Not really any questions to answer right now so we'll go right into this one
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The whole area was silent, the only thing you could hear was the gentle breeze and the hum of the Gate of Babylon as it ominously glowed a few feet in front of the demon king general. It wasn't long till the crowd of adventurers started to mumble that we may actually win even without some other guy.
'Probably the kid with the magic sword that one hits stuff'
"I'm going to ask this one more time" said the general "This town is supposed to be full of weaklings and low level adventures! We have a crusader that resisted my death curse, a priest who can harm me with a simple turn undead spell who supposedly lifted said curse and a freaking little kid who wiped out a horde of minions in one spell! And now everyone thinks you'll beat me when these guys could barely, just who are you!"
I stared him down my gaze not faltering in the slightest "You heard the masses say my name but you do not deserve to hear it from my lips" after those words I unleashed a hail of weapons at the general and I showed no signs of stopping.
The general was blown back several meters before he righted himself and managed to block an onslaught before doing something… different. He barely managed to toss his head in the air and when it reached its peak a rush of magic poured from the head engulfing the surrounding area in a blanket of orange energy. A glowing eye appeared behind the head as the general moved so fast and fluidly I could barely follow his movements. He deflected the weapons I sent to him like quicksilver or the flash would deflect and dodge bullets.
Seeing as the classic bombard the enemy strategy wasn't working it was best to take a different approach. Opening another gate I brought forward the death knights great sword and held it to my side waiting to rush the general.
Darkness who was still beside me turned to me "Let's team up like we did before and take him down" she seemed serious.
I turned my gaze towards her slightly "You take the hits and get your drawers twisted?" She pouted and I smirked slightly "Fine let us kill this thing" she nodded as we rushed the Dullahan.
The general caught his head and glared at us as we rushed him, on the approach I shot weapons at him which he was forced to block. Darkness reached him first and clashed with the general causing a small crack in the ground and a small bit of earth to shoot up. Their clash only lasting a few moments with the general ending it by using his strength to push Darkness' sword in the air leaving her open.
She seemed ecstatic before I joined the fray with my sword glowing as I struck the knight from the side which made him slide back a few feet. Not wanting to hear her complain at all I rushed the knight engaging in a whirlwind of blades with neither of us gaining or losing ground. I then started to blast him from multiple angles as we circled each other while clashing to add an extra bit of difficulty for the general. It didn't take long before the general started to lose ground which Darkness saw and rushed in.
Going in for an attack she missed, unsurprisingly, but continued to attack with the general dodging her blows. When I drew closer ready to attack with more weapons and swings the general said "Enough!"
A pulse of dark magic energy caused as both to stumble slightly which he took advantage of by tossing his head in the air doing the same thing he did earlier. Realizing the danger I tried to blast him with weapons but he literally adopted a stride as he blocked or dodged any weapons and managed to hit me sending me flying. Turning his attention to Darkness he proceeded to start demolishing her by hitting her with as many strikes as he could.
When his head finally dropped into his open hand Darkness was kneeling on the ground and her armour was starting to fall off. Everyone seemed worried as she fell to one knee using her sword as a crutch but I knew she was enjoying this somehow.
"Do not worry!" she spoke "It is my duty to protect all of you as a crusader! Plus this man is truly vile in where he chose to strike me" she started to blush as the general seemed confused. I face palmed as she went on a rant about how he was shaving her armour off in specific places to show of which pieces of her body he liked the most.
I stood and ran over to her as she was still ranting and the general started to yell confusedly and was about to hit her again, this one aimed to kill "Enough with your perverseness you masochist!" I said and she looked at me with shock as I kicked her away causing her to shout with bliss. Turning to the general I went on the offensive once more but with the advantage as he was still fairly confused. Pumping magic into the sword causing it to have a slight gold flame to it I hit the general back causing him to skid along the ground.
When he stopped we stared at each other for a moment before he spoke "I haven't had to push myself like this for a very long time. I think it's about time I get serious" his stance went relaxed as his sword went to his side. The already dark clouds grew thicker as it seemed like night time, his dark black and purple aura slowly rose off his body as the rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. Lighting struck around the area spooking the other adventures "Now let I Verdia end this game!"
