In the World of Midgar 50 — Hero Summoning (4)

꒰ঌ Hero Summoning 4

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There existed a state of checkmate so obvious that anyone could tell at a glance. For example, there'd be no escaping if the king was immediately surrounded by enemy pieces right after a game of chess started. And you'd basically already lost at old maid when you had two cards left, one of which was the joker, and it was your turn to pull a card from your opponent, who only had one card left.

A lot of old RPGs started off with a scene where your mom woke you up from bed. But if the one waking you up was the demon king in a full set of equipment with his army in tow, then all the player could really do at that point was throw away the controller and quit.

Basically, this was just such a situation. It hadn't actually happened yet, but if I were to leave things alone, it definitely would end with the hero's head being lopped off.

My statement that the hero would die was met with nods and other gestures of agreement. However, the atmosphere was not one of sadness.

It might be rude to say this, but the hero was basically a stranger to the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians in the first place. They had no real reason to care. But I was different. If this world moved as game scenarios dictated, then the hero would have to be the one to defeat the Grimm King.

I can't just let the hero die.

That was why I tried to make it as obvious as possible that we were facing a serious situation. But… Fiona and the others were rather blasé in their agreement. They probably only figured I was making small talk or something.

If I were to give an example, it was like if a soccer-fanatic dad told his son, "Oh no, my favorite team's gonna lose!" But his son, who cared nothing for soccer, just replied, "I see."

"As expected, my king. You're correct. The grimmfolk will most likely send one of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory after the hero whenever he departs on his journey — today or tomorrow."

Minako nodded in agreement to Tayuya's prediction before dissing classic RPG tropes. "Well, that would be the right move. There's no reason to wait for the hero to get stronger, after all. It's not like they'll do something so nice as to politely adjust the placement of their forces according to the hero's strengths or something like that."

Like, it's necessary, right? If the final boss just charged in right from the beginning, it wouldn't even be a game. Final bosses are there to let the player have fun. Don't you get it?

Also, the timing of the hero's departure is actually really convenient. Really convenient…

Wait, no.

Minako was the one who got us started on this topic. Meaning she brought this up at exactly the right time. It seems like Minako doesn't want the hero to die, either.

"… Didn't Laevateinn have that Sword Saint or whatever? And they call themselves the country of swords, so the strength of their soldiers shouldn't be that bad. Even supposing that one of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory attacks… how well would they be able to fight?" I asked Tayuya, who probably knew just as much as Minako did about how powerful the grimmfolk were.

After a moment of thought, Tayuya replied, "Let's see… That country has a—"

She was forcefully cut off by Minako for some reason. "It has a barrier that the Warrior Queen Erza erected, so the Seven Grimms of Purgatory will probably be repelled, Big Sis."

Like… Hmm… Do you actually enjoy explaining things or something? Or were you afraid of having your role of expositioner taken away from you?

Tayuya glared at Minako, but she shrugged it off with a smug expression. In contrast to the two of them, who were battling over some weird position, Fiona and Penny were both at peace. Fiona had started on a second ear of corn, and Penny was simply observing everything that was going on.

"Barrier?"

"Yes. Made using the hero skill 'Soul Succession'. As you should kno—"

"It's exactly as you expect!" This time, Tayuya was the one to interrup Minako.

What the hell are you doing?

For now, I purposefully ignored what was going on between the two of them and instead tried to recall the skill they'd brought up.

"Soul Succession."

… Its effect should be…

"… Ah, right."

Its effect was to put up a wide-area barrier to considerably buff the abilities of all player characters in a set area while also debuffing the abilities of any enemies in the same area by the same amount. That would normally just make it a combined buff/debuff skill. The ridiculous part of the skill was that it lasted until the battle was over.

But there were also large demerits to the skill. The hero who used the skill instantly died and was respawned in town immediately, with no time allowed for resurrection. In the game, Erza played a prank by making a full dash back to battle after using the skill, confusing people into yelling, "Weren't you dead?!" To which she replied, "Nope, too bad! It was a trick!"

But in this world, using it equals death… Probably… There'd be nothing so pleasant as having the user just run back from town.

"No wonder why they managed to last so long without a hero.… No, that's technically wrong. Erza is protecting that place even now."

Svel had Juvia and Levia.

Gjallar had Hinata and her Pressure. And Laevateinn had the barrier.

Each place had its own method to protect itself.

Hrotti, the country that that idiot Anko destroyed, had probably had no defenses like that. But Celica should have had the Monster Tamer class. It wouldn't have been strange for there to be at least one strong monster defending the place.

… Could they all have been killed in the fight with the Grimm King?

