CH 116

[Monster Parade!!!]

“—Hmm, gathering players, huh?”

A while after I sent Zansword flying with a punch.

I walked around Helheim as I recalled the earlier conversation.

“Put on a live concert he says. He must be out of his mind. Ain’t no way I’d do that.”

I mean, I got the looks, but if I was going to attract real crowds, I’d gotta learn how to sing and dance, or else I’d only end up embarrassing myself.

But that would take a considerable amount of time, which I didn’t have. After all, there were only six days until the war. I wasn’t going to spend my precious time learning skills useless for fighting.

“Still, it’s true that I have to do something to attract people to join our side. I wonder if there’s something I can do with things I’ve already got–”

At that time. From a corner of the city came a squeal “Kyaa, how adorable!”

Wondering what was going on, I headed over, and…

“Hey, look at this mouse monster! Its whole body is yellow. So cute♡.”

“This raccoon monster has got a bag on its belly. Super adorbs~♡.”

“Ah! That kitty is making popcorn!”

…there I found cute little monsters and female players swooning all over them.

Further, when I took a look around, I saw male players looking up at the large monsters wandering the streets exclaiming “Ohhh!” and kids timidly trying to touch some other monsters.

“…That’s it…! A summoner like me is used to seeing monsters up close. But most other players rarely get the chance to do so…!”

I mean, with wild monsters, it was kill or be killed.

Regardless of how cute they looked, there was no way people could admire them safely.

But with my tamed monsters, they could even touch them…!

“—I’ve come up with a good idea! I must call up my fellow summoners right away!”

Summoner used to be seen as a trash job, and Summoner players had always been ridiculed.

But with my rise to become the strongest, that perception had now gone, and most Summoners had chosen to join the Demon King’s side as a token of gratitude.

And now, I’d be borrowing their power.

“Summoning monsters takes up party slots, so you can only bring out 12 monsters at a time. But I remember reading that you can transfer tamed monsters, so if I work together with other Summoners… Alright!”

When you’d got an idea, you’d gotta act upon it right away!

I pulled up my friend list, which had become full before I knew it, and started to hit up my fellow Summoners–!

◆◆◇◆

–Several hours later. With the help of other Summoners, I was holding a sudden event in the Beginning Town!

Riding on the head of one of my tamed monsters, ‘Imperial Dragon’, I yelled at the players on the street!

“Everyone! Behold!! The great force of our Demon King’s army!!!!!”

[Roaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!!!]

In response to my shout, the hundreds of monsters started marching!

Giant beetles with spines growing from their whole bodies ‘Genocide Beetles’, lava giants boasting huge burning bodies of over 10m (32ft) ‘Lava Gigantes’, vicious slimes whose bodies were made entirely of acid and venom ‘Venom Killing Slime’, and other sizeable, terrifying, and conspicuous monsters paraded through the Beginning Town!

“W-what’s going on?!?!?!”

“Holy shit…! How are you supposed to beat an army of monsters like this…!”

“Whoa, the one standing at the head of the dragon in the lead is Yuri-san, the Demon King’s side leader! I saw her in videos!”

The players trembled in astonishment and awe.

The eyes of tens of thousands of people were glued to the monster parade that suddenly began.

“Alright, you guys had better take a good look and think twice about which side to join!

“If any of you choose to join the Goddess’ side, my boys here are going to tear you apart and devour you!

“But! If you choose to join me, all these monsters will be on your side–!”

Right on cue, the monsters roared again.

The roars of the monster army echoed throughout the city, leaving many players gasping.

–Okay. This should be sufficient to convey the threat of the Demon King’s side.

It was easy to draw people’s attention. All you had to do was show off enormous, terrifying, and overwhelming power.

Add a sprinkle of threat, and they would fear you.

But of course, fear was only enough to prevent others from making an enemy out of you. If you wanted them to be your ally, you also had to give them some benefits.

Now that I had shown them our strength and left them awed, it was time to have some fun–!

[Usasa——————!]

“““Whoaaaa?!”””

In the next moment, countless little monsters ran past the players!

All at once, they climbed onto the bodies of the fiendish monsters and waved at everyone.

“S-so cuuuuuuute…!”

“That’s Vorpal Rabbit and that’s Pink Slime!”

“She tamed monsters like those too…? W-whoaa, one of the little guys got on my head?!”

The players who had been paralyzed with horror immediately relaxed and cheered up.

–Yeah. I’d had smol cute monsters hiding all over the town for the second stage of my plan!

They had low intelligence, so they tended to act selfishly. Many of them jumped out at the players and arrogantly order them to “Carry me!” and “I’ll give you permission to pat me, hyuman!”

But that was exactly what I wanted them to do.

Although the players were puzzled by the sudden turn of events, they began to enjoy the rare experience of interacting with monsters.

I then said, “Cute aren’t they? If you come to my city, you can touch and pet any of them as much as you want! You can ride on the big and cool ones too, if you would! If you’re a Summoner, I’d even give you any monster you like! Oh, almost forgot. Everyone will also get free items from yours truly, so be sure you come!”

[O-ohhhhhhhhhhh…!]

Many players’ eyes lit up at my words.

I had collected more than 100,000 items at the last event. It’d be a waste to leave them collecting dust, so I’d rather give them away and strengthen my forces!

――Thus, my monster parade operation ended in great success!

It was recorded and uploaded on the internet, and the next day, a large number of players rushed to Helheim.

…By the way, although most of the players came lured by the monsters’ cuteness and the temptation of free items, a small part of the players apparently came because “Yuri-san was so beautiful that I instantly fell in love at first sight, so I came!” “I could see Yuri-san’s panties from below and I wanted to see more!” and other stupid reasons.

You guys should just get your asses out!!!