“The demon lord’s awoken.”
Those eyes were sickening—like merely peering into them could tear my soul from my body.
“Revived demon lord, bow before the light of the goddess!”
Fighting through his fear, the priest brandished the icon.
Naturally, this accomplished nothing.
“Bow! I said bow!”
He was starting to panic now, stomping his feet like a temperamental toddler, waving the icon around.
“Sleepy,” a sinister voice intoned. Just hearing it made a shudder run down my spine. “Do not…disturb…my slumber.”
The demon lord waved a miasma hand, and black mist spread, turning into tiny demon bugs that swarmed the priest.
That made me feel sorry for him, so I grabbed him with Magic Hand and tossed him toward the entrance.
I may have tossed him a bit too hard—he took damage, but better than being devoured alive by insects. I cleared out the demon bugs with “Fire Shot.”
I braced for further attacks, but the demon lord stayed put, paying the priest no further attention.
“I suppose I have no choice. Dominate Demon Akuma Shihai!”
Black rings flew from Zomamurgormi’s staff, surrounding the demon lord.
“The demon summoner Zomamurgormi commands you. Dark Lord of Necromancy, submit to me!”
He swung the staff down, and the rings around the demon lord snapped tight, binding him.
The demon lord growled. The binds appeared complete. Yet—
“Hnggg…you would disturb my slumber?”
The outlines of his hands blurred, reverting to miasma. Slipping through the rings, they grasped them from the outside—tearing them away.
“He is a demon lord! How easily he defies my control,” Zomamurgormi muttered. He moved right in to the next incantation. “In that case… ……”
“Insolent cur…”
A swirl of miasma sent Zomamurgormi flying before he could finish casting.
This time, he didn’t even use bugs—just pure miasma.
“Gahhhhhhhhhhhh!”
The miasma was so potent, it left the weasel writhing in agony.
I could see the skin and fur peeling off him. Anywhere direct contact had been made festered.
The pain appeared too great to even contemplate resuming the incantation.
Like the priest, the demon lord seemed disinclined to finish him off.
“Dark Lord of Necromancy?”
“Nay. I am but a nameless ghost.”
Maybe this wasn’t a demon lord?
My AR did say “Dark Lord of Necromancy” but didn’t actually show the “Demon Lord” title.
From what I’d seen, all this thing wanted was to go back to sleep.
“Sorry they forced you awake. I won’t let anyone else disturb your slumber. I can even help you pass on?”
I drew the Holy Sword at my hip, letting magic run through it to give it that blue glow.
Pumping this thing full of miasma had woken it, so I thought banishing that might let it sleep again.
“Too bright. That light…burns my body.”
For the first time, it rose from the throne.
One hand over its face, blocking the light—the other reaching toward me, as if beseeching.
“Oh…holy and divine…”
The miasma vaporized on contact with the blade. Only the torso remained, so I impaled it on the Holy Sword, and the black mist was gone.
I’d meant to put him to sleep, but I may have exorcised him instead.
“A demon lord…in an instant?”
Zomamurgormi was rasping just like the Dark Lord of Necromancy had.
Perhaps this had been a shock to the system. Before he recovered, I used “Mana Drain” to steal all his MP, then bound him up in antimagic ivy. Naturally, I didn’t just take his weapon—I collected all items he had on him. Didn’t want him offing himself.
I did the same thing for the unconscious priest down the hall. He’d probably start screaming when he woke up, so I gagged him first.
Now I just had to heal the adventurers I’d evacuated and watch my party take out the greater demon.
While I was exorcising the dark lord, my party was engaged in a furious battle with the greater bark demon.
At some point, the field of combat had shifted from underground to the jungle surface of the Otherworld.
“Lyuryu! ‘Breath Attack,’ sir!”
LYURYU!
There was a flash, and the greater demon went rolling through the forest, shattering trees.
It had blocked Lyuryu’s “Breath”—and its body lit up, firing the smaller laser back.
“Deracinator!”
“Arisa, thank you, sir!”
Pochi had tripped on a tree stump, but Arisa’s spell bailed her out.
“If you are a tree, you should be quietly basking in the sunlight, I declare!”
Nana’s cry was laced with the “Taunt” skill and drew the greater demon’s attention to her—that gave the beast girls a chance to move around and get in close.
Meanwhile, Lulu was sniping lesser demons—I assumed the greater demon was summoning these.
Mia was busy chanting Spirit Magic, likely on her way to summoning a behemoth.
“Deracinator! Argh, this thing’s big, but awfully fast!”
The battle had shifted from artillery to close quarters, but this demon knew “Blink” and was kicking trees at speed, constantly moving around and making it hard for them.
And every tree it kicked turned into a minion, which they couldn’t exactly ignore.
“‘Helix Spear Attack—Avalanche’!”
“Scattered—firing!”
Liza and Lulu were taking the minions out fast, but by then the next one had appeared.
“If the whole forest—”
“Arisa, haste makes waste, I remind.”
You could almost see the fires burning behind Arisa, so Nana stepped in to cool her head.
“Earth Aaaarts!”
“‘Quick Draw—Achilles Hunter,’ sir!”
The greater demon kicked through the walls Tama made and instantly restored the leg Pochi had slashed.
“…… Create Behemoth Majuu Ou Souzou.”
PUWAOOOOWWNNN!!
Mia completed her spell, and the behemoth’s bulk burst into the world.
