TWEM Vol. 7 Chapter 13 Part 1
Chapter 13 – The First Demon King Alogis
Having defeated Eleos, who called himself the Apostle of the Evil God, I hurried back to Fran.
“Haru, is that true!?”
When I told Fran about my battle with Gyuray and the subsequent battle with Eleos, including our conversation, she grabbed me by the shoulders and questioned me.
“It’s true. Anyway, it seems that their current goal is to resurrect Alogis…Fran, it seems that the Demon Lord Alogis is also an Apostle of the Evil God, but do you know anything about that?”
Fran shook her head helplessly and sat down in a chair.
No good, huh? They said they worshiped the evil god, so I thought there might be some information.
“Haruto, you’re back. What about Gyuray?”
Tendo asked as he returned.
He looked very tired, but didn’t seem to be injured.
“He managed to get away.”
“What, Haruto?!”
Tendo exclaimed in surprise. He probably didn’t expect me to fail.
“Something interrupted us in the middle. He called himself an Apostle of the Evil God. He also said something about reviving the first demon king. This is getting really tricky.”
“Evil God… do they really exist?”
“Yeah, they’re sealed in the floating castle. They said his name was Chronos.”
I said this while looking out the window in the direction of the floating castle.
“So that’s where the evil god Chronos is…”
“So it seems. By the way, Tendo, when you came back you looked like you wanted to say something. Did something happen?”
I remembered that Tendo looked like he wanted to say something when he returned, so I asked him.
“That’s right. I was so surprised by Haruto’s story that I almost forgot.”
Fran looked at Tendo with a serious look.
“I want you to remember to report back to me, Ten.”
“I know it’s my fault, but I’m not going to forget it.”
He seemed to know he was in the wrong and was reflecting on what he had done.
“So? Tell me quickly.”
“Yeah. I have something to report. The enemy troops have started to retreat all at once. They’re heading in the direction that Haruto said the floating castle is.”
Fran and I tilted our heads at Tendo’s words.
“They’re retreating? The battle is still favorable for the enemy.”
“Just like Haru said, even if we defeat one of the Evil God’s apostles, the scale is still tipping towards them. And it doesn’t seem like Gyuray is dead. So what could have happened…?”
Fran, Tendo, and I all thought deeply, but no matter how much we thought about it, we couldn’t figure it out.
If that’s the case…
“Let’s do what we can do now first.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“I guess so.”
Tendo and Fran nodded at my suggestion.
“Then let’s withdraw our troops for a while and prepare ourselves.”
“I agree. If we don’t let the soldiers rest, it will affect their morale.”
“What should we do? Scouting?”
Fran and I looked at each other at Tendo’s words.
“What do you want to do, Haru?”
“I don’t have anything in particular, but… like Tendo said, we might do some scouting.”
When I told her that, Fran nodded.
“Then I’ll leave the scouting to you two.”
“I can teleport back here right away.”
“Are you going right away?”
I shook my head at Fran’s question.
Looking at the map, the enemy had completely retreated, so I was certain they wouldn’t be attacking again anytime soon.
“No, I’m going to rest a bit too. I used a bit too much magic power, so I’ll go tomorrow.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll leave it to you two. I’ll take charge of the retreat, so you two go back to the castle and rest.”
After saying that, Fran walked away in a dashing manner.
～
The next day, Tendo and I went to scout the floating castle.
The floating castle was visible from the previous location of the Four Heavenly Kings’ army camp, so I teleported there in one go.
“It’s huge…”
“Yeah. Looking at it again, it’s really that big…”
Tendo agreed with my impression as he looked at the floating castle.
“Oh, we don’t have time for this.”
“Yeah. So, are there any enemies around?”
Checking the map, it seemed there were enemies both in the floating castle and on the ground.
Tens of thousands of enemies on the ground…no, it looked like they could reach a hundred thousand. I could see that there were also a few disaster-level monsters mixed in.
It seemed that the ones Lauren and Gyuray led were only a small portion of them.
And there were many enemies in the floating castle, and some of them were showing a strong presence. They were probably apostles of the evil god.
“There are quite a few of them in the floating castle and on the ground below it. I don’t sense any enemies around us though.”
“Right. Is there anything else you can tell?”
“I’ve confirmed several apostles-like presences.”
“Apostles…”
Tendo gasped.
He seemed nervous, and opened his mouth anxiously.
“Can we win?”
“It’s not a question of winning or losing. We have no choice but to fight. To protect Fran and the others, and humanity.”
You could even say that this was a battle with the fate of the world at stake.
We were originally only supposed to have come here to negotiate peace with the demons, so how did it end up like this?
“Maybe we should just shoot down that floating castle.”
Tendo looked at me in shock at what I said.
“You’re joking, right…?”
“Does it sound like a joke?”
“—Huh?”
“No no, I’m joking. The enemy’s base won’t fall that easily. They must have some sort of countermeasure.”
“Knowing you, I thought you would do it, Haruto.”
Tendo sighed in relief.
“But now comes the problem. Maybe we should go back to Perdis and report to Dillan and the others. If Fran loses and the Evil God is resurrected as the enemy intended, it will become a problem that will involve not only the demons but also the humans.”
“Just the words Evil God makes me feel sick.”
“Yeah.”
Tendo and I sighed deeply.
～