EP.87 25-2. Everyone needs a headache pill.
***
A corridor where a chandelier was illuminating the room. Several distinctive people were sitting in that space.
“So Eike. Why did you gather us here..?”
“Head, if you called me here for something trivial, I’ll kill you.”
A girl with impressive blue hair and a man with red hair opened their mouths towards the gentleman with the monocle,
“Hah, that’s why you’re children from outside the world. So, Demon Lord of Omniscience. What do you have to say?”
“A new hero has appeared, so I called you.”
A woman wearing a magician’s hat and a person wearing a long black robe joined the story and talked.
“That’s about our husband! Head!”
“Yes, his name is Licht. No matter how much I search with Omniscience, his past doesn’t come out.”
“Then it’s certain that he’s a summoned hero? How long has it been since a hero? I’ll loosen up my body a little….”
“No, Finn. You shouldn’t step out.”
Finn, a demon lord, showed his competitiveness towards Licht while cracking his knuckles, but Head shook his head and dissuaded him.
“We don’t know how far our powers will work. It’s dangerous if our abilities are known to others.”
“He’s the one who even saw through my lies!”
Magic Hat blushed and twisted her hair with one hand, wearing a bright expression as if she was talking about her lover.
“Originally, the way to gain an advantage in the information war is to not reveal the cards you have.”
He sighed a little and said why he was stopping the demon lord named Finn,
“..Holy Sword, does he possess the Holy Sword?”
A man who felt a sense of incongruity in that appearance. Dark Cloud, who had antlers, asked. Then the gentleman wearing the monocle raised the corners of his lips slightly and continued to speak.
“I don’t think he has it. In the end, if he had the Holy Sword, Tarhoon would have given it to him, but I didn’t see such a sign in the prophecy.”
“..Then it’s a similar case to Dennis. He used magic to block his power.”
A blue-haired woman with a ponytail answered in a slightly small voice to Head’s statement,
“Intinium. You said it well. That blue hair similar to you, right?”
“Hehe.. That’s right. Finn oppa. Thank you for the compliment.”
The two men and women, who looked like siblings, put together the information they knew and agreed that Licht was similar to the Ten Greats named Dennis.
“If he doesn’t have the Holy Sword, he’ll eventually have no choice but to be defeated by the Demon Lord. Because he lacks the qualities to be possessed as a hero.”
“..Is that really the case? Head?”
“What is it, Magic Hat. Do you have something else to say?”
“No, no! This side will be more fun!”
Unlike what Licht knew, a total of 5 Demon Lords were sharing their opinions and devising a way to defeat him here.
“I will gather the ‘Apostle of Gluttony’ and the minimum number of hero cultists and attempt to invade Grand Hearts Academia.”
“It’ll be hard to break through there because of Laplace, right? Shall I lend you my mask again?”
“No, according to Omniscience, it’s more likely to enter fairly.”
Head took out a book from his pocket and saw that this method was written to be the most likely. The content was written as 99%.
“There’s no disruption to fate. First, block Drake and Dennis and then.”
“..Is kidnapping Licht and the Princess the best option, Head.”
The magician took out a card from her pocket. It was a tarot card that said Fool. An insulting remark to Head to anyone who saw it.
“Yes. Magic Hat. I’ve been annoyed by you laughing since earlier, do you have something to say?”
The Demon Lord of Truth had been looking at her and smiling since earlier, which was very annoying, but Head took out a red revolver from his pocket and loaded it.
“Drake’s ultimate skill is annoying, but Dennis at the current time shouldn’t have mastered three-dimensional magic circles. There’s a chance of winning.”
He finished talking briefly to the Demon Lords. He suddenly thought that if he talked any more, he might be seen through in reverse.
“..This is the 7th time.”
He spoke briefly, looking at the gun with only one bullet missing out of the 8-shot magazine. It was made to look like he was doing a Caucasus roulette.
“If it doesn’t work out, there’s one last chance left.”
He gave a bitter smile while looking at it.
“There will be no deviation in fate. Hero of Will.”
An expression that he was now fed up with this. The sound of him leaving the Demon King’s Castle echoed in the corridor.
***
The afternoon at Grand Hearts Academia was peaceful. It was so quiet that it was worrisome.
“Swordsmanship is the study of will. In the end, if there’s the will to ‘cut’, there’s nothing you can’t cut!”
A man with short yellow hair and many scars on his face from swords. The Grand Sword Master who could be said to be similar to me with burns.
“Because people’s will can’t be broken! Euhahaha!!”
It was Drake, my first swordsmanship teacher. This person was a hidden job changer who didn’t even come out in the data mining.
“Even armor made of orichalcum or adamantium!”
He stood in front of a wooden doll wearing armor and drew his sword. The silver steel reflected the light.
“I can cut it!”
He immediately cut down and there was a swish sound. Drake was slicing it as if cutting vegetables.
“..Licht too. It was the same.”
“Yes..? What are you talking about. Mardol.”
Mardol was whispering right next to me while watching it. Was she talking about the time I took off her glass armor?
“My body…. You wanted to see it that much. Licht.”
“Stop saying things that people will misunderstand if they hear them..”
“..You’re really a pervert.”
“...”
I wrote a workaround because I couldn’t break the Masterpiece.
The golden eyes in the glass helmet were thin crescents, as if there were still some grudges left. It was my karma, so should I accept it?
“Thus, among the swordsmanship I can use, there’s even a technique that can cut off the ‘concept’ of a dragon!”
Drake mentioned his ultimate skill, Dragon Slayer. He looked quite confident as he proudly hit his chest with his hand.
‘Ultimate skills that can oppose the Demon Lord are basically intertwined with concepts.’
The same goes for Dennis’s three-dimensional magic circle. The magic circle implemented in ‘three dimensions’, surpassing the limits of the concept of ‘plane’, is effective even against the Demon Lord.
