――100,077 years after the start of the game.
Gods' Ordeal, Floor 999 Underground.
An even more mind-boggling amount of time had passed.
During the day, I went about my usual dungeon exploration alongside Faf, who possessed more than enough strength. In relatively safe areas, I allowed Fen and Nine-Tails to come along as well, and we explored together.
At night, once exploration was over, I would join in the rowdy antics of the monsters from the Subjugation Compendium or pore over the books I had acquired before going to sleep.
In a sense, I was living quite a fulfilling life.
Incidentally, perhaps because I had spent so much time reading, I had acquired a skill called Complete Book Memorization Ability fairly early on. Though limited strictly to books, it was literally a skill where once I memorized something, I would never forget it. From the perspective of neuroscience, the amount of information the human brain can store is staggeringly vast, so apparently, such a skill was entirely plausible.
Maybe living here forever wouldn't be so bad after all. Just as that thought crossed my mind, we reached the deepest recesses of Floor 999. Fixed to the staircase leading down to the lower level was a metal plate engraved with the words "Chamber of the Final Ordeal."
"Let's go. Are you ready?"
I'm ridiculously pumped up! Doing everything I could to suppress the thrill pounding in my chest, I spoke to Fafnir beside me.
"Yes-nanodesu!"
She raised her right hand and answered energetically, and together we descended to the floor below.
The lowest floor was a colossal cylindrical expanse. In the dead center of that pitch-black void sat a table and a chair. Reclining in that lavish chair, engrossed in a book, was a gentleman with features as delicate and pretty as a woman's, dressed in exotic black attire.
Was that black outfit the "suit" mentioned in the books on clothing? And that glass piece over his right eye had to be what the texts called a monocle.
"Hmm, a face I have not seen. To think an unknown god could reach this far is surprising indeed."
Spouting such delusions, the gentleman glanced at us, snapped his book shut, and rose from his seat.
I drew the remarkably long blade slung across my back and settled into a stance.
This was Murasame. Much like the Raikiri I still favored, it was a special blade known as a Nihonto, possessing the utterly terrifying trait of shifting its effects in direct proportion to the magic power I channeled into it.
This Murasame was a weapon that had appeared in the inner chamber as a reward for subjugating Nine-Tails without suffering a single scratch, and it had now become my primary weapon in battle.
"Listen, I'm a human. And the one next to me is... a dragon."
"I am a dragon-nanodesu!"
Fafnir thrust the knuckle on her right hand—a piece of gear she had obtained in the dungeon—straight up toward the ceiling.
"Haah... This is the Gods' Ordeal. An ordeal meant for a god to ascend to a chief god representing an entire mythos. There is no conceivable way a mere human could ever reach this place."
Furrowing his brows, he spat out the words in blatant irritation.
It seemed this guy was suffering from severe delusions of his own. In the first place, there was no way actual gods existed in this world.
"Say what you will, but it's the truth. Right, Faf?"
"That is correct-nanodesu! Master is, probably, a human-nanodesu!"
Faf, that "probably" was entirely unnecessary. In fact, you put way too much emphasis on that one word.
"Hmph! You may possess some measure of skill, but you are utterly devoid of common sense and manners. Very well, allow me to gauge your true measure myself."
A crimson magic circle-like pattern illuminated his right monocle. I figured it was something akin to my Appraisal. Well, not that I had the ability to analyze anyone else's stats anymore.
"Fuh-huh?"
His eyes flew wide as he stared intently at me, but then—
"No, no, no, no way! That's impossible! What in the world is this?!"
Beads of sweat poured down his face as the monocled gentleman shrieked at the top of his lungs.
"You've seen enough, right? Then let's get on with it. Our fight to the death."
This guy was the final boss of this dungeon. He was undoubtedly an exceptional powerhouse. The battle ahead would surely be one where our lives were on the line.
In that case, I would hold nothing back.
I coated Murasame in Magic Armament and bolstered my physical capabilities with Vajra Power.
Since those earlier days, the forms of my True Kai-Style Swordsmanship: One-Sword Style had expanded by three beyond the original seven, bringing the total to ten.
Every single one was a lethal, one-hit-kill technique, though naturally, I didn't expect them to take down the final boss so easily. Even so, I still had my trump card: the Final Form. At worst, no matter how monstrously strong he was, that technique should be able to obliterate him down to the very last cell.
