episode_0218

How much time has passed?

The fierce heat of war gradually cooled down.

The demons who had been scattering their lives as if they would devour everything were now nowhere to be found.

“It seems like it’s over.”

Athena speaks, wiping a drop of sweat from her forehead.

I looked around at her words.

The Lycan who had received the power of the demon was found dead with terrible marks.

Melum also disappeared without a trace, as if eaten by something.

The countless demons that seemed like they would turn the earth upside down were now all lying on the ground as corpses.

In some ways, it could be said to be a horrifying sight.

I had expected it, but it was still a sight that made me feel complicated.

“It’s okay, Hera. You did your best.”

Athena strokes my head with a shallow laugh.

“..Yeah. Thank you.”

I gave her a shallow smile and looked around carefully again.

“Mom!!”

“Sister!”

Where were the intimidating eyes that had been slaughtering the enemy just now? Marie and Lily jumped into my arms with bright smiles.

It’s not just them.

Arbes, Tyros, Ariel and Iris.

Although they all had tired faces, there were still smiles on their faces.

….huh?

….for a moment.

It looks like one person is crying?

Looking around a little more closely, her pink hair was revealed, hidden among the crowd of succubi turning towards us.

“Sephire..? What are you doing there..?”

She flinched once at the sound of my voice.

Soon, Sephir coughed a few times and then walked forward with a confident face.

“Hoo..hoohoo! I was here protecting my men! I’m glad they’re all safe!”

Could it be that you have been here all this time?

Looking at her with slightly cold eyes, Sephir muttered with a sad expression.

“But I…don’t have any fighting skills…and I’m not that strong either…”

“Yeah..Okay..”

“Why…Why are you saying that? You should just curse me! You should just curse me!”

She suddenly gets angry and starts to shed tears.

Let’s look at the succubi behind us with a sad heart. She and they were also looking at Sephir with eyes of pity.

“Sephire…so trivial…”

“It’s okay. I know that Sephir is weak..”

“Just keep living. That’s enough.”

“Still, I survived thanks to Sephir!”

“You…you guys..?”

Sephir had a confused expression on his face, not knowing whether it was comfort or mockery.

Leaving her like that, I looked up at the sky with an uneasy feeling that for some reason would not go away.

“..Is it really over now?”

The Demon World has become infinitely quiet.

The heat of the fight that had been boiling until just now was nowhere to be found.

It was a situation that ended much more easily than expected.

It’s to the point where I wonder if this is even okay.

“It’s good to be boring. Isn’t it?”

Athena places her hand on my shoulder.

She was looking down at me with glaring eyes today.

“Sister. Is it all over now?”

Lily also looks at me as if expecting something.

“Yeah..I guess so?”

As I answered awkwardly, a cute smile appeared on Lily’s lips.

“Okay! Then let’s go home quickly. We have a lot to do in the future, sis.”

…what on earth?

“I hope you don’t forget that I’m here too.”

“….Me too.”

Arbes suddenly popped out from the side and said.

Tyros, who was standing right behind Arbes, also glanced at me with slightly reddened cheeks.

It wasn’t just them.

Mari, Ariel, and Iris were all looking at me with smiles on their faces.

“Then let’s go back now, Mom!”

Marie smiles brightly and clings even closer to my arms.

But unlike them, I couldn’t feel at ease.

Really…is this the end?

Of course, it was because they were overwhelmingly strong.

But something.

I couldn’t shake off this uneasy feeling that something had ended too absurdly.

A war that ended without a single moment of tension.

Could this really be the end of a long battle that has been going on for hundreds of years?

It keeps bothering me. For some reason, I have a feeling that it won’t end like this.

And that was my expectation.

It turned out to be correct.

Woohoo-

“…What? Why the Holy Sword?”

The holy sword in Lily’s hand began to vibrate madly.

While Lily was panicking over something that had never happened before, the holy sword that had been crying loudly began to glow brightly.

As if he wanted to tell something.

As if warning of something.

