Hell Mode: Volume 4, page 8
Sophie had been so eager to meet the person prophesied by Rohzen that she had somehow managed to get herself enrolled despite her age. The process had most likely involved using some special privilege tied to being one of the superpowers at the Five Continent Alliance table. From Allen’s perspective, the concept of backdoor admission was even more of a mystery than his own reincarnation.
Suddenly, something came to Allen’s mind. “Oh, there’s one thing I must say.”
“There’s something else?” Cecil pursed her lips. “Go on, tell us everything.”
“No matter the world, I’ve never failed at defeating the Demon Lord. Every single one I’ve encountered, I’ve killed. Killing Demon Lords was common sense in my world.”
Among gamers, that is. But I probably don’t need to make the distinction.
“What? You’ve killed multiple Demon Lords before?!”
“That’s right, Krena. All Demon Lords are targets for extermination.”
“Whoaaaa! Targets for extermination!” Krena threw both her hands up in excitement as everyone else looked on speechlessly.
The way he told it, Allen had come from a world where squashing any being as much of a threat as the Demon Lord was simply a matter of course. His companions could not even begin to imagine what his world was like.
“But yep, now all of you get to change classes.”
Cecil cracked a rare smirk. “Which means I get to become an Archwizardess. Guh heh heh...”
Damn, did Cecil just say “Guh heh heh”? I guess that’s just how big being an Archwizard or Archwizardess is for those who use magic like her. Hmm, what classes does everyone else get?
Current Party Members’ Classes
One-star: Ax User (Dogora), Cleric (Keel), Spirit Mage (Sophie), Archer (Volmaar)
Two-star: Wizardess (Cecil)
Three-star: Sword Lord (Krena)
Allen grinned. “Well, Archwizardess is still only three-star. I wonder what your four-star class would be.”
“Huh? What’re you saying? Did you not hear everything because you were too sleepy? The Sovereign of Spirits did say four-star classes is the highest he can go, but he also said that he can only raise our classes by one star.”
Cecil and the others understood the system of rating a class by stars. Her point was that if she, a two-star, could only be promoted by one star, then the highest she could go would be Archwizardess.
“But see, he never said he can only do it once.”
“Wait, are you...”
“Naturally, after all of you reach Lvl. 60 again, we’ll go ask for another promotion. It took a while the first time because we had to first go through Rank C dungeons. The second time around, it’ll probably take us less than a year. And we won’t even have to attend classes at the same time.”
“That’s... Isn’t that asking for too much?”
“No, Cecil.” Allen smirked with his wicked face. “We had an agreement, and all we’re doing is asking him to make good on his word. We are going to have him raise all of you to a four-star class, just as he promised.”
During the discussion with the Sovereign of Spirits, Allen had purposely not touched on the number of times his party would be able to seek the promotion.
Thanks to Rohzen getting sleepy near the end, the conversation ended before we got to that question. When he said that he could read my mind, it seriously gave me a fright.
Surprisingly, Sophie was the first one to get onboard with Allen’s scheme. “That makes sense. So it means I’m going to become Rohzenheim’s second Spirit User? Guh heh heh...”
Even Sophie just went “Guh heh heh.” Oh right, there was mention of Rohzenheim’s one and only Spirit User being in Tiamo at the moment.
“Well, that’s all I have to share.” Allen stood up. “It’s time to prepare for battle. We’re definitely gonna win this war and get all of you promoted!”
Krena nodded emphatically. “Mm-hm! Let’s do our best!”
The rest of the No-life Gamers all exchanged looks, hope glinting in their eyes. They now had a new common goal: the class promotion!
Chapter 5: Defense of Tiamo
When their discussion was over, the group had a late breakfast. During their meal, Allen added that what he had just shared was for their ears only. He did not think there would be any benefit if the world at large knew of his background.
Once his position became clear, he would be constantly dogged with propositions. He might be able to turn them all down if he had sufficient power or status, but since he did not, he would eventually be forced to affiliate himself with one group or another, be it the Ratashian royal family or otherwise. No matter how things ended up, however, one thing was certain: he would never again have the same amount of freedom he currently enjoyed.
When they heard his reasoning, the rest of Allen’s companions thought this very characteristic of him and conveyed their understanding.
＊ ＊ ＊
Even while reforming their lines, the Demon Lord Army began inching toward Tiamo. Their foremost lines were now around a kilometer away from the city walls.
The forces located at each cardinal direction numbered 30,000 each once more. The main camp in the north was now around 100,000 strong, whereas the reinforcements to the south numbered 40,000. More than 200,000 monsters at least Rank B in strength roared at the top of their lungs in unison, shaking the city to its core. The sound convinced many of the elves who had failed to escape to Nest in time that the world was ending.
Some elves were in Tiamo with their families, ready to die together. Some had already lost their important ones along the way here. The refugee shelters set up all across the city were filled to bursting. Ever since the northernmost fortress had fallen, noncombatant citizens from the capital and the northern settlements had been fleeing south, their rear protected by troops desperately holding back the tide of monsters. Those refugees were now packed inside Tiamo with little more than elbow room. This was the very city that had been encircled by the Demon Lord Army for several days straight.
