34. Survival Is Victory
34. Survival Is Victory
The worries crowding his head wouldn't sort themselves out no matter what.
His heart wanted nothing more than to stay buried in bed, putting off decisions he ought to make and burning time without meaning—but he had to get up, will or no will.
Nothing was settled on what to do or how to do it, but he had to act.
Because he had to kill a demon.
-The Dungeon Exploration practical is the most important turning point. I can't give this up.
The Companion had said he must stop the demon church fanatics lurking in the Dungeon Exploration practical no matter what.
If a demon appeared in that place packed with students, it would deal an irreparable blow.
-A Great Demon will appear. You absolutely must prevent it.
This time too... if I don't do something... people will die.
But such large-scale talk—the start of the Empire's destruction, a Great Demon—didn't feel real to him.
"... Atlas will be inside too, right..?"
The fact that Atlas would also be there was what weighed most heavily on his mind.
The Companion believed that Atlas, turned demon, would be the greatest threat.
-He will be. But this time I've prepared, so it won't go like last time.
"Got it."
-Don't blame yourself... What's done is done. It was unavoidable.
He'd made the necessary preparations to fight, but he hadn't prepared his heart for facing him.
He knew that once turned demon, Atlas was no longer the Atlas of old, but still he hesitated whenever he saw his face.
It was far too different from when some stranger you never knew turned into a demon.
Students were streaming in through the main entrance.
He entered through the back door of the dungeon as the Companion had instructed.
The academy had completely seized the dungeon interior, but there was a secret passage created before the dungeon boss was fully suppressed.
That passage was said to be unknown even to the academy.
Unlike the main entrance—reinforced with concrete and even lit—as he pushed through the gloomy cavern back door, light struck his eyes at some point.
A room with concrete only on the floor appeared.
Seeing the scattered corpses of monsters, it looked like a place students had already passed through.
-The ritual will proceed in a hidden chamber. Move to the location I designate.
Following the Companion's directions, he soon reached the hidden chamber door.
At a glance it was just a wall, but with a specific manipulation it was built to become a door.
He pressed a few stones embedded in the wall, and the door slid open smoothly.
Then he felt a presence behind him.
"Emy?"
The one who appeared was Liber.
She too was clad in field equipment due to the Dungeon Exploration practical.
'Of all people, her?!'
Right now, he himself was brimming with full equipment meant for confronting demons.
He hadn't said a word about joining while sick, and the moment they ran into each other his mind went blank, terrified of what to say.
"Are you feeling better? When did you come in? And what's that outfit?"
"W-well... that's..."
Liber smiled brightly and approached.
Like a kid caught red-handed by his parents while sneaking cookies from a cupboard, I—frozen in place—had no idea what excuse to make with Liber right in front of me.
When Liber came right up to him, the Companion shouted frantically.
-Push her out, quickly, the door is closing..!!
"No..!! Get out!"
Only then did he grasp the situation and try to shove Liber aside, but it was already too late.
-Kugugugung...
The open stone wall closed again, trapping Liber and me inside the dim cavern.
Liber swept her gaze around briefly, then looked me straight in the eye and spoke.
"...Emy, can you please explain what's going on?"
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The two of us walked through the dark cave.
The basic magic Light sparkled in Liber's hand, illuminating the cave.
The already sealed entrance wouldn't open anymore; they walked toward the exit said to lie on the opposite side.
"So... the reason you haven't come to the academy was because Atlas suplexed you..?"
"A lot gets omitted there, but the conclusion is right."
Liber clutched her forehead as if she had a headache and listened to my story.
The part about the Companion would be hard to believe even if told, so I left that out and told her about how I'd been fighting the Demon Church since childhood... and about being defeated the day before by Atlas, who had become a demon.
And then, the fact that this place was a hidden space created by the Demon Church...
'...I should have told her sooner.'
Once he'd spoken, he felt much lighter.
He hadn't been able to tell his parents about fighting the Demon Church.
Those two, who'd nearly had their entire lives erased by the Demon Church, would surely worry... The Companion had repeatedly stressed not to tell them.
But this time, he'd told him it might be better to speak up.
Had he said that throwing out a clumsy lie to Liber in that situation would put future operations at risk?
Liber, clutching her head, spoke.
"There's one fact I need to correct. Atlas isn't a demon."
"No... he is a demon. That day I saw him clearly... Atlas's figure spewing demonic energy thick enough to choke..."
Liber didn't believe Atlas was a demon either.
Of course, anyone who'd seen Atlas's everyday behavior would find it hard to believe.
"Atlas's sword isn't that soft. That guy would never fall for a demon's temptation..."
"If a demon... promised to make Atlas taller, wouldn't he truly fall for it?"
