Chapter 1921 (1/2)
Side story 27 – The hero finally faces the De, and suspicions deepen
A horde of enor apes, covered in scales with countless tentacles e from their necks instead of heads
Heinz, whose Attribute Values had been enhanced through Heroic Spirit Descent, slashed through one of them with a Radiant God Swordsmanshi+p martial skill
“Evil-destroying Radiant True Strike!”
Thepurple blood spraying into the air But the other apes continued closing in, unperturbed by the death of their kin
Another of the apes let out a roar that was unintelligible to hu arms down at Heinz
“Heinz, don't concern yourself with the s Fists!” shouted Jennifer, unleashi+ng a series of fist-blows that pierced the ape's hard scales
“Jennifer's right, you need to finish off that evil God! My knife and bow don't have enough power to take hirotesque-looking Elder Dragon that was flying in the sky above them
The Elder Dragon, the boss of this floor, had the overall shape of a hand, with five one-eyed heads
“Alright!” Heinz told his companions
“I shall support you,” said Diana, and then she offered a prayer to Mill, the Goddess of slumber “My Goddess Mill, suppress the power of slu an enchant inside him
Perhaps beco aware of this, the evil God's five eyes were filled with killing intent and it opened its ht, different fronited in the evil God's throats and expanded in an instant
But Delizah forcibly drew the evil God's killing intent towards herself with a Flaht shi+eld Technique martial skill “Super Provocation!” she cried
The projectiles of light unleashed from the evil God's five pairs of jaere all aimed at the sh power to annihilate a le piece of rubble behind, and they closed in on Delizah with a speed that would make them impossible for her to avoid
But Delizah raised her Orichalcuical resistance with her martial skills “Radiant Steel Wall, Radiant Steel For the evil God's attacks and holding her ground
This seeh the effects of Super Provocation had worn off, it tried to release projectiles of light in Delizah's direction once more
But its attention was too focused on Delizah Heinz, using a Magic Item to climb into the sky, raised his sword
“Transcend Limits, Transcend Li the evil God in two
The evil God shrieked and struggled in vain with its four uninjured heads, but in the end, every single head was slashed off its neck by Heinz's blade
After defeating the grotesque, giant apes that had appeared with the evil God, Heinz and the rest of the Five-colored Blades treated their injuries Now, they were sitting on the stairs to the fiftieth floor, having a meal
“So, that was the 49th floor Considering what the heroic spirits were saying, I still can't see the end being anywhere near,” said Heinz
“You're right In fact, it was as if the real challenge is only just about to start,” said Edgar
In this Dungeon, they were returned unhar their runs, they had to treat their injuries and recover froht have been to si a floor, but… none of them actually did it
Even if they knew they were not really dying, the pain that they felt was real, and if they becauarantee that their senses would return to noreon
In any case, this was a trial given to thened tosuch a cunning ainst the expectations of the God who had given them the trial
“Joshua was kind of like, 'You've got a long way to go' What about the rest of you?” Heinz asked
“Gorsh was similar,” said Jennifer
“I think Firlietta was the same,” said Diana
They were talking about the heroic spirits, who descended upon theained It see in their way on the 30th floor was a trial for that purpose
As the heroic spirits were former humans, they had a more powerful consciousness than many familiar spirits Thus, when Heinz and his companions used Heroic Spirit Descent, they could feel the heroic spirits' wills
It wasn't enough to have a conversation, but enough to have a vague idea of what the heroic spirits felt… Incidentally, spirit clones of Gods possessed more power than heroic spirits, and in cases when they descended upon a human, the human would not be able to completely understand the will of the God's spirit clone Unless the human had incredible co at all
“That bastard Luke… I feel like he was snorting at ar
“I wonder why that heroic spirit even responds to you activating the Skill,” said Delizah
“They're probably deliberately being harsh on us to push us harder After all, it doesn't see to end at the next floor,” said Heinz
The party had tried to estieon the current floor was, but they had arrived at the conclusion that they were still far from the final floor
In fact, the floors they had been clearing recently all felt easier than the 30th floor where they had fought the heroic spirits… though this ht have been because the heroic spirits were abnor them more formidable opponents than the powerful monsters led by evil Gods
“But I think we're about halfway through,” said Delizah, running a finger along a scratch on her Orichalcuht the heroic spirits on the 30th floor and acquired Heroic Spirit Descent, we've only been fighting against monsters that have ales' Guild and Church I think they'reGuduranis and the evil Gods that were his subordinates”
“You're probably right,” said Edgar “After all, I have no idea how the giant tentacle-apes we defeated just noere even alive I tried to tear up their organs with my martial skill, but there was only muscle inside their abdo to ans”
TLN: “There are no organs” is a pun that doesn't translate to English at all The word for “organs” is 内臓/naizou, and the sentence is also ended with “naizou” so the sentence is “naizou ga naizou” Yes, it's a japanese dad joke
Indeed, o extre their Rank and possess peculiar abilities froanisms in the fact that they had to eat to nourish the and preserve their own species
However, these s
“It is said that in the age of the Gods, the evil Gods frequently createdunable to do anything but fight, in order to combat the powerful champions,” said Diana “It is written that most of them were defeated by the chaafter their creation, let alone leave offspring behind, so after the war against the De, all that was left of them were the memories inside the minds of the Gods”
Thesethe war; no official naiven to them and no research into them had been conducted They were merely creatures that had co to the needs of the evil Gods that created them
“… Even though I know the ones we just fought were illusions rather than the real thing, I feel pity for therave sin it is to create and play with life at your ohim, even if they are monsters,” said Heinz “… I wonder if Bellwood noticed this and was bothered by it as well? Perhaps Alda wanted to teach that to us?”
