A few days later.
Ding!
<You have entered the ‘Unrest’ Zone of Morgue’s Magical Warehouse.>
I returned to the area where the Fierce God Evil Slayer was sealed.
The salt desert shone brilliantly.
Seven towering black pillars stood in stark contrast to the dazzling light.
Hieroglyphic characters were densely engraved across the triangular surfaces of the pillars.
Intense heat rose faintly from around them.
…Alright. Time to begin.
What I had to do now was the maintenance work for MRG-293, the entity stored in the Terror Zone.
I needed to replace the seven sealing stones that had been suppressing the primordial giant, the Fierce God Evil Slayer.
The tricky part was that the materials required to create the new sealing stones were extremely troublesome.
Ding!
<The following materials are required for the maintenance of MRG-293.>
– 7 bones of the Fierce God Evil Slayer
– 10 fingernails of the Fierce God Evil Slayer
– 10 toenails of the Fierce God Evil Slayer
– Tendons of the Fierce God Evil Slayer
Every single one was a material that could only be obtained from the Fierce God Evil Slayer itself.
Releasing the seal, defeating the Fierce God Evil Slayer, gathering its materials, and then resealing it again……
What a ridiculously complicated process.
It was as absurd as a job posting that only accepts applicants with experience.
…Well, whatever.
I had made full preparations to defeat the Fierce God Evil Slayer.
This time, I deliberately did not bring the High Priestess or Guard Captain and their group for the seal release ritual.
The Fierce God Evil Slayer wasn’t an opponent who would give me the luxury of looking after others.
I stood in front of the sealing stone pillars.
Blackened remnants were scattered everywhere.
They were traces of the ritual performed by the Hecate High Priestess’s group a few days ago.
I recalled the ritual procedure the High Priestess had shown me once more.
1. Prepare an altar in front of the sealing stones.
Place rat meat, mushrooms, a basin of clean water, and candles on the altar.
2. The High Priestess bows seven times at the altar while reciting the following passage:
“O Absolute One, I serve Your will. Please solidify Your will with the blood of a pure life.”
3. Slit the belly of a live sacrifice with an obsidian dagger and sprinkle its blood on the pillars.
4. After that, the High Priestess bows seven more times at the altar and recites:
“I earnestly beseech the Seven Ancestors. Grant the lost descendants the power to suppress the great evil.”
5. Mix the blood and entrails of the live sacrifice into the clean water in the basin.
6. The High Priestess walks around the sealing stones counterclockwise and sprinkles the bloody water from the basin onto the center of each pillar.
7. While doing so, she recites:
“The sacrifice to lull the ancient evil god to sleep. Holy water that solidifies the power of the Absolute One.”
8. After completing all procedures, burn the altar and the offerings.
Of course, there was no such thing as a ritual to strengthen the Fierce God Evil Slayer’s seal in the first place.
The ritual that the ancestors of the Hecate people — the ancient Ravianglily people — had performed was nothing more than a crude imitation of what they had witnessed the Sorcerer Emperor do when he sealed the Fierce God Evil Slayer.
According to Morgue Mu Featherback’s journal, the sealing procedure for the Fierce God Evil Slayer was written like this:
‘The supreme being, the omniscient and omnipotent Sorcerer Emperor, sealed the primordial giant, the Fierce God Evil Slayer, using the 9th-class black magic ‘Banquet of the Apocalypse.’’
Simple and clear.
No need for altars, reciting passages, sprinkling blood from live sacrifices, or any of those miscellaneous steps.
It was all explained with a single 9th-class black magic spell.
To exaggerate a little, the Sorcerer Emperor had sealed the Fierce God Evil Slayer with a mere flick of his finger.
Of course, at the bottom of the journal entry, Morgue Mu Featherback had personally written an alternative sealing method for the Fierce God Evil Slayer.
A method for ordinary(?) people like me, not a cheat character like the Sorcerer Emperor.
I poured the items I had prepared into the center of the sealing formation.
Clatter clatter clatter clatter—
A brilliant cascade of ores poured endlessly out of my inventory.
From B-rank to A-rank.
They were the highest-grade mana stones I had gathered over the past few days by scouring the black market.
The 9th-class ultra-high-level black magic the Sorcerer Emperor used to seal the Fierce God Evil Slayer required a transcendent amount of mana.
On the other hand, I didn’t possess any notable mana, let alone black magic.
So I’ll substitute it with top-grade mana stones.
A mountain of mana stones piled up at the center of the sealing formation.
I began chanting the incantation written in Morgue Mu Featherback’s journal.
[£Nλsœmomaœmsdn/mmo]
Strange characters I had never seen before in my life.
Yet the moment I read them, the words flowed smoothly from my mouth.
Soon, the mana stones piled at the center of the sealing formation began resonating all at once.
Uuuung— uuuung— uuuung— uuuung— uuuung— uuuung—
Bluish mana flowing from the mana stones wrapped around the seven pillars.
Then.
Fssssssss—
The hieroglyphic characters engraved on the surface of the pillars began to be cleanly erased.
At that moment, a system window appeared.
Ding!
<Would you like to release the seal on the stored entity ‘MRG-293’? (Y/N)>
<※Warning. Severe damage may occur to the Unrest Zone and Terror Zone.>
…Screw it!
I reached out and selected YES.
Then.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The ground began to shake violently.
Soon, the sealing stones were sucked down one by one.
Seven massive holes opened up like sinkholes.
The surrounding salt began pouring into the holes.
Whooooosh—
The salt desert swirled like a vortex.
It looked as if a gluttonous monster beneath the holes was greedily devouring all the salt.
At that moment, Jeanne spoke.
“Master, this place is dangerous! We should leave immediately!”
