Hell Mode: Volume 4, page 27
While skidding across the floor with incredible momentum, Allen healed himself using a Blessing of Heaven. Krena did the same and returned to the front line, but the situation had hardly made a turn for the better.
Now, it’s time to make a decision. If I sacrifice myself, that ought to give everyone else enough time to get away.
Just as Allen was considering giving his life up for his companions’ sake, Dogora crashed right next to him with a sound so loud it reverberated throughout the temple.
“Dogora, you okay?!” Allen called out, promptly using a Blessing of Heaven on his companion.
“I’m good.”
“What a relief... Unfortunately, things are not looking good. I’ll—”
“Man, this takes me back.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Back when we were kids, Krena always had unlimited energy and would run the both of us ragged. Remember how we’d sprawl out on the ground side by side like this and just stare up into the sky?”
“Uh, what’re you doing, Dogora?”
“I’d always thought you were a weird kid, Allen. Turns out you were way more amazing than I ever imagined.”
“Okay, seriously, what is this?” Dude, it’s like you’re checking off a list of jinxes on purpose. Can you not?!
“I’ll buy y’all time to run away. Tell my old man I’m sorry I never went home even once since leaving for the Academy. I’ll hold you to that, Allen!”
Leaving those words still hanging, Dogora got up and started running toward where Krena and Helmios were still fighting Rehzel.
“Wait, Dogora, you can’t just— Dogoraaa!”
“RAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Dogora howled fiercely at the top of his lungs as he charged in at top speed. His mind was entirely blank, blocking out Allen’s words, his worries about his Extra Skill, and even concerns for his family, whom he knew beyond a doubt Allen would take good care of. Even the weight of the adamantite ax in his hands barely registered anymore. The sole thought in his mind, the one burning desire, was to cut Rehzel down with it.
“Hmph, this again? Fine, you can die first, small fry.” The Demonic Deity snorted derisively and clenched his fists.
Right before Dogora reached Rehzel, a heat haze suddenly burst out from his body. “EAT THIIIIIIIIS!”
“Huh?”
Overwhelmed for a brief moment by Dogora’s spirited battle cry, Rehzel instinctively raised two right arms to block the incoming strike. Dogora brought his ax down the next moment, putting every last drop of his heart and soul in the blow.
“UARGHHH! H-How are you—?!”
Dogora’s ax slashed right through both arms and dug into Rehzel’s shoulder at a diagonal angle. Rehzel desperately tried dislodging the weapon with his last remaining right hand, but Dogora was suddenly overpowering him. The ax dug deeper and deeper, eventually reaching Rehzel’s chest. This one blow that Dogora had dealt using his Extra Skill, Heart and Soul, managed to bring the Demonic Deity to his knees.
“DIIIIIEEEE!”
“DON’T GET FULL OF YOURSELF, SMALL FRY!”
Rehzel let go of the ax with his remaining right hand, then stiffened his fingers and stabbed his hand into Dogora’s abdomen. His vicious claws smashed through the boy’s adamantite armor and went all the way through his back.
“Pwah!”
“DOGORAAAAA!!!”
Rehzel flung Dogora away like a profusely bleeding rag doll. Allen immediately used a Blessing of Heaven to heal him, but the boy remained unmoving. Allen ran over to where he had crashed to the ground.
“Dude, wake up! This isn’t funny! Dogora!”
The wound on Dogora’s abdomen had been completely healed, but he remained unresponsive.
No, no, no, this can’t be happening.
Allen checked Dogora’s pulse but failed to find a heartbeat. He was not breathing either.
“Keel, use Drops of God on him!” Allen yelled.
“C-Coming!”
Keel, who had been staring in shock from a distance away, jumped at Allen’s voice and rushed over. When he reached Dogora’s side, he placed both his hands on the boy’s chest. A heat haze sprang up around his body as he closed his eyes and began murmuring a prayer.
“Please make sure you bring him back.”
We can’t fail here, not now.
After entrusting Dogora to Keel, Allen turned to face Rehzel. His companions were now entirely defenseless, and he was the only one to protect them.
