Having finished issuing my orders, I glanced at the throne.
There sat a memento sword and a crystal containing mortal remains.
This time's opponent was formidable, but it didn't feel like the right moment.
I had no particular basis for this.
It was pure instinct, but I sensed the time hadn't come yet.
Without bothering to arm myself, I activated my detection magic.
Expanding the range, I picked up several suspicious responses.
Scattered across the land were entities bearing a power that resembled miasma rather than mana.
Their responses resembled Gwen's, so these must be the beasts of the outer world.
The beasts had appeared in multiple locations across my territory alone.
None of them matched Gwen's intensity in terms of individual responses, but their numbers were staggering.
It looked like a coordinated assault by multiple armies.
The Demon Lord's army appeared to be intercepting them at various locations.
Executives and those of comparable rank had divided responsibilities at each battlefield, each handling their assigned front.
(Not a bad approach.)
While I was absent, they were executing a strategy close to optimal.
Thanks to that, the damage within my territory had been kept to a minimum.
Compared to other nations, the destruction was incomparably lighter.
Normally I should also be providing support to foreign countries, but I had to consider the form that assistance would take.
If I helped too obviously, my image in the Demon Lord's eyes might shift.
When thinking about the future, that was the one thing I wanted to avoid.
Regardless, dealing with my own territory came first.
"…………"
I analyzed my own body.
Searching carefully, I noticed an odd force at work.
It wasn't my own mana, nor was it the miasma supplied from the Valley of the Dead.
It was a blessing bestowed from somewhere unseen.
The will of the world.
Even now, it seemed to still be continuously acting upon me.
I didn't know how long the effect would last, but I intended to make use of it this time.
Through my dialogue with Gwen, I had gained at least a hazy understanding of the true nature of the world's will.
I planned to confirm it with the Great Spirit afterward.
(To that end, I need to wrap this up quickly…)
I teleported to the nearest battlefield.
It was a verdant grassland where the Demon Lord's army had already deployed.
They were lined up in a straight horizontal formation stretching as far as the eye could see, arranged into several such rows.
Looking more closely, I saw the formations followed a long crack that had split the earth.
The Demon Lord's army, arrayed in ranks, was firing into the interior of the crack.
Bullets and various schools of magic were unleashed in unison on command.
The front and rear ranks rapidly swapped places, maintaining a ceaseless barrage.
My detection magic revealed an abnormal number of creatures lurking inside the crack.
The Demon Lord's army appeared to be holding them at bay.
As I assessed the situation, Henry—who was commanding this front—rushed over to me.
"Hey, Chief! You're finally back. Glad to see you looking well."
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
I answered calmly as Henry slapped my shoulder.
My subordinates seemed aware of my arrival, but they didn't stop firing.
They understood that following orders took priority over ceremony.
Well trained.
Henry, meanwhile, placed his hands on his hips and asked me a question.
"So you showing up here means we can count on your support, right?"
"Exactly. I'm late, so I'll give it everything I've got."
"Much appreciated. We were just starting to get overwhelmed."
Henry pointed toward the crack.
I nodded, then linked my telepathy with Henry and took to the air, settling into a position where I could look down from above.
Then I saw the true nature of the miasma responses.
A colossal number of frogs were trying to crawl up to the surface.
But they weren't ordinary frogs.
Their bodies were translucent as water—you could only make out their outlines by the way light reflected and rippled across them.
Only their swollen single eye was a vivid red.
Each frog in the swarm of grotesque creatures carried miasma within it.
A respectable concentration and volume, too.
At the very least, it was enough to turn any living being into the undead.
The Demon Lord's army's attacks burst against the one-eyed frogs.
The frogs, injured, tumbled back into the depths of the crack, writhing and splitting apart on the way down.
The multiplied frogs clung to the walls of the crack and once again began climbing toward the surface.
(So these frogs are the beasts of the outer world…)
They were vastly different from Gwen, but there was no mistaking the response.
The "beasts of the outer world" seemed to be a general term covering all manner of species.
There was clearly no uniformity in their appearance.
I continued observing.
Among the infinitely reproducing frogs, there were some that simply died without splitting.
Conversely, others split without any external attack at all.
There was no discernible pattern.
Truly bizarre ecology.
There was no doubt these were creatures that didn't exist in this world.
The Demon Lord's army currently held the upper hand and was preventing the frogs from reaching the surface.
But that was only a matter of time.
Facing ever-multiplying frogs, they would eventually run short of firepower.
On top of that, the Demon Lord's army was growing fatigued.
Though there were no direct casualties, some troops had pulled back from the front lines to rest.
It seemed that in the process of confronting the frogs, they had suffered mild spiritual contamination.
I reached out to Henry on the ground via telepathy.
"Tell me how this happened."
"Sure, got it."
Henry extracted the key points and gave me a summary.
Apparently, the frogs had suddenly fallen from the sky out of nowhere.
They began devouring the livestock, crops, and even people in the surrounding area.
The Demon Lord's army, receiving the report, had rushed to the scene and immediately launched a cleanup operation.
However, the splitting trait made the fight grind on.
In the end, they determined annihilation was impossible and drove the frogs that had been ravaging the surface back into the crack—bringing us to the present situation.
The frogs were individually very weak, but binding magic didn't seem to work on them.
So the only option was to keep pummeling them with continuous attacks to force them back.
Reserve mages were analyzing the corpses to find spells that worked well or techniques suited to stalling them, but no decisive solution had been found.
"We were preparing to seal the crack itself, but doesn't look like that'll be necessary. Chief, go make a show of it."
"You can count on me."
I nodded, accepting their expectations.
I had nothing but gratitude for the Demon Lord's army, which had bought me this much time.
Without them, the damage would have spiraled to irreversible proportions.
I unleashed my forbidden spell toward the crack packed with frogs.