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Side Chapter 27 - The hero finally faces the Demon King, and suspicions deepen

“Evil-destroying Radiant True Strike!”

The monster’s body was split cleanly into two pieces, sending purple blood spraying into the air. But the other apes continued closing in, unperturbed by the death of their kin.

Another of the apes let out a roar that was unintelligible to humans, and swung both of its abnormally long arms down at Heinz.

“Heinz, don’t concern yourself with the small fry! Hundred Roaring Shining Fists!” shouted Jennifer, unleashing a series of fist-blows that pierced the ape’s hard scales.

“Jennifer’s right, you need to finish off that evil god! My knife and bow don’t have enough power to take him down!” said Edgar, looking up at the enormous, grotesque-looking Elder Dragon that was flying in the sky above them.

The Elder Dragon, the boss of this floor, had the overall shape of a hand, with five one-eyed heads.

“Alright!” Heinz told his companions.

“I shall support you,” said Diana, and then she offered a prayer to Mill, the goddess of slumber. “My goddess Mill, suppress the power of slumber… Full Ability Awakening!” she chanted, casting an enchantment on Heinz that awakened the power that was sleeping inside him.

Perhaps becoming aware of this, the evil god’s five eyes were filled with killing intent and it opened its mouths, pointing their fangs towards Heinz. An evil light, different from the blue light used by Heinz, ignited in the evil god’s throats and expanded in an instant.

But Delizah forcibly drew the evil god’s killing intent towards herself with a Flaming Light Shield Technique martial skill. “Super Provocation!” she cried.

The projectiles of light unleashed from the evil god’s five pairs of jaws were all aimed at the small Dwarf woman. Each of these projectiles contained enough power to annihilate a modern fortress without leaving a single piece of rubble behind, and they closed in on Delizah with a speed that would make them impossible for her to avoid.

But Delizah raised her Orichalcum shield and doubled both its defensive power and magical resistance with her martial skills. “Radiant Steel Wall, Radiant Steel Form!” she shouted, withstanding the evil god’s attacks and holding her ground.

This seemed to infuriate the evil god; even though the effects of Super Provocation had worn off, it tried to release projectiles of light in Delizah’s direction once more.

But its attention was too focused on Delizah. Heinz, using a Magic Item to climb into the sky, raised his sword.

“Transcend Limits, Transcend Limits: Holy Sword… Luminous Slash!” he shouted, cutting the evil god in two.

The evil god shrieked and struggled in vain with its four uninjured heads, but in the end, every single head was slashed off its neck by Heinz’s blade.

After defeating the grotesque, giant apes that had appeared with the evil god, Heinz and the rest of the Five-colored Blades treated their injuries. Now, they were sitting on the stairs to the fiftieth floor, having a meal.

“So, that was the 49th floor. Considering what the heroic spirits were saying, I still can’t see the end being anywhere near,” said Heinz.

“You’re right. In fact, it was as if the real challenge is only just about to start,” said Edgar.

In this Dungeon, they were returned unharmed to a safe ‘town’ whenever they died, but during their runs, they had to treat their injuries and recover from their fatigue on their own. The most efficient way might have been to simply kill themselves and return to the ‘town’ after clearing a floor, but… none of them actually did it.

Even if they knew they were not really dying, the pain that they felt was real, and if they became too accustomed to this abnormal situation, there was no guarantee that their senses would return to normal when they left the Dungeon.

In any case, this was a trial given to them by a god, designed to make them surpass the champion Bellwood. Using such a cunning method would go against the expectations of the god who had given them the trial.

“Joshua was kind of like, ‘You’ve got a long way to go.’ What about the rest of you?” Heinz asked.

“Gorsh was similar,” said Jennifer.

“I think Firlietta was the same,” said Diana.

They were talking about the heroic spirits, who descended upon them through the Heroic Spirit Descent Skill that they had gained. It seemed that the heroic spirits standing in their way on the 30th floor was a trial for that purpose.

As the heroic spirits were former humans, they had a more powerful consciousness than many familiar spirits. Thus, when Heinz and his companions used Heroic Spirit Descent, they could feel the heroic spirits’ wills.

