Declared Dead, Exiled, and Betrayed— Now I Walk Away, but I'll Save One Who Cared - Chapter 78

“I just had a completely irrelevant thought, but I also have something really important to say.”

“So, listen up.”

After all, it doesn’t make sense to keep secrets at this point.

“An irrelevant thought?” Claire frowned.

“I just shared something incredibly important. And your first reaction is to have some random thought? Really?”

Her usual shameless demeanor was back—probably because she felt relieved after her big declaration.

But from my perspective, she had just said something questionable at best, and I still had no idea how it connected to all the things she had kept hidden.

And honestly?

What I had to say was way more important.

“Just hear me out.”

“What is it?

“Wait, don’t tell me—”

“You’re suddenly overcome with desire for me?”

Her lips curved into a teasing smirk.

“I don’t really mind, but could you at least wait until we’re out of the forest?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Tsk…”

Don’t tsk at me!

And stop blushing like that, damn it!

“Lax…?”

Shifa was looking at me very suspiciously.

Relax.

Everything’s fine.

I’m not cheating on you or anything.

To reassure her, I pulled her close and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“The important thing I wanted to say is—”

“Yes…?”

“I have that skill Claire was talking about.”

“Yes… Wait, what?”

“Huh?”

“EHHHH?! Don’t tell me you have ‘Demon God Strike’!?”

There she goes again, forcing that weird speech pattern…

Just give up on it already.

“Now that I think about it,” the Dungeon Administrator chimed in, “Lax did mention having ‘Demon God Strike’ before. It was already listed in his skill set, in black text.”

“Wait, really?!”

Shifa’s eyes widened.

“Yeah… If you want, I can try using it right now.”

I gripped my sword.

“You’re not about to use that on a delicate, tragic, and fragile maiden like me, are you?”

…She gave up on her speech pattern.

Normally, she’d say something like, “Lax, you monster!” or whatever.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use that skill inside my forest,” the Guardian Spirit interjected, frowning.

“Even though the demons are gone, the surrounding trees and plants might not survive.”

“And you’re not planning to test it inside my dungeon, are you?!

“PLEEEEASE NOOOOOOO!!!”

…And now the Dungeon Administrator was completely panicking.

“I wasn’t actually going to do it.”

“I was just saying it as an example. I wouldn’t use a powerful skill recklessly, especially without a proper target.”

“Whew…”

All three of them let out a deep sigh of relief.

Even though two of them weren’t even human.

“Still… why do you have ‘Demon God Strike’?”

Claire stepped in closer, her earlier gloom completely gone.

“How am I supposed to know?”

“That’s not something you should say so proudly.”

I mean, whether I said it confidently or not, the fact remained—I had it.

And that was what mattered.

“The important thing now is that we finally found the ‘Warrior’ we were searching for…”

“Turns out, it was me all along.”

“So, that means we don’t need to keep looking, right?”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

And yet…

“That means I can defeat Disemna now, doesn’t it?”

“…Yes.”

Why did she sound so unconvinced?

This was great news!

I was already the party leader and the strongest fighter we had.

If I could take down Disemna myself, that was the ideal scenario.

There was no better outcome than this.

But…

Did this skill actually work?

It wasn’t like I had any guarantees.

Not that worrying about it would get me anywhere.

Skill: Demon God Strike

Description: A powerful slash that deals devastating damage to demons.

That was it.

Short and vague.

Still, it must have worked back in Minerva’s time.

And honestly, if Disemna had survived this long without coming up with a countermeasure…

That was his problem.

Not mine.

At this point, I’d just have to test it out myself.

If it didn’t work, I’d come up with another strategy.

After all, I still had plenty of unused skill points saved up for emergencies.

“Alright then—let’s go.”

“We’re taking down Disemna.”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

“It’s finally time… I can finally free myself from this curse. And when I do—”

“I won’t forgive them…”

I hadn’t expected that reaction.

Shifa obediently nodded, Michelle looked determined, and Claire was…

Muttering ominously to herself.

But at least the Guardian Spirit and the Dungeon Administrator weren’t objecting.

Still…

“You sure you’re okay with this?”

I turned toward the Dungeon Administrator.

“I mean, Disemna is a monster you know personally. If I kill him—”

“ARE YOU SERIOUSLY ASKING ME THAT NOW?!”

The Administrator’s voice cracked in disbelief.

“YOU’VE SPENT YEARS SLAUGHTERING EVERY MONSTER I’VE EVER CREATED—”

“YOU LITERALLY OBLITERATED HALF MY DUNGEON—”

“AND NOW YOU’RE SUDDENLY CONCERNED ABOUT MY FEELINGS?!”

“…Oh. Right.”

That was a fair point.

He was the Dungeon Administrator.

Creating monsters was kind of… his whole thing.

Yeah, I guess it was a little late to start feeling guilty now.