47 - Chapter 43: Resurrection, the Artificial Evil God Delgamiride
Serious-san "Ah"
It happened immediately after the Forbidden Witch was slain.
The Eschatology she had maintained closed, and in synchronization with that, the demons turned into black sand and dissolved into the wind. A dozen seconds later, there was a plain that looked as if the hell of just moments ago had never existed. However, the mountains of corpses scattered regardless of whether they were Triad or Kessel hammered home that this was reality.
In the midst of this, Ludglyph dragged his body over to Radglyph, who had collapsed spread-eagle in a place that had become partially a scorched field.
"Are you alive!? Father!"
"Yeah. Somehow... I failed to die."
Radglyph, who cracked a joke, was in contrast battered to a degree where the term "covered in wounds" was appropriate. He had been able to block some of the attacks with his Earth Dragon Equipment, but even so, the demons' attacks were capable of easily penetrating it. He had managed to avoid the loss of limbs, but he had suffered wounds severe enough to almost render him immobile several times, and each time he had applied first aid by cauterizing the wounds with his own flames.
Ludglyph, who had rushed over, had already run out of support magic, and his limbs felt as heavy as lead, and honestly, even opening his mouth was a chore. As for the members of the Lotus Gang, since there were no longer any enemies around, they had sat down on the spot and were striving to recover their strength.
"Even so..."
"What is it?"
"No, I just thought, people really do change."
Radglyph gave a wry smile as he stared intently at his second son, who was just as battered as himself and was peering down at him. That the most troublesome brat among his three sons would unexpectedly lead the unit that took down the Forbidden Witch, life truly is unpredictable.
Thinking that, he reached out his hand without realizing it.
"---Well done."
He roughly patted Ludglyph's head, messing up his hair. The one who received it looked taken aback for a moment, then looked away as if exasperated, or perhaps embarrassed.
"..................Idiot, say that to those guys, and to yourself for permitting the update to their Earth Dragon Equipment. Otherwise, we wouldn't have made it this far."
Saying so, he helped Radglyph up to lend him a shoulder.
"True. Today's greatest achievement belongs to the Lotus Gang. When we get back, I'll think of a reward---hm...?"
It happened immediately after he started speaking.
The earth groaned, the atmosphere distorted, and an ominous crackling of thunder began to echo across the Harvester Plains. A vortex of magical power rapidly began to gather near the Kessel army---.
"Huh...?"
In the next instant, it appeared abruptly.
No sound. No wind. As if it had been there from the beginning.
Perhaps because it had no wings, its silhouette resembled a Dragonkin. Black-glistening dragon scales, golden glowing dragon eyes, and a long tail. At first glance, it was a bipedal dragon, or a lizard. Furthermore, it had armor like an exoskeleton, and from the gaps, magical power emitted a phosphorescence accompanied by a green color. It could be called a Dragonkin of a heterogeneous and sinister appearance. However, the reason one could say it was not that was its out-of-standard size.
Approximately 90 meters by visual estimation. A giant body that easily exceeded a large Earth Dragon.
"W-What is that...?"
Despite the distance between them being reasonably open, Radglyph was speechless at a presence so overwhelming that he felt crushed just by looking up at it. As if taking advantage of the void in his thoughts, a wind accompanied by a black haze blew from it.
Receiving that, Ludglyph instinctively dropped to his knees even while still lending his shoulder to his father.
"This is... miasma...?"
As if dealing a finishing blow to his exhausted body, a sense of lethargy attacked. Even his meager magical power diminished as if being sucked away, and his physical strength nearly dried up. Enduring this with spirit and grit, he shouldered his father, who was similarly losing strength and nearly losing consciousness, and ran toward his comrades.
"Run away right now!!"
Immediately after he shouted, its first cry echoed through the world.
●
The Kessel army, momentarily stunned by the giant beast howling toward the heavens, fell into a state of frenzy as soon as one person regained their senses and began to flee, scattering and running away in all directions.
"It's a lie... Karina..."
In the midst of this, Diad, who had witnessed the Forbidden Witch's struggle and her end through far-seeing magic at the main camp, was in a state of distraction.
"Diad-sama! It is dangerous here! Evacuate---!"
His arm was taken by a subordinate, and he was dragged away from the main camp. However, perhaps the panic of the Kessel army acted as a trigger. The monster with a body giant enough to pierce the heavens turned its dragon eyes toward this direction.
The golden dragon eyes, their pupils narrowed.
Turning its giant body this way, it seemed to drop to all fours, then drove its claws into the earth like anchors to hold itself. The vibration alone was enough to trip the fleeing Kessel army and cause them to collapse like dominoes, but the monster moved to the next sequence without seeming to care.
It collected the magical power held by the atmosphere and living beings that it had ensnared with the spread miasma. It threw that into its own furnace, fused it with the miasma, amplified it, and stored the surplus energy in its internal organs.
The monster's heat rapidly rose.
The atmosphere distorted from that heat, steam rose from its giant frame, and the exoskeleton-like armor opened sequentially like heat-dissipation fins to release the surplus heat. The phosphorescence of magical power that had been emitting a green glow transformed into red, as if representing a danger color.
Eventually, the internal energy that reached the critical point of pressure rushed toward the exit, seeking release.
Yes, toward the open mouth of the giant beast---and beyond that, toward the Kessel army.
And the pillar of light released as if sweeping sideways captured the remaining 20,000 of the scattered Kessel army---.
"Karina... I..."
Diad's mutter, his consciousness, and his very existence, who was among them---everything was melted and erased without leaving a single speck of dust.
