Hell Mode: Volume 4, page 21
“That’s right. Kill off all the monsters on the Central Continent right now, and you win. They’re not getting any reinforcements.”
That said, I know they’re having a pretty tough time too. The recovery items I sent don’t restore MP, after all.
“I’m glad to hear it, but the Demon Lord Army’s really resilient. The war’s gonna take a while this time. By the way, Allen, our forces are getting healed out of the blue in the middle of battle. That’s your doing, right?”
Allen had sent six hundred thousand Fronds of Life made from Rank E magic stones to the Giamutan front, calling them “elven elixirs.” Thanks to those recovery items, the Five Continent Alliance forces had yet to lose a single fortress so far.
A Frond of Life restored 1,000 HP for everyone within a fifty meter radius but did nothing for MP. This was the reason why the fighting was so drawn out on the Central Continent—the soldiers still had to ration their spells and skills. However, Fronds of Life were all Allen had to offer when he was setting off from the Academy.
Besides the Fronds of Life, Allen had also been supporting the fighting on the Central Continent with his Summons. However, of the Summons that he had sent, only four Spirit Bs and one Bird E remained; the rest had already died in battle over the past ten days.
When sending them off, Allen had given each Spirit B a few Blessings of Heaven. They had then consequently hid themselves inside Alliance fortresses and used these Blessings of Heaven whenever they saw fit. This was causing quite a commotion among the Alliance forces, who called these occurrences “miraculous healing.” These were what Helmios had been referring to.
“All we’ve been doing is using elven elixirs just like the ones that Lord Allen sent at the start. But I’m sure no one will believe it, so let’s leave them as miracles,” Ellie answered glibly. “More importantly, Lord Allen has something to tell you and something he wants to ask.”
“What is it?”
“First of all, here are all the recovery items that we Summons still have on hand. Please use these to regain the advantage on the Giamutan front.” Ellie produced a bag of fewer than a hundred Blessings of Heaven and passed it to the Hero.
“What’s this?”
“The reason behind the miraculous healings. In other words, the elven elixirs that we were using on the Five Continent Alliance soldiers.”
Through his fighting on Rohzenheim, Allen was fully aware that Fronds of Life alone were nowhere near enough to support a force fighting the Demon Lord Army. When he gave a simple explanation of the effects of a Blessing of Heaven—through Ellie—Helmios could not hide his shock.
“It restores both HP and MP, and over such a huge area?!”
Hmm, so Giamut doesn’t have recovery items with similar efficacy. The gods really were generous with Summoning Lvl. 7. I guess breaking through the limits of Normal Mode really is a big deal.
Sword Lord Sylvia picked up a Blessing of Heaven incredulously and examined it closely.
“I see. So this power is how you managed to bring Rohzenheim back from the brink.” Helmios nodded with understanding.
“No, this is an elven elixir made in Rohzenheim through proprietary means.”
Although Spirit B was sticking with Allen’s cover story, Helmios remembered seeing Allen regenerate an arm during their exhibition match at Academy City. He was quite sure that this fascinating fruit was another part of the boy’s abilities.
“I don’t understand. Why’re you lying about this? This is even more incredible than the elves’ Healing Magic. If you admit to it, everyone would be extremely thankful. Our emperor would probably even give you a peerage. He made me a duke.”
Next to Helmios, Sylvia nodded in agreement.
I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve heard that your wise emperor is pretty generous with rewarding those who distinguish themselves on the battlefield. He even gave Sword Lord Dverg a personal magic ship, even though he’s not a Giamutan citizen.
“This is no lie, though,” Ellie smiled, taking a firm tone. “You can feel free to confirm with Her Majesty the Queen of Rohzenheim.”
“When I last visited Rohzenheim, no one mentioned elixirs like this...but okay. Is this what he wanted to tell me?” Sensing that he would get no further with the “elven elixir” matter, Helmios decided to move on.