At any rate, it was probably safe to assume all the countries that still existed had at least some way to defend themselves.

"Understood. Then they should be safe within the country's borders."

"Exactly. Even if Tayuya or I managed to infiltrate inside the barrier, I think we'd have a tough time. Though we'd still manage to do considerable damage, of course," Fiona declared.

I was impressed. So the barrier is strong enough for even the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians to be cautious.

The divide between humanity and the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians in this world was like heaven and earth. But even with this gap in power, Fiona hesitated to say she could do it. The power of the barrier was truly unfathomable.

Of course, she was still confident that they could take that buff/debuff combo and still half-destroy the country and basically decimate all its knights. But at the very least, that meant that someone on the level of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory wouldn't be able to deal with its effects.

This was predicated on the assumption that there were no other level 1000s mixed into the Seven Grimms of Purgatory like Minako, though. That meant this also served as proof that there were no others like Minako. After all, if there were others at Minako's level, they could just toss in meteors from outside the barriers.

Although there was probably some difference in power levels between the Seven Grimms of Purgatory, there basically shouldn't be any other outliers like Minako. I feel guilty saying this about other people, but they're really just a collection of small-fry.

However, I hadn't really felt any of the effects when I'd been there. Was there really a barrier? Did the barrier just not affect me because I was a player? Or was it actually affecting me, and I was just too stupid to notice?

I'm a little curious.

"Master, I would be able to destroy Laevateinn with a 98% chance of success."

"Don't."

I stopped Penny, who sounded very proud of what she'd said, in her tracks while holding back my desire to sigh.

… Every time Penny says something like this, I'm reminded that I should be grateful she decided to hole up in that grave, especially since she can just ignore the barrier and fire Brachium. Buffs and debuffs had no meaning in the face of fixed damage.

"Returning to the subject at hand, you're saying that they won't make a move as long as he stays within the country and its barrier?"

"It should be safe as long as the one attacking isn't Anko, the Grimm King himelf, or his son. However, if you flip that around, that means that as long as one of those people move, then the hero and country will definitely perish. And all this is out the window anyway if he leaves."

"Which means?"

"They'll wait for the moment the hero leaves on his journey. As soon as the hero leaves the capital, he'll encounter one of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory." Minako spoke confidently.

I see. In other words, it'll be a blitz as soon as he leaves the capital. In which case, the episode title would be: "Ah! A Wild Seven Grimms of Purgatory Appeared!"

Yep, that'd be checkmate for the hero. Like, don't let the boss go all that way to assault the main character. That's a forbidden tactic in RPGs. Bosses should quietly and faithfully wait in the back of their castles and dungeons so they can practice being cool and saying things like, "Well met, Hero!"

The fact that Minako, a member of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory, could say all this with such confidence also meant that this had already been decided. I see.

That rumored Sword Saint would probably be accompanying the hero. But even so, he wouldn't be enough against a member of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory.

"One of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory will definitely attack when the hero leaves. Which means it is also the perfect chance to take down another one. All of you, wait here. We will go back to Laevateinn briefly."

My real objective was to protect the hero, but Fiona and the others wouldn't be satisfied with just that. So for now, I just made a decent excuse.

It wouldn't be necessary to bring anyone with me for just one of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory. If I were to fly at my fastest, the only one who could keep pace with me would be Minako in the first place. Penny would be able to catch up in a little bit, but I didn't feel the need to bring such a dangerous weapon with me all the way to Laevateinn. If she used Brachium, then there might be some damage to the capital, after all.

Minako was… No, that's not a good idea. She herself said that the Seven Grimms of Purgatory knew that Minako was Orange. If she were with me and clearly taking hostile action, then they would assume that she had betrayed them. If that happened, I'd lose the double agent I'd taken all this trouble to gain. I needed them to continue believing that Menma was their ally, at least for now.

"Are you planning to go alone, Master?" Penny spoke worriedly, but I didn't think there was any need for it.

"It won't be a problem. We can easily win against the rest of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory, even if they all attacked us at once."

It might be a little conceited, but I wasn't worried about anybody from the Seven Grimms of Purgatory if they were only as strong as Vernal or Mercury. Even if there were a hundred of them, I could probably sweep them in one AoE attack.

That's just what happens when the gap in levels is that big.

And if in the worst-case scenario it turns out I actually need a friendly, I can always just make a golem on the spot. Anyway, as long as I don't let my guard down… No, I probably couldn't lose even if I did that.

