Hell Mode: Volume 11, page 10
“Lady Freyja, can you still fight underwater?” Allen asked.
“It’s not an issue,” Freyja replied. “However, I’m in the territory of another deity. I cannot use my power to its fullest.”
Kagutsuchi pulsed red as though it were breathing, evaporating the water around it and sending soft bubbles rising above. Guess she isn’t as strong down here as she is on land. The Gamers were fully buffed thanks to the Abilities and Awakened Abilities of Fish-type Summons. Surely Dogora could handle the rest.
“All right, let’s do this,” Allen said. “That bug—Bildiga, I think—is strong. Make sure you don’t get hit by any of his attacks.”
“Got it,” Krena replied with a nod.
She kicked off the stage of the Songstress Contest and leaped into the air. This was her first battle as a merfolk, but she was able to get the hang of her new body in a flash thanks to her absurdly honed instincts. With her newfound ability to seemingly defy gravity, a power she did not have above the water, she acrobatically headed for her enemy. She tilted her body to the side and whirled around like a top, using the momentum to launch her orichalcum greatsword straight at Bildiga’s exoskeleton.
CLANG! A sharp, metallic roar rang out, sending a radial shock wave through the water. The area around them trembled.
“Hmph!” Bildiga grunted.
“Whoa!” Krena cried.
Her attack was parried, and she momentarily lost her balance. Krena’s fully supported and buffed, and she’s even got powerful earrings, but that’s still not enough to penetrate Bildiga’s body? While Allen calmly analyzed his friend’s fight, another shadow shot out from beside him.
“Krena! Let’s hit him together!” Shia shouted, zooming through the water like an arrow cutting through air.
She rushed toward Bildiga at the precise moment when Krena lost her balance, getting between her and the Greater Demonic Deity, then swinging her fists. CLING! Another sharp screech of metal filled the waters when Shia’s adamantite knuckles made contact with the side of Bildiga’s exoskeleton. All the while, the Demonic Deity remained where he stood. Cautiously, Shia, who swam behind him, and Krena, who tried to flank him, stepped away.
Shia’s only got a four-star Talent, and her gear is adamantite. If Krena can’t land an effective hit, I doubt Shia can.
“Krena! Use your Extra Skill and then Supreme Ruling Blade!” Allen instructed.
“Okay!” Krena shouted back.
Right away, her entire body wavered, and her orichalcum blade started to tremble. Small bubbles were created by the weapon’s movement.
“Opening the Extra Gate... Foolish,” Bildiga muttered.
Krena glared at him before she kicked the stage. Approaching her enemy, she raised her blade high over her head, leaving her open to an attack.
“Rah! Supreme Ruling Blade!” she bellowed.
Small bubbles followed her weapon as she swung it down, aiming for the tiny opening in Bildiga’s carapace at his shoulder. Her blade moved so fast toward the centimeter-wide opening that it escaped its bubbly confines.
KLANG! For the third time, the same metallic sound rang out. Bildiga sank into the ground below, pushed down by the sheer force of the blade, and a circular crack ran through the Songstress Contest stage. Even Krena’s Supreme Ruling Blade proved fruitless, and the shock wave went through Bildiga before being transferred into the stage below.
“Allen...” Cecil said, analyzing the fight carefully.
“Yeah,” Allen replied with a nod. “Either he’s invincible against physical attacks or his Endurance is just crazy high.”
He recalled when the Insect A he had sent to the northern region of the Central Continent had been utterly destroyed. The Summon, whose stats had all been above 30,000 because it had been King Me’d, had been capable of defeating Rank S monsters using just its normal attacks, but against Bildiga, everything it had tried had proven futile. Even Krena could not scratch on the Demonic Deity, proving that this was not a simple matter of high resistance—Bildiga likely had something stronger, such as the ability to completely nullify physical damage.
“What? Then how do we beat him?” Cecil asked.
She gripped her staff tightly with worry, but Allen did not respond. Instead, he began analyzing Bildiga. Gotta be careful of counters too, since that’s how he took out my Antsy. But before he could warn his friends, Bildiga unfurled his front legs. What would be his hands, which had been tucked up under his shoulders, opened downward at his wrists, revealing his scythe-like forelegs. He resembled a massive praying mantis that was ready to tear its prey apart.
