by Kasugamaru
The ignite canisters, however, are still proving tricky. Filled with oil and very effective, their results greatly depend upon the user’s mana and skill. Origis can only use one type of canister. As for Marius... he could very well become a warrior of flame magic.
“The people of the Expanse were so passionate. Tons of soldiers wanted to come with us. We could have at least brought some of them on board.”
“I understand what you’re trying to say. And if we were merely marching—no, merely hunting monsters, I would have gladly taken them in.”
“But the vampires, huh?”
“They will not appear rashly. But don’t think it’s a guarantee they won’t show at all.” As we proceed, we frequently send out scouts. During the morning and midday, we hurry forward. Before the sun sets, we select a place to hide out in and rest during the night. Then, before the sun rises, we’re off again. We must be wary of vampires, but there is no time to waste. The physical and mental toll is no laughing matter.
But not one of our soldiers has fallen behind. Our new training methods are bearing fruit. Our provisions are holding strong, too. We were able to resupply in the Expanse, which made this expedition possible.
If there’s one issue, it would be the Frontier. Our main force is away from home. I understand that this situation is forcing our hand, and that Father Felipo and the others came to this decision after much careful thought... Still, it’s rough. The tea party just happened, too. Hearing about it chilled my guts, and just remembering it causes me to shiver.
Lady Kuroi never said this, but our entire enterprise started from the very bottom. Our options were limited, and everything was a balancing act with danger all around. I just hope that lowering our defenses against the elves doesn’t lead to something terrible. If it does, please, let Lady Kuroi escape at least.
This desolate wasteland of stone and sand, dry as bones... it’s just like us in the past. But now, it’s impossible to accept a life of simply becoming a cold clot of dirt.
A flash of light in my eyes appears before the sun—before daybreak. A delayed, low rumbling follows.
“Brother! Look!” It seems the battlefield has shifted more to the east than our scouts indicated. Among the mass of bodies, Inferno is being used in focused fashion. Marius is being pressed.
“Full speed ahead, men!” Think while you gallop, Agias. Come on. Our enemy is an especially large horde of monsters. Compared to the Frontier attack, there are far more of them—and more types, as well. Some extremely dangerous monsters include trolls, ogres, and bugbears.
Marius is leading 500 knights to intercept; he said they’d slow the monsters down until we arrive. He’s not the type to make promises he can’t keep, so if he says he’ll do it then he’ll definitely do it. He should know our position, as well. We’re approaching from the south. Almost there. The scouts have already delivered their reports and are circling back.
And yet the battlefield has moved to the east, and the fire bombs are being used tactically. Why is that? It can’t be... Ah, I see. In that case, I assume that sound earlier was my signal.
“Vanguard, draw your weapons and canisters! Rearguard, make sure to use every fire bomb you have!” I’ve got it.
A massive horde of monsters, blasphemy upon the world. With over ten trolls, as well as ogres and bugbears running about, it’s enough to feel the end of our nation is at hand. The miasma of stench that belches from their mouths and vile drool that drips from their lips defiles the very earth. They are unorganized, but aren’t very spread out. Good job on keeping them contained, Marius. You may be on the run right now, but you’ve served your purpose well.
In fact, it seems he’s using his high speed to toy with them, drawing out the smaller monsters. Mad apes, that latch onto horses without fear; poisonous rats, that bite at their legs; omega pherox, that jump and swarm... all of these are annoying for cavalry, and yet I don’t see a single one. The explosions earlier must have cleaned them up. They have set the stage, and are now waiting for us to arrive.
“Long spear formation!” Then I must live up to their expectations. Let me show you the determination of the one who summoned you all this way. Two hundred cavalry form a wedge, with me front and center. Five hundred cavalry ride in four vertical lines behind us, as if protected by our wedge. At the very end of the formation should be Origis. We’re both in dangerous positions. But Willow men would have it no other way.
I grip my lance with both hands, and pray to God.
