Strawberry Devil in a Fantasy World - Chapter 130

At first, the spectators had remained completely oblivious. There were no signs of conflict above the surface. Although this city was littered with underground facilities, it wasn’t nearly as densely packed with them as Vera.

One.

Two.

Three.

Three flares disguised as celebratory fireworks illuminated the sky. Well, it was a poor disguise for what was to follow.

Seeing the three flares, I said, “I think it’s about time we leave.”

“Why? Aren’t we waiting for the finale?” Kanoko asked.

I turned to face Smoothie who was stuffing her mouth with fried food, “Smoothie, can you use your [sage] ability?”

“Huh? Kind of… It’s not as it used to be.”

“I see. Alright, Kanoko, let me explain then. The matches are cancelled. There’s a battle for the throne, a civil war right under the arena before you. The fireworks you just saw are flares are signals to action.”

“Are you sure about that? No, since it’s you, it must be correct. Then let’s leave. I don’t want to burden you with my safety.”

With that said, I sent Kanoko, Smoothie, and Blackberry back to Ataraxia while I remained on the scene. There was nothing for them to be gained by staying here.

Hmm… What should I do? Nothing! I’m an observer.

Clashes between soldiers and heroes and mercenaries became a common sight on the streets of this prosperous city. Although the heroes on the resistance faction normally would be at a power disadvantage, since they were fighting against tyranny and since this was technically also their home country, the power scale was now rebalanced by the system. Now that the heroes were now fighting on equal footings, the proper usage of tactics and leadership would play a major role in tipping the war to either side.

While civilians were panicking left and right and fights breaking out everywhere, I found myself calmly sipping tea back at the inn.

“You’re quite calm yourself.” The bartender remarked while quietly polishing glassware with a fine cloth.

I wonder if he’s really okay not lifting a finger to help his acquaintances fighting for their lives? I guess intelligence gathering is his specialty.

The owner of the inn had already hid himself somewhere. That action itself spoke of how confident he was with the resistance faction he had allied with.

“I suppose. Which side do you think will win?”

“I am merely a bartender. My job is to serve drinks to customers.”

“Right, a bartender. I believe things should settle down by evening?”

Jaco Spiriard had returned to his palace safely. While reports were coming in, he issued orders to military commanders and heroes who were on standby. The reserve forces were all put into action, including the newly displayed magitech enhanced super soldier units.

Oh boy… Oh boy. Cyborg units. They were ready to begin with… I’ll just sit back and enjoy the show.

To me, it didn’t matter who won and who lost. As long as the new leader was someone who could be reasonably negotiated with, I would be content, Hero King or not.

It was important to note that with nearly all the heroes from this country now concentrated in the capital city, the rest of the country was now lacking defense against foreign invaders. Suppose half of these heroes died and the military half crippled, some cities might end up collapsing from monster invasions. Demons were sure to cause a ruckus somewhere and make a profit. As a matter of fact, I didn’t see why they wouldn’t try to destroy this city in the midst of utter chaos.

Let’s see if any demon shows up… That… Why did I have such a thought?

When I had noticed, it was all but too late. The city streets were dyed with the color of red. Refuges were fleeing the city as the war slowly came to a somber respite.

I completely forgot that demons could manipulate humans and mortal races to carry out their evil deeds. The demons themselves never needed to be present themselves.

A second sun shone for a brief moment.

On the outskirts of the city, in the direction where the secret research facilities were, a mushroom cloud displayed its majestic plume. The explosion’s devastating shockwave had flattened countless buildings across the city. Wind howled and the earth shook. And soon enough, debris came raining down like hail.

Ah… I should have known…

I’ve blundered. I’ve messed up big time…

I should have observed their research a bit more.

Within their secret research facility, I had not personally inspected the south wing. Though, I had a gist of what was stored there. At that time, I didn’t believe anything dangerous was being researched. Sure there were some strange energy signatures but this world had magitech and mana and magic. There weren’t any inhumane projects being conducted in that area so I had neglected it.

For a researcher to have developed it and released it at this time, the demons or reptilians must have had a hand in it. There was simply no way humans could advance this quickly on their own unless ancient knowledge was dug out from hidden ruins.

Without wasting another precious second, I teleported into the research facility where all the harvested mana gathered into a single core.

Phew… It’s still safe. Barely.

That supercondensed mana core remained in that room, glowing vividly.

