The oversized, artificial giant’s arm, drawn back slowly, came crashing down the next moment with double the speed.
“Ste—augh!”
Actions ingrained in the body manifest at unexpected moments. I reflexively tried to dodge with a step, but it was, of course, useless. Still, just before the giant’s powerful arm could land on my head, I jumped backward to escape.
A roar followed immediately. Looking ahead, about two meters in front of me, where I had been standing just moments before, the iron giant’s fist was buried deep into the ground. The entire tower seemed to shake from the impact, and I shivered.
(If I had been even a fraction of a second slower to dodge…)
In this world, outward appearance of strength doesn’t always match actual strength. However, considering its data specs, the Magic Golem’s attack power was extraordinary. If I had taken even one direct hit from that attack, I would have met the same fate as the floor.
“Hoh hoh. To dodge that attack, you truly are a Hero.”
A voice of admiration came from above, higher than I expected. My gaze turned to Iasky, who had scaled the Magic Golem’s back with a spryness unbecoming of his age.
“You bark a lot for someone relying on a mud doll.”
I feigned bravado, but I was not in a comfortable position. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool indoor gamer. I have no desire to engage in a fistfight with a behemoth capable of crushing me in a single blow.
However, with Iasky now on the Golem, defeating him by bypassing the Golem became considerably more difficult. Moreover, the Full Build Bob is an indestructible object. Attempting to destroy it would be a futile effort.
My options were narrowing. As I desperately tried to think of a way to avoid the fight, Iasky spoke to me with a smug tone.
“Say, Hero. Do you believe in ‘destiny’?”
“Destiny…?”
What was he talking about all of a sudden? As an unexpected topic made me furrow my brow, Iasky, perched atop the giant, continued.
“If not destiny, one might call it the ‘flow’ of this world. Have you never felt it? The sensation of your will being twisted, your actions dictated by the world.”
“Actions being dictated?”
I had never experienced such a thing. Yet, his words left a lingering doubt that I couldn’t simply dismiss.
“For example, it was like that when you came to join the Magician’s Guild. Naturally, I felt I had to perform your initiation myself. Logically speaking, there was no such necessity, was there? And I thought to myself, perhaps these unnatural actions are interference from the world, meant to create the ‘flow the world desires’.”
“…Event, compulsion.”
I muttered blankly. In this world, there is a force at play that seeks to replicate the game system and situations of ‘Nekoneko’. Among these, the force is strongest regarding the game system and events. Until now, no one had consciously perceived this compulsion. But this man…
“Ho. So you do know, after all. I believed from early on that you would be the obstacle to the Ritual. Not just defeating the Demon Lord. Overcoming the Hisame Family Trial, repelling the monster invasion of the Capital City, and thwarting the Evil God worshippers’ ambitions in the underground Labyrinth. Your eight-armed, six-faced exploits are befitting of a Hero. If left unchecked, it was inevitable that you would eventually realize our plan and move to stop us. That is why I devised a means to defeat you, by utilizing the ‘flow the world desires’.”
So that’s how it is… With those words, the current situation finally made sense. This is an event. Furthermore, it’s the final phase of a Ritual event to annihilate all the residents of the Capital City. To trigger the Magician’s Guild’s final event, one must complete multiple guild events, raise character levels to become an executive of the Magician’s Guild, and clear three quests to gather the materials necessary for the Ritual. Naturally, this is not something a Player who has just undergone their initiation ceremony can achieve.
However, Iasky had the Ritual’s materials prepared beforehand, aside from the Necronomicon, and had told me, “I will immediately elevate you to executive status the moment you join the guild.” The conditions of becoming a Magician’s Guild executive and gathering the materials for the Ritual are already met.
(If that’s the case, it’s bad. I might be trapped.)
The Magician’s Guild’s final event cannot be interrupted until its completion. Once transported to the magic circle chamber, there was no way to descend from it until the Ritual was successfully completed and Iasky defeated. Transfer Stones and teleportation magic would naturally be ineffective, and I hadn’t brought any with me anyway.
If only I could have defeated Iasky first and disrupted the event, but this event actually has a branching route where one can “defeat Iasky and perform the Ritual oneself.” Even in that case, I wouldn’t have been able to leave until the Ritual was completed, so it would have been meaningless.
