"ROOOOOAAAARRR!!"
A beast-like roar shook the battlefield.
The warrior's valor that had filled the space moments before was gone now — all that remained was the howling of a creature wailing in its own sorrow.
Red, blood-like tears overflowed from eyes of ice.
This was the face of someone who had recalled every memory, who had realized they were nothing more than a player on a stage where freedom did not exist — a face etched with agony and despair.
Atou's own face twisted with ecstasy as she drank in that sight, that wailing, that anguish, that pain to the fullest.
A faith so absolute it made the word "fanaticism" feel insufficient — absolute trust in Takuto…
Even though they were characters from the same game, the difference between them was this vast.
"Then this is where it begins! This is the starting point! From here, true world conquest begins for us! This time, this time I will win for sure!"
On the battlefield stood Atou and Ice Rock. And scattered across the ground, countless gold coins glittered.
One of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Lord's army, the Ice Colossus known as Ice Rock, had lost nearly all of his subordinates and was on the verge of losing even his reason for existing.
But just as Takuto was the reason for Atou's existence, Ice Rock too had his own reason to be.
"Demon Lord! Our great master! Now I shall offer you a true victory! My name is Ice Rock of the Four Heavenly Kings of Ice! I shall crush all who stand in our way!!"
His fighting spirit surged another notch.
If expressed in RPG terms, there was no change whatsoever in his stats.
But within him there was undeniably the pride and dignity of a warrior, and above all, sheer stubborn will.
Yet Atou simply laughed off Ice Rock's resolve — laughed off the first true decision she had made since being transported here.
"Ahahahaha! How laughable! Truly laughable! With that level of understanding! With that level of resolve! With that level of power, you dare claim you'll defeat me, Atou? You dare spout delusions about taking the world?"
She sneered. She simply sneered.
Ice Rock shuddered, realizing that she would regard his noble will as nothing more than a scrap of trash discarded by the roadside.
That girl was evil.
To someone who placed no intrinsic value in anything other than herself and Takuto, Ice Rock's fighting spirit and determination could never reach her.
Just as humans and animals cannot converse,
just as animals and insects cannot converse,
just as insects and stones cannot converse,
— Atou could never truly understand anyone other than Takuto.
"Then I shall deny everything you are! I shall destroy everything you believe in! My name is Atou of the Filth! There is but one king in this world — my master is Ira=Takuto!"
That was Atou of the Filth.
That was the hero of Mynoghra.
And so began their first and final battle.
For Ice Rock, a battle with no tomorrow — a fight where staked everything, his pride and his stubborn will.
The great ice axe swung in every direction, and the earth trembled beneath the sheer force behind each blow.
Atou's tentacles lashed out like living whips as she wielded the holy knight's sword with graceful ease.
Ice Rock's opening strike was effortlessly dodged, and the blessed ceremonial blade countered with a razor-sharp thrust.
With a thunderous stomp, Ice Rock launched half-frozen stones from the earth like bullets, hurtling them at Atou's tiny frame.
Atou whipped her tentacles around and drove them into the ground, then performed a rapid deceleration that no human could replicate, dodging every last projectile and batting them aside.
It was like a battle from myth. In its recreation, lightning-fast offense and defense played out across the field.
The earth was being chipped away at its edges from the shockwaves, and the sky trembled ceaselessly from the impacts.
That turmoil reached all the way to the distant city of Dragontan, and the battle that transcended human comprehension made every onlooker's soul shudder from the depths of their being.
"I won't let it end! I won't let it end like this! Even if I crumble to dust here! I will strike you back at least once!"
"Ahahaha! What was that!? What is that supposed to be!? You sound like one of those side characters from a manga! Are you planning to do a flashback in the final chapter!?"
Atou cackled. Every word she spoke was packed with every conceivable form of malice.
Mynoghra had been set up as the most evil civilization in all of the Eternal Nations.
And precisely because of that, Atou, as its hero, could never feel anything but delight in trampling others.
"Hey! Hey hey hey! How are you going to turn this around!? How are you going to defeat me!? Hey! No matter how you look at it, it's imposssssssible!!!"
There was no room to taunt him to experience his own defeat firsthand, nor any room to laugh off his words as jests.
Caught in a situation so dire that even bravado had evaporated, Ice Rock nonetheless poured everything he had into fighting to fulfill his reason for being.
