"Dam! Why didn't anyone wake me up?"
The next morning, when I finally lifted my head from the soft pillow, I realized the sky outside was already completely bright. This shock was no small matter - I jumped out of bed like a startled cat and dashed out of the room in a flash.
I had originally planned to return with the First Legion of Angels this morning, and now that the departure time had passed, leaving everyone waiting for me was totally unacceptable.
But when I landed on the village's open ground, I discovered there weren't as many people around as I'd expected. There was absolutely no sign of a large military expedition about to set out.
Could my tardiness have delayed the departure? That seemed unlikely! Besides, there were light elf villagers hurrying past me, and Nicola and Adrian were sitting at a nearby stone table, casually eating breakfast.
"Hey, have you seen Serena?" I called out as I approached them, immediately noticing the tension between the two. Though they were sitting together, their attitudes were far from friendly.
On the table, only a medium-sized, unnamed fruit remained. Clearly, both of them wanted to claim it, so they were locked in a staring contest, each waiting for the perfect moment to snatch it.
My arrival distracted Adrian, and Nicola seized the opportunity, swiftly grabbing the fruit. She couldn't help but gloat:
"What a total weakling! It's the same in every world. You missed your chance!"
She then turned to me and thoughtfully handed me the fruit.
"Feliciana, I saved this breakfast for you! I think it's called an elf fruit or something. Apparently it's a local specialty. I ate tons of them earlier - they're absolutely delicious!"
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. It was clear Nicola was back to her old game of competing with Adrian. Thankfully, her temper was more stable now compared to before - at least she wasn't shouting about fighting anymore, which was a small relief.
"Weren't we supposed to leave? Where's the First Legion? I don't see a single one of them!"
Seeing Adrian's disappointed expression, I shot Nicola a fierce look.
"They received an urgent military report from the northern Barren Lands just before dawn," Adrian explained. "They've cancelled their planned return to Norvale and are heading directly to the front lines for support!"
"The northern Barren Lands? Isn't that the monsters' territory? Are they launching another attack?"
I was quite familiar with such information, but I was puzzled about why Michelle seemed to be returning to her old ways. Had her attempt to seek allies not gone well?
"So why are you still here?" I asked Nicola. She used to lead Angel Legions deep into monster territories to hunt traitors - why did she look so uninvolved now?
"It's not as bad as you might think!" Nicola explained. "It's not an invasion, but something big happening inside the monster ranks. Apparently, a new force has been trying to reorganize all monster powers over the past couple of months. They're called the 'Supreme God' or something. And they're progressing incredibly fast, with almost no resistance. The front-line Legion commanders noticed the changing situation and requested Edenmere send the First Legion to reinforce their defenses."
Nicola's intelligence was clearly more detailed than Adrian's. She shrugged innocently, "As for me, I was just a victim tricked to the front lines by Elara! I'm not interested in fighting monsters. Instead of following the First Legion, I'd rather go back and see what Elara has to say!"
"The Supreme God? Who exactly are they?"
I was stunned. The 'Fire God' wasn't even dead yet, and now another mysterious powerful entity had emerged.
However, even Nicola wasn't entirely clear about the specific circumstances. The appearance of a new ruler among monster forces was significant - at least from my perspective, it seemed to signify the 'Fire God' Michelle's influence was rapidly declining, which might not be entirely a bad thing.
"So, are we still heading to Norvale?" Cyrae asked, having finished her meal and approaching us. As a parallel world traveler who came with us, she was eager to reunite with her still-living mentor, Elara.
We - myself, Adrian, and Nicola - had no objections, as this was the original plan. But we were surprised to learn that Reed and her bodyguard Mia had already followed the First Legion.
"Reed said she needs some dark elements for an experiment," Cyrae explained. "While Edenmere does store these extremely dangerous energies, the quantity is limited. So to get a large amount, they'd need to retrieve it directly from monster-controlled territories."
Nobody was particularly worried. Reed could handle herself, especially with an eight-winged angel by her side.
My focus was now on our journey. Although angels could fly, traveling from southern Ilandra Dominion's Sifur back to the northern continental region wasn't easy - a one-way trip would take several days. No wonder Serena and the First Legion were in such a hurry.
Having gotten used to teleportation, I wasn't about to waste time flying back. We were originally teleported here by Galadra, so with our small group, the best option was to ask her for help again.
"Galadra, can you hear me? Galadra, are you there?"
But things weren't that simple. When I tried to mentally contact her as usual, I received no response.
Ever since she gave me the 'Galadra's Eye', I hadn't heard from her. I wasn't sure if I should be worried, but since she was always mysteriously coming and going, being unreachable didn't seem unusual.
However, this complicated things. Not only our travel plans but also our ability to understand the monsters' internal changes and identify the 'Supreme God'. Galadra, with her network of "cameras" across the continent, would have found such intelligence effortless to obtain.
"This Galadra," Nicola mused, "even without a body, is maintaining the Cycle of Rebirth really that time-consuming?"
Her thoughts were interrupted by Gwendolyn, a long-time angel serving as a maid in the local Sifur lord's house, who arrived with some exclusive information for Elara.
"Former Imperial Emperor Reider is back!" she announced. "After his disgraceful defeat against the Earth forces, he returned to face unanimous opposition from the Cedric royal family. When negotiations failed, he launched a massive massacre, wiping out the entire palace guard with his terrifying strength. He's now controlling the imperial capital Kyndrill."
We were all shocked. After the Earth forces' departure, such drama was unfolding in Ilandra Dominion! While the empire's overall military was strong, top-tier individual powerhouses were rare. Reider's system-enhanced abilities making him reclaim the throne wasn't surprising.
But his desperate actions would likely backfire. His brutal methods quickly sparked anger throughout the empire. Taking advantage of the unstable situation, many local lords and military commanders opposed his rule. Some were even rallying under the banner of restoring Cedric royal glory, including the local Sebastian family in Sifur.
"Hmph, the entire empire was never worth much anyway!" Nicola scoffed. "Isn't it good to see them fighting each other?"
Her attitude stemmed from the Ilandra Dominion's long-standing covert collaboration with monsters. Their current chaos seemed like a form of karmic retribution to her.