CH 451

Originally, the Edina Archipelago was a remote island nation, detached from the regular warp gate system that spanned the entire continent.

Although there were small warp gates connecting the islands of the archipelago, they did not reach the mainland.

Due to the nature of gate disasters, which produced larger and more dangerous monsters as the size of the gate increased, the scale of gate disasters in the region was inevitably smaller than in other areas.

But that was only a relative comparison.

Grrrrr

They could handle monsters with a familiar appearance, like small wild dogs.

Skreeee

However, there were also bizarre creatures with dozens of arms, each with dozens of eyes attached.

Just looking at these monsters was enough to evoke a dreadful feeling, and with their dozens of arms, they would kill every person they touched, forcing not only ordinary people but also soldiers to flee in panic.

They were grotesque in appearance.

When such monsters began pouring out of the warp gates, people, soldiers and civilians alike, had no choice but to run.

In an instant, the area around the warp gate became a bloody battlefield, and fire-breathing monsters set buildings ablaze. The main port city of Lazak in the Edina Archipelago was filled with chaos and screams.

Thud! Thump!

"What on earth...!"

Succubus Queen Airi, gritting her teeth, impaled and killed the monsters with an iron spear, and then gazed at the still-swarming, ever-increasing horde of creatures.

Since there was no reason for her to have a weapon, the iron spear she held was taken from a dead guard.

Due to the nature of the demon race, where numerous species lived together, Airi had seen many magical creatures and beasts.

However, the monsters appearing now were a mix of creatures resembling current magical beasts and other beings so bizarre they could hardly be considered living.

The guards had already lost their morale, faced with monsters that were terrifying in their very existence.

Airi, who had lost her horn but had combat experience, along with other succubi under her command, were somehow managing to fight the invading monsters, maintaining their sanity.

Airi, the boss and employees of Angel Capital, who had been accused of sucking people's blood through their loan shark business, were the only ones holding weapons and keeping their wits about them in this situation, where even the guards were fleeing.

Airi's grand temple-like Angel Capital had become a temporary shelter for people who couldn't find anywhere else to escape.

People hid behind the succubi and watched as the pink-haired loan shark boss impaled monsters with her iron spear, beat them to death, and even tore them apart with her bare hands.

Airi...?

She's that good at fighting...?

She's like a monster...

Many people huddled inside the entrance of Angel Capital, watching the scene of Airi somehow killing the monsters that even the guards had fled from in fear.

Airi's physical abilities were incomparable to those of an ordinary person, even with her broken horn.

In the midst of this sudden disaster, she found herself in the position of defending her customers and long-term prey on the Edina Archipelago.

The unexpected calamity.

Rumble

As burning buildings collapsed and fleeing people were crushed to death under the debris, Airi watched with a pale face.

"What are the soldiers doing?"

Airi muttered nervously, but she too was feeling sickened just by looking at the monsters.

The Edina Archipelago was a backwater among backwaters.

In the original work, the person of interest, Airi, reflects on the events happening on the island and struggles with her feelings about humanity. 

Those who were highly skilled or exceptionally talented would harbor great dreams and set sail for the continent.

It wasn't that those left on the island were necessarily inferior, but it was difficult to expect them to grit their teeth and protect the people in the face of sudden calamity.

How many soldiers could there be on this small archipelago? How many knights, and among them, how many could do Magic Body Strengthening? How many mages could there be?

If there was someone capable of Magic Body Strengthening, they would be considered the archipelago's elite, and if they were young with that ability, they would have gone to the continent with even greater dreams.

Airi did not know where this situation had begun.

They had only heard from the fleeing people that monsters were emerging from the warp gate.

Was this disaster only happening in Lazak? Was it only happening on the archipelago? Or was it encompassing the entire continent?

No one would know unless they heard directly from the Demon King.

"Ugh!"

Airi pierced the mouth of a charging two-headed bear with her spear and swiftly killed another with the longsword at her waist, impaling its skull. She breathed heavily.

"Ha... Ha..."

There was no telling how long the monsters would keep pouring in.

As they saw the crowded corpses on the streets and the spectacle of more being added, Airi pulled the iron spear from the bear-shaped monster's corpse.

She despised humans.

