A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Volume 4, page 3
The power of those from two hundred years ago was tremendous. Each and every one of them could have been substituted for an army of thousands. Each was basically an entire national army unto themselves.
Since the skill was canceled when not in combat, the Argonautai’s Monster Tamers and alchemists couldn’t use their skills to grow the army’s strength. Even so, the Argonautai could be considered Mizgarz’s strongest army. Even the Devil King knew of its power. That was exactly why he’d taken his army of monsters with him.
But their strength was just different! The monster army, which was certainly not weak, was getting steadily and one-sidedly destroyed!
“You are certainly strong, Devil King. As an individual, you probably rival my lord. Your monsters as well. They’re not weak. But that’s all.”
As lone units, the monster army wasn’t inferior, but the fight was still one-sided. The monsters were indeed grouped together, but they were no army. No matter how far you tried to stretch the definition, they were simply a “herd.” The monsters had no teamwork, and with one hundred monsters there would be one hundred individual fights.
But the heroic spirits were different. Even with one hundred of them, they fought as one. All one hundred of their powers converged, and they used their perfectly synced movements and loyalty of steel to face their enemies. Each one of them relied on the other in battle. They encouraged each other and inspired bravery among themselves in order to face strong opponents. With the Argonautai, one plus one was not two. It was ten, or even one hundred. That was why they were an army. They were the definition of united.
“You and your horde that knows nothing but straightforward clashes have no chance against us, who have united under Lufas Maphaahl’s banner! As a leader, you are far outmatched by our lord!”
Castor veritably slid through the air and slammed his weapon at Orm.
Orm’s arms and Castor’s anchor clashed several times, each accompanied by a shower of sparks. Orm’s black cloak flapped in the wind, and Castor’s white coat similarly billowed. Both men were like comets, speeding through the skies and clashing over and over. If the one-on-one battle continued, Orm would probably win.
A strider jumped in to help Castor, managing a shallow cut on Orm’s wrist while a sorcerer’s magic engulfed him.
“This is the end, Devil King! Scatter, heroes! This last hit will finish it!”
The heroic spirits heeded Castor’s orders and retreated all at once. Then, Castor unleashed the greatest Wood element attack spell he could manage. A storm was conjured, lightning struck, and behind Castor appeared the majestic, shining forms of fifty giant gods.
In this world, the one true god was Alovenus, but religion would always branch off and splinter depending on the times and the area, so the gods born from humanity’s imagination were endless. These conjured forms were all apparitions of gods that had been buried in the darkness of history in Alovenus’s name, their religions brought low as heretical cults, and their worshipers possibly even thrown to the demons. It was a summoning.
“Gods of Fifty Names!” With Castor’s cry, the fifty false gods attacked at once.
There was a main god of a mythos born from human imagination. There was also a war god and a god of the underworld. There was even a half-deity, one with human blood. Some false gods breathed fire, and some attacked with their fists. They brewed up storms, caused lightning to strike, and used their divine brilliance in other ways to trample the enemy.
Eventually, their attacks finished, and not a single monster was left standing. As for Orm, he was no longer there.
“So it’s over.”
Castor, who’d still been floating in the sky, dropped to the ground, exhausted, and looked around at the monsters. Those who had lost their lives would eventually return to the earth and dissolve into mana, which would circulate the world.
I’ve somehow managed to protect that which my little sister left me.
For two hundred years after his lord and master was defeated, Castor had been safeguarding this item using his ship and heroic spirits. It was a key to reach the heavens, which, if used incorrectly, could destroy the world. There was no way he could allow it to fall into the hands of the devilfolk. It was for his lord who would eventually return and her only.
While his little sister didn’t have any combat power herself, she was the Fairy Princess and possessed a mysterious ability. It had been she herself who’d told Castor that their master would one day return.
So, Castor had been ordered to protect the key. That was two hundred years ago.
