Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?
Chapter 220: This World Is (5)

Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer

Chapter 220 This World Is (5)

「…They are not your responsibility.」

A trembling voice pleaded with me.

「So please, don’t worry about them. There’s no reason for you to keep sacrificing yourself. Please…」

Yes, it was like a prayer. A desperate plea, begging me to turn away.

A voice that wished for me to rest, that hoped I would no longer suffer.

But…

* * *

Whoosh!

> [Gyaaaaaargh!]

The fighter stood atop the gigantic turtle’s shell.

With nothing but her bare hands, limited space, and the constantly shaking ground, she had no choice but to move the battle there.

The corpses beneath her feet, created by her own hands, piled up with every step she took.

“Hooh.”

A hot breath escaped her chapped lips. Jingle. An earring dangling from one of her ears swung wildly as she moved, letting out its characteristic metallic chime.

Grrrr!

As the battlefield changed, a new wave of enemies came at her: insects, sea cucumbers, anemones, clams, and many more whose bodies had been corrupted and turned into Demons.

Bam!

Of course, most of them weren’t much of a threat since a strong enough blow would spill their guts and kill them.

> [Come here. Come here!!]

Bam, bam, bam, bam

She only had to worry about a few things: Sirens, Demonized isopods, and those crab-like Demons.

The first had been Demons from the start, so their danger was unquestionable. The second, palm-sized bloodsuckers, clung to flesh and drained their victims dry. The third blended in with the jagged rocks around them, making them difficult to see.

So, rather than aiming to avoid getting hurt, she focused on reducing their numbers, giving what she had to.

She completely threw away the common sense that losing too much blood would weaken a person. A Norda warrior didn’t fight with such common sense in mind.

Crunch!

Since she was only dodging as much as was necessary, deep claw marks were left on her forearm, but at the same time, she swung a stone clasped in her hand, slamming it right into the Siren’s face.

The Demon, whose anatomy resembled a person’s, meaning it had a brain in its skull, staggered from the impact.

She wasn’t one to waste such an opportunity. She quickly closed in on the Siren.

After blocking another monster’s attack, she dug her fingers into the Siren’s mouth, hooked her thumbs into the corners of its jaw, gripped its head, and pulled.

> [Aaaaaaargh!!]

The Siren’s skull split apart in her hands, the blood that gushed out covering a certain berserker’s body again.

Bam!

Then, with her innate monstrous strength, she grabbed the half-dead Siren and swung its body like a club.

Its wings, dragging along the ground, swept away the isopod Demons while its torso crashed into another Siren. Both Sirens plummeted to the depths.

“Is that all you’ve got, you bird-brain bastards?!”

But many enemies were still swarming the battlefield, and she was far from satisfied.

She roughly swept away the isopods crawling up her body, then leaped into the air before they could try again.

Click, click.

And just as she was about to land, a crab Demon blending in with the rocks suddenly lurched up, spreading its massive pincers wide.

They were large enough to crush a person completely. If she got caught by those things, they might even snap her in half.

Tak!

So she lightly stepped atop the pincers before pushing off again. The claws clamped shut a split second too late. Boom. And then she came crashing down atop the shell of the damn thing that dared try to grab her.

Cruuuunch!

Since she only had her bare hands to work with, piercing through its shell was impossible. But did that mean that she would let her enemy go unharmed? Hell no.

Just as she’d targeted the Siren’s soft mouth, she grabbed the Demon crab’s protruding eye stalks and ripped them out.

The crab flailed its claws around in blind agony, but no matter how much it thrashed about, its torn-off eyes wouldn’t return.

Having done the bare minimum here, she turned to the next threat. A sea cucumber-like monster vomited something at her, a yellow liquid that could melt flesh with a mere touch.

But dodging it was simple enough. Twisting midair like an acrobat, she avoided the acid stream and landed, swinging her feet at the giant clam that lunged up from the ground beneath her.

Its thin shell shattered, but instead of dying, the creature split in half, revealing a row of teeth along its now exposed flesh.

The two halves moved like tentacles, stabbing into the ground where she stood.

> [Come with me, come with me!]

At that moment, a Siren, with its wings folded, dove straight toward her. Of course, not wanting to crash into the hard shell she was standing on, it unfurled its wings at just the last moment, showing off their massive span.

