3 bar menu

Chapter 90 – The Decisive Battle Draws Near

90 – The Decisive Battle Draws Near

One day…

I was summoned to the conference room of the Demon King Castle. When I showed up, all the top brass of the Demon King Army had already gathered. Even ‘old man’ Demon King had an uncharacteristically serious face, and just gave me a small nod when he saw me. I sat in an empty seat, and the meeting began.

「We have finally attained an overview of the enemy’s invasion strategy.」 The first to speak was the Chief intelligence officer Vivi. 「It is a strategy that is the most effective and most threatening for Humanity. That is…an all-out attack.」

『…This is bad.』 muttered Mika. 

I nodded in agreement. 「Yeah.」

Humans have been tormented by evil Demons for a long time. Human Territory is currently like a bird trapped in a cage, and as the years go by, that cage shrinks. The lands that have been stolen by the Demons and subsequently invaded by miasma become too contaminated for Humans to live on. Even if the Six Saviors defeated the Demons, the stolen land cannot be reclaimed. To be precise, there is a way to purify it, but that requires an enormous amount of effort, and the power of the Saviors is required, both of which Humanity does not have any of to spare.

The reason Humanity is in such a state has a lot to do with how the evil Demons are not one monolithic force. Countless countries, armies, or groups are formed and wiped out, all competing with each other. Demons are a threat, but they cannot align with one another. That is why Humanity is still alive. With the Six Saviors continuing to go around the land, we are able to fight back.

But now, the enemy will be united as one under a God. If the enemy tries to crush the cage by attacking from all sides… that would be the end of Humanity.

「…Hey, we’ve defeated a lot of strong Demons, right? As long as it isn’t the ones with a title, the elite armies of Humanity can handle them. For Vivi to call the enemy’s all-out attack a threat…would mean that there’s still a lot left to defeat, huh?」

Vivi nodded, biting her lip in frustration.

We’ve been fooling around a lot, but we’ve also been properly doing our jobs. The Hero, Sage, and the Saint have been hunting evil Demons, and getting even stronger. Nevertheless, the information that Vivi attained spells disaster for Humanity.

「In regards to that, a new fact has come to light.」 Madge raised her voice.

「When I was infiltrating Makai, all the enemies I interrogated spoke only of an “Invasion of Humanity by God” out of fear, even when asked about their purpose. That’s why I made a misunderstanding.」

「Misunderstanding?」

「Demons have never been a single monolithic organization. They may succumb to a stronger Demon, but it would be difficult for them to all unite as one.」

「I get that. It’s about as hard as uniting all of Humanity.」

Uniting all of Humanity as the people of one country… it goes without saying how difficult that’d be.

『But, Vivi found plans for an all-out attack, right?』

「Yes, in other words, what’s important is how that was achieved.」

The hard-to-unite evil Demons have united, despite us defeating a lot of high-ranking guys, they still managed to unite… Hm?!

「I get it, Madge. There’s more than one God telling them to summon them to the Human Realm, right?」

My question shakes the room.

「Exactly. I have confirmed two. For convenience’s sake, I shall call one God and the other the Goddess. I can confirm that all those with titles that we have eliminated were followers of God.」

The intelligence officers of this country and the War God’s resourcefulness are excellent; but does this mean that the information that we gathered was leaked on purpose? The information itself is real, and so is the fact that we have whittled down their forces; but that also works in favor of the Goddess faction. For them, this doesn’t just weaken their rival. With the upper echelon of the God faction gone, those that were led by them can then be added to the Goddess faction. As for the God faction… they are only ones hunted by the Saviors and those of Jarsti, while the Goddess faction is stronger and far superior.

『…This is very uncharacteristic of evil Demons.』

Evil Demons who’ve been twisted by the miasma turn into battle-hungry monsters. It’s rare that they’d scheme like this.

「There’s gotta be a guy who’s sane. That guy’s probably their counselor.」

Madge nodded at what I said. 

「Taking into consideration all the information we’ve attained thus far, the question is: Why has the Goddess faction allowed us to have the information that they are invading Humanity?」 asked the Demon King in a somber tone.

「If it was on purpose, then that means they want us to defend ourselves.」

We have the collaborators of Jarsti, the Six Saviors, and the elite of Humanity. Do they wish to drag them all out onto the battlefield? Otherwise, the Goddess faction, who has carefully hidden their combat strength so far, would not suddenly reveal their existence and strategy. However, there are things that I don’t get.

「Even since hearing what Madge had to say, I’ve been thinking about how the enemy has been gathering mana to summon a God. Actually, there were guys who captured Sacred Beasts like the White Fox to suck out their mana, right?」

『Yeah. We also defeat strong enemies so that they can’t sacrifice themselves to summon higher-ranking Demons like that time with the King of Frozen Hell.』

While nodding to Mika’s addition, I continue.

「But then, wouldn’t carrying out this plan to invade Human Territory waste all the mana they’ve gathered for summoning a God? If they cast magic, their mana will decrease, and if strong guys die, they can’t be used for sacrifices.」

『Isn’t the order of events weird in the first place? Their bright idea was to summon a God, then have them take out the Six Saviors, right? Why are they starting a fight before the summoning?』

It would be a big blow to Humanity, but the Demons would also lose their main forces. The Six Saviors most likely won’t leave a single one alive. This attack would bring Humanity closer to destruction, but massively delay their God summoning. Is the summoning of the Goddess their true aim?

Also, without a God-class backing them, it’s impossible for them to unite like this – so they need one there. I feel like we’re missing something, but I don’t know what. It’s so frustrating.

『…But, just cos the enemy’s acting weird doesn’t meant we can leave them alone.』

「Yeah, you’re not wrong there.」 I said. I looked at Madge and Vivi. 「So, when will this invasion begin?」

The two of them looked at each other, then Vivi spoke. 「Tomorrow.」

It would seem that tomorrow, the largest battle I have ever seen will begin.