Volume 1, 3: Seven Flames and Dragon Eater

Volume 1, Chapter 3: Seven Flames and Dragon Eater

Part 1

It might look like happily ever after, but aren’t we forgetting someone?

“Bhah!?”

A red sandstorm covered the entire inn town.

That toxic pigment burned away people’s rationality and transformed them into bipedal beasts.

Most of the people fled indoors and sealed up the doors and windows to escape the threat. Those who were too slow were carried out of the inn town by Boo Boo.

Sutriona had spread her extraordinary influence to ensure it would turn out that way.

But there were some who did not fit inside that framework.

“Ah, gah...cough, cough!! ...gahh...!?”

Elkiad.

A certain nation’s soldiers had disguised themselves as a Guild. Most of those defeated by Boo Boo remained collapsed as the red pigment washed over them.

They may have simply been forgotten. Sutriona had no obligation to save them as well and it was unclear if a paradox with a soul even considered this “attacking” them.

“Ha, ha ha...hagh...ha ha ha!!”

The man who had once led Elkiad placed his hand on the wall and slowly walked forward despite the color red blinding him. His stubble had stood out in the first place, but his rough impression was further increased by his unfocused eyes, heavy breathing, and disconcerting sweat.

The toxic pigment had entered his mouth, his nose, his eyelids, and all of his skin’s pores.

Antidotes and Defenses were useless here.

But even without a finishing blow from Sutriona, the Elkiad commander’s psyche would reach its limit sooner or later.

There was nothing left for him now that he had failed to stop Beatrice’s group and his country could not start the war they wanted in the real world.

He technically could go back, but he would have the take responsibility as soon as he did.

And that would mean something on the level of a “purge”.

The bait Piece had likely been registered by now, so that result could no longer be overturned. If he did not want to die, his only option was never returning and living out the rest of his life in Ground’s Nir. If they sent people after him, he would have to fight back.

But there was an unavoidable problem with that.

His former world and Ground’s Nir were similar yet somehow different. For example, gravity, the number of hours in a day, the composition and density of the air, etc. Those differences gradually introduced negative effects on the body’s structure, especially the internal clock, so staying too long would throw one’s mind and body off balance.

Something in him would eventually break.

Faced with this hopeless situation, the former Elkiad commander was not thinking of how to gather his remaining troops for a swift retreat that would minimize the confusion. He was instead thinking of taking revenge on everything that had led to this situation.

He was from Elkiad, the military mafia that had become a crucible of moral hazards.

As the circuits of his mind were burned away, he walked forward like a zombie.

With his future destroyed, he acted only in the pursuit of dark and fleeting pleasures.

Part 2

A week had passed since the commotion Elkiad and Sutriona had caused in the inn town.

Boo Boo walked through the mountain with a large basket on his back. The Fairy named Meridiana had woven the basket together in a single night while he slept, but Boo Boo had not even questioned the tool that had suddenly appeared in his house when he opened his eyes.

Boo Boo was entirely self-sufficient, so half his day was spent in search of food.

———Nest-Building White Squirrel.

“I can eat you.”

———Emperor Poison Scorpion.

“I can’t eat you.”

———Treasure Guardian Rabbit.

“You’re tasty.”

———Ground Spider.

“I can eat you, but you’re really bitter.”

———Giant Lonely Chick.

“I can eat you after you grow up.”

Beatrice grew pale and trembled as she watched Boo Boo dividing up his catches and tossing them into the basket.

She had a feeling the ones ending up in the basket were all soft and fluffy animals that looked like crane game prizes.

“Ah, ahh, ahhhhhhh...”

“Hm? What is it Beatrice?”

No, she understood. She really did.

This was what it meant to be self-sufficient and Boo Boo would die if he did not eat. And with his great size and strength, he had to eat a lot.

She understood that!! But...

“Kutsu kutsu.” (←Nest-Building White Squirrel)

“Kyuu, kyuii.” (←Treasure Guardian Rabbit)

“Kweh...” (←Land-Walking Penguin)

“Nia nia.” (←Palmtop Lion)

“Piyo piyo...” (←Flightless Chicken)

The array of cutely round eyes burned at Beatrice’s sense of guilt. She could say it would be okay if the animals were ugly, but she felt that line of reasoning would eventually get back to criticizing Boo Boo. At any rate, she could not bear to watch four meter Boo Boo munching on living stuffed animals like they were snacks. It could easily break the solid pillar supporting her world.

(I’m sorry, Boo Boo!!)

“Oops! My hand sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipped!!!!!”

She mustered all of her acting skill as she pulled out her rapier-like Shining Weapon and swept his feet out from under him. With a squeal, he fell forward and all the living stuffed animals spilled out of the basket on his back. The round creatures seemed confused and approached her, so she had to raise her Shining Weapon to threaten them. Finally, they scattered and fled.

Boo Boo raised his porcine face with tears in his eyes.

“How could you do that, Beatrice!? All my food got away!”

“Sorry, sorry, Boo Boo. My chronic case of Golf-Swing-on-the-Train-Platform disease seems to be acting up. This happens a lot, so don’t worry about it.”

“Eh? You’re sick, Beatrice!?”

“No, um, you’re not supposed to take this seriously, Boo B-...”

“I know how to make a great medicine. First, you tear out the front teeth of a Cat-Loving Hamster, and...”

“I-I’m fine, Boo Boo!! You’re only going to make it happen again!!”

“?”

But since Boo Boo would die if he did not eat, Beatrice started fishing in the river while soothing him.

(Hmm. So I have no problem putting a worm on a hook to catch a fish? Humans can be pretty cruel creatures too.)

A Ground’s Nir fishing rod had no reel or synthetic line. It was simply made, so the line or rod would break if she tried to catch something too large.

“By the way, Boo Boo, are you managing to help people?”

“Yeah. I’m doing what the White Witch and Fighter Priest ask me to do.”

“I see. Good job, Boo Boo.”

“Right now, I’m making a bath for everyone. I go like this to dig a ditch that will pull the river water over a little. Then I dig into the ground so it mixes together with the hot water that comes up from the ground.”

“Hm? A bath...?”

“Baths are hard. When I went to tell Sutriona that dinner was ready while she was bathing, she got really mad. She was really close to killing me.”

“...What?”

Beatrice was bursting into flames, but Boo Boo was entirely oblivious.

That was why he ended up making the finishing blow. More than just fuel for the fire, it was a thermobaric bomb.

“The White Witch and Fighter Priest said they’d give me a witch’s aphrodisiac after I finished helping. I don’t know what an aphrodisiac is, but I think my home could use a first-aid kit and I have to start somewhere.”

“Okay, I understand completely. It would seem a certain White Witch wants to be burnt at the stake.”

Part 3

After they finished gathering food, Beatrice called up a map with Magic and set out for the inn town. She found the town was mostly functioning once more.

She grabbed White Witch Filinion, the soft and fluffy young woman in glasses who was trying to make money through Trading.

“Why are you giving Boo Boo an aphrodisiac? Are you indirectly trying to kill me?”

“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaahn!? It was a joke! Just a joke, Beatrice. Besides, it wasn’t for Boo Boo to take himself. He was supposed to slip it into your food, so-...”

“...”

“Okay, Okay, Beatrice. I’ve learned the error of my ways, so can you release me from this iron claw!?”

Filinion trembled and brought up another topic to change the subject.

“B-by the way, Beatrice, I finished deciphering that wall painting.”

“Tell me.”

They moved to the end of the road to avoid getting in people’s way.

Beatrice leaned against a brick wall.

“Was it what we thought it was?”

“Yes. Ground’s Nir has almost no written culture, so I had some trouble with the hieroglyphic symbols. Still, it mostly matches.”

As usual, Beatrice used some illusion Magic to arrange her information using red lines and boxes.

The White Witch pushed at the side of her glasses with her fingertip.

“It seems the Iberian Orcs had a tradition of attaching treats and decorations to trees for celebrations and festivals. Think of it like a Christmas tree. It seems to have developed from a habit of storing their prey in trees to make sure other beasts didn’t steal it.”

Beatrice was oddly amazed that Iberian Orc was an official name.

