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TLN: Sorry for the delay! Real life got me for an instant ><

Enjoy!

——

The army of monsters got through the Nether, ignoring the soldiers fighting in the frontlines.

There’s almost no time until they invade the zones where the people have evacuated to.

The soldiers are desperately chasing after the monsters and trying to reduce their numbers.

They are reducing their numbers more effectively than when facing them head on.

They just need to cut down monsters that are not targeting them, so it is natural that the efficiency increases.

But there’s still a lot of monsters.

Even when the soldiers defeated monsters with speed unseen before, even when the powerful warriors blew away hundreds to thousands with a swing, it still wasn’t enough.

“But if I were asked if the Wise King, Marito Taizu, didn’t expect this, I would answer with no.”

<<Here~! The last confirmation of Barastos-chan~! I am sending this to all the communication crystals for the people who might have forgotten to evacuate~!>> (Barastos)

“P-Pope-sama…” (Lilisa)

“Don’t worry too much about it, Lilisa. They should be secret crystals of the Yugura Church though… Maybe she researched the crystal that someone gave her. As expected of the Great Sage.” (Euparo)

<<We will be activating the magic circle for the grand barrier soon, so the people who are nearby, make sure to evacuate quickly~! You must not go to the side of the Nether even if by mistake~!>> (Barastos)

“Pope-sama…” (Lilisa)

“We have already evacuated the people that were inspected. The Taizu King has already dealt with the frontlines with perfect command.” (Euparo)

The scenery of this Mejis will be changing greatly soon.

Let’s burn this sight for one last time and etch it in my heart.

<<Aah, Kayle, come praise me if this goes well! You definitely must~! I will leave the door to the room opened~!>> (Barastos)

“P-Pope-sama…” (Lilisa)

“…Geniuses have different personalities to that of your common people.” (Euparo)

This ruined the moment in a lot of ways, but let’s switch things here.

This is a genius way for the Great Sage to take away the strength on one’s shoulders, and it would be good for her mental health if she were to be praised.

I have a lot of other things I have to think about.

Ukka and Maya were seriously injured by the demon called Ofaro. Maya, who is at the top of the fighting forces in the Yugura Church, has lost, so the representatives of every nation will have to expend their all in making countermeasures.

That also goes for what Ofaro said.

There were other otherworlders aside from Yugura, and they have been continuously influencing our world…

There will surely be a lot of divided opinions about this.

<<Here, sorry for the wait~! Activating the grand barrier~!>> (Barastos)

The ground trembled, matching the voice of Barastos.

Leaving aside the Taizu Nether that has the natural fortress in the form of an extremely gigantic tree, and the overwhelming suppression power of the massive monsters like dragons, the Gahne Nether and Mejis Nether that have soldiers as protection can’t block the march of the monsters with just simple constructions.

And so, what the Taizu King and Barastos proposed was to create a large-scale wall with earth magic that extends from the westernmost part of Gahne and the easternmost part of Mejis.

We will absorb the mana of the earth in the direction where the monsters are coming from, move the earth, and create a wall.

We can create them in one go by activating them in chains.

It is a wide area magic circle, so there was the need to draw the runes on each spot, and transform the devils of the Purple Demon Lord into strings to become catalysts that serve to let the mana flow.

What showed up in front of the monsters was a deep cliff, and a gigantic wall that was inversely proportional to that depth.

They have to get through that giant wall in order to harm the people, but it will be almost impossible for the ones on land to climb that wall comparable to a mountain.

A flying monster should be able to fly over it, but there are ways to deal with those numbers.

“The Green Demon Lord reinforcements have entered battle!”

The Black Demon Lord’s army is above that of the Green Demon Lord when it comes purely to the numbers.

But when it comes to a battle in the skies, there’s no army that can win against a horde of dragons.

It may be a despairing sight if dragons were to appear as enemies, but these raging dragons will be our allies this time around.

“All hands, begin moving to the top of the wall. Don’t let a single one get through!”

The army of the Green Demon Lord is burning down the monsters that are left on the ground one-sidedly.

The only ones we are dealing with are the small number of flying monsters. We have already dispatched many mages and archers, and are dealing with them.

