In order to check out the power of the B rank monster in Raph"s lineage, we—Kuina, Raph, and I—went to the [Mine] room.
The reason Rorono didn"t come with us was that this new monster was not the type that could use weapons.
"[I Shall Compose]"
I closed my eyes and uttered those words of power.
In the next moment, a thick grimoire appeared in my hand. It was my Demon Lord Book.
It was supposed to be the mark of a Demon Lord, but I was unable to summon it for a few days. And even though it was just for that few days, I did miss it.
When I thought about the B rank monster in Raph"s lineage, the Demon Lord book opened and turned itself to the corresponding page.
The name of the B rank in question was Black Bird Nevan.
Apparently, unlike "regular" angel monsters, there were no fallen angels in the B rank or lower. Because of that, the B rank monster in Raph"s lineage was a bird-type instead.
Alright, time to make our new comrade.
Thinking that, I paid the required 1,200 DP. After I did, I was notified that I had nearly 600,000 DP left. Ama.s.sing such an amount without any goal, even a vague one, in mind was not optimal. I would say it was even wasteful. I have to think of a good investment for these points as quickly as possible.
At any rate, particles of light were gathering in front me, forming the monster.
"So, this is a Black Bird Nevan, huh."
It was a black eagle that had a somewhat feminine figure.
When it spread its wings, I couldn"t help but be mesmerized by the wings" beauty.
"Kuruu"
It was a friendly cry. It being a monster of the darkness attribute, I was cautious, but it quickly became apparent that it was unnecessary.
"Black Bird Nevan, impress me with your power!"
With that command, it flew to the sky. Because it not only looked like an eagle but also the size of one, it was the smallest of my monsters.
That said, I could feel undeniable power within that tiny frame.
Curious, I looked at its Status.
Race: Black Bird Nevan
B rank
Name: Unnamed
- Physical Strength: E+
- Endurance: E+
- Agility: A
- Magic: A
- Luck: D
- Special: B
Skill:
- High-Rank Darkness Magic: Allows the use of high-rank darkness magic. When using darkness magic, receive a (small) bonus to magic. Also increases darkness resistance.
- High-Rank Light Magic: Allows the use of high-rank light magic. When using light magic, receive a (small) bonus to magic. Also increases light resistance.
- Cry of the Ominous Bird: A cry that lowers a target"s the magic resistance by one rank. It also has a certain chance to stun. It"s possible to choose which between the target"s darkness and light resistance to use in determining whether the stun would be applied. The effects of this skill won"t stack.
- Kin of Angels: If there is a high-ranking angel-type ally monster within the same dungeon room (or within 10 kilometers when outside of a dungeon), increase the skill holder"s Magic and Endurance stats by one rank.
Black Bird Nevan didn"t have something like Raph"s absurd Dark Light Magic—which combined both darkness and light attribute into one attack and used whichever of enemy"s resistance was lower. However, combining the fact that darkness magic and light magic, individually, were useful already and that she had access to both, there was nothing to complain about.
In the first place, there were only a few monsters that were resistant to either the light or the darkness attribute, and there were fewer still monsters that were resistant to both. So, it was basically just a matter of guessing which one to use.
Its Cry of the Ominous Bird wasn"t bad either. A sound-based attack was quite hard to avoid in a dogfight. A stun effect was always useful, no question. Moreover, Black Bird Nevan specialized in magic, so a means to lower their enemy"s magic resistance should work wonders for them.
But then, there was Kin of Angels. I thought it was good, but a bit tricky to use for us.
Our only high-rank angel was Raph, and she was more geared more for offense than defense or support.
On the other side of things, having them help Raph was all fine, but a.s.signing them to guard her, especially considering that skill of hers, was a bit suicidal for the Nevans.
"No, I shouldn"t mind these trivial points so much."
The Black Bird Nevan I just summoned was still dancing in the sky.
Its maximum speed wasn"t as much as the Darkness Dragons", but it was still worthy of being called fast.
Meanwhile, perhaps owing to its small build, it was much quicker in turning and maneuvering than the Darkness Dragons.
Nevertheless, the A in Agility that both possessed was nothing to take lightly.
