The enemy was chasing me.
It was a game of tag.
However, I had to occasionally dodge magic bullets. Which made it a very nervous game indeed.
The trick was to not allow them to lose sight of me.
If they lost me, then they might stop and return to make a report.
“Alright. This should do… Now, come at me!”
We were far enough from the building.
And so even if I fought without restraint, the others would not notice it.
I just had to annihilate them now.
Things would get dangerous if I let even one of them escape. That was one thing I had to be careful about.
“Your power has been halved. I’m not scared of you!”
I had been running away a moment ago, but was now facing them. So they must have thought I resigned to my fate.
And so they charged into me without any plan.
The battle was severe, but this was the Demon World.
And no matter how hard they tried, they were still at a disadvantage.
As long as I tried to fight them one at a time, there was little reason for me to fall behind.
During the second half, some of them started to run away. Of course, I chased after each one and killed them.
It was a complete victory. And there were no other enemies in sight.
I had been able to defeat them without attracting any attention. But there were still others within the building.
I couldn’t help but resent those who put me there and left.
Surely they could have helped me out a little more?
“…Ah, I’ve been discovered.”
That being said, it wasn’t by the residents of the Celestial World.
As they were Demon World scouts, they must be Great Demon King Dalm’s men.
They saw me and then left. It suggested that Dalm’s army must be nearby.
“So…what should I do now…”
It was a difficult problem.
I didn’t want to meet them. But it would look bad if I ran away after being discovered.
After thinking it through, I decided that I wouldn’t run away.
I wanted more information. And I also wanted to know what they thought of Melvis’s country in these parts.
After I waited for some time, a very strong-looking group of soldiers arrived.
They were all the same race, and had uniform armor, so they must be regular soldiers.
At the very least, they weren’t soldiers who had been pulled out of some village.
“Who are you?”
They called to me while still at quite a distance away.
It was good that they didn’t just attack without warning. They understood how things worked.
“I’m Golan. I’ve come from Melvis’s country. I’m sure you know why.”
I shouted.
From what I could see, they seemed to be Abyssals.
They were known to have powerful bodies and sharp eyes.
But they usually walked alone, and avoided large groups.
And yet here they were, forming an army. Clearly Great Demon King Dalm was very persuasive.
“So you came to take King Melvis back?”
“Yes. But before that, I want to know if he has calmed down.”
Good. They understood me.
According to General Farneze, Melvis would not stop fighting until the enemy was completely annihilated.
In this case, it didn’t mean any enemy that was in his vision, but any enemy that came down from the sky.
If he wouldn’t stop until they were all dead, the requirement was rather severe.
I really wondered what the current situation was like in the country.
“Very well…come with us.”
It seemed like they were going to lead me to their army. I suppose they trusted me a little then.
I was genuinely pleased that I had been able to avoid having to fight them.
I followed the Abyssals until we reached a large camping ground.
We had talked a little on the way, and I learned that Dalm’s army and I had the same goal.
Eliminate the celestials and send Melvis packing.
They wanted to get rid of the nuisance.
Of course, they did.
The one I spoke to was a Corps Commander, Bulei.
An Abyssal who looked a lot like a fox.
We spoke in one of the tents and exchanged information.
“I came here by order of General Farneze. When it comes to King Melvis, she said sending a larger group would just mean their death…”
I trailed off. It was as if she thought I would be fine if I was alone. And then they grabbed my arms and legs and then dropped me off.
“I see. General Farneze, eh? I know the name. A Vampire, yes?”
“Yes. Our other Generals are protecting the borders from invasions.”
“So you’re dealing with a lot already.”
Bulei was well aware that the fighting had spread through all corners of the Demon World. And so there was no need to explain.
On the other hand, I was surprised to hear what he had to say.
“It seems like the celestials mean to create bases in the center of the Demon World, and then expand their field of search from there.”
I didn’t expect that. So this invasion was on a much larger scale than anticipated.
“Uh, field of search? Don’t you mean occupation?”
“No, I don’t. They are clearly searching for something.”
“Is that right?”
So they had come down in such great numbers just to look for something. I almost felt bad for them.
“According to King Dalm, they are searching for ‘the one example of success.’”
“And what is that?”
“He didn’t tell me. No, I believe that he does not know.”
“…?”
“It’s the residents of the Celestial World who are searching for it. If that is what they say, it must be true. After all, year after year, they do nothing but repeat their experiments.”
“So, they are searching for the one example of success…from their experiments?”
“That’s the obvious explanation, isn’t it? There are many Fallen in this country, but they can tell us no more than that. The Celestial World is still a great mystery.”
And Bulei said that they had no idea what it was that they searched for.
The one example of success.
There were no other details.
And they had created a giant barrier of holy power near the center of the Demon World. And with that as their base, they had started to search. That was a few days ago.
However, luckily, or unluckily for them, the barrier had been activated while Melvis was inside. And he was currently causing much destruction.
Apparently, he had killed all of the celestials that were inside.
That being said, both the sky and ground were in such a state that they could not get close enough to confirm it.
As for Melvis himself, he was said to be still roaming the area and crushing the enemy bases.
And he did this while destroying the landscape as well.
Melvis was serious. And any who approached, whether they be friend or foe, were turned to dust.
Seeing the gravity of the situation, Dalm had sent an order to evacuate his people.
I doubted anyone who had seen Melvis fight would want to stay.
So that explained why I hadn’t seen anyone.
Aside from Bulei, there were a few other armies in the area, and they were hunting down any residents of the Celestial World that they spotted.
Every one they killed would help speed up the process of evicting Melvis.
That was what drove them.
I had rarely seen such sincere effort.