CH 229

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Dark

After the…long and painful battle against the Evil God…

There were a number of miscalculations, but I managed to defeat the Evil God completely without a single casualty.

And then…

The biggest contributor, who should be me…

“Now then, Souma, I will have you spit it out!!”

Was for some reason surrounded by my comrades and was made to kneel at the center.

I-Isn’t this strange?!

Why did it turn out like this when it was an incredibly moving scene just before?!

“First, Souma, you know why we are angry, right?”

The first one to question me with eyes upturned, shoulders trembling, and even crossing arms to show her anger was Maki.

I was honestly scared, so I answered obediently.

“Well, I didn’t manage to get the Evil God to the cap, so…” (Souma)

“As-if-I-was-asking-that!!” (Maki)

Maki burned in even more anger at my response and approached me further.

“This is what I want you to explain to me!” (Maki)

She pointed at the musical instrument…no, at the Sand Dragon Sword, Lute Dis Aster.

“—What I am asking here is…why did the Evil God turn into a musical instrument?!!” (Maki)

She shouted this with a bright red face.

I thought ‘what brought that at this point?’, but my other comrades seemed to want to ask that too, so I decided to explain it once again.

It goes without saying, but what changed the Evil God into a musical instrument was the power of the forbidden item, the Dragon’s Treasure, which can change a person into a weapon.

This Dragon’s Treasure couldn’t be used on enemies in the game, and it wouldn’t be easy for an ally NPC to use it either.

The conditions to activate the Dragon’s Treasure are: ‘say the name of the weapon and your own name while touching it’. You would have no choice but to increase the affection of NPCs if you wanted to ask them to change them into weapons.

However, the weapon candidates to change with the Dragon’s Treasure are varied.

There’s the standard weapons like swords, spears, and axes; shuriken, darts, and gyaru panties which are projectile weapons; even musical instruments like harmonicas, guitars, harps, piancias, and lutes.

Remembering that, when I watched the last chapter of the Evil God Great War Recording, I was surprised from the bottom of my heart.

It is because the Evil God used an outrageous skill name.

…The name of that resurrection skill is: [Absolute Dis Aster].

In other words, it has the ‘Weapon name candidate for the Dragon’s Treasure’ + ‘Own Name’ which are the keywords to activate the Dragon’s Treasure. That’s the trump card of the Evil God.

The only thing left in those conditions is ‘touching the Dragon’s Treasure’.

The ‘abso’ part before the lute is not necessary, but as long as you speak the keywords, there’s no issues in saying extra before those keywords.

If I could push the Dragon’s Treasure onto the Evil God when it activates the Absolute Dis Aster, I thought I might be able to turn the Evil God into a weapon.

Thinking about it normally, there’s no way I would be able to turn Dis Aster into a weapon when it is set as an enemy.

No, even if I could, there would be no way in the game where it would be possible to have the enemy speak the keywords of the Dragon’s Treasure, so I can’t say for sure if it was possible in the game.

However, there was still a winning chance for me.

It is the rival character Richter which showed up in the recording.

This guy wasn’t a human but a monster.

Moreover, it is a boss character called an Archdemon which shows up in a midgame dungeon.

Despite Richter being a monster, it went against the Demon Lord, helped Hero Alex, and in the end used the Dragon’s Treasure to turn into the Knight Sword Richter, leading Alex and his group into victory.

This Nekomimi Neko world has been recreated in a way to make as little inconsistencies as possible.

In that case, leaving aside the game itself, the chances of changing the Evil God into a weapon in this world are not zero.

Of course, this is still a gamble against our favor.

However, it was still very trying despite the odds being stacked against us.

First of all, if this went well, we would be able to defeat the Evil God in the real meaning of the word.

The Evil God will resurrect endlessly even if we were to defeat it, and it will have resistance to an attack it has been hit with before.

However, the resistances increasing is only after it has actually revived.

If it is just turning it into a weapon by using the Dragon’s Treasure instead of killing it, it shouldn’t revive.

And the one other advantage of this that shook my heart greatly was the original purpose of the Dragon’s Treasure.

—In other words, the desire that, if I were to create a weapon using the Evil God, it would definitely be a strong one.

The weapon called the Sand Dragon Sword which is created from the Dragon’s Treasure will have its attack power set, but it will have stat modifiers depending on the character who used the Dragon’s Treasure.

If I managed to continuously defeat the Evil God and increase it enough to the point of capping its stats, the Sand Dragon Sword created from this would have fearsome power, and would become a weapon that wouldn’t bring shame to the word ‘strongest’.

“…Well, my biggest worry there is what Mitsuki pointed out.

