Evan D. Sherden, Into the Final Chapter (2)

The next morning, the members gathered in the hall and checked the plan once more. The happy Louise, whose face was shining with so much light, was ignored by everyone. After so much consideration, it was decided that the Junior group would stay behind in Merdin, except for Lin and Lan. With their abilities, no matter who invaded Merdin…that’s right, even if the Beifeka army invaded, they would easily fend them off!

“I’ll inform the Beifeka royal family that Louise has went on her journey to defeat the Demon King.”

“That’s an intentional inducement!”

“Of course! Those bastards will never give up on Merdin. I’m planning to crush them thoroughly with this chance!”

With this evil plan which even the Demon King would be astonished by, Shine just shook his head. But only Louise replied seriously.

“Merdin is what matters to me and not Beifeka. I can consider the independence.”

“Not bad. Merdin can be developed to become a self-sufficient state.”

“What about becoming an expansion of Sherden?”

“No, that’s a bit…just let it be, Merdin. Traditions are important, aren’t they?”

Becoming Sherden 2 was just too much. It was the same with Louise. She was very lovely, but it was a bit of a burden for Evan to have her by his side all the time…

“But you are the true owner of this land…”

“It’s yours, you know?”

“It’s the land that the child between you and I will govern.”

Louise mumbled so charmingly and patted her smooth stomach. And everyone was dumbfounded at that moment and looked at Evan as they tilted their heads. But Evan was also bewildered. It was just one night, so it was weird she had shown such a gesture! It was just too soon!

“Master…? Perhaps last night wasn’t your first night together…?”

“No, Lua. It’s a misunderstanding!”

Evan went through hell as he was framed with unfair doubts. He couldn’t understand why he had to deal with such a ridiculous situation when they were about to fight the Demon King!

“If…if everyone’s ready, let’s go!”

As Evan succeeded in proving his innocence, he asked the Junior group once more to defend Merdin. He made everyone board the dragon.

“Gnar, go full speed towards the Eternal Glacier.”

―Kyuu.

Gnar growled and spread its wings. The flight was instant. Evan took out his binocular and saw the Beifeka army stationed at the borders of Merdin.

“Good, good; their numbers seem to have gradually increased…Louise, did you communicate with them?”

“Yes. I’ve told them that I’ll clear up the dungeon and head straight to the Eternal Glacier. Along with the news that the Demon King has resurrected.”

Strictly speaking, the Demon King hadn’t been resurrected yet, but the conditions for it have been met. However, Louise said such things to easily fool Beifeka. In the process of recapturing the sealed Merdin, Louise found out that the Demon King had resurrected in the Eternal Glacier, so she left with her master, Evan, to confront the Demon King. How persuasive it was!

“That’s good. If they are looking down on Louise and me, I’ll take actions so that they won’t.”

“Actually, the people in this world perceive the Demon King as the undefeatable enemy. And they will think that we will all die there.”

And they would move to capture Merdin before it was too late. Since they had their army nearby, they wouldn’t hesitate even a bit. If there were petty problems, Evan’s party only cleared out the path straight to the lord’s castle of Merdin, so there were monsters nearby its vicinity. The Astray Junior group was on standby in the center of Merdin.

“Will the Junior group members be all right…?”

“They are quite strong, so leave it to them.”

Gnar increased its speed, and they were completely out of Merdin’s sky. Maybe the Beifeka army noticed it, too. The dragon flew fast northward. It passed Beifeka, Mana Road, Silk Line, and they were over the Great Sea of Elto Frent before long.

“The Demon King…I’m getting excited.”

“I wanted to confront him personally.”

“You can fight it next time.”

“Arisha, don’t talk as if the Demon King is some kind of a field boss that appears regularly, will you?”

In fact, it did appear regularly throughout the entire series, just like the field bosses…

“Evan Oppa, can I tame the Demon King?”

“Don’t even try. I am telling you not to do so.”

“Tsk.”

Autumn looked more suitable for the weather than winter, but the Great Sea of Elto Frent was already freezing.

“It’s a sign of the resurrection of the Demon King. If you don’t defeat him, the ice will stretch all the way to the Silk Line Kingdom.”

“If it’s such an important thing to defeat it, the Silk Line Kingdom will take it as…”

“Well, they will realize the situation someday.”

They intentionally didn’t report it to the Silk Line Kingdom; it would only cause chaos if they knew. By the time they noticed the phenomenon, the summoned Demon King would have already been defeated.

“We will soon arrive at the Eternal Glacier.”

“Demons will be there. Everyone, get ready.”

“Roger that.”

Gnar entered the area of Eternal Glacier. They had caused enough ruckus before, but since time passed since then, the glacier retained its pure white and cold atmosphere that seemed to reject all intruders.

“…Pure white?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Nah, the Demons…”

Why weren’t there any of them? Evan barely stopped himself from talking as he was too bewildered.

‘Aren’t they aware of the fact that all dungeons have been completed? No way, the message should’ve been relayed through the Devil to the Demon Realm. Demon King, you bastard…what on earth are you planning?’

Evan’s eyes narrowed.

“Lua, use your Search. Find the Demons.”

“Right away, Master.”

“Mirole, assist Lua.”

“Sure.”

Belois, the most powerful magician among the members, and Mirole cooperated and searched through the Eternal Glacier. Meanwhile, Evan asked Serena to have Gnar head towards the site where the final battle with the Demon King was supposed to take place.