But there existed one sorrowful truth.
RPG monsters generally had fixed behavior patterns.
At its core, this was a game. Having a few attack patterns was enough for player enjoyment, and conversely, having too many patterns would only cause bugs and errors, confuse the player, and diminish the gameplay experience.
In short, Ice Rock's combat was far too monotonous, and predicting his actions was far too easy.
"I already know every attack you're going to make. You… piece of trash! Ahahahaha!"
Atou slid her body forward as if she had predicted the overhead swing perfectly, slipping inside Ice Rock's guard.
He frantically drove his axe into the ground and launched ice shards, but Atou — as if she had known that too — writhed across the ground like a snake and evaded every last one.
If this had been a game, Ice Rock's attacks would have all displayed "No damage dealt to Atou."
And then the turn came, and Atou's attack finally struck home against the ice colossus's torso.
"Critical hit!! Ahh! What should I do!? The damage was more than I expected! Are you okay!? How much HP do you have left? Sorry, I don't have a strategy guide, so I have no idea how much of a trash mob you are!!"
Thud — the massive arm sank into the ground.
He had managed to guard against the blow to his midsection, but at the cost of losing an arm.
Ice Rock's great axe could only display its true power when wielded with both hands. Naturally, with only one arm, its offensive power was less than half.
Even at full power, he hadn't been able to reach her. So what reason could possibly allow him to push her back with a single arm?
Ice Rock's icy expression twisted with despair.
The scales of battle had already tipped heavily in Atou's favor.
But Atou held back from pressing the attack rashly.
Words were a no-risk weapon, but a careless opening would expose her to a gap.
Even in her sadistic pleasure of tormenting the weak, she possessed a composure that never underestimated her opponent.
Was it the hero's instinct that made her so, or was it her evil heart and soul that refused any indulgence?
The fact remained: the sliver of victory that Ice Rock had once held had been carefully, meticulously painted over.
And yet, Ice Rock still struggled.
And he resolved to unleash his hidden technique — one he had been too slow to use until now.
"Nghhh! Then take this — my ultimate strike!"
Cold air erupted from every inch of Ice Rock's body.
It expanded outward from his center like an explosion, instantly freezing the surrounding earth as though they stood in the depths of an arctic wasteland.
Creak — the grip of the great axe groaned under strain.
Force was driven into it so violently that it threatened to shatter the weapon itself, and with his hips sunk low, Ice Rock's massive frame swelled, his raw power bulging visibly.
Watching this, Atou settled into a quiet stance with a thin smirk on her face.
In the instant that followed — the tentacles growing from her back converged around the holy sword and transformed into a massive spiraling lance.
"Come. Challenge me with the strongest technique you believe in, and then be defeated miserably."
Her words and demeanor made no attempt to conceal her evil.
The intent to kill radiated from every inch of her small frame, and as if to prove those words, the spiraling tentacle-blade creaked and groaned as its hardness climbed ever higher.
— And then, as clichéd as any story,
a desperate gambit called an ultimate technique was unleashed.
"ROOOOAARR!! Glacier Cleaving Slash!"
The exchange was instantaneous. Yet that brief moment contained what felt like infinity for both sides.
An extreme, bone-piercing cold burst forth from Ice Rock's body.
Like a blizzard, it surged toward Atou, coating her skin in a shell of thin ice.
From the ground, frozen earth crawled forward like a living thing, pinning her ankles to the ground with ice.
A howling, savage cold — the kind of extreme freezing where every living creature would instinctively shut their eyes and tremble.
But Atou stared straight ahead.
Her eyes were fixed firmly on the ice axe hurtling toward her.
Ice Rock's death blow was, to Atou, nothing more than an attack slightly cooler than usual.
"Ahaha! Ahahaha! To think you'd try to seal my movements with ice this thin — I've been underestimated —"
Then, something strange happened.
The moment Atou read the trajectory of the attack and moved to sweep aside her prey with ease,
in that instant where their respective strikes were about to cross — in one-thousandth of a fraction of that time,
Atou missed an attack she should never have missed.
"Wh—!?"
Her legs wouldn't move.
Her feet were indeed pinned to the ground by ice.
But the power Atou held within her was far too great to be stopped by ice of this level.
No — that wasn't it.
