Three Red Puppets that had been aiming their blades at us were engulfed in black flames and vanished.
What in the world… Agaro slowly rises to his feet.
His red hair has grown longer, and his black horns have thickened, lengthened, and branched into four.
But they haven't grown unchecked. They've stopped at a reasonable size.
And one of his eyes was a burning red.
Moreover, the Flametongue he held had grown longer and wider, wreathed in pitch-black flames.
Tongues of black fire.
"What… what's… going on…"
"That's what I've been saying this whole time! Shut up already, you bonehead!"
Agaro scowled and raised Flametongue, slashing at Hagan.
"Don't underestimate me. You fool!"
Hagan unleashed two blades of red wind in a cross pattern.
The massive red wind boasted the power to scour the earth and summon death — a gale of annihilation.
But that red tempest of death was swallowed up and consumed by the ever-spreading black flames, vanishing without a trace.
"Take this!"
The blade of Flametongue closed in on Hagan's head.
"Ngh!?"
Hagan layered dozens of red winds into a shield and blocked Flametongue.
But that too lasted only an instant. It was shattered with ease.
Hagan grunted and leaped backward, conjuring a great scythe of red wind, which he gripped with both hands.
"Don't you run, Your Majesty!!"
Agaro. He charged in with terrifying force.
"This is absurd..."
Hagan caught Agaro's charge with his great scythe.
But from there, Agaro assaulted him wildly, like a frenzied red beast, and the great scythe was finally burned through.
"—Doom Sword: Karma Demon—"
In the blink of an eye, Flametongue cleaved Hagan clean in two.
"GUOOOOOOOOOOOH"
Split in half, Hagan screamed as he vanished in a burst of black flames.
Hagan was defeated.
Then Agaro gave a smug "serves you right" grin and collapsed on the spot.
"Agaro!?"
Ngh—my body won't move!?
I'd thought defeating Hagan would let me move again, but I was wrong.
The only one still mobile, the Witch, went to check on the fallen Agaro.
"Honestly, honestly. You really do love doing reckless things."
The Witch gave a wry smile and poured something over Agaro. Some kind of liquid.
Agaro's hair shrank before my eyes. At the same time, his black horns returned to normal.
"Witch. What about Agaro...?"
"Don't worry, don't worry. You overdid it a bit, but nothing life-threatening at this level."
"At this level..."
"Now then, now then, let's leave this drunkard be. Wof, young man — this is where the real fight begins."
"The real fight?"
"Nah?"
"Wafu."
But I beat him — so why? The Witch looked down at me.
"Now then, Wof, young man. Any idea why you can't move?"
"Not a clue."
"Um, um, uh, why can't he move?"
"Hmm hmm. That's because — oh dear, we're out of time, aren't we?"
'Fufufufufufufuffff... Foolish.'
Hargan's voice echoed through the void, and red wind gathered, taking Hargan's form.
"Hargan...!?"
"Just as I thought, just as I thought — he turned into wind. Or perhaps he has some kind of Relic or legendary that lets him do that."
Did he turn into wind and escape?
Revival and all that — something about it doesn't quite add up. He's undead, so is he immortal?
Maybe turning into wind is more natural for him. What even is "natural"?
'Foolish. I was mildly surprised, but as expected, this power is beyond what a human should possess. Learn the fate of fools. But I shall not let my guard down again.'
Hargan's body swelled up and bulged.
His arms had multiplied to four, and his yellow robes now resembled a scarf and hood.
As expected, his skeletal body was fully exposed, and he'd gained cloven hooves for legs as well.
He looked something like Saturnus.
But the wound in his skull remained unchanged. Behind the hollows of the bone, a dull red orb floated, glowing faintly.
Red wind swirled and coalesced into a massive scythe.
"I am the wind of death. The wind that carries death. I am Hargan, the King who commands the wind of death."
He'd turned into some weird-looking Grim Reaper, basically.
"Well now, this would be the third form, eh?"
"Foolish witch."
Hargan's hand turned to wind and seized the witch by the throat.
"Ngh...!?"
His other hand grabbed Agaro by the neck.
He lifted them both off the ground.
"The Witch! Agaro!"
The witch went limp.
"GrrrRRRRAAAHHH, let them go!!"
Juicy bared his fangs and howled, his fur, ears, and tail turning completely white as he—
St
and
Up
H
i
t
.
«Oh. That form... I've seen it somewhere before.»
