Ch.300301. Sea God

Eastern Continent’s Western Region, Archipelago Zone.

If compared to reality, this area would correspond roughly to Southeast Asia. Due to its characteristics of islands and tropical climate, unified powers rarely emerge here, and the region consists of small nations divided among various races and cultures.

Whenever a particular country or power grows too large, others form alliances to beat them down vigorously, and once that ends, they split apart again to fight among themselves—these are people who don’t know a single day of peace.

Especially in this world, each island may even have completely different races, so you can imagine what unfolds when beings who discriminate against each other based on skin color encounter those of entirely different species.

Moreover, thanks to the exciting mischief and provocations of the mysterious blue-heads, the political situation has become even more chaotic. With “Pleasure” also getting involved and spreading various evil beliefs and perspectives among these islands, turning this region into a hub of evil god worship in the Eastern Continent.

As a result, this archipelago zone has become an environment where wine (poisoning), carriages (intentional murder), and terraces (likewise) are commonplace, and all manner of incest, adultery, and cuckoldry run rampant—a model environment that any proper kingslayer would love.

But precisely because of this demonic landscape, the powers in this region maintained strong military forces to survive—

“…What?”

“D-demons?!!”

“Then… we have no choice. Temporary alliance!”

Upon hearing news that the demons of “Envy,” who once pushed this archipelago to the brink of collapse, were once again descending upon this world, they set aside past grudges and hastily assembled a united fleet.

The Jin Empire and Kore Republic, busy defending against invasions from above, each dispatched about 50 ships, while the daimyos governing various territories of the Yamato United Kingdom urgently sent a combined fleet of about 300 warships.

These three powers, though not quite matching maritime powers, contributed over 400 ships. Additionally, the Eastern Continent’s archipelago zone sent a considerable number of vessels.

At least 100 large ships exceeding 1,000 tons and more than 600 vessels capable of firing cannons demonstrated the majesty of the maritime forces.

Furthermore, some unexpected reinforcements joined.

“Just this once, we will cooperate.”

First, the elven fleet stationed at the High Elf colony in India joined the alliance.

Though only 10 ships, what matters is that the smallest vessel in this fleet is 2,000 tons, and it includes one 6,000-ton elven battleship. For forces whose majority of ships were only about 100-300 tons with the largest being 1,400 tons, the High Elves’ large and beautiful vessels were among the few means to confront the massive archdemons of “Envy.”

“The holy fleet of our Dawn Empire will also participate in this holy war against the demons!”

“We appreciate your cooperation, Fleet Commander.”

Another commander who joined was the holy fleet of the Dawn Empire, dispatched from the Western Continent. They have a good reputation for roaming around and eliminating demonic pirates.

Their fleet includes four 5,000-ton cruiser battleships, twelve 3,000-ton cruisers, nearly 60 auxiliary ships, and—crucially—four combat airships.

Thus, a massive fleet of 1,100 vessels, including 80 large ships of over 2,000 tons, headed toward a certain massive uninhabited island east of the Eastern Continent.

Now, it was a demonic realm of the mortal world, completely dominated by the demons of “Envy” and reborn as a living hell crawling with demons.

※ ※ ※

Among demons who follow the Demon Kings of Hell, there are certain commonalities.

Those who follow “Pride” typically weren’t originally demons but fell to become ones, while demons following “Wrath,” befitting the progenitors of all demons, often have a default demonic feel.

And the common trait among the demons of “Envy” Leviathan—is that they all possess characteristics of marine life or animals closely associated with water.

This phenomenon occurs because all of Leviathan’s demons are, in fact, children of Leviathan.

The demons of “Envy” are divided into four ranks.

The lowest rank consists of lifeforms transformed into demons by the Demon King of Envy’s magic power. No matter how strong they may be, demons created this way are treated merely as beasts, tools, or expendable resources.

The next rank comprises lesser demons born from the bodily fluids of the Demon King of Envy. While they are considered true members of “Envy” from this rank… the treatment of lesser demons is truly abysmal.

The middle-ranked demons of Envy generally emerge when promising lesser demons grow and evolve. From this stage, demons become commanders in Envy’s forces.

And the highest rank—demons born through relations with the Great Demon of Earth, the former “Envy” Behemoth, who was modified to be both husband and breeding tool. These are the Great Demons of Envy, representing “Envy” in the form of marine creatures.

Their forms are incredibly diverse. While some appear similar to humanoid lamias or merfolk… the vast majority are demons of unimaginable size, shaped by the will of the Demon of Envy.

The most common forms include massive whale-like or sea crocodile-like shapes, sea serpent forms, multi-headed hydras or sea dragons resembling creatures. Though rare, some take fish-like forms or appear as mixtures of various animals.

Then there are the more unusual sea lion or seal-like sea monsters, and rarely, demons resembling sea birds like penguins, as well as common octopus-like demons…

As these forms suggest, these demons often weaponize the marine environment and their enormous size.

Unlike ships, they can freely dive and surface, making hit-and-run attacks easy. Moreover, their close combat abilities matching their enormous size make them formidable opponents.

These demons possess bodies even more durable than metal chunks, unlike whales, and as high-ranking demons, they can deflect mediocre attacks while overwhelming their enemies—

Naturally, the members of the united fleet found themselves in a situation where they had to deal with “Envy’s” maritime assault first.

Lower demons could be handled with deck crew gunfire, and middle-ranked demons could somehow be suppressed with coordinated cannon fire, though underestimating them could lead to instant defeat…

Above all, among the demons roaming the island, there were more than five high-ranking demons.

These were monsters that would require dozens of thousand-ton class ships firing cannons to achieve mutual destruction at best—five demons equal to the strongest creatures in the marine ecosystem.

“……..”

“…………”

In this situation where no one in the meeting room dared to respond carelessly, one general cautiously put forward a suggestion.

“…I have a proposal.”

The general who spoke with a heavy voice weighted by years was the supreme commander of the Kore Republic Navy—in their terms, the Naval Commander of the Three Provinces—wearing plate armor over the distinctive red helmet of the Kore Republic Navy.

His long hair, turned completely white from years of experience, was tightly bound in a topknot, and his skin, damaged by sea winds and sunlight, clung to his nearly skeletal face, giving him an appearance of perpetual rage.

But in the black pupils shining through his wrinkled skin, a clear will resided, carrying such power and wisdom that none present could dismiss this mortal who hadn’t even reached the middle rank.

As everyone silently listened, the Naval Commander began explaining his tactical plan in a heavy, powerful voice.

At first, everyone was skeptical, but as he continued speaking, doubt gradually transformed into awe and wonder.

Through insights that seemed beyond simple categorization as broad or narrow, his strategy left even the haughty High Elf admirals and experienced imperial captains unable to hide their astonishment.

Despite coming from someone of merely lower rank, people listened to his tactical plan as if entranced by his different dimension of thinking.

“—That is all.”

The Naval Commander, who had focused solely on calmly presenting his opinion regardless of others’ reactions, merely looked puzzled at the other generals staring at him in amazement.

And several months later.

On an uninhabited island in the Eastern Continent, one of the seventeen dimensional gates opened to the world was closed.