Clearing the Game at the End of the World

Just as the holy light spread out atop the cavity and up into the sky, Professor snatched his hand back from the demon’s chest.

Item : Light of Nelphia Description: Cannot be destroyed until holy power is consumed. (4500/4500) Effect: Enhances holy power. / Regenerates holy power when left in light. / Locked / Locked / Locked

“Oh s—! I almost got screwed!”

- Soygaybar: Ahhh! So close! If only the demon was a little bit stronger!

- takealook: it would have been a real show if that thing actually broke.

- first_time¿: but why are all of the people here want to see Professor suffer so badly? isn’t he decent game skill and personality-wise?

- Jokass: Damn, we must really have a lot of new viewers here, seeing that something like that’s coming up

- Highwaynachoman: ft, that’s because you didn’t watch him from the start. This can’t even be considered a dangerous situation in Professor’s gameplay.

- Soygaybar: Frfr. This guy fought with Edeorna with a 90 durability body and even managed to chase him away. No matter how much we try to jinx him and throw him into the deep pit of despair, he’s just going to use that fancy tongue of his to make it out alive.

- first_time¿: 90? but a rusted dull longsword has 115 durability. how’s that even possible?

- Soygaybar: Dunno, but he did it somehow. He’s famous on the Community these days. The

Miracle Man, Unknown Hero Collector, Best Tongue of Area 47, ‘profesor’. Dang, I’m getting all nostalgic. It just felt like yesterday when professor was whining in the Area 47 chatroom that he wanted to kms, but now he’s the leader of a caravan, ranked streamer, and the icon of hope for World 3.

- Mukaba: Look at him right now. He just casually strolled into the territory of a Level 5 dark mage, and one that can summon demons at that, and shoved a relic up his stomach. This isn’t the professor that ‘is about to bleed out from getting poked by a paper airplane’ we used to know. He’s a proper ranker.

- Noru_is_druig: He would have become a public enemy of the kingdom if that relic broke! Then he could have gone to the desert and lived happily ever after with Anaya! That dumbass just ruined the chance of his life!

- Speedwagon: You have to give it to him for that brain of his. Who could have thought of using the relic like that?

“I just thought it would work since it’s a sturdy weapon with holy power imbued in it….”

- Jokass: It’s a relic, not a weapon! The Light of Nelphia’s supposed to be around your neck and shoot out Holy Rays and stuff through that hole in the middle!

“So what. What’s hard and strong is a weapon. Do you think I would have known that the relic would go off like that?”

Because I used almost 90 percent of the holy power in the relic in one blow, the demon’s corpse was dissolving into a fine dust, but the fact that I almost broke the relic made my ability to think straight dissolve into a fine dust as well.

“Jeez, I was just planning to warm up on the way, but of course, we had to meet a Level 5 dark mage.”

As he grumbled to himself, Professor put the Light of Nelphia, which had now lost its hanging string, into his inventory. It did say that its power could be regenerated in light, but this place was the corrupted territory of a dark mage. What if it accidentally made contact with the traces of dark magic in this place while he was trying to recover its energy? And what if that actually consumed its power down to zero?

The option ‘Indestructible’ was not a physical trait but one made from its holy power. The moment its power turned to zero, it was more than certain that it would just break instantly.

“Mmm… If I broke the relic given by the church just a few days after the mission started….”

=====

‘LATURAAAAAA!! RO HARAAAAAGHHHH! AHHHHHH!! AGHHHHHH!!!!’

‘How have we set such a horrid monster free? Our relic! The Great Ro Haram’s relic!!!!!!!’

‘This was a mistake, one that should never be repeated in history!’

‘We have to kill him!’

‘Skin him alive!!!’

‘Chew his flesh off!’

‘Latura!’

‘LATURAAAAAA!!!!’

=====

“I’m getting shivers just thinking about it.”

Looking at the relic dangle at the edge of destruction made the image of paladins swinging their maces and swords at him with bloody tears running down their faces clearer than day. Eugh, no thank you. I’ll just keep this in my inventory and hand it right back to them.

“Oy- Captain! Are you okay—?”

As Professor settled his startled heart, he could hear Borka’s voice come down from above. Seeing that Aldrich and Ottoman’s faces were also bobbing next to him, there didn’t seem to be any more threats around them.

‘I mean, a holy explosion that dissolved a demon just went off. I don’t expect there to be any normal undead that could survive that.’

After waving his hand at them to signal that the fight was over, Professor laid down in the crater full of white powder. Seeing that, Ottoman leaned over the hole and shouted to him.

