[Devourer of the Nine Worlds]
The final boss of the game's official backstory.
A being that gained immense power by devouring the leaves of Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
Countless leaves grew upon the World Tree known as Yggdrasil. Then one day, a gigantic monster appeared and began devouring them.
Under its relentless destruction, the leaves, which were worlds unto themselves, were ravaged beyond recognition and lost their vitality.
One by one, they fell, until only nine leaves remained.
Midgard, Asgard, Helheim, Niflheim, Múspellsheim, Jötunheim, Álfheim, Niðavellir, and Vanaheim.
The leaves from which those nine worlds originated.
But the monster's shadow was already closing in on the final nine leaves.
To save itself, Yggdrasil gave birth to special beings known as Players.
And to protect their own worlds, the Players set out on journeys into the unknown.
...
"Sigh..."
Momonga put the reference book about Yggdrasil's lore back into his backpack and let out a melancholy sigh.
The Devourer of the Nine Worlds.
He was all too familiar with the monster affectionately nicknamed "Kuyō" by Players back in the game.
It had accumulated a whole string of intimidating titles.
"World Enemy," "Balance Breaker," "Ultimate Boss," "The Most Iconic World-Class Monster," and so on.
Every one of those titles spoke to its overwhelming power.
Even among the 32 World Bosses officially established by the developers, the Devourer of the Nine Worlds was unquestionably the strongest.
Some Players even believed that classifying Kuyō as a mere World Boss actually diminished its lofty status.
That wasn't to say the other 31 World Bosses were weak.
After all, even a legion formed from six parties of up to six Level 100 Players each, for a total of 36 people, had very little chance of defeating a World Boss.
During the game, Nazarick possessed deployable forces capable of wiping out around 30 Level 100 Players in one go.
Yet facing even a single world-class monster would force Nazarick into an emergency severe enough to threaten its very foundations.
The real reason Players spoke of Kuyō in such exaggerated terms was simple. Its absurdly powerful backstory went far beyond the rest.
To many Players, Kuyō and the other World Bosses didn't even seem to belong on the same level.
Whether it was the [Lords of the Seven Deadly Sins], the [Ten Archangels of the Sephira], or the [Eight Dragons].
Or bosses added in the [Valkyrie's Downfall] event after a major late-game update, such as the [Five Rainbow Buddhas] and the [Celestial Lord of the Sixth Heaven].
All of those World Bosses had, to some extent, been successfully defeated by Players at one point or another.
Only the [Devourer of the Nine Worlds] was a complete exception.
Although it was classified as a World Boss, its special status as the game's final boss meant that it existed only within the tantalizing lore of the setting.
And the unknown often seemed all the more powerful for being unknown.
When Momonga heard Naohara mention the Devourer of the Nine Worlds, his first reaction was to freeze on the spot.
[What!?]
[What the hell!? Kuyō!?]
[Holy shit... Is this for real!?]
Thoughts like these exploded through his mind one after another.
"We're in trouble. Why did it have to be this thing? I'd rather have all 31 of the other World Bosses come at us together."
After his brief spell of gloom, Momonga was overcome with sheer frustration.
Leaving Kuyō's actual strength aside for the moment, there was another problem.
If one of its creations had already descended into this world, then wouldn't its true body be on the way as well?
Just as Naohara had once arrived.
Momonga had also realized something horrifying the more he thought about it.
Yggdrasil's final nine leaves, or perhaps Yggdrasil itself, had most likely already met with disaster.
"If Kuyō really devoured all of Yggdrasil, do you think the remaining 31 World Bosses would try to stop him?"
"Or maybe Kuyō would turn his attention to them afterward. Once the main course is finished, dessert comes next."
Naohara looked at Momonga and couldn't resist twisting the knife a little further.
His meaning was obvious. Yggdrasil might not be the only thing that had been eaten. The other 31 World Bosses might have all ended up together in Kuyō's stomach as well.
Momonga froze for a moment, then stared at Naohara on the verge of a breakdown and wailed, "Just kill me already."
"Haha, I'm joking. It's only speculation."
Naohara chuckled, then his expression turned serious.
"What I'm saying is simple. We need to prepare for the worst as thoroughly as we can."
Kuyō's existence now hung over them like the Sword of Damocles.
Naohara had no confidence whatsoever that they could defeat it.
After all, even World-Class Items could practically be considered scraps left behind after its meals.
"So what do you plan to do next?"
"Now that the Six Great Gods have taken Enhela away, our situation is undoubtedly somewhat safer."
"For now, let's study the Chaos Beast I brought back, that unusual Kuyō monster, the Chaos Stones, and the other items."
Both the Kuyō monster and the Chaos Beast possessed abilities similar to Protection of the World, meaning they could not be affected by world-class effects.
So using [Downfall of Castle and Country] or [Millennium Rod] to control them was out of the question.
As for his Thought Body...
It was wearing Enhela's equipment to read the memories stored within it, but whether anything useful would come of that remained uncertain.
Sigh. They would just have to take things one step at a time.
Naohara and Momonga continued discussing the matter back and forth.
Nearby, the Minotaur Sage ate a hamburger while openly listening in.
As fellow Players, Naohara and Momonga tacitly allowed him to eavesdrop. It would be useful for the conversation that followed.
Thump, thump...
Heavy footsteps approached.
They turned and saw a humanoid figure made of pitch-black Ooze enter their view.
Herohero glanced around the restaurant, his gaze briefly passing over the Minotaur Sage before he quickly made his way over to Naohara and Momonga.
"I don't have any good suggestions about Kuyō, but I think we can put that issue aside for now. Our most urgent priority is attacking the Demon Plane and advancing the Guild Weapon."
Herohero got straight to the point.
He had been testing the benefits granted by the [Genius] suffix class, and just as he began to make some new discoveries, he received Naohara's information about Kuyō.
To be fair, his first reaction had been complete disbelief. In fact, almost any Player would probably react the same way upon hearing that name.
But Herohero quickly recovered.
As he got up and headed back to Nazarick to meet Naohara and Momonga, he rapidly analyzed everything contained in the report.
In the end, he reached what he believed was the most important priority at present.
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