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

Its vitality is almost exhausted.

After the last batch of larvae were born.

The weakened Mother Nest issued her final command.

... .....

As the newest and last force of the Demon Mother's Hive began to move upwards, this demonic force, which had received the final orders from the Mother's Hive, encountered an unknown entity in the pitch-black depths.

It was a crow that had appeared more than four thousand meters underground for some unknown reason. It was completely black, with a few feathers plucked out, and its equally black beak displayed a sickly smile for some reason.

The demons didn't think too much; even a crow was a valuable source of energy, so they naturally needed to carry the food into their pouches—but that crow unexpectedly displayed a peculiar ability.

Time seemed to stand still. The pitch-black underground was instantly transported to an open surface.

The demons stared blankly at the surrounding woods and the sky above illuminated by fireworks. Before they could make any move, they realized that their bodies were paralyzed.

"Sigh... Although I told that old woman that I have no strength now, it doesn't mean that I really can't do anything."

The raven spoke in a human voice. Under the demon's gaze, it transformed into a mischievous girl with black hair—but for some reason, this girl held a strange black knife in her hand.

"But to be honest... you demons are really annoying. You've eaten your own world to the point of destruction, how dare you come and invade ours? Ugh—you damn bastards."

If only the plague could be transmitted directly through your mind world! But you fucking don't eat these things... Why does such a monstrous race like you even exist in this world? Sigh.

The girl sighed. The knife in her hand exuded an aura that chilled even demons—but the demons quickly detected that the aura was the scent of plague.

The plague has almost no effect on the demon race.

They can efficiently separate infected individuals from the group. They can even deliberately become infected with the plague themselves when necessary, and then evolve antibodies that cure the plague—although this would come at a cost of thousands, it is a negligible loss for the demons.

This is why Gaia, known as the Goddess of the World, never expected to use the Plague to eliminate her opponents.

Rather, even if she could, she couldn't do it right now.

Maintaining time stop and spatial teleportation had already exhausted a significant portion of her existing power. She could no longer waste time—but before that, Gaia had to ensure that the will of the Mother Nest didn't see her dealing with these demons, lest she be "uploaded" into their mind world by the Mother Nest.

Ugh!

Who can blame them when demons are such an outrageous species?

After Gaia made sure the demon's lair wasn't looking this way, she decisively deactivated her powers.

Then, amidst the clash of swords, Gaia easily slew all the demons with her black blade crafted from world crystals, and with her divine power, completely destroyed any possibility of their resurrection.

"...Although demons shouldn't be able to crawl out after they're dead, your corpses can still be used as a [relay station] even if they're dead...it's better to be a little more cautious."

Gaia muttered to herself.

Only after watching the demon's corpse turn to ashes did she put down the knife in her hand and transform back into a raven with even fewer feathers, flying into the sky.

Underground, however, the battle between the magical puppets and the high-ranking demons has only just begun.

This high-level demon was not as powerful as the magical dolls had imagined, but its special abilities made it extremely troublesome for the magical dolls.

It's like a hedgehog that has put all its points into resistance—the kind that can prick you even if you don't attack it. You try to deal with it, but you don't know where to start.

Because of their specially designed bodies with limited capacity, the magical dolls deep underground simply couldn't bring down the powerful weapons from the surface.

Left with no other choice, the magical dolls had to build magic network nodes on the spot, and after the magic network nodes were connected to the network, they could choose to download the equipment they needed.

Even so, this high-level demon, which had almost completely abandoned its offensive capabilities, still caused the magical puppets a great deal of trouble in terms of defense.

"This seems more like an ability that evolved specifically to buy time... So, has our team found traces of the mother hive?"

The magical dolls were already somewhat agitated from the fighting. The bad news from ahead only added to their headaches: the tunnel leading to the Demon Mother's lair was blocked by flowing lava. Although they weren't entirely sure how the Demon Mother had managed to pass through the lava pool, the magical dolls were temporarily unable to advance.

The good news is that the Demon Mother's Nest doesn't seem to have a way to advance either. It's currently like a lamb to the slaughter, waiting behind the lava pool for the arrival of the magical puppets. Therefore, the main force can prioritize dealing with the high-ranking demons, and then leisurely approach after confirming their complete demise.

In this situation, even the most pessimistic person knows that everything is coming to an end.

However, for Yang Hao and his team who were directing operations from the ground, it was not yet time to let their guard down.

They instructed the surface soldiers to pay extra attention to any passages leading underground. However, due to manpower shortages, Yang Hao could only request assistance from the Isgard soldiers outside the forest in Nia's name.

Although Nia's expression was strange at the time, with the manpower provided by the Isugard soldiers, Yang Hao was finally able to ensure that the entire mine forest was under his surveillance. However, because of this, he noticed that there seemed to be some unnatural burn marks on the forest floor.

"Elena, was there ever a fire or anything like that here?" Yang Hao muttered, pointing to the surveillance footage displayed by the magical machine. "It's right here... not far from Kino's camp, and there are some neural networks around... but we didn't receive any messages from Kino just now, right?"

Elena nodded.

"Confirmed: Although Miss Chino claimed there were vibrations from continued digging underground, the vibrations quickly disappeared."

"...So, is this place just my imagination?"

"...Puzzled?"

"It's nothing. Just consider it my overthinking—let's prioritize dealing with the demon's lair. Perhaps we can end this operation today, which we originally planned to last for several months."

Upon closer reflection, it seems that the Demonic Mother Nest in Ysgard had an even worse start than I had imagined.

