Chapter 152: System Reestablishment (2)
“Interesting story. Did it come out of nowhere like this?”
“Hmph, you mentioned it could greatly help both sides. Rather, let’s take it as an opportunity.”
“An opportunity. It’s not wrong to say that.”
The former Demon King, Calatas, the head of the demonic realm alliance, expressed interest after hearing a shocking tale from Nol, the king who had visited him unexpectedly and secretly.
“Is the situation that dire?”
“They said, those monsters, terrible monsters.”
Nol, who had come to deliver the player’s words, murmured with a frown. In truth, he did not quite grasp the magnitude of the crisis that his player was facing.
“But what must be remembered is that we are already at war. Naturally, we cannot withdraw our troops.”
“They said it wouldn’t matter. The troops we want aren’t many. High-ranking demons or those of equivalent strength. And, in return, we provide troops as much as it rains.”
“…Is that true?”
Hearing Nol’s stammering words made Calatas’s brow twitch. What attracted him more than anything was that Nol’s player was willing to provide direct support.
It was sudden for someone who had been primarily providing equipment but had not been able to support sufficiently due to personal circumstances.
“Damn! It has already been relayed that the Commander-in-Chief granted permission! Right now! I will support as many supplies as possible, so send strong ones who can face the army alone!”
Rex, Nol’s player, shouted loudly while looking at the screen showing Calatas.
“He seems insane.”
“Is that statement true? Of course, that place where the origin of those monsters was discovered is based on his testimony.”
At that moment, Rex was tied tightly to a chair. He witnessed the kobolds, with whom he had developed a deep relationship since the beginning, disappearing as a race before his eyes. He also saw the sudden appearance of cosmic monsters invading the planet with their fleets and waging war.
The annihilation of units due to the player’s death. And now, with the source of the attacking monsters being revealed as coming from a place he originally knew, Rex, in a panic, hastily divulged the existence of the demonic realm and units to his superior, the Commander-in-Chief.
The commander of the rebel alliance, who had easily succeeded in obtaining all this information by capturing and torturing him, was excitedly listening to Rex screaming into the air.
“It’s done! The Demon King Calatas will send carefully selected reinforcements!”
“If you hadn’t proven it, you’d be dead without a word, but… well, you are lucky. Do you know what this is?”
The Commander-in-Chief suddenly showed something to Rex, who was exclaiming in joy.
The data appearing on the terminal were all reports. Reports hastily sent from planets currently being invaded.
“It looks like a report. They seem to be requesting something from the Commander-in-Chief…”
“The ones who sent it are the heads of those planets, but the sources of that information are varied. A commander like you, a factory manager, a mere flower shop owner… do you know what they requested from me?”
“Could it be!”
Rex’s eyes widened as he gripped the chair’s armrests with his bound hands.
“It’s unimaginable that something like this would occur. But if the player, the unit, everything you testified about is true, then it’s extremely unpleasant. So, are we to be played by you guys who don’t belong in that game?”
“Absolutely not, sir!”
“No, you are the ones who lied to me and made me dispatch the fleet. It might have been a fleet led by someone I didn’t like, but thanks to you, that fleet, which was somewhat usable, has been completely destroyed.”
The Commander-in-Chief, grinning, pressed a button in front of him, and Rex screamed as a powerful electric shock coursed through his body, causing him to writhe.
“But, sir. To combat the monsters that attacked us this time, it’s true that another method is needed.”
“Do you think I don’t know that? Connect right now. To those damned aliens who dared to offer us help. I hear those creatures share each other’s lives? How unfortunate for them as well.”
Leaving Rex, who had fainted, the Commander-in-Chief exited the room and commanded his secretary to arrange an urgent meeting.
Thus, while the soldiers remained on guard, he was left alone, looking around in a daze. This was not a dark underground or a secluded secret facility.
He stood in the most conspicuous place in the heart of a bustling city. As he stood in this building symbolizing the power of the Commander-in-Chief, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“There will be many who would see this as an opportunity. I, for one, think so too.”
The attack of monstrous beings? The crisis of all humanity? He felt no worry at all.
As the world plunged into chaos, he would use it. That was the belief he shared with the Demon King Calatas from another world.
—
“Found out!”
“Get out of here!”
In the middle of a city turned to ruins, a group of soldiers who had rescued a refugee carrying a child started running frantically.
And behind them, monsters in the shape of spiders, with sharp fangs glinting, chased closely.
“Why does it have to fall in this area!”
“Fire, Cal! Hurry!”
Amidst the cries of soldiers armed with only a rifle, a waiting sniper from a distance desperately fired a large-caliber round.
