Chapter 412: Demon Lord became Lv200

I returned to Florence and took a breather.

Well, thanks to Stamina Heal, I was not physically tired at all and I did not face any danger towards my life. I did let my guard down and a Black Prawn scratched my back but because Demon Lord level went up, my defensive strength went up drastically so it was only painful to the extent of getting scratched by a scrubbing brush. (In other words, I didn’t suffer any wounds but it was still painful.)

However, it was still mentally draining to keep a constant lookout for monsters aiming for my life by sensing their hostile intent. That was an experience that couldn’t be felt when leveling up in games.

“Miri, what’s our target level?”

“Level 300 so we’re halfway there.”

“You’re saying that while completely aware of what it means, right?”

The higher the level, the more experience points needed to level up.

If leveling up from Lv1 to Lv148 required 100 experience points, it doesn’t mean that going up from Lv148 to Lv300 also requires 100 experience points. It would require at least 1000.

At that rate, I found it difficult for me to reach Lv300 within a week.

“Ichi-kun, don’t have such a gloomy expression. Here, eat a lot of rice and cheer up.”

“Thank you very much, Margaret-san.”

“Fufufu, I’m glad to be able to meet Ryu again.”

Margaret-san hummed as she brought the food over.

Arranged in front of me was enough food that four people would struggle to finish.

Even if Haru and Carol returned, the six of us would still have difficulties.

While wiping her sweat, Norn-san entered the canteen.

“Margaret-san is enthusiastic because she met Onii-san and Miri-chan after a long time.”

She explained the reason for the large number of dishes.

Margaret-san truly felt like she was the mother of Florence.

Regardless if she was a man.

“Master, we have returned.”

“I’m glad you are all right. Did you level up?”

Haru and Carol returned just as we started eating.

“Yeah, we just came back too. Do you have any news?”

“Yes. We contacted Malina-san through the Adventurer’s Guild. She is looking for Kanon-san but she has not found her yet.”

I knew that she was still looking for Kanon-san.

If Kanon-san distanced herself from Malina for a reason, it may be difficult for Malina to search on her own. I heard that the Devil race excelled in blending in after all.

“Now that we have established a contact point, we will be able to join up immediately once we go to the imperial capital of the Arandel Kingdom. Also, the Hero has not shown any noticeable movements. At the very least, the Hero is a celebrity with his portraits in the market so if he makes any moves, there will be information. He has probably not entered the royal capital.”

I knew that Carol would be able to achieve good results in a short time.

I was glad that I entrusted the task to her.

“Thank you, Carol. That helped. Haru too, thank you for protecting her.”

“No, I was not able to do anything. By the way, what is Master’s level now?”

“Ah, I’m Lv148 now.”

““ – – Wha!?””

The two of them couldn’t seem to hide their surprise from the number 148.

Well, normally that would be a level only achievable after countless years.

“I’m happy that you are both surprised but it is still far from our goal. I am unsure if I can reach Lv300 in a week.”

“Master, did you master the Demon Lord’s Authority skill?”

“Hn? Yeah, there are no issues there.”

When I said that, Haru and Carol looked at each other and said.

“In that case, let us do our best as usual.”

Carol explained that usual fighting method to me.

But the usual style Haru and Carol mentioned, was not usual at all.

Advanced dungeon lowest floor.

Until now, I had been fighting Demon Dragons here but now it was different.

Apart from Demon Dragons, now there were Black Tigers, huge slimes, fire-breathing elephants, huge pigmen, and even ghosts wielding grim reaper sickles.

“Master, the Death Wraith is approaching. Please deal with it first.”

The Death Wraith was immune to all attacks apart from Light-Attribute so Haru had no means to attack it.

Furthermore, it apparently has a small chance to deal instant death so I had to defeat it first whenever it appears.

“Light!”

The Light Magic consumed the Death Wraith.

Although it was just Light without any magical power amplification done to it, with my Demon Lord level that caused my magic attack to reach absurd amounts, just one shot was enough to purify the high-ranking Death Wraith.

In the meantime, Haru and Miri were stalling the approaching monsters.

Yesterday I could afford to count the Demon Dragons I defeated but today, I didn’t even have the time to count the monsters I was facing at the moment, let alone count the number of monsters I defeated.

“This is amazing, level ups would be quick at this pace.”

Miri was impressed.

I was in this situation because Carol switched her job to Temptress immediately after we entered the lowest floor.

Her skill, Moon’s Captivating Scent, would activate at night or underground such as in a dungeon, attracting all monsters in range.

Her skill has helped me countless times but I still feel amazed by the strength of her skill.

An unstoppable flock of monsters.

Haru and Miri devoted themselves to stopping the enemies while I dealt the final strike one after the other.

After an entire day of battling with monsters without even time to collect the drop items, we finally returned to the town of Florence.

Returning Carol’s job to her original job, we escaped using Miri’s Space-Time Magic.

I fought up to the limit with Stamina Heal and even delayed my desire to sleep with Miri’s medicine to continue fighting.

