Surrounding the Demon Lord
Satou here. In a famous manga I read a long time ago, during a scene where they’re fighting some seriously strong enemies, the way each member of the party stayed behind one by one to let the others move forward made my hands sweat as I clutched the pages. I love it when the party members who stayed behind show up at the last minute to back the hero up, too.
“The Sandstorm Soldiers seem kinda strong, don’t they?”
Hayato frowned as he watched the scouting party fighting Sandstorm Soldiers.
My party and the Saga Empire scouting party were taking turns fighting off enemies in the Den of Evil so that the hero party wouldn’t wear themselves out before the two successive battles against the demon lord.
And yes, the demon lord was in the Den of Evil we were exploring.
I detected him leaving Den Six two days prior, and arranged things so that the hero party would be exploring the right den.
“You’re right. It appears they’re being strengthened with Support Magic.”
It was hard to tell, since it was only about a 20 percent improvement, but that was fairly impressive for Support Magic.
“Allow me to offer some aid, then.”
The sage chanted in a low, hard-to-hear voice, and cast Shadow Magic that hindered the Sandstorm Soldiers’ movements.
“This spell only causes the foot to slip when it steps down, and increases resistance when the foot is raised, yet it is surprisingly useful when both sides are otherwise equally matched.”
Sure enough, the tides of battle quickly changed, and the scouting party defeated the Sandstorm Soldiers.
“Wow, you can use lesser obstruction spells, too?”
“I tend to lean toward Support Magic since it is harder to resist, and yet Obstruction Magic can be even more effective if only you know when best to use it. Any mage would do well to learn a few such spells.”
“Makes sense.”
In truth, Arisa already used Space Magic in similar ways, like making opponents trip and fall. Nevertheless, she politely nodded at the sage’s advice.
“Obstruction…”
Mia seemed to have some thoughts on this, too: She flipped through the pages of a spellbook.
The Water Magic spell Entangling Aqua might have been a good pick for her.
“There’s an ogre type. Let’s go, you two.”
“Aye-aye, siiir.”
“Roger, sir!”
The beastfolk girls sprang at a demi-ogre-style Sandstorm Soldier that approached from deeper in the passage.
“‘Blinding Jutsuuu’?”
Tama blew a “wind shield jutsu” at the Sandstorm Soldier that contained chili powder.
DEZZZZERYTT.
The Sandstorm Soldier covered its face and howled.
“Hi-ya, sir!”
“‘Helix Spear Attack.’”
Pochi’s thrust and Liza’s special attack tore into the monster’s undefended sides.
DEZZZZERYTT.
The Sandstorm Soldier’s health gauge plunged downward, though not quite enough to defeat it.
In desperation, it shot high-pressure sprays of sand out of its palms at Pochi and Liza, who kept their distance and dodged easily with a backstep.
“Tama is a sneaky little headhunter?”
Using “Skywalking” to get up close to the Sandstorm Soldier’s neck, Tama slashed the area where its carotid arteries might have been.
The monster tried to crush Tama with its hand, but—
“Aim…and fire!”
…Sniper Lulu’s Gold Thunder Fox Gun blew it away.
“‘Shield Bash,’ I declare!”
Nana used “Warp” to put herself directly in front of the Sandstorm Soldier and struck its wide-open torso with her large shield to send it tumbling backward.
Then, Mia’s Water Magic spell Splash Needle and Arisa’s Fire Magic Blast Shot finished the job.
I had instructed them to hold back their Spirit and Space Magic in front of the sage.
“Fast ones behind the ogre!” someone cried from the scouting party.
A swarm of leopard-like Sandstorm Soldiers came leaping onto the battlefield.
“Nuh-uuuh?”
“You won’t catch Pochi by surprise, sir!”
Tama and Pochi ran up the wall and began taking down the leopard Sandstorm Soldiers.
Lulu took aim at them with the Gold Thunder Fox Gun as well, but they quickly avoided her shots. It probably didn’t help that it took such precise reading of the air to be able to hit with that particular gun.
“Grr…”
Lulu bit her lip.
It must have hurt her sniper’s sense of pride that she couldn’t hit them.
Lulu’s eyes darted, following the leopard-style soldiers as they leaped off the walls.
