Hell Mode: Volume 3, page 17
Info from Viscount Granvelle revealed that it was common for former classmates at the Academy to be posted together on the battlefield. The situation at the front lines often changed drastically at the drop of a hat, but more often than not, those who had been in the same class and in the same year would end up being dispatched to the same fortress.
There were currently only three border fortresses under Ratash’s jurisdiction. The large majority of fortresses were manned by Giamut, with the remainder being protected by the other countries on the Central Continent. Generally, each fortress was run by one specific country so as to keep the chain of command simple and clear. After all, there was little point in, say, assigning a Ratashian soldier to be under a Giamutan general’s command where he would feel like a stranger and lose morale. Having forces from different countries work together in cooperation was good enough; there was no need to mix the forces themselves. Past attempts at this forced integration had resulted in several fortresses falling.
The Bird F that Allen had used to consult Viscount Granvelle about Keel had remained at the mansion for communication purposes. Although Allen had not had a proper sit-down with him since, the fact that the viscount later made several trips to the royal capital indicated that he was indeed working on Keel’s situation. He had asked Allen to entrust him with the matter, so Allen decided to stay put until told otherwise.
Today was a special day for the No-life Gamers, because it was going to be their very first battle against a Rank A dungeon final boss. They ate breakfast at their base, chatting with the servants who by now had gotten thoroughly used to living there, before heading over to the dungeon. Winning the day’s battle was going to bring them one step closer to an MP Recovery Ring, which Allen was convinced was in the potential loot pool for Rank A dungeon bosses.
The party entered the dungeon building and teleported to the deepest floor. They opened the giant double doors and stepped through. Waiting for them in the middle of the boss room stood a huge suit of armor around ten meters high, surrounded by ten orc kings.
Oh, yay, an armor-type monster! A beast-type would have been even better, but this was definitely my second choice.
There were several kinds of bosses that could show up in the deepest floors of Rank A dungeons. The Adventurer’s Guild had sorted them into several major classifications.
Types of Rank A Dungeon Bosses
Dragon: The most powerful. Most difficult to fight. Spits AoE breath attacks.
Ghost: Uses high-level magical attacks. Might be impervious to physical attacks.
Armor: Very resistant to physical attacks. Incredibly high HP.
Beast: Almost no resistances. Incredibly high Attack.
Insect: Uses debuffs.
The boss that spawned was randomized each time. Allen would have preferred getting a beast-type as it was the easiest to fight, but the type that specialized only in Defense did not sound all that bad either.
“Hold on, guys. Gimme a minute while I swap out my cards.”
Insect-type Summons wouldn’t be able to do much against this boss, so... Yep, this looks about good enough. And the Poppo at the Granvelle mansion is about to run out of time, so I might as well Unsummon it too.
Allen was switching out the cards in his grimoire to better match the opponent he was facing. The monsters in the center of the room would attack only once someone got within close enough range, so he stayed near the entrance of the room while the pages in his floating book flipped furiously.
* * *
Name: Allen
Age: 12
Class: Summoner
Level: 49
HP: 1,240 + 1,300
MP: 1,940 + 70
Attack: 682 + 1,000
Endurance: 682 + 1,250
Agility: 1,273 + 250
Intelligence: 1,950 + 1,270
Luck: 1,273
Skills: Summoning {6}, Creation {6}, Synthesis {6}, Strengthening {6}, Awakening {6}, Expansion {5}, Storage, Sharing, Deletion, Sword Mastery {3}, Throwing {3}
Holder
Insect:
Beast: C x 20
Bird: C x 5
Grass:
Stone: E x 10, C x 4
Fish: C x 1, D x 1
Spirit: C x 19
* * *
After the past four months of dungeon delving, Allen was now Lvl. 49 and his four companions were Lvl. 56. All of them began to cautiously inch toward the boss in the center of the room.
“Okay, stop. If we get any closer, it’s gonna trigger the fight.”
In response, all five Frans stopped in their tracks. Right after that, four Stone Cs—suits of steel armor holding giant shields and spears—materialized. Although they could deal damage, these Summons’ specialty was in protecting a target. Living up to that reputation, they immediately used Substitute on Keel and Cecil.
“Okay, just as we planned, I’ll launch the first attack,” Allen said. “Once it’s over, Dogora and Krena—you two jump in there.”
The two gripped their weapons and nodded to show their acknowledgment.
Allen then turned to their magic user. “Cecil.”
“What?”
“Sorry, I’m gonna borrow your spell’s name again.”
“Oh gods. I keep telling you, you don’t need to apologize every time.” Cecil sighed and added under her breath, “What are you, a little kid?”
Allen held out both his hands toward the monsters, his excitement clear from the look on his face.
Let’s goooooo! “Meteoooor!”
Suddenly, ten Stone Es appeared directly above the boss and entered free fall. The monsters started moving in reaction to the Summons’ descending approach.
“All right! Wallys, Explode!”
The gray forms that looked like mortar-covered walls abruptly turned bright red. Before the monsters had time to turn around, molten fragments of the Stone Es and the resulting enormous shock wave tore through their formation.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The sight of destruction before his eyes and the shock wave he felt through his body convinced Keel of victory. “Did we get them?!” he asked excitedly.