“Pope-sama…this spectacle feels like a dream.” (Lilisa)

“They are clearing the nightmare away. I will happily accept it.” (Euparo)

The Black Demon Lord’s army is way too gigantic.

We wouldn’t have been able to put up as much resistance with just humans. But this spectacle was made possible by a single coward.

The Yugura Church has been moving Mejis until now. A single religion was ruling over this country where there’s many present.

I have not only been making decisions as the Pope, but also made many decisions in the stead of the king that protects the country.

My choices as the Pope might have been wrong. There were times when I would wonder if I should have become cold like Seraes in order to protect the peace of the world.

But if I had tried to eliminate him in Taizu when he was covering the Purple Demon Lord, I wouldn’t have been able to see this sight.

I could tell that my worries were being erased when I looked at this spectacle.

◇◇

The sensation of mana enveloping my whole body.

I managed to feel the presence of Blue and the Purple Demon Lord by the time I noticed this was the act of healing me.

“Uh…”

“Ekdoik?! Purple, Ekdoik has regained consciousness!” (Blue)

“I can tell without you shouting my ears off though? On the contrary, it is harder to hear you when you shout that loudly, you know?” (Purple)

I slowly get my body up.

My upper half is covered in a cloth. I can faintly feel the chill; looks like I am not wearing clothes right now.

I dig through my memories and think about how I ended up like this.

I see. I tried protecting Dyuvuleori in the fight against Ofaro with the intention of forsaking my life, but…I was protected instead.

That heat would normally not leave even ashes. But I still managed to return with just losing consciousness.

“…What happened to Ofaro?” (Ekdoik)

“He retreated? It seems like they noticed Green was moving to the Mejis Nether after the demon from the Taizu Nether escaped, you know?” (Purple)

“…I see.” (Ekdoik)

I confirm the finer details of the war.

The demons retreated and had the monsters get out from the Nethers by force.

But they succeeded in stopping their advance with the activation of the grand wall that Barastos activated.

Everyone is currently wiping out the monsters that are left at the grand walls, but that will apparently calm down soon.

“What about Dyuvuleori…?” (Ekdoik)

“You should be able to tell without an explanation if you look at your own chest.” (Blue)

“Chest…?” (Ekdoik)

I looked at my own chest and I could see a purple color crystal-looking thing inside my skin.

There’s faint mana coming out from it. There’s no doubt that mana is from Dyuvuleori.

Then, this is…

“The core of Dyuvuleori… It seems like he parasitized your body at the time when he swallowed you into the Stomach of Perplexion.” (Purple)

“Parasitized… Is it like the right arm of Haakudoku?” (Ekdoik)

“Right. It seems like Dyuvuleori has granted you all of his special traits. He has granted you the powers in a similar fashion to the Pawn Mask. In a rough manner though.” (Purple)

The special traits of devils.

I closed my eyes when told this and confirmed the state of my own body.

It is true that I feel something strange in every part of my body that was not there before.

This sensation is similar to the Eyes of Blindness. They must be the special abilities of the Great Devils that he retrieved.

“…Why did Dyuvuleori do something like this?” (Ekdoik)

“Who knows. I have no intention of imagining what Dyuvuleori thought at that moment. But it has been entrusted to you. Accept that result alone, okay?” (Purple)

It is not like I will be able to immediately master the special abilities of the Great Devils just because I have been given them.

I may be able to get a slight boost in power, but if I were asked whether I would be able to defeat that Ofaro…it would be pretty rough.

I should have been the one dying.

But muttering those words here would just bring displeasure to Blue and the Purple Demon Lord, and it would also be insulting to Dyuvuleori who is not here.

“Got it. I accept it.” (Ekdoik)

“…I see. That’s a relief. It saves the trouble of me and Blue slapping you.” (Purple)

“It was possible that you two would hit me, huh…” (Ekdoik)

I survived and Dyuvuleori lost his body.

I should first accept this reality and then think about what I should do afterwards.

The Green Demon Lord fought off a demon on his own, and Ilias and the others managed to corner one to the very limits.

