He had no experience in playing in a party, so he certainly wasn’t used to helping people in combat. And so, the planned course of action was to leave this place to Chobi and Thanatos and go on ahead — regardless of if they were winning or losing this fight.
This was the kind of decision-making that was necessary when one fought with others. And while this was a situation Diablo wasn’t familiar with from how he usually played games, it wasn’t uncommon to see this happen in stories.
“Leave this place to me and go ahead!” Thanatos shouted.
“That was the plan to begin with, Thanatos,” Chobi said sarcastically.
“Now’s not the time for your boorish quips, Chobi!” he snapped back at her. “I’m feeling quite dashing right now! See, this is why women are terrible. You just don’t get it...”
“Say that too many times and we’ll see who ‘gets it’...”
Thanatos didn’t make it seem like he was making a tragic sacrifice by staying behind — perhaps owing to his personality. And if Noah picked him for this role while taking that aspect of his character into play, then her planning was, indeed, pretty impressive.
Diablo turned his back to them and ran off. He couldn’t shake off that bad feeling he had about Goldinus, but leaving behind words of encouragement wouldn’t be very Demon Lord-ly of him.
“...I’m counting on you,” he whispered under his breath.
Before long, he ran into a small, open iron door. It was probably a side entrance into the castle. With Aira’s guidance, Diablo and the others finally made it into the interior of the Magimatic Castle Viovix.
†
As they closed the iron door behind them, the din of the rain and the echoes of the battle outside died down. Diablo blasted through a few walls and floors, and they continued straight ahead. The walls and floors seemed to be made of stone, but such a gigantic moving castle couldn’t possibly be stonework. It was probably some kind of product of magimatic technology.
The corridors were mostly dark, likely since the Magi Guards didn’t need light to fight. Utata lit up their direct path using a spell or a magical lantern, but the long corridors were still mostly dark. Countless enemies rushed in on their position from out of the darkness, and their shadows weren’t humanoid. They had beast-like and insect-like forms, but they were still Magi Guards.
The Magi Guards attacked, growling all the while.
“Aaaaaaaaah, let’s goooo!” Alan was the first to pounce.
He swept through countless enemies, cleaving open a path. His berserker-like passion for battle granted him limitless stamina and willpower, and his skill was high to match. He wielded a longsword Diablo had never seen before that seemed to slash into the enemy regardless of how far from him they were. The Magi Guards scattered like crushed, dry leaves in the wind.
Standing at his back, the Demon magi-gunner Daisy offered Alan covering fire.
“《Umbrella Shot》!”
Her martial art unleashed the gun’s bullets in a scatter shot that gouged multiple enemies at once. And despite the bullets scattering in all directions, none of them so much as skimmed Alan. Diablo couldn’t tell if it was some kind of special effect of her weapon or her own skills at play.
Standing even farther back was the Grasswalker sorceress Utata, who granted them multiple buffs.
“《Barrier》! 《Penetration》!”
In terms of class, she was the same type of sorcerer as Sylvie — an enchanter.
Since he was part of their party, it meant all her enchantments targeted Diablo as well, but his 《Demon Lord’s Ring》 ended up reflecting all the effects back to Utata.
He couldn’t help but feel pathetic. Between Alan, Daisy, and Utata, this party was powerful enough as it was. Each of them was strong individually, and on top of that, they covered for each other’s weak spots and were perfectly coordinated. He’d never seen such a well-organized party in Cross Reverie. And without even noticing it, he was leaving all the enemies to them, when—
“Lady Noah?!” Daisy called out.
One of the Magi Guards she failed to shoot down rushed in Noah’s direction, one of its wings missing. Standing next to her, Diablo held up 《Tenma’s Staff》. Firing a spell would be simple, but Noah was — or at least said she was — a level 300 sorcerer.
Was there really any point in shielding her from such a weak enemy?
But while Diablo was questioning himself, the enemy reached them, and—
“Insolent fool!” Maximum roared out a battle cry.
He looked like an orderly bank employee, except his head sat on a macho body full of rippling muscles. He easily swung a two-handed sword, not so much slashing the Magi Guard as much as bashing it away with the side of the blade like a tennis ball. The blow crushed it to bits.
“Are you unharmed, Lady Noah?” Maximum asked her.
“Of course, Max,” she nodded with a collected expression.
—Like I thought, he’s a high-level power-type warrior.
But as Diablo looked on from the side like none of this had anything to do with him, Noah spoke to him with a cold tone.
“I see you’re the kind who can’t act without explicit orders.”
—Ugh?!
That wasn’t the case at all, but he wasn’t sure what his role was in the party...and if no one told him what exactly he was supposed to do, he’d stay clueless. Still, a Demon Lord couldn’t exactly ask for orders.
“Hmph...” Diablo retorted haughtily. “I shouldn’t have to spare any effort on slaying such weak enemies!”
“Listen, I’ll issue orders if it’s necessary, but I need you to act voluntarily and adapt to the situation. There’s no end to how many things we’ll have to look out for here.”
He felt like he was a new worker being scolded by a senior. Diablo felt his stomach shrink and go in knots. Klem didn’t do anything either, after all. But just as that thought crossed his mind—
A wave of heat hit Diablo from behind, making him stagger forward. Turning around, he saw Klem unleash some kind of flashy attack. Apparently she’d run into a trap, prompting a spiky wall to close in on them, but now it was melting like hard candy. Klem’s right hand was enveloped in a glow of magical energy.
“Hmhm... I remembered I could use it, so I tried casting 《World Halation》, but it looks like I shouldn’t use that when there are allies around...”
Indeed, the force of the spell she just used was so powerful that anyone unlucky enough to be caught in its range wouldn’t come out unscathed.
“Oooh, Demon Lord!” Edelgard called out, seemingly moved to tears. “So, wonder, ful! Wonder? Wonderful!”
Looking at this now, Diablo noted to himself they actually made for quite the large group, including their guide, Aira. Said Aira was gawking at Klem, her eyes wide with shock.
“I believe this device was meant to kill intruders, but... I can’t believe you destroyed it before we even needed to stop it!”
“I am a Demon Lord, after all!” Klem said boastfully.
Edelgard clapped excitedly.
They seriously don’t need me here, do they...? Diablo wondered to himself.
†
Up until now, Diablo had been forced into situations where he had had no choice but to fight. But now, Klem was here. And there was even a level 300 sorceress right next to him, though he hadn’t seen her cast any spells yet.
Which reminded him — Gewalt wasn’t here, but he thought he saw him fighting earlier before they invaded the castle. Was he still fighting down in the capital? Did he get lost? Or maybe, being the selfish person he was, he decided he wasn’t interested in this fight.
But Gewalt aside... Diablo had no place here.
—Do they think I’m just a burden? That I’m getting in the way?
He had no way of knowing what everyone else was thinking, but the moment he started suspecting they looked down on him, he couldn’t escape the fear that he was right. He was always a socially crippled shut-in gamer. Being cooperative or helpful was never in his nature.