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Chapter 273: To the North (1)
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 273: To the North (1)
[BUOOO!]
The gates of hell opened.
A terrifying monster opened its maw, creating a passage to the surface.
With shrieks, the demons burst forth.
“Hahahahaha!”
“This is the scent of the surface! Ahh! Wonderful!”
Demons, who normally required rituals to descend, began appearing on the surface one after another.
Old demons who had lived between the gods and demons since the Great War expressed awe.
“Aaaaah!”
“Oh, our beloved homeland that we longed for!”
Originally, this land was theirs.
But they had been forcibly expelled by the gods.
Many demons had never seen the surface again.
Now, they had returned to their homeland.
The demons were overwhelmed with emotion.
Some even shed tears.
“Ooooh…”
“Thank you, Demon King.”
It was all thanks to the Demon King's grace.
And now, they began to move to repay that grace.
Their purpose was to trample and destroy the surface.
Demons began defiling the earth.
They destroyed cities, attacked capitals, and surrounded sacred lands.
The world, the continent, was plunged into chaos.
And this news reached the holy sanctuary of the Swords.
“Ah, aaaaaah!”
The Saint clutched his head, his face pale as he screamed.
The world was in chaos.
Evil was attacking the surface.
Not just the Saint, but everyone in the holy sanctuary realized this.
The joy of the festival vanished, replaced by fear and anxiety on people’s faces.
“Hmmm.”
Meanwhile, Ketal chewed on his skewers, watching them.
He had stayed in the holy sanctuary to finish up the matter of the Holy Sword.
“It’s chaotic.”
[Of course it is. The barrier has been broken.]
“You’re talking about the powerful wave of energy from a few days ago?”
The blow from the Demon King.
It had shattered the world's barrier.
Ketal had felt that immense power as well.
‘It was incredible.’
Even Materia had seemed insignificant like a bug before that power.
He had been awestruck by the sheer difference in dimension, and it filled him with joy.
[Yes. It seems the demons did something to break the barrier.]
“What exactly is this barrier?”
[It's the barrier that protects this world. It blocks hell and prevents it from intervening on the surface. It is what made this land the domain of the gods, protecting the surface.]
But now, it was destroyed.
The surface was no longer the domain of the gods.
The Holy Sword explained this calmly.
[It was expected. The fact that I descended meant that the rift in the world had grown too large to handle. Even though the gods can’t interfere directly with the surface, they must have judged that a great power needed to be bestowed.]
And Ketal had broken that Holy Sword.
“…It seems I caused quite a big problem.”
[You could say that it wasn’t a small one, right?]
“Hmph.”
Ketal folded his arms, and the Holy Sword flinched, watching him carefully.
[Perhaps I should’ve said it wasn’t your fault? Was I being too tactless…?]
“No, it’s fine.”
The Holy Sword’s words were true.
Because of him, the hero could not appear.
Ketal clicked his tongue.
‘I should’ve calmed down a bit.’
By drawing the sword, he ended up unable to see the hero and took on an unnecessary sense of responsibility.
“Well. It’s fine.”
Since the hero hadn’t appeared, he would just have to take care of things himself.
Ketal shoved the rest of the skewer into his mouth and went to find the Saint.
“Seems like you’re busy.”
“Ah, Ke-Ketal, sir! My apologies! I hadn’t been paying attention!”
The Saint was startled, remembering Ketal.
He had kept Ketal in the holy sanctuary to deal with the Holy Sword, but the sudden chaos had made him forget all about Ketal.
Ketal shook his head.
“It’s fine. It seems you’re very busy with the world in chaos. I’ll help you.”
“Re-really?”
“I should at least pay for drawing the Holy Sword.”
“Oh! Thank you so much!”
The Saint exclaimed sincerely.
Ketal was strong.
His power had reached the level of a hero.
He had proven his strength by defeating countless demons.
He had even won against the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons, Materia.
Even with the Holy Sword broken, his presence was enough to change the tides of battle.
“As far as I know, the demons are invading the entire continent. What’s the current situation on the continent?”
“Please wait a moment. I’ll explain everything I know.”
After a moment, the Saint returned with a large map.
“The demons’ invasion is targeting the entire continent. It would be easier to explain with this map.”
The Saint spread the map, and the world’s layout came into view.
‘Though I’ve seen it a few times, it’s definitely different from Earth.’
Earth had vast oceans and continents spread out across the globe, but here, everything was gathered in one place.
It was like a supercontinent, with all the lands united.
At the very center of this supercontinent was a vast expanse of white.
That was the White Snowfields.
‘It really is huge.’
It covered almost half the continent.
No wonder massive creatures like the White Serpent resided there.
The Saint began to explain.
“The demons are descending on various regions of the continent and invading the surface. As for the war situation... to be honest, it's not looking good.”
The demons were powerful.