“Hah!”

But what use was a perfect dive if its claws failed to catch its prey?

She launched herself off the ground, her body going over the Siren’s shoulders before landing on its back. Crunch. Her iron grip latched onto its arms and wings.

> [Ukiaaaaargh!!]

With a sickening pop, the joints finally snapped. Bam! A kick followed, snapping the bones easily, making them protrude through its skin.

With its wings completely broken, it plummeted. She stomped down on its head as it hit the ground, crushing it completely.

Craaash.

A sound similar to crashing waves scraped against her ear. It was a swarm of isopods pouring over her like a black wave.

Even though she pulled away quickly, a few still managed to latch onto her.

They dug tenaciously into the black veins that had spread across her like scars due to Demonic Erosion, sucking her blood.

Crunch!

It didn’t even itch. Whether or not the isopods’ fangs were buried in her skin, she simply tore them off and threw them to the ground before trampling them.

Their insides splattered all over the ground, along with the fresh blood trickling from her wounds.

“Come at me!”

> [Don’t go…]

> [You can’t go…]

By now, it was the Demons—at least the ones with enough intelligence to think for themselves—that were backing away and defending.

A warrior who fights while drenched in blood, hers or others’ alike: Berserk.

The name itself carried a madness even the Demons seemed to find unsettling.

No matter how violent they were, Demons weren’t without reason. And that reason was telling them to retreat, and quickly.

“Hah!”

However, this was exactly what she wanted, what her name demanded.

In battles, crushing the enemy’s morale was as good as winning half the fight.

“Cowards!”

On the other hand, the Demons’ actions were almost pathetic. She was alone, charging wildly into battle like a rabid beast, yet they, who overwhelmingly outnumbered her, were getting scared and backing away?

Even in the clan war she’d fought in when she was seventeen, nothing like this had ever happened. She’d killed fifty warriors by herself, but at least those fifty had fearlessly stood their ground! Only after the fifty had fallen did that tribe finally cower in fear!

Boom!

Just then, the turtle’s body, led by the serpent, completely climbed onto land and came to a halt. When it reared its massive head, the sea surged violently behind it.

Whoooooosh!

The water, which had risen unnaturally, crashed over the high ground and swallowed the land around it, including the waterways.

Kiaaaaargh!

Groooowl.

The only ones that thrived in this environment were the Merfolk.

Riding the incoming seawater, the Merfolk spat acidic bile everywhere, melting unnecessary structures, and gathered the corpses of people, hacking them to pieces.

Considering most of the dead scattered across the battlefield were brave soldiers and adventurers, this was an unspeakable insult to them.

Even she, who cared little for what happened to the dead once they were buried beneath the snow, found her brows twitching at that sight.

Twaaack!

They even gathered the desiccated bodies into towers, not in just one place but all over the battlefield!

Should she just crush them? She wasn’t one to care for the dead or the afterlife, but this just lacked honor, respect, or even the bare minimum of decency.

A few thoughts crossed her mind.

I agree.

A voice within her agreed.

Boom!

“—?!”

However, before she could act, the turtle, which seemed impossible to stop, suddenly collapsed.

Cruuunch. Something popped out from its shell, breaking through the layers of seaweed and coral that had concealed its surface.

They were all Merfolk with grotesquely bulging stomachs.

“…!”

And those Merfolk approached the piles of corpses and plunged their tails into them. No matter how she looked at those sickening, undulating motions of their tails, it seemed they were laying eggs.

It was absolutely disgusting. So these damn things’ goal wasn’t just to drive people out, but they also wanted to nest here.

And they were using the bodies of their fallen enemies for that!

“…Demons!”

But was she just going to stand by and let it happen? Even though her thoughts were flowing slowly through her dizzy mind due to the advanced Demonic Erosion, she had no trouble identifying her target.

Kill them.

Kill every single one of those egg-laying monsters.

Her bloodshot eyes, clouded by dizziness, still managed to lock on to her prey precisely.

She wasn’t targeting the ones that had already come out but those yet to emerge. In other words, those still lurking within that damn turtle’s shell.

She slipped into the putrid, rotting carcass of the beast.

Will this place become our grave?

“Then it’ll be an honor!”

Will our body become part of their nest?

“Hah!”

