Volume 2 - Prologue

On the 3rd day of the Second Fire Month, year 5008... A calamity unlike it has ever been seen before since the advent of the reborn Demon Lord...

Multiple tens of thousands of monsters were flooding from the Zuberg Domain within the Altair Kingdom towards Fort Eisenberg... It has already affected many villages and towns within the two Kingdoms of Altair and Arcturus.

The cause of such a big monster flood to happen...?

[No f*cking way...]

[The size of that thing...]

[Is this the creature that only exists within legends...?]

[A...]

[A dragon...]

All five of my comrades were staring at the gigantic dragon that was towering from our location at the top of the inner castle walls within the city of Dortmund... From its silhouette alone, it's probably around a kilometer or so long and around half a kilometer or so high...

Even though the 6 of us were specially requested to deal with the massive monster horde along with an army of adventurers from across the Altair Kingdom, the fact that the sighting of such a monster is a situation that everyone thinks it would be miraculous to survive on.

Except for me as I'm trying to devise a plan on how to take that monster down. But out of nowhere, Duke Zuberg came running to us with a crystal ball at hand while there were 2 knights behind him who are escorting him.

[Schultz-san! Duchess Celestia is calling for you!]

[[[[Duchess Celestia?!]]]]

[Diana-sama?!]

When Duke Zuberg said that, Sophia-san immediately knelt in front of the crystal ball that Duke Zuberg's holding. Everyone except the Duke and me was surprised about it as Mama Diana replied.

[Be at ease, Sophia-san. I'm here to talk with Emi-san.]

[Me, Diana-sama?]

[Yes, Emi-chan. I'm ordering you to not do anything rash right now. The Catastrophe-class Dragon aside, the massive monster horde that's approaching Dortmund is something that not even the Duke's forces could defend.]

[What do you mean by that, Diana-sama...?]

[Her Majesty the Queen has already set out an army of 5,000 soldiers towards the Zuberg Domain and they will arrive within a week.]

Within a week?! Isn't that too long?! There's no way that I would not act on that matter... Aside from the 500 adventurers that are here, there are more than 3,700 soldiers here...

[Ma-- Diana-sama... I can't accept this order to stand down. It will endanger everyone here if we don't evacuate everyone out of here... I'll be participating with the other adventurers to face the horde in my own way...]

[Emi-chan!]

[I'm sorry Diana-sama, but my decision is final here...]

As I said that, I looked around at those around me with their faces either having the face of surprise, or even a little bit of pity... What the hell is with them...?

Before I could even add anything, Mama Diana responded with a serious demeanor.

[Sophia-san. I'll grant you the authority to act on behalf of me, the Duchess of the Celestia Duchy. You know what you should do.]

[Yes, Your Highness.]

As she said that, Sophia who was behind me immediately maneuvered herself by kicking my feet to make me drop onto the floor face first. 

But before I could even use my arms to try and grasp the stone brick floor of the castle walls, Sophia took both of my hands behind my back and put her own body on top of me as a sort of weight to pressure my body into not doing anything.

[W-Wha?! Sophia?!]

[I'm sorry, Emi-san... But it's the order of the Duchess. Our situation here is something that we can't even fathom defeating in our current state...]

[Is that so...?]

I was half-expecting this one to happen. But with what the others are reacting right now...

It's disappointing.

[Wha?!]

[[[[?!?!]]]]

[T-This thick aura...]

I immediately released my magic aura to my surroundings that I usually kept inside me which prompted Everest and the rest of our party, and Duke Zuberg with his escorts to distance themselves from me, it includes Sophia who leaped out from my body.

When I stood up while exerting that aura, Mama Diana who was calling at the crystal ball had been cut by my aura affecting the magic video and audio transmission of the crystal ball as Sophia immediately responded.

[Emi-san! You can't disobey the Duchess if it's an order. You know that!]

[I said that I'd be removing the entire horde in my own way.]

As I said that, I turned back to my 8-year-old human child that's wearing a maid outfit from my adult body that was clad in red armor which prompted everyone else except Sophia to react surprised.

[[[[A- A- A kid?!]]]]

[I'll explain the details later on.]

As I said that, I rose up my hand, and multiple giant magic circles appeared above the flat and grassy area that's east of the walled city which put an even more shock to everyone who's around me right now...

[T-Those magic circles...]

[What in the world...?]

[H-Huh...? Is this a Tactical class spell...?]

[No, Ceres-chan... A Strategic class...]

As the four of them were reacting to the magic circles that were hovering outside the walls, I utilized my Spell Weaver to create a new spell on my own. I utilized my Elemental Sight to peek through the massive horde that was approaching Dortmund.

I then turned over to my Spell Weaver skill to utilize the water vapor that was coming out from everything. From within the plants, trees, the ground, and even from the air. I quickly condensed everything into a mist that covered the entirety of the massive monster horde.

And the mist quickly dissipated, but that was just due to me separating the hydrogen and oxygen from the molecular composition of water before mixing it into an invisible layer of death once ignited by an ignition source.

[This is the end for you... "The Layer of Prominence".]

<Afterword>

Hello, this is Author-san once again. We're now at Volume 2, and it's coming out with a bang.

Why? Because I'll be uploading a new prequel book on the 6th of August titled "Defeating the Demon Lord Without Fighting it Myself: The Genius Directive"! And as mentioned earlier, it's a prequel that rotates around the life of Nakamura Kurayami during his last years on Earth inside the prestigious Tokyo - Institute of Specialized Education!

What's more, is the fact that the prequel story would be a contest entry for the 2nd MAL x Honeyfeed Novel Writing Contest so I would be glad if you can come over there and support my work! 

Stay tuned for more details about it...!

But don't worry, I would still be uploading daily chapters of this novel with an updated schedule of being uploaded every day at 11:35 AM JST instead of an erratic upload schedule from the last volume.

Alright, see you guys later!