“Th-That small fry got another one of my hearts!”
On top of chopping off two of Rehzel’s right arms, Dogora’s attack had apparently also destroyed another of the Demonic Deity’s hearts. He staggered to his feet as blood spurted from his wounds in fountains.
“Krena, we’re doubling down!” Helmios shouted, rushing forward.
“Okay! Let’s do this!” Despite being worried for Dogora, Krena remembered her role and fell in step beside the Hero.
In spite of everything he had lost so far, Rehzel’s fighting spirit showed no sign of faltering. He was still deftly handling Krena and Helmios’s close-quarters attacks, Allen’s Summons, Cecil’s spells, Volmaar’s arrows, and everything else that came his way.
At the moment, there was no longer anyone on Allen’s side who possessed an attack capable of dealing a decisive blow to Rehzel. The Demonic Deity was focused mainly on parrying attacks from Helmios, the only person present whose Attack stat was over ten thousand. And throughout it all, the arm stumps left by Dogora’s attack continued squirming as if they were trying to regrow themselves.
Damnit, if he manages to regrow them, we’ll be back to square one.
Allen racked his brains furiously, trying to come up with something, anything that would work against their powerful opponent and break through this precarious stalemate.
“Please, O grand spirit! Please come out!”
All this time, Sophie had been desperately pleading with any powers that be who would listen to her. It was obvious that if there was a key to getting out of this situation, it would be the grand spirits, every one of whom was far more powerful than Allen’s Deputized Summons. Sophie continued trying to activate her Extra Skill, Grand Spirit Manifestation, as the situation grew increasingly dire.
“Sophie, that’s enough. Focus on hea—”
“It worked!”
Just as Allen was about to tell Sophie to prioritize healing the vanguard, she felt the all too familiar sensation of all her MP being drained. Relief washed over her face.
“Is that...a grand spirit?”
A ball of light appeared in midair and started to assume a form much smaller than that of any other grand spirit Allen had seen so far. More specifically, it looked like a small...flying squirrel.
Sophie’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. “Y-You are...”
“Oh hey! Allen did say you never know ’til you try, and whaddya know? I guess it really is worth giving everything a go. Ha ha.”
“I-Is that you, Lord Rohzen?”
“It sure is, descendant of the Priestess of Prayer. What is it you wish for?”
Before Sophie could answer, Rehzel cried indignantly. “This can’t be! It goes against the principles of the world for the Sovereign of Spirits to interfere in a fight amongst mortals!”
Rohzen turned to him and, in a slightly pouty voice, replied, “You Demonic Deities broke the principles first when you invaded the Heavenly Realm. Man, I’m so glad I held off on becoming the God of Spirits. It would’ve been a bit much for the current descendant to manifest a deity, I imagine. Ha ha.”
So he’s been asleep this whole time because he was holding back his promotion so he’d be able to lend us his power? Ah, so that’s why he’d been glowing all this time! Here I was, making fun of how he’s never awake, when he’s actually been doing his best suppressing his power levels for us!
“Lord Rohzen, please lend me your strength! Please lend me the strength to help my companions!”
A sheepish look came over Rohzen’s face. “Okay, my mistake for posing an open question just now. There’s really only one thing I can do for you: bestow you with the Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits. Ha ha. All right, here goes!”
Suddenly, the flying squirrel began swinging his little hips left and right. Allen and his companions inadvertently found their eyes glued to the unexpectedly cute gesture. The next moment, countless bubbles of light appeared out of nowhere and started to fall gently like snow. When a bubble touched each of the Gamers, they glowed for a brief moment.
“Wh-What is this?! I feel so much more powerful now!” Cecil exclaimed in surprise.
Allen checked his grimoire and nearly choked on his spit. What on earth?! Everyone’s stats all went up thirty percent!
“Rohzen! Are you here to foil my people’s hopes and dreams yet again?!” Rehzel roared, hatred dripping from every word.
“Of course I am,” Rohzen replied. “Every time your people try to taint the World Tree with blood, I will be there. As many times as it takes. Ha ha.”
