Ch.1208That Time, On Earth

To summarize in advance, Turankai ultimately guided Caljarat to the allied forces’ hideout as demanded.

Was even the king of the rock monkey tribe, always bold and spirited, unable to withstand the merciless torture of a thousand-year-old orc demigod warrior?

‘Haschal Median was severely wounded. Even for a demigod, recovery would take considerable time. Fortunately, this orc has no idea where our hideout is, but… having been discovered once, would we avoid being found a second time?’

Of course, that wasn’t the reason.

‘If by chance this brute finds that place, the consequences are obvious. Then, what I must do is…’

Turankai’s decision to change his attitude and guide Caljarat to the hideout wasn’t due to surrendering to the orc demigod’s threats, but rather the opposite.

‘I’ll guide you as you wish. However, which path we take is my decision. Don’t even dream of a shortcut, orc.’

He would provide guidance, but deliberately choose a lengthy route that went far around instead of the shortest path, buying time for Haschal to recover safely.

If he refused to guide him, the orc might find a shortcut on his own, but if he willingly provided directions, the orc would follow him for now.

The fact remained that he was guiding a powerful enemy to his allies’ hideout—no matter what justification he gave, wasn’t this essentially an act of betrayal?

One might think so, but Turankai believed—no, was convinced—this was the best choice.

‘Our demigod is stronger than this one. The gap would be even wider now. If I can buy her time to recover, she won’t lose.’

The Haschal he knew was already superior to Caljarat during the attack.

Moreover, Caljarat had weakened somewhat as the price of resurrection, while Haschal had stolen the Fallen Angel’s divinity—once her wounds healed, she would clearly be even stronger.

If she couldn’t be defeated before, and the gap had only widened, then no matter how many times Caljarat resurrected, he would be cut down again and again.

In summary, Turankai’s guidance was a strategic decision to prevent any possible disaster while delaying the moment of confrontation as much as possible, ensuring Caljarat would be dealt with definitively this time.

It was the best choice he could make for Haschal, for the allied forces, and for his own people, the rock monkeys.

Thus, Caljarat followed Turankai’s guidance toward the allied forces’ hideout, unaware that the route was deliberately circuitous rather than the shortest path.

Of course, Caljarat wasn’t entirely without suspicion…

“No, so where exactly is it? If I just knew the location, I could go right now—”

“All I know is how to get there, not the exact location. I don’t have a map—how could I remember such details?”

Faced with Turankai’s skillful excuse, which he had anticipated, Caljarat ultimately had to set aside his suspicions and simply follow.

======[ Naraka ]======

Naraka was currently in a state of chaos.

Hundreds or thousands dying in a single day, hero-level fighters perishing as easily as common soldiers, and even demigod-level powerhouses frequently falling—these had become commonplace.

“…Israfel was slain?”

Yet even in such turbulent times, the death of the Fallen Angel Israfel was shocking news to those who knew of him.

Not only was Israfel himself powerful, but the Fallen Angel rarely attacked others, mostly just wandering aimlessly.

“And not just taken down, but together with that spider woman…?”

Moreover, judging by how the Arachnes had been running wild without control since then, it seemed almost certain that the Queen of Arachnes who commanded them had died almost simultaneously.

“What on earth happened in the east… has a new ancient dragon awakened?”

“Perhaps they killed each other?”

“Ha, the Spider Queen? That’s impossible!”

It was news that piqued the interest of even the demigods who had been too busy with their own affairs to pay much attention to the eastern regions.

“…So she has come.”

And among them were those who, knowing more than other demigods, grasped the situation more accurately.

“The demigod of space and time who holds the stars and dawn… the vessel that will contain death.”

For example, the former demigod of death who had attempted to resurrect the entity—or concept—of the “Goddess of Death” using Haschal’s body as a medium.

Like Aurelius Garmerlic Pendragon, the Undead Duke and apostle of Bellona, who had dispatched undead armies throughout Naraka and the surface world to gather the power of death through slaughter.

“That woman? The one who defeated the void’s bastard child alongside Fafnir…”

“Yes, that woman.”

Garmerlic smiled as if feeling the wounds Haschal had inflicted on him ache anew, turning his head to stare intently at the eastern horizon.

“Despite not defeating that monster entirely through her own power, she fearlessly sets foot in this Naraka…”

As if watching Haschal, who might be hiding somewhere out there.

‘Is it confidence from growing stronger than before? She certainly seems to have become stronger…’

Regardless of what happened with Invidius, it was clear she had grown remarkably powerful. Garmerlic acknowledged that much.

