Time passes.

The dead change.

With some, I have fun while with others I can't.

Some are aggressive and violent.

Some are peaceful.

Others even feel honored.

There are those who believe and those who do not believe.

One thing is certain…

…I get bored!

Ci-cin.

Returning from one of my visits to the [core], a figure rains down. From the size of the drop, I can assume it's more or less like me: bipedal and normal-sized.

Since it falls in the sand not far from the house, I set off on foot. Being radiates something. A whitish miasma that distorts the air around it, as in a mirage.

I take the umbrella leaning next to the veranda door. Experience suggests to me that it is good to be cautious against unusual circumstances.

I hope I don't have to fight.

It's a shame to break the hopes of someone who doesn't accept death. Someone who doesn't even accept being consoled before the final farewell, be it positive or negative.

As I get closer, the body rises from the blackish pool.

Long green hair falls in braids full of rings. The brown eyes stare at me and the breasts are squeezed into the chest of armor with an acid-colored cloak.

“Stop!”

Ci-cin.

I obey. I don't want to appear hostile or intrusive.

The middle-aged woman unsheathes the black blade she carries at her side. I don't need [Scan] to understand that that object is magical.

“Tell me who you are. Where am I, monster?”

She could have spared herself that monster… I may not be the softest-looking creature in the cosmos, but no one has ever called me so derogatorily.

I do my usual bow and lower my ears.

“I am N, caretaker of this place, you are in the desert at the gates of the Underwasteland.”

“The Underwasteland? Would it be some sort of dimensional prison?”

“No prison. The Underwasteland is where the dungeon is located. The one in which the dead rest.”

The tone of my voice seems to calm the woman's anxieties, and she lowers her guard. Her face runs and she moves and I let her study the environment.

I imagine it will take her a few moments to realize.

Her body is intact, a sign that there is nothing left of there.

“So, I would have died?”

“It certainly is, otherwise you wouldn't be here.”

“Haha, don't talk nonsense! I can't be dead.”

“But that's how it is, wait.”

I extend my forefinger towards her. She must take my nail as a threat as she recoils and raises her sword again.

An eerie gurgling sound comes from the weapon. As if it had a hunger of its own.

“Don't come any closer, monster!”

“I don't want to do anything bad. I want to use a skill to understand who you are.”

“Tse, you don't need spells. I am Mircalla, champion of humanity. And now that you know, N, let me go back.”

I shake my head and my tail hisses.

“Sorry, I can't. I can offer you something to drink and eat, I can listen to your stories and, if you want, we can play.”

Mircalla makes a contemptuous face. “Play?”

“Yes, play chess, I can teach you the ‘local’ version. In any case, there's no coming back from the dead.”

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“But I feel great! The world needs me!”

If she is a heroine it is true. But even if the world needs her, I can't do anything about it. Eternal rest falls to everyone, she will surely have beautiful dreams despite her abrupt ways.

After all, being a hero can't be easy.

I shake my head and point to the house with one hand. “Come in so you can tell me about it.”

Her green tresses begin to flutter and her brown eyes turn gold. She spreads her legs and raises her sword in a guard pose.

“N, whether you are a goddess or a lesser spirit does not matter to me. I have to go back. I will do it with the strength of this sword if necessary.”

Ci-cin.

“But I can’t! Why deceive you? The dead cannot come back!”

“You may not understand, but if I don't go back the Devil will destroy my planet. Nations are already disappearing and soon the world itself will disappear. You don't understand, with the power of demons I have come before it and you. You miserable guardian goddess, you want to end my dream! Our dream!”

Electric discharges emanate from her body and the ash drifts away from her magical energy.

This is very sad.

It makes me feel sad. Insecure.

The Devil is an ancient entity, as well as one of the very few immortals. It seems to be itself part of the System on which I depend. My father also knew many of its victims. It seems to act by chance and out of malice and no one seems able to understand it.

Differently from the Underwasteland, in which the [Bakenekro] remain unknown to most until their death, the Devil creates hordes of followers on the planets it invades. No one can escape its machinations.

This is sad.

I feel sorry for this heroine, whose planet is doomed.

“You were very good at reaching the Devil itself. You will surely get an eternity of dreams.”

“I don't care about your words! I have to go back! I have to save my friends, my family, my people! I haven't fought for years just for it to end like this. I don't accept it!”

