Hell Mode: Volume 7, page 10
“Here I go! Petit Meteor!”
Cecil’s body shimmered as if she were in a heat haze. She put all of her MP into the tip of her staff, then raised it high into the air. When she did, a huge, burning, bright-red rock appeared at the far end of her staff, which then began to fall toward the ground.
Allen rushed toward Lycaoron as soon as he heard Cecil call out from atop her soaring Bird B.
“Ha ha! Did you think that you could hit me with your magic attack if you took out both my legs?! You idiots!”
Yup, we need one final push to make this work.
Lycaoron had guessed that they were using the relatively simple strategy of immobilizing him and then defeating him with magic, but that made Allen’s sudden approach nonsensical. He could not simply ignore Allen’s attack, however, so he lashed out toward his opponent with his claws.
Allen tried desperately to avoid the strike, but Lycaoron’s upper body was intact and his arms could still move quickly. Unable to dodge, Allen’s side was torn open. The pain of having his internal organs gouged out made him want to vomit, but despite that, Allen stabbed his sword into Lycaoron’s chest.
“Hngh! Huh?!”
With the sword now lodged into his vital organs, Lycaoron desperately tried to yank it out with both hands.
“Sophie! I need Gale!”
“Yes! Lord Gale! Please restrain Lycaoron!” Sophie responded instantly, having already been ready for this. She put all her MP into binding both Lycaoron and Allen with a thread of wind.
“What?! Why you...! So you’re going to die with me?!”
“You’re smart, Lycaoron. And that’s your downfall.”
You think too much about every little detail. That’s how Petit Meteor was able to get this close.
Allen’s sudden approach, his landing a blow on a vital organ, and Sophie restraining the two of them had pulled Lycaoron’s thoughts away from Cecil’s Petit Meteor.
“Allen, wait!” Cecil screamed. With the ceiling of the hilltop church destroyed and the huge, red-hot stone now visible, she was worried that she had gone too far.
Cecil’s Petit Meteor had grown so large that it could easily crush the entire massive church and the hill it sat atop along with it.
“Later! Keep the sword! Homing Instinct!”
When preparing his strategy, Allen had set up a nest in the city’s central square in advance. He teleported the Gamers, Lepe, and Temi there, leaving Lycaoron behind.
Shortly after Allen disappeared, Lycaoron, unable to put together what had just happened, saw a huge, blazing rock with a diameter of over a hundred meters falling from the sky. Knowing that he had been lured into this spot as a part of Allen’s strategy, he realized that he could not escape the impact range of the meteor. Left with no other choice, he tried to catch it with both hands.
“Graaaaarrrgh! I can’t believe this! Allen, you little bastard! Don’t think for a second that we’re done here!”
Lycaoron was all alone. No one was around to hear his cry as the huge rock crushed both the church and his body.
Chapter 6: The Truth Revealed
The moment Allen returned to the back of Cecil’s Bird B, the giant boulder created by her Extra Skill, Petit Meteor, crashed into the church. A thunderous roar could be heard as both the church and the hill upon which it sat were crushed by the meteor’s overwhelming weight. Shortly thereafter, a shock wave and a blast of hot air assailed the plaza.
“That plan went so well, it’s almost funny. Did we beat him?” Cecil asked, turning around. The moment Allen opened his grimoire, she tugged at it to get a peek inside.
“Fortunately, he was just a musclehead with high stats, so thanks to Merus’s help, it wasn’t too hard to plan a strategy.” Allen then contacted Meruru using Messenger. “Meruru, we should know if we beat him any moment now. If he’s still alive, I want you to shoot him with your sniper rifle again.”
“Roger that!” Meruru responded from Tam-Tam’s cockpit. Even from the hill outside Teomenia where her golem knelt in wait, its one arm still transformed into the long-range sniper rifle, the massive meteor had been visible.
