"..."
In a courtyard with only a handful of people present, the Doom Lord stood there with reddened eyes, while the black mist rising from its body grew thicker and thicker until it became dense enough to blanket the entire surrounding area.
After that black mist burst forth, the negative energy and evil aura emanating from the Doom Lord intensified even further, causing Ais's expression to turn grave.
At this very moment, she actually sensed a faint trace of danger from the Doom Lord.
Combined with the fact that she had just been forced back head-on, not only her—even Finn and Riveria revealed visibly surprised expressions.
"…Hey, this isn't just Level 5 anymore, is it?"
Riveria could not help but voice this thought aloud.
Finn felt the same way.
The earlier Doom Lord was one thing, but the power and overwhelming pressure it displayed now were no longer something a mere Level 5 could possess.
It was only natural.
"Even though the Doom Lord itself is only around Level 5, it's got some outstanding special abilities."
Seeing everyone's surprise, Riezel smiled faintly and began to explain.
"The attacks it throws out are packed with negative energy. If it gets into close combat and manages to wound someone, that negative energy messes with their vitality and drains even more of their stamina and life force."
"Its attacks also come with mental effects. Without proper resistance, the target could end up confused or mentally exhausted."
"Ais probably wasn't affected because her Abnormal Resistance development ability blocked both effects."
Of course, that was not the reason why the Doom Lord had been able to force Ais back and make her feel threatened.
"The Doom Lord's truly valuable special ability is one known as Ruinous Night."
"Once this special ability is activated, black mist will gush out from its body and enhance all of its combat-related abilities."
"The more black mist it releases, the stronger its combat ability gets."
"And as long as it stays inside that black mist, even opponents with higher levels will deal reduced damage to it. It can also lessen damage from stuff that's normally super deadly to undead, like light, fire, and holy attributes."
"The downside is that once this special ability is activated, its health starts draining automatically, so the more black mist it releases, the faster its health drops. Once it's completely drained, it'll disappear."
With Riezel's explanation, Ais and the others finally understood why the Doom Lord had suddenly become stronger.
It was because of the special ability known as Ruinous Night.
After activating it, the Doom Lord had effectively risen from Level 5 to Level 6.
Although the cost was the rapid depletion of its health points, at least until those health points were completely exhausted, the Doom Lord could rival a true Level 6. If it ignored the cost entirely, it could even threaten a Level 7 for a brief instant in a flash-like explosive burst.
Needless to say, that was precisely why Riezel considered a summon like the Doom Lord to be exceptionally valuable.
If used properly, it was a monster capable of unleashing astonishing power within a short period of time. Even against opponents above Level 6, it could still pose a tremendous threat—or even succeed in fighting across levels.
"Negative Burst."
Noticing that the Doom Lord's health points were draining rapidly—and that it had also been cut by Ais, with black aura continuously seeping out from the wound—Riezel immediately activated a negative-attribute magic.
The negative energy brought by negative-attribute magic was a deadly poison to living beings, but to the undead, it was the greatest form of nourishment.
As a result, the dense black light released by Riezel was instantly absorbed by the Doom Lord. Not only were its health points restored, but even the wound on its body began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Seeing this, Ais and the others narrowed their eyes once again.
This situation made one thing extremely clear to them: as long as Riezel remained nearby and continuously used negative-attribute magic on the Doom Lord, its health and injuries could be restored endlessly.
In that case, even if the Doom Lord activated its special ability and entered a state of explosive combat enhancement, it could continue fighting indefinitely without disappearing.
How could something like that possibly be matched by a mere Level 5 adventurer?
"Alright," Finn said solemnly, his eyes lighting up slightly. "Its appearance might not be appealing, but this kind of combat power is undeniably excellent. At critical moments, it could serve as a trump card."
"Agreed..." Riveria's expression improved as well. "If we can continuously summon combat power of this level, and in sufficient numbers, then our lack of strength can be compensated for."