The gods couldn’t interfere with the surface for the time being, so they were being pushed back.
Kingdoms were falling, holy sanctuaries were being surrounded, and extraordinary warriors were being killed.
Bad news was coming from all corners.
The Saint shook his head, trying to regain his composure.
“Let me divide the continent into the east, west, south, and north. First, the west—where we are. The situation here is relatively better.”
The reason was simple.
In the western continent, there was the Church of the Sun God and the Church of the Earth Mother.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Of course, the balance of the surface had been broken.
The surface was no longer under the protection of the gods, and divine power no longer had an inherent advantage over the demons.
But that only applied to pure divine power.
As long as one could wield holy scriptures, they still had an advantage over demons.
For that reason, the western continent was managing to fend off the demons’ attacks relatively easily.
“And in the east, we have the Magic Tower and the Mercenary Guild...”
The Master of the Magic Tower was leading the magicians, defending against the attacks from hell together with the mercenaries.
“The situation is not looking very good.”
The Master of the Magic Tower was strong.
However, there was no way he could intervene across the vast continent.
While the Magic Tower had many powerful magicians, their strength was highly specialized in magic, with clear weaknesses.
The mercenaries tried to protect them, but their own strength wasn’t enough to make a significant difference.
Thus, the situation on the Eastern continent was poor—one could even say it was dire.
“And as for the Southern continent, it’s beyond our reach.”
That was because humans were not intervening in that direction.
Elves, dwarves, fairies, and dragons were holding off the demonic attacks.
“Dragons are incredibly powerful, but the demons are attacking them with equal force. Intense battles are happening there.”
“Oh. Oh. I see.”
Ketal, who had been listening with interest, suddenly had a question.
“But where is the Empire involved in all of this?”
The only place left was the North.
But that area belonged to the Barbarians.
It didn’t seem likely that the Empire would be there.
The saint bit his lip.
“…The Empire is in the southeastern direction. If they wished, they could intervene in the Eastern continent and turn the tide of the war. But there hasn’t been any movement from them.”
“No movement? Why not?”
“I don’t know! Why on earth not?!”
The saint cried out in frustration.
“The demons are invading the surface! The entire continent is in danger! Yet! The Empire is showing no reaction! If they moved, the situation would be much better!”
The saint gritted his teeth.
The Empire was powerful.
Its strength was at the pinnacle of the continent.
Even the information that was publicly known pointed to that, but the Empire was hiding even greater strength internally.
If they showed their true power, they could shake the entire continent.
But the Empire hadn’t made a single move.
It was as if there were more important things than the demonic invasion threatening the entire continent.
“Why. Why. Why?”
The demonic invasion was a crisis for the whole continent.
Even the Empire couldn’t ignore it.
It was incomprehensible.
It was as if they were acting like they were somehow separate from the continent.
“It is indeed strange.”
Ketal’s face briefly showed interest, but the Empire wasn’t the main issue right now.
He pondered.
‘Where should I go?’
The West was stable, so the options were the East or the South.
He could go to the East and learn magic from the Magic Tower or go South to study dragon words.
He had reached a point where he could handle some mystery, so both were possibilities.
And in his mind, the North wasn’t even an option.
That was only natural.
The North was the territory of the Barbarians, and Ketal despised the Barbarians.
In this vast fantasy world, the one place Ketal had little interest in was the North.
Still, he thought he should ask.
Ketal spoke up.
“What about the state of the North?”
“Well… I suppose they’re holding up well? Honestly, there’s not much information.”
The North didn’t have much contact with the outside world.
They were a people who mostly kept to themselves.
The saint, looking at Ketal cautiously, added:
“…They’re a strong people who don’t fear battle, so I imagine they’re defending against the demons well.”
Normally, he would have insulted them as simple-minded brutes.
The saint himself had suffered from the Barbarians’ reckless attacks in his younger days and harbored no good feelings toward them.
But because Ketal was a Barbarian, the saint had to choose his words carefully.
“……”
After hearing the saint’s words, Ketal’s expression changed.
He looked at the saint with a strange expression, making the saint’s heart skip a beat.
‘Huh? Did I say something to offend him?’
“The Barbarians are incredibly strong! They’re truly manly, admirable people! I admired them when I was younger! I wanted to have a body as strong as theirs!”
The saint shouted hurriedly, thinking that Ketal might have been offended and trying to smooth things over.
But Ketal’s strange expression wasn’t because of what the saint had said.
‘What is this?’
[789th Quest.]
[Respond to the anomaly in the North.]
A quest window appeared.
It meant that something related to the Forbidden Lands was happening in the North.
But the reason Ketal’s expression had changed wasn’t because of the quest window itself.
If it had just been a simple quest window, he would have reacted calmly, as if it were only natural.
His gaze moved downward.
Below the quest description, there was a warning.
[Warning: If you do not respond quickly, it could be dangerous.]
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]