Jeanne and I mounted the General Zombie and took to the air.
The spot where we had been standing collapsed with a thud, creating a large hole.
Whooooosh— Boom!
A massive hand burst up from below the hole.
Each finger was as thick as a high-rise building.
Then.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom—!
The salt desert exploded upward as the sleeping giant rose to its feet.
Flutter—
<Fierce God Evil Slayer>
– Danger Rank: S
– Discovery Location: Morgue’s Magical Warehouse, Unrest Zone
A giant of fire that has existed since the primordial era.
Embers of karmic flames continuously rose from its body covered in grayish-brown muscle.
Merely standing up was enough to cover an entire continent in shadow, and a single step could reduce an entire kingdom to nothingness.
Its very reason for existence was to steal all the fire that humanity had taken from the gods and burn the world to ash.
Its height easily exceeded 500 meters.
Its grayish-brown skin had no body hair whatsoever, and its facial features were smoothly covered over.
Black flames flickered like heat haze across its muscular, solid body.
Soon, the Fierce God Evil Slayer began to walk.
Boom! Boom! Boom!…… Boom!
Every time its massive foot came down,
Bang! Shaaaaaaa—!
The ground exploded upward, and the salt that flew into the air poured down like a shower.
In the places where the Fierce God Evil Slayer’s giant footprints remained, blackened salt powder scattered.
But something was strange.
…Where is that thing going?
The Fierce God Evil Slayer was completely ignoring us in front of it and moving forward.
A system window appeared at the perfect moment.
Ding!
<The Fierce God Evil Slayer is a giant of fire that steals fire from humans and destroys civilization.>
<If left unchecked, the Fierce God Evil Slayer will destroy all existing human civilization.>
……!
I realized the Fierce God Evil Slayer’s destination.
The only civilization existing inside the warehouse was Hecate Village.
If it got any closer, the tunnel foundations would collapse from the intense tremors alone, burying all the Hecate people alive.
I gave an order to the General Zombie.
“Fly to the village and tell the Guard Captain that the Fierce God Evil Slayer is coming, so they must evacuate immediately. Oh, and also……”
I gave the General Zombie one more instruction.
[I shall obey…… my lord’s command…….]
The General Zombie then set Jeanne and me down on the salt desert.
And then—
Boom! Shweeeeeeeeek—!
With a sound that tore through the air, the General Zombie vanished from sight in an instant.
I looked up at the Fierce God Evil Slayer.
Just looking at its head required tilting my neck back significantly.
Its majesty was like a moving mountain.
So the Sorcerer Emperor sealed a monster like this with ease.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Well, anyway.
There was no point comparing myself to a being of that caliber.
I looked at Jeanne and said,
“Then shall we begin the S-rank hunt?”
“Yes, Master!”
***
Boom!…… Boom!…… Boom!
Boom!
Every time the Fierce God Evil Slayer moved, the ground cracked and the terrain changed shape.
Then.
Splat—
The Fierce God Evil Slayer’s foot came down on a pitch-black oily mucus.
At the same time, a chain of explosions erupted like fireworks.
Boom! Bang! Boobooboom!
But that only lasted a moment.
Whooooooosh—!
The fiercely burning flames were all sucked into the Fierce God Evil Slayer.
I quickly put more distance between myself and the giant.
It absorbs flames?
The giant of fire, the Fierce God Evil Slayer.
I knew it would have some resistance to flame attacks, but……
To think it could absorb flames entirely to recover its stamina.
Extremely bad compatibility.
My matchup against it was terribly poor.
Arguably the worst among all the enemies I had faced so far.
I checked my skill window.
Ding!
[Skills]
▶ Heat — <Rank: ?>
▶ Close — <Rank: ?>
▶『Seven Demon First Strike Secret Art: Gluttony Slash, Beelzebub』 — <Rank: S>
▶ Cordyceps — <Rank: A+>
▶『Genetic Skin Oil』 — <Rank: A>
▶『Embers』 — <Rank: A>
・「Superhuman Strength」 — <Rank: A>
・『Ink Stealth』 — <Rank: A>
The combination of Genetic Skin Oil and Embers was a no-go.
Flame-based skills would be no different from healing skills for the Fierce God Evil Slayer.
The other useful attack options are……
Gluttony Slash Secret Art, and Superhuman Strength.
But Gluttony Slash wasn’t a skill I could spam recklessly.
So should I block it with the Ogre’s Superhuman Strength?
I stared silently at the 500-meter-tall giant.
That clearly wouldn’t be nearly enough.
The size difference was so extreme that the term “weight class” felt meaningless.
At that moment.
『Seven Demon First Strike: Gluttony Slash, Beelzebub』
A black blade slashed across the salt desert.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—!
The sword energy from Gluttony Slash sliced into the Fierce God Evil Slayer’s left foot.
Slice—!
A deep gash appeared on the top of its foot.
At the same time.
Shaaaaaaa—!
The salt that had risen from the tremors poured down onto the giant’s wound.
Then.
[Grooooooooaaaaar—!]
The Fierce God Evil Slayer’s roar shook the entire area.
The wounded area that came into contact with the salt was melting and dissolving.
That is……
The image of the Immortal Pseudo-Dragon I saw for the first time suddenly flashed in my mind.
It had been soaked in acidic solution.
Although the Pseudo-Dragon originally had powerful regeneration, its body could not recover while in contact with the acid.
Just like how the Fierce God Evil Slayer’s wound wasn’t healing right now.
It seemed that after being sealed beneath the salt desert for such a long time, salinity had become its weakness.
So that’s how it is?
A brilliant idea suddenly crossed my mind.
A way to make the salt-loving Fierce God Evil Slayer very happy.
This might not be so bad after all?