Hell Mode: Volume 11, page 23
He recalled Krena mentioning her conversation with Falnemes at the stable. Maybe the Goddess of Arbitration can give me a hint or two. She called Kyubel “Kyuplus,” and they seemed to know each other. But she’s gone. He turned to Krena, who seemed to be lost in her thoughts, her face still twisted with anger.
“Krena, what else did you talk to the Goddess of Arbitration about while you were at her temple?” he asked. Dogora had shared his story when he had entered Extra Mode, and perhaps Krena had gone through a similar experience.
“So, you went to a temple too?” Dogora asked.
Krena groaned. “Uhhh... Wait... Um, so the Dragon God became its descendants... No, wait, there was a gate. I think a gate was involved...”
Transcenders... Dragon God... The goddess told Krena quite a bit.
“I’ll take all the time in the world to hear you out later,” Allen said before he turned to the merchant. “I’ll talk with you too, Pelomas.”
Krena groaned again, back off in her own world.
“Um, Keel?” Pelomas asked.
“Yeah?” Keel replied.
“Can you...try saving him?”
Allen quietly watched as Pelomas pointed to Beku’s corpse. The Beast Crown Prince looked like a chunk of translucent crystal. Beside him stood Shia, his sister.
“It’s a long story, but he saved my life,” the merchant continued. “He’s the reason I’m here with you guys right now, and why I’m okay even after the effects of Mimic wore off on me. He gave me this bracelet.”
He showed off the bracelet with its light-blue glimmer, and Keel nodded.
“Of course. I’ll give it a go,” he said, then headed toward Shia and the deceased Beku. “Shia, can I?”
The Beast Princess grimaced. “What are you planning?”
“I’m going to try to resurrect him. Pelomas asked me to do so—your brother saved him, apparently. My friend’s savior is my savior too, and the brother of my friend is as good as my brother. I want to do everything I can.”
Shia stared at Keel, then at Pelomas, staying silent for a while. Eventually, she consented with a nod. Keel knelt by Beku’s corpse, placed his hands high above his head, and chanted a prayer to the God of Creation.
“O Lord Elmea, creator and protector of this world. This being has fallen in the face of the Trial that you bestowed upon him. But if he possesses the courage to face your Trial once more, please grant him power and life so that he may continue with his challenge. Drops of God.”
Keel activated his Extra Skill, and particles of light gathered in front of Beku’s corpse. The light melted together, condensed into a small ball, and descended onto the corpse like a golden droplet, not once hindered by the seawater all around it. The moment the droplet touched upon Beku’s corpse, his body began to crumble away.
“Beku!” Shia screamed as she saw her brother disintegrate. She fell onto Beku’s body and clutched him tightly, but the seawater swayed by her movements scattered the tiny, translucent particles of her brother, reflecting the shimmer of the crystal flower.
He couldn’t be saved. Was his body just in such a horrific state that couldn’t be repaired? Or...
Drops of God had a success rate that depended heavily on one’s Intelligence. Thanks to class promotions, leveling up, and the Sacred Necklace that he had received from the Pope, Keel’s Extra Skill had a one hundred percent success rate. The fact that Beku could not be saved despite that implied that Kyubel and Demon Sword Onuba had landed a special attack on him—one that had prevented his revival.
Cecil quietly hugged a trembling Shia from behind, and Sophie sadly watched on. Dogora had his back turned, but he tightened his grip on Kagutsuchi in frustration.
“I’m sorry...” Allen murmured. “There might have been a way to prevent this.”
Shia looked up, her eyes flashing with rage for a moment before she averted her gaze back to the ground. Then, she jumped to her feet.
“Don’t say that, Allen,” she replied quietly. “There was nothing any of us could’ve done back there.”
In her arms was the breastplate Beku had left behind. She squeezed it tightly, as though she were holding on to the disintegrated corpse of her brother.
“Shia, Prince Beku was a splendid man,” Pelomas said. “He kept his promise to me.”
He picked up the golden knuckles and the Holy Orb of Quatro that lay at Shia’s feet.
