CH 70

[Demon King’s Army, Assemble!!!]

Facing thousands of players head-on alone was too reckless, even for me.

“Activate magic art! ‘Meteor Shot’!”

“Activate slash art! ‘Flying Swallow Slash’!”

Innumerable attacks came at me. Though I could neutralize some of them with the ‘God-Slaying Fist’, I lacked a hand, like literally!

I had cut it off in my fight with Korin earlier and now I had the status effect ‘Body Part Loss’. The enemy players didn’t give me time to use Event Recovery Potion to recover it.

[Die, Demon King Yuri!!!]

“Gah, you damn bastards?!”

They ceaselessly bombard me with hails of long-range attacks. As a result, I had already nearly died 30 times ten seconds into the battle.

I occasionally directly threw my explosive weapons, killing one or two players each time, but the enemies were too many, still.

“Looks like I’m in a real pinch now, huh…!”

There were still dozens of seconds to go until the seal on the ‘Arms Barrier’ skill came undone. Could I survive until then…?!

As I frantically parried incoming attacks with my remaining arm, I began to break into a cold sweat—at that time…

“—Protect our Great Demon King!!!”

[UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!]

Vigorous screams rang from behind me!

At the same time, countless weapons flew in the sky, and the moment they hit the enemy players, large explosions occurred.

“W-what…?”

Excluding Seele, Grimm, and the NPCs, wasn’t practically everyone on this battlefield targeting me…? And how come those weapons explode?!

What the hell is going on?! When I, as well as the enemy players, looked at where the attacks came from…

“Are you okay, Yuri-dono? We, ‘Producers’ Revolutionary Army’, have come to assist you.”

“Ah… you’re the Craft Maker from before?!”

There I found the senior Craft Maker with glasses who helped me previously.

What’s more, behind him were hundreds of other Craft Makers from the workshop as well as others dressed like craftsmen.

“What are you guys doing here…?!”

“A foolish question, Yuri-dono. The motto of all producers is to get along with and help each other out, remember? Of course, that includes you, Yuri-dono.

“And most importantly, Yuri-dono, your words have opened our eyes. We can’t let ourselves continue to be stepped on by those with combat jobs.

“Therefore, we came. We are going to show them what we are made of.”

With that, the senior stepped in front of me as if to protect me.

One by one, the other Craft Makers also went up and stood by his sides with smiles full of confidence plastered on their faces.

The enemy players were even more dumbfounded by this scene than I was.

Facing the Craft Makers who had appeared on the battlefield out of nowhere, they began screaming, asking what their intention was.

“W-what the hell do you think you are doing, you bastards?! Get in our way, and we’ll kill you along with Yuri!”

“Do it if you can! We will show you the true power of Craft Makers!”

Thus, the battle began.

The enemy players regained their composure and held up their weapons again. They unleashed slash arts and magic arts unique to combat jobs, trying to annihilate the Craft Makers who charged toward them, but…

“Fuhahahahahahaha! Too slow, too weak!”

…an even more incomprehensible situation unfolded!

The presumably powerless Craft Makers swooshed around the battlefield at a terrifying speed, dodging the attacks of the enemy players!

Maybe because they were moving so fast that they couldn’t control themselves? They sometimes stumbled and attacks hit them, but they looked unscathed and proceeded to charge forward again.

The enemy players were confused by the sight.

“W-what’s up with these guys?! Shouldn’t those with production-type jobs be unable to fight?!”

“Fuhahaha! That’s but a misunderstanding on your part, combat job normies! We simply had no means to attack!

“Yes… we have given up on the fact that we can’t even fight on our own, and to focus on collecting mats on the field, we have been pouring all our stat points into Defense and Agility!

“In other words, when it comes to toughness and speed, we are far above you!!!”

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaah?!”

As the enemy players shouted in astonishment, the Craft Makers finally broke through the rain of attacks.

