by Okina Baba
And given its enormous size and stats, it should be the winning move.
If it were up against anyone else, that is.
I’m a spider.
What is a spider’s greatest weapon?
Poison? Claws? Fangs?
No, none of the above.
The fire dragon’s body stops.
It’s hit my Utility Thread, imbued with Fire Resistance.
Even with that resistance, of course, I can use it for only a moment in the Middle Stratum.
But that’s all I need.
With its Flame Wrap gone, my thread can stop the fire dragon, even if only for a few seconds.
In that short amount of time, I swing down my scythe.
One of them was destroyed when I used Rot Attack before, but I still have one more left.
And it’s that scythe that strikes the fire dragon with all my strength.
The Divine Voice (temp.) resounds, and the stats disappear from the fire dragon’s Appraisal display, its name changing to “Fire Dragon Corpse.”
Only when I see that do I finally exhale.
My status has been fully recovered with the consecutive level-ups, but mentally, I’m still exhausted.
Once again, it was another tightrope walk of a battle.
The fact that I won seems like something of a miracle.
I mean, any one of that fire dragon’s attacks could’ve killed me in one hit.
Just a graze or an aftershock was enough to put me on the verge of death, y’know?
If it hit me straight on, I’d be dead, Perseverance be damned.
Also, if Parallel Minds hadn’t leveled up right before I ran into the fire dragon, I would’ve been in big trouble.
Now, I have two magic brains.
That’s the only reason I was able to use Abyss Magic, which I could never get to work before.
Actually, to be honest, that was my first time even trying it.
I mean, I gathered from its structure that it was some kind of wide-range annihilation-type magic, but frankly, I’m still a little freaked out by how destructive it was.
Checking out the area, I can tell the ground in a three-hundred-foot radius around me has sunk about fifteen feet lower.
The area where the darkness all converged and got sucked in at the end has become an especially deep hole.
Staring into the opening with Appraisal, I see it’s so deep that it goes outside my detection range.
Does this go through the Middle Stratum right into the Lower Stratum?
I guess I don’t even know if the Lower Stratum is below this area.
Well, looking at this hole, I wouldn’t be surprised if it really does go straight down to hell.
I guess it’s not called Hell Gate for nothing.
I still can’t believe the fire dragon was able to survive that, but I guess it was simply that strong of an opponent.
Well, thanks to that, my level went way up.
Ahhh, but…only up to level 19, huh?
If I just went up one more level, I would’ve been able to evolve now.
So close.
…Oh, crap.
What is it, information brain?
Since our Abyss Magic made the ground sink, magma is starting to flow into it.
What? For real?
Yeah, like actually.
Body brain, let’s grab that fire dragon and get out of here before the magma floods this place.
We’re taking that huge thing with us?!
Of course we are, duh.
Yikes. Don’t blame me if we get sore.
And so, I laboriously escape with the enormous fire dragon corpse in tow.
The magma isn’t moving particularly quickly, but since transporting the fire dragon takes so much time and effort, it ends up being a pretty close call.
Any longer, and we both would’ve met our ends in the magma.
I know, I know—why didn’t I just leave the fire dragon, then? But after all the pains I went to defeating it, it would be downright rude not to eat the thing!
Defeat, eat, and thank you very much!
It’s a package deal, dude!
Whew.
Anyway, body brain, you know the drill. De-scaling time, please.
Wooo. Lucky me.
Guess it’s time for my usual skill check.
All right, let me see here.
It’s important to make sure I thoroughly investigate every skill.
Really, really important.
Why, you ask?
Because I didn’t realize you could imbue Utility Thread with resistances until now!
God, I don’t even wanna talk about this.
I’m such an idiot.
Why would I overlook something so vital?
One of Utility Thread’s effects is Resistance Conferment. As the name implies, it lets me add the effects of any of my resistance skills to my thread.
And that includes Fire Resistance.
There’d be no point in adding things like Poison Resistance to my thread, obviously, but Acid Resistance, for instance, would make dealing with frogs way easier.
