Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

I spent another hour examining the <Command> skill. What I learnt after that

I need to have a summon within 50m to use <Command> on it

The 50m range can be ignored on summons who I am using <Sharing> on

It can only be used once per species (One General per species)

No mana is consumed

What I've learned of [Militarization]

Any number of summons can be turned into Soldiers (No limit on Soldiers per species)

General of one species can only turn summon of same species to Soldiers

Automatically deactivated when a Soldier is 100 meters away from the General.

(It's somewhat like <Sharing>. Soldiers have to be near the General summons, is this meant to be a restriction? Then what about the Child Alipons?)

"..."

My shoulders were shaking as I examined it enthusiastically. Cecile was looking at Allen with warm eyes over his back.

Cecile remembered that he was also obsessively verifying something like that when his <Summon> reached Level 6 during our dungeon raids.

He remembers his previous life and says he's older, but the way he looked then reminds Cecile of her older brother Thomas, who was given a sword by his father for the first time and was frantically wielding it in the garden with little time to spare.

"Hey, I can't fully verify this at this rate. Let's verify it while we fight the Demon King's army."

"Okay."

I called out to my friends who had been waiting in the sky for nearly an hour, riding the B-rank Bird, and told them to begin the battle.

They army was far ahead of us, but B-rank Bird quickly closed the distance between us and I asked Cecile to use her Extra Skill [Small Meteorite] first.

Using [Small Meteorite] as the first strike made fighting an army of that size very easy because of their panic.

Then, I ordered General and Soldier summons to face the army of the Demon King's army that were left.

(The General's Child Alipon, the Soldier's Child Alipon, and the normal Child Alipon all have different stats and sizes.)

The Grimoire showed the status of the Child Alipon.

A Child Alipon had half the status of a B-rank Insect at the time of it using its awakening skill. I could clearly see the difference between the Chile Alipons that were created by General, Soldier, or normal B-rank Insects that were not militarized.

The strongest were the General's and weakest were the Normal's. The General Alipon was the largest in size.

"<Command> is amazing. I think your summons have gotten a lot stronger."

Cecile was also surprised to see that the summons fighting against the Demon King's army were clearly stronger.

Their status had been doubled, creating a status difference between them and a B-rank magical beast almost 5 times.

The power of special skills of Beast and Dragon species were directly dependent on their [Attack] and other statuses, so the speed of annihilation was obviously faster when they repeatedly used their special skill.

"Indeed, I think we're on the verge of a fight with the reserve unit now. Hmm?"

"What? What's wrong?"

"No, it looks like Ellie's about to enter Fortenia."

I caught sight of a city with a large outer wall near a huge tree via Ellie who I was using <Sharing> on.

I couldn't catch Nephtila, but I succeeded in getting Ellie to follow him to Fortenia.

"I can't let someone as powerful as Nephtila go." Ellie said, and she easily followed him.

After more than a day of travel with almost no rest, they arrived in Fortenia, the capital of Rosenheim, where the Demon General Razel was residing.

(I think this tree is the World Tree.)

I remembered what Sophie had told me about the World Tree.

It seems that the tree, called the World Tree, as it reached to the heavens, was an object of faith for the elves.

If I had to put a pecking order to the beliefs of the elves, it would be the Spirit King, the Queen, and the World Tree,

The elves believed that Spirits were born from that World Tree.

Since they could just ask the Spirit King to confirm, I didn't understand why they didn't and just continued believing.

As I was thinking about this, I saw a huge temple-like building.

Ellie entered the building where Sophie told me that the Queen of Elves and the Spirit King used to live, along with Nephtila.

Then we arrived at a large hall at the back of the second floor, straight ahead.

The great hall was clearly the Queen's chamber.

At the far end of the room, a throne was set up and something was sitting on it.

(So this is the Demon General Razel. He's got a Demon General or a Boss feel to him. Hmm?)

