Surprise! I've Transmigrated Again-Chapter 205 ⤞ I Predicted That You Predicted My Prediction — Final Part

Chapter 205 - 205 ⤞ I Predicted That You Predicted My Prediction — Final Part

"Impossible! How can you have such powerful mental strength?"

"Thanks for the compliment."

"Forcefully resisting my control will bring intense pain!"

"It does hurt a bit."

"Aren't you afraid of getting hurt?"

"Not at all."

"How annoying! Can't you let me finish speaking?"

"I refuse. This is my body to begin with — you're the intruder here."

"...You're right, sorry."

Though coming from one person, two distinct voices carried on this exchange, leaving the surrounding adventurers puzzled by the self-questioning and answering at such a crucial moment.

Wasn't he supposed to be under control?

Yet this strange exchange brought an unexpected sense of relief.

Kazuma excitedly called out his leader's name, "Adam-senpai! Thank goodness, you're still conscious!"

Their reliable 『Hero』 Party's leader hadn't fallen under the Devil King Army General's control!

There's hope! We have hope! We can defeat it!

Kazuma's words echoed everyone's thoughts, their hearts swelling with confidence in the 『Hero』.

"I didn't expect such strong mental resistance, but it's no matter. Though we're at a stalemate now, in a few minutes I'll have complete control over your body. Then no one will be able to stop me!" Vanir expressed surprise at this human's ability to resist his mental control.

Though the resistance time seemed brief to him, for a mere human to resist an Archdemon's corruption was remarkable.

In his view, Adam's talent even surpassed that of Wiz from back then!

"This is bad — we need to help quickly!" With her expertise, Sena recognized that Adam was battling the Archdemon for control of his body.

Judging by Vanir's words, Adam was at a disadvantage. They had to provide help from the outside!

"Use this!" Sena pulled out a sealing talisman from her chest and pressed it against the mask on Adam's forehead.

This action sent a chill through Vanir.

It frantically tried to remove the talisman, but its hand was repelled each time it got close, completely unable to touch it.

Vanir shouted in frustration, "What did you do to me? What is this thing?"

"A sealing talisman." Sena explained, "This tool can control demons. Now you're trapped inside Adam's body — once the High Priest arrives, you'll be purified!"

As she spoke, she urged Adam to hold on just a little longer, just until they could extract Vanir.

"Thank you, Miss Sena, but let me purify it this time." Perhaps due to the talisman's suppression, Adam briefly gained the upper hand.

Aqua, who had been hesitating to help, heard him say:

"Aqua, join me in defeating Vanir."

"But..."

"It's alright, I'm an 'Agent'—your power won't harm me."

Adam knew she was worried, but with the BUG skill〘Resurrection — Goddess Privilege〙, what was there to fear? Plus, he had her blessing within his body — dealing with one Vanir shouldn't be a problem.

"Alright, here I come!" Aqua had been itching to act. If the person being controlled had been Kazuma or Darkness, she would have fired off a〘Sacred Purify〙long ago, rather than hesitating until now.

"What are you planning to do?"

"To defeat you"

"You think you can purify me with this High Priest? Don't be ridiculous!"

"We won't know until we try"

"Hmph, then let's see you try."

"Yes, let's try"

At this moment, Aqua stood ready, her body radiating brilliant light that illuminated the entire secret chamber.

Her hagoromo appeared behind her, and her staff manifested ornate magical patterns — this ceremonial staff became truly sacred under the Divine Power's blessing.

In this moment, Aqua once again took on the form of a goddess.

"Here I come!"

"Come on!"

To defeat Vanir, this was their only chance while Adam had control!

◈ Ultimate Sacred Exorcism ◈

"Ascend!"

Aqua shouted, unleashing her strongest〘Sacred Magic〙. This was a strike of Divine Power, a strike carrying their convictions, a strike of heaven-shaking destruction (not really)!

Sacred light flooded the secret chamber, bathing all the adventurers present in its radiance.

Could it be that the All-Seeing Archdemon, Devil King Army General Vanir, was about to be defeated?

Knowing he couldn't escape, Vanir mockingly said, "This is why Axis Cult members are so despised! Using exorcism magic without warning — don't you have any manners?"

Even in this crisis, he loudly mocked his natural enemy.

But for Aqua, a goddess whose mission was to eliminate all evil from the world, how could she be swayed by a demon's taunts... though she often was.

She roared, "Being polite to demons? How could that be possible—!"

Simultaneously, Adam, while struggling against Vanir, activated the blessing within his body, forming a pincer attack with Aqua's〘Sacred Magic〙to expel and purify the Duke of Hell from within.

His fist, burning with sacred flames, made direct contact with the mask on his forehead.

The flames instantly enveloped the black and white mask as Vanir's painful screams filled the air.

