I was riding B-rank Bird over the ocean. 360 degrees as far as my eye could see, was water.
(There you are.)
I saw something coming from the horizon, one by one.
Then, in the blink of an eye, that 'something' became an army that covered the entire ocean.
It was the Demon King's army advancing south.
(I see, it's hard for the Demon King's army to advance long distances through the ocean. Maybe they don't have any resources, or maybe it's hard to cultivate food on the Continent where the Demon King is from.)
I was using the E-rank Bird to find out the direction the Demon King's army was going and what route they would take.
The Demon King's army wasn't riding on ships, but on the back of large aquatic magical beasts which I assumed to be A-ranks.
It reminded me of a class I took at the Academy about the invasion of the Demon King's army.
It had been about 60 years since the Demon King's army began its invasion, but it never invaded the two southern Continents.
The "Forgotten Continent" in the north of the Central Continent, where the Demon King resided, is said to be a barren land.
The magical beasts on top of the A-rank magical beasts seemed to be somewhat disheveled.
(Now, if I am going to fight, I'll have to be thorough. I've handed out [Blessing of Heaven]s, and I'm sure Helmios will be able to defeat the Demon King's army in the Central Continent.)
I had eradicated Orcs and Goblins from the forests around the White Dragon Mountains when I was in the city of Grandver. Once eradicated, no new Orcs or Goblins appeared there.
My father, Rodan, told me that recently they had started to increase again, coming from neighboring territories.
If you hunt magical beasts, it would take time for them to grow to their original number.
I didn't know how many of the magical beasts that the Demon King's army had sent into battle, but I knew that if they lost them, the Demon King's army wouldn't be able to recover for several years. I couldn't let them retreat. I needed to destroy them without letting them retreat.
Since I had given [Blessing of Heaven]s to forces present in the Central Continent, I believed that they would overwhelmingly increase the rate at which they use their skills, and destroy the Demon King's army before they could retreat.
The Demon King's army that came to Rosenheim were also not going to be allowed to retreat, but would be destroyed.
"Don't think you'll make it out alive."
I muttered as I opened the Grimoire to check the number of cards I had in the Holder.
(That's 22 slots remaining.)
1 in Rodan Village
1 in Nest City
1 in Tiamo
4 B-rank Birds I gave to my friends
30 summons guarding Fortress LaPolca
1 B-rank Bird I was riding on
I also had 1 Commander via <Command> per B-rank summon species.
{TLN: Changing 'General' to Commander. So summon who had <Command> used on it will be called Commander.}
My Insect, Dragon, and Stone species Commanders were fighting for the defense of Fortress LaPolca.
In particular, my B-rank Insect had been greatly enhanced by <Command>.
"Ellie, you're up."
"Yes, Master Allen."
B-rank Spirit Commander who reached three meters in height appeared beside me.
I was going to fight using B-rank Dragons and B-rank Spirits.
I also summoned BCD-rank Fish to buff them and me.
It was the first time a Fish summon of mine was swimming in the ocean.
As me and my summons were heading towards the Demon King's army, the magical beasts moving forward began to detect our movements.
(We're in range.)
"Let's go. First we have to stop them in their tracks."
"Yes, Master Allen. [Gravity]"
I instructed the Commander Ellie to attack.
Commander Ellie pointed the palm of her hand at the target magical beast and muttered the name of her special skill.
A jet-black ball appeared in front of the A-rank magical beast who looked like a Sea Dragon and gradually grew larger.
When it touched the face of the magical beast, it crushes its skull as if to gripping, spilling fresh blood into the ocean.
The magical beast, which looked like a Sea Dragon, had its head crushed and died. It's crushed head and neck sank into the ocean, stopping its progress.
(As expected, [Gravity] is a single-target attack skill, so it's more powerful than Dora-Dora's [Fire Breath].)
[Gravity] allowed Ellie to make a jet-black ball appear within a 100 meter radius and attack with high gravity against the target it touches. It could only be used within the range that the B-rank Spirit could see.
"Thank you, everyone keep this up, but first I need you to crush the ship's head first."
"'Yes, Master Allen...'"
The 20 B-rank Spirits that I made the most of in the remaining summon slots were given priority to attack the Sea Dragon type magical beasts that were carrying the magical beasts after [Militarization].
"I want to get a foothold. Dora-Doras, clean up the magical beasts at our feet."
"Oh!"
I ordered the two B-rank Dragons I had summoned, to create a foothold on the Sea Dragons' backs as a foothold would give us more means to fight.
