In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 4 Page 14

  “We’ve no choice. But I’d prefer you to attack to detain or maim, rather than kill.”

  “Very well.” The emperor image, high above our heads, continued counting up to ten. As he did, the red dots on my map began to reduce in number. Two thirds of the capital was still red, however.

  “Nine... and ten. Your opportunity to surrender has now ended. We will proceed to retake the capital by force.” The giant screen disappeared alongside the giant emperor. A trumpet began to blare. This time it was Suppe’s “Light Cavalry Overture.”

  Alrighty, time to begin.

  “Lock on to the uniformed soldiers. Invoke [Paralysis].”

  “Understood...... Target lock confirmed. Invoking [Paralysis].” There were various shrieks that echoed out across the capital city, but I noticed something strange. The red dots didn’t decrease in number at all.

  What the hell is going on here? Oh, wait... obviously. Paralyzing them doesn’t change who they are. Soldiers are soldiers, regardless of whether or not they can walk.

  “Display incapacitated soldiers as yellow pins.”

  “Understood.” About half of the pins transformed into yellow ones. Less than I expected, actually. I figured that a surprising amount of soldiers had either magical talismans on them, or abnormally high magic resistance. That wasn’t promising.

  “Touya-dono, over there!” Yae pointed over at the castle. The enormous Demon Lord was rampaging over it. Surrounding it was a massive swarm of demons, both in the sky and on the ground. There were a lot of them, a lot of different types too. I counted dozens upon dozens of them on my screen.

  “Heh, I think it’s time we called out our own cavalry.” I focused my magic, and a magic circle appeared on the ground.

  “Rend forth, Darkness. I seek a Guardian of Hell: [Cerberus]!” A dark mist began to ooze and pool from the magic circle, and a three-headed dog crawled out from it. Right now it was the size of a regular dog, but once it switched to battle mode it’d be the size of a lion.

  I continued to call out the various creatures I had spent most of yesterday afternoon contracting with.

  I called out groups of Lizardmen, a gang of Griffons, a troupe of Armored Turtles, a band of Blood Ligers, a platoon of Power Bear, and a regiment of Lizard Knights. By their powers combined, they were my very own monster army.

  Come to think of it, is it really fair to call Kohaku and the others Heavenly Beasts? All we summoned were terrifying monsters! I guess I shouldn’t think too hard about it. I decided not to dwell on the issue, instead choosing to issue my next command.

  “Target lock. The demons. Invoke [Shining Javelin].”

  “Understood. Invoking [Shining Javelin].” Several magic circles appeared in the sky, and light rained down upon my foes... But the demons were unscathed.

  “The attacks were repelled by an invisible barrier. No effect recorded.”

  Well, that’s not surprising. The Demon Lord offers magical resistance to everything on its side. Just means we’ll have to lay a physical smackdown on them.

  “Summoned beasts, you follow the orders of Kohaku, Kokuyou, and Sango. Yae and Elze, you join them. Yumina, Linze, you stand in the back lines with Cerberus and use long-ranged attacks through magic and guns. I’ll make a beeline for the Demon Lord and the general.”

  Kokuyou, Sango, and Kohaku suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke. A popping sound rang out, and they reappeared in their full forms. It’d been a long time since they were last in their true forms, so I told them they could go all-out.

  “Alright, I’ll be off.”

  “...I’ll be counting on you.” I looked back at the emperor and informed him of my plans. Then, I hopped along the rooftops and headed for the front lines.

  Elze, Yae, Sango, Kokuyou, and the ground troops charged along the city streets. Meanwhile, Kohaku, myself, and the Griffins made our way up along the rooftops toward a group of incoming flying Demons.

  “Don’t overdo it now, and remember... aim for their wings. The guys on the ground should be able to take them out once they fall.” I issued orders to the Griffins. The ground-based demons were engaging the others in the streets already, and a second group of flying ones was already inbound. I needed to take out the airborne ones as soon as possible.

  “Erm... John, wait, are you John or Paul? Oh, George? Alright, uh... You three take the left flank. Ringo? You take the right!” The Griffons let out a war cry as they charged from two different sides. Griffons all looked the same to me, so it wasn’t exactly my fault! I made a mental note to buy them some differently colored collars.

