The Villager of Level 999 (LV999の村人)

What is a champion?

Nobody knows the answer.

I've seen more powerful people than I care to recount...

But none of them achieved the status of champion.

I am impressed that you made it this far.

Hope Like Never Before

There is only one path forward, but you cannot see where it leads.

I'm impressed that you summoned the courage to jump into that hole.

You truly are strong.

Uh, actually, we used knives to climb down...

Come again?

How did you bring knives here?

This has never happened.

You're a monster, right?

Indeed I am.

I am one of this world's singularities, the dark dragon.

At last...

Singularities?

Yes. Those who know everything of this world,

and maintain the world's functionality.

Like... a god?

No.

I am an ontologically different being from the divine.

A different being?

So there is a god out there!

You do not fear me?

I don't see any need to be afraid of someone who can talk.

We can always negotiate our way out of a fight.

You came expecting a fight, then?

I will warn you, I am stronger than the Demon King.

Stronger than His Majesty?

That's ridiculous!

"His Majesty"?

What is a demon doing here?

Is it even possible? It has never happened before...

I don't sense any mana from you.

You cannot be stronger than the Demon King.

That is natural.

You are bathed in the mana I emit at all times.

The only ones capable of sensing it

are those with mana sufficient to push it back.

That's why the Demon King and Esteller were able to sense it?

Hey, what did you mean by "the world's functionality"?

The periodic production of the truly strong, such as yourselves.

Periodic production?

This place exists to test the strength of those who reach it.

Normally, one cannot bring weapons or items into it...

But no matter. I will consider this a passing grade.

A passing grade?

Congratulations on defeating the Demon King,

and reaching the end of this trial.

You should be proud.

Defeating the Demon King?

What is he talking about?

Could we have come here by buying the 10,000 gold item too?

Indeed.

That is another way of proving your strength.

Proof, not of sheer power,

but of intelligence and charisma.

Did you acquire it?

Well, no, but...

A place you can reach only if you defeat the Demon King or collect 10,000 gold...

We didn't kill His Maje—

Play along.

Yeah, I totally slew the Demon King!

My finishing blow was a gut punch!

A gut... punch?

He never saw it coming, I'll bet.

The way he howled in pain as he died!

Kagami-san, you're too handsome!

This has never happened before.

And why did that demon there take your side?

I brainwashed him.

You brainwashed a demon?!

Be my friend!

I locked him up for twenty-eight hours and used slaps, persuasion, and skills...

all that kind of stuff to win him over, body and soul.

But it apparently wasn't perfect,

because it gave him this unsettling tendency to adore

For His Majesty the Demon King!

the Demon King while attacking him.

Even I found it kind of touching.

Regardless, it appears you did defeat the Demon King.

It's been three months since I stopped feeling his mana.

Three months?

Since Esteller took him away in Salmaria?

He hid him somewhere even this guy can't detect him?

Is that why he thinks I killed him?

As you have proven yourself truly strong,

I shall grant you one wish.

Anything within my power in this world, I shall do.

But, and this concerns only the human...

after I grant your wish, you must choose one of two paths.

Choose?

One. Abandon this world to move to the next stage.

What's the next stage?

Only those who choose this option have the right to know.

But it will mean a harder battle than any you have faced before.

Is that how I get closer to learning why the world works this way?!

What's the second path?

Return to the surface, with all your power intact,

but all memory of the Demon King hunt and all related matters erased.

This path was arranged for those wounded by their journey,

who have no wish to battle any longer.

So you go back to the surface as strong as you were,

but without any memory of how you got there?

Correct.

Those who know you will also lose their memories of fighting by your side.

What does that accomplish?

It is my hope that you will return here again once your heart is healed.

As I told you, my purpose is the periodic production of the strong.

Wait a minute. You mean...

Kagami-dono?

It doesn't seem possible.

There's seriously no way...

But if I lose my memory, there's no guarantee I'll ever come back here.

Then that is how it must be.

Rather than force one with no further will to fight to move on,

I would prefer to leave the chance

that you might return here someday after fortifying your spirit once more.

And what if I don't come back?

There will always be other strong people.

But they won't have any way to prove their strength!

Are they all supposed to gather up 10,000 gold?

I already defeated the Demon King!

He doesn't exist anymore!

That is why I erase all memory of your fight, and the fact of it as well.

Doing so will revive the Demon King...

or, more precisely, reset him.

I see.

Humans have never actually defeated the Demon King before.

Or, rather, the fact of his defeat has never been allowed to remain in place.

Correct.

The Demon King has been killed countless times before.

But then who is the Demon King I serve?!

The one produced after the previous Demon King was killed.

And the memory of the previous one's defeat was erased.

That's why you call it a reset.

Correct. It has been thirty years since the last reset.

Thirty years?

The current Demon King was too powerful.

One flaw in the system's design is that I cannot purge the Demon King myself.

Hang on a minute!

Then what would happen to Princess Alice, the Demon King's daughter?!

Her memories would be erased,

and she would be reshuffled as an ordinary demon.

As would you.

And this is the setup "God" came up with?

Correct.

It all exists to send a powerful human to the next stage.

Why do you need a powerful human?

If you wish to know, you must move to the next stage.

I cannot tell you myself.

I think I understand.

When you defeat monsters, you get money.

Defeating monsters stronger than you makes you stronger.

The world lays out the path before you,

and following that path is the most efficient way to do things.

So it's all set up to create a human powerful enough

to defeat the Demon King and move on to the next stage.

Thirty years since the last Demon King was defeated...

Esteller must have grown tired of waiting.

That's why he didn't kill us, and why he let us get stronger.

Truly strong one, tell me your wish.

Then choose...

Will you advance to the next stage,

or turn back and take a well-deserved rest?

Neither.

I won't let you erase the demons.

I won't let you erase my memories with Menow and the Demon King...

Or with Alice either!

Kagami-dono!

For what purpose?

Demons exist to be reborn with every reset.

Listen up, man.

Demons smile just like we do.

I've known some that work all-nighters with humans,

who are way more honest and considerate than any human I've known.

Really nice, too.

And they help me get stronger.

Care to elaborate?

That system of yours?

I'm gonna trash it.

"Trash it"? How?

You can't reset anything if I kill you, right?

A ridiculous suggestion.

God left the functioning of this world to me!

Magnificent.

Your speed, your power...

You are far superior to any who has come here in the past.

It would be a shame to lose you.

I dearly wish to see you move on to the next stage.

Then you're gonna have to send me there by force.

Though personally, I wish you wouldn't.

I was created by God.

I must follow the rules put in place by God.

Then I'll beat your ass into the ground

and smash God's rules up too!

How foolish.

It is not possible!