Looking more closely, it wasn’t only the gods of Olympus.
Cronos and the Titans were there too.
Grid landed in front of Su-ho, who stood among that countless host of gods.
“Partner, these people are...”
“Say hello. They’re the native gods of my world, the ones who’ll be helping with the East-West War this time. Gods from Greek mythology. And since they’re native gods, they’re all Demi-Constellation-level figures.”
Grid was stunned.
Because he had seen every one of them before through Su-ho’s eyes.
He had especially heard that Cronos’s side and Zeus’s side were sworn enemies, so how were they all standing together like this?
“I’ll explain the details slowly once we get to the Demon Realm. Just move us first. We’ve got a lot to do once we get there.”
“You’re the one who only showed up with two days left, and now you’re acting like you’re so busy?”
“Even two days is being generous. Personally, I think one day would be enough.”
“Hah... Fine. Understood.”
Grid snapped his fingers.
A portal leading to the Demon Realm opened, and everyone followed Su-ho into it.
[You are being transported.]
After the brief notification appeared, what spread out before them was Phaidiak, the enormous barrier that split the continent of the Demon Realm in two.
“Everyone, follow me.”
Su-ho mounted Cheolma and rose into the air, and the other gods flew up with him.
Eventually, once the entire continent of the Demon Realm came fully into view, Su-ho pointed down at the land below and spoke.
“That’s the Western Demon Realm I told you about. And that orange barrier over there is the Phaidiak I mentioned. The day after tomorrow, the Phaidiak will come down, and all the people of the Western Demon Realm will come pouring in at once. Like I said before, I want to change this battlefield itself into something favorable for us.”
At those words, Cronos nodded.
“So what you mean is that you want us to reshape the terrain with our power? Create a canyon over there?”
“Yeah. Make it so there’s only one path through.”
That was exactly it.
Su-ho intended to reshape the terrain at this place, known as the waist of the continent, however he pleased.
Specifically, into the form of a canyon with only a single route through it.
That way, they would only need to guard one passage while dealing with the people of the Western Demon Realm.
The first one to hear about this plan had been Jack.
The moment he heard it, Jack had called it ridiculous, but after seeing the number of Demi-Constellation-level figures gathered here, even he began to think it might actually be possible.
Cronos continued.
“As I said before, it’s not impossible. But across all the worlds, you’re probably the only one who’d try to use us like this.”
“That’s why I asked you. It’s something I can’t do alone, but something you can accomplish. Right?”
As he finished speaking, Su-ho looked at Zeus.
Zeus nodded as well.
“That’s right. If it were only you, it would be absolutely impossible. Of course, it would also be absolutely impossible for me alone. But if all of us combine our strength, then changing the terrain on this scale is more than possible.”
“Good. Then shall we start right away? You need to shape the terrain the way I showed you before. That part’s really important.”
“Understood.”
Zeus and Cronos nodded.
Then they spread out in opposite directions, and the gods of each camp also scattered in every direction after Zeus and Cronos.
Watching the gods disperse, Grid asked in a flustered voice,
“Partner, what do you mean by changing the terrain?”
“Exactly what you heard. From here on out, we’re going to reshape the entire waist of the Demon Realm continent. More precisely, I’m planning to turn the entire front boundary of Phaidiak into a gigantic wall.”
“A wall? The whole terrain? No matter how pinched the continent’s waist is like an hourglass, if you actually measure the length, it should still be enormous.”
“Come on now, why are you deciding it’s impossible before even trying? You may not have had one in your world, but mine had something similar. A wall like this.”
“You did? What was it called?”
“The Great Wall.”
“The Great Wall?”
“There was a massive wall, very long and very large, around ten thousand ri in length. Though its actual length wasn’t ten thousand ri, or 4,000 kilometers—it was closer to 6,500 kilometers, so really it was more like a fifteen-thousand-ri wall... but anyway, it existed. Not anymore, but it did.”
“What kind of nonsense is that...?”
And yet, astonishingly enough, the Great Wall really had existed. After passing through two Great Cataclysms, though, far more of it had been destroyed than remained, so it was now practically gone.
That was what had inspired Su-ho.
“Anyway, if you mobilized people, it’d be work that might take years. But if you use Demi-Constellation-level gods, that’s a different story. These are people who casually split seas, call down lightning from the sky, and cleave the earth apart. Not one or two of them either, but dozens swarming together to do construction work. Two days? Forget two days. One day would do it.”
It was then.
Rummmmble—!
No sooner had he finished speaking than seismic changes began.
Having taken positions on both sides, they simultaneously raised their divine power, causing upheavals in the earth as they dug the ground and raised mountains according to the design Su-ho had described.
It was a magnificent sight.
The solid earth, which had looked utterly immovable, began to ripple like water. The crust, flowing like a current, soon surged into towering waves like seawater crashing against a cliff, then hardened in place with the waist bent inward just as intended.
Pointing at the masses of earth that had shot high into the air and hardened just before falling, Su-ho said,
“See? If you don’t just raise it high, but curl the top like that, won’t they give up on even trying to climb the cliff?”
And it really was just as he said.
No matter how many troops tried to flood in, the top wasn’t flat but bent inward upside down, so from the front there was simply no visible way to climb it.
“And if we build the wall all along the entire waistline, then leave only one path open in the center like a canyon, they’ll all have no choice but to come through here.”
