Chapter 45: Opportunity

 

Large-scale monster outbreak.

A situation where countless demons pour out of a dimensional gate that suddenly appears in the air.

According to my research at the Adventurer’s Guild, this is a strange phenomenon that has been occurring for about 10 years.

Let me summarize it in one sentence as the current Demon King and former Middle-Earth Demon King.

Dimensional gate.

It is a method of producing countless monsters in a specific location, then producing and raising them until they reach saturation, gathering their strength, and opening a dimensional gate to send them out to that location.

For example, digging a space deep underground as wide as a human city, and then mass-producing countless spider demons there.

The spider demons prey on their own kind and prey on each other, and lay eggs to increase their number and power.

And when the space is too narrow and the colony has to reduce its number of individuals if it continues to exist in that location, it opens a dimensional gate and lets all individuals spread out.

A species that can become strong enough as a colony within a limited space.

A space where that species can reproduce in the hundreds or even tens of thousands.

Equipment that can hide it thoroughly so that it is not detected by others.

And a dimensional gate that can transport all of them at once.

If all of that is in place, then one day, a dimensional gate will suddenly open in the middle of the city, pouring thousands of demons.

To summarize briefly.

Mass-producing demons underground.

Dropping them into the middle of the enemy camp with space magic.

The end.

From the human perspective, it is like a natural disaster, and a huge slaughterhouse that has been appearing here and there without warning for the past 10 years has been appearing here and there.

The idea itself is really amazing.

It is a tactic that combines the malice of wanting to somehow ruin the enemy and the murderous intent to definitely kill them, and if we were to name it ‘Dark Raven’, it could be called an operation.

How do you know the name of the tactic?

Because….

This is a tactic that I improved: 500 years ago.

There was a time when, while advancing the Demon King’s army to capture a single palace, the hundred thousand Demon King’s army could not pass the terrain where only 5,000 humans were blocking them due to the natural terrain.

Blade Cannon.

The mountain range, named for the steep cliffs that resembled blades, was so steep that it was impossible to pass over it unless there was a road, and the castle walls located on each mountainside were in a position where it was impossible to break through with mediocre strength.

So, I just opened a dimensional gate to the enemy kingdom’s capital and sent the Demon King’s army there.

Of course, in the process, I scouted the enemy kingdom’s capital, and while I was drawing attention in front of the castle walls where the enemy’s main force was gathered, I carefully prepared a magic to open the dimensional gate before the humans caught me.

And because it was such a large-scale magic, the enemies who noticed the flow of mana rushed to interrupt my magic, but after barely succeeding in casting, I air-raided the trolls on the empty castle and took over the castle, and there was a great general who will be remembered in the history of war—Belphegor—but that is now being used by Acedia.

Damn, who is using someone else’s tactics so carelessly?

Tactics are originally something that if someone uses one, everyone in the future will likely follow it, saying that it is recorded in the history books, but it makes me sick to my stomach that Acedia is using it.

If you’re going to use it, use it properly!

Originally, dimensional gate magic is supposed to be undetected by the enemy.

Even if you are, the location where the portal is opened and where it opens must never be revealed.

In fact, I was worried about how to hide the dimensional gate that opened in the middle of the enemy camp when I took over the kingdom with this tactic.

And after much thought, I persuaded the princess of the enemy kingdom to secretly create an altar inside the palace and open the dimensional gate.

At first, one demon went through, then three demons.

Then, all the demons I had collected passed through the dimensional gate, and the princess offered up the kingdom and became mine.

The princess who was deceived by the Demon King and caused the destruction of the country.

I had a hard time hiding the location of the dimensional gate to the point where I had to personally seduce the princess.

But.

“Currently, I have confirmed that a large dimensional gate has opened in the open space near the lake in the north of Normans. It is about 20km in distance. Considering the average demons, they would be able to reach the Normans castle walls in an hour.”

Why does the Adventurer’s Guild know the location?

Don’t the Acedians even know that their large-scale operation has been exposed to the enemy?

Are you just ignoring the idea that if you draw a magic circle in the forest or cave near a human city, the enemies won’t notice?

“Excuse me, I have a question. How did you confirm that the dimensional gate was opened?”

 

I couldn’t hold back my curiosity and cut off the bald branch manager’s words.

He blinked at me for a moment, then raised his thumb with a confident face.

“The Flame Warrior, Lord Bearness, discovered it.”

“…..”

Did the warrior catch it? Then I admit it.

No matter how careful you are, if the warrior did it, there’s nothing you can do.

Being caught by the warrior is like being caught by a natural disaster.

“Hey, Master. If the warrior discovered it, can’t we just destroy the dimensional gate?”

“Good question, Lucius.”

