Golden Experience

Chapter 95: “Immortal Ruler”

“…Yes, ‘catastrophe’ is simply a term we use. You are the monster who was born ten days ago in the Great Liebe Forest, correct?”

“Your Excellency! This isn’t the time for—!”

“If this thing isn’t the catastrophe, then we may have to face an even worse threat! Just stay silent!”

Going by the way he was addressed, this intrepid old man was apparently the prime minister. However, given all the other useless nobles present, Rare had a full grasp on his position and why he had to deliberately ask such a question.

“In deference to our kind nobleman here, I shall answer you. Ten days ago or so, was it? I suppose you could say my birth took place then.”

To be precise, that was when Rare reincarnated into a demon lord, but she wasn’t going to tell them how she was a high elf who had been corrupted by monsters.

“…Earlier, you should have been vanquished by those brave sellswords.”

While Rare didn’t break the cryptic smile that she had adopted since the start, she had to shift her pose to cover up the kneejerk twitch her body produced. Especially her wings. Since they were appendages she didn’t have in real life, it was much harder to keep them under control.

“…Indeed.”

“How did you revive?”

“Why would I tell you?”

The prime minister seemed to have more to say, but the other nobles start raising a ruckus.

“Your Excellency, surely this creature isn’t the servant of an even greater power…?”

“It can’t be! A hand of the archangel…?!”

“But it doesn’t match the angels from our literature…!”

Even though she wasn’t even doing anything, information just kept on pouring out. Perhaps it would be smarter for Rare to just stay quiet whenever she was at the negotiating table. This was what happened to her before when she spoke to Wayne as well. The more she talked, the more she leaked. When she imagined Wayne seeing her this way back then, she could feel herself filling up with an emotion very different from the frustration she had been feeling.

Putting that aside, first she had to mull over these new “angel” and “archangel” words.

Rare hadn’t read too carefully since she was trying to avoid inflicting mental anguish on herself, but when she went to check the forums earlier she found a thread titled “WORLD FIRST! CATASTROPHE DOWN!!!” In other words, to the players who had fought her before, the fact that Rare was a catastrophe had already been disseminated as common knowledge. Even though it had only been ten days since Rare, or really “the demon lord,” had been born, considering that there was already widespread use of the term “catastrophe” among both the NPCs and the players, it seemed clear that Rare was not the first. At least one other existed.

This “archangel” was probably it. However, if it were only the archangel, then people could just call it “the archangel” and that would be that. Even if they wanted a different word to use that was further removed from “angel,” there was no need to deliberately go so far to “catastrophe.” Which meant that, not counting Rare, multiple catastrophes existed.

“You’ve done your research.”

However, she didn’t need to try to forcefully obtain more information about them right here. She could just check the forums more thoroughly later. There were sure to be other players who had information about catastrophes, and there were probably lore megathreads where research-obsessed players would gather to share that information.

In any case, as thanks for the information, Rare would play along with them for a bit before bringing things to a close.

“Indeed. I am the archangel. Bow before me.”

“That is a lie. Do you take us for fools?”

Immediately called out. Yep, she really should just keep her mouth shut.

“…And what makes you think that?”

The prime minister didn’t respond, instead pulling out what appeared to be a short rainbow-patterned stick from his pocket and pointing it at Rare.

“This is my answer! I invoke the [Vein of the Spirit Lord]!”

Nothing seemed to occur at first. If it had been the Rare from before, she may not have realized what was going on. But now that she had [Demonic Eyes], as well as [Discerning Feather Barrier] to monitor the prime minister’s status, it was quite obvious what was happening.

“This is… the field debuff from earlier. No wait, it isn’t a field now. It only affects me. A single-target debuff item. That seems extremely inefficient.”

However, the effect was indeed the real deal. There was a line through the air between Rare and the stick that even [Demonic Eyes] and [Discerning Feather Barrier] were unable to provide any information about. It wasn’t just a simple debuff, either; it seemed to render all of Rare’s powers unusable.

Actually, if they had something like this all along, couldn’t they have combined it with the magical barrage? Or what, did they have yet another trick up their sleeves? There weren’t any players left from before, but that didn’t mean it was all right to just leave this be. Rare started pondering how someone could use [Charm] to steal this item when things took a dramatic turn.

<The spirit lord…!>

<You knaves dare speak of the spirit lord…?!>

Deas and Sieg were standing on either side of Rare. However, she was the only one who could “hear” what they were saying. As she curiously wondered what was wrong with them, the prime minister in front of her was doing his utmost to keep pointing the little stick at her.

“The fact that this [Vein of the Spirit Lord] weakens you is evidence that you are not an angel! This item is an ancient treasure left behind for the good of humanity! It has the ability to rob evil beings like you of their strength! What led to your earlier death was also a treasured item bestowed with the protection of the spirit lord…”

Was it because of the atmosphere? Even the prime minister had begun expositing info. Rare remembered similarly being carried away by the mood herself, though, so she wasn’t about to call him out on it.

