Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 5

by Hiro Ainana

The surprised demon lord nonetheless bore down on me with his twin sabers.

  I fended off the attacks with the two weapons of my own.

  I could barely keep up with parrying and evading the demon lord’s unpredictable onslaught of attacks from all sides.

  > Skill Acquired: “Two-Sword Style”

  Judging that the sabers alone wouldn’t be enough to defeat me, the demon lord started tossing in more of those invisible bullet attacks.

  One shot grazed me. My skill sensed more danger from the sabers, so it was difficult to avoid the invisible shots.

  > Skill Acquired: “Destruction Magic: Demon”

  > Skill Acquired: “Destruction Resistance”

  I promptly activated the resistance skill and “Two-Sword Style.”

  The invisible bullets could evaporate bits of my clothes just by whizzing by me, so my battle-torn state probably would have thrilled Arisa.

  I tried using Shield from my menu, but a single invisible attack destroyed it. I guess lesser magic couldn’t block greater magic.

  Every time one of the imperceptible shots grazed my body, it left a prickling itch on my skin. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to get distracted and take a direct hit pretty soon.

  I wanted to block the invisible attacks with the Sacredbladed Holy Sword, but I was too busy using it to fend off the sabers.

  Even with the help of my Magic Sword, I was barely able to keep parrying.

  “What Sort of Half-Baked Hero Are You, Surely? You Can Command Both Spellblade And Sacredblade, And Your Speed In Evasion And Swordsmanship May Surpass Even Me, Yet Your Attacks Ring Hollow, Surely. And Your Magic Is Nothing But Absurdly Strong Lesser Magic.”

  Even as he spoke, the demon lord’s attacks with the sabers and invisible bullets didn’t let up in the slightest.

  Thanks to the “Two-Sword Style” skill, it felt like parrying had gotten a little bit easier.

  “You Do Not Seem To Be Holding Back. It Is As If You Have Been Given Power But No Training, Surely.”

  His analysis was painfully accurate.

  “Your Resistance Is Bizarrely High As Well, Surely. Instant Death, Petrification, Curse, Paralysis… None Of My Evil Eyes Have Affected You, Surely.”

  I did see an array of special attacks in my log, from Petrification to Paralysis, but I had resisted all of them.

  “It Is As If I Were Fighting A God…”

  Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement. I’m just a little over-leveled with a bunch of defensive skills.

  Between silently responding to the demon lord’s words and the itching pain, I lost concentration long enough to bungle a parry.

  My Magic Sword Balmung flew across the cavern.

  As a desperate measure to avoid his follow-through, I fired off the Forge spell.

  I was hoping it would at least cloud his vision for a moment. But the effect turned out to be more powerful than I was expecting.

  The shields that had warded off my Holy Sword started burning up like scraps of paper.

  “Inferno?! So That’s Your Secret Weapon, Surely!”

  As the demon lord shouted, I heard an enormous roar.

  There was an immense amount of light and pressure directly in front of me. Instead of resisting, I let it throw me backward.

  It seemed I’d taken a direct hit from a wide-range magical attack.

  The strange stone objects in the area had all been blown clean away.

  > Skill Acquired: “Explosion Magic: Demon”

  > Skill Acquired: “Explosion Resistance”

  I wasn’t sure what the difference between “destruction” and “explosion” was exactly, but for now I was just grateful for the resistance.

  Frankly, that attack hurt way too much. Where was my “Pain Resistance” when I needed it?

  My HP barely even went down, but this pain… If I was in agony from that, I shuddered to think what a direct hit from one of those sabers would feel like.

  My “Self-Healing” skill quickly fixed the injury, but my already tattered clothes had pretty much dissolved away.

  I didn’t really want to fight naked, so I pulled out some clothes that were easy to move in and equipped them in an instant with my “Quick Change” skill. No transformation sequence needed.

  While I had the chance, I pulled out the Magic Sword Nothung to stand in for the one that had been knocked out of my hand, Balmung.

  Oh, that’s right.