“Whoa, it’s really clean.”

“You don’t say. I don’t see a single monster.”

“It’s more suspicious since there is nothing.”

That moment, Belois sighed and lifted her head.

“There are none, Master. I can’t find the Demons nor any monsters within the search radius.”

“Same result from me, Commander.”

“Huuuuh…?”

Well, things were becoming more and more unpredictable, weren’t they…? They arrived at the destination with Evan wearing a distorted expression. However, everyone, including Evan, tilted their heads as they looked down. It was because there was nothing in that place.

“Did I get the wrong coordinates?”

“But Master, there is no place that’s suspicious other than this one. I’ve performed the mana scan earlier, and…”

“…Commander, wait a second. This is perhaps.”

“I knew it; it’s a barrier!”

Lin shouted all of a sudden. Mirole stared at Lin as she was upset with the fact that she lost her chance to speak, but Lin didn’t seem to mind it.

“They were all hidden by the barrier! It’s a tremendous one. And besides. Whoa. Lan, I need your head!”

“Sure!”

“Are you girls robots with switchable heads!?”

Of course not. Lin and Lan, the twins, shared a deep spiritual connection with each other that allowed them to share their holy power and status, too! Lin, who received most of the holy power and intelligence from Lan, thoroughly analyzed the barrier and suddenly shouted as her eyes became bigger.

“It’s connected to the barrier in Merdin. A trigger was activated when the barrier in Merdin got destroyed, so those who broke that barrier can’t spot this one.”

“Can you explain it in a simpler version?”

“Hmmm…so, it’s a cause and effect.”

Everyone was still tilting their heads at the answer from Lin, who became ingenious thanks to Lan’s status. Lin was hitting her head with both of her arms and tried her best to give another example as Evan stared at her blankly.

“What I mean is, this barrier became stronger and gained immunity due to the strong power you guys used to break the barrier in Merdin. That’s what I meant by cause and effect! We are neither able to easily find nor break this barrier since we just destroyed the one in Merdin!”

“So that’s what it is, I see. It’s something like ‘Don’t even think the same attack will work on me twice!’”

“Yup, that’s right. As expected from Commander Oppa.”

It was a spell that frequently appears in the game. It was like a counter-type spell, the most troublesome measure for an enemy that could cast an unfair skill that ignored all rationality. There were a lot of traps and enemies in Yo-Ma Great War Zero, which the Great Ancient Wizard couldn’t handle by himself. But to have that implemented at this moment was unexpected.

“It sure did use its head. They were certain that those who broke the barrier of Merdin would come for the Demon King…and they prepared for it four years ago.”

Perhaps, did the Demon King know that Evan was looking for him? Well, Evan received the world’s curse through the Four Heavenly Kings, so the probability was high. But what bothered him was that the Four Heavenly Kings that attacked Sherden barely recognized Evan when they were killed. However, the barrier on Merdin was put up on the same day, so the Demon King knew Evan when his operation began, but he had no idea what Evan looked like and where he lived. Therefore, the Demon King had experienced something related to Evan in the past and was alerted by Evan in the present and came up with a plan…

“Ha, it’s annoying…”

“What’s the matter, Master?”

“I was thinking of resting well after finishing all of the quests give to me, but the realization that what I’ve done so far was just phase one and phase two with harder difficulties waiting for me just kicked in. What would the protagonist feel?”

“Is that so…?”

Evan frankly spoke his feelings to Belois, who was looking at him with worry.

“At last, you’ve come to regard yourself as the protagonist. Evan, I’m really happy.”

“Sorry, but it’s not the time for that, Arisha…”

When moving on to phase two, there were many monsters that were far stronger than the final boss of the first phase! If the final boss of the first phase was the weakest enemy, the hardships that the party of the protagonist suffered all along became nothing.

“But what’s the reason for hiding thoroughly like this? Does it intend to delay the ritual to gather more strength?”

Originally, the Demon King appeared when the player reached the Eternal Glacier, so this situation was something Evan didn’t expect at all.

“Didn’t it just hide out of fear towards you, Master?”

Shine quietly spoke to the bewildered Evan, and he started laughing because he was at a loss for words. The Demon King hid? Did it use such complicated tricks to hide from a human?

“Didn’t it cast the barrier on Merdin since it didn’t want to be resurrected? Because it’s impossible to proceed with the resurrection ritual if all three dungeons are not completed.”

“No way…”

“Shine’s argument is quite convincing.”

“I had that in my mind since before.”

“That bastard, it’s wise for an enemy…”

The members started whispering. Evan lightly clapped once to calm them down.

“Anyways, if you guys know about it, then it’s fine. From now on, we will break that barrier and resurrect the Demon King to kill it. Is that clear, everyone?”

“But didn’t you contribute the most in breaking the barriers in both Merdin and the dungeon, Master? Can you still break this one?”

“It’ll be too much for Lin and Lan.”

“I know what you are concerned about, but it’s a petty thing. Because…”

Evan clenched his left fist and lifted it up. Gnar lowered its altitude as if he understood what Evan wanted. Evan stood on top of Gnar’s head when it stopped at an appropriate altitude, and Evan threw down his left fist with all his might while shouting.

“My Annihilation just evolved to Annihilation v2!”

Along with the sound of the sky trembling, the road to the last boss battle opened up.