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

"Holy crap... I can't see anything?! Everyone, please don't activate magic scanning mode?! Lord Lalumia's power is too strong; we simply can't block it?!"

Upon entering the underground passage, a silvery-white world unfolds before the magical doll.

Lalumia's [poison] contained so much power that the magic shielding devices developed by the magical dolls were rendered ineffective. Left with no other choice, they could only observe it using the most direct physical methods and advance almost in the dark amidst a thick expanse of green and white.

They had to descend outside the range of divine influence to activate the various magical devices in their eyes. But before that, they had to rescue the people of Isgard.

While ordinary poisonous gases are not fatal, they can still cause irreparable harm to humans when they are concentrated to a certain level.

To prevent the people of Isgard from perishing, the magical puppets responsible for the rescue did everything in their power to move the unregistered residents from the pre-scouted farms out of the area. Meanwhile, the magical puppets responsible for launching the downward attack advanced at their own pace.

A total of seven attacking forces launched their exploration through different passages. The fastest-progressing team descended to a depth of about two thousand meters underground via a vertical underground cliff after passing through a steep layer of ore.

"The quantity of these ores is so small..." A magical puppet scanned the mineral reserves underground in Ysgard. "All of them combined don't even amount to the silver mines of Elusia..."

"No wonder the Isgardians would consider trading with us. But then again, I have a feeling that the black dragon lady has something on her mind."

"Forget about Miss Black Dragon. After working together for so long, Elena is still friends with her... I'm more worried about that vampire."

"why?"

"I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I feel like that vampire and His Majesty Yang Hao are a little too compatible? And then again... since we came to this continent, we haven't found any trace of the [God] yet, have we? Even after all this has happened, the [God] still hasn't shown up..."

"Perhaps it's someone like the God of Light. I mean the one from Roman."

The magical puppet muttered to itself, transforming its right hand into a tether-like jet propulsion device before grabbing a stalactite from the tunnel ceiling and swinging across. The others followed suit. However, inside the tunnel, they still didn't encounter a single living demon.

Above, they found many demon larvae and larvae that had been poisoned to death by Lalumia's poison.

After easily finishing off the demon, the magical dolls keenly realized that this demon was different from the demon of Elusia.

In terms of physical toughness and overall strength, the demons here are far stronger than the demons of Elusia.

Of course, this is nothing compared to the demons of Eden—after all, the demons of Eden live in an environment extremely rich in magic, and after evolving by consuming magic for quite some time, they are already considered the most powerful demon species in the world...

Even so, the fact that Isgard, a demon-poor region, can produce powerful demons second only to those of Eden... is something that every Edenite instinctively shudders at.

They really didn't want to encounter a demon that had evolved to its ultimate form again.

"...Let's wait here for a while. We need to wait for the troops from the other passages to reach the same progress... Let's observe with the magical machinery first."

"Even at the lowest estimate, it might still be over a thousand meters deep... This is not good. Our 'reconnaissance' wasn't designed with underground pressure in mind."

"That's the only way."

The magical dolls were buzzing with discussion. After taking the magical machine out of the storage chamber, they controlled it to scout downwards, only to discover something that astonished them halfway down.

The good news is that they found the demon.

The bad news is...

"Holy crap... how did the chitinous carapace on this demon turn into metal?! Did you fucking see that?! Diamond, it's a diamond?!"

The demons seem to have really learned how to smelt metal ores—although it's unclear how they "wear" armor, it's certain that the things on those demons are indeed metal armor.

This is not good news. Who knows how many armored demons are left?

The magical puppets exchanged glances and decided to upload the information first.

Chapter 11: [The Demon, Lalumia, and Gaia] - 8K

A group of demons clad in armor—though the magical dolls knew their conclusion was a bit far-fetched, that was the reality. Appearing more than two thousand meters underground, these demons didn't have any chitinous carapaces at all; instead, they were covered in solid metal armor!

From ordinary iron ore to rare silver and gold mines, and even alloys made up of a large number of minerals.

Although we don't know exactly how strong the defense will be, what is certain is that the demon's actions have put the already resource-scarce Ysgard in an even worse predicament—the gold and silver are one thing as currency, but this iron is really a problem.

The magical dolls felt sorry for poor Miss Margarita and Ysgard, but just then, a communication from above brought them back to their senses.

"...Elena told us to prioritize dealing with demons wearing metal armor. It doesn't matter if they die, just get as many corpses as possible up for testing—but isn't that easy for us to handle?"

"Idiots! Have you forgotten common sense after being in the army for so long? We can handle these things, but the guns in the hands of the Bayer Zans and the elves might not be able to deal with these bastards! The emperors probably need live subjects for testing. Let's find a way to capture them alive."

"Huh? Then how do we get it up there?"

"That's another issue."

The magical puppets descended another two hundred meters at top speed. At a relatively open fork in the road, they encountered the armored demon that had been discovered by the magical machinery.

Let's call these demons the "Metal Demons" for now.

Most metal demons are significantly larger than their counterparts. They possess an absolute advantage in strength, but are at a disadvantage in agility and flexibility.

...However, in such a narrow space, there's no need to consider agility and flexibility—after all, here, everyone can only engage in close combat.

The magical puppets summoned their usual magical weapons, and the demons were clearly incredulous at the magical weapons that had appeared on this demon-poor continent.

It was accompanied by a strange roar.

The strongest of them stood at the front, while those that looked the weakest appeared to be running away...

"Hey... even demons have learned to talk now? I really can't imagine what kind of threat these insectoid creatures, which are similar to swarms, would pose if they evolved into a civilization..."

If artificial bodies could sweat, they would probably be soaked in sweat by now. But their current bodies have no ability to secrete fluids, so they can only confront the demons with their small stature.