“I’ve grown tired of waiting,” he said. “I’ll kill all of you now.”
Though his front legs had halved in width, they had doubled in length. Krena, who was trying to flee now that she knew her skills were ineffective, was flanked by the two sharp appendages, both threatening to pierce her.
“Whoa!” she cried.
She curled into a ball to try to dodge the attacks, and she narrowly managed to evade the scythe that came from the front. Her back was wide open, however. And though Shia quickly jumped in from behind and punched Bildiga’s arm upward, changing its trajectory, the sharp spikes on his leg still managed to graze Krena’s shoulder. Blood began pooling in the water. Krena had used her natural talents to dodge to the best of her abilities, knowing that she might not have been able to avoid a fatal blow.
“Cecil, I want you guys to cast your spells,” Allen ordered. “Krena and Shia can only act as meat shields.”
“Okay, I’ll do what I can!” Cecil cried as she began casting her ice magic.
“I’ll go all out!” Sophie added before using Nymph’s water bullets.
And yet, Bildiga did not budge. Cecil proceeded to use her wind and thunder spells to attack, while Sophie utilized Gale to shower Bildiga with wind blades, but all of their attacks were for naught. He once again stood still when Krena and Shia distanced themselves. They were at a stalemate.
“I’m giving everything I’ve got, but none of it is effective!” Cecil shouted.
“Same here, Lord Allen!” Sophie added.
“No luck on my end either,” Volmaar said.
It seemed Bildiga had high magical damage resistance as well. I wonder if their spells are less effective underwater, kinda like how Freyja’s powers weaken. But I feel like we’re doing nothing to him... This is gonna be a tough fight.
“We’ve successfully teleported to the ocean floor,” Merus suddenly reported. “We’ll get into battle formation.”
“Hurry, Merus,” Allen pleaded. “We don’t have much time until the enemies arrive.”
Merus, Hero Helmios, and the Allen and Hero Armies had successfully teleported to a location forty kilometers north of Patlanta. They still had time to get into formation before the Demon Lord Army arrived. A mere twenty minutes ago, the army of a hundred thousand enemies had been sixty kilometers north of their position. A clash was imminent.
“I know,” Merus replied. “Hero Helmios is taking charge, so I doubt there’ll be any problems.”
Allen checked his grimoire and realized that the Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits had been placed on the Allen and Hero Armies as well, despite them being a good distance away. However, they were not under the effects of Holy Fish Macris’s Royal Guard. Perhaps they had been out of range for that skill.
Allen entrusted his army to Merus before turning back to Kyubel. The Demonic Deity still had that dish with the black flame roaring away. Just then, a conical bulge suddenly protruded from the floor of the Songstress Contest stage. The bulge was rounded at the top, and that was where the dish was placed to serve as a temporary altar for the resurrection of the Daemon God.
We gotta go all out too. For real this time. All right, maybe it’s time to try something out. Allen Summoned an Insect B and immediately used Deputize on it before sending it straight for Bildiga. The ant Summon crawled across the stage before floating upward and spraying Bildiga with Formic Acid from its behind.
“Hmm?” Bildiga grunted.
When the Insect B then bit down on the Demonic Deity, bubbles rose upward. Oh? Did that have an effect? I’m so glad I’m able to use Growth on my carefully selected Summons. Physical and magical attacks don’t work on you, but debuffs do, eh? Guess I’ve found your weakness. Allen had raised his Growth skill level, along with the Growth level of his Summons, and he was beginning to see the fruit of his labor.
Until now, Summons’ stats were divided by rank, and if he wished to raise them, he required some sort of buff. But thanks to Growth, with every level the skill gained, he was able to raise the base stats of his Summons even higher. And so, he had toyed with Growth and raised its level while raising the Growth rank of his Summons. It was then that he had discovered that while the buffs remained the same, each individual Summon experienced a different increase in stats when Growth was used on it.