Apparently the story of Rohzen fighting the dark elves alongside the Priestess of Prayer since his early days was true. Rehzel glared razor-sharp daggers at him as he continued to deal with Krena and Helmios’s onslaught. Just as Allen was about to brainstorm the best way to take advantage of this opportunity, Rohzen gave him a look as if there was something he wanted to say.
“Uhhh... If I give you too many hints, Lord Elmea might get angry at me, but...”
Without missing a beat, Allen replied, “I won’t tell, so you definitely won’t get in trouble. Please share your advice.”
“There you go again with your baseless claims... Okay, just a little. My blessing resets cooldown times once. Ha ha.” The Sovereign then turned his head and played innocent as if implying that he expected Allen to catch his meaning from that brief sentence.
Allen immediately shouted, “EVERYONE! YOU CAN USE YOUR EXTRA SKILLS ONE MORE TIME NOW!”
For a brief moment, his companions struggled to comprehend what he had just said, but Krena, always the one to fully place her trust in Allen, immediately activated her Extra Skill. The usual heat haze flared up all around her body.
“It’s true! I’ve got another chance!” Krena started groaning as she once again tried using her other skills alongside Limit Break. “Hrrnngh! Ugh! Why can’t I do it?!”
Krena could not afford to waste any more time and charged back in to fight with Rehzel. Despite now being effectively in Extra Mode, her stats were still no match for his. She kept calling out the names of her skills even while getting thrown about over and over. After having fought Rehzel for so long, she just knew that she would finally have an advantage over him if she could just use her abilities.
While cheering Krena on inside his heart, Allen called out, “Did it work, Keel?! Did you revive Dogora?!”
Keel shook his head gravely. “I’m sorry.” Dogora still lay motionless on the ground, his eyes closed as if in sleep.
“Well thanks to the Sovereign, you’ve now got a second chance! Make it count!”
“You bet! I swear I’ll bring him back!”
Once more, Keel started praying fervently, leaving Allen to take his place as the party healer. With Rehzel as their opponent, Sophie did not have the ability to keep the vanguard fully healed all by herself. As Krena’s impatience peaked, Rohzen suddenly called to her.
“Krena.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Believe in your friend. What did Allen say? Has he ever lied to you?”
In contrast with his somewhat curt manner with Allen, Rohzen was being especially kind to Krena with his advice.
That’s it, that’s good. That’s exactly right.
“KRENA!!! YOU DEFINITELY CAN USE YOUR SKILLS!!!” Allen shouted as loudly as he could, repeating what he had told Krena before.
“O-Okay! I can do this!”
If I can use my skills whenever I want in Hell Mode, it wouldn’t make sense for Krena to become unable to use her Normal Mode skills when temporarily in Extra Mode.
Krena brandished her sword with all she had, believing fully in Allen’s words.
“I have no idea what nonsense you are attempting, but ENOUGH!” Rehzel bellowed, clearly annoyed at Krena’s desperate efforts.
“Gah!”
Rehzel landed a hit on Krena, but it was not fatal, either because he was feeling flustered at Rohzen’s appearance or because the damage he had suffered was starting to get to him. Even after taking the hit, Krena continued swinging her sword while shouting the names of her skills.
Uh-oh, Krena’s Extra Skill is about to time out.
“Krena, what’re you doing?! Even Dogora managed to use his Extra Skill!”
“I can use it! I can use it!”
By now, Allen’s words were ringing incessantly in Krena’s ears, drowning out everything else.
“More nonsense!” Rehzel closed in on Krena and was about to crush her to death, only to falter for a split second. Just now, he had lost two arms and a heart to a human child that he had considered an insignificant weakling. And so he took a better look at Krena...and a cold chill ran down his back.
Sparks were running down the length of her blade, giving off crackling noises. “Thunderous Sword!”
“Urgh!” The Demonic Deity’s face twisted in pain when Krena’s strike landed.
Oh?! She finally landed an attack that worked on him!
Krena’s skill, buffed by both Limit Break and the Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits, proved to be an attack that finally exceeded the Demonic Deity’s Endurance. Riding the momentum of success, Krena immediately began attacking together with Helmios as a tag team.
