After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

not enough.

The demon servants need to throw the Regent into complete disarray, and the best way to do that is to accelerate the mutation process of Ysgard's main force.

"After all, the Regent's goal is to take this main force out... If I can accelerate their mutation rate, then the Regent will definitely lose his composure."

After all, that's over ten thousand people! Even ten thousand obedient pigs would fall into chaos when faced with swine fever, let alone a group of people with low morale.

The demon servant muttered to himself. He was full of confidence in his plan.

Meanwhile, on the village's church bell tower, Lalumia released his divine power into the shape of flames and carefully placed them in the mirror created by Elena.

The reflector created by Elena is similar to the lighthouses that Yang Hao knows about on Earth—it can reflect bright light and confirm its status as a [man-made object] by flashing.

Although he wasn't quite sure how Elena managed to make the "lighthouse" operate on its own in a place with no energy supply, upon closer reflection, if divine power itself was similar in nature to magic, then using "divine power" as an energy source should be perfectly reasonable, right?

Does this really work?

He shook his head and asked a question. Looking down at the burning corpse of the Roman demon in the fire pit outside the village, he touched Elena's head and asked Lalumia.

Yang Hao was highly skeptical about whether the lighthouse would actually work—or rather, whether it would serve its intended purpose. After all, based on his observations, the closer they got to the capital of Roman Kingdom, the more pronounced the changes in terrain became, and the thicker the fog grew.

If it works in the early stages, it's hard to guarantee that it will work well in later stages of the map.

The most typical example is that when facing a teenage girl, you might be able to hold her in one hand—but when that girl becomes a married woman, even with both arms around her, her breasts might be almost spilling out. That's just how cruel reality is.

Of course, if it's Finn... well, that's another story.

Faced with Yang Hao's curiosity, Lalumia simply shook her head and said: "At least for now, we can be sure it will be useful."

"Divine flames are different from ordinary flames or lights... As a power corresponding to magic, divine power can be considered the nemesis of demons in a sense."

In this situation, my divine power can naturally suppress the power of the demonic realm to a certain extent, not to mention... child, my concept is [Light], you know?"

"I know..."

"But you don't know. Because you haven't seen how powerful the real [concept] ability is, I will definitely forgive your doubts."

Lalumia gently kneaded Yang Hao's earlobe, and then pinched the tip of his nose in an affectionate way that Teresa wouldn't normally do. She then explained how much influence her power had on the demons.

Simply put, if a crisis truly arises where Lalumia has to intervene, Lalumia has the ability to use its divine power to repel the demons while simultaneously forcibly healing the mutation process on the main force of Ysgard.

However, because it is located deep within the Demon Realm, Lalumia will consume a large amount of divine power...

"After all, things are different now than in the past. If hundreds of millions of people believed in me every day in the past, now it's at most a few hundred thousand. Not to mention that the Bayern people have already come to regard Theresa as their new faith, not me..."

So in a sense, I want to avoid expending my divine power as much as possible, do you understand? My child... after all, I believe my power should be used for more important things—such as the Ice Calamity in the North, rather than Roman's Demon Realm.”

"Why isn't Roman's Demon Realm working?"

"Because it's bigger than me."

Lalumia sighed, spreading her hands and shaking her head helplessly. Yang Hao, on the other hand, looked thoughtfully at the tight clothing on her chest, and after thinking about it, concluded that the so-called "size" issue was probably relative.

If this were Lalumia in its heyday, the current Roman Empire, this ruined demon realm, would probably be nothing at all!

However, for Lalumia, who has regained most of her power but is unable to recapture the speed at which her power has increased in the past... the current Demon Realm is still too powerful.

Perhaps she truly possesses the power to completely annihilate the Demon Realm, but the United Nations cannot afford the sacrifice of a deity. Furthermore, with several years to spare, Yang Hao cannot afford to sacrifice his own family to secure a safe haven...

Okay then.

Yang Hao nodded and walked down from the church bell tower with the two of them.

He approved of Lalumia's decision to preserve its strength; in other words, the next step was more about his command.

"It's pretty much the same as before"—with this thought in mind, as Yang Hao regrouped his team to move towards the possible location of the main force of Ysgard, he saw through Golem's vision.

To their astonishment, they found it on their only path forward.

Numerous Roman demons were frantically digging for the gold and silver jewels scattered on the chitinous surface, and it seemed there was no way to avoid it.

.............

