“I was human in my previous world.”
“And now you’re a demon, right? That makes you an enemy character I can kill without guilt.”
Ah, so they’ve come to that conclusion after all.
Demons are seen as an evil race, a threat to be exterminated by others.
It’s not just the residents of this world who think that way—other reincarnators like me see it the same.
“Then, I guess that makes us enemies.”
“Yeah, it does. In this game, you level up by defeating enemies, right? Sorry, but you’ll be my experience points.”
“‘Sorry,’ you say, but you’re not sorry at all, are you?”
“Do I need to feel bad about every random enemy I kill?”
I can’t blame them for thinking like that.
After all, I’ve been treating intruders in this dungeon as nothing more than fuel for my magic, defeating and killing them without hesitation.
I have no right to criticize them.
They kill demons for experience, and I kill non-demons to sustain the dungeon’s power.
It’s just how it is.
Still, I didn’t want to be killing other humans, even if we were from different worlds.
But perhaps that’s just my naïve idealism, or even discrimination against the residents of this world.
It’s time I accepted the reality in front of me.
I don’t want to die. So I have to kill.
I can’t look away anymore. For my selfish desires, I will kill many people.
Saying I was once human is nothing but a pathetic excuse. My actions now are entirely befitting of a demon.
“Stop.”
The man raised his hand, and my body froze in place.
This must be his granted skill.
Unlike mine, it’s straightforward and powerful.
“See? You can’t move anymore. I’ll take my time tormenting you before I kill you. Don’t worry, though—I’ll leave your mouth free so you can scream all you like.”
How twisted.
But thanks to that, I might be able to handle this without relying on Primilla .
“Wall Creation.”
If I can still speak, I can use my skills.
I created one wall to block the entrance and another to separate us from the intruders.
As soon as the two walls formed, I regained control of my body.
It seems his skill only works on targets within his sight, or maybe the walls marked us as being in separate areas.
Games often reset statuses when you leave a room, after all.
Not that it matters why.
I just need to create some distance from them now.
“What the hell? What’s this? Annoying.”
“Let’s just destroy it quickly.”
I could sense their confusion over the sudden walls.
They’re not as strong as those beastmen, but I can’t predict what skills they received from the goddess.
If they can destroy the walls in an instant, I need to retreat before that happens.
“Still not done?”
“Shut up! Why don’t you help me?”
“No thanks. Wasting magic here would be stupid. You should handle it since you don’t run out.”
“Tch… fine, just watch then.”
What they thought was a weak demon turned out to be an annoyingly troublesome enemy.
I see now—I’m not strong, but I specialize in disruption and evasion.
How irritating… I should’ve stopped them from moving right away instead of dragging this out.
Their skill only works on living things, so it’s useless against the walls I made.
Not to mention, the walls don’t “move,” so trying it on them makes no sense.
The one with enhanced physical strength keeps attacking the walls, but it only cracks slightly after repeated blows.
They’re sturdy, and if the attacks stop, the walls automatically repair themselves.
“Damn it, this is so annoying!”
The attacker realizes this too, frantically trying to break through before the walls restore themselves.
Really, though, a more destructive skill would’ve solved this in an instant.
The goddess didn’t think this through.
Not that it matters, since the one with explosive skills refuses to act to conserve magic.
With high-power skills being inefficient, it’s likely this woman wouldn’t use them on walls either.
“Take that!”
“Oh, looks like they finally managed to break through the wall.
With a hole big enough for people to pass through, we hurried further into the depths of the dungeon. If we left it, the wall might repair itself and seal the hole again.
‘Hah… hah…’
‘Wow, you look exhausted.’
‘You guys… seriously didn’t help at all…’
‘Sorry, but my skill wouldn’t have been useful anyway.’
‘I’d rather attack the demons instead of the wall, even if it’s just that weak-looking one.’
We weren’t so heartless as to leave the one who broke the wall behind. We waited for him to catch his breath.
‘…Alright, let’s keep moving.’
He wasn’t fully recovered, but he seemed to be okay enough to continue.
