The Demon Hunter’s Final Showdown

I should probably find other lone NPCs. It would be a loss if I made them work harder when they’re already struggling, and their affinity dropped. I don’t know the exact current value, but it seems higher than before, and even that would be a waste.

“Go upstairs and rest. Oh, if you don’t like the alcohol in your room, you can use room service to order more.”

“Aren’t you coming with us, Sir Haut?”

‘Why is he looking at me with such an anxious expression? Did I do something wrong?’ I pondered for a moment, but nothing came to mind. No matter how much I thought about it, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

For some reason, the sprout above his head looked a little wilted.

‘Ah, it must just be my imagination.’

“I’ll dance a bit longer before heading up. Though I probably won’t manage more than three or four songs. Oh, tell Nocturne to come to my room. I need him.”

‘It seems the problem was spending too much time earlier, explaining all those trivial lore details during dinner. It ate up too much time.’

Faust tried to grab me from behind, but as the music restarted and people surged forward, he was ultimately pushed out of the hall.

I grabbed an NPC who was about to leave and began dancing a new tune.

‘Since I’m going to the capital this time, perhaps I should visit the Imperial Palace too?’

“Huh? Why is everyone gathered here?”

After having my fill of fun, I returned to my room, only to find everyone gathered in the living room. I sent them to rest, yet they weren’t sleeping. What were they doing?

They truly are a bunch of contrarians.

“You, sit here for a moment.”

‘What is this? Was there an event like this?’

It’s been so long since I’ve had companions with me that I can’t remember. Bebe was the only companion I consistently dragged along outside of specific quests.

‘Are they going to give me a new quest? If it’s an affinity quest for Jack or Faust, I’ll have to decide after seeing the content.’

As I took my seat, Faust hesitated for a long moment before letting out a sigh.

“What’s wrong? If you have something to say, just say it.”

“Sir Haut, what is ‘demonization’?”

‘Hmm, is demonization not in the initial data?’

Since he’s a priest, I thought he’d have some basic information, but it seems not. Then again, these guys are based on initial data. The Void attribute has incredibly strict conditions, so it’s understandable they wouldn’t know. Given that even regular NPCs are programmed to flee, it might be natural for this information not to be entered into the in-game data.

“Literally, I become a demon.”

“That’s incredibly serious! Why didn’t you tell us!!?”

Jack shrieked, cutting in with alarm. Even amidst his panic, the sprout on his head swayed gently, making him quite adorable. I truly made the right choice putting that there. Thinking of him not as an NPC prevents me from getting angry.

“Hmm, so… to explain this in a way you’d understand…”

They aren’t actual humans, so I have to explain it within the lore settings permitted by the system, but I’m not sure how to phrase it. After pondering for a long time, I just recited something off the cuff.

“I told you before that if you leave things like demon blood or demonic energy unchecked, you’ll get cursed, right?”

“Yes, you did mention that.”

“Then, would a human who’s been drenched in it be safe?”

Jack and Faust’s eyes widened in shock. Only Nocturne sat idly, clutching a whiskey bottle and quietly observing, as if wondering what all the fuss was about.

“W-wait a minute. Didn’t you say before that things like consecration or washing with holy water would make it alright?”

“Do you remember what happened to your armor the first time?”

“Ah… damn it.”

Such complex effects don’t apply to players. This is strictly for NPCs. Players have save-load functions and eventually need to log out, so applying such intricate side effects would be too complicated. However, NPCs can be corrupted by demon blood. They can even transform into fiendish monsters. Of course, this doesn’t apply to named characters or higher. It only appears occasionally as an event when an unexpected quest is given.

“I’ve killed an enormous number of demons, haven’t I? How should I put it… Ah, right. I’m corrupted. I mentioned the curse before, didn’t I? If you leave it alone long enough, and the ‘hole’ grows to a certain extent, horns and wings sprout. And black smoke-like demonic energy just billows out.”

“T-then if we kill a lot of demons, will we become like that too?”

It’s such a trivial matter, yet why are they so scared? I shook my head.

“Could you even kill demons tens of thousands of times? You’d die before that.”

“This is getting out of hand! What do you mean it’s nothing? We’re just humans!”

‘I don’t understand why they’re screaming and so afraid.’

Nocturne was watching, munching on chocolates from the room’s amenities. He listened with an intrigued expression, though he seemed to understand nothing. Faust and Jack, however, were pale with fright, trembling visibly. I truly didn’t understand it at all.

“Originally, killing a boss-level demon doesn’t make them disappear completely. Named-level demons still consistently appear in the field, you see? But I kept forcibly summoning and killing them repeatedly, eliminating even the few remaining demons.”

“How should I put it… When you kill a boss-level demon, their demonic energy dissipates, right? If you repeat that process, both those trying to crawl out and those who have already emerged are constantly subjected to shock. It’s a method of annihilation through repeated shock, destroying their souls.”

