Hell Mode: Volume 6, page 2
“Ye don’t think the dwarves deifyin’ Dygragni and no longer praying to Lady Freyja is related to all this, do ye?”
Habarak and Allen had reached the same conclusion.
“I suspect so. What do you think, Lord Rohzen?”
The Spirit God merely closed his eyes and refused to give a straight answer. “Ha ha. You’re certainly close to understanding the inner workings of the world, Allen. Alas, this is something I cannot answer.” Even with the world facing its possible demise, there were apparently still some things he was not free to discuss.
“That’s fine; you don’t need to answer. Lady Freyja has clearly been weakening slowly over time, which must be why the Demon Lord Army targeted her.”
Apparently gods did lose their power as their followers lost faith in them.
“It... It can’t be! So we dwarves are responsible for Lady Freyja turning to stone?!” Learning that it was the dwarves’ act of stopping their prayers to Freyja that had caused the goddess to lose her power shook Habarak to his very core.
“How long did the Demon Lord Army wait for Lady Freyja to become weak enough?”
“Looks like you picked up on it too, Cecil. They must have put this plan into motion decades ago.”
The war with the Demon Lord Army had been going on for over sixty years. And it was starting to look as if the Five Continent Alliance, which was formed during that time, had already begun to break apart, with each of the respective parties pursuing its own aspirations. Even the Baukisian emperor’s lust for power—one of the leading factors behind the breakup—had been part of the Demon Lord Army’s grand scheme.
That must be why the Demon Lord Army didn’t wipe out humanity when they had the chance. They must have some sort of plan for the stolen divine vessel.
“The Demon Lord Army must be planning on ensuring the complete annihilation of the world, then. Ha ha.” Rohzen seemed to be speaking to himself more than anyone else.
Allen was thinking the same thing. This meant that the Demon Lord Army was not content to destroy only the Mortal Realm, but the Heavenly Realm as well. In order to avoid this rapidly oncoming fate, they needed to think of a way to save mankind.
＊ ＊ ＊
The No-life Gamers, joined by Helmios and his party, were having dinner in their usual pub. This pub served Meruru’s alcoholic beverage of choice—an added bonus.
“They seem to be making good progress on making armor from monster carapaces.”
Sophie was relieved at the news. “That’s good to hear.”
Volmaar nodded firmly in agreement.
Several days had passed since Rohzen told the party about Freyja’s divine vessel being stolen. Up until now, the world had relied on Freyja’s power to forge weapons and armor. However, that power had been growing weaker and weaker over time. It prevented them from both creating new weapons and repairing old ones, thus leaving them unable to stave off the Demon Lord Army’s advances.
Provided that the information did not spread wildly out of control, Rohzen left it to Allen’s discretion as to whom he would share this information with—and how much. The peace and stability of the elves were of the utmost importance to the Spirit God, and to that end, he was receptive to disseminating some information to gain the necessary cooperation.
Allen spoke first with the queen of Rohzenheim about what Rohzen had told him. His idea was to make use of the materials acquired from the over one million monsters they had slain during the war in Rohzenheim to aid in the rapid production of equipment. Though their country had not yet completely recovered from the recent siege, she understood the importance of the situation and graciously agreed to prioritize these efforts. The carapaces of the bug monsters were lightweight and could make for strong armor, while the dragon bones and tendons were perfect for bows. Their teeth could be fashioned into arrowheads as well. Though the people of Rohzenheim viewed these materials as precious, the creation of weaponry took priority.
After Baron Granvelle also learned of the situation, he agreed to conduct a search of the armored ants’ nests. The queen armored ant could give birth to a large number of armored ants within a very short period of time. Their carapaces could be used to make durable armor, meaning that capturing a queen would give them easy access to a steady supply of materials.
Upon Allen explaining the situation to Helmios, the hero made a request to the emperor of Giamut, located on the Central Continent, for assistance with the matter. If the entirety of its several hundred million citizens—the largest population in the world—were to mobilize, the effects would be tremendous.
With these plans underway, Allen hoped that they would be able to extend mankind’s existence, even if for just a bit longer. However, he had no idea how long that would last.
This is all just life support. I’ll need to think of an actual solution here too.
The only definitive answer that he could think of was to retrieve the divine vessel from the Demon Lord Army. Whenever he faced a problem, Allen thought back on solutions he had tried in his past life, particularly from his memories of the games he had played. This time, however, those seemed to be of little help.
He had learned from the situation surrounding the divine vessel that his opponent’s scheme had been decades in the making. The Demon Lord Army’s invasion, numbering over ten million monsters strong, had been merely one element of their grand plan. If he were to just ignore the Demon Lord and focus on leveling up and acquiring gear, Allen would probably be able to at least prepare himself. However, the Demon Lord Army would be constantly implementing one strategy after the next; if he did not have a plan of his own in place, he would always be caught on his back foot.
Keel cast a worried look in Allen’s direction. “I just can’t help but wonder if we shouldn’t be doing something other than sitting here and taking a break like this.”
Keel, you... No, actually, we all have families and things we hold dear. Even me. It’s no wonder he’s worried.
