Chapter 348: The battlefield expands as expected

Every time the air shook, the civil officials who were not accustomed to battle… and even the city guards and knights who were, trembled, their faces pale. Many of the maids and servants were on the brink of fainting in fear.

“W-who is that?! Has an evil god been resurrected?!” King Corbitt screamed hysterically.

The one he was referring to as ‘that’ was Rikudou Hijiri, who was in the sky above the castle, with an appearance that was clearly inhuman at a glance.

His three-meter-tall body was jet-black like ebony, and he had produced human-like noses all over his body, from which he was firing air cannons – which had later been replaced by semi-spherical masses of flesh that deflected his enemies’ attacks.

Even from afar, light-attribute magic could be used to create an enlarged image to view, and there was no hiding his bizarre and grotesque appearance.

“I-I do not know. But there is no mistake that the ones fighting them are Vandalieu Zakkart and the Five-colored Blades!” one of the knights said.

“That much I know, you fool!” King Corbitt shouted. “… My apologies. I lost my mind for a moment,” he said, coming back to his senses and regaining his composure.

Losing his mind and screaming would serve no purpose other than to cause his soldiers to lose hope and morale, and increase the fear in his civil officials and servants.

“That girl behind Vandalieu is likely one of his companions or familiars. And it is good that the Five-colored Blades have come. Things are fine for the time being,” King Corbitt said.

It was understandable that the Five-colored Blades had showed up, albeit somewhat late, but there were still various questions that were still unanswered – Why had Vandalieu and his companions showed up immediately? And come to think of it, where had the large horde of mice that had run rampant in the castle gone? But there was no time to worry about such things, as there was a battle taking place above their heads.

“But what is that? What is it after?” King Corbitt murmured.

The problem was the black giant, Rikudou Hijiri. To King Corbitt and his servants, he was the greatest threat, and his intentions were of utmost importance.

“Your Majesty, that is an evil god who was so dangerous that he was sealed away without any record of even his name being made. An evil god who was destined to be destroyed one day,” said Prime Minister Tercatanis – or rather, Isla, who was disguised as him – steering the conversation into a convenient direction.

“What?! You were aware of this, Prime Minister?!”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The fragments of the Demon King that I had gathered from the churches had an encrypted message written on them. It said that an evil god who is after the Demon King fragments was sealed away tens of thousands of years ago. His name is…”

Just as Isla was about to say ‘Rikudou Hijiri,’ she realized that this was a strange name for a god.

Perhaps it would have been fine to say ‘Rikudou Hijiri.’ After all, evil gods all had strange names.

But Isla found herself choosing not to do that. “His name is ‘Dark Avalon,’ Your Highness,” she said.

She had used the name that Rikudou had used for himself as a god in Origin, combined with a simple adjective describing the most prominent feature of his appearance in this world.

“Dark Avalon… A strange name, but he does seem to be a fearsome god. Even from this distance, I feel his terrifying presence,” said King Corbitt.

The mages of the royal court and the knights agreed.

“Yes, even though we are just standing here, I can feel a dreadful Mana… As if death itself has taken a humanoid form,” one of them said.

They couldn’t be blamed for feeling this way. After all, Rikudou… Dark Avalon, was a powerful being to them.

However, it seemed that they had mistaken the fear and dread they felt for Vandalieu as fear for Dark Avalon as well.

“We, too, must act at once!” said one of the Six Phalanxes of Orbaume.

The Six Phalanxes of Orbaume were the Orbaume Kingdom’s prided elite force. They were the most powerful soldiers in Orbaume, equivalent to the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords of the Amid Empire. Naturally, they were each as capable as an A-class adventurer, and they had a strong will to protect their nation.

Although Vandalieu was famous for various things as the ‘Genius Tamer,’ he was still the son of an honorary noble who did not serve the crown directly, and although the Five-colored Blades were honorary nobles as well, they were adventurers by profession. Leaving the battle entirely up to them… above the royal castle, no less, would dishonor the name of the Six Phalanxes of Orbaume.

It was only natural that they would want to join the battle as well.

