Chapter 156: Participation of the Devil ⑤

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———

I have lost again.

I have certainly gotten stronger than before, and this time I even had location advantage.

Everyone had become stronger with the equipment obtained at Tsige.

The way of thinking and fighting style of the adventurers that came with us from Limia have also been a good influence to the Kingdom’s army.

It was for me too.

It isn’t to the level of Mio-san and Beren-san who I met at the remote region, but there were a lot of things I learned.

It wasn’t just skill at hand-to-hand combat.

I also began acting towards breaking down the fetters of the nobles that have been clotted, the discomforting politics.

It would be one thing if it were after bringing down Stella Fort, but in the current state, the position of the capital is quite dangerous, and I thought that each noble held way too much power in military affairs.

In that aspect, I have shown a relative amount of results.

Repeating careful talk with the heirs of the next generation, I was able to focus their attention in the view that the Kingdom’s current way is wrong.

It wasn’t like the objective was a rebellion against the royal family, and I can’t just create a big civil war in the middle of our war against the demon race, so right now I am just stopping it at only awareness in reformation.

The second son of the Hopelace who are high nobles and yet are very close to the royal family.

The fact that Ilum-kun approved this proposal of mine in an early stage allowed me to move smoothly and it was also a big help.

I think that in the future I will be asking for his cooperation too.

Facing the plan to bring down Stella, I felt like I was doing everything I could.

 

And yet…

 

Not only were we unable to defend against Io’s surprise attack, we were pushed back. We let them reach till the audience room.

I intended to run away, but after coming this far, it was difficult.

I honestly can tell that it would be hard to leave the castle and escape the town with Io chasing after us.

And I don’t know how much damage our surroundings would take because of this.

In the end, I chose to settle this in an early stage with the support barrier of the audience room.

Using the Minotaurus and the Centaurus that Io said he brought from the border’s wasteland, Bredda was completely shut out, and I was forced to fight with him in a one on one.

With Wudi’s support attacks, Chiya’s healing support, and also the support barrier of the audience room, furthermore, the silver band which Horn dwells in, and the sword Beren-san made for me.

Even if it’s against Io who has already turned black and going at full-power, I thought I would be able to confront him.

Right now, in front of my eyes, there’s a white guy that suddenly bursted in and joined the fight.

I felt like shouting: what kind of joke is this?!

That guy had an attire like one of those daily special effect heroes. He stopped an attack of Io right from the front, and while receiving two of those attacks, he made Io step back and gave one attack to him.

I felt like an idiot for warning him to not compete with Io in strength.

He is strong.

And quite strong at that.

His moves are not that good, but the white guy has already deployed a pretty high-ranked enhancing magic and fighting in close quarter combat against Io.

For me who knows about special effect heroes, his appearance is quite embarrassing, but he is defending against the attacks of Io precisely.

Physical strength and speed; in my eyes, it looks like the basic specs of him are higher than Io’s.

And in another aspect, the body movements and technique are higher in Io.

… Well, in terms of attires, I don’t have the right to say much about others.

I take a look at my own body.

There’s no wound that can be considered a wound.

I have already used my own healing magic and I had Chiya heal me as well.

I have quite the amount of physical and mental fatigue, but I will have to hold it down with willpower.

I am practically naked, so I can tell that I don’t have any sort of scars.

It’s embarrassing, but this is necessary to display my best performance so… I can’t just not do it.

In the resonance with my guardian spirit Horn, I always end up in this appearance so it can’t be helped.

A strenuous skill that lets me clad the silver band and Horn at the same time.

Different from possession, my will doesn’t get inhibited in any way. It is uncomfortable that I end up in a state as if wearing a risque fur-made string swimsuit. The defensive field that it creates is slightly superior to the equipment the dwarf Beren-san made for me.

To fight against the blackened Io, it was necessary to have the power and speed of this form.

It wasn’t the moment to say that gravure would be a lot better.

That’s why I had to do it.

He is not an opponent that a normal bluff would work on, so I perform the weakness I showed in the past and tried to lure some sort of opening.

It was practically useless though.

I was somehow able to do some effective attacks in my starting dash, but with his usual regeneration, it was all made into zero again.

That’s right, this sword.

As expected, Mio-san and Beren-san are incredible.

The moment they made this sword for me, I could tell that those two had already seen through my specialty.

A great sword that had its wind power sealed, in the past.

In Io’s battle, I finally realized the power of this.

With an inhuman voice, the sword called me.

Just like how it asked me, I forcefully controlled the power that the sword emitted.

I didn’t unify with the sword like I did with Horn, it was as if I was doing a competition of power with the sword.

An ear-piercing metallic sound rang in my ears several times, and the great sword compressed into the size of the bastard sword I used in the past.

The originally transparent emerald green sword blade became more pronounced and the degree of transparency decreased.

In exchange, the power of the wind was felt even stronger.

It’s not to understand the weapon; the condition for activation is to thirst for power and make the power obey. I felt like it was a latent disposition with bad specifications and I felt grudge welling up.

But its power was tremendous.

Just by holding it, my power increased by several times and my senses became sharper.

The sharpness also increased remarkably and I was able to cut even the blackened Io.

If I used my specialty attacks that harbor the fire element, the wind element increased its power by even more. If I endowed an element in the sword, the fire would not be red but became an emerald green that looked as if it gushed out from the blade of the sword.

In the past I wasn’t blessed with a good weapon, but now I was being brandished by the weapon itself, is what I felt like bantering about. It had such a high efficiency that I even felt uncomfortable.

The wind element boosts the fire element.

Beren-san must have thought that, going by my style of fighting, instead of a fire weapon, it would be better to use a wind element one.

Io was unable to catch up with my speed and I was able to continuously attack him. ‘With this, I have won’, is what I thought at that moment.

 

And yet…

 

Becoming black wasn’t his trump card.

Those big gauntlets that were equipped on his arms that served as weapons as well as armor… those were his trump card.

That he didn’t use them last time, was it because at that time they still weren’t made?

Each one of the 4 gauntlets had one of the 4 main elements: fire, water, earth and wind. Even when it is simple, he cladded elements in his attacks.

Wind with earth; my movements were restricted.

Water with fire; my attacks were weakened.

If he didn’t have those, I would have been able to decide the battle before he got ‘used’ to my attacks.

It was only a single pattern he read from me.

From there, I received a counter, and Io, without defending against the follow-ups of Wudi and Chiya-chan’s spells, he received those attacks with his body while approaching me, and I received a combo attack that felt as if my body was being torn to shreds.

Counting the kick, I received a combo of probably 7 attacks.

The rapid fire of Wudi that disregarded his remaining magic, created a smokescreen, and I had Chiya-chan heal me.

When I reached the state where I can make arias myself, I added my own regeneration spell.

In the moment Wudi’s magic power was sacrificed by quite a lot and our force had diminished, the situation showed a change.

A black mass with slight golden light clad on it, plunged onto the audience room from the sky.

In front of us, a sinister skeleton and a white guy that looked like a special effect hero appeared.

He ignored the words of Io and drew closer and the skeleton easily took care of the ambush troops that we didn’t even notice.

After saying something vague that I couldn’t understand if he was an enemy or an ally, the skeleton led me and my comrades to lean on a wall.

It is probably a subordinate of that white guy, but I was silently looking at the fight between the white guy and Io.

The skeleton didn’t show any signs of entering to help.

It seems like he affixed a field of some sort around us, but it doesn’t look like he is doing anything aside from that.

It is certainly true that the white guy is fighting Io in a more than advantageous way, but I have to question that skeleton’s action of not even providing support.

“He is… not your master? Is it okay to stay here without going to help him?” (Hibiki)

“… No problem. If it’s only at that level, supporting him would only serve as an hindrance. Hero… Hibiki, was it? That weapon, is it something you obtained in Tsige?” (Shiki)

“What’s with that so suddenly?” (Hibiki)

“I just thought that it is most likely a weapon from Kuzunoha Company” (Shiki)

“You know them?!” (Hibiki)

“Only slightly. It is more like, I have have a past connection with that material” (Shiki)

“Material?” (Hibiki)

“Yeah, there was an experimental subject that I had it eat a wind spirit. It resembles the sickle of it” (Shiki)

“… T-That was a mamono you made?! Or more like, it was used as a raw material for this?!” (Hibiki)

“Well, that doesn’t matter right now. That just means it was an individual that served only as a mere material after all” (Shiki)

“… So you say. Just who in the world are you?” (Hibiki)

“Larva. Experiment loving and former Lich. Hey, that magician and knight over there. Don’t move. Stay there” (Shiki)

The skeleton that named himself Larva stopped Bredda and Wudi who were trying to stand up, while he talked to me.

Wudi still hasn’t recovered his magic power properly.

I do think that it is still impossible for him to resume his actions.

But…

I knew the reason why.

At the line of sight of those two, there’s two enemies.

The Centaurus and the Minotaurus.

As expected from enemies native of the wasteland, they are strong.

At this situation, I should be the one going.

I can already move my body after all.

“Hero, you as well. Stay there” (Shiki)

“Can’t you see the enemy? Against that level of enemy, I wouldn’t even take 3 minutes. Just leave it to me” (Hibiki)

“… Don’t misunderstand. I am not giving advice nor am I asking for an opinion. I am ordering you” (Shiki)

“Quite the words there. I am grateful for your help, but this is also something that benefits you too, right?” (Hibiki)

I take my sword in hand and stand up.

It’s not at the quality of that white guy, but even so, to use standard enhancing magic exhausts quite a lot of magic power.

Slightly feeling that my strength was giving away, I place the spell again.

The weakness is that it is easy to cancel if I lower my concentration.

But its effect is balanced, so for someone like me who has a lot of magic power, this is a magic that fits me.

“If there’s even a slight chance that you will be wounded, there will only be disadvantages for me. Sit down. Be silent and don’t move” (Shiki)

A tone of voice from the former Lich that didn’t forgive any objection.

It seems like these guys are not enemies but they are not our allies either.

“I will finish it quickly” (Hibiki)

“If you leave the field, I will kill your companions” (Shiki)

“?!”

“In the agreement we exchanged with the Goddess, there was nothing mentioning the safety of your companions. As long as you are okay, I don’t care about what happens to the other hyumans” (Shiki)

What a thing he is saying.

Just what was the Goddess thinking when he brought this kind of people to the capital?

I can’t feel any sort of joke in his words.

At the very least, I could tell that he doesn’t feel anything for the life of hyumans.

“… In that case, what are we going to do? See, they are coming!” (Hibiki)

“I will do it. You guys should just silently wait here” (Shiki)

“You bastard, there’s a limit to rudeness—” (Bredda)

“Bredda-dono, let’s leave things here to this personage. Increasing our enemies in this state is a bad move” (Wudi)

Wudi holds back Bredda who couldn’t endure it anymore and was going to complain to Larva.

It’s certainly true. This is not the time to be increasing our enemies.

As long as we have decided to fight Io, we have to speedily drive out the demons attacking the capital.

For that sake, I would have to steal the march on Larva somehow, but…

“Then, I will be seeing what you got. The power of Larva-dono, please show it to me” (Hibiki)

I decided to send slight sarcasm to him.

It’s true that this Larva is strong.

That instantaneous movement and the speed of his spell activation, the weapon he holds is not normal either.

In terms of magic power, Wudi is lower than Chiya-chan and me, but just like in levels, the magic power doesn’t completely decide the skills of a magician.

That Centaurus and Minotaurus are not normal enemies.

If it’s me, I would be able to push them back with overwhelming speed, but just how will the most likely-magician Larva fight?

Let me see it.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

A big frame ox faced warrior swings down his battle axe.

Fumu, is this a demi-human, or a mamono?

It is kinda… interesting.

If I meet another one in the future, let’s check it up.

Because I stepped back and avoided it, the axe hits the floor and it left slight damage on it.

What an excellent support barrier.

If it were average, fragments would have scattered and the floor would have been splendidly gouged.

“And you use a bow huh” (Shiki)

I slap down the shot arrow with my staff.

The Centaurus is a demi-human and quite the prideful race.

It seems there’s many who choose bows and spears, and it seems this one has chosen the bow.

A vanguard and a rear guard; their roles are properly set.

As expected, these two are stronger than the ambush troops from before huh.