“Half of it,” Ellie replied. “Rohzenheim’s fight with five million monsters will be starting in the next three or four days, with Lord Allen handling one million by himself. As such, he will not be aiding the fight on the Central Continent any further. Those of us still here will be disappearing soon.”
“I see. So he wants us to use these items and handle the rest ourselves?”
“Correction: A thousand more of the same elixir you are holding will be arriving tonight. Please use those and handle the rest yourselves.”
“A thousand?!” Sylvia exclaimed. She had only just learned of such effective items and therefore was already overwhelmed with a hundred units. Hearing that an additional thousand would be arriving left her so flabbergasted she could do nothing but laugh. Thoughts of how much this would improve the war situation filled her mind to capacity.
Four days ago, after recapturing Castle Lapolka, Allen had taken stock of how many Blessings of Heaven he had, secured the number that he thought he would need, then entrusted the rest with a Bird B that he sent to the Central Continent. He had even commanded it to maximize its usage of Jet.
“Thanks a lot, Allen. If we use them carefully, these will last us twenty days.”
“Lord Allen says he will send another one thousand in ten days, so you can feel free to use these without holding anything back. Please inform the emperor of Giamut that this is the queen of Rohzenheim’s payment for the supplies he sent.”
Allen was sending these Blessings of Heaven in the name of the queen of Rohzenheim. From Giamut’s point of view, they were now receiving compensation more than tenfold what they had sent.
“Thanks, I’ll pass it on. I’m sure he’ll be plenty troubled receiving such wonderful gifts.” Helmios laughed wryly, understanding that Giamut had sent supplies to Rohzenheim for intentions beyond merely being a good neighbor.
“Lord Allen thanks you and asks whether he can now pose his question.”
“Of course. Ah, hold on, do you mind if I have Sylvia immediately take these to where they need to go? Our troops need them as soon as possible. Sylvia, I’m sorry, but can you go tell the generals what these do?”
“Sure thing.”
The Sword Lord left the room to bring the bag of Blessings of Heaven to the officers still out in the battlefield. Now Helmios and Ellie were alone in the room.
“Lord Allen thanks you for making precious time for him.”
“It’s all good. So, what does he want to know?”
“The general commanding all five million monsters is a Demonic Deity by the name of Rehzel. Lord Allen wants to ask for advice on dealing with a Demonic Deity.”
“Ah, so a Demonic Deity’s shown up. Well, it makes sense, especially since they’ve mobilized their reserves. They are aiming to destroy Rohzenheim, after all.”
“First of all, do you think this Demonic Deity will fight alongside the five million monsters? Lord Allen says this would greatly affect his strategy.”
“Nah, don’t worry, he probably wouldn’t come out on his own accord. All the Demonic Deities that I fought stayed at the back of the forces they commanded.”
Okay, good. It would be a problem if they were to get personally involved like Glaster’s group did. I guess I can think of Demonic Deities as final bosses.
“Next, do Demonic Deities have any weaknesses? Are there any tricks to killing them?”
This is what I want to ask most today. I need to gather as much info as I can beforehand and plan out the most effective way of finishing the fight.
“Huh? You plan on fighting the Demonic Deity?”
“Of course.”
“You’ll very likely lose before this Rehzel gives you the time of the day.” Helmios’s tone turned serious. “No, let me rephrase that. You will lose. You will die.”
“What do you mean?”
“You just can’t win. As someone who fought you a few months ago, let me say this: you’re nowhere near strong enough right now. After all, Demonic Deities are much stronger than me. Me, the supposed strongest fighter of humanity.”
“Huh? So you’ve never killed any Demonic Deities so far?”
“I got lucky. I’ve killed two.”
“Then—”
“During those fights, I lost companions who had been with me since my Academy days. I really don’t recommend that you fight this Demonic Deity. Not if you don’t want your friends to die, that is.” The pain on Helmios’s face was entirely devoid of his usual flippant attitude.
“How did you kill two of them if they’re so much stronger than you?”