Allen shook his head. “Nope, the boss is still ali— Incoming!”
The giant suit of armor burst through the cloud of dust, pounding toward Allen’s party. Even though all ten orc kings had died from the carpet-bombing just now, this massive moving hunk of metal still had a lot of fight left.
“Let’s go!”
Krena cried out as she led the charge on her Bird C. Dogora bellowed in response and followed closely on her heels. The two approached the monster at three hundred kilometers per hour, but it managed to keep up with their movements as it brought down its weapon, a giant greatsword several meters in length.
CRAAAASH!
“You okay, Krena?!” Keel shouted frantically.
Although Krena had blocked the boss’s attack with her own greatsword, the shock wave from the attack had created a fissure on the ground that ran for hundreds of meters. The Bird C that she had been riding was buried up to its feet.
“I’m fine! YAAAAAH!”
Krena’s great sword glowed red as she activated a skill. She blasted the boss’s weapon back with such force that it stumbled backward a step. Krena’s Fran also turned out to be entirely unhurt, its powerful hind legs having entirely absorbed the blow of the previous attack.
Dogora took advantage of this opening to get in a few full-powered swings of his ax. With the target being so large, Allen also directed his Summons—and Cecil her spells—to concentrate on the upper torso of the monster.
Good, Krena can block the attacks. The fight’s started settling down into a steady rhythm.
The fact that the vanguard could properly withstand the boss’s attacks meant victory was in sight. It was only a matter of time before the monster fell. Its resistance only meant that it’d take a bit longer than usual.
And sure enough, about half an hour later, the giant suit of armor wordlessly collapsed onto its back.
“Heck yeah, we did it!” Dogora roared, bleeding all over from the numerous wounds he had received. Keel cast Healing Magic on the entire party as everyone celebrated in their own way. Before long, the boss’s body disappeared, leaving behind a purple magic stone the size of a softball.
As I’d thought, we can totally handle a Rank A monster if we work together. Looks like armor-type bosses are a good match for us.
On a whim, Allen decided to take a look at his companions’ Statuses once again.
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
Name: Krena
Age: 12
Class: Sword Lord
Level: 56
HP: 2,280 + 900
MP: 890
Attack: 2,280 + 900
Endurance: 1,600 + 900
Agility: 1,540 + 900
Intelligence: 910
Luck: 1,115
Skills: Sword Lord {5}, Slash {5}, Flying Slash {5}, Pyroblast {5}, Thunderous Sword {3}, Toughness {1}, Sword Mastery {5}
Extra Skill: Limit BreakName: Cecil Granvelle
Age: 13
Class: Wizardess
Level: 56
HP: 960
MP: 1,620 + 600
Attack: 615
Endurance: 1,006
Agility: 951 + 600
Intelligence: 2,230 + 600
Luck: 896
Skills: Wizardry {5}, Fire {5}, Earth {5}, Wind {5}, Water {3}, Wisdom {1}, Sparring {2}
Extra Skill: Petit Meteor
Name: Dogora
Age: 13
Class: Ax User
Level: 56
HP: 1,234 + 300
MP: 668
Attack: 1,625 + 300
Endurance: 1,069
Agility: 676
Intelligence: 450
Luck: 731
Skills: War Ax {5}, Full Might {5}, Flying Hatchet {5}, Explosive Strike {5}, Avalanche Smash {3}, Ax Mastery {5}
Extra Skill: Heart and SoulName: Keel
Age: 13
Class: Cleric
Level: 56
HP: 735
MP: 1,399 + 300
Attack: 558
Endurance: 785
Agility: 895
Intelligence: 1,233 + 300
Luck: 1,123
Skills: Cleric {5}, Healing {5}, Solidity {5}, Cure {5}, Magic Wall {3}, Faith {1}, Sword Mastery {3}
Extra Skill: Drops of God
* * *
“Whoo! A treasure chest appeared!” Keel whooped. “A Rank A dungeon boss chest! It’s... Aww, it’s wood.”
A chest had appeared slightly behind where the giant suit of armor had fallen. Unfortunately, it was a wooden chest this time. Four months of dungeon delving had confirmed that the probability of getting a wooden chest was around ninety percent and that getting a silver chest was around ten percent. This whole time, the No-life Gamers had yet to see a single gold chest. Allen suspected the probability was around a hundredth of a percent.
“Wow, it’s a hihiirokane ax!” Krena exclaimed.
When the group opened the chest, an ax that was clearly larger than the space inside the chest came out. How this worked was a complete mystery, but apparently the loot was not limited by the size of the chest.
“An ax? Then it goes to Dogora,” Allen said emphatically. “Congrats on moving up from mithril, man.”
“What?! Are you sure?!” Dogora asked even as he was already reaching out for the weapon. He had zero intention of turning the offer down.
A hihiirokane weapon this size was guaranteed to go for more than three hundred gold. This gave the party reassurance that the rewards from the dungeon boss in Rank A dungeons would be worth at least a hundred gold.
