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Volume 10 Chapter 304

The Hero and Former Demon Lord

「Ei!」
With Akari’s attack, the boss of the sixteenth floor, Inferno Wolf, vanished in an instant.
Up until this point, she had defeated roughly a hundred creatures, including floor bosses and monsters that happened to appear before her.
Akari showed no signs of fatigue.
By the way, monsters from the eleventh floor onward were tamed by Haruto, and as long as they didn’t give up on life, they could be revived.
Since Akari’s attacks were too fast and the monsters died without understanding what happened, fortunately, all the monsters she defeated were capable of revival.
Even the Inferno Wolf, boasting the highest attack speed among monsters, couldn’t evade Akari’s attacks.
「Next is the seventeenth floor. I wonder how many floors there are in total?」
「I don’t know. The old lady said there were ten, but—-」
「There were more than just the eleventh floor」
「Yeah」
Originally, only those permitted by Haruto, the dungeon master, could advance beyond the tenth floor.
However, this dungeon was originally designed to train heroes.
So, for the sake of when a hero would eventually come, Haruto implemented a system where a hero could advance to the eleventh floor without his permission.
Akari is a hero.
And she is accompanied by Tet, the god of another world.
「Akari, there are gems on this floor!」
Tet had the ability to know the contents of the chests placed on each floor.
Thanks to that, they were able to bypass floors with no chests containing gems and reach this floor.
「I see…… But since we’ve come this far, I want to explore as far as we can first」
Akari was enjoying the feeling of conquering the dungeon together with Tet.
Enemies disappearing with a flick.
At first, she was nervous, but now she was immersed in the omnipotent feeling of defeating monsters in an instant.
The original goal of obtaining gems no longer mattered to her.
「If Akari says so, then it’s fine. Let’s skip this floor too. Let’s go! Dungeon Conquerors!!」
「Yeah!」
The original conquest of a dungeon meant defeating monsters, collecting materials, and progressing while obtaining items from chests.
However, Akari and Tet only had one thought: to reach the final floor of the dungeon no matter what.
　──＊＊＊──
Akari and Tet mostly made it though the seventeenth floor of the dungeon, defeating the floor boss and moving on to the eighteenth floor.
On the eighteenth floor, they managed to reach the front of the boss room without fighting any monsters at all.
This was because the boss of the eighteenth floor, an ogre usually present on this floor, had ordered a retreat for the ogres inhabiting this area.
「Alright, Tet, let’s go」
「Yeah. The enemy is in front of Akari. It’s just ahead」
「Okay」
Before opening the door to the boss room, Akari always asked Tet about the boss’s position and number.
Upon opening the door and stepping inside—-
「Ei!」
She launched her usual ranged flick attack at the figure resembling the boss in the center of the room.
Up until this floor, she had won every battle using this move.
However, the eighteenth floor was different.
「Hmm, attacking right away…… Well, surprise attacks are also a decent strategy」
The boss of this floor was an oni ogre, Orga, a monster who had repelled heroes three times in the past.
When he repelled the heroes, he was just an ordinary ogre.
However, after being tamed by Haruto and forcibly infused with vast amounts of magic power, he evolved into an oni.
Orga parried Akari’s attack.
He could have dodged it.
But he wanted to experience the power of Akari’s attacks, which had effortlessly vanquished all the previous floor bosses.
And he endured it.
He felt confident, knowing he had received power from Haruto and had become much stronger than his former self.
Orga was kind.
If he were to fight seriously against Yoko or Hakua, he wouldn’t lose to them. Yoko and the others were steadily growing, but they still couldn’t match Orga.
However, Yoko and the others wished for a rematch with Citri, so they came to this dungeon.
That’s why he always let Yoko and Hakua win on purpose.
Despite Citri appearing annoyed by Yoko and the others coming to challenge her every time, she is always brimming with anticipation before the battle.
Even though she lost his power, Citri was the former Demon Lord.
She loves to fight.
Orga had thought of releasing his own power once in a while, and have Yoko and the others be his opponents.
But now, he couldn’t do such a thing to the girl in front of him.
Akari possessed the power to even reach the Demon Lord Citri, albeit temporarily.
He couldn’t just let someone like that pass by.
And above all, Orga had a foresaw that he could fight this delicate-looking girl with all his might.
「Such attacks won’t work on me. Take up a weapon and come at me」
「Huh…… A, a human!?」
「Akari. It’s probably an oni. See, it has horns」
Akari was surprised that she might have attacked a human, but Tet realized that Orga was a monster.
Orga, who originally looked like a muscular elderly warrior, had become younger-looking upon evolving into an oni.
「I see. You’re also a monster…… Then, I’ll have to defeat you」
Having defeated over a hundred monsters up to this point, Akari had become accustomed to attacking monsters.
As a characteristic of being a hero, she perceived monsters as enemies. Furthermore, her skill had repeatedly activated automatically, reducing her resistance to killing monsters.
「Create Arms!」
Akari created a pitch-black sword.
It was a weapon almost identical in performance to the one used by the Guardian Hero.
「I see…… You’re not just an ordinary adventurer, huh? Interesting. Let me fight you with all my might, Akari」
「Tet, watch me」
「Yeah. Akari, be careful」
Setting Tet down on the ground, Akari held the sword with both hands.
Usually, Akari always carried Tet with her.
Of course, she did the same when coming to this floor.
Akari had advanced through this dungeon using only her flick attack emanating from her right hand.
Now, for the first time, she wielded a weapon with both hands.
The battle between the oni and the hero had begun.
By the way, Akari had no experience with swords.
Even so—-
「You’re strong indeed!」
「You too」
She easily parried Orga’s sword, which had been honed through a thousand years of training.
Akari was far stronger than Orga, surpassing his status as an oni.
It wasn’t just her status.
「Wh-What technique is that!?」
Just a few seconds ago, the technique he used was replicated by Akari.
—-No, it wasn’t just replication.
Orga began to wonder if Akari’s technique was actually the original, as it seemed more refined than his own.
She had the skill , allowing her to master any weapon. Even if it was the first time she held a weapon.
And with , she could perfectly replicate any movement she had seen once.
Akari had watched Orga’s technique with and , memorized it, further optimized it, and made it her own.
「Swords are fun, aren’t they?」
「Damn!」
Akari continued to absorb Orga’s perfected sword techniques.
She felt herself becoming drastically stronger and felt exhilarated.
On the other hand, Orga, who had initially enjoyed clashing swords with all his might, began to feel anxious.
Not because—- he was about to lose to Akari.
But because he began to fear that he might unintentionally create a monster by clashing swords with her.
However, it was needless worry.
Because Akari had already been a monster from the moment she arrived in this world.
「Thanks to you, I’ve become stronger」
「Ugh!」
While attacking casually, Akari’s attacks left Orga with no room to respond.
「Are you Orga…? I’m Akari」
Akari introduced herself after creating some distance.
「…….Why say your name now?」
At Orga’s question, Akari showed a smile.
The moment Orga saw that smile, he had a foresaw of his own death.
「Now, this is the end」
With her black sword raised high, Akari swung it down.
At a speed Orga couldn’t avoid and with a force he couldn’t withstand.
「Orga. Giving up now?」
「Citri-sama!」
「Huh…… The lady from the Magic Academy?」
Citri blocked Akari’s attack.