Chapter 42
Chapter 42
Savior of the Great Dragon.
As you might have guessed from the episode title, the goal wasn’t simply to defeat Evil Dragon Ashtat.
On the contrary, we had to save Evil Dragon Ashtat.
‘Because Ashtat isn’t just an ordinary evil dragon.’
The problem was the difficulty.
There was a reason all the old-timers in the community said the right answer was to skip it.
And yet—
‘…Why is there nothing here?’
Normally, the closer you got to the inner sanctum where Ashtat was sealed, the more high-level traps and Guardians—ones almost impossible to handle—would block your way. But there was nothing of the sort.
At most, there were a few minor traps and low-level Monsters.
‘Why?’
Meanwhile, the others, who knew nothing about that, let out sighs of relief.
Kansir and Ballas, in particular, were positively smug.
“I was worried because this is the Evil Dragon’s Lair, but there’s nothing to it.”
“Indeed. This is simple for someone like me, Ballas.”
As they spoke, the two of them gave me triumphant, mocking grins.
The traps were simple enough that the two of them were handling everything without any help from me, and it had gone to their heads.
‘Something’s wrong. Is this going to be okay?’
An ominous feeling came over me, so I checked the victory-rate analyzer again.
<Probability of breaking through the Great Dragon’s Nest>
: 73.32%
The odds had shot up from the original 50.5%!
It was good news, but something about it didn’t sit right.
Something had definitely changed.
“Ban, you were acting so high and mighty, and now you’re just standing there frozen.”
“Please understand. What can he do when he suffers from Mana Insensitivity? In a dungeon like this, we ‘proper’ mages need to take the lead. Professor Ban, just make sure you keep up with us.”
As the two strode ahead, Aktor, the Butcher of the Rebel Army, cautiously approached me.
“…Don’t you think something’s strange?”
Aktor seemed to share my concerns.
“Let’s keep moving for now. We can’t turn back at this point.”
“…Understood. Everyone, heighten your guard!”
Uneasy for no good reason, I fidgeted with something in my pocket.
I toyed with the “supplies” I had prepared just in case, but nothing out of the ordinary happened after that, either.
It was as if we were driving a car down a wide-open road.
The odds kept going up, too.
-Probability of breaking through the Great Dragon’s Nest: 83.6%
-Probability of breaking through the Great Dragon’s Nest: 95.8%
But my foreboding only grew stronger.
The Rebel Army knights’ expressions had gone stiff, and even Yohen, still a novice saint, clenched his fists tightly, as if he could sense the danger by instinct.
Only two people were still in high spirits: Kansir and Ballas.
“Haha, this is almost too easy. Or is it because I’m so strong?”
“At this rate, we should have come alone. We shouldn’t have brought burdens like Professor Ban along for no reason.”
And then—
Fwoooosh!
A vast chamber, as magnificent as a cathedral, came into view.
This was the final chamber of the dungeon.
Ashtat was sleeping beyond it.
‘We’re supposed to defeat the final Guardian, aren’t we?’
But what I saw was astonishing.
The Guardian lay on the ground, its head severed.
It was a Level Seven Guardian, no less.
‘Who did this?’
Kansir and Ballas seemed to realize something was wrong at last. Their expressions hardened.
“What is this thing? An undead?”
“…Something’s strange. This is a Level Seven Bone Dragon Knight, isn’t it?”
At the same time—
-You have broken through the Great Dragon’s Nest!
-A new threat has appeared. Calculating the odds of victory!
<Probability of defeating the Chaos Monster>
I doubted my eyes.
Not because the odds were so atrocious—0.27%.
Because of the name, ‘Chaos Monster.’
‘Why is that name suddenly showing up here?’
At that moment—
A bone-chilling sense of danger surged through me, and I shouted instinctively.
“Everyone, watch out!”
Thud!!
“Gah!”
Kansir went flying backward, spewing blood.
Before I could even figure out what had happened.
Ballas, standing beside him, went white as a sheet and hurriedly cast a Shield.
His Fractal Shield—the one he’d boasted could stop any attack.
But—
“Gah!”
Slash!
A flash of pitch-black light streaked by, and with a crash like shattering glass, Ballas was flung backward and lost consciousness.
Both of them were quite skilled in their own right, yet they’d been taken out in an instant.
It was only natural.
If the enemy was ‘that being’ I thought it was.
And then—
Step.
I heard footsteps, and the moment I saw the figure who appeared, I felt dizzy.
“Black Bird.”
Black Bird Amanda, who had suddenly vanished from the training center, had appeared.
The problem was the energy coiling around her.
Chaos was swallowing her whole.
‘Black Bird Amanda was the Chaos Monster?’
I realized why I couldn’t remember seeing Amanda in the scenario.
She looked different now, so I hadn’t recognized her.
‘She’s the Monster who appears in “Advent of Calamity,” one of the main scenarios in the second year.’
And she wasn’t an ordinary Monster, either.
She was a Monster so impossible to defeat that the protagonists had to join forces with an entire army to take her down.
‘Why did she suddenly awaken as a Chaos Monster now? Because of Ashtat?’
Just then, a voice came, as if in answer.
-No. I had nothing to do with it.
It was Ashtat’s voice!
-I originally intended to help her. But she refused, and afterward, while I knew nothing of it, she became like that.
That meant someone other than Ashtat had intervened.
‘He’s not lying. Ashtat has been misunderstood, but he’s actually a great Sacred Dragon.’
But I didn’t have time to think about the details.
‘I have to get away right now!’
The fact that a Level Seven Guardian was lying unconscious made it clear: this was not something we could take on with our current strength.
But it was too late.
“Please be careful, Saint! Guh!”
Crack!!
Amanda swung her scythe, now wrapped in some mysterious energy.
