly Sins skill, you get the corresponding title.

The titles give enhancements of their own, as well as some powerful bonus skills.

When I got the Ruler of Pride title back in the day, it came with Abyss Magic, the ultimate form of Dark Magic.

Most of these Seven Deadly Sins titles come with similarly strong skills, too.

Vampy’s guess that Mr. Oni’s Battle Divinity skill came with the Ruler of Wrath title might be right on the mark.

I don’t know what skills come with Ruler of Envy, but they’re probably similarly powerful.

Hmm? Oh, was it those scales, maybe?

That’s the biggest visible difference I’ve noticed in this battle.

I don’t know why Vampy would have a Dragon-Scales-line skill, which are usually limited to dragons, but it might make sense if it came with Envy.

Hrmmm. In that case, Vampy’s probably gotten a big power boost by acquiring Envy.

But still, I can’t believe she actually put skill points into it to make it evolve.

She must’ve been really upset about her previous loss, enough to make her disobey the Demon Lord and me.

That’s no excuse, though.

She’s so going to be punished when we get home.

“Eeeek!”

I haven’t even said anything yet, but Vampy shrieks like she can tell that something bad is coming.

Oh? What’s this, now?

Where’d all that vim and vigor from the fight with Mr. Oni go, hmm? Hmmmm?

“I-I’m sorryyyy!”

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…Uh, why does she look like she might actually cry?

Is she that scared of me? Since when am I scary enough to make little girls cry?

I don’t get it.

“A-anyway! That’s not the most pressing issue right now! Where did he go?”

Wow. She sure changed the subject fast.

But I guess her punishment can wait. For now, she wants to know where Mr. Oni went?

Silently, I point at the sky. Vampy follows my lead and looks up.

At that moment, something comes falling down from the air.

It hits the ground without slowing down, and a dull thud echoes.

“Huh?”

Vampy sounds stunned, but to be honest, I’m a little confused myself.

Um, helloooo?

Don’t you have the Spatial Maneuvering skill, Mr. Oni?

If you’re wondering where I teleported Mr. Oni, the answer is: the sky.

Specifically, about three miles up.

Güli-güli requested that we protect the people who live here from Mr. Oni, so I couldn’t just teleport him far away and let him go.

I had to buy time but still make sure that he would come back here.

So I figured the fastest way was to just toss him straight up into the air, where obviously he’d land right back here.

Even if he got blown around a little, he wouldn’t go so far that we couldn’t catch up to him.

Besides, I figured Mr. Oni would try to come back after us anyway.

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But it didn’t occur to me that he might not have the Spatial Maneuvering skill and would just crash into the earth.

Hmm. I guess now that I think about it, if he didn’t have Spatial Maneuvering or Flight or something, teleporting him high up in the air would just mean that he’d be helpless to stop himself from falling.

I guess that was a pretty dirty move on my part.

Oops. My bad.

“Yikes…”

As Vampy finally figures out what I did, she pulls away from me, looking disturbed.

Excuse me, where do you get off reacting that way? You were fighting pretty dirty yourself.

Besides, why in the world doesn’t Mr. Oni have Spatial Maneuvering?

He was holding his own pretty well against Vampy, yet he didn’t even have such a basic necessity? What’s wrong with you, dude?

I assumed he had Spatial Maneuvering when I teleported him way up high, so I was just trying to buy time, not actually deal any damage.

But now it seems like I just dealt the finishing blow!

…Wait, so, like, is he dead?

Why is he just lying there and not moving?

Hellooo? You alive over theeere?

As I cautiously get closer, I can see that he’s very, veeeery faintly still breathing.

He’s literally on his dying breath, but at least he’s still alive.

Even if he’s in berserker mode because of Wrath, he can’t even lift a finger anymore.

Hrmmm.

I hesitate for a bit, then beckon to Vampy, who timidly approaches.

C’mon—I’m not gonna do anything to you.

“Envy.”

“Huh?”

“Wrath.”

“What?”

Oh, come on! Do I have to spell everything out for you?!

Get a clue already!

“Use Envy on Wrath.”

“Ahhh.”

Finally understanding, Vampy holds out her hand toward Mr. Oni.

I don’t think she actually has to do that to use the skill, but it does help set the mood.

