Hell Mode: Volume 4

1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-1-7183-8204-6
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Hell Mode

Diving straight into the Rohzenheim War!

Rohzenheim, nation of the elves, is under attack by the Demon Lord Army and on the verge of total annihilation. Heeding the requests of his home country and Sophialoneh-crown princess of Rohzenheim and No-life Gamer newcomer-Allen and his companions decide to join the fight and save the elves.

When they land on the elven continent, however, they find the capital already fallen, the front line on the verge of crumbling, and one of the few remaining cities overflowing with wounded and refugees. To make matters worse, they learn that the enemy's top general is a Demonic Deity who has already defeated Hero Helmios before!

The Demon Lord Army is far more numerous and much more powerful than anything they've ever encountered before! Can the No-life Gamers truly prevail against a force of three million?!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hamuo

Weitere Mitwirkende

Mo

Taishi

Leseproben

“Hold on, Allen!” Cecil interrupted. “You’re just going to leave the Central Continent high and dry?”

Her concern was understandable: two million monsters were about to march on the northern fortresses of Giamut just as the elves who served as a crucial source of healing magic were being recalled from the front lines.

The headmaster offered a reply. “The Central Continent does have the Hero...”

“Just how long do you think the front line is?!” Cecil yelled back, letting her emotions get the best of her.

It was true that there was a significant distance between the western end of the Giamutan front line and the eastern end. More than fifty fortresses dotted the border, each built to withstand the Demon Lord Army’s invasion and able to station over a hundred thousand troops. It was precisely because there was a limit to the Hero’s abilities that Mihai, Cecil’s flesh-and-blood brother, had lost his life. It would not matter if the Hero managed to protect one fortress when the rest of them fell—it would still spell the end of both the Empire of Giamut and the Central Continent as a whole.

“But we... Rohzenheim doesn’t even have a Hero!” The headmaster could not help raising his own voice. Judging by his haggard face, perhaps he too was desperate to return to his home country.

Cecil turned to Allen. “Are we going to Rohzenheim?” She peered into his eyes as if trying to glean his thoughts.

“In this situation, saving Rohzenheim is the only viable option.”

“So you go?! Thank you, Allen! I’ll immediately arrange for a high-speed magic ship that’ll depart tomorrow!” the headmaster promised, clearly aiming to make all the necessary arrangements before Allen changed his mind.

There were two varieties of magic ships: normal and high-speed. Due to the urgency of the situation, the headmaster intended on arranging the latter for them this time, even though it required exponentially more magic stones to run. Allen and his companions were currently in the Kingdom of Ratash, which was located south of the Empire of Giamut and somewhat near the heart of the Central Continent. Their magic ship would be a direct flight to the neighboring continent of Rohzenheim.

“By the way, headmaster, may I ask you more questions about the present state of the battle?”

“O-Of course. Ask me whatever you want.”

“You mentioned that Rohzenheim is being attacked by a force of three million and that there is another force of two million on standby ten days north of Giamut. What about Baukis?”

The Demon Lord Army was supposedly dispatching ten million troops, but only five million had been accounted for. Allen was therefore trying to figure out what was going on with the remaining five.

The headmaster nodded, then proceeded to share that there was indeed a force from the Demon Lord Army approaching Baukis. It had been at sea, standing by a slight distance off the continental shore, and fighting had not broken out yet.

Meruru, who was from Baukis and had been looking worried this whole time, murmured softly, “One million to Baukis...” Her father was a low-ranking military noncombatant who was aboard a naval vessel at that very moment.

“I see. So Baukis is getting double the usual annual numbers,” Allen mused aloud.

After sharing everything he knew about Baukis’s current situation, the headmaster turned to Meruru. “And Meruru...”

“Yes, sir?”

“Your country has ordered your return.”

“But, sir!”

Apparently, Meruru had intended on heading to Rohzenheim with the rest of the No-life Gamers. However, the royal edict issued by Ratash had only listed Allen, Krena, Cecil, Dogora, and Keel by name. There was no mention of Sophie or Meruru, who came from Rohzenheim and Baukis respectively.

The headmaster had used the term “request” to avoid offending Allen, but there was no changing the fact that this was an express command from his king. Allen could not care less about the king, but he saw no particular reason to go out of his way to turn him down, and he did not want to undermine Cecil’s family’s identity as nobility either.

Back when the current king had been the crown prince, Allen had caught his attention—in the negative sense. Only nobles were duty bound to fight on the battlefield, but the king had gone to the trouble of issuing a royal decree to ensure that Allen would also head for the now-crumbling Rohzenheim.

In truth, it likely made no difference to the king if Allen died fighting. Given this, Allen decided he would absolutely come back safe and sound so that he could pay the king a visit and rub it in his face.

After an internal sigh, he turned to the headmaster. “Am I correct in assuming that the order to return is not only for Meruru, but for all dwarven students?”

“That is correct. Rohzenheim has ordered all elven students to return home as well.”

The elven and dwarven students on exchange in the other Central Continent Academies—each signatory nation of the Five Continent Alliance had been required to establish one—had also received the same order via their own headmasters. Considering the crisis that Rohzenheim was in, the elven students were most likely going to be dispatched to the front lines as soon as they got home.

“So then, what is the Demon Lord Army really aiming for?”

“Their...aim?” After a pause, the headmaster asked, “What do think is their aim?”

The headmaster looked so mystified, Allen almost blurted out his thoughts in response. However, he managed to swallow the words back.

Thankfully, Cecil always caught on quickly when it came to talk of strategy. “I’m not sure, but do you think the Demon Lord Army’s assigned an order of priority to the three fronts?”

Allen nodded. “Their army is huge, but it’s still a finite number. I have no idea how many troops they have in total, but they’ve now gathered ten million over the past five or so years since the appearance of the Hero. If the Army were to fail this time, it would mean they wasted just that much time and effort. So it only makes sense that they want to keep their losses minimal.”

“In other words, they’re being smart with their deployment.”

“Exactly. Ten million might sound like a lot, but that’s nowhere near enough to wipe out all three northern continents. I suspect that the Demon Lord Army knows this, and it also knows how difficult it is to make headway into the Central Continent when it’s still fully supported by squads of elven healers.”

Allen went over his analysis of the situation based on the facts as a way to remind everyone not to be blinded by sheer numbers. In terms of fighting strength, Talented soldiers were more powerful than Rank B monsters, which made up the overwhelming majority of the Demon Lord Army. There were around two million Talented soldiers in Rohzenheim. Of course, the average one-star soldier would be hard-pressed to fight Rank A monsters, but such beings made up only around one percent of the entire Army.

Cecil nodded with understanding. “I see. So you mean they’d need far more to wipe out the world.”

Consequently, the Army had come up with a strategy focusing their attacks on Rohzenheim first. Doing so would prompt the elves to all return home—which was happening as intended—and effectively abandon the Central Continent. After destroying the elves, the Army could then take its time finishing off the Central Continent.

This would in turn lead to the collapse of the Five Continent Alliance. After all, though Rohzenheim was on the brink of annihilation, there was no changing the fact that it had decided to call its troops back...