I guess I should try to expose its properties by using simple attacks.
“Lightning Arrow!”
He fired a bullet of light. It didn’t have enough firepower to damage the Demon Overlord, but it was swift and accurate. The bullet punched the fog, forcing it to disperse.
“I see...” The black goat head narrowed its eyes. “You refuse to harm this child of the races... Hence, you will not use grand magic.”
“I’ve got so much to consider in this fight.”
“Victory is all that is supreme!”
“That’s the only thing I’ll agree with you on!”
Diablo kicked the ground to make distance between them, then nodded. “There are three things you’re wrong about, Modinaram...”
Diablo couldn’t read the goat head’s mood from its expression and silence, but his opponent stopped moving.
“You thought that by taking over Rem, you’d stop me from using grand magic...” He raised one finger. “But I never needed something that exaggerated to defeat you in the first place.”
“Nonsense...”
“The second mistake you made was thinking Rem knew my entire fighting style.”
“Hmm?!”
“I’ve got this up my sleeve, too!”
Diablo pulled a tube from his pouch, with a hint of shame. Before he used it, he clenched his teeth.
“Kuh... To think...I’d need to rely on something like this!”
A gacha-exclusive item I had to whale for!
The tube made a popping sound and a globe of light shot up from it, illuminating the area in a blueish luminescence. The goat head tilted curiously.
“Illumination?”
“Yes, Rem wouldn’t know about this. Naturally.”
It was an extremely rare SSR item even in the game, exclusive to the gacha loot box, that had a 3% chance of netting the player a SSR item. In addition, there were over 300 SSR items in the gacha pool. Diablo didn’t even want to calculate the probability of getting a specific one.
The sphere lit up the sky above them like a moon.
“Modinaram...you were the one to use such a foul trick of manipulating Rem first. You won’t dare call me a coward for this, will you? Though I’d laugh at you if you did.”
“This light, what manner of power is it?!”
“Heheheh... I’ll tell you. This is called a Customize Bomb. It’s a magical tool that applies a certain condition on this area.”
“Certain, condition?!”
“Listen carefully, for the condition is Physical Restrictor! As of now, all physical attacks in this area will be weakened by 90%!”
Diablo couldn’t read Modinaram’s expression, but he could tell how disturbed it was from its stupefied silence.
“And!” Diablo broke into a run. “Your third mistake was to think you could ever win against me!”
Diablo was once again within arm’s reach of Modinaram and Rem.
“Ooooooh!” Modinaram swung its massive fist at Diablo, howling.
Diablo flung his right fist against the massive, rock-like fist bearing down on him.
“Volcano Cannon!”
Magical, seething magma erupted from his right hand as the two fists clashed together. In a normal environment, Modinaram’s fist may have been burned, but its overwhelming power would blow away the magma and crush Diablo’s upper body. Right now, however, its power was greatly limited.
“Heheheh.... Didn’t you hear me, Modinaram? All physical attacks have been diminished. Is punching all you’re good for? Why not fire a spell or two? I’ll still manage to reflect even those!”
“Guuuh... Diabloooooo!”
Modinaram started pushing back.
Even when reduced to ten percent, he’s still this strong!
But now he could finish it!
“Rock Cann... Ah?!”
The enemy suddenly disappeared from his sight, leaving Diablo confused for a moment. Modinaram shouldn’t have been able to move this quickly right now. It was using Rem’s legs, after all, and she was ordered not to move.
For a moment, Diablo felt like he was falling. Then, a rumbling that felt like an earthquake reached his ears.
The walls are collapsing?!
†
Diablo was lucky the Empty Sky’s Gambol’s effect was still activated, granting him flight magic so he wouldn’t be caught up in the rubble. He landed on the ground on the outer side of the collapsed walls. Roughly a hundred meters of the walls’ length collapsed, and he could hear people in town going into a panic.
Flapping its black wings, Modinaram landed, along with Rem’s body. She was still being manipulated. Emerging from the wings at her back was the goat-head in gorilla form.
