How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Volume 11

by Yukiya Murasaki

  “Heheheh...” Diablo realized he’d started smirking at some point. “Well played.”

  Drinking down a healing potion, he rose to his feet. Solami faced him.

  “You’re unharmed...?! Ah, no... I didn’t think there was a potion out there that could heal that much damage in one go.”

  “What decides a win or a loss is preparation!”

  “Then... I guess I just have to beat you until you run out of potions!”

  “I’m afraid I haven’t the time for that. Playtime is over! Cross Blizzard!”

  Fast as she might be, she couldn’t dodge an area of effect attack. Countless whirlwinds formed around them, freezing anything they touched and then crushing them through with intense gales of wind.

  The other soldiers had panicked and ran away when the tent collapsed, so there was no concern of hurting them. Was Matis still trapped under there, though...?

  Since he’s a governor and a lieutenant general, he should be equal to Galford. This won’t kill him.

  And he had attempted to kill him, anyway. Diablo had no reason to be all that concerned for him.

  The freezing tempests froze the grass beneath their feet, reducing it to dust. But someone withstood it, standing with her body coated with Outglow.

  “Pheeeew...”

  “You monster.”

  Is that 《Rampart》...?

  “I’ll admit I’m surprised, Young Diablo. I’ve never seen elemental magic this powerful.”

  “Hmph... And it’s my first time seeing someone stand so composed in the middle of high-level magic. Allow me to apologize.”

  “For what?”

  “I’ve made a mistake. I’ve been treating you like a person.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that assessment.”

  “No... I should have fought you as a monster on par with a Demon Lord.”

  “My, oh, my. I just got called a monster.”

  “I’ll tear that composure to bits soon enough.”

  I need a more powerful spell than Cross Blizzard.

  But he couldn’t use Gravity Abyss or 《White Nova》. Any attempt to chant for them would end with him being beaten up before the spell even fired off. The air quivered just as Cross Blizzard’s effect was wearing off.

  Solami suddenly appeared before his eyes.

  “Thinking too hard in the middle of battle is a sorcerer’s bad habit, young Diablo.”

  “You...?!”

  Did she pretend to be withstanding the spell so as to make me unconsciously let down my defenses?!

  The next moment, Solami’s hand cut into Diablo’s left breast like a blade. Reinforced by Outglow, she jabbed into him like a spear. She said she’d keep attacking until he ran out of potions, but upon learning he had a means of recovery, she changed her aim to a one-hit kill.

  Blood sprayed out.

  She’s... really amazing. I’ve really learned a lot from you, assistant instructor.

  Diablo protected his left breast with his magical sword, the Tonnerre Empereur: Libre. The silvery blade crumbled, and fired off a spell at the same time. An unchanted, omitted spell—the fastest Lightning Bullet possible!

  The flash bounced back against her abdomen.

  “Gaaah!”

  Blown back, Solami crumbled to the ground. Diablo likewise fell to the ground. It wasn’t an instant kill, but his wound was that deep.

  “Ugh... Aaah... I used my sword to block it and circulated all my SP for defense... And that’s all I could manage...?”

  He could feel his consciousness blinking out.

  No!

  But his body wouldn’t move. And when he heard a woman’s voice, he froze up. To his shock, Solami was on her feet.

  “It’s not SP, but the Outglow, young Diablo.”

  “What...?!”

  “You used your sword and Glow to intercept my attack, while firing off a spell at the same time.. A splendid counterattack, even if I did lower my defense when going on the offensive.”

  Her abdomen was perfectly unharmed. She was looking ahead expressionlessly.

  Is this woman really one of the races?!

  Diablo’s body was spurred by terror, kicking away all the exhaustion and pain. He lifted a hand that felt as heavy as a rock and jammed his fingers into his pouch, fumbling for a potion.

  I have to heal! I’m dead if I don’t hurry!

  Had a potion tube ever felt this heavy before? And the cork felt like it was glued onto the damn thing. Finally pulling it open, Diablo spilled the green liquid over himself. The potion healed Diablo’s wounds in a moment.

  “Kaaah!”

