Awakening (1)
Levia Leviathan, by the time you read this letter the purification device will likely have been discovered. According to ‘that man,’ it was the work of the Chaos Cult. Beware the Trap Master. He is a cunning and powerful being. He may be even stronger than I know.
You must already know a few things about me. After all, you liberated Behemoth and heard about Skadi to some extent. I would like to explain in detail how I know about you, but I cannot. The ‘me’ writing this letter is Eric, yet not Eric. I am a homunculus that inherited part of Eric’s knowledge, memories, and thoughts. You have a rough idea what a homunculus is, yes? There was a famous manga on Earth that used alchemy as its subject matter, correct?
The real Eric is dead. As Eric wished, and in accordance with the creator’s command, I—the homunculus ‘me’—created a device at the binding site of Eric and Mammon based on the inputted blueprints. A device that uses Eric’s corpse as the core to convert Mammon’s magi and generate a dungeon. You heard it called a purification device through Skadi, but the precise name is ‘Gravekeeper.’ A rather fine name, is it not? In a sense, it is the tomb of both the Demon King and the Hero.
You may ignore this letter. But you will not ignore it. You cannot ignore it. And should that be the case, I have one request. Hand over the key prepared alongside this letter to the Trap Master. Make the Trap Master fall into a ‘trap.’ Into the trap I created. What comes after that… I leave to you.
I asked Mint.
“Hey. About our past lives.”
“You know that wording sounds super weird, right?”
“Anyway, we were pretty deep into all sorts of stuff back then, weren’t we? Anime, games, the whole deal.”
“We were.”
“And among them there were tons of ridiculous plot twists that left us going ‘what the hell?’”
“Sigh… yeah.”
“So now that it’s actually happening in real life, how does it feel?”
“Same as you. Hahahahahahaha…”
“I knew you’d say that. Hahahahahahaha…”
“Hahahahahaha—”
“Hahahahahaha—”
“Is this really the time to be laughing?”
“It’s not a bad final image of Master before dying. No matter what form you take, you’re cute, so it doesn’t matter. Hehe.”
No, this was absurd. The so-called Hero—or more precisely, the homunculus created by the Hero—had just trolled us.
Judging from the letter’s contents and what the Trap Master had said to me, the homunculus of Eric (who learned through ‘that man’ that the Trap Master would discover the Gravekeeper) had deliberately guided the Trap Master into falling for the trap. Or rather… the wording here feels off. It gives off serious ‘dark dark destiny of fate’ vibes.
Anyway, he had steered the Trap Master into using the key on the Gravekeeper.
“Kwaaaaaah!!!”
The area was swallowed by darkness born from magi, so I couldn’t see the exact situation, but the moment I heard the Trap Master’s death cry I thought the ending felt way too hollow. Considering what the bastard had done in Minoris, this seemed far too easy.
“Did we beat it?”
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
Noah really shouldn’t have said that.
“Haha. This is all Noah’s fault.”
“Levia’s right. Pink head.”
“Why?!”
“What do you mean, why?! The second you shouted ‘Did we beat it?’ like some revival spell, the hollow ending turned into a power-up event!!!”
“That’s so unfair!”
Of course it was unfair. It was also true. Like I said earlier, this entire situation was clearly fake-Eric’s doing.
“Kukuku… So this is the power of the Demon King! Mammon! I’ll put your strength to excellent use!”
The Gravekeeper looked formidable. The cylindrical construct that rumbled the earth with every movement now radiated an aura far stronger than the Trap Master’s. It opened its body, an eye appeared within, and it swallowed both the Trap Master and every trace of magi he had emitted.
The problem was that the Trap Master who got sucked inside didn’t die. Not only did he seize the Gravekeeper’s core, he also claimed the unpurified magi of the Demon King as his own. As a result, he had become a colossal mass of magi that now threatened us.
The Chaos Cult followers who seemed to have tailed the Trap Master were exposed to the magi; their bodies rotted away and they were wiped out. Do people join the Chaos Cult because they have a death wish? It feels like anyone who works with those so-called apostles ends up annihilated.
Is fake-Eric still alive? I really hope he is. I want to beat him until dust flies on a rainy day. If it isn’t raining, I’ll keep beating him until it does. I was earning money in peace, but not only did he pick a fight with someone who isn’t even a Hero, he pulls this kind of trolling?
…This bastard. When he wrote “I leave what comes after to you,” he didn’t do it knowing everything, right? He couldn’t have told me to hand over the key while fully aware, could he?
Fuck. It was a mistake to believe that just because he was a Hero, he had properly inherited the Hero’s knowledge and thoughts. Before I knew it, I had apparently become a person of this world. To follow the letter’s instructions without the slightest suspicion simply because it came from a Hero. What an idiot. No, what an idiot girl. Wait, he’s a guy. But the body is female, so girl? Whatever.
“Master, what do you intend to do now?”
Skadi asked me. For some reason her tone seemed to carry the implication of “isn’t this because of you?”… Don’t blame me. If we’re pointing fingers, it’s your old comrade’s homunculus who’s at fault.
“Die! Levia Leviathan!!!!!!”
Boom!
In a single instant, a crack formed in the holy barrier I had deployed. It was the first time. The first time my holy barrier had ever been damaged.
What to do…? Well, there was only one answer.
“We fight.”
“I see.”
“You really picked the wrong friend.”
“Hiiiek…”
In the densely packed dungeon region of Minoris, a man stood atop an unusually tall rock, gazing toward the distant horizon where the sunset glow was beginning to spread. More precisely, his eyes were fixed on an area that had grown strangely dark despite the sun still exerting its influence. It was the place where Levia’s party and the Trap Master had begun their battle.
Behind the man—who watched with a mixture of relief and interest—came the presence of another.