●
"Is Father safe?"
"Yes. He has retreated along with the Lotus Gang. While the losses in combat cannot be overlooked... no, if we speak of losses, Kessel's are more severe."
"That said, it's not a situation where I can honestly be happy."
While witnessing the volley of the suddenly appeared giant beast, Midglyph, who was in a position where he could not escape reality, confirmed the state of his father, brother, and the Lotus Gang, who had somehow managed to escape, through far-seeing magic, and complained to his adjutant's words.
A few minutes since that volley. Perhaps it cannot fire in rapid succession, as the giant beast remained stopped in its release posture. The heat of the rising steam could be felt even from here, several kilometers away. It was likely concentrating on the heat-dissipation process.
(When I think that we really had no preparations at all, it's shudder-inducing...)
Midglyph did not know at all what had happened, but he had been educated to be able to respond to any situation. That naturally included the processing of defeat. He never fought with the intention of losing, but as a ruler, he could not act without considering the possibility of loss.
Therefore, he had also considered the scenario after Radglyph's defeat by the Forbidden Witch and had made preparations for it. By repurposing a part of that, he was now re-summoning the entire army. It would still take some time until they gathered. Midglyph asked his subordinate, thinking that he must at least decide on a general policy in the meantime.
"The problem is that thing. Is that thing also of the demon race?"
He felt that it had a slightly different flavor compared to the lineage of demons the Forbidden Witch had summoned. However, there was no way such an unreasonable and absurd existence would just pop up for no reason. Midglyph, who was not very knowledgeable about magic, naturally found his subordinates only tilting their heads in confusion.
In the midst of this, Balzar Rakkas, who was accompanying the army on a military inspector's mission at the main camp, raised his hand.
"It is likely an ancient Artificial Evil God."
"Lord Rakkas. Do you know of it?"
"In a book I read long ago in the Imperial family's forbidden library, a similar existence appeared."
Balzar, who was originally from the central nobility without a territory, spent his childhood as a so-called 'friend' of the current Emperor---the Crown Prince at the time, for the reason that they were of the same age. In the process, he was taken a liking to by the Crown Prince and came to delve into the secrets of the Imperial family. Well, putting that aside, having acquired much knowledge that ordinary nobles could not know after various events, he said he remembered an existence closely resembling that giant beast in the Imperial forbidden library, which was its source.
Far earlier than the ancient civilization. During the Great War of Gods and Demons, the giant beasts created by the Demon God race to mimic Evil Gods possessed exceptional performance for their time, and from there, they were aptly given the names of the Evil Gods themselves.
Biological weapons that used a power contrary to life, different from the magical power called miasma, yet could handle magical power just like life, and by fusing them, possessed a tough giant body, threatening regeneration abilities, and destructive power capable of destroying a country in less than a night.
Due to those abilities, they were expected to overturn the war situation for the Demon God race, who were at a disadvantage at the time, but however, they were difficult to control, and in the end, they were sealed in a standby state, usable only as suicide weapons for the final battle on the mainland, and were forgotten even by the Demon God race that created them. Later, they were discovered by the God race that won the war, viewed as dangerous, and thrown into the Infinite Prison just like the demon race---that was the sequence of events in the notes left in the forbidden library.
The final decisive weapon, Delgamiride---that giant beast was called that.
"Why would such a thing..."
"No, she's a woman who summons demons from the start. It wouldn't be strange if she did at least that much, but..."
"What a troublesome parting gift..."
Hearing that story, the generals made bitter faces.
And for good reason. While they were fighting a difficult but easy-to-understand war between humans, it had suddenly changed into an easy-to-understand but difficult battle against monsters. If the opponent were human, there was no need for a discussion on whether they could be defeated or not. Since they were alive, though it might be difficult, they could be killed.
But what about that thing?
One could say it was also alive, but it was unknown how many sacrifices would be required for an ant to kill an elephant. Since they were professional soldiers, they had some know-how on defeating monsters, but it was unclear whether it would work against a giant body of that scale.
That said, these Harvester Plains are the territory of the Triad. They could not leave it alone, either physically or politically. If it stayed without moving, in the worst case, they could just designate the plains as a forbidden area and seal it off, but that would be difficult with a living creature.
As such, they had no choice but to move to eliminate it one way or another, but it was difficult with their current resources.
"---It cannot be helped... we retreat. Even if we challenge it as we are, the damage will only expand in vain. Once we recover the remaining forces, we will withdraw for once. After that, we will devise a countermeasure---"
It was immediately after Midglyph made that decision.
"Hey, no way..."
"Can it fire already!? And at this distance...!?"
The giant beast turned its head and faced this way.
He instinctively realized that it intended to release that pillar of light, just as it had done to the Kessel army. That the unreasonableness would now be directed here.
"All personnel, evacuate...!!"
He immediately sent out the instruction, but Midglyph himself seemed unable to answer the self-question of where to go.
●
That is why every survivor on that battlefield saw it.
The palate opened, and the light of destruction was just about to be released from the giant beast.
As if to check that, a hammer of meteors rained down from overhead, and the giant beast collapsed like a lizard crawling the earth like a crocodile.
The meteor that landed a blow on the giant beast then flew around the sky, circling as if overlooking the battle area, and shouted.
Yes---.
"Triad! I have returned---!!"
Finally, they had arrived.
Filling one item on the todo list of lines they wanted to try saying, they entered the utterly chaotic battlefield.
The Three Idiots, the Serious Breakers, who destroy the serious with the absurd---as their name suggests, they came to break the serious.
The next update is next Wednesday.