novel
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Chapter 105
It happened suddenly.
The game should have ended. The victor should have been determined.
However, it was completely overturned by a rude third party from outside of the game board.
With the exception of Scorpius who was still hysterical, everyone sensed the danger in the unnatural, sacred glow emitted by Leon's entire body.
"This is bad! Move away, Scorpius!"
Despite Libra's warning, the berserk Scorpius did not stop. She repeatedly slammed her pincer into Leon without noticing his changes, but it was no longer effective to Leon. Enduring Scorpius' attacks, Leon's body swelled up as he abandoned his human form. A mane replaced his hair, which was like a red lotus. His entire body was covered in fur. Becoming even larger than Scorpius, he revealed the true nature of the ferocious king of magical beasts.
This was the Lion King Leon, the strongest magical beast which stood alongside with the Dragon King, the Vampire Princess, and the Demon King.
Before the Twelve Heavenly Stars who were stunned by his intimidating presence, Scorpius was swept away by his foreleg as if she was just a nuisance. With that act alone, the giant scorpion was easily blown away, crashing into the city and sliding further along the ground.
"Grr... oh—!"
The roar of a wild beast, devoid of reason, reverberated. His eyes, full of murderous intent, turned towards the Twelve Heavenly Stars. At the same time, Libra fired all of her cannons, engulfing Leon in an explosion.
However, before the smoke even cleared, Leon jumped out and made a sudden attack on Libra and Karkinos, who was standing before her. As Libra and Karkinos were blown away, his hind leg kicked at the approaching illusory form of Aigokeros, dissipating it. The latter's true form was then crushed beneath his feet.
"This! Mesar—"
Aries jumped and tried to use Mesarthim, but Leon simply glanced at him like he was a bug and swept him away with his tail. Dina's golden flash struck him directly, but he was unmoved. A simple glare was enough to send her fleeing through a gate in panic.
—It was getting out of hand.
This was the common impression of the Twelve Heavenly Stars who were currently facing Leon. They knew what had happened as this had happened before. Like the previous fight with Scorpius, the Goddess had probably done something.
But the problem was that Leon was the one who was empowered this time while Ruphas was not present. Leon was already strong, so if the power of the Goddess was added to him, he would surpass all of the Twelve Heavenly Stars here. He did not fear Libra's cannon fire and easily crushed Karkinos' defenses. Even the effects of the poison inflicted by Scorpius had disappeared.
Leon breathed in deeply and aimed at the Twelve Heavenly Stars before him—Libra, Karkinos, Scorpius, and Aigokeros. Only Aries, who had flown in a different direction, was not within range... Well, it didn't matter.
It wouldn't be a hindrance even if such a small fry monster was left out. Leon's pride wouldn't allow him to consider it a hindrance. From his open mouth, he exhaled a breath that was as hot as a star, surging towards the Twelve Heavenly Stars.
Even if it was the Twelve Heavenly Stars, it would be hard for them to take this attack head on. Therefore, what happened next was truly a life saver.
"Everyone, grab on!"
Just before the roar reached them, they heard Sagittarius' voice. Then, the scorching breath passed over, leaving behind a tragic scene where only molten rocks remained. But there were no corpses left behind by the Twelve Heavenly Stars, so they must have somehow evaded the disaster. All that remained were Leon and Aries.
"Tsk. Sagittarius, you bastard... You've betrayed me."
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and looked over to Aries. The latter was glaring at Leon, but he made no move to stand up.
I know it already. The difference between his power and mine.
Feeling instinctively frightened, he couldn't pull himself up. Leon looked at his posture and snorted.
"That's a good posture, Aries. You're a trash monster after all. It's only natural for you to appear frightened."
"What—!"
"Isn't it true? You were picked up by Ruphas, trained by Ruphas, and empowered by Ruphas. None of it was your own power. For a piece of trash like you to stand on the same level as us, it makes me wanna puke."
"... —!"
He seemed to have lost interest in Aries, who couldn't even stand up. After saying that, Leon jumped away from the spot, leaving behind a cowardly sheep. Aries hung his head in regret, clenching his fists.
How... how pitiful. I'm well aware of it even if Leon didn't say it out loud.