“Indeed. All members of the Six Phalanxes of Orbaume–” King Corbitt began, believing that the situation would undoubtedly be resolved more quickly if they were to join the battle.

“Wait!” Marshal Dolmad shouted, interrupting his orders. “I understand how they feel, but we must first secure your safety, Your Highness!”

The battle was so fierce that each exchange of blows taking place in the sky caused the air to tremble as the shockwaves reached ground level. The castle’s grounds were far from safe; it was a danger zone and there was no telling when a stray projectile would come flying this way. The only reason they were even able to have this conversation was because Vandalieu and Gufadgarn were taking care to ensure that no damage was inflicted at ground level.

“First, you need to be evacuated, Your Majesty, and the Six Phalanxes of Orbaume must protect you while you evacuate. They can assist with the battle after that,” advised Isla, still disguised as Prime Minister Tercatanis.

The safety of King Corbitt and his servants was not of absolute importance to her, but they were a hindrance to Vandalieu as long as they stayed here.

The Six Phalanxes of Orbaume still looked like they wished to join the battle, despite the counsel of the marshal and the prime minister, but they came to their senses when they looked at the non-combatants – the civil officials and servants.

“Very well. But… what should we do about that thing?!” one of the Six Phalanxes of Orbaume said, pointing at the window of Prime Minister Tercatanis’s office.

A Demon King Familiar resembling an enormous brain was sticking its head out of the window, firing beams of light at Dark Avalon. Kanako was performing the task of replacing its eyeball with a new one after each fired beam, as the recoil destroyed the eyeball in the firing process.

“No matter how I look at it, it can only be described as a monstrosity, but…”

“But it’s been attacking Dark Avalon this whole time. Prime Minister, could that thing be an acquaintance of yours?”

In Prime Minister Tercatanis’s form, Isla stared into the distance for a moment, exasperated by the Demon King Familiar and Kanako’s unplanned participation.

But escaping reality wouldn’t achieve anything, so she immediately came up with an explanation. “That’s… another of Vandalieu Zakkart’s familiars, I would assume.”

She couldn’t tell them that it was a split entity of Vandalieu that he had created using fragments of the Demon King. In the Orbaume Kingdom, Vandalieu was considered to be human.

“A familiar?! That abhorrent, brain-like monster?!” King Corbitt exclaimed.

“We do not have any information on it, but… no, it may have been registered this morning,” Isla said.

Vandalieu’s registering of numerous familiars that had never been seen before, including plant-type monsters, Undead, and even bug-type monsters, had caught the eye of the authorities in charge of public order in the Orbaume Kingdom.

This was only natural; even though the familiars had been approved by the Tamers’ Guild, they had a sense of duty in the fact that it was them who would have to deal with the familiars if they ran out of control. Thus, they had been gathering information regarding Vandalieu’s familiars.

However, they had no information on Vandalieu’s Demon King Familiars. Still, with the words of the prime minister, who was more trustworthy to them than the Tamers’ Guild, and given Vandalieu’s past behavior and the strangeness of his other familiars, they seemed to have decided that it wouldn’t be unexpected for him to have a familiar like this.

“If I recall, the one next to the monstrosity who is replacing the monster’s eyeballs for it to fire beams of light is the Dark Elf bard, the so-called ‘idol’ who has gained popularity in the Alcrem Duchy,” King Corbitt said.

“Yes. She aided me in evacuating the castle,” said Isla.

“Hmm, I do not know why she was in the castle to begin with, but… I shall have you report things with the appropriate details later, Prime Minister,” King Corbitt said. “Everyone, let us withdraw to a safer place!”

At his command, they began evacuating towards the upper-class nobles’ district once more. The Six Phalanxes of Orbaume and the knights who had been chosen as potential heroes followed after them.

Rubicante and the other gods who had granted these knights divine protections wished for them to join the battle and support Heinz and his companions, but they were knights, and the orders of their lord were absolute. And so, they obediently withdrew from the battlefield.

However, before they could leave the castle grounds, Rikudou – now named ‘Dark Avalon’ – made a new move.

Rewinding time a little – The three-way battle between Vandalieu’s group, the Five-colored Blades, and Rikudou was continuing at a dizzying pace.