For the first time, I saw the Demon General Razel, sitting pompously with his cheekbones.

Like Glaster, he had stern horns growing out of his sallow, bare skin.

He looked at Nephtila and the others with blood-red eyes.

Then, something like a sense of discomfort came from the face of the Demon General, Razel.

"Demon General Razel, I am Nephtila. I've just returned."

Kneeling in front of the throne, a short distance away, Nephtila reported his arrival to the Demon General Razel.

Ellie didn't line up beside Nephtila, but kneeled in the same way diagonally behind him.

"..."

In response to Nephtila's words of arrival, the Demon General Razel continued to stare at the two of them silently, with his

cheekbones in the air. The Demon General Razel didn't seem to be able to say anything.

"I'm sorry, Demon General. We are to be blame for our defeat. The Fortress you entrusted to us is in the hand of the elves and...-Huh? Demon General?"

He thought that the reason why the Demon General Razel was silent was because he was furious, so Nephtila tried to apologize while sobbing.

Demon General Razel showed his palm to Nephtila as if to interrupt his words. Surprised by the Demon General Razel's action, he immediately fell silent and bowed his head.

"I see. So you were defeated. I was wondering why we were defeated despite having so many troops and an ironclad fortress. So this was the cause."

(Oh? Was the content of the defeat being conveyed? Can I assume that the information from the eyeball bat will be promptly transmitted to the Demon General Razel?)

From the words of the Demon General Razel, I tried to gather as much information as I could about the Demon King's army side.

"Cause? It's true, we were given the fortress, and we lost..." Nephtila was taking the blame but was once again interrupted.

"Yes. It's certainly your fault. I had some very foolish subordinates. They didn't even notice that a spy had infiltrated."

"A spy?"

"Yeah. You there. What are you?"

The Demon General Razel shifted his gaze from Nephtila to Ellie and asked.

(Oh? Did he find out?)

"I'm Ellie, and I'm taking care of Lord Nephtila."

"Hmm, I don't see any signs of agitation in this situation. You seem to be well-trained. So, if you're not a demon, a magical beast, or a Spirit, what are you?"

(We're completely exposed. They found out too soon. Too bad.) "What? Ellie's a spy?"

Nephtila turned around and looks at Ellie with disbelief.

Ellie slowly stood up as the Demon General Razel and Nephtila looked on.

She then looked at the Demon General Razel with a condescending gaze.

"Well, some of you are a little clever, aren't you?" "..."

"I am Ellie~Death, Master Allen's summon."

(Hmm? What are you going to say?)

Ellie began to tell him something.

"Well. That's quite an irreverent attitude."

"No, no, no, that's the way it should be. I'm under the command of Master Allen, who rules the world."

"The world?"

(I don't ever remember ruling the world though.)

"Yes. This whole world belongs to Master Allen. So, Razel. Whose permission do you have to wear such a great title as Demon General? Did you get Master Allen's permission?"

"The world? So this Allen guy has some strength?" "What did you say? A little Demon General?"

"Little Demon General? I see. You can go now."

When he said that much, a bright red ball of light appeared from the palm of the Demon General Razel's hand and crashed into the Ellie with great force.

Ellie turned into a glowing bubble and disappeared. Hence, from that point on, what happened in the room was unknown to Allen.

"Oh no. It's because of us that most of the Demon King's army's information and operations have been leaked."

"Hmm, well, what's done was done. So, did you bring back any information about this Allen guy?"

"Yes, sir."

The Demon General Razel stared at the position where Ellie was, who had completely disappeared, and checked with Nephtila to see if he had any information about Allen.

Then he seemed to remember something.

The corner of the Demon General Razel's mouth lifted up in a smile.

"... Little Demon General? I haven't heard anyone say that in a hundred years. That was hilarious! Hahaha! The Liberator is coming!"

The laughter of the Demon General Razel echoed in the throne room where there were only him and Nephtila present.