Varakness suddenly rose to his feet. There was still a hole in his suit, but the skin beneath had been healed.
“Heh heh...” He smiled confidently. “I will not lie, I am truly surprised. Even before receiving power from the Demon Lord, I’ve never experienced such a severe injury. Fanis, my love...I will make you my wife, without fail. I swear it on this chest you’ve wounded.”
“So you have a Healer... Crafty bastard.”
“You will soon see this beauteous darling as your wedded sister. Treat her kindly, if you can... She’s something of a shrinking violet, you see?”
At Varakness’s introduction, the fish woman covered her face timidly with her hands.
Laminitus clenched her teeth nervously. She clicked the floorboard three times with the sole of her boots, and the ship’s captain raised a hand in response to that signal. Without need of verbal command, the ship’s crew began operating the sails. The sails spread out, receiving the wind. The Gallcarius began moving, kicking up sand as it sailed at max speed, trying to get away from the enemy.
As it did, Laminitus gave the order:
“All forces—charge! Don’t give them the chance to run!”
The sand ships, who were on standby until now, finally began their charge. The warships served as vanguard, and the Adventurers would later join in... That was their plan, in short.
If they forced a melee battle with the enemy commander out of formation, on the front lines, the Fallen army wouldn’t have been able to maintain a proper chain of command. But the turtle-like magic beast showed no intent of retreating.
The woman with the lizard tail, who had sat beside Varakness until now, rose to her feet.
“Can I...? Even though I will destroy...them...?”
“Yes, do as you wish, my love. It is for this reason I separated Fanis from them.”
—What did he just say!?
A chill ran down Laminitus’s spine. The lizard woman spread out her arms, and raised her voice in a shout.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
The air trembled, and at the same time, a large tear ran through the ground, forming a large cliff right in the warships’ way. The sand ships fell into the abyss, accompanied by literal waterfalls of sand.
Countless screams echoed throughout the battlefield. Some ships were able to skillfully maneuver themselves and avoid falling into the abyss, but many valuable elite soldiers were lost in the disturbance.
—Who would think they could use magic of such a scale!
Laminitus clenched her fist. Her forces had fallen into utter chaos and confusion. Just attempting to count how many ships were lost was difficult.
The Demon Lord’s army wasn’t kind enough to simply stand by and watch them flounder. The Fallen and their magical beasts charged them, raising nightmarish howls. Varakness’s large magical beast remained where it was, and the army’s charge made it so it now stood in the rearguard, the perfect position to command it.
—We were dancing in the palm of his hand the whole time!
Laminitus clenched her teeth again.
“Use large scale magic to confuse the enemy army, then launch an offensive...” Varakness said with a smile. “This was a basic strategy in the last war, you know? The races really do grow old and forgetful far too quickly... But I do not find that transient foolishness of yours unpleasant. Now, accept your eternal slumber in the embrace of my wonderful nightmare!”
†
Screams and howls filled the battlefield. Laminitus lay beaten.
—The front lines crumbled within a day, countless soldiers are lost... Even We are beyond help now...
“Ugh... Death is...more preferable...to being disgraced by the Fallen...” Laminitus put a bullet into her Magi Gun.
She shouted at the soldiers awaiting her orders.”Even should We fall! We shall never show our back to the enemy! For We are the king of this sandy land!”
The soldiers raised their fists in agreement.
“Your target is the enemy commander! Charge the large magical beast!”
“Gallcarius, move at full speed! Gunners, keep your eyes ahead!” the ship’s captain gave his directions.
All the soldiers carrying Magi Guns gathered on the front deck and began firing at the Fallen and magical beasts.
The Fallen weren’t all as durable as Varakness; he was simply too powerful. A Magi Gun’s bullets would definitely inflict damage on them.
“The problem is getting rid of Varakness’ lackeys...” Laminitus glared at the enemy’s formation. “The other women probably have irregular abilities, too.”
“Right you are ♪”
Laminitus’s eyes flew open. From beside her, a woman’s voice spoke in an inappropriately bright voice. A moment later, a sharp pain ran through Laminitus’s flank.
“Gah!?”
The next thing Laminitus knew, she had fallen down and was now lying on the ship’s deck. The side of her body burned with pain, large amounts of blood pooling all around her.
A black mass rose from her shadow, assuming a human-like shape.
—She came out of Our shadow...!?
It was one of Varakness’ women, the one with raven wings.
“Peek a boo ♪” The woman’s black curls shook as she looked down at Laminitus mockingly.
“Y-You...!?”
“Hehehe... Varakness told me to ‘stop the ship,’ buuut... I really hate women who have bigger busts than me, see~ So I don’t want you joining the harem~ So just go ahead and die for me, okay? I’m going to make you die!”
The soldiers standing around her only realized what was happening just then, and it was a moment too late.
They brandished their swords, crying out in defiance, but the Fallen woman caught their weapons with her bare hands which had bird-like talons.
Her ability to come out of shadows wasn’t the only thing that made her menacing. She was a fairly powerful Fallen by her own right.
“R-Run!” Laminitus moaned in pain. But before her words could reach them...
