Chapter 41: DOSUKOOOII!!

"NYAAAAAAAHHHHH—!?"

Ririka lets out a scream, and it’s no exaggeration in the slightest.

After the Dragoon and Erika descend to the ground and deploy an electromagnetic shield, blinding flashes erupt beyond its surface, immediately followed by raging flames and a crushing shockwave.

Whether it lasts several minutes or only tens of seconds, the moment it finally subsides, the shield vanishes. Both of Erika’s prosthetic bodies lose all strength and collapse like marionettes with their strings cut.

The sky above the plaza in front of the royal palace in the capital of the Kingdom of Larentia—where the blast wave has at last settled—is choked with billowing smoke, dark as night. Below, the ground resembles a scorched wasteland. The earth, riddled with underground waterways, has collapsed in several places. Stone buildings have barely retained their shapes, while wooden structures have crumbled entirely, flames still rising and smoldering among the ruins.

The royal palace just behind us hasn’t escaped unscathed either. Much of its outer wall has been gouged away, sections of stone melted and dripping like wax.

『Prosthetic body energy reserves depleted. Dragoon has lost its right wing; 60% of the starboard hull surface has melted. Crusader IV, which deployed the shield, is critically damaged. Both units are inoperable. All residual radiation levels are below safety standards. There should be no immediate effects on the human body』

Erika’s voice—now without a prosthetic body—comes through the suit communicator, delivering a report that is somehow deeply unreassuring.

"I-I really wish games made by Japanese developers were a bit more delicate about how they handle nukes…"

"I doooon’t knooow♡ I didn’t im-ple-ment any maaaagic like thaaat♡"

The self-proclaimed god—a boy who was apparently saved after being dragged inside the shield by the succubi, now reduced to level 1 after having all his experience drained, and very likely his intelligence as well—spouts nonsense in a coquettish voice utterly out of place amid the devastation.

Setting that aside, even with the shield protecting him, being stark naked right near the heart of a nuclear explosion must have been terrifying. Watching him wet himself, reduced to a shriveled, foreskin-covered mess, I feel just the tiniest flicker of sympathy.

"Everyone okay? Is everyone safe?"

"Everyone here is fine. But at this rate, there might be casualties among the civilians who evacuated…!"

"If the players evacuated together into the temples and underground waterways, they should be fine, but… more importantly, that blue-bald guy—he didn’t get himself killed by his own magic, did he…?"

After hearing Shogo and Natsumi’s responses, I peek out from behind the half-destroyed Dragoon that had been serving as our shield.

"Futile resistance."

The blue-bald man emerges, casually shoving aside the Crusader, now reduced to a melted, unrecognizable lump of iron.

"Before my infinite magical power, resistance is meaningless. Prostrate yourselves and accept death."

I immediately call out to Erika.

"EMP this time! Don’t let him use magic like that ever again!"

『Acknowledged. Launching Excalibur nuclear warhead missile from Enpheria. Detonation will occur near the stratopause』

"And have the other Crusader restrain him! Autopilot is fine!"

Answering my request, another Crusader rises from within the Dragoon, bursting through melted armor plates, and begins striding toward the blue-bald man.

Using the Dragoon’s shadow as cover, I leap onto the port-side crew hatch and force it open.

"We’ll disable his magic for a while! Queen and succubi, head toward the evacuees! Dias! Shogo! Help me! We’re hauling out weapons!"

"W-Wait! Are you planning to fight alone!?"

"Yeah! I’m fighting too! I can’t leave Shogo-san behind!"

"We adventurers can revive even if we die! Leave this to us!"

Queen Tilda and Scarlet protest, but Shogo talks them down, and they lower their heads in reluctant agreement.

Most of the succubi follow orders immediately, spreading their wings and retreating.

"A good woman’s job is to wait patiently for her man to come back alive~"

Even the two who protested are dragged away by Sapphire, who’s carrying the formerly godly naked boy with her.

"Must be tough being popular."