“Io-sama is fighting. We can’t just stand and do nothing. Move aside, Lich”

“You have shown us your power, but that level won’t work against us”

“… I don’t like showing more power than necessary after all. Sorry for that. Master said that he would be giving me my turn later. In that case, I will be using you guys as warm up” (Shiki)

Fufu.

Those so called warriors are really easy to utilize by using their pride.

Their temperament clearly changed.

“Very well. You are without doubt an obstacle that has defeated our brethren as well”

“I already know your power to a certain extent. In our home, you would be treated as a troublesome livestock” (Shiki)

“!!”

“Fool. Just what benefit would it bring you to anger us?”

“Who knows Horses would be too frail for us to mount after all. I don’t know much about you. Sorry” (Shiki)

“!!!”

The Minotaurus and the Centaurus heat up in an amusing manner.

Well then, let’s begin.

“I was a former Lich you see. Why I am ‘former’, I will show you here” (Shiki)

I finish my aria. I release the spell that is suited for me from within me.

“How long will you accompany me for? I am looking forward to knowing. ‘Thirteen stepping-stones’” (Shiki)

The moment I became a servant of Waka-sama, I was embedded an uncontrollable amount of power inside of me.

I assimilated it, but it is a power that is not mine.

I have finally been able to change, not everything, into my power.

You guys are my first prey.

Inside of me, it has been sleeping, changing, and has awakened.

… the power of Waka-sama’s rings that is.

“From the first step to the fourth, release. ‘Wand’, ‘Sword’, ‘Cup’, ‘Coin’” (Shiki)

“Gugh!!”

“This is?!”

I won’t say 4 times, but I can tell that a magic power close to that is sprung out to the surroundings.

I can tell there’s a different nature of magic power raging about in my body.

This sensation that enlarges my maximum amount of magic power is peculiar.

I look at my left hand.

There, I see 4 rings dyed in crimson red in all the fingers aside from the pinky finger.

Power wells up as well.

Until the fourth step there’s: magic empowerment, body enhancement, magic power enhancement, equipment enhancement.

Until this level, I am able to utilize it without any risks.

Depending on the situation, I would want to release higher steps, but that is slightly harsh.

“You guys are also stirred up because your superior is there right? Try to struggle a bit, okay?” (Shiki)

I prepare my staff.

The two instantly take defensive stances.

Directly below them, several floor-turned-spears thrust upwards.

I have to properly utilize the support barrier after all.

“Hoh~, the horse evaded it huh. The ox… it seems he has endured it” (Shiki)

The Centaurus shoots an arrow towards me.

In the middle of its way, it splitted up and rained down.

The Forest Oni Akua does something similar to this.

“Burn” (Shiki)

Instead of magic, I used a special soul language to forcibly activate a spell.

I changed all the arrows into dust.

“This magiciaaan!!”

This time is the Minotaurus.

Yareyare.

Can’t see the difference in power yet?

At the battle axe that was swung down obliquely, I purposely don’t take a defensive position and decide to take it.

“Impossible”

The axe stops at the tip of my shoulder.

My magic power, equipment and even my physical body has increased in power.

I don’t even need to defend against this kind of attack.

“Well then, it is my turn now, right?” (Shiki)

I prepare my black staff and begin an aria.

While looking at the expression of despair from both of them, I finished the remainder of my spell.

“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. That life, offer it up” (Shiki)

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0 thoughts on “Chapter 156: Participation of the Devil ⑤”

  3. Finally. Someone genuine. “if you leave, i’ll kill your friends.” Shiki needs to be the MC, not that other dimwit.

  9. Hey, to the people comparing tomoki and hibiki; along with that character from arifureta. Your conversations have got me thinking, and was wondering if the MC from arifureta is more about a “villain” gaining power and influence rather a “hero rising” story. If not, then is it possible instead that both him (Arifureta MC) and tomoki can be considered to be “chaotic good” characters. Meaning that the things they do not necessarily good, but are interpreted as such (could be wrong about what chaotic good is)?

    1. you know me myself cant actually see hajime as a villian, he is a jerk and he is selfish but i think that comes from him not wanting anything to do with a world(by this i mean the people from that world and old “friends) that trowed him in to despair and madness, being betrayed and even worst in such a despicable way i really cant blame him for being selfish, also his actions are never to hurt someone just to get a kick out of it, he usually acts only in defense of him self or his harem altough he does exaggerates in the amount of violence he uses, but even so he just wants to go back and be happy with the girl he loves and the other girls who he does not see as a harem but as important existences i really cant see his resemblance to tomoki who is just kid that got an interesting toy. Also as an MC i think hajime doesnt hold a candle to makoto but that is just my opinion xD

    2. I am not really good with dealling D&D alignements, but I will say what I understand, if someone know better, please correct me of I am wrong:

      the moral axe is based on the care for others
      -good is for altruitic people, people that willcare for the lives, always trying to help other
      -evil is for people who do not care about other life and sufferings, selfish

      the ethics(?) is based on loyalty
      -lawful is for loyalty and respect of authority, order
      -chaotic is for people favorizing their freedom, going against the law

      chaotic good would be someone helping people even when it go against the law (more or less) and clearly not tomoki and hajime who has no care for other people

      personaly I would put:
      -hibiki: neutral good, she has a great care for others (good) and follow the law but don’t totally abide to them (neutral)(maybe chaotic since she want to change the kingdom?)
      -Io: lawfull good, greatly loyal and honorable, great pride as a warrior and soldiers of the demon lord, he forbidde the rape of the citizens so I would put him (good)
      -tomoki: neutral evil, no real care for authority but not against it, he easily sacrifice soldiers to cover his ass, and his prompt in targeting innoncent (slevery eyes and the murder attempt on tomoe)
      -Makoto: In the beginning of the story, maybe neutral good, after azora’s incident I wouldsay true neutral. hard to say in my opinion

      -hajime he is clearly chaotic, he has no respect for the law, authority and only care about his freedom
      for his moral: either zettaizeroblog is right and he is neutral, or I am right and he is evil
      the principals trait of the chaotic evil is selfish and cruel, have no respect for law and people and that is precisely how I see him
      zettaizeroblog don’t see thoses evil trait in him, but he is clearly no good, so if he is right about hajime it would be neutral
      chaotic neutral ot chaotic evil?

  16. Hey reigokai san. Can i just ask how many more chapter until it catch up to the raw? Cause i hate it when a story ended unfinished. I just hope that this LN atleast will end well like shield bro.

    If this question has been asked before, please answer again, cause i didnt read most of the comment. Sorry, theres alot of them.

  17. Well, I did use a question mark because I wasn’t certain.

    I’m giving the original writer the benefit of the doubt in that they don’t actually believe that their choosing to stop reading means anything or that anyone would give a Dos Equis.

    The most positive interpretation of such a post is that the writer know that such comments both hurt Reigo’s motivation and (as a result) tick off the people who enjoy this work and wish to see Reigo continue. Which would prompt a retaliatory storm of people telling him to bugger off. Which is basically what Trolls do.

    1. What I was meaning to ask is when we connected the name for some weird creature that lurked under bridges and apparently liked to eat goat with attention-seeking, fire-feeding asses.

      Doesn’t it seem like trolls should shy away from attention and be afraid of fire? It’s an odd name for the internet to give.

      1. Well, I thought your description of a Troll seemed appropriate.Weird creatures that lurk, like attention, and are asses.

        If we’re taking the example of the troll in the Billy Goats Gruff, it’s not as if the troll was hiding due to shyness. If anything, he waited for someone to come by and then popped out like a terrible surprise (“You have herpes!”) and picked a fight.

  18. Ive realize this novel got a slow updates even though ive waited 4 or 5 days.. still no updates and the broken fight scenes sucks im not hype anymore of this war or this novel so im gonna stop reading this novel now cuz its release time are randoms so BYE

    2. Dude, stop complaining, be happy that this novel isn’t dropped, even if TL releases are random/slow/inconsistent/, Rei-sama has a life you know. Also, Rei-sama gave us a heads-up yesterday (I have just read it a while ago , which makes me regret not reading the comments section yesterday as I keep refreshing Rei-sama’s site every few minutes, but I didn’t complaining, I’m just leeching off on free TL’s).

    1. Don’t know how many will read this, but update will probably be in Thursday. Chapter itself is hella long and I have been busy with RL.

      More info after I update 🙂

      10. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        Thanks for the heads up, good luck in your endeavors! 😉

  24. am i the only one who likes tomoki rather than hibiki?
    how should i say it… he stays true to his own desire and reveal it openly
    while hibiki…. despite being a hero, she is so indecisive
    at least tomoki is honest about himself
    Tomoki: would rather die than using his trump card for his harem sake
    Hibiki: charming adventurers which led them to their demise

    1. i dont think that tomoki is the kind of character that does things thinking of of others well being, on the contrary i think he is a very cowardly and selfish character, also i think he didnt use his ultimate skill in front of his harem just to not lose his assets his harem is most usefull to him, but that is just my opinion, if you like him, thats cool, everyone has his favorite character.

    2. yea, what you say is kinda true. When tomoki tried recruiting Tomoe and when Hibiki tried recruiting Mio, they both used the same line “for the sake of the world”. They both come off spoiled and selfish. But the only reason why I like hibiki over tomoki is just that she has some decency whereas tomoki is completely drunk off his power and i also find him a bit disgusting abusing his sharingan to create his own harem (although many would highly use that power for the same purpose). But forget them both, they’ll both know the difference between heaven and earth when they view makoto strut his stuff lol

      Sorry if you take this as a rant, everyone has their own perspectives on the heroes and this is my 2 cents lol

    3. I can definitely see where you’re coming from, but I’m of opposite(and probably majority) opinion.

      I think the main reason is that, fundamentally, I see more potential in Hibiki becoming a good person than Tomoki. On principal, both of them are spoiled, arrogant, and self-centered. But Tomoki has a certain opportunistic mentality where he seems to just be greedily trying to make everything his. I recall a character noting that Tomoki would start another war just to keep his power if the demons were defeated.

      Hibiki is indecisive, but that’s mainly because she doesn’t know which action will lead to the best solution, which is her goal. Tomoki’s goal is decided, but also decidedly corrupt.

      If both heroes became Makoto’s enemies and he had to kill them, killing Hibiki would be a tragedy of circumstances/misunderstandings. But Tomoki would just be the killing of a villain mad with power.

    4. you’re not alone i like Tomoki than Hibiki who led her life gifted with all the things everyone could wish of, wealth, beauty, intellect, athletic body that’s why she that never known any suffering nor despair had her head filled with dandelions(shitty ideals) compare to Tomoki who have known suffering in the original world. I bet Tomoki might have a personality similar to Hajime in Arifureta given the circumstances but thanks to that shitty slut princess that is corrupting Tomoki’s mind he is slowly becoming a trash. I wish that Makoto would learn Princess Lily production of guns so that he would annihilate her

      1. Well, Hajime from Arifureta was mutch more mature that Tomoki I really don’t think they have much in common and Tomoki really in my eyes he is in the cowardly side, not just because he ran away in a losing battle but that he didn’t even try to save his soldiers or at least help in the retreat (I’m talking about the figth in the fortress not the capital). Even the pricess stated that his actions were pathetics and his harem didn’t notice because of the charm.

        1. Although it sounds like he is a dick for using a charm just to get his girls it was only all fault of his lack of confidence and princess lily influence, According to my resources Makoto would notice and erase the charm imbedded by Tomoki even he does so they still love him which is when Tomoki will realize that even without his charm he could get his own woman by his own hands

        2. @Paps Hajime started as a coward who is on the back of their group on their first dungeon expedition but in face of emergency he is willing to sacrifice himself just to let the one he loes away just like what Tomoki did in the fight with Sofia

          1. @zettaizeroblog If my memorie doesn’t fail me Hajime didn’t started as a coward, he started weak ( compared with his school mates) even in his first figth he save a girl schoolmate and contributed enough in his fighting to impress some knigths that he assisted with the out of the box usaged that he gave to his ability, that everyone considered not suited for battle(but obviously this discusion isn’t for this forum). Either way I don’t think that the author created Tomoki to be liked because his negative traits is what guets most exposed of him out there, and considering the eviorement he got droped in and the powers that he guets.