  Jumping to his feet, his eyes widened in shock. Solami was crumbled on the ground. She wasn’t on her feet. On the contrary—she was bleeding profusely from her stomach.

  “Was that some kind of delusion...?”

  Thinking back on it, it really was unnatural. She took a direct hit from such a spell; it was impossible for her to get away unscathed, much less stand there expressionlessly.

  Was it to spur me into action...?

  “That’s... what I’d expect from the man Rem chose to marry...” she whispered, her gaze still fixed downward.

  “Ah, no, that’s...”

  “You win. Young Diablo... Please, keep her... safe...” Solami’s eyes fluttered shut.

  Diablo rushed over to her side.

  “Stop fooling around! I won’t let you shove this onto me! If you want Rem to be kept safe, defend her yourself! Our marriage was annulled anyway, we’ve remained divorced since that night!”

  He spilled a potion over her as he spoke. And with her wounds instantly healed...

  “Wh-Why...?!” Solami looked at him, aghast. “Why did you save me?”

  “Rem would be saddened by your death.”

  “I’m your enemy! And you only beat me thanks to that clever scheme... That won’t work a second time!”

  “Silence! If you want to fight that badly, I’ll face you a second time! But when I win, expect me to do the same thing again!”

  “Why are you so... Ah! Forget that, you said you got divorced?! You better explain yourself!”

  You were kind of the trigger for it. I’m the overall reason, though.

  Honestly, Diablo was the one who wanted an explanation for how things came to this.

  “She said I ‘had no reason to marry her.’”

  “Huh...?”

  “I mean, I am a Demon Lord, after all...”

  “The only reason you need to marry someone is because you love them. And Rem loves you.”

  “I cannot comprehend what this word, ‘love,’ means.”

  Solami tilted her head.

  “Putting your life on the line to fight and protect someone is love.”

  Diablo pressed his hand against his left breast as he silently contemplated her words... Even though the wound she had inflicted on him had completely healed by now.

  Rem ran on, even as she gasped for air and her legs screamed out in pain. Shera—who would usually be the first to complain during journeys—followed after her without uttering a single word.

  “Haa, haa, haa! Over here!”

  They got out of the dense forest. The darkness was so thick that an untrained Human couldn’t have even walked through it, but Rem was an adventurer and a Pantherian. Her night vision proved effective in this situation.

  In a clearing, she saw a rope extending from one tree branch to another. The Kobold girl, Fennely, was hanging damp clothes on top of the line.

  She’s airing out laundry?

  Fennely turned around to face her. “Kyuu?” She cocked her head quizzically.

  Rem then realized a major problem.

  We can’t understand them without Diablo!

  But moreso, they had rushed to the village because they heard the reconnaissance team had found and attacked it, but there was nothing there. Did they beat Caliture’s soldiers back already? But there were no marks of a battle. Or maybe there was some ot
her village nearby?

  Shera gasped for air, her hands on both her knees.

  “Thank goodness, they’re still fine...!”

  “...No. We... We may have made a huge mistake.”

  Rem looked around cautiously, when suddenly a buzzing reached her ears. An insect fluttered down. It had a body the size of a twig, with a small Enslavement Collar clasped around it.

  “A summon beast?!” Rem went pale.

  “Huh? What?” Shera’s expression turned quizzical.

  Fennely barked some kind of question, but they couldn’t understand her. Still, Rem spoke to her severely.

  “...Listen to me, Fennely, all right? Have the village’s Kobolds run away now? A palace knight found this place.”

  “Woof?”

  “Please understand me. You have to run, now!”

  The sound of the undergrowth being stomped on reached their ears.

  “Uu?!” Fennely’s expression contorted suspiciously.

  “Huh, who’s there?!” Shera took a step back.

  “Kuh...” Rem took out a crystal.

  The figure of a tall man appeared from the dark forest.

  “Heheheh... Thank you for guiding me all the way here, munchkin. ♥”

  Shera screamed. Rem stepped forward to hide Fennely and sharpened her nerves. Was there anyone else?

  “...Where’s Diablo?”

  “Who knows? Probably playing around somewhere.”

