Chapter 117: Absolute Being (1)
My resolve was nearly perfect when I heard Seiya’s words. In other words, I had almost accepted my death. Yes, almost. But, I no longer felt any fear. Right now, I didn’t care much if I lived or if I died. I only had a strong desire to save Exfolia and its inhabitants.
「Seiya! The Great Goddess Isister has given her permission! The closest I can open the portal to one kilometer away from the Demon King’s Castle!」
「That’s fine. 」
I cast a spell to summon the portal. John Dae and Kiriko seemed to be a little nervous and excited at the same time.
「Okay! Let’s go, hero! Let’s save Exfolia! 」
「So…So, we’re finally going to the last battle! 」
However, Seiya hit the ground with his feet before going to the portal. Suddenly, the ground from the plaza of the God’s realm was raised, and a large number of golems crawled out from the ground as if they were zombies!
「Before the decisive battle with the Demon King, a large number of small monsters and executive demons may appear to block our path. In such case, I’ll use these golems for as long as possible so that I can preserve my physical strength. I plan to increase the golem production once we get there.」
Seiya gave instructions to his hundreds of golems. Then, the golems opened the portal’s doors and ventured inside.
Like me, John Dae and Kiriko, the gods in the plaza were greatly surprised to see the emergence of golems. Among them were Orlando, the God of Thunder, and Frala, the Goddess of Wind, who participated in the multiparty practice session with Seiya.
「Really. It’s the last decisive battle and yet, he made an army full of golems to assist him. I wonder if the time spent in that training didn’t go to waste.」
「Well, he’s a hero, so he does what heroes do. 」
It seemed that everyone was cheering on us with bitter smiles. There was also Aria and Adenela nearby. Aria held my hands then.
「Lista…Good luck…! 」
「Thank you!! 」
「Ki…Kiriko, John Dae. Do…Don’t overdo it. Use…Use the continuous gunshot sword technique to…to protect yourselves. The…There won’t be any problem if…if you rely on Seiya.」
「Yes! 」
「Thank you for you guidance, Goddess of War! 」
Celseus also came to us and shook hands with Kiriko and John Dae.
「I’ll pray for you safety! You are the most important part-timers of the Cafe De Celseus!」
「Thank you, Mister Celseus! We’re going now! 」
At last, the remaining golems in the plaza dived through the portal.
「…All right. It’s our time to go. 」
In contrast to Seiya who went to the portal without looking back, we shook hands with the gods that came to see us off. We went to the battleground with a smile on our faces.
—
I felt hot air the moment I went through the portal. When I looked up, I saw a purple and muddy sky as if an evil mist was spreading above our heads. A huge castle soared through the sky at the distance. The Demon King’s Castle radiated a black miasma as if the castle itself was a living creature.
「That’s the dwelling of the Demon King, huh…! 」
「So, Artemaeus is inside of that castle at this precise moment! 」
We knew where we needed to go. However, I spoke to Seiya with hesitation.
「So…Sorry, Seiya…I don’t know what’s going on with our surroundings right now…」
We were surrounded by the numerous golems that went through the portal. I couldn’t really see what was going on around us because of the giant golems.
Seiya said that he’d increase the golems’ production once we arrived here, but he jumped on the golem’s back and looked around. I was worried, therefore, I moved my head between the golems, and somehow, I managed to see the surroundings.
「Wha…What on earth is that…! 」
A large number of monsters were laying on the ground in the wilderness near the Demon King’s Castle. Among those monsters, were the demon priests like the ones we saw in the Sage Village, and a few deformed monsters that were not human beings.
「Are they…dead? 」
A surprised John Dae spoke from the sideline. Certainly, there was a dead smell lurking around.
「We’ll see if they’re really dead. 」
Then, Seiya gave some instructions to the golems. Seiya closed his eyes while the golems stabbed and rolled the fallen monsters. Apparently, his eyes were linked to the golem’s eyes.
「…I tried several autopsies on the bodies, and it seems that they’re definitely dead. I don’t see any traps in the bodies either.」
John Dae touched his chin with his hand.
「It looks like someone attacked Demon King’s Castle first. 」
「Ehh! Do you mean that we have other allies!? 」
Did that mean that the survivors of Exfolia came to join us on this final battle!? I felt somewhat happy about it, but…
「Eve…Even so, look at these corpses! It’s so terrible…! 」
Kiriko told us to look at the monsters that were laying on the ground. Some corpses had no limbs or necks. Others had their insides gouged out. My short happiness disappeared when I noticed how horribly they were killed.