Even if I just took a break from fighting for a while to read a lightnovel or something, they wouldn't even shave off 10% of my HP by the time I was finished. In fact, if I just made a golem instead, there was actually a possibility that they'd all be dead by the time I was done reading.

That's just how wide the gap between our power levels is. It was harder to lose.

"We shall return tomorrow. There is no need to worry," I told Fiona and the others before leaving Honda.

At any rate, I should take any opportunity to eliminate the Seven Grimms of Purgatory I can, considering the state of the world right now.

I don't know what the Grimm King is thinking, but he doesn't seem to be doing anything for himself. The only ones actually fighting were the Seven Grimms of Purgatory and the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians.

As for the Seven Grimms of Purgatory, I have killed two so far. Minako was a spy, so that leaves four more. If I took one out here, that would make three, which would help humanity out a lot.

While continuing to ponder on all that, I opened my wings and took to the sky.

The feeling of being freed from gravity is really nice. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. Every time I experience this feeling I'm glad that I am flugel.

Cutting through the air, I crossed huge distances in a single flap. I love the fact that I can travel distances that Honda would need a couple days to travel in a scant ten or so minutes.

Still though, I wonder what's up with these wings?

A human would need a wingspan of over 20 meters to fly, or so I remembered reading somewhere. But my wings were nowhere near that big. They certainly were large, but each one was only about a meter long. Even so, I could fly quite easily.

This world really is a fantasy.

I flew for some time. I was currently in the airspace above Laevateinn, the country which once called me to this world. It wasn't far back enough for me to feel nostalgic about it, though. In actuality, it had only been a couple of weeks. But I still felt quite thankful to this country as a whole.

I was here because the country had made a mistake. And thanks to that, I had managed to meet Fiona and the others. I was fully aware that this was probably a strange way of thinking about things. I imagined most people would've been angry at having been ripped away from life in the modern world, which was peaceful and safe.

I suppose the right mindset would be wanting to return as fast as possible. But… I don't think that way at all. I wonder why? It's as if I'm immune to homesickness. I don't even feel nostalgic for my homeland.

Earth provided a peaceful life, guaranteed safety, well-built housing, and the ability to easily get clothes and food. Not to mention the large number of activities and amusements.

… This place was a huge jump from that.

There was literally a world of difference between here and Earth, since this world was being threatened by the grimmfolk. It'd be a unanimous decision when it came to deciding which world was more fortunate.

But still. I wonder why?

I feel like the other world is the unfamiliar one… as if I were viewing it in a dream or from the other side of a screen. That place didn't feel real. It just didn't.

Even though I certainly remembered having grown up and living there all the way into adulthood, it all still felt as if it had happened to someone else… It was like I was peeking into some unknown person's life in the form of a TV drama.

I just feel like that life had nothing to do with me.

It seems as if I'm integrating with 'Ouzelia Lucifen' in a pretty unfavorable way. No, wait. Or maybe from the start I'm really…

"…"

Nah, let's stop. I don't have the time to be going down that road right now. Or rather, I just lost the leeway to do so.

I twisted my neck and looked around the country of Laevateinn once again. After taking a closer look, I really did find something like a barrier covering the entire capital.

Normally no skill would cover this wide a range, but that just meant there was yet another difference from the game. Either that, or this was a show of Erza's willpower.

"We see… No wonder the Seven Grimms of Purgatory would not be able to get close. You think so, too, no?" I muttered, talking to someone behind me.

When I'd started to look around the city a moment ago, I felt a presence suddenly appear behind me. I never confirmed what the figure looked like. It stayed behind me, and I could clearly feel it just standing there, not doing anything in particular.

The fact that the presence appeared so suddenly meant that the first thing to suspect was teleportation through Xgate. I'd confirmed with Minako already that there was no other method of teleportation other than the Xgate spell.

And there were conditions to be able to use Xgate as well. One had to be able to use both heaven-arts and magic. That was why vampires, who could only use magic, and flugels, who could only use heaven-arts, were barred from using it. The beastmen could also probably be counted out in this day and age, since they'd always been bad at using magic.

That meant there was a limited selection of people who could use Xgate.

… It wasn't Minako. This feeling of pressure and hostility didn't belong to her. But it wasn't some other member of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory, either. This presence was too strong to be one of them.

Then…

There were very few others it could be. And I already knew the answer. I was almost certain. I'd never actually met that person before, but I knew them well.

I'd always known we would meet eventually. My premonition resonated. It was even the exact same as how I'd felt one thousand years ago. I remembered both fearing and looking forward to this.

"Right, Grimm King?"

For some reason, We (I) had a smile on, an expression that could only be described as warlike.

The one behind me, he, spoke.

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