Ch.367The Country of My In-Laws (7)

“Tina… you really went all out.”

I muttered, looking ahead.

Every wall of the castle was riddled with holes. She had simply smashed through the walls and moved forward. Tina… don’t you know what doors are for? I’ll have to educate you properly later. I found myself thinking that without realizing it.

Anyway, I slowly walked through the path Tina had created.

Massive plant-like monsters lay everywhere, their bodies shattered. I knew Tina had taken care of them. It wasn’t surprising, considering she had the strength to tear monsters to shreds with a single punch.

I could roughly gauge their levels just by looking at the corpses. They were in the mid-80s level range. Higher than those pathetic plant monsters under the beanstalk.

‘Tina… your level must be skyrocketing.’

That was certain. She had defeated so many powerful enemies all by herself. With this opportunity, if I managed Tina well, reaching level 99 would be possible. It was a bit of a shame she couldn’t use Psycho Robo… but having a high-level combatant was never a disadvantage.

And along the way, witches were sprawled out on the ground.

“Kuhurk… I never knew… she’d be this strong.”

The witches, who looked like twisted pickled plums from the underworld, were crawling, desperately trying to get back on their feet.

Swoosh-!!

I personally finished off a few of them with my sword simply because I couldn’t stand the sight of them.

“Y-you… are you the hero? Heheheh. Trying to stop the flow of water… is meaningless.”

One of the witches looked at me and laughed.

“The ritual… is already prepared. We’ve summoned powerful demon lords… from other worlds… You’re finished now!! This Jack and the Beanstalk is just a small part of the forces we’ve called!”

The witch was desperately trying to taunt me.

“We’re going to make… the Neverdreaming Kingdom… great again!! With this, we can sweep through all of Europe…”

I had no reason to listen further, so I simply swung my sword.

Swoosh-!!

The sword cleanly sliced through the witch’s neck. After kicking away the rolling head, I continued on my way.

——–

Tina’s path was predictable. Holes were punched straight through in the direction she had walked. She was like a poorly made robot that couldn’t think to go around walls. The kid was either go or stop.

Soon enough, I caught up with Tina’s back.

Whirr-! Click-! Whirr-!

It was a mechanized farm. Amid the complex machinery, giants with sprouts planted in their heads were diligently tending to the farm. The crop they were producing was… bell peppers.

“Holy shit…”

I squeezed my eyes shut. Just looking at them brought back the awful taste of bell peppers.

From the center of the factory, Tina hopped toward me.

“Ah! Shota!!”

Tina called out to me, seemingly delighted.

“Oh. You’re safe.”

As I said that, I looked above Tina’s head.

‘Level: 98’

Indeed, Tina’s level had risen considerably. It was almost final-boss-fight spec.

“The giant?”

Tina asked about that.

“Ah. I let him live. And got rid of the plant while I was at it.”

I replied.

“Hehehe. I knew you would do that, Shota.”

Tina said with a grin.

“Shota, you quite liked that guy, didn’t you?”

Tina seemed to have better insight than I expected. She knows me well, I guess.

“Well… I didn’t particularly want to kill him.”

I just admitted it.

“See? I told you I knew it!”

Tina smiled brightly. She seemed pleased to have figured me out.

“Sorry to interrupt your little lovefest… but I’d appreciate if you didn’t do this in someone else’s home.”

At that moment, someone landed on the top floor of the factory.

It was an old man. He approached us, skillfully maneuvering a wheelchair made of tree trunks.

“You… Jack? To think that kid would grow so old…!!”

So time flows even in the fairy tale world!!

“Hoohoo. You let loose my favorite pet dog… and caused quite a spectacle.”

Jack tried to smirk. However, it didn’t quite work out.

Plop-!

His dentures nearly fell out of his mouth. Jack hurriedly fixed them. Old man…

I felt reluctant to kill such an old man. It felt like I’d be doing something wrong.

“Shota… since when did you have such a conscience?”

Tina stared at me and made a snide remark.

“Hey!! What are you talking about?!”

I immediately got angry. No, more than that… how did you read my mind?

“So you know how to respect your elders. Would you be kind enough to give this old man a moment to catch his breath? Ahem… when you get old… you get winded from all sorts of things.”

Jack leaned back in his tree trunk wheelchair.

“Just three minutes. I just need three minutes to rest.”

Jack said with a smile.

This bastard… he’s definitely planning something. I knew that for sure. But I was confident I could win no matter what trick he tried.

“Fine. Do as you please.”

I smiled and folded my arms.

“Ah… thank you. You’re kind. Unlike today’s youth.”

Jack said with a smile.

“Shota…! What are you doing?!”

Tina jabbed me in the side repeatedly. I kissed Tina, conveying that she should trust me.

“Really… Shota’s picked up bad habits lately. Always trying to gloss things over with kisses and skinship…”

Tina smiled sweetly. As if she didn’t enjoy it.