Ais silently sheathed her sword and no longer attacked the Doom Lord.
However, she still asked Riezel a question.
"Can you summon others?"
Riezel had never said that the Doom Lord was the only monster he could summon, so he gave a definite answer.
"Of course."
In fact, there were actually several other excellent summons similar to the Doom Lord.
One example was the Cerberus that both Riezel and Shalltear had summoned before—every one of its attacks carried additional fire damage, and it possessed complete immunity to fire and poison. It was a large, high-tier demon beast with formidable combat ability.
Another example was the Death Knight summoned by Shalltear, which was capable of launching attacks with an instant death effect. Once triggered, the enemy would die on the spot, making it extremely terrifying.
In addition, among lower-level summons, there were also some very frightening types.
For instance, a monster known as Soul Eater was roughly a mid-tier undead around Level 30 to Level 35 that possessed a special ability called Soul Devour, allowing it to kill nearby living beings and consume their souls, which would then make the monster grow stronger according to the number of souls devoured.
Soul Devour not only carried an instant death effect, but also provided enhancement and recovery effects. As long as it devoured souls, Soul Eater could grow stronger and restore its health points. Combined with its ability to spread a fear-inducing abnormal status aura, it might be somewhat insufficient against high-level enemies, but it was perfectly suited for dealing with miscellaneous foes such as hordes of monsters.
Of course, with the deployment of Yoriichi Type One, Riezel would most likely not waste his limited summon capacity on something like Soul Eater.
"I plan to use high-level summons like the Doom Lord as our top-tier fighters, assigning them to the six groups going after the Demi Spirits, while using specialized mechanical dolls as mid- and lower-tier fighters to fill the huge manpower gap."
"I can summon around twenty to thirty of the former. Even if they're split across all six groups, each one would still get at least four, which should be enough to make up for the lack of high-end fighters."
"As for the latter, they can't work as supporters, healers, or mages, but they're perfect for charging into battle, wiping out weaker enemies, or even acting as meat shields. For the downside, unlike summons, mechanical dolls don't have intelligence. Since they can't understand commands, I'd have to control them directly myself, which kinda lowers their flexibility and keeps them from adapting to changing situations on the fly."
Riezel dismissed the Doom Lord, then walked over with Ais toward Finn and explained his proposal.
"As for the exact arrangements, I'll coordinate with you, Captain. How's that sound?"
Hearing this, Finn did not respond immediately as he bit his thumb and fell into deep thought.
At this moment, countless ideas and plans must have flashed through his mind as he carefully arranged the valuable combat power Riezel had brought.
Only then did Finn finally speak.
"The appearance of these summons is nothing short of perfect timing. Our manpower shortage can indeed be compensated for to the greatest extent with them."
"Here's what we'll do—you compile a list of all the creatures you can summon and note down their special abilities."
"I'll select the most suitable ones for the operation. When the time comes, you'll handle the summoning. Any issues?"
At this question, Riezel genuinely felt a headache coming on.
"All of them?"
Even he himself could not clearly count how many types of monsters he was capable of summoning. Strictly speaking, as long as it was a monster of Level 70 or below, he could summon it through summoning magic.
Summon Angel, Summon Demon, Summon Monster, Summon Elemental, Summon Undead—he had mastered every kind of summoning magic, from the 1st Tier all the way to the 10th Tier.
In other words, among summons of Level 70 and below—whether angels, demons, monsters, elementals, or undead—Riezel could summon all of them.
But to compile all of that into a list, annotate every single summon with its special abilities, and then hand it over to Finn?
Riezel felt his head already starting to spin.
"Any problem with that, Riezel?"
Perhaps noticing something, Finn narrowed his eyes slightly before smiling and patting Riezel's thigh.
It couldn't be helped.
Being a pallum, he could not reach Riezel's shoulder.
"…Alright."
Riezel gave a wry smile before agreeing.
"Good."
Finn returned the smile briefly, then quickly composed himself again.
