745 – Alive Again

With Atlach and Volk on my back, I fly high above the vast desert.
Having left Harenae, we’re headed towards the Kingdom of Ardesia.

“Right Master.”

I tilt my head back slightly in response to Atlach’s voice.

“Aro, treant… They’ve gone to stop the giant beast in the forest?”

『…Yeah, that’s right.』

I nod my head.

I can see a sliver of Atlach’s face.
Her expression is mostly obscured by her mask, but her anxiety is clear to see.
I feel the same, but for now, all we can do is believe in them.

We’ve succeeded in taking down two of the four [Spirit Servants] that God’s Voice scattered throughout the world.
I killed Saint Jornes in the Holy Kingdom of Liarm, and then the Hero Ares in the desert country of Harenae.
Thinking that the Magic Beast King [Spirit Servant] had probably been sent to Noah’s Forest, Aro and treant left to intercept it.

Our current aim is the fourth [Spirit Servant], the Demon Lord Baal.
I knew from the start that the Kingdom of Ardesia would be a likely target, due its connection with me and its large population.

After meeting up with Volk in Harenae, I learned that he saw the giant spider monster heading in the direction of Ardesia.
He told me that Umukahime followed it so she could limit the casualties that its invasion would produce.

But there’s no chance that Umukahime can do something about by herself.
After all, that Demon Lord Baal… If what God’s Voice said is to be believed, then it is the strongest monster in the history of this world:

『Surprised? This is the strongest Demon Lord in all history.
[Tri-Headed Gluttony King Baal].
Looks kind of funny, doesn’t he?』

The pinnacle of all monsters that have ever existed, and God’s Voice’s greatest masterpiece.
Baal will have received the greatest possible support from this world’s system.
It’ll be even fiercer than Saint Jornes or the Hero Ares, who I struggled to defeat.
It’ll be an Upper Legendary like Ares for sure.

Then, once I defeat Baal, I will become the strongest monster in history, and God’s Voice’s new finest creation.
My value to God’s Voice will skyrocket, making it unlikely that I’ll be carelessly killed off.
God’s Voice has always been far above me, but I’ll finally be able to look them in the eye.
Once that happens, my claws might be able to reach their throat.

That will probably be the final destination of my journey.
In order to save all those in this world that God’s Voice has toyed with, I will fight God’s Voice once again.

That being said, I’m in a far inferior position… If God’s Voice ever thinks I am beyond their control, I’ll be disposed of before I can pose a direct threat.
It’s doubtful whether I stand a chance at all.

Miia asked me not to inherit her grudge.
Of course, battle with God’s Voice isn’t necessarily the only solution.
I also need to bear in mind the possibility of negotiating for them to stop interfering with this world.
I’m fighting for the sake those in this world, after all.

『…I’m getting ahead of myself.』

I breathe a sigh.
First I need to defeat the strongest monster in all history, who stands at the pinnacle of this world’s system.
Then I need to go and kill the Magic Beast King that Aro and treant are keeping in check.
Making God’s Voice pay comes after.

“What’s wrong?”

Volk calls out.
I shake my head.

『It’s nothing, I was talking to myself.』

I reply, then check my status.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
[Irushia]
Species: Apocalypse
Condition: Normal
Lv: 156/175
HP: 14018/14018
MP: 8786/11345
Attack: 12117
Defence: 6687
Magic: 7985
Speed: 7769
Rank: L+ (Upper Legendary)

Divine Skills:
[Human Realm: Lv-] [Asura Realm: Lv-] [Hungry Ghost Realm: Lv-] [Animal Realm: Lv-] [Naraka Realm: Lv-]

Characteristic Skills:
[Dragon Scales: Lv9] [God’s Voice: Lv8] [Grisha Language: Lv3] [Flight: Lv8] [Dragon Scale Powder: Lv8] [Dark Attribute: Lv-] [Evil Dragon: Lv-] [Automatic HP Recovery: Lv8] [Presence Perception: Lv7] [Automatic MP Recovery: Lv8] [Perseverance of a Champion: Lv-] [Dragon Mirror: Lv-] [Demon Lord’s Favour: Lv-] [Demon Eye of Terror: Lv1] [Domination: Lv1] [Magic Brainwashing: Lv1] [Butterfly Dream: Lv-]