Aktor blocked the blow, but his face had gone pale.
‘It’s because of the Chaos energy! It has the property of disrupting Mana!’
In the scenario, the Chaos Monster was classified as “Unknown Level.”
That meant its rank could not be determined.
It didn’t possess the powerful energy or strength of a high-level Monster, but the Chaos energy within it made it far more difficult to fight.
It was immune to most Sword Energy and magic.
‘Only ordinary bladed attacks that don’t use Mana will work.’
The problem was that its own defensive power was comparable to that of most high-level Monsters, so it was impossible to land a truly effective hit with ordinary physical attacks.
That was why the army couldn’t overcome it, and the protagonists had to step in.
‘Of course, my magic won’t work either.’
For a moment, I considered drawing my sword, but I gave up on the idea.
No matter how much the Versatile Talent of a Thousand Changes I had, there was no way I could fight a Chaos Monster when I’d never even learned swordsmanship.
‘If I could, the odds of winning wouldn’t be 0.27%.’
It would take at least two “well-developed” protagonists in the Knight class and two protagonists in support classes working together to subdue it.
Then, the worst possible thing happened.
“I’ll help, too!!”
Yohen had unleashed his Sacred Power.
I was horrified, but it was too late.
Amanda’s eyes fixed on Yohen with an eerie stare.
And then—
“Ugh!”
“Saint!!”
Amanda grabbed Yohen by the throat.
[Sacred Power… I see. Still a fledgling, are you? I’ll get rid of you.]
Amanda—or rather, the Chaos Monster—muttered in a horrifying voice.
‘No!!’
But what could I possibly do?
A 0.27% chance of winning meant certain defeat.
‘Damn it, should I just beg it to show mercy?’
The situation was so desperate that even a thought like that crossed my mind.
But then one possibility suddenly occurred to me.
‘…Wait. It’s not like I have to defeat that Chaos Monster. In fact, if I lose, I might get my chance.’
Anyone else would have cocked their head at that.
But I meant it.
It was a gamble, but at the moment, I had no other option.
“Hold it. Monster, I have a proposal for you. Stop tormenting that brat and fight me instead.”
[Hmm?]
The Chaos Monster sneered.
[You’re trying to be clever. Why should I do that? I can simply kill every last one of you, one by one.]
“If you do as I say, I’ll give you my body.”
[!!]
It flinched.
[…Are you serious?]
“Of course. But only if I lose to you.”
[……]
“You should know, shouldn’t you? Just how remarkable a vessel I am. If you take my body, you could become a truly great being.”
Greed welled up in its eyes.
With a snap, it tossed Yohen aside and turned to look at me.
[Heh heh, very well. If I take your body, then even getting revenge on the Demon King, who put me in this state, won’t be a mere dream. I’ll tear the Demon King limb from limb, then bring this world beneath my heel.]
‘Got it!’
Naturally, I had no intention of handing my body over to it.
Even if things went wrong, I had a contingency plan.
‘If it doesn’t go as planned, I can escape with the Return Scroll.’
My trump card.
It was my tool for running away in thirty-six different directions.
If it came down to it, I had to at least save my life.
But Yohen, unaware of my ulterior motive (?), shouted furiously.
“No! What gives you the right to make such a sacrifice?! I’m the Saint!”
‘No, I’m not exactly planning on making a sacrifice.’
This was a carefully calculated move.
You could tell just by looking.
First, I had to fool the Chaos Monster more completely.
“Didn’t I tell you? No professor would stand by and watch a student be in danger.”
“!!”
Even I thought it was a hundred-out-of-a-hundred noble declaration.
Everyone’s eyes wavered, Yohen’s included.
—I-I’m nothing like him. That man is the real Saint.
Yohen, in particular, seemed to be looking at me as if saying just that.
…It seemed he’d gotten some serious misunderstanding into his head, but I let it go for now.
The Chaos Monster had been fooled by my act, too.
[Heh heh, remarkable. But that ends now. I’ll take your body, then cut off that brat’s breath.]
Whoosh!
It swung its pitch-black Chaos energy at me.
I raised a Shield, but of course, it was useless.
“Guh.”
I was defeated in an instant and dropped to my knees. Yohen and the Rebel Army’s knights cried out in anguish.
“No!!”
“Benefactor!!”
They tried to rush over without thinking, so I hurriedly stopped them.
“Stop! Don’t come any closer! I’ll handle this one!”
It was all for the plan, but with the Black Flame Dragon’s over-the-top posturing thrown in, it looked as if I were about to make a boundlessly noble sacrifice.
“N-No…”
Tears welled up in Yohen’s deer-like eyes.
The monster came right up to me and grabbed me by the throat.
[Now your vessel belongs to me.]
Gooooo.
Eerie letters rose from Amanda’s body and floated in the air.
Its true identity was a high-dimensional “Existential Curse” with a will of its own.
Now it was trying to inhabit me.
Whoosh!
The letters inscribed with the Curse burrowed into my body.
“Stop!!”
“Benefactor!!!”
“Senior Ban, no! If Senior Ban dies like this, my 100,000 Pena debt will go back to the Rapalt Ducal House…!!”
I thought I heard Linden say something idiotic in the middle of all that, but it wasn’t the time to worry about it.
[Heh heh, it’s over. Now I’ll become a great being, and…!]
But its laughter didn’t last long.
[Why, why? Why can’t I take possession of the vessel at all?]
The creature’s bewildered voice.
At that moment, I gave a cynical smile.
It was the smile of victory.
“You fool. You don’t even know what I am, and yet you dared to try to take over my body.”
[!!]
“I am the progenitor of magic. The one who rules over magic. The moment you entered my body, you became incapable of defying me.”