“My Extra Skill, the one that I showed you during our match, is meant to strike down Demonic Deities, not humans. This is the power that Lord Elmea gave me to fight them.”
Ahh, so that’s what the “god” part of the skill name is referring to.
“Understood. Even so, can you tell me what you know about the characteristics and strengths of a Demonic Deity?”
“Of course.”
This conversation between Ellie and Helmios continued up until the start of Allen’s battle above the ocean.
Chapter 13: Battle upon the Ocean
Allen was flying over the ocean, riding on a Griff. Below him, there was water as far as he could see in every direction.
There they are.
The Demon Lord Army slowly began to come into view on the horizon as they headed in Allen’s direction. Before long, their numbers completely covered the surface of the water. Thanks to the Bird Es that he had been monitoring the Army with, Allen already knew that they were traveling as groups of a few dozen riding on the backs of large Rank A marine monsters. Furthermore, based on their heading, he also now knew for a fact that the Army was indeed advancing toward Nest.
From what Allen could tell, the monsters on the back of the Rank A ones all looked somewhat haggard and emaciated. In all likelihood, they had been famished for a significant amount of time. By all accounts, the Forgotten Continent to the far north, which served as the Demon Lord’s seat of power and the homeland of all these monsters, was a very barren place.
All right, if I’m doing this, I’ve gotta be thorough. I’m sure those on the Central Continent are doing the same. That’s why I sent them Blessings of Heaven, after all.
Allen had once wiped out the goblin and orc populations of the whole realm of Granvelle. Rodin had mentioned that goblins and orcs from neighboring realms had moved in and that their numbers were going up again, albeit slowly. Based on this, Allen understood that monsters did not simply respawn in this world, which meant the more he killed in this war, the longer it would take the Demon Lord Army to rebuild itself. There was no way to tell what percentage four million made up of the entire force under the Demon Lord’s command, but a loss of such numbers was surely going to set them back by at least a few years. This was why Allen was not satisfied with merely repelling the Demon Lord Army and insisted so much on annihilating it.
“You’ve all signed your death warrants.” Allen opened his grimoire to check the cards in the holders. General Antsy, General Dora, and General Mirror are all at Lapolka, and I have twenty-two slots left available.
The Deputize skill could only be used on Rank B Summons—and only one of each type, at that. And this time, Allen had left the Deputized Insect, Dragon, and Stone at Castle Lapolka.
“Come out, Ellie. It’s show time.”
“Your will is my command.”
General Ellie appeared. Unlike other Summons that grew larger in size after being Deputized, Ellie grew in age. The Ellie with the General position looked like a version of herself in her midtwenties, whereas the Soldier ones appeared slightly younger than twenty.
Additionally, Allen called out Dragon Bs, pairing them with Spirit Bs and buffing them all with the Fish D, Fish C, and Fish B swimming in the water below.
Come to think of it, this is my first time seeing my Fish-type Summons swimming in actual water.
With his preparations in order, Allen and his Summons approached the Demon Lord Army. The monsters noticed them about the same time they came within attacking range.
“All right, let’s do this! We’re starting off with stopping their advance. Aim for the one at the front!”
“Yes, Master.” General Ellie obediently thrust her palms forward and shouted, “Gravity!”
A jet-black sphere appeared right before the face of the sea serpent-like Rank A monster she was targeting. The sphere began to rapidly expand until it swallowed the beast’s entire head. This left the other monsters on its back stranded on a headless corpse as it bled profusely into the ocean.
Whoa, General Ellie’s normal Ability is powerful enough to kill a Rank A monster in a single attack. I guess it does make sense for Gravity to deal so much more damage than Dora’s Fire Breath, since its area of effect is so much smaller.
Gravity created a jet-black sphere with a ten-meter radius that dealt massive gravitational damage to the first target it came into contact with. The only limitation was that said target had to be within the casting Spirit B’s view.