In that moment, Tina and I exchanged glances, communicating silently. Tina is quite powerful too. Detecting sudden movements should be within her capabilities.

“Now!!!”

Jack opened his mouth.

Swoosh-!!!!

Plant tendrils like tentacles burst from Jack’s mouth.

As the sharp tips flew toward us, I immediately swung my sword.

Clang-!!

Sparks flew from the blade as the tree trunk was sliced.

Whoosh-!!

Meanwhile, Tina rolled forward, closing the distance.

“Low kick!!!!”

Tina swung her leg like a whip, aiming for the wheelchair.

Crack-!

The low kick hit Jack squarely.

“Fuck!!!”

Jack immediately collapsed with his legs shattered.

“W-wait!! Time out!! Time out!! Please!! Spare me!!”

Jack begged for his life before dying. Naturally, his pleas fell on deaf ears.

“I already gave you time!! What more do you need?!!”

Swoosh-!!

My vertically swung sword split Jack’s skull and continued through, cleaving his lower body in half.

“Arggghhhh!!!”

With Jack’s scream, blood gushed out like a fountain.

Thud-!!

With that, Jack collapsed and met his death.

Ding-!!!

Tina’s level rose to 99. Okay. Now Tina had reached end-game specs too.

Whoosh-!!

With Jack’s death, the plants covering the surroundings gradually disappeared.

“The sprouts in our heads…!!”

“The sprouts are gone!! We’re free!!”

The giants who had been forced into labor roared in joy as they embraced each other. With this, the matter was cleanly resolved.

Shortly after, my consciousness faded.

Flash-!

As light enveloped my body, Tina and I found ourselves standing at the entrance of Humbalt Village. Perhaps completing a dungeon automatically teleports you to the entrance. In a way, it was standard procedure.

“This is…”

“Finally… we’re free from the Sky Fortress.”

The giants seemed to have been teleported to the entrance of Humbalt Village as well.

“Princess!! Hero!! You’re safe!!”

The officer hurried toward us.

Flash-!!

As the plants covering Humbalt Village disappeared, the plants attacking the soldiers vanished as well.

“Y-you did it!!”

The officer said with a smile.

“Yes. The hero and I did it.”

Tina said with a bright smile.

“Hooray!!!”

“Hooray!!!”

Good news travels fast. The soldiers who had been groaning in the camp came out and cheered. With Jack, the source of the disease, dead, the Greenphobia disease disappeared too. With this… Humbalt Village returned to being an ordinary village.

“Long live the hero!!!”

“Hooray!!”

The giants also roared and cheered for us.

“Wait… giants?!!”

“Giants!!”

“Battle stations!!”

The soldiers, belatedly noticing the giants’ presence, immediately aimed their guns at them. The atmosphere had been so warm that it could have been overlooked.

“Wait. Humans. We have no intention of fighting your kind.”

At that moment, the giant I had defeated (tentatively named) stepped forward.

“We are victims who were oppressed by Jack. We have no reason to fight you humans.”

The giant said.

“As if we’d believe that…”

The soldiers maintained wary expressions.

“We will return to our original world through the dimensional gate.”

The giant said with a stern expression.

“Please believe them, everyone. These beings are victims too.”

Tina, acting like a true princess, eased the tension.

“I-if the princess says so…”

Only then did the soldiers lower their guns.

Anyway, the safety of Humbalt Village was secured. We could all come here to play tomorrow.

——–

At that time, the members of the terrorist organization ‘Witch’ clicked their tongues.

“The hero… eliminated Plant Sorcerer Jack…”

“Wasn’t he one of the strongest phantoms we summoned?”

Everyone was muttering anxiously.

“Stay calm. He wasn’t our only piece.”

The leader of the Witches, Bansion, waved her slender finger. Only then did the other witches fall silent.

“We’ve summoned more powerful beings from other dimensions. We’ve called forth those who were known as demon lords in countless worlds. There was a price to pay for their resurrection… but we succeeded. That’s what matters.”

Bansion smiled and pointed behind the curtain.

Thud-! Step-!

A group of men walked majestically from there. One demon in fantasy-style armor, one rough-looking man with a black beard and twin pistols at his waist, and a large man with green skin. They were all beings who had ruled as final bosses, called demon lords in various multiverses.

“These are the extremely powerful individuals gathered from various worlds. With this… we will conquer the Neverdreaming Kingdom. After that, we’ll devour Europe.”

Bansion raised her hand and declared.

“The world… Yes. I’ll rule it all. Even if there’s a hero in this world… they must be weaker than the one I faced.”

The demon said with a smile.

“Heheh. That’s right. I only lost because of bad luck.”

The man in cowboy attire with a black beard said, casually spinning his gun.

“I’ll show you the terror of a body enhanced by radiation. I’ve heard that the heroes and warriors of this world are pathetically weak. If so, I have no match!!”

The green-skinned man raised a greatsword with chainsaw blades.

Of course, as everyone would know, these three were all ghosts of those killed by Shota in the past. They had no idea about that, though.