Hell yeah! Things are finally falling into place. Please don’t run out yet, Limit Break!
“Gah!”
Through their combined efforts, the two vanguards managed to chop off Rehzel’s last right arm. That said, Allen noted that Dogora’s Heart and Mind was still significantly more powerful.
“W-We did it!” Krena cheered.
“Krena, you shouldn’t look away during a fight,” Helmios chided. “But well, with how far we’ve cornered him, I think I should be able to finish him off on my own now.”
Just like the No-life Gamers, Helmios had also regained use of his Extra Skill. Panic finally began to seep into Rehzel’s expression.
“I-I became a Demonic Deity after discarding everything else. I cannot afford to lose!” Rehzel suddenly spread his wings, generating a blast of wind that almost swept Krena and Helmios off their feet. The next instant, he was flying high up into the sky, rapidly putting distance between himself and the temple.
Wait, he’s running away? Seriously?
Allen soon realized he was mistaken. Rehzel stopped high up in the sky and lifted his remaining three arms. A giant jet-black sphere began forming above his palms. Apparently he intended on obliterating the temple—and Allen’s group—with one massive magical attack.
Oh wow, that looks really powerful. That’s gotta be his final blow—literally. Could Stone B Reflect it? Wait, or instead...
“Cecil, drop a Petit Meteor directly onto Rehzel.”
“What are you saying?! It would level the city!”
“It’s fine, Her Majesty gave us express permission to raze the city if necessary. In the first place, your spell and Rehzel’s will probably cancel each other out, so there shouldn’t be all that much fallout.” I think.
In the end, Cecil chose to believe him. “Very well,” she said before beginning to focus. “Petit Meteor!”
A massive red-hot boulder equal in size to Rehzel’s jet-black sphere suddenly came falling down on Rehzel’s head.
Ohhh! Petit Meteor’s gotten a lot bigger thanks to the Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits!
“What are you—?! Do you not care what happens to the capital?! Hngh— HrngaaaAAAHHH!” Rehzel seemed genuinely taken by surprise at the response from Allen’s side. He focused the power of his jet-black sphere on resisting the giant boulder, but found the best he could do was create a stalemate.
“Well then, Helmios.” Allen shot a look at the Hero and jerked his head in the direction of the Demonic Deity, who was currently wide open with no way to defend himself. “The target’s stopped moving, so the rest is up to you.”
Helmios smiled wryly. “How do I put this... Yeah, this seems very in character for you, Allen.” He raised his sword and assumed a pitcher’s stance as a heat haze sprang up around him. “Here I go! God...STRIIIIIKE!”
“No! My heart!”
The Hero’s orichalcum sword, which he had hurled with all the strength he possessed, flew straight and true and accurately pierced the Demonic Deity’s final remaining heart. With all of them destroyed, his body started giving off a black mist. Both his black sphere and Cecil’s Petit Meteor rained down on his head as he lost the power to hold them back any longer.
The two masses of sheer destruction swallowed an entire portion of Fortenia as they came crashing down and ground Demonic Deity Rehzel into the earth.
Chapter 17: Under the World Tree
The two enormous masses swallowed up Demonic Deity Rehzel and pulverized an entire part of Fortenia before their energy dissipated and they disappeared.
“Dogora, I’ll heal you up right now!” Krena cried out as she rushed over. She shoved a hand into her pouch to take out her recovery items, but realized that she had used up everything she had been holding while fighting Rehzel. Even so, she turned it over and shook it violently, hoping that one last piece would fall out.
After Allen left their village, Krena and Dogora’s friendship had developed from the two of them playing knight the entire time he was gone. Forgetting to wipe away the tears streaming down her face, she turned her empty pouch back over.
“Keel, please cast your Healing Magic! I’ve run out of recovery items, Allen! Use yours on Dogora!”
As everyone gathered around Dogora, peering down at him in a circle, Allen said in a calm voice, “C’mon man, we’re about to go over to where the Demonic Deity is. If you don’t get up, we’re gonna leave you behind.”
