Chapter 301 - Hero and Former Demon King

“Ey!”

Inferno Wolf, the 16th floor’s boss, disintegrated in just a blink on an eye because of Akari’s attack.

She had already killed around a hundred monsters including the floor bosses and the monsters that occasionally appeared in front of her.

Akari didn’t feel any sort of fatigue.

By the way, the monsters found on the 11th floor and beyond were personally tamed by Halt, and they would be revived so long as they didn’t give up on living.

Akari’s attacks had been way too fast, so they died without even knowing what just happened. Thus, fortunately, all the monsters she defeated could be revived.

The inferno wolf had the fastest attack speed among all the monsters, but even he didn’t manage to evade Akari’s attack.

“Next, 17th floor. How many floors does this dungeon have again?”

“Dunno. Auntie said it’s up to 10, but —”

“Seems it’s the norm to finish 11 and below.”

“Yup.”

Essentially, only those authorized by Halt, the Dungeon Master, were allowed to proceed past the tenth floor.

However, this dungeon was in fact originally created to train heroes.

And so, Halt created a system that a hero would be able to advance to the eleventh floor and beyond even without his permission, in case a hero did come later on.

Akari was a hero.

Moreover, she was also accompanied by Tet, who no other than a deity from the other world.

“Akari, there are gemstones over there!”

Tet possessed the ability to gauge the contents of the treasure chests stationed per floor.

Because of that, they went through the floors ignoring the treasure chests without any gems until they reached this floor.

“Really… but, we’re already here, so might as well go as far as I can.”

Akari enjoyed conquering the dungeon together with Tet.

Her enemies were annihilated with just a flick of her finger.

Her heart had been nervously pounding at first, but now she was immersed in that sense of omnipotence after defeating monsters in just a blink of an eye.

Her initial goal of searching for jewels had already been tossed aside.

“That’s fine if Akari says so. Let’s ignore this too. Alright, let’s go! Dungeon Conquest, here we go!”

“Go!!”

Originally, the adventurers would advance while defeating the monsters to get materials, retrieve items from the treasure boxes until they conquered the dungeon.

However, Akari and Tet where single-mindedly focused on reaching the last floor.

　──＊＊＊──

Akari and Tet ignored most of what was in the 17th floor, and they finally reached the 18th floor.

They reached the floor boss’s room without fighting a single monster.

That’s because the 18th floor boss commanded the ogres that were normally roaming around to flee.

“Alright, let’s go, Tet.”

“Yup. The enemy is right in front of Akari. There’s only one, though.”

“Gotcha.”

Akari would ask Tet about the number and location of the boss before she opened the floor boss’ room.

She opened the door, and the moment she stepped her foot —

“Ey!”

She launched her usual forehead flick remote attack towards the boss-like figure standing in the center of the room.

She had won against the floor boss every single time until she reached this floor.

However, it was different the 18th time around.

“Hm. Attacking so suddenly… Well, a surprise attack is also a great strategy, I suppose.”

The boss of this floor was no other than Orga of the ogre tribe.

He was the monsters’ hero that managed to escape from the heroes not once, but thrice in the past.

He had been a normal ogre back when he escaped from those heroes.

However, he had been Tamed by Halt, who forced a ginormous amount of mana into him, so he evolved into a Kijin.

Orga stopped Akari’s attack. He could even dodge it.

However, he didn’t do so, because he wanted to experience the attack that obliterated all the other bosses up to this floor with a single blow.

He managed to withstand it.

He could deal with it.

He realized once again that he was far stronger than he had ever been because of the power he got from Halt.

Orga was kind.

Youko and Hakua wouldn’t stand a chance if he were to get serious in battle. The girls had also improved a lot, but their strength was still a far cry from what Orga had.

However, Youko and Hakua kept on coming to this dungeon in order to challenge Sitri.

Because of that, he would lose on purpose against those girls.

Sitri would appear to be annoyed because Youko and Hakua kept pestering her to fight, but her eyes would shine during the battle.