I can only lead armies and fight, but my little sister definitely sees what will happen in the future. Either that, or our lord gave her an order before that battle.
That was why Castor was still here. He believed in his lord and his little sister, so he had continued to fight for two hundred straight years.
“Now then, I should move the ship before the next challengers come.”
Convinced of his victory, Castor made to return to the ship.
That’s when it happened. Suddenly, a black flash parted the clouds and sliced through the ship.
“What?!”
There was someone left?!
While being forced to watch his smoking ship sink, Castor readied his anchor and turned around. His heroic spirits also prepared for battle, each one readying their weapons. That was when they saw their enemy. It was big—too big—and it writhed beyond the smoke and clouds.
“Wha— What...?! Th-That’s...? No way... That’s impossible...!”
Just how long is it?! One kilometer? No.
Ten kilometers? No!
Its form was way too large and way too long... Long enough to wrap around all of Mizgarz...
The huge shadow pierced through the clouds to show its face, giving the heroic spirits a large dose of fear.
“W-Waaaaaaarrrrgghhh?!”
As an army, they had certainly won. Orm’s horde had been completely destroyed, but they weren’t aware... They didn’t know that some truly unfair and unimaginable beings existed in this world, or that devastatingly powerful individuals who could overwhelm entire armies existed. But they realized that fact today, just as they realized the real reason why the Seven Heroes had been defeated two hundred years ago...
4
We left Blutgang under the dwarves’s watch the day after I’d made the very foolish mistake of powering Libra up when she had needed nothing of the sort. Or rather...they sent us off. To be honest, I wanted to relax in Blutgang a little longer, but Scorpius was with us. I couldn’t very well have a country accommodate their aggressor for so long, so we had to leave quickly. The fact that they’d even let us stay for a full day was a huge favor. Normally, I’d expect to be rejected immediately.
As for Scorpius herself, she’d been almost surgically attached to my arm ever since she’d woken up.
I can feel you pressing your chest into my arm, but you realize that won’t work, right? We’re the same gender. Though I’m a guy on the inside.
Well, personally, I was fine with this as long as Scorpius was happy, since she’d been left alone so long that she’d gone berserk. This didn’t seem to fly with the other Twelve Heavenly Stars outside of Virgo, and the stares I could sense behind me were a little painful. Aries seemed unhappy, and Aigokeros was glaring so many daggers I could swear he was trying to curse someone to death. Libra had a gun in her hands the entire time, too, while Karkinos lamented loudly, “M E was only recently reunited with her tooooo!”
Our group was getting more and more chaotic, but Tanaka still drove along like normal today. Our next goal was to find Eros, or Pisces. We’d heard about him from Mizar. However, there was one problem. Neither Mizar nor we knew where Pisces was, not even Dina.
Hmm. What should we do about this?
“Aahhh, your expression while you’re deep in thought is wonderful too, Lady Lufas!” Scorpius said before tangling herself even further on my arm.
I don’t really mind, but please stop talking into my ear. It tickles.
Libra must have figured out what I was thinking, since she took her literal steel arm and grabbed Scorpius’s head to peel her off of me.
“Hey, that hurts! What do you think you’re doing?!”
“You will stop this now, Scorpius. I understand that you are happy to be reunited, but you are causing our master trouble. I will not allow you to continue on like this.”
“Ha! And why do I need your permission to nurture Lady Lufas’s and my love? If you keep on going, I’ll be happy to turn you into scrap just like I did with your little sisters, you know?”
“I strongly advise that you stop this. If it comes to a fight, you will be the one reduced to pieces.”
Sparks flew between Scorpius and Libra as they started a glaring contest with me in the middle.
Aries was panicking, unsure of what to do, while Aigokeros rolled up his sleeves, clearly wanting to jump in and participate. Karkinos showed no signs of stopping them. In fact, he was smiling excitedly while egging them on. Meanwhile, Virgo had already retreated to a place where she wouldn’t immediately become a casualty. As for Dina, she perfectly blended herself into the background.
