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HELHEIM SCANS
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Thud, thud—
The central command and strategy room of Avalon.
Passengers began to arrive one by one in the place that oversaw all operations and strategies.
The number exceeded fifty.
However...‘Even they are only a part of the whole.’
The total number of passengers on Avalon was over two hundred.
The walls were filled with the communication screens of those who couldn’t enter due to the limited space.
The Hero stood before the holographic map, slowly scanning their faces.
The passengers were divided into three major groups.
The list was as follows:
Felson, Larze, Taylor, Barun (who insisted on boarding to supply mana to Avalon’s mana turrets) and 20 members of the Dawn Knights.
The Royal Guard, including Euphemia and Mother Ghost, and 30 members of the Shadow Ghosts.
The elite warriors of the North, including Cuculli and her brother Waldif, were twenty in number.
Thirty elite elven archers from the Great Forest.
The Lotus Knights, including Nyhill, twenty-three in total.
Thirty elite noble knights led by Lucas.
Kasim's group from the Sanctuary (including many young professors who had left Rosenstark in the past), twenty in total.
Arpheus and his two lieutenants.
The seven swordsmen led by Zion Hiyashin.
These were the warriors.
‘As for the magicians…’
The Hero’s gaze turned to the group wearing robes.
Thirty survivors from the Magic Tower.
Nearly ten professors and students from the Rosenstark Department of Mysticism had also boarded.
The purple-haired girl, Beatrice, known as the second Larze, was also present.
Finally, the engineers, twenty in number.
Yussi, Noubelmag, and Pia attended the command room as their representatives.
They were key members of the hundreds of engineers involved in Avalon’s design and construction, on board to repair any damage during battles and handle unforeseen situations.
Noubelmag’s mother, the greatest blacksmith of the elven race, ‘Ahir’, was also on board to enhance the passengers' equipment.
In essence, the continent’s top manufacturing skills were gathered here.
‘Not to mention, there's Maktania and Izaro too.’
…They were the elite of the elite.
This final task force comprised individuals whose skills, loyalty, and faith in the human alliance were beyond doubt.
The Hero felt a peculiar sense of emotion, knowing he would lead them.
‘Has such a force ever been gathered in the entirety of the Second Age?’
The conquest of the Demon Realm and the Demon King’s castle was unimaginable until three years ago when humans planted their flag in the Demon Realm.
‘Even Ted’s great battle to defeat the Demon King occurred outside the Demon Realm.’
But now, they had to target the Demon King’s castle directly, taking advantage of his incomplete incarnation.
Without a thoroughly devised strategy, only defeat awaited them.
‘…There’s no turning back.’
Everything would be decided within a month.
Either humanity would perish, or the demon race would.
After a deep breath, the Hero stepped forward.
The murmuring conference room fell silent.
Eyes filled with doubt, distrust, hostility, goodwill, anticipation, and hope—all directed at him.
The heavy atmosphere underscored the fact that everyone's fate depended on this mysterious figure.
…The Hero opened his mouth.
“Now, I will explain the outline of Operation ‘Light Bringer’.”
Fortunately, no one present lacked discernment.
All attendees set aside their personal feelings and listened to the Hero’s briefing.
He began without a preamble.
“As expected, the concentration of demonic energy across the Demon Realm is rapidly decreasing. The outskirts are already accessible to regular troops.”
All the demonic energy in the Demon Realm was converging towards the Demon King’s castle.
“Three weeks.”
The Hero held up his fingers.
“In three weeks, the demonic energy will thin enough to allow spatial travel to the depths of the Demon Realm.”
“……”
“By then, the demons will start preparing for the Demon King’s descent.”
The room grew even quieter, and the specific timeline added to the gravity.
The Hero, looking at their pale faces, continued calmly.
“We will land in the Demon Realm just before that.”
Thud—
The Hero’s pointer indicated a corner of the holographic map: the easternmost end of the continent.
“The point of arrival via spatial travel will be here, the 46th Sector of the Demon Realm.”
It was the farthest they could go without being significantly affected by demonic energy.
At that moment, Kasim spoke up in the front row.