“Sigh. But tree-climbing animals are everywhere.”

“That seems to be why a certain story is told among the Nonhumans. The Iberian Orc who hid his important prey underground had it stolen by a mole. The Iberian Orc who hid his in a tree had it stolen by a bird. Only the Iberian Orc who suggested they all eat together managed to enjoy his meal.”

“Hmm. In that case...”

Beatrice placed a miniature version of Boo Boo’s leaf house in the empty air and drew out the surrounding environment based on her memory.

She finally reached the small hill and the large tree on top. That was where Boo Boo had watched the inn town’s festival as a child.

“There is one interesting place. That might be the best spot.”

“We don’t have much time for this, so wouldn’t it be best to get started as soon as possible?”

“Yes.”

More than to Filinion, Beatrice was speaking to someone who was not with them at the moment.

She erased her information managing Magic.

“Wait just a little longer, Boo Boo.”

Part 4

“What’s this? There’s nothing but fish for dinner tonight? I’m sooooo sick of fish!”

Right in front of the tent-like leaf house, Sutriona sat at a fire and kicked her feet around while wearing her black ribbon dress without any panties. That dress was a mysterious item made by the Fairies using Ground Spider silk and legend had it the flower decorations opened and closed like they were alive. It was unclear if that part was true, but no matter how much she kicked her feet, the fabric protected her lovely body to an unnatural extent, never allowing a peek up the skirt.

Meanwhile, Boo Boo was fine with whatever he had to eat despite his complaints during the day.

“Fish is good... All the small bones are a problem, but unlike other meat, you don’t have to remove the blood or organs, so it’s easy.”

“Wait, wait! At least take the insides out! Those are too bitter to eat!!”

Sutriona complained, but she must have thought filling her stomach with something substantial would be better than munching on Crimson Heaven Flower petals all night. She puffed her cheeks out a little, but finally grabbed a skewered fish. She tended to act like a queen, but she could not help that when she really was the Fairy Queen and had always had her shrine maidens look after her.

“By the way, Boo Boo.”

“Hm?”

“You carry that Shining Weapon around even though you’re not a human. Why is that? We can’t use Magic, so it seems like a waste.”

“A human gave it to me. I don’t know how to actually use it, but it’s hard and tough, which is really convenient.”

“Hmm.”

The thick mass of metal was over two meters long and resembled a steel beam or a log. It was something like a combination of three or four two-handed swords, each of which would have been heavy enough to smash a helmet. It took someone of Boo Boo’s size to swing it around like a club, but just how much effort would it take for a human to swing it? Using Percentage-type Magic, they could amplify their body’s Parameters to the point of lifting a carriage or boulder, but it was unclear why they would choose to use such a large weapon.

“Beatrice was asking about my Shining Weapon recently too. I hope she doesn’t say she wants it. Since it’s her, I can’t just say no.”

“Well, I doubt you need to worry about that. Shining Weapons are optimized for their specific user, so she wouldn’t be able to do anything even if she did try using yours. ...Although that makes me wonder what the person who gave it to you was thinking.”

“Even if I don’t really get it, I’ll use whatever I can.”

“How open-minded of you. You’re not much for mental games either, are you?”

Part 5

A few days later, Beatrice visited the usual hill while taking a break from exploring the Labyrinth. As usual, she relied on her Magic map.

The large tree had several branches that provided gentle shade to protect anyone on the hill from the sun.

She put her hands on her hips and breathed a light sigh.

She used illusion Magic to place an AR image of their plans over the tree and switched between a few different options.

“Decorating this entire thing is going to be a pretty big job.”

“Oh, have you started?”

Fighter Priest Armelina approached from behind. She did not always stay in the same Party as Beatrice and Filinion, so she had likely returned from a visit to the Labyrinth with a different Party.

“I was just thinking about what exactly we should do.”

“Isn’t tying it up with string our only real option? Wire would probably be easier, but I’d feel bad if our festivities ended up damaging the tree.”

“Yeah, I think it’s going to just be a Christmas tree when we get down to it.”

She and Armelina made a list of what they needed. They did not need any fancy metals for the decorations. It could just be things carved from wood and colored with paint. Boo Boo would be happier if they focused more on the snacks. They would also need a ladder for work higher up on the tree. If they could not find one in the inn town, they would have to build one themselves.

“But do Iberian Orcs really not do this kind of thing? If there’s somewhere at least kind of like our world, I assumed anyone with a certain level of intelligence would come up with the idea.”

“Boo Boo doesn’t seem to have much of a concept of dates. Of course, it seemed to take us a while to figure out that Ground’s Nir has fourteen months with twenty-five days each.”

“That’s because we didn’t need to know that to rush off into the Labyrinth.”

“It’s the same for Boo Boo. He just lives day to day catching food, so he doesn’t need to categorize it with numbers. He just needs to know about the seasons.”

“Really? But you need the concept of dates for all sorts of things: horoscopes, lover compatibility, the day’s lucky color or recommended spot, or-...ah!?”

“...You’re surprisingly into that kind of thing, Armelina.”

“A-anyway!”

After accidentally letting her girly side out, Armelina blushed and frantically waved her hands around.

“Whatever the case, it’s lucky he has that Shining Weapon. If it didn’t have a manufacturing date and a transfer date, we really would’ve been in trouble. They say you can tell an Iberian Orc’s age from their fingerprints, but that isn’t enough to figure out the exact month and day.”

“Right,” agreed Beatrice with a light sigh.

She recalled the word “Iberian!” carved into that thick weapon.

“If that hadn’t been a birthday present, we wouldn’t have been able to celebrate his birthday like this.”

Part 6

“Boo Boo, when is your birthday?”

Back when Boo Boo had still looked like a cute stuffed animal, Beatrice had asked him that question.

He had simply tilted his small head.

“What’s a birthday?”

“It’s the day you were born, Boo Boo.”

“I don’t remember anything from that long ago. Do all humans remember?”

“Hmm.”

Beatrice had groaned when he answered with a curious look void of any emotional nuance.

It was possible his entire race had no real fixation on birthdays. For one thing, birthdays were only considered special inside a social system with a concept of age-based hierarchy and set ideas of what behavior was appropriate for one’s age. In a complete meritocracy, age would no longer hold a special place in society, so the concept of birthdays would be given less focus. ...Or that was a possibility anyway.

“Do you know your birthday, Beatrice?”

“September 15. ...Although the year is a different length in Ground’s Nir, so that doesn’t mean much here.”

“?”

Boo Boo looked puzzled.

“What good is knowing your birthday?”

“Well, just once a year, you get to be the star. You get to eat cake, eat as much other stuff as you want, receive presents from everyone, and celebrate that you were born on that day. A birthday is a special day that everyone has.”

“Really?”

Boo Boo still did not seem to understand.

When he replied, he did not seem to mean much by it.

“But I don’t think I can do that. There’s no one who knows my birthday.”

Part 7

With help from White Witch Filinion and Fighter Priest Armelina, Beatrice decorated the hilltop tree bit by bit.

Boo Boo had been running some kind of errands for Sutriona lately, so he would not be anywhere nearby.

Filinion supported the ladder from the ground and worked to motivate Beatrice who stood on the ladder.

“We only have three day to go, so we’ll be out here all night if we don’t get all this ready.”

“I know that. The snacks have to be prepared on the day of, so we need to get all this done ahead of time.”

“Uhohoi! I gotta say, the view up a Holy Swordswoman’s miniskirt is pretty amaz-...gbah!?”

“Oops, my hands slipped and I dropped my Shining Weapon. Sorry.”

Meanwhile, their work was progressing smoothly.

The weather had been so sunny that they had not been delayed by rain. None of the Break News showed up to spread their natural disasters, but that may have been thanks to Sutriona’s presence.

“That said, Beatrice, you have another present ready for him, don’t you?”

“Stop it, Armelina. You just know she’s going to tie a red ribbon around her naked body and declare that she’s his prese-...gwah!?”

“Oops, I dropped the scabbard too. Can you get that for me?”

She of course did have something for him. And it was of course not a ribbon around her nude body. Since it was generally impossible to carry anything between the two worlds, the only way to get a present in Ground’s Nir was to take on an unnecessary expense by trading with Gertrude, the inn town’s treasurer, but it had not been too painful.

