A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Volume 2, page 15
The devilfolk are just fakes in the first place. They’re nothing more than things made up of intentionally gathered mana. I don’t know who made them or for what purpose, but the devilfolk were not born from natural evolution.
The devilfolk are just poorly made imitations that someone created by intentionally collecting mana, compressing it, and using it to ignore divine providence and forcefully birth them. They are all just poor imitations of the Devil King, without exception.
However, that Devil King is also different. There’s no doubt he’s similar, but I can also feel something holy in him—something that connects him to that abominable Goddess.
That was why Aigokeros didn’t believe in ‘her’ existence.
Her wings were completely pitch-black even though she was one of heaven’s people, who were supposed to live as far away from mana as possible. She was colored by mana more dense than even demons experienced, and she forged her own path while rejecting the Goddess’ love.
When she saw Aigokeros, she snorted through her nose.
“I see. So this is a demon. I was despised as the cursed child of demons back when I was young, but... I see. They’re lighter than I thought.”
Light? She probably means in mana.
Aigokeros couldn’t refute her. After all, the one in front of him was far too dense.
Just how many devilfolk has she killed? How many monsters has she hunted and eaten?
The mana she was infused with was overly dense enough for Aigokeros to fear her. He could only imagine that she had absorbed the mana of every single thing she had defeated and killed. Her entire body was contaminated with mana.
Living beings are changed by mana. They become monsters. So she must surely be a monster, even while being one of the heaven-winged that are said to be loved by the heavens. She is absorbing mana and is trying to evolve into a different species.
The Goddess surely has a plan for her evolution. But she is ignoring all of that and is trying to change on her own.
I understand now. Even the goddess cannot control this woman. She is the King of Mana, who defies even the will of the Goddess... She is the one worthy of being called the Demon King.
Before he’d noticed, Aigokeros found himself kneeling in front of the Black-Winged Conqueror with his head dipped low.
“...Y-You are... Only you can be my king.”
The general fell without even a fight. But Aigokeros did not consider that an embarrassment. To him, things were just as they should have always been.
The definitive disparity between her and Aigokeros—that being their rankings as beings with mana—was what made Aigokeros bow to her as a servant.
And the king, having seen that, simply smiled quietly.
＊ ＊
Among the Twelve Heavenly Stars, Aries and Aigokeros’ roles were extremely similar.
The things required of these two stars were obstructing the enemy and sowing confusion. Aries achieved that through monster skills, and Aigokeros did so through magic. The two of them were deployed depending on the situation and the enemy, and among the Twelve Heavenly Stars, their statuses were the closest.
The Ram and the Goat—the animals that were their motifs were also very similar. That might have been why it was inevitable that the two of them became close.
However, their personalities were polar opposites. There was the gentle and timid Aries, and then there was Aigokeros, who was brutal and unscrupulous. That difference in personality was directly reflected in the results that were desired from them. If Aries was the one who obstructed the enemy to protect his friends, then Aigokeros bewildered the enemy just to drive them into a corner.
There was no meaning in debating over which one of them was better. To Lufas, they were both undoubtedly helpful in battle. However, the Goat—who excelled at harming his opponents—had the advantage when it came to fighting directly.
“—Grk!”
Aries shot fire out of both of his hands while flying every which way.
Hundreds or even thousands of incorporeal tentacles of darkness chased after him.
The tentacles were a truly troublesome interference spell that not only afflicted stun but also debuffed speed if one was caught by it even once. Aries, who didn’t possess any magic to counter it, could only continue to dodge.
If Lufas were the one fighting, she wouldn’t have had to care about some debuffs and could have just charged into the mass of tentacles, ripping them apart with her bare hands in order to brute force her way to Aigokeros to hit him. However, Aries couldn’t do that.
No. Rather than couldn’t, it would be more accurate to say that if Aries did that, he would lose. Lufas, who boasted extraordinary amounts of power, could fight through some obstruction or debuffs easily. However, such things were lethal to Aries. After all, Aigokeros’ stats were higher than his. If Aries were to suffer a debuff it would directly lead to his loss.
“WOOAAARRRGGHH!”
Aries descended towards the ground and punched it with his burning fist. The earth shook violently, as if the area were affected by a localized earthquake.
Earthquake was a skill which shook the earth and had been taught to Aries by Lufas. It was normally an earth-aligned skill, but it was quite useful, so Aries liked it.
The tentacles stopped all at once.
And in that moment, Aries quickly ran.
Even Aigokeros shouldn’t have been able to withstand several of Aries’ all-out attacks. So, Aries once again became an avatar of fire as he attempted to charge at his opponent. The rainbow-colored fire left a trail as Aries flew in a straight line at Aigokeros. Aries thrust his fist forward with all the strength he could muster...and punched through Aigokeros.
“...?!”
I...punched through him?
No... That wasn’t Aigokeros.
It was a fake—an imitation, a trap meant to ensnare pitiful prey lured out on a moonlit night. This was one of the moon element’s spells—“Shadow”—which used a virtual image to trick the opponent, much like shadows made more prominent in fading light.
