Hell Mode Episode 9 is out, and finally I can say that the true Hell Mode is beginning. What we have seen until now felt more like Allen preparing himself to face the challenges of this new world. However, after a while this started to take a toll on me as a viewer, especially because everything seemed a little too easy.
Ever since Allen began his new life as a manservant in the Baron’s household, the series started moving at a very fast pace. The repeated cycle of quick leveling made the anime feel slightly monotonous at times. I am not going to lie, I found myself skipping some scenes because most of what we saw was Allen eating, sleeping, performing his duties as a manservant, and hunting monsters.
But in Hell Mode Episode 9 the situation finally changes. The plot takes a sudden turn that forces Allen to realize that despite all his rapid leveling, he is still nowhere near strong enough to deal with truly dangerous situations. For the first time the world pushes Allen to his limits, and that is when it finally clicked for me that this episode is signaling the beginning of the real Hell Mode Anime.
Hell Mode Episode 9 – Facing the Calamity
Hell Mode Episode 9 begins with chaos right away. A B-Rank monster called Murdergalsh goes on a rampage near the town. Since the knight order is away on a mission, the Baron has no choice but to rely on adventurers to deal with the threat and protect the town while civilians evacuate to safety. Allen willingly participates in the hunt.
During the chaos he discovers a family trapped in a carriage directly in the path of Murdergalsh. Allen decides to use himself as bait and lure the monster away from the town. He does this for two reasons. First, he wants to hide his summons from the public. Second, before joining the hunt he had already spent his points to level up, which left his mana completely depleted.
After creating enough distance from the town and buying time to recover some mana, Allen tries using his summons to put the monster to sleep. However, the plan fails because his summons are simply not strong enough to affect a B-Rank monster.
At this moment Hell Mode Episode 9 makes it very clear that despite all the leveling we saw in previous episodes, Allen still has a long way to go. The power difference is massive. In fact, the monster feels almost like an A-Rank threat. Because of this Allen has no choice but to retreat toward the mountains.
The entire ordeal pushes him to his absolute limits, and after three days he finally manages to return to the town, collapsing right at the gate from exhaustion.
Some viewers might not like this outcome, but personally I think it was the right decision. Instead of showing Allen easily defeating the monster, the struggle makes the situation feel much more believable. However, I also feel that suddenly introducing this level of difficulty feels slightly inconsistent with the earlier episodes. It would have been better if the series had gradually maintained this level of struggle from the start to show Allen’s growth more naturally. Still, I would say the episode handled the situation well overall.
Another interesting detail in Hell Mode Episode 9 is how the Knight Commander of the Baron’s household continues observing Allen’s growth very carefully. He clearly notices how quickly Allen is improving. I feel that in future episodes he might become the one who trains Allen in proper combat techniques. If that happens, Allen could become one of the few summoners in anime world who fights using both summons and direct combat, which would make him a very unique character.
Hell Mode Episode 9 – The Hurdle Grows Once Again
Another way Hell Mode Episode 9 highlights the essence of Hell Mode is by showing the difference between trained and untrained growth.
To understand this better, let us revisit the moment when Allen finally defeated Krena in a sparring match before leaving the village. Before that victory he had lost to her many times. Only after years of leveling up and improving his physical abilities was he able to defeat her, which symbolized his growth and graduation from his old life.
There were two main reasons why Allen struggled against Krena. First was her natural talent as a Sword Saint. Second was that Allen’s level and physical strength were not high enough to overcome the gap created by that talent.
Hell Mode Episode 9 introduces a similar comparison again. In Episode 8 Allen sparred with the eldest son of the Baron’s household and lost. And now, even after spending a full year improving his stats and leveling up, he still loses another sparring match in this episode.
This short sparring scene actually reveals several important things.
First, Allen’s growth method mostly involves experimenting with his abilities while hunting monsters. Since the Summoner class is completely new, there are no established training methods or structured guidance for him.
Second, Allen cannot dedicate all his time to training. He still has responsibilities as a manservant and huntsman, and he also helps take care of Cecil. Even though we see him leveling up steadily, in reality he is constantly multitasking.
Meanwhile the Baron’s eldest son is studying in the academy, receiving proper training from instructors, and following a structured development path. So even though both characters have spent a similar amount of time improving themselves, the difference in training structure and consistency creates a noticeable gap in their growth.
