Ch.301The Hero’s Role

“BANG!”

With the loud gunshot of a large-caliber pistol, the mask Shun was wearing shattered into pieces.

At the same time, the wide arch-shaped space disappeared, and the building’s interior returned to its original cross shape, identical to how it looked from the outside.

“Shun!”

“Wait, don’t approach! Something from the mask…!”

Jessica rushed toward Shun to check his condition, as he collapsed when his mask broke, making it look like he had been shot dead. However, Phyllis stopped her.

For good reason—a whitish smoke-like substance was rising from the shattered fragments of the mask, gathering in one place and forming a bizarre shape.

Looking like a pale ghost, it constantly shifted between the forms of various creatures—humans, birds, herbivores like horses and cows, and even giant reptiles resembling dinosaurs.

“What… what is that?”

“Must be the Omnipotent Demon Lord. I don’t know why it looks like that, though…”

Is it because it couldn’t have a physical body due to Armedia’s taboo? Or perhaps it absorbed the power of too many creatures and lost its own identity?

Either way, it doesn’t matter to us right now.

What’s more important is the fact that the Omnipotent Demon Lord, who should have had its forehead pierced by a magic bullet, is calmly rising to its feet.

“…It seems my gun didn’t work after all.”

“Indeed. I was surprised by the ability that forced me to reveal myself to the world in this unstable state, but regardless, your weapon couldn’t inflict any meaningful damage on me.”

So that’s how it is.

I didn’t expect to be able to kill the Omnipotent Demon Lord that even the Great Sage Deidric Asmad and his companions couldn’t defeat, but it’s still somewhat shocking that I couldn’t deal any damage at all despite using my skill.

Moreover, it seems Mina’s large-caliber pistol couldn’t withstand my skill either. It didn’t explode like Wolfsbane, but like the revolver, it was covered in bright red magical lines.

At this rate, we won’t have any means to fight if there’s a second round.

“What will you do now, outsiders? Your power is certainly impressive, but not enough to end my life.”

“But you don’t have enough cards to surpass Shun either. And judging by your appearance, you don’t seem to be in a state to attack us directly.”

“I acknowledge that. So why don’t we accept that neither of us can harm the other and part ways this time?”

So he’s suggesting we call it a draw and go our separate ways.

When did he become so reasonable? Just earlier he was trying to kill us using Shun because we wouldn’t accept his cooperation request… I can only say this Demon Lord has quite the thick face.

“…But it’s true we don’t have many options right now.”

“Don’t give up so easily. If we keep hitting him until we die, something might work.”

“The Third Eye tribe will arrive before that happens. Then the prophet’s words will really come true.”

At Jessica’s point, Seti, who had been approaching the Demon Lord with his spear reversed, stopped in his tracks.

Our purpose for coming to this island was solely to learn about the Third Eye tribe, not to harm them or destroy their way of life.

And since we’ve already achieved that purpose more than sufficiently, it would be better to accept the Demon Lord’s draw proposal, even if it leaves a somewhat unsatisfying aftertaste.

“Alright, Mr. Omnipotent Demon Lord… Honestly, I don’t like your attitude or values regarding the Third Eye tribe, but we don’t want to make things worse either. We’ll accept your proposal this time.”

“A wise choice.”

“However, that’s just our opinion—”

I spoke while looking at another person slowly rising behind the Omnipotent Demon Lord.

“—I’m not sure what that friend over there thinks.”

*Swoosh*

A silver blade pierced through the translucent body of the Demon Lord.

At first glance, it seemed like it just passed through a hologram without substance, but the moment the blade emerged, a sound was clearly heard.

The sound of someone’s flesh being cut and split.

“Urrrgh…!?”

“Die, Omnipotent Demon Lord… you monster who’s worse than trash.”

“E…E=Pe=Shun! What… are you doing!?”

*Crack*

“AAAAARGH!!”

In response to the Demon Lord’s question, Shun twisted the embedded sword as his answer.

His face, which closely resembled the Gentleman’s but appeared more delicate, perhaps from growing up without hardship, was contorted with indescribable anger and sorrow.

“Urgh… how, why…?”

The Omnipotent Demon Lord, impaled by Shun’s sword, trembled violently.

The questions that flowed from his mouth carried many meanings.

How could he be harmed? Why was he, a being without a physical body, feeling such intense pain?