“I get it…”
She fired again, and the leopard monsters evaded her thunder shots as before.
This time, however, the thunder shots veered off course as if they had a mind of their own, cutting off their path and hitting them dead-on.
“How?”
“Hee-hee, I just read ahead of the flow of the air and fired so the shots would go in the direction where they fled.”
Lulu beamed at Weeyari.
“I wouldn’t call that ‘just reading ahead’…”
For some reason, the archer shot me a look that seemed to say, “Is this your doing?”
Lulu’s skills are the result of her own hard work and natural talent. Just compliment her instead of accusing me, please.
“Watchin’ these kids fight makes me want a piece of the action, too.”
“Yeah, you said it. Mari, can’t we fight a little?”
“Oh, all right. Just don’t tire yourselves out.”
“Me too.”
Rusus, Fifi, and Weeyari thus entered the battle rotation as we worked our way toward the Innermost Chamber where the demon lord lurked.
“You, cat-eared child.”
During one of our short breaks, the sage approached Tama and Pochi as they were happily munching on some hydra jerky.
“Mew?”
Tama hid behind Pochi with her ears flat, looking up at the sage.
For some reason, she didn’t seem to like him much. I put down the cup of coffee I was drinking and stood up, walking over to Tama’s side in case she needed help.
“Did you need something with Tama?” I asked.
“I apologize if I frightened the girl. I was simply curious about her techniques,” the sage replied to me. “From what I witnessed, it seems she uses the likes of fire stone and wind stone powder. But what of the other attribute stones?”
“Attribute stooones?” Tama tilted her head.
“He means like the fire stones and wind stones,” I explained.
“For instance, could you not use thunder stone powder to create lightning attacks? …Like this.”
The sage produced a thunder stone from a pouch and handed it to Tama, then used the short chant for Little Lightning as a demonstration.
It seemed he was also able to use types of magic he didn’t have skills for, like Arisa.
“I’ll tryyy?”
I gave Tama a file and dish for grinding up the thunder stone.
Tama’s powers of concentration are incredible when something catches her interest. She tried and failed several times, exclaiming “tinglyyy” when she got an electric shock, or “owie, my eeeyes” when a sudden flash caught her off guard, then got distracted with Pochi by using static electricity to make their hair stand on end.
Yet in spite of all that, during a break the very next day…
“Tama’s amazing, sir!”
“I did iiit?”
…she produced a tiny flash of lightning.
“Oh-ho, you did, did you? Why not try making it into a blade like ‘Spellblade’ next?”
“I’ll tryyy!”
Evidently, Tama had gotten a knack for this now. She was able to produce lightning around her “Spellblade,” making something like a thunder blade.
“There’s this, tooo?”
Next, she used fire stone powder to produce fire around “Spellblade” for a sort of flame blade.
“I see, very impressive…”
The sage peered down at Tama, intrigued.
“Tama, make the sword go all wiggly, sir!”
Pochi flailed her arms and body like an octopus to illustrate her request.
“Aye.”
Tama promptly warped the flame blade and lightning blade, making them move like a whip or a segmented tail.
“WHAT?!”
The sage exclaimed in surprise at the unexpected development.
“…The mind of a child is truly a wondrous thing.”
Collecting himself and clearing his throat awkwardly, the sage then plucked one of the black stones out of his staff and held it out to Tama.
According to my AR display, it wasn’t a dark stone but a shadow stone, which was an attribute stone I’d never seen before.
“Let me give you this.”
Tama looked at me, unsure whether she should accept it.
“Are you sure? It seems quite rare.”
“Go on. I am curious to see what wonders this child might produce with a shadow stone.”
I guess it’s fine, then. I nodded at Tama, and she held her hand out hesitantly, accepting the stone from the sage.
“Shadow stones aid in Shadow Magic, which meddles with shadows. Try using it on a shadow.”
“Aye.”
Tama used a bit of shadow powder and produced a small ripple in her shadow.
“Wow, fantasticooo?”
Beaming excitedly, Tama continued splashing around with her shadow.
“Amazing, sir! Pochi wants to be fantastico, too, sir!”
Tama gave Pochi a bit of powder, and her eyes sparkled as she scattered it over the shadow enthusiastically.
“…Oops.”
Pochi and Tama plummeted into shadow.
