Vol. 9 - Chapter 460 - Declaration of war
Next they would talk about the Talent Change Dungeon.
"Alright."
"And it\'s finally our turn."
They had been there since the beginning, but remained silent until now. One was Cardinal Clinpton a healthy-looking 40 year old man who worked for the church. The other was the man in charge of the Adventurer\'s Guild, who was a bit older.
Whirrrrrrrr
As they walked forward, a large black board was lowered from the ceiling.
(That almost looks like a theater\'s screen.)
"I\'m Clinpton, a cardinal of Elmea\'s Church. I\'ve received an oracle I have to communicate to all of you. Please look at this magic blackboard."
(Hmmm, so sometimes they also display information like this. I should\'ve known.)
There were few times when Elmea would need to communicate something in detail to all branches of the church, but this was necessary for meetings like this one.
Elmea\'s wish for humans to defeat the Demon King\'s Army probably also figured in there. There were some countries that did not take part in the meetings too.
Allen recalled what he had read about the church last night.
(I guess Elmea is the one who can get Kiel to enter Extra Mode?)
He had learned that the various Gods governed over various Talents. For example Isiris watched over Magicians, Magic Engineers, and Magic Crafters. Allen needed the respective God to bring his friends into Extra Mode.
While Kurena and Dogora were getting far stronger, Allen also wanted the healer to be better. There was no God of Healing or Recovery, the God of Creation was in charge of that. The books described healing as a form of creating lost tissue.
That was one of the reasons why Elmea\'s Church was so widespread.
"Hohohoh. I actually took the liberty of taking a peek earlier, it seems a new Talent Change Dungeon will be opened in Latash\'s Academy City."
McCarran said that the God of Creation seemed to like the Academy City with a sarcastic voice. He was the leader of the biggest organization of the world, so he always had to attend big meetings. That placed a heavy toll on his more than 80 years old body.
Apparently the guild would need to restructure now that the new dungeon was opening. The Vice-Guild Master was already in Latash\'s Academy City to oversee that. There were two Talent Change Dungeons now, and they needed to be managed correctly.
Once McCarran was done talking, he glanced at Cardinal Clinpton.
"Please look at the magic blackboard. Everything that\'s already set in stone will be displayed there."
The rules and conditions to enter the Talent Change Dungeon were displayed there.
(This looks really convoluted and verbose. I can do better.)
Allen felt like the writing was convoluted in purpose to make it look like a god\'s oracle. He wrote it down on the Grimoire with more clear terms.
[Rules and conditions for the new Talent Change Dungeon] -Objective: Strengthening the Talent of adventurers that pass through the Dungeon -Condition to enter 1: Displaying one\'s adventurer card -Condition to enter 2: Having cleared the other Talent Change Dungeon at least once -Condition to Change Talents 1: Enough Talent Points -Condition to Change Talents 2: Having Level and Talent Level maxed out -Condition to Change Talents 3: Enough Talent Points can bring one\'s Talent to 5 Stars -Talent Points: Killing a Demon General grants 1, killing a Demon Great General grants 5 -2 Star Talents: 1 Talent Point necessary to reach 3 Stars -3 Star Talents: 3 Talent Points necessary to reach 4 Stars -4 Star Talents: 10 Talent Points Necessary to reach 4 Stars -Exception 1: Adventurers who already have a 4 Star Talent don\'t need to visit the first Dungeon -Exception 2: In cases of parties, the leader\'s adventurer card stores all the Talent Points from defeated Demon Generals. In cases of multiple parties working together, the Talent Points get divided between leaders depending on how much they worked -Opening Date: April 1st -Location: Latash\'s Academy City (Exact location announced in another oracle) -Warning: S Rank monsters will spawn in the Dungeon, one is responsible for their own lives
Allen was curious about many points. The location was still not determined because a different dungeon was likely in construction inside the Academy City. So maybe it could end up being a modification to that dungeon instead.
"Wha-?! So we have to defeat Demon Generals now?!!"
Someone who seemed to be royalty from some country yelled. He had no permission to talk, but he could not contain himself.
"Yes. Obtaining a stronger Talent necessitates an equivalent effort. The Talent Change Dungeon is no walk in the park either, so adventurers need to be careful if they challenge it."
"Th-that\'s impossible. Who would ever think of defeating a Demon General?"
McCarran tried to reason with that royal who was enraged by the steep difficulty.
(Hmm, there\'s nothing about entering Extra Mode.)
There was no Mode Change to enter Extra Mode. It was still a change to Talent Stars.
"You\'re really good at summing things up Allen. That\'s easier to understand."
After Allen finished noting things down, Cecile peeked into his Griomoire.
"Ohhhhhhh, this is so easy!!"
(Are you sure Kurena? I\'ll have to make sure you got everything later.)
Cecile aside, Allen doubted Kurena could really understand all of that. That was all the meeting had to discuss about the Talent Change Dungeon. After that they spoke about the alliance\'s efforts, and the results of the Academy Cities.
(Hmm, they\'re purposely avoiding the coup in Albahar. Well, I guess Giamut\'s emperor doesn\'t want to get hit back either.)
