Hell Mode: Volume 8, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
Color Illustrations
Chapter 1: Team Allen Meets Shia
Chapter 2: A Reward from the Crevelle Royal Family
Chapter 3: A Battle Against Bask, the King of Shura
Chapter 4: Hunting Demonic Deities and Unsealing King Me
Chapter 5: The Questioned Resolve and the Full Account of the Debacle
Chapter 6: The Obstacle of Despair
Chapter 7: Dogora Returns
Chapter 8: Bask’s Brute Force and Dogora’s Roar
Chapter 9: Gushara’s Horrific Spells and Allen’s Brainpower
Chapter 10: Going Beyond the Limits of Normal Mode
Chapter 11: What the Demon Lord Army Desires
Chapter 12: The Coronation and Goddess Freyja’s Salvation
Chapter 13: Utilizing the Floating Island
Chapter 14: The Demon Lord Army’s Plans
Side Story 1: The Sacrifice and the Blood of the Beast (Part 1)
Side Story 2: Sophie and Luke Play Ogre
Side Story 3: Hell Mode Spin-Off—The Heroic Tale of Helmios (Part 2): A Natural Gift, Act 1
Afterword
Bonus Short Story
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
Chapter 1: Team Allen Meets Shia
Located to the southeast of the Central Continent was Galiat, a continent composed of several smaller countries. One of these countries was the Holy Land of Elmahl, a nation that worshipped Elmea, the God of Creation. Its capital, Teomenia, the home of the Church of Elmea, was up in flames.
The capital had been responsible for the Daemonism debacle. The Pontiff of Daemonism and founder of his church, Gushara, had been scheduled to be executed, but this had all been a part of the Demon Lord’s plan. The Pontiff had taken the divine vessel that the Demon Lord Army had stolen from Fire Goddess Freyja in the Heavenly Realm and used it to set Teomenia ablaze, transforming its civilians into daemonic incarnations. Furthermore, those killed by these monsters were turned into daemonic incarnations themselves. The No-life Gamers had headed for the Galiatan Continent to put an end to this invasion and had managed to defeat Demonic Deity Lycaoron.
From the temple altar that the Demonic Deity had been protecting, a pillar of light had burst forth. It pointed toward a floating island at the center of the continent. The Gamers had also learned that similar pillars of light were stretching from different locations. They had decided to split into three groups, each team had headed for a pillar of light to fight against the Demon Lord Army.
Sophie, Meruru, and Volmaar had flown to the east, toward a group of cities that served as an oasis in the desert area. They had then received aid from the dark elves to destroy the monsters plaguing the cities.
Keel, Krena, and Merus had headed to the south end of the continent. The river region served as the border for two opposing nations: the Kingdom of Calvarna and the Republic of Carlonea. Together with the vanguard unit of Calvarna, they had stopped the monsters that had flooded in from Carlonea.
Allen, Cecil, and Dogora had rushed west to the Kingdom of Crevelle. Like the other regions, this merfolk kingdom had also been overrun by monsters.
“We made it in time, didn’t we, Allen?” Cecil asked worriedly.
“Yeah. Just barely, though,” Allen assured her.
They were surrounded by the buzzing wingbeats of Insect As as Allen flew above the dirt wall. There, he spotted a person resembling Beast Princess Shia. He Summoned his Bird B to make his descent.
Everyone’s using all the Extra Skills they’ve got. I guess we really were cutting it close, Allen thought.
The vast majority of Extra Skills had a cooldown timer of a day. There was not any data backing this up, but everyone knew from experience; no one would blindly start using them without good reason. If Extra Skills were being used, it implied that the user had no other choice and was backed into a corner. If multiple people were using them during the war against the Demon Lord Army, it signified that their fortress was about to fall or that the people were unable to hold their own against the army.
There were only two courses of action here: to die on the battlefield or to retreat. Allen and his team had luckily arrived before Shia and her squad had been forced to make that choice.
“Allen, duck!” Dogora bellowed.
As Allen instinctively obeyed that command, he heard a sharp clang of metal above his head. Dogora had used his shield to parry an arrow that was headed for them. Unable to tell if Allen’s team was friend or foe, a beastkin had loosed it as a warning.