There’re scores of Fallen watching over the battle from the west. If it flies there, things could get annoying...
Diablo couldn’t tell if it was because of its current form or the Physical Restrictor’s effect at play, but its flight speed was slow at the moment. They were back to square one, but the situation hadn’t changed. He had to close the distance once again, and this time, for sure...
Diablo clenched his fists.
“You...” Modinaram growled.
“Hm?”
“I am! The Demon Overlord! Absorber of all other Demon Lords! The greatest Demon Lord, on the cusp of becoming the Primeval Demon Lord! Wielder of the greatest magic, and the greatest physical strength! And yet...a mere child of races! A mere child of the races!”
Its massive hands cradled its small goat head, and a squelching sound reached Diablo’s ears. The head was becoming distorted.
“Why?!” Modinaram screamed with a bloodcurdling voice. “How can the Demon Overlord be inferior?! Whyyyyyy?!”
“Your preparations were too lacking.”
“Giyaaaaaah?! Diablooo...ooo... Gah?! Gaaaaaa? Gugugu... Ooh?!”
The goat head tore apart, sending a splatter of blood onto the surrounding surfaces. Its head was crushed by its own massive hands.
Did he commit suicide?!
Diablo still had a bad feeling about this, and most of all, Rem’s consciousness hadn’t yet returned.
Crap, what now?! Shouldn’t she come to her senses by now?!
As he took a step toward Rem’s body, a black serpent suddenly lashed out against him.
“Uuu?!” He wasn’t sure what spell to cast in the spur of the moment.
Rem was in the line of fire. If the spell penetrated the serpent, it may damage her. But, if it was too weak, it would be able to block the attack...
Lightning fell down from above, piercing the serpent, and a girl’s loud voice echoed in Diablo’s ears.
“Step back, Diablo! You’ll get caught up!”
“Klem?!”
And leave Rem behind?!
Despite that, he had to believe in Klem right now. He flew back to the town, only to see a moment later that his judgment was correct.
Countless black serpents flowed out of Rem in droves, eventually blotting her out of sight.
“What’s that?!”
“The Demon Lord of Madness, Modinaram, has shown its true nature!” Klem shouted, running over to him with Shera in tow.
“What about Rem?!” Shera asked. “What happened to Rem?!”
“Stay calm, Shera! Modinaram is inside her body, so she should be fine. If its vessel were to be destroyed before it prepared its resurrection, even a Demon lord would be obliterated.”
“I don’t understand a word you’re saying, Klem!”
“Aaah. If Rem dies, so will Modinaram. It’s keeping her alive.”
“Huh...? So Rem has to die if we want to defeat Modinaram?”
“I won’t let that happen!” Klem shook her head. “This Demon Lord will drag Modinaram out of Rem’s body!”
“Yay!”
“...But Modinaram knows that. Even after using Rem as leverage, it couldn’t beat Diablo, so now its vessel is only a weakness. So it did that, seeking out its next form.”
“Wh
at is it doing, Klem?”
“Modinaram’s gathering up magical energy to gain a body powerful enough to defeat you, even if it knows doing that will bring about its destruction!”
“What do you mean? Don’t Demon Lords produce endless amounts of magical energy?”
“Yes, our supply is endless so long as we’re intact! But Modinaram lost its body and fled inside Rem, and its remaining magical energy wasn’t enough to beat you.”
So it was in that kind of state...
“What do you mean by gathering up magical energy?”
“It’s started.” Klem pointed. “Look for yourself and you’ll understand.”
The countless serpents were charging at the Fallen. Diablo could hear screaming, shouting, and explosions from spells and martial arts, but there was no stopping the black serpents. They were devouring the Fallen and magical beasts one after another.
“Ugh...” Shera clasped a hand over her mouth.
Diablo felt a chill run down his spine. “So that magical energy...was the Fallen?”
“You’re lucky, you know? The races don’t have that much magical energy, so it went in that direction instead.”
That many Fallen and magical beasts most likely had a staggering amount of magical energy to draw from...
†
When the black serpents appeared, Eulerex, the commander-in-chief, was the first to fly away.