Yang Hao and the others stared gravely at the numerous Roman demons blocking their path. Although the mist obscured their vision, with Gorem's help, they could still clearly see the distribution and current movements of the Roman demons.

The operation was as it had been seen before—they were collecting gold and silver jewels that should have been useless to demons at all costs, and there were even minor frictions among the Roman demons as a result. But in the end, they maintained as peaceful a situation as possible and did not have any opportunity to cause chaos on their own.

And their distribution... is almost ubiquitous along the entire route leading to the Roman capital. Unless Yang Hao considers taking a detour, circling around several mountains to find another way, he has no way to avoid these Roman demons.

Even assuming the rescue force, being small in size, could find a safe path through the gaps between the demons, they couldn't guarantee that their ten thousand-plus warriors could also maintain their covert movements along their own route after encountering the main force of Isgard.

...in other words.

"We're stuck."

Elena muttered something unusual in a way that didn't sound like her usual way of speaking. Lalumia, upon hearing this, could only look helpless and say, "Who are you imitating?" while reaching out and vigorously rubbing Elena's hair.

Yang Hao stared at the mist before him with a strange expression. He had considered that the Romans, after becoming demons, would retain most of their desires, but he hadn't realized that they had also inherited their unenlightened stupidity...

To put it bluntly, any normal person should know that gold and silver jewelry suddenly appearing in a wasteland is definitely suspicious...

However, the Romans were unaware of the seriousness of the problem. At least during the few days Yang Hao was involved in politics, he attempted to change this ignorant and stagnant situation, but all his efforts ended in failure.

It seems... the Demon Roman hasn't abandoned that ignorance. In a sense, this is a good opportunity for Yang Hao...

after all.

He really knows the Romans.

“The magical puppets will control some of the flying golems to collect the gold and silver jewelry on the ground,” Yang Hao muttered. “Although the flying golems don’t have hands or feet, I think your magic should work… Even if they can’t pick them up, it’s okay. You can just use magic to create replicas of the gold and silver jewelry and place them on top. Now hurry up.”

The magical puppets and hunters were stunned for a moment, then, while wondering what His Majesty the Regent was thinking, they obediently followed his orders.

Soon, some of the flying golems were covered in gold and silver jewels disguised with magic—after all, no one wanted to risk alerting the Roman demons and snatching gold from their mouths, so it was better to make them on the spot using the magic of the demon realm!

These magically crafted gold and silver jewels last for a maximum of one day, so what does His Majesty the Regent intend to do with these flying golems piled high with gold?

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Yang Hao simply spread his hands and issued yet another order:

"Have the flying golem deliberately move towards the Roman demons, preferably bumping into them so they can see the golem is laden with gold—once the Roman demons start moving, control the golem to fly to either side of the road and place the gold and jewels far from the road where the Roman demons are most numerous."

"Yes!"

The magical dolls were stunned for a moment.

Then he quickly realized Yang Hao's idea: he planned to directly instigate infighting within the Roman Demons!

Under the control of the magical puppets, the flying golem, laden with gold and silver jewels, slowly flew toward the Roman demon, who was digging at the shallowly buried gold on the ground.

It deliberately bumped into the Roman demon who was engrossed in his work, and then, as the demon looked up in confusion, the flying golem deliberately tilted its angle so that the demons on the ground could see the gold and silver treasures that were loaded on its back.

In an instant, Roman the Demon's eyes widened. Instinctively, greed made them drool over anything that glittered, especially after discovering that the gold and silver jewels were far more luxurious and precious than what they had dug up. They instinctively leaped up from the ground, trying to reach out their claws or tentacles to grab the tempting riches carried by the flying golem.

But their leaps and bounds failed to catch the suddenly agile flying golem; instead, they accidentally bumped into their fellow demons who were also leaping up. The Roman demons angrily punched and kicked their companion, but after noticing that the flying golem seemed to be flying further and further away, they quickly abandoned their fight and crawled or ran towards the flying golem's location as fast as they could.

The anomaly of one demon cannot trigger the entire demon horde, but what if it is the anomaly of a group of demons?

Soon, even the demons who once roamed the national highway were captivated by the flying golems on either side. They looked at the dirty jewels in their hands, then at the glittering gold on the backs of the flying golems, and fell into deep thought. In the end, they all abandoned what was buried in the ground and began to chase after the wealth that was flying further and further away in the sky.

But not all Roman demons noticed what was in the sky.

