Shinka no Mi

Chapter 211: The Beginning of Comedy

The battle with Yutis? We finished that, and moved on.

As we walked down the stone corridor, which still looked the same, I could see the entrance of some room again.

“Ah, Seiichi! It looks like there’s another room, you know?”

“Yeah, I guess so. But as expected, it has no such thing like a door.”

“That’s true. Then, are the rooms made the same way?”

As Saria said, the room in front of us is probably the same as the one where we fought against Yutis earlier, and it can be expected that it is a dreary room with nothing inside it.

……What’s the room really for? Is it for harassing intruders like us?

The room, or rather, the hideout of this 【Demon God’s Cult】, had an incomprehensible structure that I thought so.

Again, while we were just going to go through the room, when we got there …… we held our breaths.

“Thi,this is……”

The place had changed from the stones to a room full of high technology machines.

What can I say, it has an atmosphere similar to the castle in the Eastern country, which was remodeled by the alien Gyogyon and his comrades.

Either way, it was definitely a technology that would be unlikely in this world.

“Wha,what the heck, is this ……”

“……Nn. A room with strange designs. I’ve seen it in the Eastern country.”

“I,in other words, is it space technology?”

“The chances of that are high……”

As Zora said, the technology used in this room may have been brought from space.

After all, although I didn’t know what Yutis’ ability was, Destra, Gemper, etc., the abilities of the 『Deities』 is different from magic and skill of this world, and the same as I came from Earth, it wasn’t strange to be told that they came from a different world.

With all those crazy abilities, I’m sure they’ll be able to do just fine in space.

If anything, Destra had an atmosphere like he could kill even events and concepts, and killing even the laws of the universe; he seemed to be moving around with such a light feeling.

As I looked around the room, there were some sort of huge devices containing what looked like culture fluids, and unknown creatures, which are different from monsters, were quietly settled there.

Looking closely, I could see the plant-shaped monster that attacked us when we went to save Luthia’s father, Zefar-san, also floating in that device.

In other words, there was a high probability that that monster was a monster created by the 【Demon God’s Cult】.

When I was surprised at the creatures I’ve never seen before, Saria raised her voice.

“Seiichi! That’s!?”

“Wha!?”

When I looked in the direction Saria was pointing to, what is this, there are human beings immersed in the culture fluid in the same way!

“These guys are …… the S-class adventurers who were captured!”

As Al said, the people who are immersed in the culture fluids, were the S-class adventurers, including Gargand-san, the 『Inevitable Break down』.

“Oy! Let’s break this device right now and rescue them!”

“Ye,yeah!”

Al’s voice brought us back to our senses, and we quickly rushed to the device, but we didn’t know how to release them.

“Wha,what should we do with this!?”

“I don’t know such a thing! Even if we don’t know, let’s release them immediately!”

“That’s absurd!?”

I understand the stuff Al is trying to say, but if we touch the equipment improperly and the result becomes even further catastrophic, we will not even notice it.

Isn’t there some kind of an instruction manual somewhere!?

I know that there can’t be, but I can’t help thinking so. How can Earthlings and this world, with its low level of civilization, have any control over space technology!

“Ey!”

“Saria-saaaaaaaaan!?”

Against us who were just standing around in front of the device, Saria stared at the device, and then punched it mercilessly!?

Then the liquid flowed out of the device all at once, and a woman, who seems to be one of the S-class adventurers who was put there, came out.

“Wa,wait Saria-san!? If you touch it without confirming it ……!”

“But it says there that you can break it, you know?”

“Why!?”

When Saria pointed to a part of the wall, there were pictures and letters engraved into the wall!

Moreover, it even glows faintly as if making a low-key assertion.

“A’re!? Were there such characters from the beginning!?”

“No. It just came out suddenly, you know?”

“Hence, why!?”

How is it possible for an instruction manual to appear suddenly!?

To me who was surprised, the voice of the world who I heard even during my battle with Yutis, told me in such a way that not only I could hear him, but Saria and the others could too.

『Since Seiichi-sama seemed to be in trouble, this facility has taught you. 』

“What do you mean by the facility has taught me?”

It’s an inorganic substance, right? No, it isn’t something I can say more, since I’ve manipulated the sea and the land, though.

Certainly, I was in trouble, so it’s nice of you to teach it to me, but then the device could’ve release them automatically, couldn’t it? …… No, I, what am I saying? Unless such a function is set, it’s not normal for a device to release automatically, right? No good, I’m getting confused.

『There was also a plan to release them so as to not to bother Seiichi-sama’s hands, but I thought it would be a good thing for you to relieve some stress here, so I made them breakable. 』

“It’s rather stressful, though!?”

What do you mean by relieving my stress? It felt like the world was even more worried about my stress than me?

Well, sometimes, I said something to make it easier for me to spend time.

“……A’re, wait a minute. If you were thinking about how stressed I am, you didn’t have to let me walk down that long corridor in the first place, did you?”

