We had been advancing through the Northern Demon Zone while smoothly kicking away the monsters .
However...
[That scream just nowââ]
Suddenly, it happened .
The earth trembled, and the monsters began another great march .
Seras looks towards me .
[Touka-dono, this is......]
Running my gaze over the surroundings, I nodded .
[Yeah . ]
Itâs just like last time .
[Pigimaru . ]
I didnât hesitate to make this decision .
Fusing with Pigimaruâ- Our combination technique .
ââ-Creakââ-
A large amount of tentacles, resembling thick octopus legs formed and wriggled in the air .
Could this be the effect of the recent enhancement?
Pigimaruâs tentacles became thicker .
Splosh!
Theyâre radiantly spreading out from behind .
A large number of monsters jumped out from the bushes from all directions .
This amount of monsters......
Is it possible that the voice just now came out from one of the underground ruins scattered about in this place?
And of course...
[No wonder theyâre coming after us whenever they see us . ]
Varying in length, thickness and number, tentacles shoot out around me .
[Kisshiiiiaaaaaahhhhâââ]
[]
[Uggeeeehhhh......]
The monsters within the range of the tentacleâs tip were paralyzed and left behind .
And towards those monsters who were still in rangeâ- I invoke to finish them off with my combo .
Since weâre charging forward, itâs difficult to get all the paralyzed monsters within my range .
With my hair fluttering in the wind, I look at the monsters bleeding to death behind us .
[......Iâm guessing itâs that Kuchiyose again, summoning them from somewhere . ]
The sound was quite distant .
However, it definitely sounded like that scream before .
And, the monsters are heading north in unison .
It seems like the Kuchiyoseâs summons were invoked somewhere in the north .
Slashing down upon a nearby small monster with her sword, Eve curses this Kuchiyoseâs bad timing .
[Of all the times that it shouts, it had to be at a time like this......]
Just then, a white bird approached the chariot .
Seras raised her bow upon seeing it .
[Wait . ]
I stopped them from moving .
This bird doesnât have a golden eye .
Most of all...
[It looks like this has something to sayââ]
âThis will just be brief . â
I exchange glances with Seras .
[Itâs Erika huh . ]
Apparently, this bird is her familiar .
The familiar perches on my shoulder .
Thanks to my interception, the momentum of the attacking monsters has slowed down a bit .
However, thereâs still a large amount of monsters moving in the distance .
The monsters in the vicinity havenât gone to zero yet either .
Still keeping combat ready, I urge her to continue .
[What is it?]
âYou do know that a little further north from where all of you are now, thereâs the Anti-Demon White Castle, right?â
Iâve already confirmed the location of that castle back when I was in the Witchâs home .
It was said to be a castle made for the Demon Zone but......
âRight now, itâs being attacked by the Great Demon Emperorâs army and the monsters from the Demon Zone . â
[......Do you want me to take another route and go around it?]
âItâs the opposite . â
[The opposite?]
âEarlier, I was able to identify that the military flags around the Anti-Demon White Castle are those of Alion Kingdom, Bakuos Empire, andâââ
The familiarâs eyes turn towards Seras .
âHoly Kingdom of Neia . â
[!]
Seras became agitated .
âCattleya Stramius is probably in that place, leading the Neia army . â
The princess .
[ââAlionâs army is in there huh? What about Vysis?]
âIâve learned through the ears of my familiar that Vysis...... and alos, the S-Rank Hero Kirihara have left a while ago, heading east . â
Putting Kirihara aside, even that f*cking Goddess is absent?
Well, this is good news in this situation since I still donât have any means to oppose her .
[What else?]
âIâm sorry, but I wasnât sure which Heroes were in there and which werenât . â
[......I see . Either way, we donât have any choice but to go there...... Right, Seras?]
[Yes . ]
Without hesitation, Seras nodded her head .
[Please . ]
âBe careful there, Touka . â
Erika warns .
âFrom what Iâve observed over there before looking for you all, the Great Demon Emperorâs army probably has a few Confidant-rank among them . In addition, they were flanked by the monsters from the Northern Demon Zone...... and there would probably some Human-Faced among them . â
......The Great Demon Emperorâs side is probably the one who set this up .
If Erika and my theory are right, then the Root of All Evil canât directly produce the Human-Faced .
The Human-Faced are powerful monsters .
In that case, it wouldnât be surprising that the Great Demon Emperor would want to make use of the Human-Faced that had already existed from back then .
âTheyâre indeed Human-Faced, but they werenât really on par with those Confidants . â
[Are those guys strong?]
âYou can just think of them as the executives with strength second only to the Root of All Evil . How should I say this...... but I think that since the Great Demon Emperorâs side deployed them, it seems like heâs already decided on conquering this side......â
Since the Humansâ side strength couldnât be grasped if you include the Heroes, it will be hard for them to be optimistic .