In the unlikely event that Petit Meteor had not been enough to defeat Lycaoron, Allen planned to have Meruru shoot him with another magic bullet. He had no need to worry, however. A line appeared in his grimoire, telling him that the battle with the Demonic Deity was over.
Allen also felt a new power surge through his body.
All right! I gained a level! Doot do-doot! Considering that the world was not actually a game, leveling up was not accompanied by any sound effects, though Allen played one in his head.
Allen shared the good news with his still-nervous companions. “Good news, everyone. It looks like we defeated the Demonic Deity!”
“We did it!” Krena cheered, jumping up and down.
“Very well done, Allen,” Keel said, a satisfied look on his face, while Allen was still going over the fight in his head.
The strategy played out almost perfectly. More to the point, Homing Instinct worked exactly as planned.
“Well, it’s all thanks to Merus investigating how the Demonic Deity fought.”
Allen had had Merus battle Lycaoron countless times over the past four days to get an idea of the Demonic Deity’s fighting style.
“I died a bunch doing it too.”
“You did a great job healing the team, Keel.” Once again, Keel had healed the vanguard with perfect timing. Thanks to that, Krena and Dogora had been able to move around without ever truly being exposed to danger.
Compared to Rehzel, Lycaoron had by no means been weak, but the Gamers had been able to take him down thanks to Allen’s strategy, which he had had a chance to perfect during their time clearing the Rank S dungeon.
“Well, it was all part of the plan. But still, was it really okay to go that far? What are we going to do when this is all over?”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
Keel still felt that there were a lot of issues that needed to be resolved before he could accept Allen’s praise. For example, the church, which was once the headquarters of the Church of Elmea and had welcomed believers from all over the world, was in ruins. Both it and the hill it sat atop had been crushed. When the Gamers arrived on this continent to save the citizens, part of the plan had been to protect the Church of Elmea, Keel had claimed wearily.
Allen gave a mischievous smirk. “It was a tough battle. Let’s split before the citizens return.”
“Hey! Why’re we always like this?!”
Due to the role he and the party had played in the destruction of Rohzenheim’s capital city of Fortenia and the church in the Holy Land of Elmahl, Keel was racked with guilt. Allen accepted this, but he also could not forget to thank the two Heroic Beasts whom he had met in the Rank S dungeon.
“Temi, Lepe, thank you for coming out to help despite you both having been left to take care of Rohzenheim.”
“Listen, I don’t know anything about what you’re doing here, nor about this operation we took part in. Besides, I’m getting worried about those soldiers. Can you send us back to the battlefield now?” Temi, a Beast Astrologist and stalwart advisor to the Beast King, disavowed all knowledge of what had happened here. She simply wanted to get going.
During the past week or so that Allen and the others had been active in the Holy Land of Elmahl, battles with the Demon Lord Army, with soldiers numbering around one million strong, had begun in various parts of the Central Continent. Approximately 500,000 had landed in northern Rohzenheim as well, and the war was already underway there. Another 500,000 or so were approaching the sea north of Baukis, so it seemed that the total number of invaders would once again be around two million.
Allen had heard from Helmios that the Demon Lord Army was trying to take advantage of the fact that they seemingly knew where he was. Additionally, Allen had learned through his Spirit A that, unlike the previous year, the enemy’s chain of command was solid, and they would be launching stunning attacks this time around. That was why he could not call Helmios to fight Lycaoron. He had considered asking Rosetta for help since she could steal the Demonic Deity’s skills and weaken him, but it seemed that their opponent only used physical attack skills and no special moves, so Allen had decided that there was no need for her to come.
In Rohzenheim, Prince Zeu had proposed organizing a guerrilla force and launching a preemptive attack instead of barricading themselves and defending their position. As before, the elf generals, who had envisioned defensive battles in their forts making use of the elves’ strengths in elemental magic and archery, had not immediately agreed with his proposal. However, Siguul explained that if the guerrilla force, organized around the Ten Heroic Beasts, were deployed alongside Allen’s Summons, it would be possible for them to reduce the enemy’s numbers before said enemy reached the gates of the forts. He had also noted that, under the right circumstances, there was the possibility of them flanking the attackers. For these reasons, the proposal had been adopted.
