As Yuma opened his eyes, he found someone right in front of him.
It was the Black-Haired, Golden-Eyed Girl, Cloney.
Cloney placed both hands on Yuma’s shoulders and spoke softly.
“I was a bit surprised to hear that you died, Yuma-sama, because there’s no way you could.”
“Yeah, good job.”
“I heard it’s been six days since I fell into that nightmare.”
After letting out a light sigh, Cloney continued.
“I’m sorry.”
Yuma shook his head.
“No need to apologize. In fact, it’s quite impressive that you lifted the curse cast by a god in just six days.”
Legolas from the Join Tribe, awkwardly standing beside them, opened his beak.
“That’s right! Quite an impressive feat!”
Yuma shifted his gaze from Cloney to Hestia, who was lying next to him. Hestia should wake up soon; after all, they had broken the [Nightmare].
“And it’s my fault for not anticipating that the curse could pierce the mental barrier I set.”
A ‘God’ can inflict significant mental damage if they risk their life to do so.
Yuma engraved this lesson deep in his mind.
After gently patting Hestia’s forehead, who still hadn’t awakened, Yuma stepped forward and ventured outside. He started to think about what to do next.
‘Why?’
Why did the [God of the Dangerous Mace], Morg, attempt to destroy Cloney and Hestia’s minds while sacrificing his own soul?
Even if the cursed targets felt immense pain, he wouldn’t be able to witness it, having already died.
It was a choice that didn’t make sense logically.
Of course, there are those who would willingly sacrifice their life to inflict pain on others, but Yuma didn’t view Morg as someone with such a nature.
‘Did someone whisper in his ear?’
The time spent under the [Nightmare] imposed by Morg on Hestia and Cloney would roughly amount to a week.
‘One of the Evil Gods?’
Among the [Eight Evil Gods], five remained.
One of them must be scheming to kill him, and it seemed likely that they were pushing Morg to buy time to carry out their plans.
“None have descended yet.”
Yuma looked at the [Sanctuary Management Interface] floating beside him.
He saw no signs or records of further divine invasions.
Beep— Beep—
At that moment, a red dot on the map began to glow.
An entity began to assert its presence.
It was indeed in the Intermediate World. However, it was a place he had never paid attention to before.
“Sky Continent?”
*
The Sky Continent.
A land shrouded in mystery, like an island floating in the sky, about which no one living in the Intermediate World knew the details.
Duke Yuma grabbed the Elf Luine and asked, “So it’s a legendary island where demigods are said to exist, and it’s a real place? That’s about the extent of my knowledge.”
Yuma tilted his head and continued, “If it’s definitely real, then there must have been many who tried to find it, right?”
Luine nodded slowly.
“That’s right. Many have gone in search of it. The problem is, most of them never came back.”
This meant there were conditions to gain entry.
“So, there must be some entry requirements. What are they?”
Luine slowly opened her mouth.
“Either being a demigod or being close to one….”
Luine’s eyes widened, then she slowly scanned Yuma from head to toe.
“Come to think of it, Duke Yuma, you could enter since you’re a god.”
Luine reached a surprisingly simple conclusion.
But she added as if she had forgotten, “And even if you’re close to a demigod… the criteria aren’t very clear, so perhaps even the Apostle Bell might be able to enter.”
Yuma thought the same.
To kill the last god remaining in the Intermediate World and confirm if it would open up a possibility to enter the Divine Realm—he needed to check that.
Yuma stood up.
He had to confirm the condition of Hestia, who still hadn’t regained consciousness.
Rustle—
Yuma lifted the tent and walked inside.
Hestia was still lying quietly on the bed. Yuma sat next to her.
At that moment, Hestia’s eyes slowly opened.
Seeing Yuma in front of her, she spoke without hesitation.
“Yuma, Yuma!”
Snatch!
Yuma chuckled as he looked at Hestia, who hurriedly placed her hand on his right hand.
“Yeah, you’ve had a tough time.”
Hestia had indeed gone through a lot.
So, Yuma gently stroked Hestia’s scarlet hair.
Hestia opened her dry lips.
“…Well, it was quite a struggle.”
Hestia quietly murmured as she slowly sat up.
“It was a really messed-up dream.”
It crushed her distant memories of happiness, turning them into a nightmare.
From Hestia’s perspective, it was a thoroughly unpleasant memory.
