Chapter 519 – Labyrinth
The meeting to prepare for the advent of Demon King Crea continued for a long time, but there was roughly one direction.
Quickly conscript the territory’s residents and train them.
Inspect and reinforce the condition of the castle walls. Etc… These were measures for defense.
That was the best they could do right now.
The good news is that they don’t seem to have any intention of attacking.
I was glad that I seemed to know fractions.
How many of those here have seen demons in person?
Even my poorly summoned avatar knew how to use magic and mana as soon as it was summoned.
If it was an avatar summoned by skilled warlocks, the performance was outstanding.
What if those guys continued to grow their avatars?
The demons were not ones that could be dealt with in this borderland territory, where it was difficult to even see knights using sword auras.
I tried to visit Hestia for a while, but gave up.
I heard that the devil has appeared… I thought she must be busy right now.
Even though demons are said to be glaring holy knights, this doesn’t mean they’re going to catch the demon lord alone, right?
*
*
*
News has arrived that Tioga has been taken over by the Demon King.
Tioga was a territory to the east of Crea.
This happened less than a week after the Ramona family had a meeting.
I was lucky.
Ramona wasn’t the first.
Of the three territories surrounding Crea, the fact that it was the farthest seemed to have had a big impact.
The atmosphere at Lord Ramona’s mansion, which had been tense due to the rapid fall of Tioga, froze again, and a countermeasures meeting was held again.
The meeting was held in an atmosphere where the seriousness of the situation was more clearly felt than before, but the content was not much different from before.
There was only talk about the need for more thorough defenses.
Saren and her vassals didn’t seem to have any intention of giving up on Ramona just yet.
There was a rumor that Tioga had turned into a royal hell due to the warlock and her demons.
I logged out for a moment to see what the situation was and looked at the Panthera community bulletin board.
Pantera players were excited.
Killing, raping… They were bragging about all the evil they had committed.
There was also a story that the number of Panthera users had skyrocketed.
Now I can get a lot of praise for running the game properly.
Zephyrians perceive Panthera simply as a virtual reality game.
And the Zephyrians who enjoyed this game were humans who enjoyed the play of demons who had already been defined as evil.
From their perspective, there is no game that embodies extreme reality and can express violence and cruelty like Pantera.
To them, Pantheraine is just an NPC in the game.
Thinking of myself as a game NPC, there is no way I would feel guilty. The actions of humans who had been castrated with guilt were unrestrained.
I knew this because I played games and did all kinds of bad things to NPCs.
After hearing the news that Tioga was occupied, I gathered sisters Karen, Hilda, Bianca, Velvet, and Zion.
The women who were called in were watching me as I quietly closed my mouth and was lost in thought.
They must have heard the news that Tioga was occupied, and it seemed like they felt I had called them.
“I thought I should ask before it’s too late.”
They were listening to me with their eyes wide open.
“What do you think about leaving Ramona?”
“Yes? Mr. Bark… That’s…”
Hilda asked in surprise whether she realized what I meant.
“It means literally.”
“The honor of a knight…”
“It’s a knight’s honor… I don’t think it’s more important than life. In fact, except Bianca, you can’t properly deal with each demon. And if the demon… The demon lord attacks right now, Ramona won’t last even a day. You won’t be able to do it.”
Demons and demon kings become stronger as people die.
There are very few strong people in Ramona who can deal with such demons and demon kings.
Me and Hestia… If I had to force it, it would be Black Bear, the knight commander.
The rest of the humans were nothing more than daily experience for the demons.
“We, my sisters, will follow Bark’s wishes.”
Velvet said.
As for Karen… She didn’t seem to have anything to ask.
Bianca… She looks thoughtful.
“Bianca, do you want to stay with Ramona?”
She thought that there was no reason for her to have any regrets about Ramona, as she was now in a cold state.
It doesn’t seem like there is such a strong human relationship.
“That’s… No, but I’ll think about it some more first.”
It seemed like there was something that bothered me.
Could it be… Cyrus?
I know he fled to the north.
Did he really go to Crea?
Why in a dangerously crowded city?
Well… Where Cyrus went is none of my business.