  “You lie!”

  “Of course I’m lying. How dumb do you have to be to ask the enemy for information?”

  Rem could only speculate, but there was likely some other strong enemy Diablo couldn’t overlook. She couldn’t imagine Diablo losing, but that didn’t mean he could come immediately. She had to buy time. And if she was going to fight, she would have to make as much noise as possible. If Fennely and the other Kobolds inside noticed it, they’d no doubt run away.

  Judging from his fight with Diablo, the Kobold chief, Boldboss, was quite strong, but Rem doubted he could beat Gewalt. But what of the two of them, right now?

  “...Shera, listen to me carefully.”

  “Y-Yeah?”

  “...When we fought him in the Demon Lord’s Labyrinth, we couldn’t do anything.”

  “Right. What do we do?”

  “...But our levels now are nothing like what they were back then. Think back to what Sasara taught us. And we still have the gear Diablo and Klem gave us.”

  “You’re right!”

  “...Compared to back then, we’re much stronger.”

  “Is your strategy talk over?” Gewalt sneered at them.

  “...Come forth, Stoneman!”

  A massive statue appeared. Its square head didn’t have a mouth or eyes, but it still glared at Gewalt.

  “Let’s do it!” Shera nocked an arrow. “We’ll protect everyone, by ourselves!”

  “My, going with the frontal attack? You think you can beat me like that?”

  Rem hesitated. Should they launch the first move? They were the ones trying to buy time, after all. They stared each other down, but then Gewalt suddenly smiled wryly.

  “Heheh... Thank you for giving me the time. I finally caught my breath.”

  “Ah...!”

  He had to chase Rem down, and even a palace knight like him had to go at full speed. In terms of race, Humans weren’t as adept at running through the forest as the Pantherians and Elves. Plus, he was clad in armor and had to use a summon beast to keep track of them. They should have attacked him while he was fatigued.

  “Looks like you’re still as inexperienced in fighting other people as ever.”

  “...Kuh! Go forth, Stoneman!”

  “Couldn’t you contract something a bit stronger? Acting skimpy will only buy you an early grave!”

  “Take a 《Rain Shot》!” Shera fired an arrow toward the sky.

  The arrow vanished, and after a pause, countless arrows made of SP rained down on their target. However, Gewalt smoothly evaded the hail of arrows with brisk steps.

  “At least examine your enemy before you pick your martial art. You can fire as many as you want, but an attack this slow will never hit me.”

  He took out a rainbow-colored crystal—one for summoning exceptionally powerful summon beasts.

  “Time to make your debut—Fafnir!”

  “Ah?!” Rem froze up in shock.

  Even Shera had heard the name. Fafnir was said to be the strongest dark element summon beast! A swirl of magical energy erupted in the air, and from within it slithered out a pitch-dark snake. It was somewhere from 100 to 200 steps long, and had a pair of long, narrow wings even longer than its torso. It was a malevolently-shaped winged serpent.

  Its scales were a black that gleamed with a purple luster, and black smoke billowed from its massive jaws. It roared at them with an ear-piercing screech.

  “Bwaf?!” Fennely jumped up in terror and dove into the hole leading down into her village. In the end, they somehow managed to alert the Kobolds, and now they’d know their village was discovered.

  “Oh, I see... They were living in those holes.” Gewalt shrugged. “My, no wonder no one could find them.”

  “We won’t let you chase them down!” Shera fired another arrow.

  Gewalt drew his sword from its sheath, cutting the arrow down.

  “Doesn’t look like you leveled up at all.” He clicked his tongue. “I stocked up on all these powerful summons in case I ran into another black dragon!”

  “...Kuh.”

  Rem knew he was strong. They had trained under the swordmaster and gained better gear, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Gewalt had been on the verge of dying to a Large Black Dragon, and would have perished if it weren’t for Lumachina’s miracle. But even then, he always kept the idea of a rematch in mind, making preparations to win.

  He was all too different from them.

  But as Rem shivered, Shera stood at her side, drawing her bow to its limits.

  “We did not slack off! Aaaaaaah! 《Wave Shot》!”