But still,
The fact that there were happy reunions, too, was an undeniable truth.
It was an undeniable fact that there had also been such encounters.
Hestia briefly felt the lingering thoughts of those meetings.
Thanks to the [Nightmare], she could vividly recall the faces she missed.
And as Hestia momentarily brought those faces back to mind, she quickly shook off her thoughts.
Right now, what mattered was the present she had to keep living.
Hestia got up.
“…How many days have I been out cold?”
Hestia lifted her head and peeked at Yuma.
“9 days.”
At Yuma’s words, Hestia let out a deep sigh.
“Ughhh….”
Hestia raked her fingers through her hair. Her crimson hair was a tangled mess.
“I messed up the God of War’s great work! Ugh!”
Yuma placed his hands on Hestia’s shoulders.
“…You haven’t hindered anything. There wasn’t even a goal to achieve.”
Technically, it just came up now.
The last remaining god who descended into the Intermediate World.
He had to be killed and the situation assessed.
*
Yuma gathered the people.
Everyone was staring at Yuma with sparkling eyes.
“The situation has mostly been sorted out. I think we just need to clean up one more place.”
Yuma, Cloney, Hestia, and Bell faced each other across a table.
“It’s not a situation where I can decide who to take along or not. The place I need to go is the Celestial Continent. Right now, it seems like Bell is the only person I can bring.”
Contrary to Yuma’s concerns, Hestia, Cloney, and the quietly seated Ermel didn’t seem overly worried.
“Come back safely. It’s a promise.”
At Cloney’s bold words, Yuma let out a small laugh.
“Yeah, I promise.”
Yuma and Bell stepped forward side by side.
Kregel, the leader of the Join Tribe’s [Eger], bowed deeply to Yuma.
“I stand before a great being.”
“Rise.”
Yuma immediately got to the point.
The Join Tribe.
They were a race that attempted to create a true god, not even a demigod.
He thought they might know more about the Celestial Continent than even the Elves.
“Do you know how to get to the Celestial Continent?”
Kregel replied quietly.
“I believe there is a path called the Sky Road. It leads to the Celestial Continent. However, I don’t know where that road is.”
“I don’t know.”
Duke Yuma slowly nodded his head.
He could figure out where it was.
Because he had the map in his hands.
Yuma approached the knights remaining in the Join Tribe’s camp.
He looked for the highest-ranking knight when the second commander of the Zepharos Knight Order came running in a hurry.
“Are you the highest knight?”
Commander Arwin nodded his head urgently.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I’ll lend some of my troops to help sort this situation out. So cooperate.”
For a moment, Arwin tilted his head in confusion.
“Cooperate…?”
He wasn’t quite sure what cooperation meant.
Yuma nodded.
“Yeah, cooperate.”
As soon as Yuma finished speaking, a shock of crimson hair popped up beside him.
“Cooperate!”
And she thrust her head toward the surprised blond knight Arwin.
“Cooperate to ensure that the God of War Church can establish itself in this Zepharos Empire, no! In this Yeigel continent, knight!”
“Y-yes…”
Arwin couldn’t help but nod along to the words of the green-furred Cat-Folk.
As soon as Hestia regained her faculties, she revved up her side gig as a high priestess again.
Yuma had coincidentally confirmed through the map that at the very edge of the Yeigel continent, there was the Sky Continent above it.
Though it was above, it was quite a ways up there.
Yuma called for his griffin, Ethan.
Grrr…
Ethan, seeing his master Yuma for the first time in a while, nuzzled him with joy.
Yuma stroked the head of Ethan, who had the head of a gigantic eagle.
Yuma hopped onto Ethan’s back. And soon after, Bell climbed onto Ethan as well.
“Sky Continent?”
“Yeah, it might be dangerous.”
Bell tilted her head.
“Has there ever been a time that wasn’t dangerous?”
For a moment, Yuma lost his words upon hearing that.
Bell was right.
“Let’s go.”
Yuma’s words were the signal for Ethan to take off.
Ethan soared upward.
How to find the sky path?
Yuma spread his divine power wide into the sky.
Crackle!
A noise echoed from above.
In that moment, bursting through the clear sky was a straight, transparent path into the air.
“Can you see it?”
Yuma looked back at Bell.
“Yes, Yuma.”
The sky path was visible even to Bell, who bore Yuma’s divine power as his companion.