“Huh… So it really existed.”
“Homunculus.”
The being that appeared behind the man was the homunculus the Alchemy Hero Eric had created in his own image, leaving behind his knowledge and thoughts.
“If possible, could you call me Eric? I did inherit the thoughts, after all. At least treat me as half of him.”
“That would be difficult. Instead, I recognize you as something like Eric’s younger brother.”
In response to the homunculus’s complaint, the man’s voice overflowed with playfulness yet carried a serious undertone.
“…That feels a bit ambiguous.”
“If you prefer, I can change it to son.”
“Younger brother it is.”
The homunculus shook off the horrifying mental image and looked toward the spot the man had been watching.
“Doppelganger… He was an arrogant and cunning one… Hmm? Isn’t that Skadi? Hehe, it’s been a while.”
“You’ve met that dark elf before?”
“Of course I have. Eric’s request was that I pretend to be him for twenty years and then make it look like I died of natural causes.”
“The people around him never noticed that Eric had died.”
“Except for the Saintess at the time. It’s like boasting, but Eric was thorough in order to prevent chaos.”
“Yeah… He was that kind of Hero. You were the same.”
“This makes me happy. Now, won’t you tell me? About that Levia—a truly beautiful girl.”
“Hmm… It doesn’t violate any principles, so I suppose it’s fine.”
“That damn word—principles, principles. Even after so long it still sounds irritating.”
“Bear with me. Sometimes a single word can cause enormous ripples.”
“This body is the crystallization of alchemy and magic engineering. In roughly four hundred years I will not forget what you said. There is no need to repeat yourself. Stop stalling and speak quickly. This is the moment when four hundred years of curiosity will be completely resolved.”
The homunculus looked on with expectant eyes. He had run countless predictions and analyses. He wanted to confirm whether what he had discovered and guessed was correct or mistaken.
“First, tell me why you deliberately handed over the key to help the Trap Master. I accepted such an absurd proposal because I know your identity. You should clear away the lingering discomfort, shouldn’t you?”
The man thought for a long time. How much he could say. Where he must not speak. He began calculating the permissible range of knowledge the person before him was allowed to have and reached a conclusion.
“The reason is…”
Yes, this much should be all right to say.
“Levia Leviathan must achieve true awakening.”
“True awakening?”
“Yes. To be precise, she must realize. She must become aware of what she carries inside her body.”
Magi spreads. The earth is encroached upon and contaminated. Darkness surges toward us like a wave. I protect Mint, Noah, and Skadi with holy laws so they will not be tainted by the magi, and I strengthen them.
It’s funny, but this is the first time I’m truly acting in the original role of a priest. Holy power, when it meets mana, amplifies the mana’s inherent strength. The sword energy Mint fired, the flame magic Noah launched, the bodies of the spirits Skadi summoned—all of them grew larger and more powerful.
On top of that, the divinity I bestowed easily sliced apart and blocked the attacks the Trap Master swung. I didn’t stay idle either. The Divine Punch I condensed and fired pierced straight through the giant Trap Master’s body, punching holes everywhere.
But that was all. The holes in the Trap Master’s body vanished in moments, and the party’s attacks only canceled each other out without dealing any further damage. It was a stalemate.
According to Skadi’s assessment, he seemed to have absorbed more magi than he could handle and lost his sense of self. In other words, the being we were fighting had become ‘what used to be the Trap Master.’ He was now nothing more than a moving lump of magi.
Therefore he could only make simple attacks for now, but she said there was no telling how he might change as time passed. That lump of magi was not merely a mass of power—it appeared to contain the lingering thoughts of Mammon, the previous Demon King.
A situation no different from suddenly having to fight a Demon King! And one from three generations ago, at that! Why? So suddenly? For what reason!
If things continued like this, it was obvious the party would be corrupted by the magi and die. I would probably be fine. I had no basis for it, but that was the feeling I got.
If we kept up this meaningless contest of strength, we would be the first to fall. It was time for a gamble.
Where was my current limit? How far could I go once I surpassed it? If I repeated compression and stacking without considering the recoil, just like the first day I used holy power, what would happen?
I would probably find out today.
I altered the holy laws I had granted my companions. I changed body reinforcement into body restraint and strengthened the holy barrier—which had only blocked contact with magi—into one that prevented anything from approaching me.
“Levia?”
“Master?”
“Hey! Gu Gyumyung, what the hell are you—!”
Sorry, but stay like that for a moment. I can’t predict what’s about to happen, so I need a safety measure.
I compressed the holy power to its absolute limit and stacked it to the absolute limit, then used the strongest holy law I could wield. This was a holy law only I could deploy.
I kicked off the ground and soared high into the sky. Instead of simply gathering and shooting holy power, I gave it shape. A sharp, long form that, under gravity and my own strength, would fly faster and hit harder. The base shape was a spear; to add rotation I twisted it into a spiral.
I refined the holy power.
Kiiiing…!
It became a shape I was very satisfied with. I raised the spiral spear made of holy power and—
Thud!
I drove it downward toward the mass of magi that had devoured the Trap Master—the power that had once belonged to Mammon.
——!
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!!!!!
The mass of magi scattered in an instant from the impact, spitting out two figures. One was the Trap Master. The other was a brown-haired man who looked as if he were merely asleep. That man must have been the one once called the Alchemy Hero.
Then where was Mammon’s corpse…?
The restraints and barriers I had placed came undone, and I saw my companions rushing toward me.
“Don’t come! It’s not over y—”
What a perceptive child. A vessel containing such powerful holy power. How wonderful.
Now that you have nearly emptied your holy power, I shall fill that vessel with my magi.
Together with the voice that seemed to belong to Mammon, my body. My mind. Was swallowed by darkness.