“This is bad! Retreat! Run!” the Fallen Priest, Lazpuras, called out.
“Run away, Grand Turtle.” Manuela, the magical beast user, tapped on the shell beneath her feet.
“There’s no saving this turtle anymore!” Lazpuras grabbed Manuela under her armpits and ran away, as if sliding down its shell.
Most of the Fallen and magical beasts didn’t run away, but simply stood there, watching as things unfolded. Their individual fighting strength was high, so they were lacking in fear and caution.
They’ll be wiped out.
Lazpuras kept running. The larger Fallen that stood in the vanguard were the first to be devoured by the black serpents.
“Demon Overlord?! Why...?!” the other Fallen cried out as they were the next prey in line.
Then came the magical beasts’ turn.
“Why is the Demon Overlord doing this?!” Manuela asked, her face pale.
Lazpuras ran, desperately carrying her heavy body along.
“That’s not the Demon Overlord anymore! It’s nothing but a venomous snake that hungers for magical energy!”
“How can you say something so blasphemous! Aren’t you a priest?!”
“You can lecture me all you want once we get away from here with our lives intact!”
His fat, frog belly slapped against his legs loudly as he ran. Not far from there, the serpents were feasting on the Fallen and magical beasts. And just as he was about to flee into the forest...
A black shadow was cast over Lazpuras’s head.
“Ah...”
A serpent.
†
“Look, it changed form again!” Shera raised her voice.
“Yes! It looks like this is the final form Modinaram picked!” Klem said with an excited breath.
It was a castle, one that Diablo had seen once before.
“...The Demon Lord’s castle.”
The real one was much larger, though. In the game, the Demon Lord’s castle even dwarfed the citadel city of Faltra. That was natural; it only made sense for a final dungeon to be larger than a city encountered in the middle of the story. It had several spear-like spires as its towers, and was surrounded by high walls. The front gates would open with an ominous creaking.
“It’s probably beckoning you, Diablo,” Klem said.
“Hmm...”
“Modinaram thinks it can beat you inside there... No, it probably already lost all traces of thought. All it wants is to fight you now.”
“Is Rem inside?”
“She is. I can tell from her scent. I know it well, since I’ve been with her for so long.”
It was then that people from the city started coming out. The walls were reduced to rubble anyway, so there wasn’t much of a clear border between the city and the plains at this point.
“Hiya, Diablo,” Sylvie said. “This has become a real mess, huh?”
“What is that castle?” Laminitus showed up at her side. “When did it show up?”
“That’s what’s left of the Demon Overlord Modinaram.”
Laminitus didn’t look like she believed Diablo’s explanation, but she didn’t deny it, either.
“That’s a lump of magical energy, right?” Sylvie asked. “Can it maintain that for long without a body? I sure would like to hear a real Demon Lord’s opinion...”
Diablo wondered about how this was an implicit way of saying that there was a “fake Demon Lord” present, but didn’t comment on the matter.
“Right!” Klem nodded. “This is just it dispersing the magical energy it consumed from the Fallen! It’ll probably fade away by tomorrow morning.”
“I knew it!”
“But...if we just wait for that to happen on its own, this city won’t get away unscathed, either.”
“Ah, yeah, knew that, too.” Sylvie scratched her head.
Looking closely, the Demon Lord’s castle was still spouting out black serpents. It was also gradually moving closer.
“At that speed, it’ll come in contact with Faltra in an hour,” Laminitus said, glaring at the castle. “I don’t know how fast those black snakes can extend, but if they have the same range as a magi gun, they’ll be inside the city within half that.”
She was a magi gunner who commanded sand ships, so her ability to measure such things purely by sight was trustworthy. Sadly, there was no leisure for them to watch over the rising of the sun now. Laminitus began giving orders to the regional knights behind her.
“Move the civilians to the east gate, with priority on the injured! If anyone wants to flee to the capital, let them. We don’t have any soldiers to escort them and help with evacuation. Everyone else, guard this place with your lives!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“You’re gonna fight that thing?!” Sylvie asked, her eyes round with surprise. “That’s the Demon Overlord after it gobbled up the whole Demon Lord’s army!”