Even if she lost her power, Sitri was still the former Demon King.

She loved fighting.

Orga thought it would be good for her to unleash her power from time to time, so he would let Youko and Hakua battle it out with her.

However, he couldn’t let this girl do that.

Akari was powerful enough to reach Sitri, the person he vowed allegiance with even if it was only temporary.

There was no way he would let her pass that easily.

Moreover, Orga’s had a feeling that this frail-looking girl might be able to tackle Sitri down if she were to go all out.

“That sort of attack won’t work against me. Take out your weapon and come at me.”

“E-Eh… Human?!”

“Akari, he’s probably one of the Kijin race. See that horn?”

Akari was shocked thinking that she just attacked a human, but Tet had already realized that Orga was a monster.

Orga looked like a brawny, muscular, old warrior originally, but he now looked a lot younger after evolving into a Kijin.

“I see. So, big brother is also a monster, huh… I have to defeat you, then.”

Akari was now confident in dealing with monsters after defeating hundreds of them.

Being a hero, it was only natural for her to recognize monsters as enemies. Moreover, after using her <Indomitability> skill automatically for several times, she was already starting to become immune from feeling any resistance against killing monsters.

“Create Arms!”

Akari created a black sword.

It had an almost identical ability as the weapon wielded by the Guardian Hero.

“I get it now… You’re not just any ordinary hero, aren’t you? Interesting. Then I, Orga, will give it my all in this fight.”

“Tet, watch us, okay.”

“Yup. Be careful, Akari.”

Akari placed Tet on the floor, then she held the sword with both hands and took her stance.

She carried Tet in her arms most of the time.

Of course, that also applied the entire time until she reached this floor.

Akari had advanced through each floor with only her right-hand flicks.

That girl was now holding a weapon with both hands for the first time.

The battle between the kijin and the hero began.

By the way, Akari didn’t have any experience using a blade.

Despite that —

“You’re really strong as I though!”

“You too, Big Brother.”

Orga had spent thousands of years honing his skills with this sword, and yet Akari easily blocked it.

Akari’s status was far stronger than Orga even if he had evolved into the Kijin race.

It wasn’t only status.

“W-What’s with that move?!”

Akari had imitated the technique that he used mere seconds ago.

— It was not a simple imitation.

Rather, it was so sophisticated that Orga was under the illusion that it was Akari’s technique that was the original one.

The girl possessed the skill <Weapon Master>, so she could wield any weapon with ease. Of course, it also applied to any weapon that she used for the first time.

Moreover, she could perfectly mimic any moves she saw with her <Divine Vision>, even if she only saw it once.

Akari had mastered Orga’s techniques by watching him using her Divine Vision and Weapon Master, and she even tweaked them to optimize them and made them her own.

“Swords are fun.”

“Stop messing around!”

Akari kept on absorbing the sword skills that Orga diligently honed to perfection for a thousand year.

She realized that she was rapidly becoming stronger, and it made her feel elated.

Orga had been enjoying giving his all during their clash of swords at first, but he was getting impatient as time went by.

It wasn’t because he was about to lose against Akari.

He was starting to fear that he might create an unimaginable Bakemono the longer he crossed swords with her.

However, those were needless fears.

That’s because Akari was already a Bakemono the moment she came into this world.

“Thanks Big Bro, I’m stronger now because of you.”

“Urk!”

Akari was holding a normal conversation while attacking, but Orga no longer had the leeway to reply to her.

“You’re Orga… right? I’m Akari.”

Akari distanced herself for a moment before introducing herself.

“...Why give your name now?”

Orga asked, and Akari smiled in reply.

The moment she smiled, Orga sensed his own death.

“That’s because this is the last time.”.

Akari raised her black sword above her head and slashed it down.

Her slash attack that Orga could never endure came hurtling towards him at a speed that he wouldn’t be able to dodge no matter what.

“Orga. You just gave up, didn’t you?”

“Si-Sitri-sama!”

“Eh… The big sis from the magical academy?”

Sitri had blocked Akari’s attack.