There was no mention of the important incidents happening in Albahar.
The coup was something important that could be discussed there, but after Bek\'s death it had all come to an end.
Giamut\'s emperor likely had wanted to attack Albahar by asking how Bek got involved with the Demon King\'s Army. But now that he knew the Demon King was Giamut\'s past emperor, he could not make such accusations carelessly. He remained silent and let the discussion move to the supplies donated to the frontlines.
Allen had no interest in that, so he started to think about the Talent Points mentioned earlier.
The magic blackboard mentioned that they would be displayed in his adventurer card. He checked his, which had a large S.
"Hm? 24 points?"
He looked at the S, and it slowly changed to display 24. He could change between his current rank and his Talent Points.
(I should have 31 Points considering all the enemies we killed.)
-Demon General Razel -Demon General Lycaoron -Demon General from the desert -Demon General from Carvalonea\'s capital -Skeleton Pope -Demon Great General Gushara -2 Demon Generals from the Central Continent and Rosenheim -13 Demon Generals from Patlanta -Demon General in Sinorom\'s laboratory -Demon Great General Ramonhamon
According to his notes, he had defeated 21 Demon Generals and 2 Demon Great Generals. That should tally up to 31 points. Just in case, Allen asked Peromus to check his adventurer card.
"Hm? What? It says I have 1 point here."
Peromus was an A Rank adventurer thanks to his trips to dungeons with Allen\'s Army.
"I see. You have one after fighting together with Bek. I guess the rest went to the hero."
Helmios checked his card and saw he had 8 points. 2 came from Demon Generals he defeated before meeting Allen.
-Allen: 24 Points -Hero Helmios: 8 Points (2 from before meeting Allen) -Peromus: 1 Point
(I\'ll prioritize my friends with less Stars first. Or maybe I could have Larappa and Habarak do it first to strengthen the party. Hmm, I have limited time so I should decide soon.)
Spending 10 points on Habarak would allow him to use [Alchemy] on orichalcum. The Divine Artifact Kagutsuchi aside, the strongest weapons and armor were made of orichalcum, and that way they would become even stronger.
The ending of the meeting was nowhere in sight, everyone discussing all sorts of details. Allen wanted to get out of there and make someone undergo a Talent Change already. He spent the time distracted, deciding who the best candidate was, when the magic blackboard which was being used to discuss the meeting began to flicker.
Brzzt bzzt bzzzzz
"Hm? What\'s happening?"
Giamut\'s emperor also noticed that and raised his voice. The magic blackboard usually displayed silver letters, but now it had turned red.
\'I\'m the Demon King who will consume this world.\'
Those blood red letters displayed a short sentence.
"What\'s that?! Hey, what\'s going on?!!" "The Demon King?!" "Inbuel, is this some sort of joke?"
Everyone was getting distressed.
"Go and figure out what is happening!!"
"Yessir!"
Latash\'s king shouted and a servant went to check the magic blackboard, but could not do anything.
\'Foolish humans. I heard you\'re gathering like flies on a pile of garbage here.\'
The ominous red letters continued appearing one after another.
\'Your time of peace has come to an end. Despair will reign soon. It doesn\'t matter where you try to hide.\'
(Oh, I guess this is like hacking a magic device. I doubt this was planned, hmmm.)
Allen started writing down the Demon King\'s message in his Grimoire.
\'I\'m finally back, and I\'ll take the world as mine. Everyone will know my name, the World Ender Demon King Zeldias.\'
"What is going-"
Before Cecile could finish her question, someone shouted loudly.
"Zeldias?! He says he\'s back?! Regalfares, what\'s the meaning of this!!"
The Beast King Muza slammed the table and stood up, glaring at Giamut\'s emperor. There was so much bloodlust in the Beast King\'s eyes that Helmios instinctively rushed to the emperor\'s side. The Beast King\'s anger had not been quenched yet as he glared at the emperor.
"Wh-what\'s the meaning of this?"
Baukis\' emperor also looked disturbed. But it was not the message on the magic blackboard that caused that. The Demon King\'s name was familiar to anyone, no matter where they lived.
All countries taught the terrible story of the tyrant emperor. But the Central Continent had felt the effect of that the most. They knew the fear of being ruled by a cruel tyrant.
"Were you stringing us along like fools all this time?!!"
The Beast King was starting to lose himself in anger. Many representatives from beastmen countries were there too, curious to know what would happen with Albahar after the coup. They all shared the Beast King\'s sentiment, their anger and resentment flaring up again. It was like the events from 1000 years ago were still fresh in their minds.
(I see, so the Demon King is finally planning on taking action to conquer the world.)
Allen recalled how the Demon King looked at Kyubel before revealing his name on the crystal flower. They had already invaded the Divine Realm and stolen a Divine Artifact to gather souls through the Evil Cult. They had pushed Bek to stage a coup in Albahar. After eating the Evil God\'s Tail, now the Demon King was throwing the Five Continents\' Alliance meeting into disarray before proceeding with his conquest.
The Beast King and all the other representatives from his continent were rescinding their positions in the alliance.
Allen was starting to think of how to fight back against the Demon King.