The putrid flesh and pooled blood soaked her ankles.

“I will kill more Demons than however many might be born from my body!”

She gripped a stone.

* * *

* * *

Really? Even though the Hero he cherishes so much is dying, you still think there’s no reason to intervene? What about you, Gretchen?

「You!!」

The Hero, the innocent civilians, and countless others are dying at this very moment.

「Shut your mouth this instant—」

Can you really just stand by and watch?

* * *

When was the last time she felt this kind of burning?

Was it when she slew the dragon of the Western Sea? When the Demon Knight lost control before her very eyes? When she’d protected the walls just before? Or when she made platforms high above the clouds?

Or was it right now?

She’d created a golden barrier to hold back the Demons. She knew this would burden her immensely, but it didn’t matter.

If others were risking their lives, wouldn’t it be unfair for the one who held the most responsibility not to risk hers?

> [My, you’re ignoring me and daring to focus on something else? Is that what you’re doing now?!]

Loud laughter echoed through the sky, followed by thunder. Boom, baaang! And further beyond, a volcano, something she’d only ever seen in storybooks, was erupting in real time, sending volcanic bombs crashing into the ground.

The heat, intense enough to get through the dragon-scale armor’s protection, made it hard for her to even breathe.

Her lungs felt like they were burning from the inside.

> [You’re nothing but a foolish child!]

At that moment, the lava giant swung its remaining arm down. Although it had already lost one arm, the one it had left was already threatening enough.

Boom!

Still, if there were one thing she’d trained relentlessly while hunting Moby Dick, it was running.

As the giant hand came crashing down, she sprinted so hard that her leg muscles felt like they’d tear apart. As her lungs burned, rising into her throat, she barely escaped its reach.

Splat!

In return, molten rock splattered everywhere as her feet crushed the lava beneath her. Her armor, infused with Divine Power, shielded her from the immediate heat, but for how long, she didn’t know.

Clang!

And on top of that, an attack came right through an opening. She barely blocked it with her great shield.

Slice! Slice, clang! Perhaps because her opponent had three sets of arms, it made three consecutive attacks on her without pause.

She’d been forced to distribute her Divine Power across too many places, leaving her shield less reinforced than usual, and the impact was quite heavy.

“…!”

But her enemy wasn’t finished. The ground bulged beneath her, throwing the Inquisitor off balance.

Volcanic bombs rained down on her from behind, and ahead of her was a many-armed Demon that could attack her relentlessly.

The Inquisitor frowned.

Boooom!

Not all surfaces were flat, and if the Demon Knight could push back everything around him in a spherical shape, then so could she.

While his Arcane Power tore through everything in its path with its condensed threads of energy, her Divine Power could literally only push away things.

“Haaap!”

However, she’d long since mastered this technique. She’d also learned her body wasn’t fixed in one place while she was releasing energy in a spherical shape to push away enemies.

The Demon Knight had left behind countless precedents.

And so, the Inquisitor faithfully followed the lessons she’d learned. As her Divine Power spread out, she swung her shield separately from it.

The Demon, which hadn’t been pushed back too far thanks to its dense Demonic Energy, was hit so hard by her shield that a resounding “crack” could be heard.

The Inquisitor swung it so the shield’s edge would slice into its flesh.

> [Not bad.]

However, her enemy was no fool. In that short time, the Demon had moved its arms to grip the shield, its fingers lunging toward her.

Ding, ding, ding. Alarm bells were practically screaming in her head.

Boom!

“…!”

She barely rolled out of the way. The Inquisitor moved her trembling body, recalling the flash that nearly pieced her skull.

In that brief moment, a bolt of lightning had seared the place she’d been standing in.

As she rolled, lava seeped through the gaps in her armor, sizzling against the spots where she’d only lightly reinforced herself with Divine Power.

> [But still sloppy.]

The Inquisitor quickly healed only her nerves and muscles, leaving the burns on her flesh alone.

Swish.

“…!”

Her thigh was then pierced through by spikes erupting from the ground.

“Urgh!”

The pain of her flesh being pierced and her muscles being cooked was beyond words.

But by the grace of God, the Inquisitor was one of the most accustomed to searing agony in this world. She could endure this much.

She forced herself to move. It was fortunate her Divine Power removed the lava on contact.