It wasn’t enough to have a conversation, but enough to have a vague idea of what the heroic spirits felt… Incidentally, spirit clones of gods possessed more power than heroic spirits, and in cases when they descended upon a human, the human would not be able to completely understand the will of the god’s spirit clone. Unless the human had incredible compatibility with the god, they would not understand anything at all.

“That bastard Luke… I feel like he was snorting at me,” said Edgar.

“I wonder why that heroic spirit even responds to you activating the Skill,” said Delizah.

“They’re probably deliberately being harsh on us to push us harder. After all, it doesn’t seem like this Dungeon is going to end at the next floor,” said Heinz.

The party had tried to estimate how far through this Dungeon the current floor was, but they had arrived at the conclusion that they were still far from the final floor.

In fact, the floors they had been clearing recently all felt easier than the 30th floor where they had fought the heroic spirits… though this might have been because the heroic spirits were abnormally powerful, making them more formidable opponents than the powerful monsters led by evil gods.

“But I think we’re about halfway through,” said Delizah, running a finger along a scratch on her Orichalcum shield. “After we fought the heroic spirits on the 30th floor and acquired Heroic Spirit Descent, we’ve only been fighting against monsters that have almost no information documented in the archives of the Mages’ Guild and Church. I think they’re monsters created directly by the Demon King Guduranis and the evil gods that were his subordinates.”

“You’re probably right,” said Edgar. “After all, I have no idea how the giant tentacle-apes we defeated just now were even alive. I tried to tear up their organs with my martial skill, but there was only muscle inside their abdomens, you know? It’s like the evil gods are trying to make a bad pun, saying “there are no organs.”

Note: “There are no organs” is a pun that doesn’t translate to English at all. The word for “organs” is 内臓/naizou, and the sentence is also ended with “naizou” so the sentence is “naizou ga naizou.” Yes, it’s a Japanese dad joke.

Indeed, monsters were creatures too. They could undergo extreme physical changes by increasing their Rank and possess peculiar abilities from birth, but they were no different from other organisms in the fact that they had to eat to nourish themselves and reproduce to produce offspring and preserve their own species.

However, these monsters didn’t possess the organs for these things.

“It is said that in the age of the gods, the evil gods frequently created monsters that had more power in exchange for being unable to do anything but fight, in order to combat the powerful champions,” said Diana. “It is written that most of them were defeated by the champions and their followers, but the few surviving monsters could not even survive for long after their creation, let alone leave offspring behind, so after the war against the Demon King, all that was left of them were the memories inside the minds of the gods.”

These monsters had only appeared during the war; no official names had been given to them and no research into them had been conducted. They were merely creatures that had come into and disappeared from existence according to the needs of the evil gods that created them.

“… Even though I know the ones we just fought were illusions rather than the real thing, I feel pity for them. And we know what a grave sin it is to create and play with life at your own whim, even if they are monsters,” said Heinz. “… I wonder if Bellwood noticed this and was bothered by it as well? Perhaps Alda wanted to teach that to us?”

“Heinz, you’re going off-topic. What Delizah and Edgar are trying to say is that we’re facing evil gods and monsters from the age of the gods, so maybe we’ve made it quite deep into the Dungeon,” said Jennifer. “Right?” she added, looking at Delizah and Edgar, who nodded.

“Well, Bellwood and the other champions apparently defeated those monsters like… D-class adventurers hunting Kobolds, and even defeated the weaker evil gods without a problem,” said Delizah. “Still, I’d like to think that we’ve at least made it about halfway through.”

“Yeah. We could make a guess if we knew what kind of evil god that was, but… Diana, do you have any idea?” Edgar asked.

“Unfortunately, that evil god is not in my knowledge. It did not name itself either, after all,” said Diana.

She did not know of any Elder Dragon evil god with five one-eyed heads… Fidirg, the dragon god of five sins.

“There were apparently several evil gods serving the Demon King whose existence was deliberately left unrecorded. If their names were left behind, the people would fear them and that fear would become power for them,” said Diana. “However, I have heard that most of those gods were those that were weak.”

“It doesn’t seem likely that the evil god we faced was an exception, and actually a high-ranking god,” said Edgar.

“Of course not. If we could defeat a high-ranking evil god like that without sustaining a lot of injuries, we’d have been able to go into the deeper floors more quickly,” said Jennifer.

“You’re right,” Edgar sighed.

All of their faces relaxed a little. They were aware that they were becoming stronger.

