How Not to Summon a Demon Lord (Volume 12) – Swept Away!
Diablo dived into the raging river to save Horn, leaving Rem, Shera, and Lumachina to continue without him. He plans on getting back to them before the twelfth floor because they would be completely outmatched!
How Not to Summon a Demon Lord (Volume 12) – Swept Away!
What happened?
Diablo pulled Horn out of the river and looked for things to make a fire with. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything, so he burned his cloak. It was a powerful item, but it wasn’t worth more than a person’s life. Of course, the fire wouldn’t last long, so he burned whatever clothes he could spare and then looked at the unconscious Horn. Surely, Horn could spare some clothes. It was better than dying. However, Diablo soon realised that things were not quite what they seemed. Horn was a girl and he just undressed her… This was bad, maybe he could fix things before she woke. Nope, that ship has sailed. His only other option was to act like a demon lord and pretend that he already knew. Horn was a little shocked, but not surprised. Diablo was quite impressive, after all. They sat together to share warmth as Horn explained her past, how she became an adventurer, and why she pretended to be a boy. That gave their clothes a chance to dry, well, the ones that weren’t burnt on the fire, so they carried on in the hopes of catching up with the others.
Meanwhile, Rem, Shera, and Lumachina made their way to the twelfth floor and found the Paladin waiting for them. He had already defeated the monster and was ready to do the same to them. However, the monster he defeated was not the monster that called this floor its home. It was a black dragon. The Paladin was no match for it. Rem tried to reason with it, but that didn’t go so well, and while that was going on, Lumachina healed the Paladin, much to his surprise. Then, when all appeared lost, Diablo arrived and landed a massive blow on the black dragon. Surprisingly, that was enough to make it want to give up. After all, it had other things in its life that it needed to accomplish before dying. As it hurried away, it was stopped by a girl in a maid’s costume. She killed it with a single hit for abandoning its post. Diablo was surprised to find Rose, a Magimatic maid whom Diablo put on the thirteenth floor. She was delighted to see him once more and took them to the treasure vault. Lumachina was able to use an item to cure her of the Death Kneel Disease.
What did you think?
It was yet another great volume of How Not to Summon a Demon Lord that once more surpassed my experiences with the anime. I am a little worried that I’m starting to sound like a “manga did it better” sort of person, but it really did. As always, Diablo’s inner dialogue continues to be a highlight. Seeing him struggle with the revelation of Horn’s gender was wonderful, and then as he got to know more about her, he found himself spiralling out of control. Lumachina continues to be less annoying, too. Sure, she’s incredibly righteous, and that does get ridiculous, especially when she saved the Paladin while already suffering from the latter stages of the Death Kneel Disease, but it felt in character.
I had to laugh when Rem got judgmental of Diablo showing up with Horn with both of them barely wearing any clothes. Of course, this was just after she discovered that Horn was a girl too. Poor Diablo just can’t get a break. This volume ended with Lumachina asking to take the White Ox statue that healed her to Zircon City so that she could cure the others. Then, Rose revealed that there was no point as the Demon Lord’s army was about to destroy it. The black dragon also made a wonderful revelation that I don’t remember being mentioned in the anime. Basically, Rem still had part of the Krebskulm’s soul trapped within her, which was why Klem was the way she was. I’m looking forward to finding out more about that, but first – to war!
What was your highlight?
Rose is a terrifying character. She killed the dragon with a single attack and was ready to do the same to Diablo’s companions until he stopped her. We later discovered that she was getting jealous of everyone as Diablo was handing out items from his vault. He even gave Horn a new outfit that would boost her abilities… although it did include a mini-skirt. Rem got some new items, but nothing he had was better than Shera’s equipment. He allowed her to take something, so she took a ring. That’s going to come back to bite him!
The moment that was probably missed by most was when Horn needed to pee and since there were no toilets in the dungeon, Diablo allowed her to use a large cup that turned out to be the Holy Grail. Make sure to remember that detail. There should be no frivolous details in a story. Everything that we are shown or told will become relevant at some point. Anyhow, I’m just excited for the battle with the Demon Lord’s army. On to the next volume! I have nine more to read before I’m all up to date and am very keen to get through them.
Series Information
| English Title | How Not to Summon a Demon Lord |
| Japanese Title | Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu |
| Genres | Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Isekai, Romance |
Anime
Season One
Season Two
Manga
| Series | How Not to Summon a Demon Lord | |
| Author | Yukiya Murasaki | |
| Artist | Naoto Fukuda | |
| Volumes | Ongoing | Chapters |
| 1 | I’m Dangerous, I Swear! | 1-4 |
| 2 | Overpowered Overlord! | 5-9 |
| 3 | Keyboard Warrior! | 10-14 |
| 4 | The Devil You Know… | 15-19 |
| 5 | Boss-level Badass! | 20-24 |
| 6 | Demon Lord vs Demon Lord! | 25-29 |
| 7 | The Demon Within! | 30-34 |
| 8 | Don’t Wake the Demon! | 35-39 |
| 9 | Into the Woods! | 40-44 |
| 10 | A New Threat! | 45-49 |
| 11 | X Marks the Rot! | 50-54 |
| 12 | Swept Away! | 55-59 |
| 13 | Struggle for the Stronghold! | 60-64 |