The now named Verdia shot off like a rocket and in response I tried to slow him down by blasting him but he literally barreled through or deflected every weapon sent his way. He clashed into me and I had to focus all my magic power into my sword to block his attack, he then started to laugh as he tossed his head in the air doing his overpowered attack. Now that he had two hands and even more of his power increased, my blade got deflected into the air still humming with magic so I sent a weapon from the gate to hit the pommel of the sword but it only dented his armour as he hit me with what felt like one thousand attacks. The final hit sent me back with a chunk of my shoulder piece flying off and some blood to escape my mouth.
After coming to a stop I managed to get up in time to swiftly dodge an overhead strike from Verdia and as fast as I could I pulled out the great sword again and pumped it with a vast portion of my magic. I practically exploded with a golden flame like aura as my power increased momentarily. The ground shook as I swung my sword at Verdia and he blocked the attack. A small crater formed on impact sending dirt and dust flying everywhere.
The momentary boost in power from the sword was slowly fading as Verdia started to gain more ground pushing me back ever so slowly.
'Damnit!' I thought as my arms started to burn 'At this rate I'm gonna have another incident like the last death knight' I got pushed to one knee as the flaming aura was but a flickering flame. 'If I pull a stunt like last time I'm just gonna get myself killed' I was approaching the end when someone yelled out.
"Create water!" It was Kazuma. Verdia heard this and leapt back as a small torrent of water almost hit him"I have a plan keep him distracted!"
Darkness then appeared in front of me and rushed Verdia trying to hit him but all she managed to do was slice chunks from the earth and slice boulders clean in half as Verdia dodged all of her attacks with ease. Trusting in Kazuma for the moment I dashed forwards using all the advantages of my gate and being able to enhance myself momentarily to bombard him while Darkness and I pressed the attack with me occasionally boosting my power.
Verdia was still able to fend off my attacks since Darkness was missing all of hers but it was enough to get him annoyed. His anger increased as he shouted causing a magic pulse to make us stumble slightly which he took advantage of by kicking me away but I managed to send off the red magic spear charged with magic and some other enchanted weapons effective against undead at him.
The initial assault was some basic enchanted weapons with the spear being fired last. It managed to slip past his defences and pierce him through the middle of his chest the red aura exploding out. Still standing and incredibly angry after being hit he hit Darkness as hard as he possibly multiple times causing her to rocket off. Verdia then rushed her and stood over her raising his sword to impale her.
"As a former knight I can't thank the demon king enough for giving me a chance to fight a powerful but clumsy crusader and another powerful adventurer. But this battle ends here!" just as he thrust his sword down a chorus of voices came from the city gate.
"Create water!"
"Create water!"
"Create water!"
"Create water!"
"Create water!"
Multiple streams of water appeared causing Verdia to jump back and dodge all the streams, he was undead so obviously water is his weakness but I didn't have very many weapons to combat undead enemies that wasn't fire related.
Kazuma was leading a bunch of mages as they unleashed torrents of water at Beldia causing him to yell at the adventurers while he moved.
"I'll get that sword! STEAL!" shouted Kazuma trying to use the steal spell and retrieve Beldia's massive sword. But as the light died down Verdia stood still and nothing seemed to have changed.
"HAHAHA! Fool! You really believe a simple spell like that would work on me!" Verdia prepared to throw his head.
As he launched his head into the air I knew no one would stand a chance so I charged the red spear in my gate with every single bit of magic I had left dropping it to zero and had it slowly slide out the gate. The spear looked like it was on fire with the flames being the size and intensity of the flames the wyvern had.
"Not on my watch mongrel!" I shouted causing the spear to launch like a rocket smashing into a shield of magic forming around Verdia's head. The spear pushed against the barrier like a dragon ball Ki blast struggle would go down causing an explosion of force. The spear struggled for a few moments as it finally smashed through and impacted Verdia's head, he shouted as it stuck him and traveled towards the city wall. Crashing into the wall and causing a small explosion that left a gaping hole in it, his head clattered to the ground but you could still hear and see that it was still alive.
"Aqua!" shouted Kazuma "Be useful for once and hit him with water" they seemed to argue for a moment but then Aqua was surrounded by blue wisps of magic and a magic circle appeared underneath her.