"Ah ah, aaaah, aaaaah—!" Vanir clutched his forehead, his voice filled with regret and resentment. "I am a Demon... an existence opposed to Gods. I absolutely don't want to be purified—!"

But the onlookers didn't know that the people inside had already reached an agreement.

"Kid, don't forget what you promised me."

"Rest assured, I'll keep my word."

"That's good."

A subtle magical power separated from Adam's body, flowing into a hidden hole in the ground before disappearing.

"..."

Crack!

With a crisp sound, the mask on his forehead shattered, revealing the familiar face beneath.

In everyone's anticipation, he opened his eyes.

"Phew~ It's over." Twisting his sore neck and relaxing his tense muscles, he raised his right hand high while cheering loudly, celebrating his achievement of once again defeating a Devil King Army General.

"Oh—!"

"Oh—!!!" xN

"We did it!"

"Yes, we succeeded!"

"I can't believe we actually defeated a Devil King Army General... and it was a Duke of Hell, an Archdemon!"

The loud cheers received an even more enthusiastic response — all the adventurers present were ecstatic, none of them could believe it.

That Archdemon had actually been defeated, and so easily at that.

"Thanks to the Hero Party!"

"Yeah, thanks to Adam and the others!"

"That's right, that's right."

The adventurers knew their place — although they had surrounded Vanir to prevent his escape, they had little to do with his defeat. Even if they wanted to claim credit, there was no reason to.

After the brief celebration, Sena came forward and concernedly asked Adam, who was being healed by Aqua, "Adam, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Thank you for your concern, I'm fine." He smiled and replied, "Aqua is healing me because she's worried, but I'm actually not injured."

Aqua, who was healing him, proudly puffed out her chest, "Don't worry, with me, the High Priest here, Adam won't have any lingering conditions."

"Is that so? That's good then." Hearing her guarantee, Sena finally relaxed, then said seriously, "Hero Party leader, I will report this incident truthfully to the kingdom. I believe the kingdom will reward you accordingly."

Now you're talking about something that interests me!

Adam immediately perked up at hearing this, "Oh, thank you very much, Miss Sena. I'll look forward to the kingdom's reward."

After all, wasn't preventing other adventurers from interfering all for the generous reward for defeating a Devil King Army General?

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And so, the "Keele's Underground Dungeon Incident" came to a close.

Though the Duke of Hell Vanir had appeared during the event, defeating him by chance proved to be an unexpected stroke of good fortune.

Thanks to promotion from Kingdom Prosecutor Sena and the Adventurers' Guild, combined with the existing fame of the 『Hero』 Party and Adam, news of their defeat of a Devil King Army General spread throughout the beginner's Town of Axel within half a day.

Naturally, a celebration banquet followed. Everyone drank to their heart's content — even Darkness, who had never drunk before and was usually the one taking care of drunk party members, got intoxicated that day.

Perhaps Adam took advantage of that for a good hidden makeout session? You bet he did!

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The next day.

Outside Wiz's Magic Item Shop.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.

Three party members stood discussing how to apologize to Wiz. Having defeated her colleague Vanir, they felt they owed her an explanation.

Just imagining Wiz's lonely, hurt expression made Darkness and Kazuma's hearts heavy with guilt.

Megumin felt uninvolved and didn't care, while Aqua, being a goddess, couldn't possibly feel remorse toward her natural enemy. So those two stayed home.

"I'm so sorry for defeating your colleague, the Duke of Hell and Archdemon, Vanir, one of the Devil King Army Generals! I'm truly sorry!

I'm so sorry for defeating your colleague, the Duke of Hell and Archdemon, Vanir, one of the Devil King Army Generals! I'm truly sorry!

I'm so sorry..."

Darkness had resolved to apologize immediately upon meeting Wiz, repeating these words. Though this task should have fallen to Adam, he had refused, deeming it completely unnecessary.

Following their usual habit of not knocking, they pushed open the door and walked in.

"Welcome—"

Wiz's timid welcome rang in their ears. Her gentle, accommodating voice only heightened their shame, making their planned apology even harder to voice — or at least, that's how it should have been.

As soon as they entered, they saw an unexpected figure.

"Vanir—?!!" x2

"What's going on?!"

Everyone except Adam stared in shock at the tall figure before them. He wore a black and white mask and the same apron as Wiz.

It was Vanir, who should have been defeated, yet somehow stood perfectly fine before them.

"Welcome—! Oh young lady who stood at the shop entrance reminiscing about the past and saying such embarrassing things, taking blame upon yourself when it wasn't even your fault. Could it be you're confessing your love to moi? But regrettably, moi cannot respond to your feelings, and besides, isn't it that Sword Master you fancy?"

His teasing struck sharp as a blade, making Darkness, who hadn't even spoken yet, immediately crouch down in defense, covering her face in shame and burying her head between her knees, unable to look up.

But Vanir, this Archdemon who took pleasure in such things, wasn't about to let her off so easily.