If the Evil God were to reach cap, it might perish, or its stats might overflow and reset, making it weaker.

In that case, it would be a shame since I wouldn’t be able to make the strongest weapon…” (Souma)

“W-Wait a moment please! I didn’t say something like that!” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki cuts in as if saying ‘there’s no way I will be dragged in this’.

No, I think you did say that pretty clearly though…

When I tilted my head, Mitsuki continued speaking as if flustered.

“N-No, that’s not important right now.

After hearing all that, I would like to confirm something…” (Mitsuki)

“Confirm something?” (Souma)

“Y-Yes. I want to believe this is not the case…that this is just my imagination, but…” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki spoke with an unclear tone and paused for a moment there, but then asked me with a rare tone for her as if she were praying, as if she were clinging onto me.

“—Could it be that…if you were not thinking about creating a weapon, it would have been fine to defeat the Evil God just one time?” (Mitsuki)

I was relieved by the easy to answer question I was getting so ready for.

I answered with a smile.

“Eh? Yeah, obviously.” (Souma)

If it is just to defeat the Evil God, I can just push the Dragon’s Treasure onto it the moment it uses ‘Absolute Dis Aster’, so defeating it countless times before that would only have the downside of making it stronger and no benefits.

That was certainly a point of worry for me.

“Man, I wanted to make as strong of a weapon as possible from the Evil God.

I did hesitate because the more I defeated the Evil God, the higher the risks would be if I were to fail.

But at that moment, you came in, Mitsuki. You told me ‘Selfishness that will decide the fate of the world. Isn’t that fine?’ and everyone supported me!

Thanks to that, I managed to resolve myself. There’s no words enough to express my gratitude to Mitsuki and everyone else.

Man, you guys really are my wings—wait, hm?” (Souma)

By the time I noticed, Mitsuki was curled up in place, covering her ears, groaning like a zombie while going ‘Aah…what…what have I done… Aaah…’.

“Just stop it, please.” (Sazan)

“Even though she was so desperate there for you, Souma. But with this…” (Maki)

Sazan and Maki stood in front of her and stopped me.

The gazes of the two were severe, and they didn’t look convinced at all.

“Eeeeh…?” (Souma)

W-Why?

I wonder why. Even though I properly explained to them, the gazes of everyone on me were getting harsher and harsher.

When I looked at the side, there was Ina with her mouth open as if her soul had left her body, but what part of all that was shocking? There’s also Leila facing down and mumbling something which is incredibly scary.

—But!

But I have an absolute ally here.

“Ringo! You should be able to get me, right, Ringo?!” (Souma)

The oasis of my heart, Ringo, who has resolved to pamper me for 10 years no matter what happens!

“…S-So-Souma…” (Ringo)

Ringo desperately moved her expressionless face, tried to make a smile, failing over and over, and then…

—*Pap!*

“Eh? Eeh?!” (Souma)

She hit me on the head with a teary cat punch!

“O-Ouch! Ah, no, it doesn’t really hurt, but ouch!” (Souma)

Ringo wasn’t really serious there and I obviously wouldn’t receive damage with my current stats.

However, I couldn’t help but get flustered at the sudden change of heart from Ringo.

“If she were to accept this, it wouldn’t be on the level of an angel.” (Sazan)

“I think you should actually be grateful she didn’t punch you with all her power.” (Maki)

The Sazan and Maki pair were stabbing at me again.

As if hitting me with a surprise attack there…

“I-If you had told me properly, I would have cooperated…”

She looked at me with dark eyes…

“Right. That last part was really dangerous.” (Mitsuki)

That’s when Mitsuki joined in as well after recovering for a bit.

“I-It is true that the timing was pretty tight there, but…” (Souma)

I desperately stretched my hand with the Dragon’s Treasure right before the Evil God resurrected.

I am relieved I managed to somehow make it in time, but if I had been one second late there, the Evil God might have resurrected without becoming a weapon.

“B-But I prepared an insurance just in case.

I gave the Dragon’s Treasure to the Bear, and if need be, it would hit the Evil God with it instead of me.” (Souma)

When I said this, everyone’s gazes gathered onto the Bear.

“…I see, the Bear?” (Maki)

With the words of Maki, the Bear, who was playing until just now, hurriedly hid the Dragon’s Treasure at its back.

But the sad thing is that it is completely obvious.

“…Haah, oh well, fine.” (Mitsuki)

The one who calmed down that tense atmosphere was unexpectedly the one who received the most damage here, Mitsuki.

She said with a face as if an evil spirit had gone away.

“I don’t really like the saying ‘it is the result that matters’, but the reality is that no harm was done.