“Professor! Are you alright—?”

Alright— Alright— Alright—

“Yessir! I’m just a little drained right now! Can you pull me up—?”

Up— Up— Up—

Their voices rang out through the empty space. A few moments later, water started to seep out of the nearby ground and slowly started to flow around Professor. They seemed to be planning to use that to pull my body up.

“Hm?”

But as he was watching the water rise, he could see something sparkling where the water washed away the remains of the demon.

There wasn’t even a need to think. Although it is a bit realistic, I was still in a game, and I just killed a huge demon, so something that came out of the remains would be—

“Item!”

Just before the puddle of water started to pull up his body, Professor quickly snatched the sparkling item and shoved it into his pocket, then rode the pillar of water back up.

Splat!

“Ouch! Can I get a little gentler landing gramps?”

“S-sorry! I haven’t completely calmed down yet….”

“Huh? Ohh, you’re the other mage.”

When he arrived back on the surface, he saw Notum and the other mages that they had left behind.

“Notum, did anything happen on your side?”

“Grwuh. Saw many rotten families. A lot of them. It was hard.”

I knew it. They must have also sent quite a bit of undead to Notum and the mages too. Multiple undead trolls. That’s a powerful force. It was most likely that they planned to capture the weaker-looking group and use it against us.

“Wet weak humans, talented. Was easy thanks to them.”

“N-not even! If it wasn’t for Notum, we would have all died! A dozen massive undead were charging towards us, but Notum blocked them and gave us time to complete our spells.”

“Gwwh. Wet human. Is nice.”

Notum petted the mage’s head pleasingly. They looked incomparably closer compared to when they first came to this village.

‘People get closer when they fight together with their lives on the line. Even I feel closer to Ottoman, Borka, and Aldrich now.’

Right, speaking of Aldrich, there was something that I forgot.

Completely drained after using the Mutation Bloodlust, Professor rolled his body towards Aldrich.

“Aldrich.”

“W—what is it?”

Aldrich, who had been glimpsing at Professor ever since he came out of the pit, was startled by Professor rolling around at his feet.

“Do you happen to have some strength left?”

“By strength, do you mean dark magic?”

“Yes. I have a small favor to ask you.”

“I’m not sure. I do not have too much mana left, so it will depend on the type of spell you want. What exactly is it that you need?”

“An evocation. I need to ask something of the dark mage we just killed.”

They somehow managed to defeat a ‘manic dark mage that failed to complete a lich spell into a demon’s body’, but his original objective when he entered this village was just a light practice round and collecting information. Why was a dark mage playing house with his corpses in a rural eastern village instead of having fun making undead with a bunch of high-quality corpses at the western frontlines? That was what he wanted to ask him.

“I know everyone’s tired, but I heard that spells like these were the easiest to cast right after the person died.”

“That is true. An evocation, you say…. alright. That should be possible.”

“Then please do so.”

“But can I take a look at you after it’s over?”

“…Pardon?”

Aldrich’s eyes were burning with desire, like those of a water mage who found an oasis after trudging through a long desert.

“Nell told me he saw for sure while hanging around your neck. That there were two souls living in one body, and they were quite friendly with each other at that.”

“Nell? Who’s that?”

“I’ll explain everything to you later! So, what’s your answer?”

“Uh… Yes, sure. I see why not.”

His eyes did seem a little too enthusiastic… but considering that dark mages were also mages, it was a normal reaction. Aldrich was a soulbinder after all.

The moment Professor gave his permission, Aldrich smiled widely as he collected mana.

“Hm. It isn’t difficult to find him since he just died…. but his soul has been shattered quite a bit.”

“Then… Is it going to be difficult to talk to them?”

“Somewhat yes. A soul is also their memory. Wait a moment. I’ll try to gather the pieces of the soul. Soulbinders like me are usually a little uncomfortable with spells like this…”

Whoosh!

Suddenly, the darkness that was gathered on top of Aldrich’s palm dispersed, and a pale figure of an old man hunched over appeared.

“But this soul deserves the suffering, so I feel no remorse for doing so.”

“Can I ask them now?”

“Wait a moment. This sort of thing has its own sort of process.”

Rummaging around the bag Notum brought, Aldrich raised up the dirty curtain that Professor gifted him and covered the sun.

“The dark mage’s power had been covering the sun while he was alive, but now that he’s gone, he will disperse quickly if I don’t do this.”

As he said, the moment the dark mage’s soul entered the shadows, it seemed much more stabilized. And with the preparations complete, Aldrich took in a large breath and started to talk with the soul.

