Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 16 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Hero and the Dragon

“Oooh! That’s amazing!”

Nakajima cheered and was followed up by the exultant voices of the pursuit force. After getting through the Woodlands, we found an enormous tree. Its trunk was thick enough that hundreds of people linking hands wouldn’t be able to form a circle around it. Its branches reached far and wide as if forming a lid over the sky. It was a divine sight, as well as our destination.

“That’s the entrance to the next world!” I yelled from Berta’s back.

“Okay! Let’s push our way through!” Nakajima shouted, nodding reassuringly.

There were naturally many giants around the tree, but they weren’t much of an enemy to visitors who were already used to dealing with them. There were broken giants surrounding the base of the tree before Nakajima and his comrades even began swinging their weapons. These were the ones Jinguuji’s group and Kudou’s army had defeated on their way through here.

Still, we’d caught up significantly. Jinguuji’s group—or more accurately, the half who’d survived—had been here only about an hour ago. We were closing in steadily.

“H-Hey, where do we go in from?!”

The pursuit force raised their voices in confusion. The building-sized tree had countless burrows in it large enough for a human to enter easily. These were all doors to the third world. However, where they sent us depended on the door. Picking poorly could lose us a lot of time. Conversely, picking correctly could shorten the time we needed to catch up significantly.

“It’s okay! I know the way!” I called out back to them.

Jinguuji’s group had a Dimensional Cornerstone, so they’d sensed that this tree was the entrance to the next world, but I had even more information thanks to connecting to the world itself. I’d already located the entrance that would take us as deep into the next world as possible.

“Circle around clockwise a bit more!”

“Follow Majima’s directions! Let’s clean up the guardians in the area!”

Nakajima gave orders to everyone as I gave directions. The whole group moved clockwise around the tree. The exploration team mowed down the giants in the way, Berta stomped over the fallen giants to leap through the air, and Lily and Shiran guarded us while skillfully using magic to provide support.

“There it is! The grotto above that root!”

“Okay! Let’s jump in!”

“Right on!”

Nakajima and Ishida took the lead as the entire pursuit force jumped through the hole. With that, we made it through the second world and into the third. What unfolded before me was scenery altogether different from the forest we’d been in.

“This is the third world?” Lobivia muttered in my arms.

“A castle...? Looks pretty old.”

We found ourselves in what appeared to be a castle corridor. The sense of scale was off, though. The corridor was vast and the ceiling was high enough that I had to strain my eyes just to see it. It was a castle for giants. What’s more, it wasn’t a fortress like Fort Tilia. It had the appearance of an extravagant palace. However, the ornamentation was extremely old and had weathered considerably. It looked just like an abandoned castle.

“Master.”

“I know.”

At Salvia’s urging, I immediately deployed the Misty Lodge and tried connecting to this world.

“This is getting pretty rough...” I muttered. The deeper we went, the stronger the defenses were.

“How’s it looking, Majima?” Nakajima asked.

“The defenses are tight,” I answered. “I don’t think I can get information on the place right away. I can at least neutralize the nearby traps, but it’ll be hard to grasp a wide area like I have been. I do know about the location of the last door, at least. The one we took was quite the shortcut, so it’s one floor above us.”

“I see. Well, that’s more than enough.” Nakajima twirled the radiant sword in his hand, then smiled daringly. “The floor above us? Normally, we’d start by looking for a staircase...” He then pointed the sword at the ceiling. “But there’s no need for that. We can just break the ceiling and make a direct passage.”

The ceiling above us seemed sturdy. Considering the scale of this giant’s castle, the ceiling had to be thick too. It wouldn’t be so easily broken. However, possessing the greatest power among the exploration team, it wouldn’t be impossible for him. The exploration team members started talking about what to do next as if it were perfectly obvious.

“The ceiling’s awfully high. I’m more suited to magic, so I don’t think I can jump up.”

“A meathead fighter could totally climb their way up. All we need is a rope or something to pull us up.”

“Who you callin’ a meathead ? Usin’ magic don’t got nothin’ to do with bein’ smart. I ain’t pullin’ no one up if you keep that up.”

