Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 5

by Hiro Ainana

A single moment’s opening was all I needed.

  By the time the blue light trails of the Holy Sword Durandal melted into the darkness, the red demon had already dissolved into black dust and scattered.

  > Skill Acquired: “Light-Speed Attack”

  > Title Acquired: Thread Master

  “That Was A Surprise, Yes.”

  The blue-skinned demon used Gravity Magic to destroy the Reflection Defense around his body. He wouldn’t be falling for the same trick, I guess.

  I activated the skill I’d just acquired.

  “I Will Show You My Secret Technique, Yes.”

  The mouths on both his shoulders began to howl alarmingly. At the same time, I infused my Holy Sword with magic.

  Demons’ chants are much faster than humans’…

  The Holy Sword glowed blue with devastating magic power.

  …but they still take time.

  I used “Warp” to clear the distance between the blue demon and myself, and before he could finish his chant, I struck with “Light-Speed Attack.”

  My sword sliced right through with almost no resistance, and the blue-skinned demon turned into black dust and vanished.

  …Well, that was anticlimactic.

  It was truly impressive how effective Holy Swords were against demons. As long as I could reach them with the blade, there was hardly even a difference between lesser and greater demons.

  When I returned to the altar via “Skyrunning,” the demon lord in Miss Sara’s body was sitting with one knee drawn up on the edge of the stone bed.

  As I approached, he stood up and applauded me.

  “Wonderfully done, surely. I must apologize for mistaking you for a small-time hero, surely.” Standing naked in an imposing stance, the demon lord spoke like a stage actress. “I did not expect a lone hero to defeat my courtiers entirely on his own, surely.”

  Miss Sara’s body glowed with a faint purple light.

  Something feels wrong here.

  I had to get the demon lord out of her right away.

  “I’ve upheld my end of the bargain, demon lord! Leave Sara’s body at once!”

  “Very well. It is a ruler’s duty to reward those who have completed a trial, surely.”

  Good. He was cooperating more than I’d expected.

  The demon lord cast his arms open, and the purple light covering Miss Sara’s body deepened in color.

  “Hero. I have judged you to be a worthy opponent, surely,” he declared, and an intense violet glow burst forth from Sara’s eyes and mouth.

  What’s going on?

  “Black-haired hero, hunting dog of Parion. I know not why you disguise your appearance, but you will entertain me as Yamato did, surely? I will not forgive any disappointment, surely.”

  At the demon lord’s words, I touched my hair and realized that my blond wig was no longer there.

  I did have spare wigs and masks, but this was hardly the time to worry about that.

  I have to get him out of her body or…

  “Certainly! Once you leave that body, I’ll gladly take you on!”

  “Then I accept your challenge, surely.”

  I heard a crackling sound.

  Sara’s back tore open.

  The head of a boar emerged.

  …No…

  “Satou…can I ask you something?”

  “I have enough power now that you have sacrificed my courtiers for me, surely.”

  The boar-headed, purple-skinned demon lord appeared and cast Miss Sara off like old clothes. His childlike form expanded immediately, growing to five times larger than a normal adult.

  Violet rings of light rippled across his body, turning his skin to a shining gold.

  …Why had I believed a demon lord?

  “Do you think…you can change fate?”

  My conversation with Sara replayed in the back of my mind.

  As soon as the hairless demon lord started to appear, the flame of Sara’s life was extinguished.

  How could I promise her I’d “save her from a demon lord”?!

  A storm of regret raged inside me.

  However, it lasted only a moment.

  In real time, it was probably less than a second.

  My high MND stat quickly restored my mind to its normal state, clearing away the clouds of guilt.

  Once I was lucid again, something in my memories sparked a glimmer of hope.

  Resurrection Magic.

  The phrase suddenly came back to me.

  Sara had denied it at first, but Tolma had confirmed that Resurrection Magic existed. And if I remembered right, Sara hadn’t contradicted him.

