NOVEL NEXT With the perfected light sword created by the cooperation of Ates-sama and I, we managed to cut down the giant body of the Slime from top to bottom, and at the same time this happened, its liquid body exploded.
If we had just cut it down, it wouldn’t have ended that way.
With cutting which is, in a sense, the most cleanest way of inflicting damage, the liquid body would have easily stuck back together.
But that didn’t happen and it dispersed into pieces.
“That means…!” (Celestis)
“We managed to destroy the core!” (Mirack)
The heroes that were around the place raised up their voices in cheer.
The previous and current earth, water, fire, and wind heroes were hugging each other without distinction and sharing their happiness.
“This is incredible, Mirack! Being able to defeat a gigantic monster like that without leaving a single trace behind! This is a first for me!” (Kyouka)
“Sis Kyouka! Even if you are happy, hugging me is just…! I am going to be asphyxiated by your breasts!” (Mirack)
“This is the first time I feel such a sense of accomplishment! It is leap and bounds different from defeating small monsters!!” (Sarasa)
“Well, that’s the usual for us though~.” (Celestis)
“Ya did well, Sasae-chan~. So the current heroes been facing this troublesome things all the time huh.” (Yoneko)
“I be honored to receive yer praise-dasu!” (Sasae)
“I will praise you for the occasion, Sister-in-law!” (Juo)
“Who’s your sister-in-law?! It would have been better if we had thrown this woman inside the Slime!” (Hyue)
Kyouka-san and Mirack-chan; Sarasa-san and Celestis-chan; Yoneko-san and Sasae-chan; Juo-san and Hyue-chan; everyone was getting along as if the matches not that long ago were a lie —with one exception.
……We were different.
I -Kourin Karen- and Ates-sama; within us two, there was not a single bit of sense of accomplishment welling up.
That’s because…
“W-What’s this response?!” (Ates)
“What’s with this response?!” (Karen)
The strange response that resonated via the giant light sword that was still shaped up had send chills down our spines.
“…Dasu? Karen-neechan and the other one, why ya still leaving that light sword going-dasu?” (Sasae)
“You should just quickly put away that fuel consuming technique already.” (Mirack)
“Karen-chi? What’s the matter?” (Celestis)
Everyone slowly began to notice the abnormality.
I answered in a trembling voice.
“We are being stopped!” (Karen)
““““Eh?”””” “-Dasu?”
“Our ‘Holy Light Bisection’ is being stopped by something! What’s with this feedback?! It is as if a kitchen knife was stuck inside steel!” (Karen)
At the tip of the giant light sword, there’s the glass shards that Mirack-chan and the others created, and the remains of the Slime, which was making the view unclear.
“[Flame Burst]!” (Mirack)
Mirack-chan blows that away.
And then, in the field of view that has been opened, the thing that appeared was…the figure of a human grabbing the ‘Holy Light Bisection’ sword with one hand?!
““““What?!””””
No, that’s not it.
I don’t feel like that’s a human.
There’s no doubt that the silhouette was that of a human. There’s two legs and two arms, there’s also one head. No matter how you see it, it is a human.
But the surface of his body was bark itself. Moreover, it was swarthy and uneven like a tree that has aged for several hundreds of years.
A human that has that kind of surface would at glance be thought of as an old person, but that violent aura that was coming from him was not letting us think that way.
If I had to describe this scene in words, it would be ‘a tree-human stopping a giant light sword with one hand’.
No, it is not even one hand. More accurately speaking, it was only the pinky finger. With just one finger, he managed to stop a joint attack between two heroes.
With just his pinky finger!
“What?! What’s with that guy?!” (Mirack)
“This overwhelming aura! I think I have felt it before… Could it be?!” (Hyue)
It looks like something came into Hyue-chan’s mind. And to tell the truth, me as well.
Within the new and old heroes present here, the only ones who have a memory of encountering someone similar to this are Hyue-chan and me.
From the back of the wood human, there were two thick branches growing out on each side of him. They had spacious ramifications and had many leaves growing thickly from them.
They gave the impression of wings.
As I thought, this presence, this silhouette; they are similar —similar to that Demon Lord Raphael.
“Congratulations. Good job in clearing my game.” The tree human says.
While still holding our ‘Holy Light Bisection’, he speaks without a single trace of pain in his voice.
“…Game, you say?” (Mirack)
“Yeah. I felt the presence of several different types of divine powers clashing. It looked like fun, so I wanted to join in on it. But just a simple visit would not have any class, so I planned something.”
And that plan was this Slime?!
That giant monster fell into the category of game for him?!
“Haha, I didn’t expect my exterior shell to be stripped off before reaching the city. You people are better than I thought. I was half in doubt when I heard the weeping of Raphael, but as expected, you are good as playing mates.”