Whenever he used Growth on his Summons, he deleted those that did not reach max stats for their rank and Summoned new ones until he found ones that did. He continued that cycle of Creation, Growth, and Deletion until his holder had only Summons with a Rank A growth curve—the highest rank—and every stat above 10,000 in it. In fact, having Agility over 10,000 was precisely why his Fish C had been able to make it in time to see the Allen and Hero Armies teleport underwater before the war.
Along with the Rank A growth curve of the Summons that allowed them to have stat values reach upward of 10,000, Deputize boosted their stats by an additional +5,000. Furthermore, there was Macris’s Royal Guard, Spirit God Rohzen’s Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits, Sophie’s spirit magic, and Rosalina’s buffs. Allen was very happy to see his Insect B’s stats.
* * *
Type: Insect
Position: General
Rank: B
Growth: A
Name: Antsy
HP: 37,180
MP: 29,900
Attack: 29,510
Stamina: 54,969
Agility: 36,400
Intelligence: 29,510
Luck: 26,000
Buffs: Endurance 100 + 100, Agility 100 + 100
Abilities: Formic Acid, Recruit
Awakened Ability: Spawn
(Affected by Rosalina’s skills and Extra Skills, Sophie’s spirits’ buffs, Macris’s Royal Guard, Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits, and Keel’s skill [raises Endurance by 24%])
* * *
The fully buffed Antsy using Formic Acid had done the job. The seemingly impregnable defense that was Bildiga’s exoskeleton had finally been penetrated.
“Hmph! Cheeky pest!” Bildiga spat. He shook himself free of Insect B, then unfurled his front legs once more and swung them at Insect B.
“Krik? Krik?!” Insect B cried, pushed back ever so slightly by the water as it barely evaded the attacks.
Oh, come on! Do you know how many rolls it took to get a Summon with a Rank A growth curve?! I won’t let you kill it so easily! Allen had to use Creation and Deletion hundreds, maybe even thousands of times to get his prized Summons. He would not allow his precious Insect B to die so easily.
“Antsy! Use Spawn and create your own wall,” Allen commanded.
“Krik! Krik!”
Antsy immediately did so and created a hundred Lil Antsys in the water. Allen then used Recruit to increase their stats by fifty percent. The Recruited Lil Antsys’ stats were half those of Insect B, and they had then been raised by +2,500. They formed a tiny army that pounced on Bildiga, but the Greater Demonic Deity used his scythe-like arms to slice through the nearby Lil Antsys, while the ones who managed to evade his attacks sprayed him with Formic Acid to eat away at his armor. Nice. I’ll Summon more. Should I hope that he’ll fall asleep? No, I should chip away at his Attack first—I want to learn more of his weaknesses. Allen tried to think of his next move and which Summons to use for it.
＊ ＊ ＊
Meanwhile, another battle was about to begin—Allen was not the only one who was struggling. Forty kilometers north of Patlanta, an army was preparing itself. Crystal flowers bloomed across the ocean floor and formed small clumps, but their brightness paled in comparison to that of the massive flower the imperial capital sat atop. This location had been chosen as the battlefield because there were no villages or towns nearby, meaning the soldiers could fight to their hearts’ content.
Battles underwater were a bit different from those on land. It was easier to move in every direction imaginable. Meruru, Helmios and his party, and the two armies, who were all under the effects of Mimic, had been teleported to the ocean floor by Bird A’s Homing Instinct. They formed a massive square shield made up of two vertical layers of people—a feat that could only be accomplished underwater. The strongest troops were placed in the center to handle the bulk of the fight. Simultaneously, those making up each corner of the four walls would deal with any enemies that might try to escape.
“Not only did he transform us, but he then tossed us into the ocean and told us to fight an army of over a hundred thousand, filled with Rank A monsters,” Rosetta of Helmios’s party, now a merfolk, muttered wearily. “He really isn’t a normal child, is he?”
“We’re long past the point of wondering if he’s normal or not,” Dverg replied as he unsheathed his blade, his gaze as menacing as ever despite his merfolk form. “Right now, we just need to face the enemies that are coming to attack us.”
