kscans

Chapter 140 - The Person Who Can Order the Hero and the Demon Lord

"Brother!"

Ash was shot from somewhere and went tumbling across the ground.

Seeing this, a shocked Ren rushed to his side. It was a reckless act in a place where meteors were falling, but she must have been too panicked to care.

Hayato acted in the same way.

"Ash! Ren-chan!"

He knew it was a game, but this was a virtual reality so realistic it was almost indistinguishable from the real world. Seeing a friend get shot, his reaction was only natural. Hayato shook off Esha and Diite's attempts to restrain him and ran toward the fallen Ash.

Hayato and Ren peered into Ash's face and tilted their heads.

"He seems fine...?"

"Huh? Why are you okay?"

"I'll explain later. First, let's get out of the meteor's range. I'll be fine, but it's dangerous for you and Ren."

Ash stood up as if nothing had happened, urged Hayato and Ren on, and ran out of the Meteor Swarm's effective range to where Esha and the others were.

When they returned to their original spot, Esha was aiming her Beelzebub up toward the southern cliff and firing. She spoke without looking at Hayato.

"Master, you need to be calmer... well, I suppose it would also be troubling if you were too calm in that situation."

"Um, are you complimenting me?"

"I am belittling you."

"Oh, right... Anyway, is Ash okay?"

From what Hayato had seen, Ash had been sent flying with great force. Ash was wearing a Knockback Immunity ring, so he wouldn't be sent flying by an attack with the knockback attribute.

However, there were still situations where the sheer impact of an attack could send one's body flying. When one was hit by a fast, heavy attack, for example. It didn't have the game-like effect of canceling a weapon skill like knockback did, but attacks that followed the so-called laws of physics tended to have high damage.

It likely wasn't a one-hit-kill attack like Esha's Destroy, but Ash had been fighting Agres and his HP had been reduced. If he had taken an attack with that much impact in that state, it wouldn't have been surprising if he had been defeated.

Ash smirked slightly and then pointed to his armor with his left index finger.

"I'm in a state of Physical Immunity. Meteor Swarm is flashy, but it's a physical attribute attack. Pat must have been the one who shot me, but that must have been a physical attribute attack as well."

Hayato then realized.

The Death Dragon Armor series that Ash was wearing could, at will, render him completely immune to physical attacks for one minute. Ash had been trying to use that ability to escape the range of the Meteor Swarm when it was used.

And that was when he was sniped. An attack of any other attribute would have been dangerous, but a physical attack, even if it sent him flying from the impact, would deal no damage.

"...What, I worried for nothing."

"Don't say you worried for nothing. Ren, it doesn't hurt, but please stop punching me in the side."

"There is someone aiming at us from above, so please stop relaxing and help out. My gun might turn in your direction."

Esha was still aiming up at the cliff and attacking. It was likely more to prevent the enemy from attacking than to actually hit them.

"Sorry. But what do we do? The place where Pat seems to be is much higher up the mountain, right? Isn't it too far to go from here?"

There was a considerable distance to the top of the steep cliff. To get there, they would have to climb up while going about halfway around the mountain.

"Then let's ask Maris and the others. If they're flying, they should be able to get there right away."

"They will most certainly be shot down. That is like asking to be shot."

Hayato's suggestion was shot down by Esha. A bullet from a gun traveled faster than an arrow from a bow or a bolt from a crossbow. Even for skilled tamers like Maris and her group, dodging it would be a feat of extreme difficulty.

Hayato was considering that Mist's group could perform a zombie attack when a voice chat came in from Relic.

"The Maid Chief-sama and I shall defeat the sniper above. Esha, please cease your attack so that the enemy will show their face."

"I see, Shukuchi. With that, you can get in front of them in an instant. Understood. In that case, Maid Chief, I am counting on you."

"Leave it to me. A joint operation with Relic-sama. It is no exaggeration to say that I am invincible now."

"Hah, is that so? Well, whatever. I am stopping my attack now."

Esha ceased her attack with the Beelzebub. As she did, Pat showed his face. After looking at Ash with a puzzled expression, he aimed his gun.

However, before a shot could be fired, Relic and the Maid Chief appeared in front of Pat. Showing his face had been his undoing. He had been targeted by Relic and the Maid Chief.

Pat had been looking down from the cliff, so the space in front of him was empty air, but both Relic and the Maid Chief nimbly used their hands and feet on parts of the cliff face to climb up.

A surprised Pat drew back, so Hayato and the others could no longer see him, but a battle was unfolding on the cliff top.

"It is impossible for him to win against those two, so I do not think we need to worry about it anymore. An enemy should be falling from above shortly."

"Don't say such scary things. I certainly wouldn't want to go up against Relic-san and the Maid Chief-san... Okay, next let's do something about Od, who used Meteor Swarm. But he's not up there, right? He shouldn't be able to use magic centered on Agres from that location."