  To prevent any further blunders due to the itch, I used the Everyday Magic spell Anti-Itch from the magic menu for the first time.

  A cooling sensation wrapped around my body, erasing the distracting situation. Magic really is wonderful.

  As I was appreciating anew the wonders of the supernatural, the demon lord emerged from the cloud of dust.

  “Hmph. It Seems That Was A Draw, Surely.”

  A draw?

  It didn’t look that way to me.

  Half the demon lord’s body was covered in burns.

  The flames of my Forge spell had broken through his shields somehow. Was he weak to fire? Or maybe it was because Forge was an intermediate magic spell.

  “How About This, Surely?!”

  The demon lord fired another explosion attack and more of the black rings at the same time.

  As soon as I heard the roar of the bomb spell, I fired a Short Stun at the ground for a smoke screen, then used that moment to somersault into the air and skyrun over the demon lord to get behind him.

  Below me, I watched the jet-black ring shooting past.

  The dust cloud from my Short Stun revealed the path of an invisible bullet attack.

  Looked like the demon lord had fired three spells at once, not two. For some reason, I felt like I could see the invisible bullets now even without the dust cloud.

  > Skill Acquired: “Magic Vision”

  Oh dear. That was a handy-sounding skill, but I had no time to activate it now.

  I swooped down to attack the demon lord from far above and behind like a bird of prey.

  As I entered attacking range, I activated Forge again, simultaneously slashing down with the Holy Sword and Magic Sword in my hands.

  The flames from the Forge spell started burning the shields away.

  My swords reached the shields before they had burned away completely, but there were few enough left that the swords didn’t lose too much momentum before they reached the demon lord’s body.

  Tearing through the flames, my swords left blue and red traces in the air as they slashed into the demon lord’s skin.

  However, ripples of light spread across the surface of the demon lord’s golden body, blocking the attack.

  As he blocked the attack, though, I felt my swords starting to break through some kind of film.

  It was a strong defense, all right, but it probably wouldn’t withstand too many attacks. I hacked away with all my might, trying to break through and hit him.

  Sneering at my determination, the demon lord swung his arm around like a whip and attacked with a saber.

  It didn’t seem like it should be physically possible, but I assumed that it was an effect of his unique skill “Protean,” and I parried the attack with both my swords.

  But it was a trap.

  Just as I detected that with my “Sense Danger” skill, countless white spears ripped out of the demon lord’s back, straight at me.

  I quickly took evasive action, but the lances moved too fast for me to dodge them all completely.

  Several white spears pierced through my body.

  Ow, ow, owww!

  I used my “Poker Face” skill to suppress the shriek threatening to escape my lips.

  Overcoming the searing agony with the help of my “Pain Resistance” skill, I broke the spikes over my knee and flung them away. Though I’d mistaken them for white spears at first, they seemed to actually be the transformed ribs of the demon lord.

  The pain was intense for only a moment before it washed away like the tide. There was still a du
ll throb, but I ignored it.

  With no intention of letting me alone when the pain briefly immobilized me, the demon lord tossed aside his sabers, snatched me up with both hands, and squeezed.

  His grasp was viselike, even though his arms were bent in the wrong direction.

  Theoretically, my higher level should have made me stronger, but I couldn’t shake him off. His unique skills must have been enhancing his strength several times over.

  The demon lord squeezed harder. He had to be trying to crush me with his bare hands.

  Ngh, that hurts.

  My arms were pinned at my sides, so I couldn’t use my swords. I put both of them away in Storage.

  Then I called upon my last hope, Forge, at full power. The crimson flames, hot enough to melt even heat-resistant mithril, seared the demon lord’s body.

  Of course, since I’d fired it at point-blank range, I didn’t get off without a scratch, either.

  The flames weren’t engulfing me directly like they were the demon lord, but they were still strong enough to burn up my second set of clothes in an instant.

  My skin turned red, but thanks to my “Fire Resistance” skill, I didn’t get any burns.

  Of course, it was unbearably hot.

