Chapter 175

The battle between the two trials who could each destroy a country on their own, the <Corruptor> and <One Who Strings the Blade>, was more subdued than one might expect.

Hadard wielded his sword with extremely restrained movements, aiming only for strikes that could sever his opponent’s throat.

Screech!

Eremus interfered with Hadard’s sword—which could cut through even space itself in a single strike—by kicking and stomping on it before it could even be swung.

He had already experienced the power of that sword once.

‘Stings a bit.’

Eremus countered each of Hadard’s sword strikes one by one while gently touching his own neck where black mist swirled.

“Eeheeheehee.”

But he only allowed that attack once. Eremus prevented Hadard’s attacks before they could even begin, as if to say there wouldn’t be a second time.

“I’m not sure if I should ask what your ulterior motive is. Or should I just assume you also don’t want to draw attention to yourself?”

The elderly swordsman and the boy with the gloomy expression—two inherently incompatible beings—fought without affecting their surroundings at all.

It was like watching knights practice. No special powers or overwhelming destructive forces, just pure technique.

In this preliminary skirmish, it was Hadard, not Eremus, who was more surprised.

“Impressive.”

Though he himself was fighting with just a single sword, Eremus was blocking it with kicks alone, which was astonishing.

From the beginning, Hadard was someone who could easily slice through Hraesvelgr’s wings with just one sword.

Yes, while they were both categorized as trials, he was in a different class altogether.

What about his current opponent? There wasn’t quite enough finesse in Eremus’s kicks to call it technique.

It was a fighting style born purely from instinct and experience. Yet with just that, Eremus was blocking Hadard’s techniques.

Considering that Hadard symbolized the Seeker who diminishes human talent and delivers emptiness by his very existence, this was even more surprising.

“This exceeds my expectations.”

“Well. I don’t think there’s much difference between you and me.”

“Is that so? Perhaps you’re right.”

It wasn’t talent. It was the result of Eremus’s own efforts.

Originally, he possessed power that no one could match. But he had approached the world with good intentions.

Eremus’s fighting style was honed to suppress his own power and subdue opponents with minimal force.

‘Indeed, not an easy opponent.’

Thud!

Eremus once again pinned down Hadard’s wrist, preventing the very motion of swinging his sword.

It was threatening swordsmanship. There was a precision to it, as if cutting between spaces. An attack that even someone like Eremus couldn’t easily block.

The fact that he could prevent it beforehand was impressive enough, but…

‘At this rate, I’ll be the one to lose.’

He couldn’t overwhelm him.

To win, he would need to fight in earnest, but that would inevitably destroy this place. Moreover, when it came to using full power, Eremus, who had lost his prime strength, couldn’t win.

If he went all out, his opponent would also start using his hidden power.

The current Eremus had something to protect. Therefore, he couldn’t use his full power, nor should he.

‘With the Devil of Sorrow here too, it would be difficult to win in this state.’

Eremus immediately created distance between them. A forced stalemate. Eremus didn’t hide his intention to escape as he shrugged his shoulders.

He decided to observe the opponent’s reaction first.

Would they chase after him? Or would they threaten to destroy this place?

Eremus planned to determine his course of action based on the opponent’s response.

“Huhuhuh…”

Hadard laughed at Eremus’s transparently obvious attitude.

The moment he saw that smile, Eremus realized.

“I see… This is far more troublesome than I expected. I had no intention of getting involved in the first place, you know.”

From the beginning, the opponent’s goal was neither to kill nor capture Eremus.

It was simply to tie him down.

Revenna had said this war was entirely Belial’s plan.

In other words, Revenna and Hadard had no intention of taking the stage in this war. They just came to stop Eremus from allowing this stage to end prematurely.

Meanwhile, Eremus had no intention of participating in the war from the start. The opponent must have known that too.

But if Lilia got involved, he wouldn’t hesitate.

Yes, the opponent knew this. They had identified his reverse scale and deliberately sought him out.

It would have been better if they had taken a hostage first.

They had no intention of becoming complete enemies, but they wanted to eliminate variables.

That was the goal of the two Malices.

From the beginning, they had no intention of defeating him, which made things even more troublesome.

“Eeheeheehee.”

Eremus laughed bizarrely as he closed the distance again.

If he fled now, they would chase him. They might even head in Lilia’s direction.

If they intended to tie down Eremus that way, fleeing itself would be the wrong answer.

Should he continue fighting then?

In a situation where victory wasn’t guaranteed, where neither side had revealed their full power, and where escalation was undesirable?

“I have no intention of running around causing more trouble, so feel free to watch me, imprison me, whatever you want.”

And so Eremus surrendered peacefully to the two devils. They weren’t after his life anyway.

Even their expressed interest in his existence was just an excuse.

No, the interest itself wasn’t false. But the woman called Revenna had her own firm ideals beyond that.

She intended to pursue only those ideals.

“Then I should introduce myself again. Nice to meet you, Eremus. I’ll be in your care for a while.”

Revenna welcomed Eremus’s surrender with open arms, as if pleased.

Eremus responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

*     *      *

There’s a saying about trouble never coming alone.

“Waaaaaaaaahhh! Lost-oppa! Dad is gone!”

That’s exactly the situation now.

I couldn’t help but worry about Lilia who had come to me while I was already on edge, receiving reports about the frontline situation.

This kid had become lost.

To be more precise, Eremus was the one who had gone missing.

