After successfully rescuing Alkine, a rather relaxed atmosphere continued.
Diggers, still sitting in front of the cage, was crying out, pleading not to go… but we ignored it and continued our conversation for a while.
“…Enough small talk. There are still things to be done.”
Alkine, who had subtly interrupted the conversation, spoke up.
She had seemed a bit unstable at first, pretending to be fine after the escape, but it looked like she was starting to regain her composure.
As she said, the situation wasn’t over yet.
Diggers had lost his will, but that didn’t mean he could be forgiven.
From the moment he became a demon, there was no room for repentance or reflection.
Forgiveness and such were irrelevant; he was simply someone to be dealt with.
It wasn’t a complicated matter. We just needed to deal with Diggers, the demon, and escape the rift.
Of course, it would be nice if we could interrogate him to find out who helped him become a demon… but he probably wouldn’t tell us.
To be precise, he probably couldn’t tell us. There’s an obvious scenario, right? A contract where revealing secrets results in death or something like that.
I had a good guess, so it didn’t really matter.
Eventually, we’d meet those involved, and I wasn’t trying to avoid it.
For now, let’s focus on resolving the immediate situation.
As I moved toward Diggers, who was sitting, he got up from his spot and looked at us.
Then, he started with the same old words.
“President, please, think about it again. It’s not like you to be swayed by someone like him.”
“Not like me? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I can’t even guess what kind of image you have of me.”
“Well, obviously…”
“Enough. I’m not interested in hearing that.”
Swish—
Just as I thought we were having a brief conversation, Alkine immediately swung her sword.
There was no hesitation in her movement as she swung.
However, instead of aiming for his neck, her attack ended up cutting off one of his arms.
Alkine hadn’t gone easy on him; it was because Diggers had raised his arm at the last moment to block.
“Argh!”
Even after becoming a demon, he’s no match for Alkine.
Diggers wasn’t weak, but once again, I was reminded of Alkine’s formidable strength.
Though he was a demon, the stump seemed to wriggle as if it were trying to regenerate, but it didn’t look like a new arm would grow anytime soon.
By the way, didn’t she cut it really smoothly?
The cut was so clean, it didn’t seem like she had struggled at all.
Despite his appearance, his body is strong enough to withstand Seria’s magic. For her to cut it so easily shows that she’s grown stronger.
‘At this rate, she’ll pass the wall soon enough.’
Originally, that wall was something to deal with later, but… I gave up on timing growth long ago, so I stopped caring about it.
Even if she’s grown fast, compared to Seria next to her, it’s nothing to worry about.
It’s nice to see everyone getting stronger.
In the upcoming chaos, they’ll be reliable allies.
With Seria and Alkine’s rapid growth, I think we’ll be able to handle any major events without much trouble.
“President… please…”
I erased those thoughts as I saw Diggers moving closer.
I had just witnessed a situation where Alkine was almost kidnapped, so it would be foolish to think that only the events I know will happen.
Alkine swung her sword at Diggers, who was approaching again.
This time, he couldn’t block it, and she decapitated him.
Swish—
Diggers’s head rolled on the ground, and his body fell beside it with a thud.
As if confirming his death as a demon, his body lost its form and dissipated into black mist.
In its place, a single jewel remained.
‘Oh, what’s this? Why didn’t an item drop?’
Of course, it was a joke. I had known from the start that he had a rift stone.
The red energy spilling out made it obvious.
I quickly approached and asked,
“President, may I break it?”
“I’ve never understood why you’re so obsessed with breaking rift stones yourself. Do as you wish.”
With Alkine’s permission, I stepped forward and crushed the rift stone on the ground without hesitation.
A system window appeared in front of me.
[Unlock Condition: Contribute 40% or more to conquering 5 rifts (5/5)]
[Congratulations! Unlock condition achieved!]
[Unlocked: Inventory]
Finally, the inventory has been unlocked.
Achieving over 40% in all five rift… It’s an achievement worth celebrating.
But… well, as I thought when I first saw the conditions, it didn’t feel too difficult or tight.
Normally, achieving over 40% contribution is a hard target, but since individual actions were possible unlike in the game, where party actions are required, it was surprisingly easy to meet the condition.
Anyway, it’s something to celebrate. With the inventory unlocked, countless possibilities open up, from simple convenience to things I can try.
