"Then, I'll destroy this facility. After that, it's fine for us to act separately, correct?"
"Okay. But how do we regroup?"
"You're in the Demon race territory, aren't you? Then I'll head over there. You can handle the preparations for my arrival."
"Sure thing. When Kuro-chan shows up, I'll at least make things presentable for show."
The Demon King's conversation with Kuro came to a pause.
Just as I was watching, a voice spoke from a smartphone.
"Well then, please allow me to take my leave as well. I'll continue to watch from the sidelines, so do try your best to entertain me, won't you?"
As it spoke, the smartphone vanished in a soft *poof*.
It's a sight I've seen several times, but even as a god, I'm still struck by the sheer absurdity of this teleportation that shatters common sense.
How high-level of a spell are they using just to teleport a single smartphone?
If I tried to do the same, wouldn't I have to spend at least ten minutes focused on constructing the spell?
Then again, analyzing the spell itself might take years.
From my current perspective, it's so advanced I can't even tell what's going on.
That alone really shows just how high-ranking a god D is.
I've been marked by a troublesome one.
To be honest, the idea of this me being subordinate to anyone is extremely unpleasant.
It's one thing with the Demon King since it's just a formality, but with D, a complete hierarchical relationship would be established.
I hated that.
But if you ask whether I can avoid it, I have to say it's difficult.
D's status as a god is higher than mine.
By a long shot, at that.
Even if I fought seriously right now, there isn't one chance in ten thousand that I could win.
I remember the first time I encountered the Earth Dragon Arava.
I was incomparably weaker back then than I am now.
I couldn't even properly fight the Earth Dragon Arava, let alone escape.
The current situation is similar.
The difference is that Arava didn't even care about me, while D has me locked on tight.
That sadistic, transcendentally evil god wouldn't let prey she's once set her eyes on escape.
If that's the case, then my only remaining route to survival is to do as D says.
It's utterly and completely disagreeable.
But if I had to weigh my life against my pride, I'd choose my life, of course.
Well, I'm still just a candidate for her servant, so she probably won't interfere too much yet.
I'll do as D says for now, at least until I absolutely can't stand it anymore.
"Alright. Then, shall we go, Shiro-chan?"
I nodded at the Demon King's words and left the facility.
After we escaped, a tremor shook the ground, and the hole I'd made to the facility began to seal itself up.
It seems Kuro has started destroying the place.
Come to think of it, I spent quite a bit of time here, didn't I?
Since I was unconscious for the apotheosis, I don't really have any fond memories, though.
Now that I think about it, how did the Demon King know about this place?
Did Kuro contact her or something?
Well, whatever.
She's not an enemy anymore, so I won't worry about the details.
"Shall we walk back at a leisurely pace? Or do you want to rush back? If we take it easy, we could do some sightseeing along the way. I have money. Besides, it'll probably take Kuro-chan a good while to finish inspecting the world anyway."
Hmm?
That's a tempting proposal.
Traveling through this world while enjoying the local delicacies doesn't sound bad.
The benefit of rushing back would be enjoying luxury thanks to the Demon King's prestige, I suppose?
That's also enticing, but a gourmet tour sounds nice too.
Even after coming out of the Great Ello Dungeon, I've never actually entered a town where people live openly.
In my spider form, I obviously can't just go around buying and eating things.
The only time I've properly eaten food from this world has been through offerings.
Oh, right, I wonder what happened to that vampire girl in that town.
It's been over a month since I last checked on her.
I'm curious about how the war turned out. Maybe I should take a peek.
Far Sight, hmm, was it like this?
I opened my eyes and adjusted my vision.
Now that I don't have the system's support, I have to do manually what I used to do with Skills.
Trying to recall the sensation of the Skill Thousand-Mile Eye, I zoomed in with my vision.
Oh, it works, it works.
I kept extending my vision further and further.
It probably wouldn't reach the speed of light, but my sight was flying to incredible distances at an amazing speed.
Eventually, I reached the vicinity of the target town and paused there.
Huh?
Is something on fire?
Slowly, I moved my vision into the town.
People fleeing in panic.
Armed men chasing them.
Soldiers fighting back, only to be repelled.
Oh, they're being attacked.
What a mess.
I don't know the exact situation, but does this mean the war is still going on?
The equipment of the attackers is on a completely different level from bandits.
Moreover, their armor is fairly uniform.
Are they soldiers from some country?
Ah, well, whatever.
Is the vampire girl alive?
She's the child of that town's mayor, right?
From the invaders' perspective, she'd be a high-priority target to eliminate.
I searched for the vampire girl.
Ah, there she is.
She's still alive, huh.
Hmm.
It wouldn't matter if she died somewhere I wasn't aware of, but having her die right in front of me like this would leave a bad aftertaste.
Oh well.
Guess I'll help.
"Huh? What?"
I grabbed the Demon King and teleported us together.
Ah, teleporting is tricky.
It worked, but this definitely needs practice.