LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 69
After successfully rescuing Alkiné, a rather relaxed atmosphere ensued.
Diggerus, still hunched in front of the cage, was sobbing and pleading for us not to go… but we ignored him and continued our conversation for a while.
“…Enough small talk. We still have things to do.”
Alkiné suddenly interrupted, cutting off the chit-chat.
She had seemed a bit shaky after the escape, but she appeared to be regaining her composure.
As she said, the situation wasn’t over yet.
Diggerus looked defeated, but that didn’t mean we could forgive him.
From the moment he became a demon, there was no option for reflection or repentance.
Forget forgiveness; he was just a target to deal with, no ifs, ands, or buts.
It wasn’t complicated. We had to handle Diggerus, who’d become a demon, and escape the rift.
Of course, it would be nice if we could interrogate him to find out who helped him become a demon… but he probably wouldn’t spill the beans.
More precisely, he couldn’t. There’s always a cliche where if you try to reveal a secret, you end up dead. He was likely under one of those contracts.
I had some idea of who it could be, but it didn’t really matter.
We would eventually meet those people anyway, so I wasn’t planning to dodge them.
For now, let’s focus on wrapping up the current situation.
As I moved towards the huddled Diggerus, he stood up and looked our way with a mixture of tears and determination.
Then he began his usual spiel.
“Boss, please think it over just one more time! Bowing down to that guy isn’t like you!”
“Not like me? I don’t even know what you imagine I’m like.”
“Well, obviously…”
“Enough. This isn’t something I want to hear.”
Swish—
Just when I thought we might have a moment’s conversation, Alkiné swung her sword without hesitation.
In one fluid motion, she aimed for his neck and ended up slicing off one of Diggerus’s arms instead.
Alkiné didn’t hold back; it was just that Diggerus had raised his arm at the last second to block her.
“Gaaaah!”
Even as a demon, he was no match for Alkiné.
Diggerus wasn’t exactly weak, but it really made me realize just how strong Alkiné was.
I mean, for a demon, you’d think the severed area would heal up or something, but it looked like he wasn’t generating a new arm just yet – perhaps it was still too soon after becoming a demon.
By the way, that was a pretty clean cut, wasn’t it?
The severed area looked so neat that it didn’t seem like she struggled at all.
Despite appearances, his body was tough enough to withstand Seria’s magic. If Alkiné could cut through that easily, she must have grown stronger than before.
‘At this rate, we should easily be able to smash through walls, right?’
Initially, we were supposed to deal with that much later, but I’d long given up worrying about timing for growth: it was all about the present.
No matter how quickly she had grown, compared to Seria standing next to her, she might as well be a novice.
I was glad to see everyone getting stronger.
They would be a reliable support during the chaos yet to come.
With both Seria and Alkiné displaying tremendous growth, I figured any upcoming incidents would be a cakewalk for us.
“Boss… please…”
I shook off such thoughts as Diggerus’s pleas came creeping back.
I had just experienced a completely new situation where Alkiné was kidnapped, so thinking that only familiar events would happen afterward would be exceedingly foolish.
Alkiné swung her sword again towards the approaching Diggerus.
This time, he wasn’t fast enough to block, and she cleanly decapitated him.
Swish—
Diggerus’s head rolled away aimlessly, his body collapsing right next to it.
As if confirming his death as a demon, his body lost its form and dissipated into black mist.
And in that spot, a lone gem was left behind.
‘Oh, what’s this? Why didn’t he drop an item?’
Of course not; I’d known since the beginning that he had the Rift stone.
With that red aura spilling out, how could I not recognize it?
I quickly approached it and asked, “Boss, can I break this?”
“I’ve always wondered why you’re so fixated on breaking the Rift stone. Go ahead.”
With Alkiné’s permission granted, I stomped on the Rift stone lying on the floor without a second thought.
Suddenly, a system window popped up before me.
[Unlock Condition: Contribute to 5 rifts with 40% or more (5/5)]
[Congratulations! You’ve met the unlock condition!]
[Unlock: Inventory]
Finally unlocked the inventory.
Having achieved over 40% in all five rifts was quite the accomplishment.
But honestly… it wasn’t as tough or stringent as I initially thought.
While it’s true a contribution of over 40% is generally difficult to achieve, unlike the enforced party dynamics in-game, individual actions made it surprisingly easy for me to meet the conditions.
Either way, it was quite a noteworthy achievement. Just having access to the inventory would open up endless possibilities and convenience for me.
