Vol. 12 - Ch. 757 - Stopping the Demon’s Retreat (1)

After the sudden blip of Allen and his team, Virdiga commanded for a retreat. Of course, Allen wasn't one to let it happen, and immediately arrived back, but to be immediately greeted by demon's assault.

Just when one of the archdemon lunged at him, Allen brandished his «Allen Sword»—a reward from his conquer of Earth Labrynith, given by Gaia the Earth God—and criss-crossed slashes ran through it, turning into a fine craftsmanship of chopped meat. 

The buffs had truly made things easier for them. While Rosen and Luck were the most beneficiary from the skill cooldown reset blessing of spirit gods, Allen, too, had casted his skills immediately. 

«The sharpness never ceases to amaze me...»

Grahm muttered in dumbfoundment from the «Merge» state, staring at the finely chopped chunks of flesh floating in the air.

(The demons have enough of their selfish act, they're not escaping this time. And Virdiga, you... just wait when I use my cherished sacred beast stone, then.... kukuku.)

A lot of demon mobilisation was being carried out by the Space-Time Administrative System. Hence, they must snatch back the control if they'd want to have any chance of trapping demons, rather than giving them a free reign on escaping from other frontlines as well. 

It would be a huge blow to the Demon King's army if they'd brought down the top executives of the army in this battle. Then, the biggest obstacle would be Demon King alone, his subjugation was the true goal of Allen. 

(C'mon, Merus. Pick your pace, or else Mara would hit the castle first.)

«I am trying. But don’t you dare max out the summon slots!»

Wings unfurled to their fullest, Merus replied to Allen via their link while he cut through air with incredible agility. 

They all shared the same objective—to defeat Virdiga, recapture Space-Time God's system, leave demons no way out of Divine Realm, and annihilate them. 

The demons seemed just as intent on fulfilling their objective, despite the associated risk. Mara's movement had to have a crucial explanation if Ordo had commanded her to follow through it, even if it meant Virdiga would be left alone. 

Meanwhile the tide of battle was clearly turning in their favour as more and more gods arrived from Divine Arena and other places. 

Thanks to the steady arrival of reinforcements from the divine realm, including gods now pouring into both the Celestial Arena and the Sky Kingdom, the tide of battle was clearly turning in their favor.

Allen continued to deliver flurries of slashes against the demons, unflinched. The many buffs from allies as well as Spirit God Roselina had increased his strength beyond anything ordinary. Of course, the benefits covered his allies, dragonkin, beastkin, and the other citizens of Divine Realm as well.

[Status Quo of Demon King's Army - After 1 hour]

1. Space-Time God and God of Magic's territory

—Virdiga

—Shinonom, Ultimate Demon Construct Scree

—8 Archdemon and 14 Demons

2. Divine Arena

—Fiend King Ordo and Fiend King Kyubel

—100 Archdemon and 120 Demon

3. Heavenly Sandal Kingdom - Castletown

—Fiend King Gandira, Fiend Bask and Magic Sword Onuba

—130 Archdemons and 230 Demons

4. Heavenly Sandal Kingdom - Royal Castle

—Fiend King Mara

—10 Archdemon

※Divine Arena had no Bird E to monitor the situation, so there might be some discrepancy in the count.

With their shared visions, the entire situation was feedback live to Allen via his summoned beasts. Allen's intelligence processed everything at a speed that seemed to have transcended even the time. The timeframe it took for the chopped flesh of the demon to hit the floor, Allen had sorted out the demon's current situation.

(Mhm. Spectacular swordmanship!)

Virdiga watched Allen's movement, and the might lingering behind his slashes, and alerted Shinonom, his face peeking out of the hole.

«Hurry up. They seemed to have gotten power ups from other places...»

"I heard you. Tch, hey, sending more reinforcement beyond current is impossible! What? The frontline will crumble apart without them? Oh come on, do something about this yourself!!"

Shinonom's promptly responded back to Virdiga, with some grumble mixed amidst their conversation. It appeared he was also conversing with Gandira in-between.