I sigh.

Heroes are decidedly unpredictable. But I can play one last card.

“I know my words will seem to mean to you. But if you attack me, you will lose access to an eternity of dreams. You will experience the worst nightmares, like an evil person. And your intentions demonstrate that you do not deserve such a fate.”

“What do you know, monster? I deserve, I don't deserve, blah, blah. Privileged chatter. I have to go back. I have to finish what I started!”

“Yes but… can't you see that you have been disintegrated?”

I'm not sure, without [Scan] it's difficult to be certain. However, the state of conservation coincides with instantaneous pulverization.

No [Hero] can conquer the cosmos.

No [Hero] can overcome mortality.

A tear runs down Mircalla's cheek.

Maybe it's a good time, maybe…

I dodge a gust of sharp wind. Mircalla moved quickly, slashing straight in front of me.

I try to cast [Scan] but she turns with a blade swing and I use [Dungeon path] to gain distance.

I reappear in the ash a few meters away. I raise the palm of my hand and magic circles form. [Poison cloud] is thrown and the entire area sinks into a blackish-purple cloud.

Poison lowers stats and levels, even without [Scan] it should be enough for me to cast [Judgment] successfully.

However, in the cloud, I can't see either.

[Necromancy] allows me to summon undead. I call bears, wolves, snakes, lions, and crows.

Their bodies form from the ash and are lost in the cloud.

They're not immune, but what I need is for them to locate Mircalla. I'll take care of the rest.

When in doubt and to cordon off the area, I throw several [Will-o'-the-wisp] into the zone. I don't need to see her. I just need to know the environment to launch them.

Their blue flames are reflected and dissipated in the poisonous cloud. The noise of my zombie animals is lost and…

Whiffs like the one before.

I dodge two of them, while I save the third by taking out my umbrella. An instinctive gesture linked to the new [skill] unlocked by reaching [d: 7].

[ability 2] [Premonition]: When you hold [Umbrella of murder] your senses are sharpened. No physicist can surprise you. Can only be used once an hour.

Thinking about that [skill] now reassures me: it was useful.

The whiffs turned out to be Mircalla's sword blows.

Our blades are now crossing, but lightning and a roar appear before the heroine disappears into the cloud.

I would like to chase it with [Dungeon path] but I don't know the exact location.

I try…

The cloud suddenly disperses, revealing the bodies of the zombies that are turning back to dust.

Mircalla holds her sword with one hand. A sword that has taken on the appearance of a black reed coral, equipped with a toothed mouth that runs through its entire center.

The reeds absorb the poison, while the electricity around Mircalla increases both in power of the discharges and in their quantity.

Her gaze is determined.

[Will-o'-the-wisp]

[Will-o'-the-wisp]

[Will-o'-the-wisp]

All the fires I cast are dispersed by a movement of the ‘sword’. A slobbery tongue begins to hang and move from the mouth. On it, the magic crystallizes like buboes that the sword absorbs.

What the hell kind of weapon is that?

“If you wonder, goddess of death, this is the Atmosphere-eater. The most powerful weapon in my world. It feeds on magic and can reshape it.”

“Why are you revealing this to me?”

“Because this weapon is the only one capable of defeating a being like the Devil.”

No, she is wrong.

I'm sure.

No being belonging to the System can be defeated in any way. Formidable as it is, that weapon is just a black block of magical steel.

However…

…if she isn't attacking me, it's not to talk to me about the sword.

It's because she has to recharge. If I used [Scan] I could tell for sure. But I'm sure that that electrical energy is due to her ability.

Of her and that consumes many [ap].

Maybe she was hoping to beat me with one blow. If I'm right, zombies are a problem for you.

In this case.

[Necromancy]

More undead rise from the ash.

Mircalla makes a swing and darts from one, at the other. The Atmosphere-eater changes its shape as needed, trying to eat as many of the magical creatures as possible.

But there are many. Endless.

[Necromancy]

[Necromancy]

[Necromancy]

[Necromancy]

From the sword come whiffs and black ray cuts.

For my creatures, there is no match but Mircalla is increasingly slower and tired. She no longer transports herself quickly.

[Dungeon path]

“What!?”

Her astonishment at seeing me wrap my tail around her arm.

Now.

[Dungeon path]

[Judgment]