(I haven't hunted magical beasts by myself since I was preparing for my fight against the Hero. The summons have gotten much better at working together.)
Back then, the D-rank Beasts didn't work well together in defeating the Armored Ants.
But B-rank Spirits after [Militarization] were working in pairs without any instruction, working together to defeat magical beasts efficiently.
<Command> and [Militarization] had created a natural pecking order among summons.
Previously, summons had not given each other any kind of instructions, but clearly the Commander summon was higher in position.
Perhaps it was one of the advantages of <Command>.
It seemed that a new chain of command had been created for my summons, who had their own personality and individuality.
"Attention, Master Allen! There's a squadron coming from the enemy position."
(You're not going to ignore me?)
As soon as the Commander Ellie attacked the Demon King's army, they had already recognized me as an enemy.
But, unlike when they attacked Tiamo with a million magical beasts, they didn't seem to ignore me and march on.
Many of the magical beasts on the Sea Dragons seemed to be able to fly.
They spread their wings and came at me who was attacking from above.
(Is this their squadron? Idiots.)
"Ellie, use [Black Hole]."
"Yes, Master Allen. [Black hole]."
I made Commander Ellie to use her awakening skill [Black Hole].
Then, a huge jet-black mass appeared on the surface of the ocean.
Both the giant aquatic A-rank magical beast and the magical beasts on top of it were swallowed, crushed and defeated as if they were compressed.
And the magical beasts flying in the sky were being bottled up one after another.
The magical beasts that were not swallowed were also knocked down to the surface of the ocean.
(Flying magical beasts are vulnerable to [Black Hole].)
[Black Hole] allowed Ellie to create a jet-black ball that sucked in and crushed enemies over a range of tens of meters due to its high gravity. And the effect was [Intelligence]-dependent, with an additional effect that inhibited the enemy's ability to fly. Cooldown time was 1 day.
Depending on the magical beast targeted, summon's special skill may work well or not so well.
The B-rank Dragon's special skill [Fire Breath] was an outstanding attack against flesh-and-blood magical beasts such as Beast and Insect types, but not so effective against Armor-type magical beasts.
B-rank Spirit's special skill and awakening skills were clearly outstanding against flying magical beasts.
On the other hand, it seemed to have little effect on slime and other intangible magical beasts that were immune to crush.
"Change of command."
I gave the title of Commander to a different Ellie who had not used her awakening skill. After being the Commander, every stats of a summon is doubled, so a Commander's awakening skill becomes ridiculously powerful. If possible, I only wantedmy Commanders to use awakening skill.
(But then again, they're kind of gunning for me.)
I felt an uncomfortable feeling in my chest, something I didn't understand.
However, since the Demon King's army was attacking I had no choice but to make full use of my skills and keep fighting on the battlefield.
And after twelve hours or so, the uncomfortable feeling turned into conviction.
The Demon King's Army basically didn't not operate at night.
Magical beasts in the Demon King's army had finite physical strength, so when they reached the limit of their fatigue, they were be unable to move just like humans.
Only summons didn't suffer from exhaustion.
However, the sun was setting on the horizon, but the Demon King's army was still full of energy and charging at battle without rest.
(The Demon King's army, this is a complete trap.)
If the goal of this operation was to capture the Nest City, then they would have had ignored me to get to the Nest City as soon as possible. If the Demon King's army was thinking about logistics, there's no reason to waste time here.
However, when the Demon King's army discovered me, they sent a signal into the sky, telling the entire army that an enemy had come to intercept them.
It was as if they had prepared a flying squadron as if they knew that an enemy riding on B-rank Bird would send out a summon such as B-rank Dragon to attack them.
And the reason why they would do that was obvious.
"So you're going to waste my time here and take down Fortress LaPolca, or even Rosenheim. You think a million magical beasts is a small sacrifice to pay for it?"
If I returned to the Fortress LaPolca, the Demon King's army would continue to advance south and bring down Nest City.
If I continued what I was doing, the Demon King's army would have successfully been able to buy time to capture Fortress LaPolca.
No matter what I did, it would benefit the Demon King's army.
"What should I do? Would you like to leave and rest? I can buy you time."
Ellie also seemed to understand the Demon King's army's strategy.
"No, let's fight like this. We can't just change our actions without a plan."
Allen said that now that he knew what the other side was planning, he would think of a countermeasure while fighting. The battle between Allen and the Demon King's army continued on the battlefield, where lights like magic or torches twinkled in the jet-black world.