"Please don’t say that… honestly, I’m not good with this… I barely talk to girls in real life, and I’m scared they’d be disappointed if they knew the real me…"

As I hand him weapons pulled from the container, Shogo smiles awkwardly at my joke. I force a grin back at him.

"The courage you’re showing right now—standing up to something this dangerous—that’s real. If I were actually a woman, I might’ve fallen for you."

"What gross stuff are you saying, nyaah!? Hurry up and hand over the weapons, nyaah!"

"I don’t dislike that kind of talk, but now really isn’t the time! Clarice-san, please put on your armor too!"

Damn it. I thought that line landed pretty well, but this tactless cat-eared maid and cross-dressing shota maid elf clearly don’t understand a man’s heart.

"Natsumi, I said something like that back then, but… even if we’re not originally from this world, saying it’s fine no matter what happens here isn’t right, is it?"

"W-What are you saying all of a sudden!? This isn’t the time for that!"

Startled by the abrupt shift, Natsumi urges me on—then looks again at the cityscape before the palace, now resembling footage from a Middle Eastern war zone on the evening news, and corrects himself.

"But… yeah. Seeing it like this, if we can, I’d rather leave without making things worse."

"Cleaning up after a festival isn’t really my style, but at least we should take responsibility for the players’ mess!"

I climb into the tilted armor attachment container inside the damaged Dragoon.

After equipping my armor and exiting, I confirm that Ririka, Natsumi, Shogo, Dias, and Beatrice have all received their weapons. Then I step out from behind the Dragoon to face the blue-bald man.

The blue giant—nearly three meters tall—is in the process of ripping the arm off an eight-meter-tall walking tank.

He’s completely insane.

As he raises his right hand, likely to finish off the kneeling, broken Crusader with magic, light spreads across the sky. A sharp snap crackles as static electricity dances across nearby metal.

Already scowling, the blue-bald man furrows his brow even deeper as he looks up, then slowly lowers his gaze to his raised hand.

"Petty tricks. Do you wish to suffer before dying rather than perish instantly?"

Spitting those ominous words, he hurls the torn-off Crusader arm into the Dragoon’s wreckage, crushing it with a deafening crunch.

"Erika! Unlock all weapon safeties! Everyone! Light him up while we can!"

"Got it, nyaah!"

"Ugh, not being able to use magic is inconvenient for us too!"

"I-I’ve never fired a gun before! What do I do!?"

"These were sci-fi guns from a game to begin with—the robot girl’s supporting you! Just point it at him and pull the trigger! Beako! You okay over there!?"

"Y-Yes! It’s just a handgun, but I’ve fired one before in California!"

It’s worrying, but close combat with that blue-bald Demon King feels like an even worse idea.

"Ready!? Aim carefully, stay calm, and fire!"

"Just leave it to us, nyaah! He’s coming this way, nyaah! Now, nyaah! Shoot, shoot, shoot him full of holes, nyaaaaaah!!"

As the blue-bald Demon King steps over the destroyed Crusader and advances toward us, Ririka’s shout triggers a simultaneous barrage.

"H-He’s walking through it! I’ve hit him in the eyes a few times, and the bullets just bounce off! What is he, some kind of Kryptonian!?"

Dias shouts in disbelief as the blue-bald man continues advancing through the storm of bullets.

"Not enough, nyaah! Turn him into a pincushion, nyaah!"

Ririka sprays her assault rifle wildly, most shots missing, and the few that land doing absolutely nothing. Shogo fires his handgun desperately with both hands, but his aim is all over the place.

Seems melee-focused types really don’t mesh well with firearms.

"Th-Then try this!"

Beatrice fires her shotgun in rapid succession, buckshot pelting the blue-bald man’s torso, but he doesn’t even flinch.

"If lead doesn’t work, how about this!?"

Natsumi, his small body straining, launches round after round from a six-shot grenade launcher.

"And here’s the finisher! Eat this!"

Switching to a rocket launcher, Dias fires both rockets from the twin tubes. They hit dead-on, explosions engulfing the blue-bald man’s body.

Yet even then, from within the wavering flames, the blue-bald man emerges completely unscathed.

