Chapter 421: Distribution Begins, and the Evil God Descends.
"It's hereeeeee—!"
The Mismede Beast King stood up abruptly and pumped his fist in the air while staring at the smartphone in his hand.
Most of the retainers around stared at him in shock with wide eyes, but Prime Minister Glatz, as well as a portion of the close retainers who have also received smartphones from Touya were also taking guts poses.
The Beast King immediately began downloading, but the few seconds until the app could be used was still unbearable to him.
With a trembling finger, he touched the icon of Touya's face which has finished downloading. The next moment, overwhelming power flowed out from his entire body.
"Oooooo! This is…!"
He jumped out to the palace's inner courtyard, and concentrated his magic power. It's fine, he can do it.
"[Fly]!"
The Beast King's body floated upwards gently, and began ascending.
"Flying! I'm flying! Wahahahaha!"
When he looked besides him, Prime Minister Glatz and some others were also flying. Or rather, the Beast King was slightly amazed at Glatz who should've been able to fly with his own
power as a member of the winged race. He probably just wanted to try the magic out. Well, the Beast King understands how he feels, though.
"[Storage]!"
From out of nowhere, he took out a sword. It's a clear and beautiful crystal sword.
This [Storage] is something like a shared warehouse prepared specifically for this app. Various weapons, armor, other tools, and even foodstuff are stocked inside. Apparently, who took out what is recorded on the side, so if anything was broken or lost they would ask for compensation later on.
"Glatz! I'll be off first!"
"Ah! Your Majesty!?"
Using [Fly], the Beast King flew towards the south. Once he activated his prided [Accel], his speed went up to unimaginable levels.
"This is great! The battlefield's here before I even knew it!"
On the plains in the south, the soldiers from the royal palace were in position to defend against the horde of variants pressing down upon them. Their numbers were twice as large.
The Beast King stopped in the air, activated [Speaker], and sent words of encouragement to the soldiers down below.
"Mismede's soldiers! Have no fear! Show those gold-plastered pieces of junk the strength of our country! I am here with you! Fight to your limits!"
Uooooooooooo! Hoisting their weapons to the sky, the soldiers raised yells in reply. The Beast King pointed his hand towards the soldiers and casted support magic.
"[O Wind be with thee, a blessed breeze, Tailwind], [O Light be with thee, an indented barricade, Skin Barrier]!"
Wind-attribute magic that raised one's speed and light-attribute magic that raised one's defense. With these, the battle should go more smoothly.
"Mismede Warrior Brigade, chargeeeeee!"
"OOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"
The battle began.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Haah!"
With one swing of his spear, the variant in front of him was bisected together with its core like tofu. As expected of a spear made from crystal materials. There's not a single chip on the edge.
The Regulus emperor felt his old bones fill with unbelievable vitality and strength.
Next, in order to test out his magic, he casted "that".
"[Slip]."
The variants that were charging towards him fell down in a line, and they were finished off by the Regulus knights in Frame Gears around. These Chevaliers were also things stored inside the shared [Storage].
"Your Majesty! It's dangerous! Please fall back!"
"Don't be foolish. What would I do falling back in a time like this? Touya-dono would laugh at me if he knew."
The Regulus emperor laughed towards the knights in the Chevaliers, and swung his spear once again. An ant-type variant had its core pierced through, and disappeared together with black smoke.
The emperor was someone who had experienced countless fights during his youth, driven by the flame of ambition. That flame had cooled together with age, but here, it seems to be heating up again.
"How fun! It's like I returned to when I was still young!"
Like a child, the Regulus emperor swung his spear repeatedly, and struck down variants one after another. Even while crossing the battlefield in his own flesh body, he did not feel any difficulties. Of course, that has a large part to do with his experience back in the day.
"O knights of Regulus! Follow me! Drive these bastards out of our empire!"
"OOOOOOOO! Long live the emperor!"
From within Regulus, the dull glow of variants disappeared quickly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Nya nya nya nyaa!"
The storm of thrusts unleashed by Nyantaro pierced through the core of the variant in front, destroying it. This is the last one. The variants that appeared here have all been defeated with this.
"Where's the next place-nya?"
While sheathing his crystal rapier, Nyantaro asked his fellow Cait Sith, Athos.
Athos, who has the characteristics of an American Shorthair, checked the map on the smartphone hanging from his neck with a string. He skillfully manipulated the smartphone with the meat pads on his paws.
"In the eastern region of the Roadmare Union, close to a village called Matatabia. There's around 10 variants appearing."
"That's a delicious-sounding village…" (Note: reminder that matatabi = silver vine.)
While peeking in on Athos' smartphone, the large-bodied Persian cat-like Porthos muttered.
"If it's around 10 then we're enough. Let's go then, gentlemen."
While exuding an aura of elegance, the Siamese cat-like Aramis drew his sword, upon which the others also drew theirs and pointed them towards the sky together.