I didn’t even notice this Resistance Conferment thing until I was randomly checking through my skills one day.
Talk about a surprise.
I was excited to learn about this effect, sure, but I also couldn’t believe how careless I’d been to miss it in the first place.
Ugh, if I’d known about this sooner, I might’ve been able to use my thread more often!
Still, even adding Fire Resistance doesn’t do much to stop it from burning easily, so I guess it wouldn’t have made that dramatic a difference.
It sure ended up saving my ass thi
s time, though.
And that’s why I’m taking the time to look over my new titles and skills.
Man, dragons really are something else.
I can’t believe you can get a title like this just by defeating a single one.
So what does it do exactly?
Looks like an advanced version of Wyrm Slayer, then.
The skills are the same sort, too.
Sweet!
Finally, a skill to compensate for my low HP!
I guess Perseverance does help with that, but really, the ideal situation is to have lots of HP in the first place.
For one, there are times like this last fight when I need all my MP for its intended purpose.
Aw, but I think I leveled up before I got that skill, so that’s four levels’ worth of bonus HP lost.
If only title acquisition came before the level-up process, I could’ve done even better for myself in the growth department…
Oh well, nothing I can do about that.
Dragon Power is probably the advanced form of Wyrm Power, right?
That would make it a simple temporary status enhancement skill, which means I’ll have to test out how big the difference is.
This stuff is important. Very important.
I never had a chance to experiment with Abyss Magic, so it ended up being a bit of a trial by fire, but on the whole, I really need to make sure I know exactly what all my skills do.
Ahhh… Abyss Magic.
Really, I should test out what the higher Abyss Magic spells do, but…this stuff is no joke.
I mean, even the level-1 spell was powerful enough to permanently alter the terrain!
So what in the world would even higher levels do?
I have to be careful about wasting MP, too, so it’s not the kind of magic I should be casually throwing around.
No matter how huge it might be, this is still an underground labyrinth. The last thing I need is to cause a cave-in because of some Abyss Magic misfire.
At the moment, given how terrifyingly powerful level 1 was, I’m a little scared to try anything above that.
Unless I run into an enemy so strong that Hell Gate alone won’t be enough, I think I’ll avoid using Abyss Magic level 2 and up, until I get out of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
Anyway, other than that, a few skills evolved or made new derivations when I leveled up.
Evasion and Hit both created Probability Correction.
And Spatial Maneuvering evolved into Dimensional Maneuvering.
I’ve seen Probability Correction before, on the eels and stuff.
Really, I guess I suspected this might be how the derivation would go, based on the skill organizations of the eel and its evolutionary line.
Both Evasion and Hit reached their max level, so now I just have to keep improving Probability Correction.
That should improve my evasion and hit ratios as well.
Maybe this skill will even improve my luck in general?
Let’s take a moment to pray for that.
I’d like to have a more peaceful life from here on out, please.
Okay, moving on.
Now, I’m curious what the difference between Spatial Maneuvering and its evolved form, Dimensional Maneuvering, might be.
Let’s see…
Hmm? I dunno—it sounds kinda cool, but I don’t really get it.
Any space?
Like, air and stuff?
What, can I do a double jump now or something?
I’ll have to test this out later, too.
A lot of skills become much more useful when they evolve, after all.
Sometimes even a skill that was useless ends up suddenly becoming very handy when it evolves, so maybe Spatial Maneuvering will be like that, too.
If I can do double jumps and stuff now, that would really increase my strategic possibilities.
I think that’s about it, right?
Okay.
Overall, my skills powered up quite a bit.
I just wish I had leveled up one more time…
Then I’d get to make even bigger leaps forward.
“A dragon’s been destroyed? In the Great Elroe Labyrinth… Was this his doing? No, I don’t think so. We have an unspoken truce going on. I don’t think he would make a move like that. But what happened, then? Activate administrator’s authority… What in the world? A ruler? Of three, no less? What does this mean? I’ve never heard of this ‘Wisdom.’ Does that mean this is the work of D? But why? What is this skill? …I guess I’ll have to investigate.”