“…The 46th Sector. The distance we need to break through is considerable.”
“We have no choice. Trying to go deeper risks our coordinates being twisted by demonic energy, landing us in the wrong place.”
The “wrong place” referred to places like hundreds of meters underwater or thousands of meters in the sky.
“We can’t waste our one chance like that.”
“…I see.”
The Hero extended the map, drawing a straight line from their landing point to the Demon King’s castle.
"The problem is, no matter how quickly we try to break through, they'll swarm us before we get halfway through Sector 46."
"Who are 'they'?"
"The Demon King’s army led by the remaining commanders."
Their numbers were too vast to estimate accurately.
Hundreds of thousands of monsters and hundreds of demons.
As the people’s faces darkened instantly, the hero shook his head.
"Of course, we don’t intend to handle their entire force alone."
"Then..."
"The Imperial Army will move."
There were many capable strategists among the generals who couldn't board Avalon due to their lack of combat skills.
They were currently relocating their forces near the Great Mountains under the pretense of pursuing the retreating Demon King’s army.
"They're helping us divert attention from Avalon while preparing for a feint operation."
The conference room buzzed.
"A feint operation..."
"That's right. Three days before the operation begins, they’ll first break through the Demon Realm's outskirts. They plan to destroy all the unguarded stakes and head deep inside."
At that moment, a hand was raised.
Felson Dietrich looked at the hero with interest.
"With the core forces absent, I wonder if they’ll really fall for the feint. They might just ignore it."
The hero responded immediately.
"Don't worry about that."
The dolls made by Nyhill would appear all over the battlefield, and personnel like Larze, capable of teleportation, would provide constant support.
"It will be enough to make them think it’s a suicide squad."
Understanding dawned, and exclamations of admiration were heard.
"If that works, most of their forces will head west."
The defenses of the deeper sectors, including Sector 46, would weaken.
The hero nodded.
"So, we only need to focus on reaching Sector 50 with our full strength intact."
That was the primary objective.
Of course, no matter how successful the feint operation was, the defense of Sector 50, essentially the core of the Demon Realm, would still be solid.
To break through it swiftly with maximum force.
Then, the Demon King’s castle… they would destroy the core of the first stake driven into this world.
"That will force the Demon King into a corner."
By then, the core of the Demon King’s castle would have gathered all the demonic energy from the entire Demon Realm for the Demon King’s descent.
If the suicide squad managed to infiltrate, this energy would dissipate meaninglessly, which would practically spell the demons' temporary defeat.
The total amount of demonic energy was the proof of their dominance in this world.
If the Imperial Army destroyed all the stakes while advancing, and that energy was lost, it would be an irreversible loss.
The Demon King’s descent would become uncertain.
'The demons would be in just as dire a situation as we are.'
The hero clenched his fist and looked around at everyone.
"So the Demon King will most likely confront us before we touch the core."
Through an incomplete descent.
Considering the damage to causality.
That’s how they would appear before them.
"This is the only way we can currently defeat the Demon King."
…If the descent were completed properly, it would be a sure defeat.
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HELHEIM SCANS
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In the past, Ted could defeat the Demon King because the Demon King had already expended much of his causality, and they were outside the Demon Realm, which was advantageous.
But currently, the hero’s skill still did not match Ted’s.
Even with full power borrowed from ???, it would be difficult.
Thus, the hero finished explaining the outline of 'Light Bringer.'
"......"
An uncomfortable silence descended in the conference room.
Noubelmag, who had been chewing on his pipe with his eyes closed, summed up everyone’s feelings with a blunt statement.
"In other words, we need a miracle of miracles of miracles."
Although the hero had explained it concisely, each stage of 'Light Bringer' was of an unprecedented level of difficulty.
From the beginning, it involved a direct breakthrough from Sector 46 to Sector 50 of the Demon Realm, where no human army had ever set foot.
'And that's only if the feint operation is successfully completed.'
If even one stage of the operation faltered, it would be over.
Avalon would sink, carrying humanity’s last hope with it.
Just as everyone was hardening their expressions, the silent hero spoke again.
"If we need a miracle, we have to create it with our own strength."