This Dungeon was an environment in which they faced numerous enemies that needed them to use all of their strength to defeat, the likes of which they now almost never encountered outside the Dungeon.

Even among people who possessed the Familiar Spirit Descent Skill, only one in a thousand could acquire the superior version, Heroic Spirit Descent. Heinz’s companions had acquired this Skill on the 30th floor.

They had also changed Jobs twice more after clearing the 30th floor.

As they were now, Heinz believed that they could have conquered the Trial of Zakkart. However, he still could not fathom the intentions of the god who had created this Dungeon.

Does he want to turn us into warriors who could even face the Demon King? I’ve heard rumors that the Demon King has been resurrected, but… even if that’s true, why would he go as far as to create this Dungeon and make it appear before us? And it said ‘Bellwood’s successor.’

No matter how much Heinz thought about it, he couldn’t think of an answer. Knowing that the answer would be past these stairs, Heinz and his companions finished their rest and proceeded to the 50th floor.

“This is… a reproduction of some kind of underground temple or ruins?” Heinz murmured.

He and his party were standing in a dim space filled with rows of thick stone pillars that continued as far as the eye could see. The floors up until now had often contained large monsters, so most of them had been outdoors environments. They were slightly perplexed by this sudden change.

Their bewilderment grew as three silhouettes appeared from the shadows of the pillars. With the exception of the heroic spirits, they had mainly been fighting very much non-humanoid enemies up until now. On top of that, the silhouettes didn’t look powerful at all.

But the silhouettes drew closer, and the moment they were clearly visible, Heinz and his companions’ bewilderment turned into vigilance.

“Oi, isn’t that her?! The one we finished off, the Pure-breed Vampire Ternecia!” shouted Edgar.

There was an evil-looking woman with an abundance of sex appeal, her plump figure dressed in clothing with numerous slits. It was the Pure-breed Vampire Ternecia, approaching Heinz and his companions mercilessly, as if she had left her hysterical personality behind.

“Then is the one next to her Gubamon? He matches the recorded description perfectly, an old man with large eyes, thin as a withered tree,” said Delizah.

“But according to the rumors, he was defeated by someone. Though this is surely not the real Gubamon,” said Diana.

The old man they were looking at… The Pure-breed Vampire Gubamon, didn’t answer them either. It was as if he were an elaborately-crafted mannequin.

“Then this brat is the last Pure-breed Vampire that worships Hihiryushukaka, Birkyne… or not. I vaguely recognize him,” said Edgar.

The last of the silhouettes was the smallest.

A lifeless-looking Dhampir boy with white hair, empty odd-colored eyes and wax-like skin.

“Vandalieu… Why are you in this Dungeon?” Heinz whispered, despite knowing that like the monsters and evil gods that had appeared before, this Vandalieu was not real.

He and his companions had only met him once, in the city of Niarki, but they had never forgotten him.

“Demon King’s horns, activate.”

“Demon King’s carapace, activate.”

“Demon King’s blood and horns, activate.”

This was the response from Vandalieu and the Pure-breed Vampires.

Curatos, the god of records, was the one who was largely in charge of managing and running the Dungeon that the Five-colored Blades were currently inside. The book he held was his symbol and also his divine authority, and he had it open as he watched Heinz and his companions.

“The Pure-breed Vampire Ternecia, recreated from the records of Heinz and his companions themselves, and the Pure-breed Gubamon and the Vandalieu from back then, recreated from the records of the Liberating Princess Knight before she fell into darkness,” said Alda, joining Curatos.

“Yes. The Pure-breed Vampires would no longer be a worthy foe to Heinz and his four companions if they faced them one by one… I made them appear on the same floor to emphasize how much of an anomaly Vandalieu is,” said Curatos. “Of course, the Vandalieu that I have recreated will fight even more harshly than the real Vandalieu from back then, so Heinz and his companions should not be able to defeat him so easily.”

The Vandalieu and the Pure-breed Vampires recreated by Curatos did not possess their original personalities. Unlike the heroic spirits, they had not descended upon the Dungeon directly, so they were little more than puppets in the end.

However, because of that, the recreated copy did not have the naivety that the real Vandalieu had. It would not hold back in consideration of the allies that fought alongside it, and it would likely utilize poison and disease-creating spells that the real Vandalieu had not used back then.