Keel was fretting over his family and had been glum ever since he heard about the Goddess of Fire’s divine vessel being stolen and that the world might fall to ruin. He was probably thinking of his sister and servants back in Carnel.
“There’s definitely a lot we need to do. But be that as it may, what good will it do us to work ourselves up over it all right now? We should rest while we have the chance. Now that I’ve said that, though, there are actually quite a few things I’d like your help with. Are you game?”
“Y-You would? Of course!”
Merely asking his past acquaintances for assistance was not Allen’s only plan. Even as the rest of his workload increased, his goal of clearing the Rank S dungeon had remained unchanged. Clearing it would give his friends a chance to promote their class and upgrade their equipment in turn, while also gaining plenty of loot in the process—all of which would help them break through the struggles of battling Demonic Deities.
“You really are something else, Allen.” Helmios, who had been listening in on Allen and Keel’s conversation, smirked.
“How so?”
“It’s impressive you were able to put together a party like this at your age.”
“Well, things just kind of happened to fall into place. Anyway, how did your negotiations with Dygragni about a reward for the first dungeon clear go?”
“Ah, that. Yeah, he said it’s ‘no problemo.’”
Great! The rumors about how laid-back he is were true!
“What kind of reward are you thinking of?”
“Something that’d help the world...I think.”
“That sounds like the Allen I know.”
“Besides, it’s not like there’s any guarantee that we’re going to be the ones to receive it.”
Dungeon Master Dygragni could be found in the temple located at the center of the Rank S dungeon’s first floor, where he was waited upon by dwarven priests. It was not much unlike how the elves looked after Rohzen, actually. As with most other spiritual deities, mere adventurers were not allowed an audience with him. A person bearing the title of “Hero,” however, was an entirely different story. Helmios was able to meet with Dygragni merely by submitting a formal request to the temple, which was why Allen had Helmios pass along his suggestion and ask a question on his behalf.
Allen’s suggestion was that Dygragni create a special reward for the very first person to conquer his dungeon. He had heard from the beastkin Uru, among others, that the Rank S dungeon had yet to be cleared. Based on his past-life memories, Allen felt that it was only natural that someone would receive a reward for being the first to beat it.
He also had Helmios pass along his idea that the person to clear the dungeon should be allowed to choose their own reward. Allen figured it was a bit of a foolhardy suggestion, but he was both grateful and a bit surprised at how laid-back the dungeon master seemed.
“Oh, and about the divine vessel. You said that Dygragni has one too?”
“Right, that’s what he said. He said he was over the moon when Lord Elmea granted it to him. He was just glad that all the time he’d spent diligently working as a dungeon master had paid off.”
Allen noticed Rohzen furrow his brow at this.
“What do you plan to do with that information?” Cecil asked.
“Huh? Well, I figured we’re going to have a pretty hard time finding the divine vessel if we don’t even know what it is exactly. But...hmm... I think I get it.”
Cecil was getting annoyed. “Okay, but I don’t, so just spit it out already.”
“Hmm, well... Do you think of Helmios as a god, Cecil? At the very least, he’s certainly revered by multiple empires for his heroism.”
“What? A god?” Cecil had no idea what Allen was going on about.
“What about you, Helmios? Assuming that you continue to be adored across the empires, do you feel like you could become a god if the people were to worship you as such?”
“Huh? No way. What are you going on about, Allen?”
“I was just thinking that maybe this divine vessel is a kind of container that accumulates all of the prayers made to you.”
Allen had been pondering the connection between worship and gods ever since Sophie mentioned to him that “gods are created by worship” back at the Academy. And then there was what Habarak mentioned back at his workshop. He had said that as Dygragni rose to prominence among the dwarves and they stopped praying to Freyja, her flame weakened. Now that she was without her divine vessel, she faced death as a god.
When Helmios mentioned that Elmea had granted Dygragni a divine vessel once the dwarves began to pray to him instead of Freyja, Allen came up with one possible explanation: gods in this world needed to be worshipped in order to live on, and the divine vessel existed as a manifestation of their godhood that accumulated all of those prayers.
Allen figured that God of Creation Elmea granted divine vessels to beings those he deemed worthy of being gods. As such, these possessors of divine vessels would then use various means to maintain the faith of their followers. Therefore, perhaps any able to maintain enough followers over a certain period of time would be upgraded from demigod to god. This would mean that Freyja and Rohzen had undergone this exact process to become revered figures. Meanwhile, Dygragni was still in the middle of that process. On the other hand, it also would mean that even if Helmios’s acts of heroism earned him prayers and accolades equal to those of a god, he would not become one so long as he had not been granted a divine vessel by Elmea. Furthermore, after becoming a god, one would need to continually increase their believers’ numbers and accumulate more prayers. If they did not, they risked losing their power and turning to stone—death, as far as gods were concerned. In other words, absent a divine vessel, not only did one lose the manifest proof that they were in fact a god, but they could no longer maintain their divinity.
“Hmm, I see.” Helmios nodded in agreement with Allen’s assessment and shot a sideward glance toward Rohzen.
