Hell Mode: Volume 11, page 20
He had not been a merfolk for long, but he was already used to his new body and the unique environment they lived in. He opted to swim instead of walk and kick instead of jump, creating his own current to use to his advantage as he fought. Only an experienced fighter like him could master the merfolk form in such a short amount of time.
“Huh?! Who’re you?” Shinorom asked. “Huh?! W-Wait! Stop!”
The researcher could not stop the eyeball monster from floating forward and thrusting its tentacles straight toward Dverg. The warrior smashed the tentacles with his blade, then used the water current to swim forward. Following the tentacles, he approached the eyeball monster, only to glide past it and close in on Shinorom. He swung his blade at the researcher, but a metallic clang rang out. His attack had been parried by an exoskeleton with a metallic luster.
“Commander Shinorom, you should fall back,” Bildiga advised. “You haven’t modified your body yet. You’ll die.”
The beetle unfurled his front leg and swung it at Dverg, who instinctively placed his sword in front of him to defend the attack before being blown back. The damage he took was heavily reduced thanks to buffs he had received from Vesta, a Holy Knight King in Sacred, who had teleported along with her party. She used to have the three-star Talent, Holy Knight, but had received a class promotion and become a four-star Holy Knight King, which allowed her to support her allies and cast buffs on them.
Effects of Holy Light Shield
+2,000 HP
+10% Endurance
+10% Evasion
And her skill isn’t even Lvl. 6 yet. She’s got an excellent Talent.
“Allen! You really need to cut it out!” Rosetta snapped, angrily making her way over to the Summoner. She was now a merfolk as well. “You suddenly make us change shape, throw us at a horde of monsters, and even teleport us into this gathering of freaks! What in the world is wrong with you?!”
Rosetta hurled her multitude of complaints at the Summoner, not caring that they were in the middle of a battle. Allen, for his part, did not lock eyes with her and instead turned to Helmios and asked for his help. The Hero had joined Dverg in his fight against Shinorom and Bildiga, who was protecting the researcher. He noticed Allen’s persistent glares and managed to slip away from the battle and over to his party member.
“Hey! Stop ignoring me!” Rosetta demanded. “Look at me and say something, would you?!”
Helmios could only flash a wry smile as the Summoner continued ignoring Rosetta and shot glances at him.
“Rosetta, can I ask you to do something?” Helmios asked.
“Huh? Don’t get in my way!” Rosetta shouted back. “Today’s the day I teach this brat the ways of the world!”
“We can do that later. I want you to steal an anklet from that bulky guy.”
He pointed at Bask, who was fighting Dogora with breathtaking speed and force. Rosetta spotted an anklet on the Greater Demonic Deity.
“The anklet?” Rosetta asked.
“Please,” Helmios replied. “As long as he’s wearing that anklet, Dogora’s got no shot at winning.”
Rosetta pondered for a moment, glancing between Allen, who refused to meet her gaze, and Dogora, who was valiantly fighting Bask. She finally sighed some bubbles of resignation.
“I’ll remember this, Allen. Robber Hands,” she muttered.
She activated her Extra Skill, and her body began to waver as if it were in a heat haze. A moment later, she was clutching a glimmering anklet. Allen watched as Bask froze in surprise.
“What?! Hey!” Bask cried as he glanced at his ankle.
Dogora took his chance and whirled horizontally, swinging Kagutsuchi.
“Don’t get distracted!” Dogora shouted.
But Bask possessed astounding intuition. Even while looking away, he managed to use his orichalcum greatsword to block Kagutsuchi, then slide his blade along the axe before kicking Dogora away.
“Gah!” Dogora grunted.
