After successfully rescuing Alkiné, a pretty relaxed atmosphere continued.
Diggerus Jibchak, still slumped in front of the cage, was sobbing and pleading not to leave, but… we ignored him and kept talking for a while.
“…Let’s stop the chit-chat. We still have things to do,” Alkiné suddenly cut in.
She seemed a bit unstable earlier, pretending to be fine after escaping, but now she seemed to be regaining her composure.
As she said, the situation wasn’t over yet.
Diggerus looked like he had lost his will, but that didn’t mean we could forgive him.
From the moment he became a Demon, there was no option for reflection or repentance.
Forgiveness? Nah, he’s just a target to be dealt with, no questions asked.
It wasn’t complicated. We just had to deal with Diggerus, who had 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 tell us.
Or rather, he *couldn’t* tell us. You know how it goes—those cliché contracts where you die if you spill the secret. That’s probably what’s going on here.
I had a hunch, so it didn’t really matter.
We’d eventually meet those guys anyway, so there was no point in avoiding it.
For now, let’s focus on wrapping up the current situation.
As I moved toward Diggerus, who was still slumped over, the sniffling guy stood up and looked at us.
Then he started his usual spiel.
“Chairman. Please, just think about it one more time. Being swayed by someone like that isn’t like you.”
“Not like me? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I can’t even imagine what kind of image you have of me.”
“Well, of course…”
“Enough. I don’t want to hear it.”
*Swish—*
Just as we were talking, Alkiné suddenly swung her sword.
There was no hesitation in her movement to cut him down.
However, the attack aimed at his neck only managed to slice off one of Diggerus’s arms.
It wasn’t that Alkiné held back—he just raised his arm in time to block it.
“GAAAAAH!”
Even after becoming a Demon, he’s still no match for Alkiné.
Diggerus isn’t exactly weak, but it really makes you realize how strong Alkiné is.
Even though he’s a Demon, the severed area twitched and tried to regenerate, but since he hadn’t been a Demon for long, there was no sign of a new arm growing.
By the way, didn’t she just slice through him really smoothly?
The cut was so clean, it didn’t even look like she struggled.
Despite how it looks, his body is tough enough to withstand Seria’s magic. And she just casually sliced through it.
It seemed like I had grown enough to cut it off.
“If I can do this much, I think I can climb over the wall soon, right?”
Originally, it was a wall I should’ve climbed over much later… but I gave up on measuring growth timing a long time ago, so I decided not to worry about it.
Even if she grew quickly, compared to Seria next to her, it’s like a drop in the bucket.
I’m glad everyone seems to be getting stronger so fast.
They’ll become reliable reinforcements in the chaos that’s coming.
With Seria and Alkiné growing so impressively, I think they’ll be able to handle most incidents without breaking a sweat, right?
“Chairman… please….”
I erased those thoughts as I saw Diggerus creeping closer.
I just experienced the unprecedented situation of Alkiné being kidnapped, so thinking that only the events I know will happen from now on is pretty foolish.
Alkiné swung her sword at Diggerus, who was approaching again.
This time, she didn’t hold back, and just like that, she cut off Diggerus’s head.
*Swoosh-*
Diggerus’s head rolled on the ground, and his body plopped down beside it.
As if to confirm his death as a member of the Demon Race, his body lost its form and turned into black mist, disappearing.
And in its place, a single gemstone was left behind.
“Oh, what’s this? Why did an item drop?”
Of course, I’m joking. I knew from the start that he had a Rift Stone.
With that red energy overflowing, it’d be weird not to notice.
I quickly approached it and asked.
“Chairman. Can I destroy it?”
“I’ve never understood why you’re so obsessed with destroying Rift Stones yourself. Go ahead.”
With Alkiné’s permission, I didn’t hesitate to stomp on the Rift Stone rolling on the ground and crushed it.
Then, a system window popped up before my eyes.
[Unlock Condition: Contribute 40% or more to clearing 5 Rifts (5/5)]
[Congratulations! You’ve met the unlock condition!]
[Unlocked: Inventory]
Finally, I unlocked the inventory.
Achieving 40% or more in all five Rifts is definitely a milestone worth celebrating.
But… it didn’t feel as hard or tight as I initially thought when I saw the conditions.
Originally, contributing 40% or more is supposed to be difficult, but unlike in-game where party actions are forced, being able to act individually made it easier to meet the conditions than I expected.
