mynovelweb Chapter 480
Chapter 480
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 480
The western port city of the Pascalia Empire.
Just as the Emperor had been informed, this beautiful trade city led by the Admiral of the West had become a living hell amid the chaos of war.
The day before, word had already arrived from the Imperial Palace that the Pinas Archipelago had declared war, so the soldiers’ tension was immediately heightened and military supplies organized so they could engage in battle at once.
So that if warships arrived from the direction of the Pinas Archipelago at any moment, they could prepare to intercept them.
However, the plan had gone wrong from the very beginning.
The bastards had not invaded aboard ships.
“Y-You goddamn bastards!!”
“KRAAAAGH!!”
They had walked across the bottom of the sea.
What that implied was utterly horrifying.
The most difficult part of a landing operation was disembarking troops onto land.
And securing territory.
To them, none of that mattered.
Because the terrain known as water had absolutely no effect on them.
The soldiers’ morale was at rock bottom.
Though they possessed human forms, their mismatched arms and legs, heads, irregularly attached eyeballs all over their bodies, and grotesque mouths felt as though they shattered a person’s sanity.
In an instant, the coastline was pushed back, and thousands of bizarre lifeforms surged forward as though they would destroy the outer walls at any moment.
Amid the countless screams and sprays of blood, the Admiral of the West desperately resisted, wildly swinging his bloodstained sword.
Overwhelming physical strength, stamina that never stopped, bodies that regenerated even after being cut down.
The most horrifying part was that simply looking at them caused an indescribable fear to slowly creep into one’s heart.
It was completely understandable why soldiers who felt terror at the existence of those dreadful troops tried to flee.
And so, just as defeat slowly began to loom closer—
Kuuung…….
A radiance poured down from the heavens.
A massive pillar of light wrapped around the defenders of the castle as though protecting them.
At the same time, light and courage seeped into the bodies of the terrified soldiers who had been trembling and retreating in fear.
Everyone looked up at the sky.
Even those monsters that had crawled out from the sea.
What revealed itself was an archangel holding a spear, possessing three pairs of wings.
Kamael spread his overwhelming presence.
Floating in the sky, Kamael spread his six wings wide and scattered waves of enormous light vast enough to cover the entire battlefield.
“Hear me. Filthy lifeforms that threaten humanity and this dimension have arrived. Warriors, take up your weapons.”
Do not fear.
I shall bless you.
Crush those monsters seeking to annihilate this dimension and the lifeforms who live upon this land.
Kamael’s wings spread powerfully, and immense light began to settle into the soldiers while granting light to their weapons.
“Charge!!!”
Seeing that, the Admiral of the West shouted without a moment’s hesitation.
“Show those bastards the might of the western port city!!”
“WAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”
With tremendous battle cries, the troops launched a frenzied assault.
What was astonishing was that unlike earlier, when more than ten men had needed to swarm a single monster to kill it, now just two soldiers’ swords were enough to bring one down.
Their regeneration was blocked, and the monsters’ sharp attacks were stopped by armor imbued with steadfast light.
At the same time.
The exact same thing occurred in the battles taking place against the advance forces of Pinas pouring into the western continent’s port cities.
The descent of archangels.
And their blessing.
In truth, this was practically the first time archangels had directly moved alongside humans.
The archangels’ blessing was truly overwhelming in scale.
And the battle against the Pinas vanguard ultimately ended, for now, in victory for the continent.
And that information was also delivered to the rulers of each nation currently in the midst of heated discussions within Pascalia.
Naturally, most were horrified upon hearing that the enemy had marched across the sea floor.
Negotiations continued endlessly without rest, with countless fierce arguments exchanged to secure interests and minimize losses, until they finally managed to find a certain degree of common ground.
In the end, each nation agreed to prepare military supplies, equipment, and troops to provide support, or move separately as detached forces.
Of course, there would undoubtedly be those who failed to provide proper support during the war.
But there was no time to argue over each and every one of them.
The expression of the Princess Bata, who had returned to the Bata Royal Palace, looked utterly exhausted.