“I have not!”
Okay, so “background” was just a joke. In reality, she was just sipping on tea in the corner, not minding any of this.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere surrounding Libra and Scorpius had gotten even more dangerous. Eventually, Scorpius’s hair started moving and pointed its tip straight at Libra. In response, Libra clenched her fist. The situation was about to explode.
Realizing how dangerous things were, I decided to step in between them myself. “Stop. Do you want to destroy Tanaka?”
“Mm... It seems your life has been saved, Scorpius.”
“You mean yours. Right, Libra?”
Somehow, I’d managed to stop their fight before it started, but they were still glaring at each other. Wow. These two don’t get along well. Aries and Aigokeros were quite friendly, but it seemed like not all of the Twelve Heavenly Stars got along, given the relationship between these two. Well, I suppose there had to be at least one.
For now, I decided to take the opportunity to check Scorpius’s stats.
【Twelve Heavenly Stars: Scorpius】
【Level】: 800
【Race】: Emperor Berserk Scorpion
【Attribute】: Fire
【HP】: 90000
【SP】: 8000
【STR (Strength)】: 4800
【DEX (Dexterity)】: 3105
【VIT (Vitality)】: 6570
【INT (Intelligence)】: 2100
【AGI (Agility)】: 3800
【MND (Mind)】: 3300
【LUK (Luck)】: 5500
Oh, she’s back to level 800. So, like, did she go back because the Goddess’s influence is gone? Or is it because her hatred disappeared after reuniting with me? It’s gotta be one of those.
At any rate, Scorpius’s HP had gone down because she’d lost some of her levels, and she’d become unable to withstand Brachium anymore. Yeah. Libra was right. If they fought, Libra’d win. Actually, it’s kind of unfair that she wins against both Scorpius and Aries, who she should have an elemental-type disadvantage to.
I was once again made to recognize how ridiculously powerful Brachium was. Just that single skill made Libra a top candidate for the strongest, though I suppose that was only natural.
However, Scorpius was also the same in the respect that stats didn’t tell her true strength. Her bread and butter lay in poison attacks, so in extreme terms her stats weren’t all that high. On top of that, her ATK stat had been boosted by Berserk in addition to the extra levels when we’d fought, so her stats right now seemed like they belonged to a completely different person. Scorpius also had high LUK, so she critted often. Without Brachium, Scorpius would probably defeat Libra.
I guess the most fearsome one of all is the Goddess for being able to power-up Scorpius until she could tank Brachium and beat Libra. The Seven Heroes got the same power-up two hundred years ago; of course I wasn’t able to win.
“So, Miss Lufas, what do we do now?”
“For now, We have no choice but to focus on those whose locations We know. If We remember correctly, there should be Stars in Alfheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.”
Out of those three, Alfheim should be the easiest to get to.
Alfheim, otherwise known as the fairy paradise, was actually inside humanity’s sphere of influence and was the closest geographically. On the other hand, Muspelheim was outside of humanity’s sphere, and Helheim was underground. Most importantly, Gemini of the Twins was in Alfheim. They were a unit of two people, which meant we’d get two people stronger when I got them back.
While I considered the situation, Tanaka suddenly stopped, cutting my ponderings short. What happened? It’s rare for Tanaka to stop by itself.
“We stopped. What happened?”
“What’s wrong, Tanaka? Did something happen?”
“Y E S, B O S S.”
I looked out the front window. A huge crowd of people was around a kilometer ahead of us. It didn’t seem like they’d noticed us, but a steady stream of beastfolk, humans, elves, and others were all heading towards the same place. Looking up at the sky, I even saw heaven-winged heading for the spot. It was obvious that they’d come for some sort of shared purpose.
“Dina, is something happening up ahead?”
“Uh, given this area and their direction... Ah, it’s Draupnir.”
“The beastfolk country? But there are other races here too.”
Dina only cocked her head and hummed in reply to my question. Apparently she wasn’t sure either.