While she’s working on deactivating Mr. Oni’s Wrath with Envy, I use my thread to retrieve the magic swords from his hands, just in case he starts thrashing around again.

Why use thread, you ask?

I don’t wanna let my guard down and get slashed to ribbons, thank you very much.

Once I’ve got the swords, I tie him up with thread just in case.

I doubt he has the energy to fight anymore, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Out of a warrior’s sense of compassion, I wrap extra thread around his waist, too.

It’s just… You know?

Mr. Oni’s flames and stuff were all flying around him before, so his clothes are kinda… Yeah.

I’ll refrain from going into detail for the sake of Mr. Oni’s honor.

“It’s done.”

While I’m finishing that up, Vampy announces that she’s disabled the Wrath skill.

The scary aura slowly vanishes from around Mr. Oni.

Without it, he just looks like an ordinary young boy, lying there on the verge of death.

He might actually die if we just leave him like that, so I decide to heal him.

His broken limbs return to normal, the bones that were exposed from acid burns are covered by new flesh, and healthy skin begins to form.

Conjuring healing is probably pretty advanced, but since I had the highest level of Healing Magic before, the Miracle Magic skill, I can reproduce it to heal even mortal wounds like this with ease!

As his wounds fade, Mr. Oni’s sleeping face becomes more peaceful…or not.

There’s nothing peaceful about that anguished grimace, to be honest.

But, well, at least he’s sleeping! Good job, me!

I don’t know how he’s going to react when he wakes up, but at least we’ve knocked him out for now.

“So it is done.”

Now that things have settled for the time being, Güli-güli approaches with his dragon, who he appears to have fully healed from her beat-up state.

Güli-güli walks over to me and stands there in silence.

Is it just me, or have we been in this situation before?

Last time, I’m pretty sure we just stood there without talking until the Demon Lord showed up, but you know she’s not coming this time, right?

“Truly, you saved my life. Allow me to express appreciation in my lord’s place. Thank you.”

The dragon behind Güli-güli ends our awkward little standoff.

“I am the Ice Dragon Nia. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I spend most of my time idling away in the Mystic Mountains, so do come visit anytime. And bring gifts, of course.”

Which is it? Is she thanking us or demanding tribute?

“Nia.”

“I know, I know. Now stop being bashful and thank them, too, my lord.”

Bashful? Is that what this is?

As Güli-güli heaves a deep sigh, he looks more annoyed than bashful.

“Thank you. You were a great help.”

Wow, he actually thanked me.

But then he shuts up again.

What’s up with that?! The silence is killing me, dude!

Yes, being talked to is stressful, too, but I don’t exactly enjoy being stared at in silence, either!

“Still, I expected this to take at least a hundred years.”

Just as I thought the silence would last forever, Güli-güli mumbles something.

A hundred years? Whaddaya mean?

“It appears you’ve mastered conjuring quite well already. My presumption was that you would be powerless for a hundred years or more, but clearly I was mistaken.”

With that, he heaves a depressed sigh.

Uh. Okay.

I guess Güli-güli, my senpai in godliness, thought I wouldn’t get my powers back for another hundred years or so.

A hundred years? Are you kidding me?

And wait a second, does that mean I’ll still be alive in a hundred years?

I don’t know what happens to my life span now that I’ve been deified, so I guess that’s possible in theory…

“From what I’ve seen, you have an even greater grasp of spatial conjuring than I. With that power, you could easily leave this planet, I am sure.”

Say what?! You mean the space master Güli-güli is giving my spatial conjuring the stamp of approval?! Geez, I’m so talented, it’s scary even for me!

It’s no big surprise, though. I’ve always been a genius, after all!

Still, you’re saying I could leave this planet?

I didn’t see that one coming.

Huh. So if I use spatial conjuring, I could actually leave this whole planet.

I guess that makes sense. With Teleport, I could cross space and even go to another planet.

So I can leave this planet anytime I want.

“Personally, I would have no complaints whatsoever if you were to leave. In fact, it would be rather appreciated, since that would mean the removal of an unpredictable element.”

Uhhh. Okay.

Mr. Güli-güli, is that a roundabout way of telling me that you’d be better off if I wasn’t around?

I guess it wasn’t really roundabout at all.