"He’s fine after all that!? What a monster!"

Dias gasps again, but I steady the long-barreled rifle slung over my shoulder—the Dainsleif Plasma Railgun—align its sights on the blue-bald bastard, and rest my finger on the trigger.

"Right here… I’ll blow that ugly excuse for a face clean off!!"

I pull the trigger. From the railgun’s elongated barrel, an armor-piercing tungsten-carbide core—accelerated by high-yield explosives, electromagnetic rails, and some vaguely defined sci-fi nonsense called plasma repulsion—streaks forward, trailing a tail of blue-white plasma discharge, and slams directly into the blue-bald man’s gleaming forehead.

"Gr—gross!?"

Even that round fails to blow his head off. Instead, it caves his forehead in unnaturally before losing all kinetic energy and dropping limply to the ground at his feet.

"H-His head’s dented and he’s still fine, nya!?"

"That’s way grosser than blowing it off!"

"W-What the hell is going on!?"

『Analysis impossible. Complete disregard for physical laws confirmed』

The blue-bald man’s crushed forehead ripples grotesquely, wobbling and swelling as it repairs itself. Then he resumes walking toward us, deliberately slow and openly taunting.

"Futile. No matter what you do, you cannot harm me. Unless you pierce my heart with my one true weakness—the Sacred–Profane Ultimate God Sword, Ragnaracalibur!"

"Who the hell has something like that, nyaaa!?"

How kind of him to explain his own weakness—but no one here is carrying a weapon with a name that stupid.

"I’m outta ammo! There’s gotta be something we can do!" Dias shouts, tossing aside his empty weapon.

If caving in his head with the plasma railgun did anything at all, maybe he isn’t truly invincible. A battleship-class weapon might finish him—but he’s far too small a target for that.

"Erika! The Hummingbird will do! Get it down here ASAP!"

『The Hummingbird can arrive in five minutes at maximum speed, but it is unarmed』

"Doesn’t matter! Launch it now!"

『Acknowledged』

After issuing the order to Erika, I turn to the others.

"Everyone! Five minutes! Buy me five minutes! Just keep him busy—run if you have to!"

"D-Do you actually have a plan, nya!?"

"Got it! Five minutes!"

Cutting off Ririka mid-question, Shogo charges forward first.

"Try this! Transmission—Electric Fist… Hadouken!!"

Crackling energy surges from both of Shogo’s hands, lightning-wrapped ki blasting forward.

"I told you that’s use—hm?"

The blue-bald catches it with one hand. Electricity surges across his arm, briefly disrupting him, but it’s nowhere near enough to stun him like the fighting games it’s based on.

"Petty tricks…"

"Over here, nyaaa!"

Ririka leaps in next, springing high into the air. As she vaults over his head, she pulls a black, long-skirted maid outfit from her item box mid-jump, snaps it open, and drops it over his head like a hood. She lands behind him and immediately retreats.

"Oi! This way!"

Dias pelts the now-blinded blue-bald with chunks of broken brick, drawing his attention. Even he finally loses his composure, snarling as he turns toward the impacts.

"Watch your footing!"

Right as he steps forward, Natsumi fires the last of his grenade launcher rounds into the hole Erika blasted open into the underground waterway. A heavy BOOM echoes from below. Repeated impacts collapse the stone pavement, and the blue-bald’s massive lower body sinks into the ground.

"Even if he’s tough, this should—!"

Beatrice rushes in from behind, flips up the blue-bald’s cape, wraps it tightly around his upper body, then pulls several magic swords from her item box and pins the inverted hem to the ground like tent stakes.

"Didn’t anyone ever tell you capes are a bad idea!?"

This isn’t stalling—it’s a full lockdown.

The Root-End Apocalypse Demon King now looks like some poor middle-school girl from the Showa era, buried waist-deep in sand at the beach and hog-tied with a skirt pulled over her head.

"See!? Even a big strong idiot’s easy if all he’s got is muscle, nya! Now hurry up, Clarice-nyan! Finish him already, nya!"

"Erika! Is the Hummingbird here yet!?"

