Hell Mode: Volume 7, page 9
However, despite Krena landing some daring blows to their opponent’s back and sides, it appeared that he had taken little damage. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“You impudent little runts!”
“Hngh!”
Lycaoron sent Krena and her greatsword flying with a single kick. Judging by the blow, Allen figured that Lycaoron not only specialized in Agility but also utilized the fighting style of a light-fighter class, giving him impressive Endurance and Attack stats as well.
Even after clearing the Rank S dungeon, I guess we still haven’t grown strong enough to overpower a Demonic Deity.
This battle was their first test of how able they would be to fight a Demonic Deity following their conquering of the Rank S dungeon.
Prior to their doing so, Allen had predicted that defeating a Demonic Deity would be no easy task even once they had beaten the dungeon, undergone class promotions, and upgraded their equipment. Demonic Deities had average stat values of 30,000, so without access to Helmios’s God Strike Extra Skill, which dealt additional damage to demons, or Dverg’s Breaker Strike, which dealt damage that ignored the opponent’s Endurance stat, they would not be able to fight effectively. Even if they could defeat this deity, it would take too much time and risk everyone being gravely injured.
Despite that, they did not feel as desperate as they had in their battle against Demonic Deity Rehzel. Although none of the Gamers would have stood a chance in a one-on-one fight, Allen believed that if he managed to find the right team combination, they were evenly matched in a party-against-one situation.
Krena still hasn’t used her Extra Skill, and yet she’s still doing pretty well. I’m glad we got her that class promotion.
Allen looked at the rear guard to see how their long-range attacks were coming, but apparently both Cecil and Volmaar were afraid that they would hit their comrades and interfere with their attack timing. Picking up on this concern, Sophie hatched another plan.
“Lord Gale, please lend me your strength!” she called out to the spirit of wind.
“Okay, mama!”
This spirit took on the appearance of a young, spiky-haired boy in shorts. He blew hard through his pursed lips, and a thin thread of emerald-green wind wrapped around Lycaoron. After restraining the Demonic Deity, the thread tightened even further, digging into his flesh and causing him to bleed.
“What?! You can manifest spirits?!”
Lycaoron seemed more surprised about her complete control over spirits than he did about the damage he took. A moment later, however, the bleeding Demonic Deity swung his arm and tore away the wind rope.
Sophie seems to be a bit stronger than the rest. Rohzen also seems to be protecting her. That aside, is that tray really that important?
The cloak Sophie had equipped not only increased her maximum MP but also increased the amount of MP she was able to give to her spirits. That seemed to have increased the wind spirit’s binding power.
“Sophie!”
“Understood!”
Allen had reviewed their strategy with her ahead of the fight, so merely calling out her name was all that was needed to get her to act. Though he still had no idea what the pillar of bluish-white light emanating from the tray was for, in his several battles with Merus, Lycaoron had referred to the object as an altar. It was clear that protecting the altar was his highest priority.
Now that we’ve established the difference in power between him and us, I think we’re ready to move on to our next strategy. Lycaoron seems to have gotten a little too cocky.
Over the past four days, Allen had continuously Summoned Merus and sent him to fight Lycaoron. He had done so even as Merus was defeated by the Demonic Deity time and time again, all in order to get a sense of his fighting style and gather information that would help him come up with countermeasures. While Allen was traveling between settlements and rescuing people, he had made use of that information to evaluate strategies and tactics that would keep him and his friends from dying in their upcoming battle.
In addition to gauging Lycaoron’s strength, Merus had also performed a thorough examination of the surrounding area—including the inside of the church—in search of survivors, prisoners of war, and any injured people who had failed to escape. Him having done so was imperative to the success of one of the few decisive attacks they could use against the Demonic Deity.
Allen issued the order for their next plan of attack. “Cecil, Sophie, you’re up!”
“Got it!”
“Leave it to me, Lord Allen.”