Vandalieu was prioritizing attacking Rikudou, but he was also actively attempting to kill Heinz, Edgar, or Delizah whenever he had the chance. However, because he was preventing Rikudou’s attacks from causing damage at ground level, he couldn’t fight as freely as he would have liked.

Heinz and his party needed to be wary of both Rikudou and Vandalieu. Thus, Heinz couldn’t use his trump card – ‘Heroic God Descent’ – as he was still unable to use it for long periods of time.

Rikudou was faced with powerful enemies in Vandalieu and the Five-colored Blades, and he was fighting with his brain thinking at a frantic pace.

“That holy sword is quite troublesome,” said Vandalieu.

“That sword that withstood your ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ huh,” said Fidirg.

“To be more accurate, it isn’t just the holy sword,” Vandalieu said.

The ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ would likely have killed Heinz unless he used ‘Heroic God Descent,’ even with the holy sword that he had inherited from Bellwood, if he had been its only target.

The fact that this hadn’t happened was because, if one considered just the outcome, Rikudou had ended up helping Heinz. His ‘Magic Absorption Shield,’ combined with ‘Double Power,’ had blocked the remainder of Vandalieu’s attack that Heinz had been unable to block.

If Heinz were to die immediately, Rikudou would find himself in trouble as well, so he was forcing his help on Heinz whether he wanted it or not. But even so, perhaps this was a rare moment of cooperation between Demon King and champion.

“Then the holy sword isn’t all that big a deal, is it?” Fidirg asked.

“It is. It can cut through fragments of the Demon King with ease, and it easily deflects ‘Death Bullets’ and ‘Hollow Bullets.’ It seems to struggle to some extent with ‘Death Cannon’ and ‘Hollow Cannon,’ but it’s still the sword that defeated Guduranis,” said Vandalieu.

The holy sword that Heinz had inherited from Bellwood was in another dimension compared to holy swords that had been mass-produced, like Nemesis Bell. Heinz’s own skill was part of it, but it had far superior anti-Demon-King-fragment and anti-magic properties compared to ordinary Orichalcum swords.

Even as Vandalieu and Fidirg were having this conversation, Heinz was deflecting Vandalieu’s ‘Death Bullets’ and Demon King fragment projectiles, and cutting the threads that he had sent flying with the wind to prevent them from wrapping themselves around Jennifer and Diana. And at the same time, he was helping Edgar and Delizah attack Rikudou.

Given that he was able to do all this without even summoning Bellwood onto himself, he could only be described as troublesome.

“Great Vandalieu, how about executing the plan with the fake Martina?” Gufadgarn suggested.

Vandalieu and his companions had created a plan involving the use of the corpse of Martina, a former member of the Five-colored Blades, to inflict psychological damage to Heinz and his party – though Vandalieu didn’t think this would amount to any more than a little harassment.

But if he showed them Jane Doe, the aggregate of Ghosts who shared Martina’s face, it was possible that they might lose their composure.

“No, it’s a plan that will only work once. I won’t use it here,” said Vandalieu.

Of course, he hadn’t been driven into a corner yet. In fact, as things were, Heinz… and Rikudou, were the ones who were in a corner, having learned first-hand that they couldn’t block Vandalieu’s ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ without working together.

That was even more true given that Heinz and his companions, despite being attacked by Vandalieu, were prioritizing attacking Rikudou rather than retaliating against Vandalieu.

“The ‘Five-colored Blades’ came, just as I expected, but I cannot welcome any more guests. And Vandalieu, it seems that you’re having quite the easy time?!” shouted Rikudou, bringing out one of his trump cards.

‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’… Blocking it completely on my own is impossible. If I block it with all my strength, I can get away with just minor damage, but… knowing him, he might fire a second ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ while I’m still blocking the first. He’ll probably gloat that just because it’s his most deadly attack doesn’t mean he can’t fire it consecutively. If I don’t interrupt Vandalieu’s focus and create an opportunity, my soul will be devoured along with those of the Five-colored Blades! he thought, trying to keep his discomposure from becoming visible.

