Chapter 211
Chapter 211
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 211
Chapter Title: 61-2. Demon God Transformation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
My hand went to my face. No matter how much I blinked, nothing changed.
Why was it in the negatives? I'd never seen a status window like this before.
Right now, alongside Grand Duchess Sophitia's Love Meter, what appeared before my eyes was...
The penalty for failing the Grand Route. Unlike usual, it was a glaring red status window.
It even gave off a sticky, viscous feel like blood, making it look ominous.
This was what I'd have to face if I failed Pine Granasia's Grand Route ending.
Was it karma for trying to defy fate?
As if warning me about it, the status window reminded me once more of the harsh reality.
It told me that a dark future, lunging to devour the pure white her, was pressing right up to my feet.
'One mountain after another.'
Why did this have to happen right after Pine awakened as the Hero of Affection?
I stared holes through the status window as I swallowed bitterly.
It probably meant that if I couldn't protect Grand Duchess Sophitia's relationship with that pillar husband guy, things would go south big time.
Where there was a happy ending, there was bound to be a bad one too.
"Pine, are you absolutely sure no contact from Grand Duchess Sophitia?"
The spirit, reacting to my emotions, had shrunk to the size of a wet puppy.
The little black one showed a scrawny, emaciated form. For a Pomeranian, which was mostly fluff, that was probably accurate.
Dizziness started to set in. Now that I knew this world might be real...
The Pine Granasia I'd seen in my dreams could be real too.
'Black-haired Pine Granasia... If she's the bad ending version.'
It was possible.
The Nameless Saintess had turned out to be alive in Pantos's temple. After she'd even gifted me the helmet, it made no sense to say she didn't exist.
I had no idea how she'd engraved the letters on a helmet I'd been using for five years, though.
"...Sophi? I've heard she's been seeing some guy named Flintz lately. Why the sudden interest?"
And the pillar husband had already arrived here.
I couldn't tell if he'd followed me or if he'd been selected as a beta tester after slaying a Demon King too.
'The status window doesn't show his real name.'
Unlike mine and Pine Granasia's, his showed up as Flintz.
He might really have possessed a game character.
Come to think of it, when I'd nearly gone down the harem route, it showed 'Licht' instead of my name.
The moment I'd tried to check my Love Meter with Blanc, I'd shattered it.
'Blanc's probably Magic Hat...'
Did that Demon King like the game character Licht, not me?
The Demon King had been shadow from head to toe.
I hadn't seen its face—just a grinning mouth and sharp claws as features.
"Licht, your face is pale as a ghost..."
Even thinking back sent chills down my spine.
The scene of Pine, the Nameless Saintess, dying kept overlapping in my mind.
I'd worked hard thinking I could save her this time.
Why was the Grand Route's goal linking up the leads' love lines, not subjugating Magic Hat?
What would happen if I failed to pair them up?
"..."
This wasn't just about me dying or not getting home, was it?
Every time I'd tried to hunt the Hero Cult's Demon Kings, status windows had blocked me—there had to be more to it.
'It means Pine turns into a Demon King—no, a Demon God.'
The loss of a loved one.
That setting would apply to Pine Granasia, the prophesied Hero, too.
"Pine, truth is, my mission isn't to slay the Demon King."
"...What?"
I quietly revealed the truth to Pine.
No point hiding it now. The lone wolf who thought and decided alone was gone.
"...Like with Mr. Kainel and Miss Ariel, it was about protecting you and the love around you."
The Hero couple nodded without a word as they looked at me.
They'd even let us have a date alone, and I'd never directly interfered between them.
Kainel had thanked me for helping him and Ariel get together, so he might've already figured it out.
"..So, something's gone wrong now? Don't you know the future?"
"Mr. Helmet... you okay?"
The Light Hero misunderstood me as knowing the future, but technically, it wasn't wrong.
If things continued like this, we'd head toward total annihilation by Magic Hat, like in Black Heart.
Or Pine, the white-haired girl, could shed bloody tears and turn pitch black.
Black Rose.
It was the polar opposite of the Nameless Saintess.
'She always looked sad whenever she saw me...'
Probably Pine Granasia from a route where I died or got hurt.
The bloodstained notes from the Library of Truth were likely written by Pine.