“At worst, we can use wind magic to just blow everyone up there.”

“Ugh. I definitely don’t wanna. Do it yourself.”

Even as Nakajima readied his sword, the others cracked jokes to one another. They had maintained their composure, given the situation. It was reassuring.

However, they’d all forgotten something. In short, any other nicknamed cheater could have come up with such a simple solution and pulled off the same thing.

“What the...?”

As Nakajima was about to unleash his sword at the ceiling, he suddenly grimaced. I sensed it at the same time. It was difficult for me to use the senses of the Misty Lodge, so I’d only noticed last second. Something beneath us was...

“Get away from here!” I yelled.

Lily and Shiran reacted immediately. Berta followed shortly after, having spent so much time with us. However, the exploration team’s bewilderment took precedence.

“Evade!”

Having no connection to the world, Nakajima’s order was a beat too late. The confused exploration team members’ expressions changed—and an instant later, the floor exploded.

“Waaah?!”

A torrent of mana burst through the floor from below. Whoever it was had likely aimed for Nakajima. The dreadful mana he’d been unleashing had definitely made the perfect target. The floor collapsed where the exploration team had been gathered. No matter how strong they were, there wasn’t much that could be done about that. Losing their foothold, they screamed and fell through the hole. In their stead, a huge dragon appeared and spread its wings.

◆ ◆ ◆

Having somehow gotten out of the way, we were left speechless. The large majority of the exploration team members had fallen down the hole. The only ones left were me, my servants, and one other.

“He really got us,” Nakajima muttered. “Looks like they fell a few floors down.”

In a terrifying display, despite being the target, he’d evaded the attack. From what I could tell, the only ones with the reflexes and judgment to react on the spot had been the three nicknamed cheaters—the Sword of Light, the Multiplex, and the Indomitable Will. However, because Kubota had been close to me, he’d hesitated whether to listen to my instruction and had then been too late to react to Nakajima’s order. Ishida had reacted, but as a clear slugger, he wasn’t particularly dexterous, so he hadn’t gotten out of the way in time.

As a result, everyone except for Nakajima had fallen down. All of them were stronger than the average warrior, so it wasn’t likely anyone had died, but some were probably buried under rubble and it would be difficult for them to get back up here. Even if this was only temporary, our forces were reduced drastically, and the ferocious dragon responsible for this was right before my eyes.

“Ugh...”

There was no mistaking it. This was the Dragon Jinguuji Tomoya. I could feel how abnormal his power was. I’d already known he was strong, being a nicknamed cheater and all, but this felt like there was more to it. I couldn’t really put it into words, but it was like he was off the beaten track even for someone with an inherent ability.

What naturally came to mind was the Mad Beast that Takaya Jun had turned into. I felt a danger from him that was characteristic of those who’d strayed from the path and gotten others involved in their self-destructive behavior. I held my breath as this sense of danger overwhelmed me. But then someone stepped forward.

“No need to be so tense, Majima.” Holding his namesake sword in one hand, he marched forward without a hint of bravado. “You’ve done your job, so the rest is mine.”

Even now, Nakajima acted casually. His confident behavior had me captivated. He was overflowing with confidence, making him seem far larger than he was.

“Just leave it to me,” he said.

He definitely wasn’t all talk. He had tremendous talent and unshakable willpower. This was surely why even the Skanda Iino Yuna placed such unfathomable trust in him as her leader. I wasn’t a resident of this world, I wasn’t even part of the exploration team, but one word still came to mind when I looked at him—hero.

“It’s been a while, Jinguuji.”

As Nakajima called out to it, the tremendously powerful dragon seemed to falter.

“Leader...”

His somewhat hollow voice showed he was clearly shaken. Jinguuji hadn’t known that he was being chased. He probably hadn’t even imagined that it would be the leader of his former team. That only lasted a moment, though.

“Against you...I guess I can’t go holding back.”

