Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 251
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 251
55. Expected Scenario (5)
"Adrian is quite desperate."
"It can't be helped. There are several demon kings entangled, including you."
Blake and Lord Exceed, thoroughly concealing their energy, watched the dazzling flashes of light above Crimson City, the capital of the duchy, and marveled.
"The fact that combat against a Heavenly King is even possible is impressive in itself."
At Lord Exceed's admiration, Blake asked as if it were nothing new.
"Aren't you the one who raised him to that level?"
"No matter how good the training system is, the results always differ."
"Adrian is the best result?"
"I can't speak for other fields, but in combat, he seems to be. He must have had talent from the start."
Blake's expression showed he agreed on that point.
However, Lord Exceed's next remark could not be taken lightly.
"He's a fine vessel."
"What?"
A vessel is something made to contain something else.
In other words, his words sounded as though something else could be placed into Adrian's body.
"Do you think I would scatter all my assets for someone I don't even know without reason?"
"So you intended to take over your disciple's body if things came to it?"
"That's why I left the essence of dimension shift research to him."
"Hah...."
"But there's no need for that anymore. I've obtained a better vessel in the demon king, and I see no opening in him."
Blake furrowed his brow and demanded a detailed explanation, and Lord Exceed shrugged.
"It seems he had this possibility in mind, because he had completely rebuilt the system managing his Opportunity. I tried to approach once and only ended up being traced in reverse. Thanks to that, I received a warning from Adrian."
"Whew, is that so?"
From Blake's sigh of relief, it was clear how much he cared for Adrian.
"He's a thoroughly meticulous fellow. Anyway, it must be frustrating. It's his own, yet he can't use it as he pleases."
"If you're as capable as Adrian, you can fully claim the Opportunity. Otherwise, your body could be taken over. It was a situation I had in mind from the start as well."
Blake recalled anew that Grand Duke Lucas's personality was not all that good.
And the two of them looked up once more at the battlefield where fireworks-like flames decorated the sky, and Lord Exceed asked Blake.
"Shouldn't we go help soon?"
"No, we move when Adrian requests it."
The two of them appeared to be leisurely watching the battle between the Heavenly King and Adrian + Arcia, yet maintained a stance ready to provide Support at any moment.
* * *
The atmosphere of the battle, which had been progressing easily, changed.
It was because Heriel's expression, which had shown bewilderment at the absurd situation, changed.
Sensing that there was something to him, Arcia and I quickly widened the distance.
-Kuuung!
And the sky opened.
-Kkiiik!
There was no other way to describe what was happening.
"You lot will be the first humans to witness this body's authority. Consider it an honor."
No matter how much a human strives to achieve the 9th-circle and become a Lord Master, it is something they could never obtain.
That is precisely what is called authority, a special ability.
Like a dragon's draconic words or Arc Scarlet's Blood Mary, the authority of the Heavenly King Heriel is manifesting.
I prepared myself with the mindset of deploying multiple Absolute Shields if necessary, and Arcia likewise raised her shield and stood before me.
"Behold, the primordial giant that swallowed a dragon in one bite."
What unfolded next was not the manifestation of magic, but a summoning.
A giant hand tore open the sky that had split apart, widening the space, and the creature squeezed through and appeared.
As if proving that the epithet "swallows a dragon in one bite" was no idle boast, the giant, so massive its head seemed to touch the sky, stepped onto the ground radiating a crimson aura.
-Kwaaaaang!
"Th-this is insane."
I was flustered.
Naturally, Arcia beside me was the same.
At our reaction, the Heavenly King traced his finger along his bloodied cheek and spoke arrogantly.
"How does it feel to face Gard, the primordial giant said to be foremost among the Heavenly Kings in the majesty of his authority?"
The wound on his cheek that he had traced with his finger vanished as if washed away.
Heriel, certain of victory.
But the reaction that followed from me and Arcia would probably differ from his expectations.
"You son of a bitch... Innocent citizens."
"A bigger bastard than the Demon King."
The reason was that a fairly large village had been flattened beneath the giant's feet.