「Anyway, I will bury these corpses with Endless Fall. It will be troublesome if they were to be resurrected as undead.」
Seiya dropped the fallen corpses to the core of this earth. After that, he marched with the golems towards the Demon King’s Castle. The golems surrounded us and protected us from enemies that could come from every side. Yet, no monsters attacked us. Along the way to the Demon King’s Castle, Seiya kept dropping the corpses of monsters we saw with Endless Fall.
「…Let’s stop here. 」
When we approached the Demon King’s Castle, the gate opened suddenly as if it tried to swallow us inside. At a distance, Seiya stopped and touched the ground. Seiya created hundreds of new golems immediately. He left behind a dozen of Guardians Golems and placed them around the castle. In addition, he changed his profession from a Magic Warrior with earth attributes to fire attributes temporarily. Then, he produced a dozen of Automatic Phoenixes, the fire magical birds. The Phoenixes, holding a large number of Bakudan Rocks created by Seiya, flew off to the Demon King’s Castle.
「Wha…What are you planning to do? 」
「Bombing. 」
「Bombing!? 」
When I looked carefully at my surroundings, I noticed that the golems around the Demon King’s Castle were also holding Bakudan Rocks in their hands. And then…
「…Fire. 」
The golems threw the Bakudan Rocks at the castle upon receiving Seiya’s command! Moreover, the Automatic Phoenixes, who flew in the sky, dropped the Bakudan Rocks as well!
After an intense bombing from the Bakudan Rocks, I noticed that the Demon King’s Castle was shrouded in fire. However, a deafening sound was heard upon the impact and a pale wall appeared to cover the entire castle! When the smoke cleared away, the Demon King’s Castle remained intact without any signs of destruction.
「It looks like the castle is protected by a barrier!! The bombing didn’t work!! 」
「Hmm. No surprise. I expected it. It seems that I won’t have a choice but to invade the castle myself in order to defeat the Demon King.」
「We…Well, of course. It would be weird and too easy if a “bombing” attack actually managed to defeat a Demon King…」
John Dae was astounded. Still, I knew that Seiya tried to do everything he could before engaging in a direct physical fight with the Demon King.
Seiya, on top of a golem, headed towards the entrance of the Demon King’s Castle. At that time, Seiya suddenly muttered.
「State Berserk Phase 2nd. 」
Seiya’s body was wrapped in a reddish-black aura! I was surprised; therefore, I looked nervously at my surroundings!
「An…An enemy!? 」
Kiriko and John Dae were ready to fight. Nonetheless, all we saw were fallen dead monsters in the ground.
「No. I just wanted to get ready for battle in advance. 」
「Then, just inform us about it!! Normally, you won’t bring yourself into a Crazy Warrior state for nothing!!」
「Shup up, zombie. More importantly, we’re going through that gate. I’m a bit reluctant to go through the front entrance, but let’s proceed with prudence with the golems.」
Finally, we arrived in front of the gate of Demon King’s Castle. Two evil-looking monsters were defeated brutally at the entrance. Kiriko held the hem of my dress.
「Are…Aren’t these monsters the gatekeepers of this castle? 」
「Pro…Probably… 」
As usual, Seiya dropped the corpses of the gatekeeper monsters to the core of this earth with the Endless Fall. However…After realizing that the gatekeepers were killed before we arrived here, the unpleasant premonition that I felt before gradually increased in my heart.
…Was it a conflict between fellow monsters? Wha…What the hell happened in the Demon King’s Castle?
「Okay then. We will enter the Demon King’s Castle now. 」
After disposing the gatekeepers’ corpses, Seiya proceeded to the castle gates. We went forward; actually, the golems went forward since we were the ones riding them. It looked like a golem party. However, I was shocked once again as soon as we got inside of the castle.
「Ehhh…! 」
The candlelight illuminated the stone pavement of the Demon King’s Castle. Under the thin light, countless of monster corpses were laying on the floor. I saw some strong opponents such as undead in armors, dragon soldiers and other strong-looking monsters. All of them were murdered dreadfully. I didn’t know what this meant. I only knew that a fierce battle occurred inside of the Demon King’s Castle not too long ago.
Seiya couldn’t use the power of the Endless Fall inside the castle. Therefore, he changed his profession to Magic Warrior with fire attributes once again, and began to burn the corpses elaborately. Although the progress was slow, this steady work was useful during the battle with the Death Emperor, which was fresh in my memory. We didn’t complain about Seiya’s actions and we let him finish with this clean-up.