Magic had a limited range. If the range were unlimited, one could attack from any distance. With that in mind, the location was all but certain. A place where one could use the Meteor Swarm spell on the area around Agres, while also being outside the range of the attack.

"There."

Ash pointed to the spot with the tip of his sword. It was a place with nothing but coppery rock, but near where Agres was, there was a spot where the rock formed a kind of roof.

Even if a meteor were to fall, this was a virtual reality. The rocks on the field would not break. It was, in a sense, a safe zone from the Meteor Swarm.

"But there's no one there."

"The Demon Summoning Research Association did something similar, didn't they? Aren't they doing the same thing?"

Hayato understood at those words.

During the Clan War, the members of the Demon Summoning Research Association had been summoning demons while invisible. He surmised that Od was also using the item "Invisible."

As long as one didn't move from that spot, their form would not be revealed even if they took some action. One could use magic to their heart's content while remaining invisible.

"But to get to that spot, you have to pass by Agres. The next meteor will be coming soon, can we make it?"

The meteors had already stopped falling, but from the situation, Od was likely already in the process of casting the next one. And Agres had already returned to its original posture and was firing a barrage of Dragon Breaths in their direction.

They didn't reach Hayato's position, but they seemed to be a check to prevent Ivan and Lunaria from getting close, and it would be difficult to get through them. Furthermore, they didn't know when the meteors would fall, so they couldn't approach carelessly. And while it was highly likely that he was in that spot, there was also the possibility that he wasn't.

"Esha, can you shoot that far?"

Esha shook her head.

"Unfortunately, it is out of range. If I get a little closer, I can reach it, but then I would be fodder for the Dragon Breath. If someone could draw Agres's attention, I might be able to manage."

"In that case, would you leave it to us?"

It was a party-wide voice chat, so Hayato's and Esha's voices were audible to everyone, but Adrian had interjected.

"Adrian-san, do you have a plan?"

"Yes, of course. We will summon a Duke-class Demon to this location. That demon can withstand the meteors, and it should be able to hold off that dragon for a few minutes."

Hayato thought it sounded like a good plan, but he also saw a problem.

In order to summon a Duke-class demon, the summoner had to sacrifice their life. Because of that, Duke-class demons were uncontrollable. There was a possibility that it would become hostile to their side.

"Will the Duke-class demon target Agres? If we have two boss characters, we'll have no choice but to retreat."

"That depends on how we do it. That dragon seems to be firing Dragon Breaths repeatedly to keep us away. If we summon it skillfully, the attack will hit the demon, and it will almost certainly attack the dragon."

"Summon it in the path of the Dragon Breath to build Hate Value?"

"That is right. This summon is not to win the battle, but merely to draw its attention, so it does not matter if it takes damage at first."

Hayato decided to bet on it. If he spent too much time thinking, they would escape. It was better to do what they could.

"Understood. Please do it. Everyone, you heard him, we're summoning a Duke-class demon. We plan to summon it in the path of the Dragon Breath, so Ivan and Lunaria-san, draw its attacks without letting it notice what you're doing."

"Aren't you asking for the impossible?"

"Hayato-san should show more respect to the Demon Lord."

"Huh? I thought it would be impossible for me, but a piece of cake for you two."

"If you put it that way, I've got to do it!"

"Hmph, easy."

"Alright, then, Adrian-san, I'm counting on you. Huh? Are you okay?"

There was no reply from Adrian, so Hayato tilted his head and then looked in Adrian's direction.

Adrian seemed to be looking at Hayato with a shocked expression, but when their eyes met, he seemed to panic.

"Ah, y-yes. Sorry. I will prepare right away."

"Yes, please."

Hayato didn't understand what he was so surprised about. But Ash and the others had dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

"Huh? What is it?"

"No, I was just thinking you're amazing, Hayato."

"Why?"

"You might have forgotten, but those two are the Hero and the Demon Lord. It's amazing enough that you would order them around, but they actually followed your orders. Who else in the world could do something like that?"

"Oh, that."

Come to think of it, those two were the strongest humanoid characters in the game. It was safe to say that there was no one who could order them around and have them obey. Whether Hayato's stock had risen or fallen depended on the person, but there was no doubt that he had earned a certain amount of respect from those around him.

I think they just followed me because I'm kind of the organizer of this battle. Oh well. I just need to focus on defeating Agres. I can't do anything myself, but I need to stay sharp.

Even if they couldn't defeat him this time, there would be other chances. But coordinating the members' schedules would be difficult. If they missed this opportunity, they wouldn't be able to fight for a week. So Hayato thought they should settle it here.

"Summoning!"

Adrian's voice was heard, and a magic circle appeared on the ground. Ivan and Lunaria fled from it. But Agres was already in its Dragon Breath motion and couldn't stop.

The Dragon Breath struck the Duke-class Demon that appeared with a laugh. Perfect timing.

The demon's laughing face instantly contorted into one of fury. It began to move toward Agres.