“Just three more days.”

The people in the inn town were busy delving into the Labyrinth to earn Experience Points and learn Magic, so they would have been shocked to see this.

But that was exactly why it had meaning.

Would she change the world or not?

This had a meaning different from that of fighting over the Pieces that could bring great breakthroughs to stalled technologies.

Part 8

His mind was almost entirely empty.

No matter how much knowledge and skill he had, the intelligence, thoughts, and overall personality needed to actively use them had faded away and scattered.

This was the blond man with stubble who had once been Elkiad’s commander.

“...ah...”

He bore the wounds of his utter defeat, he was under the influence of Sutriona’s sandstorm of red insanity, and his internal signals had collapsed around his internal clock due to his extended stay in this alternate world. Altogether, he was left in a state where he could not even remember his own name.

But.

That may have been the reason why.

Only the final “direction” in his mind refused to vanish. He used all the data on Ground’s Nir he had gathered as the army of a certain nation disguised as a Guild and he gathered what he needed to continue in that “direction”.

He would have his revenge.

He would get back at them.

His unit had been wiped out. He had not seen the other members since then, but either their minds had been destroyed by the insane sandstorm or they had returned to their original world in search of help, been immediately captured, and then been purged.

But that meant little to Elkiad’s commander.

On the chess board of war, soldiers were mere pawns. And not even the greatest chess player could complete a game without losing a single piece. So if he gathered his excellent subordinates together like some kind of collection, he could not even begin to fight. He could not let his heart be shattered when they were lost or used up.

So that was not why their commander was angry.

Useless pawns were doomed to be crushed. If a pawn refused to listen, he would knock it from the board himself.

It was something else that scorched the core of his mind.

An Iberian Orc that showed no hint of intelligence had thrown the chess board into chaos.

To reiterate, war was a chess board and the soldiers were pawns. The commander had gathered everything he needed and used his intellect to challenge his opponent, but his opponent had trampled on his efforts with nothing more than brute strength. That was the worst form of cheating. His score had been crushed and he was now crawling along the ground. It was supposed to be a logic game that pitted one mind against another, but his opponent had achieved victory without using their brain even once.

He would make up for that disgrace.

He would use any means necessary.

“...ah...ah.”

Elkiad was an army. The first thing they were to do when deployed was some basic investigation to see what was on the chess board. What kind of place was it, what was the terrain like, what was the weather like, what kinds of dangerous flora and fauna were found there, what kind of people lived there, and what interests intertwined there? Even if they were working in Ground’s Nir, that remained unchanged.

So the Elkiad commander knew what required the greatest focus out of everything in Ground’s Nir: the beings known as paradoxes with souls. Those superior beings were on the same level as a thousand meter Dragon that brought rainclouds or a Fairy Queen that created sandstorms of red insanity.

The Break News came in all shapes and sizes.

Some had wills of their own and some did not. Some understood human language and some did not. Some had humanoid forms and some did not. Some allied themselves with humans and some did not.

Every last one was unique. They could not be categorized by any kind of framework because they each built up a framework all their own.

They willfully reached to their very own peak.

One of those was a sword stabbed into the summit of a sharp rocky mountain. The double-edged sword was as clear as glass or crystal. The Elkiad man unsteadily approached that monster built up from inorganic materials.

This was the Break News known as Lorelei.

That devilish blade would provide its wielder with infinite power, but it would drive its wielder and their surroundings to destruction through the mass hysteria brought on by overwhelming violence and fear.

Part 9

The promised day had arrived.

Bringing Boo Boo along was easy. In fact, that hill was his favorite spot. Once Sutriona stopped making her phony errand requests, he would have gone there regardless.

“Hm? What is it, Beatrice?”

“It’s nothing.”

“You’re acting all nervous.”

“I-I said it’s nothing!”

The two of them walked through the forest as they spoke.

“Why are you looking at your usual map?”

“Um...good question. This area is something like my own backyard now, but I just can’t relax without this.”

The weather was still sunny.

Her original world was easily changed by the exchange of Pieces, but time flowed peacefully in Ground’s Nir. That was not to say the scenery did not change at all, but it seemed to happen at a pleasant pace, like the corners of a stone being slowly rounded by a river’s current.

(In that way, we may be the ones who have changed the most.)

Beatrice gently smiled next to the four meter Nonhuman.

Boo Boo had been as small as a stuffed animal when they had first met. When she had embraced him, he had squealed so cutely. He had been a crybaby and he had shown his tears when he so much as tripped over a tree root.

It had definitely been a shock when they had been reunited a few years later, but he had not changed deep down. He was surprised by normal things, confused by normal things, and took action in response to normal things. He was her friend.

He had changed.

But she did not find that change to be “bad”. As a resident of a world affected so greatly by Pieces and breakthroughs, that truly seemed like a miracle.

“Beatrice. I want to find one of this big Bucket Ostrich Eggs to eat today. Don’t get in my way like before.”

“Heh heh heh. I think you might just change your mind, Boo Boo.”

“Hm?”

“You’ll understand before long. This way, Boo Boo.”

They walked down the usual path just like always.

The forest opened up and they saw the usual small hill on the gentle mountain slope.

“?”

At first, Boo Boo did not seem to know what it was.

Red, blue, yellow, and other colors decorated the large tree on the hill. It was also surrounded by roasted snacks and sugary snacks still in their wrapping. Below the glittering tree, several large tropical leaves were woven together into something like a picnic sheet. Large plates were covered in meat, fish, and other foods Boo Boo would love.

White Witch Filinion, Fighter Priest Armelina, and Fairy Queen Sutriona were already there. The sparkle at the top of the tree must have been the Fairy named Meridiana.

It was not as gaudy as the awful dinner parties held at the Detached Magic Palace.

There were no precious metals that had no value outside of monetary value.

“Happy birthday, Boo Boo.” Beatrice spoke quietly next to him. “It wasn’t easy without any real reference materials, but we did our best to do this the Iberian Orc way. I hope you like it.”

“This is...”

Boo Boo finally seemed to catch on.

“This is all for me?”

“That’s right. Today is the day to celebrate the fact that you were born. So there’s no need to hold back. You’re the star today.”

“...”

Boo Boo stood there in silence for a while.

He had said he was fine being alone since everyone was afraid of him. He had gone to save a friend even if it meant making everyone hate him. He had always taken it for granted everyone would reject him, so how did he view this scene?

Beatrice would never let him say that kind of thing again.

If he needed emotional support for that, she would gladly provide it.

“C’mon, let’s get started, Boo Boo. You can set aside all the complex stuff and just enjoy yourself.”

She smiled and took his hand.

She then slowly and gently invited him into circle of friends.

She would make him a part of that bright light.

But just before she could, a violent gust of wind blew in.

The dreadful wind carried the scorching heat of melted glass.

For a brief moment, Beatrice had no idea what had happened to her. She had reacted to the approaching sense of danger by reflexively drawing her Shining Weapon rapier, but she was not given enough time to activate any Magic.

She felt a blow powerful enough to strain her arm and orange sparks flew.

She bent more than halfway backwards and lost her balance as a further scorching wind assaulted her.

That wind had a human form.

Only then was she able to raise her voice.

“Elkiad!?”

The smiling man swung both arms for a horizontal strike at her torso. Would she have time to activate her Magic or take aim? Her thoughts moved at high speed as a giant form took action next to her.

It was Boo Boo.

Pressure bore down on the mass of wind.

If the Elkiad man was a red and scorching gust of wind, then Boo Boo’s leg was a giant wall that stopped that wind. The glass blade rapidly changed course as the Elkiad man used it for defense, but he and the sword were kicked away like an artillery shell.

After an explosive sound, he struck the ground with enough force to tear into it.

But the blond man with stubble did not stop there. To lessen the damage, he forced himself into a roll and bounced a few times.

He ended up on top of the green picnic sheet made from large leaves.

The large plates of food they had all made for today were knocked to the ground as the man fully negated the blow. Far in the distance, he raised a sinister blade that was not a Shining Weapon. It changed shape from an amorphous whip to a single sword and plenty of red heat filled its clear blade.