After the chant a hole appeared within the clouds illuminating the area around Verdia as he looked into the sky "OH COME O-!" before he could finish his words a gargantuan amount of water fell from the sky impacting Verdia.
The only bad thing to happen was the fact that it caused a tsunami like effect that destroyed even more of the wall and swept away all the nearby adventurers. Including me. Now I was soaked and my hair was let down and the majority of my armour minus the gauntlets and legs were still attached.
It took a few minutes for all the water to disappear but the whole area was now soaking wet but when the water cleared Verdia was still standing and his head was now in my possession as it had rolled over to me after the tsunami. His body was barely standing but he was still alive and my mana was barely starting to regenerate.
I started to chuckle "It seems this battle is over" I had a shit eating grin which Verdia responded with some low growls and curses.
Darkness stumbled up to me "He is weakened its best we end him now" I nodded to that.
Aqua then summoned a staff as another magic circle appeared beneath her "Sacred turn undead!" she shouted as a pillar of light erupted underneath Beldia's body.
Letting out another chuckle I tossed his head up and down before adopting a baseball throwing stance "N-nooooo!" was Verdia's response as I threw his head over to the ever growing pillar of light and his disintegrating body. I let out another chuckle as he screamed once more, his body now completely disintegrated.
The sun then started to peak out from spots in the clouds as everyone looked up to the sky, one of the rays shining directly on to me as I continued to stare. "Just when I return from a quest/vacation I'm immediately thrust into battle once more, with a demon general no less."
"I'm sorry we couldn't deal with him sooner" said Darkness next to me.
Turning to her and smiling slightly while illuminated by the sun Darkness blushed at my gaze "You did fine" I then brought her into a one arm side hug "Now! Let us return and celebrate this victory" she continued to blush as she was pressed against me.
Walking over to everyone they were all cheering at Verdia's death when Ruffian who was among the adventurers saw us approach. "And here come the front line fighters!" everyone started to cheer as I unwrapped my arm from Darkness as she seemed sheepish from the praise.
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When everyone made it back to the guild the ensuing party was crazy, everyone was either drinking or passed out from drinking. The only person not drinking seemed to be Megumin as everyone said she was too young.
Now dressed in my casual clothes with the leather jacket I let out a grimace after taking a sip of this so called beer they had. 'Tastes like piss' I thought to myself but finished the mug nevertheless. After placing the mug I looked at my adventurer card 'Damn the level up for that was amazing' I had leveled up a considerable amount.
Swiping over to the tab that held the powers for my gate, one of the locked slots was able to be viewed "Mystic eyes…" I mumbled to myself. Pressing on the tab and spending the required skill points a whole new tree of options opened up. 'Precognition abilities, appraisal skills and more' killing Verdia seemed to have unlocked a new skill tree and it was for my eyes.
'Damn… with precognition I can predict moves that's insanely useful! While I have been able to catch glimpses of the future before, this can make fights even easier. Costs a lot of points though.' Deciding that it was worth it I grabbed a precognition skill which could be upgraded and I also grabbed the appraisal skill so now I could look at a person or object and know things about it. The skill can still be upgraded so I could get more insight to objects and people but it will definitely be of use.
With those upgrades taking a large portion of my points I put the rest into my gate since I need it stronger 'While I don't want to become too dependent on it like Gil actually was I still really need to get its power increased. I've had to resort to melee combat way too often against stronger foes, which isn't a bad thing since I find it fun but I should still probably upgrade it more.'
Sending my card back to my gate I procured some wine to drink 'That beer was awful'. After cleansing my pallet with a few sips I started to relax more. Gazing at the crowd of people who were still partying Ruffian stood from his spot.
"Let's raise a mug to Gilgamesh and Kazuma's party!" cheers resounded throughout the guild as they all chanted our names. I chuckled lightly while continuing to drink by myself when Luna approached.
"Could you come with me please? I need to discuss the reward with you and Kazuma"
Nodding to her I stood up, dismissed my wine, and followed her to the entrance where Kazuma and his party were waiting.
They gave me waves on my approach as Luna spoke "Now that you're all here I wanted to discuss your reward"
"Only us?" I asked
Ruffian spoke from a distance "You all helped defeat a demon king general! You're the heroes this world needs, of course you guys get the reward"
Luna gave a small smile "That's right so the reward for you all is 300,000,000 Eris!"