“Heinz, you're going off-topic What Delizah and Edgar are trying to say is that we're facing evil Gods and e of the Gods, so eon,” said Jennifer “Right?” she added, looking at Delizah and Edgar, who nodded
“Well, Bellwood and the other champions apparently defeated thoseKobolds, and even defeated the weaker evil Gods without a problem,” said Delizah “Still, I'd like to think that we've at least h”
“Yeah We could uess if we knehat kind of evil God that was, but… Diana, do you have any idea?” Edgar asked
“Unfortunately, that evil God is not in e It did not name itself either, after all,” said Diana
She did not know of any Elder Dragon evil God with five one-eyed heads… Fidirg, the dragon God of five sins
“There were apparently several evil Gods serving the De whose existence was deliberately left unrecorded If their names were left behind, the people would fear them and that fear would become power for them,” said Diana “However, I have heard that most of those Gods were those that eak”
“It doesn't seem likely that the evil God we faced was an exception, and actually a high-ranking God,” said Edgar
“Of course not If we could defeat a high-ranking evil God like that without sustaining a lot of injuries, we'd have been able to go into the deeper floors more quickly,” said Jennifer
“You're right,” Edgar sighed
All of their faces relaxed a little They were aware that they were becoer
This Dungeon was an environment in which they faced nuth to defeat, the likes of which they now aleon
Even a people who possessed the Familiar Spirit Descent Skill, only one in a thousand could acquire the superior version, Heroic Spirit Descent Heinz's companions had acquired this Skill on the 30th floor
They had also changed Jobs twicethe 30th floor
As they were now, Heinz believed that they could have conquered the Trial of Zakkart However, he still could not fathoeon
Does he want to turn us into warriors who could even face the De has been resurrected, but… even if that's true, ould he go as far as to create this Dungeon and make it appear before us? And it said 'Bellwood's successor'
No ht about it, he couldn't think of an answer Knowing that the ansould be past these stairs, Heinz and his companions finished their rest and proceeded to the 50th floor
“This is… a reproduction of soround temple or ruins?” Heinz murmured
He and his party were standing in a dim space filled with rows of thick stone pillars that continued as far as the eye could see The floors up until now had often contained large monsters, so htly perplexed by this sudden change
Their bewilderrew as three silhouettes appeared from the shadows of the pillars With the exception of the heroic spirits, they hadvery much non-humanoid enemies up until now On top of that, the silhouettes didn't look powerful at all
But the silhouettes drew closer, and the moment they were clearly visible, Heinz and his coilance
“Oi, isn't that her?! The one we finished off, the Pure-breed Vaar
There was an evil-looking woure dressed in clothing with numerous slits It was the Pure-breed Va Heinz and his companions mercilessly, as if she had left her hysterical personality behind
“Then is the one next to her Gubamon? He matches the recorded description perfectly, an old e eyes, thin as a withered tree,” said Delizah
“But according to the ruh this is surely not the real Gubamon,” said Diana
The oldat… The Pure-breed Vampire Gubamon, didn't answer them either It was as if he were an elaborately-crafted mannequin
“Then this brat is the last Pure-breed Vauely recognize hiar
The last of the silhouettes was the smallest
A lifeless-looking Dhampir boy hite hair, empty odd-colored eyes and wax-like skin
“Vandalieu… Why are you in this Dungeon?” Heinz whispered, despite knowing that like the monsters and evil Gods that had appeared before, this Vandalieu was not real
He and his companions had only otten him
“De's horns, activate”
“De's carapace, activate”
“De's blood and horns, activate”
This was the response from Vandalieu and the Pure-breed Vampires
Curatos, the God of records, was the one as largely in charge of eon that the Five-colored Blades were currently inside The book he held was his symbol and also his divine authority, and he had it open as he watched Heinz and his companions