Some other, entirely different law had pinned her feet to the ground.
Wrong — her entire body had refused to carry out the attack against Ice Rock.
"Gah! Guh!!"
After that fleeting exchange, it was Atou who fell to her knees.
She should have been overwhelmingly superior in combat power. The blow Atou unleashed at full force contained several times the power of her opponent's, and her timing had been perfect.
She should have deflected his attack and delivered a fatal counterstrike to Ice Rock.
Instead, it had been blocked — and worse, she had allowed a counterattack.
Atou's eyes flew wide open in shock, darting around wildly as she tried to grasp the situation.
Ice Rock appeared frozen in place, as if paralyzed — perhaps the backlash from unleashing his ultimate technique.
The ice that had covered Atou's body cracked with a sharp sound and shattered into pieces.
Her body could move. Her consciousness was clear. There was no sign of any kind of mental attack.
Something had happened. Something impossible based on her experience so far. She had been subjected to some kind of attack.
And with the battle instincts befitting the hero of Mynoghra, she arrived at a single answer.
(— What!? Impossible! A guaranteed hit attack!!)
A tremendous impact crashed down on Atou.
The time that had seemed to stop — so still it could be mistaken for a halt even by her superhuman thought — came to an end, and the result she had predicted bore down on her body.
The hero of Mynoghra was a peerless warrior with combat ability rivaling an entire army.
But that did not mean she was immune to damage.
Moreover, that last attack had been entirely beyond her expectations. The damage was immeasurable.
Had she not stolen the Stone Skin skill from a stone golem to bolster her defense, things could have become truly dire.
She quickly gave thanks for her own good fortune, and Atou's analytical mind scattered a barrage of profanity internally.
(A guaranteed hit that can't be countered or intercepted!? If I'm under the influence of SLG mechanics, does that mean the opponent is under RPG mechanics!? A system attack that's impossible to dodge — that's cheating!)
From her abdomen to her chest, a massive gash had opened, and organs spilled out through the torn flesh.
Having finally recovered from the backlash of his technique, Ice Rock turned to face Atou and couldn't help but change his expression.
No living creature that vomited out its own organs could survive. Even a demonic being like Ice Rock would suffer fatal damage from such a wound.
The fact that his attack had truly landed against an opponent he had considered impossible to defeat gave Ice Rock a faint glimmer of hope.
But changes began to overtake the girl's innards as they tumbled to the ground.
The organs that had spilled out alongside vivid red blood — unbecoming of an evil hero — began to change color, turning dark and murky.
Before long, they had become a thick, filthy sludge, and were drawn back into Atou from the ground beneath her feet.
When she realized it — as if there had never been a wound to begin with…
Atou of the Filth stood there, as though nothing had happened.
"Don't underestimate me, Atou."
"I-I still can't… defeat you…"
My turn. Atou fixed Ice Rock with a withering glare.
In RPGs, when the enemy's turn ended, it became your turn to attack.
Since her opponent existed under SLG rules, things were somewhat irregular, but regardless — he had just used his ultimate technique. A painful counterattack like before should have been impossible.
Having made that judgment, Atou once again channeled power into her tentacles.
The spiraling mass of tentacles creaked with bizarre sounds, gathering strength within — as if to declare that it was now her turn.
And then, like an arrow drawn to its limit and released…
"Die! Die like the light-hearted RPG enemy you are!!!"
Atou's full-power strike was unleashed.
"Ahh, Lord Demon Lord… Long live…"
What remained was Ice Rock, fading away as his body dissolved into glittering particles of light.
Then, as if remembering, a cascade of gold coins spilled across the ground.
Glancing at them with the same dismissive contempt one might show worthless refuse, Atou laughed triumphantly.
"There is but one king in this world — only my king, Ira=Takuto! Let all who oppose him face equal destruction! Good or evil, anyone who does not bow their head to my king shall not be permitted to exist! Ahahaha! Ahahahaha!!"
As if it were nothing more than a matter of course, she sent her tentacles lashing out in every direction.
A fighting force far too devastating for any single individual to wield descended upon the remaining monsters on the battlefield.
With the range of a longbow and the striking power of a giant —
and above all, with a mercilessness that allowed no quarter, the swarm of tentacles fell upon Ice Rock's subordinates who had been watching the fight from afar.
