How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Volume 1 Read online

  Prologue

  The fantasy MMORPG Cross Reverie—

  There was only one person who could be called the true “Demon Lord” in that game.

  The true Demon Lord was not one of the monsters in the game.

  He was one of its three million players.

  In this game, the player was able to create their own dungeon and reign over it as its boss. Anyone could become a boss character.

  However, there was only one who was called “Demon Lord.”

  He created dungeons that surpassed the official ones in terms of detail and quality. He possessed the most powerful equipment, and had the skill to leave those who dared to face him perfectly and utterly defeated. The true identity of the Demon Lord was shrouded in mystery.

  His power alone was something to be feared, and as he became known among the highest-ranking players, he became a legend.

  —This was because the Demon Lord was always holding back.

  When he was serious, the Demon Lord was unimaginably powerful; so powerful that you would never think to challenge him twice.

  Highly-ranked players who heard the rumors would challenge him with the intent to make him fight seriously.

  The Demon Lord, however, made sure to give his opponent a performance befitting of a final boss. Ever the gentleman, he would never forget to entertain his guests.

  And so, the players thought:

  —What makes the Demon Lord get serious!?

  Is it the rarity of the challenger’s equipment?

  The title they hold?

  Is he only serious against truly skilled players?

  They were all wrong.

  There was only one thing that would make the ultimate player, the Demon Lord 《Diablo》, serious.

  That was—

  “Oh, these guys are a couple. Time to murder them.”

  The Demon Lord—otherwise known as Takuma Sakamoto—muttered this to himself after discovering a certain item in his challenger’s inventory.

  He settled back, sinking deeper into his computer chair.

  Displayed on his monitor was a dungeon he had built with explicit detail.

  The designs on its walls depicted internal organs, with skeleton candle holders and bone-white candles eerily lighting the way. A battle was already unfolding on the expansive marble floor that made up the field.

  Dressed in all black, the man who stood towering in front of the throne with horns growing out of his head was the character everyone called “Demon Lord.”

  His challengers: a male sorcerer and a female healer.

  Takuma’s mouth twisted into a look befitting of a Demon Lord.

  “For those foolish enough to bring something as impure as real-world love into this game... I, as the Demon Lord, must pass judgment upon you!”

  While it may have seemed that there were no girls on the Internet, especially in online games, it was clear that these two were actual lovers in real life. Which player was male and which was female in real life was not clear through their characters, and was beside the point.

  In this game, there was an item called the 《Wedding Ring》.

  It was said to have been implemented at the request of other players.

  An item that could only be equipped with both players’ mutual consent, it boasted no parameter bonuses whatsoever.

  The only reason you would even think to get it was if you and your partner were a couple while offline, in a relationship in the “real world.”

  Takuma pressed the shortcut on his keyboard to change his equipment.

  “Ku-ku-ku... If you must insist on using that ‘Wedding Ring,’ then I shall make you regret equipping such a useless item with a ring of my own...”

  His heart becoming completely like that of a Demon Lord, Takuma equipped Diablo with the item that gave him his namesake.

  《The Demon Lord’s Ring》.

  One of the strongest items in the game, it was able to reflect all types of magic.

  It was an extremely rare item, obtained as a ranking reward for being the first one to defeat the 《Demon Lord of the Mind, Enkvaros》 in an update from two years ago.

  It also reflected healing and support spells, so you had to be careful when you used it.

  “It shall be a massacre! You fools dare to challenge me, the Demon Lord, with an item that does not even raise attack or defense!? MMOs are not all fun and games. You normies living it up in the real world should just explode! And I shall be the one to make this happen, in spectacular fashion!”

  And so, the one-sided slaughter began.

  Using the most powerful of spells, he exploded his enemies into dirty fireworks.

  His opponents’ offensive spells were all deflected, rendering them completely useless.

  Takuma had once again instilled the terror and fear of online gaming into the hearts of yet another couple.

  No other player knew.

  The one thing that would make the Demon Lord Diablo get serious was not something to do with the game.

  —Kill all couples.

  It was through this sentiment alone that he became a symbol of terror known as the “Demon Lord.”

  Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he would be summoned to another world as an actual Demon Lord.

  Chapter 1: Being Summoned

  The faces of the two girls drew closer.

  Oh, this is a dream—Takuma figured.

  No matter how you looked at it, one of the girls was most definitely an Elf.

  The other one had pointy ears on top of her head, just like a cat.

  Both of them were more beautiful than any actual human.