Perhaps fifty percent of the fatigue she felt came from the stress of blocking all those trying to approach me.
Only after confirming that she staggered into her chambers like a zombie, having forgotten even her dignity, were the Duke Berli and I finally able to complete our duties and disperse.
“I’m exhausted……. It feels like more incidents occurred than at any other time recently.”
“Please rest comfortably. You’ve worked hard.”
“No. You suffered more. Are you planning to return immediately?”
“Yes. Since Elpiria will be waiting.”
“I see. Return safely then. Lady Cascadia, please travel safely as well.”
Luna Cascadia quietly nodded.
“Let’s go, Luna.”
“Okay.”
War was war, and we still had to finish what we had been doing on this side.
* * *
A day passed.
Holding Elpiria in my arms with a sullen expression, I forcefully suppressed my irritation.
“No seriously, when the hell is this body going back to normal?”
I should just smash that damned artifact or something.
When my gaze shifted toward Melissa, she avoided my eyes and whistled, while Elpiria in my arms moved her tiny hands energetically as though trying to comfort me.
“A…… abu.”
A five-year-old child holding a baby certainly looked rather ridiculous.
Elpiria placed her hand on my cheek and began touching my face here and there with a curious expression.
The Cascadia Estate was as peaceful and lively as ever.
An archangel had attacked previously, but the people in this damned estate were unexpectedly good at acting shamelessly unfazed.
“I don’t understand. That monster bastard doesn’t have that level of influence.”
“At any rate, we’ve managed to grasp part of the outline because of that.”
In response to my words, Lispa Elde crossed her arms and paced noisily around the room.
“It’s impossible unless someone helped them.”
“Couldn’t the Pinas Archipelago side have conducted some kind of ritual? Like how they tried to use Arsha as a sacrifice before.”
Unlike me, Melissa—who had regained her original form—sat on the sofa with her chin propped on her hand and carefully offered her opinion.
This octopus-legged little sister of mine had mocked me and treated me like a child the instant she returned to normal, only to set a record by getting hit with three Flash artifacts.
“No. That’s impossible too. If they could summon that bastard through a mere ritual, this dimension would’ve been devoured ages ago.”
Wearing some rag-like grim reaper outfit she had apparently pulled from who-knows-where, Isna exhaled blue vapor.
Puuu.
As she explained.
She said her insanity flare-up had returned.
I mean…… this is technically a good sign, but…… is this really okay?
“Right, I suppose that’s true. Then just how…….”
“Right now, there are only two possible scenarios we can think of. Either someone at least on the level of an archangel caused this situation. Or that bastard broke the seal faster than we expected.”
The former was troublesome enough, but the latter was the worst-case scenario.
Our conclusion was that unless a being possessing a hierarchy at least equal to an archangel had prepared for a very long time, it would be impossible.
If so, then what exactly was that factor?
The only ones capable of such a thing were the archangels, and the sealed Lucifer.
The archangels were naturally excluded from suspicion, and while Lucifer was a suspect, well.
At least I concluded there was absolutely no way it was Lucifer.
Which meant the only one left was his subordinate, Nyarlathotep.
But Nyarlathotep lacked the capability.
In terms of pure combat strength, he actually felt more ambiguous than either Dagon or Ktuga, both of whom I had killed myself.
“What’s the possibility that there’s a traitor among the archangels?”
At my question, Lispa clicked her tongue shortly.
“Considering those sons of bitches, it’s perfectly reasonable, but physically impossible. Archangels cannot act with the intent to harm this Lazarus dimension.”
If that was true, then it meant there were no traitors among the archangels.
Come to think of it, I didn’t see Merkavalt, who had been sticking to me like glue.
“Where’s Merkavalt?”
“Dragon Forge. A war broke out, so she couldn’t just stay here…… Gah! My eyes!”
The instant a flash of light burst in Melissa’s eyes as she chattered away, she rolled around on the floor screaming.
