Hell Mode: Volume 7, page 17
“Looks good. Eh heh heh.”
Though they were all technically adults now that they were fifteen, Keel could not help but feel that they had not really changed. Cecil always managed to keep Allen under control, yet she still did not show any semblance of being the aristocrat that she apparently was. She and Meruru were lighthearted and innocent; Sophie was the only female member of the party who maintained a calm demeanor.
While Krena was cooking the horned rabbit, Keel took out some fukaman and laid them out on the stones surrounding the bonfire. He spoke to Merus while he waited for them to heat up.
“Are we still not going to arrive anytime soon, Lord Merus?”
“As I said before, cut the ‘Lord.’ No need for formality here.”
“I understand, but you see, I’m still an apprentice priest, and... No, I understand. I’ll stop now.” The look of annoyance on Merus’s face finally caused Keel to give in.
Keel was an apprentice priest with the Church of Elmea, and though Merus was the former First Angel, the apprentice priest could not accept Merus appearing before him as a simple matter of fact like Allen, Krena, and Dogora had. However, as Merus seemed to really dislike any form of honorary title, he decided to stop using one.
On the other hand, some people did not mind using formal terms when referring to Merus, even if it offended him. Sophie was one such example. In her case, she was stubborn—or rather, she did things the way that felt most comfortable for her.
“If we keep moving at this rate, we’ll reach the southern tip of the continent tomorrow,” Merus said.
“I wonder what we’ll find there. It doesn’t seem like there’s a desert out there like what Sophie encountered,” Keel replied.
The leader of each team knew what each of the other teams had encountered thanks to the Spirit A accompanying each team sharing its sight with Allen and Merus. However, the mere act of Summoning did not necessarily give them access to the Summon’s sight, and they needed to set the sharing for each individual Summon. Just like Allen, Merus needed 200 points in Intelligence to share with a single Summon, so with his Strengthened 22,000 points, he could share the sight of up to 110 Summons.
“The grasslands should spread out all the way down to the coast. If I recall correctly, there’s a country called Calvarna or Carlonea or something out there.”
“Keel, the meat’s ready. Here ya go.”
Krena chomped on the fatty, grilled thigh of the horned rabbit and offered a chunk of meat to Keel as well. Keel took it, split open a heated fukaman, stuffed the meat inside, and took a bite.
There were a number of people who believed that Elmean priests did not eat meat, but there was no such precept in the teachings of Elmea. They were free to drink alcohol as well. And though they were taught to refrain from excessive eating and drinking, that was no different from the average person. Of course, they could also get married and have children, with some churches in small rural villages even being run by families.
“Calvarna? Carlonea? Did one fall and the other rise to prominence? Did they change their name?”
“No. Both Calvarna and Carlonea exist. About ten years ago, Carlonea became independent from Calvarna. There’s been constant friction between the two ever since.”
Merus had lived as the First Angel for about a hundred thousand years. During that time, he had been working on the Mortal Realm through the Church of Elmea under the direction of God of Creation Elmea. As a result, he was somewhat familiar with the affairs of the Mortal Realm.
About twenty years in the past, a smoldering pro-democracy movement in the southern part of the Kingdom of Calvarna, south of the Union, had developed into an independence movement. Within ten years, those who had been aiming for independence had, despite opposition from the royal family, succeeded in getting half of the national army on their side and thus made the south into an independent republic. A lot of blood had been spilled back then, and even now the two countries were on the verge of war.
“You sure know a lot, Merus!” Krena said, munching on her food while listening to the story.
“It seems like we’re about to get involved in a rather complicated situation.”
Keel recalled hearing that Sophie and the others had had a hard time asking Olvahs, the king of the dark elves, for a map so they could save the desert cities. Looking up at the bright stars piercing through the darkness of the night sky, he could not help but feel that wherever they were headed, problems awaited them.