Athena, who had been staring at the holy sword with her eyes wide open, looked at me as if she had noticed something.

“Hera!!”

Athena ran straight to me, hugged me in an instant, and jumped high into the sky.

grasp-!!

And at the same time.

A black, unidentifiable thorn began to sprout from the spot where I had just been.

“Huh?!..Oh..Surprise!!”

Sephir, startled by the sudden appearance on the ground, steps back.

Others, too, were looking at it with incomprehensible faces.

A pitch-black thorn. It had an aura much darker than the usual black color. It was emitting an inexplicable gloom.

“…..It’s ominous.”

Iris muttered, looking at the thorns.

But that didn’t last long. The thorn soon went back into the ground.

A sudden silence.

Everyone started to get a little nervous about the situation they couldn’t figure out.

And then.

Kugugugu-

As if Marie’s magic had shaken the earth.

A sound like something boiling was heard from the ground.

“There’s something down there!”

Marie spoke hurriedly and placed both hands on the floor.

Then, for a moment, the entire surrounding area glowed blue, and the shaking of the ground gradually stopped.

“Mariya…what’s going on?”

I looked at Marie, still in her arms, thanks to Athena not letting me go.

But even in the now calm situation, Marie’s face still showed no signs of relaxing.

“This is….”

That calm was short-lived. The ground began to shake violently again.

And it’s a century more powerful than ever before.

As if she realized something, Marie quickly raised her head and looked at me.

“Something’s coming up.”

After that, Marie’s short words ended.

Countless thorns began to sprout from the ground.

“Everyone, get out of here!”

Lily grabbed Iris by the scruff of her neck and jumped high into the air.

Sephir and Mari flapped their wings and flew into the sky. Tyros and Ariel also left the ground with their magic.

Pavabababak-

A large number of thorns suddenly sprouting from the ground.

The thorns, so black that you couldn’t see inside, started to flutter wildly, and soon they all started to stab towards Athena.

Athena hugged me even tighter and surrounded herself and my body with intense flames. Then, the thorns slowly began to die down in front of Athena’s flames.

“What are these?”

Athena said, frowning one eyebrow.

The thorns, having lost their strength to her intense flames, slowly retreated as if retreating. This time, they approached the corpses of the demons lying on the ground.

Phukk-! Phukk- Phew!

Thorns that stab the corpses of dead demons and drag them into the ground.

No one dared to say anything at the bizarre sight.

“Marie, please take care of Hera.”

At Athena’s words, Mari came towards me in an instant. She lifted me up lightly and flew high into the sky.

Athena, with both hands free, gripped the Sword of Sunlight with all her might.

Kuwaaah-!!!

With his eyes burning, he struck the ground with his sword with all his might.

The land split apart countless times. Athena’s mana entered the valleys that formed and began to burn the land.

And not long after.

Hahaha!! It hurts!!!

A voice that was impossible to tell whether it was male or female, human or monster, was heard from beneath the ground.

And then, among the countless thorns that covered the ground, a huge flower bud that could not be captured with one eye began to grow from the ground.

A flower bud completely painted black.

Soon the buds bloomed magnificently.

Among the blooming flower petals, a young woman appeared.

It was painted completely black and unidentifiable, but it was clearly a human figure.

As it swung its hand, an indescribably powerful magic began to envelop the earth.

“Ugh…ugh…”

“Iris!!”

Ariel supported Iris, who was vomiting with a pale complexion.

But even Ariel didn’t look that good.

It’s really great! If you were my subjects, the world would really burn beautifully.

A voice came out of it.

Let’s all look at it.

What was so funny? It was giggling and covering its mouth with its hand.

“That…That’s…”

My instincts. My intuition. And finally, the protection that the goddess had instilled in me was revealing its true identity.

A being that lives deep in the land of the Demon Realm.

A magical energy powerful enough to cover the earth.

An entity that evokes a sense of rejection just by looking at it.

An entity that was only mentioned in the novel and never revealed its appearance even once.

Drank.

The demon god has descended into the demon world.