If the rumors were true that she had defeated Israfel and another demigod simultaneously, that would already place her among the top ten powers in Naraka.

She was already a completely different being from before, when her authority had high destructive power but her actual strength was negligible.

‘However, your enemy will also be different from before.’

Of course, she wasn’t the only one who had grown stronger.

Garmerlic too had been working tirelessly through various means to heal the wounds Haschal had inflicted and to obtain power beyond what he had possessed then.

‘…The day my weapon, this new body, is completed is not far off.’

The evidence was right before him—or more precisely, reflected in his vision—existing as an overwhelmingly massive and imposing form.

– Grrrrrr…!

With just a simple movement of turning its body, the massive form shook the earth with the power and weight contained within it.

The shadow of something enormous with teeth, claws, and two pairs of wings covered the audience hall of Agnita Fortress, which the Undead Duke’s army had barely managed to restore.

Atop the head of this enormous being, Garmerlic smiled.

Though it had unavoidably turned out somewhat different from what he had originally planned, he was waiting for the day when he could unveil his trump card that was finally nearing completion.

======[ Surface World ]======

It had been several dozen days since Haschal had set foot underground.

The surface world she left behind continued as before, with peaceful tranquility and bloody chaos coexisting in various regions across the world.

The Empire, for its part, was generally peaceful.

There was a time when its provincial territories began to falter one after another due to the vast territory that was too wide to fully protect and the military forces depleted by continuous wars, but that was already a thing of the past.

The Empire had created magitech by combining the existing magic system with runic magic and dwarven technology from refugees, achieving revolutionary innovations in military capabilities.

Perhaps it was due to Leopold’s foresight in betting the Empire’s fate on magitech and investing generously in it.

Or perhaps it was thanks to the blood and tears of the Imperial Magic Tower researchers who worked so hard that the tower master personally had to create a spell to prevent death from overwork.

Whatever the reason, magitech, which had developed by leaps and bounds, transformed the Empire’s military doctrine from its roots.

From the existing doctrine centered on close combat that relied on the prowess of heroes, masters, and knights, to a strategic policy focused on long-range bombardment using magitech weapons.

Airships that flew through the sky serving as both transport and battleships, and magitech tanks created by crudely imitating the dwarven concept of tanks.

Long-range mana cannons with destructive power equal to top-tier master knights, and hand cannons that were barely small enough to qualify as personal firearms.

Large magitech weapons inherently required a mage’s operation, and even the nominally personal hand cannons needed at least knight-level strength to handle properly due to their excessive recoil…

“Is that even a problem? If we were to produce and distribute these to all soldiers, the Empire would go bankrupt, bankrupt I say.”

Such “minor” flaws were not even considered problems.

Since magitech weapons required enormous costs for production and maintenance, even the Empire, the strongest nation on the continent, had limits to how many it could supply.

When even producing enough hand cannons for all knights would strain the treasury to its limits, what did it matter if soldiers couldn’t handle them?

Even if there were sufficient budget, the Empire still lacked production facilities to handle such quantities, so it was ultimately a meaningless discussion.

“Besides, if we had such budget and materials, shouldn’t we invest in the production and improvement of airships? They’re still the only weapons that can counter dragon attacks.”

Above all, giving hand cannons to all troops would still be inferior to a couple of well-made airships.

Such personal firearms might be useful against weak monsters that knights could easily subjugate, but if a dragon attacked, a thousand soldiers would be swept away without defeating it.

Therefore, Leopold ordered focus on the production and performance improvement of airships and the mana cannons mounted on them, and these airships protected the Empire’s territory.

This policy proved highly effective, and the Empire eventually achieved the miraculous exchange rate of two airships for one dragon.

It meant they were spending money like water, but what mattered was that the subjugation was working.

Unlike heroes, who were difficult to train and limited in deployment based on their Tale of Heroes abilities, airships boasted stable supply, firepower, and even mobility that easily surpassed heroes.

Unless a demigod-level expert flew around protecting the entire country like their neighboring nation, the Empire had no choice but to bet its fate on magitech, and that gamble paid off tremendously.

Dragons, high-level monsters, rebel armies, and various other threats to the Empire’s peace were swept away by concentrated mana cannon fire, and thus the Empire gradually regained stability.

The next emperor would probably writhe in agony over the empty treasury and the financial state riddled with holes.

But peace in Leopold’s era was maintained in this way.

For now, at least.