Chapter 26 - Finally, we have become stronger in the underground dungeon! Evil Dragon Subjugation! Epilogue

AN: The part after the evil dragon subjugation is completely rewritten in the 2nd volume. Please take care of me.

“… What does this mean? Hey, big brother… What is this supposed to mean?”

Trembling with rage, Amanta glared at me.

“The strong prey on the weak. That’s all there is to it.”

Amanta cocked her head as though she couldn’t understand.

“I’m strong and you’re weak. That’s all there is to it.”

“Weak…? I’m weak? I, who ascended to godhood while still alive, the evil dragon Amanta is?

“Ascended, huh. Abandoning the pride of being a dragon, as a result of seeking only power, you became the servant of a Higher Evil God in exchange for becoming a lesser evil god. You, have an extremely bad reputation among dragons, you know?”

Amanta nodded as though giving up on something.

Then making an innocent smile, she said tensely.

“I’ll accept those words of praise! I’ll accept them! Kyahaha☆.”

She took out something spherical from her pocket.

Then raised it over her head –

“So, with that… Bye bye♪”

She winked at me.

She was ready to throw that thing to the ground.

It was probably a high-quality smoke screen.

In terms of effectiveness, it would probably render all detection skills useless, and our vision completely blocked by the smoke.

Well, the reason I knew about it is because I had faced this thing multiple times in the demon world.

Setting that aside, if that thing were to go off, the likelihood of her escaping with a high-speed movement skill is high.

While clicking my tongue I responded.

“If that’s the case -”

I gathered the strength in my body.

A forbidden technique which wasn’t even shown on my status.

—Including my special skills, I activated all my skills.

And like that, I charged towards Amanta.

On the way, a light and dry sound resembling a gunshot reverberated.

It was a shockwave released when a particle moves at a speed greater than sound, and it was also proof that my body moved at the speed of sound.

Truly an instant.

Within the blink of an eye, I stood before Amanta and held the hand which held the smoke bomb.

And so, Amanta opened her eyes and said.

“The speed just now… What is… that? What is… that? What kind of… trick did you… use?”

“A trick you say, you were trying to use a trick to get away too, though?”

Forcing the palm open, I take away the smoke bomb.

I’ll give it to Lilith later. It will be useful as a self-preservation item for her.

Then… Lifting the corners of my mouth I grinned and said.

“Doesn’t it look bad for you, little lady?”

And then, I continued.

“The petty underling, escapes as planned… Is probably what you were planning.”

Till now, that was.

Amanta surrendered, and then she smiled and shrugged.

“… With this, it’s over for me, right… it’s over, right…”

But, her smile remained the same.

“That was easy?”

“The next is almost three hundred years, huh? Big brother will no longer be there then, right? Won’t be there, right? Then, at that time, if there’s a weak hero… It’ll be fine to play with that one then, right? It’ll be fine then, right?”

In many cases monsters classified as calamities are either evil gods or demon gods or their forms.

In other words, even if you destroy their body, in a few decades or a few centuries, they’ll create a new body and return.

They are existences that can be called semi-immortals – they truly personify the meaning of ‘ascending to godhood while still being alive’.

To them, the meaning of death for their physical body, is rather light.

Regardless of whether they die of old age, or whether they die in battle, as long as sufficient time passes, they can restart with a new physical body at their optimal state.

Now, towards Amanta who was smiling with ease, I gave a hearty smile.

In the end, she’s just a lesser evil god.

If that’s the case, I know what her reaction upon seeing this will be, just like the back of my hand.

I pulled out the sword which had been sheathed.

And, I took a stance.

At the same time, a silver aura revealing its divinity surrounds the blade of my sword.

When I further my stance, a dazzling silver light radiated from the sword.

At this point, Amanta’s expression paled, and then going beyond pale, it turned ashen.

To turn the doubt in her heart into conviction, I opened my mouth, and said.

“There’s no ‘next time’. You end here. God Slayer Sword: Excalibur!”

The noise of wind being cut.

With a snap, the head and body were separated, and I heard the noise of things falling, twice.

I took out a piece of cloth from my pocket and cleaned the blade.

Well, it’s a legendary artifact, so it won’t rust. But I ended up doing this out of habit.

This is all, something taught to me by my very first instructor of the sword, Bernard.

“Lute as you are right now, neither a demi-god nor a semi-god, but a god slayer?”

Cordelia asked me with a shaky voice.

By the way, a demi-god is a being which can regenerate its body when destroyed, and thus can be brought to life normally.

A semi-god seals its actual essential spirit (soul) into a magical barrier in an isolated space.

In this case, the physical body suspends operation for a few thousand years before reviving, the time before revival is long, but the magic efficiency is high.

And the last one is a god slayer.

That means –

“Yeah, the god’s soul, its astral body was destroyed by me. It won’t revive again. It was a form of an evil god, so it would never become something decent.”

“Re-really not a semi-god but a god slayer? A feat that can only be achieved by a fully matured hero with a sacred tool, at just the age of 15…?”

“Well, that’s how it turned out.”

“Geez, you’ve really become an inscrutable existence…”

Saying so with amazement, Cordelia turned towards Lilith.

Now that I come to think of it, just now you said you’ve protected Lute, correct?”

“That’s right. I certainly said that.”

Cordelia looks at Lilith, studying her from her feet to her head.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think you have the power to do so. It seems to me you’re able to form a high-level anti-abnormal status barrier, but in terms of combat strength you seem equal to me.”

“To begin with, abnormal statuses can’t be inflicted on Lute, due to his abnormal magic power. Leaving that aside, I’m just a bizarrely high leveled magician. In the case of my level, that’s because Lute power-leveled me.”

Inquisitively, Cordelia asked.

“In that case, how did you protect Lute?”

“Lute didn’t get to freely choose his method in becoming strong. If he could become stronger, he used any means, including forbidden ones. Abnormal statuses can’t be inflicted on Lute, but if he himself causes his body to fall into an abnormal status, the story is different.”

“…?”

“In other words, he can only use his full strength within my barrier. If he displays it outside, all sorts of curses and rebounds, will assault him and something terrible could happen.”

Thinking of something for a moment, Cordelia took a deep breath.

She seemed to understand Lilith’s words, and her expression turned cloudy.

“Certainly for a villager obtain such strength… well, that’s fine. Since I understand, somehow.”

And then Cordelia, once again turns to me.

“By the way Lute? Can I ask you something?”

Following Cordelia, Lilith turned to me as well.

“Lute? I too have a question.”

Receiving the two gazes, I said with a surprised expression.

“Hmm? A question, what is it?”

“This girl, who is she?”

“You never mentioned that your childhood friend hero was a girl.”

Cordelia was inspecting her sword.

Lilith was biting on her fingernails.

Two beautiful girls, with a blue line stretching between them as though from a comedy, smiled as they asked.