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

...a direct confrontation is a dead end.

But conversely, what if we want to find a way to avoid the demons' attack... to completely "seal off" this world?

If demons want to attack this world, they need to pass through a door that has already been opened. What if we find a way to block this only door, so that we can't get out and they can't get in?

...

This seems like a feasible solution. After all, if you lack the strength, you have to find another way.

But then again...did I just see something that looks familiar...?

Yang Hao squinted, observing a bright light in the distance within his mental world.

It was a demon with a centipede's head.

The centipede's head and its bizarre, twisted body, resembling a fleshy ball, seemed to be covered with numerous tentacles or thick nerves.

What kind of demon is this?

Yang Hao recalled with curiosity. But just as he was recalling, the centipede demon suddenly turned its head in Yang Hao's direction.

It was discovered!

Yang Hao subconsciously tried to sever his connection with the demon's mental world, but the strange demon was clearly faster than him.

Even from a distance visible to the naked eye, the centipede demon still affected Yang Hao.

Or, to put it another way, in the world of thought, common sense about the physical world is meaningless.

【——】

In the next instant.

Yang Hao suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to submit to the centipede demon.

The pain of retaining his self-awareness was unbearable. Meanwhile, the bliss of surrendering to the devil began to slowly coil around his brain like spider silk, leaving him teetering between pain and pleasure.

A voice kept telling him—kneel down. If he knelt down and surrendered himself to the devil, everything would become happy.

The world before him had become increasingly elusive and unpredictable. It seemed that the demon was using fragments of Yang Hao's mind to construct a beautiful world.

This world has streetlights, familiar street vendors and snacks, and not far away, a strange bus is parked at the bus stop. Yang Hao's clothes have also changed to ordinary shirts and jeans.

Everything was a familiar sight.

However, he didn't hesitate for too long.

He roused himself from a state of ecstasy and pain by smashing his head with a stone he found anywhere in the virtual world.

"Who the hell would make sashimi with ant meat at a snack bar?! If you're creating a virtual world, at least be a little more professional, okay?!"

This demon possessed special abilities beyond Yang Hao's comprehension—if it hadn't been so ignorant of Yang Hao and made the foolish mistake of merging the impressions of the two worlds, perhaps Yang Hao would have already been captivated by the illusion.

In short, Yang Hao returned to the world of thought through suicide in his hallucination, but in the world of thought, he still has to find a way back to reality.

Lalumia had taught him how to return to reality. Taking advantage of the centipede demon's surprise at escaping the illusion, Yang Hao slammed the lens in his hand to the ground.

The lens vanished without a trace. His consciousness was also "absorbed"—when he came to, the world before him was the familiar tent, and the girls who had been anxiously waiting for his return beside him now showed relaxed expressions.

"You were acting strange just now. Lalumia was planning to forcibly bring you back," the elf muttered, wiping Yang Hao's sweat with a handkerchief. "It doesn't matter that we didn't get any useful information. It's good that you're back safe and sound."

"—Actually, there's quite a bit of valuable intelligence. But before that, there's one more thing..."

Yang Hao recounted in detail his experiences in the world of thought. As he spoke, the girls, who had initially relaxed, tensed up again, especially Lalumia—her face was extremely grim. Yang Hao and the others had never seen her so angry before.

Before Yang Hao could offer any further explanation, Lalumia issued a direct order:

"You're not allowed to take any more risks from now on!"

Her command even drowned out Finn's words, who was even more nervous than her. Yang Hao understood this, knowing that if Lalumia was truly determined not to let him do a certain job, then he would be completely cut off from her in the future.

So he just nodded and said with a wry smile:

“I know I won’t take any more risks… but Lalumia, do you know… what kind of demon was that that illusion-inducing demon I encountered?”

"...That is the demon that controls."

"Dominate demons? It's not—"

Yang Hao was stunned for a moment.

He finally remembered—Lalumia had indeed described something about the Demon Dominator. But wasn't the Demon Dominator either dead, sealed away, or sent back?

From the perspective of an old demon, the Dominator Demon he just encountered felt far too immature. From the perspective of a new demon, can demons really mass-produce Dominator Demons? If they could, then what's the point of fighting?

Yang Hao's suspicions left Lalumia silent for a long while.

Then, the deity, who was so worried about the child, sighed and said that even from a probabilistic point of view, a second demon should have appeared by now.

"After all, even with a one in a trillion chance... given the total number of demons, a second Dominator Demon should have appeared by now. But... the fact that the Dominator Demon you're facing is younger is also a fact. If it were truly the original Dominator Demon, you wouldn't have had a chance to wake up on your own; I would have had to awaken you from the outside..."

"...Let me ask you this: what would happen if I were truly and successfully dominated in the world of thought?"

Everyone fell silent for a while. They looked at each other, and finally focused their attention on Lalumia.

Lalumia simply shook his head at this:

“I can force you to regain consciousness, but it will cause some healable damage—however... this is not a good thing after all. After all, you're always running around outside, and I can't always be by your side... But since you've already exposed a weakness, we should try our best to eliminate it.”

