Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle - Chapter 211-3

211 – If there’s one thing I fear more than dying… (Part 3)

「Lem! I am honored to have met you…!」

I’m not sure if I can say that my fears are completely alleviated. I can’t change myself that easily.

But I was able to realize my own hopelessness.

I can’t give up no matter what. If that’s the case, there’s no time to waste shaking in fear.

But even that won’t make the fear go away.

So, I have no choice but to run with it.

「To be honest…! I really do think I am weak! I mean, think about it! If I slept soundly, the four of them in the real world would lose their leader! And yet, I succumbed to the dream once!」

If I had kept going with a strong heart, I probably would have returned to reality quickly.

「Anyone’s heart can grow weak…! So weak that you can’t stand back up on your own! That’s why I came to help…! You’ve cheered up countless people till now with your strong heart! You’ve saved all sorts of people’s hearts! It’s alright for that kind of person to be the one who’s saved once in a while…!」

……!!!

「I-I…! I’ve wanted to be at 1st rank ever since I decided to be an Adventurer…! I will surpass Aerial! My allies are the best! I will prove to the world that I, the person leading them, am the best Hero…! That’s right! Just as you said, I was only pretending to have given up!」

That was what angered Mordred and Galahad.

「I’ll answer your question! I passed on participating in the Raid Battle because I was scared…! I couldn’t help but be scared, thinking about standing shoulder to shoulder with Aerial and being no match for him…! I fear that even now! Knowing my own limits, I couldn’t help but be afraid…!」

Of course, that isn’t something I could tell my allies.

They fully believe in my strength from the bottom of their hearts, so I’ll cause a misunderstanding.

Mordred and Galahad each thought that we didn’t participate because they were lacking in ability, so they said that they’d take a break from the team to train by themselves, separately.

I told them that that wasn’t the case, but they wouldn’t listen.

Of course, they wouldn’t. I would have to tell them the real reason to make them listen.

I would have to expose the deep-seated fear inside me. But I couldn’t do it.

I was also afraid of breaking the trust of my allies.

I was full of fears.

When did I become such a coward?

When I was a kid, I would put one foot in front of the other, never hesitating.

「But you made me realize something! So what if I’m no match for that guy?! I can’t give up no matter what! I have no choice but to keep running…! If I’m no match for him today, then I’ll beat him tomorrow! If tomorrow is no good, then on to the next! I’ll keep challenging him until I win…!」

I am afraid of letting my allies’ careers end in failure! Utterly afraid. More than death itself.

That is why I must keep taking on the challenge.

I can’t let my own life, which my allies put so much faith in, end in failure either.

I was a little late in realizing such an obvious thing.

When I get back, I have to apologize to Mordred and Galahad.

I’m sure Arthur is gonna yell at me for not confiding in him about this. If I told him that I didn’t want to seem vulnerable to my best friend, he’d probably get even angrier.

Merlin most likely saw through it all. She’s the Wizard of Foresight after all. Yet, she kept quiet. I’ll thank her… She’ll probably just make a fool out of me even if I do. But still, I must thank her.

But first, the friend in front of me.

「Thank you, Lem…!」

The conclusion to our battle draws near.

◇

What Spirit Magic? This is definitely Esoteric-class.

As for me, I imagined absorbing as much Magical Energy as could be absorbed from the Dungeon Core.

As expected of the horn from my master, I have yet to truly feel the limits of how much Magical Energy it can store.

Even that time I absorbed Magical Energy from the Demon King Castle’s Core, and I absorbed quite a lot, I didn’t aim to fill the horn to its limits.

Because I felt like I could keep on absorbing. Although, I’m sure that it must have a limit.

If I had absorbed to the limits of the horn, the Demon King Castle would have stopped functioning. There is no way that I would have been forgiven for consuming the Core, which is specifically for the operation of the Dungeon, for the sake of one person’s fight. Putting the entire Dungeon out of commission in order to protect it defeats the purpose in the first place.

It isn’t mine to begin with, so of course, I can’t do with it as I please.

However, no such limitations exist in this dream.

I can do it precisely because this is a dream without restriction, so I unleash my Magical Energy endlessly.

The same goes for Ex.

But I’m using my master’s horn.

Even then, I can’t overpower him.

「…UoooOOOOOOOH…!」

A yell that came from either of us. It probably came from both of us.

I can’t completely fathom Ex’s fears.

But I can imagine how painful it can be to not be able to show your allies the victory they deserve.

Not becoming 1st ranked means constantly losing to the Aerial party.

In terms of rank, it is just a difference of one. Just one more rank and he becomes the top of the industry.

So close, yet so far.

Continuing like that day after day, Ex didn’t blame his allies.

He tried to shoulder all the responsibility and ended up blaming himself.

They can’t be young forever. With every year that passes by, the urgency to update their rank increases.

How many more years can we keep doing this? Will we ever get to 1st rank? We might not even be in 2nd rank next year.

Did Ex continuously blame himself while worrying about all that?

With his already weakened heart, he fell prey to this fake solace.

If he had sincerely refused anything I said, that would have been the end of it.

But that didn’t happen.

If the heart has grown weak, then make it stir. Stir the strong heart he once had.

This was a little heavy-handed, but I know that if he recovers, he can overcome this trial.

No, I believed that he would.

「Lem…! O savior of heroes…! I…wish to defeat you too…!!!」

The world’s 2nd ranked Hero, one I look up to, is putting all his strength into defeating me.

「No matter who my opponent is, all shall fall before this horn…!!!」

「Same here…! This is the guy who saved my life…! Borrowing the full strength of a partner like this, there’s no way I can lose!」

Even if both sides claim to not be able to lose, one side still has to lose.

I begin pushing him back.

「Next time…challenge the Demon King Castle along with your allies…!」

I fold my wings. This isn’t the end. In an open state, the wings were arranged so that they overlapped directly behind me.

Up till now, I released Magical Energy in order to not be overwhelmed by his fist.

If that isn’t working, time to focus on a single point.

Instead of his entire fist, I focus on the point where my fist meets his. With this, I win.

My fist starts to sink into his.

「…?!」

Rather than clashing a giant fist against a giant fist, I pierce it with a stake.

My fist sinks into the shadow fist. I continue forward. With the enormous amounts of Magical Energy being shot out from my bone wings, my body is propelled forward. I pierce the shadow fist and tear my way through. Past the elbow, the upper arm, and then the upper body.

The upper body of the shadow giant that appeared in the final area of the tenth stratum burst open.

As long as there is Magical Energy, the shadow can mend itself, but I don’t think there is any surplus energy.

We both decided to give it our all, so there was no more Magical Energy left.

Ex was ejected by the armor into the air.

He had a refreshing smile on his face.

「Before I knew it, I became afraid of losing…but, hahaha, that’s right. Defeat hurts as bad as getting your body torn to pieces…but that’s exactly why you do your best to win the next time.」

Our eyes met.

His body, along with his shadow, began to crumble.

「Well then, see you in hell…which we call reality, heh.」

There wasn’t a hint of a shadow in his smile. It was the Ex we all knew.