episode_0279

The moment the uneasy feeling that had been vague before became a reality, Prinia was able to realize what Akasha was talking about.

“…It’s a trace left on purpose…!”

Traces of Akasha left in the barrier. It was a small trace that was so subtle and discreet that I almost missed it.

Even Prinia herself had to admit that Akasha’s spatial magic skills had improved greatly after seeing the traces.

So, when I found those traces, I felt relieved as well as embarrassed.

This is because I felt that no matter how hard Akasha tried, she would not be able to completely erase the traces that had passed by opening the gap in the barrier.

Meanwhile, it was impossible to expect that it was a trace left intentionally by Akasha, no matter how great of a god Prinia was.

“Okay. It is true that he went in and out of the barrier, but that was only to move the saplings of the tree in the demon world, and he had no intention of letting the demon army out through that gap.”

Originally, the place where the barrier was located was so far away from the main continent where humanity lived that it was called the end of the world. Even if demons descend into the world through that place, it will take a long time for them to become a major threat.

Of course, it was something that had to be thought about at least once, but no one had any doubts. That’s how strong Prinia’s belief in the barrier was.

And the aftermath of being careless usually returns more fatally the stronger the belief.

“Kkeuk… Why did I go through all that trouble to infiltrate the Demon World and just steal a few trees? Prinia, you would know right away.”

“The place where the tree is… was going to turn it into a new demon world.”

“Correct answer.”

Akasha joined hands with the demons. In the process, some kind of deal was made and Akasha promised to bring the demons out of Prinia’s barrier again.

However, the level of perfection of Prinia’s barrier was such that even Akasha was speechless.

Even though Akasha herself was able to come and go by successfully creating a defect, the barrier’s unique role of blocking ‘demons’ could not be resolved no matter what was done.

So Akasha changed his thinking. Instead of breaking through the existing blocked wall, they decided to create a new passage that had nothing to do with the wall.

“It blocks demons like an impregnable wall, but it cannot block the animals and plants that live in the demon world. So the plan was to steal an easy-to-handle seedling and use it as a medium.”

Trees are considered the foundation of the world due to their ability to take root in the ground. In this world where the faith of an unspecified number of people is transformed into the power of faith, the fact that it is regarded as such means that it is true.

Akasha’s plan to use plants from the Demon World to turn humanity’s survival area into a new Demon World was perfect. Although an unfortunate incident occurred along the way.

“Yuglan almost made a mistake in his haste. I never thought I would face Arzen’s children.”

Yuglan, who was created by giving a soul to a tree in the demon world, clashed with the human forces, including siblings Asha and Adele, and revealed his true form. In the process, numerous plants and soil were contaminated with demonic energy.

Although it was unfortunate that the settlement was completed quickly, it was a dangerous situation in which Akasha’s original plan could have been revealed to Prinia.

“I should have noticed it sooner even then…”

“It’s too late to feel sorry now. Well, thanks to that, I also secured a starting point for gaining faith, so I guess it was a successful bet. Well… Anyway, the time is ripe.”

Akasha suddenly clapped her hands once. Although no changes occurred in outer space, Stella and Prinia were confident that there would be some effect on the underworld.

“Yuglan is dead, but there are numerous trees in the Demon World that were not made into automatons in my rare. Rejoice! From this moment on, my lair and the surrounding area have become a demon world.”

The trees of the Demon World that Akasha had kept in Lair were all in good condition despite Eugene and Arjen’s invasion. This was because attention was focused on Akasha’s body remaining in the underworld.

Akasha’s plan to protect the trees of the demon world, even using her own body as bait, finally came to fruition.

“Hehe… Hahaha! From now on, if humanity does not make efforts, it is only a matter of time before the entire continent is tainted by demonic energy.”

And Stella’s divine power was essential to humanity’s efforts. In other words, Stella is faced with a situation where she can no longer waste even a single shred of faith.

However, dealing with Akasha without using faith at all was meaningless. Akasha has already become impossible to hurt without faith.

However, if you use faith, it becomes a burden on humanity. If there was a problem with divine power in dealing with demons for the first time in thousands of years, humanity’s defeat was a foregone conclusion.

The perfect outsider. Stella and Prinia had no choice but to despair.

‘Eugene… If only Eugene and Arjen had remained in Rare…!’

What was sent to the end of the world to counteract the movements of the demons actually became the source of trouble. Prinia couldn’t help but wonder how things could turn out this way.

And at that time, a voice was heard pouring cold water on Akasha, who was intoxicated with victory.

“It’s only a matter of time before you catch up.”

“Eujin…!?”

The owner of the voice was Eugene, who had been quietly eavesdropping.

***

The doubts I continued to feel every time I saw the barrier led me to return to outer space and hear an unexpected story. I had no idea that Akasha had prepared so thoroughly.

‘They tie Stella’s hands and feet and confront Prinia under the pretext of humanity… If that guy had absorbed more faith than this before meeting Prinia, he would have been in real trouble.’

If that’s true, time was ultimately on Akasha’s side. Even if humankind’s divine power is alive and well, I think that in the end, it will be the demons that have the advantage.

If you think about the fact that so many large armies had such a hard time with just one tree that was not a demon but from the demon world, the balance between humans and demons was not right in the first place.

Humanity suffers damage that is close to extinction, and only dragons from all over the continent will be able to prevent the fire from spreading.

If Akasha’s plan had gone smoothly, he might have really been able to devour all the gods. Of course, since I showed up here, the probability of that happening has decreased significantly.

‘It’s only a matter of time before you catch up.”

First of all, I didn’t like the way the top was removed, so I was very sarcastic.

“Eujin…!? How here?”

“Ah. As I was looking at the barrier, the atmosphere was much more peaceful than I expected, so I came up feeling ominous. But of course it was me.”

“Hoo. You’re back again. However, nothing will change just because you are added. Unless Stella has decided to destroy humanity, it is impossible for you to hurt me.”

“You’re so presumptuous that you’ve had some faith… Is this person able to recover their faith differently than you?”

“Hmph, anyway, how fast is the recovery…?”

Akasha stopped speaking and looked at me with a blank expression. He seemed surprised by my faith recovering much faster than he had calculated.

“Ah. Because I tend to recover my faith particularly quickly. Because believers are believers.”

The people who give me faith are humans who want to have children and dwarves who are crazy about alcohol. Among them, dwarves were mostly screw-ups who felt supreme happiness just by looking at alcohol.

Maybe that’s why they give me a ridiculous amount of faith every day they bottle their aged whiskey, and the timing is just right.

“…It’s definitely more faith than I expected, but the result is still the same. Your failure to deal with the trees of the Demon World in my rare will be your defeat.”

“Oh, that’s right. That too… Actually, you don’t have to worry too much.”

“…What does it mean?”

“No, that’s because after hearing Prinia’s words, I and Arzen went to the end of the world in such a hurry that there was a guy who I couldn’t convey what he said. Stella would probably have noticed.”

Stella concentrated on my words for a moment and then I saw her faintly smile.

“I see… I never thought my child would be this close to that damn rare.”

“Stella’s child…? No way!?”

Akasha’s face was colored with embarrassment. I guess he also realized who had come near his lair.

“Wayne came here with a very strong threat to kill you. I don’t know which demons will jump out of the newly opened passageway first, but they’ll probably search without even seeing humans.”

Yes. Stella was heading to Akasha’s Lair after hearing the words of Rube, who had returned with her children a while ago.

A divine power more intense and concentrated than anyone else in the world is wrapped in a divine object called the Holy Sword.