Of course, Dead Spirit Magic had been recreated as well.

“Are you not going to recreate the other Pure-breed Vampire, Birkyne?” Alda asked. “If I recall, there should be records of him, even if they are from the very distant past.”

“He is still alive,” said Curatos. “If I recreated him based on information from ancient records, and he was considerably weaker than his present self, Heinz and his companions might make incorrect assumptions about him if they were to encounter the real one. Thus, I have left him out.”

“I see… Your divine authority is a thing to behold,” Alda said in praise. “Without you, stimulating the development of Heinz and his companions using this Dungeon would not have gone so well.”

“No, my lord,” said Curatos, shaking his head. “This divine authority is only able to create these elaborate illusions inside a special Dungeon such as this. It served no purpose during the battle in the age of the gods, and it will serve no purpose in the approaching war against the new Demon King. I am merely making as much effort as I can while I may still be of use.”

There were no Churches for Curatos himself; there were no specific believers of the god of records. He had recorded a great deal of knowledge since the age of the gods, but he did not possess a single authority related to combat.

He knew with certainty that his power had no place to be used other than here.

“After this, I shall have them fight against monsters and evil gods of the Demon King’s army once more from the 51st floor, and then from the 60th floor, their enemies will mostly be Vandalieu’s servants. I will place the Vandalieu that defeated the ‘Five-headed Snake’ Ervine on the 65th floor. From the 66th floor onwards, it will be the Demon King’s army from the age of the gods, Vida’s faction as well as the Storm of Tyranny and Randolf ‘the True.’

“… We decided that nothing could be too difficult, after all,” said Alda.

Curatos was forcing Heinz and his companions to face the ones that they would have to face once they left this Dungeon. The Storm of Tyranny, who were secretly believers of Vida, were a particularly large threat; it was possible that they would become an even larger threat than Vandalieu himself.

Unlike Vandalieu, who utilized Undead and grotesque monsters, the Storm of Tyranny were proper adventurers other than the fact that their actions were unprecedented.

Those unprecedented actions… passing immediate judgment on corrupt merchants and nobles that were incompetent politicians, were supported by the general public.

Even if it became public that they were believers of Vida and there was a Pure-breed Vampire and a Dark Elf among them, there would be those who would not stop supporting them.

It wasn’t as if every single human living in lands controlled by the Amid Empire was a fanatical Alda believer, after all.

Randolf ‘the True’ wasn’t a believer of Vida by any means, but… he was a man who took unpredictable courses of action when incidents occurred. In the past, he had been a promising young man, but he was now a shadow of his former self.

The gods watching over the area surrounding the Dungeon that Heinz and his companions were inside had once given a report that Randolf had appeared nearby, but he had apparently simply looked at the Dungeon from afar before disappearing once more.

The current Randolf was likely a withered version of his former self. As long as he could not be counted upon to fight, Alda would have Heinz and his companions face him along with Schneider.

And considering Vandalieu’s development so far… Considering his abnormality, Alda needed Heinz and his companions to become powerful enough to defeat Randolf ‘the True,’ the Storm of Tyranny and a Vandalieu recreated from the latest records.

“More importantly, what about the other hero candidates? I am worried about them, as they are not able to complete trials like Heinz and his companions,” said Curatos.

Zaress, the god of soldiers who had converted to Alda’s faction, among other gods that were a part of Alda’s forces, had chosen and given their divine protections to a number of heroes. These heroes would become fighting forces to face Vandalieu alongside Heinz and his companions in the future.

However, there were so many of them that they could not be given trials in special Dungeons like Heinz and his companions. Alda was a great god, but there were limits to his power.

“It seems that things are largely proceeding smoothly,” said Alda. “By the time the coming battle is upon us, many of them will possess strength worthy of heroes… though the hero of Zaress, the god of soldiers, is a little behind,” he added.

“The youngster who sealed away a rampaging fragment of the Demon King? In a way, that was rather unfortunate,” said Curatos.

If that soldier had simply died, Zaress would have dispatched his spirit clone and his Artifact directly. The soldier had the right properties, but he was still just an average soldier in terms of ability, inferior even to a D-class adventurer. Thus, he had been unable to withstand Zaress’s spirit clone descending upon him, suffering muscle pain in his entire body and stress fractures in a dozen or so places.