"Make your preparations starting now, since the day the operation begins is no longer far off."
Now that the final manpower issue had been resolved, there was indeed no reason to delay the assault on Knossos any longer, especially since the Gate of Heaven was being completed with every passing second and could be activated at any moment. Even though they had interfered with it for over a month, that interference was already nearing its limit.
Yesterday, Riezel had already inspected Daedalus Street and reported his findings back to Finn.
"At this rate, that spirit magic will probably be completed in about a week."
In other words, they only had one week left.
===
At night, the usually quiet Twilight Manor finally became lively once again as the members who had been out on assignments returned one after another. Some headed toward the large bath to wash up, some gathered together in the lounge to chat, while others enjoyed hearty meals in the dining hall.
On the surface, it looked no different from any other ordinary day, but in reality, there was a subtle tension lingering in the air that was difficult to notice, mainly because Finn had already announced to everyone that within the week, they would launch a full-scale assault on Knossos.
At that time, the entire Loki Familia would be required to participate.
Needless to say, this was by no means a small matter.
Even during expeditions, the Loki Familia would still leave some lower-level members behind at the manor instead of committing all of their combat power, both to give those members time and opportunities to grow and also as a precautionary measure.
If the expedition party were to encounter disaster in the Dungeon and be completely wiped out, then those left behind would become the next generation responsible for carrying on the familia.
But this time, Finn had made a firm decision to stake the entire familia on this battle.
"Once Orario is destroyed, the surface will return to the chaos of ancient times, so there is no longer any need to preserve our strength for that point. In that case, we might as well go all in."
Earlier, this was the reasoning Finn had given.
In short, Orario could not be allowed to fall.
If Orario were to be destroyed, exploration-type familias like the Loki Familia would no longer have any reason to continue existing. For this very reason, Finn chose to commit everything, leaving no path of retreat for himself and no avenue of escape for the enemy.
As a result, a quiet but unmistakable tension had indeed begun to spread throughout the manor, tugging tightly at the hearts of every single member.
"I'll take my leave, Captain."
Riezel had already brought the list of summons Finn had requested and handed it over to Finn in the captain's office.
"Good work," Finn reassured him. "Get some rest. Your task as one of our main combat forces is to remain in peak condition and be ready to move at any time."
"Understood."
Riezel nodded in response, then left the office and headed toward his room.
Tonight, there was no moon, yet the sky was filled with countless stars, creating a calm and tranquil atmosphere.
While crossing the aerial corridor between the towers, Riezel glanced outside by chance and found himself drawn to the brilliant starry sky.
Beneath that sky, in Orario—the bustling city known as the center of the world—there were surely still many people drinking and chatting in taverns and along the streets. Among them, the adventurers who had already returned to the surface by now had taken off their equipment, washed away the dust covering their bodies, and were sharing meals and conversation with their companions.
"...How much longer can this last?"
Riezel murmured softly.
"Huh, didn't expect you to get sentimental too."
Just as he muttered those words, a head suddenly popped out from behind him.
"Loki?" Riezel looked at the owner of the head with slight surprise. "You're back from the battlefield?"
"Yeah, finally got outta that boring battlefield. I'll leave the rest to that idiot pervert." Loki jumped out and said casually. "Things are about to get serious on our side too, so no way I'm staying out there now."
With that, Loki grabbed Riezel's hand.
"C'mon, c'mon—let's head to my room. Been a while since I updated your status."
As soon as she finished speaking, Loki dragged Riezel along.
Riezel merely smiled in response and did not resist, allowing her to pull him back to her room.
Before long, his updated status was ready.
...
Riezel Brynhart
Level 8
STR: I0 → F335
END: I0 → F311
DEX: I0 → E424
AGI: I0 → E436
MAG: I0 → E447
Lightweight: A
Swordsman: B
Mage: C
Battle Adept: C
Fast Attack: D
Magic Chant: F
Unbound: I
===
[A bonus chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
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