“He made a promise to you?” Shia asked.
“Yeah. When we recovered these items, at first, Prince Beku didn’t want to wear them. He staunchly opposed the idea and claimed that he wasn’t worthy of them. So I said, ‘We can’t leave these here, but a merchant like me can’t possibly protect them while we escape. Please wear them, Prince Beku, and keep them safe.’ And he did just that.”
Shia turned to Pelomas, whose face was scrunched with sorrow as he wept.
“No wonder he had them...” Shia said in awe.
Pelomas nodded. “And he protected them, just like he said he would. He made sure they’d be safe until someone worthy could take them.”
He handed the knuckles and bracelet over to Shia. This was our first direct clash against the Demon Lord Army, but we sustained more losses than I thought. The Allen and Hero Armies were a combined force of 6,200 soldiers. A couple hundred had died during the battle that had lasted half a day. Granted, they had been up against a hundred thousand Demon Lord Army troops, with a few Demonic Deities and Rank S monsters peppered in, so perhaps more than five thousand having survived was a testament to how well they had fought. As their commander in chief, what happened today is my responsibility. I’ll have to give them burials befitting of their heroism once I’m back on land.
Allen turned to Helmios. The Hero had faced Ardoe, Kyubel, and a myriad of other powerful enemies in the past, and he had lost many comrades in the process. No doubt he had gone through the same thought process as Allen countless times. Even so, he had cast aside his mask of anger and was rejoicing at the survival of his party members, smiling and showering them with words of praise.
“More than a century has passed since the birth of the Demon Lord...” Allen muttered.
How many lives had been lost since then? How many more would be lost before he was defeated?
“Kyubel mentioned that he’d lived for many, many years, all for this very day,” Cecil said from beside Allen, her remarks surprising him. “He must have spent the past hundred years since the Demon Lord’s birth coming up with an elaborate plan and doing everything in his power to make it a success... But that doesn’t sound quite right.”
“You think so too?” Allen asked.
The Demon Lord’s only like a hundred years old. He hasn’t been around for thousands of years. In many of the games that Allen had played during his time as Kenichi, a Demon Lord had always been a part of the game’s setting, and they had already been in their perfect form. The player character, usually the hero, had been born to defeat this enemy, but no matter how many side quests they completed, how much level grinding they did, or how much gear they collected, the Demon Lord patiently awaited them in a designated spot. The hero simply needed to head toward that goal.
This world was different. Here, where deities seemingly lived for millennia, a mere hundred years seemed like a short lifespan for the Demon Lord, and he had just rejoiced at the fact that he had finally entered Hell Mode. In other words, he was still very young and in the process of maturing and growing. Did the Demon Lord Army invade the Central Continent, Rohzenheim, and Baukis while avoiding the Galiatan and Garlesian Continents all for the Daemon God? They gathered souls for the Daemon God and needed to spread Daemonism, hence they didn’t attack Galiat, and they made preparations to find a sacrifice to resurrect the Daemon God. Then what about Kyubel? Was he the one advising the Demon Lord?
Ignomasu and his royal guards approached Allen. “Alec, what in the world is going on? Explain yourself.”
Allen recalled why he had come to Prostia and his goals within the empire.
“This isn’t over, you guys,” he said. “There’s a lot we still need to do.”
His friends looked confused, but there was one person who picked up on his intentions before anyone else.
“Yeah, now that you mention it, there is,” Helmios said, standing beside the Summoner. “Want me to help out?”
“You think it’s better to join on behalf of Giamut?”
“Allen... You should really keep thoughts like that to yourself.”
The Hero flashed a weary smile, and Allen turned to Ignomasu.
“Your Majesty, the Demon Lord Army has invaded and resurrected the sea monster within the crystal flower,” he reported.
“Wh-What?!” Ignomasu gasped. “That thing was the sea monster? Then why did that demon defeat it? And who are these people?”
“I’m terribly sorry, but I ask that you wait to hear the rest until the Prostia Empire regains its rightful sovereigns and you’re in a prison cell where you belong.”