“Ha ha.”

He produced laughter that had long since left human language behind.

Only a desire for pain and tragedy covered his face and his entire body.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

The sword transformed again as he laughed.

With an orange glow, the long blade danced madly through the air like melted candy and formed a whip-like whirlwind around the man. It tore into the hill, ripped apart the picnic sheet, and chopped down the decorated branches of the large tree, but sharp interference reached it before it could extend to White Witch Filinion or Fighter Priest Armelina.

It was not a weapon or Magic.

It was a bare hand. A soft hand that could even be called childlike struck the blade from the side to divert it off course.

“It would seem this man has quite the death wish!!”

Fairy Queen Sutriona fiercely bared her teeth as she viewed the disastrous scene.

But the Elkiad man did not seem to care.

Even though he stood before someone who had readily referred to a thousand-meter Break News Dragon as “weak”.

After all...

“I am a Break News as well.”

The wind roared as the amorphous weapon returned to its sword form.

The orange heat became a refreshingly transparent blade.

The Elkiad man aimed the tip her way with a twisted smile on his face.

“Its name is Lorelei. This is my power now. I am a Break News. So don’t think you can frighten me, Sutriona. You were never my goal. You’re no more than a hurdle.”

A single drop of red appeared.

A small cut had appeared on the Fairy Queen’s right index finger.

“I’m only saying this once: outta the way, Sutriona.”

The transparent blade grew red with heat.

Lorelei transformed into a twisted drill.

“Whether you do or not won’t change how this ends.”

Then the glass blade exploded.

It was a whirlwind once more. It tore into the dirt, sliced through the air, and finally chopped down the large tree on the hilltop. The all-consuming torrent of destruction ignored distance as it attacked Boo Boo and Beatrice.

Even as the danger approached, Beatrice carelessly had something else on her mind.

This was an utter disaster.

The food prepared for Boo Boo had been trampled and the picnic sheet had been torn to shreds. The White Witch and Fighter Priest had nearly been killed and Sutriona’s blood had actually been shed. They had researched Iberian Orc traditions from the ground up and worked hard to decorate the tree for a celebration similar to those traditions, but that tree had been chopped down. The very location that had been a part of Boo Boo’s life since childhood had been torn apart.

This was supposed to be a celebration of his birth, so this was like spitting on those feelings.

Time had long since stopped.

What had Boo Boo done?

This might have been his very first birthday, so why did this have to happen to him?

It was true he had opposed Elkiad.

But had Elkiad been fighting from a righteous position? Would anything be improved by digging that issue back up after its conclusion? Wasn’t this nothing more than a personal grudge? If this man thought it was okay to ruin all this over a personal grudge and if he could go this far based on that reasoning...

Then he could hardly complain if the same happened to him, could he?

She moved almost frustratingly slowly as she raised her Shining Weapon.

She would not think about holding back.

She would not bother to follow her opponent’s regulations.

She cast aside all idle thoughts, forgot even the fact that her own life was in danger, and faced her target. In a world void of sound, she selected the Magic she needed. In a space void of time, she finished setting the target. She gathered strength in her little finger to her index finger, focused on her tightened thumb, and finished her preparations.

Sorry if you die.

But you might as well have pressed the gun to your head and pulled the trigger.

She then released the Magic.

The world regained sound and recalled the flow of time.

A great din soon followed.

Orange flames shattered the approaching red whirlwind like it was made of glass. Not only that, the air was scorched as a mass of explosive heat shot straight toward the Elkiad man. He immediately raised Lorelei, but that blade shattered, leaving him with only the hilt.

His body bounced around like a rubber ball.

This time, he was not trying to negate the blow. He simply flailed his limbs, hit the ground, and tore into the dirt several times as his momentum carried him along.

“Hold on. ...Wasn’t that guy using a Break News?”

Fighter Priest Armelina seemed caught off guard.

“He was talking about Lorelei,” replied Sutriona as she pressed a finger to her temple and shut one eye. “It’s true that thing is a Break News like me and it does have the power that implies. ...But in exchange for the infinite power it provides, Lorelei shatters their desires. After granting every last one of their ideals, it points out the contradictions in their heart to take it all away. The only way to control Lorelei is to build up the ultimate and perfect theory that lacks even the slightest flaw, but a theory that perfect doesn’t exist when faced with the billions and trillions of possibilities in this world. If you gave a fish legs and wings, would you have an all-purpose creature? You’d only have a pathetic creature that can’t get by on land, in the air, or even in the sea.”

“But...”

White Witch Filinion slowly and hesitantly looked over.

Not at the tragically spilt food, not at the felled tree, and not at the Elkiad man who Lorelei had toyed with and sent to his doom.

She looked at Holy Swordswoman Beatrice.

“Shouldn’t we leave those details until later and stop her? Whether that power is real or not and whether he still has that power or not, I think she’s about ready to go kill him!”

Beatrice took a step out in front of the others.

She used the Magic known as Internal.

As soon as a circle and a word of power appeared on her back, the Magic activated and she vanished. Something like orange flame wings had erupted from the circle on her back and her slender body flew just off the ground with the force of a meteor. She slipped out from between White Witch Filinion, Fighter Priest Armelina, and Fairy Queen Sutriona. No one could stop her as she raced toward the Elkiad man lying on the ground. She planted her heel on his chest.

Then a strip was torn into the ground like when a passenger plane made an emergency landing.

“Gah, gwah!! Aghbagrehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”

It lasted several dozen...no, several hundred meters.

Once she had finished using him as a human surfboard, the man saw something.

The Holy Swordswoman leaning over him had raised her Shining Weapon like a blunt weapon. She clearly did not even need to activate any Magic for this action. It was an obvious sign that she refused to kill him without giving him time to feel the pain and that she wanted to feel it in her wrists as his flesh and blood were crushed.

Filinion, Armelina, and Sutriona were left behind. Needless to say, so was Meridiana, the palm-sized Fairy. None of them could stop her.

That may have been why the only person who could act did so.

Someone else’s hand grabbed Beatrice’s raised Shining Weapon from behind.

Boo Boo’s giant hand held the rapier blade in place.

“...”

At first, Beatrice simply turned around in anger at being stopped. When she realized Boo Boo had done it, surprise covered her face and then her entire expression fell apart.

“It’s okay, Beatrice.”

“Why...?”

“I don’t want to see any more of this.”

“Why!?”

Beatrice shouted at him like a bolt of lightning.

“There’s no reason for you to hold back here, Boo Boo. Elkiad came to Ground’s Nir, went on a rampage, and got attacked by you, one of the actual residents of this world. That’s all that happened, but as it spun around and around in his mind, he somehow decided he needed to take revenge! This was supposed to be your birthday. This was supposed to be the special day where you could be the star. We were supposed to be celebrating your birth!!”

“...”

“But he trampled on all of that. He trampled on the party, on the special day, and on a place that holds so many memories for you! It doesn’t matter whether or not he knew about any of this. You don’t have to hold back when this man felt so full of himself that he didn’t even realize he was a guest here in Ground’s Nir! Doesn’t it bother you, Boo Boo? Year after year, you’ve longingly watched the inn town’s festival while standing here all alone. But he took that scene from you!!”

“Kee hee.”

But she heard static instead of the answer she wanted.

Ugly static left the defeated and battered man’s mouth.

“Ha...ha ha. What are you talking about? I was wondering what this was about, but what in the hell are you talking about? Longingly watched the festival? Standing here all alone? Are you serious? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What...are you talking about?”

It may have been better had she not responded.

The Elkiad man was here to have his revenge on Boo Boo and Beatrice. If that was his one and only goal, the static coming from his mouth could only be a means of tearing into their hearts.

“Humans visit Ground’s Nir to gather Magic and create Pieces. That’s how we bring technological breakthroughs back to human society. So would we really waste our time and efforts on a mere festival or parade? If we’re going to do that, it has to be linked to the Labyrinth exploration. ...For example, when we defeat a powerful enemy blocking the way.”

She should have immediately shut his mouth.

She should have hit him, crushed him, and silenced him to end this.

But she had made a mistake.