『That’s the thing. By making you go through a lot of hardships in this way, it creates the feeling of the Demon God being very strong, and at the end, it is a run-up to have him become a clown. 』

“Are you a demon!?”

I pity the enemy! I can’t believe the world certifies him as a clown and makes him into a plaything!

Today, until I came into this place, I was full of bad feelings about this organization, but what’s going on with the comedy already confirmed?

Look, Saria and the others have subtle expressions on their faces! After all, it’s strange!

If I listen to the words of the world any longer, the common sense in me is going to collapse, so I ignore it for the time being, and rescue those who were trapped in the device.

Then, there was only one being among them who was not an S-class adventurer.

Moreover, I was familiar with that person.

“A’re? This person……”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah. I’ve had a conversation with that person a long time ago ……”

“Is that so? I haven’t seen him at least, but …… who is he? I know all the S-class adventurers, so I know that he’s not an S-class adventurer, but ……”

“This person is Slou-san. Well, I just happened to be sitting next to him in the dining room, though ……”

Yes, the person who was trapped here even though he was not an S-class adventurer, at one time, when I was watching a big eating competition held at a certain diner when I was going out with Rurune, it was Slou-san, who happened to be seating next to me.

“You were just sitting next to each other, you said …… why would such a guy be here?”

“Who,who knows…… when I first met him, I thought he was a strange person ……”

As we were having this exchange, Olga-chan, who had been quietly staring at Slou-san, clapped her hands as if she remembered something.

“……Ah, that’s right. I know this person”

“Eh?”

“……This person, is a celebrity in the underground world. Have you ever heard of 『Death smoke』?”

“Death smoke?”

“Hah!? 『Death smoke』!?”

Al seemed to have figured out what Olga-chan was talking about when she said 『Death smoke』, but I, Saria and the others had no idea what they were talking about, so we involuntarily looked at each other.

Then, Al tells us right away.

“Well, it’s no wonder that Seiichi and the others don’t know him…… 『Death smoke』 is, as Olga says, a famous assassin in the underground world. Whenever he assassinates someone, there’s always a puff of smoke somewhere, hence he was given with that nickname, but…… why do you know such a guy!”

“Co,come now?”

We really just happened to meet at the diner, so even if you told me that.

…… Is it really a coincidence? It’s not like the world has some kind of a clever plan for this, too, right?

I’m starting to lose trust in the world itself anymore.

“We,well, it’s okay, isn’t it. For the time being, this person was also trapped here, so we have to bring him back.”

“That’s true, but …… what do we do? We can’t just leave them as it is, so why don’t we take them and go back once?”

As Al said, now that we’ve released the captives here, we can’t just head straight to the Demon god as it is.

However, in that case, it is inevitably necessary to pass through the netherworld.

It was the same when I was first sent to the netherworld; since it was impossible to transfer from the netherworld to the world we live in.

Therefore, if I were to bring them back, I would have to carry them one by one, go through the netherworld, and return them to the human world.

There’ll be no problem if I just stack and lift everyone up in this place, but if I do that, then the people who were piled up would suffer ……

As I was pondering what to do, the world called out to me again.

『Do you want to transfer? 』

“How!?”

You said that I couldn’t! Why are you proposing it from there!?

“You…… I mean, you said that I can’t transfer from the Netherworld!?”

『It’s true that the world in which humans live, is different from the world of the Netherworld, so transition magic that can make you move in the same world is ineffective. Therefore, the only way to move between the netherworld and the human world is to die, or go through the gate that leads to the netherworld. 』

“That’s right, isn’t!? Then how ――――”

『However, when I think about it carefully, doesn’t it matter if it’s Seiichi-sama? Like that……』

“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”

Can’t you stop saying that if it’s me, it doesn’t matter!? I’m against being left out!

As I was damaged mentally by the words of the world, Saria tilted her head.

“Hmm, isn’t it okay anymore?”

“Eh?”

“I’m not really sure, but thanks to Seiichi, even if we don’t go back to the underworld, we can move directly from this place to another, right?”

“We,well……”

“If so, then that’s good! As expected of Seiichi!”

“If Saria says so, then …… it’s fine, I guess?”

I don’t know what’s going on anymore.

But Saria’s right, from our point of view right now, we’re still grateful.

I’d really want to say a lot of things, but the situation is what it is this time.

“……For the time being, let’s take everyone here back to Terviel at once. I want to leave them to the guild headquarters, and report it to Ranze-san.”

We didn’t engage in any battles that was particularly combat-like, but for some reason, I was really tired, so I gathered up all the S-class adventurers we had freed, and returned to Terviel in one go as it was.

◇◆◇

At the time Seiichi and his companions returned to Terviel once.

In the depths of the 【Demon God’s Cult】 hideout, the resurrected Demon God was quietly standing there.

