Ch.1263What should I do now?

After that, time flew by once again.

Over a dozen days passed in a blur of vigilance, reconnaissance, treatment, reorganization, training, and discipline.

It seemed that not only we lacked the luxury and strength to fight immediately, but our enemies were in the same situation, as Naraka regained a rare peace during those ten-odd days.

Since we were merely catching our breath to fight more rather than stopping the battle altogether, this wasn’t peace in the true sense—just the calm before the storm.

“Lord Haschal, the Werebeast chief has sent a message.”

“A message? What does it say? Is he whining for help because his dogs got crushed?”

Unlike us, who could still fight despite suffering considerable damage, the Werebeast forces had been nearly annihilated by Garmerlic’s intervention, severely reducing their military strength.

Their elite warrior corps seemed to have survived somehow, so they might still be capable of small-scale guerrilla warfare, but they couldn’t even contemplate full-scale war against other powers anymore.

They had effectively dropped out of the race for hegemony in Naraka—whether between nations or warlords.

The dragons remained, but they were allies, not subordinates of Caliburn. They wouldn’t stand with the Werebeasts until the bitter end.

‘To be completely ruined by a single defeat. Modern warfare is all…’

In a normal war, it’s extremely rare for a power to be completely destroyed after just one defeat. There’s a saying that victory and defeat are common in war for a reason.

Even if you commit all your forces to a single battle and lose, the same principle applies.

Since overwhelming victories are rare and total annihilation in defeat is uncommon, even if you lose a battle where you’ve mobilized your entire army, there are always opportunities remaining if you retreat at the right time.

As I said before, that’s in a normal war.

‘But not here.’

The battles in Naraka were vastly different from those on the surface.

Independent powers—alliances, nations, warlords, tribes—all had ridiculously small numbers of constituents, while the individual martial prowess of each far exceeded the average on the surface.

People who could kill hundreds with a single strike were commonplace, yet the size of self-proclaimed nations was at most around 40,000 to 50,000.

That’s why even a single defeat could become a fatal wound that couldn’t be reversed.

Small numbers, exponentially increasing losses when you start falling behind, and the existence of monsters who could slaughter thousands or tens of thousands single-handedly created the worst possible synergy.

“Those guys are really shameless. Did they leave their sense of shame in their mother’s womb?”

Since the Werebeasts were also in a situation where their very existence was uncertain after one crushing defeat, it was natural for them to request our support to try to get a chance at recovery.

It was truly ugly and pathetic to see them begging for help after they had schemed to put us in the same situation.

“Well, actually… it’s the opposite. It’s not a request for support, but rather a message saying they’ve achieved a decisive victory too, so we should push forward together.”

But the message they actually sent was the opposite of what I expected.

Instead of asking for help because they were ruined, they were lying that they had achieved a decisive victory and all that remained was to launch an aggressive offensive.

“Decisive victory…? Ha, they’re trying hard. We know perfectly well that everyone except their elites has been wiped out. What kind of nonsense is this?”

Whether they wanted us to suffer the same fate, or they judged that if they honestly admitted their defeat, they’d be devoured by us before the Undead—either way, it was pathetically disgraceful. It was enough to make me laugh bitterly.

“Are they dogs or Werebeasts? Their bullshit is truly first-class.”

“Should I send a reply telling them to cut the crap?”

“No, don’t do that.”

I couldn’t send a reply telling them to cut the nonsense and quietly deal with their defeat since they’d been crushed.

As much as I wanted to, if they asked how I knew that fact, it would be quite awkward to answer.

That reply alone might make them realize that we had thwarted their strategy and led them to suffer great damage.

“Just tell them we acknowledge their message. Say we can’t move yet because we’re still reorganizing, but we’ll dispatch troops as soon as we finish. That should be enough, even if it’s just words.”

“Yes, Lord Haschal.”

After sending Nigel, who had come to report, back with those instructions, I leaned back on the temporarily arranged throne, put a mana herb in my mouth, lit it, and took a deep drag.

“Phew…”

What should I do now?

It had been several months since I descended to Naraka to solve my nightmare problem and gain stronger power.