The Demon Lord Army seemed to have picked up on the deployment of the guerrilla troops, however, as they had changed their route to try to bypass the ambushes. Using her fortune-telling, Temi had predicted the enemy’s route, using the results to deploy Summons and effectively move their guerrilla troops so as to continue to engage the enemy. Allen had gleaned all of this via his Spirit A and had thus decided that it was not possible to call in the other Ten Heroic Beasts since they were currently engaged in combat.
“Huh? I’m tired, Allen. Can’t we take a rest? Oh, and hey, do you have a molmo you can give me?” Lepe, a bard who was intent on living his life however he pleased, was not terribly concerned about what had happened to the church.
“Sure thing, Lepe. How about some jerky too?”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll send you supplies later.” With that, Allen sent Temi and Lepe back where they had come from. He then went over to Dogora to properly thank him. “Dogora, I need you to speak naturally next time. Lycaoron didn’t find us out though, so that was good. You were a huge help.” However, Dogora only frowned at this and looked down, evading Allen’s gaze.
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Hmm? What’s wrong, Dogora?” Krena peered into Dogora’s face. Meruru, who also rejoined the team, and the others also looked at him with concern. Dogora, however, refused to meet anyone’s gaze. Instead, he clenched the handle of his greataxe so tightly that his fingers turned white and closed his eyes in pain.
“Shit!” He suddenly cried, throwing down his greataxe and dropping to his knees. “Why can’t I activate my Extra Skill?!”
Just as I expected, he was really betting that today would be the day. He’d been thinking a lot about it since yesterday.
Allen recalled Dogora having listened more intently than ever during the strategy meeting the day prior. While fighting Lycaoron, he had attacked boldly despite his opponent being many times stronger than him, and when Krena was in a tight spot, he had jumped in and defended her. From Allen’s perspective, Dogora had fought well.
On top of that, Allen felt that Dogora had played the role of a shield all but perfectly. The rear guard had almost never been attacked because Dogora had always positioned himself between them and Lycaoron, and it had worked. However, judging from his shout earlier in the battle, Dogora seemed to have been trying to activate his Extra Skill. And just like before, it had not activated.
With Attack increases from both Lepe’s buff and the necklace obtained as a reward for defeating the final boss of the Rank S dungeon, Krena had been able to activate her Extra Skill and deliver a decisive blow to Lycaoron. However, Dogora’s attacks had not dealt sufficient damage to Lycaoron, which was partly because of the role Allen had instructed him to fill, but he seemed to think that it was somehow connected to the fact that he had been unable to use his Extra Skill since the fight against Rehzel in Rohzenheim.
“Merus, why don’t you just tell us? I don’t know why you’re hiding it,” Allen told Merus, who was silently watching Dogora. He had always thought that there was a reason Dogora’s Extra Skill continued to fail to activate, and Merus seemed to know something about it.
“I can’t tell you,” Merus responded firmly.
“And you can’t tell us why either?”
“I can’t. That would betray the natural law, which is something I want to avoid. However, considering the circumstances, I don’t think there’s any other choice.”
After a short pause, Merus spoke again, his expression heavy.
＊ ＊ ＊
The Gamers split into several groups to eliminate the monsters remaining in Teomenia. They had decided to ensure that Teomenia was free before discussing Dogora’s Extra Skill. Allen certainly believed that talking about any concerns his childhood friends from Krena Village had was important, but protecting the lives and safety of others who were currently in danger had to take priority, which meant that they first needed to eliminate the monsters lurking nearby. And though he doubted there were any such cases, if anyone in the city had survived by desperately hiding out in their basement, they needed to be saved.
Allen asked his Spirit A, which could pass through walls, to check inside buildings, but no survivors were found. However, the No-life Gamers were able to concentrate fully on eliminating the monsters as a result, and by the time evening had rolled around, it seemed that Teomenia had been completely rid of them.