You defeated the Evil God without a single casualty.

…Good work. You really pulled it off.” (Mitsuki)

“Mitsuki…” (Souma)

Those honest words of appreciation I heard for the first time since defeating the Evil God seeped in my chest.

I was on the verge of blurting out ‘but I didn’t reach the cap though’, but my sixth sense was telling me I would get scolded if I were to say that, so I swallowed them.

“What’s next would be the explanation to everyone else…” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki’s cat ears were directed at the group, and I could hear endless cheers.

“…It seems like on their side, they have established that you sealed the Evil God in that lute.” (Mitsuki)

“W-Wa? Didn’t I shout that I got the strongest weapon?” (Souma)

I tilted my head, wondering how those words were taken, and Mitsuki looked there with strangely distant eyes.

“…Normal people wouldn’t even be able to imagine that you turned the Evil God into a weapon.

They must have reached that conclusion after mixing reality to it.” (Mitsuki)

I don’t really get it, but is that how it works?

Maki doesn’t seem to be convinced by this either.

“I-It is not like I don’t get it, but is it fine like that?!” (Maki)

She pursued, but…

“It is not good, but…could it be that you want to tell them the truth?” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki stared at me and soon fell silent.

After confirming that, Mitsuki clapped.

“Anyways, the threat of the Evil God is gone now.

There’s…many things I would like to say, but it is a safe end.

…However, next time, I would like you to definitely explain it to us properly before you do something.” (Mitsuki)

She summarized it all neatly and didn’t forget to glare at me to make her point.

I could only respond with a bitter smile at the sharp Mitsuki.

But that’s unnecessary worry.

“Hahaha, it is okay. I won’t be doing such grandiose things that would warrant you to stop me for a good while.

Right now I just want to return to the city as soon as possible.” (Souma)

“Fufu…even you would be tired after a battle like that, huh.” (Mitsuki)

“Of course, there’s also that. And…” (Souma)

I proudly brushed this time’s loot and strongest weapon, the lute, and…

“—I have to synthesize this Lute Dis Aster quickly after all.” (Souma)

A momentary pause happened after I said that.

“And I am telling you that’s what’s bad about yooooooouuuuu!!” (Sazan)

I ended up getting thoroughly scolded by my comrades with Sazan being the first one.

…Unfortunately, because of the intense protests of my comrades, the synthesization of the lute has been postponed indefinitely.

Well, it is not like I don’t get what Mitsuki and the others say.

I am pretty sure it would be alright, but it would be terrible if the Evil God were to resurrect with the synthesization as the trigger.

However, the weapon type of this one is sword which isn’t that easy to utilize, and it is also hard to say Lute Dis Aster.

Ah, well, the name of the Sand Dragon Sword is ‘Weapon Type + First Name’ so it would actually be Lute Dis or Lute Aster, but there’s no way to confirm in this world where I can’t open the menu.

That’s an issue of how it feels at that point, but it really is in the nature of gamers to worry about the names of the weapons they like.

If I were to synthesize it with Ultihate, it would have the special trait of ‘no one can use it except me’ which would remove the risks of others using it for evil purposes, moreover, together with its ability to nullify long range attacks, I wanted to say ‘I am the strongest with light and darkness together!’, but it seems like I have no choice but to give up on that.

There’s obviously a technique in Nekomimi Neko that won’t let you lose your gear, so as long as I have this lute, I will have the stat modifiers on me, making me on the level of the resurrected Evil God.

Forget long range attacks, I probably don’t even need to worry about attacks in general.

“Right. Since there’s the opportunity, let me test it out a bit.” (Souma)

Mitsuki for some reason made a slightly troubled face when I said this.

“That’s okay, but be careful to not hit your allies.” (Mitsuki)

“N-No trust in me…” (Souma)

I approached a big rock I had an eye on while complaining.

That’s when I…didn’t take a stance with the lute and instead brought out the True Shiranui on my right hand.

“You are testing that one out?” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki said this as if she didn’t expect it, but that’s just how it works.

“The attack power of the Sand Dragon Sword is a set number after all.

No matter how strong of a character you make into a weapon, its attack power isn’t that high.” (Souma)

Even so, because I get a modifier on Strength, the Sand Dragon Sword can become a candidate for the strongest weapon even from that alone.

In order to bring out the most out of this power…

“This modifier also applies to the attack power of being barehanded on the contrary to buffs.

That’s why, if I were to use the True Shiranui while holding the Sand Dragon Sword in my left hand which increases my Strength…” (Souma)

I say this as I point True Shiranui on the big rock.

