I express my gratitude to the Great Spirit.
"Thanks. You really saved me."
"This too is the duty of the defense mechanism."
The Great Spirit responded in a cool, composed tone.
She is an entity that serves as a defense mechanism protecting the world.
She rarely takes action under normal circumstances, but she possesses overwhelming power.
From humanity's perspective, she is practically a calamity.
I too have always been careful not to antagonize the defense mechanisms.
This time, since we were dealing with beasts from the outer world, our aligned objectives allowed us to establish a cooperative framework.
She was a tremendously reassuring ally.
"..."
The Great Spirit fell silent and fixed her gaze on me.
She seemed to have noticed something.
She spoke, sounding impressed.
"You've been going around defeating the beasts, haven't you? I should be the one thanking you."
"It's the Demon Lord's duty."
I gave the same answer as always.
The Great Spirit must have sensed the miasma of the beasts contained within me.
From that, she must have deduced my activities.
Exterminating the beasts is a shared objective for both of us.
The Great Spirit possesses extraordinary combat abilities, but no matter how powerful she is, she is still just one individual.
There is a limit to how fast she can exterminate them on her own.
That's why my assistance must have been welcome.
The Great Spirit continued her observations.
"It seems you've also driven out the ones that had nested in people's minds."
"Yeah, it was a hassle, but I managed to sort it out."
I answered while recalling Gwen, who had been confined.
I had planned to explain later, but the Great Spirit seemed to have already grasped the situation without a word.
That saved me the trouble of explaining.
I used my detection magic to search for the beasts' responses.
The number of individuals in our territory had decreased considerably.
They seemed to have died in the series of battles.
The locations I had visited were hot zones, and the executives had been holding the line there.
Judging from the responses, the other locations seemed to have achieved victory without issue.
The weapons they had developed over time must have performed well.
As for the other nations, they were still under invasion.
They appeared to be struggling against the beasts with their unusual ecology.
It didn't seem like they were on the verge of collapse, but the damage appeared to be significant.
"There still seem to be beasts remaining."
"Even so, compared to other regions, the extermination speed has been overwhelming. The contributions of the Demon Lord's army must have been significant. Thanks to them, the beasts didn't spread out. The damage to the people has been minimal."
The Great Spirit stated her impression matter-of-factly.
Those were unexpected words.
I never thought she would say something like that.
The defense mechanism exists solely for the purpose of the world's survival.
Human lives are not included in that.
There had even been times when she seemed to view humanity as a hindrance.
When I brought that up, the Great Spirit supplemented her opinion.
"I don't want to increase sacrifices any more than necessary. Protecting the world comes first, but depending on my remaining capacity, I'll save people too."
"...I see."
I nodded in agreement while inwardly surprised.
I hadn't expected to receive such an answer.
When we first met, the Great Spirit had been slaughtering people left and right, giving in to her anger.
Aside from that, her words and actions had consistently given an inhuman impression.
The idea of her saving others was simply unimaginable.
After much deliberation, I confirmed with the Great Spirit.
"Have you changed your approach?"
"...You're probably imagining things."
The Great Spirit denied my suspicion.
I felt like she was about to say something more.
However, if I pressed too directly, I risked ruining her mood.
I decided not to push the matter any further.
She must have experienced some change of heart of her own.
"I'm going to exterminate the remaining beasts on the continent. Could you lend me a hand?"
"Of course."
I answered the Great Spirit's request immediately.
This was the time to press the advantage.
The possibility of reinforcements for the beasts couldn't be ruled out.
For the next phase of our plans, I wanted to reduce their fighting strength as much as possible while we could.
By offering up the beasts from the outer world, my power would also be amplified.
Driving them out was nothing but a net positive.
"Then let's split up and take them out."
The Great Spirit turned on her heel, floated upward, and flew off into the distant sky.
In the blink of an eye, she vanished beyond the distance at which she could be seen.
It didn't come across in our conversation, but she seemed to be quite eager.
(If I dawdle, she'll probably lecture me later.)
Worried about that, I left Grom and Yura behind and teleported.
I headed toward the beasts at a location far from where I currently was.
After that, the Great Spirit and I assaulted the beasts at various locations, and over the course of half a day, we drove out every last individual on the continent.
There were no particularly dangerous moments, and we were able to reduce their numbers swiftly.
As a finishing touch, I teleported the scattered Demon Lord's army from the battlefield, collected every last carcass of the beasts, and brought the upheaval to a close.
And so, a fleeting peace descended upon the continent.