Resistance Skills:
[Physical Resistance: Lv6] [Fall Resistance: Lv7] [Starvation Resistance: Lv6] [Poison Resistance: Lv7] [Loneliness Resistance: Lv7] [Magic Resistance: Lv6] [Dark Attribute Resistance: Lv6] [Fire Attribute Resistance: Lv6] [Fear Resistance: Lv5] [Oxygen Deprivation Resistance: Lv6] [Paralysis Resistance: Lv7] [Illusion Nullification: Lv-] [Instant Death Nullification: Lv-] [Curse Nullification: Lv-] [Confusion Resistance: Lv4] [Strong Light Resistance: Lv3] [Petrification Resistance: Lv3]

Normal Skills:
[Roll: Lv7] [Status Inspection: Lv7] [Scorching Breath: Lv7] [Whistle: Lv2] [Dragon Punch: Lv4] [Plague Breath: Lv7] [Poison Fang: Lv7] [Paralysing Claw: Lv7] [Dragon Tail: Lv4] [Roar: Lv3] [Heaven’s Drop: Lv4] [Return to Ground: Lv2] [Humanisation Technique: Lv8] [Wind Slash: Lv7] [Neck Breaker: Lv4] [High Rest: Lv7] [Autoregeneration: Lv6] [Travelling Companion: Lv-] [Death: Lv8] [Soul AppendmentFake Life: Lv6] [Holy: Lv5] [Telepathy: Lv4] [Wide Rest: Lv5] [Ligne: Lv5] [Holy Sphere: Lv5] [Flash That Drives Away the Darkness: Lv1] [Dimension Claw: Lv7] [Mirage: Lv8] [Gravity: Lv8] [Dimension: Lv8] [Hellgate: Lv6] [Gravidon: Lv8] [Mirror Counter: Lv8] [Ideal Weapon Lv9] [Wormhole: Lv1] [Curse Knight: Lv4] [Limbo: Lv4] [Dite: Lv4] [Cocytus: Lv4] [Doomsday Tone: Lv-]

Title Skills:
[Dragon King: Lv-] [Walking Egg: Lv-] [Clutz: Lv4] [Simple Fool: Lv1] [Infighter: Lv4] [Pest Killer: Lv8] [Liar: Lv3] [Evasion King: Lv2] [Chicken Runner: Lv3] [Chef: Lv4] [Gutsy: Lv4] [Big EaterGiant Killer: Lv5] [Pottery Craftsman: Lv4] [Group Leader: Lv1] [Laplace Interference Authority: Lv8] [One Who Knows Eternity: Lv-] [Ant King: Lv-] [Hero: LvMAX] [Dream Dragon: Lv-] [Demon Lord: Lv6] [Final Evolution: Lv-]
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

My level increased quite a bit from my fight with Ares.
Even if I’m up against the strongest Demon Lord in history, I should have enough power to put up a fight.

My MP has mostly recovered from too.
I went around healing the wounded in Harenae, which gave time for my [Automatic MP Recovery] to work.
With it, my MP recovers to full after a few hours out of combat.
The rest should recover as I fly.

Eventually, the desert fades away, becoming replaced by grasslands.

“This area’s technically a part of Ardesia too by the way.”

『Huh… Is that so?』

I hadn’t realise we’d passed the border already.
I can’t see any traces of Baal’s invasion yet.

“It’s the biggest country in the world, after all.
Most of Noah’s Forest is treated as part of Ardesia too.
It’s a bit late now, but we don’t know where in Ardesia is being targeted.”

『It’ll be the royal capital Alban, I’m sure of it.
God’s Voice is a malicious bastard.
They’ll target the place with the most people, and the one that has a connection with me.』

“Then we’re headed in the right direction.”

Glancing backwards, I look at Volk.

He’s sitting on my back, a golden sword held ready in his hand.
It’s magiatite-jii, the [Gold Magiatite Heart].

