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Volume 4, Chapter 13: Ugh. Anything goes with you, huh!

“There is a novel called ‘More than Human,’ which was written by Theodore Sturgeon.”

It was a long time ago, when Yogiri was in the underground mansion. Takato Asaka had brought it up after much rambling.

“I don’t know anything about the novel, but you’re talking about the ‘Sturgeon’s law’ person, right?”

“Yes, exactly. The person who said that ninety percent of science fiction is crap. I guess the book is like classic science fiction. Oh, you’re surprised that I’d even read those kinds of books, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what you mean. How am I supposed to tell if someone is likely to read science fiction or not?”

“Well, as the title suggests, it’s a novel about being more than human. And the word ‘ethos’ appears in it. I think it means something like ‘character.’ In other words, in order to become a greater being, you need character, not morals or virtue.”

“Character. I don’t understand.”

“Hmm. I think some people say that it should be integrity. I don’t remember all of the details. In any case, it is saying that it is impossible to force human morals onto a being that has surpassed humans. New beings must create new rules. Something like that.”

“So, I should think for myself?”

“Yes. Well, it’s nothing too complicated. Just make your own rules, I guess? Just because you can do anything, doesn’t mean you should live recklessly. Think hard and make the rules you think you should follow.”

As Yogiri was a unique being, there was no society or values that he had to follow.

He had to make rules for himself, not follow ones by others.

These memories were brought back because he was in an irregular situation that concerned those very rules.

Yogiri was falling into the shadows.

—Each floor of the demon world is supposed to be 1 kilometer in height.

He calculated.

If this world’s gravitational acceleration was around 10m/s2, and you ignored air resistance, it would take 14 seconds to crash to the ground.

As seconds had already passed at this point, it would be less than 10 seconds now.

—If this really was a natural disaster, I would ultimately die here.

However, He had sworn to bring Tomochika back to her world. So he couldn’t die here. Besides, judging by how the cliff had crumbled, it did not seem like a natural disaster. It was more likely that someone had caused it.

Once he decided to do something, it became necessary to unleash his power.

The power that Yogiri called Phase 1 was not enough to deal with the current situation.

Tomochika would have laughed if she had heard it, but Yogiri still considered himself as being in the same category as humans.

This was because he could still explain away his danger detection and instant death abilities as mere coincidences.

If he wanted it, his opponent would die. He could see the threat of danger and avoid it.

Objectively, there was no casual relationship, and so while it was a bit forced, he could still insist that it was a coincidence.

However, it was obvious that no normal human could get out of the current situation.

-But there was also magic in this world. There were probably people who could do the same thing as him.

Yogiri wanted to be as human as possible. And so he told this to himself as he activated Phase 2.

It was as if there were several locked gates in his heart, and he was opening them one by one and unleashing their power.

After the second one, they were made to close automatically after a fixed amount of time.

The reason that he took these somewhat laborious steps, was because a simple mistake could lead to the end of the world. And so it was necessary to be cautious after the second gate.

Yogiri prepared himself and then opened the second gate.

-Stop the fall. However, if I don’t restrict it, the gravity of this world will disappear.

It was incredibly difficult to limit the area of effect when it came to phenomena and concepts that had no actual shape. This was why he had hesitated to kill the ‘space’ within the tower where the devil had been sealed.

Besides, was it really even right to assume that the force that pulled things downward in this world was also gravity?

Was it right to kill something that he was uncertain of?

What if killing the gravity just caused the uniformly accelerated motion to turn into uniform motion?

Yogiri struggled over this for a moment before brushing it aside. It was something he had done subconsciously before, so there was no point in thinking about it now.

“How annoying. In that case, I’ll just kill ‘my momentum.’”

It was all wordplay.

But it was possible for Yogiri, now that he had reached Phase 2.

At that moment, he killed the falling energy that was covering him.

For this, it didn’t really matter what kind of power was actually at work.

What died and what phenomenon occurred. All of it relied on Yogiri’s perception.

The power activated and his speed immediately started to drop.

Then he held David, who was falling beside him. And by the time they reached the ground, the speed at which they fell was practically zero.

When they landed, the gates closed automatically and he moved to Phase 1. Yogiri couldn’t help but be a little relieved. It was not good for them to be open for too long.

“You don’t seem to be in very good condition.”

He gently put David down on the ground.

David had barely been conscious, to begin with. But he was now injured from the collapse of the cliff. He might even have broken bones.

He looked around. The sight that surrounded them was most surprising.

It was like a field of flowers within a forest, but everything was in brilliant colors.

The grass, flowers, trees, rivers, and sky all looked like they had been painted over with colors that were ridiculously vibrant.

The trees twisted in impossible directions and the mushrooms were insanely large. And the flowers were just as extraordinary in the way they bloomed.

After scanning the scene for a moment, Yogiri determined that there was no way to return immediately, and so he took out his smartphone.

‘Hey, you! Where are you! We’re having so much trouble over here!’

He tried calling and it connected to Mokomoko immediately.

They quickly made their reports, explaining their situation.

As for Mokomoko’s side, apparently, Shion had appeared and demanded that they all start killing each other.

“I’m going to try and find a way to return. Will you be okay?”

‘There’s still time before the killing begins. However, it will be hard to do anything once it does.’

Against those with the sage’s gift, Tomochika’s physical combat ability would not be enough to deal with them.

“Contact me if things get dangerous. I’ll figure it out.”

‘How will you do that?’

“Well, I’ll be able to do it, using a method that I don’t really want to use.”

‘Fine. But hurry up and get back here!’

The call ended.

He decided to move towards the forest for now, but then realized that there was a lot of noise coming from close by.

Someone was causing a racket and coming closer to them.

“NOOOOO! Wh-why are you attacking me!? I thought you were going to let me go!!”