      2. are you implying that hajime isn’t a trash?
        he is a mary sue, a glorified edgelord and a brat on power trip, probably one of the worst MC I have read (not as “evil” but “badly written”, thought I would still class him as evil)

        and seriously, I want to experience too the “suffering” of being too beautiful and attract girls. it sound like a rich kid saying “you can’t understand the suffering of being too rich!”

        people always bash the altuistic characters because they are naive or idealistic, but I prefer 1000times a naive character that will try his best to help people rather than a sellfish edgelord using violence to crush any opposition when things don’t go his way.

        what’s happening lately with people considering having an ideal “shitty”, and glorify selfishness?

        @Nointo
        tomoki is honest about prioritizing his ass, that don’t make him better than an idealistic character, and absolutly not a better “hero”
        hibiki has a goal to make the world better, and she is searching for the best way to do it, that what you call “indescisive”
        makoto is the true indescisive character, he has no real goal or idea of what he want to achieve, and like it was said before, the order to seize Kaleneon was his first true descision, and he only started to move now.

        “Tomoki: would rather die than using his trump card for his harem sake
        Hibiki: charming adventurers which led them to their demise”
        there is many thing wrong in that statement:
        -tomoki was immortal and didn’t risk his life with his trump card
        -tomoki didn’t use it for his harem, but his harem prevented him to use it
        -you reproach hibiki to recrute warriors the normal way, when tomoki use hypnose/mind magic to make a harem of sex slave
        -you put the adventurer death on hibiki’s responsability, but tomoki just nuked his own country. we don’t know how close the magic is the the real thing, but it’s clearly not a good move to use it on your own country
        -when you say “for his harem sake” I hear “for his night pleasures sake”

        I often defend tomoki in the comments because I don’t want to see some circle-jerk and I want to see some development, but don’t try to say tomoki is better than hibiki because he don’t try to restrain his sellfishs desires, it not a good point, on the contrary it’s a bad point. he is clearly the worst of the 3 heroes.
        I think we can classify the 3 heroes with their moral order as
        hibiki: good
        makoto: neutral
        tomoki: evil

        1. Hey dude calm your tits there what i am saying i liked Tomoki because he is someone who suffered despair, pain and knows how truly ugly human can become compared to Hibiki who spreads her own ideals without even fully knowing well what she is dealing with despite her only living her life in luxury not experiencing any sorts of darkness lingering in human’s heart that’s why to me she is a hypocrite. What you said about Hajime is nothing but your mere opinion as i like him and his personality of only moving and destroying for the selfish sake of fulfilling his desire to protect his loved ones compare to being a hypocrite who does things for the sake of his own sense of justice , these are the parts that i would like for Tomoki to have. Because he had suffered despair and pain he would love and faithfully a woman who would welcome him as he does with Lily although sadly she is corrupting him slowly turning him into a trash

      3. Remmeber that tomoki asked for the evil eye before knowing princess lily and altough im sure lily is a bad influence, tomoki is not exactly a good person i think that he had clear intentions when he asked the Bug for the eye. In my opinion and that is only my way of thinking hajime never wished anything from anybody nor he desired to control people against their will, if anything he was a low energy character that wanted a normal everyday life, not a harem.

        1. Actually no, Tomoki initially never wished for that ability it was only a sick ability granted by the whim of Bugdess what Tomoki really wanted was to escape his hellish life just that he actually never cared having a power except the power to be able to fight against Demon race which is he is insecure that he would get killed in the process as just he was about to enjoy living his life after escaping that’s why he asked for an extra power.

          1. I’m going to try to dissect the various reasons people don’t like him from what we’ve seen.

            First is his weak character. The girls at his school, his bullies, the goddess, Lily, and heck, even Tomoe. Tomoki is very weak-minded and has let other people pollute his personality and life this whole time. He likes to act and feel big, but that just makes him a weapon anyone can swing around. This sets him as a bit of a foil to Makoto who has power but wants to keep it out of anyone’s hands as opposed to Tomoki’s trying to bring guns to this world. Makoto is indecisive, but Tomoki is recklessly decisive because he lets others decide for him.

            Next is his sense of entitlement. Like you said, he had a very whiney “just leave me alone I never asked for any of this” attitude to the bullying, but wasn’t mentioned to have done anything to resist and indirectly relied on the girls who wanted to get close to him for protection-a dependence from the start. It comes up again when he acts willing to help the goddess, but shows a clear intention to never want to put himself at risk and inwardly imagining future abuses of power once the goddess promises him an easy ride(in his mind, she never actually said it would be easy to him). If things didn’t look like he had an unfair advantage that no one would even resent him for, he was going to refuse and go back. When he met with Hibiki and Tomoe, he acted entirely without courtesy as if they were both already slaves in his harem, treating Hibiki as if she was beneath him and grabbing for Tomoe’s katana like a child with no concept of proper behaviour.

            After that is his hunger for and abuse of power. In the same chapter he was summoned, he also started acting arrogant with looking down on the knights and the like very soon after he was summoned because he was under the impression that he had the power to do so. It’s made very obvious with his immortality gimmick that controls his tactics so predictably Rona has already caught on to it. I would compare it to a bullying victim suddenly getting the upper hand and acting exactly like the bullies afterwards-worse, even. I wonder if he’d murder his perceived bullies if he somehow went back to Earth at this point.

            Finally, we have his recklessness and lack of foresight. This one is pretty obvious. He’s trying to bring guns into this world and he actually used a nuke near his hosting kingdom. There’s also attacking Tomoe for not being in his harem(or was it something else? Either way attempted murder for a slight), rushing headlong into battle just because he’s immortal at that point with no regard to the lives of his allies, and otherwise acting in ways that could be taken as acts of war if it weren’t for his charm eyes.

            Anyone else have anything to add that I might’ve missed?

      4. Out of curiosity, what pain and suffering did Tomoki experience (aside from Sofia crushing him)?

        Having overbearing big sisters?

        Also, do recall that Tomoki’s reaction to rejection is to stab a person with a lightning spear (Tomoe). I doubt he knows how to love.

        1. I think the suffering refers to before he came to this world. Because he was born very handsome, women were all drawn to him and consequently they always brought the ire of jealous men that bullied him.

        2. uhhh did you forget it? or just literally skipped that chapter? anyways he suffered being beaten,bullied,extorted in the original world(just in case you again skimmed on what i just typed without reading it yet again) and if you are going to tell me that being bullied isn’t enough to call suffering then allow me to tell you that you are lucky to have a blessed life without experiencing one because you know nothing about how painful it was than being beaten and extorted

        3. Wait, does Tomoki have sisters? I thought it was just Makoto?

          I think your quote just means that Tomoki was deciding whether or not the goddess’s offer had a low enough risk. Essentially what you do when you pick a game and try to decide whether or not you’ve got enough of a cheat in it to buy it.

      5. I do read that he was bullied. But was that it?

        The boys in his class didn’t like him, but the girls liked him very much.
        But it turns out he’s scared of girls too.

        But rather than do anything, (Get stronger, enlist help) he decides to become a hikkikomori.

        To say that Lily is corrupting his character is hard. His character wasn’t that great to begin with. He’s a chuunibyou hikkikomori who couldn’t do anything without the guarantee of invincibility. Who goes “Stabby-stabby” when the girl says “no.”

        I don’t care about Hajime (from Arifureta), but comparing the two is an insult to Hajime.

        1. It appears that you really lack knowledge nor understanding on the pain of being bullied huh, well to give you a hint “it’s not like i wanted to be liked by every girls in fact i only wanted to love one girl and live a normal school life, why does everyone hated me? why they are being mean? why do they hurt me? is my existence that much of a nuisance? You hated me to the core that much? I didn’t do anything to you all and yet.. why you do all those things to me? AHHHH! i don’t wanted this!! I wanted to stay home and forget everything…. If you still don’t understand these then praise the lord and thank your God that you have lived a fulfilling life without suffering as much as this like Hibiki.

          1. Arguing how much Tomoki suffered as a result of his bullying is pointless. We know it affected him a lot, but we don’t know specifically what happened.

            I just skimmed the chapter and from what I got, what happened on Earth was:
            Girls were attracted to him -> Boys get annoyed at his “dense harem protagonist” personality -> Girls protected him -> Boys get even more angry at him -> Tomoki started connecting him being bullied(unspecified what that bullying exactly consists of) to girls and developed a fear of them that made him try to avoid them -> Boys got even *more* pissed at his actions -> Tomoki becomes a shut-in -> Tomoki’s parents harass him for skipping school.

            It sucks to be him, but his personality was a little “off” from the start(though you could say the same of Hibiki and Makoto too). He was too weak-willed to stand up for himself until he couldn’t even make himself stay in school. He got strung along by the goddess and even during negotiations wanted to be thrown in the world with an unfair edge-the “cheat” of otherworlders in stories. Later on, he was strung along by Lily’s manipulations and ensnared by vices in the other world. By the time he met Tomoe, he was willing to do anything to get whatever he wanted, starting with using other people’s wealth, to using his authority, to straight up murder when none of it works.

            He is fundamentally not a good person in my opinion, and him ending up like that might be somewhat tragic, but I can’t consider him sympathetic. For an easy target analogy, it’s like feeling bad for Hitler when he didn’t make it into art school. You can consider it unfortunate that things happened the way they did, but it doesn’t excuse what happened as a result.

        2. @Blue i do understand that the author’s lack of detail would lead to many kinds of interpretation on his circumstances so i won’t blame you if you think it’s just a little harassment and isolation but even if they are just like that the moral damages it cause would lead to someone ruining their life specially Harassment depending on what they do it would lead to extortion which might be the case as the author implied that it was getting worser

      6. @Zettaizeroblog

        I skimmed through the chapter again, but aside from the mention of being bullied by boys because the girls don’t like him, I didn’t catch any mention of beatings or extortion.

        There’s a wide-spectrum to “bullying”, but are you sure Tomoki experienced the worse end of it?

        1. Did you honestly think that a normal simply teasing or a mere fact that every boys hated would lead to anyone degrading into a coward and would lead him to be a hikkimori , just like what’s the cardinal rule in Psychology says ” There’s always a reason behind all of human behaviors” so i deducted that he experience such things just like the normal bullying everywhere else that destroyed countless lives for their own pathetic satisfaction.

          1. I think it’s exactly because we think it’s just normal teasing, harassment, and isolation that Tomoki seems like kind of a coward. As I’ve pointed out, Tomoki is very weak-willed overall and tends to get carried away when he has power. This behavior does seem like aftereffects of bullying, but he hardly seems like a particularly bad case of it.

            The implications also go backwards. He was cautious with Lily at first, but all it took was a little indulgence from her for him to accept anything she said, and he was picking at Hibiki’s “rudeness” while ignoring anything he was doing. Tomoki has shown himself to be, like a child, sensitive to everything related to himself and insensitive to everyone else. So it’s not that far fetched to think his bullies, while still bullies, were hardly as bad as many other instances of them in stories.

            Citing “There’s a reason behind all human behavior” doesn’t mean that much because humans perceive the significance of events differently and the same cause can be reasons for effects of completely different scales.

        2. @Blue “Being protected by the female students made the treatment of him even worse.”Although it was not described in detail this words tells that his treatment is getting worse if they initially isolating and harassing him already getting worse means the form of bullying is getting on a whole new level that is untolerable…. “Moreover since that instilled the anger of the male students, when he tried to stay away from the girls it increased the hate even more”….People do many hideous things when they are blind by anger and jealously. In Japan their bullying isn’t just mere harassment or isolation it’s normal for them to beat people and extort their money moreso if that particular person is weak-willed and have poor constitution making him an easier target “What is it they want him to do? And so, his attendance to school became fewer.”…. Since his treatment is already getting worse it is already to the point that it is untolerable and he doesn’t want to go to school to escape this suffering

      7. @Zettaizero

        I’m not denying Tomoki was bullied. I’m questioning how badly he was bullied. It’s entirely possible that it’s as bad as you said it was “beaten, extorted” but given his weak character, it is just as possible Tomoki was teased and insulted, and he ran crying home.

        Also, you claim that Tomoki was just so happy to escape his “hellish” life (your words, not the author’s). But to pull a quote from the chapter.

