Day 28 – The dungeon, The lowest floor.?


    ?


    Dark, pitch-black, Stygian shadow??


    ?


    Simply black, dark, darkness. Yes, humanoid-shaped darkness.?


    ?


    It’s not simply black, it is a darkness that absorbs all the light.?


    ?


    Though if I, who is wearing a mantle with a hood, were to call it suspicious, it probably would get angry.?


    ?


    I mean, people always get angry at me, so that’s kind of expected at this point.?


    ?


    So the shadowy person will probably get angry.?


    ?


    「Appraisal.」?


    ?


    Name: —


    Race: Dullahan, Lich, No Life King.


    AGE 　–


    Lv 　27


    Job: Emperor of the Faraway Labyrinth?


    ?


    HP　　　　 　–


    MP　　　　　 —


    ViT　　　　　１７９


    PoW　　　　　２５９


    SpE　　　　　２９１


    DeX　　　　　２９７


    MiN　　　　　２９７


    InT　　　　　３１５


    Luｋ　　　　　 ９９?


    ?


    Martial Arts: ？？？？？？？？？？


    Magic ？？？？？？？？？？


    Skills: ？？？？？？？？？？


    Titles: ？？？？？？？？？？


    Unknown: ？？？？？？？？？？


    Equipment: ？？？？？？？？？？?


    ?


    I can appraise it? Both the name and the job. Wait, it has a job? Even though I don’t? And on top of that Emperor. Emperor Class??


    ?


    I can tell that it is strong, it’s only level 27, but it’s extremely strong.?


    ?


    Both PoW and ViT are not at the level of a goblin emperor, but everything else is overwhelming.?


    ?


    On top of that, it has three races??


    ?


    The elemental attribute is surely Darkness.?


    ?


    Dullahan is supposed to be a kind of a headless knight. On a horse. But it has a head??


    ?


    Lich is a mage-type job. So something like a Magician or a Sage or even more than that.?


    ?


    No Life King is an undead king. Undying.?


    ?


    And the worst part is Question Mark-san.?


    ?


    I can’t see his martial arts, magic, or skills.?


    ?


    And it even has titles and Unknown.?


    ?


    Smells of cheat abilities.?


    ?


    Probably, even together the geeks wouldn’t be able to win. It is simply the strongest.?


    ?


    Not in a way of Cheat Hunter like Whatever-kun, but actually strong.?


    ?


    It’s not like it is strong because of this or that. It’s just strong.?


    ?


    It’s strong just as it is, but it also has 「?」.?


    ?


    My 「Staff?」is the same. Even with high-level appraisal, it gives 「?」.?


    ?


    In other words, his skills, magic, techniques, and equipment are all super strong.?


    ?


    And what is the most troublesome, is that it can fight but at distance and in close combat, is fast and has wits.?


    ?


    And for a finisher, it is also agile and has luck.?


    ?


    Well, my luck is still stronger, but that’s how it always goes. This one is strong……?


    ?


    Even so, I walk.?


    ?


    I haven’t stopped since I opened the door.?


    ?


    I approach it.?


    ?


    It has characteristics of Lich and No Life King.?


    ?


    I obviously will lose in a ranged battle.?


    ?


    I’m almost certain that it has some kind of immortality and magic immunity!?


    ?


    Though I also don’t feel like I can win versus a dullahan.?


    ?


    But I at least will be able to fight.?


    ?


    Even if it has immunity to physical damage, I’m sure I will be able to club it to death.?


    ?


    Merely looking at it standing with a sword in hands, I can tell that it’s strong. Its strength is in another dimension to mine.?


    ?


    It’s scary and looks like a grim reaper itself, but at the same time, its standing figure has beauty to it.?


    ?


    Walking all the way up to it and looking into the eye sockets of the skull, I see nothing but darkness.?


    ?


    As we were staring at each other, the distance between us completely disappeared.?


    ?


    A slash so fast that even 『God Eye』managed to catch only the afterimage. Simply fast, and absolutely beautiful.?


    ?


    No wind-up, no pre-motion, no excess, no wavering, nothing useless or extra, a simple movement.?


    ?


    Just a slash.?


    ?


    Nothing other than that, a cutting attack with nothing extra to it.?


    ?


    This is what is called an extreme speed.?


    ?