Anyway, it’s worth celebrating. Just unlocking the inventory alone will make things more convenient and open up endless possibilities to try out.
There’s so much I want to try right away, but first, I need to test the performance of the newly unlocked inventory.
Let’s postpone the stress for later.
Right now, it’s the timing for the rift we just cleared to disappear.
Since we destroyed all the rift stones, the rift should soon vanish, and we’ll be out of here…
“…It’s not disappearing.”
“Could there be more rift stones left or something?”
“Probably not.”
If that were the case, Grain would’ve given us a heads-up by now.
Even in his normal state, Grain is a master at rift analysis.
And with my help, he’s been performing at his peak. There’s no way he miscounted the rift stones.
So, that means some special event is about to happen… Like last time, why can’t things just end peacefully after we clear it?
Complaining won’t change anything.
First, I need to figure out what’s going on so I can deal with it. I tensed up, ready for anything.
Something was definitely happening. The red energy that burst out of the rift stones we just destroyed began filling the room.
Seria and Alkiné weren’t visible, but everyone could feel something was off and started preparing for battle.
And then, moments later. The swirling red energy transformed into a massive monster, filling the room.
It looked like a mix between a wild boar and a hippo. I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
‘Wow, this thing came from here? Seriously, what even is this?’
As soon as it took shape, Seria unleashed her magic, and Alkiné swung her sword, releasing waves of magical energy. But the monster didn’t even flinch.
Then, the two women subtly glanced at me… with expressions like they expected me to do something.
Do they think I’m some kind of all-powerful being? I’m just an experienced player, not the strongest in this world.
Even the strongest in this world couldn’t take this thing down. It’s designed that way.
The strategy is just to stall until the rift disappears.
Its name is probably something like “Remnants of the Scattered Rift,” and there’s no proper info on it anywhere.
No matter how much they stare at me, the only option is usually to run away.
…Usually.
‘Well, with two beauties looking at me like that, I guess I’ll have to live up to their expectations.’
I quietly pulled something out of my pocket.
A mysterious purple gem about the size of a Go stone. I picked it up from a secret chamber in the Royal Palace earlier.
[When holding this item and enduring the opponent’s attacks, ‘grudge’ will accumulate. You can consume all accumulated grudge to activate ‘vengeance,’ dealing fixed damage equal to the grudge value.]
Stack it up and unleash it all at once—
Special item.
The unique feature of this item was ‘fixed damage.’
To explain it briefly, ‘fixed damage is calculated as the top priority in any situation, dealing damage unconditionally.’
In other words, no matter how strong the opponent’s defense magic is, or if they’re in a state where they ignore all attacks with some overpowered invincibility skill, you can still deal damage.
Of course, it’s ridiculously tricky to use, and even when you do use it, the damage isn’t that high, so it’s rarely used in-game.
Maybe speedrunners use it to skip bosses with invincible desperation patterns?
It’s somewhat useful but not really practical—that’s the general consensus.
But if the situation aligns perfectly, it’s an instant win. The boss might be invincible, but its health is set to just 1.
How do I know that? If you don’t know that, you can’t call yourself an experienced player.
Scraping through every corner of the game, you end up learning all sorts of weird things.
Casually, I raise the gem toward the monster charging at us. A faint energy seems to swirl inside the gem. It’s about… 15% charged.
After fighting all sorts of enemies in the Royal Palace’s secret area, battling the Demon Race, and even facing Diggerus here… I thought I’d taken quite a few hits, but only 15%? It really charges slowly.
Still, I had no intention of saving it now.
What if I save it for a more critical moment and end up not being able to use it? That’s just asking for trouble.
Hoarders are always right. Trust me, I’m the one who kept a lucky potion from the early game all the way to the end without using it.
‘I got this for moments like this, so what’s the point of saving it?’
Of course, if it were over half charged, I might have hesitated, but 15%? Meh.
And I was confident that using it now would be the most efficient.
Focusing on the gem in my hand, I felt some kind of energy being sucked into it.
Then, the gem glowed and shot a purple energy bullet toward the monster.
It only made a small hole in the monster’s massive body, but that was enough.
Sssssss-
The monster’s body turned to dust and scattered, and the Rift that had been holding on until now began to collapse.
It’s a dull and anticlimactic ending. But it’s definitely over.
Knowing that, I looked at the two people staring blankly at me and spoke.
“Let’s go home.”
Even if it’s just the dormitory, that’s home for us.