A cadence of odd bursting sounds resounded. It was the sound the Fallen woman crushing the soldiers’ heads, helmets and all. The troops were reduced to corpses in the blink of an eye, pools of their blood spreading around her.
Despair overwhelmed Laminitus.
—Just what in the hell...is going on here...!?
A commander that didn’t die even when shot in the heart. A Healer who can heal grievous wounds in a moment. A Sorcerer capable of annihilating a fleet in the blink of an eye. An assassin who can attack from one’s own shadow...
—A nightmare... The races beat these monsters in the last war...!? Impossible!
This didn’t constitute for a fight.
“Can you even call this a war...?” Laminitus whispered.
“Right right, this can’t be called a war~ This is more a spectacle where the Fallen butcher the races—a massacre.” The Fallen woman laughed maniacally, brandishing her bloodstained talons. “Bye bye ♪ This was fun—as if. You races are too weak to even be a distraction~”
“S-Someone...”
“Mmm?”
“Someone...save them... The soldiers! The civilians!” Still lying facedown on the ship’s deck, Laminitus squeezed out a voice.
“You silly skank~ If you didn’t want to die, all you had to do was... Well, you shouldn’t have even been born ♪”
A flash of light blinded Laminitus’s sight as countless bolts of lightning fell on this battlefield fraught with mayhem.
The rumble of thunder sent shivers through the air. The Fallen woman looked around, her face colored with surprise.
“What’s going on!?”
“What...is this...?”
The weather should have been clear. This phenomenon was entirely unknown to Laminitus.
She could hear soldiers talking from somewhere:
“The enemy strike force has been reduced by half! Th-They’re confused! It seems the lightning...f-fell on them!?”
> It was a different brand of surprise from when the large scale magic struck down the ships or when the enemy advanced and spread among the soldiers.
“Pull back. The situation has changed.”
Laminitus could hear Varakness’s voice. His voice echoed from the earring on the woman’s ear.
“Did you hear me?”
“Pull back!? Why!? Let me kill them first!”
“No. I won’t allow you to be stranded in the middle of the enemy’s formation. I do not wish to lose you.”
“Stranded? Me? What are you talking about!?”
The woman looked around as Laminitus rose to her feet.
And then, she saw it: someone floating in the sky.
—Who is...that?
It was a man clad in jet-black armor, holding a staff in his hand.
“《Lightning Meteor》!!!”
The man swung down his staff, and countless bolts of lightning rained upon the battlefield.
An Elemental Sorcerer...
The atmosphere trembled as the magical beasts were reduced to ashes. Magic of this level went explicitly beyond anything the races would ever be able to manipulate.
Chapter 6: Using a New Weapon
“Master, you’re not actually thinking of saving them, are you?” Rose asked, noticeably surprised.
Diablo considered what that would involve: If the city was under threat from the Fallen, he would want to save it. It wasn’t just out of pure empathy; it was also because defending the races from the Fallen was a fundamental part of Cross Reverie’s story. As a gamer, he couldn’t back out of defending it. But, rushing to defend a town in danger clashed with his Demon Lord image.
“Hmph, I care not for a human town.” Diablo snorted haughtily. “But the Demon Lord’s army? They would dare gather under the banner of the Demon Lord without my permission? Unacceptable!”
“I see! To not notice your wrath, Master... Rose is both shamed and humbled!”
It seemed the explanation had convinced her.
“...I can’t say I empathize with your reason, but I will accompany you,” Rem said, also preparing to leave. “If a town is under attack by the Fallen, we can’t just leave them to fend for themselves.”
“Right! We gotta stick together when bad stuff happens!” Shera agreed, carrying her bow over her shoulder.
Horn clenched her fist. “I’m going, too! The people in town were always so nice to me, so I want to save them!”
Her knees were noticeably shaking, though. She was scared out of her mind.
“I’m sure the Lord guided us together to do this.” Lumachina nodded. “I will also help you save the town!”
Rose looked at the girls, her head tilted curiously. “I cannot see how you will be of any use in turning the tide of this war. Won’t you just get in Master’s way?”
Rem shook her head. “There’s more to war than just fighting an enemy. Have you ever experienced a real battlefield?”
“Nnngh. Rose has...never left the dungeon since Master created it.”
“...Let me just tell you, you’re luckier than you know. Diablo, we’re ready. Let’s hurry.”
Rem cut the conversation short, but Rose didn’t offer any retort. They certainly had to hurry, and it appeared Rem was more occupied with thinking of the fastest way possible to get to town.
“...No matter how much we hurry, it will take us two days to get to Zircon Tower. If we’re lucky, the town will still be fine upon our arrival.”
It was hard to believe Zircon Tower, a city without a barrier, could hold back an army of Fallen. That was exactly why Faltra stood as a front line base.
Diablo stopped the girls, who were about to rush through the door.
“There’s no point in rushing.”
“...Diablo?”
“If we take two days to get there, the town would certainly fall by then. There’s simply no way we can make it in time like this.”
“Th-That’s...probably true, but...”
Everyone else seemed lost for words along with Rem. Horn even looked like she was on the verge of crying.
