We stepped into the realm of the gods, which turned out to be colored in such an intensely bright, rainbow-like hue, it hurt my eyes just looking at it.
“Ooof, yikes. This feels like where the final boss would be, all right,” I muttered. Actually living in this place on a day-to-day basis would be seriously rough, I bet…
“This is the final stretch, isn’t it? We’ll defeat the elder god and restore peace to the world!” said Laika. She’d really gotten used to the game’s world, it seemed. Laika had never struck me as someone who was very good at immersing herself into a role, so it was kind of fun to see her pull it off for once.
I, of course, was intent on playing the role of the hero to match.
“That’s right!” I said. “We’ve come this far, so we might as well finish the job and save this game’s whole world!”
Saving the real world just wasn’t something you could expect to do in your lifetime. The real world was complicated, and between all the various interconnected factors involved, coming up with a single, straightforward save-the-world solution just wasn’t possible. In the world of this training program, however, the solution was simple: Defeat the elder god. That was something I knew we could pull off.
The realm of the gods didn’t seem to have any towns in it…which was probably a given, considering. Even if it was technically possible for people to live here, the constant shimmering of the landscape would be so maddening I had a feeling they’d move elsewhere before you knew it.
There were, however, plenty of enemies. Random mob sprites were scattered all over the place, and touching one of them would naturally result in combat. I had to wonder: Just what sort of random enemies would show up in the realm of the gods? The monsters we’d been fighting so far were the demon king’s minions, so surely we wouldn’t still be encountering them here?
[Nintan appeared!]
“Why are We being treated as a common minion?! This is unacceptable!”
Nintan showed up out of nowhere as our first encounter, and she got angry just as quickly.
“There, there. It could be worse!” I said. “The enemy sprites in games like this are way bigger than the player characters, so even if you’re technically a common minion, you still look way cooler than we do!”
“That does not even begin to quell Our rage! If you must involve Us in this farce, at least make Us a boss!”
Before Nintan even finished airing her Godly Godness gripes, a storm of stones rained down on her. Pecora had cast a spell.
“How dare you?! What sort of cur would attack Us while We were speaking?! You miserable coward!”
“Sorry, but only people who make an effort to play their characters get to monologue! ”
Pecora really does take these things seriously, huh? I guess she’s one of those people who can switch between serious mode and messing-around mode in an instant.
“Hmph! We shall turn Godly Godness into a frog the next time we see her. But for now…,” Nintan said, pausing to look each of us in the eye, one by one. “The holy sanctuary lies just beyond this point, and if you do not bring your all to bear as you progress through it, you will surely be cut down before ever reaching your goal. Do not think this will be an easy task. The sanctuary serves as the culmination of this training program, and it will require you to battle a gauntlet of gods.”
I could tell Nintan meant it. She was giving us a genuine warning.
“If there are any spells or techniques you still wish to learn, now is your last chance to turn back and do so. Be sure you are well-stocked with items, as well. Should you perish in the sanctuary, you will be returned to its beginning. In other words, if you cannot defeat the elder god, you will be locked in an eternal cycle of battle and defeat.”
Oh no—it’s one of those situations where you can save yourself into a corner right before the final boss! RPGs sure do love not letting you go back to the overworld after entering the final dungeon, don’t they…?
“Got it. Thanks for letting us know—we’ll be ready,” I said.
“See to it you are,” Nintan replied with a satisfied smile…
✦ ✦ ✦
…as a torrent of offensive magic continued to batter away at her.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Boy, endgame mobs sure have a lot of health, huh!”
Without showing so much as a hint of mercy, Pecora ended the conversation by defeating Nintan single-handedly.
✦ ✦ ✦
The moment I stepped into the sanctuary, my footing felt strangely unstable. It’s hard to put it into words, but it felt like I was walking on air, more or less.
I wonder if this place was based on the actual realms the real-world gods live in?
“I’ve been to all sorts of places over the course of my work as an adventurer, but this is the first time I’ve seen anything like this,” said Wynona. Her professional instincts were kicking in, I could tell. She was taking this just as seriously as she took her real-world adventures.
“This feels unsettling to me as well, yes,” said Laika. “If this were the real world, I would have to resist the urge to fly away…”
“’Tis a sign the ending is close at hand. Endure for just a moment longer,” said Beelzebub.
Okay, then—who’s the first boss in here gonna be?
At the far end of the space we’d found ourselves in, I saw what looked like a big, scruffy ball of fur. A moment later, a pair of hands and a face emerged from it.
“…Look upon me, Ost Ande, god of death. I shall grant you your ends. Perish, here and now.”
Looks like the sanctuary’s first boss is Ost Ande, then. Having a reaper show up as part of a game’s final boss rush certainly felt appropriate.
“Pecora, cast attack buffing magic on Laika and Wynona!” I shouted.
Pecora, however, didn’t reply. She—and Laika as well, for that matter—went limp and collapsed in a heap without a word.
“Huh? Laika? Pecora? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“…It was the work of my instant death power. Witness the might of Reaper’s Requiem.”
“Now that’s the sort of power I’d expect from a true god of death!”
“…Can’t use it in the real world, though. Too many liability problems.”
Oh! She’s talking more like how she usually does now.
Since Beelzebub, our party cleric, had made it through Ost Ande’s attack alive, we were just barely able to revive our fallen members and turn the battle around. The god of death’s actual physical abilities were quite low, as it turned out, so we decided to stage an all-out offensive in the hopes of defeating her before she could use her instant death power again. Somehow, we pulled it off and emerged victorious.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I can’t believe I collapsed like that—I was so shocked! I see my training is far from complete…”
✦ ✦ ✦
Laika ended up muttering regretfully to herself after the battle was over.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Nah, I think that’s the sort of move you can’t do much about, no matter how perfect your training was.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Bosses with instant death spells were a common obstacle. Overcoming that obstacle was a sign we had what it took to make it through the remainder of the challenges before us.
Okay! Let’s head for the second boss!