If Lufas were present, she might’ve explained it by saying that it was just a spell that lowered the opponent’s accuracy.
“Cra— ...!”
“I’ve got you...Aries!”
Aigokeros swiftly struck at Aries, who displayed an opening right after his attack.
He used his unique skill “Deneb Algedi,” which condensed moon attribute mana and unleashed it at the user’s enemy. Its effect was to inflict large amounts of damage which could not be healed for a set period of time.
Aigokeros put his demon-like arms together, and darkness condensed between his palms.
I can’t dodge it, and I can’t put my guard up in time. My only choice is to try and withstand it!
“—!”
Aries shut his eyes tight and mentally readied himself to withstand the coming pain.
It’s fine. I’ll still be able to get up after taking this.
It’s going to be harsh since I’ll have taken this attack twice. Honestly, it’s awful that my evasion skills don’t work. But it’s not like I have no chance of turning this around.
“DIEEEEEEEE!!”
Wait, did he just tell me to die?!
Although that thought occurred to Aries, at the same time he also thought that it was very like Aigokeros.
He really is a demon. Aigokeros normally restrains that side of himself, but whenever he gets excited he has a bad habit of spouting violent lines like that, even towards his friends.
But of course I won’t die. I can’t. I need to withstand this and think of my next move. But a pair of black wings appeared in front of him at abnormal speed.
“You fool. What would come of killing your friends?”
With a single sentence, muttered exasperatedly, the figure stopped Deneb Algedi with one hand. Black sparks came in torrents, and the ground was gouged out from the aftershock. But the person who’d stopped the blow wasn’t fazed at all.
In this day and age, beings who could do something like that to an attack from one of the Twelve Heavenly Stars were in short supply.
One was the God of Creation—an omnipotent and all-powerful goddess no one was sure actually existed.
One was the Devil King—an abominable enemy who led the devilfolk.
One was the Vampire Princess—the strongest of the legendary Seven Heroes, a king of the night who still retained all her strength from the Era of Heroes.
And the last one was—the Black-Winged Conqueror.
“Hah!!”
Along with a loud shout, Lufas struck Aigokeros’ strongest skill and dispersed it. Her crimson cloak fluttered, and the scattered darkness spread to the surroundings, leaving behind trails of destruction.
But behind her, Aries was untouched. Lufas had completely defended against the attack.
“Wha—... Y-You are... Ohh, you are...!”
Aigokeros shouted with a trembling voice filled with delight.
As if to respond to his expectations, Lufas untied her hair and removed her glasses, removing her clumsy disguise. Aigokeros’ master was revealed, the very person he had been wanting to see again for two hundred years.
“Mm. We are glad to see you in good health. It has been a while, Aigokeros.” Lufas smiled at her demonic follower and laughed.
She looked exactly like the person Aigokeros swore loyalty to, completely unchanged from two hundred years ago.
In front of Lufas Maphaahl, her loyal servant trembled with joy.
＊ ＊
...Just what was my disguise even for...
Hello, I’m Lufas, and I’ve been disguising myself and cross-dressing and whatnot this entire time for no apparent reason.
Haha. Come on, laugh, Prince Vegetable.
I went out disguised and everything, but Aigokeros saw through it with a single look. But... Well... You know...
At any rate, I just barely made it. My hand kinda stings a bit, but it’s no big deal. I was more surprised by the fact that I’d just punched Aigokeros’ skill away.
I’ll say this clearly. I have no skill that does that.
Basically, my skills tended to be either attacks or self buffs. I figured my Alchemist and Acolyte skills were enough for support. I also felt that anything else I was lacking could be supplied by my party members or one of the Twelve Heavenly Stars. As for heaven-arts, I did have one that would defend against others’ magic, but I never had the free time to use it.
In other words, I simply punched the skill so hard just then that it went away.
This world really isn’t a game, though it’s similar to one. I could do things here that I couldn’t in the game, and there might also be things that were possible in the game but weren’t here. In the first place, in the game you couldn’t interrupt someone else’s attacks and stuff, either.
At any rate, as for Aigokeros, who was right in front of me... Yeah, he really does look sinister. Like the spitting image of what a person imagines a demon to be. And a person with that demonic form was currently knelt before me, worshiping me while soaked with tears and blubbering strange things.
What the heck? Is this some sort of new cult? Is it satanism? Wait, no. Actually, stop worshiping me. You’re a demon. Do you think I’m a demon king or something?
...Oh, I was something pretty similar.
“Ahh... Uhh, well. It seems We have worried you quite a bit.”
Even now, Aigokeros was crying rivers, creating a puddle of tears while making goat-like sounds.
Well, uhh... I’d been thinking of giving him a good punch when I saw him, but with how he was now I lost the will to do that. I knew that he’d been truly worried about me—or rather, Lufas—from the way he was crying so pitifully. There was no way I’d still want to hit him after seeing that.
I patted Aigokeros, whose cries were shaving away at my sanity, on the shoulder.