The True Shiranui is most likely the true strongest when I am holding this Evil God Sand Dragon Sword.

Honestly speaking, no powerful enemy existing in the game would be able to prove how sharp this weapon is.

Slicing up this rock won’t prove anything, but if I can stab this rock without placing any strength in it, I should be able to show part of its power.

I pushed out the True Shiranui onto the big rock, and it sank into the rock without any resistance as expected, and…

“See? Just like—” (Souma)

—*SHWABAAAAM!!*

“…..Eh?” (Souma)

The big rock was blown up to smithereens after making a sound I have never heard before in my life.

Like, it literally blew up.

Not an explosion or implosion, but vanished.

Despite that flashy sound, there were no fragments of the rock flying around, and it perished with literally one stab.

“S-Souma, that’s…”

I could tell that my comrades were looking at me as if I was a dangerous guy.

“N-No, that’s not it! This must be some sort of mista—” (Souma)

The moment I turned around to explain myself, the katana moved with me and made a *whuooooooom!* sound like the howling of something, wind raging about.

Such an effect doesn’t exist in the game, but it seems like my way too high attack power created wind pressure.

What’s with this power?!

“Ah, no, as I said…” (Souma)

Seeing this, my comrades slowly take distance from me.

The only one who didn’t move was Ina, but it is not really because she had guts. She lost strength in her legs in place and was trembling like a scared hamster while going ‘hawawawawa…’.

Now that it has come to this, there’s no way to explain myself out of this one.

“Take-special-care in not using it when we are around, okay?” (Mitsuki)

“…Okay.” (Souma)

I nodded silently at Mitsuki who looked coldly at me, and had no choice but to obediently sheathe Shiranui.

“Now then, let’s go.” (Mitsuki)

I mumbled ‘being the strongest is a lonely place’, and Mitsuki urged us to move after Ina finally calmed down.

“Ah, wait a moment!” (Souma)

However, there’s something I must do at the end no matter what.

When I asked Mitsuki to wait, I placed the lute on the ground.

Even if it was against an opponent I had a life or death battle with, I do have to show the appropriate respect.

I stood in front of the lute on the ground, placed both hands together, and gave my gratitude.

“Thank you for fighting with me to become stronger and become a Sand Dragon Sword.

Thanks for dying a whole lot to make the Sand Dragon Sword grow.

…Thanks to you, I managed to get a strong weapon like this one.” (Souma)

Saying this, I pick the lute back up and Mitsuki speaks by my side as if baffled.

“…Good grief. You are unexpectedly evil.” (Mitsuki)

“Didn’t I tell you already? Nekomimi Neko players are tenacious beasts.” (Souma)

Even so, the grudge of killing my comrades…let’s call it even with this.

“I will have you work a whole lot from here on.” (Souma)

I smack the side of the lute.

That’s a musical instrument for ya, it made a nice sound there.

“What in the world do you plan on fighting after this?” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki looked at me, baffled, and at the same time as if she were looking at something endearing.

The answer to that is obvious.

“Against the ones I have never seen before.

There should be a lot of places I haven’t gone to in the game before.” (Souma)

Mitsuki froze at my answer, caught by surprise.

Ina hesitantly asked me as if speaking for her.

“B-But…you are going to be returning to your world, right, Souma-san?” (Ina)

Even though she already knew the answer, it looked like she was expecting something here.

As for the response to this…

“Yeah, I do plan on returning.” (Souma)

I answered with that without a single moment of hesitation.

“R-Right. Then…” (Ina)

Ina answered with a voice that couldn’t hide her disappointment, and as if covering that up…

“Didn’t I tell you? —I will definitely come back.” (Souma)

I said that with strength.

I decided on that before the rewind, but I have told everyone about my intention after the rewind too.

I wanted to tell everyone that what I said was not a lie, that I truly meant them.

“This world still has a lot of monsters, dungeons, and items I have never seen before!

That’s why…” (Souma)

I look at all my friends while saying this.

Ringo, Mitsuki, Maki, Sazan, Ina, Leila, the Bear…

My important and irreplaceable friends.

Important people I want to stay with forever from the bottom of my heart.

I have no intention of giving up on returning.

Even so, I have no intention of separating from them.

“Going on an adventure with everyone here -my friends- searching for the unknown.

That’s my new dream!!” (Souma)

The Evil God, which should be the biggest threat and enemy of the world has fallen and the world is now peaceful.

…But that’s not the end.

It is actually the beginning.

Our adventures, our battles, they will be continuing forever and ever.

Because…

“—I have finally begun climbing after all.

The far and endless slope of Nekomimi Neko!!” (Souma)