“We did agree to improve our equipment using dungeon drops, after all. If a greatsword appears, it’s Krena’s. If it’s a wand, then it’s Cecil’s. A rod goes to Keel, and a rapier or normal sword are mine.”
In this world, the power of weapons was dependent on the toughness of its material: from weakest to most powerful, it was copper, iron, steel, mithril, hihiirokane, adamantite, then orichalcum. The No-life Gamers were all currently using mithril, so they had discussed beforehand that if anything better appeared, it would go to the person who could use it. It held true even if something made of adamantite or orichalcum was to show up.
Another reason why the Allied forces are losing to the Demon Lord Army could also be their equipment.
There was no point in gathering a large number of fighters if their gear was not up to scratch. The reason why the fight just now took so long could also be chalked up to the No-life Gamers having weak weapons. Allen’s aim was to outfit everyone in adamantite before they headed to the battlefield. Orichalcum even, if possible.
Suddenly, something appeared in the room with a bzzt, interrupting Allen’s thoughts.
“Oh, it’s the cube!” Krena exclaimed. She was not on her guard, as what had appeared looked exactly the same as the cubes that always helped transport them around the dungeons.
“Congratulations on clearing your first Rank A dungeon, No-life Gamers.”
Hey, it’s been a while since we were called by our party name. Hearing it again makes me a little embarrassed.
“I am the Executive Dungeon System. I am here to issue all of you your Rank A dungeon clearance card.”
A jet-black card the size of a business card appeared in front of Allen. It was decorated by a symbol that he did not recognize.
“Clearance card? What’s that?” Cecil asked dubiously, peering over Allen’s shoulder at the card in question.
Wait, I’ve seen something like this before. Is this what I think it is?
While Allen was thinking about something else, the cube that had identified itself as the EDS continued its explanation.
“The card now has one mark to represent the Rank A dungeon you just cleared. Once you have obtained five marks, you may exchange this card for the right to challenge a Rank S dungeon.”
“I knew it! This is a stamp card!” Allen suddenly shouted, startling Cecil.
While everyone was surprised at learning of the existence of a dungeon even more difficult than Rank A, Allen’s unique response prompted Cecil to then sigh, “Ah, he’s at it again.”
In his previous life, Allen had played games where he could change his character’s class into an even more powerful class following the same chain of progression by completing several quests and challenges; in a way, it was a stamp rally where he was basically getting a stamp for each item on a list. He had no idea why game developers liked using this format. Some major theories among players included that it was because the stamps were a way for the job changes to feel more deserved, or because the developers were stalling for time to work on the next update. Allen suspected that the reason why his memories of his past life kept coming back when he was dungeon delving lay in the similarity in how both worlds worked.
And so, the No-life Gamers had finished clearing their very first Rank A dungeon and obtained their first mark to gain the right to enter a Rank S dungeon.
Chapter 10: The Martial Arts Tournament (Part 1)
It was the first of October. The super fun summer break of dungeon delving was over, and Allen was now thirteen.
A small commotion had ensued when the No-life Gamers showed their Rank A clearance card to the Guild staff. The staff were all aware that every member of their party was only a first-year student. On top of that, the number of people who had successfully cleared a Rank A dungeon were extremely few, even here in Academy City. Generally, it took a normal party—one without access to Allen’s Summons—an entire year to get through a Rank A dungeon. Making this much progress in such a short period of time was completely mind-blowing.
As it turned out, the clearance card was the condition for the Guild to release information on Rank S dungeons. The staff member who had handled the Gamers’ visit briefed them on a few things.
First, a Rank S dungeon did indeed exist. Once all five marks were gathered, a cube would appear to offer guidance to reach that Rank S dungeon. So far, no one from Ratash had ever managed to brave all the odds and make it that far.
When the No-life Gamers returned to school, news of their exploits had already spread like wildfire. They soon found themselves constantly being approached by other students, with Rifol being one of them. He asked them if they had time during lunch today; judging by his tone, it sounded like it would be a serious discussion, so they agreed. When lunchtime came around, Allen and his friends headed to the empty classroom they had been invited to.
“So, what’s going on?” Allen asked. “This doesn’t look like a casual meeting to talk about dungeons.”
“Well, it’s about House Carnel,” Rifol replied.
As I expected. Allen turned around to shoot a look at Keel.
Rifol knew about Keel coming from House Carnel. Naturally, he also knew that Cecil belonged to House Granvelle. In fact, the latter was a fact now well-known in the class, thanks to students born in Granvelle greeting her every morning in an attempt to make an impression.
“Which means this is related to Keel?”
“Mm-hm. The royal court is in an uproar again. Any more, and things are going to get out of hand for my father.” Rifol drew his eyebrows together, making a troubled face.
Oh, the viscount’s been making moves, huh? He still hasn’t told me anything yet, though. But still, is that something for a parent family to say?
The concept of parent and child families was a system of hierarchy among nobles. Upper nobles, as parent families, took care of certain lower nobles tied to them as their child families. House Granvelle’s parent family was its neighbor, House Hamilton. As it just so happened, House Carnel was also a child family of House Hamilton. And it was considered a parent family’s responsibility to mediate whenever trouble sprang up between its children.