She wished for humanity's demise.

Grrr!

However, when a giant lizard that nearly filled the alley whipped its tail and sent people flying, Airi's eyes widened.

Humans were hateful.

In the long run, she wished for humanity's extinction.

But was it right for something like this to happen?

Not because of war or any identifiable reason, but due to an inexplicable disaster.

Ordinary civilians, who had never known strife in their lives.

Should they die like this, as if they were worth less than garbage?

Although she lived a life of squeezing money out of people, Airi couldn't help but realize that there were also lovable beings among humans.

Some people squandered their family fortune in a single night of gambling, while others used borrowed money from the Capital, not to form a fleet, but to indulge in money games.

Someone even confessed they couldn't repay the borrowed money and genuinely offered their ship as compensation.

But she had also seen those who desperately needed money, yet the amount they needed was too trivial.

Airi had seen those too poor to become her clients.

She had seen a boy begging for a loan of just a few silver coins, promising to repay it once he grew up, so his sick mother could receive treatment.

She had seen young children scavenging for food because their siblings were starving at home.

Countless sailors had gone hungry due to a lack of money for even a single meal.

It wasn't out of pity.

The triviality was just too trivial.

Airi had lent a few silver coins to them with a playful remark to repay it someday.

It definitely happened.

And She had seen such trivial debts genuinely repaid a few days later.

With a bright smile, the debtor would confidently knock on Angel Capital's door and hand over twice the borrowed amount, saying they wanted to repay it as an adult, but they would do it now.

Airi found the little children so adorable that she couldn't help but hug them tightly.

Even though she thought humans shouldn't be treated this way.

It was just a small concession.

To someone like Airi, who handles an immense amount of money, this was but a trivial matter.

No.

One never knows when the public perception of being a money-obsessed demon and leading a group of money-crazed people could turn into a spear that stabs oneself.

With that in mind, as a public relations and political endeavor, she began a no-interest loan business for starving children and families who had lost their fathers to storms.

Though it was called a loan, Airi had no intention of ever getting the money back, making it, in essence, a donation. Lending money to those without the means to repay was, if not for tightening their noose, akin to charity.

To the adults of Lazak, Airi was a demon.

To the children, Airi was an angel.

According to the name of the firm she established with malicious intent, Angel Capital, Airi was a devil to some, and an angel to others.

It was a small and insignificant struggle.

Such children were dying in the streets, in such a pitiful manner.

Thump! Squish!

With short screams, they were crushed, torn apart, and shattered.

"Ah... Ahh..."

If I were to leave my spot, the people and employees behind me, and those in the refuge, even the children, would all die.

I couldn't leave my position to prepare for this situation.

So, all Airi could do was watch with wide eyes as the small, struggling bodies died.

Airi experienced what felt like tears of blood only once in her life.

When the Demon World fell and she was bound in chains, dragged away by humans.

When she felt that everything had crumbled, just once.

And now.

Airi was not a demon, but a human, feeling what it was like to have tears of blood as she watched human children die.

Monsters were pouring into the streets.

There were small, dog-sized creatures, but there were also unmistakably massive, lizard-like monsters crossing the streets and approaching.

Her broken horn had always brought her pain.

But never like today.

Never had her broken horn felt so painful.

If only she had power.

If only she had power.

“Sister!”

If she could run to the child who was desperately calling her from the streets, she could protect him from the enormous lizard.

She wouldn't have had to turn away from the boy who once needed money for his mother's medicine.

No.

She couldn't turn away.

"Boss!"

"You can't go!"

Airi, having lost her reason, jumped down the stairs and ran towards the boy.

After the fall of the Demon World, Airi lived to destroy something.

But the power she sought to destroy something, one of the rules that made up society, capital, in this situation,

At this point, when the foundation of society was collapsing,

In this situation where all rules were breaking down,

With capital, a power based on rules, she couldn't protect anything.

No matter how much capital she had, she couldn't overcome the violence before her eyes.

Only with her body.

Only with action.

She could destroy something or protect something.

Airi ran with her body, roughly embracing the boy running in the street with her left arm.

"Sister! Sister... Sob, sob!"

"Sister will... Sister will protect you..."

As she held the boy, Airi saw the giant lizard open its mouth wide.

