Sora, now able to withstand the heat of Deekos Volcano thanks to physical strengthening [Reinforcement Body], places Sura onto his shoulder and begins walking.  Yami follows at his side.  They’ll need at least 5 days to reach Di Nodel, but with how they’ve been advancing ahead of schedule, he isn’t so sure.  Then again, Deekos Volcano is home to powerful monsters such as Radon and Ifrit.  Luckily, they don’t have a very large population.  It might take some time, but we’ll be fine as long as we’re careful.

Still, five days in a volcano?  Remembering that he’ll be able to reach Maou’s Castle if he’s patient helps Sora endure his disgust.  Actually, it’s until we reach to Di Nodel.

A resounding monster’s roar makes Sora tremble, biku biku.  He turns towards it and spots a cheerful skeleton monster in its final stage of decomposition.  Other than that, four days pass without any events.  On the fifth and final day— a monster ruptures out of a cliff side.  It’s not a Radon nor an Ifrit, but a monster with three dog heads, a lion’s body, and a snake for a tail.

“—A Cerberus!?”  Cerberus don’t inhabiting Deekos Volcano according to Elias’s memories.  This is just like with the orcs.  Events inconsistent with her memories are happening.  Why?—  Now isn’t the time to think about this.  I need to figure something out instead.

Sora invokes his evil eye [Full View Eye] and checks Cerberus’s stats.

=====

Cerberus

Male

Lv. 90

53,000/53,000

22,000/22,000

Skills

-???? (Can’t see)

???? (Can’t see)

=====

 

My evil eye can’t see it?  Shit… it’s because I haven’t dominated it yet…  Sora passes Sura to Yami while thinking, this is gonna be tough. 

Yami says, “Masta!  Come back!”

Cerberus jumps.

—Buon

“Woah.”  Sora only escapes the pounce thanks to physical strengthening [Reinforcement Body] granting him extraordinary physical capabilities.

Looks like Yami got past it too.

Cerberus makes a crater as he lands where Sora and Yami just were.

Sora mumbles, “Hey, hey… the heck is this?”  He draws his weapons and throws a nearby stone at Cerberus, “Yo, your opponent is me!”

The stone flies with the power of physical strengthening [Reinforcement Body] and pierces through the middle head.  Cerberus’s three heads each have a meaning in this world; [Intelligence], [Regeneration], and [Terror].

Sora stares in shock.  I just pierced the head of regeneration.

Cerberus’s left and right heads stare at the fallen middle head for a few second before raising a firm, “Gaaaahhh!”

“Shoot, I ticked it off!”

Cerberus’s right head breaths fire at Sora while the left head hurls enormous lumps of ice.  He dodges the torrent of incoming flames by moving to the right.  “Woah!”

A huge block of ice is before Sora’s eyes.  He crosses his arms before himself while thinking, crap.

—Dokoon

The gigantic block of ice shatters as it crashes against Sora.

“That…”  I would have died without physical strengthening [Reinforcement Body]. 

“—Na!?” Sora’s relief is cut short as Cerberus appears before him and opens the mouth of its right head.  I got this!  “Gravity manipulation [Gravity Control]!”

Cerberus cracks the ground underneath himself as the increased gravity slams him downward.  Sora uses the opening to create some distance between themselves.  Cerberus then stands up as he breaks free of Sora’s gravity manipulation [Gravity Control].

—Guaaaaah!

Cerberus breaths fire and hurls large chunks of ice with his roar.

Sora remembers his earlier blunder.  I’m not an idiot.  He goes to dodge the attack, but finds that he can’t move.  A snake is coiling around his body.

Cerberus’s tail!

“Shit!”  He tries to cut off the tail (snake), but finds that it’s tougher than he expected.

I was played.  Sora struggles with all of his strength to free himself as the fire and huge slabs of ice draw closer.

Gotta focus…  Sora stops struggling and waits for Cerberus to relax the grip of his tail (snake).  Once Cerberus moves his tail (snake) away to spare it from his own attack, Sora moves.  He uses the opening to run.  Once he stops, Cerberus is gone.

“Where’d he go—!?”

Sora feels a sharp pain in his left shoulder.  What the?  Cerberus got behind him and chomped down with his left head.

Sora guesses Cerberus’s next action.  “Sto—”

—Gachaa

“Uwahhhhh!”  Cerberus rips off Sora’s left arm and blood gushes out from what remains.  Just before the overwhelming pain makes him faint, he remembers his time in the void.  This hurts just like back then, but— I’m not going to die! 

Sora stopped feeling fear after receiving Elias’s divine protection, but right now, he’s afraid. –Cerberus’s right head!  It’s the symbol of [fear].

Sora sits down on the spot as fear overcomes him.  He mumbles, “I’m not going to die in a place like this!  I won’t, I refuse, I refuse.”