＊ ＊ ＊
The next day, Keel and the others continued their journey across the endless grasslands, gazing up at the pillar of light that extended off to the south. Around noon, they began seeing man-made objects down below. For the past three days, they had hardly found a trace of any kind of settlement, so they finally felt that they were nearing their destination. Considering that the whole purpose of what was happening on this continent seemed to be to create as many heretics as possible, logic dictated that densely populated areas would be targeted.
“But these places are all deserted,” Krena muttered to herself as they looked down at the empty villages, derelict cities, and crumbling stone bridges. They all looked as if they had been abandoned for years.
“It seems that the monsters are running rampant farther south,” Merus said.
“Right. I see a castle up ahead, but still can’t see the ocean. So I guess that’s Calvarna here on the north side?”
Keel spotted a castle town up ahead that was likely the capital of the Kingdom of Calvarna. It was quite an impressive sight. However, the pillar of light continued to extend south, and the capital and its surroundings appeared peaceful, at least from their viewpoint up in the sky.
About an hour after passing over the capital and following the pillar of light farther south, the team heard loud explosions off in the distance.
BOOOOM! BOOOOM!
This happened three or four times in quick succession.
Merus sped up, and Krena and Keel pushed their Bird B to keep pace with him. Before long, they could see a large river running across their field of vision. From Keel’s point of view heading south, the left side—the east side—flowed in a large arc from the north to their rear, turning off toward the south as it moved right, or west.
As they got closer, they could see that both banks of the river sloped steeply, almost like cliffs. At the top of either slope, three fortresses were built facing each other. Both of the ones in the middle were larger and built farther inland than the fortresses flanking them. Large stone bridges extended out from the fronts of each of the fortresses, though they had by now crumbled and appeared to be sinking into the river. Keel could not help but wonder if the sounds they had heard earlier were of them being destroyed.
Judging from the fact that the fortresses were facing each other, this river seemed to be the border between the Kingdom of Calvarna and the Republic of Carlonea. It was common to define national borders along geographical features that were difficult for people to alter, such as mountains and rivers, and building fortresses near them was also a common practice in national defense.
“They’re fighting!” Krena cried out. When Keel looked down in the direction she was pointing, he saw people with the hind legs of goats clinging to the fortress in front of them. After watching one of the creatures with matted fur climb up the slope of the bank on uneven footing, it seemed clear that the monster had swam across the river from the Republic of Carlonea on the opposite bank. The party could also see giant, monkey-like monsters swimming across the river.
Just like the ones in the Muharino Desert, whose lower bodies were those of scorpions, the daemonic incarnations in this area seemed to have taken on a different appearance than those in Elmahl.
From inside the fortresses, defenders shot magic and arrows at the daemonic incarnations and monsters to keep them from approaching. The number of enemies surging in was so large, however, that it looked like they would break through at any moment. Furthermore, the fortresses seemed to be built for fighting between humans and stood less than ten meters tall. The monsters unleashed by the Demon Lord Army were large, often exceeding several tens of meters, so the defenders needed strongholds at least twice the height of the ones they were in if they wanted to try to fight against them.
“It’s coming from that direction.” Keel ground his teeth. Apparently, the source of the pillar of light was in the Republic of Carlonea, and it seemed that it had already fallen into the hands of the Demon Lord Army.
“Let’s go help!” Krena shouted. Keel nodded in agreement and started thinking about what they should do.
“I’ll leave that fortress to you two.” With that, Merus began to ascend. The team’s Insect A, Parent Beas, and Baby Beas rose after him and split off to the east and west.
If he thought about it, Keel realized that Merus acted very similarly to Allen. His instructions were short, and the meaning behind them tended to only be discernible after the fact. Rest breaks in the dungeon had been the time to learn from Allen why he had given the directions he had in the previous battle and to study how he should have acted. As a result, Keel had learned to work closely with people who did not usually bother to explain themselves.