“Yeah. As the main force, our job is to stay in formation in the middle and draw the enemies’ attacks,” Helmios, whose sword was also already drawn, explained. He was staring into the dark waters straight ahead. “Our role is to delay their invasion as much as possible and to shave away at their forces. Meruru’s golem squad will serve as our wall, and, um, in exchange, Dverg and I aren’t allowed to use our Extra Skills. We need to save them in case Allen and his friends struggle in their battle with the Greater Demonic Deities.”
“Okay, that’s cruel!” Rosetta cried. “What’s he thinking?!”
“I don’t know. But he did also say that if a demon called Shinorom is among the enemies, we’re to capture him alive. I think it’s Allen’s way of showing Dverg he cares.”
Allen was indebted to Dverg, and if there was a chance that Clasys was still alive, he wished to rescue or at least search for her. He wanted to help to the best of his abilities.
“He’s got integrity in the weirdest of ways...” Rosetta muttered as bright light showered upon them. “Huh? Wait, isn’t this...”
“Yeah, it’s the power of Lord Rohzen, the God of Spirits,” Helmios remarked. “I’ll have to thank him.”
The moment the light hit his body, he felt power surge through him. He narrowed his eyes and smiled when Allen’s voice came from above.
“This is the power of Spirit God Rohzen. Please focus on the battle,” he said.
As though that was their cue, massive shadows appeared below Helmios, who stood in the center of the formation.
“Golems, march!” Captain Zaurere of the golem squad ordered.
The dwarves had slotted special dolphin slates into their magic discs, and a hihiirokane golem in Dolphin Mode swam forward, followed by a hundred twenty mithril golems, all in Dolphin Mode as well. Behind them were eighty mithril golem soldiers as they slowly trekked across the ocean floor. They would be the walls for the armies. At the same time, Helmios readied his blade, straining his eyes to gaze far into the distance. From above, Merus was making some minute changes to the formation of Stone As and Bs in preparation for their clash with the Demon Lord Army.
Most of the soldiers in the Allen and Hero Armies had raised their class skill to Lvl. 4 or 5. They had received class promotions from the dungeon during April, and since then, until the current month of November, they had trained every day. Only a handful had managed to reach skill Lvl. 6, which gave another stat increase, and they needed to be kept alive at any cost. To make that happen, Allen had placed some Insects As and Bs in front of the golems, then used Spawn to increase their numbers. The plan was to wait for the Demon Lord Army and attack from below, surrounding them.
Additionally, from above loomed a three-hundred-meter-long Dragon A under the effects of King Me, as well as a Dragon B that had the best growth curve possible. If the Allen and Hero Armies let any enemies slip past them, it was up to those two to wipe out as many as they could before the monsters made it thirty kilometers farther, where Ignomasu waited with his army. And if the First Imperial Army could not handle them either, the Second Imperial Army was on standby in the city to protect the people.
Once Merus saw that every Summon he had been entrusted with was in position, he used Sharing to see through Bird E’s eyes. The Summon was deployed to scout the area, and the enemies were close.
“Demon Lord Army ahead,” Merus warned, using Bird F’s Transmission to notify his allies.
Helmios had already caught sight of the dozens of massive shadows that were headed his way through the dark waters. While he could not hear them approach, he could feel the current across his face like the wind as the monsters pushed through the ocean. He closed his eyes, but he then snapped them back open and saw that the individual shadows were close enough for him to make out.
Several sharks with jagged fins that covered their bodies were rushing toward the hero, and there was also a kraken, its tentacles fluttering behind it and gripping an oyster shell. It rhythmically paused and moved forward, but every time it charged ahead, it was so fast that it looked like it had teleported. The sea dragon leading the group opened its enormous mouth, capable of crushing a boat in one chomp, and roared with such intensity that the water could not absorb the shock.
“Graaaaawr!”
Its powerful battle cry was cut short by a massive golem thrusting its entire body into its jaw. It was a battle between two giants, and the water they displaced hit the Allen and Hero Armies with so much force that their formation wavered for a split second. A moment later, part of the formation lurched forward due to the golem squad that rushed ahead, cutting through the sea. The current they created had dragged people forward.
