A man walks slowly toward a large tree.
　There is a large tree ahead, and a child and what looks like his mother are crouched down to hide in the cave of the tree.

　For a moment, the mother trembles at the sound of the man's footsteps.

Hey, it's me.

"You?　Was it okay?

"Dad?

　The way they whispered as if frightened of something, the three of them are a father and son.

Quietly ....... No, the village is destroyed. The priest was right.

　His father speaks in a whisper as he regrets and cares about his surroundings.

"Yeah. What are we going to do now?

"The priests shouted at us to go south. Let's go south without the monsters.

But it's going to be dark now.

There are so many of them. If they don't, there will be more of them around here. Let's go!

　A father with a small child tells his family to get out of here in a hurry.

"No way,

I'll take it. ...... I'll carry Myra on my back.

　The three men carrying the luggage were on their way back from a shopping trip to a large city.
　Then they saw a priest on a horse with a desperate look on his face, shouting that a monster was coming.
　They were told to flee south.
　The father left the mother and the children in a tree cave near the village to see what was going on, and he found that the priest was right.
　The village was overrun with magical beasts, and it was unlikely anyone had survived.
　If you had escaped like the priest had told you, you might have gotten to a safer place. 　
　He's on his way back from a city less than half a day's walk, and it's a relief, his father thinks, that he has some food with him.
　And I thank the Lord Elmea that today my five-year-old child went to the city with his family of three because he wanted to see the city.
　Thanks to you, we are all here together as a family now.
　As the sun was setting, the parents and their children stood up and tried to get away from the place.

　They had just stepped out of the cave, which was big enough for a grown man to fit, when a horrible stench hit their father's nose.
　The smell that he had smelled when he had gone to check on the village was strong in the air.

"Uh-uh.

　Something snarled, and my father looked fearfully in the direction of the presence and saw a troll standing close by, clutching a club.
　He had found food and was drooling and contorting his mouth.
　Then he slowly juts his foot out in front of you and tries to catch it.

What?　Run!

"Ah, whoa!

　Finding food, a troll over five meters tall, with a smile on his face, rumbled through the earth and loomed over us.
　It's no more than 20 meters away and there's no way you can escape.
　Although it seems to be a slow movement, that step is many times longer than a human stride.
　At this distance, you'll be trapped.

But you!

Run away with Myra!

　The father decides to let the child and mother escape with the intention of dying.
　He grabs his sword for protection, but I'm sure it won't do him any good.
　Then he looks in that direction and despairs, pointing in that direction.

!

　A huge, silvery white wolf was looking at me from a little distance.
　The top of its head was not that high as the tree beside it.

''Oh, no, Master Elmere.

　The mother holding her child despaired and said the name of God that her child would not suffer when he finally died.
　All three of them were in a situation that was enough to make them think it was the end.

"Aah!

　The troll reached out and tried to grab his father, who was standing in his way.
　But something happened that the troll does not understand.
　His eyes shifted from his father to the sky, and then to the ground.
　In the blink of an eye, the troll's head didn't even leave his torso.

　Zuuuuuuuuuun!

　The trolls lie on the ground making a loud noise as they lose their strength.

"Huh?　Hey, this is ......

　I don't know what happened.
　I look in wonder at the body of the troll who fell headless in front of me.

"Those men. You guys okay?

"Caaaaah!
"Momma!
"...... Oh

　The mother screams, the child cries, and the father becomes mute in terror.
　Something in the form of a silvery white wolf with blood dripping from its mouth uttered the words of a human.
　It was this wolf-like something that sent the troll's head flying in a flash, even though it was still quite far away.

"You're still here: ......

　The giant silver wolf changed his gaze from father and son.
　Dozens of pagans heard the troll's fall and came in by the dozens.

That's because they don't take them down quietly. There's a big bunch of them. Keke.



I think so. Can you stop the movement?　

"Aiyo. Keke

　On the back of a huge silvery white wolf rides a woman dressed in white.
　Her father is momentarily dazzled by her beauty, but something like fear comes over him a little later.
　This woman, who has no vitality, is a hexenbiest of sorts.
　There's something strange about her, something you don't see in the average villager.
　She has two candles tied to her head, a knife in her right hand and a wooden mallet in her left.
　Then she slowly jumps down from the wolf's back.

　The woman is attacked by an evil man in human form.
　The white-clad woman staring at the evildoer slowly raises her mallet.

d*mnation!

"'Oooaaaahhhh!

" "!

　The woman in white strikes the ground with a mallet.
　Then a shock wave spreads on the ground like a ripple, and something unusual comes out of the ground that makes the family's blood boil.
　The upper half of a dead spirit appears in the form of a skull or a zombie, and it clasps at the feet of the pagans with its arms.
　It's an unbelievable sight for the sane to see.
　Thanks to this, the evildoers, who should be spread out over a fairly wide area, are now trapped by the ghosts, unable to move en masse.

"Hmm.　

　So saying, the silvery white wolf kicks the hardened pagans away motionlessly.
　A woman dressed in white also stabs him with a knife.
　In the blink of an eye, all that's left is father and son.

Are we done here? Keke.

　The father and son do not know what happened.
　As I was shaking, something else appeared above me.

Did the monsters move in here? Because they're not moving at all?

I guess so.

　A man and woman scream over something that looks like a four-legged beast with wings.
　The giant wolf bows to the hexenbiest in the sky, and a woman dressed in white also rides the hexenbiest and runs away again.


"The village is no better.

...... Yeah, right.

　Saying that, Allen brings down the bird B summoner to the father and son.
　Then he calls out to what seems to be the father.

Good evening. Are all three of you safe?

"Oh, oh, we're safe?