Rohzen stood motionless, not even blinking, as if frozen in place. Judging by the rivulets of perspiration running down his body, Allen figured he had hit on something that the very mention of was taboo to the highest degree.
“In any case, I think it’s safe to say that Dygragni has nothing to do with the Demon Lord Army, given he was granted a divine vessel from Lord Elmea,” Helmios added.
“Honestly, I was a bit suspicious in the beginning.”
One of the reasons the Fire Goddess Freyja had her divine vessel stolen was that she had been growing weaker. That, Allen assumed, was due to the dwarves praying to Dygragni instead of her.
For a brief moment, Allen had figured that Dygragni was one of the Demon Lord’s minions and that this, too, was a part of the Demon Lord Army’s plot. However, that made no sense. It was entirely possible that the Demon Lord Army merely took advantage of the fact that, as far as the gods were concerned, the Mortal Realm existed as a place to acquire believers from.
Looking at it from that perspective, the Demon Lord Army’s objective all along was simply to steal a divine vessel. But if that were all they wanted, many other gods had one as well. If Dygragni had been actually working with the Demon Lord, then it would have been far simpler to obtain his rather than steal Freyja’s.
Of course, it was also plausible that the Demon Lord Army specifically wanted to get their hands on one of the Four Elemental Deities’ divine vessels to acquire their immense power for themselves. And who better to get it from than Freyja, the source of the world’s fire?
“I get that,” Cecil responded, “but what should we do about it?”
“Hmm, there is one option. And it should be here shortly.”
Cecil was now well and truly lost. “Huh? What should?”
Allen’s mind was firing on all cylinders as he made use of every bit of his past experience to try to find a resolution to this problem. It was hardly uncommon for Allen to get ahead of himself and offer up an explanation later, but today he was even worse than usual.
Uru’s running late; he should’ve been here by now.
Allen looked up at the magical clock hanging from the bar’s wall.
SLAM!
The door flew open with such incredible force, the sound reverberated throughout the bar.
You’re gonna break the door, throwing it open like that.
Allen looked toward the doorway and caught sight of a fur-covered lionkin.
Huh, Beast Prince Zeu looks pissed. He seems to have a thing for letting his anger get the best of him and storming into shops.
Zeu looked around the bar before locking eyes with Allen and baring his fangs. He spoke in a low growl: “Charge.”
“Hyaaaaaaaah!”
At his command, a slew of armed beastkin came flooding into the bar.
Chapter 2: Pontiff of Daemonism
Allen had asked Uru to do some research for him. The result of those efforts had apparently led to the group of armed beastkin surrounding Allen’s table, weapons drawn, as a thoroughly enraged Beast Prince Zeu slowly closed the distance between them. There was no way Allen could have anticipated that the beastkin prince would be this angry.
Did Uru screw it all up? C’mon, man, there must’ve been a better way for you to broach the subject. Is this whole thing really worth getting that worked up over, anyway?
Helmios remained completely unfazed and called out to the enraged lionkin in his usual chipper tone. “Greetings, Beast Prince. Care to join us?”
“Helmios. I take it your presence here indicates that this is one of Giamut’s plots?”
Seemingly having picked up on what was happening, Helmios shot a look toward Allen.
“Hmm? And what do you mean, exactly?”
“Ah, actually, he’s probably talking about me,” Allen said, then glanced past Zeu toward Uru, who stood there with an apologetic look on his face.
Zeu seemed impressed by the way Allen had responded so casually before taking a sip of juice.
“So it was you, sticking your nose into the Country of Beastkin’s business where it doesn’t belong. You’re pretty bold for a wee little field mouse.”
“I’m truly sorry if I got involved in something I should have stayed out of. I was only trying to learn about the Union, a matter which I believe is connected to the Country of Beastkin as well.”
Hmm, so it seems like they really are pretty involved.
The Union was a group of small- to medium-sized nations united both politically and economically on the continent of Galiat, located to the south of Rohzenheim.
“I wanted to check something with Uru, but since you’re here, Your Highness, that’s even better. Please, take a seat.”
The look on Zeu’s face grew even fiercer. “What did you say to me?”
Keel, the worrywart of the group, was practically shaking in his seat, his face awash with anxiety. He seemed distressed that things were not quite as under control as Allen was pretending, but he dared not voice his concerns.
“Oh, is the great lion of the Country of Beastkin afraid of a mere mouse?”
This conversation’s not going anywhere. Just. Sit. Down. Already.
Helmios gave Allen a reproachful look, warning the younger boy that he had crossed the line.
“Hmph, you’re a peculiar one, kid. You intrigue me. Anyway, yes, I suppose my throat is a bit parched. I’d w-w-welcome a drink.” Though Zeu was too angry to speak properly, he managed to fake an awkward smile all the same in a bid to show that he was still in control of his emotions. He then settled down into an empty seat.
One of the accompanying beastkin made their way to the counter to place an order with the gawking bartender. A short time later, a stein of ale was set down in front of the Beast Prince. He emptied it in a single gulp.