He quickly righted himself and charged back in, implying that Bask had been weakened, albeit only slightly, thanks to Rosetta stealing his anklet. I knew Rosetta was amazing when she stole the skill that negates our buffs from Goldino, the final floor boss of the Rank S dungeon, but if she can easily steal gear from a Greater Demonic Deity, it feels like nothing is impossible for her. She’s already been a huge help in this battle too. Rosetta looked a bit annoyed and touch weary because of Allen, who was impressed with her, but she said nothing more, merely swimming back to her party. Just then, merfolk knights approached the battle, headed by a spear-wielding merfolk.
“Alec! We must’ve kept you waiting!” the leader roared.
“E-Emperor Ignomasu!” Allen shouted back. “You even brought your royal guards with you?!”
Internally, the Summoner was exhausted. Even if Ignomasu and his royal guards were here as promised, they would hardly be of any use on the battlefield. Yeah, this changes nothing. Like, at all. Did Ignomasu give out some orders, then grab these guys and rush over here? There must be some powerful enemies in the center of Patlanta.
“Of course,” Ignomasu replied. “I am a man of my word. And when did a monster like that appear? And are those people fighting our allies?”
“Look!” Allen shouted. “First Angel Merus just came down, transformed the heroes above water into merfolk, and rushed to our aid!”
The Summoner lied through his teeth. Ignomasu looked stunned for a moment, but he quickly readied his spear and glared at the Daemon God’s tail.
“That’s reassuring!” he cheered. “Does that mean that that thing...is the sea monster? Are Lord Merus’s forces fighting the Demon Lord Army?!”
“I’m terribly sorry, Emperor Ignomasu,” Allen cried, acting as desperate as possible. “The situation has changed! Please give me some time before I can explain!”
Ignomasu needed a minute to process the situation, and Allen used that time to give more orders to Merus, who was trying to find an opportunity to attack.
“Focus on defending,” he said. “I want you to protect everyone, myself included.”
“Wait, what?!” Cecil cried. “What are you thinking?!”
Allen turned to Merus, and the Angel A immediately understood the Summoner’s intentions. He swiftly switched gears and attacked Bildiga, Bask, and Ramon-Hamon in turn. The three Greater Demonic Deities tried to shoot him down, but he was too quick. He attacked, then immediately fled, moving on to the next deity. No one could keep up with his Agility. And because of his strength, he could not be ignored.
“Oh? Buying time?” Kyubel asked, noticing the change in Allen’s plan. “Did something nice happen?”
Allen ignored the taunt and calmly gave out commands, glancing at his grimoire whenever he had the chance. Then, finally, the message he had been waiting for appeared, and he struck a quick victory pose.
I mean, they sent two messages about that stone and made me wait this long. It’s gotta be something good, right? This is what I’ve been buying time for, after all! Allen excitedly waited for more logs to pop up on his grimoire’s pages.
“Negotiating”? And I get notified of that? Just then, another line popped up in his grimoire.
Allen could only stare in astonishment when more text popped up, this time more lifeless and monotonic—the logs that he was used to seeing.
Oh? Can I use the Holy Beast Stone now? Frankly, though, I don’t actually know what that means. The Summoner could not hide his excitement, but his joy reached new heights when he saw a new message.
“Yes!” Allen crowed.
“Huh? What?” Cecil asked with a jolt. “What are you shouting for all of a sudden?”
But Allen paid her no heed. He scanned the next message that appeared in his grimoire, lost in pensive thoughts.
To normally Summon a Rank S Summon, I need Holy Orb Points, huh? If it’s defeated or Deleted in the future, I’ll need Holy Orb Points to Create another one, but I guess I get a freebie this time around. So I’ll Summon my Fish S, of course. Come on out, Fish S! Wait, you’ve got a name already, don’t you?
The moment that log popped up, a card with the letter “S” appeared in front of Allen’s eyes. He did not think twice about grabbing and using it.
“Go, Macris!”
A massive, white whale suddenly appeared above Allen’s head.
“Ahhhhh! I’ll protect the merfooolk!” Macris shouted. Even though he was now Fish S, he kept his same childish mannerisms from when he had been the Holy Fish.