Even though Rehzel had lost all three hearts, the log message indicating his death had yet to show up on Allen’s grimoire.
Now, it’s time to make a decision. If I sacrifice myself, that ought to give everyone else enough time to get away.
Just as Allen was considering giving his life up for his companions’ sake, Dogora crashed right next to him with a sound so loud it reverberated throughout the temple.
“Dogora, you okay?!” Allen called out, promptly using a Blessing of Heaven on his companion.
“I’m good.”
“What a relief... Unfortunately, things are not looking good. I’ll—”
“Man, this takes me back.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Back when we were kids, Krena always had unlimited energy and would run the both of us ragged. Remember how we’d sprawl out on the ground side by side like this and just stare up into the sky?”
“Uh, what’re you doing, Dogora?”
“I’d always thought you were a weird kid, Allen. Turns out you were way more amazing than I ever imagined.”
“Okay, seriously, what is this?” Dude, it’s like you’re checking off a list of jinxes on purpose. Can you not?!
“I’ll buy y’all time to run away. Tell my old man I’m sorry I never went home even once since leaving for the Academy. I’ll hold you to that, Allen!”
Leaving those words still hanging, Dogora got up and started running toward where Krena and Helmios were still fighting Rehzel.
“Wait, Dogora, you can’t just— Dogoraaa!”
“RAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Dogora howled fiercely at the top of his lungs as he charged in at top speed. His mind was entirely blank, blocking out Allen’s words, his worries about his Extra Skill, and even concerns for his family, whom he knew beyond a doubt Allen would take good care of. Even the weight of the adamantite ax in his hands barely registered anymore. The sole thought in his mind, the one burning desire, was to cut Rehzel down with it.
“Hmph, this again? Fine, you can die first, small fry.” The Demonic Deity snorted derisively and clenched his fists.
Right before Dogora reached Rehzel, a heat haze suddenly burst out from his body. “EAT THIIIIIIIIS!”
“Huh?”
Overwhelmed for a brief moment by Dogora’s spirited battle cry, Rehzel instinctively raised two right arms to block the incoming strike. Dogora brought his ax down the next moment, putting every last drop of his heart and soul in the blow.
“UARGHHH! H-How are you—?!”
Dogora’s ax slashed right through both arms and dug into Rehzel’s shoulder at a diagonal angle. Rehzel desperately tried dislodging the weapon with his last remaining right hand, but Dogora was suddenly overpowering him. The ax dug deeper and deeper, eventually reaching Rehzel’s chest. This one blow that Dogora had dealt using his Extra Skill, Heart and Soul, managed to bring the Demonic Deity to his knees.
“DIIIIIEEEE!”
“DON’T GET FULL OF YOURSELF, SMALL FRY!”
Rehzel let go of the ax with his remaining right hand, then stiffened his fingers and stabbed his hand into Dogora’s abdomen. His vicious claws smashed through the boy’s adamantite armor and went all the way through his back.
“Pwah!”
“DOGORAAAAA!!!”
Rehzel flung Dogora away like a profusely bleeding rag doll. Allen immediately used a Blessing of Heaven to heal him, but the boy remained unmoving. Allen ran over to where he had crashed to the ground.
“Dude, wake up! This isn’t funny! Dogora!”
The wound on Dogora’s abdomen had been completely healed, but he remained unresponsive.
No, no, no, this can’t be happening.
Allen checked Dogora’s pulse but failed to find a heartbeat. He was not breathing either.
“Keel, use Drops of God on him!” Allen yelled.
“C-Coming!”
Keel, who had been staring in shock from a distance away, jumped at Allen’s voice and rushed over. When he reached Dogora’s side, he placed both his hands on the boy’s chest. A heat haze sprang up around his body as he closed his eyes and began murmuring a prayer.
“Please make sure you bring him back.”
We can’t fail here, not now.
After entrusting Dogora to Keel, Allen turned to face Rehzel. His companions were now entirely defenseless, and he was the only one to protect them.
“Th-That small fry got another one of my hearts!”