This was probably one of the most secure section of this facility. This area was sealed off within multiple barrier and durable walls that no demon would be capable of penetrating using force alone. If not for my unique traits, I wouldn’t even be able to teleport in. To be blunt, this was many times more durable than typical nuclear bunkers.

However, even though there was no direct damage to this area from the explosion, something unexpected had occurred. The supercondensed mana core was somehow contaminated with volatile mana, the dangerous type that seeped out from mana fountains.

How did that happen?

Simple, mana from all over the world was being channeled into this room. Before the channels could be promptly shut off, a bit of it from the south wing leaked into one of the mana channels.

Currently, the scientists here were busy trying to stabilize this tremendous lump of mana before another disaster could be realized. Whether it would be enough to wipe the city above off the map, that was unlikely. They had taken necessary precautions, thankfully.

For now, I decided to observe. In the event they couldn’t stabilize it, I would snatch it for myself. While thinking that, I found signatures of demons in the vicinity.

Tch… I guess De Planck isn’t in control? What happened to trying to become a true god? Pathetic!

… Unless they’re trying to gain more contract minions? Do they even have a plan? Don’t tell me he’s just abandoning it for now and going to restart it again later? Or could this all be a distraction and I was fed false information?

Don’t tell me, even demons have factions?

I really don’t understand demons.

Anyhow, I didn’t need to understand what the demons were up to. Each time they tried anything funny, I would just smash their plan into pieces. As much as I disliked them, they served their purpose in the grand scheme of things. If only they didn’t cause civilizations to collapse, I would have applauded them.

Due to my phantom clones being annihilated by the earlier shockwave along with many buildings, I had lost visuals on a good portion of the ruined city. For some reason, instead of teleporting out to immediately deal with the demon, I decided to teleport above the city to grasp the overall situation.

“Oh boy… What a disaster…” I murmured to myself, half speechless.

With this explosion, the military base to the northeast was now completely out of commission. A gargantuan hole had opened up. A quarter of the city was completely devastated. That much wasn’t a surprise.

The demons were actually inside that hole trying to forcefully penetrate into the other facilities by any means necessary. Well, strictly speaking, they weren’t all demons. There were also minions from various races, including humans.

Within the city, what appeared to be fey beasts were being summoned one after another through magic circles engraved on wooden carts used by merchants and on the ground within warehouses.

“Are you serious…!? Who’s idea was it to do that now?” I retorted with exasperation.

It seemed to me that humans working for demons had infiltrated the city as merchants. Although I had little clue as to how magic circles worked, I was sure that the mortal races had yet to develop the necessary magic for either summoning or teleportation. Well, elves might have the magic for that but only the elders had access to that knowledge.

Anyway, I slacked too much. I didn’t pay attention to whatever these fake merchants were up to because my attention was focused elsewhere.

Chaos. Perfect chaos?

Well played… If I’m not mistaken, the locals call them trolls, right?

I couldn’t be sure since I had no memory of ever seeing them face to face. They varied in size and form depending on level and evolutionary path. They were furred gigantic humanoid creatures, partially clothed in beast hides. The smallest were only about two meters tall but the tallest were ten times that with six arms, protruding horns on its head and shoulder, and giant tusks. As if their menacing physiques weren’t enough, they were all equipped with weapons such as clubs, machetes, and hammers.

All in all, there were 20 trolls, the weakest being level 30 while the most powerful troll present being a level 80 Groltozanix. I doubted a regular hero could even scratch its itch despite being enhanced with the enormous |hero| buff.

If those fey beasts could communicate, maybe I could ask them to stop, but otherwise, slaying them was supposed to be a hero’s duty.

It was none of my problem. If the heroes united, things might end up differently.

Far to the north, if my eyes weren’t deceiving me, a fleet of white magitech ships were cruising towards Rotask. Going by their speed, I would say they’d arrive by tomorrow morning.

I sighed with resignation, “I don’t think this city will survive.”

The military had collapsed.

heroes were either injured or dead.

The mercenaries were on the run. They held no loyalty.

The populace was devastated with no aids to be expected. At best, a few good neighbors were offering helping hands to dig out those buried under rubbles.

In just a single day, the atmosphere went from festivity and joy to that of dread and uncertainty.

Those who were trying to escape and flee the city, many could no longer when the trolls were summoned in strategic locations.

The only thing I could be happy about was that currently no demon was in that one area of the secret research facility. As for why De Planck or that faker hadn’t shown up, I had no clue. Perhaps they had other plans to instil desperation and fear into the mortal races. Or, perhaps, they were just wary of being captured by me.