I wondered how far did my level go up?

I was curious and opened my level-up messages.

【Ichinojo leveled up】

【Demon Lord skill: 「Status Abnormality Immunity」acquired】

【Demon Lord skill: 「All Ability UP (Medium)」has skilled up to「All Ability UP (Large)」】

【Demon Lord skill: 「Experience Points Zero」】

【Demon Lord skill: 「Kin Strengthening」has skilled up to「Kin Strengthening II」】

I was learning skills smoothly but was surprised at the end of the sentence.

Eh?

“Um, Master. My level went up.”

“Carol’s level went up too. But by using the Demon Lord’s Authority, we shouldn’t get any experience points.”

Haru and Carol commented but I knew the reason why.

【There are no further levels for Demon Lord】

That was right. I reached the pinnacle for the second time for Demon Lord. Due to that, the experience points I gained after Lv200 were distributed to my other jobs as well as Haru and Carol.

“I’m already at Lv200. It is thanks to all of you. It seems that the remaining experience points were shared between the two of you.”

I explained.

Incidentally, the Experience Points Zero skill was a skill that would give the opponent zero experience points if they killed me, a skill that was a demerit for both sides.

Now that I thought about it, I recalled certain games where you won’t get any experience points when you defeat the Demon Lord last boss.

That was a death skill. There was no meaning in having a skill that would activate on death.

Nevertheless … I looked at only my ability portion of my status page.

(TLN: I won’t highlight the changes since it has been ages since the last status page which was at Chapter 198 for those interested)

The numbers had somehow turned out to be ridiculous.

Even Fire Magician had leveled up by 2 compared to yesterday.

Among my status that increased, seeing my HP, MP, and Magic Defense cross 10000 and my Magic Attack cross 20000 was the most shocking.

The greatest reason was that a Demon Lord possesses high stats in their natural state.

What? Isn’t this way too broken?

Besides, the effect from the All Ability UP skill acquired at Demon Lord Lv130 was great. So far, I acquired skills to raise each stat such as Magic Attack UP but this All Ability UP would affect all stats apart from Luck. Even without that, the latter half of the Demon Lord levels grants all kinds of skills that give various status upgrades.

I always called my blessing a cheat but after coming this far, I found it way too broken. What’s more, a Demon Lord had immunity to instant death and abnormal condition. How is it possible to defeat such a being?

If this was the last boss of a game, this alone was enough for the player to scream ‘What kind of shitty game is this? Did the staff even debug it!?”

“Miri, what was your final level when you were Demon Lord?”

“Um, I believe I went above 360.”

“Does that mean the Hero’s status is a monster just like the Demon Lord?”

“What monster, I was just special. An ordinary human would barely master an advanced job by spending their entire life and even the previous Demon Lord was only Lv70 but was still the strongest among the demons.”

“Eh? But your Demon Lord level has already reached Lv50? Why was the previous Demon Lord only Lv70?”

“In my case, I compounded and took experience points medicine. I sold all the precious metals I bought in Japan, bought up all the valuable medicine ingredients in various towns, took all the medicinal ingredients that Daijiro collected, collected the power from two of the jewels, then only I reached Lv50. Onii is the abnormal one to reach Lv200 in just two days.”

Was that the case?

But it was two days?

Even if the experience point efficiency was 2000 times, two days only translated to 4000 days or just ten years worth of fighting … well, the monster hunting efficiency was about five times better than yesterday thanks to Carol.

Does that mean that if I added on five times more combat efficiency over the 2000 times experience point gain, I was leveling up at 10000 times faster?

In that case, the experience I received today was 10000 times that of a normal person, in other words, I gained 10000 days of fighting without sleeping worth of experience points.

No matter how much a battle maniac a person is, the time spent in battle in a day would at most be six to eight hours.

In other words, the experience points I earned today equal to 30000 to 40000 days, or more than 100 years, of that of a battle maniac continually fighting through the lower floors of the Advanced Dungeon.

I guess it was natural that Miri called that abnormal.

“But is it possible that the Hero possesses such high stats too?”

In the end, Famiris Raritei chose to die when dealing with the Hero.

If negotiations with the Demon Lord break down, usually it would lead to battle.

But since the Hero can’t escape from the Demon Lord due to the Demon Lord’s skill, the Hero must have had the stats to defeat the Demon Lord.

Unless the premise of the negotiation was death once negotiations broke down.

“The stats of the Hero were not a big deal. However, the strength of the Hero grows as the people’s faith in him grows. At that time, people all over the world had expectations in the Hero so he hid tremendous power, although not as much as I had at that time.”

I see. So although the Demon Lord and Hero seem to be opposite beings, they are similar at the same time.

The Hero grows through the strength of their companions, the Demon Lord grants strength to their companions.

The Demon Lord grows with the power of their companions, the Hero is granted power by their companions.

Their power may seem exact opposites but the aspect where they fight together with their companions, not alone, is the same.