"Well, that I can't be sure of...."
When the talk turned to height, Liber's complexion changed too.
People who desperately crave something can never be free from a demon's temptation.
Atlas was certainly a strong-willed person... but his unyielding will had his height complex as its backdrop.
His mental strength to not succumb to the pressure around him regarding his height was his foundation.
The one most obsessed with being short was Atlas himself.
Anyone who spent even a little time beside him could tell.
Every morning doing his exercises, hanging upside down from a tree because he had to stimulate his joints...
Pretending otherwise while drinking nothing but milk whenever he had a beverage...
Some foul-smelling liquid like a health supplement and dark, murky medicinal herbs he absolutely had to ingest before working out.
If a thirst that not even ten million—a hundred million gold could resolve were to be quenched, could he refuse?
"Plausible, but it's still an assumption. I won't believe it. I'll see for myself and judge."
Liber understood Atlas's fundamental longing.
But precisely because of that, she knew well that he was still fighting against that complex.
Liber believed he wouldn't fall for the demon's temptation.
By her own will, she chose to trust the Atlas she had seen until now.
"I... see."
That unwavering look in her eyes—trusting Atlas—made him envious.
"It's dangerous inside, so stay behind me. I'll take the lead."
The Companion said traps were installed ahead.
The Companion would direct the locations, so I first made Liber step back.
Liber obediently withdrew behind.
Judging that this wasn't her field of expertise, she seemed to leave it to me.
"Yeah... but Emy.."
Standing behind me, Liber hesitated a moment, then opened her mouth.
"Yes..?"
"That thing strapped to your back... is that real mithril by any chance?"
From behind, she was staring fixedly at my greatsword visible head-on... the sword forged from high-purity mithril.
"Yes, it's made of mithril.."
"Whoa... this is the first time I've seen this much mithril... how much went into it? The whole thing?? If the situation gets resolved, can I just swing it once..?"
Perhaps amazed that such a rare metal like mithril—which becomes expensive even with just a little alloy—was lumped together this ignorantly in a solid mass, Liber stared at the greatsword as if hypnotized.
"As many times as you want if things work out."
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-This too...? Whose doing is this?
Something was strange about the dungeon.
The Companion kept muttering that it made no sense.
"Whoa... what happened here..."
The dungeon's hidden space... was utterly wrecked.
All the traps installed everywhere were shattered, and monsters had been slaughtered.
As they descended, the traps grew more complex and dangerous, but not a single one remained—every last one was destroyed.
It wasn't a strategic dismantling using knowledge of the traps; everything had been purely smashed apart.
But thanks to that, they could come down incredibly easily.
And so they reached the altar essential for the ritual.
"Even the altar... is destroyed."
The altar was also destroyed.
The magic circles for the ritual were all torn up, wrecked as if by demonic talons, and the stone altar was so shattered it was unrecognizable.
Around it, four black-robed headless corpses lay fallen.
"Beheaded in a single stroke..."
Liber looked at the fallen corpses and was shocked.
I was shocked too.
The corpses with only their heads cleanly removed in a single cut were identical to the bodies found when Atlas had become a demon.
'Could it be... Atlas did...?'
-Why would that guy turn this place into such a state... Was it because they belonged to different factions...?
'What do you mean?'
-The Demon Church has multiple factions. Depending on the Great Demon each worships, various factions are formed...
If the demon Atlas contracted wasn't from the faction of the Great Demon summoned by this ritual, he might have done this to disrupt each other.
That's a fortunate turn... He really put serious effort into wrecking it.
"Then we don't need to worry anymore?"
Nothing regarding Atlas had been resolved, but they hadn't run into him either, and the Companion said restoring the summoning formation now seemed nearly impossible.
If that was the case, had this incident passed safely?
Just then, a bizarre voice echoed from afar.
"I came rushing over, and yet here we are... what a mess."
At that spine-chilling, unpleasant voice, I pulled the trigger of the pistol in my right hand.
-Tang!!
"Ouch ouch... firing something so dangerous, that's too mean."
The gunshot reverberated, and the unpleasant voice—slightly pained—drew closer.
It was different from the time with Atlas.
This time he'd clearly hit.
Before the figure in the pitch-black robe, a crumpled silver bullet fell.
The figure's body looked perfectly fine.
Unlike the other fallen fanatics, he wore a mask.
It was a clown mask with two large horns sprouting.
Seeing that, the Companion's shout turned urgent.
-A horned mask... It's a Demon Evangelist!
A Demon Evangelist who wears a horned mask—a demon-contracted being who spreads the Demon Church's teachings and doctrine.
A core combatant of the Demon Church had appeared.
"Well then... whoever could have ruined their ritual, and from where?"