Quickly, Liza grabbed them both by the collars and pulled them out.
“Th-that was close, sir.”
“Pochi, I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”
“Yes, sir. Pochi’s not ready for ‘fantastico’ yet, sir.”
Pochi struck a regretful pose that she had probably learned from Arisa.
“…More monsters from the right-hand path! The fast kind again!”
A magic soldier called out from a sentry post.
Several of the leopard-like Sandstorm Soldiers came charging in from a passage so small that one would have to crouch to pass through.
I’d already sensed them on my radar and was ready to take them out with a few swift kicks. The sage reached out and stopped me, though, so I decided to let him handle it, out of curiosity.
“… Shadow Whip Kageben.”
A dark tendril emerged from the Sandstorm Soldiers’ own shadows and ensnared them like a net.
Tama tried and failed to imitate him with her shadow stone powder.
“It’s haaard?”
“I suppose it won’t happen overnight. Practice hard.”
“Aye.”
The sage looked at the nodding Tama with satisfaction.
Behind him, the scouting party ran over and finished off the immobilized monsters.
Then, on the third morning, Seina returned from her scouting mission and reported that she’d spotted the demon lord in the Innermost Chamber.
“Something’s off about the demon lord.”
After receiving Seina’s report, Hayato and I removed our armor in order to keep quiet and snuck over to see the demon lord for ourselves.
“He’s wearing armor…?”
The demon lord was entirely protected with jet-black armor.
“His outline is blurred. There must be high-density miasma around him.”
“We’d better be careful not to touch him, then.”
“Yes, although I don’t think it’s as dangerous as the clump of miasma he threw at you, Sir Hayato. It would still be best to avoid grappling with him directly for long.”
From what I could see of the demon lord’s face and body through the gaps in the armor, his muscle fibers were raw and exposed, as if he had lost his skin.
I was strongly reminded of the red-rope monsters that had been exposed to the vestiges of the Evil God’s Spawn.
“Let’s make sure we include anti-miasma protection in our Support Magic before the battle.”
As he spoke, Hayato stared intently at the demon lord, probably using his “Analyze” skill to check the demon lord’s stats and abilities.
“…For real?”
“Is there a problem?”
I was asking just to be sure, although I already knew from my AR display of the demon lord’s information what he must be surprised about.
“The demon lord’s level has gone up. It was lower than me before, but now it’s higher than me.”
Hayato’s brow furrowed.
I couldn’t blame him. It was very strange that the demon lord had gone from level 62 to 72 in just a matter of days.
That said, since Hayato was level 69, it wasn’t a fatally large difference or anything.
“Did he defeat his own Sandstorm Soldier minions to level up?”
“I doubt it. The higher your level, the more EXP you need to get to the next one. The difference in EXP needed when your level is in the fifties versus the sixties is exponential. I bet it’s multiplied even more once you reach the seventies.”
Hayato explained as we made our way back from the Innermost Chamber.
It was easy to see how unusual the demon lord’s sudden increase in level was with just one look at Hayato’s stats. He hadn’t leveled up once since we last met in the old capital, even though he’d been slaughtering tons of Sandstorm Soldiers in the Dens of Evil all this time.
“I think it’s got to be that weird orb the demon lord threw at me before.”
Hayato put a hand over his arm.
…Now I remember.
Come to think of it, the giant mutant rat that was taken over by the Evil God’s Spawn vestiges went from level 20 to around level 50.
If that orb was made of the same stuff, it would certainly explain why the demon lord leveled up so quickly.
“When that orb was eating away at my arm, I felt horrible pain, fear that felt like a tight grip on my heart…and a sense of latent strength, too.”
Hayato seemed to be talking more to himself than to Seina and me.
“If I’d accepted that strength, maybe I’d be strong enough to take him down…”
“Sir Hayato.” I interrupted him, as his thoughts seemed to be straying down a dangerous path. “Between you and your party, I’m sure you’ll be able to win.”
“Satou…”
Hayato looked at me, and I nodded.
“And for what it’s worth, my party and I will gladly help you, too.”
“Yeah, come on, Hayato. We’re gonna make sure you win no matter what. Have a little faith, will ya?”
“You’re right, Seina. I guess I lost heart for a second there.”