“…… As I think that there were strange presences mixed in…… they finally disappeared. They have come all the way to the inside, but ……”

The Demon God who sensed that the signs of Seiichi and his companions had disappeared, had mistakenly thought that the reason why their presences had disappeared was because Seiichi and the others had been killed.

Otherwise, from their stronghold that exists in this underworld, there would be no way to travel to the human world in an instant.

―――― However, that is only the case for normal humans.

“It’s nice that the strange presences have gone, but…… I can’t feel the signs of the Deities either. I don’t think it’s true, but did they fight to a draw?”

The Demon God knew that Yutis was originally reserved for this hideout, so naturally, he knew that Seiichi and the others’ opponent had been Yutis.

The reaction of that Yutis have also ceased suddenly.

The Demon god can search for the signs of the other Deities, without any effort if he wants to.

However, there was no need for the Demon god to do that.

That is because……

“……Whatever. Now that I have completely regained my strength and transcended everything, there is no one who can stop me.”

Even when Seiichi and his companions came to their base, due to the activities of the apostles scattered all over the country, slowly but surely, the Demon god was getting negative energy.

As a result of that, the power of the Demon God is even greater than it was before he was sealed away, and he didn’t feel like losing to all the other gods anymore.

And now that he had such a strong power, of course, the other gods would not be oblivious to him.

『―――― I never thought you’d be resurrected. 』

“You came huh”

In front of the Demon God, countless lights shimmered, and appeared.

When they drifted quietly on the spot without taking shape, they called out to the Demon God in that state.

That voice, was the same as the voice of the God that came from the speakers in the classrooms when Seiichi and the others came to this world.

『How did you break our seal? 』

“That’s because, I’m beyond you. I who exists far above all, you dwarves can’t possibly contain me, can you?”

『You talk considerably big. You and us, are gods of the same rank. An existence born from nothing, who creates and destroys everything. There’s no one above us, we’re always the same. 』

“Hah! You guys continued to stagnate like that. You’ve become complacent in your current position and have abandoned growth.”

『It’s different. We haven’t abandoned our growth. We are the beginning of everything, and the end of everything. Everything is based on us. To surpass us like that ――――』

“Can you say the same thing when you see this?”

In the next moment, a tremendous 『Something*』 attacked the shimmering light in front of the Demon God. (Note: Nanika - something which isn’t known)

It’s invisible, and is neither pressure nor pure force.

All that existed in this world, did not know how to accurately describe the unidentified 『Something』 which was emitted by the Demon god.

The flickers of light that were attacked by such 『Something』, experienced something called unrest for the first time in their life at the power of the Demon God.

『Tha,that is……!?』

“It’s the power that you’ve declared to be the basis. In the first place, there is no such thing as a truly complete existence in this world. Why? Because if there was such a thing, that one and only is all that is needed to be there. There’s absolutely no reason to create something unnecessary such as the universe or a world. However, in reality, the universe, and the world, does exist. That’s because we who created it are nothing short of imperfect. Our existence, is proof that there is no perfect one. That’s why, it’s only natural for me, who sought a power which you could never reach, to overwhelm you, right?”

The overwhelmed God squeezes out his voice as he calls out the Demon God who is proud of his victory.

『You…… what do you want to do ……? 』

“What do I want to do? That’s easy. Destroy everything. That’s it.”

『Wha――――』

“Didn’t I say that? If there would be a perfect existence, then there only needs to be one. That one and only, will be me. For that, I will destroy everything. To create the one and only me……!”

The Demon god who laughed like that, was insane somewhere.

In the beginning, the Demon god’s goal was to take revenge on the gods who sealed him away on this planet.

However, due to the negative force he had gained during the stage of breaking his seal, his power was turning black more and more, and now he’s no longer thinking about destroying the other gods, but about erasing everything, so creating a complete world in which he’s alone has become his goal.

Therefore, the apostles and Deities who had worked so hard to resurrect him were no longer in his sights, and he was just madly pursuing his own existence.

“Well then, I could just wipe you out right here, but …… that’ll be no fun. After I’ve destroyed everything else, I’ll wipe you out once and for all.”

『Wait――――』

The moment when God was about to say something, the Demon god released an incomprehensible 『Something』 again, and all the flickers of light disappeared.

However, even though the flickers of light has disappeared, as the Demon god have said, the God didn’t disappear completely, the Demon God just made him stop interfering with this Netherworld and the world Seiichi and his friends were in.

“Kukuku…… First of all, I’ll destroy this star. Until then, I won’t let you get in my way. At best, you can watch the world perish from the outside.”

When he said that to the God who have already disappeared, the Demon God laughed uproariously.

“Fufufu …… Ahahahaha! Come now, let us raise the curtain for the world’s destruction!”

The coming tragedy will be a funny show for the Demon god――――

“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

However, the Demon god didn’t know.

――――That the leading actor of the comedy, is none other than himself.