“I’m sorry, Bark. I will still stay in Ramona. I have a relationship that has been built here for a long time. Furthermore, I can’t just leave them alone.”
Hilda seemed to be concerned about her acquaintances. Perhaps because she was a Ramona native, she had many connections throughout the city.
“I see… I can’t help it.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Bark. I will definitely repay you for the favor you have shown me someday.”
“There is no need to say goodbye already.”
“Yes?”
“I’m not saying I’m going to run away right now. The situation could get worse, right? It would be difficult if I were to get caught up in the atmosphere and do something like a desperate fight… I’m saying this because I felt like I should tell you in advance.”
“Is that so?”
Hilda scratched her head with an expression of relief and embarrassment.
“Hilda… I won’t stop you if you say you’ll fight to the death, but I hope you know that I, as your teacher, don’t feel good if you die in battle over such a useless thing.”
“Thank you. I also have no intention of going to the extent of fighting to the death.”
He looked cute, looking embarrassed despite his appearance.
*
*
*
7 years ago.
The Church of Terra received a report from Judith, the 2nd Commander of the Vatican Knights, that there was unusual movement of warlocks in the Slover Labyrinth.
And Judith went missing in the labyrinth.
With a man called Unho who is said to have stigmata.
Moreover, Unho was a man who might have been called a saint if the stigmata he had were officially recognized by the Holy See.
Since those people were missing, of course Terraism had no choice but to investigate the Slover Labyrinth.
And I learned that a powerful demon had been summoned by warlocks within the labyrinth.
It was a strange-looking demon with a huge body and half of its face had a different face.
Later, I found out that the faces were those of Jerome and Fayaz, the masters of the adventurer guild who once ruled Slover, but that wasn’t the important thing.
That demon has quite strong power.
In an instant, the two-faced demon occupied the fortresses that Lord Slover had worked hard to build and took control of the labyrinth.
Terraism hastily sent a punitive force into the labyrinth…
The punitive force deployed did not return.
Terraism was not one to give up after one failure.
He tried to subdue it by forming a stronger force, but it was not easy.
There was also the special feature of being a labyrinth.
One, two, because new demons have appeared.
Eventually, the labyrinth became a den of demons and warlocks.
Not only Lord Slover, who had a bomb exploded in his house, but also the Kingdom of Barulas quickly tried to resolve the issue by providing support to Terra Bridge, but the subjugation dragged on sluggishly.
Although Terraism’s power was enormous, there was a limit to the troops they could bring in. This is because warlocks and demons were not limited to the labyrinth.
The Church of Terra had been dispatching paladins to punish dark magicians operating secretly across the continent.
If all the paladins were brought in to subdue the Slover Labyrinth, the continent, not the labyrinth, might be ruined by the warlocks.
While the subjugation of the Slover Labyrinth slowed down, demons and warlocks crossed the labyrinth and appeared on the surface of Slover.
The Kingdom of Barulas was shocked and strengthened the walls of Slover, creating a huge wall that confined the Slover Labyrinth in reverse.
However, contrary to expectations, the demons and warlocks began building an unidentifiable structure on top of the labyrinth.
Of course, I tried to stop it, but it was blocked every time by warlocks and demons.
At the center was a demon with two faces.
It was a monster so powerful that there were even stories about the two-faced demon being the demon lord.
Terraism could not easily conclude that he was the devil.
The reason is that he showed a quite defensive attitude, unlike the Demon King who had been summoned to Pantera.
He never once attempted to overcome the slurver barrier.
I thought it was fortunate that the two-faced demon had no intention of advancing any further, but the sight of a strange building being built in the place where the labyrinth was once gave me another sense of anxiety.
And the demons are increasing one by one.
In the end, Terraism realized that it would not be easy to subdue them alone.
He called for the participation of each country and the powerful.
Each country could not refuse Terraism’s demands. The empire where the Holy See is located was no exception.
The power of Terraism was that great.
Strong people from each country participated in the war, and the battle against the demons became more intense.
Slover became a battlefield for superhumans and demons who escaped human limitations.
In the aftermath of the battle, Slover, a city that once had numerous buildings, was reduced to ruins.
Then came the news that the devil had descended on the distant kingdom of Raun.