They then leaped in front of the enemies and manifested greatswords in their hands! Each and every one of them was wrapped in a reddish-black aura like my explosive weapons.

…Wait a minute?!

“Seniors?! Aren’t those weapons too big for you?! Since you’ve been increasing only your Defense and Agility, shouldn’t your Strength be abysmally low… ah?!”

It came to me in the middle of my sentence.

I knew best in this game. What would happen if you try to wield a weapon unfit for you…!

“Fuhahahaha, have you figured it out, Yuri-dono?! The secret of producing is to steal others’ techniques… which is why, please forgive us for ripping off your secret technique!!!”

At the same time as the senior with glasses shouted, the Craft Makers’ greatswords flew out of their hands all at once!

Yeah, if you tried to hold a weapon unfit for you by force, the system would send it flying out of your hand.

As a result, the innumerable greatswords flew toward the enemy players, causing huge explosions the moment they made contact!

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?! I didn’t sign up for this?!”

The enemies screamed as they disappeared. The Craft Makers mercilessly fired their weapons at them, turning the battlefield into hell.

I couldn’t help but smile wryly at the sight.

“Hahahaha… you guys are amazing…!”

“Fuh, it is all thanks to you, O Demon King. You gave us the courage to participate in this war.

“Now, Great Demon King, leave this place to us! According to information from a fellow producer belonging to one of the enemy guilds, the baldhead and Zansword are in the massive rock castle right up ahead!”

Wow… they even had a mole in the enemy’s camp, Craft Makers were so reliable…!

Seeing the Craft Makers laughing maniacally while blowing up the enemy players, I swore to myself to not get on their bad side.

Okay, I’d better hurry on my way while they were buying me time.

It was when I was about to dart away. A few enemy players—looking like a mess, courtesy of the explosive weapons—rushed out of the flames generated by the explosions.

“Fuck, we’re not letting you get awaaaaaaaaay!”

“If we got defeated by mere producers, we wouldn’t be able to hold our heads high anymore!!!”

They charged in even though they had been burnt black.

――But at that time, a side sweep of a spear took their lives.

“Hell yeah! These guys are already at death’s door! Guys, let’s gang ‘em and finish ‘em all!!!”

[YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!]

At the next moment, another big group of players appeared from behind me.

With shiny weapons in hand, they all charged at the enemy players who had very little HP left.

“Eh-ehhhhhhhhh?!”

“““Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”””

…The hundreds of newcomers combined against the few enemy players, stabbing them with spears and swords and turning them into countless pieces of meat.

These fiends… I was familiar with them.

“…You guys look like you’re having so much fun.”

[Ah, it’s the Demon King!!!]

The fiends’ eyes sparkled when they saw me.

Yeah, they were the rookie players I had played with.

I was pretty sure that no guilds had been willing to take them in, so how come they were here?

As I tilted my head, a voice with a refined tone came from behind me, though the words it said were a tad bit violent, “Everyone, it is your chance! Stab them, slice them, flay them, whatever you do, make sure the enemies are dead!”

Hang on…

“Francoise! ​​What are you doing here?!”

“Why, hello there, Yuri-san.

“Ufufufu… I heard you held a small event for the rookie players, see.

“I was like: ‘I can’t lose to Yuri-san!’ then I hurriedly created a guild named ‘Let’s Have Fun Killing! Rookies’ Force!’ to allow them to take part in the event!”

All of them were overjoyed~ Francoise smiled brightly.

With her white dress, she stood out on the scorched battlefield, but occasionally she would fire laser beams from the tip of the umbrella in her hand, annihilating anyone she set her sight on. It must come from her second job, which also meant that she was at least level 50. Seriously, these guys are too frightening…!

“Well then, Great Demon King, we and the producers’ guild will take care of this place. Please enjoy your battle to your heart’s content!”

“…Yeah, I sure will!”

I nodded vigorously at her words.

Receiving my overly reliable comrades’ feelings, I headed to where the baldhead was waiting.