Chapter 115

– and that is all that happened up until this point.”

“I see.”

What I understood after hearing Libra’s explanation was that I was completely late showing up to the place.

Within the time I defeated Benetnash and got here, both the battle and the matter with Sagittarius were concluded. As a consequence, I, who casually showed up so late in time, only looked like a fool.

Well, yeah…. I already know the reason as to why I’m late.

The cause of why I was late was because I was being a tourist by looking around the capital and gambling in a fight between magical beasts.

I did not think the actual fight against Benetnash took that long at all.

From my point of view, I was fighting for quite a while. However, the amount of time that had pa.s.sed in reality would not even have been a minute long.

The inside of my head was flooding as I was mentally sweating cold. However, on the surface, I tried to remain calm and collected.

“You went through a lot, everyone. You have done well to have subjugated Leon.”

“H A H A H A, it was nothing special since it was Ruphas-sama’s order.”

“Oh really? What’s the tank that couldn’t even successfully fulfil the role of being a shield talking about?”

“To begin with, it was Aries who defeated Leon and the rest of us really haven’t done enough to be looking smug.”

“Why!? This time me also contributed somewhat, right?” 

Karkinos responded to my praise. However, Libra, Scorpius and Aigokeros retorted (tsukommi) without mercy.

Somehow, Karkinos has been unanimously designated as the go-to person to tease.

Such a pitiful poor soul.

“Anyhow…. I see. The one that took Leon down was Aries, huh. You did well.”

As I was praising him, I lightly patted his head. This caused his face to become red whilst saying “hwa hwa”.

He hates it..? No, that doesn’t seem to be the case. His face is showing some kind of expression which suggests he’s happy, so maybe he’s just a bit embarra.s.sed.

Yeah, it’s quite cute. Well, he’s male though.

“By the way, where’s Leon? Even if you’ve said that he’s unable to battle anymore, we can’t underestimate how tough of a guy he is. It’s probably best to tie him up whilst he’s knocked out.”

“In regard to that, we no longer have to worry about it, Ruphas-sama.”

I had been informed that Leon’s HP had been lowered to 1 by Aries and then he was blown away by Taurus’s attack.

As such, it was likely that he was probably knocked out somewhere outside of the forest. However, it could not be guaranteed that he would not start going berserk once he woke up.

It was my idea that Leon’s actions be restricted before that could happen. Nevertheless, Scorpius answered Ruphas in order to ease her worries.

“This mistress’s poison is still lingering in his body. If you are talking about that traitor, he’s probably downed after reaching 0 HP. So there’s no need to tie him up.”

“…………….”

Leoooonnn!!?

I became fl.u.s.tered and quickly leapt out, very soon finding a giant lion which was collapsed outside of the forest.

The white of Leon’s eyes were showing and he was foaming from his mouth whilst convulsing, clearly indicating his perilous condition.

Rather than just stop him, this is clearly overkill!

“Dina!”

“Y, yes! [Star of Asclepius]!”[1]

I commanded Dina who had ended up where I was because she was still attached to my back.

[Star of Asclepius] was a resurrection skill belonging to the highest-tiered Water attribute divine magic.

The effect of the skill was to fully recover the HP of all allies within the specified area around the user whilst stripping all status buffs, irrespective of their effects, and it also came with the effect of resurrecting the dead.

However, within X-Gate Online, resurrection skills had a time limit. The skill had to be used on the dead within a specified time limit or else they would be sent back to the town to resp.a.w.n and would end up suffering a death penalty debuff.[2]

Needless to say, in this world, death was permanent, thus there was no such kind feature as being sent back to town to resp.a.w.n with a death penalty debuff.

In fact, back in the game, when the magical beasts’ HP reached 0, they would only be forcibly retired from the battle. Thus, it was impossible for them to die in the first place. Nevertheless, they would most likely die as per normal in this world.

As if to envelop Leon, a star-shaped array rose up, then in the middle of the array, a staff entangled by five snakes manifested.[3]

Subsequently, the staff turned the surrounding light into particles which were then sucked into Leon’s body.

After a short moment, although Leon’s eyes continued to show its white, he began to breathe serenely.

…… S, so close.

Under normal conditions, the time limit for casting the resurrection skill was clearly over. Therefore, it was perhaps fortunate that we were helped by the fact that this world was different from the game.

Alternatively, Leon’s vitality was just that overpowered.

“Master, are you planning on letting that traitor live? If you give me the order, I will immediately present you with the scene of his beheading.”