With Meruru's Divine Golem back into action for the second time, much helped by the blessing of Spirit Gods, Gandira was currently being bested by her. Allen confirmed the situation via Bird E. 

(Hmm, so they've no more leeway after pumping all that reinforcement, huh. That giant golem doesn't seem like it can hold the situation more than a few minutes. Alright, it appears we must make haste too.)

«Shinonom......»

Now that both ends were caught in a race against time, Allen and Virdiga stumbled on the similar answers.

"The activation of teleportation device has begun. ...You must hold them for at least three minutes."

(Three minutes? They'll be retreating after that?)

The echoing voice was heard by Allen similarly.

«Alright, three more minutes it is......»

«3 minutes until Demon King's army retreat.»

Virdiga brandished his massive scythe at Allen, who had turned another archdemon into a pile of flesh chunks, seemingly to halt Allen's team advancement.

"Hey, Allen. You're breaching the frontline!"

Luck's warning flies off when another group of demons set their eyes on Allen. They'd jumped into the horde of demons together, but Allen had put himself more ahead when Luck was besieged by an archdemon.

An archdemon brandished his great axe, its aim set to split the skull of Allen.

*Clang!*

Allen 

Allen raised his right arm to shield himself, sparks flying as the axe’s momentum was killed. Its blade halting against his armor, embedded but stopped cold.

The other demons and archdemons swarmed in to strike at his flanks—his back and abdomen—but neither of them could overpower his defense.

*CLANG!* *CLANG!*

"You're putting up futile work!!"

With a sharp horizontal slash, Allen’s sword cleaved through both the swarming demons, splitting them cleanly in two. Those just outside his reach were blown away by the sheer pressure of the slash alone.

(Don’t think you’re lasting the whole three minutes… But still, that one did sting.)

Allen's status under many buffs—

[Strength] 117,000/471903 (Warrior's Howl)

[Mana] 477,606

[Spiritual Aura] 477,606

[Attack] 555,291+50,000

[Endurance] 381,400+12000

[Agility] 705,450

[Intelligence] 814,700+30,000

[Luck] 376,354

The buff included—

1. Blessing of Great Spirits of Sophie and Luck

2. Bird H's Golden Egg

3. Makris's Royal Guard

4. Makris's Royal Aura

5. Roselina's True Support LV8, True March LV8, Mermaid Princess LV8, Chorus of Sanctonomity LV5, and High Chorus LV5

6. Merus's Funny Pom-Pom and Crazy Dance

7. Spirit God Rosen's Blessing of Spirit God LV8

8. Great Spirit God Easley's Breath of the World

[Breath of the World's Effect]

—All stats +30,000

—Recover Stamina, Mana, Spiritual Aura at 3%/sec

—The effect lasts for one day.

The biggest contributing factor among all was Easley's skill. The 30,000 to all stats had been a game changer in the critical moment when further overlapped with other buffs. Plus, its wide range allowed everyone from the allied force to bring out their best of the strength.

(Whoa! I didn't expect Easley to be such a hard hitter. Now bear witness to the true might of my sword!!)

Allen in his current state had even surpassed higher gods in status. The buffs Easley cast on them, noticing their arrival, grant Allen and his team members an absolute edge over others. 

«Hey, we do not have time to hold back! All of you, go in together!!»

With their buffs, the chunks of archdemons and demons flew around wherever Allen and Luck passed by. 

Though, with their retreat kicking off, Virdiga couldn't allow them to run amok. He commanded the last 20-ish demons and besieged Allen amidst their circle, who had jumped ahead of his team's formation. 

"Disappear from my sight, small fries!! Magic Eater!!"

Just as the demons lunged at him, brandishing their axe, spears, or swords, Allen stabbed his sword on the floor at his feet, and it burst forth with a shockwave, closing fast at the demons. 

It was Grahm's skill «Magic Eater», an area wide technique, and comes with an additional detrimental negative effect that drains the target's mana. It was a pretty optimal skill, just lacking a  bit in its might compared to single-target skills. In addition, the overall might was inversely proportional to the potency of negative effect.