The two girls and the spirit hurried to distance themselves from Lycaoron.
“Dogora, don’t let him get past you!”
“I-I know! Leave it to me! I got this!” Dogora replied, but it was hard to make out. His face was flushed and he spoke quickly, seemingly trying to cover up his struggle.
Hey, you can just speak naturally, y’know.
Allen figured that Dogora found salvation in the fact that he was able to hide his burning-red face behind his shield.
“No matter what you do, it won’t change how this ends. Are you still ignorant of the sheer difference in our power?” Lycaoron sneered at Allen’s change of strategy in what he deemed to be a useless struggle, perhaps because he had maintained his advantage since the start of the battle.
“Hmph. No need to belittle me. Sophie, he’s all yours.”
“Of course. Nymph, please lend me your strength.”
In response to Sophie’s call, a water spirit taking the form of a girl wearing a raincoat appeared. Her whole body was wet as if she had only recently been in a heavy rainstorm, and water gradually pooled at her feet.
“Leave it to me, Sophie,” Nymph responded quietly. She then raised her hands, and the water on the floor floated into the air with a slosh, creating a film of water between the Gamers and Lycaoron.
“Blizzard!” Cecil unleashed her ice magic, instantly freezing the gigantic mass of water so as to aim countless spikes toward Lycaoron.
“Heh, is this some kind of combo technique? You plan on destroying the altar as well as me? How interesting.”
Lycaoron, acting as a shield for the altar, smiled fearlessly when he saw the block of ice. He seemed to have figured out that it would be used to crush and impale both him and the altar. Full of confidence, he bent his knees slightly, refusing to move from where he stood. The marble floor cracked beneath his feet.
Just like I thought, he’s overconfident in the difference in power between us. Come on out, Poppo.
After confirming that Lycaoron had taken up his stance to intercept the attack, Allen Summoned his Bird F and used its Awakened Ability, Messenger. “Meruru, the preparations are complete! You can go whenever you’re ready!”
Messenger transmitted his voice only to those he targeted, ensuring that Lycaoron did not hear his instructions. Only Meruru, who was standing by in the cockpit of the golem kneeling on a hill two and a half kilometers away from Teomenia, had received them.
“Finally, it’s our turn! Let’s go, Tam-Tam!” Meruru shouted in excitement and jumped to her feet, inputting her commands into the magic disc located in the cockpit. One of Tam-Tam’s arms, which was protruding toward the church with its elbow resting on its upright knee, transformed into a long cannon barrel. This was the combined effect of the long-range sniper rifle attack slate and the five Attack enhancement slates that maximized its power.
Using the effect of Messenger, Meruru was able to share the vision of the Bird F and thus figured out Lycaoron’s location inside the church. She adjusted Tam-Tam’s aim based on this information.
“Target, Demonic Deity Lycaoron! Long-range sniper rifle, fire!”
Light leaked from the tip of the sniper rifle aimed at the church, and in the next moment, a beam of it shot out from the muzzle toward the church. The walls of the temple evaporated the moment they were hit by the magical rays, and those that entered through the holes that were created showered Lycaoron with ultrahigh heat from the sides.
“Huh? What the— Gah?!” Lycaoron, who had been preparing for the ice block that was about to be launched at him from the front, was momentarily taken aback. He was exposed to the beam before he even had a chance to cry out.
Allen watched as the wall of ice in front of them instantly turned to vapor the moment the ray of light melted through the wall on the left.
“Whoa! Are we going to be okay?!” a panicking Cecil shouted to Allen.
“The light can only go straight and the steam should diffuse it, so we should be fine.”
I wonder if it was maybe a little too close. It’s pretty hot.
“Hey! Did you say ‘should be’?!” Behind him, Keel desperately cast healing magic on his companions to keep their HP up. However, Allen ignored the comment and contacted Meruru.
“All right, Meruru, I think we’re good.”