Granted, unleashing the Final Form would leave me completely incapacitated for about a day, but with Faf and the lively crew from the Subjugation Compendium by my side, I figured things would work out somehow.
Now then, let's start with a light warm-up.
Just as I lowered my stance, preparing to kick off the crimson carpet――
"W-Wait a moment, I say!!"
The monocled man(?) went pale as a sheet and threw both hands into the air.
"What are you doing? Don't tell me you're surrendering without even crossing blades."
Give me a break. I finally thought I was about to engage in the ultimate life-or-death battle. Talk about the mother of all letdowns.
"That is precisely what I am doing! Or rather, look at these preposterous stats! Thou art completely out of thy mind!"
Even if you tell me that, I wouldn't know. My Appraisal went on the fritz eons ago and only spits out gibberish that looks like hieroglyphs now. Though considering how long I've relied on good old Mr. Appraisal, I suppose it's only natural it broke down.
"Calling someone crazy... you're pretty rude for someone I just met. Never mind that—let's hurry up and fight to the death. I've been looking forward to this so much I can hardly stand it."
I began refining my magic power, honing it into a state purely specialized for combat.
"I surrender! Yees, I surrender, I say!"
Before any female announcement could even chime in, he threw both arms high and proclaimed his complete submission. What was with this sheer desperation and cowardice? The small-fry monsters roaming the upper floors had far more backbone than this.
"Acceptance of the surrender of the final ordeal examiner, Astaroth, has been confirmed. The final ordeal is concluded. For subjugation achieved through intimidation alone, a special clear bonus is awarded――Astaroth is granted to Kai Heinemann as a familiar."
"W-W-Wait! To become the familiar of such a monster is simply too cruel!"
With a face on the verge of tears—no, with actual fat tears welling up in the corners of his eyes—Astaroth screamed toward the heavens, but—
"As an effect of acquiring Astaroth as a familiar, the title――'Master of the Chicken Majin' has been obtained."
The emotionless female voice made the announcement with chilling indifference.
"Chicken Majin"... whoever designed this dungeon must really despise Astaroth.
The flat female voice continued.
"Title effect of 'Master of the Chicken Majin'――Skill Fusion activated. ――Deadly Poison Assimilation, Paralysis Assimilation, Petrification Assimilation, Heat Assimilation, Ice Assimilation, Earth Assimilation, Wind Assimilation, Water Assimilation, Lightning Assimilation, Light Assimilation, and Darkness Assimilation will be fused into 'All-Attribute Status Ailment Assimilation.'"
The "Master of the Chicken Majin" title, huh.
―――――――――――――――――――――
- Title [Master of the Chicken Majin]: An honor bestowed upon one who commands a cowardly majin. Grants the ability to develop and fuse original skills. ―――――――――――――――――――――
Hmm. Contrary to its ridiculous name, isn't this an extraordinarily useful title? Obtaining this alone made taking Astaroth as a familiar well worth the trouble.
"The Gods' Ordeal has been cleared. Congratulations! Upon clearing the ordeal, the target scope of the Subjugation Compendium has been expanded to include non-human entities above a certain level. Simultaneously, as an ordeal clear bonus, Kai's memories will be forcibly restored to the state immediately prior to entering this ordeal............ Memories have been successfully reverted."
Nostalgic memories vividly flooded back into my mind... or at least, they were supposed to be nostalgic, but was I really this much of a spineless wimp back then? Honestly, looking at it objectively, it was downright cringeworthy. The old me was so fundamentally different from who I was now that it felt utterly alien. Well, I'd probably get used to it in time.
While I was absentmindedly mulling that over, a magic circle flared to life beneath our feet. In the next instant, we found ourselves standing in the depths of that familiar(?) waterfall basin. The cavern entrance in the rock face that was supposed to lead into the Gods' Ordeal had completely vanished.
Stepping out from behind the cascading water, I drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. The cool air soothed my lungs, feeling remarkably refreshing. So this was what cold night air felt like. I remembered it intellectually, but to my physical senses, it had been a hundred thousand years—perhaps this sensation was that thing once known as nostalgia, forgotten so very long ago.