That said, when I looked at my status again, I felt that I was getting stronger.

At this rate, it didn’t seem like reaching Lv300 was an impossible dream.

Well then, let’s do my best after sleeping.

Just as I had that thought.

“Hn?”

There was a reaction from the communication talisman in my pocket.

I entrusted the other end of the communication line to Suzuki.

It has only been a few days since I left it with him so I didn’t expect him to contact me so soon.

『- – noki-kun, Kusunoki-kun. Can you hear me? Please reply if you do.』

“Yeah, I hear you. Suzuki, did anything happen?”

『Ah, thank god. Currently, I have returned to Mallegory after exterminating the bandits but it seems that the number of monsters in the dungeon has increased yet again.』

“No way, is it like last time – -”

I recalled the monster outbreak that struck Mallegory the other day.

『No, it has not reached that stage yet. However, since it was confirmed that the monsters were about to surge out of the dungeon, the Adventurers Guild and Guards have somewhat been able to deal with it. Furthermore, this phenomenon seems to be happening all over the Southern Continent. Kusunoki-kun, where are you now?』

“I’m currently in Florence but I don’t see anything out of the norm here. Sorry, but could I contact you again once I investigate?”

『Sure, thanks.』

After the communication was cut, I looked at Carol.

“Carol, you heard, right?”

“Yes, I will look for information regarding the dungeons in other towns. Ichino-sama, sorry for inconveniencing you but please check on the remaining two dungeons in this town.”

Carol verified her role and ran off somewhere.

Haru once again followed her for security.

Norn-san went to check if any information came to the vigilante corps station.

While Miri and I headed toward the remaining two dungeons in this town.

Thankfully, neither of the Beginner and Intermediate Dungeons had any issues.

Or rather, I would say that the number of monsters was decreasing.

I wondered if this incident was only occurring in the Southern Continent?

I thought to myself but I was wrong.

“Ichino-sama, I have investigated. The phenomenon that Suzuki-sama mentioned was happening in various parts of this country.”

Carol returned with such information as I was waiting at Margaret’s house.

“What!? Are you certain?”

“Yes. This information came from the Adventurers Guild network. It won’t be mistaken.”

Haru affirmed to supplement Carol’s words.

There had been many reports of injuries but no reports of death as of yet.

However, monsters surging out of dungeons in places where it was impossible to deal with, such as the labyrinth near the Gomaki Village on the mountainside of Mount Gomaki to the south of Arandel Kingdom, were left to overflow.

At this rate, there was no telling when the monsters will attack the towns and villages.

“Is it possible to request for the dispatch of troops from the Arandel Kingdom?”

“Regarding that, there is one large dungeon in the center of the royal capital of Arandel Kingdom and the generation of monsters from there is tremendous so they have no room to spare for the region.”

“I guess this must be the influence of the Demon Gods.”

Also, Norn-san returned.

There was little new information but it seemed that the vigilante corps in other towns also receiving news calling attention to the increased activity of dungeon monsters.

For the moment, I relayed the information to Suzuki.

Suzuki also investigated through the Adventurers Guild so he knew most of it.

And ironically, as the damages continued in Mallegory, many people were rushing to the church demanding the dispatch of the Hero.

Without knowing that the Hero was the cause of this incident.

If more people placed their expectations on the Hero as such, it would turn into the Hero’s power.

So the Hero was growing stronger just as we were.

But more importantly, I was worried about the people living elsewhere in the country.

Just in this country, there were the adventurers that made a foolish commotion in the Town of Belasra, Gorza-san who had a match with Haru in the gambling hall, the inn lady who made delicious stew in Gomaki Village, they were all passing relationships that happened in a long life but that didn’t mean that I didn’t care about what would happen to them.

With my current stats from Demon Lord Lv200, wouldn’t it take less than a day to run to Gomaki Village?

“No, Onii. Now you have to focus on stopping the Demon Gods. And to stop the Demon Gods, Onii must increase your Demon Lord level.”

“But will it actually work? Thinking about it, my Growth Cheat power was bestowed by the Goddess-samas and the Demon Lord’s power comes from this world’s system? Would it stand up against the administrations of this world, the Goddess-samas and the Demon Gods?”

“Don’t worry about that. The Goddesses and Demon Gods certainly hold administrator power for this world. But, it is still only part of the system that builds this world. They are nothing more than existences that can only live within the system. There is definitely a way to win.”

Miri persuaded me.

Then, I could at least cut down my sleep time and go to the dungeons … no, I shouldn’t.

The debt from cheating with medicine was heavy.

Carol who is particularly unfamiliar with combat would be nearing her limit.

“I’ll make sure to sleep. Miri, please prepare medicine that will allow me to sleep within a short time.”

“I have already prepared an aroma mix. Once you sleep for three hours with this aroma, you would be rid of sleep deprivation, receive the relaxed boost, and many other effects. I only have one bottle so let’s all sleep together.”

Miri suggested.