This is an original setting created by the mod developer. People obsessed with this kind of world created respawn mods for demons, so this setting was added to give even those mods some plausibility. Normally, once a boss-level demon is killed, they shouldn’t revive. So, they even added lore to the act of repeatedly reviving and killing them.

‘In any case, too many people get overly immersed in niche games.’

‘Though I am enjoying it myself.’

“But this time, with my path blocked, the demons aren’t reappearing. I’ve been thinking about why on the way here, and it seems they’ve made a decision. They’ve completely blocked my path to finding them and decided to finish things with me. I suspect they couldn’t endure me constantly forcing their resurrection and creating conflicts.”

“T-then, then… what’s going to happen now?”

“It’s like our final showdown, I suppose? If I kill them this time, they truly won’t reappear. It’s completely over—”

This isn’t something I came up with. It’s a story created by the mod developer. They say if you delete the respawn mod, it even triggers a dedicated event cutscene. I wouldn’t know since I haven’t deleted it, but I saw it mentioned on a forum before.

‘Come to think of it, can I really not teleport anymore? It’s newly irritating.’

“The demons won’t reappear? This is the end? Is that true?”

“I’m telling you, yes. At least not while you’re alive.”

‘Not until I reinstall the game and reactivate them. But I intend to seal this character away as they are. I want to play as a roly-poly pea character soon.’

Jack mumbled something to himself. Was the conversation over? It didn’t seem to be giving me an annoying side quest after all. It must have been some kind of affinity event scene. Well, it was somewhat entertaining.

As I was about to rise from my seat, Faust spoke up this time.

“After you catch them, what will happen?”

“Hmm?”

“Sir Haut, where will you go?”

“I’ll die.”

“Wh-what? Wh-whaaat?”

‘I don’t know why he’s so surprised. When you create a new character, the old data is erased, isn’t it?’

‘Of course, the save data remains, but usually, players don’t reopen their previous characters. They’d just delete it normally. The main event data remains in the collection, anyway.’

“What?! Why is it always a conclusion where you die?!”

“It can’t be helped. In a world without demons, a demon hunter isn’t needed.”

“But you’re incredibly strong! Since you’re so powerful, you could live anywhere, couldn’t you?!”

“How much more do you want me to do?”

I’ve played this game for a long time. I know a lot because of it. Of course, the more I play this game, the more unknowns emerge, but I know more than I don’t.

This character is getting tiresome now. I’m stuck wandering around like this because I can’t log out, but what’s the point if I can’t hunt demons? It’s just not fun.

‘I only log in to hunt demons, but the respawn mod isn’t working.’

‘These guys certainly give me a fresh feeling, but they’re still just NPCs, and they’ll eventually disappear one way or another.’

“Look, I don’t understand what’s going on, but I know it’s serious… Sir Haut, why do you speak of your own death so casually?”

“Huh? Well, because I’ll die? Is that a difficult concept?”

I don’t know why Jack and Faust looked so stunned. Meanwhile, Nocturne had retrieved something else and was now munching on biscuits topped with cheese. When Nocturne offered one to me, I took it and ate it. The taste sensation implementation has really improved. Before, it felt like chewing paper. This is delicious.

As I chewed thoughtfully and sat back down, Nocturne rolled his eyes before speaking.

“I haven’t actually seen you hunt these ‘demons,’ so I wouldn’t know for sure, but from what you’re saying, they seem to exist…. If you die while hunting demons, and you die even if you don’t hunt them, and you die if the demons disappear… why do you have to do such a thing? Sir Haut, you’re strong. You could certainly live on your own.”

“What is this talk now? Why ask such a thing? If I hunt demons for you, it’s good for you, isn’t it? At the very least, you won’t be ruined.”

“But there’s nothing good in it for you. No one will acknowledge you, and all that’s left is to die alone.”

‘I recall an event where, if you were part of the priestly faction and hunted demons, a prompt would appear asking why you hunted them. But it feels incredibly strange for Nocturne, a thief, to be asking this. Is it because, even though his alignment is evil, his affiliation is with The Ravens of the Riverbank?’

‘But that’s just an excuse, and he’s not even a true priest capable of using divine power. It feels somewhat peculiar. I’m not sure what kind of expression I should make.’

“It’s strange, you know. Everything is just… obvious.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can understand why Jack and Faust would be like that, being good-aligned and inherently kind. But it feels strange coming from you. You’re an assassin, aren’t you? Aren’t you evil-aligned?”

“I don’t really understand those ‘alignments,’ but if it’s about judging disposition, then I suppose I’m a bad person?”

‘It was a peculiar feeling. Why was this happening? I genuinely couldn’t understand anything. If anything, I was growing more confused. Yet, even amidst this, the snacks were delicious.’

“Isn’t it good if everyone is happy?”

“But you’re not happy.”

“That’s none of your concern.”

‘Why would an NPC care about a player’s happiness?’