""""One for all, all for one!""""
"[Teleport]! Nya!"
Using the null-attribute magic held by his master, Sakura, Nyantaro and the others moved to their next battlefield.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The variants were cut apart with the sharp claws, and with the large body, the scattered pieces are crushed together with the cores inside.
Led by Shirogane, who treated Touya as his master, the dragons living on Dracliff Island were currently repelling the variants that have appeared in Jiem Kingdom to the south.
"Destroy them without leaving anything behind. That is the order of our master, Touya-sama."
"Pi."
"Po."
"Pa."
When Shirogane, in his silver-haired young man form, swung his arm largely to the side, the three golem maids behind him, Ruby, Sappha and Emera, also imitated him and struck a pose.
"Gogaaaaaaaaa!"
Dragons clad in scales of many different colors clashed against the variants. While the fire breaths are directly absorbed, when the white dragons spewed out ice breaths, the ground gradually froze over, and the variants eventually became caught and unable to move from that.
The dragons used that opportunity to attack, and easily destroyed the variants with their claws and fangs, strengthened by Shirogane's support magic.
One of the variants condensed light particles in front of it and released a giant laser towards Shirogane.
"[Shield]."
Shirogane calmly deployed defensive magic in front of him. As long as it's not a particle cannon from an advanced-class, the [Shield] will not break so easily.
"As expected of Touya-sama's magic. It's splendid."
Gripping the smartphone in his hand, Shirogane praised his master. He felt immense joy at the fact that he was able to use this power in such a form.
The enemies of that master would be the enemies of him. Shirogane would not let a single one of the golden bugs in front of him escape.
"Exterminate them. Do not leave a single one."
"Pi."
"Po."
"Pa."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh oh oh. Everyone's sure going at it with a bang…"
"Wh… What the hell is this…!? The humans having this much power… You bastard, what did you do!?"
Well well, where has your coolness from earlier gone, I wonder. Yura turned towards me with an expression mixed with rage, confusion and anxiety.
"You want to know?"
"I asked you what did you do!"
"Not telling~"
With a ridiculing smile on my face, I taunted Yura. When I did that, he gnashed his teeth together and looked at me with an enraged expression that all but said "I'll kill you". What, so you can make a face like that too? Or, don't tell me that's actually the original?
The "Mochizuki Touya" app.
Like its name says, it's an app that allows someone to use everything I can use. All attribute magics are available, and their physical abilities would also jump up several levels. Well, divinity-related powers are obviously not possible, though.
As the magic power used is supplied through the smartphone, they can use as much magic as they want too.
This is my secret trump card. In a situation where I can't protect everyone, I'll have everyone protect themselves instead; it's an operation that, in a way, just completely throws the job to others.
I'll leave the fate of the world to the people I know. Since it can be said to be a rather irresponsible method, I didn't want to use it if possible, to be honest.
Well, at the world conference back then, the monarchs did say that they would protect their own world themselves, so I'll let them do what they want for now.
Also, the fact that the app distribution reached my smartphone as well means that I'm connected with that world. Although it did seem like there's a bit of time lag.
I used exaggerated motion to start a call with my smartphone.
"Ah, hello. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm actually pretty saved by that. Nice timing."
"… Wait. You, who are you talking to?"
"Eh? Ahh, yeah, I was enclosed in a strange space. It's fine now."
"Don't tell me, long-distance communication…!? Impossible, that can't be the case! How are you communicating!"
"Can you shut up for a bit? I'm in the middle of a call here you know."
I ended the call with the professor, telling her I'll call back later.
Well, I can understand Yura getting pissed off. This barrier space is, in a word, a space belonging to Yura. Without his permission, nothing can go out or come in. Nothing, not even intangible concepts like sound or light.
And inside that dominion of his, I was talking with someone he doesn't know through long- distance comms without his permission. It's obvious to get pissed about that.
While the smartphones everyone else has is a product of magical technology by the hands of the professor, mine is different. Recreated by the hands of the World God-sama himself, it's a bona fide sacred treasure.
Back before, there was that one time when I couldn't contact anyone after crossing worlds and was troubled by it. That was solved by linking to the dimensional gate set up at Babylon, but now that the two worlds have merged together, that became kinda irrelevant.
However, in order to not be troubled by a similar situation in the future again, I asked the World God-sama, who is coincidentally down in the human world at this time, to help create a system utilizing [Dimensional Transfer].
The World God-sama happily lent his strength, saying it's also for the time when I can go back to Earth with my own power. It ended in one second, though.
The reason why I wasn't panicking even when I was imprisoned was because of that. In the worst case, if I ask Karen nee-san or someone else to come pick me up, I can still escape from here… Although that's just way too embarrassing, so I'm never gonna do that.
In any case, since I've grasped the location of our world, I have no more business staying here.