She had pressed him to continue.

“So that festival that monster longed to join? I bet it was the one that commemorates the day we wiped out a village of those pig-faced things.”

Part 10

The world seemed to turn upside down.

Part 11

The color white exploded in Beatrice’s mind.

She regretted not slaughtering this man one second earlier.

“...”

But once she thought about it rationally, there were some things that made no sense.

Where was Boo Boo’s family? Where were his friends? Why had she never seen any other Iberian Orcs?

Ground’s Nir was a small island that even a human could walk around in three days. And Boo Boo had said he never approached the never-ending Labyrinth because it was scary. If Iberian Orcs with the same values had a village on Ground’s Nir, they would not enter the vast Labyrinth either. If they were living somewhere on this small island, she should have run across them somewhere.

And yet she had not.

Why was Boo Boo here all alone, as if he had been left behind?

“Yes, that’s right. I remember now.”

Blood dripped from the Elkiad man’s mouth as he continued to smile.

He looked over at the abnormal Shining Weapon hanging at Boo Boo’s waist.

“There used to be someone who used that thing. Ha ha. Have you been taking good care of it because someone gave it to you? Well, the weapon you’ve entrusted your life to is the very weapon that had its fill of your family and friends’ blood, you dimwitted beast!!”

The memories forming the inner side of Boo Boo were falling apart.

“Not long after Elkiad was established, we hired an external staff member as something like a guide. That’s her weapon. I’m certain of it. She vanished after we destroyed the Iberian Orc village, but I’m betting she gave the weapon to you and then left as a way to leave behind the guilt. Ah ha ha. It’s a shame. If you’d realized who she was, she might’ve killed you along with all your friends!”

“Why...?” Beatrice’s voice was scratchy. “Why would you do that!? Nonhumans like the Iberian Orcs aren’t the same as the lifeless Gimmicks that wander the Labyrinth. And unlike the Break News that are linked to and power the large Traps, they don’t interfere with our exploration. So why would you kill them!?”

“Don’t ask me. I wasn’t in command back then. Well, it was a problem how close the village was to the Labyrinth’s exit and they would sometimes stop people from going in because they thought the Labyrinth was some frightening place. Those were issues, but...I don’t think they were the real reason.”

At that point, the Elkiad man stuck out his tongue to provide the finishing blow to a kind heart.

“Hah! Do you even need a reason to slaughter some pig-faced monster in some other world? Why are you even taking this so seriously? Hmm, um, what was it again? Was it because they were so damn ugly? I don’t even remember what I was thinking when I shoved those losers aside.”

...................................................................................................................................................................................................

All of her thoughts were erased.

She tried in vain to think while overcome by an odd floating sensation like even the concept of gravity had vanished.

What day was it today?

The day to celebrate his birth.

Why had she so arrogantly assumed a human could give him something like that? Humans were the ones devastating Ground’s Nir for their own purposes, so they were nothing more than evil invaders to the Nonhumans.

And by the time her scattered mind managed to refocus itself, she heard a deafening sound. At first, she grimaced at the great volume, but once she realized what it was, it tore her heart to pieces.

Boo Boo was crying.

Just like a small child, he was wailing toward heaven at the top of his lungs.

Of course he was. This place from his memories, his memories of watching that festival, the extra-large Shining Weapon he had relied on more than anything else, and everything that supported his heart had been shattered. Of course he was going to abandon all rationality and intelligence.

All that would remain was the great violence that had confronted the Thousand Dragon and destroyed Elkiad.

“Oh...”

I’m going to die here.

That realization came to Beatrice.

What other option was there? The humans had slaughtered Boo Boo’s true family and friends, innocently pretended to be on the side of good and justice, lifted him up further and further with the laughable farce of a birthday party, and then tossed him into the abyss at the worst possible timing. The fact that they had not known or that they were from a different group only mattered from a human point of view. After having everything taken from him, Boo Boo would view all humans the same.

“I’m dumb...so I don’t really get it...”

Finally, Boo Boo spoke while continuing to sob.

There were hints of anger in his voice.

What was there left for him to question? Why something so cruel had to happen to him? How humans could do such evil with such ease? Or why the puny and hideous creatures known as humans should be allowed to live?

Beatrice imagined all sorts of verbal abuse.

But what he said next betrayed every last one of her expectations.

“I can’t figure out if I should really hate humans here!” he said clearly. “I can’t figure out if I should really go on a rampage here!!”

Beatrice could not believe it.

She doubted her own ears and brain.

After all that, there was no way he felt no anger. His entire body was trembling and she could see a definite light of rage in his teary eyes.

But he was suppressing it.

Even when faced with such evil, was he refusing to release himself?

“Why, Boo Boo?”

The Elkiad man no longer mattered.

She stepped back from him, turned her back on him, and faced Boo Boo directly. She spread her arms while holding her Shining Weapon, leaving herself defenseless.

“You can kill us. You can kill us humans!! Doesn’t it bother you? You’ll never be satisfied if you don’t, right!? There’s no reason to hold back, suppress this, and live on in pain. We’re not worth that. Surely you understand that!!”

“It’s true the festival, the Shining Weapon, and everything else have fallen apart. There’s nothing pure left and everything I’ve relied on has been pulled out from under me...”

Boo Boo spoke while biting his lip.

“But you said you’d be my friend. Even if everything is gone and those memories were built on a lie, you haven’t disappeared. So I don’t want to stop being your friend! I don’t want to go on a rampage here and break that one last thread!!”

“Boo Boo...!!”

“I’m dumb, so I can’t make up my mind.”

He had the tearful look of a child lost in an unfamiliar city.

“I think I’m doing something wrong here. I think it’s weird not to do anything when everyone was killed. But...I don’t care if it makes me dumb or a coward. I just can’t bring myself to do that!!”

Only then did Beatrice finally remember something.

After rescuing Meridiana from the Thousand Dragon, Boo Boo had said he was afraid of justifying his violence, losing control, and becoming an unfeeling monster. He feared he would become someone who killed for more than just living and eating.

“Don’t be silly, Boo Boo.”

When he had revealed that, how had she replied?

Yes, that’s right.

“I won’t let that happen. We’re friends after all.”

Beatrice finally found what she needed to do.

She knew what she had to do and how she had to guide him as his friend.

“You aren’t dumb, Boo Boo. Nor are you a coward. You found the smartest answer of anyone here.”

If he was trembling because he was afraid of crossing a certain line, she just had to gently push him back from that line.

If she wanted to continue to be his friend, she had to answer with a smile.

This would settle it all. She would bring it all to an end.

But just as she thought that, something else happened.

The sound from directly behind her was a truly quiet thing.

The Elkiad man had guided the tip of the devilish Lorelei blade to the girl’s back.

Part 12

She did not understand.

This time, her mind truly went blank.

“Ha...ha ha.”

She heard laughter.

But despite what the Elkiad man wanted, not a single drop of blood flowed from Beatrice’s back. Lorelei no longer had the power needed to form a proper blade. It was like being poked by a stick, so it caused no real damage.

But what if?

What would have happened had Lorelei been at full power?

What would have happened before Boo Boo’s eyes after he had chosen to stay by Beatrice’s side rather than take revenge for his parents and friends?

(Oh...)

Was this that same cruelty?

Unsatisfied with just trampling on his precious past, had the man tried to break Boo Boo’s will to continue into the future in order to drench everything in spilt blood?

Beatrice did not care in the slightest that he had tried to take her life.

She understood that he had just about defiled something far more precious.

So...

“

”

The next thing she knew, she had completely lost consciousness.

She truly did not know what had happened.

At some point her position had changed, Sutriona and the others were nowhere to be found, she was gripping her Shining Weapon rapier with rage, and she was facing Boo Boo who held his weapon that resembled a steel beam or log.

Boo Boo seemed to be standing protectively in front of the Elkiad man.

Beatrice glanced over at the man who looked like nothing more than a bag of blood and she practically growled at Boo Boo.

“Move, Boo Boo.”

“I won’t.”

“I have to kill him. You don’t have to do it yourself. As a human, I’ll clean up the mess we made. So you don’t need to worry about anything.”