Lalumia seems to have a way to bring those controlled by the demons back to their original reality—but this comes at a price.

It could be a brief headache, a loss of consciousness, or even direct physical injury...

In short, Yang Hao didn't want to go through any of this. So, it would be better to stay close to Lalumia in the future.

He sighed heavily. This in-depth understanding of the demon's mind had been incredibly beneficial to him. Perhaps after resolving the matter of Ysgard, he would need to consider the ultimate task of combating the demonic calamity.

They cannot possibly confront demons head-on. The demons' first reconnaissance invasion nearly wiped out two of the four continents, almost causing a complete reshuffling of intelligent life on the world... If the next great demonic calamity is indeed a full-scale demonic attack, then no matter what, this world will not be able to withstand it.

"I really need to find a way to block the 'door' and force the demons to attack another world," Yang Hao muttered. Just then, the latest battle report arrived.

The battle report stated that the magical puppet team had reached the deepest part of the underground tunnel—there, instead of finding the demon mother's nest, they found a high-ranking demon entering its final incubation stage.

They were unable to destroy the eggs of high-ranking demons, whose shells, possessing both physical and magical resistance, were sufficient to protect the demons from hatching—but if they were to fight high-ranking demons, they might not be able to catch up with the fleeing demon nest.

They need instructions.

For Yang Hao, one of his goals had been achieved – the activity range of the Demon Mother Nest had been effectively restricted. In order to prevent high-level demons from suddenly attacking the magical puppets that were finishing up their work, the best way now was to send a small team to continue to follow the Demon Mother Nest while concentrating their efforts on dealing with the high-level demons that were about to hatch.

The biggest problem is that they don't know what abilities the hatched high-level demons possess. The forces fighting the high-level demons might be delayed for a long time, or they might regain their freedom in a short period.

Yang Hao believed he could accept a strategic delay. Therefore, he decided to have the magical puppets proceed cautiously.

"Let's play it safe. Have a small team track the demon's lair, and the rest of you be careful."

"learn."

Elena nodded and relayed the order directly to the underground magic puppet force through the magic network. Then, the giant fireworks of the New Year in Ysgard burst into the night sky with a roar.

The earth at midnight was illuminated with a dazzling array of colors.

And underground.

The land surrounding the Mother's Nest, however, was a deep red due to its proximity to the lava zone. The intense heat was not a problem for the Mother's Nest or the demons; on the contrary, it provided them with excellent cover—although the Mother's Nest didn't expect the lava to stop the monsters' attacks, limiting their routes was enough.

It commanded its larvae to move to a safer location. The burrowing worm, exhausted, could no longer continue working, so it couldn't move to a safer place. At least not now.

To ensure its own safety, the mother brood ordered some of the larvae to build tunnels to draw in lava. It needed the lava to cover the caves it had come from, and since it was impossible to re-seal the tunnels it had dug, it at least had to ensure that enemies would encounter more trouble when they attacked.

And what about the next one?

Passive defense or flight will eventually lead to nowhere to escape. But taking the initiative, it has yet to find the regent's location.

How can it break free from this vicious cycle?

The Mother Nest fell into deep thought. But at that moment, a telepathic message from a high-ranking demon told it that the monsters were already fighting against the children it had spawned.

...High-ranking demons cannot delay for too long. In a sense, when a high-ranking demon dies, its own escape route is almost cut off.

To continue escaping, further physical torture would be necessary—but further physical torture would make escape even more difficult.

Those monsters possess some kind of tracking ability. In other words, there's no point in continuing to run away.

...The Mother Nest must find a way to fight off the surface monsters. But how to fight them is the question.

[...it must be brought to the ground.]

The Mother Nest knew its goal. So it began producing more Diggers, but these were not enough to dig an upward tunnel for it to pass through.

Therefore, the mother nest's goal has changed.

[More destruction must be inflicted on the surface; at least before I die, the monster's regent must be killed.]

Since his death seemed inevitable.

Conversely, let's say...

Old Mother Nest at least had the right to try to kill the Regent before she died.

...Though the hope is slim, the future of the demon race is born from each faint hope. It may not be able to continue paving the way for the Great Cataclysm and disappoint its kin on another continent, but at least it can try.

The Mother Nest decided that after producing the most powerful juvenile demons in the final round of production, it would immediately send the Diggers to dig upwards.

When the Diggers are exhausted, they can dig a large enough tunnel in no time to hide the juvenile demons before blocking the passage.

Even if they die, the demons that are saved still have the opportunity to slowly climb up the ranks... They can try to assassinate the regent after their death, even if the chances are slim.

"...It seems I ultimately can't keep up with human technology. This species is undoubtedly a monster."

The old mother pondered. She sighed. Finally...

It suddenly realized something.

Who was it that was observing me in the world of my thoughts just now?

......

It still remembers that person's location.

Even just trying it would be worthwhile.

Let's take a gamble.

It's a bet; the one who just observed me is the human regent.

Because only humans would do something so insane. And in this era, the most insane human being was undoubtedly the Regent.

Go!