The voice sounded familiar.

The person who was speaking soon came out of the forest and showed themself.

“Eeeeeee!”

The person who appeared was a chubby boy, who fell onto his hands and knees the moment that he saw Yogiri. And he continued to slide down in that posture.

Yogiri saw him and remembered something.

“Hanakawa, was it? Why are you in a place like this?”

“Isn’t that what I should be asking you!?”

This boy was a classmate, Hanakawa Daimon.

“Now that I think of it, I did say I would kill you if we met again.”

Yogiri only had vague memories of dealing with Hanagawa. It was probably because he wasn’t really interested.

“But you didn’t say that!? You only told me to wait in the forest!”

“Really? Then why are you here?”

Then Yogiri started to remember.

Hanakawa had come because he was targeting Tomochika, who had stayed on the bus.

Yogiri had killed the other two who were with him. That’s when Hanakawa had put on some slave collar and demanded to be made his slave.

And so Yogiri took all of Hanakawa’s valuables and ordered him to wait in the nearby forest.

After that, they reunited in the devil tower for some reason, and then he ordered him to wait in the forest again.

“Uh…it’s because of…”

Hanakawa muttered as he kept his head on the ground and moved behind Yogiri.

While Yogiri was impressed by this astonishing feat, something else came from the forest.

What appeared were semi-transparent blobs.

They were shapeless, jelly-like things that were so large that you had to crane your neck to look at them fully. There was something that looked like garbage inside as well. When you looked back into the forest, it was as if everything that had been in their path had been melted down. Perhaps they incorporated those things into their bodies.

While they had no solid shape, there were leg-like extensions that came out and supported their bodies as they moved.

Such were the things that crawled out from the trees.

“Die.”

After that, Yogiri sensed a clear hostility from them, and so he unleashed his power.

The blobs immediately became powerless and fell apart on the ground. The only thing that remained was a heap of wet garbage.

“You’re as crazy as ever!”

Hanakawa shouted from behind him.

“So?”

Yogiri told him to continue his story.

“Uhh, yes, the thing is…”

Perhaps it was very difficult to say, because Hanakawa seemed to be unable to begin.

“Look here. If you’re thinking of a way to trick me, why even bother? You should know how hard it is to continue to tell lies that are consistent.”

At this point, Hanakawa seemed to have understood that it was no use. And so he gravely started to explain, while remaining on the ground.

“Ummm. It’s a long story, but a lot happened after we separated.”

“Well, nevermind. I’ve got better things to do than listen to you.”

“You only care about yourself! You!”

“So this is the seventh layer. I want to return to the sixth. Do you know how?”

“What a strange thing to say. Why don’t you just go back the way you came?”

“Because I fell. I can’t go back that way.”

“Then how are you alive!?”

“I killed my momentum.”

“Ugh. Anything goes with you, huh!”

“So, how did you come here, Hanakawa?”

“Uhh, that’s a long story. But going back up is no big deal. There is a shortcut that you can apparently use to travel to different places in the demon world.”

“All right, then take me to it.”

“R-right. That is fine, but something terrible is happening here on the seventh layer. Those blob things are crawling all over the place. So, if you could just protect me as we move…”

“Of course, I’ll protect you. I won’t know how to get back if you die.”

“Do you mean it? Oh, let’s pretend I didn’t just say that!”

Hanakawa stood up.

Then he started to walk, but Yogiri stopped him.

“Wait a minute. Take this person with you.”

Yogiri pointed to the fallen David.

“Ohh! There was another one! And you want me to take him? You should do it yourself.”

“I’m telling you to carry him.”

“Why me!”

“You are level 99. Shouldn’t it be easy for you? Also, can’t you use healing magic?”

“Ggg…why me…and a guy…”

Hanakawa grumbled but still used his healing magic. This seemed to heal David’s wounds, but he did not wake up. And so Hanakawa reluctantly carried him on his back.

“Well, it’s not too far from here. After all, I was moving towards it, even while those weird things were chasing me.”

Yogiri followed after Hanakawa.

They entered the forest yet again and walked for some time until they reached the cliffs.

This was the edge of the seventh layer.

Now that they were here, they walked along the side of the cliffs.

“Really, isn’t it quite strange how those crawling, jelly-like things have suddenly stopped showing themselves?”

“I’ve been killing the blobs as they approach.”

Perhaps they could detect their presence, because the semi-transparent things kept coming, one after another.

And so Yogiri had been killing them whenever he noticed that they were nearby.

As they came from so many directions, it was unlikely that Hanakawa would have been able to deal with all of them.

“Ohhh! How reliable you are! However, don’t you think you should express at least a little more anxiety over it!?”

“Speaking of anxiety, why do you talk like that? It’s annoying.”

“What a thing to ask at a time like this! Well, uh, um, I have my reasons for being the way I am.”

“Whatever. I’m not really interested in you.”

“Then don’t ask in the first place!”

As this conversation went on, they arrived at what seemed to be their destination.

There was a metal door attached to a wall made of rock.

And on the door was a great handle that seemed to be keeping it shut.

“Hehe! I happen to be the person who received complete control over this demon world!”

As Hankawa approached, the door opened automatically.

Apparently, it could only be opened by the person who managed the place.

The interior was a small, rectangular room. It seemed like some kind of elevator.

“Now. You wanted to go to the sixth layer, right? I want to get out of here as soon as possible, so once I leave Takato and the others on the sixth layer, I’m going to go to the first…”

“But this thing can’t be controlled without you, right? Then you’ll just have to stay with me.”

“That’s true!”

Hanakawa’s face tightened.

If the person who could teleport died in the battle on the sixth layer, he would lose the only method of getting back.

As this was quite likely now, Yogiri was not about to let Hanakawa escape.