Return From the Underground Labyrinth

The Sukekaku duo were visiting a certain room located in the corner of the guild. The place they visited was, of course, Tanaka-san's exclusive hikikomori room.

It had been a long time since they had seen each other, but Tanaka continued to sit on the floor, seemingly absorbed in some kind of work.

「What in world are you doing holed yourself here?」

Kaku-san asked in exasperation.

「Kukukuku, I've never been so scared of my own talent as I am now. Once I complete this secret weapon, it would surely solve everything…..」

「My word! A secret weapon-degozaru?」

At the confidence that Tanaka showed in the face of a world crisis. And the power word of secret weapon that roused one’s childhood heart, Suke-san was brimming with expectation.

「Yeah, I've been thinking about it since I was liberated from old man’s training. What strategy I should take from now on. Right now, Hero-chan, young miss and comrade Éclair are in this town, right? Kukuku, I've decided, you see. That I'm going to get all three of them!」

It was a somewhat fishy affair.

「Does that mean you want to make Team Tanaka even bigger?」

「You fool! That's not it. That means I'm going to add the three of them to my harem members and start kyakya ufufuing. Don't make me say it, it's embarrassing.」

What a truly embarrassing man he was.

「—So! I was thinking of conquering Hero-chan first, but when Toby and the others came the other day, it suddenly hit me. After giving her a present, I’d attack her when her emotion peaked. With this she’d definitely fall!」

Tanaka, who had been talking while continuing his work, stopped his hands for a moment. And then, when he turned this way still while sitting down, he displayed the object in his hand to the two of them.

「This is the secret weapon I created with all my heart and soul, the Talisman of Magician King – Amulet of Irugu. A treasure that I brought back from the Magician King's underground labyrinth located at the edge of the world after a great adventure in these past few days, with such a setting, this is the gift that I’m planning to give her.」

「Oh!」

Seeing it, Suke-san exclaimed in delight. Short sword, cup, inverse pentagram of serpents. Combining the three of them, this venomous-level design was the finest work of Tanaka’s utmost preference. Nevertheless, it was a setting that would likely be criticized by old-school RPG fans. 「I actually would have preferred it to be a ring, but I decided on a pendant. I thought it might still be too early for that kind of thing, after all….」

Tanaka-san’s figure as he blushed while muttering those words was exceedingly blood-curling.

「Hmm, looks like you’ve put quite a lot into it. The sword and armor from the other day were also amazing, but I can sense mighty force that easily eclipse even those from this one.」

Kaku-san said, seemingly a little peeved. Kaku-san, who was unable to interfere physically, was as usual unable to hide his jealousy toward this item. This was the illustrious figure of a tsundere character.

「I want some new equipment too-degozaru.」

Said Suke-san with a burning rivalry.「Okay, just wait, alright. I haven't completed this one yet, so wait until I do, alright? I need to improve it a bit more, like its design or—」

While exuding the air like that of a capable boss, he magnificently sidestepped as it seemed would only increase his work. And just as he was about to return to his work, Tanaka stopped moving.

「What's wrong?」

Seeing Tanaka's unnatural behavior, Kaku-san raised a question, but Tanaka showed no reaction to it. As Suke-san and Kaku-san looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders, Tanaka suddenly stood up.

As if he was scowling at the ceilings, he looked up, but it wasn’t like there was anything there. However, Tanaka's super senses had certainly perceived something that was approaching this world.

「You guys! Quickly gather the merry band and be on the ready!」

Leaving those words behind, Tanaka disappeared the next moment.

「What's going on…?」 「It doesn’t seem like a trivial matter-degozaru. Just as he told us to, looks like we should gather everyone-degozaru.」

Even while being bewildered by the suddenness of the event, the Sukekaku duo started moving in accordance to Tanaka’s order.

◇ ◇ ◇

「—Old man!」

The place Tanaka had arrived at was the hyperspace. There stood the God of Creation, who was looking up to the sky alone with a stern expression on his face.

The one portrayed in the sky was not the image of the universe like it was the other day, but a pitch-black darkness.

Tanaka knew that darkness.

It was the sea of nothingness. It was the crevice of worlds where he had been thrown out to by Morinaga.

Just as he had done on the Ham Star, Tanaka expanded his consciousness.

Then, Tanaka's super senses perceived it. That an enormous negative energy was approaching. In the past, he could only watch from afar, but this time, he felt a sense of oppression that threatened to crush him.

