Hell Mode: Volume 7, page 22
“As I thought, it was the followers of Daemonism that attacked.” The king quickly tried to steer the conversation in another direction.
“Even Your Majesty must have seen how the people of your country took on bizarre forms and attacked their comrades. Those hideous acts must be the work of the Daemonism believers. In other words, there is a possibility that those who seduced the people of your country have already infiltrated your lands. Of course, this also means that it’s possible that they had an opening that we could’ve utilized to ruin their ploy.”
“Is that so...?” An expression of despair and chagrin washed across the king’s face. Apparently, even if the king had a plan to separate his country from the empire, it did not reflect the views of his people.
The room was filled with a brief silence. Then, the princess opened her mouth. “Ah, um, Your Highness Shia.”
“What is it, Princess Carmine? And you may call me Shia.”
“Yes, Miss Shia. I am truly sorry for causing you all this trouble. As a descendant of the royal family who should protect the people of Crevelle, I will definitely repay you for this kindness.”
Princess Carmine touched the bracelet of woven leather wrapped around her right arm. Within it, a flat gem gave off a purple shine.
“Do not worry about it, Princess Carmine,” Shia replied to her counterpart in a friendly manner. “Let’s talk again after everything settles down.”
Suddenly, screams could be heard coming from outside the small shrine. “Enemy attack! I-It’s a big army!”
“They’re here already?”
Shia stood up and bowed briefly to King Crevelle, the queen, and Princess Carmin before leaping out of the shrine. There, the fishkin soldiers were shouting about an enemy attack and discussing the unprecedented scale of the charge.
As Shia pulled on her horse’s reins to get it out of the line, a deerkin with magnificent horns ran up to her.
“Vice-Captain Rasu, what’s the situation?”
“According to the scout’s report, there are around twenty thousand enemies, Your Highness! They will catch up to us in another hour.”
“Twenty thousand? They’re really going all out. I guess they’ve decided that this is a critical juncture for them.” Shia grinned, baring her canine teeth.
“This is no laughing matter. Captain Rudo says that we should at least retreat by ourselves.”
“Hmph, that’s fine. But we’ve gone to great lengths to persuade the royal family and caused the people a great deal of suffering. Can we really let that amount to nothing?”
Most of the people of the Kingdom of Crevelle were walking on foot. Though not impossible, with this much distance to cover, the people would not stand a chance of escaping no matter how hard they ran if the enemy was not stopped. On the other hand, if they were abandoned here, all two hundred thousand refugees, including the royal family, would be massacred.
“A messenger from the advance unit sent to the fortress city of Carlo has just arrived. They’ve begun bringing in soldiers, supplies, and food. I believe we should retreat there, Princess Shia.”
“Then tell the messenger to dispatch their troops immediately, protect the royal family and people of Crevelle, and help them withdraw to the fortified city of Carlo. We can hold out for two days.”
“Pardon my insolence, but I fear that would be reckless. Please rethink your plan.”
“I shall not. If the Crevelle royal family falls, there will be no future for me now that we’ve formed an alliance.”
Ignoring Vice-Captain Rasu’s concerns, Shia jumped on her horse and pulled on the reins, sending it into a trot.
Rasu ran side by side with the trotting horse. “Huh? An alliance?”
“We formed one just now.”
“Once again, doing things all at your own initiative. His Majesty will be furious with you all over again.”
Before long, the two of them reached a wetland about a hundred meters wide and surrounded by forests on both sides. There, two thousand beastkin were scattered in waiting for Shia. When they looked at their leader’s face, they gave her a look of resignation and understanding.
“There are around twenty thousand enemies on their way, but the path we must take remains unchanged. So I ask you, is there anyone who thinks that I have no power to carry out my duties as commander? If so, there is no need to hold back. You may leave at once.”
At her words, not a single one of the two thousand beastkin nodded. They knew that the Beast Princess would only say such things if she was prepared to fight with her life on the line.