Keel and Merus each had their own respective parts to play, and Keel carried out his role believing that Merus would be aware of his movements and support him.
“Got it.” Keel nodded and had his team’s Bird B descend toward the fortress below. As he approached, several large monkey monsters that were hanging with one hand from the outer wall facing the river began to sway left and right like pendulums. They used the centrifugal force to throw themselves up and onto the corridor running along the top of the wall. Keel watched as soldiers were crushed, lumps of their flesh scattering about. One soldier had been grabbed by a large monkey monster.
“Gah!” Though the soldier tried to shake the monkey monster off, its grip seemed to be quite strong. The man’s armor audibly began to crumple, and his elaborately decorated helmet fell from his head as he faced the sky.
“Captain Myuhan!”
“Release our captain!”
The other soldiers thrust their spears and swung their swords toward the monster in an attempt to help their captured comrade, but when their weapons struck the monster’s hair, they only made high-pitched clanging sounds, as if they had hit metal. None of them could even scratch the monster.
Apparently, the soldiers stationed in these fortresses were there to keep the Republic of Carlonea in check, so while there were some who had Talents, it did not seem like there were that many of them. The monster they were facing seemed to be a Rank A. Talentless humans could only raise their stats up to around 3,400 no matter how hard they worked, but a Rank A monster’s were at least ten times that.
Even armed with a steel spear, the massive stat disparity could not be made up for. In this world, stat values represented fundamental differences in strength. Unless you were blessed with the right conditions or had the right equipment or magic support, a gap that large was impossible to overcome.
The giant monkey monster loosened its grip on Captain Myuhan momentarily before tightening it once again. Crushed armor bit into his flesh and crushed his bones.
“Graaah!” Captain Myuhan screamed as blood gushed from his mouth.
The giant monkey grinned and licked its lips as it looked down at the soldiers who were struggling in vain at its feet. Hearing the screams of humans and seeing them in despair seemed to make it happy.
“Yaaah!”
A woman with flowing pink hair bellowed as she suddenly landed on the pathway. At the next moment, the giant monkey’s arm, still clutching Captain Myuhan, fell beside her. No matter how much the other soldiers had swung their swords, they had been unable to so much as cut the hair covering the giant monkey’s arm, much less make it through the skin to lop it clean off.
The giant monkey monster stared down at the newcomer, but when it saw its own arm lying next to it, it finally became aware of the pain.
“Agu?! Gyaaaugh!” the creature screamed, clutching its severed arm with its other hand.
“What is this? What’s going on? Some kind of miracle?”
Amid the giant monkey’s screams, those words were clearly audible to the soldiers. They looked in the direction of the voice and saw Captain Myuhan crawling out from the grasp of the monster’s severed arm. When they rushed over to help him up and took off his crushed armor, the soldiers noticed that all the wounds that should have been on his body were nowhere to be seen.
＊ ＊ ＊
From his bird’s-eye view of the situation, Keel determined that, if they were to have any hope of saving the fortresses, which looked as if they could fall at any moment, his top priority was to restore the soldiers’ HP and MP. After Krena leaped down from the Bird B to launch her opening strike, he immediately used a Blessing of Heaven.
Thanks to Merus using the Insect A, Parent Beas, and Baby Beas to fight the monsters swarming the remaining two fortresses, the daemonic incarnations and giant monkeys at the one they were defending had stopped increasing in number. And so, Keel decided to concentrate on the task at hand.
He used Seeds of Magic. Doing so meant that the soldiers who used magic and skills would be able to return to the front lines.
“I’ll heal your injuries! Just hold on a little longer!” he shouted from atop his Bird B as he circled the fortress. The soldiers looked up in amazement at first, but when they felt their wounds heal and their MP recover, they regained their courage, repositioned their weapons, and headed toward the remaining monsters.
As for the giant monkey that had just lost its arm, it was still far from finished. “Kukyiiiiii!” After unleashing an earsplitting screech from either pain or sheer rage, it swung its remaining arm down at Krena, the one who had dared cut off its arm.