Blink-
The holographic map disappeared, and very dense text appeared on the screen.
At the same time, Pia and Kassim began distributing mountains of documents to everyone in the conference room.
"...A schedule?"
The expressions of those who checked the contents became peculiar.
"Combat module adaptation training... Avalon functionality theory and practice, sparring with the captain... survival training... what is mana extraction?"
"...Hell week? Wait a minute. There's no sleep time in this week?"
Only the children of the Lotus Knights nodded, as if they had been expecting this.
This wasn’t just a schedule.
A meticulously crafted training plan tailored to each individual.
The hero calmly concluded the meeting.
"Since the fate of humanity is at stake, I trust everyone will cooperate."
* * *
The passengers’ morning started in the underground engine room.
Rubbing their sleepy eyes, they left the living quarters and lined up in front of the massive magic stone known as ‘Avalon’s Heart.’
Evergreen placed her hand on the metal pipe connected to the magic stone and muttered.
“Ugh, I really hate this feeling.”
Luke patted her on the shoulder in agreement.
“Me too.”
Woooooong-
As soon as they finished speaking, the mana stone began to absorb their mana.
Despite having considerable mana compared to their peers through steady training, their mana emptied in seconds.
Beep beep beep-
At the same time, the numbers on the panel in front of them started to rise.
The panel quantified the amount of mana the magic stone had absorbed.
For an average person who had never trained, the usual number would be between 10 and 20.
Luke tapped the screen with his finger.
"1277."
Evergreen replied, panting.
"I got 985."
Though their mana was quickly drained, their expressions were surprisingly bright.
"Both of us have improved since a few days ago."
It was the captain’s directive.
"The more effort you put in, the more shots Avalon can fire on the day of the decisive battle."
The more stored energy, the better.
Passengers had to pour their mana into Avalon’s power source once in the morning and before bed.
Surprisingly, this also helped with their training.
Emptying their mana halls artificially and then recovering increased their maximum mana and recovery rate.
"At this point, we’re more like crew members than passengers."
"I agree."
"Hey, look over there."
Gerald, who recorded a score of 1100, approached and tapped their shoulders.
At the end of his gaze was Arpheus, veins bulging all over his body.
An unbelievable number was displayed on his panel.
[8324… 8520…]
"Is he even human?"
"…Seriously."
While the amount of mana didn’t necessarily equate to strength, it was an impressive number.
However, there was someone Arpheus couldn’t surpass.
Cuculli Evans
Mana Score: 21082
Her name was proudly displayed above the giant magic stone.
For reference, Leciel recorded around 2000, and Ban around 1800, while the Dawn Knights had scores ranging from 4000 to 8000 each.
This showed how extraordinary Arpheus and Cuculli’s mana levels were.
After draining their mana like this, they proceeded to physical training and sparring.
They would have matches against the various martial artists gathered here.
Of course, since there was no space inside Avalon, training occurred in the underground training grounds.
By lunchtime, they took a short break to replenish their mana in the recovery room filled with herbs that someone had cultivated.
Then, they went straight to the control room for lectures on Avalon’s various functions.
‘…There were all sorts of features.’
Each person was allocated a mana turret to control, divided into anti-air and anti-ground, and capable of efficiently targeting both single and multiple enemies.
It took three full days just to learn the theory of operating these next-generation turrets.
“Ugh! I give up! I’ll just go out and use a breath attack!”
“…I give up.”
Cuculli and Leciel, who had always hated studying, were especially distressed.
Moreover, throughout Avalon, there were devices for purifying demonic energy and activating barriers in case of an emergency, and they had to memorize the locations and operating methods of all these devices.
Finally, they had to familiarize themselves with the functions of the new weapons created by Noubelmag.
By the time all these tasks were finished, it was roughly nightfall.
They would drain their mana once more before returning to the living quarters to sleep.
‘It feels like being a freshman again.’
Despite the grueling schedule, all the passengers… no, the crew members diligently followed the captain’s curriculum.
Probably because they didn’t want to leave any regrets.
"Alright, let’s get going."
Today, a slightly special training awaited them.
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HELHEIM SCANS
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