On top of chopping off two of Rehzel’s right arms, Dogora’s attack had apparently also destroyed another of the Demonic Deity’s hearts. He staggered to his feet as blood spurted from his wounds in fountains.
“Krena, we’re doubling down!” Helmios shouted, rushing forward.
“Okay! Let’s do this!” Despite being worried for Dogora, Krena remembered her role and fell in step beside the Hero.
In spite of everything he had lost so far, Rehzel’s fighting spirit showed no sign of faltering. He was still deftly handling Krena and Helmios’s close-quarters attacks, Allen’s Summons, Cecil’s spells, Volmaar’s arrows, and everything else that came his way.
At the moment, there was no longer anyone on Allen’s side who possessed an attack capable of dealing a decisive blow to Rehzel. The Demonic Deity was focused mainly on parrying attacks from Helmios, the only person present whose Attack stat was over ten thousand. And throughout it all, the arm stumps left by Dogora’s attack continued squirming as if they were trying to regrow themselves.
Damnit, if he manages to regrow them, we’ll be back to square one.
Allen racked his brains furiously, trying to come up with something, anything that would work against their powerful opponent and break through this precarious stalemate.
“Please, O grand spirit! Please come out!”
All this time, Sophie had been desperately pleading with any powers that be who would listen to her. It was obvious that if there was a key to getting out of this situation, it would be the grand spirits, every one of whom was far more powerful than Allen’s Deputized Summons. Sophie continued trying to activate her Extra Skill, Grand Spirit Manifestation, as the situation grew increasingly dire.
“Sophie, that’s enough. Focus on hea—”
“It worked!”
Just as Allen was about to tell Sophie to prioritize healing the vanguard, she felt the all too familiar sensation of all her MP being drained. Relief washed over her face.
“Is that...a grand spirit?”
A ball of light appeared in midair and started to assume a form much smaller than that of any other grand spirit Allen had seen so far. More specifically, it looked like a small...flying squirrel.
Sophie’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. “Y-You are...”
“Oh hey! Allen did say you never know ’til you try, and whaddya know? I guess it really is worth giving everything a go. Ha ha.”
“I-Is that you, Lord Rohzen?”
“It sure is, descendant of the Priestess of Prayer. What is it you wish for?”
Before Sophie could answer, Rehzel cried indignantly. “This can’t be! It goes against the principles of the world for the Sovereign of Spirits to interfere in a fight amongst mortals!”
Rohzen turned to him and, in a slightly pouty voice, replied, “You Demonic Deities broke the principles first when you invaded the Heavenly Realm. Man, I’m so glad I held off on becoming the God of Spirits. It would’ve been a bit much for the current descendant to manifest a deity, I imagine. Ha ha.”
So he’s been asleep this whole time because he was holding back his promotion so he’d be able to lend us his power? Ah, so that’s why he’d been glowing all this time! Here I was, making fun of how he’s never awake, when he’s actually been doing his best suppressing his power levels for us!
“Lord Rohzen, please lend me your strength! Please lend me the strength to help my companions!”
A sheepish look came over Rohzen’s face. “Okay, my mistake for posing an open question just now. There’s really only one thing I can do for you: bestow you with the Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits. Ha ha. All right, here goes!”
Suddenly, the flying squirrel began swinging his little hips left and right. Allen and his companions inadvertently found their eyes glued to the unexpectedly cute gesture. The next moment, countless bubbles of light appeared out of nowhere and started to fall gently like snow. When a bubble touched each of the Gamers, they glowed for a brief moment.
“Wh-What is this?! I feel so much more powerful now!” Cecil exclaimed in surprise.
Allen checked his grimoire and nearly choked on his spit. What on earth?! Everyone’s stats all went up thirty percent!
“Rohzen! Are you here to foil my people’s hopes and dreams yet again?!” Rehzel roared, hatred dripping from every word.
“Of course I am,” Rohzen replied. “Every time your people try to taint the World Tree with blood, I will be there. As many times as it takes. Ha ha.”
