Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN)

16-64. Parion Holy Land, Once Again (3)

Satou here. You usually find numerous bugs in a program you perfectly put together during the testing period. Rather, a program that doesn't exhibit any bugs during the testing usually hides a nasty bug inside.

◇

"Uwaaaaaaa"

"What the heck is this thing. Why's it multiplying."

"--Tch. Yuuki! Blow them away with your magic."

"No wayyyy~~~"

The heroes are panicking to see the demon lords proliferating quickly to fill the room entirely.

Their attendants have started to chant some kind of spell, but they'd be swallowed in the tsunami-like swarm of the demon lords before they could finish for sure.

"Me-Meiko, do something about thiiiiiiis"

"Shut up, Yuuki. Fighting lots of foes is your forte."

"F-forget about that, we've gotta run--"

It might be a good idea to take these heroes away to a safe zone for now.

Since handing over the City Core to the demon lord would likely complicate things, I put up multi layered barrier around the Core and order it to defend itself.

I dug out a tunnel vertically above me with earth magic [Free Mining], caught the heroes with [Magic Hands], and moved to the faintly visible sky above the sanctuary with sight-based Unit Arrangement.

"Ugyaaaaaaaaa"

"T-the sky? Why the sky?"

"W-where's the demon lords?"

Since Hero Yuuki's scream was getting too loud, I teleported us again to the demolished site of the sanctuary.

After a slight pause, an object that was a mix of ultramarine and dark colors clad in purple phosphorescence gushed out of the vertical tunnel I created as if it was breaking out.

It barely has any trace of its original form, but that's probably the swarm of Lich demon lords.

It's like an aggregation of sludge-like mucus and old rag down to the inside of its body.

Only 10 demon lords have come out above the ground.

The path seems to have been clogged up, the remaining demon lords are wriggling around in the tunnels and the City Core's room.

"Demon lord, dieeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Hero Meiko rushes up toward the demon lords while clad in blue light.

Fighting against 10 demon lords at the same time should be too much even for Hero Meiko and her perfect evasion-type Unique Skill.

--ＧＷＲＯＲＯＯＯＯＯＵＮＮ!

I turned my sight at the direction of the black dragon Heiron's roar and saw Liza and the others circling in the sky.

I got close to the Lich demon lords with Ground Shrink, caught them with [Magic Hands] and then I threw them up into the air.

We're using this opportunity to go all out mainly to relieve the girls' stress and carry out a field combat test, so having this many demon lords is just convenient.

"H-hey!"

"We will be helping ourselves with the excess."

After telling that to the protesting Hero Meiko, I threw all but one demon lords into the air.

The reason why I left only one is because I'm hoping the heroes defeating it would raise their Return Home flag.

"This one's our prey! Don't butt in, you hear me."

"I know, do your best."

With Ground Shrink, I took enough distance as to not get cut along with the demon lord.

--ＧＷＲＯＲＯＯＯＯＯＵＮＮ!

The entire sky flashed, and several Lich demon lords were burned down into black mist by the Black Dragon Heiron's breath.

Pochi riding on the white dragon and Liza flying with her Powered Exoskeleton close in on the three demon lords who have withstood a direct hit of Heiron's breath.

The Infant Dragon that was flying together with them used its breath but it couldn't manage to beat even one demon lord, and cried out sorrowfully.

『TOU, nanodesu!』

Pochi's holy sword clashed with a demon lord's fist, blue colored glints of flash and purple sparks danced in the air.

『UORYAAAAAAAAAA nanodesu!!』

Perhaps due to effect of [True Hero] title Dog Hero Pochi has, her clashing holy sword emits out a dazzling blue flash of light, burning the Lich demon lord's body.

Pochi's holy sword managed to bisect the demon lord, however it also didn't escape unharmed as the entire blade down to the base broke into pieces.

Liza evaded a Lich demon lord's fists and stabs its head with her dragon spear, then a whirling blue light unleashed from her finishing move blew away the upper half of the demon lord's body.

However, she couldn't dodge the innumerable feelers coming from the other demon lord as they passed by, the side of her Powered Exoskeleton's defensive barrier was pulverized, damaging the exoskeleton suit itself.

Even though these two have overwhelming advantages in levels, a demon lord's Unique Skills is still not something to underestimate at huh.