……
……
…
"— And that takes care of the monster horde."
It had taken only a few minutes.
The monsters who had lost their leadership with Ice Rock's defeat, whether they recognized how outmatched they were or simply couldn't defy their instincts, began to flee.
The Dragontan defense force and Mynoghra's remaining forces, which had been a cause for concern, were still intact despite taking some damage.
As the hero of Mynoghra herself, Atou had nothing to fear no matter how many monsters surged forward, but when it came to vulnerable humans, it was a different matter entirely.
She had been prepared for the worst — human casualties and damage to the city — so Atou let out a small sigh of relief.
"The monsters are withdrawing… It's natural after losing their commander, but it's fortunate they didn't panic and charge toward the city."
Muttering to herself with no one in particular to tell, Atou pressed her hand against her abdomen.
A dull, throbbing pain gnawed at her pride.
Because she was a hero born for battle, the pain itself was manageable — but the fact that she had been caught off guard and wounded was, above all else, a humiliation. It stoked a fury so intense it practically conjured visions of searing pain.
"I was on guard against that and still ended up like this. Pathetic… Pathetic! This is the hero of Mynoghra! The hero of Lord Takuto!"
She clenched her teeth with a grinding sound and stared ahead.
Where the monsters had fled — beyond that, the forces of the RPG faction would be waiting. Their main army.
"But dealing with a different game is troublesome. Since they operate under different rules from us, there's no way to predict what they'll do."
Atou spun her mind at high speed, assessing the situation.
She had assumed that this world they'd been transported to operated under the same SLG rules as their own.
But now that RPG forces had arrived, her judgment had to change again.
In fact, she realized it might be dangerous to make assumptions and decisions based on her own limited understanding.
The image of her beloved king flickered through her mind.
How should she explain what had happened? Above all — would he be disappointed that she had been wounded?
Of course, she understood well that her king was not so petty as to be upset by something like that.
But ideally, she wanted to report the mission's completion in perfect condition and receive his words of praise. That was her true feeling.
These meandering thoughts spun round and round, driving her into a dead end.
"Ahhh! Enough!"
Finally, she raised her voice and shook her head from side to side.
There was still so much to do. She had no luxury to sit here wracking her brain.
She noticed that the Long-Legged Insects were standing by around her.
With the enemy monsters they had been engaged with having fled, they must have come seeking orders.
"Long-Legged Insects! Mop up the retreating army as you see fit and earn yourselves some experience! Lord Takuto will upgrade you later!"
""""Gigigye!!"""
Sssss — the Long-Legged Insects surged forward at terrifying speed in the direction the monsters had fled.
Having gained considerable experience in this defensive battle, the upgrade function would allow them to transform into powerful units.
The defeated lose everything; the victorious gain everything.
Acquiring higher-tier units at this stage was an enormously beneficial outcome for the nation of Mynoghra.
"I'd like to move in for pursuit myself, but… what should I do? — No, first I need to report to Lord Takuto."
She had to issue orders to the soldiers dispatched from Mynoghra, including old Mortar.
Above all, she still had to report to Takuto.
If she went charging headlong into pursuit herself, she would have to give back not just the title of commander, but even that of hero.
Having thought this through, Atou took a deep, calming breath, settled her emotions, and tuned her mental channel to Takuto, sending a telepathic message.
That voice, unlike the rough one she had used when fighting Ice Rock moments before, belonged to a truly adorable girl.
(Lord Takuto! The defense of Dragontan has been completed successfully. An enemy force identified as one of the Four Heavenly Kings advanced on us, but I defeated them without issue. Against my power, Atou's power, it was child's play. However, um, well, I may have let my guard down a little… Also, I have several reports to make. But before that, well, you know, I was hoping my lord might have some words of praise for this Atou who's been working so hard so far away…)
Fidgeting slightly and gazing off into the distance with a bashful expression, Atou began her conversation.
Was her habit of bobbing her head up and down when greeting Takuto something inherited from her Japanese creator…?
But the expression on her face — which had been all bright smiles and adorable little chirps while chatting with her lord — clouded over in an instant.
(…Huh?)
In that moment, her face transformed from that of the girl she had been into that of the evil hero.
— An enemy force was invading the Mynoghra homeland.
The fact that Takuto had reported was enough to send a chill straight through Atou's heart.