  As I jumped from roof to roof, I reached into [Storage] and pulled out a mithril greatsword. It was forty centimeters wide, and about two meters long. Mithril was light by default, and it became even lighter when I reduced its weight through [Gravity]. It turned this massive blade into a one-hander.

  I used [Boost] to leap up high above an enemy demon. Then, as I plunged down toward it, I invoked [Gravity] to massively increase the weight of my weapon.

  It was so powerful that the demon was cleaved in half instantly. I quickly changed the weight again and reduced it to a manageable amount.

  Being able to change the weight of my weapon on the fly was exceptionally useful. A demon charged me from the right, so I quickly cleaved it in half, but it was a horizontal slice this time, rather than a vertical.

  I needed to make sure the timing was right or I could really hurt my arms. I felt like I was getting the hang of it, though. Honestly I might’ve even been fine without using [Gravity], since the sword was doing a good job of slicing things.

  Kohaku leaped up near me and sliced off a demon’s wings with a set of fearsome claws.

  “Kohaku! I’ll leave the rest to you!”

  “Very well! Good luck to you, my liege!”

  I combined [Boost] and [Accel] to quickly make a beeline for the castle. I reasoned that if I could defeat the general, all the demons would disappear and the fight would be won.

  I jumped from roof to roof, using the momentum to propel myself into the castle courtyard. After I touched down, a group of soldiers immediately surrounded me.

  I quickly jumped up in the air and pulled out Brunhild, firing a salvo of paralysis bullets toward the men in the vicinity.

  Well, if [Paralysis] doesn’t work, then I guess these bullets are useless too. I’ll have to hold back against them for the time being.

  I had aroused the Demon Lord’s attention. It turned toward me and fired some kind of red beam out of its eyes.

  Holy shit! The beam hit an area on the ground near me. It was smoldering. It has laser eyes?!

  It kept firing waves of heat at me from a distance, while the smaller demons swarmed me from all angles.

  I managed to cleave them apart fairly easily using my mithril greatsword. The normal demons were definitely not very strong. They were more of a pain in that ass than anything else, actually.

  The Demon Lord finally stopped its barrage of heat. Guh... about damn time.

  Electricity suddenly began to build up around its body. Seemed the Demon Lord’s horns were acting as some kind of lightning rod. Eventually, it built up a huge charge, and light flashed around its body in various enormous swirling masses.

  I have no idea what it’s doing, but it doesn’t look safe at all... It’s gotta be charging something up, right?!

  “Gruuugaaaaaaaah!!!” It attacked and let out what appeared to be several snaking blasts of lightning. I avoided the attacks, but they hit a building behind me and wreaked absolute havoc on a small neighborhood. Now it has a laser barrage...?

  This was some next-level stuff. It must’ve been the Demon Lord’s ultimate attack. If it kept up like this, it could level the entire city.

  “Nngh.” I felt a sudden sensation. My magical energy was being drawn out of my body. Is it absorbing my energy to make up for the charge it just let off? Is the general nearby and doing this?

  Even if my magical power was absorbed, I’d be
able to recover it near-instantly. In other words, the Demon Lord could launch as many bolts as it wanted.

  It was a never-ending attack. It could make use of my own magic and use it against me.

  I used [Accel Boost] to dash up the side of the castle wall like a ninja, then bounced off it.

  I jumped up high above the monster’s head and turned my blade toward it. Then, I swung down the mithril greatsword right on its head.

  “Time to sleep!” I brought the blade crashing down, and the Demon Lord fell to the ground. Even if it nullified magic, that meant nothing. This was still a sword, magic effect or not.

  Though it clearly took harm, it didn’t seem to be seriously hurt. Well, one of its horns was sliced open, at least. To survive a blow like that, it must’ve been hardy indeed. It clearly had a thick skull.

  The Demon Lord tried to steady itself with its arm and get back up, which was when I unloaded my final assault.

  [Slip]. Its arm slipped, bringing it crashing to the ground and exposing its shoulders and back. I leaped into action, cleaving off its wings with my blade.

