Hell Mode: Volume 4, page 10
“So you propose that we go on the offensive!” one of the generals exclaimed.
“Yes, sir. As such, I would appreciate a list of the cities you want to prioritize. The eventual aim is to win back Fortenia. Let’s make this happen as soon as we can.”
Hope returned to the faces of the elves. After successfully defending Tiamo, Allen’s group was ready to move on to their next battle.
＊ ＊ ＊
The next morning, the No-life Gamers rode their Bird Bs to a location several kilometers north of Tiamo. Allen mulled over the information he had obtained from the previous night’s military meeting as the wind blew hard against his face.
According to the report from Field Marshal Lukdraal in Nest, the Empire of Giamut had messaged them through a magic tool promising to send Rohzenheim support in the form of foodstuffs and other supplies. Assuming that Rohzenheim would be unable to decline their declaration, Giamut had already dispatched a magic ship that was currently en route to Nest.
The field marshal also had further information regarding the battle situation on the Central Continent: The Demon Lord Army had already started moving and would arrive at the fortresses at Giamut’s northern border in one or two days. They numbered two million, unchanged from before, and were equally spread out across the ten fortresses directly in their path. This meant each fortress was looking at a force of around 200,000. This was just as Allen had predicted.
Supposedly, the emperor of Giamut, who had been enthroned at a young age, was touted as a wise, intelligent, and very shrewd man. And sure enough, sending Rohzenheim support at this time seemed like a highly calculated move. Allen could not help but be impressed.
The fact that Rohzenheim had sent Giamut 600,000 elven elixirs had naturally reached the emperor’s ears. He just as likely also understood the effects of those elixirs. By sending these supplies, he was taking advantage of Rohzenheim in its moment of need and making it indebted to Giamut so that he could ask for more elven elixirs in the future at a discount. What was more, when properly supplied, the Rohzenheim force would be able to fight longer, increasing the chances of the four million monsters on standby getting directed at the elves. If all went well, Giamut would be getting two birds with one stone.
Allen deeply felt the reality that, even in the midst of a world crisis, leaders were still going to prioritize the interests of their own countries over those of any others.
“What’ve you been zoning out for?” Cecil asked, interrupting Allen’s thoughts. “I can see them now.”
“Oh, really?”
The two of them were currently riding one Beast B together. The No-life Gamers had set off from Tiamo to confirm the movements of the withdrawing enemy forces in order to decide what course of action to take next. The reason Allen and Cecil were riding together was, just as before, to save on the number of Summon slots used, but there was one thing different today: they were sitting facing each other. Allen was sitting in the front, meaning his back was turned toward the direction they were heading.
Allen was sitting backward because he had taken plant pots out on the griffin’s spacious back and was using them to create Blessings of Heaven. Considering how many had been used up the day before, he had decided to use even his commute to replenish his stock.
Thanks to the Demon Lord Army retreating from all four cities, there would be no fighting today. Having lost 100,000 monsters was more than enough to affect their ability to continue their consecutive days of assault. And every moment they spent withdrawing, Allen would produce more Blessings of Heaven, tipping the scales in the elves’ favor a little at a time.
Upon being prompted by Cecil, Allen checked the vision of their Bird B, which he was Sharing with. Sure enough, the stragglers of the retreating force had come into view.
“Wait, judging by their speed, they’ll be joining up with another group tomorrow. We have to stop it.”
“Them joining up is bad?”
“Very bad. If they turn into a big group and turn back to focus on any single city, things won’t end well.”
Uh-oh, I just realized it, but this isn’t simply withdrawing, is it?
Up to this point, the Demon Lord Army’s attacking force had split into four to attack four cities at the same time. However, after the great losses they suffered from the night attack the day before and yesterday’s battles, they might be changing up their strategy. There was no telling yet what the weakened remnants planned on doing after they joined up, but the enemy gathering their strength was just all around bad news.
“What’re we gonna do, then?”
“Harass them, of course. We’re not fighting to protect anything now, so we can move however we want. I think defeat in detail makes the most sense here.”
In a defensive battle, all strategies would be centered around the city, but today, the No-life Gamers could attack however they wanted. Allen used Bird F to share his plans for the day with the rest of his companions. Transmission was particularly great for situations like this because there was simply no way for those he did not specify as recipients to overhear.
The No-life Gamers closed in on the clump of monsters 100,000 strong.
“Things are picking up. How much longer are you gonna keep making those?”
“The entire day, of course. I won’t be stopping.”
The Demon Lord Army had already noticed the approaching Bird Bs, as they were quite large. Several monsters were now flying over, but Allen did not stop what he was doing.
“Please climb a little higher, Griff. And Cecil, get ready to use Petit Meteor.”
Allen wanted to convert the magic stones harvested last night into Blessings of Heaven as soon as possible. As such, he planned to keep at it unless his ride got actually swamped by monsters. Cecil understood his intention immediately.