She had done the same when she had captured the Pontiff of Daemonism. At that time, hundreds of her companions had ended up losing their lives, but the Beast Princess had said that their deaths “became the cornerstone of her authority.” She did not take the sacrifices of her allies lightly, but neither did she let the fear of death stop her.
The soldiers of the beastkin corps silently gripped their weapons, realizing that this was where they would risk their lives.
“The soldiers of Crevelle also said that they would fight with us. Let us do everything in our power.” Captain Rudo spoke in a booming voice so that everyone could hear his words. It sounded as if he was talking to the entire Crevelle army.
“That’s reassuring, at least. Now, let’s set up camp. Mage squad, build a defensive barrier. All we have to do now is buy some time.”
“Yes, Your Highness!” the mage squad members all shouted. They then dug into the swamp mud with their earth magic, piled it up about five meters high, and created a number of defensive walls with countless sharp, conical pillars facing the enemy. They then shot ice magic to freeze the moisture in the barrier and reinforce it, repeating this action several times as they moved backward.
These ice barriers were not meant to defeat the enemy, but rather to prevent them from approaching the main wall and to reduce their physical strength if they tried to push through by force. Another aim of stacking many layers of defensive walls was to block the movement of enemies and disperse them so that they could not attack in groups.
Finally, a high defensive wall was built. It stood about ten meters tall, one hundred meters wide—the entire width of the wetland—and about five meters deep. This defensive wall had a pathway atop it similar to those found on the outer walls of fortresses and served as the final line of defense. Shia, the beastkin corps, and the fishkin soldiers who had rushed to help left about a thousand soldiers behind and went up to the pathway.
About thirty minutes had passed when the enemy began to appear through the first rows of barriers.
“Already here, huh? Looks like they’re energetic. Archers, take up positions!”
Shia fixed her gaze on the approaching herd of monsters. At the head of the group were daemonic incarnations that had been transformed from humans, including those with frog heads growing out of human bodies and those with human heads implanted on salamander bodies. In the back, there were monsters such as lizardmen and giant crab monsters that moved easily through the swamp.
“You know what to do! Aim for the legs and eyes!”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
The archers served as the middle guard in battles between small groups, but they could also serve as the vanguard when facing off against medium- and large-sized groups. The beastkin, proud of their physical strength, their beefy arms thicker than their heads and their backs broad, drew their rigid shortbows fitted with the arrows they had received from the Crevelle royal family as far as they could, causing their muscles to bulge. Just as the enemy ran up to the first barrier, “Loose!” Under Shia’s command, five hundred arrows were released all at once.
Normally, shortbows were not suitable for long-distance sniping, but the beastkin used their outstanding dexterity and power to shoot them from afar and at high speed, even when shooting horizontally.
The five hundred arrows were shot down diagonally. They rained down on the approaching enemies, piercing the monsters’ skulls and crushing their knees.
“Gwaurgh!”
“Gwaurgh!”
“Gwaurgh!”
The daemonic incarnations running at the front of the formation screamed and collapsed. After that, the daemonic incarnations and monsters behind them rushed in. When they stumbled over their fallen companions, the beastkin archers loosed another volley of arrows, and then a third, killing them one after another.
“Mage squad, attack with ice or lightning! Whatever you do, don’t use fire!” Shia instructed while the archers continued to shoot their arrows.
“Yes, Your Highness!”
The mage squad let out volleys of ice magic, freezing the monsters’ feet together with the swamp. In addition, lightning magic ran through the moisture of the swamp and the slime on the monsters’ bodies, increasing the damage it dealt. The reason for not using fire magic was that it would be blocked by the slime and could melt the reinforcement of the defense wall.
However, perhaps because the beastkin were only trying to stall for time, their enemy gradually closed the distance. Several minutes later, they had climbed over the first defensive wall and were approaching the second. Were that to be crossed, all that would be left was close combat in front of the final defensive wall.
