Maou no Hajimekata

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Hoseli ran faster than the wind.

Using the momentum she gained, she charged straight at the small point at the edge of her line of sight and pierced it with her sword.

As I thought.

Aur could no longer observe the battle with his eyes. Before he could fully grasp what was going on, Hoderi, without his single edged blade in hand, had a sword stuck in his chest, and Hoselis body was lying on the ground.

With blood gushing profusely from his wound, Hoderi slowly got up and fixed his posture. Meanwhile, his sisters body turned to dust and disappeared just like all those times before.

This is starting to get pointless.

Hoderi said while receiving treatment from Aur.

With each revival, her skin just grows harder and more difficult to cut. Well never get anywhere if well just keep going like that. Well only end up making her stronger.

That wound he received just now looked near-fatal. Talk about a close call.

Even with you going all out with the intent to kill?

Yeah.

He grinned wryly at Aurs question.

But I did manage to notice something that might be useful. There seems to be no change in my sisters skills, shes just getting stronger and stronger. But even that change is only minimal.

Minimal?

Yes, I know my sisters strength very well, and her current strength is only a little higher from her usual prime. I had my suspicions earlier, but that attack just now confirmed it.

So thats why you allowed her to wound you like that? So you could know what to expect next time?

Hoderi nodded again. Now that he took her attack head on, he could adapt to her current speed and strength, allowing him to keep up with her even after the next revival.

Assuming there will ever be the next time.

All defenses need to be cast aside. The attack must either be fatal or make it impossible for her to move. She is becoming stronger with each passing day, but there must be something they could do. There must be a way to defeat Hoseli.

How did you manage to defeat her without a weapon anyway?

Obviously he had no weapon in hand, so he mustve used his fists. But what kind of attack would be enough to defeat someone who was virtually invulnerable to any kind of external damage?

That was a technique called Penetration, which was designed for the purpose of fighting armored opponents even without a weapon. It revolves around using the kinetic force generated from the unarmed blow to crush the opponents heart in one fell swoop, without the need for the second strike.

I didnt know something like that can be pulled off without using any magic.

Aur was honestly full of amazement and admiration. He must have used extraordinary measures of training to level his body to such heights. And that he did it without relying on any magic at all, that was nothing short of amazing.

It might have been only one option, but currently it was their best bet. Hoderi promised to stop his sister three times, and he already did it twice. All that remained was to defeat her one more time.

Well, theres no point in dilly-dallying here anymore, let us be on our way.

After destroying all of Hoselis checkpoints, all that remained was going to the place that probably started this whole resurrection business. A country named Furo.

* * *

True to its reputation of being a windy country, the strong gusts of wind were messing Aurs hair as he stood at the end of a small plateau.

Tenas prediction and Spinas flesh infused slime. Both of these things pointed here.

I was ready for everything, but this certainly is a surprise.

Aur scoffed at what he saw there.

To think that there would be something as absurd as a Dungeon without walls in this world.

Spreading before his eyes was something that could best be described as a complicated stone passage without walls or ceilings, and the only thing that was below it was a deep, dark valley. Falling off the edge would most certainly be a bad idea, as it was a long way down to the bottom.

Despite its questionable design, this was definitely a Dungeon.

Let us be on our way.

Right now, Aur had only three people accompanying him: Hoderi, Yunis, and Sofia.

Even if I say it is a dungeon it looks like wed have to jump around to go further.

Looking at the aisles, Yunis was making a valid point. The passages were narrow enough for one person to pass through at a time, and there was some distance to jump between the passages and the aisles. But it was evident that it was too big of a distance to cover by jumping with normal means.

I think we all agree that trying to jump from platform to platform would not be a wise move.

Aur took a pebble and threw it in front of them. Then suddenly a violent gust of wind blew it to the side, sending it plummeting down to the depths of the valley below them.

Yep, lets do something about that first.

At least now we know why theres no walls here. The wind more than makes up for that.

Yunis tightens her expression and nods.

But the way forward is visible, so wont we be okay as long as we remain on the right path?

The scariest thing about any Dungeon was not falling into a trap of having to fight hordes of enemies, it was the possibility of getting lost. To that end, almost the entire place could be clearly seen, so there was no way they would end up losing their way. That is why Hoderi pressed forward in a casual manner.