The monsters could overrun the walls at any given moment, and the elves knew full well that it would be impossible to escape from this city with the magic ships. They now prayed to the Sovereign of Spirits and their queen with every fiber of their beings.
The soldiers along the tops of the ten-meter walls glared at the approaching ranks of monsters. They did not know that their queen was within this city, but they had been told that she was in one of several cities still fighting. Regardless of whether she was in this city or another one, their efforts contributed to keeping the Demon Lord Army in the dark and buying time. That was more than enough for them as a reason.
Over the past month, they had been frantically fighting while constantly getting pushed back, accumulating wounds and injuries as they retreated from the settlements in succession. It would be a lie to say that they were not afraid—when the fighting began, some of the monsters could scale the ten-meter wall like it was nothing. However, they refused to give in to their terror. Why? Because they had witnessed a miracle just the day before.
Their brothers-in-arms whom they had believed on the verge of death now stood shoulder to shoulder with them, fit as a fiddle. At this moment, there were no injured soldiers at all in this entire city. A total of 200,000 elves now stood at the ready—some along the walls, some on the ground, all clutching their bows or other weapons and bracing themselves for the coming battle.
Those with the Archer Talent—naturally, Lvl. 60 and in Normal Mode—made up the bulk of the elven force. Being fully trained, they could all shoot arrows as far as one kilometer. They now waited in silence for a signal from their commanders. Those who could use Spirit Magic also stood at the ready with their healing spells and buffs.
As the monsters slowly marched forward, one starving troll suddenly broke formation and started running. Worried that they would miss out on food that day if they were to fall behind, the other monsters also began charging forward, pushing each other aside. Before long, the same thing had started happening in all four directions. The elves had seen this same thing happen every day now.
Atop the walls, one of the generals shouted, “Never forget! The Sovereign of Spirits is with us!”
An earth-shattering roar went up in response.
“This time, we’ll make sure we finally protect Her Majesty!”
Another roar rattled the walls.
Many times now, the troops had been forced to abandon cities and fortresses and left them to be overrun. This time, however, the troops were determined to make their stand. The day’s battle kicked off with the elven soldiers’ morale the highest it had ever been.
Bows twanged in unison, releasing countless arrows flying toward the Demon Lord Army. Still, the monsters pressed on, even with many arrows sprouting from their bodies, especially those with high HP and self-regenerative powers such as ogres and trolls. Before long, the tide of bodies crashed against the walls, sending tremors deep into the city. The archers took desperate aim at the monsters’ heads and eyes, turning them into pincushions.
Strangely, their officers had ordered them to fight with everything they had with no concern for rationing their MP. They obediently spammed their skills, shooting up the monsters starting from the front lines.
“At this rate, we’re gonna run out of MP in an hour,” one of the soldiers muttered with unease.
However, the officers repeated: “Don’t hold anything back! Use all your MP! Focus solely on killing the enemy! The Sovereign of Spirits is with us!”
Before long, the soldiers noticed that something was off.
For some reason, they were evading attacks that they were sure should have landed.
For some reason, they were landing more Critical Hits than normal.
For some reason, they were surviving hits that they had thought would have killed them.
It did not take time for all these observations to lead the soldiers to a certain conviction: they were now living through a miracle. What else could this be but the blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits?
It was only natural for the elves to believe a miracle was taking place. Before the start of the battle, Allen had used the Abilities of all his Fish-type Summons on every last one of the 200,000 elven troops.
Fish D’s Ability, Spray, buffed evasion of physical and magical attacks by 10%. Fish C’s Ability, Shark Oil, increased the rate of landing Critical Hits by 10%. Fish B’s Ability, Turtle Shield, reduced all incoming damage—including physical, magical, and even breath—by 20%. All these buffs lasted for twenty-four hours.
A difference of ten or twenty percent might be negligible in small numbers, but it all added up in a prolonged battle at this scale. The elven force was now even more tenacious, hitting back harder than before.
Exasperated at the lack of progress, a dragon that towered even taller than the city walls shoved its way through the other monsters to reach the front. It raised its mouth toward the sky, building up a blinding light within.
An officer shouted, “BREATH ATTACK INCOMIIIIIING!” prompting the elves to drop and cover.
The next instant, the dragon unleashed a stream of incandescent fire that swallowed up everyone on the wall within dozens of meters, leaving them on the verge of death.
The nearest general, who had been keeping an eye on the situation, immediately raised a red peach high above his head, crying out, “The Sovereign blesses us with his miracles!”
Immediately, the peach disappeared into bubbles of light. Elves with hideously burned skin who were on death’s door got back on their feet, astonished to find themselves with even their depleted MP fully refilled. When they realized that they had returned to peak condition, they exchanged looks with each other. Then they looked around and noticed that even those who had not fallen victim to the dragon breath no longer bore any of the wounds they had suffered from the fighting so far either. It was as if everyone’s time had been reversed, and there was no telling just how far the phenomenon had reached. It truly was a miracle.
