Even in that hopeless moment, something was bothering me: The voice of dungeon malice sounded different from before. It was soft, almost lisping, like a little girl—
“Children, it is indeed a great feat that you have survived. Outstanding work. Continue to overcome your trials and grow. Indeed, grow further, and become even finer sacrifices! Our sacrifices! And if, in the end, you’ve overcome our trials, I shall become your nourishment in return!”
Hearing that voice triggered a flood of memories—brief but intense—from the time between my death and reincarnation. And then I realized that the voice and the way it spoke were identical to a certain being.
“Are you...the god who reincarnated me...?”
It sounded exactly like Indeed-Missy, the god who had granted me my powers when I was being reincarnated. I just blurted that out, but is that even possible?
“Ahh, you’ve noticed? I am, indeed!”
I didn’t expect her to admit it. If anything, I hoped she wouldn’t. Because if she’s Indeed-Missy, then—
“So you were...an enemy? Actually, does this mean you’re a demon?”
It’s not exactly uncommon to hear stories where the god you first meet turns out to be the final boss, but I’d never imagined it would happen to me.
However, Indeed-Missy denied it.
“Such a thing is hard to say. If you ask whether I am your enemy, the answer is no, nor am I a demon.”
“Then what are you?”
“A god, indeed. I told you so, did I not?”
“And why would a god carve a curse into us?!”
“You performed far better than I expected. Very well! I shall explain!”
Indeed-Missy, wearing the form of dungeon malice, puffed out her chest proudly. I was starting to get used to it, although she still looked terrifying.
“We are indeed gods! And as you have likely realized, it was not the gods who brought the cheaters into this world, but demons. They were originally beings from beyond this world, but they took an interest in the system for training heroes.”
According to Indeed-Missy, gods cannot interfere with the world freely. If gods tampered with the world however they pleased, it would eventually collapse. To prevent themselves from doing so, they created laws that even gods must obey. And to handle any crises that could threaten the world, the gods created heroes, summoning suitable individuals from other worlds, using dungeons as trials, and training them.
But demons invading from another realm decided to twist the hero system for their own purposes. They summoned humans from the other worlds who had fragile souls, granted them demonic power to corrupt them, trained them in the dungeon, and then possessed their bodies to descend upon this world.
“The ones called cheaters are indeed mere sacrifices for demons to incarnate into.”
“You’re kidding me...” said Godlord, stunned.
It was understandable. Not only did he find out he wasn’t a chosen one, he was just told that he’d simply been fooled by demons.
“The hero system meant to counter threats was twisted into a tool used to create them. We gods felt the danger as well, but of course, we didn’t simply sit by and watch. Indeed, that is where Ares the hero and you, Thor the reincarnator, come in.”
She pointed sharply at Ares and me, but it wasn’t either of us who responded.
“Huh? So you really are a reincarnator!” said Godlord, staring at me with a mix of shock and dawning realization. Apparently, he’d started to question whether I was truly a reincarnator after breaking free from Machina’s control.
“I’m sorry. I thought it was better not to reveal that unless I had to...”
“Well, I’m not mad... I’m just surprised you were on the same level as me or even higher. I mean, it makes sense if you’re a reincarnator.” Godlord then turned to Indeed-Missy. “So my Constant Vigilance... That was given to me by a demon, right? Should I stop using it?”
“Indeed. The more you use it, the more your soul will be corrupted by the demon.”
“You’re kidding...! Now I’m all freaked out!”
Godlord started trembling. Even the fearless delinquent was scared of demonic powers consuming his soul.
“But you have not yet been fully corrupted. If from now on you refrain from using that power, you should be fine. Indeed, I was impressed how you resisted the demon’s whispers.”
“The demon’s whisper...? Oh, that thing I heard when I was fighting the dragon? Kept telling me to kill the kids and stuff.”
“Indeed. When one is intoxicated by the power of wrath, the whisper is not an easy thing to resist.”
“Hmph. You’re supposed to protect kids, aren’t ya?”
Indeed-Missy cackled. “I see, I see! It’s amusing how we sometimes see cheaters like you!”
“Um...” said Ares, worry clouding his expression. “Is it safe for me to keep using my power?”
So does Ares have a cheat ability too? But I thought Indeed-Missy said he wasn’t a cheater...
“Well, I shall explain that to you. With the hero system as it was, oftentimes we gods could not fully counter the demons. So this time, we decided to grant the hero a special power as an exception.”
“And that’s...Demon King Slayer...?”
“Indeed! We gods decided to imitate the demons and make use of the enemy’s power. Thus was born Demon King Slayer, an ability which allows you to absorb a Demon King’s power!”
“Um, but I clearly went berserk. That was probably because of the Werewolf Demon King I defeated, right?” Ares then looked over at us. “I...almost killed them...”
So he really had been out of control.
“My apologies for that. Ares, Thor, forgive us. It was completely a matter of insufficient adjustment, indeed. To fully manifest the Demon King’s power, we had made it so their soul would be absorbed into Ares...but it seems the stimulus was too strong. We have since limited the output of Demon King Slayer so the mental corruption will not occur. It will not happen again.”
“Really?”
“Indeed. This isn’t the best way to put it, but you and Thor are valuable pieces for us. Even the other gods prioritized adjusting your power, Ares.”
So Ares had been granted a cheat called Demon King Slayer—the ability to absorb mana stones and cores and convert them into his own strength. Now that just screams hero!
It seemed the plan of the gods had been to use dungeons and Demon King Slayer to raise the strongest hero in history.
“And now, about you, Thor... You are an irregularity, indeed. You were not a hero to begin with.”
“Right, I learned that when I was reincarnated.”
My reincarnation was supposed to be a reward for helping someone destined to become a hero.
“Indeed. The one you saved that day was a human fated to reincarnate into our world and become a hero. But does it not strike you as strange? Even if he would become a hero someday, at that moment, he was just an ordinary human. Indeed, saving him should not have caused isekai powers to become tangled up in your soul.”
“Huh? But you said something about me getting isekai powers because I saved a hero...”
“To be precise, what mixed into you was the demonic power that had been sent to Earth to corrupt the hero’s soul. Indeed, it was meant to alter the hero’s soul, but it instead flowed into you.”
Apparently, the culprit who’d attacked the boy back then was a human possessed by a demon, and the knife that I got stabbed with had been imbued with demonic power. It getting used on me was a mistake.
“When I found you, your soul was unstable due to the demonic power, so I reshaped you into a form suitable for our world. Had I not, your soul would have indeed collapsed and vanished without entering any cycle of reincarnation. Be grateful.”
“Well... Thank you.”
It was kind of annoying how she made it sound like I owed her, but she was right; it was still better than dying.
“There was no time to explain during your reincarnation. And if I had told you that your soul was being imbued with a demonic power, you would have found it suspicious, would you not?”