Its best to remain cautious at all times. This is a Dungeon after all.

Aur grabbed him by the neck just as he was about to make another step, and his foot ended up stepping on nothing but air. Saving him from being swept away by the air currents, Aur pulled him back in a not at all delicate manner.

Now, as I was saying .

Such devilish trickery

The passage seems to be continuing, but it is just a virtual image. Falsehood and reality are mixed up here and one wrong step could prove their undoing. That was this Dungeon is.

It might have looked abandoned and empty, but apparently it was still operational.

This means weve come to the right place after all.

Aur tells that to himself as he scans the surroundings. The fact that the dungeon is operational means that there are probably monsters still living here. And as if it wanted to confirm that, a flock of huge, fire breathing birds swooped at them from above.

Wow, flying and fire breathing! Talk about cheap trickery!

Yunis shouts and swings her sword.

Any arrow we might release at them would just be swept by the wind, right? And on this terrain, we have little to no means of protecting ourselves, not to mention fighting back

The big birds are flapping their wings far above the sky. The longest of spears would not be enough to reach them there.

.other than me.

Yunis slashed and put the sword back into its sheath with a clang, and in the next instant the birds wings got cut off and they fell into the valley below. Yunis power was jumping through space. When applied to her swordsmanship, it created a fighting style that allowed her to cut down any enemy, regardless of the distance between her and her target.

But, in this condition it seems that it will take quite a while, and thats definitely bad for us.

Yunis looks forward and mutters. This peculiar structure had no visible ceilings, but it was spreading as far as the eye could see.

The corridor continued for quite some time. The complex isles had so many branches that it was easy to lose ones way around, and they couldnt allow Yunis to just keep spamming her teleportation ability, or else shed end up getting exhausted sooner rather than later.

I think nows the best time to switch. Sofia, replace Yunis with Ceres, please.

Okay. Miss Ceres, nows your turn.

Sofia creates a room and surrounds Yunis. As it disappeared, Celes, a white Alv Chief, appeared instead of her.

Do you know what to do?

Yes, I understand the situation.

Ceres nodded and put the arrow on the bow. The vine is gathered at the end of that arrow, so long that a lot of it is piled up near Ceres feet.

When she releases arrows, the fly to the other side of the chasm, but unlike the stone that Aur tried to throw earlier, all of her projectiles hit their mark as if they were dancing in tandem with the wind.

Awesome! How did you do that?!

Sofias eyes got all round as she got excited.

Nothing special, really. All I did was reading the course of the air currents and adjusting my shot to them.

Wow, you can really do something like that?!

To Sofias words, Ceres lips curve into a broad smile.

We are the White Alvs, the children of the trees. Reading the winds movements is as easy as breathing for us.

Of course, the mechanism of the Dungeon was not designed to be easy to figure out for the intruders. No matter how perfectly they have read it, there is no way for them to be able to shoot their arrows in perfect alignment with the wind currents every time.

But if that flow got changed just a little bit, it would be a different story entirely. White Alvs are excellent archers as well as magicians. If the course of the wind was against them, all they had to do was to adjust it with their magic.

Next.

Y-yes!

Ceres reaches out and Sofia hands her the next arrow. She was in control of the forest Dungeon and was able to prepare infinite number of arrows. She used the vines summoned by Sofia to shoot them to the other side, making a provisional bridge they could use to cross to the other side.

If it was made of stone, it would end up being crushed by the air currents, regardless of how robust it was. But the bridge of infinite number of vines simply shook with the wind, avoiding destruction.

Come now, quickly!

Aur, Ceres, Sofia and Hoderi crossed the bridge side by side. When they were halfway through it, they heated a series of disturbing sounds.

Looking back, they saw strange monsters crawling out from the bottom of the valley, and they were about to cross the bridge made by Ceres. Roughly speaking, they resembled ants. But the size is about the same as human beings, and their limbs were too bulky for simple insects.

Ceres quickly released an arrow, but it was bounced off of the monsters hard shells without leaving so much as a scratch on it.

Sofia, Yutsus next!

Okay!

