Ch.248Chapter 248 – Establishing Follow-up Measures

“I have returned.”

Cheon Hyeryeong went out to greet the uninvited guest, only to return less than 5 minutes later.

“What about the uninvited guest?”

I asked her who this uninvited guest was.

I was curious about what kind of being would be called an uninvited guest by the Heavenly Demon.

“A more troublesome fellow than expected appeared, so I used the secret technique of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to eliminate him.”

She used the secret technique of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?

That means a fairly powerful being must have appeared…

‘Could it be a demon?’

I wondered if a demon had appeared.

It made sense, considering that Tellio, the demon we met at the World Tree’s roots, was quite skilled.

However, Tellio was unable to demonstrate his full abilities and was captured by us because Shureka’s guard disguised himself as me and launched a surprise attack.

But thinking about how an ordinary elf could transform into a powerful demon… if an elf with combat abilities became a demon, they could potentially become a formidable enemy.

That’s why I needed to ask who she had faced.

There was a possibility that Eldran had sent an assassin, or perhaps even a vanguard for a major invasion.

“Who was this uninvited guest that made you use your secret technique?”

“It was a demon called Eldran or Eldoran or something.”

“Oh, really? Eldran…?”

Wait a minute.

Eldran?

That Eldran?

The very same Eldran I know? The first demon, leader of the demon race, and pope of the Demon Cult?

“Hyeryeong.”

“Why do you call, my husband?”

“This Eldran you mentioned… is it the same Eldran who was the first demon?”

“Unless there are two beings named Eldran, then yes.”

Come on, surely Eldran wouldn’t have come personally?

“You’re saying the uninvited guest was that Eldran? The leader of the demons and pope of the Demon Cult?”

“Yes. It was that very fellow. The one who ordered your death.”

When I heard from Cheon Hyeryeong that it was the one who ordered my death, I realized.

The one she faced was indeed that Eldran.

The actual leader of the Demon Cult, which constituted most of the enemies I’ve encountered since coming to this world.

And the final enemy I must defeat to prevent the resurrection of the Demon God.

That Eldran was killed by Cheon Hyeryeong.

In less than 5 minutes after she left.

She eliminated the final boss, Eldran, as casually as if she’d gone out for a neighborhood stroll.

‘Does this even make sense?’

It’s actually rare for a final boss to appear directly because plans keep failing.

Because a final boss only moves when the game reaches its final chapter or when certain conditions are met to trigger the event where the final boss appears.

But this isn’t inside a game, nor is it a game world.

This world merely served as a motif for a game; the people here aren’t data made of zeros and ones, but living beings with souls who breathe.

In other words, this is reality, so we shouldn’t expect Eldran to act like a final boss in a game.

Looking at this incident from that perspective… Eldran must have been quite anxious.

“The fact that Eldran, the pope of the Demon Cult and leader of the demons, came personally…”

“It seems the situation has deteriorated to the point where he had to take action himself because you’ve been constantly interfering with his plans and turning them to dust.”

Sister Regina’s words seem right.

Come to think of it, there have been many incidents starting from the destruction of the demon sword.

And in most cases, I’ve ruined quite a lot of what were known as the Demon Cult’s plans.

‘Plus, the Demon Cult has been annihilated in the Gelebrio Empire now.’

The plan to contaminate the World Tree failed, and the Demon Cult’s branch with the most influence in the Gelebrio Empire has been wiped out.

I even heard that the Demon Cult has been completely uprooted in the Eastern Continent?

All of this happened in a chain reaction because of me alone.

So to Eldran, I must have been a real thorn in his side, and he actually succeeded in killing me once.

However, that led to a massive crackdown and purge of the Demon Cult, causing them severe damage.

So Eldran must have been anxious.

His plan to resurrect the Demon God seemed about to completely fall apart.

‘Then he had two choices.’

Either wait patiently until I died of old age.

Or take matters into his own hands and eliminate me.

“So Eldran came all this way to deal with me after all.”

“That seems to have been the case. That’s why I eliminated him. Losing something precious once is enough, is it not?”

Cheon Hyeryeong’s sensitive reaction to Eldran’s appearance was likely because of me.

She still carried the guilt of not being able to protect me, resulting in my death.

Even though I, the person involved, said it was fine, it seems to have remained a bigger trauma for her than I thought.

“So what will happen to the Demon Cult and the demons now?”

At that moment, Sister Regina asked a truly significant question.

The demons and Demon Cult that Eldran had been leading.

Their leader has essentially vanished in an instant.

What choices do they have in this situation?

Traditionally, when a leader disappears, either the second-in-command takes over and becomes the new leader, or the organization crumbles from within due to internal strife among those seeking power.

The former is the most ideal response, but typically, if no successor has been designated, the latter is more likely.

“When that Eldran fellow faced me, he was quite taken aback. But judging by the movement of his eyes, which seemed to be scheming… I couldn’t help but think that he had left some contingency plan.”

“Contingency…?”

I pondered over Cheon Hyeryeong’s words.

A contingency plan.

Eldran had surely been planning for the Demon God’s resurrection for hundreds of years.

Among those plans, he must have made arrangements for the ritual to continue even in his absence or demise.

If his contingency plan works properly, the demons and the Demon Cult would continue with the plan to resurrect the Demon God according to Eldran’s arrangements.

After all, the demons and the Demon Cult are people who united for the purpose of resurrecting the Demon God.

Having gathered under the cause of resurrecting the Demon God, minor sacrifices for the cause would be something they’d be willing to accept.

In fact, a Demon Cult follower from the Eastern Continent once sacrificed himself to defeat me.

Considering that… they would clearly stop at nothing to resurrect the Demon God.

“So how will they respond now?”

“Until now, Eldran functioned as the core and nucleus, so their internal order was well-maintained. But now that their leader is gone, even if he prepared something, it will take time to actually implement it.”

“How long do you think the confusion will last?”

“At most, about two months. At the shortest, they’ll regain their composure in a week.”

So even if they’re thrown into chaos, they’ll recover in about a week and once again accelerate their plans to resurrect the Demon God?

“But to deal with the Demon Cult followers in other countries… we’d essentially have to risk war…”

But there was one major problem.

While the Eastern Continent was a single country, making it easier to eradicate the Demon Cult, the Western Continent had multiple countries.

So cooperation for the eradication of the Demon Cult wasn’t properly established.

In fact, while the Gelebrio Empire successfully eradicated the Demon Cult completely, other countries didn’t, did they?

Perhaps smaller countries had already had their leadership consumed by the Demon Cult.

It’s hard to deny, considering their plans had been in motion for hundreds of years…

During that time, reaching positions of leadership might not have been difficult.

“Leave that to Eterna. The position of Saint exists for times like these.”

“Ah.”

With Regina’s words, I finally remembered Eterna.

Eterna is neither a person of the Gelebrio Empire nor of the Tilasio Kingdom.

She is clearly a member of the Solar Order and a Saint.

Therefore, she could enter and exit other countries without any hindrance, and her guards were all skilled Holy Knights and priests from within the Solar Order.

If she actively steps forward, I think it wouldn’t be difficult to completely eradicate the Demon Cult in the Western Continent.

“Don’t worry! I’ll sweep away all the Demon Cults in other countries too!”

And Eterna expressed her commitment to eradicating the Demon Cult with an extremely proactive attitude.

…This is a good thing, right?