Ch.311Chapter 311 – The Butterfly Effect

The first thing the Allied Forces for Demon Extermination did upon landing on the new continent was to build infrastructure.

Although the people gathered here were said to possess tremendous skills that could easily match a hundred opponents each, even they needed to eat and sleep.

However, this place was currently nothing but a barren wasteland.

“There are a few trees growing, but no grass or animals can be seen at all.”

“I’ve spent about two hours exploring the surroundings, and the entire continent seems like a wasteland, though there was some vegetation growing closer to the sea.”

“It truly is a land of death.”

“Perhaps it became this way because of the Demon God?”

The members of the Allied Forces for Demon Extermination each tried to deduce why the land had become like this, but no definitive conclusion was reached.

Regardless, what was important for us now was to build a base where we could stay for at least a month, if not longer, to carry out our operations.

Fortunately, we had brought ample supplies to build a base, anticipating the worst-case scenario.

Additionally, a fleet carrying additional supplies was scheduled to depart around the time we arrived here, so if we could just hold out for about 2-3 weeks, we would be able to continuously receive supplies and execute our extermination operation.

However, due to the short duration of preservation magic, most of the food was provided in the form of hard biscuits or jerky.

At least, thanks to bringing seeds for growing plants, we wouldn’t have to face the situation of chewing on biscuits and jerky every day.

“We can fight demons with just jerky and hardtack for as long as it takes!”

“That’s right, Apostle! That is true faith!”

“These fellows… faith! They’re truly filled with faith!”

Sigh, the holy knights might be used to eating hardtack and jerky during their training, but the others aren’t.

“Etherna, could you please tell everyone to stop and focus on building the base and the port?”

In the end, I had to step in.

Currently, I held the position of Apostle of the Great Goddess Order, which was equivalent to the Pope of other religious orders.

I’m not sure why the equation Apostle = Pope came about, but according to Etherna’s explanation, there’s a hierarchy even among gods.

So typically, an Apostle of a higher deity is considered equal in position to the Pope of a lower deity.

“If it’s the Apostle’s command, certainly.”

Etherna used this point to make the holy knights cooperate obediently in building the base.

“Everyone, listen. The Apostle of the Great Goddess has ordered us to cooperate in building the base quickly.”

“Understood.”

Thanks to my position as the Apostle of the Great Goddess, the holy knights, who had been acting on their own, immediately began to cooperate actively in building the base.

Of course, I wasn’t just sitting around twiddling my thumbs after ordering the holy knights to build the base.

Above all, for me and the Allied Forces to eat well, growing food in this land was almost essential.

To be self-sufficient with seeds in this land, farming was absolutely necessary.

However, even after planting crops in the soil, watering them, and having priests bless them to accelerate growth, all the sprouts would wither within just two days.

“It seems the land’s fertility is severely lacking.”

Priests who worshipped the God of Earth and had expertise in farming quickly identified the problem.

“But the area of land we need to farm is too vast. It will be difficult for us to restore the earth’s power with our strength alone.”

However, the Earth priests expressed reluctance about restoring the land’s fertility, so I had to step in directly.

“Please install iron pillars in the center of the land where we’ll farm.”

“Yes, Apostle. You there, come over here for a moment.”

The priests followed my instructions and called a holy knight to drive iron pillars into the cleared land prepared for farming.

From their conversation, it seemed the priests outranked the holy knights.

“No, not there! You need to apply force here!”

“Why are young people so weak these days? When I was a holy knight, we could drive these iron pillars in with just two hammer strikes and a battle cry!”

Oh, one of them must have been a former holy knight. No wonder his aura felt different.

Anyway, after a small commotion, the installation of iron pillars was completed at thirty locations across the farmland.

These iron pillars were originally brought to set up tents, but because the holy knights who worshipped the God of War—whose brains were as muscular as their bodies—tore them apart while showing off their strength, we had no choice but to use them this way.

By the way, those knights were summoned by the High Priest of the God of War and severely reprimanded. “This is why people call us brutes,” he had said.

As punishment, they had to eat biscuits without jerky for a while, and they looked so pitiful.

“We’ve installed all the iron pillars, but what are you planning to do, Apostle?”

“To restore the land’s fertility, we need to return it to its original state, don’t we?”

I said this to the priest who served the God of Earth, then took out a hammer that was lying nearby and struck the iron pillar three times.

Immediately, grass began to grow around the pillar, and a wide area of land started to regain its vitality.

Thanks to my ability affecting an area much larger than the marked land, I was able to restore the farmland without much effort.

“The Apostle’s ability is always amazing. I never thought land that withered everything planted in it could become so fertile.”

The Earth priest was astonished to see the crops he planted receive a blessing and fully grow to bear fruit in just 10 minutes.

“Is this enough to grow food for everyone in the Allied Forces?”

“Enough? With this, we can grow more than enough food for everyone.”

Once the Earth priests confirmed that the crops were growing well, they immediately began farming.

Indeed, as people who served the God of Earth, they worked at an overwhelmingly faster pace than people from other orders when it came to land-related tasks.

They went out with shovels and hoes, and in no time, fields were created. After planting seeds, watering them, and bestowing blessings, trees grew and bore fruit almost instantly.

“Ho ho ho, thanks to the Apostle’s ability, the land has become very fertile. I’ve never seen crops grow in less than an hour after bestowing a blessing.”

“At least we won’t fight over food.”

“Indeed. To face the demons, it’s best to eat well and build up our strength.”

The Earth priests filled baskets with vegetables, fruits, and grains, then rushed to the temporary kitchen that had been built first to prepare meals.

Hmm, tonight’s dinner looks like it will be salad and freshly baked bread.

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At the very moment Pathos was using his ability, chaos erupted in the underground hideout of the demon tribe.

“Elder! Something terrible has happened!”

“What is it?”

“The crystal, the crystal has been destroyed!”

“What?!”

The news was that the crystal supplying magical energy to the demon tribe had been destroyed.

When the Elder rushed to where the crystal was installed, he found it shattered into pieces on the floor, and the demon responsible for creating and installing the crystal was lying in a pool of blood.

“El-Elder…”

“No, what is happening here? What occurred?”

“Suddenly, the energy flow in the crystal became unstable. I tried to stabilize it, but the energy within the crystal kept distorting until it finally shattered…”

The condition of the bleeding demon was more serious than expected. The magical energy in his body had disappeared, and now his life was slowly fading away.

“Who, who could have committed such a terrible act!”

The Elder cried out in despair at the tragic situation that had befallen them.

Thanks to the crystal supplying magical energy, they had been regaining their former physical condition without needing to eat food.

But the crystal was destroyed. It was beyond repair, and additional damage was occurring as a result.

“Elder! Something terrible has happened! All the machines producing food have stopped working!”

“What did you say?”

To make matters worse, even the machines that had been providing life-sustaining food to the demon tribe for the past few months had all stopped functioning.

The crystal supplying magical energy was destroyed, the demon who created the crystal was dying, and even their last resort—the food production machines—had stopped.

This meant that the demon tribe could no longer survive underground.

The cause of this disaster was Pathos’s ability used on the surface affecting the underground.

Eventually, the demon tribe broke their seclusion underground and came to the surface…

“Demons!”

“Humans!”

And thus, the reconnaissance teams from both the demon tribe and humans discovered each other.