“Listen here.”

Turn—

To Aldrich’s command, the old man raised his head.

“Thou soul with many sins, my name is Aldrich Cornwell. I ask before thy true name is engraved in the heavens. Tell me what the world has called thee at thy first breath.”

As Alrdich’s booming voice rang out once more, the old man’s soul, which had been moving like a malfunctioning puppet, answered with a raspy voice.

[Wool…man. Woolman Phon Lastea…]

To the spirit’s response, Professor answered with a surprised expression.

“He was a noble? What’s a noble doing around here being a dark mage?”

“He seems to have lived for a long time, so he may have been alive during the Noble’s War. Every dark mage holds a tragedy behind them. Now, if you use their name, they’ll answer the questions you ask them. Names are quite important to dark mages.”

“Uh… didn’t you just reveal your own name to me just now?”

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“I was planning to tell it to you anyway. Nell seems to have taken a liking to you and your friend.”

“Uh… and who is this Nell you keep mentioning?”

“Do you plan to chat with me all day? This unstable soul might disappear at any moment.”

Mmm, I can’t let that happen.

In response to Aldrich’s criticism, Professor approached the soul and quickly asked a question.

“Woolman Phon Lastea. You’re the dark mage’s soul, right?”

[Yes… I am who is called the great dark mage that has reached the peak of cur…..]

“Yeah yeah. It definitely is him.”

“He was quite a bluffer, with the way he speaks and the weird spells that were too advanced for a Level 5.”

Nodding to Alrdich’s comment, Professor continued with the next question.

“Alright, Woolman. Here’s a question. You are a Level 5, or perhaps a higher-level, dark mage. During this time when the mutes and Rodrick are fighting, why are you here instead of on the western frontlines? Was there a separate plan you had with the mutes?”

The dark mage, Woolman’s soul, seemed to think for a moment after hearing the question, and then proceeded to squint even harder.

[Mutation blood, is one of the greatest. Masterpieces created in. Dark magic, history.]

“Yes, you dark mages worked together to create the mute. So, are you still the ones controlling them?”

Whoosh!

[At first. The Queen was weak. We wanted them to grow stronger, and she absorbed many subjects under our command.]

“Woolman. That was not my question. So is the Queen currently listening to your—”

“Shhhh, don’t rush it. That soul is certainly answering your question right now. He is just trying to recall his memory.”

While Aldrich was stopping Professor from urging on the soul, Woolman’s soul continued to speak at his slow pace.

[After the Queen’s first child came out, they started to look down upon us. But it didn’t matter. The Queen still listened to us, and they listened to the Queen. But the change happened after the third child. The ‘Falcatus of the Morning Star’ was born. All of the Queen’s children were especially loyal to the Queen, but that one was especially strong.]

‘The ‘Falcatus of the Morning Star’?’

- professor: Has anyone heard of that before?

- Soygaybar: Nope. But the Queen’s children were always a little different aside from a few set ones.

- Speedwagon: It’s different based on order and how many Hero Units Edeorna collected, but since there’s a limited amount of Hero Units in a world, it all depends on the chance of which ones come out, but the output table is the same. If a new child we don’t have any data on comes out, then it’s most likely created based on not the world data, but newly imported data, like the player data.

- Mukaba: I found this on the Community. The ones that always come out are five, Edeorna, Zignil, Termakian, Doks, Bazeur, and the ones that depend on the seed are these thirty. Nigmi, Adalua, Yol, Tuk… etc. Falcatus hasn’t appeared a single time.

‘Then, that Queen’s child is based on my player data?’

That reminded me, Edeorna took some of my blood back in Touran. The second child is most likely based on Charlotte’s data. So the third, Falcatus, is the one based on me.

“Falcatus. Exactly what did he do that changed everything?”

To Professor’s question, the dark mage’s soul expressed such a strong emotion that the actual color of the soul changed.

[That vile, disgusting, cunning child of a gnat! Tricked all of us dark mages! He lured the high-ranking dark mages with his sweet words to split the dark mages and divide them! And taking advantage of that division, it stole the Queen’s Heart the dark mages have been holding!]

“This is…. a lot of information. Hm? Professor, what’s with that expression?”

“I-it’s nothing.”

“You look like someone just shoved your head into a mound of horse scat.”

“…Tch.”

They’re not even insulting me, but why does it feel so s—ty? That dark mage bastard. I should have killed him in a more painful way.

What they were talking about was a mute that they don’t even know the face of, but listening to him curse out Falcatus, Professor felt just a little bit personal about it.