In response to Aurs shout, Yutsu appeared in exchange for Ceres. Those who remained in Sofias Dungeon have a complete grasp of the situation through her eyes.

Yutsu who had already unleashed her beastly form pulled out her tail and attacked with it relentlessly. She changed it into a giant boulder and used it to smash the head of a monkey-like monster into a tiny, bloody bits. Once she was over, she returned it to its original appearance in a storm of leaves.

While swapping people swiftly, Aur progresses swiftly through the Wind Dungeon.

Sakuyas flame burns countless carnivorous insects. Lilus ignition bullets penetrate a huge demons with multiple hands. The bow of Ellen defeats the six-legged monster that attacks quickly and relentlessly. Spinas string beheads the dragons with multiple heads, and Tatsukis water sweeps the gel-like monsters away.

They were fighting with strange new enemies they have never seen before, and the tight spaces of the narrow corridors made it difficult, but not impossible to fight them.

Even so, they were no match for Aur who possessed immense knowledge of hundreds of thousands of monsters. Hes finding out their weak points with but a glance, and instructs Sofia accordingly, and she used the instructions given to assemble the team best suited to their current circumstances.

Sometimes there were monsters that suddenly appeared from the valley just beside the aisle where Oulu was walking and trying to launch a sneak attack, but in the end those were just fruitless attempts. Both Aur and Sofia were just too strong for them to have any real chance at harming them, and even if they did, Aur used his magic and the stone cube to shield them from the attackers. Also, traversing this Dungeon didnt take longer than half a day, because as expansive as it might have been, it was just a single level Dungeon after all.

This is it?

Yeah.

Aur confidently answers Sofias question.

At the end of the passage leading out of the Dungeon, there was a large stone altar. Despite being just a mass of stone, there was a divine sensation to it that could be felt very clearly. Looking around from the altar, there was only a valley so deep that he couldnt actually see the bottom. Looking further ahead, clouds were hanging majestically above the white mountain peaks. They were literally touching the sky here.

Aur prepared a camp for them just in case. Although he had prepared a barrier protecting them from any potential attackers from the outside, such a thing was very unlikely to occur, because no beast would ever dare to approach the sacred altar.

The dawn is breaking.

Oh.

Sophia mutters as the sky began to light up with the first light of the new day.

The sun that appeared from the gaps between the mountains shines brightly, covering the altar and darkening the line of Aurs sight.

And in the next moment the figure of Hoseli appeared before them.

This is going to be

She was holding a sword in her hand, and Hoderi opposed her with his own blade.

The last battle!

And then Aur heard a high-pitched sound. It was a sound of Hoseli approaching at a speed exceeding that of sound. It was still ringing in Aurs ears even when the siblings locked their swords in combat once more.

Hurting her now was unnecessary. All they have to do to beat her is to make her unable to move, but Aur had no idea how were they supposed to achieve something like this.

Hoderi pierced Hoseli with his sword, and then swung at her with his free hand. With a loud thud, their bodies hit the ground pretty hard as they were thrashing around. However, Hoseli does not retaliate, even if there was no damage to her internal organs. For some reason, she ceased to move altogether.

I told you Im going to stop you.

He claimed triumphantly as he was holding her down, driving his fingers deeply into her stomach muscles.

That is Whats going on?

It seems that Hoderi used some strange technique to immobilize his sister without putting much power into it. As a result, Hoselis movements were completely sealed.

Even if youre able to move faster than sound, itll amount to nothing if your nerves and muscles wont be functioning properly.

Using the very structure of the human body against them, you really are using some amusingly strange techniques.

Hearing Hoderis brief explanation, Aur understood. So that was why he asked him to regenerate his lost arm.

What should I do now?

Keep it as it is.

When Owl orders so, he hold his hands over Hoselis body while casting spells. Then she suddenly stopped moving and trying to escape whatsoever.

This is

Its a simple paralysis technique.

He thought that this might just work. Up until now, Hoderi has only using physical attacks up until now, so they didnt even know if she was resistant to magic. Apparently she was not.

But isnt this only a temporary solution?

Yes, of course this is not everything I have planned for her.

Naturally, this spell will also wear of overnight. That is why he has taken countermeasures against that.

From here onwards, Ill be entering the fray.

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