『Master, forgive me. The defensive barrier of Assault Mode has been breached.』

『Save the reporting for later, switch to the balanced Battle Mode or Defense Mode.』

『Acknowledged.』

After telling that to Liza, I turn my gaze at the demon lords that slipped out of their assault.

『Ey!』

With a cute yell, a blue laser-like shot from Lulu's accelerated cannon pierced through one of the demon lords.

Judging from the caliber, it must be a holy shell from the big caliber accelerated cannon loaded in her Floating Fort.

『Ey! Ey!』

The next holy shell that Lulu shot blew away the upper half of another demon lord, however--

『Uhaa, they're tough even with such low levels, as expected of demon lords.』

『Yeah, it's unbelievable.』

The next target demon lord struck the holy shell with its fist clad in purple light.

Of course, the demon lord didn't come out unscathed resorting to such a reckless act of interception, the holy shell that got turned into spray by the fist ended up blowing away its upper half along with it.

"Now, Yuuki!"

"I got it!"

Wide area flame magic shot from the ground burn down the falling remains of the demon lords.

Hero Yuuki's fire magic did reduce the demon lords' health, but these demon lords appear to have high resistance against magic, it's not really effective.

『Arisa, if you would.』

『Okay!』

A blue flame that was unleashed seconds later erased the remains of demon lords that had begun to regenerate in mid-air.

It's [Blue Inferno] that once burned down greater demons in the battle at the Weasel Empire.

"『Blue Inferno』? If I just link myself with Michael, I also--"

Hero Yuuki sounded frustrated.

"Meiko! They're multiplying! The demon lords are multiplying, stop cutting off their limbs!!"

"Shut it, Seigi! How'd you expect me to beat them without slashing at them!"

"Stop fighting you two! Seigi, are your flame still not usable yet?"

"I'm telling you, I can't do it for a while! Can't you just use purification flame yourself!"

"Meiko would be roasted along if I use it!"

"Don't you have magic that can distinguish between friends and foes?"

"I don't do those kinds of half-assed magic!"

Turning around toward the quarreling heroes, scenes of Hero Meiko fighting against three newly spawned demon lords on top of a dark red ground unfolded before me.

Judging from the blood splat and pieces of meat lying around, there appears to be some kind of condition for this demon lord to proliferate, as it only does it when Hero Meiko cut off its limbs.

I've got a feeling that it's related to the miasma density.

Despite the demon lords rampaging around here, the miasma around the holy city is thin.

Perhaps--.

To confirm my suspicion, I tried to cut off a wrist and the right arm of one of the demon lord with Miasma Sight active.

"Waaa, idiot moron! What are you doing!"

"You, the purple hair over there! Do something about that new spawn yourself!"

The right arm that had fallen on the ground finished regenerating into a new demon lord before Hero Seigi, and Hero Yuuki could finish their complaints.

Sludge-like thing extends out of the cut wrist as it begins to regenerate, but the process is slower than the right arm.

--Just as I thought.

This demon lord consumes the surrounding miasma whenever it regenerates itself.

The reason why the regeneration rate differs depending on the cut limbs must be because of the difference in the amount of miasma contained within those parts.

And the reason why this demon lords aren't regenerating from the blood splat must be because it's lacking in miasma.

"Purify the surrounding miasma! The demon lord will stop multiplying if you do!!"

I shouted toward the priests and magicians who were among the heroes' troupe.

I forgot to use Hero Nanashi's tone, but well, no matter.

I gave the task to the hero's attendants since Hero Yuuki seemed bad at precise magic control.

As long as I'm around, my Spirit Light would dissipate the miasma, but there's no guarantee that I will always be around to protect them.

◇

『--Next』

Pressed by Mia who had finished summoning her artificial spirit, I threw the demon lords that regenerated from Hero Meiko's and my slashes toward her direction.

『Do it.』

A gigantic platinum colored wolf showed itself from beyond the wreckage.

That's an artificial spirit shaped like a great wolf born from Mia's spirit magic, [Mythology Eater Wolf].

Mia whose MP is almost twice as much as Arisa cannot summon it by herself, she needs the help of a Warship Wand loaded with a huge amount of Philosopher's Stones.

--ＦＷＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＷＮ.

The great wolf let out a howl that was like a chilly wind reverberating in a wintry mountain, and it exhaled a sparkling white breath toward the demon lords.

The demon lords that were bathed in the breath disappeared into black mist.