Hell Mode Episode 9 – Experimenting With Synchronization
Hell Mode Episode 9 also shows Allen experimenting with a very interesting ability involving synchronization with his summons. To test this, Allen summons three hawks. He sends one hawk to fly far away, stores the second one back into his summon storage, and keeps the third one with him.
Allen then places several different objects in front of the hawk that is beside him and hides one of the same objects inside a bag. He asks the hawk to identify which item is in the bag, and the hawk successfully points to the correct one.
Next he calls out the hawk that had been stored away and asks it the same question. Surprisingly, this hawk also knows the correct answer even though it was not physically present during the test.
However, when Allen calls back the hawk that had been flying far away, that hawk cannot answer the question. Finally, Allen summons a brand new hawk and asks the same question again. This new hawk is also able to identify the correct item.
Through this experiment Allen realizes an important rule about synchronization. Summons of the same type can share information with each other, but this only works if they are either nearby or stored within his summon storage. If a summon is too far away from the network or disconnected from the storage, it cannot receive that shared information.
Allen then tests this idea further by summoning a tiger and a different type of bird and asking them the same question. Neither of them knows the answer, confirming that information sharing only works between summons of the same type.
This discovery essentially means that Allen’s summons can function like a shared information network. Hawks can exchange information with other hawks, but not with completely different summons.
Hell Mode Episode 9 – Unlocking Share and Mana Recovery
After leveling up in Hell Mode Episode 9, Allen unlocks two new abilities called Share and Mana Recovery. Mana Recovery works exactly as the name suggests. It allows Allen to restore his mana using a plant-based summon, which greatly improves his endurance during long hunts.
The Share ability is even more interesting. It allows Allen to directly share vision with his summons and see what they see.
Allen begins testing the limits of this ability. At first he discovers that he can connect his vision with up to five summons at the same time, regardless of their type. However, when he tries to exceed this limit he starts experiencing headaches.
He quickly realizes that this limitation is tied to his Intelligence stat. To solve this problem he summons several D-Class summons that increase his Intelligence and boosts the stat further. After doing this he is able to increase the number of summons he can connect with.
This ability completely changes how Allen can hunt monsters. Instead of personally accompanying his summons during hunts, he can now send them out and observe everything remotely. This allows him to continue leveling up even while performing his duties as a manservant.
At first I assumed Allen would immediately use this ability to search for stronger monsters to hunt. However, the first thing he actually does with it is check on his family back in the village.
This moment adds a lot of charm to Allen’s character. Earlier in the story we saw how much he cared about his family, especially when his father was injured and he stepped up to support the household by helping with boar hunts by developing strategies and doing regular chores.
Since becoming a manservant several years have passed and we never saw him reunite with his family. But with this new ability he finally checks on them through his summons and sees that they are living happily and safely.
He even leaves a gold coin for them and promises himself that he will visit them every month using his summons. Personally, I really hope we eventually see an actual reunion between Allen and his family in future episodes.
Finally, the episode also reveals that the White Dragon has migrated to Viscount Carnel’s territory. This development finally opens up a new location that Allen has wanted to explore for a long time, the White Dragon Mountain. And with that revelation the series makes it clear that the real Hell Mode journey is finally about to begin.
Final Thoughts on Hell Mode Episode 9
Overall, Hell Mode Episode 9 feels like a turning point for the entire Hell Mode anime. Up until now the story focused heavily on Allen’s preparation phase, leveling up, learning his abilities, and adapting to life in the Baron’s household. While those elements were necessary for world building, they also made the pacing feel repetitive at times.
This episode finally introduces real danger and consequences. The encounter with the B-Rank monster shows that Allen’s current strength is still far from enough to handle the threats that exist in this world. Watching him struggle, retreat, and nearly collapse from exhaustion makes the story feel much more grounded.
At the same time the episode continues expanding Allen’s abilities through new mechanics like synchronization, Share, and Mana Recovery. These skills open up many possibilities for future strategies, especially when it comes to remote hunting and information gathering.
What I liked most is that despite gaining powerful abilities, Allen still remains emotionally connected to his family and his roots. His decision to check on them first instead of immediately chasing more power shows that he is not simply obsessed with leveling up.
With the White Dragon now appearing in a new territory and Allen discovering new ways to use his summons, the stage is clearly being set for a much more intense arc. If the upcoming episodes maintain the level of tension and struggle introduced in Hell Mode Anime Episode 9, then the anime might finally deliver the true experience that the title Hell Mode promises.
Watch it on – Apple TV
Art and Animation – 4/5 | Story – 5/5 | Overall – 5/5