“Stop it.”

Libra, who had caught up to us, turned one of her arms into a blade and uttered something dark.

When I stopped her, Libra started muttering something as if she had made a conclusion.

“To let him live on purpose and kill the traitor by your own hand…. Ahh, I see, so that’s the case. I understand. In that case, I will prepare devices that you can use to torture him.”

“Why is it that you always think of dark things like that?”

“Ruphas-sama, if it’s torture, please let this mistress do it! I’ll make sure the traitor will regret being born!”

“Me too.”

“You guys, the conversation’s getting off track so just be quiet.”

“!?”

After making the stupid combo pair, the scorpion and the goat, shut up, I pointed my finger towards Leon.

“….. [Photon Chain]”[4]

From the tens of arcane magical circles that manifested behind me, a whole bunch of chains made out of light extended out and proceeded to entangle Leon.

Dina was looking at me with a surprised face. However, it was only natural.

After all, what I had used just now was arcane magic, not divine magic…. It was a power that I, as a flugel, should not have been able to use.

Back during the battle with Benetnash, I definitely used arcane magic. Furthermore, I still had the sensation of using it remaining.

Although the limit cap on my level had almost returned to 1000 as it previously was, my level at this very moment was still at 1300 and had not yet fully returned to normal.

It would eventually fall back to 1000. Nevertheless, at this moment in time, I still had levels in the mage cla.s.s remaining.

As such, I decided to test some things out, but I really was able to easily use arcane magic without any problem whatsoever.

“Ruphas-sama…. Just then, did you just use arcane magic?”

“Yeah. Benet hit my head quite severely, you see… and apparently thanks to that, I was able to open my sleeping eyes quite a bit.”

In fact, other than arcane magic, there was one other thing that I had the sensation of “being able to recall”. Nevertheless, it would probably be fine if I tested that out next time in the future.

After all, it was quite an overpowered ability and furthermore, if I were to do that, the Twelve Heavenly Stars would also automatically power up at the same time.

Although, as expected, I would probably be unable to replicate the overwhelming effects that were achieved during the fight against Benetnash.

The name of the skill… hmm, I suppose I’ll name it [The One Who Left First (Alkaid)].[5]

“Leon should be fine with this. In any event, I guess I’ll speak with Sagittarius first.”

I returned to where Sagittarius was whilst leaving Leon behind, outside the forest.

I had already heard the reason as to why Sagittarius cooperated with Leon and I did not really see any reason to punish him for it.

Therefore, the topic of the conversation would be about the future to come.

And in particular, this conversation would not just affect Sagittarius and the centaurs but also all of the demihumans.

“Sagittarius.”

“….. Here.”

“First of all, I will consider the entirety of this incident absolved. Raise your head.”

Seeing the pitiful Sagittarius lowering his head, I commanded him to raise it.

From the very beginning, I did not have the intention of punishing Sagittarius. After all, the underlying cause of this situation was me who had initially recruited a clearly dangerous guy into the Twelve Heavenly Stars and then disappeared for 200 years without implementing any failsafe in place.

Because I was in this body, I knew that back when I first tamed Leon, I was not thinking about anything in particular.

Just because I felt like it…. I just simply thought it would be amusing to have the strongest magical beast as a pet and it would be a waste to erase something that had this much power.

So on a whim, I decided to add him as an ally.

…. What the h.e.l.l was the old me thinking?

“Rather than that, let’s think prospectively. Rather than just the centaurs, this will involve the other demihumans as well. You lot would do well to listen too.”

The ones that I directed my line of sight to whilst I said that were the tied-up demihumans who were rolling on the ground.

A spider bugkin, a merfolk, a dryad and a lamia. It seemed these four const.i.tuted the demihuman alliance’s officers.

Their levels were approximately 150. In this day and age, they would be considered quite strong. After all, whether it be the Seven Luminaries or Virgo, there were surprisingly few individuals who were able to surpa.s.s the level 300 ceiling.

From the looks of it, the demihumans did not show any intention of becoming violent. They were, in fact, very well-natured at the moment.

They were likely well-natured in the face of the sheer difference in abilities as you could sense fear from the way they looked at the Twelve Heavenly Stars and I.

It could not be helped. After all, they had just witnessed the battle between Leon and the Twelve Heavenly Stars with their own eyes.

So it would not be unreasonable for them to lose the will to continue fighting.

“I’ll start by going straight to the point. With the way things are now, you lot will be subjected to concentrated barrages from the major kingdoms and even have your villages burnt to the ground.”

