Chapter 104 - Regrouping and Bloody Battle

We ended up in battle against monsters a number of times on the way, but we arrived at the entrance decently soon.

…That place had already turned into hell.

(The only ones fighting are Alex and his party…?!) (Hikaru)

From what I can see, the parties protecting the entrance in the beginning were injured, have retreated to the stairs, and have already withdrawn from the frontlines.

Jojordan and the Water Spirit Users were desperately using their healing abilities, but it is taking their all just to heal them to a degree that they don’t die.

Right before the stairs to the 2nd Floor, there’s a boy that seems to be a porter blowing the hunting horn for dear life.

Alex and Crabbell are somehow managing to stop the Demon Lord.

However, why did the Demon Lord come this way?

Does it really have a desire to leave the dungeon? Or was it the result of it chasing after Alex and his party?

“Rifreya, we will be doing basically the same thing as before. I will be stopping the movements of the Demon Lord with my darkness, so if it uses Dispel, use Light, and only in the time that the ability is effective, attack it and then retreat. Got it?” (Hikaru)

“Okay. But can we defeat it with that?” (Rifreya)

“Just forget about the Viewer Count Race. It doesn’t matter whether we defeat it or not. What’s important is to survive.” (Hikaru)

“Really?” (Rifreya)

“It has been the case since the beginning. There’s nothing more important than surviving. Please go to where Alex and his party are and tell them about this strategy. I will be moving by myself.” (Hikaru)

“Got it! You be careful too, Hikaru!” (Rifreya)

Rifreya regroups with Alex and the others.

I unsheathe my shortsword and participate in the battle too.

“Alex, I will assist you! [Darkness Fog]!” (Hikaru)

Alex and I were on opposite sides of the Demon Lord in terms of positioning.

We could go for a pincer attack, but I would rather buy time than go on the offensive.

We just have to keep it in place until the other parties that are scattered in the 3rd Floor come here. The hunting horn phrase is a complete mess, but if you perk up your ears, you should be able to tell it is close to the entrance.

It would be best if the first half parties were to come while we were buying time though.

Marchosias is bewildered inside the darkness.

Rifreya went around the outside of the Darkness Fog beforehand, and has regrouped with Alex.

“[Summon: Night Bug]! [Phantom Warrior]! [Shadow Bind]!” (Hikaru)

All of them can only serve to buy time, but you could also say they do their job of buying time well.

Even with a lack of firepower, there’s still ways to use them.

In this time, Alex and the others should be able to regain their bearings.

The Demon Lord is groaning inside the darkness.

It took cautious steps, keeping guard for any attacks coming from anywhere.

With this, we have bought some respite.

I kept the scope of the darkness high, and regrouped with Alex and Crabbell.

I asked what I wanted to confirm.

“Can I have a word?” (Hikaru)

“Uwa?! That scared me. Is this voice…Hikaru? This is one astounding ability. This is what’s called a Dark Spirit Ability, right?” (Alex)

“Yeah. More importantly, the Demon Lord can’t move between floors immediately, right? If we run to the 2nd Floor, can’t we keep this guy bottled here?” (Hikaru)

All the information I have gotten said that the Demon Lord takes time to move between floors.

In other words, if we all run to the 2nd Floor, the Demon Lord can’t go up and give us chase…at least from what I know.

“Aah~, how was it, Crabbell?” (Alex)

“About that, I haven’t seen one before, but it is apparently not gonna work. If there’re only monsters around the Demon Lord, it will eat monsters to gather strength before going up, but in a situation like this, it apparently would just go up normally.” (Crabbell)

“Really?” (Hikaru)

“Yeah. If it ends up with a situation where we withdrew and lost, and even let the Demon Lord come to the surface, we could get hung. That’s why, this is pretty dangerous, but there’s no choice but to keep it in place here.” (Crabbell)

The red haired Crabbell answered the question.

So it really is a situation where ‘You can’t escape from the Demon Lord’.

“How about slowly falling back?” (Hikaru)

“If it goes up, it is going to evolve, right?” (Crabbell)

“Will it really…? Even without gathering strength?” (Hikaru)

“That apparently depends on the Demon Lord. But it is certain that the Chaotic Energy would increase if it were to go up. It is already problematic right now, so I would like to be spared from things getting worse.” (Crabbell)

There’s no other word to describe this situation but terrible. Though it looks like it isn’t the worst. The parties in the 3rd Floor should be running here after hearing the horn, and if we buy time, the first half team should be coming too.

I separate from Crabbell and the others, and seeing that the bind has run out, I casted Shadow Bind on the Demon Lord again.

Even a moment of bind can be useful here.

Phantom Warrior and Night Bug are not bad either.

They are methods to distract, but it serves perfectly to keep it in place.

Also, I myself am beginning to get used to the movements of the Demon Lord.

Being enclosed in the darkness, it is running around here and there searching for prey. When it understands that such efforts are futile, it will cast Dispel.

That’s basically the pattern.

“[Light]!” (Rifreya)

Aiming for the moment when the darkness was erased, Rifreya casts Light.

This one hit that burns the retinas that were opened wide inside the pitch black darkness was effective even against a Demon Lord, and in those tens of seconds, it is almost completely defenseless.

An all-out attack between Rifreya, Alex, and Crabbell had hit the Demon Lord full on.

(It really is so tough!) (Hikaru)

Even if not on the level of Rifreya, the weapons of Alex and Crabbell are big, and there’s also the big frame of the people themselves, so they can bring out quite the power too.

Moreover, in this situation, they can get the first 2 hits in at a practically defenseless target. And yet, it is still far from being a fatal wound.

The attacks themselves are connecting. If we repeat this over and over, we should be able to defeat it eventually, but the problem is Rifreya’s spirit energy. She probably can’t use Light much.

I did the Point Loan, so I can’t exchange Crystals for spirit energy potions.

After that, I once again enveloped it in the Darkness Fog, and once it gets dispelled, use Light and an all-out attack. You could say it is a certain victory pattern.

However, there are holes in this plan.

One is that it can stun the people around by using Fear.

The other one is that this is a combo limited to when Rifreya still has spirit energy.

And the last one is…

“Gwuaoooooonn!”

It opened up its wings even within the darkness, rising up into the air to escape.

We have no means to hit the Demon Lord when it is flying around.

“Everyone! Be careful of fire breaths and lunges from above!” (Hikaru)

“Alright!”

“Got it! You be careful too, Hikaru!”

Alex and the others have pretty high teamwork.

They should be able to avoid the charges of the Demon Lord if there’s the support of Spirit Abilities.

The problem is the fire breath.

“Jojordan! Once the fire breath comes, please put up a shield! Can you do it?” (Hikaru)

“Y-Yeah. Alex gave me a spirit energy potion, so I should be okay for 5 times!” (Jojordan)

Jojordan has blocked the fire breath once with his ability before. The timing seemed to be difficult, but the fact that he managed to do it means that -contrary to his appearance- he is a pretty practiced Spirit User.

Fire breath is only one of its attack means, but having a countermeasure for one of them is really big in battle.