With a death cry that sounded like it came out of a cartoon, the man slammed into the wall of the guild’s entrance. He twitched, convulsing, and made sounds like those of a bug. I’d say he’s probably been rendered unable to fight after that.
“How did she do that?!”
“She took down Mr. Nakajima in one hit...?”
The guild members started crowding around.
Who could blame them for being confused? We were now level 125.
Plus, Mikagami had given us twenty Keys to Agartha and Recovery Orbs each. We weren’t supposed to use the Orbs outside of Floor 2 of Agartha, though. It was pretty obvious what I’d done, right?
I’d used my tried-and-true self-destruct plan against the boss rush.
As expected of the highest level dungeon, it had been supremely good for leveling. I was also currently using Release of God’s Might, giving Gabriel, Tsukuyomi, and Cerberus strength so immense that they were actual demons to level 99s.
I shuffled out of my hiding spot and declared war against the otherworlders.
“Come at us, weaklings! We’re gonna round you up and beat you into your places!”
†
Kaori Shinozuka
“What’s going on?”
I was being held captive on the upper floor of the underground prison. I could hear a commotion full of screaming and explosions from above.
There’s no way to be sure, but...did somebody come to rescue me?
I couldn’t think of anyone who’d bother to do that. I might have been one of the five grand guildmasters, but as one could see, being so strict about rules only made people treat me like this.
So what’s this fight about? There hasn’t been a reason for war between the guilds in two hundred years.
A reincarnator named Isoyama rushed down the stairs, breaking through my confusion. He was a sword user, like me. Though to be more precise, he was an upper-class Swordmaster. But we were both level 99. He had a rough personality, which didn’t mesh with mine at all.
“Hey, Shinozuka! You put that brat up to this, didn’t you?!”
“Who...?”
Was he talking about Iijima? I shook my head to deny it. Mr. Imabayashi had his eyes on him, so Iijima really should’ve just forgotten about me and gone to live quietly somewhere. If he really was here, then he was a stupid kid.
“Mr. Saito gave us an order. If that brat comes to attack us before we bring you to Mr. Imabayashi, then we have to kill you.”
“You’re going to...kill me?”
“We know more than anyone else how strong you are. You’re like the bomb in our stomach in the middle of an unwanted situation.”
I’d thought he was going to pull out the key to this cell, but instead he pulled the sword off his back. It seemed he was going to slice through the bars themselves and take me with them.
Would I be able to stop his blade with my bare hands?
I was bound with a rope sealed with magic and couldn’t move, so that wasn’t likely. I thought up as many routes of escape as I could, but ended up arriving at accepting my fate.
It’s been four hundred years since I was reincarnated here.
After the longest time, the end was finally upon me. If I had any regrets, it was probably that I’d never gotten the chance to challenge the Agartha event and obtain a Log-Out Ticket the proper way, even though the update was so close.
“...I want to see my family.”
My family, whom I was so, so proud of. All of us had such a strong sense of duty and took our jobs as police officers seriously. We loved to drink with our colleagues. Every time we did, the whole place would turn into a huge, wonderful banquet.
I want to drink with my family one more time... That had been my wish for the past four hundred years that I never told anyone. I could only laugh bitterly at the fact that this was the moment it’d finally slipped from my lips.
“Then what are you waiting for? Just go see them.”
A high-pitched voice hit my ears, and a girl rose up from my shadow wearing gothic lolita clothes.
“Who are you?” I was too shocked to say anything else.
The girl snapped her fingers, releasing the rope from my body. With another snap, a broadsword manifested at my feet.
“This sword belongs to our pet, a black dog.”
A sword...that belongs to a dog? I couldn’t help but think this girl said some weird things.
She sighed melancholily. “I’m just a shadow of my real body. I won’t be very helpful in battle in this dimension, so don’t expect anything.”
“What do you mean...?”
She pointed at the sword and nodded. “I mean you need to figure out the rest for yourself.”
I didn’t hesitate to grab the blade and direct it at Isoyama.
“Huh?!” he squeaked.
He hauled his sword over his head and swiftly brought it down. Sidestepping to dodge it, I swung at him diagonally.
Watching him fall without even a scream, I turned back to the girl.
“If I said, ‘three successive generations of champions of the Metropolitan Police Department kendo tournament,’ would you know what I mean?”
“No, I wouldn’t, and I don’t care to know either.”
“My family has trained in swordplay since the Edo period. Then we became a family of police officers.”
“Is that so? I didn’t want to know that. I really don’t care.”
“My class in this game is Master Samurai. My whole family is crazy about kendo. We’ve always made a living with swords.”
“What an annoying woman you are. You seem to want my opinion that badly, so I guess I’ll give it to you: you’re quite skilled.” She shrugged.