Apparently the story of Rohzen fighting the dark elves alongside the Priestess of Prayer since his early days was true. Rehzel glared razor-sharp daggers at him as he continued to deal with Krena and Helmios’s onslaught. Just as Allen was about to brainstorm the best way to take advantage of this opportunity, Rohzen gave him a look as if there was something he wanted to say.
“Uhhh... If I give you too many hints, Lord Elmea might get angry at me, but...”
Without missing a beat, Allen replied, “I won’t tell, so you definitely won’t get in trouble. Please share your advice.”
“There you go again with your baseless claims... Okay, just a little. My blessing resets cooldown times once. Ha ha.” The Sovereign then turned his head and played innocent as if implying that he expected Allen to catch his meaning from that brief sentence.
Allen immediately shouted, “EVERYONE! YOU CAN USE YOUR EXTRA SKILLS ONE MORE TIME NOW!”
For a brief moment, his companions struggled to comprehend what he had just said, but Krena, always the one to fully place her trust in Allen, immediately activated her Extra Skill. The usual heat haze flared up all around her body.
“It’s true! I’ve got another chance!” Krena started groaning as she once again tried using her other skills alongside Limit Break. “Hrrnngh! Ugh! Why can’t I do it?!”
Krena could not afford to waste any more time and charged back in to fight with Rehzel. Despite now being effectively in Extra Mode, her stats were still no match for his. She kept calling out the names of her skills even while getting thrown about over and over. After having fought Rehzel for so long, she just knew that she would finally have an advantage over him if she could just use her abilities.
While cheering Krena on inside his heart, Allen called out, “Did it work, Keel?! Did you revive Dogora?!”
Keel shook his head gravely. “I’m sorry.” Dogora still lay motionless on the ground, his eyes closed as if in sleep.
“Well thanks to the Sovereign, you’ve now got a second chance! Make it count!”
“You bet! I swear I’ll bring him back!”
Once more, Keel started praying fervently, leaving Allen to take his place as the party healer. With Rehzel as their opponent, Sophie did not have the ability to keep the vanguard fully healed all by herself. As Krena’s impatience peaked, Rohzen suddenly called to her.
“Krena.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Believe in your friend. What did Allen say? Has he ever lied to you?”
In contrast with his somewhat curt manner with Allen, Rohzen was being especially kind to Krena with his advice.
That’s it, that’s good. That’s exactly right.
“KRENA!!! YOU DEFINITELY CAN USE YOUR SKILLS!!!” Allen shouted as loudly as he could, repeating what he had told Krena before.
“O-Okay! I can do this!”
If I can use my skills whenever I want in Hell Mode, it wouldn’t make sense for Krena to become unable to use her Normal Mode skills when temporarily in Extra Mode.
Krena brandished her sword with all she had, believing fully in Allen’s words.
“I have no idea what nonsense you are attempting, but ENOUGH!” Rehzel bellowed, clearly annoyed at Krena’s desperate efforts.
“Gah!”
Rehzel landed a hit on Krena, but it was not fatal, either because he was feeling flustered at Rohzen’s appearance or because the damage he had suffered was starting to get to him. Even after taking the hit, Krena continued swinging her sword while shouting the names of her skills.
Uh-oh, Krena’s Extra Skill is about to time out.
“Krena, what’re you doing?! Even Dogora managed to use his Extra Skill!”
“I can use it! I can use it!”
By now, Allen’s words were ringing incessantly in Krena’s ears, drowning out everything else.
“More nonsense!” Rehzel closed in on Krena and was about to crush her to death, only to falter for a split second. Just now, he had lost two arms and a heart to a human child that he had considered an insignificant weakling. And so he took a better look at Krena...and a cold chill ran down his back.
Sparks were running down the length of her blade, giving off crackling noises. “Thunderous Sword!”
“Urgh!” The Demonic Deity’s face twisted in pain when Krena’s strike landed.
Oh?! She finally landed an attack that worked on him!
Krena’s skill, buffed by both Limit Break and the Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits, proved to be an attack that finally exceeded the Demonic Deity’s Endurance. Riding the momentum of success, Krena immediately began attacking together with Helmios as a tag team.
Hell yeah! Things are finally falling into place. Please don’t run out yet, Limit Break!