“Thanks,” Allen said. “But we won’t be able to fight with the beastkin at this rate. We need to explain our motives to them first. Dogora, raise your shield higher and protect us.”
Allen and Cecil ducked behind Dogora, using him as their shield.
“Hey! What gives?!” Dogora demanded.
Allen ignored his friend’s comment and waved at Shia. The rhinokin beside her noticed the group and waved back, stopping the archers from attacking. Team Allen then descended in front of Shia. Beast Prince Zeu had described her as a prideful woman with a fierce attitude befitting her nickname “War Princess.” Allen had braced himself, assuming that he would get attacked on sight, but nothing came. In fact, she emanated a sympathetic and gentle air as she tenderly clutched her wounded comrade.
“Who are you?” the rhinokin demanded, stepping in front of Shia as though to protect her. He held a giant mallet in his hand.
“My name is Allen. I’m a Rank S adventurer and I’m here to lend you my aid.” He spoke loudly and clearly, conveying his motives and identity to the Beast Princess.
He would have usually never revealed his rank under these circumstances; the beastkin had their guards down. However, Beast Prince Zeu had apparently been in frequent contact with Shia.
“Allen? Aren’t you the one who worked with my brother?” Shia asked.
“That’s me. His Highness, Beast Prince Zeu, requested that I lend you my aid,” Allen replied.
“Huh?!”
Shia scowled. Perhaps it was inconvenient for her to know that she had received help from her brother. Allen recalled that Zeu was a lionkin, while Shia was a tigerkin. Though he knew little about beastkin, he wondered if such a thing was normal for biological siblings.
Or maybe they have different mothers? No, that’s not important right now. We don’t have time.
“He looks gravely injured. Please let me use a healing potion,” Allen said.
With that, he took out a Blessing of Heaven from his storage and used it. In an instant, the injured deerkin, along with the beastkin and merfolk soldiers within the Ability’s effect, had their wounds healed. The soldiers looked stunned for a moment before they immediately headed back to the battlefield.
Allen gazed at the deerkin atop Shia’s lap. The upper half of his body had turned black and he was giving off an ominous aura.
Ugh, the transformation’s already starting. I don’t know if I’ll make it in time.
“This item might be more effective,” Allen said, using a Potherb.
The deerkin was knocking on death’s door as the dark fog lifted from his body. It disintegrated under the sunlight, and he started to recover at an astonishingly fast pace. Moments later, he blinked quizzically and sat up.
“It’s just as my brother told me,” Shia muttered as she helped the deerkin to his feet. “I see... Then that massive swarm of bees must be the Summons he told me about. You say that you’re here to offer your aid, but I have nothing on me. I have no reward to give you.”
“I don’t mind, of course,” Allen replied. “Our primary goal is to annihilate the daemonic incarnations.”
“Daemonic incarnations, you say? Does it have anything to do with what just happened to Vice-Captain Rasu?”
“It does. Rasu should be fine now—you can rest assured that he won’t turn into that monster with a slimy lower half. I’ll tell you the details later.”
“Very well.”
Allen knew that he had to defend this place first, so he Unsummoned his Bird B and Summoned a Bird E in its place. He took to the skies and used its Awakened Ability, Farsight, to gain a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield and take stock of the situation.
Hmm... So, they’re not going all out to surround this place. In fact, I can see some monsters marching in from outside my vision.
Farsight allowed Allen to see everything within a hundred-kilometer radius. He was able to see every branch, leaf, and pebble on the road, but the amount of detail shared was heavily reliant on the Intelligence of the Summoner. Fortunately, Allen had about 10,000 Intelligence and thus was able to accurately note the number of daemonic incarnations within range.
In addition, the enemies out of range were flooding in from the west. He saw traces of a past battle as they marched toward him and his party, implying that Shia’s army had made countless sacrifices as they desperately tried to protect the Crevelle citizens.