Seina’s gentle teasing finally brought a smile back to Hayato’s face.
“It’s Rudoruuu?”
“And Kwandoh, too, sir!”
Two days after the demon lord was first spotted, the black knight Ryukken and the Saga Empire samurai joined us.
“I am glad to see you two doing well, Pochi and Tama.”
“How have you been, little ones?”
The two samurai high-fived Pochi and Tama.
I guess they became good buddies when they were training together.
“Ah, you’ve finally arrived to fill your quota. Now we can begin taking down the demon lord at last.”
“Say that again, you temple dog!”
“I need not repeat myself for some rustproofed knight.”
The Holy Sword–wielding Temple Knight Mezzalt and the black knight Ryukken immediately began bickering.
Incidentally, the Temple Knights had only arrived about five hours earlier.
“Hurry up and get ready! Don’t keep us waiting any longer!”
“Sir Mezzalt, the operation doesn’t begin for another three and a half chimes.”
Princess Mariest coolly shut down the fervent Temple Knight.
“Don’t waste your energy, either, Ryukken. Get some sleep with the other guys who just got here and rest up for the real battle.”
Hayato placated both sides and sent them to take a break.
“Let’s go, Satou.”
Seina came over to collect me.
She and I were going ahead to Den of Evil Six, where the demon lord would flee to later.
“Understood… Okay, I’ll see you all later.”
“Master, don’t do anything reckless.”
“Same to you, Arisa. Make sure no one gets hurt.”
Once I’d given a simple warning to my group, a Space Magic user from one of the succeeding squads brought Seina and me back to the surface. There was one in Hayato’s squad, too, but if we took away their only Space Magic mage, they wouldn’t be able to escape in case of an emergency, which is why we waited for the other squad to arrive.
“…Ugh, that feels gross. I still can’t stand teleportation…”
Seina looked like she had motion sickness.
In this case, I had to agree. Since this sensation didn’t happen when Arisa or I used it, it must have been due to the user’s low skill level.
I thanked the Space Magic user nonetheless, and boarded a high-speed Saga Empire airship along with Seina.
As it was already prepared for departure, the airship took off before we had even closed the hatch behind us completely.
With a roaring sound, the airship ripped through the dry air and sped toward Den of Evil Six.
“Satou, this is a race against time from here on out.”
“I know. Follow me, please.”
I ran through Den Six as fast as I could without leaving Seina the scout behind.
According to the original plan, we should still have had plenty of time. Unfortunately, the black knight had insisted on cutting short the rest time that was supposed to be three and a half chimes—or seven hours—to only four hours. Thanks to him, we were stuck rushing to the meeting place at top speed.
Fortunately, we got the message right before the high-speed airship reached Den Six by way of a communication device, so we should still have been able to make it just in time.
I eliminated a few unlucky Sandstorm Soldiers who happened across our path by kicking their cores out, and kept running without slowing down.
“Ah-ha-ha, wow. No wonder you’re a friend of Hayato’s, huh?”
“Looks like you’re having no trouble keeping up, hmm? I’ll increase the speed a little more, then.”
“Wait, no! I’m barely keeping up as is! I can’t go that faaaaast!”
Despite her protests, I figured if Seina still had enough energy to complain, I could go even faster.
Thanks to these efforts, we managed to get to the hidden passage before Hayato and the others even began their battle.
From this point on, stealth was of the utmost importance.
After all, there were members of the Light of Freedom cult lurking around.
“Let’s go over the plan one more time.”
I was using the Space Magic spells Clairvoyance and Clairaudience to monitor the hero party and company.
Since Arisa’s Tactical Talk couldn’t cover this much distance, I had to rely on my own Space Magic this time.
“First, Mari and the rear guard will hit with their attack magic. That should wipe out all the lesser Sandstorm Soldiers. For the five big ones that’ll probably survive, we’ll have Team Ryukken, Team Mezzalt, Team Honey, and Team Hero take ’em out.”
Hayato looked at each team in turn as he spoke.
“I’ll hold off the demon lord until you’ve all beaten the big Sandstorm Soldiers. Don’t forget to help the other teams with theirs once you’ve taken care of your own. We won’t start taking down the demon lord until we’ve gotten rid of all his minions first.”