Due to the benefits from them coordinating together, it seems that Volk is using magiatite-jii as his primary weapon over Miia’s [Life-Cutting Laevatein].
He apparently tried picking up Ares’s [Divine Judge Ascalon], but the giant sword faded away with the Hero’s death.
It was probably treated as part of his body as a [Spirit Servant].

Volk lamented, saying that despite it being too large for him to wield accurately, it was a magic sword that surpassed Laevatein in power.
He seemed remarkably conniving, considering the situation that the world is in…

A city comes into view over the horizon, and I turn to head towards it.

We’re finally reaching human lands.
Although Alban is a lot further still…  Is what I thought, but the sight below shocks me.

“What is that…?”

Volk mutters in surprise.

The entire city is covered in a dark, soft membrane.

“OOOOOO…”
“OOOOOO…”

The streets are crawling with strange black spider monsters.
Each has the face of a human on their back, all of them twisted in anguish.
There’s no sign of any humans alive.

The spiders are varied in size, ranging from two to nearly ten metres in length.
I focus my attention on one of the largest.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Fear Spinner
Condition: Kin
Lv: 100/100 (Lock) (MAX)
HP: 1613/1613
MP: 797/797
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

【[Fear Spinner]: A rank monster】
【The result of a human soul dying in agony being reincarnated into a monster through the power of a skill.】

I clench my teeth in anger.

“GuuUUU…”

It’s the same as with Saint Jornes.
In order to drive me into a corner, God’s Voice is having the [Spirit Servants] wreak paths of destruction through the world.
The Demon Lord Baal is turning the people of Ardesia into monsters.

It seems that the scale of the calamity is larger than with Saint Jornes.
The monsters’ ranks and levels are also terrifyingly high.

The monsters’ levels are all marked as being locked… They’re the type of monster that have their level set from their creation and don’t give any experience when defeated.
From what I’ve learnt, anything from rank B up is strong enough to wipe out a city by itself.
A skill that can mass produce max level A ranks is insanely powerful.

Staying airborne, I fire off a [Dimension Claw].
Three of the giant spiders burst open, spilling their black blood into the street.

“Right Master… You shouldn’t waste mana.
The main body isn’t here.”

Atlach states matter-of-factly.

『Are you telling me to leave?! There might be some survivors… There might be some who can be saved!』

“Even so, you need to focus on the main body.”

I undersand.
Altach is correct.
For monsters like these, it’s often the case that defeating their creator causes them to disappear.
In order to limit the overall damage, I should move on from here.
I can’t afford the time needed to land here, nor can I spare the MP before my fight with Baal.

Even so… Can I really ignore the tragedy in front of me?

It’s probably not only this city that’s affected.
I can’t stop in every town that I see, and stopping for this city just because it happened to cross my path would mean prioritising it over everywhere else.

But, even so, I feel like if I were to abandon this city, I would be losing something important.

Making sacrifices in order to prioritise higher objectives is the sort of thing that Lilixira and Miia did in their lives.
But both of them seemed to hold deep regrets in their last moments.

“I thought you’d say that.
Right Master is troublesome as always.”

Atlach says, sighing.

“But, that’s probably part of why Left Master loved you.”

Left Master… She’s talking about my late Partner.
A vision of her smiling kindly at me as she fought the ruin runs through my mind.

“Leave this city to me.”

『Th-that’s too risky!』

Atlach is Lower A rank.
But a lot of those spider monsters are A rank.

“Then, I’ll also…”

Volk stands up.
But Atlach shakes her head.

“You’ll be needed somewhere else.
I won’t fall behind against these.”

Atlach jumps from my back, falling towards the centre of the city.

She spreads her arms upon landing.
Thread surges out from her hands, forming into copies of herself.
It’s her [Doppel Cocoon] skill.

“I know how it feels to be left behind, so I’ll definitely come back alive.
Go on without me.”

『Atlach…!』

I clench my teeth.
I was close to having to make a choice I would regret, but she understood my feelings and chose to risk her life in order to push me forwards.

『Thank you, Atlach… Let’s survive and meet up again! With Aro and treant too!』

I shout with [Telepathy], then beat my wings to fly towards Alban.