  Still thinking it all a dream, Takuma continued to stare as the two girls came closer and closer—

  Then, the realistic sensation of lips.

  He felt the softness of their lips on his cheeks.

  He could feel the almost burning sensation of their body heat.

  It was enough to make him feel like he was melting.

  The scent of the two girls gave off a faint sweetness.

  As the torrential waves of these previously unknown experiences crashed over him, he knew this was something he could never have made in his imagination.

  And he came to realize that this was all happening in reality.

  †

  It was happening too fast for him to comprehend.

  Takuma spaced out as he stared at the sky. The two girls were now gone from his field of vision.

  The sky that spread out before him was fantastically blue. This was not the ceiling of his room that he was used to seeing. Even the way he was dressed had changed.

  —Do I have a cape on?

  Instead of the usual T-shirt with loose collar and frayed shorts he always wore, he was clothed in jet-black garments and an extravagant cape. In his hands, he held a staff that was emanating a pitch-black aura.

  He viewed his surroundings.

  No matter matter how many times he checked, this most certainly was not his room.

  Shaped like an octagon, the place was not very large—perhaps five meters long from edge to edge.

  Takuma sat upon a stone altar in the center of the area, surrounded by four stone pillars.

  The light coming from the tips of these pillars was not from fire or electricity, but had a soft, phosphorescent glow, not unlike the magic FX you would find in a video game.

  Beyond this, that vast blue sky spread out before him.

  It seemed that he was on top of a very tall building, or perhaps a tower.

  He was not alone. There were others here as well—

  The two girls.

  One of them was an Elf. Tho
ugh he doubted his own eyes, that was all he could think she might be.

  Her ears were long and pointed. Elves were so well known for this particular feature that they could almost be called the “long ear” species.

  Her hair looked as if it were made of melted gold, and she wore a hair decoration fashioned from grass.

  The green tunic she wore was only tied together with bits of string, and her skin showed through from time to time.

  On her back she carried a large bow, with a quiver for arrows at her waist.

  Her arms, legs, and neck were long and slender, which fit with what Takuma already knew elves should look like. However, her incredibly robust and ample breasts were the one feature that did not fit the usual Elf image.

  Then, on the other hand—

  There was the girl with cat ears growing out of her head.

  Her hair reached down to her waist, and was the same glossy black color as her ears.

  She had a slender body, and from what little he could see of her legs, it was clear that she was in great shape.

  Her eyes slanted like a cat’s, with highly arched brows that conveyed the strength of her will. She stared at Takuma with an expressionless face.

  She wore a vest over her jacket with a wide leather belt coiled around her waist, and a skirt made of layered cloth. Because he was on top of the altar, he could not see anything else below that.

  The girl with the long ears was a beauty, and the girl with the cat ears was incredibly cute.

  Takuma had seen their likenesses before.

  —So, one’s an Elf, and the other is...a Pantherian?

  When a player first started playing Cross Reverie, they were able to pick whatever race they wanted their character to be, and could change features such as their face and body type.

  Elf and Pantherian were part of the selectable races for the game.

  Elves specialized in long-range combat with bows, while the Pantherian attacked fast and possessed great strength. That was what their character profiles were supposed to be, at least.

  —It’s like I’m inside the world of Cross Reverie itself.

  If that was the case, then where was he right now?

  He felt like he had seen a place with similar background graphics before, but he could not remember...

  Takuma was one of the top players of Cross Reverie, his knowledge of the game far surpassing that of a normal player.

  He tried to fervently remember what this building was, while also carefully taking in his surroundings.

  The reality of it all was no joke.

  The feeling of the stone.

  The remains of a dried up puddle of water.

  The clouds that floated in the ever-expansive blue sky.

  Because he was so high up, the strong gusts of wind made loud whooshing noises as they passed over him.

  The light from the sun was brighter than any PC monitor would be able to render.

  There were also the smells.

  The wind carried with it the scent of mold and dirt, just as you would expect from an old building.

  The design of the stone patterns on the ground were scattered everywhere.

  What kind of hi-spec computer and monitor would you need to replicate this? It all looked far too authentic.

  Takuma thought to himself:

  —Is this reality?

  But, he was sure that he had seen these surroundings in the game before.

  The Pantherian girl murmured something in a voice that was almost drowned out by the wind.

  “...That should be the end of the 《Enslavement Ritual》.”

  —Did she just say “Enslavement Ritual?”

  Takuma suddenly remembered the name and purpose of the tower he was on.

  In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, there were numerous skills with effects that made you wonder why the developers even bothered adding them at all.