The Demonic spikes couldn’t keep up with the speed at which she removed them and repaired her flesh as she advanced.

Ruuuumble!

As she overcame one ordeal, the next came immediately after. A spiked boulder came barreling toward her diagonally.

Boom!

Her large shield fully collided with it, sending sparks flying. Swish! Those damn spikes started sprouting beneath her feet again at that moment. Squeeeelch. And as if that wasn’t enough, people-like dolls rose from the lava.

She was surrounded by enemies.

Bam!

The lava dolls were the Inquisitor’s first target. She twisted her waist and swung at the dolls behind her, her mace slamming into their heads.

Now that the core of Demonic Energy within it had been shattered, the doll wouldn’t reform again unless a new one was made.

Following that attack, she knocked the spiked boulder aside with another powerful strike before continuing to move forward.

She wondered just how the Demon Knight had dealt with all of this stuff without a shield or the power to Purify the lava. Just imagining how much he must have suffered left her vaguely sad.

Boom, boom, boom!

However, she had no time to dwell on another’s struggles when her own plate was already overflowing with trials. The Inquisitor braced herself for the relentless onslaught.

Unlike those who fought with speed, her combat style heavily relied on Purification, defense, and endurance.

> [How utterly pathetic.]

The problem was that she allocated about two-thirds of her available Divine Power to maintaining the barrier.

As such, she was instantly cornered.

> [You can’t make a clear choice. What can you possibly achieve with that? Divine Power isn’t infinite, and there’s certainly a limit on how much of it you can mobilize as well.]

She couldn’t deny that.

The more she used Divine Power, the more she could withstand at a time, but neither her body nor soul was infinite.

Her vessel, that is, her body, could only hold so much at a time, and even if she replenished her reserves, that would eventually come to an end—or rather, it would inevitably shatter.

And yet she’d chosen to severely limit her available strength by allocating two-thirds of it to the barrier…

And now, there wasn’t much left she could do. With only a third of her strength remaining, she couldn’t endure the Great Demon’s attacks for much longer, let alone kill it.

“You’re right.”

However, she’d been granted her body and soul for this sole purpose, so what if she used it like this?

“But that is my duty.”

> [You don’t know the first thing about efficiency. Do you really not see that you’re more valuable than those mortals?]

“I’ve heard that argument so many times before. But those people were not the ones prepared to sacrifice themselves, nor did they tell me to fulfill my duty while they bought me time.”

She just needed to save as many as possible. Since a person’s life had no measurable worth, she’d been told just to focus on the numbers she could see and decide.

A priest at the temple once told her so, and she’d acknowledged it was “efficient.” However…

“And in the scriptures I’ve read, it is written never to forsake such people.”

God had never called that action “right.” She’d also never considered it “right,” either.

But if, by any chance, her and God’s will were one and the same, wasn’t it her duty to follow it without hesitation?

“And who said I could do nothing?”

> […Hah!]

“I will defeat you. I will definitely destroy you! That is my purpose!”

Bam! Another approaching lava doll died, and a spiked boulder and some volcanic bombs were shattered in midair.

Her body, covered in scorched flesh and charred skin, peeled away with every fresh wound, new flesh growing in its place.

The once-blackened body now glowed a radiant white.

“With my authority as an inquisitor, I shall hereby execute this heretic before me!”

At those words, her waning Divine Power flared slightly. However, even that was not nearly enough to turn the tide.

> [Yeah. Whatever. The more foolish you act, the better for me. I couldn’t care less.]

Moreover, her opponent was a Demon that didn’t care a bit about dignity, so much so that it would immediately shift to ranged combat as soon as it got even slightly hurt.

> [Since we’ve come this far, how about a little bet?]

“…?!”

> [The rules are simple. The moment you drop that barrier, your Companion will die!]

Lava erupted behind Pandemonium, only to flow down smoothly. What remained was a single, egg-like cocoon.

> [This will be so much fun!]

Crack. The cocoon fractured, revealing a figure whose entire body was encased in rock, bound in place.

The Inquisitor’s eyes widened as she finally learned what had become of the Demon Knight, something she’d been so curious about.

* * *

…Yeah.

I guess… there’s no way I can just stand by and watch.

* * *

Snap.

A single finger of a certain someone twitched, but no one noticed.

____