After hearing what I just said, Sei and Virgo showed a surprised expression. On the other hand, Gants and the Elf nii-san, who had probably already predicted what would happen, showed a rigid and grim expression.

Meanwhile, the demihumans, who must have been fully prepared when they first made the challenge, did not show any surprise. However, their faces were painted with despair.

Their leader, Leon, was defeated. However, it did not change the fact that they had harmed Draupnir’s guardian dragon. If anything, now that they no longer had a significant backing called Leon, it would now be much easier for the humanoids to invade their territory to harm them.

Looking purely in terms of quarreling with different kingdoms, Aries and Scorpius had done far worse than the demihumans. Nevertheless, it was fundamentally harder to catch us who were constantly moving from one place to another. Furthermore, the top individuals of each kingdom were Megrez, Merak and Mizar. They would know full well the power level of the Twelve Heavenly Stars and I. Therefore, there weren’t really any fools who would purposefully come and sacrifice their troops for no reason in a fight against the constantly moving gathering of those monsters.

On the other hand, they would not know the situation the demihumans were in and it would not be strange for them to see the latter as the enemy and dispatch an army during this current situation.

If that were to happen, it would turn into a war between the alliance of humanoids and demihumans… however, there was no chance of victory for the demihumans.

Svalinn’s Wisdom King Megrez along with Levia. Mobile Fortress Capital Blutgang along with the ma.s.s-produced Libra models and their golem army. Additionally, Gjarllarhorn’s Merak. Furthermore, Draupnir’s guardian dragon would likely be fully recovered in the immediate future and would be burning with the intention to exact its revenge.

If any of those were to come out, the demihumans would be pushed into a corner. Even the fact that they managed to defeat the guardian dragon was due to to Scorpius weakening it prior to everything. If they were to fight head-on against it, even if fortune was favouring the demihuman alliance, the best that they would be able to achieve would be mutual destruction.

With Leon there, even if those individuals were to become an enemy, it would have been possible to fight back and do quite well. However, because that very Leon had constantly been picking a fight with Benetnash, the overall result would not have been any different.

Benetnash would be able to hold Leon back by herself and the rest would annihilate the remainder of the demihumans. The war would simply be over just like that.

…. Or more like, if it was Benetnash, she just has to use one area-of-effect arcane spell, she will be able to erase all the demihumans along with all the villages.

Yeah, she alone is in a completely different dimension when it comes to battle.

Although… if we backtrack all the way to the beginning, the one that planted the seed to everything was none other than me.

After all, the matter about Leon was a given. Even the fact that the demihumans were able to attack the guardian dragon was because Scorpius had gone ahead to weaken it.

And that Scorpius was my subordinate. Therefore, the ultimate responsibility of the subordinates’ mismanagement fell onto me.

As such, I could not take the option of completely abandoning them to their own demise, thus I decided to at least tell them the options that they had. I had the duty to do so.

Nevertheless, once I told them the options that they had, it would be completely up to them what they choose to do.

“With that in mind, I have a suggestion for you. Why don’t you all hide yourselves within the Mafahl Tower until everything calms back down? I will not say that you should become my subordinates. After all, it’s just a tower that’s currently not being utilised… as long as you don’t steal anything from it, it’s not impossible for me to provide it to you lot as a dwelling. And because it’s needlessly high, even if you all live there, there won’t be a problem of having no room left.”

When it came down to it, the only buildings that would be capable of hiding them all would be either Blutgang or the Mafahl Tower.

I finally understood after all this time. The reason why the Mafahl Tower was that high.

Part of the reason for it must have been due to my own preference, but above all else, it was because I needed the s.p.a.ce to house the ever-growing number of subordinates that I had.

I tamed a countless number of magical beasts, created a countless number of golems and accepted many kinds of subordinates.

As a result, I was in need of a facility which would be able to accept a large number of individuals, thus the Mafahl Tower was created to have a ridiculous height to be able to accommodate that demand.

There was no doubt the result of all of that was that tower which reached high above into the sky.

In other words, after taking all that into consideration, it was not impossible to welcome the demihumans.

Although I told them that they should not steal anything, in a pragmatic sense, it was next to impossible for them to do so. It was because all the important weapons and equipment were stored in the highest floor of the tower.

Furthermore, as I previously stated already, only individuals who would be able to fly as high as I could would be able to reach and enter the highest floor.[6]

“A, are you saying that we should abandon this village behind…?”