FALL
Something was wrong.
I’d had this sense of unease for a while now.
At first, it was just a vague sense at the back of my unconscious mind.
But eventually, I became fully aware of it.
Something was definitely wrong.
But I didn’t know what it was.
A feeling of unease haunted me, but I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly was causing it.
Even at the time, I knew I had to figure out what the source of that feeling was.
But I didn’t know how much I would come to regret it if I didn’t.
Summoned by my father, I go to his office.
Lately, my father has been busier than ever.
I know why, since it largely has to do with me. Apparently, the rumor that the hero is dead has spread from the battlefield and onto the streets of the kingdom.
We can’t keep Julius’s death a secret much longer.
So the Word of God church is going to make a formal announcement.
And at the same time, they would reveal the identity of the new hero.
In other words, the time when I’ll have to stand before the people as a hero has come.
That’s probably why my father wants to speak with me now.
What I don’t understand is why Sue’s been summoned as well.
Right now, Sue is walking by my side.
Why would he have Sue take a leave of absence from the academy to come to this meeting with me?
Apparently, Sue hasn’t heard anything, either.
As I ponder this question, we arrive in front of the door.
Well, I’m sure my father will explain everything shortly.
I knock on the door.
“It’s Schlain.”
“Hmm? Come in.”
“Thank you.”
I open the door and step inside.
Sue follows me without a word.
“What is it?”
Father barely looks up from writing something on his desk.
Um, that’s my line.
“You’re the one who called for us, aren’t you, Father? What is it you need?”
“Hmm? I didn’t call for you.”
Huh?
Before I knew what was happening, the situation had already begun to unfold.
I know I tried to question it aloud.
Yet the sound doesn’t leave my body.
The effects of a Wind Magic spell, Silencing, wrap around me.
Someone must have constructed and loosed the spell before I had a chance to react.
But not many people are skilled enough to do something like that. One of the only possibilities I can think of is Sue, who’s standing right next to me.
What’s going on?
I try to speak, but the sound of the air around me quashes my voice.
The difficult thing about this spell is that, instead of j
ust erasing my voice, it creates resistance around me that cancels out any noise I make.
As long as it’s still active, unless I can forcefully interfere with the construction of the spell, my voice won’t reach anyone else.
I’m already confused, but what happens next is enough to throw my mind into complete chaos.
Sue attacks Father.
My eyes widen with shock.
What’s happening? Why?
The spell Sue used is Light Magic.
Magic I specialize in.
The ray of light shoots through my father’s forehead.
“Aaaaaah! Brother! What are you doing?!”
As it happens, Sue suddenly shrieks.
The overwhelming confusion makes my mind go blank.
“What’s going on?!”
The door flies open as my brother Cylis and his armored knight escort charge into the room.
“Brother Schlain attacked Father!”
“He did what?! Schlain, have you gone mad?!”
No!
It wasn’t me!
Why?! What’s going on?!
But my cries only disappear without a sound.
“Guards! Schlain has attacked His Majesty!”
Cylis’s voice, on the other hand, resounds loud and clear throughout the castle.
“Seize him!”
The armored knight leaps into action.
He unsheathes his sword and swings it toward me.
Despite my confusion, my training takes over, and I automatically draw my own sword to parry the strike.
But then the attacking knight cuts my sword in two.
This can’t be happening.
Even if it wasn’t enhanced or anything, since I just pulled it out, there’s no way a sword wielded by the hero should be so easily broken.
And yet, my sword has been divided clean in half.
My thoughts can’t keep up with all these sudden developments.
The armored knight makes his move during my momentary pause.
The blade swings again and cuts into me.
I managed to take a step back at the last second, so it’s not a fatal wound.
However, the diagonal slash crossing my chest from the shoulder is still a serious injury.
If he attacks again, I’ll be killed.
“Yo. You don’t look so good, Mr. Hero.”
The armored knight scoffs at me.
His voice is muffled by his helmet, but it’s still unmistakable.
