"Is it this the boythat can seal the Demons' Unique Skills?" asked the so called Divine General Oceanus.
He had apparently already heard about Aias' ability. It was understandable considering Aias' former squad had known about it…
"While I try and stall him you both run away!" said Butler.
"We can't just leave you!" responded Aias, moving just in front of Butler.
"You imbecile!Are you looking to die!?"
Aias wasn't the type of person that would let others die for his sake. For me, the action Aias had just taken was something that I expected.
"Aias was it…Your ability has peaked my interest you see.What do you say, how about we try out its range of effect?" said Oceanus, while once again getting on top of the bird and flying high up into the air.
Just as he reached a distance quite a bit further from us, from the lower reaches of the river a strange sound was heard. The river's water level began increasing and the overflowing water began rising towards the sky.
In an instant a water snake, large enough to cover the sun appeared and looked down at us with a menacing look.
"The sea's water is going back into the river!That's the bastard's famous skill Ocean Current Manipulation!"
Oceanus brought down his hand that he had raised high up towards the heavens. After which the enormous snake that had been lying in wait in mid-air began moving towards us.
"Farewell my old friend."
Faced with the terrifying amount of water coming towards us, there was nothing we could do. Just as the snake was about to end our lives…
"What!?"
The snake had bounced off from something similar to a dome and vanished completely. Both Butler and Oceanus were left speechless at the sight.
"Impossible… Controlling the ocean current is definitely an ability, however, the attack from the water itself is a natural phenomenon… It's by no means an ability!" said Butler completely baffled.
Aias was in the same state as him, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"This is certainly unexpected…It seems like I underestimated you.A power that apparently nullifies any phenomenon that was caused by a Unique Skill… It seems like you're quite the bad match for me." said Oceanus, after which the bird that he was flying on turned around.
"It seems like I'll have to take more, throughout, measures next time.Let's meet again Butler.And you Aias." saying that Oceanus flew away towards the east.
"We're saved?" hearing Aias say that, I felt as if I had suddenly been released from all of the nervousness and I fell to the ground.
"From now on we'll only be fighting guys like him.Are you certain you're prepared for that!?"
"We couldn't wish for anything more Butler." responded confidently Aias.
"Same here, I'll try to be as helpful as I can be.I've prepared myself."
And with that our 4 year long fight against the Demons began.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
I looked at the sword I was carrying.
'So the Black Knight… Aias had to go through those kinds of things…If I'm going to wield this sword I cannot do it half-heartedly.'
"Now that I think about it the Black Knight called this sword Caletvwlch (The King's Holy Sword), however, when I appraised it came out as Excalibur."
[It probably just shows the most appropriate name for this specific world.After all the name of the King that appears when the sword is appraised is still unknown.]
'So the appraisal isn't absolute…'
"So… what happened in the end?"
I asked, wanting to hear more of the story. However, I already knew that it wouldn't be a happy end. But I couldn't shake off the feeling of wanting to know what had happened to Aias and Butler.
[It probably isn't that different from what you've already imagined…] said Rhazes with a bitter laugh.
[We managed to kill 7 of the then 12 Divine General, and left 4 others unable to fight.It was something unheard of in the world ruled by the Demons.]
"When fighting the Demon Lord…"
[We finally managed to reach the Demon Lord and face him.However, in the end due to Oceanus standing in our way once more, we couldn't achieve our plan of fighting the Demon Lord 1 on 3.While we were fighting against the Demon Lord Butler was holding back Oceanus.] saying that Rhazes look down, his story cutting off for a moment.
[Aias was able to seal off all of the Demon Lord's abilities and thrust his sword at the Demon Lord's throat.The Golem that I had summoned also helped Aias… However, even without his abilities the Demon Lord's power was on a whole new level.]
As if having remembered something, Rhazes' face became gloomy.
[With his most powerful strike Aias managed to graze the Demon Lord's cheek and leave a slight wound.However, the Demon Lord returned the strike, piercing Aias' heart with his hand and rising him up in the air.The sight of Aias' skewered body still won't leave my mind.]
I couldn't find words after hearing about the Black Knight's cruel past. The thing that shocked me the most was that even with the Black Knight's strength, he was only able to leave a scratch on the Demon Lord.
[Aias had a spell cast on him that forbade his body from rotting and his soul was trapped for eternity.Butler also lost his fight against Oceanus, after which he had a curse cast upon him which turned him into an immortal undead.]
"An undead…"
[You should have already fought him I believe.]
"You can't mean The Immortal King that was in Tokyo!?"
Rhazes didn't respond to my question but rather just nodded. It was a shock. Even though I hadn't known at the time, I had still killed one of Rhazes' friends…
"I'm sorry…"
[There is no need for you to apologize.You freed my friends that had been made into the Demons' eternal slaves.I feel nothing but gratitude.] said Rhazes with a smile, however, complicated emotions were running through me.