Could it be…the core of that Slime was him?!
The Slime was clad on him with him at its center; it was a liquid mass of earth divine power?!
“Raphael, you say?! Then you really are…!” (Hyue)
He answered the shudder of Hyue-chan.
“I am Uriel. The Earth Demon Lord, Uriel.” (Uriel)
As I thought, he really is the same kind as the Wind Demon Lord Raphael that we met at Rudras Metropolis in the past.
The ultimate monster that is said to have been born in exchange for the life of the Mother Monster!
“This is a Demon Lord?!” (Mirack)
“What pressure this is! I can’t move!” (Celestis)
“Honestly speaking, it be scary-dasu!” (Sasae)
Mirack-chan, Celestis-chan, and Sasae-chan who first met a Demon Lord couldn’t stop their legs from trembling at the violent aura of the Demon Lord.
“Damn it!” (Hyue)
Even the second timers which are Hyue-chan and I are in the same state.
“Oh please, don’t be so scared. I will be leaving already after all.” (Uriel)
“Eh?”
“Didn’t I say so? I just came here today to play. The moment the Slime exterior was destroyed, it was the victory of you people. If I end up getting serious just because I lost in a game, it would blemish the name of Demon Lord, don’t you think?” (Uriel)
Saying this, Uriel flies up.
The giant light sword had already been erased by his pressure.
“See ya, frail humans. Today was decently fruitful. Enjoy the short time remaining you have before being eradicated.” (Uriel)
After saying that, Uriel flew away.
Seeing this off, everyone without exception thought this ‘we were saved’. At the same time, this was incredibly vexing. The heroes that are supposed to be the strongest fighting force to defeat monsters are feeling relieved by the fact that a monster has spared them.
We can’t defeat the demon lords. We have once again been reminded that.
Then what was the point of all our struggles to unify until now?!
It was at that moment when I was about to cry in regret…
“Do you think I will let you go?”
The owner of that voice was…
“[Dark Matter, Set]”
- 213: Winged Ones
The moment the Earth Demon Lord Uriel was about to leave, I -Kuromiya Haine- released dark matter and attacked him.
“Haine-san?!” (Karen)
I was drawn by the spirit of Karen-san and the other heroes, but I felt there was the need of an insurance in times of danger.
That’s why I hid and watched over Karen-san and the others.
But they managed to defeat the Slime on their own and showed their spirit as heroes.
It is plenty enough.
They have fought plenty enough.
The Demon Lord Uriel, this guy is an extraneous factor in the fight of the heroes.
There’s no need for those girls to fight this guy.
“But that doesn’t mean I have a reason to let you leave alive!” (Haine)
“Uwaaaa?! What’s with this black thing?! It is coiling around my body and isn’t getting off! Damn it! My divine power is being erased?!” (Uriel)
The Demon Lord Uriel was desperate in wiping away the dark matter sticking onto him, but it is pointless.
No matter how much power the four basic elements have, they are powerless against dark matter.
Have your divine power eaten up just like this and end up being erased like the Wind Demon Lord Raphael!
“Impossible! A Demon Lord like me that stands on top of all demons! To not be able to break off the power of a mere human?!” (Uriel)
“Your undoing was to appear before me unprepared. If you appeared here with the intentions of playing, then die on that pretext as well!” (Haine)
In the first place, we don’t know where and when you guys will be appearing.
There’s no way I am such a good person to overlook one when it appears right in front of us.
“Guaaaaah!! Damn you!!” (Uriel)
“Time to finish you.” (Haine)
When I was about to pour a lot more dark matter to give the last push, fire, water, and wind divine power attack me.
“?!”
The dark matter that was supposed to attack Uriel was consumed in defending against those attacks.
On the other hand, due to all these elements dispersing in the surroundings, Uriel…
“Raaaagh!!”
He separated his skin as if peeling off bark.
The dark matter was still simply covering him, so Uriel had managed to escape from the dark matter that was still sticking onto the separated part.
“Aaaah! That was close! If that black thing had entered my insides…!” (Uriel)
His body that had been stripped from its bark looked like it had sap flowing down looking similar to cold sweat.
“…You would have been dead. It is because you didn’t listen to my warning that you ended up in that way.”
“I thought it was Raphael barking excuses after losing, but it looks like there’s actually an unbelievable human. I am glad that I wasn’t the one caught in that.”
“Idiot. You played around too much.”
Three more winged people came down from the sky.
The first one had quite the colorful butterfly wings; the second one had transparent wings that looked like fish fins; and the third one had burning wings.
With the addition of the leaf wings of Uriel, there’s a total of four.
Could it be these guys are…
“Damn it. I will introduce myself one more time. Earth Demon Lord, Uriel.”
“We meet again. I am Wind Demon Lord, Raphel.”