Allen was familiar with a few types of whale from when he had been Kenichi. He gazed up at the Fish S and saw that his Summon closely resembled a blue whale, its colossal body measuring over a hundred meters long. Aren’t whales mammals? Not sure if they can be classified as fish. Then again, I’ve got a frog as an Insect-type Summon, so it is what it is. I ought to thank the Heavenly Realm staff and Pelomas. I’ve got possession of the Holy Beast Stone now, but I wonder if I’ll have to follow a similar process to unseal the rest of my Summons.
During the Daemonism debacle, Fire Goddess Freyja had lent a hand, and this time, Water Goddess Aqua and the angels were helping out. Did Macris follow in Merus’s footsteps when he became a Summon? If so, do the rest of my potential Rank S Summons need to die before they can become mine?
“Huh, a new Summon,” Kyubel remarked. “Is this the ace up your sleeve? Or...did they butt in?”
Allen could not read the expression behind the mask, but Kyubel seemed completely relaxed. Until now, only Merus had been able to go toe-to-toe with transformed Greater Demonic Deities. Krena and Dogora, despite being in Extra Mode, barely had room to attack, and the same went for Meruru in her hihiirokane golem. They were forced to stay on the defensive, and even that was a challenge.
“That’s right,” Allen replied. “This is my trump card to change the tide of battle. I’ll make you and that croaking frog behind you regret ever being here for this battle.”
He pointed at the Daemon God’s tail, writhing behind Kyubel. In response, the Greater Demonic Deity shrugged.
“Good grief...” he said with an exaggerated sigh. “Seriously, Allen, you have no tact. You should really be more perceptive. Watch and listen to the world around you. Study some more.”
Allen ignored that insult, but internally, he was annoyed. I’d like to end your playful tone right here and now! But enough of that. I should get to analyzing. He gazed down at his grimoire to check the Status of his Fish S.
* * *
Type: Fish
Rank: S
Name: Macris
HP: 40,000
MP: 50,000
Attack: 40,000
Endurance: 40,000
Agility: 40,000
Intelligence: 50,000
Luck: 40,000
Buffs: MP 5,000, Intelligence 5,000, Hyper MP Recovery (1% per second)
Abilities: Royal Guard, Shooting Star, Whiteout, Freeze Cannon, Flight
Awakened Abilities: Royal Aura, Holy Orb Creation, (Sealed)
* * *
Five Abilities and three Awakened Abilities... Rank S doesn’t disappoint. And Flight? Can Macris fly when he’s on land? Allen tried his best to come up with ways to use Fish S’s Abilities to win this fight.
“The team fighting in the north doesn’t have the effects of Royal Guard,” he said. “If they’re in range, can you cast it on them?”
“Royal Guaaard!” Fish S replied.
The titanic white whale whirled on the spot, creating tiny, glowing bubbles in the center of its little dance. The bubbles shot out and surrounded not only Meruru, Helmios, and Sacred, but everyone in the northern region of the imperial capital as well. Jeez, that’s one crazy area of effect. He’s as strong as he was when he was a Holy Fish. Unexpected, but definitely a pleasant surprise. Allen confirmed the increase to his allies’ stats and hastily sent his Bird F over when he saw the bubbles make their way to the battlefield in the north. The soldiers were still heading south, and when the bubbles touched them, they enjoyed a boost in stats as well. Unfortunately, however, some were surprised by the sudden appearance of the bubbles and tried to shake them off.
“This is a buff from my Summon,” Allen reassured them through Bird F’s Awakened Ability, Messenger. “Please remain on the defensive in this battle.”
He turned his attention back to the fight at hand and decided to test out the rest of Fish S’s Abilities. Since Macris is a Fish-type Summon, I expect them all to be supporting Abilities.
“Use Whiteout,” Allen ordered.
“Whiteouuut!” Macris shouted.