“I decided I would stay your friend. No matter what.”

They glared directly at each other.

And her four meter friend made an announcement.

“So I won’t give up on you. I won’t let you cross this final line!!”

One of them was the Dragon Eater, an incarnation of violence who had defeated the Thousand Dragon.

The other was the Seven Flames, one of those at the level cap with 14,000 forms of fire Magic at her disposal.

Those two always walked side by side, but now they clashed head-on.

Part 13

Beatrice was the first to move.

She held her Shining Weapon rapier tight in her hand and used it to select some Magic. Instead of trying to get close to the extraordinary mass of muscles that was Boo Boo, she made an attack that could defeat him from a distance.

Metal Jet.

This was the same as the bestseller when it came to anti-tank weapons. That is, a shaped charge. Those used more than pure explosive power to break through a tank’s armor. After directing the vectors in a single direction, the metal that had been vaporized from the intense heat was ejected like a sharp spear. That opened a hole all the way through the thick armor and then burned through everything inside.

A metal jet would normally be at most a few dozen centimeters to a few meters long.

But when it was directly created with the power of Magic, those assumptions were easily overturned.

Meaning...

It looked like an orange glowing laser.

Eight of them scorched the air as they shot toward Boo Boo from eight different directions.

They traveled well over a thousand meters.

But when faced with that extraordinary power, Boo Boo simply spun his body around to nimbly dodge the deadly lines of heat. Not only that, he used his thick Shining Weapon to hit a nearby mass of stone. It was smashed to pieces and a downpour of sharp fragments flew toward Beatrice’s slender body.

Beatrice ignored them.

Internal.

A magic circle and powerful words danced around her back and orange wings erupted from them. That transformed her body into an artillery shell. She skimmed just off the ground as she shot forward. All the while, she dodged the pebbles from an even lower position.

Melt Cutting.

The Shining Weapon’s blade glowed orange. As she approached her target along the shortest route, the girl adjusted her grip on the blade that was now such a powerful heat source that it could melt steel like butter.

Boo Boo also ran forward with weapon in hand.

His feet gouged into the ground and he released all of his muscles like springs to tear through the air.

With a deafening roar, the giant beast and the girl’s Shining Weapons finally met. They did not bother locking blades. They crossed paths a few more times, explosions of sparks scattered each time, and they finally moved to the side in order to escape the clash. They maintained their short distance from each other as they ran parallel along the field.

It was an empty field.

White Witch Filinion, Fighter Priest Armelina, and the bloody and beaten Elkiad man were not here. This world belonged to just the two of them.

That may have been why Beatrice decided to get serious here. She threw out all mercy.

“Blossom, great flower. Reveal the seven trees.”

The scenery entirely changed.

It all became a disconcerting round arena surrounded by orange light. It was a collection of the Icons for all of the Magic that Beatrice could use. The towering walls surrounding her were tree diagrams of Magic. There were seven sets, each with two thousand entries.

These were the Seven Flames. This was the ultimate pot of death that would use any means necessary to burn to death all who were trapped inside.

“This is your last chance, Boo Boo.”

She spoke calmly in a voice that seemed to be cursing the world.

“Move.”

“I won’t.”

That immediate response was followed by Magic.

Cluster.

She held her Shining Weapon high and a brilliant light was launched up by the tip. It burst like a firework more than two hundred meters up and it scattered fireballs evenly in every direction. Those fireballs similarly burst, burst, burst, and burst some more, ultimately filling the sky with 150,000 lights.

What happened next could not have been clearer.

Every last one of them stabbed into the ground, filling the surface with the color orange.

After an incredible explosion of flames, a wave of heat and a shockwave swept across the field. As far as the eye could see, the scenery was covered with flames, like a forest fire had broken out. And even after that transformation, the scenery was further distorted. The colors of the surface and the sky were both overwritten with that of flames.

And all of this was mere preparation.

Surrounded by the world of flames and the countless Icons, Boo Boo was all alone.

Standing in the center, the Holy Swordswoman faced him like a queen.

But Boo Boo did not fall back.

If he gave up now, he knew Beatrice would fall into an unreachable abyss with that dark look still in her eyes.

“Then let’s do this. Prepare yourself, Boo Boo.”

“That’s my line. My attacks are heavy, Beatrice.”

After speaking to each other, their clash resumed.

Heavy roars erupted one after another.

Part 14

Atop a distant hill, the palm-sized Fairy named Meridiana viewed the intense fighting in a daze.

The entire battlefield was covered in roaring fires.

If Beatrice was abnormal for producing those flames, then Boo Boo was abnormal for continuing to fight without being pushed back by those flames.

Meridiana wanted to know how this could have happened.

This was Boo Boo’s birthday, everyone had worked hard to celebrate it, and they had only wanted to see the look of joy on his face. So how did that lead to a fight to the death with the person closest to him?

“L-Lady Sutriona! Please stop Boo Boo and Beatrice! At this rate, neither one of them will escape unharmed. With your power, you can-...!!”

“Don’t ask the impossible.”

The Fairy Queen bluntly rejected the idea.

“I specialize in the insane sandstorm that burns away people’s rational minds, but there’s nothing I can do faced with this vortex of air. It isn’t easy for me to interfere when nothing I do could reach them.”

“Th-that can’t be...” lamented Meridiana

White Witch Filinion also had a grim look on her face.

“And one way to effectively decontaminate a chemical weapon is with the high temperatures of napalm or a thermobaric bomb. In the face of that much firepower, Sutriona’s pigment might be neutralized by an intense oxidation reaction.”

Beatrice had been cornered by Elkiad’s group combat in the inn town, but that was an issue of compatibility. She could indiscriminately spread largescale damage all she wanted, but there was nothing she could do about a bullet slipping through the gaps. And if Beatrice had gone all out there, most of the inn town’s people would have been caught in the middle.

With the Thousand Dragon, it had been a simple matter of mass. Even if she tried to roast its giant body from the surface, it could have extinguished her flames like stepping on a cigarette butt. Not to mention that the Thousand Dragon specialized in flight. If it escaped to the sky and repeatedly swooped down like a meteor, she would be worn down before she could burn it.

But this was different.

She was a representative example of the level cap group who claimed things only truly began at Lv. 99. She had countless nicknames and she was especially feared as the Seven Flames which pointed to her ability to use 14,000 types of fire Magic. Overall, she was one of the humans at the top of the rankings.

Sutriona scratched at her silver hair with one hand.

“To think an issue of compatibility would show up with such pinpoint precision here. There’s nothing I can do. Human, do you have anything up your sleeve like that?”

“Well...”

“While I can’t say no, it isn’t anything that can restrain that.”

The White Witch and the Fighter Priest were also at the level cap, but that did not mean they could do the same thing. For one thing, humans formed Parties and Guilds to make up for each other’s weaknesses with their own strengths. When a fight broke out within a Party, the outcome was strongly related to their compatibility.

Simply put, Filinion and Armelina could not defeat Beatrice in a straight fight.

“Which means...” said Meridiana.

The Fairy Queen shut one eye and continued for her.

“We can only pray to that Iberian Orc and to a god that may or may not exist. We can only pray that his birthday isn’t ruined any further.”

Part 15

Beatrice used her stock of 14,000 to rule over the fire.

Boo Boo was surrounded by hellfire in all directions and he only had his own arms and his Shining Weapon to rely on. And since he could not use human Magic, he could only swing it around like a club.

The situation was hopeless.

He did not have even the slightest chance of victory.

Or so it may have seemed.

The flow of fire was the same as the flow of air. It flowed downstream, it sought an exit from a sealed space, and it would move on its own. The situation was not that simple since flames themselves would cause the air to expand and create their own air currents and since Beatrice’s Magic could directly manipulate those flames, but it had more to do with fluid dynamics than with thermodynamics. It was the same as closing colored smoke in a giant tank and stirring it up with a stick to create air currents. The visualized fluid moved as it liked.

And Boo Boo had the physical strength to beat a thousand meter Dragon out of the sky.

With a roar of steel, the orange world was torn from Beatrice’s control.

“—————!!”