There are so many things I want to try right away, but for now, let’s test the performance of the unlocked inventory later.
Right now, the rift we’ve cleared is about to disappear.
Since I’ve destroyed all the rift stones, the rifts will soon disappear, and we’ll head out…
“…It’s not disappearing.”
“Are there more rift stones left or something?”
“I don’t think so.”
If there were, Grain would have given us a heads-up already.
Grain, even in her normal state, is a master at rift analysis.
But for her to have made a mistake counting the number of rift stones after using my help? That wouldn’t happen.
Then, it must mean some special event is triggering… Once again, just like last time, why does it always turn into a mess after we clear the rift?
Complaining won’t change anything.
For now, I need to focus and be alert to understand what’s happening so we can deal with it.
Something is definitely happening. The red energy bursting out from the rift stone I just destroyed is starting to fill the room.
While I couldn’t see Seria and Alkine clearly, I could sense they were preparing for battle, as if they could feel something too.
And shortly after, the gathered red energy transformed into a massive monster, filling the room.
Upon seeing the creature, which was a mix of a boar and a hippo, all I could do was admire it in disbelief.
‘Wow, this is what came out of here? Really, the weirdest things happen.’
As the form solidified, Seria unleashed magic, and Alkine swung her sword, sending blades of magical power at the monster, but none of it even scratched it.
Then, both women glanced at me, as if believing I would do something about it.
They think I’m some kind of all-powerful person! I’m just a seasoned player, not the strongest in the world.
Anyway, even the world’s strongest couldn’t defeat this. This monster was designed to be unbeatable.
The strategy for dealing with it was simple: just stall until the rift disappears.
Its name would probably be something like ‘Remnants of the Shattered Rift,’ but there’s no real information available about it.
No matter how much they stare at me, there’s nothing to do but run away—usually.
…Well, usually.
‘Since these two beauties are staring at me like that, I’d better live up to their expectations.’
I secretly took something out of my pocket.
A mystical purple gem, about the size of a Go stone. I had picked it up in the former royal secret space.
[While holding this item and withstanding an enemy’s attack, ‘Grudge’ will accumulate. Once the grudge is fully accumulated, ‘Revenge’ can be triggered, dealing fixed damage equal to the accumulated grudge.]
This item accumulates in stacks and releases them all at once as a special attack.
The unique point of this item is the ‘fixed damage.’
To explain briefly, fixed damage takes priority in any situation and will always deal damage.
In other words, no matter how strong an opponent’s defense magic is, or if they’re in an invincible state, this attack will force damage through.
Of course, it’s really tricky to use, and even when you do use it, the damage isn’t particularly large, so it’s rarely used in the game.
The only time it’s useful is when speedrun players use it against bosses with invincibility patterns to skip them.
It’s useful but not considered great in most cases.
However, if the situation is right, like now, it’s an easy victory. This monster might be invincible, but its health is set to 1.
How do I know that? If you don’t know that, you can’t be considered a seasoned player.
By scraping through everything, you end up learning all sorts of strange things.
I lifted the gem toward the approaching monster. As I glanced at it, I noticed some energy shimmering inside the gem. It seemed about 15% full.
After fighting countless enemies in the royal secret space, against demons, and even Digger… I thought I had taken quite a lot of damage, but it was only 15%? It’s really hard to fill up.
But I wasn’t planning to save it.
‘What if I can’t use it when I need it most?’ I thought, but if you save and save, you might end up not using it at all.
Saving is truth. Coming from someone who saved a potion I got early in the game and never used it until the end, you can trust me.
‘I got this to use now, so why save it?’
Of course, if it was more than half full, I might have hesitated, but at 15%, who cares…
And I was sure that using it now was the most efficient choice.
Focusing on the gem, I felt some energy from my body being absorbed into it.
The gem began to glow, and it shot a violet beam toward the monster.
It only made a small hole in the creature’s large body, but that was enough.
Saaa-
The monster’s body disintegrated into dust, and the rift began to collapse along with it.
A dull and anticlimactic ending, but the important thing was that it was over.
Knowing that, I turned to face the two women staring at me blankly and spoke.
“Let’s go home.”
Though, we’re going back to the dorms, but that’s home for us.