The iron spear in Airi's right hand was shorter than the monster's mouth.

The moment she tried to stab it, she would be swallowed.

It was too late to back off.

Swallowed by an unknown monster while trying to protect a single, insignificant boy instead of destroying humanity.

This wasn't.

What Valier wanted.

Clutching the floating boy in her arms, Airi aimed her spear at the monster charging towards the window.

"Valier."

To her childhood friend who wasn't there.

To the boy she had accepted as her lord.

In the end, was she of no help at all?

"I'm sorry."

Just as she was about to hurl her spear with that thought in mind—

-Whack!

As if time had slowed down, Airi saw a girl with a braided head of hair appear before her eyes.

The girl, who seemed to have shining blue tattoos all over her body, suddenly stretched her hands out in front of her.

-Screech!

-Growl!

The lizard, who had slammed its face into the blue barrier, let out a scream and retreated a few steps.

What was going on?

An unknown magician had appeared and saved her.

"Are you alright?"

Before she could answer the girl's question, Airi saw it.

Valier, in human form, diving down from the sky.

-Whoosh!

And precisely stabbing his divine sword, Alsbringer, into the lizard's head.

-Growl!

Then, the gem around Valier's neck glowed red, and the lizard was engulfed in flames and burned.

"Val...ier?"

Airi saw it.

The sudden appearance of Valier in human form was surprising, but only for a moment.

Airi had no choice but to witness an even more horrifying scene.

-Growl! Growl!

Suddenly, darkness rose in the sky, and lightning began to pour down.

-Flash! Flash!

Dozens of times per second.

-Rumble!

As if targeting the countless monsters in the streets, lightning bolts flashed and monsters were struck, falling or exploding.

"What is... happening...?"

The overflowing lightning in the streets seemed to sweep away the monsters, as if divine salvation had been sent down to face this incomprehensible disaster.

Turning her head, Airi saw a short-haired blonde girl emitting blue currents from her body.

-Boom!

And she heard the distant sound of a fierce explosion.

"It seems like Eleris took care of the gate."

After sheathing his sword, Valier walked towards Airi with the braided girl.

"Valier...? How did you...?"

"Let's talk once we clean up this mess."

Airi was bewildered, and the boy she had just saved was equally wide-eyed.

It was as if the world was collapsing, and an unknown person wielding lightning had completely neutralized the sudden disaster.

"Harriet, can you take care of rescuing the duchess for now? Do you remember her location?"

"Yes."

"Although the outskirts should be clear of monsters, it would be best to hurry. Liana and the Vampire Lords will handle things here."

"Understood."

As the girl called Harriet's blue tattoos activated again, she rapidly teleported away, with Airi watching in a daze.

Valier looked at Airi holding the boy in her arms.

Airi couldn't help but freeze under Valier's gaze.

Rebuilding the Demon World and taking revenge on mankind.

Hadn't she disqualified herself as Valier's subordinate by attempting to save a boy while cooperating with him?

He must be disappointed.

As Airi stood there, unable to do anything, Valier ruffled the boy's hair without a word.

As if it were fortunate that the boy was alive.

He didn't smile, and his expression remained neutral.

But it seemed like he had no complaints about the boy's survival or Airi's actions.

"There, can you see her?"

Valier pointed, and what she saw was a girl, still enveloped in a blue aura, summoning lightning.

"Huh? Oh..."

"She'll handle everything around here."

As if to say that she would take care of the places the girl couldn't see, Valier summoned the Alsbringer in his right hand.

-Swish!

As Valier looked towards the monsters pouring into the alley, a burst of flames engulfed them, incinerating them in an instant.

-Gasp!

-Growl!

Somewhere in a distant alley, they could also see a holy light flashing.

"Let's talk later. I need to go."

"Uh, uh-huh..."

As Valier dashed and disappeared into the distance, Airi hugged the trembling boy, and they both collapsed onto the ground.

"Sis... Are we... Are we saved?"

As the terrified boy hugged her own neck, Airi, her face pale, carefully patted his back.

"Yeah... It seems so..."

It was hard enough to comprehend Valier's sudden appearance.

He didn't come alone; he brought with him a group of people capable of resolving the situation.