To say we were surprised was an understatement, the guild was all excited saying we should buy rounds for everyone as their chanting increased.
Kazuma then raised his hand "Alright! Meeting time" they started to 'huddle' as I approached.
Aqua immediately spoke first "I took him out so I should get ninety percent" I then smacked her on the head giving her a small glare. "Okay fine we'll split it evenly"
"I don't care as long as I get enough money to retire" started Kazuma "Seriously I'm done adventuring already"
"Wait" the other three spoke
"Not waiting"
They started to argue trying to prevent him from quitting but he seemed resolute and I didn't particularly care. The argument continued till Luna approached Kazuma with a note and his face went blank.
"Aqua's water did destroy a large portion of the walls and you guys did kill a demon general so I can't get you to pay it all but… If you could pay a portion that would be great"
I gave a small hearty laugh at his now crestfallen expression and patted him on the shoulder "For someone with luck comparable to mine to have this much bad luck is amusing" I let out another laugh.
"Wait a minute!" shouted Kazuma/Aqua "You blew a hole in the wall why do we have to cover it!"
Giving them a side glance I responded "I may have put a sizable hole in the wall but you" point to Aqua "Destroyed the whole area, if I hadn't done that you still would have destroyed it making my damage insignificant" they lowered their heads at that.
Darkness then spoke "Well now it seems we must go on quests with tough monsters for a while longer"
His head hung low for a moment till he looked up at me "Hey Gil?" I glanced at him "I hate to ask especially since you let us stay at your place but is there any way you could help us out?"
"I don't have that much money since I just bought a house"
"You got two million from the cabbage quest didn't you?" Luna said shocking the group
Turning to her I spoke "I spent it" she seemed surprised
"How?"
"The resort quest I went on" I started "I killed a massive wyvern and instead of a reward I used the two million to fund the mountain I initially fought on to be turned into an excursion so I could have a steady source of income. I also got a plot of land on the island so I can go there whenever I choose. I also am going to be working with the owner to have a small stake in some profits."
Luna's eyes widened "Oh wow that's amazing!"
"As much as I love fighting strong ravenous enemies a vacation would be nice" Darkness
Glancing at her "I'm allowed to return whenever I please with guests but I will need to wait till I receive a letter from Mr. Tanaka to say that my house is ready. Anyways I shall retire for the night" I turned to leave.
Before I could leave Darkness tapped my shoulder, turning around she was holding the spare keys I left her. "What about these?"
"Hold onto them" I dismissed with a wave "I trust you to hold onto them, you are free to visit if you like" She nodded pocketing the keys.
"Ummm" spoke Kazuma rubbing his arm "We still don't have a place to stay, is it alright if we stay there another few days just to get back on our feet from this financial blow?"
Letting out a sigh I nodded, and then Aqua practically jumped on my arm "Thank you so much!"
"Get off me you useless goddess!" I started to push her off before she dirtied my jacket. After I pushed her off I straightened my jacket and started to leave. Not wanting to be left behind the group followed, Darkness and Megumin included
"I get these two" pointing to Aqua and Kazuma "But why you two?"
"You said I was free to visit" spoke Darkness
"I guess I did. But what about you?" towards Megumin
She seemed to fidget for a moment "I didn't wanna be left behind"
"Hmm… What about the party? Do you not wish to party?"
"Well I personally didn't want to be left outside if I didn't show up to your house in time" spoke Kazuma as Aqua agreed.
"While I don't mind the drunken men lusting over my body ready to go at me like a pack of wild dogs, I would like to spend time with you as I have not seen you in a time" guess who said that.
Letting out a chuckle I nodded "I am pretty amazing I guess"
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I know this chapter was really short but I wanted to get something out instead of waiting another week or so to type out maybe another 1k words of just random stuff. Work was busy for the past two weeks or so and I've had the majority of this written already. Plus I recently started DMing a campaign for D&D so I've been working on that as well. I promise next chapter will be much longer. Also how would you all feel about an Isekai Quartet side story in the future? Overlord is my favourite anime so I'd love to wright something with it in the future, plus Isekai Quartet is really funny.