Hayato stared especially long at the black knight and Temple Knight squads, probably to remind them not to ignore the plan and run in recklessly again.
“Let’s defeat the demon lord and make sure everyone comes home safe!”
With that, the demon lord stepped out onto the cliff that overlooked the Innermost Chamber.
“Magic Team, begin chants. Wait for Mari’s signal to finish your spells.”
Princess Mariest was using the Divine Talisman during her chant.
She was probably preparing a forbidden battle spell. Arisa and Mia began readying advanced Fire and Water Magic spells respectively, while the sage was chanting some kind of advanced Earth spell as opposed to his usual Shadow Magic.
“Satou?”
I was so focused on the sights and sounds coming in through my Space Magic that I jumped a little when Seina called me.
“There are footprints here that look like a patrol came through. They’re pretty fresh.”
“Let’s communicate with hand signals from here on out, then.”
I couldn’t tell Seina that I was avoiding the cultists using my radar, so I responded in what seemed like a safe way.
Even as I did so, the magical assault on the demon lord began.
A cloud of dust filled the Innermost Chamber, followed by a torrent of flames that likely came from Arisa.
The steam and fire began to clear the dust, revealing a glimpse of the battle situation within. The demon lord was surrounded by stone pillars that the sage seemed to have produced out of the ground; three of the large Sandstorm Soldiers were just barely hanging on, though visibly injured.
The demon lord looked relatively unharmed in spite of the forbidden spell. I assumed it was thanks to the Reflective Scales.
The sage’s Earth Magic seemed to have a large area of effect. There were thick stone pillars everywhere, impaling a fair amount of the midsize Sandstorm Soldiers.
“Let’s go! Follow me!”
Following the plan, Hayato the Hero charged at the demon lord, while the rest of the teams took on the remaining three large Sandstorm Soldiers.
The hero’s party took on the one in the center of the room, the black knight and other Saga Empire soldiers took the one on the right, and the Temple Knights tackled the one on the left.
My group worked as a reserve squad, helping out anyone who seemed to need it most.
As I watched them battle, Seina and I forged onward while avoiding the Light of Freedom security net.
“Satou, are we there yet?” Seina pressed. “Hayato and the others have started fighting the demon lord.”
Evidently, she could send and receive basic signals through her Divine Talisman.
“Almost there.”
I glanced at my map.
We were definitely getting close.
GZYGABBBBO.
The demon lord howled, surrounded by Reflective Scales.
“Raaawr?”
“Can you tell what the demon lord is saying? I inquire.”
“Tama can’t tellll?”
“Pochi can’t really tell, either, sir.”
I listened to my companions’ exchange as we proceeded.
From the sound of it, resolving things peacefully with the demon lord was no longer an option, if it ever was before. The demon lord transformation seemed to have gone too far, rendering communication impossible.
“Satou, there’s someone up ahead.”
“It must be a Light of Freedom member. Let’s wait for a minute, then go through that passage.”
The other passages would be too roundabout. Instead, we waited in the shadows for the cultists to pass by.
In the meantime, the other group defeated the remaining three Sandstorm Soldiers, leaving only the demon lord.
“Rudoruu! Damn you, demon lord!”
One of the samurai was taken out of combat by a swipe of the demon lord’s claw, while a Temple Knight who was caught in the demon lord’s grasp withered away like a mummy, letting off black steam.
The demon lord was clearly far stronger than the last time we’d seen him, and not just in level. It had clearly gotten even more dangerous.
The Holy Sword wielder and the black knight were actually faring better than I expected, but Hayato, with the help of his party, seemed to be the only one who could land telling blows.
Liza thrust her spear into the demon lord’s arm.
In that moment of stillness, the Reflective Scales rained down on her.
“Liza!”
“I will protect you, I declare!”
Nana used her shield with the folded-up Fortress to guard Liza from the scales.
“Dangeryyy?”
“Thank you, Tama, sir!”
Tama’s Phalanx shield protected Pochi from a strike of the demon lord’s tail.
My palms were sweating as I cheered my friends on from afar.
At that moment, the demon lord unleashed a blast of sand in an effort to bury them all at once.
“… Pile-Up Wall Sekisou Kouheki!”