There were some who tried to oppose it with their fists and feelers clad in purple light, but they all vanished without the slightest bit of resistance.

Though it's probably only right given it's an anti-god magic, I never would have thought it would be this overwhelming.

"W-what is that thing?"

"New enemy? Is it a new enemy?"

"M-my sword shall cut down anything, no matter the opponent."

I don't blame the heroes and their attendants for getting shaken up.

Just like the other artificial spirits, this great wolf also requires an enormous amount of mana to maintain its form.

It ran out of mana provision before long and disappeared into white mist, scattering white crystal snow around.

『Vanishing right after it was summoned and unleashed its finishing move, just like the summons in Final Quest, don't you think.』

Arisa nonchalantly threw a reference to a hugely popular national game along with her commentary.

Adding more mana supply can be done by using a Warship Wand, but there's none that can continuously maintain the highly intensive [Mythology Eater Wolf], it's not that simple.

You'd end with a Warship Wand the size of a small island for it.

『Master, any enemy still remaining?』

『Yeah, there's still around 90 of them.』

『Uhaa, and all of them are around level 50? If we just cultivate this, I could get to level 80 before today's--』

Arisa stopped midway and began talking to someone else.

『--Yes yes, I'll be sure to tell him.』

『What's wrong, Arisa?』

『The miko-san that Tama saved was getting fussy, she told us to stop defiling the holy city at once~』

Far from defiling, the miasma in the holy city has never been thinner.

Though, even if the area around the sanctuary has turned into nothing but rubbles, as far as my eyes can see, around 40% of the buildings are still standing, they must be afraid that our fight and Hero Yuuki's attack magic would sink the holy city in flames.

In fact the flame magic Hero Yuuki shot out had turned one section of the holy city into ash.

I let them to duke it out since the site had turned into ruins anyway, but perhaps I should have brought them all into one of the sub-spaces I had instead.

『Got it. Let's change the battlefield.』

◇

"<> Wind Stiletto!"

Seven stilettos flew off silver knight Air, aka Zena-san's, hands and danced in the air while playing clear refreshing sounds.

"<> Wind Stiletto!"

Stilettos clad in dazzling blue purifying wind tore up a demon lord.

Zena-san who's done reciting the Holy Verse begins to chant an advanced level wind spell.

"Watch out desuwa! Ze--"

The Lich demon lord clad in purple light is closing in on Zena-san while evading the swarm of stilettos coming at it.

『It's Silver Knight Air.』

"Yes, that desuwa!"

While receiving the assistance from [<>] Raka she had equipped, Lady Karina puts herself between the demon lord and Zena-san.

Lady Karina attempts to block the purple light clad fist of the Lich demon lord by crossing her arms together.

『You must not! --Emergency Deployment, Phalanx!』

Raka who had judged that raw defense alone wouldn't be able to take on the punch deployed the defensive shields loaded in Lady Karina's silver armor.

The multi layered barrier fashioned like an umbrella that's as tough as Castle clashes with the Lich demon lord's fist.

The demon lord's fist that pulverizes everything gets pushed back by an explosion that occurs every time a defensive layer is destroyed through Phalanx spell art that works like a reactive armor.

The sludge-shaped feelers that extended out of the Lich demon lord's body assaulted Lady Karina on both sides, but she was already long gone.

The Lich demon lord looked around and caught sight of Lady Karina flying in the air.

"<> Holy Servant!"

Pieces of armor split out of Silver Knight Holy, aka Sera's, armor, turned into geometric objects and floated around her.

"<> Holy Servant!"

Blue colored light waves of purification shot out of the objects, pushed and wrapped around the demon lord.

"<> Holy Servant!"

Black waves that came with the third holy verse physically smashed the demon lord.

I concocted these Holy Verses when my tension ran high after an all nighter session. The fact that the first two verses sound similar to the revival spell of a certain dungeon game is just an accident. I came up with the last one randomly. No regret.

The demon lord tore through the assault with its purple light clad fists and feelers, but it couldn't manage to smash all the waves at once, thus it's been stopped dead on its track.

While leaving the roles to the Objects, Sera has begun the chant for advanced level holy magic.

"Let's do this, Raka-san!"

『--Umu. <> Rending Force Armor!』

Silver Knight Kung-Fu, aka Lady Karina, who had run up high in the sky began to make her fall in a sharp jumping kick posture while being clad in a blinding light from the holy verse Raka recited.