    Because there is nothing but a slash, only its end result.?


    ?


    When it began moving the cut was already finished.?


    ?


    There is no beginning, no motion, only the end of it.?


    ?


    The start of the slash and the end of the slash happen exactly at the same time.?


    ?


    『God Eye』probably can see the future.?


    ?


    Just a little bit.?


    ?


    Just a tiny bit.?


    ?


    And with that very little, I counter the slash.?


    ?


    Since I can’t see it.?


    ?


    Since when I can see it the slash is already over.?


    ?


    I just keep swinging.?


    ?


    Swinging to fend off the attacks.?


    ?


    Since it is the No Life King, it must have an infinite time.?


    ?


    So we keep endlessly exchanging blows, eternally crossing the weapons, perpetually parrying, there is probably no end to it.?


    ?


    I don’t even know how much time passed already, but it doesn’t matter.?


    ?


    Because the now stretches without a limit.?


    ?


    But unfortunately, I am limited.?


    ?


    Eventually, I will run out of stamina.?


    ?


    Eventually, I will run out of mana.?


    ?


    Eventually, my mind won’t be able to hold.?


    ?


    Eventually, I will lose consciousness.?


    ?


    But until then I’m limitless.?


    ?


    I parried so many times that I lost count.?


    ?


    I don’t even have time to blink.?


    ?


    An eternity of clashing swords.?


    ?


    An instant that those clashes last.?


    ?


    But there is an eternity in that instant.?


    ?


    There has to be.?


    ?


    My physical strength doesn’t matter at all.?


    ?


    I slash the moment I think about it.?


    ?


    I slash the moment I feel that.?


    ?


    It’s not the speed of my body.?


    ?


    It’s the speed of thought.?


    ?


    An impossible speed.?


    ?


    If I used my muscles then I surely wouldn’t be able to keep up with this speed.?


    ?


    Pull my own strings using the speed of thought.?


    ?


    My speed has nothing to do with this.?


    ?


    My speed is limited only by the speed of thought.?


    ?


    As I kept endlessly exchanging blows, I noticed that this skull has no thirst for blood.?


    ?


    Meanwhile, we continue our endless exchange.?


    ?


    The source of this bloodthirst must be the darkness, the slashes come from it.?


    ?


    Meanwhile, a perpetual fight continues.?


    ?


    This skull should have been able to kill me. Easily. Many, many, many, many times. Any moment it wanted.?


    ?


    Meanwhile, I unceasingly exchange blows.?


    ?


    The darkness is fading away??


    ?


    Just a bit.?


    ?


    Just slightly.?


    ?


    Just a little.?


    ?


    But it surely does.?


    ?


    Is it the wooden staff? Scraping and shredding it off, the staff is absorbing it??


    ?


    It’s scraping off the darkness attribute of undead? Does it have a Holy attribute??


    ?


    But as we exchange blows.?


    ?


    As our weapons clash.?


    ?


    As we slash.?


    ?


    As we cross our weapons.?


    ?


    As we attack.?


    ?


    Eventually, and I don’t know how long it took,?


    ?


    But it completely disappeared.?


    ?


    I survived the darkness, but.?


    ?


    I won’t be able to withstand a slash from the skull.?


    ?


    The slash from the skull is…… Eh??


    ?


    ?


    ?


    ??


    ?


    I finally understood it.?


    ?


    The skull was waiting here all this time for someone to come and kill it.?


    ?


    It was waiting so that sometime, someday, someone will come and put an end to it.?


    ?


    Otherwise, I would’ve been decapitated without being able to put up a fight at all. Even though it was manipulated by darkness, it didn’t submit to it and kept resisting the darkness.?


    ?


    It kept struggling all this time, waiting for someone who will be able to kill both of them.?


    ?


    「……Tame.」?


    ?


    The skull had no intentions to attack since the very beginning.?


    ?


    That’s why I could contend with it.?


    ?


    Because the skull didn’t want to fight.?


    ?


    That’s why I was able to match its blows.?


    ?


    Because the skill had no will to live.?


    ?


    That’s why……?


    ?


    I tamed it.?


    ?


    I didn’t want to kill it.?


    ?


    For some reason, I thought that I shouldn’t kill it.?


    ?


    It was finally free from the darkness.?


    ?


    So I at least would like to let it out from here.