Volume 6 Chapter 13 (2/2)

I was on standby in Stolas’s crystal room.

There, her crystal projected images of what was going on within her dungeon.

As I watched, I noticed that she had many [Wind]-type monsters that had the ability to fly. To make full use of such monsters, her dungeon was designed to have skies and difficult-to-traverse fields.

For monsters that couldn’t fly, her dungeon was extremely hard to attack. And since flying monsters were rather rare, for most Demon Lords, her dungeon could be said to be impregnable.

However, the other way around, when her forces were the ones to be attacking an enemy dungeon, how well she could do was dependent on whether the enemy dungeon had dungeon rooms that her flying monsters could advantage of.

“You’ve finished your preparations?”

“Yes, we’ve done everything we can.”

After a while, Stolas came to her crystal room.

As she said, it seemed her monsters were now all appropriately positioned within her dungeon.

“Procell, let me tell you of my strategy. First, I’m going to make copies of my monsters using [Omnipresence], and then have those copies take care of the offensive. Everyone else will be on standby within my dungeon and take care of its defense. If I can win with just the copies, great, but even if the copies get annihilated, it’s still fine. After all, other than thinning out the enemy, I would know of their composition and positions, the dungeon’s traps, and so on. And then, after looking at the situation, I can send out the strongest force I can take out of my dungeon and crush the enemy.”

“Yeah, I’ll do the same if I were in your shoes.”

Monsters lost in this [War] would never return.

For that reason, I was of the opinion that losing as few monsters as possible should be of the highest priority.

In that regard, her strategy was extremely effective.

With her [Omnipresence], she could create copies of all the monsters that were both under her control and were on the same dungeon room. Even though these copies were of a rank lower than the original, she would still be doubling her fighting force.

Most of all, since these copies were expendable, they were very helpful when it comes to planning strategies.

As Stolas explained, on top of providing her with information about enemy deployment, letting the copies be the ones to attack would also thin out the enemy forces without any risk.

“I’m glad you said that. The [War] will start in an hour, huh. Hey, Procell, can I ask for some kind of good luck charm to encourage me?”

Stolas smiled and then closed her eyes.

Knowing what she was expecting, I approached her.

“You’re so mean, Procell.”

…and kissed her in the forehead.

“You’re my important friend, Stolas. And, well, friends don’t do more than that.”

Stolas looked sad for a moment, but then smiled.

“I knew that. Well, I’ll be going now.”

“Are you pumped now?”

“Yes. I was disappointed with the kiss in the forehead, but more than that, I’m very happy. It’s weird; my heart’s beating so fast.”

She said so and then turned her back on me.

Her whole face was red, even her ears.

At that moment though, I carefully and stealthily—so that Stolas won’t notice— released a monster from my [Storage] and made it hide in her shadow.

The said monster was an espionage specialist that I borrowed from Marcho. Making it guard Stolas from her shadow was one of my measures.

According to Marcho, not only could it enter the other dimension through a shadow, it had stealth abilities for use even there. Furthermore, even though monsters with dimension manipulation abilities tended to have lower fight capabilities, this one was a fiend in the sense that it had top-notch solo fighting capabilities.

It was because of this monster that Marcho was able to defend the other dimension throughout the previous campaign.

“Good luck. I’ll be watching here.”

Stolas didn’t look back and instead kept walking. However, she did raise a finger, as though saying everything would be alright.

With her strategy, the copies would be fighting on the enemy’s dungeon while the originals would be fighting in hers.

If something were to happen to her, I would be able to know of it through her crystal and act accordingly. Also, so long as that monster was there, no matter what happens, it could stall for hopefully enough time.

◇

I heard the Creator’s voice within my head.

It seemed that even if one was not formally involved in the [War], so long as they were in the vicinity, they could hear the voice as well.

As for the participants, I suspect they were sent to that white space.

>

When the Creator said so, the war finally began.

Unlike my war, there was no time limit for this one.

Anyway, Stolas’s enemy, the [Blade] Demon Lord, was a B rank Demon Lord. As such, it was highly unlikely for him to create A rank monsters.

The synthesis of A and B rank medals only had a 1/3 chance to produce an A rank monster. Even if the three medals his parent gave him in the time of his birth were all A rank, the most he could make were two A rank monsters.

It was also unlikely for him to obtain A rank medals through trading. After all, a Demon Lord who could only make B rank medals wouldn’t easily be able to match the price for an A rank medal.

And so, a Demon Lord who could only make one or two A rank monsters wasn’t a match for Stolas at all.

If there was to be a concern, it would be that monsters made out of the [Blade] medal were in a little bit of an advantage against [Wind] monsters. Inorganic-type monsters tended to have high defense while Stolas’s monsters tended to have quick but rather weak attacks.

That being said, it wasn’t enough of an advantage to make for the difference between their ranks.

I was watching the first dungeon room when ten monsters appeared.

“A rank, all of them!?”

That’s impossible.

Despite being shaken by the enemies, Stolas immediately ordered all her monsters in the first room to retreat. Afterwards, she suddenly took out a trump card from her [Storage]: the A rank Emerald Dragon that had the [Berserk] ability.

She must have come to the conclusion that anything less than this wouldn’t be enough to go against this group of A rank monsters.

The Emerald Dragon, a monster that could go against an average S rank monster due to its [Berserk] ability, raged like a storm and crushed the enemy monsters one after the other.

Even Kuina had a hard time fighting the Emerald Dragon; these guys won’t come out unscathed.

Another reason it could fight so well was that it was receiving proper support. Being strengthened like that, it then fired off a long-range attack.

Like this, she can win.

However…

“What, there’s more of them!?”

Another 10 A rank monsters appeared, turning the favor against Stolas. As strong as the Emerald Dragon was, there was no way it could win against 20 A rank enemies.

A few minutes later, the Emerald Dragon issued out a dying cry.

With that, Stolas placed the Emerald Dragon back into her [Storage], and then, together with her monsters that have already pulled out of the battlefield, escaped into the next dungeon room.

Fighting in such a situation would only uselessly exhaust their strength and numbers. In my opinion, it was the right call.

Where there should have been only one or two A rank monsters, there were twenty. And that was just what I saw; there were definitely more.

The impossible has happened.

The [Blade] Demon Lord has assembled a force that his medal couldn’t possibly produce.

Actually, of the twenty A rank monsters, none of them seemed to have qualities of a [Blade]-type monster.

“I don’t know for certain if it’s the [Black] Demon Lord, but there definitely is someone behind the scenes.”

That was my conclusion.

If left as it was, Stolas would lose.

Given that this wasn’t a fair [War] among two new Demon Lords anymore, I decided to intervene.

Moreover, I couldn’t let a friend I owed so much die. Plus, if it was really the [Black] Demon Lord behind this, then it would be my fault that Stolas was in danger of losing.

She can’t lose. I won’t allow it.

“Now, let’s see how well I can perform in my current condition.”

My [Creation] ability was not available at the moment. In order to provide back up for Stolas, all I could rely on were the measures I had prepared beforehand and the monsters in my [Storage].

I won’t let Stolas die here. I’ll do everything I can.

From this point on, it was no longer just Stolas’s [War], it was ours.