Diablo took out an item, a white feather that shone with a pearly hue.
An 《Angel’s Plume》. Using it would transfer the user’s party to any other place in the world. In-game, it was restricted to places the entire party had previously visited so newbies wouldn’t be able to piggyback off veterans.
Would it work the same in this world? Would it even work to begin with? He had his apprehensions when he considered using the 《Return》 spell some time ago, with the possibility of appearing inside a rock being a particularly frightening thought. They would be buried alive.
Should he tell them the risks? There was no point to that. Even if he had warned them, the girls would likely tell him to try it anyway. If they didn’t try, they would never make it in time to save the town from the Demon Lord’s army.
But more than anything, explaining the risk involved in using an item wasn’t Demon Lord-like.
“This is called an Angel’s Plume,” Diablo said, showing them all the feather. “It is a treasure capable of instantly transporting everyone here to any given point.”
“Is that...?” Rem’s eyes were wide with surprise. “Diablo, is this what you had used to transfer you and Shera from the 《Bridge of Ulug》 to Faltra instantaneously...?”
“It’s a bit different from then, but it is teleportation magic all the same.”
“...In that case, we would definitely make it in time.”
“There wouldn’t be much point to using it otherwise.”
“Uh, hmm...”
“What is it?”
“Would it be okay if I...closed my eyes while we do this...?” Rem asked, blushing.
This reminded him of how terrified she was when they had to ride on a sand ship. She hated traveling in any other manner than with her own two legs. There was something charming to that side of her.
“Ah, you mean the thing from that one time? We’re doing that again!?” Shera excitedly leaned forward.
She was with Diablo the last time he had tried teleporting. The opposite of Rem, she found it to be fun.
“What’cha talking about?” Horn asked quizzically.
Lumachina, in contrast, didn’t even question him. She had put her complete trust in Diablo, it seemed. But that was frightening in its own way...
“Master, Rose has never gone to a town before,” Rose said with a sad smile.
“Hm.”
“So this is...goodbye, isn’t it? I will wait for Master...dreaming of the day of Master’s return. Always...”
“Wait. It’s true you’ve never visited another place, but in the game... Wait, no. In that other world, Magimatics weren’t counted as people. I should be able to teleport you with me if you’re considered an item under my possession...”
Having said that, Diablo thought treating her like an object was pretty terrible.
“Master!” Rose looked about ready to cry.
“Oh, ah...sorry... No...”
A Demon Lord wouldn’t apologize to a Magimatic Maid, but he didn’t know how to patch things up. However, that concern turned out to be unfounded.
“How wonderful!” Rose said, her expression lighting up in a brilliant smile. “Rose cannot believe Master would ‘consider Rose an item’... Rose is the happiest maid in existence!”
“I-Is that right...”
“Whenever anyone else calls Rose a tool or a doll, Rose crushes them into paste using Asterismos... But please use Rose like an object forever more, Master. Be it during the day, or at night...”
“Day...or night...”
“Rose wonders how Master would put Rose to use during nighttime...” she pondered, her cheeks turning a rosy pink.
—Don’t expect me to use you in any weird ways!
Magimatic Maids were considered tools, so it appeared her set of values were a bit different compared to what others followed.
“Anyway! We haven’t any
time to waste. Let us use it.”
Just imagining what would happen if, all of a sudden, it turned out “Angel Plumes don’t work in this world~” made Diablo break into a cold sweat.
Rem reached out her hand. “Hmm... Could you please...hold my hand while we do this...?”
“O-Oh, sure.”
Diablo grabbed her hand. It was small, a bit cool to the touch, and soft.
“I’m taking this one!” Shera proclaimed.
Shera grabbed onto Diablo’s other hand, so they both held the Angel’s Plume together.
“Wha...!?” Rose’s expression darkened at seeing Shera do so, but the elf princess ignored her.
“You’re considered Diablo’s item, right, Rose? He can carry you on his back!”
“Ungh... That’s a...very tempting idea...but Rose is heavier than Rose’s appearance would suggest, so Rose will settle...for this.”
Rose pinched the hem of Diablo’s clothes. While she may have had the appearance of a girl, she was still a machine. She may very well be as heavy as a lump of iron, and that huge double-bladed sword and the metallic hand that held it could be included in her weight, too. Even Diablo’s level 150 body wouldn’t be able to support that kind of weight.
Lumachina and Horn held hands, and together, the five of them plus one extra maid, formed a ring. In the game, there wasn’t any need to form a ring like this, but when they stood in this circle there was no mistaking it: This was definitely Diablo’s party.
He focused his consciousness on the Angel’s Plume, much like when he used his magic.
—Teleport us, to Zircon Tower!
He summoned the image of the tower made of gemstones in his mind.
†
The teleportation worked, of course.
After gathering information in town, they set out to the battlefield; Rem and the girls aboard a sand ship, and Diablo with his flight magic. Once they arrived, the hostilities had already begun, and it seemed the races were on the brink of defeat. Countless sand ships had fallen into a ravine apparently created by magic, and the remaining forces could only scream in the face of the Fallen onslaught, unable to offer any sort of organized resistance.
How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Volume 5 Page 16