With a horizontal bat-like swing, the flames wrapped around the weapon like sticky syrup. The world of inescapable death was stirred up and a slight safe zone appeared. The arms holding the Shining Weapon continued on to tear through the air a few more times. With each blast of wind, a mass of orange was released and it rushed toward the Holy Swordswoman that was supposedly in control.

The girl did not even take a defensive stance.

In the instant of impact, the orange flames that resembled molten metal burst into a million pieces.

“It’s useless, Boo Boo.”

Her voice sounded like a deadly curse.

“My Percentage-type elemental defenses give me 100% Fire Resistance. ...That means no flames can ever hurt me. If you thought some trickery was enough to kill me, you’re sorely mistaken.”

“But you can’t kill me either. I can’t do that kind of thing since I’m dumb, but your flames can’t reach me now.”

“Oh? Have you gotten used to the heat?”

Beatrice adjusted her one-handed grip on the Shining Weapon and held the rapier out horizontally. She placed her empty hand atop the bladeless tip.

Had he noticed?

Had he noticed that the crimson Holy Swordswoman had secretly woven in some illusion Magic? Had he noticed the multiple red strings and boxes recording each and every action he had taken thus far? Had he noticed her keeping score and looking for a way to perfectly break through, as if researching the idiosyncrasies of a baseball pitcher?

And then the silver and red haired girl spoke.

“Then how about I cool you down, Boo Boo?”

First, there were three small and simultaneous explosions in three different directions around Boo Boo.

Next, an unpleasant sensation ran through the back of his giant neck.

A moment later, he jumped to the side like he had been physically struck.

After a sound like cracks running through glass, an ominous light was released into the space he had just vacated. Boo Boo did not stop moving. The same phenomenon continually attacked him. When the leaves fluttering through the air were caught in the crossfire, they shattered like a dropped piece of glasswork.

“This is called laser cooling...but I guess you wouldn’t understand since you grew up here in Ground’s Nir.”

Her eyes glittered in the light of the flames as they pursued the giant form fleeing left and right.

She was targeting him.

“At the most basic level, heat is molecular vibration. By firing lasers at a single molecule from three or four directions, that vibration can be reduced to zero. ...That’s what I’m doing here. The only difference is I’m using detonations instead of lasers and doing it on the macro level instead of the micro level.”

Altogether, this was the Magic known as Icing.

This was not supplying energy to burn the target or reducing energy to cool it. It was supplying energy yet freezing it. The Holy Swordswoman had forcibly stuck to her field of expertise to obtain this level of extreme freedom.

“!”

As Boo Boo continued to dodge horizontally, his body suddenly bent at a right angle.

He had made an unexpected dash straight forward.

The world of pure flames was gone. He wanted to put her in check before she could add more extra and uncertain elements to the stage. His methods were not wrong, but he had misjudged the situation.

A moment later, a line of light shot from heaven to earth.

Boo Boo’s entire body was mercilessly struck by a lightning strike that reeked of ozone.

“Thunderbolt... This one’s a lot simpler. By applying a rapid vibration to the soot blown up into the sky, the static electricity quickly accumulates. Once it passes a certain point, the lightning will pierce the ground on its own.”

“...Gh...”

But Boo Boo still managed to move in close.

He made a horizontal strike with his extraordinarily large Shining Weapon, but Beatrice did not even bother dodging it.

She used Fair Wind. By creating intense heat and whipping up the wind, she gave an extra push to the enemy attack so they would lose control.

The great strength Boo Boo used to swing the weapon caused him to pitch forward. Just as he lost his momentum, she suppressed the decelerated attack of the Shining Weapon itself.

Normally, she would have been blown away by Boo Boo’s strength, but lightning powerful enough to split a great tree had only just struck him on the top of the head. That had briefly sapped his strength.

And then the Holy Swordswoman’s lips moved and her words slipped out into the world

“Weasel Cut.”

A whirlwind became a collection of vacuum blades.

This was another attack that used the cooling and heating of the air to create extreme changes to the air currents.

If anyone other than Boo Boo had been caught by that, their flesh and blood might have been torn from their bones.

“Since I can only use fire, some dimwitted fools think they can earn an easy victory if they build up plenty of Fire Resistance, but I make quick work of them.”

Everything she used started with fire.

But Beatrice had reached to all other Elements from there.

With nothing more than fire, she could achieve attack, defense, support, healing, disturbance, and anything else she might need.

Boo Boo took a few unsteady steps back.

He could push forward against any enemy, but here he was forced back.

“This is how I’ve survived so long.”

Beatrice’s Shining Weapon cut slowly through the air.

She drew a large circle.

She pointed the flat tip of the rapier toward Boo Boo.

“I’ll only say it once more. ...Move, Boo Boo. I’ll kill that evil man myself. Not to stop the screaming in my heart and not to comfort the lost souls of your friends. There is simply no reason to let him live when he’s willing to shed blood and elicit screams for his own enjoyment. Nor are we obligated to let him live. This son of a bitch claims it’s only natural to take things from people, so it’s time I taught him the pain of having something taken from him and then sent him to hell.”

“...I won’t move.”

His tough skin was torn in places and he was clenching his teeth, but he still raised his extraordinarily large Shining Weapon.

“I don’t need that. If he wants to take things from me, than he can. I’d be sadder letting you take things from people than to have things taken from me.”

“Then...”

Beatrice tightly clenched her back teeth as the tip of her Shining Weapon swayed ominously.

“You’ve never done anything wrong! So why do you have to resign yourself to having things taken from you!?”

She gave a roar as she spoke.

“You need to protect those things!! Just like you protected everyone around you! It’s okay to protect yourself too!! Who’s going to blame you for raising your fists for that!? If someone calls you a monster while watching from their safe zone, then they’re the crazy one!!!!”

She released an especially large piece of Magic.

Forest Fire.

An orange line appeared on the surface behind her. It extended to the left and right and then a dreadfully hot and thick wall of fire erupted upwards.

The wall of fire passed by the red Holy Swordswoman who had superb Fire Resistance and it rushed toward Boo Boo.

The massive collection of fire resembled a forest fire and it approached at over sixty kph. Instead of burning an individual, it filled a space several kilometers across. Instead of defeating someone, it swallowed them up. This Magic reached warlike overkill levels that far exceeded what was needed to explore the Labyrinth.

That meant this was over.

As the wall of flames approached, Boo Boo spun around and tried to swing his extraordinarily large Shining Weapon, but it was no use. The threat of a fuel-air bomb was its wide-area blast as well as its application of thorough damage with a blast that lasted far longer than that of a normal bomb. Similarly, this fire was long. It covered too wide an area to dodge and, once the target was swallowed up, it would wear them down no matter how much they clenched their teeth. Even if they made use of two or three different defense and evasion techniques, these surefire flames would still swallow them whole.

(Boo Boo. You did quite well.)

Beatrice spoke in her heart as her dark eyes watched the final moments.

(But this is a human issue. It’s a conflict between ugly, ugly humans. So, Boo Boo, you don’t need to hesitate here. I will release the flames just before you die. By the time you wake up, all of your sorrows will be gone.)

That was what she thought.

But something else happened a moment later.

Boo Boo’s giant body rotated and his Shining Weapon gave a roar as it twisted the laws of the world.

“Wh-...?”

The Holy Swordswoman saw something like a giant dragon (one of the legendary Eastern dragons from Beatrice’s world, not one of the Dragons that actually lived in Ground’s Nir) coil around the Shining Weapon which resembled a steel beam or a log.

By the time she realized it was the fire wrapping around the weapon like syrup scooped up by a spoon, Beatrice’s Forest Fire collided forcefully with Boo Boo’s fire dragon.

“...at!? That’s...Boo Boo!!”

He held his ground.

No, he pushed back.

He could use no Magic and he could only produce a gust of wind with his great strength, so where had this energy come from?

Faced with this unbelievable sight, Beatrice made calculations with frightening speed.

(To gain the advantage of the field effect, I started by covering the entire area with flames for kilometers around us.)

The battlefield had fallen apart. Thanks to Boo Boo’s rampage and Beatrice’s powerful Magic, the stones had crumbled, giant holes in the ground showed where explosions had occurred, and plenty of other signs of damage were present.

