Bouncing along on the backs of greater taratects, we arrive at what’s known as the Bottom Stratum of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
I myself have once been to the Lower Stratum of the labyrinth, and that in itself was already a hellscape of dreadful monsters into which no man could ever tread.
The Bottom Stratum must be truly beyond human comprehension.
In other words, we may very well be the first humanoids to ever set foot here.
’Tis a shame we have no time to relish such a remarkable feeling.
“Hey, you made it.”
Demon Lord Ariel herself was waiting for us when we arrived.
She sits in a white chair that is probably made out of hardened spider thread.
Behind her stands Sophia and…I believe his name was Merazophis? With demon commanders on either side, she truly cuts the dignified figure of a true Demon Lord.
There are four small spiders at the corners of her chair, and for some reason, one of them is frantically flailing its legs at me specifically.
…What in the world?
Intrigued, I Appraise the spider despite myself.
The result shows that it is a monster called a puppet taratect with the name of Fiel.
…Hrmmm?
Fiel?
FIEL?!
That tiny spider is the little girl who was hanging all over me in the elf village?!
So this is that girl’s true form?!
Hah…now that is a surprise.
“Curious about my kids?”
“Hrm? I suppose you could say that. I’m just surprised to see this little one looking so different from the last time we met.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Her favorite outfit got burned up in battle earlier.”
Demon Lord Ariel addresses me amiably.
Outfit, eh…would you really call that an outfit?
Well, no matter. Clearly she is still the same on the inside, no matter how she looks.
That much is obvious from the fact that Fiel has now hopped onto my head and is poking and prodding my cheeks.
“Argh! Get off me, missy!”
“Fiel, behave yourself.”
Scolded by the Demon Lord, Fiel skitters away.
That rascal! Where is her sense of seriousness in this dire situation?!
Now she’s gone and ruined the whole mood!
“Elder Ronandt…”
Young Hyrince is staring at me in exasperation. But that wasn’t my fault, I tell you!
“Now then, shall we get started?”
“May I have a moment to speak with you first?”
Demon Lord Ariel attempts to get right down to business, only to be interrupted by the representative of the demons, Mr. Balto.
“Hrm. I’ve got nothing to say to you, but sure, I guess. Go ahead.”
“Thank you.”
Mr. Balto bows his head to Demon Lord Ariel. I wonder what he’s going to ask her?
I doubt any answer she gives will be what he wants to hear…
“Demon Lord, might I ask what exactly we demons meant to you?”
…Yeah, I figured it’d be something like that.
I fear her response is only going to hurt the lad further.
“What’s the point of asking me that? I don’t think any good will come of me telling you, y’know?”
“Even so, I want to hear it from you personally.”
The Demon Lord shakes her head and sighs.
“Then I’ll give it to you straight, okay? I don’t have any strong feelings at all about demonkind. That’s the honest truth.”
In a way, that’s harsher than saying that she hated them or some such thing.
Even after using them to her own ends and forcing them to fight a massive war against humanity not long ago, the Demon Lord doesn’t care one iota about demonkind.
How must Mr. Balto feel about this?
“I…see.”
Balto heaves a deep, long sigh.
“Thank you. It’s a bit of a relief to hear you say it out loud.”
“Oh? I was expecting you to have a few choice words for me, no?”
Even Ariel seems surprised at how quickly Mr. Balto backed down.
“Of course, I have much more than a few choice words. But that would hardly change your mind about the path you’ve chosen, would it? Surely you didn’t start all of this with such half-hearted conviction that you could be talked out of it. If you were not utterly devoted to your cause, that would be far more disrespectful to my fallen brethren.”
“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t turn the whole world against me if I wasn’t damn sure about it.”
“Then I doubt anything I say would make a difference. Our paths have simply diverged, for better or worse. All that is left for me to do is to devote all of my efforts to demonkind as its representative.”
Oh-ho, I see.
He asked her that to clarify things in his own mind, not to try to make the Demon Lord feel guilty.
In that case, Mr. Balto is a remarkable man, worthy of representing demonkind.
“Gotcha… By the way, Balto. I don’t have any strong feelings about demonkind, but I do feel grateful to you for working so hard for me all those years.”
“…I am honored.”
Balto smiles back, somehow looking tearful and frustrated all at once.
“All right, then. Let’s get this party started for real this time. The system core is just beyond that door.”
Demon Lord Ariel points behind her.
A door looms in the wall.
Beyond it is the system core.
The place where the goddess Sariel is trapped.
“From here on out, if any of you make one wrong move, I’ll kill you on the spot.”
That statement is no lie, I’m sure.
The piercingly murderous glint in her eyes is proof enough of that.
I hear someone gulp quietly.
“If anyone turns traitor and tries to stop the destruction of the system, I swear I’ll make sure all of humanity dies after this, even if the ivory god’s side loses. I’m talking utter extinction, not just half.”
This, too, is no lie.
She would do it, no doubt about it.
Betrayal comes at a high price.
“I solemnly swear that we will do no such thing.”
“Yeah, I sure hope not.”
The Demon Lord doesn’t seem to trust the pontiff’s vow.
She did say in her speech during the world quest sequence that she doesn’t expect much out of humanity.
She’s never trusted us in the first place.
The only way to prove that we are trustworthy, then, is to make sure we do not betray her.
“Okay, let’s get going. Oh, right, before we go…catch.”
“Huh? Whoa!”
The Demon Lord tosses something to Schlain the Hero, who manages to catch it.
It’s…a sword?
“Oh, isn’t this the royal family’s sword?”
“What in the…?!”
Hyrince stares at the sword in shock, then at Demon Lord Ariel.
“That’s the Sword of the Hero. It’s the counterpart to the Sword of the Demon Lord, which only I can use. It’s a sword that can only be wielded by the Hero, and can produce a single attack strong enough to kill a god, but only once.”