“Lilia, don’t worry. If there’s anyone who doesn’t need worrying about, it’s Eremus.”

In the first place, if something had happened to him that was serious enough to be a problem, we would all know about it.

Even Hecate said he was like a walking bomb.

She said if he died, at least a medium-sized city would be obliterated.

Moreover, I can’t even imagine Eremus, as an individual, being defeated by anyone.

My belief is that I’m the only one who could kill that monster.

“What if Dad got lost?”

“Hmm… That… could happen. But still, it’ll be fine.”

Eremus getting lost.

That was definitely a possibility.

He had been sleeping constantly.

If he happened to take a wrong turn while half-asleep, it wouldn’t be strange if he ended up lost.

It’s ridiculous, but still.

However, even if he got lost, he wouldn’t lose track of Lilia.

“He probably had some business to take care of. He’ll come back on his own when it’s time.”

“Really?”

“Of course, remember, isn’t he the one who pinpointed your location even in his own domain and sent me to get you? There’s no way he wouldn’t be able to find you.”

I’m one of those victims.

Because of Eremus’s corruption, I had to go all the way to Rubia while coughing blood just to send Lilia back home.

What an overprotective parent.

“I’ll also look for him personally, so don’t worry and go play with Claire. Maybe Eremus is preparing a surprise for you?”

“A surprise!”

“Yes, a surprise.”

“Eeheehee!”

I just placed a heavy burden on Eremus, but it should be fine.

It’s not something I need to worry about.

“Then I’ll go now! Work hard! Lost-oppa.”

“Sure, go play with Claire. Children grow while playing.”

Claire is also lacking exercise.

Of course, even without that, she’s already a monster.

It wouldn’t hurt for her to have some childlike qualities.

I watched Lilia skipping away, then looked around.

“Mar, are you there? Go investigate what happened to Eremus.”

“Do you think I’m your servant?”

“Given our contractual relationship, that’s not entirely wrong.”

“Tsk…”

Speak respectfully to your employer.

“I’ll check, but don’t expect much. How am I supposed to find a lion doll in this huge domain?”

Mar grumbled but threw herself out the window. There’s a door, so why move through the window? Is it a habit?

The blood of an assassin never changes.

“Phew…”

Recently, I’ve been personally managing Shade.

By managing, I mean I basically bought Shade outright with money.

It can’t be bad for them either, moving in the shadows but now having a solid backer like the Pantheon Temple.

Even if there’s criticism, it would be directed at us, not them.

The blame that would be aimed at them will shift toward the Pantheon Temple.

Looking at it now, perhaps they’re less of a backer and more of a scapegoat?

“Now then…”

In the quiet room, I began to synthesize the information Mar had gathered for me and what I’d received from headquarters.

It would be good to join the frontline immediately, but right now, only a select few, including myself, can block or buy time against Belial if we encounter him at the frontline.

So I’ll need to follow the direction he’s moving in.

Unlike them, we’re fighting to protect.

“…Really, not an easy opponent.”

Before my regression, Belial dyed the sky itself black and rampaged.

But now he’s too quiet. So quiet that people are wondering if devils even exist at all.

Maybe that’s his aim… or maybe he’s just reading my tendencies.

He knows that just by not moving, he can block our movements.

It’s so different from before my regression.

Thanks to preparations made in advance, their core forces have been weakened while ours remain intact.

The results I created after my regression.

But that advantage isn’t making much of a difference. He’s neutralizing our carefully crafted advantage just by hiding.

He’s frightening.

We can’t ignore him, but we can’t keep waiting for him to show up either.

Each time he spreads his wings, our forces die in droves, so we have no choice.

Very few can hold their own against him one-on-one, and the rest would lose their lives the moment they faced him.

“…Is there no other way?”

Our forces are being whittled down. It will probably continue this way until we find and persuade the Sword King.

At least, unlike before my regression, it’s good that Castian Crowley has moved to help.

I don’t know why, though.

Does he think we have a chance?

Does he think we’ll ultimately win, so he’s thinking about future situations?

I can’t guarantee either way.

I don’t know much about the Mystic King.

Anyway, with his joining, we now have one force that can withstand Belial. The frontline should be able to hold to some extent with the Mystic King’s participation.

But to overwhelm this, we need at least one more person of similar skill. If my companions and I join immediately, that could happen.

Nina might be able to hold out too.

“This… Really, sigh…”

The problem is that if the enemy notices we’ve appeared on the frontline, the probability of them attacking the rear is too high.

It’s good that we can now transcend spatial constraints thanks to Ilina Crowley, but we still can’t match the speed of information transmission.

This means that by the time we receive reports about Belial’s presence and move, it will be too late. He has the ability to easily wipe out a small domain in just five minutes.

So there’s only one answer.

We need to add at least one more force to our side that’s similar to the Mystic King’s level.

Then we can overwhelm the frontline, and I can also prepare for Belial’s presence.

And whether it’s good luck or bad luck, I know of such a being.

“In the end, do I have to go?”

If I’m going, it should be now. The fact that he’s not moving means he doesn’t know how we’ll move either.

He won’t know if we move in the opposite direction of the frontline.

So the best option is to go quickly before he notices.

“Yes, I know that, but…”

A warrior born to fight, known as the strongest among orcs.

His fists break the earth and his footsteps shake the ground, hence the name <One Who Shakes the Earth>.

This being, whose strength is so immense it even astonishes devils…

“This is really the most awkward timing.”

Is also an uncontrollable senile old man.