“Hngh!”
Krena caught the blow of its massive fist with the side of her greatsword.
CLANG!
Cracks spread out radially in the cobblestone pavement as the heel of Krena’s boot dug into it. However, using her incredible strength, Krena pushed her greatsword up and knocked the giant monkey’s fist away as if it were nothing. She then jumped after the recoiling giant monkey and followed up with another attack, swinging her blade down from its shoulder to its chest. Her Slash skill cut diagonally into the monster’s body, and fresh blood dyed the fortress bright red.
Just as the monster’s corpse fell onto the corridor, Keel’s called out to Krena from above. “Krena, the gate is about to be destroyed! Get down and fight there!”
Krena leaned over the battlements and looked down. The daemonic incarnations, which had goatlike lower bodies, crossed the river and ran up the slope before gathering together and repeatedly ramming the steel main gate.
“Understood! Everyone, please keep protecting this area!” With that, Krena hopped off the wall, leaving the surrounding soldiers behind.
“Wait, what?!” Before the soldiers let out that startled cry, Krena landed in the midst of a daemonic incarnation horde.
“I am Sword Emperor Krena. Bring it on!” she shouted, introducing herself with a dignified, serious expression.
Hearing her declaration, the daemonic incarnations, including those that were ramming the gate, turned their attention to Krena. They all had different transformations, with some having only the lower body of a goat, some having fur all the way up to their shoulders, some having twisted horns on their heads that resembled those of a goat, and others still fully resembling goats. There were even those that had oblong black eyes.
“Hyakoo, hyakoo!”
“Hyakoo, hyakoo!”
“Hyakoo, hyakoo!”
The daemonic incarnations coughed dryly, kicked the ground with their hooves, and charged at Krena.
“Burn! Phoenix Smash!”
Krena’s body was instantly engulfed in flames. Holding the hilt of her greatsword with both hands, she rotated 360 degrees on the spot, and a flaming horizontal slash hacked at the daemonic incarnations rushing in.
“Hyapiiii!”
Dozens of daemonic incarnations were cut to pieces and caught on fire, killing them. She repeated this attack two or three times every ten seconds, wiping out all of the enemies gathered in front of the gate.
According to Allen’s analysis, in terms of overall strength, daemonic incarnations were on par with Rank C or Rank B monsters and posed a threat to humans without Talents. The Endurance of a Rank C monster was between 300 and 600, and that of a Rank B monster was around 2,000. Comparatively, Krena had over 15,000 points in her Attack stat. Adding in the offensive power of her weapon, which was boosted temporarily by her skill, she could take out all comers.
However, the daemonic incarnations that crossed the river and ran up the sloped bank, as well as the monsters that climbed up along the wreckage of the crumbling bridge, continued to rush in without hesitation.
Krena stood with her back to the gate, glaring at the surging horde of monsters and holding her greatsword aloft. The blade emitted a white light that dazzled like a miniature sun, enveloping her. Then, from among the mob, a large bear monster approached, sweeping away the daemonic incarnations.
“Rah! Supreme Ruling Blade!” She spoke resolutely as she swung down her shining greatsword.
“Hyagaooo?!”
The large bear was slashed from its head to its abdomen and vanished with a death cry. Light then shot out from Krena’s greatsword, crushing the enemies coming from behind the bear monster and reaching all the way to what remained of the bridge on the shore about fifty meters ahead.
The bridge had existed since before the independence of the Republic of Carlonea, and it seemed to have been crafted so that the piers on this side could be quickly destroyed in case of an attack from the opposite shore. This feature had been put to use at the start of the attack by the daemonic incarnations and monsters, and as expected, it had prevented the enemy from crossing the bridge. The remnants, however, were destroyed by the shock wave from Supreme Ruling Blade. Large plumes of water shot out of the river as the wreckage sank into it.