Ignomasu looked stunned for a moment, but he immediately readied his spear.
“I see...” he muttered. “I know what your goal is now. Very well. But before I’m captured, I’ll show you the power of the strongest spear in Prostia!”
Before even finishing his sentence, Ignomasu wound up and thrust his spear toward Allen’s chest. Allen did not flinch, however, and grabbed it by the tip, stopping it in its tracks.
“What the?! Who in the world are you, Alec?!” Ignomasu gasped.
The Summoner ignored the stunned usurper, who held the spear in both hands, and easily moved the weapon away from his chest. He then rushed forward and buried his left fist into Ignomasu’s stomach.
“Gah?!” the emperor grunted.
The pain was so intense that he was certain one of his organs had been damaged. He released his weapon and fell to his knees.
“Just shut up and sit tight,” Allen ordered, gazing down at the pitiful merfolk. “Also, my name is Allen.”
Damn, that hurts! He used his skill, didn’t he? The Summoner crossed his arms behind him, but the palm of his right hand stung terribly. Ignomasu was the strongest in Prostia for a reason, it seemed, and it was foolish to have blocked his attack barehanded.
“Everyone stay where you are,” Allen threatened. “If you move so much as a muscle, he’ll get it. Guys, could you grab them?”
The royal guards, now unable to move an inch, watched Dogora, Volmaar, and Luke quickly restrain their former captain and current emperor after he had been so easily incapacitated. They handcuffed Ignomasu with adamantite, which was tougher than mithril. Allen and his friends then forced him to his feet and led him down the flower’s style, keeping the Prostian soldiers in check all the while. The group headed to the annex where Princess Rapsonil was taking refuge. Unlike the palace, which had sustained a blow from Ardoe, the annex was unscathed.
“Thank you for capturing Ignomasu,” Princess Rapsonil said with a deep bow. “Now, we can reclaim our empire.”
“Please take back control of the palace,” Allen requested.
“O-Of course. That is our duty as the imperial family.”
She looked a touch confused for a moment, but she turned to the group of all-female knights serving as her guards and expertly gave out orders.
Chapter 10: Tears of the Holy Fish Macris
Three days had passed since the battle, and Allen and his friends were called to the annex once more. With the palace having been half destroyed by Ardoe, it had been decided that most of the governing would be conducted from the annex for the foreseeable future. Princess Rapsonil and her subjects had been able to clear out the members of the Ignomasu faction, mainly due to the fact that the merfolk himself was now in prison. We defeated the enemies we needed to, so I think we can draw our Prostia arc to a close. I just need to get my clear bonus for this level, and then we should be good, the Summoner thought.
As Allen had had time to ruminate on some ideas and been able to regain his composure, he began to think of the world as one huge video game again while walking down the hallway lined with knights. One of Princess Rapsonil’s ladies-in-waiting guided him and his party.
“Whoa! What the hell?! This is awesome!” Luke cried as he tried to prank one of the knights.
“Don’t do that, Luke,” Faable, who took the form of a crab atop his head, scolded him.
The dark elf boy stuck out his tongue, and Allen was glad to see that the boy was back to his usual energetic self. He seemed a little down after his first fight against the Demon Lord Army, but guess I was worried for nothing.
“This way, please,” the guide said, proceeding down the open double doors.
The group was led into a lavish reception room with a large, oval table at its center. Princess Rapsonil sat directly in front, but Allen noticed a bunch of other ornately dressed merfolk standing to her right. Among them were the previous empress Rapsonil’s mother, Princess Carmine, and Duke Doresskarei. They each gave a slight bow before Allen and his party took their seats across from the merfolk. When the other high-ranking merfolk—presumably ministers—sat down as well, food was brought out. In this world, when you become a hero, you get summoned by the royal or imperial family to sit down and enjoy a meal, I guess.