A dimensional gate opens space from both sides.

A magic circle is needed to open a dimensional gate, but mana also sparkles on the side where it opens, forming a magic circle.

Opening two dimensional gates at the same time and connecting them is the essence of dimensional gate-space magic.

The problem is that if you use magic assuming that the two are connected, if one side is destroyed, both sides will be destroyed.

Even if it is created, accidents such as flying to the wrong coordinates or only sending half of your body can occur.

“To eliminate the threat of the demons, just close the dimensional gate before it opens.”

Danger is eliminated before it sprouts. That’s the right answer, and that’s safety.

However.

“Lucius. If the seeds don’t fall into the ground, there’s a fruit that you can eat as much as you want. Then what would you do?”

“Yes?”

“What I mean is, if there’s a chance that you can take the risk but get a huge reward, what would you do?”

“I don’t know?”

Lucius tilted his head.

I was about to explain to him, but when the bald branch manager seemed to be about to say something, I pointed at him.

“The dimensional gate should be closed before it opens. However, the Flame Warrior, Mercenary King Bearness is here right now. And… No, it’s difficult to say right now, but I can confidently tell you that the Adventurer’s Guild has the ability to close the dimensional gate before it goes out of control.”

The dimensional gate goes out of control.

“Lucius. No matter how hard it is to fill a hole, if you keep poking and opening it, it will eventually open.”

“Right…?”

“It’s the same logic. The dimensional gate also starts out small enough for one or two demons to come out, but as the demons come through one by one, the space gradually expands.”

At first, it’s small enough not to be detected by the enemy.

And the dimensional gate is created assuming that a large number of demons will gradually come out.

“Then, we wait for the right moment to open, and catch the demons that come out indiscriminately as they come out. What will happen then?”

“Huh, can we hunt as much as we can handle?”

“Yes.”

At least until the dimensional gate goes out of control. It’s a magic stone party!

“The Adventurer’s Guild declares that as of today, at 09:19, we will hunt the monsters coming through the dimensional gate created in the northern lake of Normans, and close the dimensional gate before the dimensional gate goes out of control and the ‘dark being’ comes through.”

Right now.

“The estimated time the dimensional gate will open is around 20:00 tomorrow. We hope for the participation of many adventurers who will fight off the monsters coming out of the dimensional gate, and the Adventurer’s Guild…”

Gulp.

“We will conduct the raid with the warrior, Bearness.”

Raid. Refers to a magic stone party that hunts the monsters coming over from the dimensional gate.

After successfully completing the D-rank registration with the association.

 

Before taking a break, our conversation topic was naturally dimensional gates and raids.

“Have you ever participated in a raid, Rosemath?”

“No, not yet.”

Even Rosemath, who was quite active as an adventurer, had never seen one.

I wanted to contact Morgen, who knew a lot about raids, to get some information, but the receptionist didn’t even have time to drink water because of the people who wanted to register for the raid.

She did her job just by giving us a bronze badge instead of a wooden one for our D-rank adventurer badge.

There were too many people, so we didn’t have time to chat leisurely or check other requests, so we decided to just go back to the inn.

“Then let’s finish talking about raids when we get back to the inn…”

However.

Before going back, after purchasing a few items.

“Rosemath, do you eat this?”

“I like tomatoes.”

“What about cheese?”

“…I don’t like anything too strong.”

Elves like to eat vegetables.

However, that doesn’t mean they don’t eat dairy products at all. I made it that way 500 years ago.

“Demon King! As a representative of the elves, I demand that the captured elves improve their food treatment! You can’t eat meat even if you die? Fine. In that case, eat this…. What is this white and sweet stuff? Could it be, Demon King, your–”

“Kuhahahaha! It’s a food created in the Demon World, called ‘ice cream’! It’s a food made with milk. Keuhehe.”

“Milk…you say? Oh, that’s fine. But eggs won’t.”

“Haha, that’s too bad, Demon King. This is–”

“It has more honey and sugar than this fist can hold.”

“Gyaaaa…”

Rosemath looked at me with anxious eyes as she put the things I bought into a paper bag.

“Excuse me, Witch.”

“Yeah, why?”

“These are… food ingredients.”

“Yeah. Why is that?”

“Why…”

Rosemath pointed to the bag with a face that seemed genuinely incomprehensible.

“Didn’t you say we should eat something delicious?”

“Yeah. But?”

“These are just food.”

“Right.”

“…You’re not going to just spread this out and eat it, are you?”

“Are you kidding?”

Rosemath had quite an eccentric side.

“Who buys groceries and just chews them whole?”

“… Food ingredients?”

“Of course. I said we should eat something delicious.”

“I’m going to cook. I’m going to borrow the inn’s kitchen.”