The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

Ainzel looked around in shock, but the voice in his head continued to ring out as if it didn’t care.

[This is a place designed to help the warrior with his mission, and is a place to quickly grow the strength of the warrior and his companions.]

Ainzel thought about those words.

This was exactly the place he was looking for.

His lips formed a curve.

[However, please note that the process of increasing strength requires considerable mental strength and pain.]

Mental strength? That didn’t matter at all. All he needed was strength, and he wondered if he could endure any kind of pain.

[In some cases, mental breakdown may occur.]

I could sense his colleagues hesitating at those words.

Ainzel didn’t care anyway. After all, the path he was walking, the path he had to walk, was a battle between whether he could kill all his enemies first or be destroyed before that.

So he was confident that he could go forward with whatever was there without hesitation.

But the comrades had no choice but to hesitate. They were already strong, and there was no way to know what kind of ripples would occur if they died. They didn’t see any reason to take risks and become stronger.

However, the biggest reason why Ainzel and his companions showed a difference in attitude was whether they knew of the existence of the Demon King or not.

Ainzel knew the overwhelming power of the Demon King when he was active. Although it was said that he was stronger than Grandis, no one knew the true power of the Demon King. In fact, it was natural. Even Grandis was a monster in the realm of incomprehensible to humans, so how could they know more than that?

That’s why no one except Ainzel knew of the Demon King’s power. Everyone was predicting the Empire’s victory. If it weren’t for Ainzel’s actions, they would have had to worry about the safety of not only the Empire but also the entire human race.

He knew it, and he didn’t hesitate.

In the end, his colleagues had no choice but to follow him.

As soon as Ainzel set foot deep into the cave, the scenery that had been just a cave began to change in an instant.

Everything that was there before began to disappear and transform. What appeared as a result was a white wall and door.

[Please enter the room one by one and close the door. However, please keep in mind that most human minds cannot endure this, and once you enter, you cannot freely leave.]

The voice echoed in his head again. Ainzel began to walk briskly towards the door.

Then Ainzel opened the door, went inside the room, and closed the door.

The colleagues looked at each other with anxious eyes, then one by one they went into their rooms, closed the door, and then someone else opened the door and went in again, repeating the process.

What Ainzel saw after closing the door was a room filled with nothing but white.

I closed the door, wondering if something was wrong, and when I turned my gaze back toward it, the door was already gone.

All that was visible was a vast white expanse.

[Welcome, warrior. This is a place where trials are given to the warrior to help him grow.]

He said that despite the voices ringing in his head, he couldn’t see anything.

“…It looks like there’s nothing.”

[First, I will explain the first ordeal. This room is a place where time flows at a different rate than the outside world. Here, the person inside this room must practice and gain enlightenment about himself. The conditions for achievement will vary depending on the degree of enlightenment he has had about himself.]

The time scale is different.

Ainzel now understood everything. Why was it called ‘a place that allows you to grow in a short period of time’? And why was it said that your mind could break down?

There is really nothing here. It is just pure white, pure white, no walls, no ceiling, nothing. No, you can’t even tell if you are standing on the floor.

It’s definitely the best place to work hard and become stronger quickly.

Ainzel took out his sword. First, let’s practice swords.

Ainzel began swinging his sword without thinking.

Then, when he was no longer able to move his body, he shot an arrow.

When he became unable to even shoot a bow, he began to practice magic and miracles.

Then, he was able to swing his sword again and did so.

So, time passed.

It was an environment where neither sleep nor food was necessary. Nothing told the time, and Ainzel lost his sense of time.

However, I still didn’t know much about myself.

Know thyself, what does that mean?

Ainzel was a man who knew very well what kind of person he was and what emotions he felt.

No matter how much I swung my sword, shot my arrows, cast my magic and created miracles, I still couldn’t quite understand the idea of ​​understanding myself.

Understanding yourself.

Ainzel first thought about what ‘understanding’ meant.

Understand. Are you talking about something similar to understanding the magic formula?

Ainzel began to contemplate what it meant to understand himself further.

In the meantime, he continued to practice what he could.

No matter how hard I tried, I didn’t see much progress. In the first place, I wasn’t even sure what my understanding of myself was or if what I was doing was right.

I couldn’t tell how much time had passed since the sword dance unfolded without any certainty or promise.

Ainzel swung his sword and fell to the ground.

What is he swinging this sword for?

For the first time, I felt a sense of urgency.

I don’t know anything. I don’t know what the meaning of what I’m doing is, and I don’t know if doing this will make anything better.

Would it be possible to approach the Demon King like this? Is it really possible to resist such great power?

He hadn’t been able to defeat a single legion commander, let alone the Demon King. Of all the legion commanders he’d ever met, there wasn’t a single one weaker than Ainzel, and in that situation, defeating the Demon King felt like a bad joke.

What are you doing this useless thing for?

As he was thinking like that, an image played in his head.

A child who was torn in half from the head. A burning village. Demons running wild.

He felt hate. Yes, there were still dregs left in this world that should not exist. So, he had to become strong.

Hatred clouds the eyes, but it also becomes the driving force that makes those who have fallen stand up. He borrowed the power of hatred to stand up again and swung his sword again.

His body was no more than a tool to kill the demons and warlocks.

Only then did Ainzel realize what it meant to understand himself better.

It was about understanding how his body itself worked like a tool, as if by magic.

Ainzel, who had finally found a clue, swung his sword again, shot an arrow, and composed magic.

And I felt myself in that series of processes.

The muscles that twist your waist when swinging a sword, each and every muscle fiber in your arms when shooting a bow, the magical and divine power that flows through your blood vessels.

But it was impossible to maintain that feeling all the time. If I lost my mind even a little, the feeling would disappear and my concentration would be greatly reduced.

Of course, that wasn’t what this room demanded. He had to keep it all under his complete control without any concentration.

He dug into his own body.

Muscles under the skin. Internal organs. Bones. Even the marrow in the spine. I realized not only the structure of all of them, but also how they worked. I could feel not only the air coming in and out during the process of breathing in and out, but also the movement of the lungs and ribs.

All the principles were clearly illustrated in the process of swinging the sword and composing magic.

After so much time had passed, he finally came to understand what state he was in under all circumstances.

[Congratulations. You have passed the first stage of the ordeal. Please open the door to the next stage and enter through it.]

Only then did the room announce that the first ordeal was over.

Ainzel opened the door to the room and looked at the scenery inside.

[The last ordeal was intended to develop the user’s basic capabilities and self-understanding. The purpose of this ordeal is to overcome one’s own world.]

When Ainzel heard the words “his own world,” he began to feel a sense of unease.

I saw a familiar sight.

There was something familiar about the building, something familiar about the environment, and things he was familiar with were everywhere.

His hometown came into view.