An extreme weight suddenly dropped on us. It felt similar to Gravity Magic, but it was different. My senses were telling me that it was a skill that directly connected to one’s spirit. I identified the skill as soon as I thought about what the Goblin King would have. This was most likely “Pressure of the King,” a move that accessed one’s instincts and made them unable to use abilities for a set period of time, which even strong players fear.
Gabriel had sweat running down her face, and Cerberus was howling. They weren’t quite bowing, and while the skill didn’t seem to be completely affecting them, it was still preventing them from fighting at full capacity.
The same went for me. It was taking everything in me to remain conscious and keep standing. Ms. Kaori had no way to fight against it and was already on the ground.
“Oh? Resist, will you? Insignificant being.” The King’s voice rumbled throughout the space.
“Unfortunately for you, I can’t afford to die here,” I gritted through my teeth.
“How foolish. Why must you struggle against the salvation I am granting you?”
“Salvation?” There was no point in hiding my confusion.
The King cackled grandly. “It is the unwritten rules of this ‘game.’ The laws dictated by that which you all call the ‘developers.’ It has been nothing but comical to watch you struggle like ants, blissfully unaware.”
My head was swarming with questions. Game? Developers? Unwritten rules? I had so many things to ask, but the King gave me no opening, continuing to speak gleefully.
“Yield to me. I shall not do you harm.”
“Yield what to you, exactly?”
“My existence in itself is your salvation. The death I will grant you...will be your ‘happy ending.’”
Hearing that reminded me of when Mikagami, who I suspected to be related to the devs, told me that I’d be happier dead. I’d brushed him off at the time because I thought it was a joke. But we players had been reincarnated into this world after already dying once, so perhaps the concept of “death” itself was in some way directly related to this world? It didn’t seem like I should ignore the Goblin King’s words.
“Are you implying that I can go back to my original world if I die?” I volunteered a guess.
The King raised its voice, laughing harder. “Kwa ha ha! That is not a bad guess! Would you like to see for yourself? I shall not hesitate to kill you painlessly!”
“Don’t joke around. I don’t need to be killed.”
“Whatever you do, this world is sjdoihxcsekljewknjkbfb.”
The King’s voice suddenly broke off and I couldn’t understand it. The closest thing I could liken it to was TV static.
“Ms. Kaori? Did you hear that just now?”
“Did you suddenly lose track of it too?”
She’d experienced the same thing then. I’d almost thought that I’d been attacked by Mind Control Magic, but my stat screen didn’t show any status effects on it.
I focused on the King. “If it’s possible, then I’d like to avoid fighting you. Will you hear me out?”
There was no doubt about it—I could speak to this boss. We’d lost quite a bit of our resources at that point, so I conversed with the King with a sliver of hope.
“Foolish question. So long as He wills for me to not speak of any more, then I have nothing to say. The will of our existence is the erasure of the ‘players.’”
Then the TV static was the devs regulating this thing, huh? It had to have been something important. My first order of business was to overcome this hurdle.
The King grinned. “No matter how you struggle, you all cannot move at the moment. The end of this war has already been decided upon. Go forth, my servants!”
As it claimed, we were already doing our utmost to fight against the Pressure skill. The Royal Guards on each side of the King began marching toward Gabriel and Cerberus.
“Gabriel, Cerberus! It’s do-or-die! You can handle those two!”
The Goblin King snapped its fingers. Light spread everywhere.
It happened in an instant.
When the blinding light died down, over a hundred Goblin Royal Guards were surrounding us.
The King smiled. “Checkmate.”
The absolute worst situation. We already couldn’t move because of Pressure of the King, and the difference in strength between us was now abundantly clear. Even if we could move, we didn’t stand a chance.
“You’re right,” I sighed. “We might be done for.”
“You will admit it? Should you not resist, I shall kill you kindly, without falsities. Choose well: dispose of your weapons, or resist until the end!”
“We might be done for...like this, that is.”
Its skill was still taking effect. Clinging to my will for dear life, fighting against my heavy body, I used up every bit of strength I had to move my hand and get my middle finger up to face the Goblin King who’d already decided he’d won.
“This hand is all I need to flip the board upside down!”
My middle finger coincided with my use of Skill: Release of God’s Might, which would multiply my summons’ stats by 7. I know, I know. I should’ve used this earlier, right? But monsters could instinctively figure out players’ stats and would underestimate them as soon as they thought they were weaker.
Doing so allowed Gabriel and Cerberus to break free from the curse. With nimble movements, they both shot toward the Royal Guards and engaged in direct combat. Gabriel’s straight rights resounded around the room, while Cerberus’s teeth cleanly hit on the first bite. It was obvious that their stats were even higher than they’d been up until now.
They would only win in a one-on-one, though. If they were to be surrounded by multiple enemies, they could put up a good fight, but would in the end be ganged up on.
“Oh?” The King sounded mildly interested. “It seems your power increased explosively. But what of it? My army numbers over that of a hundred—”
I didn’t have any intention of answering it. Over a hundred Royal Guards? So what? I had a way to take out tons of enemies at once.
Let’s bring her out. Come on! After scrimping and saving every last coin from my part-time job in desperation, I finally bought my true, real—
Trump card!
Copying the Goblin King’s movements, it was my turn to snap my fingers.
“Grade 6 Summon: Reign down! Amaterasu!”
The area was flooded with light.
You’ll often hear that it’s best to save your trump card for last, but in my case, this girl was my literal sole trump card. She only had two moves, after all. One was a completely useless bare-handed attack. The other was a one-of-a-kind Attack Magic. That single shot was a last resort that would put an end to everything. Once fired, it would take time before she could use it again; the only magic in the game that had that restriction. That was why Amaterasu was the only summon in Grade 6 that had Attack Magic.
When the light settled down, a little girl appeared, about six years old and a hundred and twenty centimeters tall. Wearing shrine maiden’s clothing, she had long black hair that ran down her back, just like her sister. A halo of light backed her as she beamed a carefree smile at me.