No, the Vice Guild Master came from outside. While I can’t go outside from inside, perhaps from outside…
“—Meditating in front of your enemy. Quite relaxed, aren’t we?”
As I found myself lost in thought before the enemy, an uncharacteristically brusque voice accompanied by a black iron khối loomed towards me. No, what I thought was an iron khối was the Magic Golem’s leg. In an attack that was both casual and powerful enough to kill me, my body froze.
“Don’t underestimate me!”
But as if to overcome my trembling body, I jumped to the side. A narrow escape. As I glimpsed the giant’s kick, which swung past me by about three of my body lengths, I forcefully swung my arm in my unstable posture and struck its leg with my gripped staff.
My posture, position, and trajectory were all the worst possible. Still, fortunately, the tip of my staff connected with the giant’s leg. But,
“What!”
The staff that struck only made a fist-sized dent in the iron giant’s leg. Instead, with a dry sound, the staff I had been gripping tightly snapped in two. There was no possibility of repair now.
“Damn it!”
I threw the remnants of the staff as a nuisance, but it was impossible for it to do any damage. Seeing it bounce off the Golem, Iasky’s smile deepened.
“It’s useless. No matter how skilled a warrior you are, you cannot defeat my giant within this Field. That is an unshakeable fact proven by experimentation.”
“What do you mean?”
Its words contained a venom that made me blurt out a question. Iasky then flashed an evil grin and turned to look at the statue of a muscular man behind him.
“It was no easy feat to set up this trap. First, to borrow this statue from the Warrior’s Guild, I had to spend a fortune buying up large quantities of a strange food called Protein.”
I had forgotten! I heard that, along with the shortage of Mithril, there was also a shortage of Protein, a favorite of the Warrior’s Guild members. Was it not the Warrior’s Guild’s actions behind it, but Iasky’s hoarding?
“So, you borrowed the statue by using the hoarded Protein as leverage?”
“Precisely. It was a most unpleasant experience visiting the lair of those sweaty individuals, but I did come across an unexpected find. Do you happen to know a man named Alex? Level 200. The highest level Human in this world.”
“No way…!”
As my expression shifted, Iasky shook his head.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him. It would be troublesome if there was a commotion before the main event. I simply asked him to spar nearby this statue, as he happened to be in that savage den. The result… heh. It wasn’t even a contest. He couldn’t inflict a single scratch on my Golem and returned dejectedly! That Level 200, the strongest warrior in the country!”
“You are…”
He’s twisted. Not only does he preach level-supremacy, but, no, because of it, he harbors a strong inferiority complex towards high-level characters. Iasky’s own level was around 180. Alex, at Level 200, must have been an unwelcome presence. He’s probably reveling in having thoroughly crushed him, albeit within his own field. But he’s overlooking a crucial possibility.
“Hey. Just because of that, doesn’t mean I can’t defeat him, right?”
I asked the obvious. However, Iasky merely burst into loud laughter at my words.
“Hahahaha! Now that’s an interesting thing to say! I admit that you have overcome hardships through various schemes. But, weapon, skill, magic, items, and, friends. Everything you relied on, I have taken away. Although everyone claims that levels aren’t everything when it comes to strength, in the end, what a mortal human can rely on is simply their level. And your level is lower than Alex, who couldn’t even lay a hand on my Golem. In other words, you absolutely cannot win against this giant!”
Iasky’s words, befitting his level-supremacist ideology. But I shook my head.
“—That’s not true. You are mistaken.”
“What?”
In front of Iasky, who frowned with displeasure, I slowly reached into my sleeve.
“That is…!”
What I took out was a collection of colorful gems hidden in my sleeve. I carefully placed them on the ground,
“I see! You intend to fight using items in a space where magic is sealed! Suiting for a cunning you…”
“What do you intend?”
I didn’t answer that question. Instead, I gently placed the Necronomicon next to the gems.
“Let me say it again. You are mistaken. First, you said you took my friends, but that’s not true. Those two, my friends, will absolutely come here to help me.”
“Nonsense! Only Deekil and Saamon know how to enter this tower! Moreover, they shouldn’t even know you’re here! This tower blocks all exploration and teleportation magic! Therefore…”
As I looked at Iasky, who was shouting hysterically, with pity, I placed the last remaining item in my hand, the Chronos Watch, around my neck. Gently stroking its back, the scratch on the watch, a testament connecting the three of us, left a tangible sensation on my finger.