Cerberus uses the opening to lift its leg so he can crush Sora underfoot.

Yami leaps out from behind a rock with Sura as she says, “Masta!  You’re in danger!”  She stops in front of Sora and attacks.  She ignites Cerberus’s right head while he crushes her small body with his his right foot.

With Cerberus’s right head defeated, Sora is freed from his fear.  “Mn… I was… an illusion!”  He looks around and finds Yami’s remains.  “He- Hey, Yami?  Is this a joke?”

Sora’s rage makes him forget his pain.  Vengeance for Yami’s death is all he can think about.  “Shit, I’ll kill you!”

He appears behind Cerberus with a speed unlike before. He puts all his strength into his right foot and, “Oraa!”  Cerberus’s right leg is crushed with a guchaa.

Cerberus, with his balance broken, collapses.

“Gravity control!”

The increased gravity crushes Cerberus’s internal organs.  His blood splatters as he’s pressed into the ground.

“Gravity control!”

Cerberus cries out as more blood bursts from his body.

Sora’s anger fades with Cerberus’s defeat.  His rationality returns to him along with the pain of losing his arm.  Unable to withstand it, he drops onto the ground.  His consciousness become dim, must have lost too much blood.

Am I going to die here? 

His pain vanishes as he finishes those thoughts.  A jet black flame covers the remains of his left shoulder.  “Huh?”

A voice says, “This is a temporary solution.  They’ll vanish soon.”

Jet black fire, that tone, the sound of that young voice; I know them.

Sora says, “No way… didn’t you die?”  Her body was ripped to shreds earlier.  Yet, she’s still alive?

“I won’t die as long as masta doesn’t die.”

“Yami!”  Sora is overcome with the desire to hug her.  He wants to hug her with both arms, but that is impossible.  Instead, he holds Sura within his arm and hugs both her and Yami while crying.

–Twinkle Twinkle Cute Star ★–

Sora and his group resume their journey after a while.  His gait is unsteady, fura fura, but he manages to reach Di Nodel.  There are no buildings there, just withered trees.

He continues to press onward while thinking, This place really isn’t to my tastes.

That’s when a large structure comes into view.  The edifice looks like a castle, but has a strange ambience to it.  Sora can’t describe it as anything but ominous.  Maybe that’s, no, that has to be Maou’s Castle. 

Sora’s first act is to look for an entrance.  It’s easier to find than he imagined, but he can’t get inside.  It’s locked with magic.

While everyone wonders what to do next, the door flings open on its own.

— How We Wonder What You Are, Cute Star ★–

Dai Maou Edition

Various maou are gathered together around a conference table.  The door is forced open as a low ranking akuma hurries into the room.  “Tro- Trouble!”

The maou glare at the akuma as though it were a piece of garbage.  One of them says, “Tell us what happened.  Depending on the contents— Am I clear?”

“Un— Understood!  We’ve— been breached!”

“Hoo, an intruder?  How many?  Are there any notable features?”

“There are two people.  One of them is male, probably a boy, and is missing an arm.  He smells just like the Yuusha who were summoned not too long ago.  As for the other—”

The low ranking akuma has his mouth pinched midsentence.  “Hold on~, I hope nothing’s wrong~.”

“Dai Maou-sama, is something the matter?”

—Dai Maou Elias

She says, “About that boy~, does he have black hair?”

“He- He does!  Did you realize something?”

“Ahaha~, just as expected~.”

The various maou gaze at Elias in confusion.  They stare until one maou steps forward to inquire about her amusement.  “Da— Dai Maou-sama, although this may be presumptuous of me, would you…?”

“N~ You want to know?”

“Ye— Yes.”

“N~ Except, I don’t want to say.  You’ll learn soon enough, after all~.  Low ranking akuma-kun, I’ll kill you if anyone lays their hands on that child.”

—Zokuu!

Elias’s killing intent floods the room in an instant.  Her power freezes the maou in place.  “After this~, do your best to lead him to this room~.  Understood?”

The low ranking akuma dashes out the room while saying, “Ye— Yesss!  Please, excuse mee!”  He then reports the situation to everyone through telepathy.  “—I said, if you touch him, Dai Maou-sama will—”

 

T/N:  Sora, a not yet level 30 defeats Cerberus, a level 90.  Good thing his evil eye did show Cerberus’s stats.  They must have been horrible. Sora might have died laughing if he could see them, indirectly killing Cerberus through sheer embarrassment and humiliation.  On that note, I wonder what level he is now.  There must have been a huge spike.

Although, I am somewhat happy about the ending.  Honestly, I’m getting really curious about the situation with Sora’s friends.  This doesn’t tell us anything about them, but I’ll take the shift in perspective for now.

 

-Gandire Alea

 

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