Lily was shocked by what 2V said.
“What was originally in that VPS?”
“That’s right.” 2V grinned a sickly grin.
“What is it?! You used Megis’s VPS! Some of the people behind Project Birdcage were Megis clerics. Do they know what it is?” Lily spoke quickly, but 2V held up a hand to stop her.
“The clerics didn’t know. It’s from a long, long time ago. No, it’s better to say that the documents themselves were hidden very deep, so that it could be forgotten. And there they were abandoned.”
“So... what is it that’s down there?” Lily asked.
2V giggled.
“Heheh... I should’ve just come out and told you. It was the first Demon King.”
“What... did you say?” Lily gasped.
“It’s down there? You’re kidding me! That’s so dangerous...”
“That’s why they trapped it in VPS. People were no different then than they are now. And I’ve told it to wake up. Now it’s inside the game, in the form of a monster. That’s what I did when I reprogrammed the game.”
“Is that why you hacked it?”
“There’s a monster inside the game that doesn’t play by the rules. If it kills you, I bet you die in real life too.” 2V laughed.
“Tch! How could you do that?” Lily quickly opened her own mana screen, and opened the game’s message board. Any message she sent here could be seen inside the game.
“I’ve cut off the inside from getting messages. You can’t use the message board anymore.”
“So they’ll have to deal with it themselves...” Lily bit her lip.
“They’ll solve it in the next few days, from their perception of time. For us, that’s just a few hours. Why don’t we just wait? We can see what’s going on inside the game from here. I can’t wait to see who wins in the end...” 2V grinned.
4 - A Relatively Great War
The view from the castle terrace wasn’t bad. It was mostly jungles and mountains, but the sky was so clear that you had a great view of the surrounding nature — or rather, something made to look like nature — and it relaxed the mind to look at it.
Akuto stood on the terrace, a wine glass in his hand.
“You know... being the last boss of a video game is pretty boring.”
“You don’t think about that when you play the game, though,” Keena said. She was standing next to him eating rice. It was very strange to see someone holding chopsticks and a rice bowl in a European-style castle.
Since they couldn’t access the outside, the only things they had to look at were the game’s manual and in-game information. Once he’d read all that, since Akuto couldn’t program, there was nothing for him to do.
“We know the Grail is deep inside the castle now too,” Akuto sighed. He’d confirmed that the game’s last goal, the Grail, was safely at the bottom of his castle. When he’d picked it up, nothing had happened. It was probably a goal for the players. Which meant that if he was defeated, and somebody grabbed it, the game was over. Not, of course, that Akuto would have minded.
“But somebody’s changing the story, right?” Keena asked.
“It’s clear that there’s a multitude of factors at work. But until we know what they are, it’s better not to do anything. ...By the way, where’d you get that rice?”
“It was right over there. Castles are great, huh? There’s rice whenever you want it. There’s probably a lot of invisible maids or something.”
“How come we don’t run into them when we’re walking in the hallways, then?”
“They’re fast, and they get out of our way, maybe.”
“Fast, invisible maids. I don’t think I like that idea...” Akuto chuckled. Then he heard a voice from behind.
“Demon King, Demon General Korone is here to report.”
He turned around and saw Korone kneeling.
“Can you cut it with the act?”
“No. Ending this game is the key to escaping this world.”
“But still... Anyway, what’s up?”
“Two things. One, it seems the program has been altered from the outside, slightly.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Yes. But only the wills and actions of the people inside a VPS are capable of altering it. The only changes that can be made from the outside are extremely minor... adding additional enemies, for instance. We don’t know what will happen, however. Be careful around any enemies that aren’t in the manual.”
It seemed like there were a lot of things to worry about.
“It might be dangerous if one of them kills us, right?” Akuto confirmed with a nod.
“Correct, so be careful. And one more thing. While I was wiping out the survivors, I received word that the enemy is gathering.”
“Gathering?”
“Yes. They’d split up to raise their levels and wait for a chance to attack. Their plan was to raise armies when the time came and bring them to our castle to defeat you.”
“That’s good news. It means the game’s almost over.” Akuto looked relieved.
“No, we need to end the game by murdering them all.”
“...If you want to do that, go for it. I’m sure they all hate me now, anyway.”
“I will head for a fortress between us and them, then. ...Look. They’ve started to move.” Korone pointed out over the terrace.
Akuto turned and saw a single smoke signal rising out of the jungle.
“Oh, smoke!” Keena shouted innocently.
Identical signals began to rise up all over the jungle.
“There’s more of them left than I thought.”
“Don’t worry. There’s only around 30 of them left. And each of them only has 10,000 soldiers. I will take our forces, and with my army of 200,000, I shall wait at Fort Korone to crush them!”
“When did you make that...?” Akuto sighed, but at least Korone was working to get them out of this mess. He nodded. It was safe to trust her.
“Off I go to battle, then. Enjoy your dancing and music, my liege. The invisible maids will see to your needs,” Korone said.
“Dancing and music, huh?” Akuto sighed, but Keena interrupted.