Before the start of the fight, Allen had given the twenty generals of this city twenty Blessings of Heaven each, explaining their effects. Each general commanded 10,000 troops, and it was up to their discretion when and how to use these recovery items, possibly even passing them on to their subordinates.
Structure of the Elven Army The grand marshal is the chief commander of the army, and there is only one person in this position. Grand Marshal Siguul commands the field marshals and generals.
There are two field marshals, one of whom is Field Marshal Lukdraal. They command the generals.
A general has command of 10,000 troops. They give their orders to colonels and, as they have a certain amount of authority to make their own judgment calls, will work in cooperation with each other. Each general is supported by several lieutenant generals.
A colonel has command of 1,000 troops. This is called a battalion, and each battalion is composed of five companies. Each colonel is supported by several lieutenant colonels.
A major has command of 200 troops. This is called a company, and each company had a specialization, e.g., a certain weapon or class. Each major is supported by several captains.
“Stop zoning out! Kill the dragon!”
The soldiers came back to themselves at the barks from their officers and unloaded all their arrows at the dragon. Two-star Bow Masters would normally struggle to take down a dragon, but thanks to Shark Oil, even the one-star Archers were landing Critical Hits one after another, gouging out chunks of the massive monster’s HP. Soon enough, the beast fell over backward, arrows sprouting from every inch of its body, and crushed many more monsters underneath it.
The battle continued until half the monsters in all four directions had died. Just as the elves thought they just might make it through, a column of dust went up in the south.
＊ ＊ ＊
The Demon Lord Army had realized that, to its surprise, the battle was not going in its favor. Consequently, the 40,000 that had been standing at the ready to the south decided to move out to bolster the southern front.
The monsters were attacking the city from all four directions at once. It did not matter which side they breached—they only needed to create one point of entry large enough to rush through, and the entire city would fall. So the reinforcements stayed in the south with the intention of breaking through with sheer numbers.
Despair overcame the elven soldiers when they saw the number of monsters that they had worked so hard to whittle down suddenly bounce back to more than double what they had started with.
“All that’s happened is that there’s more of them!” an officer shouted in a desperate bid to raise the soldiers’ faltering morale back up. “Victory is still with us!”
The No-life Gamers looked down at the fight from high up in the sky, three kilometers away from Tiamo.
Looks like the battle at all four cities is coming to a climax. All of them seem to be standing strong. Wow, I’m getting so much XP!
Tiamo was not the only city currently under attack. The other three along the same latitude as Tiamo similarly protecting the south from the Demon Lord Army were also in the thick of battle. Just now, Allen had once again visited all three with his companions to buff up the soldiers there with his Fish-type Summons. From what he could glean with Hawk Eye, the elves were putting up a great fight. And as the one who cast the buffs, Allen was now receiving XP from all four theaters. The log on the cover of his grimoire was flying by so quickly it looked like a blank page.
Soon, the Gamers reached within five hundred meters of Tiamo. They descended in altitude, stopping close to the ground to examine the monsters from a distance.
“Looks like we got back in time,” Allen noted. “The reinforcements in the south have only just started moving.”
Going to all three cities to pass out more Blessings of Heaven really took some time.
Cecil nodded. “So it seems. Do we go in now?”
“Of course,” Allen replied before flipping the pages of his grimoire. “But before that, lemme see how many Summoning slots I have left... Thirty-eight, it seems.”
Summons Currently Summoned (Total: 32)
2x in Rodan Village for surveillance and protection
1x in the Granvelle mansion for communication
14x at the front lines on the Central Continent
2x in Nest for communication and combat
8x total in the four cities currently under attack for communication and combat
5x Bird Bs as mounts for the No-life Gamers
The Gamers used to ride seven Bird Bs in total. However, in order to conserve the number of Summon slots that Allen had, they decided to take advantage of the fact that the griffins were more than big enough to carry two people riding tandem. As such, Cecil was now riding with Allen, and Sophie with Volmaar. Krena and Dogora, however, still rode one Bird B each because they needed the mobility fighting in the vanguard.
“Is thirty-eight enough?” Cecil asked worriedly, peering into Allen’s grimoire from over his shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t want to Unsummon some of those on the Central Continent? You sent them a lot of recovery items already, so can’t you afford to decrease the number of Summons there?”
A group of Summons had spent several days making their way to the northern part of the Central Continent. Allen had given them recovery items to bring with them, the idea being that he would use the slots of those that died here in Rohzenheim.
“Nah, the fighting’s about to start on that side, so this would be a bad time to reduce them,” Allen replied before making his Bird B fly parallel to Tiamo’s wall as he Summoned a total of thirty Insect Bs, spacing them out a hundred meters apart to cover a total of three kilometers. He also called out five Dragon Bs, which left him with only three available slots.