  Which meant it was too early to give in to despair.

  “The Time Of My Resurrection Has Come. Quiver In Fear, Humans! Today The World Takes Its First Step Toward Utter Destruction, Surely!”

  I warped closer to the demon lord during his triumphant speech and shoved him away from Sara’s body with a full-power palm strike.

  Then, I picked up the still-warm body and collected it into Storage. Including the blood that had spilled onto the ground.

  In my Storage system, things didn’t deteriorate over time. It might be possible for the holy woman of Tenion Temple to restore a recently deceased body back to life.

  There might very well be risks and specific conditions for the use of Resurrection Magic, as Sara had hinted at back in Gururian Castle.

  But there was no point in worrying about that right now.

  So…pull it together, Satou.

  For now, all I had to think about was pouring my all into destroying this guy.

  “Hmm? What Are You Trying To Do, Surely? You Ought To Be Coming After Me, Not Recovering A Corpse, Surely.”

  Ignoring the demon lord’s arrogant goading, I prepared for battle.

  Before the fight started, I checked over the demon lord’s information.

  His name was Golden Boar Lord, and he was a level-120 orc demon lord.

  In addition to this unprecedentedly high level, he had three unique skills: “Unbeatable Strength,” “Mighty Warrior,” and “Protean.”

  I guessed by the names that these skills were strength-enhancing, endurance-enhancing, and some kind of transformation, respectively.

  As befitting a demon lord, he had a great deal of other battle abilities, too, including normal physical skills like “Sword” and “Evasion,” along with rarer ones like Destruction Magic and Explosion Magic.

  The gold covering his skin seemed to be one of his unique skills or support magic; the AR displays next to it read Physical damage cut by 99 percent and Magical damage cut by 90 percent.

  What ridiculously high defense.

  In this case, magic attacks would probably be better, except he also had an annoying skill called “Lesser Magic Nullification.”

  This had to be the advanced version of the “Lesser Magic Resistance” skill belonging to the demon I fought in the battle for Muno City.

  “As I Have Just Been Revived, I Am Weaker Than I Once Was, Surely. This Is A Rare Chance At Victory For You, Surely?”

  If this was him at his weakest, how strong must he have been normally…?

  The black rift of an Item Box opened up next to the demon lord, and he removed a mantle and two sabers.

  When the demon lord donned the red mantle, it transformed into an extravagant outfit.

  According to the AR, the sabers were classified as Magic Swords and boasted impressive stats on par with those of a Holy Sword.

  The golden shroud of light around the demon lord spread to bathe his swords.

  As it did so, the sabers’ attack power increased in my AR display. They’d already been comparable to a Holy Sword, but now they were actually stronger than Durandal.

  “Now Then, Come At Me With All Your Body And Soul, Surely.”

  I was already planning to do just that.

  This demon lord would suffer my revenge for Sara and my own personal rage. Besides…

  “…I have no intention of
holding back.”

  The demon lord smirked with pleasure at my words.

  I drew the black sword from Storage and glared at the demon lord.

  I would go all-out from the beginning this time. I had no reason to try to hide my power here.

  In fact, in order to destroy the demon lord with my first blow, I decided to strengthen the Holy Sword.

  Normally, adding magic to a mere wooden sword would enhance it, never mind a Magic or Holy Sword. Surely that would apply to a Divine Blade, too.

  I pushed some of my magic power into the sword.

  What the—?!

  I added a mere ten points to start, but immediately afterward, all the magic in my body started getting sucked into the Divine Blade at an alarming speed.

  Stop, damn it!

  I managed to slow the consumption of my magic power, which hadn’t been drained this much since I used Meteor Shower, with sheer force of will.

  By the time it slowed down, though, it had drained nearly half my MP, and the Divine Blade was continuing to absorb it at a rate of about ten points per second.

  “Only An Inexperienced Hero Would Be Thus Hindered By A Sword Unbefitting His Stature.”