Her reactions were pretty satisfying.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Leaving behind Melissa rolling across the floor and Elpiria giggling as though Melissa’s suffering was the funniest thing in the world, I turned toward Isna, who was still wearing the grim reaper outfit.
“Isna. Can you reinforce it?”
“You mean the Book of Genesis.”
“Yeah.”
“I can do it twice.”
Twice?
She slightly lifted her mask and grinned.
“While shaking off that obsessive monster bastard in the Heavenly Crystal, I stored up a huge amount of power. In my current state, I can probably do it about twice.”
Fortunately, I also had more than enough reinforcement protection agents and polishing agents gathered from repeatedly grinding up materials during all this time.
“Let’s do it immediately.”
Rl’yeh, the sky island hidden within the skies of Cascadia, looked the same as always.
And so did the hidden space inside it.
I opened the Book of Genesis stored within the domain of the Progenitor Dragon.
Every time I reinforced the Book of Genesis, it strangely felt thrilling, almost like pulling from a gacha.
“I wonder if we’ll get a good effect this time too.”
“Most likely. You’ll definitely get something you need.”
She sounded strangely certain.
“You seem awfully confident?”
“The standards behind those powers you obtained that ignore the laws have all centered around things you needed. It’s way too obvious to think it’s just coincidence.”
Now that she mentioned it, she was right.
Unpleasantly so.
Of course, that wasn’t enough reason not to proceed, so I attempted the fourth reinforcement of the Book of Genesis.
At the same time, the pages of the Book of Genesis began flipping on their own with a shrrrkkk as they emitted light.
Isna’s authority began radiating brilliance, and the reinforcement protection agents and polishing agents we had gathered were instantly swallowed by light and vanished.
Isna had said she could manifest her power around two times.
In that case, what needed to be done first was obvious.
The moment the first fourth reinforcement succeeded, I immediately searched for Isna’s name in the Fate List without hesitation.
“You. What are you…….”
“You and I are both deeply tangled up with Yog. Just in case, let’s erase yours too.”
It wasn’t just me whose ankles could be bound by fate.
The same was true for her.
It was something that needed to be done eventually.
Especially if Isna’s fate might create unpredictable variables in the future.
Isna stared at me with a complicated expression before nodding.
“Thank you.”
“Alright then. Next reinforcement.”
Perhaps because she still couldn’t truly feel that her dark fate had been erased, she wore an odd expression.
I understood.
I had been the same.
Still.
There would definitely be an effect.
Now then, it was finally time to look at the Book of Genesis’ reinforcement options.
As I dumped in every remaining material, Isna manifested her power once more.
She looked slightly tired, but she didn’t show it much.
The reinforcement itself proceeded quickly.
At the same time, the Librarian’s text chaotically appeared before me.
[Warning. Large-scale interference has been detected.]
[There is a possibility of changes occurring to your body.]
[Attempting suppression.]
[Failure. Suppression is impossible.]
[Due to the reinforcement effect of the Book of Genesis, Unique Authority – Infinite Breakthrough is being applied.]
[Beep! Warning. Activation of Unique Authority – Infinite Breakthrough has failed.]
[A large quantity of contaminated energy must be combusted.]
“A large quantity of contaminated energy? Would extrdimensional energy work?”
[Confirmed. The corresponding energy can substitute as contaminated energy. Beginning absorption and combustion.]
Since I had already absorbed a massive quantity of extrdimensional energy through the Shoggoth, I poured it in without hesitation.
And then.
“Huh?”
The enormous quantity of extrdimensional energy I had stored disappeared like evaporation in less than a second.
No…… that was quite a lot though?
Looking at the Unique Authority that still had yet to activate, I could only make a dumbfounded expression.
“Is there any way to get more extrdimensional energy?”
“Extrdimensional energy? Didn’t you absorb a pretty huge amount?”
“Yeah, but I just used up everything I’d saved.”
“What, that’s ridiculous…… This is the first time I’ve ever seen that book’s reinforcement require extrdimensional energy in the first place.”
“How would I know?”
At present, the only way to obtain extrdimensional energy was by absorbing Shoggoths.
But that concern did not last long before it was solved.