In order to demonstrate its capabilities to me, the Nevan followed a complicated flight trajectory.
While doing so, it was also firing off its spells.
A lump of dark power gathered in front of it and then began to drop to the ground, which was several meters below. Because it was a dark attribute attack, rather than crashing into the ground and then destroying it, the attack seemed more like to land on the ground and then devoured it. Either way, a large crater was formed.
Immediately following that, a pillar of light pierced through a certain faraway rock. The revealed cross-section was unbelievably smooth. We just bore witness to such a quick and powerful light magic. Granted, its [Kin of Angels] was in effect because of Raph"s presence, but even without that, it should still be amazing.
After thinking about it more calmly, I had gained a better grasp of their talents.
To simplify, their speed, flight, and magic gave them overwhelming advantage over others.
A simple yet great tactic would be to make them fire their spells from a great distance and height. If their enemies tried to close the distance, they could either run away or run toward the enemy to use their [Cry of the Ominous Bird].
There was no way such monsters could be called weak. As such, they held great potential to be one of our main forces.
That being said, they were not perfect.
For one, they had a paper-thin Endurance of E+. One blow from a B rank or higher monster could take them down. Actually, with such an Endurance, it was possible some C rank monsters could also take them down in one hit.
Secondly, they were small and only had a Physical Strength of E+. Making them carry bombs was out of the question. Moreover, their form also makes them ineligible for any of our current weapons.
Next, their main form of attack was their magic. But if ever an enemy that was highly resistant to magic, like Kuina who was completely immune, there was nothing they could do. Sure, they could use their claws and beaks to physically attack, but their Physical Strength of E+ would make that just as useless.
Perhaps it was because they were in the same lineage as Raph, but they shared her weaknesses as well.
It seems that rather than make them form their own unit, I should make them work in tandem with the Darkness Dragons and the Tempest Wyverns.
"That"s enough, Nevan. I have seen what you"re capable of. And we can use a lot of it in Avalon. Yes, I"ve decided to make your kind another of Avalon"s main forces. Kuina, Raph, Tiro, I hope you"re all fine with this decision."
"Yup! They look promising!"
"Uh-huh, uh-huh. It"s as to be expected of a monster in my lineage. …you know"
"Gau!"
Nevan descended, landed on my shoulder, and then brushed its face against mine.
What a friendly kid.
"To celebrate your kind"s inauguration, I"ll now buy some [Maelstroms]. I think two will do for now."
I had expected the new monster to be useful for defense, but now that I have seen it in action, I was certain that this little thing was a weapon instead of a shield.
The problem with the Darkness Dragons and also the Tempest Wyverns was that their huge size could prove to be disadvantage in tight dungeon rooms. A lot of the times, before asking if the s.p.a.ce was wide enough to let them fight, we had to ask whether the s.p.a.ce was wide enough to let them just pa.s.s through.
Obviously, such wouldn"t be an issue to the Nevans. Even if the ceiling was set too low, they could still contribute a lot just by perching themselves to an ally"s shoulders and becoming an artillery battery that fired off magic attacks.
"Wow, you"re so generous, your majesty."
"Uh, thanks. Though truth be told, I wouldn"t really mind making one more if we had at least one other angel on our side. Especially if that angel had something to offer in terms of defense so that the Nevans" [Kin of Angels] could be used more effectively. I guess I"ll just try to aim for one the next time I make a monster."
Currently, our attack force was solid. It was now time to improve our defenses.
I could buy new dungeon rooms using the remaining DP. It could get expensive, but just adding a room full of traps can bolster our defenses a lot.
"Oto-san, do you already know what kind of monster you"re going to make next?"
"Just a vague idea. If I use an imitation of the [Holy] medal I used to make Raph and [Creation], I think high-ranking angels are guaranteed to show up as possible results, but I"m not sure about everything else. I don"t know what to use for the third medal or which specific monster I want."
"Well, it"d be really handy if we had someone like Rozelitte!"
"Ohh, Rozelitte… yeah, her powers are quite helpful."
Thanks to Kuina"s words, I remembered about Rozelitte, the angel that Stolas had lent to me before.
She had the ability to communicate telepathically to any and all monsters that belonged to the same army as her even if they were in different dungeon rooms.
