Ch.1231My lips are really loosening up.

“Though our races differ, we share one thing in common. The fact that we’re alive.”

The fox who had finally opened up was more talkative than I expected. His speech was even verbose enough to clearly reveal his intellectual vanity.

He was careful not to cross the line, so I didn’t tell him to shut up and get to the point, but if he’d said a couple more words, I might have snapped at him.

“So?”

“Given that, wouldn’t we have only one common enemy?”

“…The undead?”

“Exactly, the undead.”

The fox werebeast, Lati, nodded.

The beings they wanted to ally with us to defeat were enemies of all living things—those who had risen again from death.

And as far as I knew, there was only one undead powerful enough to be considered a threat by someone who had awakened to divinity.

“You mean Garmerlic, Bellona’s apostle?”

“…You know of him?”

“I know him well. I’ve even been invited to his fortress.”

Know him? We have quite a special relationship.

I’ve killed several of his knights, destroyed part of his fortress, and even cut up his body a bit.

In return, he tried to thoroughly screw me over during the Invidius subjugation, but failed because he only sent his subordinates instead of coming himself.

“He’s certainly a common enemy, but with one demigod and two ancient dragons, why would you need an alliance with us?”

“Well, that’s not quite the case.”

He’d been quiet for a while, which made me hope he might have died somewhere… but it seems my hopes were misplaced.

“Half their knights are dead, and Garmerlic and Arlur alone have obvious limitations… yet they’re still threatening? I suppose your forces have grown too?”

So they’ve not only avoided decline but have grown strong enough for other demigods to form alliances against them? Quite surprising. Not entirely incomprehensible, though.

“Yes, they’ve also drawn in other powerful beings, just as we have. From what we know, there’s the Empress of Blood Erzsebet, the giant Geirod, and even Loki of Utgard…”

Who are those people? He was talking as if I should obviously know them, but all three names were unfamiliar to me.

I could probably get answers from Bergelmir… but he’d already left to fix his leg.

“Hmm…”

Anyway, it seemed like an issue worth considering.

If Garmerlic had truly formed such a force, it meant I shouldn’t charge in with just my own power.

Even if Bergelmir and Caljarat joined me and we won, it would be meaningless if we suffered heavy losses in the process.

We’d have no time to enjoy our victory before being devoured by wolf-like beings who were just waiting for such an opportunity.

I didn’t need to look far—these werebeasts right in front of me would do exactly that.

If we formed an alliance and fought together, both sides would suffer similar damage, so they wouldn’t easily bare their fangs. But if not, they would attack without hesitation.

It’s only natural. Without an alliance, we’re just another enemy to them. Striking us when we’re weakened would eliminate a future threat with minimal losses.

In other words, from my perspective, joining hands with these creatures was the best option… but was it really?

I gently rubbed my lower jaw, silently continuing my deliberation for a while.

Whether I could trust this werebeast—no, this Caliburn character above him—who suddenly appeared talking about an alliance.

And what I would gain or lose by accepting or rejecting the proposal.

—-

While considering these things, I exchanged various questions and answers with this werebeast called Lati, and thanks to that, I was able to obtain diverse information about the political situation in central Naraka and powerful beings I didn’t know about.

“The western ones are presumed to have already formed an alliance—no, I should say they’ve found a master. Most of those creatures are mindless monsters that can’t communicate anyway.”

For example, information that the western Naraka had also gathered individual forces into a massive horde, seemingly in opposition to the Undead Duke’s coalition.

“Corrupted Lunadir tainted by dark mana, Flesh of the Void, Einherjar… and though it’s just a rumor, there’s talk of Valkyries among them.”

The terminology was a bit unfamiliar in Naraka’s nomenclature, but thanks to detailed explanations, I could understand what he meant.

What we call hybrid monsters and void monsters, along with Baltyr’s warriors, and the Valkyries who were considered Volberg’s angels.

Alfodhr’s minions.