“We appreciate your loyalty. Raise your head, Aigokeros.”
“Y-Yes!!”
When I ordered Aigokeros to raise his head, for some reason he only looked upwards while keeping his back stooped.
I think I know what this is. I think he actually wants to remain kneeling, but since he has no legs, he’s stooping his back instead?
You know, Aigokeros, I’m grateful that you want to maintain your manners as my retainer, but that posture is actually rude.
“Aries must have already told you, but We do not wish anything upon this country or its people. We understand that you did this for our sake, but having this country fall would actually be a problem. Would you undo the Berserk status you affected the people with? Then We will pretend like this never happened.”
“Of course! If that is what you wish!”
Aigokeros lowered his head and started to mutter an incantation. He was most likely releasing the spell.
Meanwhile, Aries pouted. “He didn’t listen to me when I said it...”
“However, if I may say, Master Lufas. Even if I were to release my spell, the citizens would most likely not stop.”
“What?”
“In the first place, my spell only amplifies emotions that already exist. I simply gave the people a small push. So, I must conclude that even if I were to release the spell myself, they would not stop.”
...What? That’s bad, then.
While I tried my best not to let my unrest show, I was panicking heavily on the inside.
No, wait. It’ll be fine. It’s not time to panic yet. Libra will... Libra will definitely do something about this. Libra should have captured Jupiter by now, so if I shove him out in front of them we should be able to fix everything.
I can’t go out there myself, but it should be fine if I just leave the convincing to Dina or Libra.
“Well, We still have options. We just need to expose the one who was pulling the strings and have the people point their anger at him. Dina, can you handle convincing them?”
Dina popped out from the tree she had been hiding behind so as not to be caught up in the battle. “Of course. Leave it to me.”
She manages to cheekily secure a safe spot every single time, doesn’t she? I don’t know if I should call that hardy or something else...
Dina’s voice overflowed with confidence as she returned a thumbs up. “I, Dina, may be completely useless in battle, but my words can work wonders! Watch as I perfectly settle this incident that Aigokeros stirred up!”
“...Master Lufas.” After giving Dina a confused look, Aigokeros turned to me.
Ah, I recognize this pattern. It’s happened three times already. Of course I’d be used to it.
I was already predicting what Aigokeros would say next, but I decided to listen anyway. In any case, he’ll just say that he doesn’t know Dina—
“Is that woman your advisor? The one who always stealthily blended into the background?”
—What...did he just say...!?!
＊ ＊
Although there was some fuss with Aries and I being surprised that Aigokeros remembered Dina, we all managed to safely return to town, Aigokeros included.
It doesn’t really matter, but I had Aigokeros assume human form.
His assumed human form was that of an adult man in his prime clothed in black butler’s clothing and wearing a monocle. His hair was a dry white in color, similar to a goat’s, and worn slicked back. His height was around 175 cm.
Apparently Aigokeros could hide inside someone’s shadow, and he was currently inside mine.
Hey, you didn’t have that skill in the game, right?
After thinking about it carefully, I vaguely remembered that demon-type monsters had some lore that said that they could do so.
Oh, right. Let’s go ahead and confirm Aigokeros’ stats while I have the time.
【Twelve Heavenly Stars: Aigokeros】
【Level】: 800
【Race】: Lord Demon
【Attribute】: Moon
【HP】: 72000
【SP】: 10100
【STR (Strength)】: 3150
【DEX (Dexterity)】: 4148
【VIT (Vitality)】: 3453
【INT (Intelligence)】: 6183
【AGI (Agility)】: 4140
【MND (Mind)】: 5280
【LUK (Luck)】: 3000
Hm. Well, he’s subtly leaning towards being a magic type, I guess.
There’s no doubt that magic was his main means of combat, but he wasn’t heavily specialized toward it.
Anyway, his role was to obstruct the enemy with spells, so this was actually perfect for him because not being done in by the enemy was very important.
Also, I’d fixed Aries’ clothes. I knew that he was male, but his state was just too lewd. I couldn’t help but worry that someone would try to do something to him.
Now then, we’ve returned. But... What to do?
The Berserk status was already removed, and people were currently glaring at each other from opposite sides of the center castle. They should have long been free of Berserk, but the desire to kill in their expressions hadn’t abated at all.
Ahh, that’s no good. They’re making themselves Berserk.
However, the only reason they had yet to clash was probably the man standing in between them, holding them back.
His hair was green... No, it was closer to emerald green. He was normally good-looking, but that was ruined because he had gotten too skinny. He had clouded, blue eyes, and wore excessively expensive-looking white robes with a blue cloak on top. From a gap in that cloak protruded a single, large white wing.
He looked a lot more worn out than how I remembered him, but there was no mistake.
He was Merak, one of the Seven Heroes.
Just in case, I should check his stats.
【Merak】
【Level】: 500
【Race】: Heaven-Winged
【Attribute】: Wind
【Class Levels】
・Acolyte: 100
・Priest: 100
・Esper: 100
