Chapter 406 Something's Not Right
"Are you alright?"
I turned to Goddess Zeta, who was kneeling on the ground, panting hard, with her nose dripping with blood. As if irritated by my question, she turned her head, glaring at my face, and asked back.
"Do I look alright to you?"
"..."
Well, she ended up using all her energy, so she's technically not fine at all. I bet she can't even stand back up without someone's help.
Ember, who was her disciple, quickly came to her side, supporting her while walking toward Goddess Blanc for healing. I, on the other hand, began to think.
Thousands of god-level demons. That's not a normal event, no matter how you look at it. Even from Ember's satellite, she deemed that the maximum number of demons present around the globe should be roughly 10,000. Having a tenth of them concentrated in one place is an anomaly, without a doubt.
"... Anyway, we completed the task of collecting the Essence Crystals, so all we need to do is collect all of them and return!"
Thinking about the reason could come later. First, we should finish our task and speak with Azrael!
After that, the army wiped out the rest of the demons within the next few minutes. Collecting the god-level essence crystals took a bit longer since they were spread far and wide, given that the few thousand demons were about 50 kilometers away from our current position.
After roughly half an hour, no more god-level demons approached us, and we had already collected about 1,500 essence crystals. With this many on hand, Zeshion and the others wouldn't even need to touch their stowed god-level essence crystals!
"Well then..."
Just as I was about to order the army to return, a large energy fluctuation appeared right above our heads. I turned to look up, seeing a figure appearing from a gigantic red crack in space.
"...!"
That figure, that gaze, this familiar pressure as if forcing everyone to obey her every word! There's no mistaking it; that one is...!
"Namia?!"
She was the Succubus Lord Namia, the one closest to reaching beyond-god level among all my acquaintances.
"What are you doing here? And how did your figure recover?"
She should've been turned into a little girl, but she was now sporting her bombastic figure just as she had in the past!
"That's because the one who made me stay in that form died already. Rather than that, I have important news to pass on to you."
"To me?"
I wonder what it was?
"I'm not the one who wanted to send the warning to you but her, so just listen closely, as I'm not going to repeat what I said. The Otherside is currently suffering under an anomaly."
Namia spoke straight, without pause, as if she said nothing special. Everyone also didn't notice the urgency of her "warning" from that alone.
"Right now, due to the gatekeeper missing, the demons there began to rapidly gain strength. You must've experienced it already, right? God-level demons coming in droves."
"...!"
That... was literally what our situation was a few minutes ago! So it was due to this "anomaly"?
"What exactly is this anomaly you're talking about?"
When I tried to ask for clarification, Namia glared at me, filled with killing intent.
"I said to listen, not to interrupt me while speaking."
"..."
"Anyway, even we have no idea of the exact reason for this anomaly. One thing for sure is that the absence of the gatekeeper has a part in this."
The gatekeeper was, without a doubt, referring to Azrael. It looks like his carelessness caused some irreversible chain reaction, causing the situation to fall into a negative spiral.
But could the absence of a single individual really cause all of this? Even he himself predicted the possibility of demons becoming stronger as the old god-level demons crossed the gate. However, he never mentioned literally thousands of them rushing out in droves.
"I don't know where the gatekeeper went, but if you see it, tell it to return as fast as possible. Or else, given a week or so, millions of god-level demons would overflow into the upper world."
"..."
"..."
"... Is that all of it?"
Seeing that she stayed silent for a while, I finally opened my mouth to ask. Namia showed a completely unwilling expression before answering.
"Yes, that's all. And I'm not taking any questions."
After she said that, before I could even try and stop her, she returned to the crack in space and vanished. She left as suddenly as she appeared!
Anyway, she must've told us all the information she could share. I'm not sure if she's purposefully withholding information, but even if she was, we have no way of knowing.
"What do you think, everyone?"
I turned around, facing the four god tamers who were quietly listening to the conversation. The first one to speak was God Zeshion, a hand massaging the back of his neck as he mumbled.
"Well, no matter what the cause of that anomaly is, letting it continue would be disastrous for our world. With just our strength, even with the destructive bombardments you've fired several times earlier, there's no way we can face off millions of god-level demons."
Right. The Orbital Bombardment was only effective as a surprise attack. Once the enemy is aware of its danger, they will surely move out of the kill radius and put up defenses to neutralize the attack.
"Rather than wracking our brains here thinking with incomplete information, we should just meet up with that stupid, beyond-
god-level being."
Ajax added as he spat to the ground, hands inside his pockets.
"I hate to admit it, but I agree with Ajax on that front."
Even Vermeil supported his suggestion.
Goddess Blanc seemed to be neutral, so she stayed silent. With that out of the way, we decided to just return first. But...
"... How do we return?"
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