“I am the Water Demon Lord, Gabriel. Nice to meet you.”
“Fire Demon Lord, Michael.”
The four Demon Lords that possess the four basic elements.
They have all gathered here?!
But…!
“Raphael, you say?! Impossible!” (Hyue)
Even when she was about to be crushed by the pressure, Hyue still howled.
“The Wind Demon Lord Raphael was defeated by Haine-dono there and Aniue-sama without leaving a single spec remaining! Because of that, Aniue-sama was…Aniue-sama was…!” (Hyue)
That’s right. Shiva sacrificed his body to a point that left him unable to recover from in order to defeat the Demon Lord Raphael.
And yet, why did someone who calls himself with that same name appearing again?!
“Did you forget my power? By changing my cells into insects, I can live if just one is safe.” (Raphael)
“Then…!” (Hyue)
“But well, it was harsh to have 237 trillions cells be reduced to just a few. Thanks to that, I now look like this.” (Raphael)
Just like Raphael said, he had a completely different look from the time we met him.
His whole body is covered in armor all over without a single opening. It is a full armor that you can’t see a single part of flesh inside.
The only thing similar to the Raphael before are those butterfly wings at his back.
“By the way, I am sorry for the rudeness but, did we meet somewhere before? I have a tendency of not remembering humans that are weaker than flies, you see.” (Raphael)
“Gugh!!” (Hyue)
Being told that, Hyue curves her mouth in humiliation.
On the other hand, I was receiving the pressure of the four Demon Lords that had suddenly appeared.
With a single Demon Lord, all the heroes were rendered immobile.
And that has abruptly turned into x4.
“I have heard about you from Raphael.” (Michael)
The fire winged one spoke to me.
A scary big frame. A man that was clad in muscle akin to a mountain range.
“I heard that there was one human who threatened us Demon Lords. After seeing it for myself, I can now tell that it is a lot more than I thought. It was the correct choice to chase after Uriel who left with the intend to play around. We were about to lose another Demon Lord in our plan of greatness.” (Michael)
“Are you the leader?” (Haine)
I naturally asked this.
The fire winged one had an aura that was clearly different from the others.
“There’s no such thing here. We are Demon Lords. In order to achieve our sacred duty, we are simply cooperating. There’s no one leading and no one following orders within this group.” (Michael)
“Sacred duty?” (Haine)
“To eradicate humans.” (Michael)
It was low but the Fire Demon Lord Michael clearly said this.
“We declare it here. The era of humans will soon end, and the era of us demons will begin.” (Michael)
“The answer will come when the soon-to-come last war begins. I wonder which seed will survive.” (Uriel)
“There’s no need for two rulers in the surface world.” (Raphael)
“But well, the ones who will win will obviously be us though. Kusukusu~.” (Gabriel)
The demon lords who were speaking alternately were overflowing with dense contempt and hostility towards humans.
“There was no need to say such a leisure thing like ‘soon to come’.” (Haine)
Dark matter gushes out from both of my arms.
“I will settle things right now. You all, be erased together with the monsters by my dark matter.” (Haine)
“We can’t have that.” (Michael)
The Fire Demon Lord Michael answers in a leader-like tone.
“There’s still the need for preparation before the last war begins. Until the moment when that personage we esteem descends.” (Michael)
“That personage?” (Haine)
“The Great Demon Lord, Lucifer-sama. That personage is the very one who leads us.” (Michael)
Are you saying there’s still more coming?!
Don’t joke around.
Before things become more troublesome, I will crush these ones right now at least!
“You want to go no matter what huh. In that case!!” (Michael)
The four Demon Lords extend their arms forward simultaneously.
But their aim wasn’t me.
It was aiming at the Rudras Metropolis that is far at my back.
“We won’t try to avoid fights that we can’t avoid.” (Michael)
“It is true that you might be able to defeat us even when fighting against all of us. But…” (Gabriel)
“By the time we fall, the humans that are over there will no doubt be gone from the face of this world.” (Uriel)
“Along with those insects that are being pathetically prostrating unable to handle even our breath.” (Raphael)
At my surroundings, there’s the ten current and previous heroes who were unable to even stand up due to the sheer pressure of the Demon Lords.
Defeating the Demon Lords without sacrificing a single one of them…would be impossible.
“Let’s meet again, strong human. I will keep in mind that you are the only being to fear.” (Michael)
“Until the moment when Lucifer-sama descends, we will be enjoying our time in obscurity for a while more.” (Gabriel)
“You people should enjoy it as well. That important time of yours until the day of your death penalty.” (Uriel)
“Human that controls darkness, you will be eliminated personally by Lucifer-sama.” (Raphael)
After that, the four Demon Lords flew away with their respective wings.
The battle was over —without feeling a single sense of reaching a conclusion at all.