Leading them into the underground city, Rose brought Haruki and his companions to the only citizens left alive in the city. Walking through the dusty path, they reached a row of cells holding the Silver Storms and the other adventurer's party inside them.
"Nobody else survived, I was lucky my son teleported me away before the warlock could get me too," Rose's eyes fixed on the prisoner were devoid of all emotions. Consumed by the memory of their battle, she couldn't help feeling a bit distracted.
"So the land of warrior title really was just a title and nothing else," feeling insulted that he once lived on Arian land, Haruki reached for all three gates with phantom hands and crushed their locks to free the adventurers.
'There's three more cities in Aria, we stop him between these places. If he leaves Aria, then knowing where he went Laria or Daria would be an absolute nightmare.' Given how the demon lord was able to sneak his army through the forests, assuming he had some sort of obscuring ability was the first thing Haruki had done.
"Come out!" Throwing the locks away, he ordered them to get out from the moldy walls of the prison cell.
Their minds were under severe hypnosis and Misha, they straggled like zombies as they came out one after the other. With a single snap of his fingers, Haruki undid the hypnosis and brought them somewhat back to their senses.
"Wh-what?"
"Where the fuck?"
Many such questions echoed out of their lips, but having turned into demonic servants they still couldn't go against Haruki's will. Without a second thought, Haruki opened up dungeon pockets under them so he could bring them out whenever he needed to.
"What about the rest of the prisoners?" Asked Rose, expecting Haruki to put them into a portal as well.
"Burn them. They're useless, just like the city guards were," betraying expectations, he turned around to head back over to the surface.
While making his way up the ruined stairs, a cacophony of screams echoes behind him. But paying the burning prisoners no heed, he simply walked out of the underground dungeon. Once back over at the surface, he gazed about at the state of the crumbling city, still up in flames and rattling with the falling debris from all the buildings. Even the air smelled of ash, and the wind filling up his lungs was burning him from the inside.
"We need a plan," he mumbled, slowly moving over to the city's main path. "What could defeat a demon lord who's already dead, and has an army that rises every time it falls."
From everything he'd learned from Rose about Almuld, he felt certain that facing him head-on would be akin to suicide. And so, racking his mind for a plan, he kept walking down the burning path.
'I need to warn everyone back at Lamenia about this too.' Making a mental note about it, he continued his search for an answer. 'If only I had those records from the Library of Heroes, everything would've been far easier.'
However, running low on time, he didn't have the luxury to go back into Lamenia and try to search for the library. As he continued to walk, Rose came out of the basement and watched Riley and Asuka following behind Haruki from a slight distance.
"What is he doing?" She thought before swiftly flying right beside him.
Setting her feet back on the land, she turned to Haruki as he'd stopped to face her as well.
"What's your plan?" She asked, not wasting a single second.
"I have one idea," he muttered, sounding a bit dreamy. "But I doubt you'd like the plan."
Looking at her with half-closed eyes, he returned her a sharp gaze, The confidence in his eyes was apparent, and it was the only reason Rose even felt inclined to agree to whatever he had planned for this war they were facing.
"Tell me, and we'll see if I like it or not," with those words from her, Haruki began explaining the hasty plan he'd come up with on the spot, and even though it had many problems, everyone around him was forced to agree because of a lack of a better alternative.
'This is insane.' Thought Rose.
'I don't want to doubt master, but will this work?' Even Asuka was brought to question her master's plan.
"This might just be crazy enough to work," the only one somewhat confident was Riley, and given her recently murderous drills, Haruki felt assured in his plan by her approval.
Clasping his hands with a loud clap, Haruki took a deep breath and looked around at all three of them.
"It's time to bring the spear down on the king of wraths or whoever that fucker is," not knowing why his kingdom was being attacked was infuriating beyond belief. It not only made him angry but incurred a visceral reaction that made him wanna tear that bastard apart.
"I'll teleport to the next city before he gets there then," spreading her wings wide open, Rose closed her eyes and a ripple of flames burned her clothes and turned them into her armor instead. "But if I die because of your stupid plan, make sure to revive me back with my memories, I don't want to lose my children again."
Gently nodding at her demands, Haruki attached a demonic spy to her body before the pillar of light teleported her away. With the dragoness now gone, he turned to the other two to carry out the rest of their insane plan.
"Master…Are you sure destroying Aria, even though we worked so hard to capture it, is the right thing to do?" Still a bit skeptical of his plan, Asuka couldn't help but question it.
"It's a gamble, but if the price of not taking it is losing the rest of the kingdom as well, then I'd rather take the chance than sit around doing nothing," saying that he quickly shifted his attention to Riley. "Rose will be teleporting you back to Daria soon, go and gather my monster army and make sure Fay and the children are safe."
'We're placing a lot on the line, and even if this plan works our identity as a demonic kingdom won't be a secret to the world anymore.' Gulping the angst from the thought, Haruki reminded himself why he was even doing all this. His revenge was far from over, and Marquis was a single pebble on his path. 'Before the emperor, the royals, and even the army, I guess I have to deal with this demon who has taken this mysterious grudge against my kingdom.'
Not long after that interaction, Riley was teleported away to gather the goblins, the spider, and even the minotaur soldier that the goblin queen had subdued under her heels. As for Haruki and Asuka, they had something else to do before meeting back up with the rest.
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