○
“Ackie, they’re having a war. Scary, huh?” Keena said. She was clinging to Akuto’s arms, wearing a dress, while elegant music played. From the terrace, they could see the battle at “Fort Korone” in the distance.
“Don’t worry. It’s just a game. But even if it is just a game, it still makes you think, doesn’t it? War is a sad, empty thing. All it does is cost money,” Akuto said. He was wearing a white suit as well.
“You’re right. War’s bad, isn’t it? But...” Keena turned towards a table that was loaded with fancy food. There were salted rice balls, white rice, fried rice, rice pilaf, paella, dry curry, rice cakes, and rice pudding. She was holding a glass of sweet white rice wine.
“...We sound like hypocrites, wearing these fancy clothes and eating fancy food while we say stuff like this.”
“...Yeah, but... We’re the villains here. Well, I don’t agree that the food’s good, though. How did we end up like this?” Akuto sighed. Just then, he saw that something strange had happened at the battle in the distance.
“Oh...!”
“What happened?”
“Look...” Akuto pointed to a spot beyond the battlefield. Something huge was stomping towards them from beyond the jungle. Keena screamed when she saw it.
“Kyah! A-Ackie... you need to stay away from that...” Keena was scared.
“Is that the thing Korone was talking about, that wasn’t part of the game...?”
Akuto held Keena close as he watched it. It was like a four-legged beast whose head had turned into an octopus. A horrible sight, to be sure.
“I feel a nasty aura coming from that direction. It’s kind of worrying.”
He could feel Keena’s body shake. That worried him more than anything. Keena was always relaxed and easygoing, but now she was scared.
“A nasty aura?”
“It’s like you, Ackie, but it’s different. I don’t like it...”
“Don’t worry. And don’t move from this spot,” Akuto said, and then pushed Keena away.
“No, don’t go.”
“I don’t think I have a choice. It looks like it’s heading straight for us.”
Just like he said, the monster was slowly, at a pace befitting its massive bulk, moving towards them.
“And if its aura does feel like mine, then that means I definitely have to go, right?” Akuto said. Only then did Keena seem satisfied.
“But... be careful, okay?”
“I know.” Akuto nodded and started to run.
○
“Gwahahaha! Kneel before me, Amazon Army!” Korone yelled loudly.
The gate was sealed from both sides. In the end, students had failed to break through it, and lost a significant portion of their numbers. All they had left were the 70,000 strong Amazon Army.
Fujiko didn’t have any grand ideas about bringing down Korone from the fortress walls. But if she tried to retreat, they’d be pursued and wiped out.
“What do we do?!” one of the students asked.
“I’m not sure... We could just say it’s a game and admit we lost... But that would be frustrating, wouldn’t it?” Fujiko looked upwards, as if she’d made up her mind about something. She moved forward and said, “Demon General Korone! I challenge you to a duel!”
There was no reason whatsoever for Korone to agree, but she did.
“Do you think that you, a mere human, can defeat me?” Korone opened the gate and came out alone.
“When you say that, it’s really hard to tell if you’re joking...” Fujiko whispered.
—Either way, if I want Akuto to grow, eventually I’m going to have to fight Korone for real. It’s not a bad idea to learn how she fights while I still have the chance...
Fujiko spurred her Cerberus onwards quickly. Korone was a spellcaster, so if she could get in close, she’d have the advantage from her mounted position. If she charged, she would only have to take two attacks before she reached Korone.
“Beam! Beam!” Korone fired twice, just like she thought she would. Of course, both hits landed on Fujiko.
“Gah!”
But Fujiko survived them with only a few hit points left. She swallowed enough of the healing potions she’d made to survive a melee battle, then swung out her whip at Korone.
“Did you think that the game’s rules said that melee battles were decided only by stats?” Korone raised her staff to block the whip. The whip’s end wrapped around it.
“I’m not interested in comparing stats. I want to see how you fight. In person, not with your tactics.” Fujiko pulled on the whip, freezing Korone in place. If she let go of her staff, she’d lose her weapon. Normally, the two of them would struggle to see who got the weapon.
But...
“Sorry.” Korone swung the staff and charged forward. A normal human would instinctively resist when someone tried to restrict their actions, but Korone seemed to lack those reflexes.
“Oops—” Fujiko took a hit from the staff. It was a hit from a mage, and so did little damage, but the psychological shock was immense. “As I thought, you’re incredibly decisive in combat.”
“I’ve been told that all the best human warriors have that trait. And Liradan combat programs were made to imitate all those masters, with the exception of the most bizarre ones,” Korone said calmly as she rained down a flurry of staff blows.
—Ouch... If I ever have to fight Korone in the real world, I’ll make sure to start by pinning her...
Fujiko regretted her course of action. But her pride wouldn’t let her admit defeat.
—If I can just throw down a smoke bomb and wait for another chance...
Just when Fujiko was thinking that, she heard an awful scream come from behind.
Fujiko was so focused on Korone that she was reluctant to turn around. But when Korone backed off and pointed behind her, and then she felt a shadow fall on her, she slowly turned around.
“Aah!”