Of course, Zaress himself, having forcibly used this soldier, had spent more power than he had intended to.

It seemed that the soldier had regained consciousness after several days, but his development was considerably behind that of the other hero candidates.

“But it was a far better outcome than losing him. We have almost no time to search for other hero candidates, after all,” said Curatos. “Have there been any changes inside the Boundary Mountain Range?” he asked.

“I have heard that there are not. However, it seems that it is true that Vida has been resurrected,” said Alda.

There was a barrier covering the inside of the Boundary Mountain Range, so Alda and the other gods could only look upon it from afar. The eyes of gods could see things on the world’s surface in detail even from above the clouds, but the barrier almost prevented them from seeing anything at all.

… Weaker familiar spirits and even heroic spirits insisted that their minds were abnormally affected when they spent long periods of time gazing at Talosheim, so even that was of no use.

However, Alda’s forces did know the details of events inside the Boundary Mountain Region.

“There are several believers of Vida in the Orbaume Kingdom and outside the continent who have received Vida’s divine protection. Among them, some of them have received Divine Messages. Some of them are frauds, but not all,” said Alda.

“So, when your blood was spilled that time, it was the effect of the divine authority that punished Vida being destroyed,” said Curatos.

“It is a difficult situation to acknowledge, but it seems that she is recovering her power after being released… recovering it far too quickly,” Alda murmured.

After being wounded and weakened by Bellwood and Alda himself, Vida was impaled by numerous Stakes of Law, Alda’s divine authority. On top of that, believers of Vida had been reduced to only small groups within human societies. Even if the divine authority was destroyed, Vida should have required at least a hundred years to regain enough power to grant individuals divine protections, unless she were to draw souls to herself before they were reincarnated and bestow her own flesh and blood upon them.

However, though it was only for a few individuals, Vida had granted her divine protection upon people after less than ten years. She was likely taking reckless actions like telling her believers of her own revival and trying to restore her religion once more, but according to Alda’s plans, she shouldn’t have even been able to do any of this.

“It is likely Vandalieu. He has united Vida’s races within the Boundary Mountain Range and even made the monsters and Undead he has created worship Vida, which becomes her power,” said Alda.

“To think that one of the glorious great gods… has now become accomplices with wicked evil gods,” Curatos muttered, looking down miserably. “Could it be that he has corrupted her?” he asked, not expecting an answer.

“I do not know,” said Alda, knowing that the ‘he’ that Curatos referred to was… Zakkart, the champion chosen by Vida. “As your records show, he always possessed eccentric ideas, but he was never evil. In fact, he often strived to preserve peace between his companions, but… he began to conflict with Bellwood and became more unable to restrain himself from doing so. I thought that Vida went insane from the moment that he was lost, but now that I think upon it, perhaps she had been deceived by Zakkart from the beginning.”

It was a dreadful scenario to think about. It was unclear as to whether Zakkart himself had done it intentionally, but he was a mere human who had skillfully deceived many gods, including Vida, in a way that was so secret that even Curatos possessed no records of it.

As Alda and Curatos were pondering this, a familiar spirit appeared.

“My lord, there has been a report regarding movements inside the Boundary Mountain Range,” the familiar spirit said, giving a bow. “There are monsters that have never been seen before stationed in Talosheim. There also seems to have been a large-scale celebration. In addition to the grotesque monsters patrolling the city’s surroundings, the members of Vida’s races and repulsive Undead are making noise and throwing something into the air.”

Even though the barrier covering the Boundary Mountain Range was to blame, Alda frowned at the lack of clarity in the information that had been presented to him as he brought his thoughts back to the present.

“It is not a ceremony for an army’s departure, is it?” he asked.

“Though we cannot be certain, that is unlikely,” the familiar spirit replied. “There have been no signs of anything like an army being formed.”

“Curatos, is today Vida’s festival day?” Alda asked.

“… No, there should be no special occasions on this day,” said Curatos. “However, I do not possess any records from after Vida’s races escaped into the Boundary Mountain Range, so it is possible that some new festival day has been created.”

This sounded plausible, and Alda was almost satisfied by Curatos’s explanation. Festival days were important events for gods. They were essential for maintaining religions that did not change from day to day.