“As expected, there are too many of them,” Shia murmured to herself as she saw the first of the monsters cross the second line of barriers and reach theirs. She then looked behind her, where she could still see the backs of the Crevelle people. Her face took on a bitter expression.
Just then, Rei, a lightly dressed foxkin serving as the commander of the scouting unit, came running up to her.
“Twenty thousand troops are approaching through the forest from the right wing and the front left wing of the main camp!”
“What?!” Shia shouted. “Isn’t this the whole army?!”
Hearing this, Vice-Captain Rasu was startled and looked back at Shia, who had already engaged the first wave of daemonic incarnations that had crossed the parapets. To the left and right of her, a force of spear-wielding beastkin and fishkin was deployed to prevent the hordes of monsters from climbing over the final barrier.
“This is bad!”
“Vice-Captain Rasu!”
Rasu ran off before hearing all of Rei’s report. No matter how brave the beastkin corps was, fighting against that number of opponents was too much for just one person. Shia could not stay in such a place.
All at once, the daemonic incarnations with the lower bodies of frogs jumped over the barrier, knocking down the vanguard with their momentum before landing on the pathway.
Shia struck the attacking monsters, and when she stepped back, she tore off the head of a monster that was about to bite her. Another monster stepped up to fill its place, however. This one was a daemonic incarnation that had transformed into a giant salamander head with a human head attached to it.
“Watch out, Princess!”
Rasu jumped on Shia and pushed her down as he covered her body. The daemonic incarnation’s wide maw yawned wide and gnawed on his shoulder.
“Gah!”
Vice-Captain Rasu’s upper body was chomped down by the monster. Above its mouth, the human head wore a nasty grin.
“You bastard!”
Seeing this, Captain Rudo wavered for a moment as though he was surrounded by haze. He swung his hammer at an unbelievable speed, gouging out both the salamander and the human heads in a single swing. He kept swinging, crushing the surrounding daemonic incarnations one after another.
Rasu, however, who was helped up by an unharmed Shia, summoned the last of his strength. He raised his voice and belted out his command. “All units! Protect Princess Shia and withdraw to the fortress!”
“Rasu!”
Tears welled up in Shia’s eyes as she looked down at Rasu, lying limp in her arms, his eyes open.
“Your order, please, Your Highness! This barrier will no longer hold!” Captain Rudo, standing between the two and their approaching enemy, shouted.
Rasu heard this voice like a distant thunderclap. Though he could hear it, it sounded as if it were coming from somewhere far off. In other words, his whole body was numb, and his mind and vision were growing cloudy. He willed himself to stay alive, but he also believed that if he gave his life for Shia, he would die with no regrets.
“Don’t die, Princess. Augh, aaaugh?!”
Hearing Rasu’s faint whisper, Shia’s eyes widened as she watched his horribly scarred body slowly regenerate. However, the regenerating body was completely hairless, unlike a beastkin, and it was nothing but abnormal black flesh.
“I’m sorry. I’ll free you from your suffering.”
With tears in her eyes, Shia reached for her hip and drew her dagger. She thought that she would rather put an end to him herself than let him be reborn in a hideous, unwanted form.
BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT!
As the sun quickly faded, there was a deep rumbling sound, like something was falling to the earth from the sky. The sound alone made the ground shake.
An innumerable number of huge enemies were flying in. Shia reflexively looked up at the sky, and for a moment, she was so frightened that she forgot about the monsters surrounding her and the danger her own life was in.
“Gichigichi!”
The horde of monsters making that noise looked like a rain cloud at first. A rain cloud moving at great speed from the east where the Crevelle people had fled. But as it approached, it turned out to be a gigantic swarm of bees. The rumbling sound was the batting of their wings. The grating noise produced by their large jaws rubbing together sounded like metal scraping against metal.
All at once, the gigantic swarm of bees descended at a tremendous speed like a sideways rain.
“M-Monsters!”