        [[[[[“You said you would be giving me power but, what will you be giving me?”

        For him, that part was important. An RPG that began from level 1 was bothersome. Recently, in RPGs and even SRGs, he has been enjoying them by modding them first. He was warped.]]]]]

        I may dislike Tomoki, but I consider myself objective. If you can find an actual mention of the extent of Tomoki’s bullying, I will revise my stance.

        Otherwise, I think you’re confusing Tomoki’s past with someone else’s.

        1. @Blue “With this, he may be able to cope with most of the situations. If it’s possible he would want a special ability of sorts but it wasn’t good to provoke any animosity. The boy was troubled and couldn’t give an answer.” Yes he jumped in Joy because it was just like what game characters would have but his real objective is this which proves his real nature back then

      8. @Zettaizeroblog

        Also, one more quote from the relevant chapter:

        [[[[[[[[[The boy was secretly jumping with joy in his heart. It was quite the thing. If you began a game with that many special privileges there would definitely be a balance break*. He could feel how much of a power he was being given. <TN: P2W :v”

        With this, he may be able to cope with most of the situations. If it’s possible he would want a special ability of sorts but it wasn’t good to provoke any animosity. The boy was troubled and couldn’t give an answer.

        However, if this is truly no good, then this dream-like situation will just become a dream and tomorrow he will only continue living his unchanging life inside his room so, he came out firmly.]]]]]]

        I'm not sure how you read that, but my interpretation of it is: Tomoki wanted special powers. If he wasn't given any, he would prefer to stay in his original world.

        In other words, he was OK with his life as a shut-in.

      9. @zettaizeroblog
        hajime is a trash, not even an opinion, it’s a fact.
        dont forget that pre-donjon and post donjon hajime are 2 differents characters with close to zero common points
        hajime is basically doing anything he want and treat people like trash, behaving like an edgy kid, he would use his power to take everything he is interested into,he follow the law only when using violence would bring him more loss than gain.
        luckily for the other he isn’t interested in many things, he showed interest only once: for the golem-girl’s artifacts, and what did he do? when she refused to give him, he attacked her and tried to rob her. he is extremly selfish

        The only “good point” you can find for him is “he do it to protect the people he love” but even that is untrue. it would impy that his action are necessary, but he is always overdoing it, he is cruel, and his way of treating people like trash only strike more animosity from other people, putting himself as an enemy and waiting for them to attack first when they don’t tolere his arrongance and disrespect, so he can beat their shits.
        that basically that, hajime is like hiyama, he just love beating the shit out of people and looking down on them, like when he amusingly beat a 10yo child who trew a tantrum.

        If I want to talk more about hajime, I will need to talk about how every single line in arifureta is twisted by the author’s self-fullfishment wish, and every event is to make hajime look cool and badass. it’s at the same level as a fanfic from a teen, I didn’t use “mary sue” lightly.
        ——

        the problem I have with your way of seeing tomoki is you said he “suffered despair, pain”.
        he was a little bullied by the guy because he was too beautiful and attracted girls. I can only hear “it’s so painful to see envious people!”.
        let’s be honest, everybodies have experienced some shits in their lives, and what tomoki endured is clearly not despair. it’s not good, but only an emo kid would thinks it’s despair.

        the problem with hibiki is you think she is hypocrite when she want to help people, because she didn’t meet hardship in the past.
        it don’t make sense.
        why would you need to experience hardship if you want to help people? she want to help people, so she help people. I don’t see where the hypocrisy is.
        you are talking about hibiki’s justice and ideal, if it’s about the demon war, hibiki already accepted the duty to save hyumans from the demon as a hero before the godess transport her, she can’t back off now by saying “the demon just want to live better, they aren’t bad people”. if you talk about the kingdom politics, even the king said the kingdom needed reform because it was rotten.
        or maybe you are just part of the edgy kids who think some shits like “humans are all evil” or “nice people are stupid” or “justice don’t exist”.
        hibiki may not beperfect and still searching for the good answer to her goal, but the only thing tomoki is searching is better pussies to fuck.

        hibiki is good, tomoki and hajime are evil, you can prefer them because they are closer to your personality or self-fullfishment wish, but don’t try to make it look like they are better people than hibiki, they are awful.

        PS: No, I don’t calm my tits.

        1. To be honest, I didn’t mind Arifueta up until the harem. I was even really enjoying it when Hajime was fighting his way through the dungeon early on. Sure, for the rest of the story he was a selfish, self-justified asshole, but I could enjoy that too because I didn’t really have a good opinion of the rest of the world either.
          It’s kinda like those old school cartoons with an escalating conflict between two equally bastardized assholes. You watch Bugs Bunny f*ck with the opera singer for 10 minutes and get a laugh from it.

          Actually, unless I have the definition of Mary Sue wrong, I don’t find it impossible to enjoy a story with a Sue protagonist. Death March is likable for the most part and I personally really enjoy reading “In Another World with a Smartphone” despite the overpowered MC as well. These are a different vein from Arifueta though, since they keep it mostly humorous in slice-of-life tones.

        2. Again that was nothing but your mere opinion as i don’t think such a thing about Hajime, it’s not even a fact as it’s not what the majority thinks and the fact that it had a light novel and have a manga proves that it was a popular series compare to whatever you are thinking.

      10. @Zettaizeroblog

        So basically: You made it up. Don’t try and Donald Trump me. Just because you keep repeating the same thing (beaten up, extorted) doesn’t make it a fact.

        I agree that everything has a reason, but people are different and have different breaking points. For instance, if a person suffers from social anxiety, possibly people just looking at him wrong might make him a shut-in.Conversely, there are characters in manga/anime who get beaten up, raped, etc. and still go out on their daily lives.

        So the question then becomes, what kind of person is Tomoki? How tough is he, mentally? Well, we have a few clues to his personality:
        1) “if I can’t cheat my way through it, it’s not worth my time.” – Indicative of someone who gives up quickly, if it’s not presented to him on a silver plate
        2) “If the goddess won’t give him a cheat, he’ll stay as a shut-in” – indicative that life isn’t that “hellish.”
        3) HIs parents are letting him be a shut-in. I don’t care if they’re blaming him, that’s a sign of spoiling.
        4) About half the population of his class liked him. A lot. That’s more potential support than most people get. And they manage just fine.

        Again, it is POSSIBLE that Tomoki experienced all that you said, and maybe worse. But given how the author has described him, I think it is more likely he gave up on society long before it reached that point.

        If anything, I think Tomoki has actually gotten BETTER over the course of the series, since the time he met Tomoe. Because apparently he started to train seriously. And during the fight with Sofia, he withstood the torture. And he made sure to try and get his harem to safety before using a nuke. (Even if it was for selfish reasons, it would still be better than I expected of him)

      11. @Zettaizeroblog

        I read that part you quoted. It reinforces my statement:

        Tomoki wants life on easy mode.

        That quote you posted shows that Tomoki was worried about making the goddess angry by asking for special powers. And then in the quote later (which I posted earlier), he decided that it was worth risking making the goddess angry because he felt if he couldn’t get a special power, he would rather live as a shut-in

        Objectively, if your parents are wiling to let you be a NEET, and you don’t have to pay for your food, board, or videogames, your life is pretty sweet.

        1. He only wants an easy life out of danger as like many normal humans who live their life in peace would be sent in danger on a war of races yet as this also proves that despite wanting so he is a kind of guy that would care the other party’s opinion before trying to say what he wants

          1. Err…what? Tomoki wasn’t really acting out of kindness when he met with the goddess. I mean, there was a brief moment of “I want to help”, but it was excused with claims that he was too weak.
            As Tomoki understood it, it was a chance to become a game character and he thought it would be a better life. He was held back by a fear of things getting too dangerous for him and wouldn’t have agreed until the goddess sweetened the deal.
            And while that was going on, it seemed like the goddess was manipulating him and taking the lead in the negotiation the whole time. She showed off her divine beauty, made a plea for help(conveniently leaving info out), and threw in another cheat before Tomoki had a chance to keep asking questions.

      12. @Zettaizeroblog

        I won’t argue about whether Arifureta is good or not. I think it’s a matter of personal preference.

        But something being popular does not mean something is good. It just means ENOUGH people like it to make it worth money.

        Have you ever heard of Twilight? And sparkly vegetarian vampires? There are books, comics, AND movies about them.

      13. @Zettaizeroblog

        I did see that quote about the bullying and how it was escalating. I also know that bullying in Japan can be severe. (It can also be severe in the US, but that’s not the point.)

        But just because it CAN be bad, doesn’t mean it WAS.

        There’s a manga, Skip Beat. I dunno if you have ever heard of it. But there was a character in it who was in a similar situation to Tomoki. The main character, Kyoko, was liked by the most popular boy in the class. So ALL the girls hated her. And they bullied her. They started off by ignoring her, then as she got older, they escalated to stealing her school shoes. Then they escalated again to stealing her desk.

        (And before you say that there’s a difference between bullying from boys and bullying from girls, if we are to judge by anime/manga, girl bullies are MEANER.)

        Again, I don’t know if Tomoki experienced beatings/extortion. But just because the author says “escalation” does not mean it reached that point. Which is why I was saying we have to look at the signs of what kind of character Tomoki has.

      14. @Zettaizeroblog

        I’m fine with Tomoki not wanting to be in danger. That’s perfectly natural. My point is that it is contradicting your earlier statement of Tomoki’s “hellish” life.

        Also, I read the part about his parents “condemning” Tomoki for being a shut-in. Boo-Effing-Hoo. They are paying for his food/board/internet/videogames. That is spoiling him, no matter how you put it. Show me the part where his parents force him to work in a metal-factory like they do in Taiwan, THEN I’ll consider his life hard.

        1. While I’m personally of the opinion that Tomoki is spoiled from his personality, I’d like to point out that just because his parents supported his lifestyle, doesn’t mean they were kind parents.

          For one, forcing him to go out to work might not have been possible either by his resistance, capability, or some other reason. For another, just because they spoiled him in that way doesn’t mean they couldn’t be emotionally abusive, especially to Americans by Eastern standards.

          I would almost be more inclined to believe his angry parents did more to Tomoki emotionally than the bullies because “condemn” seems much stronger than “escalation”.

      15. @Psychronia

        I will allow that parents can be emotionally abusive. I’m not sure what kind of resistance Tomoki could put up though, that doesn’t involve crying and whining. (He was already described as not that physically capable)

        I am hesitant to make judgments based on word-choice, however, because this is a translation. “Condemning” might also just mean “fed-up”

        1. welp since there is so little detail on Tomoki’s background so it is understandable that everyone has their own interpretation on it i told mine already so i will leave this topic and wait for the carnage Tomorrow >:D….. AHHHH MY BRAIN TREMBLES!!!

      16. @zettaizeroblog
        Hajime is an asshole, I have tens of proof of that and you have none to prove he isn’t. not an opinion but a fact.
        If you didn’t see it, it’s because of how arifureta is written.
        I read arifureta after reading tate no yuusha (first WN I read) by following the tag [betrayal]. in tate no yusha, the narrator is naofumi, so the pov would mostly go in naofumi’s favor, but when naofumi showed some cruelty or selfishness, it would be shown with one way or another that the people around him disagree, and if he go too far, raftalia would warn him. even with an internal pov, his bads sides were shown as bad.

        Now, in arifureta the pov is from an extern narrator (or omniscent?), well basically he isn’t a character and supposed to be more neutral. but the whole story is turned to make hajime look good.
        -when hajime treat people like trash, absolutly disrespectful of all other people, hit them or insult them, and he is respected and idolized in return
        -when he is violent, there is always some justifications like “they attacked first” or “it’s necessary” or “it was the best thing he could do” or “it’s to protect the people he like”, while he is over-using violence and is cruel
        -the author try hard to make some guy absolute jerk to justify the use of hajime superiors powers, like the time when he come in a guild, and everyones instantly stand up to beat him because he is surrended by beautiful girls. seriously, it don’t make sense and is too much forced, everthing is always too forced to make hajime look cool, badass and good, and to make all others people either jerks or dumb

        this is what is disgusting in arifureta, everything is always twisted to justify or glorify hajime’s bad sides.
        same things for the others caracters (especially males because no males in the harem)
        -kouki: a revenge against the “cool kid” attracting people, everytime he appear the author find a way to shame him and make him look like stupid. the author had so much grudge against the “cool kid” that him goes as far as making kouki envious of hajime. rather than seeing his justice and altrism as a virtue and develop it through experiences, it was only a target of mockeries by some edgy kids
        -hiyama: revenge against his bully. when hiyama couldn’t sleep at night ,from the narator “even thought he think highly of himself, he is a coward”. it was unecessary, but just a personal attack to all bulies.

        there is still many things to say, but you understood what I mean. I read it only until the mist donjon, so I care not to use some massives plot holes that may be explained at the end I didn’t read.

        you can read it like Psychronia, like a funny story, but it wasn’t what the author intended. it wouldn’t have some much build up around hajime, and around the treason, around the hardship in the donjon. it was supposed to be a dark and mature story, close to a tragedy, but yet it was at best “funny”.
        it’s like saying twilight is good because “lol, vampires look like disco balls rofl”. it’s not appreciating the book but just making fun of it.