“That may be true, but do you really need to leave a path at all? If the goal is to block them like a defensive siege, wouldn’t it be better to just turn the whole thing into a wall?”
“Oh, my dim-witted Demon King friend. Our goal isn’t defense—it’s annihilation. This isn’t a defensive siege where we have to protect a castle. In the end, this is an extermination battle where we have to wipe out every last enemy. If we do it this way, we still leave a space for close-quarters combat, which means we can actually kill them. Sure, like you said, we could just wall the whole thing off and send me in alone to rampage across the battlefield. But is that really as easy as it sounds? Do I have infinite stamina? Of course my soldiers aren’t exactly few either, but no matter what, they’re not infinite.”
The number of people from the Western Demon Realm who would invade in the East-West War would be far greater than Su-ho’s Black Army, no matter how low the estimate.
And on top of that, since this was not a defensive battle where they merely had to hold their ground, but an extermination battle where every enemy had to die, close-quarters combat wasn’t optional. It was mandatory.
That was why they were sealing off every other route and leaving only a single safe opening where they could fight hand to hand without enemies spilling elsewhere.
And among all possible forms, the canyon was the most advantageous terrain for that purpose.
As he listened, Grid found himself nodding without realizing it.
But even after hearing the explanation, the plan still looked full of holes to him.
“Fine. Let’s say, like you said, you leave only one route open and funnel them all here. And let’s say you curl the top of the wall so it’s hard to climb by physical means. But even so, if you just shape the terrain like that without posting anyone to guard it, do you really think they won’t try to climb the wall? Those Western Demon Realm brutes may be mindless barbarians, but if the passage is too narrow, won’t they try to break through somewhere else and spill over like a flood?”
“That’s a good point. Of course they’ll try. No matter how many drain holes you make, if too much water pours in, the container will overflow. And among the people of the Western Demon Realm, there’ll probably be some who can dig through the ground or smash cliffs apart.”
“And you know that, yet this is the plan you came up with?”
“Hey now! I’m not done yet. Why are you in such a hurry? Don’t you see they’ve only just started digging? And besides, you should hear a person out to the end before judging!”
It was then.
Rummmmmmble—!
The construction of the wall, shaped like a crashing wave, came to an end.
It was majestic.
The natural wall the gods had raised together was so high and so twisted in shape that even a giant would have a hard time climbing it.
But that wasn’t the end.
The moment the wall was complete, another upheaval began.
This time, it happened in front of the finished wall.
At first it seemed as if the ground were splitting apart, but then, like before, the earth turned fluid—and this time it sank inward.
No, it did more than sink inward. It formed a deep trench.
Like the groove left by a giant ball rolling across the earth, it was broad and deep, and it kept extending farther and farther until it began carving a channel all along the length of the massive wall.
The groove stretched endlessly, and the channels begun from both sides finally met at the canyon in the center.
Because of that, even the route that had connected Phaidiak to the canyon was severed.
Seeing it, Grid furrowed his brow and tilted his head.
“I thought you said the plan was to secure an opening only at the canyon and fight them there in close combat?”
“Watch to the end.”
It was just after the carved groove hardened into solid earth.
Rummmmble—!
The ground shook once more.
What was it this time?
What were they digging now? What were they raising?
But, almost absurdly, every one of Grid’s guesses missed the mark.
This time, the vibration wasn’t reshaping the crust.
“...!!”
Grid’s eyes widened as he watched.
This vibration was water.
An enormous volume of water—so much that it was impossible to tell where it had all come from—began surging up wildly from beneath the carved-out trench.
The groove they had carved was, in fact, a waterway.
Watching the trench fill with the rising torrent, Su-ho grinned.
“Well?”
“This is insane...”
Grid exclaimed without meaning to.
As if the towering cliff-like wall weren’t enough, now a gigantic river ran before it, so vast that it looked as though you would need a boat just to cross it.
At this scale, even those barbaric people of the Western Demon Realm wouldn’t be able to cross it easily.
Soon after, a smaller tremor ran through the earth.
This one came from the entrance to the canyon. Over the waterway between the canyon and Phaidiak, a long bridge began to form.
Of course, the bridge wasn’t very wide.
Of course, it wasn’t absurdly narrow either.
It was just wide enough for soldiers to come across.
But if dozens upon dozens of soldiers tried to rush in like a flood, it was exactly the kind of width where, with no guardrails, they’d helplessly tumble into the river.
At last, it was complete.
When all the rumbling finally stopped, Su-ho turned to Grid with a proud expression.
“So? What do you think of the natural fortress for the East-West War that I designed myself?”
“...”
Grid was so shocked that for a moment, no words came out.
To be honest, earthworks on this scale were something that would have been absolutely impossible even if all the people of the Eastern Demon Realm and all Six Great Demons had pooled their strength.
But Earth’s native gods had done it.
Grid, who had been standing there with his mouth hanging open enough for a fly to go in, finally managed to shut it and admit it.
“I was shortsighted. If it’s this much, then the ground battle is truly prepared perfectly. But...”
“But?”
“What are you planning to do about the ones who invade through the air?”
“Oh, the air? You don’t need to worry about that even more.”
“I don’t need to worry?”
“With wardens flying around so well like that, what is there to worry about?”
“Wardens?”
Su-ho pointed at the wardens with his finger.
At the tip of the finger Su-ho pointed with, the Greek gods who had just finished the earthworks were floating in the air.
Su-ho smiled.
“They’re right there. The wardens in charge of aerial combat.”
Comments