“W-what are you planning to do?!” Heinz demanded.

“This,” Rikudou smirked.

He manipulated the Dungeon that he had created. The city of Orbaume was enveloped in a vast quantity of Mana and a sinister presence that was even vaster.

Space warped as enormous gates appeared here and there, and a variety of monsters roared and screeched as they poured out from within. The royal castle was at the center of Orbaume, and from the sky above it, hundreds of monsters could be seen – perhaps even a thousand.

“I’ve created new entrances to my Dungeon all over the city! You knew that I could manipulate the entrance of my Dungeon, so you should have seen this coming!” Rikudou said.

“H-how could you do this?!” Heinz gasped.

“Damn it!” Edgar cursed. “At this rate, the city of Orbaume… even Selen…!”

Rikudou laughed triumphantly as he watched Heinz and his companions lose their composure. “There’s no time to be flustered! Now then, what are you going to do, Vandalieu?!”

From beneath them came the echoes of the dying screams of countless monsters.

“I-impossible! That’s too fast!” Rikudou uttered, looking completely astonished.

“The monsters are falling one after another?! At this rate…!” murmured Heinz, hope returning to his expression.

“‘Transcend Limits’… ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ rapid fire,” Vandalieu muttered.

The second ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ he had fired today was aimed at Heinz.

With Dungeon entrances suddenly appearing in gardens, roads, and plazas, the people living in the capital of the Orbaume Kingdom were in a state of panic.

Fearsome monsters appearing from within, and thousands of lives being lost as people froze in fear and shock, unable to escape – such a scenario was certainly possible.

A monster resembling an enormous monkey poked its head out from the Dungeon entrance. The moment it did–

“Light Flash Sweep!” Hendricksen roared, severing its head with the tip of its spear.

Its severed head bared its fangs and screeched as it fell, but its headless body tried to continue its rampage, flailing its four long arms about, as well as its tail, which had a mouth with sharp teeth on the end. But Hendricksen and his companions swiftly neutralized the headless body as well.

Monsters trying to emerge from the other Dungeon entrances were also being killed thoroughly by the other potential heroes who were waiting for them.

“This place is dangerous, run!” Hendricksen, who was also known as the ‘Scion of the Holy Spear,’ shouted in warning to a nearby woman.

“O-okay!” the woman said, her cheeks turning slightly pink as she tried to run… but she quickly stopped as she realized that there was another monster-filled gate in that direction as well.

“Damn it. Where’s a safe place?!” cursed Hendricksen, realizing that as well and looking around indecisively.

He and his companions hadn’t foreseen this situation. They had been about to enter the nobles’ district from the commercial district on their way to the castle when they heard thundering noises that shook the air coming from the castle’s direction.

The people had been frightened, not knowing what was going on, and in order to prevent panic from taking over, Hendricksen and his companions had revealed their identities to them and helped them calm down. While they were doing that, an ominous sound had come out of empty space.

Borzofoy, an exceptionally skilled space-attribute mage, had shouted in warning: “Something, a countless number of things, is trying to appear!”

The moment the numerous gates materialized, Miriam had begun giving orders. “Monsters will appear from the other side of those gates! Those who can fight, prepare yourselves! Those who can’t, please get away!”

The potential heroes had swiftly spread out and engaged the monsters near the gates. And Hendricksen had defeated the monsters from one of those gates.

But that was all. They didn’t know what the gates were, why they had appeared, or how many had appeared in which locations. All they knew was that the monsters coming from inside them were powerful.

I don’t know the race of that monkey monster, but its Rank was 7… no, at least 8. If I didn’t catch it by surprise, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat it so easily. From the looks of it, it seems that some of the monsters are weak Rank 4 or 5 monsters, but ordinary buildings won’t work as shelters at all! Hendricksen thought.

To Rank 7 monsters, buildings that weren’t fortresses or castles were nothing more than flimsy structures waiting to be turned into rubble.

With the situation being like this, we have no choice but to protect the people and lead them to safety ourselves, Hendricksen thought.

But a moment later, he heard orders from Miriam once more.

“The best place to go from here… Please head for the Hero Preparatory School! There’s a shelter at the Hero Preparatory School!”