About 600 meters from the road, thanks to the efforts of Elena and the others, the flying golem was able to maintain a signal reaching the farthest point—where numerous Roman demons were intently digging for treasure on the ground, completely unaware of their companions rushing towards them from behind.

Caught off guard, all the Roman demons who were working with their heads down felt a heaviness in their heads, a pain in the back of their heads, and darkness in front of them. Then, in the next instant, their vision was enveloped in gold.

what is this?

Seeing the jewels suddenly fall in front of them, the Roman demons were surprised to find that a pie had fallen from the sky! They were overjoyed and subconsciously tried to hide the pie with some parts of their bodies, but a sudden kick from behind made them fall to the ground.

"roar?!"

"Wow!!!"

The Roman demon, kicked to the ground, roared, clutching tightly at the clearly superior jewels and gold in its hands. Meanwhile, the Roman demons, who had been relentlessly pursuing them and finally saw the flying golem abandon its wealth, launched an attack on their kin who had seized what was rightfully theirs.

In an instant, a battle between demons for illusory wealth ignited on both sides of the national highway, and the small conflict quickly escalated into a full-scale war due to the unresolved chaos.

Tens of thousands of Roman demons were locked in a chaotic battle, and apart from a very few insignificant Roman demons, there was no longer any threat left on the national highway.

Yang Hao and his group advanced easily along the national highway, which had been transformed into a demon's shell. Upon discovering that the fighting on both sides of the highway was still at a stalemate, Yang Hao gave his final order:

"Use magic to give the Roman demons the advantage, and let them push the battle line as far outward as possible."

Through Golem's eyes, they could already see what appeared to be the flags planted on the mountainside by the Issugard colonial army in the distance.

They could safely reach the location of the main force of Isgard, while the demon servant secretly watching from afar could only admire the Regent's understanding of the Romans while shaking his head and sighing at the incompetent Roman demons.

"They've ruined the reputation of demons!"

Chapter 8: Convergence, and Accelerated Mutation - 8K

After Yang Hao stirred things up, the Roman demons fought each other like cardboard stuck together, locked in a fierce and evenly matched battle, and under Yang Hao's deliberate arrangement, they began to drift further and further away from the national highway.

If initially only small groups of troops could cautiously advance on the national highway, now the road opened up by Roman the Devil is wide enough for an army of ten thousand to pass in formation.

Although it was still essentially a dangerous journey home, it was enough for Yang Hao—after all, no one expected him to actually bring back more than ten thousand people without missing a single one.

If I can bring most of the people back, the objective of this operation can be perfectly achieved... It's perfectly acceptable if there are some casualties during the evacuation.

"After all, no one is perfect, and actions can never be completely perfect... In a sense, I'm really glad that you can avoid that perfectionist mentality."

Yang Hao and his team marched confidently along the Demon Kingdom Road. The sounds of battle from both sides grew fainter and fainter, while in the eyes of the Golem operators, the banners of the main force of Isgard, which were being gradually attacked, grew closer and closer as they advanced.

At this moment, Lalumia smiled and agreed with Yang Hao's mindset. To this, Yang Hao simply shrugged as he continued walking and said, "That's just how reality is."

"I don't need to be so nice to people outside our country. Perhaps I would do everything I can to ensure a perfect outcome for our own people, but why should I be so nice to foreigners?"

"While you're right to think that way, I personally still think that if you really want Isgard to become your long-term ally, or even a steadfast one, then you'd better think carefully about how to do this better."

"If that's possible... wait, Elena, have you noticed something?"

Yang Hao had originally intended to say he would "think about it," but Elena's sudden side bump distracted him.

As for Lalumia, her reminder ended there—she knew Yang Hao definitely understood the deeper meaning behind her words, but on second thought, if Yang Hao really didn't see the black dragon lady's admiration, perhaps he really wouldn't have considered it in that direction?

(After all, thinking about it carefully, it does seem quite possible... Just because I can see what Miss Nia is thinking doesn't mean Yang Hao can. After all, from my observation, Yang Hao seems to prefer direct expressions of love, right?)

After all, Teresa only truly captured this man's heart through a direct approach... But frankly, the world is so complex, and human nature is so complex, how could everyone be so direct?

"Ugh."

Lalumia gazed at the mist before her. Through the power of the gods, she could see further than anyone else outside the Golems—she looked at the banners of the main force camp of Ysgard gradually becoming clearer in the distance, but her thoughts were... about Nia.

Lalumia does not reject love that carries a certain purpose.

After all, to be honest, apart from a very few people, don't most people love their partners with expectations of them?