『One minute to arrival… Master! Surrounding particles are resuming motion! Exercise caution!』

"Already!? Hurry!"

Almost in sync with Erika’s warning, the blue-bald explodes out of the collapsed ground. Flames burst from his body as he tears apart his own cape and the maid outfit Ririka wrapped around him.

"NUAAAAAAARGH!! Insolent insects! You dare mock me!? I’ll tear you apart one by one!!"

Roaring in fury, he charges straight at Dias at terrifying speed.

"This is bad! Run, Dias!"

I sprint to intercept—but Shogo moves faster, throwing himself between them.

"You’re not getting past me!"

"Then you’ll be first!"

The blue-bald swings his right fist with nothing but brute force. Shogo deflects it with his left arm, but he can’t fully kill the momentum—his forearm bends at a sickening angle, folding where no joint should exist.

"Guhh!! Not done yet! In-vaaaading—Victory Dragon Fist! SHORYUUKEN!!"

Shogo launches upward, driving his right arm and knee in a jumping uppercut—but the blue-bald casually catches his fist with his left hand and stops it dead.

"Fragile."

"Gyaaaaah!?"

Crunch. His fist is crushed in the blue-bald’s grip, and Shogo screams in agony.

"You bastard! Let go of Shogo!"

"Powerless."

Dias throws himself at the blue-bald’s legs in a desperate tackle, but he’s kicked aside without a second thought and sent flying straight toward me as I rush in.

I skid to a halt and barely catch Dias—but he collapses in my arms, coughing up a massive amount of blood.

"Nuahahahaha! Now you understand the difference in strength!"

Still gripping Shogo with his left hand, the blue-bald drives his massive right fist straight into Shogo’s torso.

"Gah—!?"

Flames erupt from Shogo’s pierced body. In an instant, he burns down into blackened ash, collapsing as he falls—then disperses into particles of light and vanishes.

A scorched red headband drifts slowly down and lands on the ground.

"N-No way! Shogo was party-registered, nya! Why did he disappear!?"

"If you die without leaving a recognizable body, you can’t revive on the spot! That’s how the knights hunted adventurers!"

"But that kind of disappearance means he can revive, right!?"

"It should!"

Beatrice answers Ririka and Natsumi as they panic.
If he can revive, then dealing with this damn blue-bald comes first.

『Hummingbird has reached overhead! Commencing descent!』

I lay Dias down and stand. Behind the blue-bald, I spot the squat silhouette of the Hummingbird descending from the sky.

"Alright… leave the rest to me! Take care of Dias!"

"W-What are you saying!? Nothing works on that thing! What are you going to do!?"

"There’s a classic way to deal with something you can’t kill!"

I push the armor’s power assist to full and kick off the ground into a sprint. As I run, I yank a flash grenade—stun grenade—from my waist and hurl it straight at the blue-bald’s face.

"Cheap tricks!"

Even taking the full blast head-on, he doesn’t flinch. I slip past the wide backhand swing of his fist and slam into him with a full-body tackle.

The blue-bald staggers slightly under the impact of the modified Gungnir Mk.4 ground-combat armor at full boost—but he stays upright.

I wrap both arms around his waist and grab the studded belt on his punk-rocker leather pants—Demon King, my ass.

"Erika! Open the hatch!"

『Acknowledged!』

As the Hummingbird’s rear cargo hatch yawns open behind him, I grit my teeth and heave with everything I’ve got.

"UOOORRAAAAH!! DOSUKOOOOOII!!"

No matter how strong you are, once your feet leave the ground—

With the armor’s jet boosters roaring at full throttle, I carry the blue-bald bodily into the Hummingbird’s rear cargo deck.

"Take off! Full speed—straight out of the atmosphere! I’m dumping this bald bastard into space!"

The rear hatch slams shut with a CLANG, snapping closed like a steel bear trap, and the craft lifts off once more.

The antimatter gravity-pulse engines—normally nearly silent—roar thunderously as the dropship carrying me and the blue-bald punches through the black clouds and rockets straight up into the sky.