Moreover, she also had a seemingly unique skill that unconditionally boosted all the stats of all her allies within the same dungeon.
Her own stats weren"t high, but in terms of supporting the entire army during a fight, she was probably the strongest monster there was.
As such, I wanted someone like her.
Though it might be impossible to get the angel herself, I could negotiate about getting a [Wind] medal as well as an imitation of the other medal she used for Rozelitte. Combining those with [Creation] should give a monster that had similar abilities as her.
"Thanks for that great idea, Kuina. Alright, let"s buy another [Maelstrom]. a.s.suming that Stolas"s army will find more value out of the Nevans than us, offering Stolas the monsters produced by the third [Maelstrom] on top of my [Creation] medal should be enough to convince her to hand over her medal and also reveal what the other medal she used for Rozelitte was."
Stolas"s basic strategy was to make Rozelitte lead the defense force while a copy of Rozelitte via [Omnipresence] led the attack force.
In other words, be it offense or defense, the Nevans" [Kin of Angels] would always activate.
Through our previous deal, Stolas was receiving some of my Darkness Dragons in exchange for some of her Tempest Wyverns. There was no question that the Darkness Dragons were powerful, but because her side didn"t manufacture bombs or had a monster that could strengthen monsters of the [Death] or [Darkness] attribute, she was unable to draw out their full potential.
On the other hand, drawing out the full potential of the Black Bird Nevans should be easy for her.
"But your majesty, aren"t you offering too much? …you know"
"Not at all. I mean, I"m pretty much bribing her into giving me her trump card. There"s no way that"ll come cheap."
If anything, I was worried that she would ask for more. Because then, I would gladly pay it. That was how much I wanted Rozelitte"s abilities.
Moreover, she was my ally.
I wanted her to have another S rank monster besides Enlil.
Until I graduate from being a new Demon Lord, I could produce four more [Creation] medals.
My plans were:
To give one to [Wind] Demon Lord Stolas.
To give another to [Viscosity] Demon Lord Ronove.
To make a new angel-type monster.
And the last one, I was going to give to [Despair] Demon Lord Belial. Provided, of course, that I could confirm he was truly an ally.
"Kuina also thinks it"s a fair deal. If the deal succeeds, Avalon will get stronger again!"
"Yeah, and it"s not just us that"s going to get stronger. Stolas"s side as well. I really want this deal to come through."
While we were talking idly like that, a large, white bird with a letter attached to its leg flew to me.
Because it wasn"t the blue bird Stolas and I were using to communicate with each other, it was unlikely that the letter came from her.
I received the letter and then began to read it.
"…Marcho did warn me that the enemies were moving. Is this how they intend to get their pretext to wage [War] on me?"
Belial wrote that the anti-Procell alliance has attacked him simply for joining my faction. Despite doing all he could to fight off the hordes of monsters making their way through his dungeon, he feared it would not be enough. As such, he was asking for my a.s.sistance.
The enemy side has made an interesting move.
Until we have graduated from being new Demon Lords, we were protected by a rule that prohibited older Demon Lords from initiating an attack against us.
However, Belial wasn"t a new Demon Lord and was thus fair game to them.
If I helped Belial and attacked them, they would be given the justification they needed to be able to attack me without repercussions.
On the other hand, abandoning Belial was not really an option for me.
It wasn"t that I thought abandoning an ally in these circ.u.mstances was unforgivable, it was that if information of me abandoning him spread, all hopes of getting others to form a faction would be lost.
"Kuina, it"s sudden, but we"re going to go to Belial"s dungeon. We mustn"t give the enemies the justification they need, and I have just the plan. So, go tell Duke to prepare 10 Darkness Dragons within 15 minutes!"
If the enemy was going to make use a bizarre tactic, then so shall I.
I planned to help Belial in such a way that the enemies wouldn"t gain the pretext they wanted. It wasn"t without risk, but the most I stood to lose were the ten Darkness Dragons.
"Roger! I"m off!"
…Belial… Time to see if you"re really an ally.
My strategy was based on the a.s.sumption that Belial was an ally.
I wanted to believe he was one. And so, we were taking such a risk.
Alright, here we go, off to save a friend.