Though that village was known as a place where the possibility of rebellion by Croysen Empire's lackeys had been brought up, and where resentment toward the royal family ran so strong that my portrait had been burned again and again, for now they were citizens of my duchy.
'He's handing me a justification on his own.'
The village's population was nearly ten thousand.
In other words, from now on, we were fighting a villain who had ruthlessly destroyed a village of ten thousand residents.
"It seems you still haven't grasped the situation..."
The Heavenly King wore a briefly bewildered expression at our reaction, then spoke as if he found it absurd.
But I had no intention of hearing him out to the end.
"Once you're subjugated, the giant disappears too, right?"
"What?"
"Let's end it here."
I pointed my finger into the air.
A crimson light flashed and spread across the sky.
The Heavenly King drew his sword, demanding to know what trick this was, and as if responding to his wariness, the massive giant reached its hand toward us.
The giant had merely extended its hand, yet space tore apart, the surrounding mana went berserk, and a force akin to Aura began to erode everything around it.
Moreover, each of its fingers was the size of an apartment building, so the pressure was immense, but...
-Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
A thick violet acid breath surged from the ground into the sky, pushing that hand back.
At the same time, a pitch-black body flew up like a fighter jet and latched onto the giant.
It was none other than the Black Dragon Brangish.
Brangish's true body was also massive enough to blanket an entire soccer field, but compared to the primordial giant Pruscia, it looked quite dainty.
"Black Dragon?"
At the sight of the dragon that had suddenly joined the battle, Heavenly King Heriel distorted his expression, and Arcia and I charged at Heriel once more while Brangish bought time against the giant.
And the battle that unfolded was not greatly different from the First Round.
On top of that...
"This is the Heriel of this era?"
Mid-fight against Arcia and me, Heriel's eyes flew wide at the sight of Arc Scarlet appearing while scattering crimson petals.
It seemed he had recognized her identity.
"Keuk!"
Thanks to that, a gap opened in Heriel, and Arcia's four blades of Sword Aura, refusing to miss that opening, flew into his abdomen like darts and embedded themselves.
Yet even wounded, Heriel was busy fretting over Arc Scarlet, and that carelessness allowed us to land effective blows one after another.
"D-don't tell me you're...?"
For reference, the weakened Arc Scarlet was no match for a Heavenly King.
But to Heriel, who had encountered her amid the chaos, she could only feel like a threat.
To him, whose purpose in visiting the Duchy of Lawrence was to receive a compass that tracks the Demon King, I must have appeared as a human power-holder with unnecessarily high combat ability.
Then Arc Scarlet's appearance changed the situation.
He had realized that the humans he faced were connected to the Demon King.
"That's what you get for descending into unfamiliar lands without caution."
It was too late to grasp the situation now.
For above his head had appeared Blake, Rondel's strongest Swordsman, and Lord Axid, who could stand toe-to-toe with Heriel one-on-one.
It meant that from the very start, he had been in a position where he could only be taken down.
"Coming to find me the moment you descended was a big mistake."
"You goddamn..."
And so the arrogant Heavenly King crumbled with absurd ease, like a fool.
* * *
Warm light shone down from the sky.
The fresh green of the trees tickled the tip of the nose.
In a forest scene like a painting, with clear, transparent streams babbling along, six Heavenly Tribe members sat around a round table with rather serious expressions.
"Still no word from Heriel?"
This place was the center of the heavenly realm.
It was the council chamber where the kings of the Heavenly Tribe gathered to exchange views.
They had been waiting for news of Heavenly King Heriel, who should have descended to the surface, but for some reason, despite considerable time having passed since his descent, there was no contact.
"Has something happened?"
"This is why we opposed Heriel's descent. In the war against the demon race, his combat ability was on the superior side, but his disposition is far too arrogant."
"We can't yet conclude that something has happened. If he's in a situation where he can't contact us, then we simply need to investigate."
In the end, the kings of the Heavenly Tribe began a long-range search for the uncontactable Heriel.
As expected, Rondel was far from the heavenly realm and the space was severed, so the search was not easy.
Because of that, the search took quite a long time, and the information obtained as a result was.