âTouka . â
Erika spoke .
âFeel free to use the weapons Erika gave you before . â
[..................]
âAs I explained before, theyâre all just prototypes that donât have much durability . Itâs like weâre using up all of their remaining time, but I can still guarantee their power . I donât think this magical chariot would have any further uses either, so feel free to dispose itââ Anyway, quickly go to the north . â
[Erika . ]
I gently pat the familiar .
[Thank you for telling me these . ]
The familiar looks like itâs nodding his head .
Taking off from my shoulder, the familiar flew away .
I remembered that conversing through the familiar is pretty draining .
Erika said that before .
Itâs so draining that she wonât be able to move for a day or two .
[Considering that exhaustion she talked about before, it looks like we wonât be able to rely on Erikaâs familiar for a while hereafter . I guess that means we wonât be able to obtain any more real-time information from now on . ]
I could see gratitude on Serasâ expression as she said that .
[However, if we didnât get that information just now......]
[Yeah...... We might have taken a different route, avoiding the route to the Anti-Demon White Castle where those monsters are headed . We should be grateful to Erika for that . Now thenââ]
While I crush the monsters with my Abnormal State Skill in between our conversation, I call out to them .
[Eve, Seras . ]
The two of them, who are already back to being combat ready, replied .
[What is it?]
[Umu . ]
[At worst, I may have to rush to the Princessâs rescue without you guys . ]
Grabbing the spear that had been set up on the wall of the magic chariot, Eve jumped .
She dexterously landed next to me and held out the spear .
Grabbing the spear with a crystal embedded in it, I flung it to a monster .
[If we werenât able to catch up to you, you will send the both of us back to the Witchâs homeâ- I already know that . ]
[......Especially if Iâm not sure if you could defeat a monster without dying . If I judged that you have suffered a life-threatening injury, no matter how little it is, I will send you back to Liz at that point . Understand?]
Eve let out a short chuckle .
[Acknowledged . ]
Saying that, Eve threw a sword with a glowing tip .
The tip of the spear pierces a large monster running parallel to us .
And then...
Fwuusshhhaaa!
A bluish white flame burst out, and engulfed the monster in flames .
The monster screamed and tried attacking us with its burning body .
However, it ran out of strength along the way and was left behind our backs .
[Umu . Even if itâs a large monster, I think I can fight them myself with the weapons that the Witch made and loaded into this magical chariot . ]
[Me and my Abnormal State Skill arenât that all-rounded either . There may be some of them who could slip past meâ- Therefore, Iâll leave those monsters to the both of you, just like before . ]
[Donât worry about them . ]
Glancing at me with her emerald eyes, Eveâs ears twitched .
[These eyes and ears of mine will keep them from slipping through . ]
A smile appeared on the edge of my mouth, âFuunnnn...â I snorted .
I place my hand on the turret of the magical chariot .
I then turned the gun barrel around and sent magical energy into the crystal built into the turret .
The tip of the turret began flickering with bluish-white light .
Then, a bluish-white laser was fired, piercing a distant monster that was closing in towards us .
The monster flew back, blood flowing out of its chest and tumbled down on the ground .
[Weâll have to leave some of the weapons behind when we get there...... But for now, itâs up to us how we want to get through this . ]
Currently, it was like weâre being surrounded by monsters as we moved .
We need to arrive at the Anti-Demon White Castle as soon as possible while kick these monsters away from this group .
Serasâ- deployed her Regalia of the Spirits . n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Leaping from the top of the chariot, she slashed down on a monster with a single slash of her icy blade .
With that, Seras was in mid-air .
[Sh*tâ-]
I extend out the tentacles and wrap them around Seras .
I then pulled up Seras who had lost control of her body while in mid-air .
She is now back on the chariot again .
[M- My apologies......]
[Donât worry about it . However, donât be hasty . Well...... I understand how you feel . ]
Even though she got back to her fighting stance, Serasâ expression is cloudy .
She was being swayed with impatience .
Well, itâs not impossible to guess whatâs on her mind .
This time, Princess Cattleyaâs life may be in danger .
It would be more difficult to tell her to keep calm .
However, thereâs nothing I can do about it .
Itâs no longer possible to know about the situation through Erikaâs familiar .
Now, how long can the people near the Anti-Demon White Castle hold out?
......Of course, it will be better if they have the strength to defeat the enemies but...
[.................. . ]
Redeploying my tentacles around extensively, I unleashed my Abnormal State Skill .
â½
I wonder how much time has passed .
Andââ How many of them have I killed?
The magical chariot is maintaining its speedâ- or rather, itâs rushing forward while increasing its speed .
The corpses of the monsters began piling up and scattered around as we continued running forward .