  But I was the winner of this game of chicken, as it turned out.

  The demon lord’s hands slackened.

  Just that moment was enough. I forced the fingers apart and freed myself.

  I’d lost some feeling in my arms. It would probably take a few seconds before they recovered enough to use a sword normally.

  I pulled out one of the disposable Holy Short Spears from Storage, already overloaded with magical power.

  Blue light filled the underground cavern.

  The excess magical power was converting the Blue in the magic circuit at the center of the Holy Spear to holy light.

  The explosive beam carved straight through the demon’s defenses, blowing a huge hole through his abdomen and leaving blue tracks of light in its wake.

  But it wasn’t over yet.

  My foe’s HP hadn’t yet reached zero.

  Despite the enormous hole through his stomach and smoking flames enshrouding his body, the demon lord still managed to raise a fist.

  Now that’s an impressive fighting spirit.

  I pulled out the Holy Sword Durandal from Storage, filled it with magic, and activated Sacredblade.

  This ends now.

  The blazing blue light of the slash was absorbed into the demon lord’s heart—and then it gushed out all at once. The holy glow exploded the upper half of the demon lord’s body.

  I took several strides back and retrieved a recovery item from Storage.

  I used an HP recovery potion to restore what little health was missing, then used the magic inside the Holy Sword Excalibur, which I’d been using for an experiment, to fully recover my MP. Finally, I changed clothes and equipped some heavy-duty shoes.

  Now I was ready for the next battle.

  Yup, it was too soon to let my guard down.

  When I had defeated him with the Divine Blade before, he’d still recovered. It would be foolishly optimistic to assume he could revive himself only once.

  Golden light welled up from the body of the demon lord.

  The third round had begun.

  When the golden light faded, the demon lord’s upper body was fully restored. It was like there was no point in trying to beat him at all.

  At least there was one silver lining—his two sabers had flown off to parts unknown when I destroyed his upper body.

  I had two more Holy Short Spears like the one I’d just used, but I couldn’t afford to waste them when I didn’t know how many times the demon lord could be revived.

  “I Have Not Had To Use ‘Mighty Warrior’ Twice Since I Battled Doghead, Surely.”

  Wait, who’s “Doghead”?

  It sounded vaguely familiar, but if he was going to start prattling about some guy I didn’t know, I wished he’d save it for someone who cared.

  As I grumbled in the back of my mind, I activated the “Magic Vision” skill I’d just acquired.

  “The Hero Yamato Only Defeated My ‘Mighty Warrior’ Skill By Working With The Sky Dragons. Tell Me, Nameless Hero, How Do You Plan To Destroy Me Without Their Breath Of Light, Surely?”

  Hmm. He called me that because my name field is blank, huh? Maybe I should start calling myself “Nanashi,” the Japanese word for “Nameless,” instead.

  “The sky dragons are on vacation right now.”

  In the Graveyard folder of my Storage, that is.

  So I would have to fight hard to make up for their absence.

  The demon lord attacked with Destruction Magic, but I altered its course with a palm strike.

  “Impossible!” the demon lord exclaimed, but I ignored him. My hand was tingling painfully. Better not touch that magic too much.

  Instead, I prepared for battle by magically infusing the swords that were back where they belonged: the Holy Sword Durandal and the Magic Sword Nothung.

  “By the way, the full-time hero is also on vacation. He’s off with a pretty girl with huge boobs.”

  I cracked a random joke, trying to keep the demon lord distracted.

  If there really were a hero on vacation, I’d like to give him a good smack.

  “The Full-Time Hero, You Say? Then What Are You, Surely?”

  “I’m just a part-timer. Normally, I’m just a traveler who likes sightseeing.”

  I gave my body a quick once-over.

  Thanks to the recovery potion and my “Self-Healing” skill, the wounds from the rib spears had healed.

  They still hurt, but not enough that I couldn’t fight. My guess was that I wasn’t going to have time to heal anymore for a while.

  He used Destruction Magic again, but his aim was easy to read. If you really want to hit me, try using ranged magic.