* * *
Name: Allen
Age: 15
Class: Summoner
Level: 83
HP: 2,815 + 2,000
MP: 4,460 + 2,200
Attack: 1,564 + 3,200
Endurance: 1,564 + 12,800
Agility: 2,911 + 15,525
Intelligence: 4,470 + 5,725
Luck: 2,911 + 2,000
Skills: Summoning {8}, Creation {8}, Synthesis {8}, Strengthening {8}, Awakening {8}, Expansion {7}, Storage, Sharing, Quick Summoning, Equivalency, Deputize,
XP: Approx. 500,000,000,000/2,000,000,000,000
Equipment
Ring 1: +5,000 Attack
Ring 2: +5,000 Attack
Adamantite Sword: +2,500 Attack
Black Dragon Cape: +6,000 Endurance, +3,000 Attack
* * *
Holder (80 Total)
Insect: A x 49
Beast:
Bird: A x 11, B x 3, E x 2, F x 1
Grass:
Stone:
Fish: B x 2
Spirit: A x 5
Dragon: A x 6
Angel: A x 1
Breakdown of Summons After Splitting into Teams (80 Total)
Northern border of Giamut: 10 (Insect A x 8, Dragon A x 1, Fish B x 1)
Northern border of Rohzenheim: 15 (Insect A x 10, Dragon A x 3, Fish B x 1, Bird F x 1)
Holy Land of Elmahl: 5 (Insect A x 4, Spirit A x 1)
Rodin Village and elsewhere: 5 (Spirit A x 4, Dragon A x 1)
Bird As used for teleportation: 10 (Bird A x 10)
Team Sophie in the east: 13 (Insect A x 11, Bird A x 1, Bird E x 1)
Team Keel in the south: 12 (Angel A x 1, Insect A x 8, Bird B x 2, Bird E x 1)
Team Allen in the west: 10 (Insect A x 8, Bird B x 1, Dragon A x 1)
* * *
Name: Cecil Granvelle
Age: 15
Class: Wizardess King
Level: 60
HP: 2,470 + 2,400
MP: 3,974 + 2,400
Attack: 1,640
Endurance: 1,686
Agility: 3,382 + 2,400
Intelligence: 4,138 + 2,400
Luck: 2,541 + 2,400
Skills: Wizardess King {6}, Fire {6}, Ice {6}, Thunder {6}, Light {6}, Abyss {2}, Sparring {4}
Extra Skill: Petit Meteor
Equipment
Ring 1: +5,000 Intelligence
Ring 2: +5,000 Intelligence
Rod of the Wizardess King: +4,000 Intelligence, +20% Magical Damage
Robe of the Wizardess King: +4,000 Endurance, Magical Damage Resistance (High)
* * *
Name: Dogora
Age: 15
Class: Destroyer
Level: 60
HP: 4,089 + 2,400
MP: 1,919
Attack: 4,348 + 2,400
Endurance: 3,595 + 2,400
Agility: 2,849 + 2,400
Intelligence: 1,757
Luck: 2,664 + 2,400
Skills: Destroyer {6}, Full Might {6}, Explosion {6}, Peerless Slash {6}, Slaughter Strike {6}, Fighting Soul {2}, Axe Mastery {6}, Shield Mastery {4}
Extra Skill: Heart and Soul
Equipment
Ring 1: +5,000 Attack
Ring 2: +5,000 Attack
Adamantite Greataxe: +4,000 Attack
Adamantite Large Shield: +3,000 Endurance
Adamantite Armor: +3,000 Endurance
* * *
Allen checked his grimoire and turned to the Wizardess King. “Cecil, we’ve officially received a request for help from Beast Princess Shia. We’ll support her with everything we’ve got. Could I have you signal the start of the battle? Make it flashy.”
“Yup. Leave it to me,” Cecil replied with a nod.
Stepping forward, she used her Extra Skill, Petit Meteor. Moments later, a massive rock appeared in the skies above, a kilometer to the west of Allen’s current location. The flaming red meteor, drawn in by gravity, fell to the earth with great speed. It landed smack in the middle of the oncoming horde of monsters.
BOOOOM!
“What?!” Shia gasped.
