I explained what happened yesterday, and Damien seemed disheartened to hear he had lost control again.
This was the second time he had gone berserk. I couldn't turn a blind eye any longer.
"So, you're under arrest for now."
One of Damien's arms was shackled to the wall with a metal chain and handcuffs.
It might seem like a harsh measure, but he did open fire on us in his rampage. Precautions had to be taken.
Damien didn't have much of a reaction to his imprisonment, but he was visibly shocked by my next words.
"Also, your magic gun, Black Queen, is being confiscated. You won't get it back for a while."
"What?"
"A team of wizards and alchemists came to examine you and the Black Queen. They said that the dark energy emanating from the gun is already corroding your soul."
I spoke sternly.
"They recommended immediate severance of contact between you and the gun, and that's what I intend to do."
Pale-faced, Damien pleaded with me.
"Your Majesty, please! I promise to behave if I stay here. Can't you leave the gun with me?"
"What are you talking about? That gun is the reason all of this happened."
As if I'd give it back. Who knows what he'd do, spewing out more dark aura.
"Ever since that gun started emitting black aura, you can neither eat properly nor sleep, right? I heard it from the temple priests."
"..."
"It's for your own good that I'm doing this. Understand that."
"But, Your Majesty, although I've been suffering from nightmares due to the Black Queen..."
Damien hesitated before mumbling,
"I was able to dream of Van."
"..."
"I saw Van's face vividly, someone I thought I'd never see again. That's why I couldn't let go of the Black Queen."
So he kept the Black Queen close, even though it brought him daily pain, just to see his friend's face in his nightmares.
"You must have really cherished that friend."
Damien closed his mouth tightly instead of replying.
Silence enveloped the room. I looked around Damien's sparse chamber, decorated in the unique, bleak style of the temple. There were few furnishings—a closet, a desk, and a hamster cage.
He did mention once that he was raising a hamster. I moved closer to the cage.
- Cheep cheep.
A tiny hamster peeked out from a pile of hay, its small eyes fixed on me. It seemed to resemble its owner. Was that just my imagination?
"What's its name?"
"Podong," he replied.
"It's not as chubby as its name suggests."
"I couldn't properly care for him yesterday. Even a day without proper food makes him lose weight."
Is that how hamsters usually are? I've never raised one, so I don't know.
"Make sure Podong becomes chubby again, and Damien, focus on your own recovery."
Pointing to his forlorn face, I slowly headed toward the door.
"You're benched for the season. Don't participate in the upcoming defense battle; just recuperate here. We'll talk about the Black Queen later."
"!"
Damien tried to follow me desperately but was held back by the chain and handcuffs.
He staggered, the sound of metal clinking filling the air, and then he cried out urgently,
"But Your Majesty! I have to be there!"
"..."
"You've never led a defense without me since you took over this place! You always need my sniping skills!"
"Damien."
I opened the door and looked back at him expressionlessly.
"I once told you to be my trigger. You agreed to do so."
"...Yes."
"What I need is a gun that aims and shoots according to my will. But you've become a dangerous weapon, unpredictable in what or whom you might target."
Damien closed his mouth and lowered his head. I stepped out of the room.
"You can't be on the frontline in this condition. Focus on your recovery."
"Your Highness..."
"It's an order from your commander."
I gave him a slight smile one last time.
"It's a rare vacation. Take some time to rest."
Leaving Damien with his bewildered face, I closed the door behind me.
- Thud!
***
"We're formulating a strategy to take down the mega-monster."
At the Margrave's mansion. In the reception room.
After summoning all the hero characters except Damien for a meeting, I began.
"The monster we're up against in this defense battle is called Jormungandr. It's an enormous serpent."
This stage's monster, its army, and its boss.
A single-entity monster legion. Jormungandr.
It's one of the few creatures in the game tagged 'mega-monster', and for a good reason: it's disgustingly large and powerful.
"It will crawl straightforwardly from the Lake Kingdom to Crossroad, demolish the walls, flatten the city, and then head north."
The appearance of a mega-monster in a single-entity form was unprecedented in our defense battles. Even the seasoned heroes who had fought in numerous monster wars, as well as the inexperienced newbies, all swallowed nervously.
I made it clear.
"I must say in advance, killing this creature is nearly impossible. Our objective is strictly 'repulsion.'"
It's no accident that Jormungandr is called the 'World Serpent.'
It's an almost mythical being, set apart from other monsters.
The objective in the game wasn't to kill it, but to inflict enough damage to send it back. That's what we'll do this time as well.
"The serpent has only one principle: to head north."
- Thwack!
As Aider handed me the chalkboard, I continued my explanation while drawing diagrams.
"While it will attack anything in its path, it is generally not aggressive. It's relatively docile compared to other monsters whose objective is the annihilation of humans."
Just then, Evangeline raised her hand. I nodded toward her.
"Do you have a question, Evangeline?"
"Why does it want to go north?"
"I have no idea. Maybe it knows of some trendy restaurant up there."
This was a joke, of course. I suspect its objective is to traverse the world from south to north.
'The problem is, one civilization gets destroyed with each of its sips.'
Every town and city in the serpent's path would be decimated.
While other monsters might pass through this southern frontline, and we could establish a new frontline to fend them off, there's no stopping Jormungandr.
As it moves north, it devours civilizations and grows larger.
We have to stop it here.
If we can't, the entire world is doomed.
Everyone's faces grew serious at my explanation.