  The words of the demon lord stung.

  As my “Sense Danger” skill alerted me to something, I looked to see a jet-black aura around the Divine Blade. There was no information on it in the AR display.

  What’s going on?

  “If You Are Unsure How To Proceed, Allow Me To Demonstrate, Surely.”

  I used “Warp” to dodge away from the right-hand saber as it swung down at me, then used “Skyrunning” to dodge over the left one sweeping in from that side. Moving forward at the same time, of course!

  The demon lord’s violet eyes glinted with a light that made me suspicious.

  I’ll have to finish him off before he can do anything.

  I slashed the Divine Blade straight down toward the demon lord’s boar-shaped head.

  Before the sword reached its target, magical shields like the ones Raka created around Miss Karina sprang up to stop it.

  Then, crackling like a thin film of ice, the shields shattered into shards of white light.

  It was probably some very powerful defensive magic, but that meant nothing to a Divine Blade.

  “Imposs—”

  I had no interest in hearing his last words.

  Before he could finish speaking, I sliced right through the demon lord’s head.

  As soon as the sword made contact with it, the demon lord’s face began crumbling away. Only a Divine Blade could do that.

  Suddenly, “Sense Danger” was screaming on my right!

  I used “Skyrunning” to escape high into the air.

  Moments later, a saber cut through where I’d just been with a heavy whoosh.

  It would be one thing if this were just a dying spasm, but that wasn’t the case.

  I could scarcely believe my eyes as a new head grew from the demon lord’s neck.

  …Guess a demon lord wouldn’t go down that easily.

  “To Think That You Would Force Me To Use The Effects Of ‘Mighty Warrior’…”

  The restored demon lord sprang backward, keeping his distance.

  …Strange. Even after the demon lord backed off, my “Sense Danger” skill was still sounding strong.

  At first, I’d been sensing danger from the demon lord, but now I was having a stronger reaction to the Divine Blade in my hands.

  “What A Terrifying Sword, Surely. It Is Far Stronger Than Yamato’s Sword, Claíomh Solais, Surely.”

  As I steadied the sword in front of me to point it toward the demon lord, something strange caught my eye.

  The jet-black aura coiled around the sword was writhing like a living creature, reaching from the blade toward my hands.

  …Not good.

  This was undoubtedly a sign of something very bad.

  I quickly put the Divine Blade back in Storage.

  Then I took out Durandal, the sword I’d used against the greater demons, and changed my title back to Hero.

  It certainly wasn’t as strong as the demon lord’s sabers, but using the Divine Blade any longer seemed like a worse idea.

  When I checked my log for any strange status conditions afflicting me, a chill ran down my spine.

  > Skill Acquired: “Instant Death Resistance”

  > Skill Acquired: “Helmet Splitter”

  So that strange glint in his eyes earlier had been an insta-kill attack.

  If I didn’t have a high level and the “Evil-Eye Resistance” skill, I might’ve been done for then and there. I quickly activated “Instant Death Resistance.”

  “I Shall Take This Seriously As Well, Then, Surely.”

  A second purple glimmer covered the demon lord’s body.

  This was the same light I’d seen before. It looked like when Arisa used her unique skills.

  Judging by my foe’s declaration, he had probably used his other two uniques.

  “What Happened To That Black Sword Of Yours, Surely?”

  Noticing that I was holding a different sword, he seemed dubious.

  “Sorry, but I switched it out. You’ll have to make do with this Holy Sword now.”

  The demon lord’s lips curled.

  “I See, So It Had A Limited Number Of Uses, Surely.”

  I actually just couldn’t use it anymore because I did something stupid, but I didn’t really want to explain that to him.

  Instead, I strengthened the Holy Sword Durandal with a little bit of magic power, then protected the surface with Sacredblade, the holy equivalent of Spellblade.

  This sort of thing was probably necessary if I was going to face off against the demon lord’s “Saber III” or whatever.