“Dancing and music! That’s right! Those are important things to do at a castle! There’s so few people here that I’d forgotten!” Keena’s eyes were shining.
“Farewell, then.” Korone left.
And then music began to play from the floor.
“Huh?”
“Wow! Come on, Ackie! Let’s dance!” Keena grabbed Akuto by the hand.
○
Yoshihiko nodded when he saw the smoke signals rise.
“Oh dear. Looks like everybody’s leveled up and started their attack on the Demon King’s castle,” he said.
Junko nodded with a bitter expression. The octopus beast creature was still in front of them, stomping northwards.
“They haven’t seen that monster, huh?”
The monster was several dozen meters tall. It was easily visible from a distance, but not from elsewhere in the world.
“Even if they did see it, most of them aren’t going to realize it wasn’t originally in the game... I guess we’ll have to defeat it,” Yoshihiko said as he looked at Junko and Keisu.
Junko was hesitant, but Keisu nodded strongly.
“I think we should defeat it. That’s the Demon King... or it might be. If it gets the Grail, something bad will happen.”
“The Grail is in the Demon King’s castle... in the game, at least. And that’s where that monster is heading. To make things worse, we lost contact with the outside when it appeared.” Yoshihiko checked the message board again by calling a screen up in the air.
And then he nodded.
“If we can stop this thing somehow, we have to try. Let’s hurry. We’re very far from the Demon King’s castle.” Yoshihiko started to walk after the octopus monster.
“By the way, what happens if the Demon King gets the Grail?” Junko asked Keisu.
<
br /> Her response was terrifying.
“The Demon King will become complete,” Keisu said casually.
○
“The time has come for us to show them our power!” Fujiko shouted to the crowd. The female students, as well as the NPC armies they commanded, let out a cheer. The armies were all composed entirely of women as well.
“That’s...”
“Fujiko Eto’s Amazon Army!”
Leading the charge towards the Demon King’s Castle was Fujiko on her Cerberus, holding a giant banner with her last name emblazoned on it. Fujiko and several of the female students had formed an alliance, which had managed to become the most powerful of the student groups, primarily by preying on the male students.
The whole thing had started when one of the boys had tried to sneak into the girls’ tent. The boy had figured that since it was a game, it wouldn’t be a problem if he went peeping. The girls disagreed, violently.
In order to keep the fight from getting out of hand, Fujiko had suggested they split into groups. Fujiko was well-respected, and everywhere she went, more girls joined her. But as more girls became a part of the group, their ideology became more strident. Since it was a game, they decided, it was okay to kill any boys that got in their way.
Of course, Fujiko had worked behind the scenes to ensure this outcome. She was the one who’d first realized that you could get loads of XP by killing a fellow player. She’d subtly hinted that the way to make the rest of the group stronger was to go boy-hunting.
“Fujiko’s so nice...”
“If it weren’t for those girls around her...”
Even the surviving boys felt that way, a testament to Fujiko’s skill at being evil.
Now the surviving players were starting to gather around Fujiko’s 70,000 strong army. Every mile they traveled, more students came out of hiding to join them, all with their own NPC armies in tow. By the time there was no one else to meet up with, an army of 320,000 was charging down the path.
Their destination was Fort Korone: a fortress built at a chokepoint where the road narrowed. There were high cliffs on either side of the path, making it resemble a huge, dried-up riverbed. The cliffs were at least a few dozen meters high, so the only thing you could do if you climbed up them was rain boulders down on an enemy. If they wanted to take down the fortress, they’d have to do it from the front.
“It’s time.”
The students’ excited murmurs rose to the sky. As they approached the cliffs, their horses and riders and the sound of their hooves turned into a black flood that seemed to sweep down the dried riverbed. The flood was heading towards a huge wall which stood at the end like a dam. And at the top of the wall was the flag of the Demon King.
“It’s the Demon King’s army!”
“They’re not leaving their fort!”
“Bring the battering rams! If we can break down their gate we’ve as good as won!”
The army kept charging forward without slowing down. The only one who slowed down was Fujiko.
—Heheh. When the time is right, I’ll offer up all these XP-fattened students to Akuto. It’s the perfect plan! And when it’s all over, I’ll offer up my own body to him... Oh! How happy I’ll be to let Akuto kill me! Just thinking about it makes me feel all naughty!
When she was done fantasizing, she fell back further in the army’s ranks to conceal herself. Then she surrounded herself with other female students to feel safer. It was a cowardly thing to do, but amazingly enough, she was so natural about it that no one suspected a thing.
The student who’d taken the lead from Fujiko had reached the fort. He and his army had a battering ram at the ready, but suddenly a rain of arrows fell down on them. Korone’s orcs, who had been hiding on top of the fortress, had waited for just the right moment to begin their attack.
“Uwaah!”
The battering ram’s bearers fell to the ground. The rain of arrows was the signal that a fierce attack was about to begin. The soldiers at the vanguard held their shields above their heads as they clung to the wall, desperately setting up ladders against it. And then the soldiers behind them started to climb.
