Volume 9 Chapter 11 (2/2)

”It's only been an hour after the start of the [War] and they've already broken through. As we expected, our enemy this time is unlike any we've fought so far.”

While spreading out a situation map, Duke began to think deeply.

”And how did they break through?”

”Through brute force. An Orc that had monstrous defensive and charging capabilities withstood the storm of bullets sent by the heavy machineguns and advanced until it reached the Mithril Golems, upon which it smashed the latter.”

”Interesting. Even Kohaku-dono found it necessary to avoid the bullets of the heavy machineguns. It seems they have immensely powerful monsters in their side. It might be better if I myself sortied. And what are the current movement of that monster?”

While the Dwarf Smith answered, she made changes to the situation map.

”Hey, Duke, did you just call me weak? It's just that that's not how I fight, I'll have you know.”

Visibly displeased, Kohaku the Byakko growled and then said so.

Given that he was an A rank monster that could level up and had leveled up to the fullest, and that he had a name, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that he had incredible fighting strength.

And yet, that wasn't what made him frightening. Rather, it was his massive combat experience and the ability to make full use of it.

Through some events, Kohaku became Procell's monster. Ever since, a lot of Procell's monsters, including Duke, had regarded him as an advisor.

Some monsters like Kuina even adoringly called him Kohaku-jii. He didn't mind it and would occasionally even give such monsters some training to supplement the areas they were lacking in.

As for why Duke invited Kohaku into the headquarters, it was of course to hear the latter's opinion on things.

Duke was painfully aware that Avalon's monsters lacked real combat experience and thus hoped Kohaku's knowledge and experience was enough to make up for it.

”That's not what I meant… but how about it? Will you fight again after a long while? With you on our side, victory is practically guaranteed.”

”No, I'm good. I would rather have the young'uns get some experience under their belt. Especially the Abyss Howls. They're pretty much newborn pups. They're born from Maelstroms so experience points from kills does nothing for them, but combat experience is something else. I think it's preferable to choose a few of them and have those few be experienced enough in combat to lead the others.”

”Thank you for such a valuable suggestion. I wholeheartedly agree.”

The Abyss Howls were B rank monsters that had high stats as well as useful abilities like Transfer and other-dimension manipulation.

There was no doubt they would be a core part of Avalon's fighting force from now on, so Duke had also thought that training them was necessary. However, given their numbers and how each one was born every day via the Maelstrom, training them all was quite the arduous, if not impossible, task.

The solution to that, as simple as it might be, was in this conversation between the two: by training only a select few that will eventually act as leaders.

Not to mention, Abyss Howls had the trait of forming groups, so having trained leaders should have a more advantageous effect.

”Then, let's have the Abyss Howls be the centerpiece of this fight. Our strategy will be simple. First, the Darkness Dragons will bombard them and thin their numbers. Then, amidst the chaos, the Abyss Howls shall launch their sneak attacks. Dwarf Smith, please send the word,”

”Yes! Leave it to me!”

With that, the monsters of Avalon sprang into action.

Even in Avalon, a full-blown battle was about to break out.

◇

~From an Orc King's Point of View~

At present, the [Pig] Demon Lord's attacking forces' conquest of Avalon was progressing well.

His appearance and way of talking made it hard to imagine that he was prudent and wise.

But in fact, he had anticipated a [War] with the [Creation] Demon Lord would eventually happen, and thus gathered intelligence on him and made countermeasures based on that. For that reason, his attacking force was able to break through the rain of bullets in the deadly first dungeon room of Avalon. The first room was the [Stone Corridor] room that was guarded by the heavy-machinegun-wielding Mithril Golems, by the way.

Even though the Mithril Golems' rain of bullets was a serious threat, so long as one knew about it, breaking through was possible.

In the orcs' case, they made an Orc Sentinel, a kind of orc that had extreme defensive capabilities, take the vanguard while wearing magical armor made and borrowed from another Demon Lord in the anti-Procell alliance. This Orc Sentinel also received as much defensive buffs from orcs that had leader-type skills.

As though that wasn't enough, it was also made to consume various medicines that had the combined effects of dulling its sense of pain while also strengthening it and heightening its focus.

…In exchange though, once the Orc Sentinel had depleted its energy, it would lose its life. But then again, to be able to break through the Mithril Golems' defensive line by sacrificing just one monster, well, it was such a windfall already.

The Orc King that stood as leader of the attacking force then sent out some scouts ahead. After confirming it was safe enough, he led his troops toward the second room, which was a [Graveyard].

Just because they had cleared a hurdle, even a significant one, the Orc King knew better than to be complacent. In his opinion, the thing that one needed to watch out the most about Avalon wasn't the heavy machineguns, it was the bombardment of the Darkness Dragons. Those things exceeded even the wide-range magic attacks of A rank monsters.

However, they brought reinforcements just for dealing with the Darkness Dragons. Made to enter the [Graveyard] area first were the Holy Cranes, which were white-winged C rank monsters.

Monsters with a holy attribute were strong against monsters with a darkness attribute.

Even though the C rank Holy Cranes had numerically lower stats than the B rank Darkness Dragons, the attribute affinity between the two more than made up for it.

With enough Holy Cranes, the Darkness Dragons could be erased from the sky. And if the Holy Cranes did gain total aerial dominance, there would be no bombardment to worry about.

And so, the Orc King looked at the Holy Cranes dancing in the sky, and made a sigh of relief.

Once all of the monsters had entered and had fallen into formation, the Orc King shouted a command.

”GuGaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Avalon's secrets were fully exposed to the Orc King. There was no doubt that they would break through every single dungeon room just like they did the first one.

…or so he thought.