“The Hero Preparatory School?!” Hendricksen repeated in disbelief.

“Yes, the Dungeon that’s managed by the Hero Preparatory School. It’s safer in there than in Orbaume right now!” Miriam said.

“E-evacuating into a Dungeon?! That’s ridiculous… Wait, I guess that really is safer, though?” one of the potential heroes said.

“It has only one entrance, and the walls and ceiling won’t collapse after they take shelter inside,” said another. “And the deepest floor of the Hero Preparatory School’s Dungeon doesn’t have any powerful monsters.”

The civilians would be evacuated into the Dungeon. To Hendricksen and his companions, it was an unthinkable idea, but when they thought about it a little more, it seemed like a very good one – especially in this extraordinarily dangerous situation, where countless gates had materialized all over the city and formidable monsters that only B-class or A-class adventurers could defeat were emerging from them one after another.

“Alright, we’ll stop the monsters near the gate! City guards, please evacuate the people to the Hero Preparatory School!” Hendricksen shouted.

The city guards had frozen in fear, overwhelmed by the presence of the monsters. They came back to their senses as Hendricksen gave them orders, but they looked confused and weren’t able to move immediately. Although Hendricksen was known as the ‘Adventuring Knight’ and the ‘Scion of the Holy Spear,’ they were unable to immediately decide whether they should be obeying orders from an adventurer, given that they had been tasked with guarding the entrance of the nobles’ district.

The monsters didn’t wait for the city guards to make a decision. With a deafening roar, a monster resembling a lion with blue-black fur and a pair of membranous wings on its back appeared from the nearest gate. It was a monster that Hendricksen had never seen before, but it was clearly more powerful than the monkey monster that he had defeated earlier.

But an equally fearsome roar came from Arthur, the swordsman of the Heart Warrior Brigade who had recently come to be known as the ‘Terrifying Swordsman,’ as he charged towards the monster.

Intimidated and frightened by his ‘Scream’ Skill, the blue lion stepped back and howled as Arthur’s two-handed sword fell upon it.

“‘Thundering Sword Strike!’” Arthur bellowed as his sword, with the power of his awakened superior Skill, split the blue lion’s skull in two. “Leave this place to us! Go, quickly!” he said to the city guards, his face stained by the monster’s blue-black blood.

“Y-yes, sir!” one of them responded, half-screaming in terror.

“A-alright! Everyone, the Hero Preparatory School! Run towards the Hero Preparatory School!” shouted another.

The city guards began running immediately. With her face as pale as ash, the woman that Hendricksen had saved earlier ran after them as well.

“It seems like they felt a sense of duty and wished to stay here and fight alongside us, but I am glad that they trusted us enough to leave this place in our hands,” Arthur said.

“… Are you talking about those city guards? I think they moved because they were overwhelmed by your presence,” said Hendricksen.

“You’re right. But, well, that’s the kind of person he is,” said Miriam with a nod as she nimbly nocked an arrow into her bowstring and fired, piercing a monster that had poked its face out from the gate.

She had already transformed, and although she was a girl in her mid-teenage years, she looked dignified and dependable as a commander. People were calling her ‘Brigade Commander’ these days. She had split the potential heroes and their companions among all the gates within visible distance, then ordered those left over to warn everyone to evacuate, rescue those who were in trouble, and guard the people as they evacuated.

She was worthy of being praised as a great hero or a saint who protected the people… despite her rather dark background.

“So, what should I do after this? Orbaume is so big that we can’t cover all of it, you know?” Miriam said.

“Don’t worry. Natania and Simon have gone off on their own, and I’ve got everyone here as well. Still, you are doing very well as a commander,” remarked the split entity of Vandalieu, who had descended upon Miriam’s body with her ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall’ Skill.

“The only new Jobs that appeared for me were ‘Holy Bow Princess’ and ‘Commander!’ I’m begging you, please stop Zadiris’s curse!” Miriam pleaded.

In truth, she hadn’t taken command all on her own. But because nobody around her could hear the voice of Vandalieu’s split entity… Miriam’s reputation improved even further.