Helck – Episode 14

Four years of fighting side-by-side with someone you care about.

The fourteenth episode of Helck has aired. Last we left, Cless had been sent off to lead an expedition. Then we learned that Helck wasn’t able to see him again when he returned. What turn of events led to this?

We’ll go over it in my Recap and Review.

Recap

The episode (which covers the rest of Chapter 38 to Chapter 41 of the Manga) opens after Helck has been sent away from the Capital. He was drafted around half-a-month after that into the military as part of a monster-slaying unit with Edil. However, they ran into a New World monster, which they had no chance against.

Helck, however, decided to face it to buy time for everyone else to run. He got beaten up, but he managed to withstand the blows and then eventually managed to bring it down with his bare fists despite not knowing martial arts. The commanding officers were killed and the rank-and-file soldiers retreated, so Edil could only rely on Helck to come with him to save more lives. The two of them arrived three days later to see the city burning.

That was when they met a woman who claimed to wield a holy sword that allowed her to cut through the hard carapaces of the monsters. The sword had been passed down in her family for generations and the magical energy within the sword makes it good for dealing with monsters, which is why she’s surprised Helck can do so with his raw strength. They work together until the fighting ends and it’s explained that she leads a band of mercenaries who came over when she saw the trouble, willing to help for free in this case.

Edil asks for her to stay to help defend the city, but she notes that the monsters are appearing in larger numbers than usual. However, if Helck was willing to lend a hand then they might be able to defend the city despite all of that. He agrees, naturally, which is when he basically joins them.

They were coming under attack at all times of the day, with Helck basically working with them when called while Edil stayed behind to tend to whatever he was doing. Even so, Edil prioritized taking care of his friends and allies, which made him well-liked among the group, while Alicia constantly saved her allies thanks to her superior battle skills. They made it so that Helck could smile despite all the violence and he treasured them dearly.

Alicia and Helck also were close, as she reveals that her ancestor was once a Hero and she was descended from a line of mercenaries dating back since then. But compared to him she felt a little less confident in her skills as it takes everything she can muster to kill the enemies in front of her while he can afford to pay attention to everyone around him. Her pride is in tatters, but she’s happy he can do so much since he has the power to save people she can’t. She’s thankful for that and makes her intention clear that she wants him to stay with their group even after Edil’s City is repaired.

Helck explains that he stayed with the group for about four years after that, hunting down monsters. But their numbers never seemed to end. And then the Kingdom announced that they found the source, a Demon Lord, and sparked in everyone the hope that defeating it would bring an end to the monsters.

Naturally, the Human King appointed Cless to defeat the Demon Lord as the Hero with his allies. Helck chooses not to see him off since his group is protecting the area, but it was explained that his brother was working with Zelgeon (who became the General Commander of the Army), a Great Sage known as Mikaros, and other skilled warriors that number more than 5,000 in tow. They figured if he can’t win even with all of them then humanity is screwed, which earns Alicia’s ire since she points out that Helck’s brother is the one doing that fighting.

Despite that, Helck was sure that Cless would win and bring peace to the world. He did technically win three weeks later, but it came at the cost of him suffering severe injuries that left him at risk of death. Shalamy is left crying since the cause seems to be poison, and the Great Sage who is in charge of treating him, the same person who healed him in the past, isn’t making much progress. They guilt trip him about how if Cless had a little more backup he might have been safe, but state they won’t let him die.

Later we see that while people are celebrating despite his injuries, Alicia and Edil are concerned that monsters are still popping up despite the death of the Demon Lord. In fact, things got worse as monsters came in hordes and the people started panicking and calling for Cless to come out and finish the job. Helck, getting pissed, decides to go deal with the situation himself by paying a visit to the Demon Lord’s castle since he thinks the Demon Lord might have the ability to come back from the dead.

If that’s the case, he’ll go kill the Demon Lord himself this time.

Review

So, this episode continues the flashback episode as we see that after he got drafted into the military, Helck ended up accompanying Edil to his home and then joined up with a band of mercenaries. He then spent four years fighting the constant and near-endless swarms of monsters with them, led by a young woman named Alicia. They became his best friends and allies, who made everything bearable.

Knowing that fact, it becomes a little clearer why Edil held Helck in such regard when they met each other after he became a Winged Soldier. He owed so much to Helck and looked up to him in a way that was no doubt similar to how Cless did. It wouldn’t surprise me if his drive to become as strong as he can was to match that same strength Helck displayed.

And Alicia is an interesting character. It’s not often you see a woman acting as the leader of mercenary bands, much less one so young. But she’s got the skills to back it up thanks to coming from a legacy of warriors and the fact that she brings up how her sword is magical makes it obvious that the broken one Helck is carrying around now belonged to her.

I do like the fact that she’s pretty open about her feelings and thoughts. She outright admits to Helck that he makes her feel inadequate but doesn’t let that sour their relationship. She wants him to stay with them after fixing up Edil’s home and he does for four years, building their comradery up in that period.

The surge in monster attacks is admittedly weird, all things considered. We know that the various Demon Lord castles are meant to keep the poison that gives birth to monsters in check to prevent them from surging out. But for the number to spike over those four years means that something must be happening for it to get so bad.

Unfortunately, everyone else thinks that it’s the Demons who are responsible and so Cless got sent to deal with it. And with the knowledge we have, not only do we know he basically killed someone who didn’t need to die, but doing so caused the second surge of monsters. Not to mention his injuries and from the sound of it the poison from the land itself has left him near-death.

Helck doesn’t seem to have had difficulties with the toxins, but we’ve seen he can heal a lot easier and faster since he was younger. It’s possible that Cless was still weaker than him since he must have only awoken after puberty hit him. Either way, hearing the people cheering for him only to go back and blame him goes to show how people really only care when you’re useful to them. It was only Helck who was able to think about even the possibility of the Demon Lord coming back to life.

Considering the time frame, it’s safe to assume he’ll be meeting Azudra next episode. That’s likely when we’ll start covering what happened to humanity and how they became the Winged Soldiers.