As the sky began to darken, the party boarded Tam-Tam and headed for Neel. Allen had planted Gold and Silver Beans around Teomenia to create a protective barrier and left his Summons to deal with the monsters lurking around the city. If they could secure the surrounding area, the refugees from Teomenia would soon be able to return to their homes.
From Tam-Tam’s cockpit, Allen gazed out at the darkened, empty city of Teomenia. The rest of the group had formed up around Dogora and Merus and were waiting for Allen and Meruru to come before they could start. When the two finally took their seats, Dogora cut right to the chase. “Well? Talk.”
“First, allow me to explain why I didn’t want to discuss this matter. This is something even Rohzen doesn’t know.”
Merus apparently had lived for about a hundred thousand years as the First Angel. This was why he felt no inclination to refer to Rohzen, who had become a god at the young age of five thousand, by any sort of title.
“Even the Spirit God doesn’t know?” Sophie muttered as she stopped her hand from gently stroking Rohzen, who was perched on her lap.
“That’s correct, descendant of the Priestess of Prayer. The Spirit God knows that there are many things he can’t say, but he doesn’t know why he must remain silent. You see, when the new gods were first learning of the ways of the world, Lord Elmea only said not to tell people these things; he did not give a reason for it.”
“I see.”
“In other words, even the Spirit God is not allowed to know why. This isn’t something I’m particularly keen on discussing either, so are you sure you want to hear it?”
“I think it’s fine.” Allen nodded and looked down at Spirit God Rohzen, who appeared to be asleep on Sophie’s lap.
“The gods value harmony. We’ve talked about this before, but you do know how hard it is to maintain this harmony, do you not? Since you have memories of your previous life and can compare the two worlds, Sir Allen, I would say you’re more aware than others about what happens when a world’s harmony is not maintained.”
Allen tried to remember everything from his previous life. Back then, many countries had descended into anarchy due to political turmoil. Police and militaries had used excessive force, and the citizens who were against them had taken up arms and engaged in civil war. Due to poor weather, crop production had not been able to keep up with consumption, food supplies had not been able to keep up with increased imports, prices had risen, and the overall value of money had dropped. And he even saw on TV and the internet that some countries required a wad of cash to buy even a bottle of milk as a result of hyperinflation.
Building off of such examples, Allen sought to explain what a country lacking harmony would be like in this world.
“Hmm, it’s kind of like when a country falls into chaos after the loss of its king or a drop in the value of its gold coins.”
Having learned in the Academy about a country in which civil war had broken out, Allen’s friends nodded in understanding. After the king had been dethroned, a general had assumed the role and begun functioning as an autocrat. They had also learned about the importance of currency being standardized around the world.
“Sure, but that was a national situation, not a global one,” Merus explained. “Should the whole world be out of harmony, the outcome will be far worse.”
In response to Merus’s reproach, Allen formed a new hypothesis based on his memories of his previous life. “Oh, cheats like duping bugs being rampant, and how real-money trading makes in-game transactions meaningless. That sort of thing?”
“Bugs, cheats... If I remember correctly, Sir Allen, you’ve experienced the fraying of the world’s logic, the unintended turmoil of the God of Creation, and the shameful acts of trying to profit from that turmoil. Well, it’s kind of like that.” Merus shared Allen’s memories, and it seemed that he had referenced them even when he was an angel, using them to help decide what characteristics he should give Summons.
Allen recalled a duplication bug found in a game he used to enjoy playing. Any item had been able to be replicated infinitely under certain conditions, which was a death knell for a game when it caused the value of hard-to-obtain items to plummet. Of course, the management side had realized this and meted out strict punishments, such as freezing the accounts of those who were duping as well as those who traded the duplicated items, while also taking measures to fix the system. Although the duping bug had been made unusable, the management had not been able to immediately erase the multiplied items, and the economy remained in a state of chaos.