(Hah, it's time to show that intelligence is more than just wits!!)

«Gyaahhh?!»

«Hyprahh?!»

«Uegyhaa!»

But in Allen's case, it turned out he had good compatibility with Grahm's technique, and now its power was directly reliant on intelligence stats. Needless to say, intelligence was something Allen didn't lack. 

The shockwave burst forth, and decimated every demon or archdemon that came across, bursting them like a balloon.

『One high-ranking demon defeated.』

『One high-ranking demon defeated.』

『One high-ranking demon defeated.』

『One demon defeated.』

『One demon defeated.』

『One demon defeated.』

Even the demons that had kept their distance couldn’t withstand the blast. Their limbs torn off, bodies flung across the stone floor. Only a few high-ranking demons that had stayed even farther back managed to barely cling to life.

Though the same shockwave also reached his allies, indiscriminate in its path. 

"Just a bit, and—wha, what  the—kyaaa!?"

"Behind me, Sophiarone-sama!!"

"Damn you, Allen!"

Formar jumped to shield Sophie before the shockwave could've flung her. The other great spirits followed immediately and erected a barrier.

«Argh, that's... a hell of power.»

«Screee!!?»

Virdiga had tried to jump into the hole in the floor to dodge the attack, but it was in vain. Even Scree, whose head had been peeking through the hole, was blasted backward. 

«Deal with the remaining riff-raggs. Luck, follow me!! We're going to destroy that shell of his!! Hurry up, we have only a short moment to do it!!"

"Alright, I got it!!"

Allen ordered Sophie and Formar to swiftly finish off the few remaining high-ranking demons before they could be revived by recovery magic. At the same time, he led Luck to rejoin him on the frontline.

Though he had already transferred nearly every summoned beasts to the Heavenly Kingdom, having realised the extent of his power he had now from the buffs, Allen appeared confident in taking down Virdiga with just help of Grahm. 

«You're overreaching yourself.»

With their forces dwindling down, Virdiga felt even more pressure to hold the defense for two and a half more minutes. Before the shattered floor, which led to the 2nd floor, his ten meter tall stature stood as the final warning, brandishing two big scythes of his. He had already used everything in his arsenal to bring out his best form to keep Allen busy here earlier.

"Try to deal with it, demoooon!! Cursed Spirit Blazing Strike!!"

Allen leaped into the air, invoking a skill, and swung down his sword in a downward slash as a burst of flame engulfed his sword.

«Gaahh!»

*THUUUD!*

Though he had physical resistance «Strong», Allen's slash cleaved clean through Virdiga's uppermost scythe, over three metres long. A testamount to the weight he carried, crack ran through the floor as Virdiga fell down, nearly opening another hole on it. 

«Grggh!»

"Gaah!"

But he didn't go down easily. Virdiga brandished his remaining scythe at Allen during his fall. 

"Allen-sama!"

"I am fine! Keep your attention on your enemies."

Allen's endurance wasn't anything worthy of mention, even when so many buffs had lifted his stats. Virdiga's scythe cut open a gaping wound on his flesh, tearing apart even his armaments. 

The damage, however, barely lasted before it was patched up. The effect of «Breath of the World» seemed to have provided the perfect cover, leaving only the leftover mark of blood as any sign. 

(Heh, I guess when stats are beyond 100,000, it's easier to control the muscles of the body. —Huh, woah?!) 

While Allen dealt with his injury, his comrades also made their move. Luck appeared out from Virdiga's blind spot, taking advantage of his attention toward Allen, and brandished his dagger—Arc Jewel of the Spirit King—at him. 

"Oryaaa!! Cursed Strike!!"

«Haaaa!»

«Geh?!»

A phantom of skeleton appeared as Luck's skill took its effect, latching itself to the back of Virdiga. 

The battle had once again driven up by a notch, turning more ferocious than ever. Now, everything hinges on whether Allen's party would succeed with only two minutes remaining before the demon's retreat. 

T/N - If your preferred genre is dungeon x light-hearted story, try out LET ME SPEND MONEY, DAMMIT!