Scorpius stepped up in exchange. “Ah, that’s because the country is holding a hunting festival nearby, my lady. It’s a truly meaningless contest of strength between a bunch of nobodies. Monster Tamers release a bunch of monsters at once, and people compete to see who can hunt the most.”
“Oh? It’s surprising you knew about this.”
“Yes, well... After I destroyed Blutgang, I was planning to use this hunting festival to spread monsters throughout this country to attack it.”
“Oh...”
Damn. It’s seriously a good thing we managed to get Scorpius back when we did. If I hadn’t, she might have pulled off the worst hat trick ever and destroyed not only Hrotti but Blutgang and Draupnir too.
Scorpius wrapped herself around my arm as if she weren’t feeling any guilt over it. She probably wasn’t, actually. When she looked up from that position, she happened to see Dina. “By the way, who’s the blue one? And also that white one.”
“Now?!”
“The girl with the white wings is Virgo. She’s inherited the position of Maiden in the Twelve Heavenly Stars. Parthenos is dead, you see. The blue one is Dina Sceneria, the ‘Background.’”
“Hey, wait a second! Don’t just casually slip in those lies, Libra! I don’t have any such family name!”
“Did we have a ‘Background’ Star? Well, whatever. Nice to meet you, Background.”
“Please stop calling me that!” Dina looked over at me, half in tears.
I clearly understood from that look that she was silently begging me to do something. A beautiful girl’s tears were a powerful thing that aroused a protective desire, but even more powerful was my mysterious desire to tease Dina. So I decided to do something...
“Yes, it’s true that a shining star can’t be in the background. So why not be the space that brings out a Star’s shine...? A background is also necessary for a tale of conquest...”
“Miss Lufas?!”
“Oh, isn’t that great, Background? In a sense, you’re more important than us Stars, you know? You’re space itself.”
“But I’m not happy at all!”
It was about time for her half-in-tears to become full-on tears, so I decided to stop the teasing there. Well, it did seem like Scorpius had actually just misunderstood.
“Still, a hunting festival...”
To be completely honest, the festival held absolutely no interest for me. It felt kind of self-aggrandizing, but Scorpius was right. At our level, a festival like this was not worth it. It was kind of like a no-life gamer who’d perfected a game watching newbies diligently grinding. Honestly, if I had time to waste on the festival, it’d be put to better use just going around trying to find and loot items. I didn’t even have an ounce of desire to participate.
I didn’t know how big Draupnir was, but with my speed, it wasn’t impossible for me to go around the entire capital and clean up all the monsters myself. The same went for the rest of my party. If any of them participated, I could just see the overkill in the near future. But I was still considering allowing that overkill to happen.
“This seems like a worthy distraction. Virgo, you participate.”
“Huh? Me?!”
Virgo was the lowest leveled of all of us. Even then, she was still level 300—an incredible amount of strength for this current era. It would still be overkill for this event, but I wanted her to build some confidence, even though I felt a little guilty towards the other participants.
Virgo herself probably hadn’t realized just how strong she was. After all, she’d spent her entire life holed up in a forest being raised by Parthenos, and when she finally left, she was surrounded by the Twelve Heavenly Stars. She had completely gotten it into her head that she was weak.
There was a saying that went “a frog in a well knows nothing of the ocean.” Originally, this was meant to say that a frog, or person, who was proud to know everything in their little well of a world didn’t know of anything beyond it, like the wide ocean. Nothing in that saying specified how big the well was, though. That frog could very well have been a monster over a meter in size. However, the frog in the well still didn’t have any means to realize just how big and how strong it was.
This applied to Virgo perfectly. I needed to get weak frogs from outside the well lined up in front of her to show her just how strong she was. I didn’t want her to get full of herself. But at the very least, I wanted her to start having enough self-confidence to match her strength. In my mind, that was one of the duties given to me when Parthenos entrusted me with her child.