        I don’t think you can refute all that, well if hajime is as good I you say, you should be able to do it tho.

        1. @redconel It appears you lack knowledge to discern fact and opinion so here’s the link for you to understand http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/factsheet/en06opin-l1-f-what-is-fact-and-opinion … The fact that there’s an adaptation of manga and light novel already debunks whatever you are trying to say as the majority of people liked the character of Hajime and the developmens of heroines surrounding him which proves that the majority doesn’t think he is an asshole and is nothing but your mere opinion

          1. Um…Huh? He didn’t say anything about Arifueta not being popular. It being popular or having girls be all over him doesn’t debunk anything. Those are facts, but neither do anything to support your opinion that the writing is good.

            Redcolonel was making two claims as far as I understood: Hajime is an asshole and the author wrote the story for wish-fulfillment.

            I don’t really see how the first can be considered a fact as he asserts, but I do agree Hajime acts like an asshole most of the time. The statement itself can only be considered an opinion though, since whether or not someone is acting like an asshole can only be considered an opinion.

            The second can be asserted as a fact though, since it can be either supported or disproven. Given what redcolonel cited, it’s being supported in his claim’s favor. Actually, what you said about the heroines liking him is pretty good evidence.
            They’re not real people, they’re all limited in how they can behave by the author, and the author clearly doesn’t find Hajime’s behaviour dislikable at all. In a real setting where the girls all act and feel the same up until meeting Hajime, who knows how they’d really act. But chances are they wouldn’t be in favor of fawning all over him.

            To use an earlier easy target, we have Twilight. It’s popular, but that doesn’t disprove the claim that the main characters are terrible people. The female lead is being fawned over and fought for by ridiculously attractive men, but that doesn’t mean she’s attractive.
            I can’t prove that it’s factually a terrible story, but I can prove it fails to meet storytelling requirements by showing specific examples and I can point out major flaws in its narrative as a result.
            (To be honest, I don’t care enough about Twilight to hate on it besides some light teasing, but one grievance I have against it is turning a formerly cool word, Twilight, and utterly ruining its ability to be taken seriously.)

      17. @zettaizeroblog

        a fact is something that can be checked and backed up with evidences

        -hajime is selfish: don’t care about the suffering of others, said by himself
        -arrogant and disrespecful of other people: he always look down on people, always us an aggresive way of talking, and like to degrade people. the way he treated shia and mio when they met, the way he talked to the empire soldiers, the teachers ecort, the way he “transport” people, dragged mio by the feet, often drag people by the neck like the princess, dragged the emperor by the neck and trown him (lel so badass!), the matter with him beatting a 10yo that trew a tantrum
        -chose violence first and is excessivelly cruel: tried to rob golem-girl of her artefacts, a country forbidding the entry (demi-human country) rather than choosing to discretly infiltrate it, he just walked straight in the middle with killing the patrol that would want to stop him in mind. want to infiltrate a castle, can easily do it with his godlike power but it’s easier to just torture a garde to gain some intels.

        I think there is enough evidence to prove that hajime is an asshole
        even Psychronia think he is a selfish, self-justified asshole.

        an opinion is based on belief or view.

        people like hajime because he was weak and bullied and so they can easily see themself into him. after that he become strong and independant, he can do everything he want because no one can stop him, he act the way he want without a care of other, girls flock around him. hehave everything he want. he is a wet dream of the fans,
        and they didn’t realises that he started from a weak good-hearted guy that have enough courage to stand against stronger people for the sake of other
        and become a selfish asshole, strong but will not bother helping the weak in need even if he had nothing to lose, using violence to gain everything, and an edgelord that keep repeating “kill kill kill” like a broken record the whole story

        people like hajime not because he isn’t an asshole but because they become hard imagining being him. hajime not being an asshole isn’t a fact based on the evidence of people liking him, it’s based an a biaised feeling of self-fullfishment wish and they basically want to behave like a selfish asshole without having to deal with consequences

        like blue said with twilight example, a popular book don’t mean it’s a good book.

        congratulation, you’ve played yourself

    5. well, IMO, the biggest difference between tomoki and hibiki which is also the reason why i like tomoki more than hibiki is that how the see the goal of “save the world”
      hibiki accepts it as her duty because she has the power
      while tomoki simply wants to fulfill his desire, and saving the world is the way to fulfill it
      on that note, i prefer tomoki because his act as human is more logical
      “it is because you want something thats why you use power” By: Hajime, (lol)
      well, i agree that tomoki is coward, run away from battle, and only think of himself while hibiki is like….. the justice, lol
      but, i am sure that if hibiki still acts that way, she will eventually clash with Makoto, because again, she will think of it as her duty to “tame” makoto, while tomoki, he will certainly clash with makoto due to the case with tomoe

      1. i think you are right, basic human emotions may lead us to want everything for us, so you could certainly say that his way of thinking is more “human” like, but i dont see tomoki as wanting to save the world in anyway, i think he is just living like he was the hero of his own video game and i dont think that is “every human” like way of thinking, that is more child like.

      2. I can totally see where your coming from and also hibiki clashing with makoto isnt too far-fetched either. Hibiki will no doubt put Makoto on a huge guilt trip and also try and snatch Mio from him also with the same “save the world” stuff. hmmm but if Makoto were to ever clash with the heroes he’ll most likely pull off some conquerors haki shit and simply just suppress them, makoto is too kind to lay a finger on hibiki and theirs also the request from tsukuyomi-sama also. from where im viewing the story right now it seems like Makoto just can not simply get along with the hyuman side right now hence i wouldnt be suprised if hibiki doesnt know of his real identity till late game.

      1. and when did exactly i did that, lol
        all i said is i like him better, others are just my reason why like him
        and up to this chapter, i still cant see anyone as the villain, even the demon race, considering that the world is under that Bug

    8. *drink my coffee and eating some pop corn first*
      the way how everyone interpret my statement “am i the only one who likes tomoki rather than hibiki?” really got me here, lol
      how can you guys interpret it as “tomoki is better than hibiki” when i clearly stated “likes tomoki than hibiki”
      it is so funny in many ways, hahaha
      my comparison of the two is the reason why i like tomoki better and NOT why tomoki is better than hibiki

      @redcolonel
      “-when you say “for his harem sake” I hear “for his night pleasures sake”
      whats wrong with that, lol

      anyways i just like him rather than hibiki, it does not mean tomoki is BETTER than her
      also, i don’t hate naive character, in fact, with no naive character, the story wont be fun anyway
      just like kouki in arifureta, Eveam in konjiki, shinjou in owari no cronicle
      but if have to choose between the two, i will choose the “straight forward” side rather than the naive one, lol

      btw, anyone want some popcorn
      Here catch *throw 1 ton bag of popcorn*

      1. *intercept a bag with a dive*
        ok, my mistake, I admit it. well, at least I kill time with another useless internet fight.

        “what’s wrong with that?”
        Ok, my view on it:
        Tomoki is a guy that a godess asked help, and proposed the role of hero, and to save humanity.
        he accepted, receved special powers, artifacts from the godess, and powerfull magic tool, a team (that he make a harem), social standing (political and religious) from hyumans. and the price for that was the responsability to save hyumankind from the demon’s invasion.
        He accepted the duty of “hero”, and in that way he had to give his sense of self as a common human. he is expected to prioritize hyumans over himself at leaast until he completed his duty.

        Now what’s wrong with privileging his night pleasure over hyumankind, it’s basicaly running away from his responsabilities, making him a coward, a liar that didn’t abide by the contract tha he accepted and the privileges and power he got, basically a traitor to his duties.

        it would be like saying to like a thief rather more than a knight, because the thief would protect only his own interest.
        I say it like that, but some niggers glorifies the thug-life and spit on cops because they are cops. it’s probably close to this way of thinking.

        recently some edgy kids consider being nice not a virtue but a sickness, and a proof of stupidity. same as they bash the characters having a big sense of justice calling them shit like “justiceboner idiot” and glorify selfish assholes like arifureta.
        I still don’t understand seeing how the new manga “boku no hero academia” is popular, that would be their nightmare, but maybe they are just a very small minority, or maybe they are just hypocrites…

        for the last point, I am not sure to understand, I don’t see how “straight forward” can be the opposite of “naive”, care to explain please?

      2. no, i dont mean straight forward and naive as two of opposite sides
        i mean straight forward toward pursuing their desire like tomoki and naive like hibiki, only that, lol
        i prefer the likes of tomoki, as simple as that, lol

        oh i forgot the drink, here
        *throw a gallon of cola*

      3. *catch the cola with great care as if it was a baby* thanks
        okay, that’s what you meant.

        I see hibiki as someone with a great sense of self-sacrifice, and helping other is her desires (though I can’t be sure because we didn’t follow enough the 2 heroes to dig deep in their characters), she can have selfless desires, her goal is clear: make the world great again, but she is hesitant on what it mean and how to do it. we say that hibiki is naive because before being summoned, she was perfect, excelling in every area, she never knew hardship, failure and maybe evil from other people.

        on the other hand tomoki isn’t interest in saving the world, it’s only a way to gain power and satify his own desire (harem and other?). but I find him very naive, he always expects things go his way.
        in fort stella he didn’t think about loosing as a possibillity and put a burden on both armies by attacking at night, so he wouldn’t risk his life. at the same time hibiki already met her first failure against the black calamity, and already started to change.
        when they fall in the trap and shit hit the fan, tomoki privilegied his own life in escaping letting both armies behind, and when he lost his power (immortality) he was shitless scared. normal tho from a 15 teen that still hasn’t understood how deep in shit he was with this war, reality hit him like a bus.
        after that he got mad when he couldn’t unsheaths tomoe’s katana, and didn’t bear tomoe’s rejection and bashing, and tried to kill her.
        look like he changed since that time, but we didn’t saw enough to judge

        we will probably have a better view of their current personnality after their meeting with makoto

    9. Yes. Hibiki is not as big of an ass, she does not show complete disregard for human life, and she does not rely on a magic that can impair a persons free will. His harem did not begin to follow him because they wanted too. They did so because of his magic powers he received from the goddess that make anything he says nearly impossible for most people to deny or refuse.

      Hibiki has no such power which meant that the adventurers joined her completely of the own free will despite knowing the risks. Hibiki’s indecisiveness can be expected. Just like it might be expected for a soldier to a bit indecisive tasked with defending an area of strategic importance who finds themselves coming under sudden enemy attack in the middle of the night while being outnumbered, having any potential reinforcements too far away to make it in a reasonable amount of time, and having the guy in charge of communications say that the comms are offline making contact with them or anyone else impossible in the first place. However also like a soldier in that situation Hibiki could not remain indecisive for too long and she didn’t. She prioritized getting her allies to retreat and evacuate the civilians since the battle was taking place in a city and tried using herself as a decoy. In the battle for Stella fort when the goddess’s influence was removed by the enemies new invention she realized that allied forces where put into a disadvantage as they are so used to it that they do not know how to fight well without it. Despite this she persevered and even engaged in combat with an enemy general who held immense fighting prowess.

