Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle - Chapter 211-2

211 – If there’s one thing I fear more than dying… (Part 2)

He looked up at me with that intense gaze.

「If your heart is weak, Ex, then why are you an Adventurer even in your dream?」

「…」

「If you hadn’t become an Adventurer, if you hadn’t met your allies, you could have walked down a completely different life.」

I was shocked by his words.

Mostly because he was exactly right.

Even if this is a world created by the Spirit, she must have looked into my mind and memories to construct an irresistible world.

And yet…

In the end, Arthur and I fell off the cliff, formed a contract with the Spirit, gathered the same allies, and I aimed for 1st rank together with them.

I walked an almost identically painful life with the only difference being that we became 1st ranked.

Why is that?

I could have been shown all sorts of convenient dreams and yet…

No, it’s precisely because it is my dream.

「I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully understand Ex’s fears. But being afraid of failure after earnestly trying your best… The heart of such a person is far from weak. Please don’t mock the Jet-Black Hero that I admire so.」

「…! ……!!」

I had thought that there was no way to dispel my fears other than to become 1st ranked.

I thought I would be free from my fears in this dream, but this dream itself is proof.

Proof that no matter what freedom I am given…I will eventually become an Adventurer.

Gather the allies that I think are the best and aim for the top even knowing that it will be a painful journey.

The reason that I gave in to this dream isn’t that I had no fears anymore.

It is because this is a dream where I stood at the peak without ever giving up even while I had my fears.

And still…Lem used up his one wish to come here and save me…

「Please don’t pretend to stop when you haven’t even given up. If there’s a place you’re aiming for…your only choice is to keep running.」

「…Heh. Hahaha, hahahaha!」

When was the last time that I laughed from the bottom of my heart like this? It feels like forever ago.

I dispel Giant Armor.

「It seems I was mistaken about you, Lem. You aren’t just kind, you’re pretty harsh, too.」

He said that I had pretended to give up my anguish.

And he even told me to keep running anyway. He’s quite the drill sergeant.

I don’t think he’s right.

But being right doesn’t save people.

Push on ahead without giving up and everything will be fine? That just doesn’t happen in real life.

The world is full of futile efforts, littered with more unfulfilled dreams than fulfilled ones.

To tell someone, who’s tried so hard until they’re exhausted, to「Keep going」is cruel. I’m sure that even he knows that.

He’s kind, yet he throws out harsh words because he sees where this is headed.

We…might never become 1st ranked.

But even so, don’t stop.

Because I am aiming for 1st rank, because I promised we would, I have to keep running.

If I stopped, the ground will suddenly crumble before me, and I’d be swallowed by total darkness.

「…I don’t want to fall down any more cliffs.」

I subconsciously remember the talk I had with Lem yesterday, about the example I gave.

All we can do to keep from falling is to keep running ahead. Towards the goal that we’ve set.

Even though we might never get there, it’s a decision that we made.

「…What would you have done if I hadn’t chosen to be an Adventurer?」

If that were the case, Lem wouldn’t be able to appear in my life.

It’s questionable if he’d even be given a role, and even if I’d met him in a different form, it would have been difficult for him to remind me of reality.

The Greatest Black Sorcerer stood there, mouth agape.

And then…

「I knew that there was no way that would be a possibility.」

He just stated that so simply.

Even though he thinks so much in battle, he doesn’t sweat the small stuff when dealing with important things.

He wants to be a hero because it’s cool.

He appeared as Lemegeton because he knew that Ex would definitely be an Adventurer.

「…Thank you, Lem.」

He just smiled.

「When we get back, I should thank you properly.」

Perhaps a little reluctant, Lem considered my feelings.

「…I don’t mind if we do it now.」

He said, on the contrary.

But I immediately knew what he was trying to say.

「You sure? Shouldn’t you keep your cards close to your chest until we fight for real?」

「If I get to experience fighting the Jet-Black Hero at full strength, I have no regrets.」

「Full strength…huh? I guess so. We are free from the constraints of reality here. Even if we both went full force, there wouldn’t be any repercussions later. Alright, let’s do it.」

The sooner we decide, the better.

『Shadow Soldiers』

The is the Esoteric Spirit Magic of the Shadow Spirit.

A freely controlled Spirit Magic that forcibly summons every shadow I’ve ever touched up till now.

It can be used in various ways. Like controlling them as an army of soldiers.

But this time… Let’s go with a fist.

A simple, straightforward attack seems the most hero-like.

I put on『Giant Armor』again. This time, the scale of it was bigger.

Bigger than that time I fought the Grendels and Spriggans in the Original Dungeon.

This size was all in order to swing an even larger fist.

「Well that’s…certainly new.」

Said Lem, smiling defiantly.

「You’re the first to see it. Consider it my thanks.」

It’s too big for the TV screen. It’s also so big that it makes my allies look like ants.

I could recklessly destroy the Dungeon which we’ll have to pay for, it takes time and Magical Energy to cast, and various other reasons. The biggest reason that I can’t use it all willy-nilly is that it’s a Technique that borrows the Spirit’s power.

However, every single one of those problems doesn’t exist here.

Why? Because this is a dream.

「Then, I’m grateful.」

His Magical Energy increased even further.

A black substance is covering his entire body?!

It clearly has the same abilities as the horn.

Accumulating Magical Energy and honing it.

If a Majin with two horns is already a threat, just how dangerous would something that covers the whole body be…?

The horn on his left cracks and shatters. No sooner after that, an identical black horn grows on his right.

The changes didn’t end there.

The wings on his back spread out further. No, perhaps it would be easier to say that they got bigger.

His wings of bone expanded more and more, no longer just an imitation of Birdmen.

If there was a giant Birdman, it’d probably have wings of this size.

That’s how big these wings were.

Even though I am as tall as the ceiling, I am looking straight at him rather than down.

「…Is that…your horn? Why is something like that inside your body…?」

「This and that happened and well… The amount of it in my body seems to increase, matching my growth.」

He doesn’t seem to really understand it well himself. However, he can genuinely handle it.

In that case, I won’t pry further.

「The Jet Black H-…no. Ex. Just Ex.」

I’ll announce my proper name when we fight for real.

He smiles and responds.

「Lem. Just Lem.」

I could sense the massive difference in Magical Energy even through the shadows.

This clearly exceeds the amount of Magical Energy he could naturally accumulate in his life.

A Spirit Contractor could borrow the Magical Energy of the Spirit.

He, too, might have his own special way of borrowing Magical Energy. It’s a dream, so he probably isn’t holding back and drawing out all he can.

I swing my fist.

The fist of a giant and the fist of a Majin clash.

A fist that could shatter a mountain like it was made of glass.

And yet…

Our fists collided, creating a shockwave, and…we were equally matched.

Even the maximum output of Magical Energy of a higher-ranked Majin isn’t this strong.

Is it…the horn of a Demon King?

Lem isn’t a Majin. Then is he like Mordred who had a unique ancestry? If not…did he inherit it?

I have never heard of a Majin passing down its horn to be inherited by a different race, but the possibility isn’t zero.

In this world, there is someone who formed a contract with the Shadow Spirit in a life-threatening situation.

There is also a fool who had gathered the best of allies that let himself be swallowed by a dream.

And there also exists a young man who would come to the rescue of that fool.