And—

“You’re wondering how the famous Omnipotent Demon Lord, whom even the great sage Deidric Asmad couldn’t defeat, is now facing death at the hands of the Third Eye tribe, his own creation… right?”

“You, what do you know!? About me, about the existence of Demon Lords! Or about Armedia’s taboo!”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know much about those three things either. But based on the circumstantial evidence so far, there’s one thing I can deduce.”

“What’s… that?”

The final question came not from the Omnipotent Demon Lord but from Jessica.

Ah… I suppose Jessica and the others, being from Grantis, might have had difficulty reaching this conclusion on their own.

For me, it was so obvious, almost natural.

“As they say, defeating the Demon Lord is the hero’s job. So… finish him off, Shun!”

“UAAAAH!!”

*Slash*

The hero’s sword, swung upward, cuts through the Demon Lord’s body.

That single strike contained the rage toward a creator who played with the fate of an entire tribe like a toy.

And the sorrow of realizing that their lives had no value beyond nourishing the Demon Lord’s power.

“Gurk…!!”

Split in half from the lower abdomen to the neck, the Omnipotent Demon Lord fell forward and moved no more, leaving only a death rattle like a crushed frog.

It was a pathetically anticlimactic end for a Demon Lord who had harbored such grand ambitions of omnipotence.

Yet even this end seemed too good for one who had mocked the value of life, as the Demon Lord’s corpse quickly scattered and disappeared like grains of sand.

*Thud*

Shun, the hero who defeated the Demon Lord, slumped down and stared at the empty floor with hollow eyes before slowly opening his mouth.

“…It was all lies.”

“The claim that we would be reborn after death, the claim that I had no talent, even the claim that we were of the Demon race.”

“Everything the Third Eye tribe has accepted and conformed to until now was all lies.”

With his head bowed, Shun mumbled, then looked at the silver sword in his trembling hand before asking me:

“What should we do now? Was killing our creator the right thing to do? Or did I just destroy the only value we had left… did I end the fate of the Third Eye tribe with my own hands?”

“…That depends on what choices you make from now on.”

I patted Shun’s shoulder, who was half in panic, and spoke:

“If the Omnipotent Demon Lord had lived, you would have been disposed of before long. The Demon Lord himself said so. So your defeating him was probably the best choice to prevent the extinction of your tribe.”

“But if we can’t receive masks from our creator…”

“Look around you. The Demon Lord is dead, but the masks are still here. If those masks are magical tools that draw on the Demon Lord’s power, they might still be able to help children grow or grant abilities even if someone else hands them out.”

If that’s the case, the Third Eye tribe could maintain their current way of life even without the Omnipotent Demon Lord. And if there are masks that can bestow the power of life engineering that the Demon Lord built up, they might be able to solve many of the problems the Third Eye tribe currently faces.

Of course, these might just be groundless, overly optimistic expectations, but…

“What’s important is to not give up and keep trying to find answers.”

“Not giving up…”

As I said this, the women who had approached Shun’s side added their own words:

“Will is right. The elves and other native inhabitants of Grantis were able to survive the black magic because the Great Sage Deidric Asmad never gave up and found a way.”

“If you need material support, we can help a little too. Of course, we’ll keep the Third Eye tribe a secret from others.”

“Besides, hardly any other pioneers can come this far anyway, so there’s no worry about being discovered for now, right?”

“Yes. And we won’t demolish the dungeon either.”

Having heard the five of us speak, Shun seemed to regain some peace of mind and stood up with a much-improved expression.

“Alright. Honestly, I still don’t have a clear idea of what to do… but as you all said, giving up here would be no different from being disposed of by our creator.”

“That’s right, Shun. Why don’t you become the new leader of the Third Eye tribe and guide your people?”

“Me? But I don’t have the talent to be a leader.”

Although Shun questioned this with uncertainty, I believe he is the most suitable person to lead the current Third Eye tribe.

After all—

“You are the ‘hero’ of the Third Eye tribe.”

“Hero… will the talent to kill a Demon Lord help in leading people?”

“That’s a misunderstanding. Defeating the Demon Lord is merely part of fulfilling a hero’s role.”

“Really? Then what is a hero’s true role?”

Shun asked with an expression that resembled the Gentleman’s yet still retained a childlike innocence.

Jessica and the other four women also seemed to be waiting for my answer.

Well, I should answer then. A hero’s role is—

“To give people ‘hope.'”