Chapter 401 The Angel's Request
"Everyone, stay on guard! We got a beyond-god-level angel incoming!"
As soon as I raised my voice, everyone turned to where I was looking and noticed it too.
"D*mn! Are we going to fight that thing?!"
Ajax immediately cursed, seeing the powerful being approaching us. After all, he wasn't present during the angel's first appearance.
"What the hell... such a powerful being really exists?"
He muttered in awe.
Azrael, as if seeing us from far away despite our small size, went in a straight line. He flew directly to where we were and slowly came to a stop.
[Human who released me from my seal, sorry about this, but can I ask something of you?]
When I heard him talk in a peaceful tone, I heaved a sigh of relief. At least, it doesn't seem like he's come here to perform a massacre.
"A request? If it's something within my capabilities, then sure!"
If it's something like watching over the planet to not let another "Empire" come to being, then that's a simple one. As I waited for the angel's response, I could feel weird gazes coming from behind me.
"..."
Everyone seemed to be staring at me. Did I do something wrong?
[Thank you. Actually, I forgot about the Otherside's defenses completely, and, just as I expected, the god-level demons have escaped. Right now, there are two gates connected to the otherside, so that means there are two points where the Demons are coming out of.]
"..."
I just nodded my head, showing that I was still listening. Still, as expected, the gate that that idiotic prince brought out wasn't the gate we exited from. Well, seeing that it was sealed and all as it appeared, I already guessed anyway.
[And since I left the gate's premises for over 24 hours, I now completely lost my connection with it...]
"... In short?"
I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this. I thought this angel was a responsible, hard-working one, but...
[... Now, I can no longer return to my post. I can no longer stop the demons from passing through the gate.]
"F*ck my life..."
I couldn't help but facepalm, trying to hold back the urge to curse at this dumb angel. Who the hell forgets there's a time limit to their absence, leaves, and gets kicked out of their one and only job?
"Ugh."
I felt a headache coming as I glanced at his sorry expression. Well, what's done is done, so we'll need to handle this mess either way.
"So...? what is it that you want from me? From us?"
Although my words were losing their respectful side, I can't just talk flatly against a beyond-god-level being. For now...
[Right. I need to return to heaven first to get God's permission to resume my post. For that, I would need two things: time and essence crystals.]
Time and essence crystals? I get the time, but what's the essence crystal for?
[To create the special magic array to summon the Path to Heaven, I would need about 1,000 God-level Essence crystals.]
"One thousand?!"
Isn't that a little too many zeroes there?! I don't think we can do that even if we hunt all the god-level demons currently on this entire planet!
"A thousand, huh?"
Zeshion suddenly interjected, walking to my side with a hand on his chin.
"Currently, I have a total of 277 god-level essence crystals. If we gather the surplus of the others, I think we can barely reach 500. Adding the few dozens we caught earlier, then that means we'll still need 400 or so god-level demons."
Zeshion nodded his head, his expression turning firm.
"To us, god-level essence crystals are precious too. What can we receive in return for helping you collect that many essence crystals?"
"...!"
What guts! He's trying to negotiate with a beyond-god-level being!
[...]
Azrael's face turned complicated, as if considering what to do with Zeshion's offer.
[Unfortunately, I have nothing to give you back in return. However, when I return to the Otherside, I can promise to give you the God-level essences I have collected over the course of a billion years.]
"When should we start?"
As expected, Zeshion didn't hesitate at all after hearing about the possible rewards. Essence crystals are collected for a long time. I'm not sure how many that would be, but assuming even one god-level every year, then that's a lot!
Even I became excited, thinking about receiving that many loots after this was all done.
[That's a relief. Then we should start as soon as possible. Now that all the god-level demons have left the Otherside for this place, the weaker demons will gain access to the resources they previously monopolized. Given a short time, the number of god-level demons would double, so we should hurry.]
"That sounds terrible..."
If such powerful demons doubled in number, then we'd probably be unable to handle them even if we worked together with all other kingdoms.
"So, to summarize, our task is to clear out the demons around and collect as many as 400 essence crystals?"
[Correct. That's the most help I could ask from all of you.]
I breathed out, letting the tension loosen from my shoulders. Actually, this works out quite perfectly for us too. If we're going to clear out god-level demons either way, then we can proceed with my previously botched plan: expanding the country's lands!
With the new defenses that Fatima and the Research Department developed, we can afford to expand our borders by almost double. The only reason we didn't was because we were practically surrounded by god-level demon areas, where swarms of them were present.
But now, we can clear a section of it and reclaim the land. Preferably the areas toward the old capital, since the presence of a city there means that the lands are fit for supporting livelihoods like farming and such.
After we were assigned the task by him, he went away, saying that he'd be preparing for the array's location. Where he was going or when he'd return, we have no idea.
"Alright, first, let's return to the castle and think this through!"
After all, we can't simply march onward, leaving the entire country defenseless. We need to keep a minimum of defensive personnel.
I turned to the south, in the direction where Ember and I flung the second gate.
"... Looks like we'll be busy for the next few days."
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