  As if the boar had read my thoughts, a ranged area-of-effect spell came flying at me.

  I crossed my Magic Sword and Holy Sword to parry the attack, then jumped backward to cancel out its power.

  But that wasn’t all. The demon lord followed up with a Breath attack, and I kicked off the ground to evade it in midair. At this distance, my swords couldn’t reach.

  The gray Breath attack kept chasing me, so I used “Skyrunning” to get some distance.

  I stowed away both swords and swapped them out for the Magic Bow.

  Just as I was passing directly over the demon lord, I aimed the bow at him and fired an arrow.

  It was a magically enhanced Holy Arrow, of course.

  The blue light shot straight through the Breath attack and pierced through his mouth into his stomach.

  I landed behind the demon lord, turned at the hip, and shot three Holy Arrows at him as the golden glow of resurrection began to engulf his body.

  But the bolts passed right through the golden glow.

  He’s invincible while resurrecting? Enough with the game mechanics!!

  I was just going to have to keep this up until he ran out of lives.

  “To Think You Would Throw Away Even More Holy Weapons—”

  I had no motivation to listen to whatever the resurrected boar was trying to say.

  Before he finished recovering, I surrounded him with walls and fired three more Holy Arrows while he was unable to dodge, felling him again.

  But of course, the golden light appeared and revived him once more.

  “Impossible… My Forbidden Technique—”

  I continued ignoring him and focused on reducing his remaining lives.

  Another three Holy Arrows settled round five. However, those were my last ones.

  With no further use for it, I put the Magic Bow in Storage and created more walls around the resurrecting demon lord.

  “How Can You Use The Divine Gift Of A Holy Sword So Carel—?”

  I flung two Holy Short Spears overloaded with magic at him, cutting off his latest complaint.

&nb
sp; This time, I tried destroying his head and heart at the same time, but he still started reviving again.

  At this rate, I’d have to mince him and incinerate the pieces or something.

  I switched back to the Holy Sword Durandal and invoked Sacredblade on it.

  “Where Did You Get So Many Magic Weap—?”

  I made them myself.

  Answering silently, I burned up the boar’s defense with Forge, then used the “Light-Speed Attack” skill with Durandal to slice him in half.

  Before the halves could hit the floor, I brought the blade back around to bisect those, too.

  As his hand reached toward me in the throes of death, I stabbed through it, only to meet the bone in his arm flying at me like a bolt from a crossbow.

  I gave up on attacking further and flipped out of the way like an acrobat.

  These attacks were getting more ridiculous by the minute.

  Watching the golden light washing over the demon lord yet again, I took out the Magic Sword Nothung and invoked Spellblade.

  “What’s Wrong, Hero? You Have No Way Of Destroying This Immortal Body, Surely?”

  The moment the resurrection finished, the demon lord fired wide-range Explosion Magic at me.

  My “Light-Speed Attack” cut deeply but failed to bring him down completely.

  The boar reached into the wound and pulled out two ribs. Then he gave a short howl, and black flames wreathed the bones.

  “Taste The Wrath Of My Black Flame Bone Swords, Surely. Let Us Begin The Dance Of Death!”

  My opponent attacked with a sword in each hand, but the bone swords were brittle compared to the sabers. When our blades met, the black flames scalded my hands a little, but that was all.

  “Who In The World Are You, Surely? How Can You Be Unharmed By The Black Flames Of Destruction, Which Burn Even Dragons To Cinders?!”

  Because my level’s so high, maybe?

  No, maybe it was because my “Destruction Resistance” skill was maxed out.

  Besides, I was harmed a little. I just recovered really fast.

  Still, “Self-Healing” used magic power, and I wanted to avoid injuries as much as possible. I didn’t like pain anyway.

  “If You Are Not Hurt Now, I Will Attack Until You Are, Surely!”

  Since the Black Flame Bone Swords endlessly regenerated every time they were destroyed, the damage to my Holy Sword Durandal and Magic Sword Nothung was reaching worrisome levels.