That handwriting matched the inscription inside the helmet perfectly—that's why it looked familiar.
"Demon God? I thought the Ten Heroes took care of them...? Connected to Sophi?"
Her shoulders trembled faintly, her tail drooping.
Pine seemed to sense the gravity, looking anxious.
"The Coldheart family's hereditary disease. Magic Hat might be exploiting that."
The reason the pillar husband was after the elixir.
As the name suggested, the Coldheart castle folk nearly died young from heart disease.
'Damn, I let my guard down because I trusted Geek too much.'
He was a hardcore gamer I'd acknowledge.
Magic Hat might've struck him first instead of targeting me and Pine.
If there was something to gain, there had to be something to lose too—that what this meant?
The status window stayed silent, as if awaiting my decision.
I gazed into the distance to head back to the train.
With Dennis's teleport, we could arrive on time.
Didn't matter if we were tailed.
The Hero Cult's Demon Kings weren't aiming to kill Pine.
"...It seems they're scheming to turn you into a Demon God."
If killing was the goal, they wouldn't have used their powers to turn her into the 'Nameless Saintess'.
Now, only two Demon Kings remained in the Hero Cult.
In the empty corridor, one man waited for someone.
"...Magic Hat, what's with that getup?"
He was a Demon King with long black hair and deer antlers like white magnolia branches.
"Our dear hubby seems to like beastkin women!"
The Omnipotent Demon King, Black Cloud, sighed deeply at Magic Hat, now sporting a pure white ponytail.
The magician had transformed into a dead ringer for Silver, an Imperial Guard.
This place was known only to Demon Kings anyway, and her signature smile and cheeky speech gave her away.
'Something's off about her. I thought so from the first time I saw her.'
Magic Hat had become even more unpredictable since the ideological Hero named Licht appeared.
With power in short supply, Demon Kings were dropping one by one.
After that talk without him, Pin had vanished without a trace.
And he hadn't directly harmed Emperor Locke either. Putting it together...
"Hehe, this should please that saintess since she's a dead ringer! Didn't know wolf ears and tail mattered so much!"
"...Why do you always spout nonsense?"
The prophecy the Hero Cult knew had veered way off course.
The plan left by the Omniscient Demon King wasn't this. Stop the prophesied Hero, revive the dead.
"Well... I'm on a whole different level from you reincarnators and Heroes!"
"..."
That had been the Hero Cult's original goal.
Regressing Hero of Omniscience.
Possessing Hero of Might.
The reincarnated Hero of Omnipotence had wanted to resurrect his loved one.
After losing everything to the Demon God, that's what they'd sought—or so he'd thought.
One of them had other ideas. Magic Hat admired her silver hair in the mirror.
Her humming with blood on her face was spine-chilling.
Unsure now what her true form even was, Black Cloud's hand went to the hilt of the holy sword at his waist.
"Oh? No answer? How boring."
Her voice turned icy. The giggling laugh carried killing intent.
She seemed to sense he was about to draw.
"Where have you been and what have you done? Answer me, Magic Hat."
He reluctantly drew the holy sword and pressed it to the magician's throat.
"...Took a trip north. Met someone fun."
"What?"
"One of Licht's friends, apparently? Makes me jealous. I'd rather he not think of anyone but me."
Magic Hat answered with an unchanging smile.
As if she'd anticipated this, she threw her arms up leisurely.
"Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Long time no see, Weapon Master?"
Black Cloud's power was omnipotence—he wielded all weapons masterfully.
The silver-haired girl smirked sidelong at the blade drawn by the Omnipotent Demon King.
"What the hell do you want, Magic Hat? Not fulfilling the prophecy anymore?"
Blood beaded where the sword touched her throat. They eyed each other warily.
With three Demon Kings already dead, anyone could see Magic Hat was behind it.
"Oh, you just figured it out? Even as a Heavenly Demon from another world, you're so slow~!"
With a screech, she flicked away his sword with a single card, lips curling up.
Black Cloud saw the other Demon Kings' holy swords in his vision.
"Gahk...!"
He clutched his throat. Ridiculous strength lifted him off the ground.
His face screamed confusion as his legs kicked in the air.
"Omniscience, Omnipotence, Might... I could have it all. Why suffer through that?"
The Truth Demon King smiled.