I see. So that was it. I finally understood why Ashburn Gastrea had bestowed the title of Sword Emperor upon Zignir. It was something I never had. Namely, raw talent with the blade. Or perhaps an overwhelming instinct for swordsmanship would be a better way to put it. Having swung a sword relentlessly myself, I could tell. Unlike me, this man was loved by the sword above all else.
Zignir had finally broken down into unrestrained, wailing tears. I didn't think it was pathetic in the slightest. It simply showed just how much swordsmanship represented the entirety of his self-worth.
"Stop lending your hand to such foolishness. You have no time to waste on that. Think long and hard once more about why Ashburn Gastrea entrusted the name of Sword Emperor to you."
Leaving the weeping, childlike Zignir with those words, I turned my attention toward the grey, bald man—Enz.
"Take the Sword Emperor and return to the Empire. In deference to the Sword Emperor's talent, I shall overlook your transgressions this once."
This was purely my ego talking. But then, I had always been selfish. I fully intended to carry through with my own ways to the very end.
"A summoner who bests the Sword Emperor with a blade... Dangerous. You are far too dangerous."
Enz tucked his chin, his entire body going rigid as he adopted a guarded stance.
This looked like it was going to become troublesome in an entirely different way.
"And if I am dangerous, what do you propose to do? Let me make one thing clear: Zignir is the only one I have acknowledged. The fact that I am allowing vulgar creatures like you to survive is, in a sense, practically a miracle, you know?"
"Cut the crap! But I understand completely now. You are certainly not some gentle creature anyone could ever tame. If we don't kill you here, you will surely—no, without a doubt—become a threat to our Empire. Therefore... you die here!"
Enz leaped backward and began chanting an incantation. Immediately, a magic circle flared into existence, and slowly emerging from within was a red-skinned demon clad in flames. He had a heavily muscled physique, and two horns sprouted from his forehead.
The sheer amount of heat radiating from him was staggering. Even though the demon floated without touching the ground, the earth beneath was bubbling and boiling.
"I have arrived in accordance with our pact. What is it you desire of me?"
"Kill that human!"
With arms crossed, the flame demon furrowed his brow and appraised me for a moment. Then, shifting his gaze toward Fafnir and Astaroth in turn, he spoke:
"Those three humans are reasonably capable. It will require a considerable price, you know?"
He uttered this while flicking only his eyes toward Enz.
At those words, Astaroth ground his molars together with the countenance of a fiend, while Fafnir simply stared blankly, seemingly thinking of nothing at all.
Even so, I didn't feel a shred of strength from this guy either. Going by intuition, he felt even weaker than Grasshopper Man.
Yet that made no sense. He was supposed to be the trump card of the Six Knight Generals, the Spirit King in question. Of course, there were monsters in that dungeon who concealed their true strength. So while rare, it wasn't entirely impossible.
However, if that were the case, his statement just now was baffling. Judging by his previous remark, he appeared capable of gauging others' strength to a certain extent. On that point, my average stats were currently suppressed to around 100 due to the God-Sealing Gloves. The same went for Astaroth and Fafnir. They were equipped with concealment items, disguising their average stats to around 100 as well. The reason was simple: it was easier to deal with opponents when they let their guard down rather than being overly cautious. And yet, this guy just called us 'reasonably capable.' At a mere 100 or so? That meant—
"I know. I'll give you the lifeforce of my subordinates. That should be more than enough compensation."
"W-Wait just a moment, please!"
One of Enz's subordinates pleaded desperately for him to reconsider, but...
"It is for the motherland. Accept it."
Enz ruthlessly discarded his subordinate, declaring his death without a second thought.
Hollow despair washing over their eyes, the black-robed men sank to their knees.
"Astaroth, our items are functioning properly, right?"
"They should be. At the very least, these fools should not be able to see through our power."
Fuhaha! I see! So that's how it was! This man named Enz wasn't one of the Six Knight Generals. He was merely a retainer who had accompanied the Sword Emperor. Because that grey bald monk acted so pompous, I had mistaken him for one of the Six Knight Generals, but that fire monster—if it even was one—wasn't the Spirit King at all, just mere small fry. My instincts screamed that he reeked of weakness, and above all, he seemed to perceive our stats of around 100 as 'strong.'
True enough, the source of that information had been Imperial soldiers. There was no way they would easily spill the truth. To begin with, their reliability was extremely questionable. I was the fool for swallowing the information so naively.
In that case, that thing wasn't the Spirit King either, just an ordinary evil spirit. That made sense. The great Spirit King of all beings would never demand the lifeforce of humans.
"No compensation will be necessary. After all, I'm not letting you escape."
I pointed the tip of my wooden stick toward the flame evil spirit.
"Not letting me escape, you say? Quite bold words for a human."
The flame evil spirit curled the corners of his mouth into a smirk and looked down at me. His face was smiling, but his eyes said the exact opposite. He was considerably irritated.
"Indeed. Naturally. Leaving an evil spirit like you unchecked will bring nothing but harm. I've decided to thoroughly exterminate you right here."
"A-An evil spirit, you call me?!"
Judging by the way his voice trembled, he was getting quite angry. Yes, yes, this is going well. After all, though I said I wouldn't let him escape, I didn't have any particular method to stop him.
"Oh? You're not? Then what could you possibly be? A monster? No, I don't feel even as much pressure from you as the flame-attribute monsters on the highest floors of that beginner dungeon. You've got to be an evil spirit after all, right?"