“So don’t just rely on mana, find a way. Find your own strengths and cut off the world with them!”
He went back to the podium and continued the story while hitting it with a bang.
“Healthy mana resides in a healthy body. Everyone!!”
While shouting the lines he often said,
“It’s Drake’s dream that a hero who can defeat the Demon Lord will be born among the students who graduate from this academy!”
He was looking at the future hope in front of him with an expression of guilt about the demon lords they hadn’t finished off, reciting his simple wish.
“He’s strong-willed, so that’s why he beat Magic Hat. Licht.”
“..Maybe. I was lucky.”
That was when. She listened to Drake’s words and spoke to me again. I honestly went in with the determination to die, so it was half right.
Demon Lord Slayer is basically done with the determination to die. It’s disadvantageous to use in situations where it’s not a 1-on-1 battle.
Even if I defeated one, if other enemies appeared additionally and continued the battle….
‘I would have died from time out.’
My head throbbed as I recalled the past memories.
I felt like I was missing something. What was the sense of incongruity. The memory of when I went out for some fresh air at the festival was vague.
‘I definitely ran into someone at the cocktail bar….’
Who was it. I couldn’t remember his face like sand slipping out of my hand. It was someone I had seen a lot somewhere.
“Mardol. Do you know what I did last night?”
“..When you went to get some fresh air?”
“Yes, that’s when. My memory is vague.”
“..Maybe. You were staggering.”
I didn’t have any memories of staggering. Think. Who did I meet?
Who do I have to meet for this sense of incongruity to remain in my memory, and for information to be inconsistent and contradictory….
Ah, could it be.
‘..Demon Lord of Omniscience?’
Taang─.
The moment I finished thinking. A single gunshot rang out from outside the academy.
[The defensive barrier surrounding the academy has been broken! Students, I repeat. This is a real situation….]
Immediately afterwards, Laplace’s voice came out on the broadcast throughout the school to announce the urgency, but the students didn’t move as if no one had heard.
“..Mardol. Did you hear that?”
“I heard it. Licht.”
The glass knight seemed okay because of the influence of the Masterpiece, and I immediately jumped out of my seat to ask about the situation to Ariel and Kainel.
“Helmet-ssi. What’s going on? That broadcast just now..!”
“..Licht, don’t tell me it’s what I know?”
Kainel activated the Holy Sword of Light and immediately put up a barrier around the magician. Fortunately, both of them weren’t affected by the power.
‘Think. Lee Soo-hyun. A situation similar to the final battle of <Knight Heart>.’
The only time he used the Power of Ignorance in all directions like this was when he was carrying out his plan.
“Drake!! This might sound crazy, but listen!! The Hero Cult will be attacking soon! The Demon Lord of Omniscience….”
I shouted towards Drake, who was holding his sword and guarding his surroundings as if he felt something was wrong. It was impossible to even guess who would die.
‘It’s different from when it was Magic Hat..!’
Clang. The sound of glass breaking rang out, and people who covered their faces and bodies with white clothes broke into the academy’s auditorium.
A crest with four swords crossed in a # shape. A cult following the four corrupted heroes. It was the Hero Cult.
“Death to the false heroes!!”
“Glory to the Hero Cult!! Grab Drake’s ankle!!”
“I’ll burn this body!!”
A person who set fire to his body ran towards him, and Drake clicked his tongue and immediately cut down the Hero Cultist with his sword.
“These guys haven’t changed from 10 years ago or now….”
He wiped the blood off his face and looked at the other enemies. He glanced at the enemies who had infiltrated among the students.
“Drake Style 1st Form, Shadow Slash…. No,”
「Light and Dark Slash.」
He briefly closed his eyes and performed a horizontal slash. Then, only the bodies of the Hero Cultists wearing white clothes were cut off accurately.
The entire auditorium was cut off in one move, but not a single hair on the academy’s students was injured. A momentary decision. Restrained swordsmanship itself.
‘Drake wasn’t affected by ignorance.’
As expected of the Ten Greats. There was no incident of students dying. He was blocking most of the incoming quantity, and
“Something’s wrong. Licht. Why are only us and the professor okay..?”
“That’s right, Licht. Ariel is trying to release the magic, but she can’t!”
I blocked the Hero Cultists who couldn’t come in from throwing weapons at the students with Mardol. She even used Mirror Shield to restore the broken glass.
“..It’s not magic.”
Even though it was an emergency situation like this, the people other than Drake and us 4 were sitting still as if they didn’t know what was happening.
“It’s the Power of Ignorance.”
Peacefully, without recognizing anything. They were just sitting in their seats and looking at the distant mountains. The power to completely neutralize people’s intellect like this. What is he doing this for?
There was only one guy who could come here with such a crazy idea.
‘Head Eike.’
Perhaps I had met him at the cocktail bar at the festival. He wasn’t trying to neutralize Drake, but to get him to focus on saving lives.
‘Are you coming out too.’
His personality of clinging to life was well revealed. It was disadvantageous to use the Fallen Route Glitch now. A situation where I don’t know what the Demon Lord of Omniscience has prepared.
I had to stab his weakness with a card he didn’t know to win. Even in the original game, referring to the save file,
‘Because he’s a guy who plans player countermeasures accordingly.’
A high-level algorithm. Or should I call it a leveling system. A unique demon lord who had to be attacked differently as the player got stronger.
“Disciple. Run away. The Hero Cult is….”
“I can’t do that. Drake.”
A headache came. I thought while looking at the fallen Hero Cultist. He must be in control of this situation too.
“If Head Eike has come, he’ll be aiming for me.”
A death god who was summoned as a hero from another world. The Demon Lord of Omniscience’s steps were heading towards the academy.