Fine, glittering, snow-like particles, even finer than the earlier bubbles, blew from the spout on Fish S’s head. The sparkling snowflakes flew straight up before scattering in all directions in a beautiful arc, creating a dazzling umbrella of snow. Isn’t a whiteout an actual weather condition? Like, when snow gets kicked up into the air and makes it hard to see? Anyway, Macris follows orders really well. Is he bound by a contract after becoming one of my Summons? Merus might also blatantly look reluctant at times, but he still always listens to my orders.
Allen blurted out commands, speaking to Macris as one of his Summons instead of as the Holy Fish. The Summoner cracked open his grimoire and checked his friends’ Statuses, but no change could be seen. Huh? Does it affect enemies’ stats instead? Allen, who possessed over 10,000 Intelligence, quickly came up with a few guesses, and he activated Bird E’s Awakened Ability, Farsight, to observe the battlefield in the north. It became clear that the golem squad standing on the front line was taking less damage.
While the golems boasted sturdiness that could resist water pressure, they were not impervious to it. If they were not in Dolphin Mode, they moved sluggishly, and the monsters had used that disadvantage to land critical hits on them. Now, though, the Demon Lord Army was struggling to critically strike. I get it. Whiteout’s a debuff that lowers enemy crit rates.
When Allen turned back to the battle in front of him, he noticed that while Bask, Bildiga, and Ramon-Hamon continued to overpower his allies, their attacks had lost some of their edge. Bask, in particular, was showing his impatience and irritation. Fish-type Abilities are really something!
“Pesky light...” Bildiga muttered, breaking his silence as he finally folded his front legs once more. “Ramon-Hamon, lend me a hand. We’ll kill Falnemes and that human girl.”
“Very well,” Ramon said.
“All right,” Hamon said.
Their two heads nodded, and they kicked away Shia, who had been fighting them. Then, they charged at Krena and the Goddess of Arbitration. The duo was busy launching attack after attack at the Daemon God’s tail, but Falnemes quickly noticed that the Greater Demonic Deity was now targeting them. Ramon’s four arms summoned mana spheres, and the goddess dodged the attack.
“Hey!” Krena shouted angrily. “Don’t get in our way!”
The moment Krena locked eyes with Ramon-Hamon, Bildiga approached her without a sound. The beetle unfurled one of its jagged front legs, tripling its length, and used it to strike both Krena and Falnemes from their blind spot.
“Whoa?!” Krena cried as she and Falnemes were blown back.
Ramon-Hamon used that chance to close in and attack. Meanwhile, Allen hastily turned to his Fish S.
“Use Freeze Cannon on Ramon-Hamon!” he shouted.
“Freeze Cannon!” Macris yelled, opening his humongous jaw wide and summoning a glowing magic circle in front of him.
A large, pyramid-shaped blade of ice shot out, flying straight at Ramon-Hamon with impressive speed. However, the two-headed Greater Demonic Deity had no blind spots. Ramon’s four mana-filled arms blocked the chunk of ice, and Hamon’s four then shattered it.
“Don’t stop attacking!” Allen shouted.
“You got it! Freeze Cannon!” Macris yelled back, firing off a second and third shot.
Ramon-Hamon’s two heads smirked.
“The same attack?! How boring!” Ramon declared. “Your moves are meaningless if they can’t hit me!”
Ramon placed her four arms together and created an enormous mana sphere. Her attack shot out toward Freeze Cannon, effectively canceling it out.
“You’re right, Ramon!” Hamon added. “If we’re not in its path, we’ve got nothing to fear!”
Hamon used his long, lithe legs to nimbly step out of the way of the third Freeze Cannon bullet. In this world, spells don’t have a hundred percent hit rate, and if they don’t hit, the enemy won’t take any damage. If you can hit a vital area, the enemy will be damaged more than usual. Resistance and elemental types also affect damage... Merus’s Endow Element will be vital for this battle. C’mon, make their weakness ice already.