“Chaaarge!” Unleash your battlecries, my men. Drown out the beasts with your voices and charge into the field of monsters.
With speed as my weapon, I pierce through.
Dodge! Split! Rip! Cursed monsters. We are the spear that leads humanity. You cannot hope to oppose our brave spirits and sharp wits with mere instinct.
Before me is a bugbear. It’s a bear-like monster with an evil mind. Its arms are raised, as if trying to intimidate me. Pointless. Compared to a vampire, it is an artless, pathetic move with only raw power behind it. I stretch out and pierce its throat. I can feel myself going through its skull. Shrugging off its writhing corpse, I look ahead. Deeper.
An ogre, huh? It’s trying its best to reach me, all the while sending smaller monsters in its way flying. Not a priority. Go ahead and try to catch me. Kill your companions while you’re at it, please.
Okay. It’s about time.
“Rearguard, release fire bombs!” I order and explosions erupt around me, Inferno spells constantly being cast. The vanguard’s wedge has pierced deep into the enemy horde; as the monsters attempt to crush us, our rearguard flings fire bombs to pulverize them. This is our long spear formation.
I feel the heat of the flames on my back and move forward. Come, troll. Challenge me. Let us test how much your flesh and bones can regenerate.
Many soldiers have risked their lives before, foolishly dying... but no longer. This is to prove that we have come so much further.
In my hand, I hold a flame canister. I pour mana into it, gripping it tight. This spell, Flame Blade, was taught to me by Sorcerer Odysson himself. With a giant blade of flame, I slice through the troll’s belly. I hear a howl and smell the stench of fat and meat burning. The flames are insane.
Suffer. I cut through its thick hide, burning it from the inside and out. The troll frantically tries to pat out the flames, rolls on the ground even, but they won’t be extinguished. As long as my mana remains, it will continue to burn. Not pausing to view the results, I press forward again. I stab, slice, and fight off every monster I see, making my way toward the other end of this rotten earth.
Pierce. Retrieve.
In the midst of this, I hear a cheer. This is a battlefield, fool. I understand the elation, however.
“We did it! We did it, damn it! Take that, monsters! And screw you too, vampires!” Origis, huh? Why is a man of House Willow the first to cheer? I’m glad you survived, but the battle isn’t over yet.
“Brother!” Marius. He must have circled around from the right.
“An excellent charge right through the center!”
“Mm. I commend you for delaying that horde, as well. It was quite helpful that you eliminated the smaller ones.” I trot forward and survey our enemies. The troll’s corpse is like a burning boulder. The Inferno spells were quite effective, too. Thousands of monsters have already been killed. Origis’s men are good with those fire bombs; they really bring out their destructiveness.
“Good. Marius, join the rearguard. Take the Bomber Knights from the vanguard and split forces with Origis.”
“Are we charging in again?”
“Yes. Let us carve a cross into this field of monsters. Later, I want you to kill a troll.”
“Yes, sir!” These monsters have, without a doubt, been mentally influenced by vampire thunder magic. The proof is in how many individuals are now going berserk. This isn’t because they fear our magic—it’s because they’ve been freed from some mind-control spell.
> But we shall show no mercy. Our species cannot coexist. Furthermore, this is human territory.
“Chaaarge!” God, bless our battle! Agias Willow, forward!
25 About DDR ROM, Bans, and DX
God is not all-knowing and all-powerful.
A heart that feels anger or sadness cannot be.
-DDR Stream VOD Part 3-
Heya, PotatoStarch here! And boy, do I need a drink. That’s right, I’m starting drunk. I mean, how would you feel if your account was locked? Now I can’t post videos. I thought I might be able to watch things by making a different account, but that was instantly banned. Why? It makes no sense, you stupid devs!
What the hell is going on? I didn’t really read the EULA, but I was totally not breaking any rules. In fact, even made up my own rules and was careful not to break them, either. Well, I’m actually breaking one of my rules, which is no drinking.