When the light faded, Lycaoron and the altar were nowhere to be seen. All that remained were the holes left in the church walls that had melted into mud and the marble floor boiling where the light had passed over it. Moved by the sight, Allen trembled in awe of the destruction wreaked upon the church by Meruru’s mithril golem’s long-range sniper rifle.
“So this is the power of a long-range sniper rifle with a 30,000 Attack stat? It’s pretty epic.”
“Come on, Allen!” Cecil practically screamed. “Now isn’t the time to be impressed by such things!”
Allen looked around and saw that the pillars that had been caught in the light ray were beginning to tilt inward where they had been burned through. Additionally, the hole just above the altar was widening and debris was raining down from the ceiling.
“Everyone, run!”
Allen and the others straddled their Bird Bs and made their way through the church’s hallway. Narrowly avoiding the walls and pillars that were falling like dominoes, they managed to make their escape.
When Allen turned around, he saw that the church had been completely destroyed and that the pillar of pale light was now gone. The blast seemed to have either destroyed the altar or caused it to stop functioning.
“Hundreds of years of Teomenia’s history...” Keel muttered in disbelief.
“Battles against Demonic Deities inevitably involve sacrifice. Unfortunately, it’s necessary if we hope to prevent further casualties.”
Allen looked at his grimoire, but there was no mention in the log of having defeated their enemy. He then reminded the rest of the party of their cover story that this was all the work of the Demonic Deity.
We’ll have to do something about any witnesses.
Merus, who was watching Allen and the rest of the Gamers wearily, seemed to pick up on what Allen was thinking. “It looks like we’re not done yet. He’s coming!” he cried in surprise. Just as he did, the rubble of the collapsed church was suddenly blasted away.
Lycaoron emerged from the wreckage. Though he specialized in Agility, the burns on the right side of his body and the unsteadiness of his legs showed that he had lower Endurance than other Demonic Deities. It seemed that the long-range sniper rifle, which consumed 1,000 MP per shot, was so powerful that not even a Demonic Deity could take a hit from it and come out unscathed.
“You bastards! You destroyed the altar! The altar dedicated to Gushara!”
Judging from his shouts, Allen determined that the altar was needed by Gushara and that the pillar of light was sending something to him.
For all the times he had made Merus fight Lycaoron in order to gauge his fighting ability, Allen had never been able to learn anything about the altar. He had wondered if he could elicit some reaction by either destroying the altar or otherwise making it appear that he was going to do so.
Well, Tam-Tam’s attack was able to take it out, so we no longer need to worry about it helping Gushara anymore.
Cecil braced herself for battle and seemed to pick up on the Demonic Deity’s change in demeanor. “It looks like you’ve really got him riled up now.”
“Kill! I’m going to kill you all! Get ready to meet your demise!” Lycaoron shrieked at the Gamers, his fangs bared. Silver scales grew out of the charred right half of his body, and two horns sprouted out of his forehead. The horns arched toward the back of his head and emitted a bright light. At the same time, long, thick claws grew out of the tips of his fingers, and a second row of fangs cropped up just behind the teeth already in his mouth.
Having seen tons of such examples in the anime and games of his past life, this transformation was rather boring to Allen. It was a common trope for the enemy to have a second form where their body grew to twice its original size.
“He looks pretty mad.”
“You’re right, Cecil. Let’s keep our distance.” As Allen responded to Cecil, the members of the rear guard all rose into the sky on their Bird Bs. Now that everyone was outside and could move freely, there was no need to have them use their magic, bows, and other long-range attacks from the ground. At the same time, Merus disappeared.
“It’s about time to finish this. Krena, activate your Extra Skill.”
“Got it!”
The moment Krena responded, her body began to flicker as if wrapped in a haze. She used her Extra Skill, Limit Break, which increased all her stats by 3,000, then ran up the remnants of the church with enhanced speed and struck at Lycaoron’s transformed body.
“Hrgh!”