He continued teasing, "My my, are you embarrassed? Hmm, this shame is quite excellent negative emotion, absolutely delicious! What's wrong, why so quiet now? Don't tell me you thought moi had perished? How adorable, fuhahaha~"

Though they had felt regret and sadness for him, he'd turned those feelings into fodder for his teasing.

As expected of an Archdemon — he was quite skilled at tormenting pure-hearted people!

At this moment, the Magic Shop's proprietress appeared from behind the counter.

"Ah, it's Adam! Welcome, everyone." Wiz approached with a gentle smile and said, "Congratulations on defeating Sir Vanir. It's truly remarkable."

There was no sarcasm in her words; she was genuinely congratulating them.

"Hold on a minute — Adam-senpai definitely defeated Vanir. So why is he standing right here?" Even someone as dense as Kazuma could tell that Vanir was no longer their enemy.

At least, he was neutral like Wiz.

"Oh, I simply revived, that's all." Vanir pointed to the mask on his forehead, which bore a Roman numeral—"II."

"What does that mean?"

"The purification Magic was indeed powerful — that spell certainly took one of moi's lives."

"Don't look down on us!" Kazuma snapped, irritated by his attitude.

"Please don't get excited, Mr. Satou." Wiz calmed the agitated Kazuma and explained, "Actually, Sir Vanir hasn't wanted to be a Devil King Army General for quite some time. He chose to perish once, then revive again to pursue his dream."

"Dream?" Kazuma froze.

A demon suddenly talking about dreams didn't match his image at all.

Vanir continued, "Moi has a dream, a grand dream! Moi wants to build a dungeon of my own! Moi will have subordinates standing guard in each room and set up various deadly traps! After spreading rumors about treasure, those battle-hardened adventurers will surely come flooding in to take the challenge! After experiencing trial after trial, they will finally reach the deepest part of the dungeon!

And then! Waiting for them there will be none other than moi!

Moi will tell them, 'Well done making it this far, adventurers! Come, defeat moi and claim the vast treasure!'... like that. Then the final battle will commence!

After an intense battle, moi will finally be defeated by those adventurers! At last! The adventurers who have endured countless hardships and near-death experiences will arrive before moi's treasure chest!

But when they open it, they'll find inside just a piece of paper saying 'Thank you for your patronage'! Those adventurers will stare at the paper in bewilderment, while moi watches this scene and heads toward destruction..."

Wiz: "..."

Kazuma: "..."

Darkness: "..."

Adam: "..."

Though they knew Vanir had twisted interests, hearing him say it like this, Adam thought he was even more problematic than the other party members.

"Please don't do that, I'm begging you, absolutely don't do that!"

"Those adventurers would be so pitiful... but just thinking about that gap between expectation and reality is so exciting! Amazing—!"

Kazuma and Darkness had quite different reactions.

"So then, why are you here?"

"That's something you should ask the lord over there."

"Adam-senpai?"

Hearing Vanir's words, both of them wore confused expressions.

"Well then, let me explain."

Actually, this was all Adam's plan.

First, Vanir was one of the few evil beings, like Wiz and Keele, who didn't hate humans.

Second, Vanir and Wiz were good friends, and Wiz had good relationships with the party members.

Finally, Vanir could help the party earn money.

For both emotional and logical reasons, Adam decided not to eliminate him. In fact, he went further and planned a money-making scheme with Vanir.

It was all an act! They put on a show of successfully defeating a "Devil King Army General" for everyone to see, to sca... ahem, to earn the kingdom's high reward.

"So you're saying Adam-senpai had reached an agreement with Vanir from the very beginning?"

"Yes, that's right." Adam nodded.

Vanir's goal was to build a dungeon, so as the lord, Adam granted this request. He gave him the renovation rights to "Keele's Dungeon", allowing him to modify it as he pleased.

However, the money needed for renovation would have to be earned by Vanir himself.

"But... isn't this fraud?!" Though Kazuma was scum who was beastly, vulgar, and perverted, he still oddly insisted on his principles in certain matters.

"Think about it differently, Kazuma..." Adam asked, "Has Sir Vanir destroyed any towns?"

Kazuma thought for a moment, "...No."

"Has Sir Vanir done anything to harm humans?"

"...That hasn't happened either."

"See? Vanir has never destroyed towns or harmed humans." Adam continued, "Moreover, Sir Vanir is no longer a Devil King Army General, which means there's one less person maintaining the Devil King's castle barrier, making it more advantageous for us to defeat the Devil King, right?"

"...You're right, that's true."

"Plus, because of the mansion's accidental collapse, our party's finances are in serious trouble, so this high reward is necessary. You understand now, right?"

Knockout blow!

Kazuma, who had been quite conflicted before, immediately changed his attitude when he heard that most of the responsibility actually lay with him. At this moment, he felt that putting on this show was really for the best!

As expected of you, Kazuma!

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