The best thing to accompany a drink is udon. Plain udon, with nothing in it. Ahhh, that’s the stuff.
Sigh... What am I doing? ...Yum.
Aw, let’s just play. It’s for the sake of my company. I really don’t understand that, either. I got a special bonus, you know? But holding onto the envelope kinda scared me, so I transferred it all to my family.
Dragon Demon... D... X... It’s just sitting there on my monitor. And I’ve been staring at it for so long.
Let’s check the status of the Frontier base. Okay, okay. In fact, it’s more than okay, it’s amazing. What is this? The scale has expanded to a shocking degree; the population has exploded; there are all kinds of officials now; and we’re allies with the elves for the moment, too.
Whew. Automation sure is amazing. And my little Kuroi has been hard at work on her auto-patrols, too.
I feel like I’m not needed anymore. All I can really do is play the mini-games, which ultimately are just me pressing buttons really quickly... After a certain point, I can just leave that on auto, too.
Sigh. I ate all my udon.
Anyway, I was never very good at strategy simulation. There’s just too much to pay attention to. When I played as a noble before and tried to correct the imbalance between rich and poor, I ended up going bankrupt. I fell to being an adventurer and soon hit game over.
In my priest playthrough, it was even worse. I was so excited about landing a rare job and used guides extensively... only to end up disappearing into the mist atop an executioner’s stand for some reason. That was scary; traumatic, if I’m honest. They used an ax, not a guillotine, after all.
Thinking back on it, I’ve never accomplished my first goal. No matter what character I use, I always hit game over somewhere. But that’s what makes this DDR, and I enjoyed it.
There’s always been only one goal. The thing everyone aspires to at least once: the human salvation route. I tried and failed as a vampire; I tried and failed as an elf. No matter how strong I made my character, it was just freaking impossible. I could never beat her. I’m sure it was made so she couldn’t be beaten.
The Demon God Strigoaică.
Creator of vampires. The undead queen. Bringer of destruction to the continent.
No matter what route I followed, the vampires would ultimately be victorious thanks to her unreasonable violence. That’s just how it’s programmed. It’s the official ending, you see. The Demon God laughs as she summons a storm of unimaginable scale and destroys the world. The first time I saw it, I was honestly dumbstruck. Like, how are you supposed to beat that? But I figured it was a bad end, so I started a different character. But the world was still destroyed. Same for my next playthrough. This is where something weird clicked, and I fell in love with super difficult games.
But... there are rumors. Rumors of a true end, where destruction of the world is avoided. Somehow, the Demon God withdraws from the world on this route. At least, that’s what people say.
That’s not really defeating her though, is it?
Hilarious commentary, I know. One more beer, please. Ugh, bitter. It’s the taste of life. It’s the best.
Sigh... DDR, huh...?
I wonder if this playthrough will end in destruction, too. Even though it’s the DX version. Oh well. It’s just that kind of game. All worldly things are impermanent and all that’s fair must fade; it’s that sort of logic. The haughty vampires get to do whatever they want, though. If you can’t hope for results, then you just have to enjoy the time you have left. The vampires get to have their cake and eat it too, of course.
...The humans are working so hard. The Frontier’s developed so much. Ultimately, in this game the vampires are the main power and the elves are just a rival... Humans are no more than small fry or minor characters. The Guardian God that got emergency patched-in was, in the end, the weakest god of them all.
And Kuroi is an Apostle of this god. She can’t even hope to ally with the winning side to survive. I could try to intervene, but I don’t know much about the DX version.
Gulp, gulp... Ah...
Ugh, I’m so drunk. Maybe I should break another one of my rules. Anyone who agrees, raise your hand. Meee!
Okay, let’s start up the search engine.
Dragon Demon RPG Deluxe version strategy site! I type it in, and lots of candidates pop up. Judging from the layout, the one most veterans use is this! Click!