Although the lamia questioned me with an anguished expression, it seemed she realised and understood that it was the only viable option that they would be able to select.

For her, this village must have been like her hometown.

It was understandable that she had some hesitation in choosing to leave that hometown behind. However, if she did not do so, she would share the same fate as that of the villages.

Nevertheless, I was not a devil. I had already thought about how to deal with it.

“You don’t need to worry about it. I have a way around that.”

“A way around….?”

“Yes. I’ll leave it up to you, Dina.”

“Ehh, I knew it.”

I would have Dina move the whole village using X-Gate.

That was my solution to the way around the problem.

I would leave it up to Dina to decide where she wanted to send the village, but fortunately, there was plenty of land in this world where the eyes of the humanoids did not reach.

To begin with, the majority of land was under the control of the demon race.

Unfortunately, the elf nii-san and the cat beastkin both immediately voiced their objections at the same time.

In response, I looked in their direction without feeling particularly mindful of what they had just said.

Bluntly speaking, it was a turn of events that I had already predicted would happen.

Now then… I wonder what I should say to appease them. After all, I’m not really someone who’s good at word games.

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(Author note)

[Photon Chain]

Sun attribute arcane magic. It restricts one selected enemy’s movement for a set period of time and increases the hit rate on that enemy to 100%.

Although it seems to have a cheat-tier effect, many boss monsters come with a way to deal with such effects and effectively nullify the skill most of the time.[7]

Bluntly speaking, this is arcane magic meant to be used against small-fry monsters. It was quite a useful skill when the player was trying to capture a monster.

However, even this arcane magic, which its effect was nullified regardless of the difference in stats back in the game, became a contest of Ruphas’s magical ability VS the opponent’s physical strength in this world. This meant that even when the opponent was a raid boss, it became able to forcibly restrict the target. What is this? Isn’t that just unfair?

Not only that, instead of being limited to “a set period of time” as it was back in the game, in this world, the effect of the skill would continue indefinitely until Ruphas was to undo the skill or the skill was shredded by the opponent. What is this? Isn’t that just unfair?

[Star of Asclepius]

Highest-tiered Water attribute divine magic.

The effect of the skill was to fully recover the HP of all allies within the specified area around the user whilst stripping all status buffs, irrespective of their effects, and it also came with the effect of resurrecting the dead.

As all status buffs are stripped regardless of their effects, even if it was a positive buff to the selected target such as “Brave” or “Enhance”, the buffs would be removed. Although it was a slightly complicated skill to use, it was quite a powerful skill which could restore the state of the battle in an instant.

In fact, back in the game, it was a skill which took quite a long time to cast and take effect. Furthermore, it came with a stupidly long recovery frame after the skill was cast. Therefore, during its use, the user was completely subjected to being attacked… or at least it was supposed to have been. Nevertheless, Dina activated it in an instant. What is this? Isn’t that just unfair?

(TLN: Characters from top left, going right, down.

Terra, Luna, Sei, Benetnash, Dina, Leon, Taurus, Ruphas, Virgo, Aigokeros, Libra, Aries, Sagittarius, Castor, Scorpius, Karkinos)

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[1]スター・オブ・アスクレピオス – quite literally translated as Star of Asclepius.

Asclepius is a hero and G.o.d of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (or Arsinoe). Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts.

“”.

[2] In some MMOs, the player would have a “death penalty” when they die and resurrect. It’s commonly x% reduction in the player’s stats lasting for y period of time.

[3] The Rod of Asclepius is a serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek G.o.d Asclepius and is a symbol frequently a.s.sociated with medicine and health care.

“”.

[4]フォトンチェイン

[5]先を往く者 (アルカイド).

Alkaid (アルカイド), also called Eta Ursae Majoris or Benetnash, is a star in the constellation of Ursa Major and the Big Dipper asterism.

The One Who Left First (先を往く者) is probably referring to the fact that Benetnash left this world (died) before Ruphas.

“”.

[6] This was stated in the first few chapters of the series.

[7] In most MMOs, the boss monsters have with CC (crowd control) immunity. Meaning you can’t affect (either by restricting or limiting) the movement of the boss in any way whatsoever. This means you can’t stun the boss (which is effectively what this skill is doing – stun debuff + decreased evasion debuff). In other cases, the boss might not have total immunity, but come with resistance (chance to resist the effect – e.g. 75% chance to not be stunned), or decreased effectiveness (meaning stun that should last 1 second lasting only for 0.1 second). So normally, raid boss like Leon would have total immunity from this skill’s effect.