It was the Pseudo-Divine Relic, Fenrir — the divine white wolf of breathtaking beauty.
It fixed its glistening purple eyes on Haghan.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! I won't forgive you!"
«The pseudo-divine vessel of the White God Wolf... Tasan, is it? How foolish. That power has a time limit.»
Five minutes. The cooldown is one day.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! I'll kill you before that!"
«How foolish. Tasan's woman — have you forgotten there's a hostage?»
Juicy-sensei moved. In an instant, she was upon Haghan.
Before he could react, she severed both of Haghan's bone arms with a swipe of her claws, grabbed the witch and Agaro, and retreated.
But just before that, Haghan had brought out a Red Puppet wielding a red wind spear.
The Red Puppet aimed the tip of its spear at my back.
............
I mean, he was pulling the same trick again. I was being completely underestimated by Haghan.
His words, his conduct — nothing about Haghan befits a king.
He was a petty little piece, no better than Pierce. Village chief would suit him just fine.
Fine. That's fine. But there I was, unable to move when the witch and Agaro were in danger.
No — I was ashamed of not having moved. Deeply ashamed.
Agaro's actions had surprised me, and now I was hesitating because I remembered my own high-handed behavior from earlier.
None of that was an excuse.
I still had no idea why I couldn't move, but I figured out a way I could.
Juicy got them both back in the blink of an eye.
Haghan was startled, but then he grinned. Of course he would.
I was his hostage. Or rather, I had been.
"Foolish. Did you forget that even if you take those two back, you still have a pitiful, fragile imbecile here who can't move at all under my wind?"
"Wof— wuf. Lord Wof!?"
Wind? So that's what it was. No — what did that even mean?
Had I been affected because I touched the red wind? Was this what happened when you got hit by it directly?
"This is the end for a fool. Go and be an offering to death."
"W-wuf— Lord Wof!!!"
The Red Puppet drove its red wind spear into me with full force, but the tip vanished halfway through.
"What...?"
The Red Puppet disappeared as well.
"Wuf— Lord Wof?"
"The Red Puppet... vanished?"
Haghan couldn't understand what had happened. He was wide open.
I pushed myself up from the prone position, drawing my knees under me, and raised my hand.
"Phantasmagoria."
Countless Banish spells assault Haghan.
"NUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!?"
Haghan blocks with the red wind.
The flowing shield of wind absorbs the countless Banish spells.
"..."
"DO NOT LOOK DOWN ON MEEE!"
Haghan flung all four of his arms wide with tremendous force.
The red wind barrier shattered, and I barely dodged.
I sprang to my feet and reached to draw Agaro's knife—
"Na!"
"Dagaar!?"
Dagaar flew into my hand of its own accord. Then the Dagaar knife transformed.
It was simple, with no sword guard, but it became more knife-like as the blade extended.
"Don't screw with me. What's with that appearance!? Purple hair and eyes, you say... Unforgivable. You fool! You fool! You fooool! You stupid stupid stupid stupiiiiiid fool!!!!"
Haghan, consumed by rage, swung the great scythe of red wind.
I evaded calmly and carefully.
"Fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool fool AAAAHHH!!"
As the great scythe was swung wildly, blades of red wind shot out in every direction.
I dodged left and right with the horizontal and vertical steps the witch had drilled into me during training, evolving them into something practical, and pressed forward.
Dodging like this, I thought to myself, it kind of reminds me of the death games from my past life.
Come to think of it, Hargan's bizarre form and the techniques he uses — those are similar too.
That doesn't mean this world is a game, though.
My past life's memories include recollections of worlds that were similar.
This world is harsh and cruel.
The value of human life is desperately low, death is always close at hand, and life walks right beside it.
No matter how many memories I carry from my past life, it doesn't amount to much.
And yet it's far more fun, precious, warm, and brimming with hope.
Yes — always brimming with hope.
Dodging and advancing, I closed in on Hargan.
"Na!"
"Huh? What's that? You want me to use Banish?"
"Na!"
"Are you sure?"
"Na!"
"Got it. Dagaa. Let's go!"
"Na!"
I enchanted my Dagaa knife with Banish.
The blade blazed with a dazzling purple light. I closed the distance in one rush.
"You fool!"
— "Graaaaah!"
Dodged the red windstorm, evaded, dodged, deflected, dispersed it— and it was right in front of me.
*'Foolish. Your attacks are useless. Imbecile!'*
Hargan conjured a barrier of red wind. This was what I'd been waiting for.