“What are they?!”
“It’s the end of the world!”
As the beastkin continued fighting the monsters, Shia could hear the cries of her men.
“Ha ha. Does this mean that my trial is not yet over? Temi, you senile old fool.”
Shia cursed Temi, the court astrologer who had not made any mention of the fact that this awaited her. It was then that she noticed the massive griffin flying out in front of the swarm of bees.
Side Story 1: Teomenia, Consumed by Black Flames
In the center of Teomenia, the religious capital of Elmahl, was a man-made hill with a church built atop it, overlooking the city made of stone. No one could have possibly known that on this day, that very city would be engulfed in pitch-black flames.
＊ ＊ ＊
The “oracle room” located in the back of the church was an empty, windowless room with a high ceiling and only a single door leading into the antechamber. In this room was an old stone platform, on which lay an old man in the white robes worn by high-ranking priests. If one were to take a closer look at the body of the old man, they would find that the necklace he wore emitted a dull, golden glow that stood out against the whiteness of his clothes. On closer inspection, one could see that his body was floating a few centimeters above the platform.
The elderly figure was none other than Istahl Kumes, who was over eighty years old and still served as the Great Pope of the Church of Elmea, a religion with churches located all over the world.
Before long, the Great Pope’s body gradually began to emit light. With each breath, the light increased and his body lifted farther off the platform. By the time he was several meters above it, his breathing had nearly stopped and the intensity of the light had reached its peak. After a while, however, the light gradually subsided and his body slowly began to descend.
Upon his return to the platform, the Great Pope’s breathing normalized. He let out a deep breath and opened his eyes.
“Finally... The time has come,” he mumbled, his lips curving into a smile before he stepped down from the platform and headed toward the room’s lone door. His movements were unsteady, befitting his age. As soon as the door opened, the bishops and archbishops waiting in the antechamber surrounded him.
The Church of Elmea was the only organization that could directly receive information about future events in the world, which came in the form of oracles from God of Creation Elmea, the creator and operator of the world. Naturally, that information would affect the policies of every nation and directly lead to changes in people’s lives. As a result, its impact on the world would be far greater than any the Empires of Giamut and Baukis, the leading nations of the Five Continent Alliance, could have. Since oracles could only be received by the Great Pope, the head of the Church, the highest-ranking members gathered to discuss the contents of the oracle as it was imparted to them the same day it was received.
And yet, this oracle was so sudden that no notice had come as part of the previous one. That oracle, which had been sent immediately after the new year, had only contained an announcement explaining the purpose of the launch of a class promotion dungeon and a statement that the details of the dungeon would be communicated before it opened in April. The previous evening, First Angel Lapt had told the Great Pope that an oracle would be sent today. Assuming that relatively important information would be conveyed, Church officials ranked bishop and higher had been summoned in haste.
“Thank you for your hard work. How was it, Great Pope?”
“This was quite a sudden oracle, one for which no prior warning had been given. Was the message of great importance?”
“Did Lord Elmea bestow upon you a difficult task?”
The priests seemed uneasy when they noticed that the Great Pope had a solemn look on his face.
“Hmm. I’ve been particularly busy as of late, but it seems like those days have finally come to an end. I suppose I’ll be able to relax before Makkaron has a chance to.” Makkaron was the name of the Great Pope’s personal friend, the guildmaster general of the Adventurer’s Guild.
“What kind of oracle was given to you?!”
Ignoring the archbishop’s grave expression, the Great Pope crossed the antechamber and entered the adjacent conference room, where a long table was set up with several chairs around it. There were three stenographers sitting at the table near the entrance, who greeted him. The pope, though tottering, took his seat on the other side of the table by himself, and the archbishops entered the conference room immediately thereafter. As they hurried to their seats, the stenographers placed inkwells next to the parchments spread out in front of them, took their quills in hand, and readied themselves to transcribe. Once they were ready, the Great Pope opened his mouth.