More than anybody else, he couldn't forgive himself. However, he couldn't stop trembling, which made him even more miserable.
♌
The clock turned back slightly to the time before Aries and the others came into contact with Leon.
After separating from Ruphas and the others, Sei and his companions traveled to the centaurs' village on Suzuki, the camping car golem. Even though its interior was not as well-furnished as Tanaka, it still made their travel comfortable to an extent that was previously unthought of. This reminded them of how unusual Ruphas' alchemy skills were.
It would have been enough that they didn't have to walk on their own. They were certainly thankful that they could move towards their destination at over sixty kilometers per hour. Moreover, Suzuki was equipped with beds, a sofa, a simple bathroom, a toilet, and even a kitchen. Even aristocrats didn't have such a luxurious mode of transportation.
There was the demi-dragon carriage, which was used exclusively by the royalty of Lævateinn. Instead of horses, it used demi-dragons to pull the carriage. Its interior was luxurious since it was used exclusively by the royal family. However, due to structural problems, the interior of the carriage could not be too big. It wasn't because the demi-dragons were too weak. It was simply that if the carriage was too big, it would be inefficient at turning to the point where it might even be dangerous.
But Suzuki was different. Unlike a carriage drawn by horses or demi-dragons, it could turn by itself, so its maneuverability was completely different. Of course, it still couldn't turn in places that were too narrow, but at least it could do finer turns than what was possible for a carriage.
... Or rather, Suzuki could simply fly over places that it couldn't pass.
It was unbelievable, but once when it came to a rocky passage that it couldn't pass, Suzuki spread its wings and flew over it. It would also automatically repel attacking monsters. There was once when monsters appeared, they went out and readied themselves for the incoming attacks, but Suzuki fired its cannon and blew them away.
In other words, there was no need to even fight those monsters that were weaker than Suzuki.
By the way, Suzuki was at Level 350, which was even higher than Virgo's level.
What would this mean?
If it was a monster that even Suzuki couldn't win against, Sei and the others wouldn't be able to win either. At that time, they could only leave it to Castor. This meant that they would have no role to play in any event.
"A—Amazing, this vehicle called Suzuki... It's even faster and more comfortable than the demi-dragon carriage used by royalty. Even though I have heard that there are automobile golems in Blutgang, they were nothing like this."
"Ah, there's even a bathroom, toilet, kitchen, and beds. It's truly everything one could ask for. As a mercenary, I've traveled all over the world, often riding in horse carriages and demi-dragon carriages. Even so, I've never had such an easy trip."
Cruz expressed a genuine compliment about Suzuki's all-inclusiveness, while Gants was similarly impressed. Apparently, a camping car was a vehicle that was made with super-high level technology that was unknown and undreamed of by them. In fact, they were not wrong. After all, this was a vehicle that was made based on Earth's technology, which was much more advanced than that of Midgard. If Midgard were to develop this on its own, several hundred years wouldn't be enough for its technology to reach this level.
... Well, that would be true if Mizar, who created Blutgang, was excluded from the considerations.
According to Ruphas, Mizar was simply a perverted alchemist cheat with something wrong with his head.
"Hey, Cruz-san. Do you think we can buy this? If Ruphas wanted to, she could probably just make another one. Let the country fork out one million eru or so... If we have this, the difficulty of the next trip would be different."
"No, Jean-san. Its creation looked easy probably because its maker was Ruphas Mafahl, but this would probably be equivalent to a masterpiece. At merely one million or so... if it's ten million... no, but the budget..."
Everyone else was impressed by Ruphas' skill in making this mobile golem, but Sei maintained a troubled look on his face. Certainly, it was amazing. If one were to ask about its comfort, it was definitely comfortable.
But... But why was it a camping car!? Why was something that should exist only on Earth being produced here?
And its name... Wasn't Suzuki that Suzuki?
Cruz and the others seemed to think that Suzuki was the name for this kind of vehicle, similar to a horse carriage and demi-dragon carriage. But they were wrong. It was the name for this specific camping car and Ruphas knew it as well.
In fact, when Sei asked her about it, she responded naturally and asked, "Would you have preferred a truck instead?"