Looking behind us, I could see a trail of corpses laid out on the ground .
There were some Human-Faced among them .
Climbing over the corpses of their allies, the monsters had their eye wide open as they continued running without pause .
Weâve been crushing every single monster we can on the way .
By now, the magical tank has been destroyed in some places .
There was a hint of exhaustion from Seras and Eve .
Iâve also cancelled my combination technique with Pigimaru for now .
Itâs because Pigimaru collapsed from exhaustion before I could ran out of MP .
Well, it canât be helped .
I will continue killing, kill and killed all the monsters in sight .
It wasnât easy making this path of slaughter .
The monsters that was living in the Northern Demon Zone were now rushing in all of the time .
Iâve been using my Abnormal State Skills, which includes sometimes .
Thanks to this, weâve managed to make it this far without anyone falling behind......
[Hah, hyaahhh......! Touka-dono...... Are you alright? I think you should leave them to me and Eve for a while, and you should at least get some rest......]
The more MP I consume and the more magical energy I generate, the more burden my body will have to carry .
It will continuously increase .
Iâm sure my body is starting to scream, just like Pigimaruâs case .
However...
[......It isnât that great of a deal . Iâm a Hero, I have my level ups and status correction . I could last much longer compared to a certain normal High Elf or Leopardkin . ]
Well, itâs not that Iâm not tired .
This 360-degree all-out battle while I maintained my combination with Pigimaru was unbearable for me .
However, I canât let my fatigue be known to them .
Above all, lasting much longer compared to themâ- isnât a lie .
Itâs also true that itâs not that great of a dealâ- when I compared this to back when I was in the Disposal Ruins .
This isnât a âlieâ that she can see through .
Serasâ ability to see through lies can be used to determine if someone is deceiving her, but that could also be used for the opposite case .
As long as I can show her that it isnât a lie, Seras will have no choice but to believe it .
[Itâs more about whether we can make it there in time . ]
Seriousness appeared on Serasâ white slender face .
Then, she stared towards the north .
Slightly wounded while her arm was bandaged, Eve looks behind her .
[For the time being, the fierce attacks of monsters seems to have subsided......]
So far, there isnât any presence of monsters nearby .
Maybe itâs because weâve already killed the monsters that were moving in our direction around this area, or perhapsââ
[The monsters around this area already arrived to the Anti-Demon White Castle huh . ]
If that were the case...
[Itâs possible that the Anti-Demon White Castle is nearby . ]
However, the amount of monsters that can be described as uncommon......
It seems that there are more monsters living in the Golden Demon Zone than I had imagined .
There are probably quite a few monsters lurking in the underground ruins .
If all those monsters were to come out of the groundââ
[.................. . . ]
I donât even want to think about it .
I take out my Fly King mask .
[Itâs time for the both of you to prepare hiding your identities too . For the time being, you might as well use your bangle to turn into your Human form, Eve . ]
[Touka, can I ask you something?]
[Hmm?]
[According to our original plan, we were supposed to enter the royal capital of the Magnar Kingdom, where we were supposed to blend in with the mercenaries, joining the Southern Army . However, if we just suddenly appear from within the Demon Zone to join the fight... . . Would we be able to just pass as mercenaries? Also, I want to ask about Erikaâs handmade magic tools...... Most of all, if you use your Abnormal State Skill, your identity as a Hero from Another World will be revealed, isnât it bad since you want to hide your identity?]
[......Youâre strangely perceptive, Eve . ]
The idea of sneaking in under the radar as a mercenary is most likely ruined .
Even though the goddess isnât there, we would stand out even if we didnât want to when we began defeating the monsters with our mysterious powers .
If the existence of that mysterious power could get into the goddessâ ears, she might end up thinking that Mimori Touka is still alive .
No matter how much I try to hide my appearance, it will show my identity from my skills .
The enemy isnât so naive that Iâll be able to win against them without my skills .
If thatâs the case...... We need to provide some kind of âcoverâ for us .
[The point is that it would be better to deceive them . Well, I canât deny that itâs just an impromptu measure but... . . I already have some measures in mind . ]
I look at the Fly King mask in my hand .
[I think itâs about time for the ghost to make its appearance again . ]
[Ghost, you say?]
[But for now, we just have to hope that the Princess is safe until we arrive......]
Putting my mask on, I turn towards the front of our chariot .
[Thatâs right...... It will all be meaningless unless the princess is safe . Itâs going to be toughâ- but please hold on a little longer, Slei . ]
The sweat-soaked Slei increased her speed even more as she roared in reply .
If everything is already cleaned up even before we arrive, then so be it .
However, since real-time information isnât available, we should prepare for the worst and hurry .
After that...
[Weâre going to have to bet on how well those guys over there can do . ]