『<> Rending Force Armor!』

Lady Karina who wears dozens times the normal gravity through Gravity Control is accelerating to a meteoric speed.

"KARI--"

『It's Kung-Fu』

"KUNGFU DRILL KIIIII---"

Lady Karina who couldn't finish shouting the full name of the technique since she corrected herself due to Raka's quip crashed into the demon lord's defensive barrier.

An intense clash between purple and blue lights happened only in an instant.

The demon lord's defensive barrier that had been whittled down by Zena-san and Sera's attacks couldn't endure Lady Karina's finishing move that had been reinforced with holy verses, and got broken into pieces.

Lady Karina who broke through the demon lord's upper right half pierced deep into the ground as dust and rocks flew everywhere from her momentum, sinking deep underground just like that.

That last error was just like her, but the power of that one strike is still quite something.

"Air!"

"Yes!"

Zena-san's [Wind Stilettos] lodged themselves into the demon lord who had lost the upper right half of its body, and then the stilettos lifted it up high into the air.

"Tempest"

Right before Zena-san activated the delayed advanced wind magic spell, she recited the last holy verse.

Wind blew violently around the demon lord like a tempest, and then tracks of golden light manifested inside the wind and shut the demon lord inside the tempest.

The golden birdcage that once encased a greater demon couldn't seem to withstand the demon lord's fists and feelers clad in destructive powers, it looked like it was going to get wrenched open many times.

However, the dignified look on Zena-san's face isn't perturbed.

Because--.

"Divine Retribution!"

Sera cast a delayed spell, assaulting the demon lord.

The holy magic she cast was originally a ritual magic made possible to be cast by herself with the assistance of the geometric objects floating around Sera.

The demon lord is crumbling into ashen sand starting from tips, the tempest and birdcage help to accelerate the process.

--ＨＷＷＷＷＷＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＭＷＮ.

Purple light floods the outside of the tempest birdcage as the crumbling body of the demon lord crept out of it.

Normally, it should have been long dead by now, but the Unique Skill this demon lord has, [Unlimited Regeneration (Rebirth)] is resisting the spell.

"This isn't the time to preserve my stilettos--<<Fill"

"Hold it, Air."

Sera stopped Zena-san who was going to recite the last holy verse.

Before Sera could reply to Zena-san who looked at her asking for her reason, a shout gave her the answer she sought.

"KUNGFU DRILL UPPEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

Like a fighting game character, Lady Karina sprung up from right under the demon lord.

She punched the demon lord into heavens inside a blue whirlpool.

Lady Karina landed beautifully as the remaining vestiges of the demon lord disappeared into black mist.

Shupin pose that looks cute on Pochi looks somewhat cool on Lady Karina and her outstanding proportion.

◇

『Looks like the Silver Team could defeat a weak demon lord by themselves now.』

『Yes, their fight was quite steady.』

Unfortunately, they didn't get the hero title.

『How's it going over there?』

『We beat every last one of them, but there were only 70. Less than the number Master mentioned at the beginning.』

I tilt my head in puzzlement to hear Arisa.

I checked on the sanctuary site just in case, but I couldn't find any demon lord that I forgot to bring into the sub-space.

『No worries if none escaped then. The exp they give isn't that good anyway.』

『Really?』

『Un, each only nets like 40% of a same level monster. Most didn't even net 10%. I think the more the demon lord regenerates itself the less it gives exp.』

Looks like we can't exploit the Unlimited Regeneration to level up easily.

『Master, my golden armor, purged powered exoskeleton, and spare great shields have all been destroyed, so I apologize.』

I had equipped Nana with a defense oriented Powered Exoskeleton on top of her golden armor, but apparently, it was destroyed in the fight against multiple demon lords.

I had it furnished with a mechanic that could defend against even stuff like dragon fangs, but that apparently got broken through because the number was more than what I anticipated.

The battle was fiercer than I thought, even Ninja Tama had her golden armor damaged.

『There's no need to apologize. I mean Nana has accomplished her duty to protect everyone after all.』

It's more than enough for me if Nana came out without suffering serious injury.

『Yes, Master. I shall be sure to handle it better next time, so I declare.』

Just like with Nana, the powered exoskeletons still have room for improvement it seems.

『So, are those heroes still going at it?』

『Aah, seems like they drew the short end of the stick.』

I turned my gaze to look at the heroes who were fighting against a strongish demon lord.