Indeed, as she herself said, she knew about Earth. She knew about Earth's technology.
In addition, it had a strange name like Suzuki.
No, no. Calm down! This is not the place to play the straight man!
The problem was not the name. To be honest, there were a lot of points to retort. He wouldn't really care if people were to ask him if he was performing a gag.
The main issue was why Ruphas knew about these things.
Ruphas had knowledge of Earth. In other words, it was possible to acquire such knowledge in this world and she somehow managed to get it.
There were similar situations in the stories that Sei was familiar with in the past. The protagonists were fighting various enemies in another world when the last big boss knew about Earth and was planning an invasion. As he thought this, Sei's natural complexion turned pale.
No, that's impossible, I think. Megrez said that Ruphas is not the enemy.
But... there was a precedence. Whether she was good or evil aside, the truth was that her attempt to conquer the world two hundred years ago was already engraved into the annals of history.
In that case, what if... what if... her target also included Earth?
Megrez said that she aimed to forcefully unify the world because she was worried about Midgard. To put it in another way, she would resort to violent means if it was for Midgard's benefits.
Wouldn't it be possible then? It would be the worst-case scenario where she aimed for the technological capabilities of Earth in order to enrich and develop Midgard.
As he thought this, Sei shook his head. Once he started thinking, his thoughts would gradually shift in a pessimistic direction and assume the worst possible scenario. It was his bad habit.
"Sei-kun, are you alright? Your face doesn't look that good though..."
"Eh, uh!?"
Virgo, who noticed something strange about his look, asked with concern. He hurriedly raised his head and his eyes met those of Virgo, who was staring at him intently. Fluffy pink hair, big eyes, white skin, and pure white wings. She looked exactly like an angel, causing Sei to become flustered.
It wasn't something he could get used to, no matter how many times he saw her. Her features were simply so out of the ordinary. Or rather, the more he tried to get used to it, the less resistant he became to her presence.
"Are you sure? You're not overdoing it?"
"Ah—ah. I'm fine. No problem."
Endure. Endure, my rationality. Now is the time for your steel-like will!
Sei desperately controlled himself. By sheer willpower, he succeeded in subduing the instinct of a man who was lost in admiration of Virgo. However, in his mind, an exceedingly muscular macho-man appeared before his steel-like rationality."Man is a beast, " he said and shattered his rationality with a hammer.
No, who the heck are you?
Sei willed himself to appear in the mental world in his brain and grabbed the macho-man, tossing him into the sky. He then quickly repaired his rationality, forcefully patching things together. But Virgo followed up ruthlessly and placed her soft hand on Sei's forehead.
"It's not... hot, right?"
What was this? What was this clichéd situation in which a girl got too close to a guy without noticing it herself? It was like a scene straight out of romantic comedies.
Am I going to die? Could it be that I'm going to die today?
Have I used up all the luck I have and now I'll die miserably?
While he was thinking about this, he became aware that his heart was inevitably beating louder.
Hey, stop it. Please leave me alone. I'll seriously fall in love.
At that moment, Suzuki's light was shining brightly, even though it was not visible to Sei and the others.
『Encountering the highest priority situation ordered by Master. Crap removal mode, activate. 』
Suddenly, Suzuki's ceiling opened and the sofa Sei was sitting on automatically flew upwards, sending him to the roof. Then, the roof closed and he was left alone. Of course, there was also a sofa on the roof, so it wouldn't be any less comfortable. However, he couldn't get back inside for a while.
This was one of the orders given by the overprotective Ruphas to Suzuki, "If anyone tries to hit on Virgo, expel him to the roof for some time." This was the rear exclusion mode. However, this lacked consideration as Suzuki, who did not know of the intricacies of the human mind, took action even though Virgo was the one who initiated contact.
Thanks to it, there was this tragic incident whereby Sei was expelled to the roof even though he did nothing wrong.
"Wh—What did I do—!?"
Suzuki proceeded on while Sei cried out. Their destination was the demihuman village where the centaurs lived.
Nobody noticed that, from the top of a giant tree in the forest, a cane spider demihuman was watching.
| ← Ch. 109 | Ch. 111 → |