The God of Destruction was certainly present there, and he was trying to pass through the barrier that Tanaka had created. 「What’s going on, old man? I thought you said there was still time before your barrier disappears!」

In contrast to the seemingly panicked Tanaka, the God of Creation replied in a calm manner.

「It seems that my calculations were naive. It seems like his obsession…, the power of the God of Destruction has greatly increased more than I expected. I never expected that he would be able to pry the barrier open before it disappeared….」

「Whuaaat?! For real?! What do we do now? Bad? Isn’t it bad?! Somehow, it's already starting to put pressure on my barrier, though!」

「Calm down!

He instantly calmed down Tanaka-san, who was renowned for his specialty in getting flustered.

「It’s true that the God of Destruction has gotten stronger beyond my expectation, but something on this level won’t be a problem at all.」「For real…? In that case, I guess I’ll come along as well. Honestly speaking, we’re on the superior side, so I have a load of things I want to tell it.」

Truly an overly honest deplorable person.

「You fool, don’t you have the important duty of watching over the barrier? If something goes wrong, it may pass the point of no return, you know? Besides, you won’t be of any help at all anyway.」

Tanaka was offended by these words.

「Oioi, old man. There’s no way that's not true. I may not look the part, but even so I'm still one of those popular cheat protagonists, you know? I think I'm pretty…, no, considerably strong.」 Tanaka unleashed his specialty shadowboxing moves. Today's ‘Swoosh! Swoosh!’ was thirty percent more potent than usual.

Tanaka-san was like that, but leaving whether he was popular or not to the deliberation of the hamsters, him being a cheat protagonist should not be mistaken. As Tanaka was an irregular born from the error of the hero summoning ritual, as well as an existence that had acquired a foul level of power.

「I don't quite get what you're talking about, but you're certainly strong. By the standard of this world, the amount of your magical energy is in the thousands of trillions…, no, in the tens quadrillion, huh.」

The God of Creation measured the amount of his magical energy while observing Tanaka.

「Huh? What’s with that alien, ridiculously large number? Come to think of it, what’s the deal with the status display of mine?! It's totally garbled, isn’t it?! Did you do your God job properly, old man? Do you know how many predicaments I've gone through because of this? If only this thing had displayed everything correctly, I could have enjoyed kyakya ufufu flirty life from the beginning!」

「What are you even talking about? It’s true that the value is abbreviated, but the number displayed there is pretty accurate, isn’t it?」

The God of Creation explained that Tanaka’s displayed status value was in exponential form.

「Why did you have to write it in such a complicated form?! As if I’d be able to get it!」

「Shut it! It should have originally been impossible for anyone to obtain such power, so what’s so bad about going randomly with it?! Recreating the laws of the world is not easy, you know?!」

While they were in the midst of such a quarrel, the God of Creation recalled that this was not the time for such a thing.

「—Heck, now is not the time to be wasting time like this. If you're willing to go that far, then I guess you should witness my power first. Let me show you that polishing your spread out power for defending isn’t something to scoff at.」

As he said this, the God of Creation released the seal he had placed on himself. The power that had been assimilated into the world gathered to the God of Creation.

「How’s it? Amazing, isn’t it? It is true that your strength has reached the realm of the Gods, but you are still exceedingly lacking in power if you want to take part in our battle. I'm sorry, but the current you won’t even be able to put up a fight.」 Seeing it up close, Tanaka was astonished. The power that was gathering was so enormous that even Tanaka’s was incomparable to it.

「Well, just obediently stay here and watch over the barrier. I'll deal with the business with him.」

Leaving those words behind, the God of Creation disappeared. He went off to fight the God of Destruction.

Having the pressure of enormous power being lifted off him, Tanaka crumbled down from the knees.

「Haa haa….」

Tanaka put his hands on the ground and caught his breath. Was he despairing in realization of such an overwhelming gap of power? Or, was his face warped in mortification?

It was neither of those.

「You’re mistaken, old man….」

Tanaka looked up at the sky. The one portrayed there was nothing but a sea of darkness. However, Tanaka could see that a clash of enormous powers was on the verge of breaking out.

「If you're going to face him head-on…., if the battle of Gods is that kind of battle…., you'll absolutely be unable to win against him.」

As Tanaka watched it over, the battle with the fate of the world at stake was about to begin.