      As for Tomaki…. When he realized the same thing he could only think about his magical powers he received from her being inaccessible. Such as the one that made him immortal after the moon rises which is way he suggested doing a night raid, and the one that affects the mind and impairs a persons free will that he relies on so much. So without a second thought he fled the battlefield. When his harem party openly questioned this decision he just became even more anxious to escape the battlefield. His battle with the dragon slayer further proves my point. Only a fool nukes himself in the middle of a battlefield containing both allies and enemies. It’s even more foolish of him to have done it when the battle was taking place in his own nations capital! Making sure his increasingly useful harem party is out of range so they alone can be spared does not make up for that.

    10. The Moment Tomoki used that CharmEye of his indiscriminately left and right … The Bullying or whatever his backstory is become invalid for me

      Kinda … someone had a gun on the table, When MC/Makoto only point it at imminent threat … Tomoki Point it at anyone around him.

      IRL, In My Country … There’s a National level case that a girl, rape victim, raped repreatedly by her uncles & one day she ended killing a kid of her close neighbor using kitchen knife.

      Sad Circumstances = Yeah.
      Justified in Killing the kid = I don’t think so.

      Tomoki is similliar to that Girl IMO.

      Both of them unable or can’t or don’t want or lack balls to resist wrongdoing directed toward him/her … Ended into abuse of power(Tomoki)/tool(Victim Girl).

    1. it lacks strings attached to the two pieces, well… its looks close but im sure what hibiki’s wearing is much more daring, im sure it got more skin exposure on her

  34. I really love this work, soon after I finish read the manga adapt I read the whole WN chapter in less a week (it’s because I had free time you know)
    Thanks for the translate

  35. So when they use the rings to cancel the goddess power what happens to makoto? He goes back to talking in japanese. That was his only power lol

  38. Thanks for the translation~

    Man, the author was just all over the place with this chapter, really sloppy. Had he fixed it with the opening of her naivete, to her battle, then the results of how everything summed up compared to the ridiculousness of how Makoto is just mopping the floor with Io, it’d look proper structurally in the story flow.

    Really messy story structure indeed :l

  40. This author is kinda weird. Usually, not even in Japan one would think that a Lich is equal or below a Minotaur or a Centaur, actually the opposite. But here we got both of those species thinking low of a “Lich”, who’s actually an even more powerful being… Demi-Lich perhaps? No, it’s Japan, meaning it’s based on JRPG, so an Overlord? Anyway, “Larva” is going full NE next chapter…

  45. The next chapter is quite long.So it might take a bit more time.Just a heads up for the impatient readers. (^ー^)ｖ

    (p.s I’m one of the said readers lol)

  49. As always thanks for the chapther regokai sensei, well shiki finally got to loose some steam in this chapther, but as cool and awsome that he showed himself I was just thinking the implication that such a person guets toyed dfaily by Tomoe and Mio. That’s a scary though rigth there.

  52. Oh, nice! Thanks for the chapter!

    Shiki will kill those guys in a couple sentences. Hibiki gave all her impressions in this chapter. Tomoe is busy making a trench. So I expect a Makoto/Mio mix next chapter! Or maybe even Io? Honestily, I have no problem at all with PV chapters, I find them quite enjoyable, in fact.

    P.S. “Only slightly. It is more like, I have have a past connection with that material” (Shiki) – Two “have”s here.

  54. You seem to be getting an impressive amount of comments these day considering probably only 1%-10% reading this will do so it shows just how many people are currently enjoying this even with cliff after cliff.

    The first half of the chapter was weird felt like it repeated the same viewpoint but worded it differently about Makato’s arrival.

    Well it was quite fun either way, though I did half expect Shiki to instant kill the enemies casually from within the barrier.

  57. The way of thinking and fighting style of the adventurers that came with us from “Limia” have also been a good influence to the Kingdom’s army.

    # is’nt adventurers that came with hibiki from tsige?

  59. Thanks for the good work!

    Can’t wait for more. I’m a childish person who gets excited about OP characters showing off after all. I won’t be satisfied until both sides understand the greatness of Makoto properly.

  60. So…

    The Audience Room has a Support Barrier? Funny how no one mentioned it before. WTF does it support anyways? And how do Hibiki and Shiki “use” it?

    Why is Hibiki’s fight done as a recap? Telling the audience how her fight went AFTER we know the outcome completely robs it of any tension and is a missed opportunity to build up to the climactic fight between Makoto and Io.

    When someone descends from the sky surrounded by golden light, it’s pretty obvious at this point that they’re sent by the Goddess. Io and Hibiki shouldn’t be wondering if the Goddess sent them, they should be wondering who the hell these minions of the Goddess are.

    Hibiki says that Io attacks her with elemental damage, but wtf does that even mean? Did he punch her or something? Use Hadouken? How can you recall a fight scene without talking about how the fighters move?!

    Speaking of fight scenes, fights in many LNs resemble JRPGs where “damage” is taken, not wounds, “HP” lost instead of blood and “debuffs” gained rather than crippling injuries sustained. They come across as a game rather than the life and death struggle that they should be. There’s no tension; pain and fear are mere inconveniences. Healing is stupidly underrated, depicted as a simple HP restoration effect, rather than the awesome blood-restoring, flesh-knitting, bone-setting Awesome that it is.

    The Minotaur and Centaur apparently were involved in the fight with Hibiki, but the author doesn’t mention them until now? They’re kinda easy to notice. We also have no idea that Bredda got his arse kicked by the duo until we’re told he’s flat on his back. Oh, hai gais!

    The two taurus’ also saw Shiki murder 4 of their comrades like trash mobs in an MMO. Yet they don’t even mention that nor do they take precautions against him. And here I thought daemons were all tactical and shit.

    Lots of pointless observations to go with the missing details. Oh, look – the Support Barrier prevents damage to the Audience Room floor 😛 Hibiki’s levelled-up sword is filled with RAEG.

    WTF are LN editors doing? Japan is a country that holds literature in high esteem. Surely the editors and readers would have spotted the problems.

    1. In the order asked:

      Support Barrier? How do Hibiki and Shiki “use” it?
      Hyumans, probably; the hero party specifically. I’m not sure Shiki is using it so much as he put down his own protective field, put the hero party in it, and told them to stay there, like a good escort quest target.

      Why is Hibiki’s fight done as a recap?
      Presumably to add a frame of reference for the fight between Io and Makoto. Also, this servers as the payoff for all of those chapters we spent on Hibiki’s growth. We see she met her goal of becoming strong enough to face the Io of the previous battle, but she’s not quite strong enough to face the Io of this battle. Unless you’re asking about why is it stuck in part 5 of Asora’s movements, and not while Raidou was in the Academy? Wouldn’t that feel disjointed, to go from Academy cleanup, to a battlefield in Limia, back to Raidou’s mopup operation?

      When someone descends from the sky surrounded by golden light, it’s pretty obvious at this point that they’re sent by the Goddess.
      The Devil and Larva were dumped out at 10,000 feet and they quickly wrapped themselves up in a bubble of darkness before hitting the ground, so the order of events sounds like: pillar of light -> nothing -> bubble of darkness -> Devil & Friend. So you have a pair that may or may not have arrived by light pillar, claiming to be sent by the Goddess, but professing to side with the demons’ cause. That’s some mixed messaging right there.

      WTF does elemental damage even mean?
      I’m assuming standard RPG elemental damage/effects mechanics here. It’s a lot to give the author and honestly I’m with you on this one, but we DO need to get to the main attraction, so all we really need to know about the gauntlets is that they put Io out of reach of Hibiki, but probably won’t impact the Devil’s fight.

      What about other LNs?
      It’s hard to comment on other LNs without knowing which LNs you’re talking about. The only general statement I can give is if the setting’s JRPG, you should probably expect JRPG.

      The author doesn’t mention Minotaurs and Centaurs until now?
      They’re part of the mixed race troop force of Io, apparently. Hibiki didn’t mention them in the battle recap because she’s not worried and they probably weren’t actively interfering with her fight with Io.

      The two taurus’ also saw Shiki murder 4 of their comrades like trash mobs in an MMO. Yet they don’t even mention that nor do they take precautions against him.
      Accept their existence in showing Shiki’s growth, and move on. That said, Larva did feel the need to use four of his rings, so it’s quite possible they did take precautions against no ring Larva. Failing that observation, Larva was attacking them through their pride so they were angry enough to lash out without thinking.

      WTF are LN editors doing?
      Not editing WN’s, that’s for sure.

      1. On a completely unrelated note, “Devil and Friend” sounds like a sitcom I could totally get into.

        I’m pretty sure the ambushers Shiki killed were much weaker than the duo, so their perception of Shiki’s power was accounted for, but flawed.

      2. Thanks for the reply. Something you’ll probably notice is that the reader is often asked to fill in the blanks for no good reason. “Probably”, “maybe”, “I think” are not things either of us should be saying when explaining what happened.

        Having Hibiki enter the Audience Room for the first showdown, then have Makoto enter AFTER her fight, then have her recap the fight is not good narrative flow. A simpler and more intuitive approach would be to have Hibiki and Co. enter, fight Io, show Io kicking her arse despite her levelup in class and gear, THEN have Makoto enter and make a mockery of both Io’s and Hibki’s strength. Enhance this effect by depicting the Hibiki vs. Io fight as painful for the Hibiki party as possible (e.g. smashed furniture, broken bones, flying bodies, gushing blood, screams, shouts and groans). “Show, don’t tell”.

        The LN made it very clear that the golden light is associated with the Goddess’ power. It’s why Sofia and Lancer immediately attacked Makoto/Raidou. If it didn’t, I’d agree with you there. So instead of wondering if they’re working for the Goddess, they should be wondering why the Goddess sent such weirdos.

        The thing about the elemental damage attacks is that there’s no connection between them and their effects, let alone how Io applies them. “Wind with earth; my movements were restricted.
        Water with fire; my attacks were weakened.” What? He’s supposed to be smacking her around with his fists clad in elemental power, right?

        Regarding the TaurBros I went back and checked; Makoto does notice them, but that’s it. Moreover, the TaurBros teamed up on Bredda while everyone else focused on Io. But if Bredda is down, the party’s flank is exposed and that’s kind of a big deal. But again, nothing; things keep getting mentioned without context. It’s like playing a computer game with serious pop-in issues.

        Again, if the LN didn’t already make such a big deal about how tactically savvy the daemons were, I could ignore it. If the TaurBros were are smart as the author made them out to be, they should have realized by the time Makoto engaged Io that the only thing they could do to Shiki is deny him victory with their lives, an all-out suicidal attack on Hibiki. But they aren’t written that way.

        1. Yeah, I think it’s this author’s style to leave the fine descriptions up to the readers and leave gaps for events to be filled in by POV though. For better or for worse, it seems to be intentional. When I reread the story, sometimes I get a whole new picture with knowledge of future events.

          Personally, I’m fine with it because I prefer works forcing me to think more than to think less. But I can see it being kind of tiring to read for some people. Take the elemental thing, for example. I didn’t find any problem at all, because I automatically filled in the blanks and assumed it meant Io could use those gauntlets as catalysts to cast magic, with Earth magic sealing Hibiki’s Wind augmented speed and Water magic weakening her Fire magic specialization.
          Again, I can see the problem with not saying things explicitly and considering me having to say “assumed” a bad thing.

      3. Look, I know half of my previous response boils down to “unimportant details are unimportant,” but I do love these types of discussions.

        Hibiki lured Io to the Audience Room because she thought it gave her a tactical advantage. What’s the advantage? It . . . has a supporting magic field! Now we established more growth between old Hibiki and this one. Before, she was ambushed by Io and stood her ground on a battlefield of his choosing. Now she’s drawing him in to a battlefield she picked. The major theme of growth is reinforced. Does knowing how the supporting field works help progress the narrative? If you found out the field lifts and supports to reduce shoulder fatigue, would that enrich your reading?

        The biggest problem I have with your light pillar argument is there is an unspecified passage of time between the pillar and the pair. Skydivers take roughly 30 seconds to travel from 10,000 feet to 5,500 feet, where they deploy their chutes. Most of that time is spent at terminal velocity. Assuming Earth standard gravity, Earth standard atmosphere, having the Goddess teleport them to 10,000 feet above the ground, Makoto and Shiki taking no measures to slow their decent, and no horizontal drift, (all a lot to assume, but it gives the shortest interval and strongest connection between the pillar and sphere,) that’s almost a full minute between the pillar of light and the ball of darkness. It possibly took longer than that, since Makoto had time enough to talk to Shiki, order an invasion, make the ball of darkness, and get a working disguise going. All while he’s in the air.