The Demon Lord Army was heading north, but there was a large difference in how fast those at the front and those at the rear were walking. The trolls and ogres in particular were just lumbering along at the very end. The Gamers climbed three kilometers higher to lose their pursuers, with a Dragon B summarily finishing off those that did follow them this high.
During this time, Cecil was concentrating in order to activate her Extra Skill.
“Drop it around there.”
Cecil nodded wordlessly, then held out a hand toward a point slightly in front of the slowest group of stragglers. “Petit Meteor!”
A giant burning hunk of rock fell from the sky. Thanks to the monsters sticking so closely together while on the move, this single attack wiped out nearly 10,000 of them in one fell swoop.
Niceeee, I’m getting so much XP. This is almost as much as what I got yesterday.
Because Allen had gone around and buffed all the soldiers in all four cities, everything they killed the day before had also given him XP. However, because that had counted as him fighting in a group of more than 253 people, the threshold for the lowest tier of XP distribution, he had only received ten percent of the XP from each kill.
Today, however, he was only with the No-life Gamers. He was therefore now receiving eighty percent XP for everything they killed.
“Thank you. Looks like you got quite a lot of them,” Allen said, passing Cecil his MP Recovery Ring. “Here, use this to top back up.” Riding the same Summon made it easy to pass things over like this.
“Thanks,” Cecil replied. When she looked down to see her handiwork, she noted, “Oh, we’ve got ourselves a following now.”
“Yep. Now they’re split up.”
And I see the monsters at the front are still pressing on regardless.
Due to Cecil aiming slightly in front of the slowest group, the 20,000 trolls and ogres that were particularly sluggish had survived her attack. Realizing that they had been cut off from the bigger group, these monsters were now chasing the Gamers. Those north of the crater from the impact, however, did not turn back.
To make it easy for the monsters to pursue them, the Gamers purposely lowered their altitude and flew slowly.
“Defeat in detail is the tactic of attacking small enemy units, right? So we’re making the small units ourselves?”
Cecil recalled what she had learned in class and finally understood what Allen had been getting at. “Defeat in detail,” or otherwise known as “divide and conquer,” meant attacking the enemy when it was split up in smaller groups and bringing all of one’s forces to bear to finish off those smaller groups in sequence. At first, Cecil had thought that Allen was referring to the four groups retreating from the four cities as his “small units.” As it turned out, he was actually thinking of annihilating the group that got separated from the Petit Meteor she had just fired.
Allen nodded. “Exactly. A big group can always be broken up into smaller groups.”
When the rest of the monsters had pulled far away enough, the Gamers stopped in midair and looked down at the small group they had been leading on. The trolls and ogres had been so occupied with chasing the griffins in the air that they failed to realize they had walked right into a group of Insect Bs. A full day had passed since the start of yesterday’s battle, so the number of Lil Antsys had increased by another 3,000. Some had gotten killed in the fighting, so their total number was now 5,500. Naturally, every last one had been fully buffed with Fish-type Summons. As Keel and Sophie cast their own buffs, Allen called out several Dragon Bs.
“Now... This group’s still pretty big, but I’m gonna need a lot more magic stones, so let’s get to work!”
After considering the number and composition of this group of monsters and determining that his companions and Summons would be able to take it on, Allen gave the command for everyone to get into place. The trolls and ogres froze for a second when they finally realized they’d fallen for a trap, but immediately assumed battle readiness. The Lil Antsys closed the encirclement, eyeing the monsters like prey.
“Looks like you’re all ready. Okay, time to kill every last one of them!”
And so the No-life Gamers began applying the tactic of defeat in detail.
Chapter 7: An Army of One Million
During the three days that followed Tiamo’s fending off the Demon Lord Army, the No-life Gamers persistently attacked the monsters that were withdrawing northward. However, the monsters still managed to regroup with the forces that had been attacking the other three cities. All four groups combined with additional reinforcements coming from Fortenia to form a singular enormous host one million strong that was now heading south straight for Tiamo. Allen’s group tried everything they could to divert their path, but to no avail.
Upon returning to Tiamo, Allen immediately headed straight to the queen’s audience chamber, where the generals caught him up on what had happened over the past three days. Namely, the elves had focused their efforts on collecting the magic stones and now had over one hundred thousand in stock. Of these, fifty thousand went to Allen and would eventually be converted into Blessings of Heaven.
The remaining magic stones had been waiting for Allen’s return so that he could deliver them to Nest via Bird B. As he himself had said, it would take no time at all thanks to his Summon’s Awakened Ability, Jet. These stones would then be used to power the dozens of magic ships currently grounded in the city.
“How long would it take to evacuate everyone, sir?” Allen asked one of the generals.
“Let me think... Tiamo alone has more than seven hundred thousand refugees. Nest will probably begin running the magic ships the second they become operational, so if we take that into account, perhaps four or five days. Why do you ask?”
A grim look came over the No-life Gamers’ faces.
“I have bad news,” Allen said. “The Demon Lord Army is currently marching straight for Tiamo with a million monsters. They’re resting right now because it’s nighttime, but they’ll probably arrive in two days.”