The wall the sage’s spell created only blocked the sand for a few seconds before shattering, but in those few seconds, everyone escaped to safety. The sage was surprisingly helpful in battle. If he’d been a little slower, I might have ended up using Unit Deployment to get my girls to safety, even if that was ill-advised.
The sage seemed to be focusing on support, using obstruction and defense spells to back people up, regardless of faction.
However, since he was doing so without saying a word, his support occasionally came across as a hindrance, at least according to the black knight’s shouted insults.
“Is this the place? It’s huge…”
While I watched the demon lord battle, we arrived at our destination.
It was ten or more times larger than the Tokyo Dome. In a space this big, we could easily attack with forbidden spells right away.
The ceiling and floor were jagged and uneven, like a limestone cavern, creating plenty of cover. I made note of a few areas that seemed like good spots for the rear guard to set up camp.
There were pools of sand scattered throughout, crawling with poisonous insects.
“Is that the altar?”
Seina pointed.
The structure was in a pit-like area in the center of the room.
It was adorned with an evil-looking statue, with stone pillars standing around it at uneven intervals.
Though I couldn’t see them well in the dark, the dimly lit pillars were engraved with faces carved in expressions of anguish. It was the kind of thing I’d probably see in my nightmares if I looked at them for too long.
“Yes, so it would seem.”
That was the spot I had marked on my map.
Around the altar, some Light of Freedom cultists were chanting something like a sutra as part of an arcane ritual; thirty-two Sandstorm Soldiers that were possessed by demons lurked outside the pillars.
Most of them had levels in the 30s, though two were in the 50s and one in the 60s.
I figured I’d leave one of the level 50s as EXP for my companions and destroy the other three strong ones in the midst of the opening barrage of magic attacks. It’s always better to eliminate uncertain variables if possible.
While I was thinking about this, I kept watching the main battle by way of Space Magic.
All that was left to do was wait until the hero drove the demon lord into a corner, then followed him here when he fled.
“You think the demon lord’s really gonna come?”
“For sure.”
I was so distracted with worry about my friends that I gave a half-hearted answer to Seina.
Meanwhile, the hero’s party landed a combo attack followed by special moves from the Holy Sword wielder and the black knight, then Hayato’s special strike enhanced by his Unique Skills and scripture sliced through the Reflective Scales and pummeled the demon lord.
GZYGABBBO.
As one of its arms was lopped off, the demon lord screamed, then disappeared.
“…Whoa. It really came.”
As soon as it vanished from the other area, the demon lord appeared at the altar.
According to my AR display, it was down to about 60 percent of its health.
“Now it’s your turn, Miss Seina.”
“I know.”
Seina pulled out her talisman, which flashed faintly.
“Looks like they’re ready over there… Here we go, Satou.”
I nodded at the tense scout.
“O Great Goddess Parion, hear my prayer! I offer up my wish and my life span to summon the hero.”
Seina closed her eyes and held the talisman to her chest.
“I am Seina, a loyal follower of Hayato the Hero!”
The talisman let out a flash of blue light in response to her wish.
At the altar, the demonic Sandstorm Soldiers and scimitar-armed Light of Freedom cultists whirled to look at us.
“Yeah, I figured they’d see that…”
Despite Seina’s usual light tone, I could see that she was covered in sweat. Summoning the hero must have taken a considerable toll.
“It was a beautiful sight, though.”
The light from the talisman, that is.
“Aww, c’mon, you’re making me blush. But my heart and life belong to Hayato, ’kay?”
The cultists who’d performed the ritual and the demon lord who’d just teleported here were still kneeling around the altar—it didn’t look like they’d be moving anytime soon.
However, the Sandstorm Soldiers and armed cultists who were on standby around them were surging toward us to attack.
“This might be kinda bad, huh…?”
Seina used her multishot crossbow, which was automatically supplied with arrows, to shoot at the speed-type Sandstorm Soldiers that were coming out ahead of the rest. Her aim was shaky, probably due to exhaustion.
I drew my bow as well, shooting at the wings of the flying-type Sandstorm Soldiers and the knee joints of the speed-type ones.
The larger ones, too, were practically on top of us in a matter of seconds.
“I can’t die until Hayato gets here, y’know.”
“You’re not going to die, Seina.”
I knew that for a fact.
Because a true hero always shows up in the nick of time.
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