Chapter 116. Entering the Demon Realm
There had been a long, exhausting battle.
Everyone in the group had already experienced fighting inside the Maze Forest once before, but apparently none of them had imagined that we would actually settle down inside the forest and keep fighting for this long.
They all looked completely drained.
Even the monster meat that I was used to eating was, to the rest of the group, something worse than inedible garbage.
That only made things harder.
“Hey, is this a poisonous mushroom? Or an edible one? Can we eat it?”
“Mister, please! Why do you keep looking at monsters and thinking about eating them?! You weren't like this before!”
“What am I supposed to do? If we don't save food somehow, we'll starve to death.”
We had entered under the excuse of chasing the Void Beasts.
If we failed to find them, we had no justification to turn around and leave.
Worse, if we went back like this, there was no way we'd avoid being questioned.
We needed to accomplish something before leaving.
For example, retrieving some kind of relic from the Demon Realm.
If we returned empty-handed, Grandpa Alo would really scold me.
No!
It might not even end with a scolding!
He might actually hold me responsible for this whole incident!
That would be annoying...
I really didn't want Grandpa Alo of all people getting leverage over me.
When someone is impossible to kill, I'd much rather keep them on my side.
“It looks similar to mushrooms from where I used to live... but I'm not sure.”
“Can't be helped. I'll eat it and tell you. As long as it isn't an instant-death mushroom, Mallang will somehow save me! I believe in you! I trust you, Mallang!”
“M-Mister! No! Don't eat it!”
“No! It's already too late! My mouth has already memorized the soft and squishy texture of this mushroom! Your voice can no longer reach me—! H-Huh...? Th-The sound! I can't hear anything!”
In a way, this brought back memories of my tester days.
Back then, I'd bitten into meat that my teeth couldn't even pierce, only for it to suddenly become chewable later.
Then meat I'd eaten before without any problems would suddenly turn poisonous.
I'd learned the terror of the Maze Forest with my own body.
Still, it was fortunate nothing that extreme was happening this time.
Thanks to the developers' hard work...
No, wait.
Since this game had been made based on a world that already existed...
Didn't they basically just unzip a compressed file?
What exactly were the developers doing?
They were making money while taking it incredibly easy!
“Heh... Hehehe... We have discovered a new biochemical weapon...!”
“?! Just die already! Seriously, what kind of person are you?!”
“N-No! If I die, Grandpa Alo will go, ‘You brat~!’ at me!”
“...Keep your chin up properly. It'll make it easier to cut.”
“Hoho, Miss Aien really becomes aggressive after drinking a little. That's why I told you to just eat. You said it was hard to endure and drank that much alcohol instead.”
“That was alcohol?!”
This was a complete mess.
It reminded me of the days I'd spent with the badgers.
For some reason, it almost felt like I'd returned home.
Of course, I didn't miss those days enough to get sentimental.
They weren't exactly good memories.
All I did was eat monsters, kill monsters, and get yelled at by Pie.
Looking at Aien's reaction now, maybe being scolded back then had actually been the better outcome.
“I've been wondering something. Is there a Fairy Lake here too?”
“You're asking that now? Most Maze Forests have a Fairy Lake.”
“Then another opportunity for evolution has arrived...!”
“No, idiot. Do you think it's that easy? The Fairy Lake draws out hidden potential. It's not some place that lets you evolve over and over again whenever you want.”
“...You've tried it before, haven't you?”
“Of course I have.”
Leaving behind several disappointing thoughts—like how I wanted to dominate groups of monsters the way I had with goblins, but couldn't because there were too many people watching—we reached the boundary of the Demon Realm faster than expected.
A space covered in thick, disgusting fog.
A hellish place known as the Demon Realm.
...
Most likely, remnants of the world lay beneath it.
And somewhere above it was a part of the Great Witch's body.
“...I feel like it took us at least a month just to get here last time.”
“Did it? It was so long ago... but yeah, it definitely took a while.”
The rest of the group had never experienced the Demon Realm before, nor had they ever stayed inside the Maze Forest this long.
They quietly trembled while staring ahead.
From the rumors alone, this was basically hell—a place no human should be able to survive.
So their reaction was understandable.
And speaking as someone who had experienced it before...
Since we didn't currently have creatures fighting in our place, I personally thought they didn't need to tremble quietly.
It would've been perfectly reasonable to scream at the top of their lungs.
“Don't worry too much. I'm here. Guiding you through a Demon Realm like this is easy.”
“Oooh... so cool...!”
“Lucy...”
Pie had become comfortable with the group too, because every once in a while, she showed a surprisingly human side even in front of the kids.
That was a good sign.
There was always a tiny chance that the people here might someday gain bodies in reality, just like Pie had.
It would be better to get familiar with each other now rather than become awkward later.
As for Mallang...
If she came into reality and could still use healing magic, she would always be welcome.
Though I wouldn't be able to carry her around hugging her like I did now!
Even so, she'd absolutely be welcome!
“All right. Staying inside the Maze Forest for too long probably isn't good either, so let's finish quickly and get out. You know, there's that thing about the fog in the Demon Realm being harmful to the body.”
“You actually remembered that. This party should be fine.”
“Oh! Good. That's reassuring.”
The downside was that I had absolutely no idea what would happen if we obtained part of Asset's body here.
I also didn't know whether Pastien was guarding the piece here too, or if a completely different guardian was waiting.
The part Pastien protected had been the spine.
It was a fairly large body part.
I hoped that was the reason a Great Hero had been guarding it.
Ideally, there wouldn't be anyone at Great Hero level here.
During the past few days wandering through the Maze Forest, there had been quite a few dangerous moments.
Yet strangely, they hadn't felt dangerous.
Probably because I'd already witnessed the battle between Grandpa Alo and the Root.
Even someone as powerful as Pie or Modak now seemed incredibly small in front of a Great Hero.
That battle had probably changed my standards.
The wall was simply too high.
It felt like facing an essential NPC in a game who was literally impossible to kill.
Even if I appeared in front of them with some completely absurd high-end build, I still wouldn't be able to win.
Right?
“...Is everyone ready?!”
Tch.
Let's not think too deeply about it.
It only makes my head hurt.
I'd already known from the beginning that unless I became a Great Hero myself, the way to deal with one wasn't by fighting them head-on.
Standing at the boundary of the Demon Realm, I faced everyone and made them steel themselves once again.
Then, without giving some long speech, I stepped forward.
None of us knew how many more days we'd end up wandering around from here.
If it were me, I would've tried to run away somewhere along the way.
But after spending so much time together recently, I'd become more and more certain of something.
No matter how much these guys complained...
Once I took the lead, they followed me.