There was a monster there. It had slick, moist skin, and walked on four legs, and it had the head of an octopus. And it was several dozen meters tall.
“Wh-What the heck is that?” Fujiko said in a voice like a scream, but Korone’s voice was calm.
“That monster isn’t in the game. It seems to be attacking people. For now, let’s retreat and see what happens.” Korone began to move back beyond the gate.
“Y-You’re right. It’s unfortunate that we won’t be able to finish our battle, but I suppose we don’t have a choice. Everyone, get inside the fortress!” Fujiko yelled as she began to run without waiting for any of them.
But the beast moved faster than they thought, and it caught up to the female students before they could reach the gate. It didn’t attack them, though. As it advanced, its tentacles flung out to clear away anything in its path. The female students were simply removed.
“Kyah!” They screamed as they were flung up into the air, then turned into dust and vanished.
“It seems the creature follows the rules of the game,” Korone said.
“That’s one good thing, I guess.”
Fujiko looked up at the monster beyond the gate in terror. It kept charging forward, never stopping for an instant. The female students were all flung aside or trampled, and soon it began to slam into fortress wall.
There was a low earth-shaking rumble. The fortress shook, and rocks fell down from above.
“What is that thing?!”
“It seems to have been created by external hacking... It was probably given some kind of goal. All of its actions are probably performed to further that goal.”
“Then if we run, it won’t bother us?”
“Most likely, that is correct.”
“Then I think we should...”
Fujiko started to run, but then she saw a change take place in the monster. It stopped its advance and rose up on its back legs. It was like a building being lifted up by a crane, or the ground suddenly bursting upwards.
“Aah!” Fujiko knew it was a ga
me, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling of terror. She turned to run, but then she realized why the monster had done what it did.
“A-Akuto!”
The monster had obviously reacted to Akuto’s arrival. Its emotionless eyes were fixed on Akuto as he walked towards the fort.
“It’s strange that it would be after the Demon King,” Korone whispered.
Then a loud voice came from behind the monster.
“That’s the sealed Demon King!”
It was Junko’s voice.
○
The monster was faster than they were, so they were only able to catch up to it when it reached the fort. They could look through its legs to see Korone and Fujiko standing at the fortress gate.
“That’s the sealed Demon King!” Junko yelled.
“The Demon King? What are you talking about?” Fujiko’s voice called out to them.
“There was something sealed inside this space before we came here. And someone from the outside let it out!” Junko explained.
“Sealed?”
“And someone who was here before we got here told us it’s the Demon King. It might be the Demon King from several generations ago.”
“Really?” Fujiko looked down for a moment in thought, but then she looked at the monster again and shouted. “No, from the way it acted when it saw Akuto, you might be right.”
“Akuto is here?” Junko asked. Fujiko nodded.
“He just arrived!”
“And that’s what made it react?” Junko looked at Yoshihiko, a little confused. But Yoshihiko didn’t seem concerned.
“Does that matter? No... for now, we just need to talk to him. If we can defeat that thing and get through...”
“I don’t think we can defeat the Demon King,” Keisu said. “That’s why it was sealed.”
But Junko shook her head.
“But you saw the students disappear, right? Fortunately, it looks like the monster is obeying the rules of the game. Which means we can defeat it.”
Junko flung her shurikens at the monster. The monster didn’t seem to notice, but wounds did appear on its back.
“We can do this. Am I wrong?” She grinned. Yoshihiko nodded.
“Let’s try it.”
The two of them struck at the monster’s back legs. Their attack was enough to make it stagger. Until they struck, it hadn’t even noticed them. But when its legs were injured, it stomped its feet like it was trying to get rid of a stinging insect.
“I shall join in as well...”
Keisu went to draw her sword. But her arm suddenly stopped. There was a snake wrapped around the sheathe, waiting for her to put her hand in striking range.
“What?!”
By the time Keisu realized, it was too late. The snake bit her hand. The color in her eyes disappeared and she froze. Neither Yoshihiko nor Junko noticed.
—Yes! It worked!
The snake smiled to itself. It was, of course, the one that 2V had transformed into. It had clung to the monster as it moved, then dropped off just as it arrived at the fortress and concealed itself in the nearby bushes. And then it had waited for this chance.
—I’m lucky I took the form of a snake. The poison makes what I’m about to do possible...!
2V moved away from Keisu’s hand, slipping inside her sleeve. And then 2V used her favorite skill. With a bit of concentration, her puppetmaster skill could affect Liradans as well. By rewriting the game’s control routine, she was able to give herself the same power within the game as well.
The snake completely disappeared within Keisu’s clothes, and then finally Keisu began to move again.
But the color didn’t come back to her eyes. Keisu threw the sheath up in the air and drew her sword, then grabbed it in mid-air and landed. But it was done under 2V’s control.
○
Korone explained most of what had happened to Akuto. He nodded.
“So that’s a character that’s not in the game, huh?”
“So it seems.”
“But it’s following the game’s rules. What does that mean?”
“Either something from the outside changed it, or it was present in this space before the game began, and was affected by it. With no evidence on either side, it’s tough to say.”
“I see... But we’re going to have a mess on our hands until we defeat that thing. If it’s following the game’s rules, then we can beat it using the game.”