We started down a narrow path, and in the distance, we saw what looked like a door. Hopefully, there’s something useful there. Either way, we didn’t have anywhere else to go, so we headed for that room.
Since it was the first room, there wasn’t much to worry about, so we walked straight ahead.
That’s when we heard the sound of some kind of mechanism activating.
…What’s that? Looking at the ground, there was nothing. Which means it’s above.
‘Move!’
The people around me were in the way, so I shoved them aside and sprinted forward.
I saw it—a huge, round boulder was falling from above. If that thing hit us, we wouldn’t stand a chance.
As I raced toward the door, I heard the sound of the boulder hitting the ground behind me, followed by shouts of surprise. The spherical boulder made a rolling noise as it moved.
Ah… the screams mean someone got crushed.
‘Hey! If you noticed, you could’ve told us!’
‘I didn’t have time! Protect yourself!’
The surviving explosive user screamed at me hysterically, but I didn’t care.
Honestly, if she’d been crushed too, it would’ve saved me from her yelling.
‘Let’s just get into this room first.’
I opened the door, and inside, the room was packed wall-to-wall with monsters.
…What is this? This many in the first room is ridiculous. Is this one of those “Monster Houses”? The Demon Lord must have a terrible sense of humor to set this up right at the start.
‘Explosion!’
Apparently terrified by the swarm of monsters rushing at us, the explosive user immediately unleashed the skill she’d been conserving.
This woman… using something like that so close to me, it’s going to hit me too!
Even with the wide-range, high-power explosions, there were just too many monsters for it to handle.
‘Explosion! Explosion! No! Stay away! Stop it!!’
…Yeah, she’s done for.
The skill is strong and hits a wide area, sure. But with this many monsters, it’s impossible to take them all down.
Not to mention, she’s leaving a safe zone around herself, likely out of fear of her own skill’s effects.
‘Ow! Stop! I’m sorry!’
In the end, the explosive user met her demise here.
Well, whatever. She wasn’t as useful as I’d hoped, and we don’t need dead weight.
After confirming her death, I used my Stop Skill to freeze all the monsters in the room.
…Should I kill them? Nah, too much trouble. Let’s just move on.
I can level up whenever I feel like it. As long as I have this skill, I can beat any monster.
‘Damn it, I’ll definitely kill that weak demon for this.’
After leaving the room calmly, I found another long, narrow path.
This time, I couldn’t even see a door ahead; the passage stretched on endlessly.
If another boulder came rolling here, I’d definitely get crushed.
The dim lighting made it hard to see, but as long as I kept an eye on the ceiling, I could spot something as big as that boulder.
‘Ugh, my neck hurts… This is such a pain.’
I didn’t want to die, so I kept looking up, but it really was tedious.
That weak demon must’ve set up this trap.
I’ll find them and use my skill to stop them. Then I’ll kill them slowly.
As I walked, I stepped on something, and a strange noise came from beneath my feet.
What’s this…? A square stone? It looks like some kind of switch…
‘Aaagh!!’
My left side burned with intense heat… no, I’d been stabbed. By what?
Someone attacking from hiding… what a coward.
…Huh? I’m getting sleepy… even though it hurt so much, my body’s starting to feel cold…
Oh, I see. I was stabbed by a spear that came out of the wall…
‘I’ve returned.’
‘…I see. I suppose we shouldn’t have allowed you to meet them.’
Lady Fiona spoke with a sorrowful expression.
‘It’s fine. I’m on your side.’
‘Thank you. Even though I’ve long been a demon, I foolishly clung to my humanity…’
‘Oh, really? That explains a lot. Talking things out with humans seemed odd. But hey, it’s good you realized it early. Now we’re truly allies.’
Pilkaya was right. It seemed I couldn’t have any allies who weren’t demons.
In that case, I’d at least protect this place.
I’m weak, so it’s best for me to focus on making this dungeon as impregnable as possible.
Looking at the slight increase in the dungeon’s magic power, I resolved once again to live as a demon.”