Although pained and somewhat hazy, there was clear determination in his voice. As a former exploration team member, he knew of the Sword of Light Nakajima Kojirou’s power. What’s more, judging by his voice, he was extremely exhausted. Ever since breaking through Archbishop Gerd Kruger’s desperate last stand, he hadn’t had any proper rest and had been forced to search these fabricated worlds. Even a nicknamed cheater had to have been worn down by that. He knew he had no chance against the Sword of Light as he was now.

Nevertheless, he didn’t back down. Or maybe he couldn’t. Taking a look around, I didn’t see the companions he should’ve had with him. Much like in the second world, they’d likely acted as decoys to allow Jinguuji to get this far.

“I’m...getting everyone home... To that end, I’ll...”

Above all else, if an unbeatable opponent was all it took to get him to give up, he would never have set himself on this reckless path to begin with. His resolve to see all the visitors who’d come to this world with him back home was the real thing—maddeningly so. That was why he gave himself to the transformation freely.

“Oooh!”

The dragon roared, its eyes bloodred. Using the Misty Lodge to gather information on my surroundings, I knew what Jinguuji’s condition was.

“He’s...?!”

His weakened mana amplified right before our eyes. With that transformation, all sense of reason had vanished. He really was the same as the Mad Beast. He’d given up his sanity, yielding everything to his maddening wish. He could no longer communicate. There was no point trying to convince him that he was being tricked.

“Grrr...”

Jinguuji had transformed into the Evil Dragon, intent only on destroying the world. The power he had far surpassed what the average visitor could obtain. The strength of his wish and the will in his heart was simply on a different level. Everything he was existed only for his wish and nothing else.

“Groooooh!”

The Evil Dragon moved. A torrent of mana surged from its mouth. The strike looked strong enough to flatten a mountain—and here it was being aimed at a single person. However, the young man in its path kept his cool.

“So that’s your choice.”

He faced it with a single sword. This was no simple steel blade, however. It was a shortsword created by the Sword of Light, the strongest member of the exploration team. He brandished it and unleashed all its power at once.

“Haaaaaah!”

The dragon’s breath collided with the hero’s strike. My eyes shot open. The Evil Dragon was being pushed back. The torrent of mana was forced aside, the waves from the collision creating cracks along the wall. Having taken a hit from the earlier blast from below, the ceiling started crumbling. If we weren’t behind Nakajima, we would likely have been blown away.

“Graaah?!”

In the next instant, the Evil Dragon screamed. The glowing radiance pierced through the torrent of mana and sent the dragon’s enormous body flying backward.

“No way...”

The Evil Dragon slammed into the castle wall with a thunderous boom. Its scales were tough, so it hadn’t suffered a deep wound, but burning smoke rose from its body. It didn’t seem real. The young man casually relaxed his stance once more.

“Jinguuji. I won’t deny your will.”

He created a new sword in his palm and spoke with all the majesty of a true hero. I recalled that Iino had once told me that he always respected the will of others. Even when people had left the exploration team, he’d left the decision up to them. His stance was no different here.

“It was your choice. This is the path you decided to go down. If you can force your way through me, then prove it.”

“Graaaah...!”

The Evil Dragon’s answer was simple. It flapped its wings and spat out another torrent of mana.

“Like that’ll work.”

Naturally, just as before, the attack didn’t reach Nakajima. He intercepted it with his newly created sword. However, the Evil Dragon’s goal wasn’t to crush its enemy.

“You’ve got it wrong! Nakajima, Jinguuji is—”

“Oh!”

Nakajima also seemed to notice, but it was too late. Using the time Nakajima spent intercepting the attack, the Evil Dragon’s massive body flew up into the hole above us. Nakajima immediately stretched his sword out far and swung, but he only clipped off the end of the dragon’s tail.

The Evil Dragon vanished into the hole above us. It was making its way to destroy the Dimensional Cornerstones. Jinguuji’s ego seemed to be gone, but his objective remained within that dragon. Rather, that was the only thing left, which was why it had prioritized that over fighting. That said, the Sword of Light wasn’t one to take this lying down.

“You won’t get away!”

Nakajima crouched down and jumped up like a spring, making it all the way to the next floor. The two vanished from my sight in no time.