“It doesn’t matter who the enemy is...six of the eight barrier towers are either intact or repairable. If it’s just two towers, we can set up temporary ones within three days. The Mage’s Association’s central power is intact as well. We can’t afford to lose Faltra if we’re to protect the territories of the races! If this town is broken through, the Fallen will be free to attack the other cities even without the Demon Overlord. Can you guarantee there are no Fallen left in the rear guard?”
“Mmm... There probably are, to be fair.” There were probably some cautious Fallen that hadn’t stepped to the forefront, biding their time.
Adventurers and soldiers stood to defend the city. As the regional knights ran to and fro in a panic, someone else ran over to them.
“Rose, Edelgard!” Shera waved at them.
†
“Rose apologizes earnestly.” Rose bowed her head deeply in front of Diablo. “Master, punish Rose however Master sees fit. To think Rose would sleep slothfully while Master is engaged in mortal combat...”
“It’s fine, you needed that rest. What about Sasara?”
“Rose could not rouse her despite Rose’s best efforts.”
Is she for real?!
An awkward atmosphere fell over them. Even during a fight for the survival of the races, bedtime was bedtime? Really?!
It was then Diablo had considered something: God’s chosen High Priest, Lumachina, had a unique penalty that didn’t allow her to use her healing miracles on herself. So maybe...
“No, I doubt it... Well, I guess there’s no point in forcing her awake. A sword is only sharp if you maintain it well-whetted. If she needs that sleep, let her.”
“As Master wis
hes.”
On the other hand, Edelgard gazed at the Demon Lord’s castle with mixed feelings.
“What is it?”
“Many, friends...” the Fallen girl groaned at Klem’s question. “All gone...”
“Ah, right. You were one of the Demon Lord’s castle’s Fallen, too, originally.”
“Yes... But... Eeeh... Mmm...” Edelgard seemed to be searching for the words. She was always bad at talking, so no one rushed her, until eventually a single word escaped her lips.
“Regret?”
“Yes...that’s right.” Klem closed her eyes at Edelgard’s whisper, and the both of them fell quiet for a moment.
But then Klem clapped her hands with enthusiasm. “All right! Enough with the chitchat. Diablo. You have to decide! What do you intend to do?!”
Diablo looked over everyone present. His gaze passed over Shera, Klem, Edelgard, Rose, Sylvie, Laminitus...then settled on the Demon Lord’s castle.
Rem.
“It’s obvious! I’ll go and take back what is rightfully mine! Modinaram desires to face me one last time as well.”
Klem smirked. “Words worthy of this Demon Lord’s master. That thing will stop if you destroy its core, anyway. Go and finish it off!”
“You’re not going, Klem?” Shera tilted her head curiously. “Weren’t we going to save Rem together?”
“I’ll go alone.”
Diablo realized Modinaram’s strength well enough. In all likelihood, the Physical Restrictor didn’t have any effect within the castle’s bounds, since the Customize Bomb’s light didn’t reach it. If a fight broke out like earlier, Diablo couldn’t guarantee he’d be able to protect those around him.
“Physical attacks are weakened in the area right now.” Diablo pointed up. “If there are any people who use spears or swords, enchant them so they do magical damage.”
In fact, had Modinaram realized this, Diablo may have had to come up with another strategy. But it seemed Modinaram’s strength was so high it never bothered to think any deeper.
“That’s crazy, Diablo! Most soldiers and adventurers rely on physical attacks.” Sylvie frowned. “And you say ‘enchant their weapons’... I can only manage just a few at once, you know!”
“Hmm.”
Diablo hadn’t planned for that. He never did check too deeply about how magic enchantment worked in this world. He never had much of a reason to care, since his Demon Lord’s Ring would reflect any enchantments applied to him. But this was a problem. With most of their fighting forces weakened like this, would the troops of Faltra be able to stave off the black serpents?
How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Volume 9 Page 12