I launched myself forward with all my strength, raising the Dagaa knife just like Agaro-san had shown me.
I poured everything into this single strike.
"Banish Slash!!!"
It cut only Hargan's red wind barrier.
And the instant it sliced through, a single gleaming arrow pierced deep into Hargan's fractured skull.
It struck the murky red orb of light within.
*'Gaaaaaaargh!?!'*
Hargan let out a terrible shriek as the murky red orb of light cracked and shattered.
*'O-o-oka-a-ana-na-na-na-a-a-m-e-e-e!'*
Instantly, Hargan began to slowly crumble away, not into red wind, but into ash.
That ash drifted away like white petals on a gentle breeze.
This time, I had truly defeated Hargan, the King of the Wind of Death.
"...Hah."
I let out a breath. Then, noticing the Dagaa knife hanging limply, I realized something.
Wait, the gauntlet!?
The color of the Gauntlet of the Quiet Saint was the same, but its shape had subtly changed.
More than that, it was asymmetrical.
The right one was split down the middle, cinched together with metal rings.
The left one extended all the way up to cover the shoulder.
Could this be because I'd become Generous? Did it come with that kind of change?
"...Oh, right. The Gauntlet of the Quiet God."
Juicy slung her bow over her back and headed over.
She stopped short. What was that about? I'd braced myself for her to come charging at me.
"Um, um, um... Wof-sama. Are you... Wof-sama?"
"Yes. It's me."
Oh, right. Right now I had purple hair and purple eyes.
I'd become Generous. And I'd been using the Still One form too.
But Juicy didn't know any of that.
"Um... is that form Generous? Wof-sama?"
"...Yes."
"Um, um, um, Wof-sama! A new Relic has been created for me! It's called Genesis Combination!"
Just as I'd expected.
Complete synchronization meant the other party must have had the same Relic.
I thought back. It was when I'd become Generous. A voice had resonated through my soul.
Genesis Combination: Activated during pseudo-divine transformation Relic use. Only usable while wearing the Gauntlet of the Quiet God. Fully synchronizes two pseudo-divine transformation users, allowing a combination to be performed in perfect timing. Cooldown: seven days.
Using that, I was able to fully synchronize with Juicy and defeat Hargan.
First, the murky red orb of light atop Hargan's skull. It had been nagging at me quite a bit.
That was probably the core.
I figured if I destroyed it, we could take Hargan down.
The plan was dead simple.
First, use Genesis Combination to fully synchronize with Juicy.
I'd break through the red wind barrier. In that split-second opening, Juicy would pierce the core with her bow.
Basically the same strategy we'd used against the Curse Slime.
Except this time, we'd have to pull it off with just the two of us.
But even if we attacked normally and defeated Hargan, it would just turn into red wind.
The core would become red wind too. So the only chance to do any damage was while it was corporeal.
On top of that, the red wind's defenses were formidable.
It had even blocked Fantasmagoria.
[
Arm
of the
Cosmos
]deals physical damage.
Against an undead, the red wind either dealt virtually no damage or just destroyed the target and turned it into wind.
There was no choice but to somehow cut through the red wind barrier.
I was prepared to break through the barrier even if it meant sacrificing Agaro's knife.
And then Dagaa came out on its own. And it had transformed.
It even told me in a voice in my head to enchant it with Banish. But I hesitated.
That's when I remembered that Banish hadn't worked on Dagaa before.
Still, enchanting the Dagaa knife with Banish was a gamble.
I was glad it succeeded without a hitch. I was able to cut through the red wind barrier.
I made sure to cut only the red wind barrier, being careful not to hit Hagen.
The precision here was thanks to Silent One. For some reason, Silent Move wasn't available.
After that, Juicy fired an arrow from her elixir-coated bow.
The arrow loosed with Fenrir's strength was like a bolt of light.
With perfect, absolute timing, it pierced the core clean through.
This kill was only possible thanks to the Relic Genesis Combination.
But the real hero wasn't me, and it wasn't Juicy either.
"Um, um, um, Master Wof! Master Wof! Woof! Wawoof! Woofwoof!"
"Juicy. Calm down, calm down!"
She came charging in still in her Fenrir form, but this is where my Generous comes in.
I caught her beautifully, but she was still going wild. A dog through and through, I guess.
I managed to hold her down and was petting her head, going "there, there," when—
"What's with you guys... one of those trendy image makeovers or something...?"
The real hero, Agaro, had woken up and mumbled something half-asleep.