“Good job,” Allen told General Ellie before turning to the other Spirit Bs, all of whom had been made Soldiers. “Everyone else, do what she did. Focus on crushing the heads of the ‘ships.’”
Nineteen voices replied in unison, “Your will is our command.”
“I also want a place to stand. Dora, clear the back of that first monster for me.”
“You got it, Master!” The Dragon Bs Allen had Summoned with his remaining two slots bathed the passenger monsters with blasts of Fire Breath.
When was the last time I went hunting by myself? Oh right, when I was preparing for the fight with Helmios. But my goal at the time was mainly gathering magic stones, so it doesn’t really count. So the last time I went fighting for real would be...oh wow, all the way back when I killed those armored ants in Granvelle.
At the time, Allen had ended up having trouble making his Beast D Summons cooperate with each other. In contrast, his Spirit Bs now naturally formed pairs and were making their way through the enemy ranks efficiently. There was even a clear chain of command between the General and Soldiers—Allen had never seen Summons give each other orders before, but that was precisely what General Ellie was now doing with the Soldier Ellies. In other words, they were now capable of fighting without him having to get involved. This was likely one of the intended benefits of Deputize.
“Master, please look out! Enemy flyers incoming!”
As it turned out, many of the passenger monsters were capable of flight. They had now spread their wings and were making a beeline for Allen as a huge flock.
Oh? So they’re actually attacking me this time?
When the force of one million monsters marched on Tiamo, the No-life Gamers had doggedly attacked it but were stubbornly shrugged off. This time, though, the monsters had apparently determined that Allen’s strategy of singling out the seabound monsters was impossible to ignore.
Did they include the flyers as a way to deal with me? Heh, fools.
“Ellie, use Black Hole.”
“Your will is my command.”
When Allen ordered General Ellie to use her Awakened Ability, a gigantic jet-black sphere appeared above the ocean’s surface. It then sucked up all the enemies within a radius of dozens of meters and crushed them to death. The attack, which was based on Intelligence, dealt destruction several times that of Gravity. In addition, it also had the effect of disrupting the flight of the monsters in the sky. As with most other Awakened Abilities, this one had a cooldown time of a full day.
Multiple large seabound monsters along with their passengers were crumpled into a single mass and crushed to death. Naturally, those in the sky also got sucked up, adding to the clump of death.
Of course, the effectiveness of each Summons’ Abilities and Awakened Abilities differed depending on the target. In this case, it was clear to see that Spirit B’s Gravity and Black Hole were both extremely effective against flying monsters, but they did almost nothing to amorphous monsters such as slimes.
“Okay, time to change Generals.” Allen dispelled Deputize once and then recast it on another Spirit B. When Summons were made Generals, their stats would double, which was reflected in the power of their Awakened Abilities. Allen figured that if he was going to make a Summon use its Awakened Ability, he might as well make it a General beforehand.
Hmm? What’s going on?
The Demon Lord Army now had Allen completely surrounded, and he was using his Summons to clear swathes of them. While being so completely outnumbered was business as usual for Allen, something still seemed off to him. There was a constant nagging feeling in his mind as he continued to fight.
When the sun had set after half a day of fighting, Allen figured out what was bothering him: the Demon Lord Army was not letting up its attack. To the best of Allen’s knowledge, monsters in this world needed to rest when exhausted, with his Summons being the only exception. Having fought for a whole month without any supply lines should have taken its toll on these members of the Army, yet they were showing no signs of backing off even though it was now dark out.
Ah, I get it. This was a trap for me.
Now that Allen thought about it, if the Demon Lord Army truly were focused solely on attacking Nest, then it would be ignoring him right now. This would be all the more true if Nest was meant to satiate the monsters that had been starving all this time. What had happened, however, was that the monsters had started charging toward and firing spells at Allen the moment they laid eyes on him. Even more, the large number of flyers in this force seemed like a conscious decision made with the knowledge that Allen used Dragon-type Summons to fight.