Realizing that, Akuto gave Korone an order:
“Reform the NPC armies. And the instant the fortress falls, order the attack. We need to throw that monster off balance.”
Korone nodded, and said, “As you wish, my liege.”
She gave her orders to the orcs and goblins, but Fujiko interrupted her.
“Gaah! I wanted to do that!”
“I see... That’s a shame,” Korone said coldly. Fujiko pouted.
“...You’re not going to volunteer to let me take over?”
“You need a ticket to change classes. Tickets are available for purchase in the online store,” Korone answered mechanically.
“...That’s the trouble with these free to play things,” Fujiko sighed.
The monster began to flail about violently. It began to slam itself against the wall even harder, seemingly at random. Junko and Yoshihiko’s attacks were having an effect.
“It looks like it’s working. That weapon in particular seems to be incredibly powerful.” Korone pointed to the monster’s feet as she reorganized the armies.
Yoshihiko’s two-handed sword, “Evil Slayer,” seemed to be a very powerful magic sword. The huge monster was flailing around to stop the attacks on its back legs, and it was using all its tentacles just to keep Yoshihiko away.
The monster’s attempts to tear down the fortress and escape only succeeded after Korone had finished getting her army in formation. There was a cracking sound as the fortress wall began to shatter, and then fall down on top of them.
“It’s collapsing!” Fujiko shouted a warning.
Akuto gave the order.
“Have the troops charge. He’ll climb on top on the rubble. Have the troops cling to his back when he does. That way, when it tries to get up, you can keep attacking.”
The Demon King’s soldiers and demon beasts charged in a straight line through the pouring-down rocks and collapsing wall. Of course, many of them were crushed by it, dying horrible deaths beneath the rubble.
“Ooh! Such a cold command! I’m in love!” Fujiko squirmed.
Even if they weren’t human, they still looked incredibly realistic. Akuto’s willingness to sacrifice them indicated that he wasn’t quite normal.
The plan worked. The beast tried to rise up, but the orcs clung to it like blood-sucking fleas. It roared and flung its tentacles around, and slammed them into its own body to try and get rid of the orcs. Many of them were shaken off, but the others kept plunging their swords into it, dealing constant damage.
Junko and Yoshihiko had backed off as the fortress collapsed, but when it was done, they resumed their assault. Yoshihiko’s Evil Slayer began to deal even more damage to it.
“This is going to work.” Fujiko smiled.
“You seem quite happy for someone who’s doing nothing,” Korone said, but Fujiko ignored her.
“I am providing psychological support for Akuto,” she said, but her smile had frozen.
Whether it just wanted to avoid the Evil Slayer, or whether it knew it was dying and wanted to launch one last, desperate attack, the monster let loose a howl and charged toward Akuto.
“Akuto!” Fujiko screamed.
Akuto tensed up for battle.
“Don’t worry. I’ve been hit by a carrie—”
But he couldn’t finish his sentence. The tentacles slammed Akuto to the side. He tried to block it, but he was helpless. The tentacles wrapped around his body and flung him aside like a doll, and he flew more than a dozen meters before slamming into a rock wall.
“Gah...!” His bod
y was almost completely buried in rubble.
“Akuto!” Fujiko shouted, worried, but Akuto brushed her off.
“I’m fine. It looks like the damage is still being treated as part of the game. If I don’t take a second hit, I won’t die,” Akuto said, but then a worried voice overlapped his. It was Junko, who was still attacking the monster from behind.
“That thing’s not after you, it’s after the Grail in the castle! We don’t know what will happen if it gets it! It may have an effect on the real world! Even if this is a game, if you lose, we may have no way to stop it!’ Akuto was mildly surprised. But he thought for a moment and decided that what she was saying made sense.
—Come to think of it, the change to the game’s rules involved the Grail. And the Demon King was supposed to get the Grail, but when I picked it up, nothing happened... If this is the Demon King, not me...!
“Tch...” Akuto stood up and tried to retreat to his castle. But the monster had readied itself for another charge.
“I need to use healing magic...” Akuto tried to use healing magic, only to realize he couldn’t.
“The Demon King has self-regeneration, but can’t heal! It’s because he doesn’t lose MP even if he uses magic!” Yoshihiko explained.
“That’s... not good.” Akuto prepared for death.
Despite Junko and Yoshihiko’s best efforts, the monster didn’t stop. Its tentacles attacked Akuto again. He tried to use defensive magic, but compared to the amount of damage he’d just taken, it was obvious it wasn’t going to help at all.
“Damn...” Akuto cursed his own arrogance. He’d jumped in, ignoring the game’s rules, confident that things would work out somehow.
The tentacles got closer.
He closed his eyes, then heard the sound of something huge slamming into the rock.
“I’m glad it was a game. Next time I’ll make sure to...” he whispered, but there was no pain, just the sensation of something wrapping around his body.
—Huh? I thought you felt pain in the game...
He opened his eyes and realized he was still in the game.
“...? Huh?”
And he was floating, too. This was a war game. Flying wasn’t allowed. There was no way to do it in-game.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 7 Page 11