Lycaoron landed a blow on Krena and sent her and her greatsword flying backward. Being in his second form, he, too, had grown stronger, widening the power gap between him and the Gamers once more.
Krena immediately stood up and faced Lycaoron. Predicting that she would receive a blow or two, Keel cast his healing magic just in time.
“Buy us a little bit of time. Both of you, focus on protecting the rear guard,” Allen called out to Krena and Dogora, who had longed to get involved, encouraging them to not overdo it. “Keel, keep up the support!”
“Heh! You’ve still got more up your sleeve, huh?!”
Lycaoron stepped forward, initially pretending to head toward Krena and Dogora. However, he passed between the two of them and aimed for the rear guard. Once he was sandwiched between the vanguard and the rear guard, he turned to start fighting Krena and Dogora. It seemed that he was wary of being sniped again and was trying to stay close to the Gamers. His movements were no longer unsteady like they had been when he had first emerged from the rubble, and it seemed as if the transformation had healed most of the damage he had taken.
Given that he had developed his plan assuming that he might not be able to completely defeat Lycaoron, Allen continued to follow it.
“I’ve brought them. Hopefully this will work,” Merus said, appearing next to Allen via Bird A’s Homing Instinct.
“Whoa, hey, looks like something pretty exciting’s going on here,” Lepe yelped in surprise.
“What a shame to see a leading church of the world meet such a fate.” Temi let out a sigh.
Yeah, it’s all the fault of this Demonic Deity. You can’t just let him get away with that, can you?
Seeing the two newcomers who were with Allen, Lycaoron flinched momentarily. “What?! Newcomers?! Not that it matters!”
“Are you sure you just need the two of them?” asked Merus, who had escorted the two members of the Ten Heroic Beasts from Rohzenheim.
“They’re plenty. Lepe, Temi, sorry for calling you here all of a sudden, but I need your help.”
“Y’know, Allen, I thought you humans were different from us beastkin, but only you will do something crazy like this!” Lepe said in amazement as he took out his instrument, then started playing and doing a little dance. He played Gale Beat, which had the auxiliary effect of increasing Attack and Agility.
Simultaneously, Temi silently used her skills to support the vanguard. Krena’s and Dogora’s movement speed were boosted by them, but the two were still unable to land a decisive blow against Lycaoron.
“Okay, Sophie, you’re up next. Please use the Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits,” Allen instructed in accordance with the strategy he had thought up the night before.
“Certainly, Lord Allen. Lord Rohzen, please lend me your strength.”
“Ha ha. I hope this works.” Rohzen floated up into the air, shook his hips, and cast Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits.
“Krena, focus on his legs.”
“Got it! Supreme Ruling Blade!”
Krena used Supreme Ruling Blade to slice into Lycaoron’s right thigh. With Limit Break still in effect, the buffs from Lepe’s and Temi’s skills, and the additional thirty percent increase to her stats from the Blessing of the Sovereign of Spirits, her greatsword crushed his scales and cut about halfway through his leg.
Aha! Just like with Rehzel, all you need for your attacks to get through is to stack buffs.
Lycaoron’s face contorted from the pain. He reflexively tried to tear Krena away from his right hip with his claws, but Dogora rushed in and held up his Adamantite Large Shield just in time to protect Krena’s head.
“Gaugh!”
Without missing a beat, Allen gave his next order. “Your turn, Merus.”
“Certainly.”
Merus flew closer to the immobilized Lycaoron and kicked as hard as he could into the Demonic Deity’s left leg. Merus had also had his stats boosted by Lepe, Temi, and the Blessing of the Sovereign Spirits.
SNAP!
Lycaoron’s left leg snapped, dropping him to his knees. Krena, Dogora, and Merus then quickly distanced themselves from him.
“Wh-What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
With both of his legs destroyed, Lycaoron seemed to realize that this had all been part of some kind of master plan. It was far too late now, however.
“Cecil, are you ready?”