Albeit late, we walked in the castle with precaution. Inside of the castle, I noticed that long spiral staircases stretched high into the ceiling, and I saw many doors of different rooms as we walked further inside.
「This place is quite a wide and complex castle. 」
「First, let’s go up through that stairs. 」
Nevertheless, Seiya moved forward without hesitation as if he had a map.
「Next, we’re going to that room. 」
「Okay. 」
「Now, we walk down that aisle. 」
「He…Hey, Seiya. How do you know the way? 」
「I activated a special skill named “Divination”. Somehow, I feel like I know the way through the power of this skill.」
「Is that so! So, that means that the “Fortune Teller” job wasn’t that useless!」
Nonetheless, we were appalled after walking for a while. There was a wall in front of us.
「Mi…Mister Seiya! It’s a dead end! 」
「Yeah. The accuracy rate of the divination skill was at 60%. After all, it’s just fortune-telling. I just played along with the divination cube.」
「Ehhhhhh… 」
With this method, there were mistakes sometimes, but I felt as if we were advancing steadily when I thought about it with a different perspective. This place was the Demon King’s Castle. There was a high possibility that traps were prepared in advance. Still, we were able to walk safely thanks to the Divination skill.
We crossed ways with a demon statue, then we climbed on long stairs, and finally we walked through winding paths. Usually, fierce battles were waged with powerful monsters in the Demon King’s Castle. But, in here, no enemy attacked us so far.
…Eventually, Seiya stopped in front of a huge and terrifying door that appeared in front of us.
…This…This room was…!!
My goddess’ intuition sensed that the room was full of a horrible evil aura. Kiriko spoke with a trembling voice.
「I…I can feel it! I’m sure that the Demon King is inside of this room…! 」
I stared at Seiya after I nodded to Kiriko.
…Since it was Seiya we’re talking about, he’d probably say 「You guys should wait here. 」without a doubt. Bu…But, I came here fully prepared to give up my life for the sake of saving this world! I’ll follow him no matter what he says!
However.
「Let’s go, Lista. Come with me. 」
「Eh? 」
「You have an obligation to watch this battle. 」
「Ye…Yes! 」
…What…? Perhaps, he recognized my potential as a goddess?
The joy that I felt during this moment disappeared as soon as the golems opened the heavy door.
Chapter 117: Absolute Being (1)
My resolve was nearly perfect when I heard Seiya’s words. In other words, I had almost accepted my death. Yes, almost. But, I no longer felt any fear. Right now, I didn’t care much if I lived or if I died. I only had a strong desire to save Exfolia and its inhabitants.
「Seiya! The Great Goddess Isister has given her permission! The closest I can open the portal to one kilometer away from the Demon King’s Castle!」
「That’s fine. 」
I cast a spell to summon the portal. John Dae and Kiriko seemed to be a little nervous and excited at the same time.
「Okay! Let’s go, hero! Let’s save Exfolia! 」
「So…So, we’re finally going to the last battle! 」
However, Seiya hit the ground with his feet before going to the portal. Suddenly, the ground from the plaza of the God’s realm was raised, and a large number of golems crawled out from the ground as if they were zombies!
「Before the decisive battle with the Demon King, a large number of small monsters and executive demons may appear to block our path. In such case, I’ll use these golems for as long as possible so that I can preserve my physical strength. I plan to increase the golem production once we get there.」
Seiya gave instructions to his hundreds of golems. Then, the golems opened the portal’s doors and ventured inside.
Like me, John Dae and Kiriko, the gods in the plaza were greatly surprised to see the emergence of golems. Among them were Orlando, the God of Thunder, and Frala, the Goddess of Wind, who participated in the multiparty practice session with Seiya.
「Really. It’s the last decisive battle and yet, he made an army full of golems to assist him. I wonder if the time spent in that training didn’t go to waste.」
「Well, he’s a hero, so he does what heroes do. 」
It seemed that everyone was cheering on us with bitter smiles. There was also Aria and Adenela nearby. Aria held my hands then.
「Lista…Good luck…! 」
「Thank you!! 」
「Ki…Kiriko, John Dae. Do…Don’t overdo it. Use…Use the continuous gunshot sword technique to…to protect yourselves. The…There won’t be any problem if…if you rely on Seiya.」
「Yes! 」
「Thank you for you guidance, Goddess of War! 」
Celseus also came to us and shook hands with Kiriko and John Dae.
「I’ll pray for you safety! You are the most important part-timers of the Cafe De Celseus!」
「Thank you, Mister Celseus! We’re going now! 」
At last, the remaining golems in the plaza dived through the portal.