However, Alda suddenly realized something. “… Something was thrown into the air? Explain to me what that was, in detail,” he ordered the familiar spirit.

Performances in Lambda’s festivals often included using magic to scatter flower petals in the wind or decorate building walls and the night sky with colored light. Firing spells that produced loud sounds towards the sky was another popular celebratory method. However, the familiar spirit had referred to these mundane things merely as ‘something.’

The familiar spirit didn’t seem to understand the significance of this, either. “That is… they threw spherical objects about the size of human heads. They appeared to be Magic Items that explode with a loud noise and scatter unusually-colored flames into the night sky. We are observing from outside the barrier, so we cannot say what exactly they are, however,” the familiar spirit explained. “However, there are some who have previously observed several humans testing the explosive power of these spheres; I believe these are the same spheres.”

“It seems that they are using Magic Items created as weapons in a festival performance, Alda,” Curatos said, summarizing the familiar spirit’s explanation.

But the familiar spirit’s words had ignited an old memory inside Alda’s mind.

“It cannot be… Fireworks,” Alda muttered. “Are you saying that they contain gunpowder?”

Curatos was aghast.

“Fireworks? My lord, what are fireworks -?” the familiar spirit began to ask.

“I forbid you to speak of anything that you have just heard! Leave! Leave, immediately!” Curatos ordered the familiar spirit.

“As you will!” the familiar spirit shouted hastily, and then he vanished.

Once he was sure the familiar spirit was gone, Curatos turned to Alda. “My lord Alda, carelessly speaking words that must not be spoken is most unlike you,” he said. “Could it be that Vandalieu has even created gunpowder… The thing that Bellwood described as the most terrible invention?”

Most technology from foreign worlds was denied by Alda and Bellwood’s teachings. That was a rule that was in place in order to ensure that Lambda had the space to develop its own culture and civilization, but there were also some technologies that were designated as forbidden in order to protect the world itself.

In Bellwood’s world, steam engines had destroyed forests and polluted the atmosphere. Fossil fuels had polluted the atmosphere and ocean, and had even become a resource that wars were fought over. But the most terrible invention, gunpowder, had given birth to countless weapons that had taken countless lives.

Unlike the nuclear weapon that the champion Zakkart had tried to recreate, these weapons could be mass-produced even without the special powers of a champion as long as one possessed the knowledge of how to create them. Thus, this was considered a dangerous technology.

“However, even Vandalieu is a being who was born in this world. Is it not impossible to create gunpowder from nothing? No, it is possible that inside the Trial of Zakkart… Gufadgarn, who protected Zakkart’s relics, could have preserved it. It is possible that Vandalieu saw it and recreated it from that,” said Curatos.

But another fearsome possibility occurred to Alda.

Vandalieu had accomplished incredible feats, possessed astounding ideas, wielded a power that no others had, and was a Guider who knew of technology from foreign worlds. Based on all of this, there was only one possible conclusion.

“Could it be that Vandalieu is a being who has been summoned here from another world?” Alda murmured.

If this was true, if Vandalieu was the same as Bellwood and the other champions, that would explain his abnormality.

“That cannot be true, Alda!” Curatos shouted, unsettled. “It has been recorded that he was born in this world as a Dhampir! Unless he was reincarnated here… No, that cannot be. Rodcorte himself was so infuriated by our summoning of the champions from a foreign world; there is no way that he would do such a thing without consulting us at all…!”

However, Curatos and Alda both knew that Rodcorte could have done this.

It was true that Rodcorte had been against the summoning of the champions. However, the reason for that was that the summoned champions had been inhabitants of a world that his circle of transmigration system did not manage. He did not oppose the summoning of inhabitants from other worlds entirely.

Wouldn’t Rodcorte have no qualms with reincarnating souls from another world within his own circle of transmigration system into Lambda, most likely with their previous memories and knowledge intact?

“I do not want to believe it, but… Curatos, keep this matter only between you and myself. Do not cause a fuss, and do not make any hasty moves,” said Alda.

“Understood, my lord,” said Curatos.

This was merely a suspicion, and there was no proof. However, if this suspicion turned out to be true, then Alda could not trust a single child in this world.

“So, Rodcorte has sent reincarnated individuals into this world. And he is either planning something using Vandalieu, or he has been unable to completely control him,” said Alda. “We must first confirm what is true and what is not.”