The ground shook as the meteor crashed down with a mighty roar. Nearby trees were blown away, and the marshy soil of the wetlands hissed as water evaporated due to the scorching heat. A shock wave hit Allen’s group a moment later, and the first defensive wall was blown away along with the monsters. Even the final defensive wall, which Allen was on, shook under the tremendous impact. The beastkin and merfolk soldiers staggered as they gazed upon the destruction that could be called neither a miracle nor a nightmare.
Allen and Cecil, however, were used to this chaos.
“I’ll switch to attacking the surrounding area,” Cecil said. She knew that she had to rid the vast western region of Galiat of the monsters plaguing it.
“Right. Leave the big ones to me. I need to create more slaves,” Allen instructed, thinking ahead.
“All right. Understood.”
After giving her curt response, Cecil gazed down at the horde of monsters that had survived her meteor and unleashed a barrage of attack spells. Everyone with a Mage Talent—herself included—used attack spells that differed from the offensive skills those with Warrior Talents like Krena employed. According to Merus, this world operated under such rules, which explained why there were different deities managing each Talent.
Cecil was able to manipulate fire, ice, lightning, and light elements. Each element had six magic skills—one for each of its levels. In Krena’s and Dogora’s cases, each level increase only raised their MP usage and Attack. Cecil, on the other hand, did set damage with each skill and was able to use a new magic skill with each level increase, which raised her damage and range. Fire Magic, for example, was as follows:
Level 1: Fire
Single-target attack
MP usage: 5
Power: Based on Intelligence
Activation time: 3 seconds
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Level 2: Flame Lance
Area-of-effect attack
MP usage: 20
Power and range: Based on Intelligence
Activation time: 6 seconds
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Level 3: Mega Fire
Single-target attack
MP usage: 30
Power: Based on Intelligence
Activation time: 15 seconds
Cooldown: 1 minute
Level 4: Flame Rain
Area-of-effect attack
MP usage: 100
Power and range: Based on Intelligence
Activation time: 30 seconds
Cooldown: 3 minutes
Level 5: Flare
Single-target attack
MP usage: 200
Power: Based on Intelligence
Activation time: 1 minute
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Level 6: Inferno
Area-of-effect attack
MP usage: 500
Power and range: Based on Intelligence
Activation time: 3 minutes
Cooldown: 10 minutes
Cecil poured her mana into her rod and chanted, “Flame Lance.”
Exactly six seconds after she scribbled her magical incantation in the air, fiery spears rained down on the daemonic incarnations and monsters. They were turned to ash in an instant.
“H-How was she able to cast Inferno so quickly?” a member of the mage squad gasped.
“No, she chanted, ‘Flame Lance.’ Still, how is her Fire Magic so effective?” another wondered.
The mage squad was so confused by how quickly Cecil had activated her spell that some lost their concentration. Some had even written their incantations incorrectly, causing their spells to disperse in all directions. Usually, no one made such an elementary mistake.
Daemonic incarnations and monsters were known to be highly resistant to fire; no one understood why Cecil had seemingly ignored this disadvantage. Yet every time the creatures trampled over their fallen comrades, they, too, fell victim to Flame Lance.
The beastkin mage squad members drew their own conclusions as the pile of soot grew. They had been tasked with stopping the oncoming enemies and becoming obstacles for the monsters that followed. Their mission was to buy time. They had chosen this strategy because they did not have enough power to defeat the monsters with their Attack Magic. Cecil, however, perhaps due to her strengthened Intelligence, was able to launch powerful Fire Magic that paid no heed to the monsters’ resistance and burnt them to a crisp. And so, she set her enemies ablaze, creating space that lured more victims toward her.
“Ugh, this wall’s in the way. Flare!” Cecil chanted. She raised both arms in the air as a massive flame started to form.
“Huh?!” the mage squad gasped.
She swung her arms down in the direction of the wedge-shaped wall that was their second line of defense. The fire flew toward the wall and exploded on contact, blowing the magic barrier the mage squad had painstakingly created to bits along with the surrounding monsters. Only then did they realize just how high Cecil’s Intelligence was, as rocks and ice made from magic could only be destroyed by spells cast by a user who possessed higher Intelligence.
