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Chapter 281 Part 1

Life persists even in the dusty wilderness. 

Insects, lizards, snakes, and other reptiles evolved to effectively ingest and retain sparse liquids in their bodies, while mammals and birds prey on them. Some unusual magical creatures and spirits also live by feeding on the magic in the atmosphere and the energy of the earth. 

Hence, few would be surprised to find countless spiders scuttling from the center of the Dark Wilderness to the south. There was nothing strange about this species of spider commonly found in the Dark Wilderness, except that they were collectively moving toward the southern part of the kingdom. 

Spiders were not the only creatures on the move. Small creatures such as lizards, flying locusts, and centipedes were scattered about. They were not numerous enough to form a swarm, but they continued to advance toward the south without any rest, to the Barony of Bern in Arkrest Kingdom. 

From time to time, these creatures would be preyed upon by birds in the air and rats on the ground, but what awaited them was an extraordinary phenomenon. These spiders and locusts that were eaten by birds invaded and took over their predators’ bodies by devouring the predators’ brains.

Certainly, there were a few rare parasitic creatures that could manipulate their hosts, but when thousands or tens of thousands of creatures of different species possessed such an ability, it almost seemed like these creatures were created for such a purpose.

But that was exactly the truth. The countless small creatures on their way to the Barony of Bern were not creatures that inhabited the natural world. They were the wily and fearsome spiders born from the great spider Quince, who had lived since the time of the gods and was one of the six generals of the demon lord’s army. The other creatures were puppets that shared a hive mind. They were created by Vengitta, a sentient puppet who was one of the six demon generals like Quince.

The war had yet to commence, but these invaders were secretly gathering information on their target, Arkrest Kingdom, and sending necessary subordinates to kidnap, brainwash, or assassinate core members of the opponent. 

The number of these secret agents, as well as the accuracy and the speed of their information transmission, would have been impossible without Quince and Vengitta. With millions of these creatures smaller than a fingertip, it would not be possible to detect or handle such numbers with regular means. 

Quince and Vengitta had never experienced any obstacles in reconnaissance before, except in the case of huge wards that encompassed entire cities and the underground. No one in the demon lord’s army even imagined that failure was a possibility in the event of an invasion into a territory larger than a city. In other words, the failure to infiltrate the territory of Bern was an unprecedented situation for them. 

Quince was the first to sense a problem arising. Quince and Vengitta were both part of the envoys headed for Arkrest Kingdom, but Quince’s bond with the spiders made it clear that the spiders were facing an issue infiltrating the front lines. 

It was not uncommon for spiders to be preyed upon by wild animals or insects, even killed by accident. However, it was impossible for spiders to target their own species and proceed with a massacre. The only explanation was that the infiltration of the spiders had been discovered after war had been declared. 

「These aren’t creatures that slaughter their own kind.」　

Vengitta agreed with Quince, who was convinced that the infiltration was being intercepted. Vengitta also shared a hive mind with the frontline infiltration puppets and had grasped the unprecedented anomaly. 

Darkness had fallen over the wilderness as they pondered the unusual situation occurring in a distant land. 

「Quince, Quince, old spider wise as the gods, one who knows the wind, water, earth, and fire. We, like your kin, are crushed by one who views us as enemies. Exhausted dolls are shattered under hammers and set ablaze in flames. Oh, I am heartbroken by our destruction and the death of your kind.」　

「Yes, our opponent this time is unlike the past. They are not as easy to handle.」　

「Yes, certainly. The first wall that stands before us. The hand of a wise man has reached us and halted our invasion. Yet, we must not yield to it. Our steps shall not cease, for we are the herald of the storm that scatters the works of the sons of men and the tip of the tongue of flames that burns bright. We are the fingertips of the demon lord.」

「You sure have your head in an opera at any moment, but that’s what I like about you. Let us first begin our fight with whoever is in the path of our kin.」　

At present, golems created by Dran were scattered across the Dark Wilderness and attacking Quince’s kin and Vengitta’s puppets. These golems were once used as secret agents in the battle against the goblin army, but they were now put to use as a defensive line to prevent the demon lord’s army from infiltrating the area. 

That being said, these golems had already been sent to collect significant information on the demon lord’s army, just like Quince and Vengitta were attempting to do so now. The demon lord’s army was simply ignorant of this fact. 

In the current situation, the Bernese troops had the upper hand when it came to information warfare.

One of the reasons Dran and Christina had arrived in Galois to lay the groundwork with the neighboring nobles was this bubbling struggle in the dark, a fight that would not make it into the history books. They had completely obstructed the intrusion of minuscule infiltrators from the demon lord’s army thus far. With the cooperation of neighboring royalty and lords, they had also deployed a wide range magical ward to block remote magic vision and prepared for the incoming attack. 

As the days passed, the first to make contact with Mundus Carnus were soldiers belonging to a small fort that had been built in anticipation of an invasion from the Dark Wilderness. 

The fort was packed with approximately ten to twenty soldiers and ten times the number of golems. As ordered by their lord, they were on high alert in the direction of the Dark Wilderness. That was when they noticed an unimaginably large shadow approaching from beyond the dusty horizon and stopped dead in their tracks. 

A soldier in his late 20s had given up his adventuring career to work in Bern. He was riding a horse golem just like his other two companions, each of whom was accompanied by two grey battle golems—Belters. These young men armed with long spears reinforced with pure magic, light armor, light swords, and crossbows caught sight of four shadows. These shadows that resembled ships were so gigantic that they could easily be mistaken for mountains moving across the land.

Upon a closer look, one would find that the upper half of the hull was grey while the lower half was painted bright red. These resembled upside-down ships, with a series of planks on either side of ship’s bottom wrapping round the wheels—later identified as a crawler track for military use—and propelling the ship forward.

These land warships were weapons developed in Mundus Carnus for the purpose of rapid personnel transport and invasion in areas with turbulent air currents or habitats of vicious large flying creatures, hindering airborne warships from smooth navigation. 

Arkrest Kingdom and its neighboring nations were also developing and building naval vessels designed to operate at low altitudes, but they had no largescale vehicles with crawler tracks meant for land.

Vecto, a former adventurer, immediately activated the magic transmitter on his waist belt to send an emergency signal to the fort and the knight headquarters. Although he had been equipped with magic weapons powerful enough to beat the crap out of magic creatures, he was not prepared to take on a ship so huge that he had to look up at it. His priority right now was to gather as much information as possible to report back to his comrades. 

「Let’s keep our distance and continue to observe them while gathering information.」　

Vecto’s instructions were met with nods of agreement from his companions. They were accompanied by Belter combat golems clad in full knight armor and capable of crushing powerful demonic beasts without any effort. Yet, the soldiers remained heistant to confront these unknown entities. After all, they had to ascertain whether these individuals were truly enemies. They did not wish to challenge them, but it was pertinent for them to avoid anything that might be perceived as an act of provocation. 

The trio and nine golems began to pursue the land warships while keeping their movements, but their actions were also under keen observation of those on the warships.

These land warships were carrying a delegation dispatched from Mundus Carnus and soldiers escorting the delegation. With only four ships of troops, there was clearly no intention of a full-scale invasion. Quince and Vengitta were also playing their trump cards by acting separately from the main squad. 

This delegation of envoys was a show of force. Naturally, it was an indubitable fact that Mundus Carnus was planning an armed invasion with the deployment of two of their six demon generals, the core members of the demon lord army’s combat strength. 

Soon after, there were orders from the fort for Vecto and his companions to continue their surveilliance. As they proceeded with their orders, the sudden realization that the warships were headed for the fort colored their faces with worry. 

「So, they’ve figured out our placements?」