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Thousands? Tens of thousands?
A great number of demons and magic beasts turned into our direction. In a hurry, we woke the people who had been taking a nap and got in formation to respond to the attack.

Rather than come down here, too, Mephistophales and Samaeyl observed from a distant position in the sky.

Those among the demons who ran in the vanguard were obstructed in their path due to the barrier from the statue I had created. Moreover, merely by colliding with that barrier, the demons looked like they had grown weaker.

It’s going well. Or rather, we might even have some leeway.

A knight slashed at a weakened demon with their sword from inside the barrier. That attack ended the demon’s life and at the same time it disappeared, a C-Rank magic core fell to the ground. Following that example, everyone started chopping down the attacking demons one by one through the barrier.

Very good, we’re doing well.

If there was one problem, it was probably that the magic beasts weren’t weakened by the barrier. However, it looked like the knights could push through even this, thanks to having their stats raised by my bracelets.

At this point, since only E to C-Rank magic beasts and demons come at us, it’ll probably be fine, but… The people who are high ranked and have high levels might be somewhat unsatisfied.

Still, we absolutely shouldn’t get negligent. We’re fine with the foes attacking on the ground, but what about those flying in the air?

Currently, I saw around 15 bird-type magic beasts who were attacking the royal capital by chanting spells simultaneously, but thanks to the barrier blocking it, it wasn’t a big problem. They were then shot down by someone on the west side who utilized magic.

The sky should be fine, too, right?

We had no casualties, either, but the number of demons and magic beasts, merely in my field of view, surpassed a thousand.

It seems like they can’t attack us, but, unfortunately, their numbers are great.
This is getting nowhere.

I decided to do something I wanted to test in this war. Firing off magic at full power. You see, I really wanted to try this.

“Mr. Knight Commander, I’m going to attack, too, alright?”
“Oh… but… shouldn’t you conserve your magic power as much as possible…?”
“I think it’ll be fine, since I can restore my MP several times, can’t I?”¹　

The knight commander shook his head with a “Good grief!” but didn’t say anything besides that.

I took it as his permission and flew upwards until I was within inches of the barrier’s limit. The magic I was going to be shooting off, was five Lv. 5 Matchless Thunders². Instead of needlessly putting in MP, I wanted to try to plainly rely on my spellpower and attack just like that.

I decided³ to have the magic to take a beam-type shape, similar to a laser, and made 5 magic circles, that looked like thunder drums⁴, appear behind my back. Then, from there I shot off five Matchless Thunders, brimming with my magic power. Together with the sound of a terrific explosion, power of an extent that shocked even me was released.

If I can’t control the magic skillfully, it’ll probably swallow up everyone down there.

Little by little, I moved my body to the side and swept the demons and magic beasts appearing from the shadows and the black clouds away, with a thunder laser. To say, there was nothing left in the place the thunder hit, would probably be an apt description. There wasn’t even a method to my attack, it just consigned demons and magic beasts to oblivion. Of course, I took care so I wouldn’t injure anyone but our foes. For that reason, I mainly aimed at enemies flying in the sky.

By the way, when I tried to focus the laser onto Mephistophales and Samaeyl, the former avoided it by turning into smoke, while the latter was only startled for an instant before quickly dodging it.

Though at first, it looked like Samaeyl thought she could ward off the Matchless Thunder.

The black clouds in the place I attacked also cleared up.

The attack continued for about 10 seconds.
This alone should have brought down several thousand enemies.

I stopped my attack temporarily and returned to my original position. While I erased the enemies in the sky, the others in my field of view had also been decimated. I had also dispelled the black clouds… was what I had expected, but the black clouds had already reformed and the magic beasts that should have been eradicated, went back to their original numbers, bit by bit.

Ah! R-Really. What the hell…?
Those numbers are way too big.

Besides, since the ones who had died were nothing but small fries, they didn’t put up much resistance and weren’t interesting. Having the enemy perish at the first touch isn’t very fun. I’m left with a feeling, like mowing down enemies in a hack-and-slash⁵ game…

On the other hand, when I descended to the ground and returned to where the king and the others were, I was informed by the knight commander, that the knight’s morale had risen due my active participation. Certainly, it looked like the knights attacked the foes approaching the barrier with more vigor than before.

Still, there was some change in the demons and magic beasts that appeared. First, the number of E-Rank enemies had increased 5-fold since I fired of the Matchless Thunder. Then, C and B-Rank magic beasts and subspecies could frequently be seen. Though their morale had risen somewhat, it looked like the knights couldn’t keep up with dispatching the enemies.

Should I fire off another Matchless Thunder?

While I pondered it…

“Karuna…” the king muttered.

He suddenly patted my head lightly.

“Well, you did your best, didn’t you… Alim? Let me take over.”

As he said that, he took off the lavish clothes he was wearing, and changed into an appearance that was easier to move in. Then, magic power overflowed from him.

And at the same time, unnoticed, the minister, the knight commander, and the archbishop had gathered around the king and readied their weapons.

“Are you really going to do it, my King?” the knight commander asked the king while readying his weapon.
“…Gordes. Stop calling me ‘my King’ now. And no more polite speech, either. I thought so every day… It just doesn’t feel right.”

The king looked bashful when he said that to the knight commander, who showed a momentary smile.

“Got it… You’re willing to do it, aren’t you, Kelm⁶?”
“Yes… since we quickly have to free my wife from that demon god, don’t we? …Besides, when I saw Alim, I remembered the past… My emotions are welling up! Oraful, Chris… will the two of you follow my lead, too?”

The minister and the archbishop nodded.

“Well, if that’s how you feel, Kelm…”
“It’s been a while since we fought… It might take some time to get back into the game…”

“Alim…” the king… or rather, Kelm turned to me. “This country, the Mephilad Kingdom currently has 3 SSS-Rankers, but… 20 years ago, there was only one. Then, before we knew it, that person stopped being an adventurer, and for some time, this country had no SSS-Rankers. However, the foreign countries didn’t say anything about it. Do you know the reason?”

I shook my head.

“Heh-heh, you don’t… then let me tell you why. It was because that SSS-Ranker became king… It was me!⁷ Finally, that SSS-Ranker had assembled a party with 4 members, you see! And now… those 4 people will put in some serious effort… Just wait and see, Alim! The power of best party of the previous generation… the ‘Four Holy Musketeers’!”

When the king finished talking, the same enormous magic circle from some time ago⁸ appeared at his feet.

TL notes:
This chapter marks the end of volume 6.

There’s been some foreshadowing about the king and his friends being more than they seem, and now we know the reason. Personally, I’m looking forward to see them in action.

1. Well, it’s been 17 chapters instead of the 3 I predicted, but he obviously hasn’t learned anything from his last trip to the emergency room…
2. The original is サンダー・マーチレス (sandaa machiresu). It was previously translated as “Thunder Marches”.
3. The original is a bit weird, using 想定 (hypothesis, expectation) to make it sound like he’s only guessing what form the magic will take. I assume this is a typo.
4. There’s a musical instrument called “Thunder Drum”, but I’m not sure if he’s referring this or simply means “Drums made of thunder”.
5. The original is アクションゲーム (“Action Game”).
6. The original is ケルム (kerumu). Kelm seems to be a Germanic surname.
7. Here, the king switches from using “washi” (a way older men refer to themselves) to “ore” (a rough way for men to refer to themselves; the same Alim uses in narration and internal thoughts).
8. In chapter 128.