What if none of that had been done at random?

Just like a cold wind blowing down from a mountain and just like clear water flowing through a canyon, what if a route had been created to redirect all of the scattered heat into a single focused point that could then be released all at once?

When the flames had stickily wrapped around his Shining Weapon like syrup, hadn’t they been compared to fluid dynamics more than thermodynamics?

(Is this like destroying the dam to let the water wash downstream!? But this had to be his first time seeing most of my Magic. And his actions are one thing, but he would have needed to accurately predict my actions and work them into his plan...)

She put her own questions on ice.

She was surrounded by seven tree diagrams. Those 14,000 Icons were symbols of the Seven Flames. Counting each and every one would have been too much work, so they were simply there to overwhelm the enemy with their great quantity. However, they were still a tree structure. They were not arranged at random.

(Don’t tell me he read them.)

Beatrice shuddered as she looked at Boo Boo beyond the colliding flames.

The truth dawned on her.

(He’s doing more than just fight. He’s moving accurately, guiding my movements, and yet analyzing my tree diagrams at the same time!? Each time I use a piece of Magic, he notes where in the tree diagrams it came from, figures out where the Magic would develop from there, and finally grasps the entire tree structure!?)

Boo Boo was not stupid.

His body was extraordinarily large even for an Iberian Orc and he had the incredible strength needed to beat a thousand meter Dragon into submission. That was a powerful advantage, but it also contained the risk of mistakenly breaking his own bones or tearing his own muscles.

Thus, Boo Boo was constantly forced to perform highly accurate calculations in every part of his daily life.

As a result, he did not have the resources to spare for unnecessary thoughts.

And that daily mental work had endlessly expanded his intellect. The more he trained his mind, the stronger it got. If he released all of those resources, knowing it would destroy his own body, his thoughts could easily derive the very laws of the world!!

“How, Boo Boo...?”

Beatrice slowly shook her head.

The collision between massive flames gradually shifted in Boo Boo’s favor.

The orange wall approached her.

“How can you draw out this much strength and this much intelligence for that monster of a man!? If you used all this strength for yourself, you could have been king of Ground’s Nir. You could have taken all the Pieces for yourself and indirectly rearranged our world to your liking!!”

“I’m not fighting for him.”

That voice should have been drowned out by the overwhelming explosive roar, but it somehow reached the Holy Swordswoman’s ears.

“I’m fighting for you. I can fight if it’s for you.”

“...!!”

Just as Beatrice tried to shout back at him, the fire crossed a decisive line. It all started to envelop the Holy Swordswoman.

(That’s fine then.)

The will to fight did not vanish from her eyes. She had 100% Fire Resistance, so no amount of fire could harm her. That meant she could use its bright light and explosive roar as a smokescreen to rush straight at Boo Boo. She would aim for the moment of relaxed tension as he gained the upper hand. Then she would knock him unconscious.

(If you’re going to selfishly wish for my happiness, then I’ll selfishly wish for your happiness. So I won’t hesitate. Boo Boo, I will kill that evil man and bring you happiness even if it means crushing your dreams underfoot!!)

But...

But...

But...

Just as the wall of flames struck the slender girl, she was knocked back despite her 100% Fire Resistance.

“Wha-...!?”

This time.

This time her mind truly went blank.

No amount of flames had any chance of harming her, yet she had just been pushed straight back as if by a gust of wind. What had Boo Boo done!?

(Wait. A gust of wind?)

The flames were controlled by air currents. It was more about fluid dynamics than thermodynamics.

Beatrice had 100% Fire Resistance, but she had no Resistance against any other Elements.

And she had previously tormented Boo Boo by producing attacks of other Elements despite starting from a foundation of fire.

In other words...

“This isn’t...Fire... It’s a different category. Is this the Wind that accompanies a wave of heat...!?

She bent backwards from the blow.

The hand holding her Shining Weapon was swept outwards, so she was briefly left defenseless.

In that instant, Boo Boo ran straight into the hellfire he himself had created.

He charged toward Beatrice despite the damage to his own body!!

Part 16

It was his first and last chance.

His deceptive strategy would not work a second or third time. More importantly, Boo Boo’s stamina would not last long enough to create the same situation again. It was already a miracle he had gotten this far in a scorching hell that would have killed a normal human of dehydration a hundred times over.

That was why the shortest and quickest route was his only option.

An unpleasant roasting smell rose from all of his skin and stabbing pain covered his entire body. But he clenched his teeth. It was okay if he was burned by the fire he had created. It did not matter if he collapsed the instant the battle was over. If, that is, he could get just one attack in on Beatrice. He had to stop her here and prevent her from crossing that decisive line.

But...

(Oh...)

Time seemed to stop.

His eyes met Beatrice’s and he raised his Shining Weapon with all his might, but his mind was filled with anguish.

(At this rate, Beatrice will die!!)

The shortest and quickest route was the only way to get his attack in.

But that would mean pouring all of his strength into the blow, so he could not hold back.

The attack would be meaningless if it killed her.

Holding back would be meaningless if the attack did not hit her.

While he was caught in that dilemma, Beatrice forcibly worked at correcting her backwards bent pose. After recovering her center of gravity, she began aiming her Shining Weapon rapier. From beginning to end, she prepared her weapon for a counterattack. Even if Boo Boo’s Shining Weapon split her skull, she would still get this attack through. That intent stabbed sharply into him.

Boo Boo stopped considering the naïve possibility that Beatrice would use extraordinary defense Magic to weaken his attack and allow her to miraculously survive.

One of them would fall here.

There was no other possibility.

(No...)

He did not have time to clench his teeth.

He did not even have time to alter the path of his Shining Weapon.

(No!! I don’t want you to kill anyone and I don’t want anyone to kill you! I don’t want a life be taken for such a worthless reason!!)

The final moment had already begun.

He could not step down from the stage now.

It was Boo Boo’s Shining Weapon vs. Beatrice’s Shining Weapon.

The two crossed paths to end the final moment.

And in that instant, bluish-white light burst from Boo Boo’s Shining Weapon.

It almost seemed to be responding to the Iberian Orc’s grief.

That steel beam or log of a weapon was forcibly removed from the accurate route Boo Boo had imagined. It was an unnatural movement, as if it had been repelled by an extremely powerful magnet, and an unpleasant cracking noise came from Boo Boo’s arm. The bizarre phenomenon pulled his entire body over.

But that slightly delayed the decisive moment of death.

As his Shining Weapon veered off course, it swung toward the back of Beatrice’s hand instead of her head. It targeted the Shining Weapon rapier she held and repelled it.

Without a moment’s delay the giant Shining Weapon reversed course and flew toward Beatrice’s surprised face.

The pain, the shock, and the brief pause brought by those things were all woven into this second attack. It was a routine not found in Boo Boo’s self-taught repertoire. The thoughts flowing into him knew the Iberian Orc body even better than him and specialized in tactics using that giant body.

(What is this...?)

Boo Boo felt like he was watching someone else fight, but something arrived in the back of his mind.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m so sorry this is all I can do.”

Were these Boo Boo’s memories or were they a sort of data stored in the Shining Weapon which could use Magic?

“When it came down to it, I could only give in to the system and destroy your village.”

“So I doubt this will suffice as atonement, but I want you to at least take this.”

A story was silently revealed to him.

He received a new revelation about the identity of what he had relied on for so long.

“The souls of those I slaughtered are all stored as data in this Shining Weapon.”

“If you wish to recover from this, then find a way to call them back to the land of Ground’s Nir.”

The divided internal world and external world cleanly fit together.

Time began to move again.

Boo Boo once more held his weapon. He was not borrowing knowledge or technique and he was not controlling the weapon as a possession. He was becoming one with it to fulfill his final goal.

He would save his friend.

It was something anyone would want to do, but only he could do it here.

“Beatriiiiiice!!!!!!”

He slammed the thick Shining Weapon toward her surprised face.

This was sure to knock her out, but he would not let it kill her. It was a strange bit of mechanics only possible for an Iberian Orc that could manipulate such a giant club like an extension of his body.

With a great roar, the Holy Swordswoman was knocked to the ground.

With that, it was all over.