        Second problem is that the Goddess isn’t the only major power in this world. Tomoe says Root can pull off the same light pillar teleportation. The Devil is seen traveling by light pillar, but he’s is obviously not aligned with the Goddess what with that whole wanton slaughter of everyone thing.

        Third problem is both of our arguments assume Io or Hibiki saw the light pillar. There’s no indication that actually happened. Rona has conflicting reports about it, but she’s not present. Sofia saw the pillar, but she’s in a different country. The only thing we get is Hibiki being confused over a Power Ranger and a skeleton walking around like they were going to a Halloween party. Io’s wondering why a white golem and a lich are walking up to him in the middle of a battle.

        The gauntlets. I’ve already agreed it would be nice to get an explanation of what they’re doing, but the details ultimately don’t matter to the narrative. Hibiki could have won if Io didn’t have the gauntlets, but he did, so here comes the Devil to save the day.

        Finally with the ‘taurus guys, I think it’s unfair to say they should have known Larva would suddenly power up before them just because he’s in the protagonist’s party. Even if they were expected to be that genre savvy, you’re just going to have to accept that not every army grunt is going to be a chess master.

        Honestly, I’m mostly interested in how to best rearrange the events of these chapters. Do you remove the Mio and Tomoe section from ③, and add it back in sometime after the Devil’s battle? That seems like the easiest solution, but it delays the conclusion of that story offshoot. Do you move the whole Hibiki part to just before Makoto interacts with the Goddess? It makes the most sense from a timeline perspective, but you’d have to move Tomoki’s section along with it to prevent things from feeling disjointed. Do you push back Makoto’s landing to have a chapter dedicated to Hibiki and Io squaring off against each other? I don’t see any significant character growth for either character. Hibiki has her new goal (Io + gauntlets), and hasn’t encountered any major loss, which is all we really need to know about someone not directly connected to Makoto/Raidou/Devil. I look forward to her losing to Io + gauntlets + shin guards in the future. The battle might give a nice opportunity to flesh out the other members of her party, but these updates are called “Participation of the Devil,” and he’s spent more updates being in the air than on the ground.

        To be honest, I think I have the exact opposite complaint as you do when it comes to this pacing. We went from the student tournament, directly to the variant incident, headlong into a dick waving competition with the Goddess, straight into the struggle of the heroes, intermingled with Asora’s invasion, and I’m already getting battle fatigued. I’m battle fatigued and we have yet to get to the Devil punching out Io and Sofia. I know the latter half of the variant updates were to act as the buffer between both sets of fights, but none of the plot threads have been resolved since the tournament arc. So I’m fatigued, and you’re fatigued reading this. Let’s move on to what’s really important:

        @Psychronia well, someone’s going to have to come up with a theme song now. Not me though, I’m terrible at those kind of things.

        1. A sitcom theme or a Waka White Ranger theme? I asked for some henshin themes last chapter and got some, but I haven’t had a chance to go through them yet.

          I’m not that good at creating lyrics either, so half-hoping someone will take it up before I stop procrastinating.

      4. A “Support Barrier” is by definition a barrier (something that prevents things from moving across it) that grants the user some sort of advantage. Shiki’s observation of the barrier reinforcing the floor implies that the entire Audience Chamber is surrounded by the barrier. But if that’s true then it’s already useless – Io is already inside it. So this part needs a bit of explanation, especially since both Hibiki and Shiki make use of it somehow.

        “Does knowing how the supporting field works help progress the narrative?” It had better. Otherwise, the author is wasting our time with half-assed writing. Again, it’s yet another subversion of the “Chekov’s Gun” trope. Let me give you an example. Hibiki using the Support Barrier can showcase her cunning in using her familiarity with the place to full effect. Shiki using the Support Barrier demonstrates how much more of a badass he is; a complete newcomer reading the battlefield in an instant.

        The golden light business is more a matter of public knowledge. There are exceptions, but there is no reason for either Io or Hibiki to know such matters or assume as such. But then again, there are too many holes in the whole (lol) narrative to know what was going on in their heads. Too many times the reader has to rely only on what is said to know wtf is going on.

        Black Io + Gauntlets + Powerup is one of those pointless details that make me wonder what the author is trying to achieve. So many important details are missed and stuff just pops up, yet the author saw fit to go into detail about something so trivial. Look, either just say Io kicked Hibiki’s arse and be done with it, or go into more detail about wtf was happening. Unintentional “Red Herrings” like this are bad writing.

        1. Huh? Chekov’s Gun is a literary concept, yes. But it doesn’t have to be followed like some sort of law. The reason the concept exists is in itself not a technique for foreshadowing, but the address of an inherent limitation in writing. Something that’s mentioned early on in a story almost must be important, because if it isn’t, the author could have written about something else more relevant. Otherwise, they end up either making a future situation that involves a previously unmentioned item that seems to appear out of nowhere, or filling the novel up with unnecessary information.

          I’m personally fine with the latter and it seems the author is doing this so far, but let’s continue with the concept first. Because of this, the problem becomes that anything the author mentions ends up having some relevance just because it was mentioned. The story becomes one of those kid drawing guides where readers just have to draw from hint-dot to hint-dot and it becomes more predictable. Example: That one kid in Jurassic Park knows Gymnastics, so she *must* use it to help out the situation in some way because why else would that skill be mentioned?

          I don’t really care if authors don’t demonstrate Chekov’s Gun-in fact, I think I might prefer they don’t do more than drop some minor details that draw subtle connections in the world they build. In this one, it’s not like the story is some mystery novel for us to decipher, it’s a journey by Makoto as he interacts with a whole other world in ways we can both hate and love. Events are always happening, especially around wherever Kuzunoha treads, but we don’t have to know about all of them, even if they’ll come up in time. We didn’t need to hear about Makoto finding some thought transmission blocker before Rona’s variant incident or about his ability to use a hit-all un-jamming spell before he’s asked to do it. It’s fine if we’re along for the ride.

          Also, what do you mean by red herring? Do you mean descriptions that don’t lead to anywhere? Because I interpret it as briefly mentioning “this happened, this exists” without needing to go into additional detail.

      5. It is kinda problematic when you have three separate narratives in the same arc. It’s hard to do and you’d better know what you’re doing or the audience will start to feel fatigue. George Lucas tried it in the Phantom Menace, with predictable results. Keep the perspective on Makoto and keep the other fights in the background.

      6. Chekov’s Gun, like most literary tropes, are tried and true guidelines for good storytelling, like the Hero’s Journey. Sure, you can try something completely different, but you’d better be good enough to make it work. That’s not the case here; this is bunch of odds and ends thrown in a box that the reader has to sort out, effectively doing the writer’s work for him. If you like that sort of thing, that’s great. But that’s not good writing.

        The bit about the girl from Jurassic Park demonstrating gymnastic skills that she used later is actually a good example of foreshadowing. The problem was that its application was so improbable that it becomes a parody of itself. Making the mundane into something awesome and/or funny can and does work, but if the delivery is bad, the whole thing backfires and just looks stupid.

        Which brings me to the Red Herring. It’s normally used as a literary device to achieve a specific effect. The important part is that it’s a deliberate decision on the part of the author to produce a specific payoff on the part of the reader. The haphazard details thrown at the reader demonstrate a lack of deliberation, winding paths that keep on going nowhere. Again, this is a common (and annoying) trait for LNs in general.

  61. Thanks 4 the chapter!

    Now I can’t help imagining one of those hentai games where the heroine get stripped slowly with every hit until she’s naked.

  64. Tnx for the chap😘

    Why in the hell Hibiki is trying to change the political affair of the kindom??? Even if she is carefull to not cause a civil war meanwhile she is fighting the demon, she thinks is good if it happens after???…..

    After Tomoshit now we have Hibidumb?!?

    1. yeah, it’s good if a civil war break out because it can lead to a revolution and change the government that is currently beyond corrupt.
      yeah it would be better to do it with peace rather than war, but things aren’t always that easy, and hibiki showed some character development since the stella fort battle and the death of her friend

    2. Hey, take it easy. What Hubiki wants is reform, not a civil war. Everyone’s been complaining about how the hyumans behaved until now, so the idea of someone trying to fix it is pleasant to me.
      Hibiki mentions civil war because corrupt people in power want to stay in power.

      1. Reform that she want is akin to freeing of the slaves during Lincoln years. See how that turn up. (Civil war) . and that is not freeing them 100 percent.

        1. Yes, the American Civil War did happen because someone wanted reform. But that’s not the same as wanting a civil war. That’s just wanting a reform in an age that resists it.
          Hibiki is from a world where the reform has basically already happened, so it’s easier for her to picture changing this world than not. She acknowledges that this isn’t the time or place for infighting, but it’s on her mind as something she has to deal with after the invading demons. She doesn’t want more war, but she knows it will probably have to happen if she wants hyumans to change.
          There’s no foolishness in any of that. She somewhat lacks a full perspective of the world. My point was that comparing her to Tomoki just because of that doesn’t seem fair to me.

      2. Guys the concept of reforming the political power of a nation (even if it’s only for eradicate corruption) means that at least the king will have to abdicate, or worst it will be something like France’s revolution…9/10 changing a monarchy means sh*t shower for the royal family….

        Hibiki is instigating doubt in the very concept of the structure of the kingdom….even Rooth said that it was a stupid thing to do…

        I’m not comparing her character with Tomoshit…but her idea of changing the power structure of a nation in a Middle Age like world…it won’t end nicely…

      3. the best type of reform might be to just be like Britain. i don’t know their politics, but they must be doing something right after all these years?

  67. “That guy had an attire like one of those daily special effect heroes”
    It shouldn’t be daily, but rather “Sunday morning” where those shows are normally shown (日曜日の朝にやっている特撮ヒーロー)

    It’s great to see some action by Shiki. Thanks for the chapter.
    The next one is really long, looking forward to it. =]

  75. Woo hoo! New chapter!

    So happy for Shiki here. He’s been “the third child”, “the Butler”, and the all around chew toy since his introduction. And now he finally gets to show off the dignity and cruelty of the great Ain, as if ge always had it.

    I also liked Hibiki’s POV. I don’t know why people dislike her, since she sets a standard of “normalcy”. Also snickered at how she found Makoto’s suit to be embarassing, but kept quiet because she lived in a glass house.

    1. Main reason people don’t like her is that she was chosen by a bug. This is akin to a dictator endorsing a politician for a position. People will think that politician is just as bad even if that politician is good.

      1. People dislike her for obvious reasons of being too beautiful, pure, strong and perfect while no other characters are like that, though I feel we are seeing the tip of her messiah complex in this chapter.

  77. Hero Hibiki: Watch out, we got a badass over here.
    Shiki: Indeed… (•_•) / ( •_•)>⌐■-■ / (⌐■_■), we got a badass here.
    YEEEAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

  80. Questionnaire:
    What will happen after Lich use the 13 ring altogether?
    A. He will become Ainz
    B. He will become King Leoric
    C. He will grow flesh and muscles (he already had ones?)
    D. He will grow 3 more fingers for the rest of the ring

      1. If i remember correctly they are based on the Minor Arcana, which is what most playing cards use. Clubs/staves (element: Fire): represents the peasants, and symbolises creativity and will.
        Diamonds/Coins (element: Earth): represents the merchants, and symbolises material possessions.
        Hearts/Cups (element: Water): represents the clergy, and symbolises emotions.
        Spades/Swords (element: Air): represents the nobles/military, and symbolises reason.

  85. Im a fan of humble MC’s but damn, all these cats looking down on the squad is starting to get to me. Hibiki is a bit cringy lmao.

    Thanks for the chapter also !!

  88. well the pov of the hero was unnecessary but at least wasn’t a chapter full of it, author-san should learn the difference between main plot line, and side plot line..

    thanks for the translation.

        1. It can’t just focus entirely on the MC and his group. It’s important to show how the main group is influencing the surroundings and how those who witness their actions view and interpret those people. Especially if the main group is OP as fuck. That’s why Overlord has most of a volume devoted to the lizardmen and how they were reacting to Nazarick’s declaration of war. The “side pov” as you call it is just as important as the main pov, just like the side stories are just as important as the main story.