“Even so, they will rush here. I believe in them.”
“Ngh, don’t—don’t be ridiculous! Trust is powerless before might! Even if allies rush here, it will all be resolved if I kill you first! Kill him! My Magic Golem!!”
As Iasky became enraged, I casually approached him.
“And your biggest mistake is believing that high levels are true strength.”
“Shut up! In the end, in the end, it is might that moves this world! Not friends, bonds, or love! Only might, levels, are the only things that can be believed in this world! Otherwise, I, I—!”
What happened to his composure from moments ago? Seeing Iasky like this, I even felt a sense of pity.
“Only levels can be believed…? That’s laughable. That way of thinking is a grave mistake. Listen carefully, I’ll only say this once. True strength is…”
Even as I spoke, the iron giant launched devastating attacks at me, but once I had made up my mind, such linear attacks were no significant threat. I calmly judged and dodged the attacks, then casually swung my right hand in a backfist motion,
“—You have to look at the individual parameters!!”
I struck the Magic Golem’s arm. From the point of contact, a sinister sound like ‘bago’ played for a moment,
“—What?”
The iron giant’s arm was severed from there, spinning and flying off at great speed, crashing into the wall and falling to the ground.
“What just… huh?”
Iasky’s eyes were wide open, as if he hadn’t expected a counterattack. Without missing a beat, I launched into my speech.
“Listen here? Neko… In this world, most levels are decided arbitrarily. I actually wrote in my diary that the last digit is decided by dice, you know. So, don’t base too much on levels…”
“Y-You! My Golem!!”
Iasky roared, interrupting my speech. The Golem, which had frozen for a moment, began to move, stretching its one remaining arm with all its might to grab me.
…But it missed. It was supposed to miss.
Calmly reading the trajectory of the fist, I took one step to the right to dodge it. My speed, though not the best, was three times that of an ordinary person. If I stayed calm, dodging a punch like this was no trouble at all.
“I-Impossible…! That speed—”
“See? I told you. Levels aren’t everything.”
As I said that, I brought my fist down on the Golem’s arm. With a sound like a superalloy robot breaking, the Golem’s left arm was shattered.
“I-Impossible, impossible! My Golem shouldn’t be able to—Kuh! Retreat!”
Although there was nowhere to retreat, at Iasky’s command, the Golem skillfully began to back away. Despite facing backward, it moved with incredible speed. I couldn’t possibly catch up to it normally. So I pursued it with a slightly brisk walk and quickly caught up.
“Wh-wh-whaa…!”
Iasky was already a motionless ornament, just opening and closing his mouth. A slight sense of guilt welled up at his appearance, but considering what he had done and what he was about to do, there was no reason to hold back.
“Sorry, Iasky. Although my level is only a little over 180…”
Closing the distance, I first punched the Golem’s right leg, making it stumble, then shattered its left leg, causing it to fall. Once I confirmed Iasky had fallen from the Golem,
“—In a bare-handed fight, I’m stronger than the Demon Lord.”
I delivered the finishing blow to its torso, punching the iron giant and completely silencing it.
As the Magic Golem, now nothing more than scrap metal, lay there, Iasky, who had fallen, began to wail.
“This, this can’t be! This isn’t a matter of skills or levels. A living person destroying a Golem is impossible! What is this…! What is this!!”
I had no obligation to answer, but it would be troublesome if he continued to make a scene. After reconfirming that the iron giant was completely immobile, I turned to Iasky.
“You investigated me, so you must have heard of it, right? It’s the power of my skill, ‘Incarnation of Rage’.”
“Incarnation of Rage? B-but, all skills should be sealed and unusable!”
Iasky grew even more agitated, but I calmly replied.
“No, I used it. …Before defeating the Demon Lord.”
…That’s right. This is the power of ‘Incarnation of Rage’. And this is why ‘Incarnation of Rage’ was called a “balance breaker” even in that Nekoneko game and praised for its “truly extraordinary” effects. It is the effect of the forbidden character enhancement technique, named ‘Kotonoshi Bug’ (Death Bug of Rage) with the anger that its overwhelming power would kill the game.
A full-on, no-holds-barred battle!