「…All right. It’s our time to go. 」
In contrast to Seiya who went to the portal without looking back, we shook hands with the gods that came to see us off. We went to the battleground with a smile on our faces.
—
I felt hot air the moment I went through the portal. When I looked up, I saw a purple and muddy sky as if an evil mist was spreading above our heads. A huge castle soared through the sky at the distance. The Demon King’s Castle radiated a black miasma as if the castle itself was a living creature.
「That’s the dwelling of the Demon King, huh…! 」
「So, Artemaeus is inside of that castle at this precise moment! 」
We knew where we needed to go. However, I spoke to Seiya with hesitation.
「So…Sorry, Seiya…I don’t know what’s going on with our surroundings right now…」
We were surrounded by the numerous golems that went through the portal. I couldn’t really see what was going on around us because of the giant golems.
Seiya said that he’d increase the golems’ production once we arrived here, but he jumped on the golem’s back and looked around. I was worried, therefore, I moved my head between the golems, and somehow, I managed to see the surroundings.
「Wha…What on earth is that…! 」
A large number of monsters were laying on the ground in the wilderness near the Demon King’s Castle. Among those monsters, were the demon priests like the ones we saw in the Sage Village, and a few deformed monsters that were not human beings.
「Are they…dead? 」
A surprised John Dae spoke from the sideline. Certainly, there was a dead smell lurking around.
「We’ll see if they’re really dead. 」
Then, Seiya gave some instructions to the golems. Seiya closed his eyes while the golems stabbed and rolled the fallen monsters. Apparently, his eyes were linked to the golem’s eyes.
「…I tried several autopsies on the bodies, and it seems that they’re definitely dead. I don’t see any traps in the bodies either.」
John Dae touched his chin with his hand.
「It looks like someone attacked Demon King’s Castle first. 」
「Ehh! Do you mean that we have other allies!? 」
Did that mean that the survivors of Exfolia came to join us on this final battle!? I felt somewhat happy about it, but…
「Eve…Even so, look at these corpses! It’s so terrible…! 」
Kiriko told us to look at the monsters that were laying on the ground. Some corpses had no limbs or necks. Others had their insides gouged out. My short happiness disappeared when I noticed how horribly they were killed.
「Anyway, I will bury these corpses with Endless Fall. It will be troublesome if they were to be resurrected as undead.」
Seiya dropped the fallen corpses to the core of this earth. After that, he marched with the golems towards the Demon King’s Castle. The golems surrounded us and protected us from enemies that could come from every side. Yet, no monsters attacked us. Along the way to the Demon King’s Castle, Seiya kept dropping the corpses of monsters we saw with Endless Fall.
「…Let’s stop here. 」
When we approached the Demon King’s Castle, the gate opened suddenly as if it tried to swallow us inside. At a distance, Seiya stopped and touched the ground. Seiya created hundreds of new golems immediately. He left behind a dozen of Guardians Golems and placed them around the castle. In addition, he changed his profession from a Magic Warrior with earth attributes to fire attributes temporarily. Then, he produced a dozen of Automatic Phoenixes, the fire magical birds. The Phoenixes, holding a large number of Bakudan Rocks created by Seiya, flew off to the Demon King’s Castle.
「Wha…What are you planning to do? 」
「Bombing. 」
「Bombing!? 」
When I looked carefully at my surroundings, I noticed that the golems around the Demon King’s Castle were also holding Bakudan Rocks in their hands. And then…
「…Fire. 」
The golems threw the Bakudan Rocks at the castle upon receiving Seiya’s command! Moreover, the Automatic Phoenixes, who flew in the sky, dropped the Bakudan Rocks as well!
After an intense bombing from the Bakudan Rocks, I noticed that the Demon King’s Castle was shrouded in fire. However, a deafening sound was heard upon the impact and a pale wall appeared to cover the entire castle! When the smoke cleared away, the Demon King’s Castle remained intact without any signs of destruction.
「It looks like the castle is protected by a barrier!! The bombing didn’t work!! 」
「Hmm. No surprise. I expected it. It seems that I won’t have a choice but to invade the castle myself in order to defeat the Demon King.」
「We…Well, of course. It would be weird and too easy if a “bombing” attack actually managed to defeat a Demon King…」
John Dae was astounded. Still, I knew that Seiya tried to do everything he could before engaging in a direct physical fight with the Demon King.
Seiya, on top of a golem, headed towards the entrance of the Demon King’s Castle. At that time, Seiya suddenly muttered.