More arrows rained down. The soldiers on the ladders became arrow pincushions as they fell down on the ones beneath them.
But the soldiers kept holding their shields and climbing upwards. More ladders were placed up against the fortress wall, dividing the spots where the archers stood. The soldiers began to get further and further up the ladder.
“Now! The battering rams!” one of the students screamed. A huge battering ram made from a giant log with wheels was drawn up to the fortress gate and slammed against it. The whole gate shook.
Some of the archers on the walls started to fire at the ram, which meant fewer arrows going to the men on the ladders. The first soldier reached the top of the wall just when the battering ram busted through the gate.
“Now! Charge!” someone yelled, sure that the tide had turned. The other soldiers screamed as they swarmed the gate. The soldiers on top of the wall drew their swords to attack the orc archers, even further decreasing the number of falling arrows.
The soldiers who made it through the gate charged into a horde of goblin spearmen that was waiting for them on the other side. The Demon King’s army made a new wall with spears and shields, but this time there were only a few hundred of them. They could stab the soldiers at the front, but they couldn’t stop the onrushing wave of soldiers.
The center of their line was broken and the goblin spearmen began to shatter. When the rain of arrows stopped, the cavalry swept in, killing the goblin spearmen one after another with their bows and arrows.
“We can win this!”
Cries came up from all over as the students began to become sure of their victory.
But there was one of them who wasn’t sure. It was Fujiko, who was still standing in the back and watching the whole thing.
—This doesn’t make sense. Korone should be leading the troops. But I don’t see her. And there’s only 20,000 soldiers here... There’s not a lot of room for an army in this fort, but it’s safe to assume she’s hiding her forces in reserve somewhere...
Fujiko’s goal was to give Akuto her experience points, so she wanted to avoid letting Korone wipe them out. And honestly, if she got the chance, she wanted to kill Korone herself.
—But the only place to hide any forces is above the cliffs.
Fujiko looked upwards. The tallest of the cliffs was a hundred meters high, and most were a few dozen meters. You could drop rocks down below, if you wanted, but there was no sign that Korone had gathered that many rocks. And you couldn’t drop a rock big enough to close the pass entirely, so an army could just ignore you and keep going. Anyway, if dropping rocks was Korone’s goal, she would’ve done it when they were trying to batter down the gate.
—If she wants to attack our army, she’d want to do it when our forces are stretched out in a line as we pass through the gate. But there’s no sign of her hiding anywhere...
Just as Fujiko had that thought, it happened.
“Gwahahaha! We meet again! Demon General Korone has arrived!” Korone’s voice echoed through the canyon from above the cliffs. She must have been waiting for the army to stretch out as it passed through the broken gate.
“Don’t worry! She can’t hit us with arrows from that distance!”
“Just run! She can’t have that many rocks!”
The male students yelled things like that. which was the same thing Fujiko had thought.
—But she’s got to have more up her sleeve...
Fujiko ordered the female students to stay back. And then Korone took action.
“Everyone’s gonna die!” she screamed as she ordered her army to charge. Goblins and orcs began to leap off the cliffs.
“What?!”
The students below gasped. There was no flying in this world, which meant that the orcs were going to fall.
“Advance! Advance!” But Korone expressionle
ssly ordered them to advance. More and more of them began to leap.
“Wh...What’s going on?”
No one could say anything. But Fujiko alone knew what they were planning.
“We’ve lost this war. No... if we don’t want to lose, we need to close the gate!”
Fujiko ordered the female students to stay back. The female students were still on the other side of the wall, but they began to close the gate they’d worked so hard to open. They began to take the ladders down too.
“Wh-What are you doing?” the male students panicked. But they didn’t have time to pay attention to the gate. “Wh-What’s happening?”
Their eyes went wide in shock. There were corpses piling up in front of the cliffs. Of course, the corpses belonged to the enemy army’s orcs. And now, Korone’s best troops were racing down the slopes formed by their bodies.
“This can’t be happening!” the male students screamed as they began to run.
It was the sort of plan that a human being might have thought twice about. No, maybe you could do it in a video game. But in a game this real, only someone like Korone could form a plan like this.
“Take their heads! No prisoners!”
Korone’s ace troops tore a swath through the students’ armies. Their overstretched line was cut into tiny pieces, and the isolated troops were easily surrounded and defeated. Korone’s strategy was to aim directly for the commanders. The game rules said that when a commander died, his troops would instantly disappear.
A single ray blast from Korone wiped out several thousand soldiers. The male students beyond the gate had no choice but to run. Korone kept attacking, mowing them down with her rays.
“Damn you, Akuto Sai... How could you make cute little Korone do something like this?”
“I guess that’s why he’s the Demon King...”
As they died, the boys never doubted for a second that Akuto had given Korone those orders.
Korone went on to wipe out everyone there. In the end, the sacrifice of a few thousand soldiers needed to build the slope had cost the enemy the lives of several tens of thousands.
“Damn you! You monster!” Fujiko shouted at the fort. Only the Amazon Army, 70,000 strong, was left.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 7 Page 10