I don’t have enough information to tell how strong Ofaro is compared to the others, but…it is not like there’s no hope at all.

But I will have to take on the duty of fighting the demons now that Maya and Dyuvuleori can’t fight anymore.

I may not be able to win against Ofaro and the other demons, but I will need a method to buy time till needed.

“…I am sorry, Purple. We will work the share of Dyuvuleori.” (Blue)

“I would be grateful if you did. I used the newly prepared lesser and intermediate monsters as catalysts to activate the grand wall, and the Butler Army has its hands full dealing with the monsters, you know?” (Purple)

“Yahoo~! I heard that there was a praiseworthy heavily injured patient, so I have come to hang out~!”

The one who opened the door as if breaking it open was Barastos.

Nora is also by her side.

I have heard that Nora has been acting together with Barastos in order to serve as an assistant in activating the grand wall.

Barastos observed me with interest when she saw me, and Nora looked around a few times, and then directed her gaze at my chest and froze.

“Nora, this is…” (Ekdoik)

“…You don’t need to tell me-na no da. There’s no way Nora would mistake that mana-no da. I can tell pretty much what’s going on-no da.” (Nora)

Nora walked this way and brushed the core of Dyuvuleori.

The warmth from her small hand that could be felt through the core seemed as if it also had her emotions in it.

“Nora…” (Ekdoik)

“I did expect him to be reckless. This simply went above and beyond what I imagined-na no da. You did well-no da, Dyuvuleori.” (Nora)

“Right. I understand you wanted to praise him a lot, but wait for a bit more before I bring him back, okay, Nora?” (Purple)

“…You can bring him back?!” (Blue)

Nora and I reacted to this, but the one who raised her voice the most was Blue.

The Purple Demon Lord must have been surprised by this too, she looked at Blue with her eyes opened wide, but she chuckled and explained.

“If the core is fine, then that means there’s the soul too after all? Humans leak even memories when they lose their brain, but devils can regenerate well enough, you know?” (Purple)

“Then…”

“It won’t make it in time for the immediate battles. Also, the core has been burdened quite a bit because of the pretty reckless transplant, you know? It will take time to take it out, and it will require even more time for him to regenerate from there and regain his body…” (Purple)

“About how long will it take-no da?” (Nora)

“Who knows… 10 to 20 years, or maybe even longer?” (Purple)

Nora froze for a bit after hearing this. And then, she eventually chuckled in the same way as the Purple Demon Lord.

“I can totally wait that much. I will be counting on you-no da, Purple.” (Nora)

“…Yeah. I promise I will definitely make it within your lifespan.” (Purple)

“Promise-na no da. Now then, Master, counting on you with looking after Ekdo-niichan. Nora will wrap up the future plans before you-no da, Master.” (Nora)

Nora looked back over here one more time, and gave me a single parcel.

It has been carefully ornamented. It looks like a gift parcel.

“This is…?” (Ekdoik)

“It is a magic tool that takes advantage of the special abilities of Dyuvuleori. I researched it together with Purple, but couldn’t finish it in time-no da. It would be more useful for you to have it, Ekdo-niichan.” (Nora)

“…Is that okay?” (Ekdoik)

“It is. I will prepare something even better for Dyuvuleori-no da.” (Nora)

Nora laughed innocently for a bit and exited the room.

Everyone saw that off and Barastos sighed lightly.

“I don’t have work later though. I even thought about getting all hot and bothered with Kayle… Ah, could it be?!” (Barastos)

“Nope, nope. Read the room a bit…” (Blue)

“It was a joke! I know~! Well, I guess I will work a bit hard here for the sake of my disciple at least once this war is over~.” (Barastos)

“…She really is a strong girl. She could stay smiling unbothered even when she was pushed a goodbye amounting to decades.” (Blue)

“She is my disciple after all.” (Barastos)

“Wouldn’t it be better for you to become her disciple on that front?” (Purple)

“Eh… No wait, that could work?” (Barastos)

I lowered my gaze at the parcel in my hand while Barastos and the others were talking.

It is far lighter than chains and swords.

Even so, I could feel clear weight in this parcel.

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