With that kind of power, it could at least shatter an exoskeleton and turn the insides into a mess.
Thanks to that, the chase could continue precariously.
“No. At this rate, we won’t make it to the bunker! You all keep running!”
“Squad leader…!”
But it was precarious for their stamina as well. In contrast, the monsters, heedless of their companions’ deaths, ignored the incoming bullets and mercilessly trampled over the corpses as they pursued them.
“…What have we done wrong, you monsters!”
The squad leader, having sent off the refugees and comrades first, turned to face the soldiers carrying the most powerful weapon they possessed, a heavy pulse gun.
He screamed, unleashing a torrent of fire from the gun, which erupted with dazzling flashes.
However, even as the monsters exploded in flashes, they still managed to reach right in front of him.
“H…”
Unaware that these monsters were merely claws and fangs acting upon orders, he perceived them as beings with a strong grudge and obsession with humanity.
Dropping his weapon, he stepped back as he faced a gigantic dragon moving its head towards him. The firepower of the pulse gun failed to leave a mark on the dragon’s scales.
“Ugh!”
Just before the dragon, with its jaws wide open, was about to swallow him whole, something that flew from behind struck with a powerful shock and crushed the dragon’s neck.
“Hurry and run. Fast!”
His superior, aboard a bipedal vehicle, fired the mounted machine guns to eliminate the nearby enemies while shouting.
Moreover, it wasn’t just one. Several others riding similar vehicles rushed in, using boosters to fend off the incoming monsters with machine guns and missiles from both ground and sky.
‘Of course. We can still hold on!’
He turned his back on the scene filled with blasts and explosions and managed to escape from his position. He felt he could not help with his current uselessness.
“Everyone, withdraw a little. With our current firepower, we cannot face the larger ones.”
The superior, who bravely sacrificed himself to protect his comrades and civilians, communicated with those around him to start slowly retreating.
It wasn’t their first battle. They had a rough idea of the enemy’s types and their power.
Following the sudden monster attacks, the command center of the continent he belonged to was destroyed, but even in such dire circumstances, they did not stop fighting to protect their homeland from the invaders.
“They say the rear vehicles are being boarded already.”
“If we retreat like this, we won’t make it to safety.”
And that battle experience was rapidly turning them into veterans.
Having coordinated with his subordinates and skillfully maneuvered, he soon issued a retreat order.
“Uh.”
But at that moment, a preceding vehicle stumbled and fell. Accompanied by a scream, a crimson spear emerged from the vehicle.
“Damn it! Shoot everything! It’s a higher species!”
The lone monster that blocked them was the only one who had pierced the fallen body from within.
However, knowing well the power of that monster, he immediately raised his arm, firing the installed machine gun, concentrating all firepower on a single point with his men.
“This is insane…”
But despite the overwhelming concentrated fire, a crimson flash surged forth and engulfed them.
Crushed beneath the debris of the destroyed vehicle, he coughed up blood as he fell. In that state, he could only watch helplessly as his subordinates fell one by one.
In less than a few dozen seconds, this creature wiped out an armored squad, emerging as one of the major factors making this war deadly and unreasonable for purposes beyond its intended design.
“You bastards.”
As he died, he glared at this special monster that could never be dealt with or matched by a small squad.
“Ah…”
“Yikes! It saw us! It saw us!”
However, it wasn’t only him gazing at the higher species.
A vehicle that had been watching, waiting to rejoin, was flipped over as the higher species turned its gaze toward them.
“Damn it! Move now!”
“Squad leader!”
With the arrival of his superior, the survivor burst into anger, leaping out of the vehicle with nothing but a grenade in hand.
The higher species, flapping its wings and taking to the air, aimed its spear at him.
‘Are they really monsters of the apocalypse?’
In that moment where time seemed to have stopped and the only sound was his breathing, he recalled the discussions he had overheard about the apocalypse and gritted his teeth.
Those monsters, surely endlessly slaughtering and tearing into the ground to make grotesque nests, were deserving of being called creatures that crawled up from hell.
‘Then, where is the angel who will fight against these demons?’
Determined to sacrifice himself, he clenched his eyes as the spear tip pierced into his chest without him even realizing it.
Death, in that fleeting moment.
“Cough.”
Yet again, he survived, rolling on the ground with only minor injuries.
“What, tree roots…?”
As he hurriedly tried to rise, he was horrified to see the roots of trees erupting from the ground. Looking up while climbing the roots that had wrapped around the higher species’ spear, he locked eyes with someone.
Ears pointed that popped out from between bright green hair peeked back at him.