There were a ton of things I was eager to try, but testing the newly unlocked inventory’s performance would have to wait.
After all, it was about time we prepared for the rift we just wrapped up.
Having destroyed all the Rift stones, the rift was supposed to vanish and let us out…
“…But it’s not disappearing.”
“Do you think there might still be more Rift stones around?”
“I doubt that.”
If that were the case, Grain would’ve tipped us off ages ago.
Even in his normal state, Grain was a master when it came to analyzing rifts.
There’s no way he could miscount the number of Rift stones after utilizing my assistance. Such a thing was improbable.
That meant some special event had to be triggered… Wouldn’t it always go awry whenever we completed a rift?
I could complain all I wanted, but it wouldn’t change anything.
For now, I needed to be on high alert to figure out what was about to happen.
It was clear something was brewing. The red energy we had just broken was starting to fill the room.
Though Seria and Alkiné might not be visible, they too were presumably preparing for battle.
And after a moment, the amassed red energy transformed into the shape of a gigantic beast that filled the room.
As I took in the sight of what resembled a blend of a wild boar and a hippopotamus, I could only gasp in disbelief.
‘Wow, this comes from here? Seriously, they just keep throwing curveballs.’
As soon as it took form, Seria unleashed her magic, and Alkiné swung her sword, sending waves of magical blades at it, but the beast remained completely unscathed.
Then, both women subtly turned their gazes towards me… looking at me as if expecting I’d do something.
What do they think I am, some kind of miracle worker? I’m just an experienced player, not the world’s strongest!
Even the supposed “strongest in the world” would have trouble taking that thing down. It’s designed to be that way.
The only strategy was to stall until the rift disappeared – a strategy that was also reflected in its name: “Remnants of the Shattered Rift” or something equally vague. There was no detailed info to be found.
No matter how much they looked at me, generally speaking, running away would be the only option.
…Well, generally speaking.
‘With two beauties staring at me like that, I ought to rise to the occasion, right?’
I subtly pulled out what I had tucked away in my pocket.
A mysterious purple gem, about the size of a Go stone. I’d picked it up in the previous royal secret space.
[When holding this item, receiving an attack from an opponent will accumulate ‘Grudge.’ All accumulated grudges can be consumed to activate ‘Revenge,’ dealing fixed damage equal to the accumulated grudge amount.]
A special item that accumulates stacks and releases them all at once.
The peculiarity of this item is its “fixed damage” aspect.
To summarize, “fixed damage is calculated first in any situation and will inflict guaranteed damage.”
That means no matter what kind of powerful defensive magic the opponent uses, or if they became invincible, I could still force damage through.
Of course, it’s annoyingly tricky to use, and even when activated, the damage was designed to be relatively low, so it was rarely used in actual gameplay.
You might see speedrunners use it to skip bosses with invincible attack patterns, but that was about it.
It had its uses, but generally, it’s not considered very handy.
However, if the situation matched, it could lead to an absolute victory. The monster was currently invincible, but its health was set to just 1.
How do I know that? If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be considered an experienced player.
You learn all sorts of things by scraping the bottom of the barrel.
I slowly raised the gem towards the charging beast. Glancing at it, I saw it contained a slight amount of energy swirling inside. It appeared to be around… 15% filled.
Having fought various enemies in the royal secret space, battled against demons, and coming all the way here to face Diggerus, I thought I had gathered a fair bit of energy, but only 15%? Wow, that’s pathetic!
That said, I didn’t plan on saving it.
The thought of not being able to use it later when it’s really needed was scarier than using it now.
Holding onto something for later could turn into a waste, and I’d say that as someone who was fortunate enough to find a potion early on and save it for the ending.
Holding back won’t help in a pinch.
‘This is why I got it; leaving it unused now would be pointless.’
Of course, if I had over half filled, I might have hesitated a bit, but at only 15%… eh.
I was convinced that using it now was the most efficient choice.
Focusing on the gem in my hand, I could feel some kind of energy being drawn into it from my body.
And soon, the gem glowed, unleashing a violet beam at the monster before me.
It only made a small hole in the massive beast’s body, but that was more than enough.
Shiiii—
The monster’s body disintegrated into dust, and the rift that had been holding strong began to crumble alongside it.
It was a trivial and anticlimactic ending. Nevertheless, it was over, and that was what mattered.
Feeling assured of that, I looked at the two people staring blankly at me and said,
“Let’s go home.”
Though it would just lead us back to the dormitory, that was home for us anyway.