Even Reina Windwell, who usually had a carefree attitude, and Kuilan of the Penal Squad, who still acted like a newbie.
There was something at stake on this frontline.
It was relevant to all of them.
"So, to sum up, the creature is not highly aggressive. It's more focused on moving northward than attacking humans. Also, it's extremely large. What can we infer from these facts?"
Despite my question, everyone stared blankly at me, offering no answer.
Well, it would be difficult to answer with such fragmented information. So, I provided the answer myself.
"The conclusion is, 'We can climb on it and attack, and it won't do anything.'"
At my words, Evangeline's mouth dropped open.
"Wait, hold on. What are you saying? So, you mean..."
"Yes."
I flashed a grin.
"In this defense operation, we're not going to be on these walls…"
I quickly erased the chalk drawing of the wall on the board and drew a path that extended much farther south, to a dark lake.
"We'll head south and wait at the entrance of the Black Lake. As soon as Jormungandr pokes its head out of the lake, we'll climb onto its body and begin our assault."
Whether or not they thought I was serious about climbing onto a snake's body, the heroes all wore expressions of utter shock.
"…!"
"…?!"
Especially Lilly and Saintess Margarita, the scaredy-cat duo, clung to each other and emitted silent screams. Playing weak again.
"It typically takes three days to travel from the Black Lake to the walls of Crossroad. For those three days, we'll be beating the hell out of this giant snake."
I roughly sketched Jormungandr's gigantic body on the chalkboard.
The drawing resembled some kind of elongated worm, but they'd get the gist.
"Its body is massive. And so its neural centers, which command its body, are scattered."
I pointed to three places on Jormungandr's body sketch.
The head. The middle of the body. And near the tail.
"We destroy the three most crucial centers. That will stop it."
It's sort of a target-destruction mechanism.
If we succeed in destroying these three points, Jormungandr would have to retreat to its nest to recover.
If we fail? It would destroy the wall, devour the city, and keep moving north.
"So, this defense operation will closely resemble close-quarters combat."
Landing directly on the giant snake's body. Destroying the protruding neural centers. Naturally, this would resemble hand-to-hand combat.
This was also why the operation could be planned without Damien.
In this mission to defeat Jormungandr, long-range sniping abilities weren't highly needed.
"Nine days until the next defense operation starts. That means we have just six days until Jormungandr sticks its head out of the lake."
Because the defense starts at the lake's entrance, the time is even more critical compared to traditional defenses based on the creature's arrival at the walls.
"During this time, we'll create weapons capable of damaging the creature, and you all will undergo intensive training."
I looked around at the heroes.
"This defensive battle will be entirely different from those we've faced before. We'll have to operate on the monster's body for a maximum of three days, so the threat level is unlike our previous encounters with large monsters."
I nodded solemnly at all the party members who looked at me with anxious eyes.
"Brace yourselves."
I then announced the formation.
The main party of four, minus Damien. A support party of five. A Penal Squad of five.
In total, 14 people were set to land directly on Jormungandr's body to execute this perilous operation.
I had decided not to bring any regular soldiers. We would be spending three days on the body of a boss monster that exuded malevolent energy.
It was an operation that could only be endured by hero-tier characters.
As always, the members of the main party nodded with resolute faces. The support party and the Penal Squad also obeyed my command with stern expressions.
"If Jormungandr breaks through the southern front and heads north, its path will cross the Imperial Capital."
From the perspective of the support party, it was obviously a situation worth risking their lives to prevent.
"My homeland is also in that path."
With a stern face, Kuilan clenched both fists.
"I'm willing to risk my life, Your Highness."
The Penal Squad seemed to have their own serious reasons to commit. I gave a faint smile to the bandit king who was burning with determination.
"Lilly, and Saintess Margarita!"
I called out to the two who had been anxiously waiting for their names. I gestured to them.
"You two will stay as reserves in Crossroad."
Their faces instantly lit up, but it wasn't the time to rejoice.
"This defensive battle poses a risk that the city itself may be swept away. Hence, the evacuation of the citizens will also be conducted differently."
Previously, even if monsters penetrated the city, they would mainly focus on killing humans and seldom touched the city's facilities and buildings.
That's why previous evacuations merely involved temporarily relocating citizens to the north of the city.
However, the level of threat this time was different. The entire city could be annihilated.
If we don't prepare, in the worst-case scenario, Jormungandr could flatten the city and destroy its infrastructure, putting all the citizens' lives at risk.
"Lilly, cooperate with all the artisans and guild members to construct emergency shelters, water storage, and food warehouses. Establish them in the empty plains northeast of the city."
"Yes, understood!"
"Saintess, I'll assign labor to you. Construct makeshift medical facilities in the city's northeast. Make sure there are enough beds and medicinal supplies."
"As you command, Your Highness."
I nodded gravely at the two who answered with serious faces.
"I hope your efforts will prove unnecessary."
Their role was to prepare for the worst.
Of course, the best outcome would be to repel Jormungandr before it reaches the walls.
If the monster does make it to the walls, then all is lost.
'But I am the Lord of this land.'
Even if the game ends, even if the operation fails, even if the world perishes—
I still have a responsibility to those who survive. That's why we have to prepare for the worst.
I hope they work diligently, but I also hope that all their efforts prove futile.
Reading my thoughts, Lilly and Margarita nodded once again.
Both of them had now lost their usual timid expressions, instead bearing the faces of heroes of this front line.