There is no room for intrigue or trickery in close combat.

The magical dolls could only fight demons head-on. Fortunately, the demons here weren't of any particularly powerful type... Even though the magical dolls hadn't fully adapted to their current bodies, they still managed to defeat all the demons here relatively easily.

Unsurprisingly, the demons of Ysgard are stronger than those of the continent of Elusia, but slightly weaker than those of Eden. They have evolved the highest resistance to physical attacks and fire, but are unprepared to deal with magic.

Therefore, the magical dolls were able to easily penetrate the metal demons' metal shells with their magical weapons, and in the next moment they realized that the demons had not completely abandoned their chitinous shells, but had instead put on a layer of hard metal armor on top of the chitinous shells.

...

This is too bad.

Even the Edenians, who specialize in using magical weapons, realized that if these metal demons appeared on the surface in large numbers, they would be an extremely troublesome enemy for Isgard and even for the United Nations.

Conventional physical weapons are like tickling these metal demons. Even the 30mm machine gun in the hands of the machine gun golem cannot easily penetrate the metal demon's armor, let alone the rifles in the hands of the elves and Bayer Zans.

"This thickness is excessive... The people of Ysgard would probably cry if they saw this."

"Am I seeing things...? The thickest part of the skull has 200 millimeters of armor? Even if it's just crude metal... this is just too outrageous!"

"Even the warships of the Isgardians don't have armor this thick, do they?"

"That's an exaggeration. But what's certain is that no soldier in Isgard has ever worn such thick armor since the kingdom's founding."

200mm of metal armor... this is almost impenetrable protection for the Isgardians, who only possess physical attack methods.

Beneath this 200mm thick metal armor lies a thick chitinous carapace... Moreover, based on their recent battle with the demons, the magical dolls roughly deduce that these demons, at full speed, are even faster than a typical carriage...

In a sense, the people of Isgard have completely abandoned any thought of dealing with demons on their own. After taking this thing up for a proper autopsy, the people of Isgard will probably be begging for our help...

Sigh. That's all I can say.

Fortunately, our country not only has physical attack methods, but also abundant magical power to unleash magic...

The magical puppets uploaded the metal demon's data to the surface. Meanwhile, as they continued their downward sealing, Yang Hao received a communication from Kino on the surface.

The anomalies on Kino's side confirmed Yang Hao's earlier judgment: the Demon Mother's Nest was constantly digging underground, definitely in order to carry out a strategic relocation before their own troops entered the main camp.

Although it's unclear whether there are any new passages leading to the surface from where they escaped, Yang Hao can at least provide the magical puppets with a directional advantage on the ground, allowing them to keep tracking the retreating demon mother's nest.

After all, no matter how fast the Demon Mother's Nest runs, it can't outrun the Magical Dolls that are moving at full speed when it comes to digging and hiding its tracks... So, finding the Demon Mother's Nest is only a matter of time.

but...

Something feels off.

Since the Demon Mother Nest has already acquired the technology of metallurgy and has actually succeeded in forging metal into armor for its minions to wear... why is the Demon Mother Nest's first reaction to our attack not to produce more offspring, but to try to escape?

Are demons such a quality-conscious race? It doesn't seem like it...

"All the demons we've encountered have been crushed by sheer numbers, with the powerful young being selected from the vast population for evolution... But now it seems the demons of Ysgard, rather than following a survival-of-the-fittest selection process, are more like workers creating sophisticated tools..."

I feel there are quite a few problems... Lord Lalumia, what do you think?

Yang Hao didn't want to bother Fen and the others who were very busy, so he had no choice but to ask the deity who had been taking care of the drowsy Naruja by his side.

When Yang Hao asked the question, the deity simply shook his head:

"In my memory, humanity has not always been a great, bright, and benevolent race... So my children, do not let your past experiences limit your imagination. Demons may be more unpredictable than we imagine."

"...That's true. Bayerzans, the Land of Eden, the Roman Demon Realm, and now the demons of Isgard have presented four different ecosystems... Demons may be more diverse than we imagine—but this makes me even more curious about the core concept of the demons of Isgard."

"Ok?"

"Lord Lalumia, I need your help—I think I need to try to think from the demon's perspective."

Yang Hao's earnest request caused the gentle deity to tilt its head slightly.

Then, Lalumia's smile disappeared.

She gently stroked Narudya's cheek, and after confirming that the deer girl was asleep, she placed her on the bench and sighed heavily as she looked at the busy people in the distance:

“My child. Do you know what risks this involves? The mind of a demon is completely different from that of us gods... and from that of you humans.”

“I know. But I need to understand demons—otherwise, not only will I find it extremely difficult to fight the Mother Nest of Ysgard this time, but I also won’t be able to achieve the desired effect against demonic calamities in the future.”

"...Alright then."

The deity smiled bitterly.

She gestured for Yang Hao to come over. Yang Hao obediently did so. He stood obediently in front of Lalumia, and then she hugged him.

"ha..."

The deity took a deep breath. While stroking the back of Yang Hao's head, she solemnly asked again:

“You know, Theresa will be absolutely furious—she doesn’t want you to easily defeat the demon. She wants you to come home safe and sound.”

"I know. So I will get home safely."

"But the thing you asked me to do isn't safe. However... I won't say anything. After all, the child has grown up and chosen his own path. As an elder, I can only offer support after giving reminders—but my child, you must remember this."

She patted Yang Hao on the back, then hugged her beloved child to her chest before giving her final words of advice:

"...If you have any premonition of injury or danger, come back immediately. If you don't come back, I will make you come back."

"Ah."

Isn't this actually a warning?

With his face buried in Lalumia's chest, Yang Hao had no room to breathe. As he pondered this, Lalumia pulled him to sit on another chair.