Deep underground, it needs to keep moving upwards to obtain resources, but the time left for its development is pitifully short.

While the Demon Mother Nest did indeed create evolutions and habits that surprised and even troubled itself, ultimately, time was the most important factor limiting the development of the Demon Mother Nest.

It was wonderful that I was able to catch up in such a short time. But the important reason I was able to catch up was Miss Margarita's meticulous political care for me.

Fortunately, Miss Margarita considered the bigger picture and wouldn't let political interests trip her up.

Yang Hao had to admit that he seemed to quite enjoy working with Margarita—at least with her, he didn't have to think about too many things.

"But... this time is the only time."

He twisted his neck.

They planned to wait quietly through the night for news of victory.

Chapter Thirteen: [The President's Drunkenness and Being Caught in the Act by His Wife] - 8K

...

After the New Year.

January 2, 007 in the Imperial Calendar.

The demon's lair was finally captured—or rather, shot—that morning.

"After losing the protection of the magma pool, the dying demon mother nest was no match for the magical puppets... Although there were still many demon larvae and larvae guarding the area, the demon mother nest itself did not have any combat power and could only watch helplessly as its guards were slaughtered."

"The Demon Mother Nest ultimately chose to rebel... Although I don't know what its rebellion will accomplish, it certainly seems to have caused my forces quite a bit of trouble."

"But in the end—it still died. The body is more than 4,000 meters underground and cannot be collected quickly, so it looks like my troops will have to stay here for a while longer."

In the conference room of the Presidential Palace in West City, Yang Hao, who had rushed back overnight, recounted the results of the fight against the demons to Margarita.

Although the demonic mausoleum in Isgard has been destroyed, the aftermath still requires the cooperation of both of them—political support is essential. Otherwise, Yang Hao simply cannot think of a suitable reason to keep his troops operating in Isgard.

Faced with Yang Hao's request, Miss Margarita simply nodded and said, "No problem." However, someone in Isgard needed to supervise the process—not only because she needed evidence of demons to put pressure on the current leadership of Isgard, but more importantly, she also hoped that Isgard could obtain some demon materials for research.

Yang Hao thought that if the physical industry of Isgard could come up with something new, then it wouldn't matter—especially considering that their two countries would have to work together to stop the demon invasion. He nodded and made a concession.

However, the United Nations also has a condition—that is, when Ysgard is researching demon materials, there must be elite researchers from the United Nations assisting him.

“It’s not because we don’t trust Ysgard, but because demon materials are involved in so many things—I’m worried that Ysgard might be engaging in inhumane practices by directly using demon materials for experiments among civilians. So I need my researchers to keep an eye on this in the short term.”

"Sigh... Yang Hao? Do you think I would let my researcher do something like this?"

“I don’t think you’re that kind of person—but Margarita, after spending this time with you, I have plenty of confidence in your political skills. But conversely... I don’t trust your abilities in practical matters.”

"...I don't deny that. I'm also very self-aware—so be it."

After sighing wearily with her legs crossed, the president lay down on her sofa and gestured to the maid beside her to pour them another glass of wine.

After spending time together and working as colleagues, the rate at which Yang Hao and Margarita's affection for each other was rising was unusually fast in Fen's eyes.

Not long ago, they used formal titles like "Miss President" and "Your Majesty the Regent," but now they can address each other by name without mentioning them, and they don't need to be so formal during meetings.

Aside from Lalumia, no one knew whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. But from Yang Hao's personal perspective, it was pretty good.

He enjoyed these conversations that felt like those between friends—although he would still seriously confirm the results, the atmosphere of the meetings was at least more peaceful, which was enough for him.

Yang Hao took a sip of wine and noticed that Margarita liked to add a little blood to her wine. He decided to use this little discovery to ease the tense atmosphere.

"Speaking of which, Margarita, as a vampire, is it that besides blood, the only thing you can eat is liquid?"

Yang Hao's curious question left Margarita, who had been making a troubled expression, dumbfounded for a while.

After a moment, Margarita shook her head somewhat awkwardly and said, "While it's true that vampires can only obtain the necessary nutrients from blood, they can still eat other foods. However, compared to ordinary humans, there are significant differences depending on the individual."

For example, while most people find cilantro pleasant, for Margarita, it tasted like soap and was nauseating, leading to unbearable vomiting.

So unless it's necessary for a social occasion, Margarita won't eat anything other than blood... Of course, alcohol is another matter.

"I see... I thought vampires could only drink blood. Turns out it's more like being picky about food..."

"It's not exactly being picky... after all, we can't get the nutrients we need to survive from anything other than blood. But since you asked me, Yang Hao, I also have a question for you."

"Please speak, if I can answer."

Yang Hao shrugged and picked up the prepared document on the table to check it briefly. He didn't think Margarita would ask any excessive questions, so he was prepared with answers for any possible inquiries.

For example, what you like to eat. For example, the state of the United Nations, for example—

"I'd like to ask you, what is your identity on Earth?"

"Of course, it's a regular big..."

In a relaxed state, Yang Hao instinctively gave an answer without thinking.

Then he froze.

What did you just say?

You mean Earth?

Yang Hao stared at Margarita, who had a half-smile on her face, his mouth agape.

He suddenly realized that the important reason why he felt so fond of Margarita might not just be because Margarita was, in a sense, like his sworn brother.

More importantly...

"...College student. Can you understand me?"

Yang Hao gave a cautious answer.

If Margarita is truly from her hometown... then she must know that the "university" she's talking about isn't actually a university in this world.