The identity of the monster horde that boasted strength rivaling Garmerlic’s group and had completely consumed western Naraka was undoubtedly the army of the evil god who would eventually set the world ablaze.

The master of such an army would naturally be Alfodhr himself or his close associate… or his first apostle Peyrus, who could be called his earthly agent.

In short, Naraka was now divided into three factions—Alfodhr’s legion, Bellona’s remnants and their allies, and others—all warily building their forces against each other.

“Those monster hordes are in the west? What about their numbers? Where is their base located?”

“I don’t know. The west is now overflowing with rivers of dark mana, making it difficult to approach, and not a single scout we’ve sent in has returned alive. It’s not a situation where we can gather information.”

Unfortunately, this werebeast’s knowledge about Alfodhr’s legion ended there.

He said they had directly confirmed what kinds of creatures were lurking there through skirmishes, but there was no way to find out information like troop numbers or base locations.

He wasn’t even sure if they were still in the west.

The creatures that had been engaging in skirmishes day after day had recently become suspiciously quiet, but whether they were gathering strength or had moved elsewhere was unknown.

“If they moved their base, where would they go?”

“I wouldn’t know. How could I understand what monsters are thinking?”

So he doesn’t know. Well, with no scouts returning, there’s no way he would have such important information.

If I could just know Peyrus’s exact location, I could launch a surprise attack, kill him, and escape, but it seems it won’t be that easy. What a shame.

—-

The fox werebeast Lati’s explanation was endless. To be fair, it was largely because I kept asking about this and that.

“Erzsebet is the ruler of the vampiric race. She had lost her power after being defeated by us… but she recovered by joining hands with Garmerlic. She’s a dangerous woman who can raise an army by herself.”

The Empress of Blood Erzsebet was a cleric who turned into a vampire herself during the process of exterminating the once-flourishing vampiric race.

She hunted countless vampires and dragons indiscriminately, devouring their blood until she finally attained the status of a demigod.

From what I heard, she didn’t seem much different from the vampires in comics and novels from the original world.

She cast magical powers using blood as a medium, increased her kind through blood-drinking, and could resurrect no matter how many times she was killed until the blood she had consumed was depleted.

“Would she die if we fed her garlic?”

“Pardon? Garlic…? What do you mean…?”

However, it seemed her weaknesses weren’t identical. When I asked if feeding her garlic would kill her, he momentarily looked at me like I was talking nonsense before quickly correcting his expression.

“As for the frost giants of Utgard… almost nothing is known. They’ve been holed up in the northernmost part of Naraka without moving until now, so we don’t even know why they suddenly formed an alliance with other forces…”

The information about the frost giants of Utgard and their king Loki wasn’t particularly useful. They were so reclusive that nothing could be learned about them.

Rather, he commented that this made them more dangerous. Beings who had been accumulating power for over a thousand years had finally begun to move.

Why they had joined hands with the undead, what their purpose was, how powerful they were—everything was unknown, making it impossible to predict what they might do next.

“Geirod the Piercing Fist is the leader of one of the larger giant groups. You’d be better off asking Bergelmir for details about him.”

“Piercing Fist? Why such a ridiculous title?”

“They say that during a fierce battle with a dragon, after losing his weapon, he thrust his bare fist into the dragon’s mouth and shattered its head from the inside. The truth of this is uncertain, but…”

“So he’s confident in hand-to-hand combat, enough for such a story to emerge.”

The final adversary, Geirod, was a giant warrior who had conquered his tribe using only hammer and fist techniques.

Unusually for a giant, he commanded quite a large number of his kind, and Bergelmir was once part of his tribe.

Though a simple-minded brawler, his strength was formidable enough that even a demigod shouldn’t underestimate him.

“Is he stronger than Bergelmir?”

“You’re asking me…? No, even they wouldn’t know. His exile happened in the distant past.”

Then we’ll find out by making them fight. I should tell Bergelmir when he returns that a situation has arisen where he needs to face his former tribal chief who exiled him.

I’m not sure if he’ll be pleased or troubled by that.