Chapter 45
Thud-!
The Lava Golem collapsed.
Prince Marwan had landed the finishing blow.
He adjusted the scarf-like hood he was wearing.
“Easy. Is this finally the last floor?”
Alcamus, who had been providing support from behind, came running up and said,
“Oh, Your Highness! You weren't burned by the heat, were you?”
Marwan snorted.
“I'm going to become the Sun God soon. Do you really think mere lava can be too hot for me?”
“As expected of Sahad's next Sun! Heh-heh-heh!”
Alcamus showered him with flattery, and they headed for the next floor, the 99th floor.
Yet for some reason, there were no monsters there.
Just as had been the case with the floors up through the middle.
There had been no monsters all the way up to Floor 59. Now it was happening again.
That struck them as odd, but it wasn't important.
Floor 100 was right ahead.
Marwan raised his chin, his eyes gleaming greedily, and gestured to the minions following behind him.
“Enough. Now bring it here.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
A minion knelt and lifted a chest.
When Marwan opened it, he found glass bottles filled with yellow liquid nestled inside.
Emperor Sahad had brought back loot from the Tower, along with myths recounting his heroic deeds.
Those stories and items were bestowed only upon those descended from Sahad.
Treasures passed down through the imperial family.
This elixir was one of them.
Though it was sold in the Demon King's Tower under the ordinary name ‘Fatigue Recovery Potion’ and was even an unpopular item, Marwan had no way of knowing that.
Marwan downed the elixir in one gulp.
“Good.”
The fatigue that had built up vanished, and vitality surged through him.
Then he casually tossed the remaining bottle to Alcamus.
“Oh...! Your Highness! To bestow such a precious elixir upon me twice... This Alcamus is so moved by Your Imperial Grace that I shall serve you loyally until my bones crumble!”
Alcamus caught the elixir.
“Hurry. We need to loot the golden chest before the vanguard of the allied expeditionary force crawls into the Tower.”
He wanted it all. The treasure on Floor 100 had to be his.
Before long, they arrived at the door to Floor 100.
“Open it.”
At Marwan's command, four minions rushed over and pushed against the door.
“Nnngh...!”
But the door to Floor 100 didn't budge.
Alcamus planted his staff on the floor.
“Ahem, His Highness has given an order. Why can't you open it?”
“I-it's... The door is too heavy to push open...!”
“If you're useless hunks of meat who can't even open a single door, perhaps I should turn you into my undead and put you to work.”
Green magic gathered at the tip of Alcamus's staff, and the minions went pale and stepped back.
At that moment, Marwan raised a hand to stop Alcamus.
“Move.”
Marwan approached the door.
He placed both hands on either side of it.
Ssshhh-!
As he drew a deep breath, an immense force burst from his body.
It was the result of absorbing the martial prowess of his elite warriors.
Crack! Crrk!
The muscles in Marwan's arms and shoulders swelled as he exerted monstrous strength.
KRAAAASH-!!
With his own strength alone.
Prince Marwan himself forced the door open.
Rumbleeeee-!!!
At that moment, an unimaginable quantity of dazzling yellow gold coins poured through the gap like a dam bursting.
“Ooooooh!”
“There really is gold...!”
The minions' eyes went round as they watched the gold coins pour out.
But Marwan wasn't looking at the gold coins at his feet.
The instant the door opened, he raised his head.
His greedily gleaming eyes were fixed on the massive golden chest at the very back.
Then, in turn,
he shifted his gaze to the monster standing in front of it.
‘Treasure Keeper.’
The legend of the Sahad Empire, a six-armed giant whose appearance matched the descriptions in the myths of the Sun God.
But soon, Marwan's brow furrowed.
‘Something's strange.’
According to the myths, it should have been holding a key in each of its six hands.
Yet there were only three keys clenched in its hands now.
There was another maddeningly strange fact.
‘Why is another monster on this floor?’
Beside Treasure Keeper stood a headless knight in red armor and a giant wolf with birdlike wings.
That contradicted the records stating that the Demon King's Tower had only one monster per floor.
They needed to bind Treasure Keeper and find the lock hidden in the pile of gold coins, but those monsters made that difficult.
Marwan turned his head and asked, even though he was the only one there who had personally read Sahad's myths.
“Alcamus. What the hell are those?”
“……”
There was no answer.
When Marwan turned his gaze back,
Plop.
Alcamus was sitting on the floor, trembling all over.
His pupils were hugely dilated.
His face had gone white with terror.
He raised a thin, trembling finger and pointed at the red-bodied monsters standing in the distance.
“Th-those...!”
For some reason, the sight of the terrified Alcamus sent a chill down Marwan's spine as well.
“What's wrong, Alcamus? Answer me!”
When Marwan shouted, Alcamus's jaw trembled as he forced out a faltering voice.
“Th-that red one... It is an undead forged through the ultimate necromantic art...! Blood Essence... the pinnacle I thought existed only in theory...”
Marwan's face twisted in irritation.
“What are you babbling about? It's nonsense! Get up right now!!”
But Alcamus didn't obey Marwan's command.
Instead, he crab-walked backward in an ugly retreat.