I would normally beat this idiot in front of me up first, but I have no idea what would happen to this space if I did that. I might be able to withstand it somehow if I turn into my divine form, but it's best to not go all out on a bet with low chances.
"I've heard from Nei, you know. You, you're good at planning and enacting strategies, but you rarely move yourself. You never stood at the front lines, and never actually saw your opponents or enemies, wasn't it?"
"And what about it. As long as I have pawns I can move, what need is there for me to do things myself?"
"That's exactly why I say you're stupid. You look down on your opponents too much. It also probably has something to do with you getting ahead of yourself once you got your hands on the 'power of a god'…"
"Foolish words! Aren't you the same in that regard!?"
Yura roared at me with a hateful countenance. Areh? Does this guy perhaps think of me as someone similar to him?
"You… Do you know what that evil god… No, do you know what kind of existence is the god that was taken in by that evil god?"
"Of course I know that much! The god himself had told me! He is an existence that cannot be ranked even among the many different gods in this world. Unbound by anything, he is a colorless god that wasn't stained with anything…" "Buha!" "… What's so funny!?"
"What's your job?"
"(Self-employed) Home security."
Or something like that.
I once laughed at that self-proclaimed Dragon King who wanted to conquer the world using his army of dragons controlled by the [Echo Needle of Domination], but to think him and that guy were the same type.
Through manipulation and trickery, these guys try to achieve their own goals by using those with power as stepping stones. Not standing on the surface themselves, and hating having to get dirty; such is their kind. They arbitrarily decide their opponents are all beneath them, and tries to get rid of them like they're trying to efficiently clean out garbage.
That's always why they get their asses handed to them.
To Yura, besides me… No, besides me and my close comrades, everyone else was probably only thought of as insignificant small fries. He probably thought they can't do anything themselves. There's a limit to how arrogant one can be, really.
"I'll tell you one thing. The god you picked up, he belongs to the lowest rank among gods, a 'subordinate god', and is basically a pager that doesn't even have a proper job to do yet. Oh, actually, since he was stripped of that position due to the crime of arbitrarily descending from the Divine Realm, he's probably even lower than that."
"Wh…!?"
Well, since he fused with the evil god who had been gobbling up plenty of people's souls, he's probably gotten stronger than before now. It's still going to be a troublesome fight. He must've at least eaten the same number of souls as the golden skeletons present in the variant army, after all.
"Well, in any case, your ambition will come to an end soon. Just watch from here while sucking on your finger or something."
"You bastard…!"
I locked onto the coordinates sent to me via my smartphone in my mind, and activated [Dimensional Transfer]. Yura was trying to say something, but ignoring him, I returned to the world I belonged to in an instant.
"Uowah!? F, [Fly]!"
I was sent into a slight panic due to the sudden free fall I experienced before casting [Fly]. It seems I transfer to a point several hundreds of meters aboveground. Scary! As expected, it's still hard to do minute adjustments with [Dimensional Transfer]… I am back in the world I'm supposed to be in, right?
When I looked down below, a city with a really tall tower in its confines entered my eyes. Is that Eisenbrook's Eisen Tower?
"Whew, seems like I've returned properly. Now then, where's everyone else…"
I dropped down on top of the tower, and searched with my smartphone; it looks like everyone else had moved to a location far behind Eisenbrooks, which I'm at. They probably escaped from the golden palace. That app should've been distributed to everyone as well, so they should be fine.
"!?"
Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine just when I began to relax. This aura is…!
"Wha…!"
When I turned to look towards the golden palace, a huge pillar of light was shooting up into the sky there.
It's swaying like a golden heat haze. I can tell. That light is divinity.
It's not a pure divinity like the ones held by the World God-sama or Karen nee-san. Blasphemous, twisted, it's a dark divinity that felt like it condensed various negative emotions into itself.
That smoke-like divinity eventually began forming a shape in the skies above the golden palace.
I can't even think of proper words to describe that unnatural form.
The upper half is in the form of a silkmoth-like insect. Large antennae, compound eyes like that of a bug's, six insectoid legs, and six pieces of moth-like wings.
In contrast, the lower body lengthens into a snake-like one from the abdomen onwards. The snake belly, which is quite long, slowly undulated with divinity clad around it.
In the past, the giant golem awakened by the Magicraft King that we had fought here, Hekatonkheire. This thing is far bigger than that.
The beast-like form it had when I last saw it was gone without a trace.
That thing slowly flapped its wings and began to descend. I wonder if it can't actually fly due to its huge size. Due to the huge dark golden body that had materialized, the golden palace, which was below it, was crushed and turned into rubble.
On top of the ruined palace, that thing stood at ease. As if it's declaring itself the true lord of these lands.
"So that's… The evolved evil god…"
The ominously shining compound eyes stared straight in my direction, without a single deviation.