Just like the black beast I defeated earlier, I couldn't distinguish him from a gnat buzzing around.
"I am the Spirit King Ifrit!!"
"Yes, yes. Of course you are. Evil spirits always say things like that. You just wanted to be recognized while you were alive, didn't you?"
Since I had never actually met an evil spirit, my words completely lacked credibility, though.
Veins bulged thick on the forehead of the self-proclaimed Spirit King as his entire body trembled uncontrollably with rage.
"Very well! Just for this once, I require no compensation! By tearing your flesh to shreds, I shall vent my rage and—"
"Ah, save it, I don't need any of that. Honestly, listening to an evil spirit spout delusions he can't even back up is just bewildering—"
The self-proclaimed Spirit King inhaled deeply and spewed scorching flames at me as I spoke smugly. However, possessing the assimilation ability against flames and heat, this was naturally a treat for me. By the way, my clothes and accessories didn't burn either, thanks to the effects of my assimilation ability.
"W-Why are you unharmed?!"
Was not burning really that surprising to him? His eyes widened in shock as he asked such a pointless question.
"Your piddling flames aren't enough to burn me."
"Impudent rubbish!! These are the flames of the Spirit King Ifrit!! A mere human like you should have been reduced to ashes without even bones remaining!!"
Still barking, is he? This self-proclaimed Spirit King! Come to think of it, something like this had happened before. Ah, right. That monster Girimehkala, the self-proclaimed Evil God. When I first summoned him from the Subjugation Compendium, he was excessively rebellious, but after thoroughly retraining his attitude, he had gotten much better.
Two self-proclaimed beings might just be well-suited for each other. Guess I'll leave the training to him.
I took the Subjugation Compendium out of my item box and opened to Girimehkala's page.
"Your flames aren't working! That guy isn't normal! Ifrit, go all out!"
Realizing the flames had no effect on me, Enz shouted in frantic agitation, but I paid him no mind and called out: "Release!"
"I-I know! With my greatest flames, I shall... eh?"
A somewhat silly, bewildered squeak escaped the mouth of the self-proclaimed Spirit King evil spirit. At the end of his gaze knelt a colossal, bipedal self-proclaimed Evil God with an extraordinarily long trunk.
"Oh! My great and revered Master! I am overwhelmingly honored that you would summon a piece of trash like me this day!"
Dropping to one knee, the self-proclaimed Evil God bowed his head before me. Well, the discipline had been so thorough that he now proclaimed himself to be a piece of trash, though.
"Discipline that evil spirit over there for me. He's being a nuisance, spouting nonsense about being a Spirit King."
To the self-proclaimed Spirit King, who was currently gaping like a fish out of water, the self-proclaimed Evil God monster Girimehkala turned his three bulging eyes with a vicious glare. At that gesture alone, the self-proclaimed Spirit King's entire body convulsed like a frightened rabbit.
"For mere... evil spirit scum to deny the words of our Supreme Master, what utter insolence!! What sheer audacity! Unforgivable! Unforgivableee! I cannot overlook this in the slightestttt!!"
While spouting lines that made me want to ask, Is that really something to get mad about?, Girimehkala dyed his three eyeballs blood-red, roared toward the heavens, and charged straight at the trembling lamb (the self-proclaimed Spirit King) who had completely lost all will to fight.
To state the conclusion: it was Girimehkala's overwhelming victory. Rather, it wasn't even a contest.
After trapping him in a black, dome-shaped cloud to prevent his escape, he beat the self-proclaimed Spirit King evil spirit to a pulp. Because the beating was rather gruesome for ordinary people to witness, delicate souls like Rose and a few others simply fainted on the spot.
"You are a maggot. Is that correct?"
Grabbing his head in a vise grip, Girimehkala asked the flame evil spirit.
"Y-Yes. I am a lowly, vile maggot!!"
As the self-proclaimed Spirit King evil spirit begged for mercy in tears, Girimehkala nodded in satisfaction and knelt before me.
"Could you entrust this maggot to this piece of trash? I wish to educate him further."
Entrust him to Girimehkala, huh? Personally, I'd rather swiftly exterminate a trash evil spirit that fed on human lifeforce. But true enough, it might be good to see the effects of that performance expansion for the Subjugation Compendium.
"All right. Beat that rotten personality out of him."
Grabbing the self-proclaimed Spirit King evil spirit by the scruff of his neck as he shrieked at the top of his lungs, Girimehkala vanished back into the Subjugation Compendium.
Checking the Subjugation Compendium, a new entry under Girimehkala's page read: [Kin] Ifrit.
Even the name is the same as the Spirit King, huh. Good grief, just having the same name doesn't mean you have the same strength. You see guys like that sometimes, acting tough just because they have a powerful-sounding name.
At any rate, all that remained was that grey bald monk, the Sword Emperor's attendant. To think such small fry would falsely claim to be one of the Six Knight Generals. I was completely fooled.
"W-W-Wait, wait! No, please wait! Surely you can—"
As Enz fell to his knees on the ground, desperately pleading,
"Unnecessary. You went too far."
I cut off his words by sending his head flying with the wooden stick. Turning my gaze toward the black robes, every single one of them collapsed in terror, trembling uncontrollably.
"Take the Sword Emperor and return to the Empire. That is your job. If you refuse..."
The moment I pointed the wooden stick at them, the man who seemed to be the second-in-command hoisted the despondent Sword Emperor and took off running at full speed. The remaining black robes scrambled away in a desperate bid for their lives as well.