Allen looked at Princess Rapsonil, who sat to his right. She was on a long sofa rather than one of the round, backless stools everyone else was using. He snuck glances at her tail, which she had in lieu of a pair of legs. A princess’s tail... Not all my questions have been answered. Why wouldn’t Princess Rapsonil have worked? Allen had heard from Pelomas that Beku was killed at that concert stage three days ago because he had the blood of Garm, the God of Beasts and the guardian of Albahal, flowing through his veins. That being the case, surely Princess Rapsonil, who had inherited the blood of Macris, the kin of Water Goddess Aqua, would have been a worthy sacrifice. But not even former First Angel Merus knew why Rapsonil could not have filled that role instead of Beku. I’ll have to look into it. Just then, Cecil’s iron claw assaulted Allen’s left side.
“Allen, what are you staring at? Not at the princess’s legs, I hope,” she hissed. “You wouldn’t do something that rude, would you?”
The Summoner was in more pain now than he had been after blocking Ignomasu’s spear. He nodded as fast as he could while averting his gaze.
“Lady Cecil, Lady Sophie, Lady Shia, Sir Allen, and the rest of your friends, I’d first like to thank you dearly for saving Prostia from Ignomasu the Rebel,” Rapsonil said. “You have helped us reclaim our empire. This hardly serves as a token of our gratitude for your heroism, but I’ve prepared the best dishes that Prostia has to offer. Please have a bite, and I do hope you can enjoy yourselves.”
The very moment the last word left the princess’s lips, Krena outstretched both arms and stuffed her cheeks with food.
“Y-Yuuum!” she cried.
She ate with incredible speed and gusto, chowing down without so much as stopping for breath. A personal waiter even tended to her needs thanks to Allen having mentioned beforehand about her voracious appetite. She ate so much that it was impressive, and Princess Carmine happily watched from across from her. Thanks to Princess Carmine’s contributions to this whole ordeal, Crevelle got upgraded from a vassal state to a nation that has friendly ties with Prostia. Her engagement to Doresskarei’s going well too, so no wonder she’s all smiles.
“I would also like to thank you on behalf of the Prostia Empire,” Rapsonil said. “If there’s anything you wish for, I’m all ears. Do any of you have any desires?”
“Please don’t push yourselves,” Allen immediately replied. “I’m sure your treasury is empty because of Ignomasu. Also, I plan to present the water purification tool to you as a gift celebrating the start of your new empress’s reign. Please use it however you’d like.”
“That’s an immeasurably valuable tool!” a merfolk sitting across from him blurted out. Then stood up, swam over to Rapsonil, and whispered in her ear, “Not only did they save our nation, but they’re even giving us this item for free! It terrifies me to think of what they might ask us for in the future!”
For his part, Allen was more than happy to give them the magic tool and all three cores, valued at tens of millions of gold, free of charge as a celebratory gift. All he cared about was helping them rebuild their devastated empire as quickly as possible.
“I have a few requests for you as Prostia’s new empress,” Allen said. “Our battle is far from over, and I’d like your help where possible.”
The Summoner was a hero who had put a stop to the rebellion and even given the empire an incredibly valuable magic tool. The nobles were nervous about Allen’s requests.
“I see...” Rapsonil mused. “Very well. However, we cannot blindly agree to every single one of your whims. Could you be more specific, Sir Allen?”
“Prostia is chock-full of weapons, gear, and items that we need for the fight against the Demon Lord Army,” Allen replied. “I’d like you to open the door for trade. Pelomas here will be in charge of that, so please hash out the details with him.”
Pelomas immediately stood up and bowed. “I’m Pelomas of the Pelomas Whaling Company. I’m extremely honored to meet and support Her Majesty and the rest of the esteemed officials of Prostia. I hope we can maintain our friendly ties and build a long-lasting friendship.”
“Thank you, Sir Pelomas,” Rapsonil replied with a smile. “I hope we can speak again at a later date.”
“And I’d like Ignomasu to bolster our power,” Allen swiftly added.
The imperial princess and the rest of the nobles looked surprised, but Rapsonil immediately gave her order. “Bring Ignomasu here.”
Just as their meal ended, the knights brought out Ignomasu, his hands bound behind his back. His prison uniform was in tatters, a far cry from his gorgeous emperor’s outfit, but he looked proud as ever.