It was the moment someone thinks I’ve won! That idea leads people ever closer to making a mistake. Well, calling it a “mistake” may be too dramatic, but they tend to do things they don’t need to do. All the things the prime minister had said just now were a perfect example of this.

<Don’t fuck with meee!!!>

<Grooooaaaaahhh!!!>

Deas and Sieg roared, spewing out the thickest [Miasma] Rare had ever seen. Only she could understand what they were saying, but the screams themselves caused the entire room to shake.

“Hey, what’s going on…?”

Even Rare was a bit worried by this unexpected outburst. They emitted so much force that all the nobles aside from the prime minister fell to the floor, unable to do anything but shiver uncontrollably as they watched from there.

That was when—

<<Your follower has fulfilled a condition for reincarnation. You may spend 1,000 XP for it to reincarnate. Permit reincarnation?>>

<<Your follower has fulfilled a condition for reincarnation. You may spend 1,000 XP for it to reincarnate. Permit reincarnation?>>

“That’s expensive…”

Expensive, but not so much that she couldn’t afford it. Not to mention, since Rare was learning from her mistakes, she had a stock of unused XP set aside for emergencies. But no, that wasn’t the real problem, which was the question of what conditions they had fulfilled exactly. However, even if she didn’t know the answer to that, she did know that ever since the two of them first used a Greater Philosopher’s Stone, they were unable to reincarnate any further. If they could surmount that invisible wall here, then she should be pulling them up. She did feel a twinge of fear at using her emergency XP stores, but there was still a week of in-game time left in the event. They could just get more. Sugaru’s reincarnation would be delayed even further, but she could just apologize afterward.

—I permit both of them to reincarnate.

<<Initializing reincarnation.>>

<<Initializing reincarnation.>>

The two of them were slowly covered in particles of light. Once they had been completely enfolded in light, even their silhouettes could no longer be seen.

Or at least, that’s what Rare assumed was happening, but since she had her eyes closed and was using [Demonic Eyes] to see, all she knew was that her entire field of view had turned pink. However, there were some things that probably only Rare could tell. The two undead were sucking up mana. Since she was standing right between them, it felt as though all the mana from their surroundings had gathered around them, which was what rendered her unable to see.

—I see, so the energy needed for reincarnation comes from the mana in the area.

Luckily, it appeared that the prime minister and any surviving mages were busy staring dumbfoundedly at the undead generals, so even though Rare couldn’t see anything, it didn’t seem like there were going to be any additional complications. She could pretend this was all planned and just keep her eyes closed.

“What the hell… is happening to them…?”

“Hiiiih!!!”

Their transformation finished. Rare opened her eyes for the first time in a while to look at them.

<<Death Lord [Deas of Resentment] has reincarnated into Immortal Ruler [Deas of Rage].>>

<<Death Lord [Sieg] has reincarnated into Immortal Ruler [Sieg of Grief].>>

The two men’s appearances had become exalted in a way that truly suited the moniker “ruler.” Unlike before when they looked like skeletons with a layer of skin hanging off their bones, they had regained what she assumed was their physical appearance from their former lives. Not the skin color, though. Deas had white swept-back hair and a mustache, giving him the look of a dapper old man. However, the blazing fire of rage in his pupils ruined any semblance of a calm demeanor he might try to express. Sieg had a very masculine face with long black hair tied in a ponytail. He could almost be described as having the elegance of a young lion, but the profound sadness in his eyes imparted a tragic history.

“You two have turned into, well… rather handsome men…”

<<A special being of calamity, an [Immortal Ruler], has been born. Because the [Immortal Ruler] is already under the control of an existing power, the global message will be suppressed.>>

<<A special being of calamity, an [Immortal Ruler], has been born. Because the [Immortal Ruler] is already under the control of an existing power, the global message will be suppressed.>>

“So, this is the same thing that happened when it was me. Except…”

Since they were “already under the control of an existing power,” that blast message didn’t get sent out again. In other words, the message only goes out when something brand new representing a new threat to humanity is born.

“Ahhh… So basically, this is a disaster.”

This discovery had enormous implications. Rare had to determine how many catastrophes the human races had identified later, but basically, if a new monster with catastrophe-level power was born under the control of an existing catastrophe, humanity wouldn’t be explicitly informed of it. Apparently, this world was much more dangerous that she had imagined.

To make matters worse, races that were powerful enough to be deemed catastrophes were not limited to a single individual. Both Deas and Sieg had become immortal rulers. That meant that it was possible for a demon lord other than Rare to be born in the future. Or perhaps there already was one.

“I can’t let my guard down at all, can I… Well, from a game balance perspective, there aren’t that many catastrophes on this continent, but… I shouldn’t be too optimistic beyond that.”