  “GyAaAAaauuUuuuUuggGGghhh!!!” As the Demon Lord screamed, I finished off the job by firing numerous [Slip] bullets at its feet.

  The Demon Lord began to fall forever. It couldn’t fly away, as it no longer had wings. Nobody could possibly come to its aid.

  Every time the beast fell, the ground rumbled and quaked. I’d have to apologize to anyone living in the vicinity later on.

  Leaving the Demon Lord behind, I jumped up to the grand balcony. General Bazoar was up there, pale-faced and horrified.

  “Ready for your divine punishment, General?”

  “Wh-Who are you?! That was a Higher Demon! One man alone cannot possibly hope to...!”

  “It doesn’t matter what you say, bozo. I still did it.” As I spoke, I gestured to the Demon Lord, which was still falling into infinity.

  It did take a lot more than I expected, though... My mithril sword is all bent out of shape after that last attack! It’s seriously damaged...

  “Hmph... you won’t be doing the same to me, however! My Blockbracer makes physical strikes meaningless, and I still have the ability to nullify spells! Even if that were to fail, my Drainbracer still absorbs any incoming magic anyway!”

  Tch... guess he’s aware of how my [Slip] works now... Suppose that means he won’t be dancing to the same tune if I use it again.

  “The emperor didn’t die, but it matters not. This is no longer his domain! I will become the new emperor. And then, I shall use the power of the demons to strike down Refreese, Belfast, Mismede, and all the other western nations! Under one banner, the Regulus Empire will be reborn! Reborn as the Bazoar Empire!” The general began to laugh like a madman.

  How does he expect to maintain his army, exactly? He can’t just keep sacrificing people, it’s not sustainable! This man is completely delusional, there’s no saving him.

  I saw no other options, so I elected to remove that from my storage. My secret weapon, a three-by-three meter cube, was now sitting on the balcony. Aside from the base, it was entirely made of a transparent, glass-like material. You could clearly see inside.

  In the middle of this transparent box was a disgusting-looking slime creature. It was discolored and almost looked toxic. Still, despite the coloration, it wasn’t actually poisonous at all. In fact, it was mostly harmless. Mostly harmless.

  “Wh-What is that thing?”

  “This, my friend, is a Sludge Slime. They’re a wonderful little part of a standard ecosystem. They live in water and clean it up. But, they do have one quite horrible thing about them. About one hour after death, they begin to exude one of the most foul odors known to man. Well, it’s supposed to go away after two hours, or so they say... But this one? Well, it died just about an hour ago.” As I explained, I smiled at the general and gave him a sidelong glare.

  “Y-You wouldn’t dare...”

  “[Gate].” A magical circle appeared beneath the general and he sank into it like quicksand. It didn’t target him directly, so the nullification didn’t activate. It was a spell that connected two places, after all... And my glorious scheme all hinged on where I’d just sent him.

  The general instantly reappeared inside the glass box. And then, the show began.

  “GHAGUAAAAAUUUGH!” From within the thick iron plating I had enchanted to look like glass, the general began to scream. He pinched his nose tight, but it was too late. His face turned paler than before and he began to sweat bullets.

  “Ghaugh!! Wh-What’s this smell?! It— N-No! Please! It hurts! I-It hurts!” It must’ve stunk just as bad as I thought it would in there. The general began to turn purple.

  My original world had something known as surstromming. It was a kind of fermented herring. The smell was said to be among the most atrocious in reality. But it seemed that the smell of the Sludge Slime was even worse than that. The general looked about ready to pass out already. I raised my brow slightly as I watched the man struggle. He attempted to focus his magic on one of the windows, but he fumbled it. It was impossible for him to channel vast magical energy with one hand, and he had his right hand firmly planted around his nose. Eventually, he gave up and began to sit in the corner of the box, rocking back and forth. He was crying.

  I wondered if he was trying to wait it out, but I knew it’d be futile.

  His surroundings were entirely composed of the foul stench. His face contorted in disgust and agony every time he took a breath. All he could inhale was the fetid, noxious odor of defeat.