  Here goes.

  First, a diversion.

  To test whether they would work, I first fired a barrage of my usual combination of Remote Arrow, Short Stun, and Fire Shot at the demon lord.

  But the three types of magic all disappeared just before touching his golden skin. All that reached him were the last traces of the Fire Shots.

  Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, it looked like I wouldn’t be able to scratch the demon lord with lesser magic spells; he did have “Lesser Magic Nullification,” after all.

  Using the spells as cover, I warped into the demon lord’s blind spot and swept my Holy Sword up at him.

  Far before my sword reached the demon lord, the same shields that had blocked the Divine Blade hindered Durandal as well.

  They broke easily when the Holy Sword touched them, but…

  Slowly but surely…

  Yes, ever so slowly, they were whittling away at the momentum of my blade.

  After it had broken through nearly a hundred shields and advanced about eighteen inches, the Holy Sword stopped in place.

  I tried to use more force to push it through, but of course the demon lord wouldn’t simply stand by and watch.

  “You Shall Not Reach Me With Such A Weak Attack, Surely!”

  With a roar, the demon lord slashed down at me.

  I caught the saber with the Holy Sword Durandal.

  Immediately, blue and gold sparks lit up the underground cavern, blinding me for a moment.

  What a powerful attack. It took all the strength in my legs to bear it.

  Unable to withstand the pressure, the floor beneath my feet started to cave in with a loud crack.

  My “Light Intensity Adjustment” skill quickly restored my vision.

  As I lost my balance slightly, the demon lord aimed another swing with the saber in his left hand.

  I instantly pulled a Holy Shield out of Storage to block it.

  However, since the shield wasn’t secured to my arm with a belt, the blow launched it across the cavern.

  As the demon lord recovered from his swing, I took that moment to jump back and put some distance between us.

  Then, I heard a bass-heavy boom from the demon lord’s direction.

&nb
sp; “Take This, Surely!”

  Jet-black rings began forming around the demon lord.

  They attacked me as if they were independent creatures. I used Short Stun and Homing Arrows to try to intercept them, but both spells evaporated when they hit the rings.

  An anti-magic attack?

  I threw some stones from Storage at the rings, but they fizzled out like water hitting a hot frying pan. So physical attacks wouldn’t work, either.

  This time, I stowed away my sword and pulled out a bronze spike infused with Sacredblade, then flung it toward one of the rings.

  With a loud crack like a plate being broken, the jet-black ring shattered. In that case, I should be able to fend them off with a Holy Sword.

  My “Sense Danger” skill suddenly reacted to something.

  I instantly jumped to the side to avoid some invisible attack.

  The stone object behind where I’d been was immediately pulverized.

  “How Did You Avoid My Greater Destruction Magic, Surely?!”

  So the demon lord could use magic without a chant, just like Arisa and I could.

  He is a demon lord, after all. No wonder he’s so strong.

  Even if I counterattacked now, the scale shields would just get in the way. If I wanted my attacks to reach him, I’d have to do something about those first.

  On top of that, if I tried to put distance between us, he would just attack with magic.

  I had to come up with more ways to deal with his offense.

  After the last exchange of blows, with a quick glance, I checked the condition of the Holy Sword, which had lost its Sacredblade protection.

  The blade had a few chips. If I kept using it to block, I might even be down a Holy Sword.

  Instead, I decided to hang on to my spare Holy Swords and Holy Spear and instead use a magic blade to deal with the sabers.

  With that, I took out the Magic Sword Balmung in my free left hand.

  It wasn’t a Holy Sword, but its attack power was on par with Durandal’s. And not that it mattered, but they both had gold-patterned hilts.

  I infused the Holy Sword with Sacredblade and the Magic Sword with Spellblade. It was impossible to use Sacredblade on a Magic Sword.

  “Using Spellblade And Sacredblade At The Same Time, Surely?!”