Chapter 340

“…There’s no one here.”

I could understand why there were no celestials in the area.
They had come down here as part of an invasion.

And so they could not afford to waste any time.
That was fine. This was the Demon World.

But it was strange that I couldn’t spot any residents of this world.
Where had they all gone?

I had walked down a road, past the trees, and through an area that had probably been a town.
And during the whole time, I had not seen a single person.

There was no one, no matter where I went.
As there were no corpses, I had to assume they had left of their own will, but it was still strange.

“Have residents of the Demon World always been this obedient and reasonable?”

If you told them to run, there were always some who insisted on staying in order to fight.
In fact, it would not be strange for a whole village to stand their ground.

This really wasn’t like them.

I continued to head towards areas that appeared to have taken the most damage.
Once in a while, I would see what appeared to be a celestial, far off in the distance.

They were usually flying in the sky. Perhaps they were messengers.
I thought of running towards them and fighting, but it seemed inefficient to attack such small groups of twos and threes.

But they must be flying towards something.
It would be better to go to whatever it was.

I continued to advance through the abandoned land, and changed course every time I saw a celestial.
I headed in the direction that they had disappeared.

And then finally, I found the place I had been searching for.

“What is that…”
To my surprise, they had made a frontline base in the Demon World.

What I had found was a chalk-white building.
A plain building that reminded me of some corporation’s research facility. The kind I saw in my past life.

And I could see things that were glowing around the building. It was probably holy power.
Several celestials were currently flying around the building as well.

Perhaps they meant to take their time invading the Demon World.
They had gone through the trouble of making this.

The amount of labor that went into it would have not been insignificant.
“So the area directly surrounding it is filled with holy power. Will I be able to get close?”

I had never been in a place that was so dense with holy power that you could see it.
Perhaps I had been rash to come here.

They had covered the area around the building with holy power.
It might be that they were living inside.

If I charged in without taking any precautions, I would get exposed to all of that holy power.
And that would be very bad.

Since I didn’t have a good grasp of the situation, I decided to hide and observe them from a distance.
And then, above the building–in the air that was thick with holy power, the sky started to tear open.

“Are more celestials going to come down?”

The tear became wider and wider, and then stopped.
And then they appeared from within.

From what I understood, just keeping it open was incredibly difficult.
It was as if the hole was fighting with something that was invisible. And it started to close.

In all, a few dozen had come out.
As I watched, this process repeated four times. So there were quite a lot of them.

And once enough of them had gathered, the residents of the Celestial World flew off to the east.
Were they reinforcements then?

“So this is where they send more soldiers.”

When they had appeared near the town where Tralzard lived, numerous magic bullets had been unleashed from the sky.

That was likely to make even the invaders nervous.
It would be risky, descending into a battlefield where magic attacks filled the air.

And so it would be considerably safe to do what they were doing now, and gian control of the ground first.
That was why they had gone through the trouble to make the building and fill the area with magic.

Judging by this, they were really serious this time.
This would be a full-scale invasion.

“I had meant to hunt them down…but I can’t attack that many at once.”

It was quite the miscalculation. This thing was basically a fortress.
It was filled with holy power and numerous celestials.

And they had all come here in order to fight.
It would be an act of suicide to go in alone.

I would have to think of a different strategy.
I had imagined something more rushed, but it seems that they had changed their methods after the last invasion.

Perhaps they had attacked this very spot in order to build the fortress.
And so everyone in the area had left.

Great Demon King Dalm’s army was probably fighting the celestials somewhere. But they hadn’t reached this part yet.

So, what should I do?
If they were creating bases in large groups, then fighting alone would be very difficult.

That building was likely part of their battle formation.
And those who were flying above it must be keeping watch.

I would have to be very careful so that they don’t see me… It was just as I thought this that the enemies in the air started shouting.
They were looking in my direction.

“…Tsk. So they did see me.”
I had been trying to hide, but I suppose it was a different view from up there.
They had discovered me completely.

There was no point in hiding now. And so I showed myself. It was just as more than ten of them started to move towards me.
It seemed like overkill for just one person, but then again, they weren’t their strongest while in the Demon World.

The mana affected them, and their power would be limited to half of what it usually was.
Of course, the same would happen to me if I ever went to the Celestial World. So it was fair.

But now that I thought of it, I had never heard any stories about residents of the Demon World going up and invading the Celestial World.
There was no point in conquering lands filled with holy power. I doubted there was any merit in attacking them.

“I better run then.”

There were ten, even though their power was halved.
And they were probably just watchers. I could kill them if I fought.

However, there would be no value in doing so.
They could just as easily send another dozen, another hundred. And I would still be alone.

Their attacks were charged with holy power.
The salt that Nehyor had spread was already a threat. But that was something that ate away at the soul. It had little effect on the flesh.

But what about a magic bullet charged with holy power?
Our bodies were weak to magic. And so we were easily damaged.

If it became a drawn out battle, then the fact that I couldn’t use mana absorption would start to hold me back.
And what would happen if I accidentally absorbed holy power?

I doubted that it was even possible…but I didn’t want to put it to the test.

This was all very unexpected. And so the best thing would be to run.
I was confident that if I strengthened my body and ran at my fastest, they would not be able to catch me.

And so I ran. Just like a rabbit.

…However, there would be no point in just running away.
I would run until they couldn’t see me. And then I would strike back.

I would only truly try to escape once I had annihilated those who pursued me.

Eventually, they would get suspicious that the others had not returned, but by then, I would be far away.

“Now, come and get me!”

Next Chapter

Makai Hongi