It had been a slow and arduous journey, but after fierce and dangerous battles, I had already achieved sufficient results in that regard.

Two problems remained.

Subjugating the demigods of Naraka, who would certainly become troublemakers if left alone, and finding and killing Feilandria, who was hiding somewhere here.

Neither was an easy task, but…

‘I don’t even know where to look for Feilandria, and the ones wandering alone can be dealt with one by one later… so the urgent enemies are probably Garmerlic and the frost giants in the north?’

The Undead Duke’s floating fortress, Agnita Fortress, had disappeared again, leaving only the ruins of the battlefield. It must have returned to a safe place after achieving its purpose.

Without knowing where it disappeared to, there was no way for us to attack first.

‘Only the frost giants remain among his allies, so should I attack them to draw him out?’

In other words, to summon him, I would need to attack his allies to draw him out, like last time… honestly, that was close to a last resort for me.

If things went wrong, we could end up in the same situation as the Werebeasts. It was too risky.

‘…No, is the alliance even still maintained?’

When you think about it, the status of the alliance itself was already unclear. Garmerlic was a madman who had backstabbed his allied forces and massacred them with artillery fire.

He was like a plague—there was nothing to gain and everything to lose by joining hands with him. If it were me, I would have severed ties long ago… I wonder how it is.

It was impossible to know until we made contact with the frost giants.

‘Then should I try to make contact first? But what if they’re still on the same side…?’

The problem was that the contact itself was extremely dangerous.

If I brought a large army, it would already be tantamount to a declaration of war, so if I wanted to make contact, I would have to bring only a small number of people… but if they were still allies, that itself could be suicidal.

‘No, whether they’re on the same side or not, can we even properly communicate with them in the first place?’

Even if the alliance had been broken, if the frost giants had no intention of talking with us, the contact itself would be meaningless.

In fact, that possibility was high. I had never met a frost giant directly, but according to Frider, they were vicious monsters who slaughtered humans they encountered without question.

They were essentially no different from trolls or ogres, just much larger and stronger?

Since all the frost giants who had come to the surface were like that, the frost giants in Naraka probably wouldn’t be much different.

Seeing that they had formed an alliance with Garmerlic, communication itself seemed possible, but being able to speak and being able to understand each other were completely different issues.

Just look at the enemies I’ve killed so far. Excluding mindless magical beasts, most could communicate in the same language.

They were all types who were obsessed with strange beliefs or desires and wouldn’t listen to others, so I had no choice but to kill them.

I suspected the frost giants were probably of the same kind.

‘Well… I should meet them anyway. There’s no other way.’

After a period of contemplation that felt both long and short, I stubbed out the cigarette that was now just a butt in the ashtray and decided to meet with the frost giants.

*Screech.*

Right now, my body hadn’t even finished recovering, so even though I had made that decision, the actual movement would be a few days later…

Well, that was unavoidable and didn’t really matter.

Everyone, both enemies and allies, was busy reorganizing, so surely no serious problems would arise in those few days.

—-

The concept born to hunt humans—”what if”—caught people once again.

*Growl…!*

One day, after finishing treatment and discussions, as I was preparing for the journey to meet the frost giants…

When a thunderous sound echoed from somewhere in the distance, I turned my head and glanced out the window in the direction of the sound, wondering what was happening.

*Slam!*

The door to the audience chamber burst open with such force that it seemed about to break, and a naga with a deathly pale face crawled in urgently, dragging his tail, and shouted at me.

“Lord Median! Emergency, it’s an emergency!!”

What is it?

The report was so abrupt that it was difficult to guess what he was trying to say.

From his face, pale enough to be noticeable despite being a reptilian naga, and his urgent voice that sounded like he was about to die, I could roughly guess that something serious had happened.

“What’s going on? You look like the sky is falling.”

“Yes! It is falling!!”

“What…?”

I made a light joke to tell him to calm down, but the answer I got back was truly ominous.

“What do you mean falling? Surely not the sky?”

As I tilted my head in question, the naga warrior looked at me with trembling eyes and screamed desperately with a face as white as paper.

“Yes! The sky, the ceiling of Naraka is collapsing!!”

His world was crumbling down.