A message arrived from the Pascalia Imperial Family stating that simultaneous assaults were occurring at seventeen ports across the western and central continents.
There were simply too many for even the archangels to cover.
* * *
The massive coastal fortress located at the southern end of the central continent was filled with tearing sounds, screams, and the desperate noises of fierce battle.
“Don’t get pushed back!! Hold the formation! If we break, your families all die!!”
“You fucking bastards!! Just die already, you monster freaks!!”
“AAAAAAAH!!! My arm! My arm!!!”
“Damn it! More are coming again!!”
The horrific war that erupted overnight left deep scars across the continent.
It was still only the opening phase of the war.
There had not been enough time for supplies to properly arrive, nor enough time for reinforcements to come.
Of course, thanks to the many preparations the lord managing this fortress had made in advance, it had not collapsed immediately, but the number of enemies far exceeded the lord’s expectations.
The tentacles sprouting from their bodies moved like living creatures, piercing soldiers’ flesh, while their immense strength corroded armor and contaminated flesh.
“Damn it!! Where are the archangels!! Why aren’t the archangels coming to us?!”
“Instead of saying useless shit, kill one more of them!”
The sudden surprise attack had begun exactly as it sounded—from monstrous aberrations crawling out of the sea.
Up to that point, it had not been a problem.
If countless grotesque-looking Shoggoths had not followed behind them.
People did not know what Shoggoths were, but upon seeing a tide of Shoggoths far greater in number than the enemy soldiers crawling onto land like a tsunami, they could not help but become terrified.
“Lord!! You must flee!! At this rate we won’t even last an hour!”
“Damn it! Hold them back! The ballistae! What about preparations for the additional ballistae?!”
“There’s nowhere near enough time! We’re pulling out everything from the warehouses, but it’s difficult to see any effect!”
The plan on this side had at least been the descent of archangels and support from the stars.
However, even knowing the enemy’s strategy, there was no way to stop a method like this.
Seventeen coastal regions across the central and western continents were attacked simultaneously.
The stars and archangels were moving, but unlike the other defensive lines, this coastal fortress was especially far away, making it difficult even for reinforcements to arrive.
Amid the hellish chaos, someone’s scream struck the lord’s ears.
The lord shed tears of blood and clenched his fists so hard they seemed ready to shatter.
“Retreat…… Retreat! Abandon the fortress!!”
Even if it was a home guarded for hundreds of years, human lives were more important.
Despite the lord’s desperate cries, the soldiers panicked and could not resist properly.
Kwarrrrrrrng!!
At last, they could only despair as they watched a malformed creature with limbs at least five meters long crawl out of the sea and smash apart the fortress walls.
That was when it happened.
The sky darkened within the lord’s lowered field of vision.
Startled, he widened his eyes and looked up.
It was.
The floating island that had once caused an uproar across the continent.
“A floating…… island?”
As the stunned lord muttered, one of his attendants came running over in a panic.
“My lord!! Reinforcements! Reinforcements have arrived!”
At those words, the lord’s eyes widened.
“Where! Where are they!”
“They’re right here.”
The one who answered was not the attendant.
At some point, a tiny child had approached the lord’s side.
A child?
It was…… a little boy who looked around five years old.
An appearance completely unsuited for such a battlefield.
Everyone here was risking their lives fighting, and now a five-year-old child had supposedly arrived alone as reinforcements?
Was this some kind of joke?
As countless thoughts crossed his mind, the boy silently looked down at the coastal battlefield before letting out a chilling smile.
Only then did the lord notice the cold-feeling crimson sword gripped in the boy’s hand.
Afterward, the boy leapt down from the inner fortress wall without hesitation.
As the freely falling boy spun his body around once like an acrobat, he swung his sword.
Jjeeeok!!!
At the same moment.
The monsters charging madly toward the coastline all split apart and collapsed as though cleaved in half simultaneously.
The boy’s icy voice rang through the frozen lord’s ears.
“There are Shoggoths everywhere. Thanks for even packing lunch for me.”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]