“Gah!”
Through their combined efforts, the two vanguards managed to chop off Rehzel’s last right arm. That said, Allen noted that Dogora’s Heart and Mind was still significantly more powerful.
“W-We did it!” Krena cheered.
“Krena, you shouldn’t look away during a fight,” Helmios chided. “But well, with how far we’ve cornered him, I think I should be able to finish him off on my own now.”
Just like the No-life Gamers, Helmios had also regained use of his Extra Skill. Panic finally began to seep into Rehzel’s expression.
“I-I became a Demonic Deity after discarding everything else. I cannot afford to lose!” Rehzel suddenly spread his wings, generating a blast of wind that almost swept Krena and Helmios off their feet. The next instant, he was flying high up into the sky, rapidly putting distance between himself and the temple.
Wait, he’s running away? Seriously?
Allen soon realized he was mistaken. Rehzel stopped high up in the sky and lifted his remaining three arms. A giant jet-black sphere began forming above his palms. Apparently he intended on obliterating the temple—and Allen’s group—with one massive magical attack.
Oh wow, that looks really powerful. That’s gotta be his final blow—literally. Could Stone B Reflect it? Wait, or instead...
“Cecil, drop a Petit Meteor directly onto Rehzel.”
“What are you saying?! It would level the city!”
“It’s fine, Her Majesty gave us express permission to raze the city if necessary. In the first place, your spell and Rehzel’s will probably cancel each other out, so there shouldn’t be all that much fallout.” I think.
In the end, Cecil chose to believe him. “Very well,” she said before beginning to focus. “Petit Meteor!”
A massive red-hot boulder equal in size to Rehzel’s jet-black sphere suddenly came falling down on Rehzel’s head.
Ohhh! Petit Meteor’s gotten a lot bigger thanks to the Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits!
“What are you—?! Do you not care what happens to the capital?! Hngh— HrngaaaAAAHHH!” Rehzel seemed genuinely taken by surprise at the response from Allen’s side. He focused the power of his jet-black sphere on resisting the giant boulder, but found the best he could do was create a stalemate.
“Well then, Helmios.” Allen shot a look at the Hero and jerked his head in the direction of the Demonic Deity, who was currently wide open with no way to defend himself. “The target’s stopped moving, so the rest is up to you.”
Helmios smiled wryly. “How do I put this... Yeah, this seems very in character for you, Allen.” He raised his sword and assumed a pitcher’s stance as a heat haze sprang up around him. “Here I go! God...STRIIIIIKE!”
“No! My heart!”
The Hero’s orichalcum sword, which he had hurled with all the strength he possessed, flew straight and true and accurately pierced the Demonic Deity’s final remaining heart. With all of them destroyed, his body started giving off a black mist. Both his black sphere and Cecil’s Petit Meteor rained down on his head as he lost the power to hold them back any longer.
The two masses of sheer destruction swallowed an entire portion of Fortenia as they came crashing down and ground Demonic Deity Rehzel into the earth.
Chapter 17: Under the World Tree
The two enormous masses swallowed up Demonic Deity Rehzel and pulverized an entire part of Fortenia before their energy dissipated and they disappeared.
“Dogora, I’ll heal you up right now!” Krena cried out as she rushed over. She shoved a hand into her pouch to take out her recovery items, but realized that she had used up everything she had been holding while fighting Rehzel. Even so, she turned it over and shook it violently, hoping that one last piece would fall out.
After Allen left their village, Krena and Dogora’s friendship had developed from the two of them playing knight the entire time he was gone. Forgetting to wipe away the tears streaming down her face, she turned her empty pouch back over.
“Keel, please cast your Healing Magic! I’ve run out of recovery items, Allen! Use yours on Dogora!”
As everyone gathered around Dogora, peering down at him in a circle, Allen said in a calm voice, “C’mon man, we’re about to go over to where the Demonic Deity is. If you don’t get up, we’re gonna leave you behind.”
Even though Rehzel had lost all three hearts, the log message indicating his death had yet to show up on Allen’s grimoire.