　Calm the father and child.
　Move to an open area some distance away from here and wait for a while, and then Tam-Tam "Maud Eagle" will come to you.
　Once inside, you'll find many saved villagers, travelers, and priests.
　I put them on Tam-Tam and took them to the city of Neil for refuge.

　Three days have passed since Allen and the others came to the city of Neil.
　The advance of the evil spirits and giant monsters that had spread from Theomenia, the capital of the Elmar religion, was largely eradicated, including a small village.
　I put the rescued people on my Tam-Tam and moved them to the city of Neil.

　I sowed golden beans in the rescued villages and towns, set up wards to keep the monsters away, and used savory vegetables to keep the rescued people from becoming evil spirits.
　So far, it seems that the people who use them have not become evildoers.
　In the city of Neal, they have quarantined the people who used them to a corner.
　There are too many people to fit in the jail, and there seems to be close to five thousand of them.
　I'm offering a corner of the city to ex-paganists.

　There's a reason for the quarantine.
　Apparently, if you are bitten by an evil person, you become an evil person.
　This is reminiscent of a zombie movie I once saw in a previous life where the bite lasted one day.

　One day is also vague information, and based on the stories of the priests and villagers who rescued him during the three days, I'm trying to figure out if that's how long he's been infected.

　In addition, if you use flavored vegetables, there is no problem because they prevent you from going crazy for 24 hours, but since human lives are at stake, it would be difficult to verify this.
　As a result, it may take some time for the situation to be resolved before we find out that it was effective.

　A few hours later, I arrived in the city of Neal, including the family I had forced into the car, even though they were shaking.

Thank you for your help. Mr. Keel.

No, it's the cooperation of everyone.

　Priest Nicolai is the first to thank Keel.
　He has been called a saint so many times that when he refers to his talents as "the Holy King," he is surprised at the birth of the Holy King for the first time in more than 100 years.
　Even though he says it's not that surprising since the job change program will start soon, Priest Nikolai doesn't change the way he treats Keel after seeing his fighting style.

　After finishing their meal in the cafeteria in Neil's town, Allen and his friends walked into a conference room that they borrowed from the priest.

Allen, does this mean that the salvation of the town and village is almost complete?

"Yes. Cecil. It's just that it's taken so long to save people.

　It took a long time to eradicate the evildoers who moved out of the church capital Theomenia.
　Some move desperately, some stay in place, and some suddenly start moving.
　It would be nice if they moved like an army, but they seem to be acting in a random manner.
　What does the demon king's army want to do by creating such a thing?

　In the meantime, Keel is thinking as if he were contemplating something.

"Keel. It's important to think of the dead, but something like this has always happened.

"I don't know how to break it up like Allen.

　Keel stares at the table and speaks.

(Yes, it's happened all along.)

　Kiel says so, but Allen thinks it's not the first time.



　Last year, Rosenheim had a massacre of three million people.
　It is said that nearly half of them were eaten by the hungry monsters of the Demon King's army.

　In the northern part of the Central Continent, clashes between the Demon King's army and the Five Continents Alliance have been occurring almost every year since Allen was born.
　The Alliance's death toll exceeds 100,000 every year.
　It is said that even after three years of military service, the death rate is about 30%.
　Before Helmios the Brave appeared, the death toll had reached 50 percent.

　Even though Aren is distributing blessings and sending out summons to support them, it's not as if all of the soldiers are safe.
　If an A-ranked dragon line goes to the front line of the fortress, there are many soldiers who will die instantly, as the blessings of heaven are useless.

　All these years, the threat of the demon king's army has been tormenting the people.

(That's because the strength of demonic beasts has risen a notch since the Great Disaster)

　It's said that after the great evil done by the Demon King, these hexenbiests have gained one rank higher in power.
　People are now under threat from these monsters.
　I'm talking about how many lives have been taken by these monsters.

Even so, we can only save those we can, and we can't do anything about those we can't. We're not all-powerful.

"Oh, yeah.

　Allen says as he looks at Kiel, but his friends seem to be just as inconsolable.

"Merus. So you're telling me there are no survivors.

　Summon Melus and check on Theomenia.
　Note that there are no priests here, including Priest Nikolai.
　It would be troublesome to find out that Merus, the first angel, is here.
　That's why I've been told not to summon him in front of the priest.
　Unless you have to take the word of the phenomenal authority of the past, Merus, and make him listen to instructions, the priests will basically cooperate if Keel says something. 　
　That's why the priests don't know that Merus is here.

　He was killed by the demon gods in Theomenia.
　There's some kind of altar in Theomenia's temple, and a demon god is guarding it.

That's right. All have been killed. I tried to find this Shea or something like that, but I couldn't find it.

　It seems that Princess Shea is not there.

"Priestess Nikolai was right.

　I didn't come to help Princess Shea alone.
　However, Prince Zeu asked me to send his regards as well, so I looked for her, but I heard from Priest Nikolai that she is not in Theomenia to begin with.
　I heard that he left Theomenia because he had business to attend to, saying he had no interest in watching the execution of his captors.

　I'm concerned that it's not the evil fathers who guard the altar, but the demon gods.
　It wasn't the name of some evil guru named Gushala something that Merus fought.

We have to kill that demon and save Theomenia!

　Crenna clasped her hands together, snorted and snorted enthusiastically.

Yeah, yeah.

　Allen thinks that Krena always shows us an important purpose when she's deep in thought.

Okay, tomorrow we'll hunt the genie. Let's go out with a bang!

""Oh!"

　The companions speak up.

　As long as the current situation continues, Aren's group will fall behind the Demon King's army.
　You will be able to find out what the demon king's army wants to do in this battle, and call out to everyone to take a rest, hoping that the battle will give them a head start.