[After they both lost, I somehow managed to run away with my life and I came into this Dimensional Maze.That is the end of the story that occurred several hundred years ago.]
"Several hundred years!?"
[That's right. All of this happened way back.And it was from then, up until now that I have been devising on a plan to defeat the Demon Lord in this Dimensional Maze.Initially I only used items that I had stored in my Infinite Storage magic tool. However, further on I became able to influence the outside world as well.]
Rhazes proceeded to explain to me about the various magic tools that materials that he had been using. As well as about the golems that had served the purpose of his arms and legs.
[And it was then that I realized that a change was beginning to occur in the world of the Demons.]
"A change?"
[They completely discarded their world and decided on attacking your world, that was in a completely different dimension.]
"Why would they do something like that…What's the reason behind it?"
[I don't know the details.However, it seems like they are quite in a lot of hurry.]
'They're in a hurry?Weren't the Demons the complete rulers of that world?Why would they just throw that away… What happened?'
[To me this invasion was a once in a lifetime chance.It gave me the opportunity to carry out the plan that I had devised.]
"Are you talking about the gacha?"
[That's right.I chose certain people from your world, and gave those people power in order to have them oppose the Demons.]
'So that means that the gacha didn't just randomly appear before me?'
"Why did you pick me?"
[There were two reasons.The first one was that you had a certain amount of magic power. You see, the number of people within your world that have magic power is quite small.And if one doesn't have the necessary amount of magic power, they cannot use my magic tools.]
"To think that I had magic power all along… And what was the second?"
[That would have to be your character.There would be no point if I chose a representative that wouldn't give his all for the people. It took me quite a bit of time to figure out what kind of person you were.]
"Wait, doesn't that mean that you were observing me?"
[There were several candidates, so yes, I observed all of you at the same time.]
'To think that I was watched this whole time… That feels kind of unpleasant.'
"If there were other candidates as well, why did you choose me in the end?"
[Because of your kindness.There was one time where you even got ran over by a car because you were trying to help a guy in a wheelchair cross the road, isn't that right?]
'Now that I think about it that really did happen… Still it was like two years ago.'
[When I saw that I burst out laughing.And it was then that I decided I would entrust it to you.]
"Seriously! Over just that?"
[You somehow reminded me of Aias…] said Rhazes with a kind expression. After hearing his full story I finally understood why the gacha had appeared before me. However, there was still one more thing that was bugging me.
"Why did you make it in such a roundabout way that you even had me spin the gacha? Couldn't you have just given me the abilities in that case?"
[Because it was fun, wasn't it?]
"Don't play around!"
[I'm joking, joking.Imagine if I had given you all of the various abilities at once. You wouldn't have been to master using them, isn't that right? I gave you the abilities in accordance with your growth.]
"And so you decided to make it so that each spin cost a million yen?"
[I had a good grasp of the amount of money that you were earning, so taking that into account I picked that price.However, in the end you went over my expectations and got even more that I had initially planned on giving you…]
"Besides the gacha that I used there should have been one more right?"
I was positive that there had to be a weapon gacha that Leo had used.
[No quite. I prepared a total of three gachas.The Ability Gacha that would serve to create a hero that would defeat the Demon Lord, an Equipment Gacha that would serve to arm the countless people that would fight against the Demon Lord's army, and an Item Gacha that would serve to prepare the world for the invasion.]
'Three?To think that he had prepared all of that…'
[However, the only one that went according to plan was the one you used.The person who was entrusted with the Equipment Gacha was killed and the gacha ended up in the hands of the wrong person.Afterwards, as you may know, the people themselves destroyed the weapons that were meant to fight against the Demons.That was an unforeseen development as well.]
"Was the Equipment Gacha really necessary?"
[Not quite. Following you, a number of people began creating weapons to fight against the unknown threat.With their help I believe that you'll be able to produce weapons to fight against the Demon Lord's army.]
'So that means that the things that I did up until now weren't in vain.'
Having heard that I felt somewhat relieved.
[I also set the Item Gacha in Angola.There I had picked a girl, gifted with quite a high amount of magic power, to sound the alarm bell using my Ring of Prediction, however, she failed in her task.]
"I see…How are the Demons planning to invade our world?"
[They will first send over magic beasts and Oracle Beasts to reduce the population of your world. Following that they will invade, using a huge army.Excluding the Demons, the regular soldiers of that army aren't that different from the people of this world.So having their opponent's fighting power reduced is a huge plus for the Demons.]
"What should we do in order to stop them?"
[You must kill the Demon Lord.No matter how many other Demons you kill, as long as the Demon Lord is left alive, he will be able to produce an unlimited amount of new ones.]
"That means that if I defeat the Demon Lord everything will go back to normal?"
[Unfortunately, you cannot defeat the Demon Lord.]
"Eh?"
I was shocked by Rhazes' words.
[The you, that I created, is nothing more than an inferior version of the Demon Lord after all.]