“N-no... Your Highness! If the Floor 100 monster is a necromancer who commands undead like that... w-we can never defeat him...!”
The moment he heard that, Marwan felt his blood rush to his head.
“You useless old man! Do you think I brought you here so you could scare me?”
Marwan roughly grabbed Alcamus by the scruff of his neck.
Whoosh-!
He flung Alcamus into the depths of the Floor 100 chamber.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Alcamus rolled across the floor, screaming, and fainted.
Marwan raised his scimitar and shouted.
“That Treasure Keeper isn't some necromancer!”
Marwan radiated killing intent and took up a battle stance.
And then.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The gigantic six-armed monster, Treasure Keeper, began charging.
As if it knew exactly who the leader of this group was, it charged straight at Marwan.
‘Fast.’
Marwan's pupils widened.
It wasn't the sluggish giant described in the myths.
“Stop it! Alcamus! Bind it!”
The undead summoned by Alcamus moved to block Treasure Keeper's path.
But.
KRAAASH-!
Treasure Keeper didn't even slow down as it ground all the undead to bits with its hands, like brushing away bugs.
Then it reached right in front of Marwan in an instant.
Alcamus fainted again, and even Marwan went pale.
“They never said it was this strong...!”
Grab-!
“Ghk...!”
There was no time to dodge or swing his scimitar.
It was that fast.
Treasure Keeper's two thick hands seized Marwan's torso as if encircling it and lifted him high into the air.
Prince Marwan was caught and completely helpless.
<▣▣ ▣ ▣▣▣ ▣▣▣!!>
Treasure Keeper shouted something while holding him like that.
The chilling voice of a demon.
As Marwan struggled beneath the crushing strength, Alcamus, watching from behind, heard the voice and screamed in terror.
“T-the Sun God's Wrath...! Eeeeeek!!”
Alcamus frantically tried to flee outside the door, but it had already closed tight.
To stay alive, Alcamus ran madly deeper into the room.
Even then, for some reason, he grabbed the hand of the nearest minion and evacuated with him.
Marwan hung suspended in the air.
Treasure Keeper extended its four remaining hands, apart from the two holding Marwan.
Swoosh.
Layer by layer,
it removed the scarf-like hood covering Marwan's face.
A mask.
It was an object Treasure Keeper had seen 400 years ago.
It belonged to the one who had opened the golden chest.
Treasure Keeper, now extremely agitated, let out a shriek.
<▣▣▣!!!>
And then.
Crack! Crrack!
Treasure Keeper began squeezing Marwan's torso with its grip.
“Aaaaaaargh...!”
Blood burst from Prince Marwan's mouth. Despite having become a superhuman, he could not withstand strength of this magnitude.
His life was in danger.
A descendant of the Sahad imperial family was on the verge of losing his life.
Vwoom-
A blinding light exploded from Marwan's chest.
The automatic defense system Emperor Sahad had inscribed into the hearts of his descendants.
The Sun God's Wrath that Alcamus had fled from was activated.
KRAAAAAAAAAANG-!!!!!
Centered on Marwan, a sphere of light expanded and exploded as if the sun itself had descended.
Fssshhh-
The minions of Marwan caught in the blast radius turned to ash and evaporated.
Shrrrrrraaaaak-!!!!!!!
Tens of thousands of gold coins piled on the floor scattered through the air like a storm.
Only Alcamus, who had fled to a distant corner, barely survived behind layer upon layer of bone shields.
Ssssshhh-
The acrid smoke and golden afterimages cleared.
“Huff... huff...”
At the place swept by the Sun God's Wrath.
Marwan hung suspended in the air, covered in blood and gasping for breath.
His gaze turned downward.
Treasure Keeper.
He saw the monster that had taken the Sun God's Wrath head-on.
Three of its six arms had been blown away, and black blood poured from its gray abdomen.
And yet.
Treasure Keeper kept a tight grip on Marwan's waist with its remaining arms, refusing to let him go.
“H-how can this be...”
Marwan's eyes shook with despair.
“It... didn't die instantly even from the Sun God's Wrath...!”
It was just then, as Marwan struggled in shock.
Clatter-
Far away, from within the dazzling yellow pile of gold coins churned up by the explosion.
Ssswish-
A silver-haired girl holding a black scythe emerged.
Her snow-white skin and jet-black dress created an incongruous sight against the golden backdrop.
In the corner where he had been shoved, Alcamus's eyes bulged.
“A-ah...!”
Alcamus looked back and forth between the girl and the red undead lined up behind her.
Then he immediately slammed his forehead against the floor.
“So you were the legendary necromancer who commands these mighty undead...! Please, I beg you, teach this lowly one! If you'll only spare my life, I shall devote the rest of it to serving as your hands and feet...”
Before Alcamus could finish speaking.
The girl threw her scythe,
Slaaaash-!
and split Alcamus in two.
Alcamus's corpse, separated into upper and lower halves, tumbled across the gold coins.
“……”
Marwan, still hanging in the air, took in the scene with his own two eyes.
He seemed unable to believe what was happening.
“…I have to… become… the Sun God…”
***