      2. @citrus4stare

        so, not mc= side story?
        you are judging the importance of an information by the eyes that see it? main character= main plot, and other character= side plot?
        I made a mistake, that’s not shit tastes but retarded logic, my bad.

      3. well think of it this way will you read a comic ware the hero can do any thing ,have no weakness, and can end a fight with out even trying?
        for the comic rule of hero’s “no one like’s a perfect hero”
        so the reson i see for these POV help even every thing out. ya the MC do’s have weakness but he still op as hell so showing a outsider POV of the MC will help’s out keeping the “i like him” vibes from fading that why Overlord MC have a ton of problems even tho he is OP in that world so you can relate to his struggle and like him for it.

  89. i literally check this site everyday to know the continuation. too bad the author decided to give hibiki a little bit more time in here and delay makoto battle (or should i say warm up). still, reading about how shiki finnaly able to convert a little of makoto power is refreshing. thank you for the translation

  92. Shiki, you make a great villain. Then again, you’ve had a lot of practice before joining Makoto (and maybe even more since, while accompanying Tomoe on some tasks).

    1. He’s not a villain…he’s just not giving a sh*t for Hibiki rebut or opinion, His master gave him a mission “protect the hero” if the hero herself is making the mission more difficult I think I also would do the same thing…
      ” stay still and get saved, if u don’t I WILL MAKE U STAY STILL “

      1. I think you misunderstand. I didn’t say he is a villain, I said he makes a great villain, because of how he acts and the lines he drops in this chapter are all so villain-esque.

        It all makes me think of a typical villain, and if not for the fact that he’s there to protect Hibiki, that’s probably how she would perceive him.

  94. So Hibiki is wearing one of those sexy outfits that occurs in anime when she needs to push her power to its limit? Surprised Makoto didn’t mention it when he saw her.

    I’m glad Makoto is stomping io. Hibiki thinks its enhancing magic… tsk tsk.

    Well this was really interesting to read. But honestly Shiki, you’re giving ur boss a bad name. Even if he’s technically referred to as devi, ur making it worse…

    I’m a bit disappointed in the filler though. Shiki didn’t need to prolong that fight, let’s be honest he was just bored and wanted to make it longer for no logical reason besides fun.

    1. How is this a filler? It’s part of the main story, and it has an influence on it, in that Shiki’s actions here impact how Hibiki & friends view, and interact, with Makoto (when he’s in his current Devil disguise).

      Furthermore, it shows us Shiki’s growth, and that despite how he always acts nice, he’s still essentially the same person he was before meeting Makoto. He didn’t become a nice guy. He’s just considerate of Makoto’s feelings and acts accordingly.

      In regards to Shiki’s growth, this chapter shows us that the power he got from Makoto in order to fulfill the requirements for the contract, was not something he could use freely. We learned in this chapter, that Shiki has be working hard on making that power his, but so far he can freely only use the power of 4 of the rings.

      The reason Shiki was toying with those guys, is because he wanted to test the effects of the power he unlocked.

      Furthermore, we learn a bit more of what kind of weapon Hibiki received in Tsige, and what she’s been up to since coming to this world. Some of it is relevant to Makoto (Hopelace).

      Filler is something that does not contribute to the story, and could be excluded without anyone noticing.

      And Makoto did comment on Hibiki’s outfit.

      1. Can I say that the treat that Shiki is giving to Hibiki is also to not make her associate Kuzunoha’s Raido = the Devil…since he must have noticed Makoto esitation and guessed that he knows the hero…I think that Shiki is giving here and there false hint to the Devil identity…

        Also u have to temember that in the demon’s army “Larva” is quite known…even Rona must have guessed right from the report of Io subordinate… So he must make others belive that Larva is possessing Shiki for some reason, and not Larva is Shiki…and since Shiki is known to be the “nice and good-teacher” he MUST not refrain his original bad personality

      2. @Dahren89

        Nah, Rona knows that Shiki = Larva (no possession involved). What she doesn’t know, is why he would work for Raidou, and simply assumes that he’s pretending to be hyuman in front of Raidou, which is why she gave Raidou that warning (to complicate things for Larva).

        Shiki is hoping to use Rona’s misunderstanding to mess with her. With this, he’s probably hoping she’ll assume he’s using Kuzunoha Company for some nefarious purposes, and uses Raidou as a shield/puppet of sorts.

        The reason he mentioned the Kuzunoha Company to Hibiki was likely as you said, to make it less likely that Hibiki will associate Raidou with the Devil. But I think there was also some self-promotion involved. After all, the way Shiki said it, it sounds like this oh so powerful former-Lich had some business dealings with Kuzunoha.

        In that case, just how powerful is this small and seemingly insignificant company, that they could get a Lich to deal with them as business partners, instead of simply taking from them what he wants. After all, Larva and the Devil are powerful enough that even a Goddess had to make a deal with them, instead of simply forcing them to do as she wants (from Hibiki’s point-of-view anyway, since she doesn’t know how the meeting went about).

        I’m sure Shiki is hoping that Hibiki will repeat the words he said to the king, which will instantly increase Kuzunoha’s standing even further in their eyes.

        Until now, the king must still have held a belief that they could somehow coerce Kuzunoha to do as they please, but after finding out that even Larva, and possibly the Devil, dealt with the company fairly, they’ll probably drop any foolish notions of toying with Kuzunoha.

      3. @Kortodo
        Nope in a previous chapter, Rona and Raido had this conversation:

        “[…]Also, Shiki. Just by being a male, Shiki must be a follower that you can trust, but he is being possessed. Seeing him together with the Forest Onis, I finally noticed it” (Rona)

        “Forest Onis. And Shiki is being possessed?” (Makoto)

        Ah, I see. It seems that she has noticed Shiki’s true identity and is having a weird misunderstanding.

        “I don’t know his name, but he is a Lich that doesn’t follow hyumans nor demons. A Lich normally can’t possess someone, but he can do it. He is someone that can kidnap someone at whim and practice inhyuman experiments on them or impersonate them. The demons call him Larva. No matter if it’s the information network of Kuzunoha Company, I thought that it was just too strange to know so much information about me, but if it’s a person that has been possessed by Larva, the story changes. I have met him several times in the past[…]” (Rona)

        _______

        Rona doesn’t think Shiki=Larva…but Larva is possessing Shiki to get something from Raido…

        This is the readon why he doesn’t care about if Larva get associeted as an enemy…

  97. shiki, i always know that you’re so damn cool to begin with.
    but i dunno why, i imagine those scene where an onechan is licking their lips before devouring a shota…
    to much hentai?

  99. Thanks for the new chapter!!!

    Huh, looks like there might be a rift between Mio and Hibiki in the future due to Mio’s “clean up” at the arena.

    1. Nope. No one knows Mio finished him off. As far as anyone else is concerned, she simply stood there and observed things.

      Hibiki will blame Makoto for Illum’s death, because he stood by and allowed his students to use Illum for practice. And Mio was only there by his orders.

      1. I doubt Hibiki would blame Makoto. He already said it was impossible to revert Illum back n gave the excuse that his students were trying to do so.
        Only Illum’s dad holds a grudge, for obvious reasons.

      2. Logically, Hibiki would not blame Raidou. However, anger and hatred don’t always yield to reason.

        I think there’s a fair chance that Illumgand’s dad will hate Raidou, and find a way to place the blame onto him. “Raidou did something that pushed Illumgand into that situation…etc., etc. Thus, while Illumgand did something unforgivable, Raidou is at fault for being the catalyst.”

        And if Hibiki is on good terms with the Illumgand family, she may believe that story.

        Still, her chapters seem to show her as a reasonable, intelligent, and moral person. So she might just restrict herself to “You may not be totally at fault, but everytime I look at you, I think of my dead friend. So I don’t like you.”

      3. well Makoto had basically covered the problem with Illum with the fallowing’s
        1: he told his father and the others around him turning him back is like taking a prepared meal and turning it back to is separated ingredients aka its inposabel.
        2: he stated that if he or one of his workers were to jump in the battle Illum will rage even more witch might make him stronger or triger another transformation but if his student might to be able to at lets some how snap him out of it.
        3: when Illum was killed he basically say’ed the fallowing “so he dead…even tho i didnt like or hate him i at lest wanted to turn him bake to normal but now its inposebel.” witch it show to the father that he had no intrast in his son but he will try to change him back witch will make the father to not blam him for what happen or at lest not to try to kill Makoto.

        so if Hibiki ask Makoto about Illum’s death i can see him saying that if you ask him if he hated Illum he stated he did not hate Illum tho he didnt like Illum also but if you ask him if he wanted to chang Illum back he say yes.

  100. I thought I would see a fight from Makoto but all I read was shiki’s fight =(
    Well thank you for the chapter as always!

  101. Wait… so when shiki back to lich body, the rings on his fingers still there? It wasnt absorbed huh? I thought it was. What if the ring cracked..? That’ll be dangerous. Does the rings can be taken off, i wonder? Will there be chapter that explain about the rings on lich body. I mean i know it was put there when the master servant ritual. But there not yet a detailed after.
    Thak you.

    2. nah the rings are already absorbed within his soul and became a part of his magical powers but it is a seperate one compare to his own and will only manifest it’s physical form whenever Shiki decided to use the magical powers contained on it boosting his stats greatly

    1. Well a Lich isn’t that great. Even Ainz stopped being a Lich and evolved to an Overlord, the highest undead race.
      Even DnD has a Demilich that surpasses a Lich in every way…..

      1. Yeah… also he just unlocked 4 out 13een rings…think about the fact that each ring is a different power up…when u unlock every ring can u not conseder him as a different being??

        And also, I don’t know if make difference, but he is fighting in a form that is not the one acquired from the contract with Makoto….

      3. Okay, so it’s BASED on a lich. But the way the racial levels in Overlord work is that you take levels in a lesser heteromorphic race to qualify for taking levels in a superior race, hence lich is better than the skeleton mage he first played as, elder lich is better than a normal lich and an overlord beats them all.
        It’s still a superior being to an ordinary lich by far.

  107. Well Shiki is now the Lord of the Rings…

    “One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,
    One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”

  117. releasing 4 seals(?) somewhat badass. nice going shiki.
    hibiki-kun ya. just sit tight there, wear 3D sunglasses and watch shiki and makoto whoop the demons’ asses.

    tnx for the chapter..

    1. naa more like after Shiki rampage hibiki might think in the lines of “Oh s!@# and i was tatting him!?” and her party well…one of them probably shit there pants seeing just how strong he is and remembering what he told to hibiki.

  119. This arc is too good… but these broken up fights are… (grrrrr) last chapter we got part of matoko’s fight, then instead of a sequel we get the first part of shiki’s fight… I bet the next chapter will be neither Makoto’s or Shiki’s fight and will continue on with Tomoe, Mio and friends conquest… I’m | this | close to ignoring Reigokai’s page for a couple of weeks to build up some chapters… these cliffs… uhg…

    3. Just don’t freeze yourself only to be awaken 500 years later in a middle of an atheist world war including sentient beavers.

      2. a new one? cause I already have had 4 flags up the past year. Soviet Union Flag, Japan’s flag, Brotherhood of Steel flag, and Sheldon’s Apartment Flag (its upside down)

    1. we need the pic of hibiki!!! for research purpose!!!
      I am practically naked, so I can tell that I don’t have any sort of scars.
      wearing a risque fur-made string swimsuit
      WE NEED IT!!! hahahahwehheheheh

  135. 　　　 　∧_ ∧
    　　　　(｀･ω･)　 Thanks!
    　　　,ノ^　 yヽ、 　Nepu!!
    　　　ヽ,, ﾉ==l.ﾉ 　　　Pudding!!!
    　　　　/　 l　|
    “””””~”””””‘””””””‘”””””~”””””‘””””””‘”””””~””

    1. It’s comment time. But first, thank you Reigo-senpai for the translation.

      What Shiki said was true, the Bug was only worried about the safety of the Hero. She said nothing about the companions. Spoiler-san is just sad the the mystery hasn’t shown up yet. But it will be coming soon. Anyway, the Centaurs and Minotaurs are about to learn a valuable lesson, never mess with a “former lich”. Sorry about lack of Spoilers, but Spoiler-san isn’t in the mood right now.

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