  These kinds of inefficient skills were labeled as “cool, but impractical.” For Takuma, and others like him who insisted that “Online games are serious business!” and only focused on winning, these were the skills they would never pick.

  For example, you could find two patterns of these kinds of skills in the “Sorcerer” skill tree, the job class that Takuma was using.

  The first was called the “Brawler Sorcerer.” These skills focused on fighting at close-range, despite the fact that you were just a squishy Sorcerer.

  The other kind was called—

  “The summoning was a success! That means I’m a Summoner now, too!” the Elf girl joyfully proclaimed.

  That’s right, a “Summoner.”

  It was already well-known that Sorcerers who used spells based around the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, light, or darkness were the strongest. Despite this, a Summoner rejects these elemental skills and spends all their skill points from leveling-up on summoning skills. That is what it meant to be a Summoner.

  Their way of fighting was to “summon and enslave beasts to make them fight for you.”

  However, the damage their Summons dealt per attack was relatively weak, and an Elemental Sorcerer of the same level was way more powerful.

  For defense, they would have to do things like: rely on their Tank to protect them while running around in circles; or beat their opponent before their adversary could hit them.

  Because of this, summoners were called weak, and they were regularly made fun of with typical jeers like: “Summoner (lol);” and, “If you want an in-game pet, go play another game!”

  This place had a deep connection with Summoners—

  The summoning point: 《Starfall Tower》.

  It was here that you could call Summons to enslave them to your will. Though, there were also special events where you could obtain Summons. This was the place you would normally come to get them.

  The altar that Takuma had been lying on was the spot where the Summons were supposed to appear...

  The Pantherian girl spoke up.

  “...I would appreciate it if you would not mistake yourself. I’m the one who summoned this Summon. Your magic was a failure.”

  The Elf angrily voiced her objection.

  “What!? I don’t understand what you’re talking about! I used the summoning magic, didn’t I!? A-And...I did the Enslavement Ritual, too! Even though it was super embarrassing, I did k-k-kiss him, after all!”

  “...I-I did it, too... Although, I have never seen a Summon shaped like a human before. Compared to the normal Summons, this one must be many times more powerful. There is no way an Elf’s magic would be able to conjure someone like him. So, looking at this logically, it would make sense that he is my Summon.”

  “No! You’re wrong! He’s mine!”

  The two girls began fighting with each other.

  It was then that Takuma understood his predicament.

  —Now I understand... I haven’t been summoned to this Cross Reverie lookalike as a player...

  The girls shouted at each other at almost the exact same time:

  “...I was the one who summoned Diablo!”

  “It was me who summoned Diablo!”

  Takuma Sakamoto—no, now “Diablo”—had been summoned to another world.

  And he had been summoned not as a player, but as a Summon to one of these two girls.

  †

  Takuma reflected on what he remembered about Summons in Cross Reverie.

  In opposition to other monsters and magic-type enemies, Summons were a class of their own. They were beings who existed to be summoned and controlled by Summoners.

  Though they could not speak, they possessed high intelligence, and were able to unleash fairly powerful attacks. There were even types of Summons who could use healing magic.

  But, because it was difficult to control them, you had to bind them using an “Enslavement Collar” gained from performing an “Enslavement Ritual.”

  Any Summon with an Enslavement Collar on them would be completely dominated by their Summoner.

&
nbsp; —Am I going to be dominated!?

  Takuma turned pale as he remembered this information.

  If this world was using the same setting as Cross Reverie, then he would have no choice but to be under the control of one of the two girls before him.

  Either the Elf with golden hair and slender legs and arms; the well-endowed beauty.

  Or the expressionless girl who sported cat ears and a slim, elegant body.

  He was starting to think that being dominated might not be so bad after all.

  —No, no, no! That’s still a bad thing!

  Having given into temptation for a moment, Takuma shook his head back and forth.

  At this, the girls turned their gazes back toward him.

  They seemed to have reached a compromise for now. The girl with the cat ears spoke first.

  “...Can you understand what we are saying?”

  “Huh? Oh, yeah.”

  His response was minimal.

  As if they were not expecting this, the Elf and Pantherian opened their eyes wide.

  “He can talk!?”

  “...This is a surprise. I have never heard of a Summon that could understand our language, let alone speak it...”

  “Way to go, me! Even though it was my first summoning, I summoned something super amazing!”

  The girl with cat ears glared at the Elf.

  “...I will say it again, but I am the one who summoned Diablo, not you.”