  Her arrow turned into a bullet of light that impacted Fafnir’s jaw. It threw its head back dramatically, letting out a screech that felt like it could shake the mountains. Its scales cracked and blood splattered into the air.

  “Aaah, it didn’t pierce him...” Shera moaned in disappointment.

  True, it dealt damage, but the arrow failed to pierce the creature.

  “Oooh...” Gewalt’s eyes widened. “That wasn’t bad at all. You actually pulled off a Wave Shot. That’s supposed to be a level 90 martial art.”

  “Ehehe...”

  “As a prize, I’ll start by killing you first. ♪”

  Gewalt snapped his fingers and Fafnir beat its massive wings. It parted its titanic jaws so wide it almost looked like its body was split in two, and it charged forward.

  “Aaaaah!”

  Her attacks were powerful, but Shera was exceptionally weak when it came to being attacked herself.

  “Dodge!”

  Rem used Stoneman to push Shera away.

  “Gaah?!”

  The next moment, Fafnir swooped across where Shera had just been standing, shaving off part of Stoneman in her place. Its upper half was completely gone, and it was reduced to a black crystal that flew back to Rem’s hand.

  “Kuh...”

  “Ah, thanks, Rem!”

  “...Thank me later. Keep attacking him, and leave defense to me!”

  “Right, I’ll do my best! Here’s a 《Lightning Shoot》!”

  Shera fired an arrow that became coated in light and struck Fafnir with extraordinary speed. It recoiled again—Shera’s attacks were dealing damage. Rem’s tactics were true to the basics: the summon beasts took the front, prioritizing defense and distracting the enemy while she left the damage dealing to Shera, the archer.

  “Come forth, Iron Gorilla and Iron Golem! And also Rockpup, Dragonfly, and Saber Tiger!”

  She was focusing all she had on Fafnir. The enemy was a powerful, single targe
t. It had wings, but it was incapable of flight. This was large, so her attacks hit, but... Despite everything, summons of these levels couldn’t deal any noticeable damage to something like Fafnir. Still, the serpent couldn’t ignore them.

  And sure enough, Fafnir turned its sights on her summons. Iron Gorilla, Iron Golem, Rockpup, and Dragonfly were crushed one after another. Saber Tiger was agile enough to dodge and lasted a bit longer, but in the end, it was defeated as well.

  But as they fought, Shera fired off powerful martial arts that managed to deal some decent damage. Combat was going smoothly—they were buying the time they needed, and at the rate they were going, they might even be able to defeat Fafnir. Rem was gradually running out of beasts to summon, but... it was more so a matter of if she ran out of summons before the enemy’s HP was depleted.

  “You’re doing better than last time, girls.” Gewalt nodded. “I thought just Fafnir would be enough to deal with you, but you’re doing surprisingly well. Letting those animals run away would be an issue, though... It might be time to take things a bit more seriously.”

  He took an MP potion out of his pocket and gulped it down before pulling out another rainbow crystal.

  “Burn those beasts to death, my fiend of flames! Efreet!”

  A summon beast clad in flames appeared. It was like lava took human form, and its size was a match for the spriggan they met not too long before. The heat emanating from Efreet lit the surrounding trees on fire.

  Rem took out a summon crystal she had kept aside.

  “Come, Asulau!”

  It was large, stout, and hard-hitting. In the end, she believed this kind of summon was strong.

  “Heheheh...” Gewalt’s face contorted. “Once I cook you two alive, I’ll use its 《Incandescence》 skill to turn everyone in those holes into fox roast! Or maybe Fafnir’s 《Poison Breath》 will do better instead? I simply can’t choose!”

  “Shera, shoot! A concentrated attack!”

  “All right! Sure Hit and Lightning Shoot!”

  She fired an arrow while activating a martial art that guaranteed perfect accuracy. But the target wasn’t the summon this time, it was the sorcerer! They’d aimed only at Fafnir thus far, but that was only to lull their true opponent into a sense of security. Gewalt was a skilled warrior, so he didn’t use his summons as a shield, instead either evading or tanking attacks launched at him.