“Go.”
PUWAOOOOWWNNN!!
It charged in, and the greater demon didn’t try to grapple with it, just moved out of the way.
“Mrr.”
It tried to snare the behemoth with plants, but the beast merely stamped its feet to free itself.
Clearly, the pseudo-spirit won the battle of the turf.
“‘Blink—Helix Spear Attack—Bore’!”
Liza’s special move from the demon’s blind spot hit home, but it had sturdy barriers and was using pitch-black amoeba-like demons as shields to deflect the “Thrust.”
Even using the dragonspear, made from the all-piercing dragon tooth, was harmless if you stifled the momentum.
Like Arisa’s Fire spell and Pochi’s special move, it was canceling their attacks out.
“Damn it! Just hit it faster, then!”
“On it! ‘Helix Spear Attack—Avalanche’!”
Nana and the behemoth were limiting its movements, and their relentless attacks kept it pinned down completely.
Their teamwork had created an opening for—
“‘Acceleration,’ overdrive!”
“Aiming!”
“Ignition!”
Lulu’s Acceleration Gun.
The moment she pulled the trigger, a Holy Bullet fired—with a gut-shaking boom.
It flew faster than the speed of sound, trailing blue light like a laser beam, and scored a direct hit on the greater demon—gouging a massive chunk out of its upper body.
“It’s exposed, sir!”
LYURYU!
Pochi and Lyuryu acted as one and slipped past the demon.
“‘Quick Draw, Vanquish Str—’!”
Pochi tried to use a special move, but Lyuryu tackled her out of the way.
A root spear laced with magic and miasma shot through the gap where she’d been.
“Lyuryu, thank you, sir!”
LYURYU!
A heartwarming moment, watched over by the new face that had appeared on the demon’s shoulder.
“Pochi!” I yelled, not liking the look of that—but she couldn’t hear me over there.
More roots shot up from the ground, and the dog and dragon dodged them.
LYU!
“Lyuryu!”
They’d been too focused on the roots—the demon swung a vine whip like a tail attack and hit Lyuryu hard.
The dragon rolled across the ground, gouging the dirt.
Pochi ran over to it, and Tama backed her up.
“Lyuryu, are you okay, sir?”
Cradling the dragon’s head, Pochi fed it a magic potion.
She’d stopped completely in mid-battle—and the greater demon aimed its lasers her way, but Nana got between them.
“You oaf of an oak, look only at me, I swear!”
She used “Taunt,” and used the Foundation techniques, Magic Arrow and Javelin, drawing its aggro.
……LYU
“Go inside Pochi’s pendant, sir.”
Even with the potion, Lyuryu seemed to be barely breathing.
Perhaps the mental toll was higher than the physical one. Lyuryu had been keeping up with Pochi, thanks to its high attack and natural defenses, but it was still a newborn baby.
……LYU
“Don’t worry, we’ll handle the rest, sir.”
With that, Lyuryu vanished into the Dragon Cradle.
Pochi cupped the pendant in both hands, placing it inside her golden armor. She slowly stood back up.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Time for payback, sir.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Pochi’s head snapped up, and she fixed the greater demon with a glare.
“Mr. Armor, equip Attacker exoarmor, sir!”
“Aye-aye, ma’am. Equipping Attacker option.”
At her call, the golden armor support AI kicked in.
I’d added so many functions that I’d installed the AI from Lulu’s Acceleration Gun on Pochi’s golden armor, on a trial basis.
Pochi struck her pose, and the exoarmor—a magic-powered suit—equipped itself, increasing her muscle strength and adding boosters for charges.
“Mr. Armor, I need a katana, sir!”
“Aye-aye, ma’am. Equipping katana blade!”
The weapon at the hip changed from a Holy Sword to a Holy Katana.
Visuals aside, they had identical functionality, so it was pretty easy to make.
“Going all out, sir!”
“Yes, ma’am. Generator, full power!”
“More! More, sir!” Pochi begged the AI. “This isn’t enough to avenge Lyuryu, sir!”
Pochi, Lyuryu’s not dead, no need for vengeance.
“No, ma’am. Risk of overflow.”
“I have to, sir! I must surpass my limits, sir! For Lyuryu, sir!”
Pochi was being pretty silly.
“Yes, ma’am. Limiter cut!”
Har? I didn’t program it to do that?
“Generator overload!”
An absurd amount of magic began swirling around the armor.
“Yes, yes, yes, sir!”
That magic flowed through Pochi and into the Holy Katana, making it several times larger than normal.
Big enough to cut through a greater demon.
“Pure harps and mimes, sir!”
Pure hearts and minds, Pochi.
The wild flow of mana was pouring into the blade, condensing.
The magic that escaped her body was crackling like purple lightning. To withstand the acceleration, Pochi leaned so far forward, her brow almost touched the ground.
“‘Acceleration’ catapult open!”
The support AI completed the process while she focused her mind.
Several Acceleration Gates appeared in front of her.
And as her blade’s mana condensation completed—
“‘Blink.’”
Pochi stepped into the Gates.
The speed boost was so high, she vanished.
“‘Vanquish Cyclone’!”
Pochi reappeared, her katana already swung. She slowly sheathed it.
“Sir.”
Just as the Holy Katana snapped into place, the greater demon—slashed countless times—fell apart, the pieces swallowed up in a shock wave tornado.
✦ ✦ ✦
