"Hey, Traya. What's going on, and why do you look like you're about to kill someone?" It'd been a few weeks since Yohm and his party had left Tempest, unrecognizably stronger than they'd been before.
As a side note, Yohm had attempted to duel with Hakuro, using his new stupid strong blade, which had the ability to project information from the surrounding area into the wielder's mind and deal with certain attacks on his own
And he'd been immediately beaten into the ground. According to Hakuro, the new sword's AI's was rather impressive, but useless against an even moderately skilled swordfighter.
When Gobta had muttered "Man, I'm glad that I don't rely on that sorta thing!" Hakuro had told him to use his 'Dodge" command.
And, naturally, had then gone on to beat Gobta senseless, predicting the sword's dodging paths. In other words, great boons against unthinking monsters… not so much against sentient, skilled opponents.
"My lord! It is an emergency! Charybdis, a calamity-class monster, has revived itself inside the Forest of Jura! It's power rivals a demon lord's! My sisters are attempting to slow it for now, but we are hopelessly outclassed against that tyrant of the skies! And… it seems to be headed directly for the city. I advise that you immediately prepare your defenses for an aerial war!" Traya explained, the fatigue evident on her face.
Fuze was the first to react, getting over the shock of seeing a real life dryad at the name of Charybdis. "Charybdis…? Oh, man! If that thing's revived, it's a far bigger threat than any demon lord! You can't even reason with that thing, it just indiscriminately spreads destruction everywhere it goes! It may be classified as a calamity, but it's probably closer to a full-on disaster!"
"Hoh-ho-ho! He's right. I actually saw that big flying fish once, you know! It's probably about as strong as Demon Lord Carillon, if I had to guess!" Milim, why do you look so proud, saying that? "But don't worry! You have the strongest demon lord around on your side! Me!"
Oh, right! Surely, Milim could- "I'm sorry, Lady Milim, but we can't allow that." Shuna just had to rain on my parade.
"She's right! This is a Tempest problem. It's really nice that you're willing to help, but if we can't look after ourselves…" Shion agreed with her, too. Dammit. And the worst part was that they weren't wrong.
"...They're right, Milim. If we can't handle this by ourselves, then, and only then, will we ask you for help, alright? In the meantime, Risa, it seems we have time before Charybdis actually gets here, so I'll just fill you in before the battle, alright? Can you take Milim to the bath or something?" I decided.
"'Kay, Big Bro!" And with that, the two bombs left.
"Alright, so what exactly are we dealing with, Traya?" With Milim gone, it was time for battle plans.
"Charybdis by himself is a major threat, but its also used its 'Summon Monster' skill to call out thirteen megalodons, normally A-minus creatures that wouldn't be a big threat to us. Unfortunately, each one of these megalodons has incarnated itself into lesser dragon corpses, boosting their fighting force. Each seems to be right in the middle of the A-rank." Traya explained dutifully, contacting the other dryads on the field with Thought Communication in order to make sure that her information was accurate.
…Wise One, how powerful would that make them, compared to… say, Rango and Ranta?
'Answer. Devising rough system for evaluating strength. Using value from weakest encountered monster, Normal Slime, as reference.
Report. Due to insufficient evaluation ability, existence values can only be partially determined for close allies, personally named by Master. However, guesses can be made based on known values.
Calculating values:
Individual Gobta: Existence Points, 11,000
Individual Rigur: Existence Points: 13,000
Individual-'
That's great and all, but where does that put them? Use the Free Guild letter scale as reference.
'E-rank, > 1,000.
D-rank, 1,000 - 3,000.
C-rank, 3,000 - 6,000.
B-rank, 6,000 - 8,000.
B-plus-rank, 8,000 - 9,000.
A-minus-rank, 9,000 - 10,000.
A-rank. Also known as Hazard Class, 10,000 - 100,000.
Special-A-rank, Also known as Calamity Class, 100,000 - 400,000.
S-rank, also known officially as Disaster Class, 400,000 - Unknown
Individual Milim's known existence value cannot be calculated, but likely notably exceeds this scale.'
Yeah, so Milim's a terrifying beast. Already know that. So, Gobta and Rigur are both solid A's now? Cool, but not surprising. Where are Rango and Ranta on the list?
'Both individuals' existence value: around 30,000.'
"Hey, Traya? Are the Megalodons stronger than Rango and Ranta, individually?" I asked.
"Notably." Okay, so that puts them somewhere north of 30,000.
So, where would I fit on that list?
'Understood. Master's existence value: Around 400,000.
Risa's existence value: Around 300,000.
Individual Benimaru's existence value: Around 200,000.
Individuals Shion and Geld, existence points: Around 180,000.
Individual Soei's existence value: Around 160,000.
Individuals' Ranga and Hakuro, existence value: Around 150,000.
Individuals Raya and Gabil, existence value: Around 130,000.'
Huh. So I barely fit into Disaster class, though not officially, since I'm no demon lord. That means that Charybdis is probably stronger than me, huh?
I still think we stand a chance, depending on the monster's skills. After all, if I have almost an entire Raya on Risa, and she could still beat me in a fight if I didn't go all out, then it was clear that fights required a bit more than just raw power. Though, the reverse could also be true. While Gabil apparently was as strong as Raya, she'd destroy him every single time, without fail, in a real fight.
Unless you're Milim.
Wait… "Hey, Traya? You dryads are super strong, right? Would it be possible for you guys to deal with at least one of the megalodons?" I asked. After all, Wise One put Traya's existence value at somewhere between 20,000 and 120,000 (very rough, but still, it could at least tell that she was A-rank).
"Unfortunately, all of our offensive abilities seem to be rendered fairly useless against Charybdis's Magic Jamming skill." She responded.