Now, then... Mmh? The package’s design seems... different. But the PC and console versions have the same art. The DDR devs are weirdly sloppy about that stuff. What is this? Even the title’s different. What’s a “Dragon Demon RPG Deluxe?” Mine says “Dragon Demon RPG DX.” And the strategy info? Whoa, it’s totally different.
What the heck is this normal-looking character creator? “Finally, job and skill choices have been released.” Huh? “The Deluxe version is basically a powered-up version.” What’s that about? There’s nothing here about a human god. The humans are treated as an inferior species, like always.
This has to be wrong.
Oh, the stream! I was streaming my playthrough, so there has to be some reaction. People must be talking! Just this once, I’ll search myself. Personal rules can be broken depending on time and place!
Huh? HUH? Why are there zero hits? And what the hell is this? I’m getting messages like “This page has been deleted” and “Forbidden” and “404.” Oh, even my Wikipedia page is gone.
The thread! I can still check the strategy thread... Why isn’t there a current thread?! What’s happening? And you call yourselves DDR players? In that case, I’ll make a thread myself... There! How do you like that? Now to grandly start up a discussion... Huh? My thread was deleted. Whoa. Scary. I need another beer. Deliciously bitter.
Is the world telling me something? That I’m drunk and need to go to bed? I’m scared. This must be a dream. The harmful effects of a super informational society or game brain or whatever they call it. God, I love beer.
My recording’s kinda wonky, too, now that I’m noticing. My PC’s gotten really smooth. It’s somehow gotten an upgrade. Nothing makes sense, honestly. It’s all weird. My CEO told me to go home and play games, for crying out loud. Paid me a ton of money to do it, too.
DDR DX, huh? What is this? Why is it working here, and with this content. Why am I continuing to play? It’s unstable, and I don’t feel like playing.
Mmh? An emergency event? Ohhh, this is really bad. Vampires have declared war on the Frontier. An Apostle is guaranteed to join now.
An Apostle. A vampire Apostle. Will it be the master of earth magic, Ruin? The master of thunder magic, Thrall? Or maybe the earth-thunder hybrid, Golden? No matter who it is, the Frontier doesn’t stand a chance. Any one of them can level the place solo.
Wait, Sakiel’s still there. Sakiel, the Ten Thousand Bells. Master of defense. And there’s Kuroi, the lone Apostle of the human god. Raven-haired Kuroi, Devil God Apostle.
Can I do it? No, I have to. Otherwise it makes no sense! Battles are my specialty. Seriously. I mean, I’ve died so many times that I’ve lost count. I’ve raise
d so many characters, and each time I thought I had it. But they were all killed. I never gave up, though. In this way, I’ve refined my methods.
That’s right! I should boldly declare my intent now! I, PotatoStarch, have had my skills optimized in the heat of DDR’s battles! Hahhahaha! Haha haha... Haheehee... Phew. I don’t feel very confident. Some working adult I am. Maybe that’s why they told me to just play video games... I love beer.
26 The Merchant Observes and Smiles at the Men who Prepare for a Life-Or-Death Battle
I step on the death of humans.
I am supported by death; saved by death; propelled by death. Forward I go.
-Merchant Ange I-
Government and the military. Cross them together, and it’s a recipe for war—when daily life is crushed underfoot by the unexpected. A calamity of violence that kills men and women alike. There’s not a thing to like about it.
So you can imagine my surprise at finding myself planning a war.
As Master of Coin for the Frontier, my job essentially boils down to merciless coercion. I wring the people dry of the funds they need to live so we can supply our military. How bizarre.
“Really, there’s no need for me to explain things. The vampires’ claim is clear cut. They recognize this place as a land in dispute, and therefore they are attacking. That’s it. No declaration of war or anything. They simply attack,” Father Felipo says jokingly, but no one is laughing. His office is like being in a jail cell waiting for trial.
“Attack? Isn’t there room to negotiate?” an officer whines. He’s the one who brought us supplies and soldiers from the northern fort. What was his name again? Something long and hard to remember.
“Pardon me... Sir. Even if you ask...”