「State Berserk Phase 2nd. 」
Seiya’s body was wrapped in a reddish-black aura! I was surprised; therefore, I looked nervously at my surroundings!
「An…An enemy!? 」
Kiriko and John Dae were ready to fight. Nonetheless, all we saw were fallen dead monsters in the ground.
「No. I just wanted to get ready for battle in advance. 」
「Then, just inform us about it!! Normally, you won’t bring yourself into a Crazy Warrior state for nothing!!」
「Shup up, zombie. More importantly, we’re going through that gate. I’m a bit reluctant to go through the front entrance, but let’s proceed with prudence with the golems.」
Finally, we arrived in front of the gate of Demon King’s Castle. Two evil-looking monsters were defeated brutally at the entrance. Kiriko held the hem of my dress.
「Are…Aren’t these monsters the gatekeepers of this castle? 」
「Pro…Probably… 」
As usual, Seiya dropped the corpses of the gatekeeper monsters to the core of this earth with the Endless Fall. However…After realizing that the gatekeepers were killed before we arrived here, the unpleasant premonition that I felt before gradually increased in my heart.
…Was it a conflict between fellow monsters? Wha…What the hell happened in the Demon King’s Castle?
「Okay then. We will enter the Demon King’s Castle now. 」
After disposing the gatekeepers’ corpses, Seiya proceeded to the castle gates. We went forward; actually, the golems went forward since we were the ones riding them. It looked like a golem party. However, I was shocked once again as soon as we got inside of the castle.
「Ehhh…! 」
The candlelight illuminated the stone pavement of the Demon King’s Castle. Under the thin light, countless of monster corpses were laying on the floor. I saw some strong opponents such as undead in armors, dragon soldiers and other strong-looking monsters. All of them were murdered dreadfully. I didn’t know what this meant. I only knew that a fierce battle occurred inside of the Demon King’s Castle not too long ago.
Seiya couldn’t use the power of the Endless Fall inside the castle. Therefore, he changed his profession to Magic Warrior with fire attributes once again, and began to burn the corpses elaborately. Although the progress was slow, this steady work was useful during the battle with the Death Emperor, which was fresh in my memory. We didn’t complain about Seiya’s actions and we let him finish with this clean-up.
Albeit late, we walked in the castle with precaution. Inside of the castle, I noticed that long spiral staircases stretched high into the ceiling, and I saw many doors of different rooms as we walked further inside.
「This place is quite a wide and complex castle. 」
「First, let’s go up through that stairs. 」
Nevertheless, Seiya moved forward without hesitation as if he had a map.
「Next, we’re going to that room. 」
「Okay. 」
「Now, we walk down that aisle. 」
「He…Hey, Seiya. How do you know the way? 」
「I activated a special skill named “Divination”. Somehow, I feel like I know the way through the power of this skill.」
「Is that so! So, that means that the “Fortune Teller” job wasn’t that useless!」
Nonetheless, we were appalled after walking for a while. There was a wall in front of us.
「Mi…Mister Seiya! It’s a dead end! 」
「Yeah. The accuracy rate of the divination skill was at 60%. After all, it’s just fortune-telling. I just played along with the divination cube.」
「Ehhhhhh… 」
With this method, there were mistakes sometimes, but I felt as if we were advancing steadily when I thought about it with a different perspective. This place was the Demon King’s Castle. There was a high possibility that traps were prepared in advance. Still, we were able to walk safely thanks to the Divination skill.
We crossed ways with a demon statue, then we climbed on long stairs, and finally we walked through winding paths. Usually, fierce battles were waged with powerful monsters in the Demon King’s Castle. But, in here, no enemy attacked us so far.
…Eventually, Seiya stopped in front of a huge and terrifying door that appeared in front of us.
…This…This room was…!!
My goddess’ intuition sensed that the room was full of a horrible evil aura. Kiriko spoke with a trembling voice.
「I…I can feel it! I’m sure that the Demon King is inside of this room…! 」
I stared at Seiya after I nodded to Kiriko.
…Since it was Seiya we’re talking about, he’d probably say 「You guys should wait here. 」without a doubt. Bu…But, I came here fully prepared to give up my life for the sake of saving this world! I’ll follow him no matter what he says!
However.
「Let’s go, Lista. Come with me. 」
「Eh? 」
「You have an obligation to watch this battle. 」
「Ye…Yes! 」
…What…? Perhaps, he recognized my potential as a goddess?
The joy that I felt during this moment disappeared as soon as the golems opened the heavy door.