So you’re basically telling me to GTFO?

“My lord, that seems a bit impolite…”

“Of course. Pardon me.”

At Nia’s prompt, Güli-güli apologizes.

Um, I guess it’s fine.

It sure is painfully clear what Güli-güli really thinks of me now, though.

“I will let you deal with that reincarnation. As for your recompense…”

“Ow?!”

Güli-güli suddenly pulls off one of Nia’s scales, then walks over to Vampy, who’s hiding behind me.

“Let me see that.”

Güli-güli indicates Vampy’s broadsword.

Reluctantly, she holds the weapon out to him.

Güli-güli takes the sword and presses the scale against it. Then the scale vanishes into the sword.

“I have infused it with the power of Ice Dragon Nia. As you have a natural inclination toward the Ice attribute, it should serve you well.”

Wowie.

He must’ve used his administrator powers or something to enhance Vampy’s broadsword.

It was already a powerful weapon made out of material from the legendary-class monster Fenrir, and now it’s got the materials of the powerful Ice Dragon Nia, too.

This thing’s definitely gotta be mythical class now.

I can tell from Vampy’s face as she takes the sword back that it must be crazy strong now.

Her stupid eyes are sparkling like crazy.

“This is the most I can offer. Is there anything you wish for along those lines?”

Güli-güli looks at me.

Hmm. I dunno—that’s a tough question.

I didn’t end up using a weapon in this fight, but I do have my giant scythe.

And anything else I want, I could probably get my hands on without Güli-güli’s help.

“Perhaps I can offer a reward, then.”

All at once, my body shivers as if all the warmth has been drained out of it.

That voice is speaking directly inside my head.

The smartphone it normally comes out of is nowhere to be seen.

Like it or not, this difference makes me even more nervous than usual.

“I’d like to give you an extra-special reward for granting me such an entertaining show.”

Meanwhile, the voice keeps speaking.

Beautiful and calm, yet enough to fill anyone who hears it with anxiety.

“So hurry up and come see me, please.”

A horrible chill runs through me, as if an icicle has been stabbed into my spine.

“Is something wrong?”

Güli-güli gives me a puzzled look.

He’s a literal god, and I guess even he couldn’t hear that voice.

“No thanks.” I can’t even tell if I’m still standing or if my response is actually coming out of my mouth. “I don’t need a reward. We’ll take care of him, so I’d rather you didn’t interfere. Can you promise me that in place of a reward?”

“V-very well.”

I do my best to keep myself from shaking.

To be honest, I want to go straight home and hide in bed.

But I can’t say that.

“Sophia. Don’t stop suppressing his Wrath skill with Envy until he wakes up.”

“R-right.”

After giving a necessary command, I lift the unconscious oni over my shoulder.

“Okay if I tell the Demon Lord about this place?”

“…I would prefer that you didn’t, but I will leave that decision up to you.”

I guess I’m free to choose whether to tell the Demon Lord about this rest area for souls, then.

It seems like Güli-güli would personally prefer that I didn’t, but since he told me about it as a show of good faith, he isn’t going to restrict me from doing so.

“Okay. Then we’ll go back now.”

“All right. Thank you for your assistance.”

Vampy, Mr. Oni, and I all teleport back to the duke’s mansion.

The puppet spiders run up to greet us.

“Riel. Put him in your room. And keep watch. Tell me if anything happens.”

The puppet spiders freeze in place as I give them orders.

Riel and Fiel have rooms of their own, but they always hang out in my room instead, so we might as well put one to good use now.

Riel stares at me in awe, then slowly picks up Mr. Oni and takes him to her room as instructed.

He’s tied in my thread, so even if he wakes up in a violent mood, it should be fine.

The other little girls are looking at me, too, but I don’t have time to indulge them right now.

“Going to sleep.”

With that, I collapse onto my bed.

Then I cover the whole bed with thread, shutting out the rest of the world.

I curl up in a ball, trying to rid myself of the voice echoing in my ears.

But the words won’t leave my head.

Hurry up and come see me, please.

That sentence wraps around my mind like a curse.

I cover my ears with my hands.

It won’t help, but I just had to do it anyway.

I know I do.

I can’t keep running away forever.

Soon I’ll have to meet the person behind that voice.

I’ll have to meet D.