  “Auugh!!! Make it stop!!!” His stoic facade began to crumble. His face was slick with tears, sweat, and snot. There was a small [Gate] at the top of the box to allow fresh air inside, since I didn’t want him suffocating. I connected it to an unsettled place high in the mountains, so at most it would’ve upset some animals.

  He began to convulse. He could no longer even concentrate on his own breathing. He fell to his knees and slumped forward. The whites of his eyes were showing, as they had rolled back into his head. He was completely passed out.

  I had originally considered just sending him into the middle of the sea somewhere, but... He’d surely just summon the Demon Lord again and have it fly him off.

  Then, I considered burying him in this box at the bottom of the sea, but I’d never been there, so wasn’t like opening the [Gate] would be especially easy, either.

  Alright, guess he’s done, I’ll transport him out now... I opened up a [Gate] and warped him out, but I immediately regretted it.

  “Ghaughaguh!?” What the hell is that smell?! It smells like a bunch of trash took a dump on a pile of used sanitary products! HOLY HELL MAKE IT STOP. I immediately closed the [Gate], but the smell didn’t stop. It’s coming from the general? Gross!

  I quickly yanked the bracers off of him and put him back inside the container. The Sludge Slime was said to stop exuding a stink after being dead for two hours, but I seriously wondered otherwise about things the smell had infested. The stench was so strong that I was worried it’d never go away.

  In seconds flat, the demon army vanished. The Demon Lord stopped slipping and faded into nothingness, too. With the bracers gone, the magical supply line had been cut.

  With that, the demons were vanquished. Only the regular army remained.

  I decided to open up a [Gate] and call the emperor and others through.

  “You’ve actually done it... Incredible...” The emperor spoke in an astonished tone, staring at the general all the while.

  “I-It certainly smells rather foul.” Lyon held his nose as he spoke.

  “Sorry, it’s the Sludge Slime’s death stench... A little bit of the stink ended up getting out. Geez, it’s pretty potent.” The stink wafted out from the two Artifacts that the general once wore.

  The Drainbracer and Blockbracer, huh...? They’re useful tools, no doubt about that, but... They stink. They stink really badly. Even my fingers stink slightly, and I barely touched them.
<
br />   Given that this was the state of the bracelets, I dreaded to think about the general himself.

  The Belfastian Knights headed underground to the dungeon to free the Regulus Knights. As they did that, the emperor and I set up on the balcony for another broadcast. We needed to update the people about the situation, after all.

  This time, the broadcast was live. I held up my smartphone and started filming the emperor.

  “Citizens of the Empire’s Heart, I apologize for what has transpired this day. The leader of the coup has been detained, and our capital city is once more in the hands of the just. Thank you for your understanding.” The projection panned over to show the general. He was unconscious, eyes rolled over white, snot running down his face, and drool leaking from his mouth. I hoped that the other members of the army would surrender after seeing something so horrid.

  This might be seen as a little cruel, but... it’s necessary.

  “I promise to you now that I will work harder. This shall never again happen to us as a people. From the bottom of my heart, please accept my sincere apologies. I am truly sorry.” The emperor bowed his head slightly.

  Huh, he’s apologetic... I had honestly heard he was quite arrogant, but perhaps the illness had instilled some humility in him.

  After the broadcast, the emperor looked over the general with sad eyes.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “It is nothing... I just feel this man is a pitiful sort. His feelings for the empire were sincere, I know that much. He joined the army at a young age and wanted to make a real difference. In some ways he reminds me of myself when I was younger. Had I not fallen ill, I may have ended up treading a similar path. It makes me sad to think about it...”

  “Even so, this man’s crimes are unforgivable.” He summoned a legion of demons and monsters. Each one was summoned at the cost of several human lives, meaning he had to have slaughtered many people in his mad campaign. Not all of those people were condemned to jail or execution, either. And honestly, it wouldn’t really have been okay even if they were.

  “I understand it well. A crime is a crime. He must atone for his sins. He has caused great sorrow to our people, and I will show no leniency.” The emperor let out a small, sad laugh. He was a victim in all of this too, after all.