"There is no trace of Heriel?"
It was the fact that Heriel's presence could not be felt at all.
"How did this happen?"
"Does this mean he was killed before he even had a chance to flee to the heavenly realm?"
At someone's conjecture, the other Heavenly Kings shook their heads strongly, as if refusing to accept it.
"That can't be. Even if he faced Arc Scarlet, there's no way Heriel would be defeated so helplessly."
"Couldn't it be that two demon kings descended upon Rondel? If so, it might be possible."
"No, impossible. The energy consumed to send down a demon king or a Heavenly King-level being would be similar. If the demonic realm sent down two demon kings, their stats couldn't possibly be intact. At best, their stats would only slightly exceed a dragon's."
The Heavenly Kings offered their own opinions.
It was true that two demon kings had descended.
However, they never imagined that the demon kings' stats would be even more miserable than they had expected.
"Does that mean that even against two demon kings, he wouldn't be defeated easily?"
"If he received Support from the Saintess and the Holy Son of the Sepia Order, he might even hold the upper hand."
Heriel was dealt with by the hands of humans, Dark Elves, and a demon king from another world.
However, finding this out from the faraway heavenly realm was extremely difficult.
"Is an additional descent possible?"
"If it's a single high-ranking Heavenly Tribe member, it seems it might be possible somehow."
"Good. Then let us dispatch an investigator."
Thus, an additional descent was announced — not of a Heavenly King, but of a high-ranking Heavenly Tribe member for investigation.
"I will do my best."
The high-ranking Heavenly Tribe member's name was Miel.
She was a typical Heavenly Tribe beauty with blonde hair and blue eyes.
* * *
"Our situation hasn't been revealed to the heavenly realm, right?"
"Don't worry. I blocked it thoroughly."
Ducal palace of Lawrence.
When I expressed concern over the situation in which we had ultimately deployed a demon king to defeat a Heavenly King, Lord Exceed answered firmly.
At that, I nodded and shifted my gaze to the Knight floating as a hologram.
[The giant who massacred ten thousand innocent citizens of the Duchy of Lawrence has been subjugated by the Grand Duke and his wife.]
[Could it be the work of demon worshipers, or the demon race?]
[Some even rumor it was the work of the Heavenly Tribe. Are the Heavenly Tribe not on humanity's side?]
[Regardless, thanks to the efforts of Grand Duke Lawrence and his wife, greater damage was prevented. This is an achievement worthy of praise.]
The article contained information about yesterday's incident.
I intervened appropriately and steered public opinion in a favorable direction.
Naturally, the church's tacit approval was needed in the process, but this was not a major problem.
After all, the Saintess was practically my spokesperson, and the Holy Son who had followed the Heavenly King had also questioned his purpose after witnessing the being he had accompanied massacre innocent citizens.
So for now, we decided to bury this incident.
"By the way, the Holy Son is quite dull. To see a demon king right before his eyes and not recognize it."
For reference, in the last battle, the Holy Son encountered Arc Scarlet.
However, Arc Scarlet was wearing an artifact that concealed her energy, and the Holy Son — distracted by something — merely got a single autograph from her and retreated as if fleeing.
So I worried whether we had been found out, but his information, as examined through Myriad Mirror, was such a flower garden that I could relax and move on.
"I'll need to be more careful from now on."
As I smiled bitterly, Lord Exceed asked me.
"It seems the situation leaves you no choice but to join hands with us?"
Lord Exceed, striking while the iron was hot, had been pressing for an alliance ever since the battle with the Heavenly King.
It seems he judged so because I maintained a hostile relationship with the Heavenly Tribe and a friendly relationship with the demon race.
Moreover, since Arc Scarlet, whom I was protecting, was his supporter, his attitude was that circumstances left no choice but to side together.
"Please give me until tomorrow. I will decide then."
At that, Lord Exceed once again exercised patience and accepted my request.
Actually, I have one plan.
If he accepts my proposal, I intend to consider the alliance positively.
The proposal I will make to him is.
It was to give me the power I had originally intended to give to Arc Scarlet.