“WHAT?!” the generals all gasped as the queen leaned forward on her throne.
One mumbled in despair, “It’s going to be a repeat of the northernmost fortress...” He was clearly thinking of the fortress that had stood impregnable for more than fifty years before it was ultimately brought down by a force of three million.
Seriously, the Demon Lord Army is moving way too fast. Even when we used divide and conquer tactics, we only managed to kill around 30,000 a day since they just kept marching no matter what we did.
It was true that the scales of this war had tipped a little toward the elves now that the No-life Gamers had joined the fray—over 500,000 monsters had been wiped out over the past few days. However, there was no denying that their involvement had also been the trigger for the Demon Lord Army’s change of strategy. Furthermore, the night attack and overwhelming casualties had served as very convincing hints that Tiamo was where the queen of the elves was hiding. Even if the Army was not absolutely certain, they at least knew that the chances of her being in Tiamo were significantly higher than the other cities.
“Does this mean we’ll be fighting a million monsters?”
Arrangements for starting up the magic ships again had only just begun. There was no way for them to get all the refugees out in time. Allen asked if everyone had the resolve to fight.
“We do indeed,” the queen attested. “Our citizens have nowhere left to run, so let us all fight as one and protect them with everything we have.”
“Of course, Your Majesty!” one of the generals cried. Not a single person was afraid.
The queen slowly turned her head to look at Allen. “Would we be able to count on your continued aid, Lord Allen?”
So, there are more than 200,000 elven soldiers here, plus enough recovery items. We might be able to hunker down and fend off the Demon Lord Army for a while, but the moment the city falls spells the end of the story for the queen, and in turn, the entire nation. If we’re going to go all in, then I prefer the option with better odds.
“Of course,” Allen replied. “However, if we all plan on staying and making a stand here, then I have something in mind.”
The generals all murmured in delighted anticipation. The strategies suggested by this young boy with black hair over these past few days had led to nothing short of miracles, one after another. They awaited his next words with the full expectation that he would pull it off yet again.
“How many scouts are in this city?”
Everyone felt a bit let down that Allen was asking about the scouts when they had a force of a million to worry about, but one of the generals still answered his question. “Scouts? Around 3,000.”
“I see. And how many of them possess an Extra Skill that increases their Agility?”
“Hm? You’re not asking about those with tracking or enemy-detection abilities?”
There was a high degree of randomness when it came to Extra Skills. They were very likely to be related to one’s class, of course, but there were many different directions that could go in. For example, a scout’s job included sneaking behind enemy lines to gather intel, discovering any enemies in hiding, and tracking camps and supply lines, to name a few.
A lot of the regular skills tied to scout-like classes tended to provide Agility buffs, and they saw the most improvement in their Agility stat when leveling up. When put together, these made scouts especially fast. As such, having an Extra Skill that further buffed AGI was considered a bust in the Extra Skills lottery.
And yet, Allen was specifically asking for these “losers.”
“There are around a hundred, I believe.”
Without saying anything further, the other generals nodded, indicating that this was a good estimate.
“If that’s the case, may I have command over 2,000 of the scouts? I especially want all of those with Talents that raise their Agility stat.”
“Mm? If you desire, you may have all 3,000 of them. If we’re to be bracing behind our walls, there will be practically nothing for them to do anyway. I’ll instruct them to follow your orders.”
“Thank you, General. I want to inform them of my strategy right away, then. Would you mind summoning the commanding officer now?”
“Very well. I’ll fetch him,” one of the generals replied. Understanding the urgency of their situation, he then headed out himself.
Allen turned back to the queen. “As soon as I finish briefing the scouting commander, we’ll head out right away.”
Representing everyone else in the room, she said, “Thank you, Lord Allen.”
“This time, I’m thinking of using delaying tactics,” Allen explained. “The enemy is set to reach Tiamo in two days, but we’ll try to delay them by one more day. Please use that time to prepare.”
A lot could be achieved in one day, especially when the elves knew Spirit Magic, which could be used to create things like trenches and walls very quickly. Allen also requested that the elves wipe out the monsters still remaining near Tiamo.
The queen nodded, acknowledging everything Allen said, then turned to her daughter. “Sophie.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Make sure you protect Lord Allen.”
Sophie’s face lit up. “Of course, Your Majesty,” she said, bowing. She had half expected her mother to stop her from going, so she was grateful for this roundabout way that the queen was giving her blessing to accompany Allen.
At that moment, the general who had gone off to fetch the scout commander returned, announcing, “I’ve brought him!”
The man who followed in after him wore decorations indicating that he was a colonel. For strategic purposes, he had been informed that the queen was here, so he was not surprised to see her. The fact that he had been summoned so suddenly did leave him quite bewildered, though. However, there was no time to let him collect himself.
Allen addressed him right off. “My sincere apologies for calling you so late. It’s a bit sudden, but I’m going to now tell you about our current situation and what I want you to do.”
Despite having no context whatsoever, the colonel listened carefully to what this black-haired boy had to say. When he was finished, however, the man was just as bewildered as before.
