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

Although Ysgard itself will continuously send fleets to provide support, searching at sea and searching on land are two different concepts.

Even the worst-case scenario is a land search, where manpower can be deployed to conduct a comprehensive search in a carpet-like manner—although the efficiency is somewhat lower, at least the coverage area is large enough that there will be virtually no omissions.

But searching on the surface of the sea still means searching for things thousands of meters below the seabed...

Even if you send more ships, only a few will actually be able to perform the work, so the efficiency will remain as low as ever...

It's not that there was no improvement.

On the contrary, relatively speaking, the costs are too high while the returns are too low.

That's why Kino and the others were so melancholy. But no matter how melancholy they were, it was useless; they still had to prepare for reconnaissance.

Thus, after the five ironclad ships completed anchoring at their respective intervals, the first batch of Golems, specifically designed for deep-sea reconnaissance, were released from the ship's hold.

Golem sank down the anchor line, while Kino took the opportunity to check the magical state of the seabed with the elven mages.

"If it's a sunken continent, then the residual magic on that continent should be a good clue..."

"But will the magic really regenerate after sinking to the bottom of the sea?"

"Of course not in areas lacking magic, but there's a slight possibility in areas rich in magic... More importantly, are there any large fish moving around underwater?"

There appear to be large fish moving about in the deep sea.

Having been at sea for so long, even elves know that large creatures called "whales" roam the ocean, and although they are unfamiliar with humans, they do not seem to pose too much of a threat.

In a sense, if whales were active beneath the surface, then the reconnaissance team would have no need to pay any attention to them.

But what if it's not a whale?

Under everyone's gaze, the magical dolls shook their heads with grim expressions and said: It's not a whale.

The Edenians are a type of people who prioritize magic and science. When they discovered the whale, they immediately began collecting data on it. They knew exactly what the whale was like, what its range of activity was, and they knew even better that whales would never grow into bizarre shapes.

"Something's not right... about 3000 meters below the seabed... that thing that looks like a turd covered in tentacles can't possibly be a whale!"

The magical puppet's shout startled the surrounding elves.

After a moment, when the magical puppets hurriedly uploaded the perspective of the descending Golem to the screen and then presented it with magic, everyone could see something glowing and slowly swimming in the dark, sunless seabed on the pitch-black magic screen.

Although there are many strange and unusual creatures in the deep sea, the magical doll can understand how outrageous the creatures that evolved in the deep sea can be.

But ultimately...

"..."

This creature feeds almost entirely on seawater, doesn't mind eating other food, and can even skillfully utilize magical remnants.

Isn't that just a demon?

Everyone just watched as the enormous demon on the screen slowly moved across the seabed.

To adapt to the deep-sea environment, the demons seem to have undergone a peculiar evolution.

They lost their eyes, but in their place became more sensitive noses and delicate hairs.

Moreover, these deep-sea monsters seemed unusually lazy in order to maintain their vitality...

They watched as the demon, shimmering in the darkness, slowly moved about, and as Golem continued to descend deeper into the darkness.

After a while.

"If these demons... were to come ashore, wouldn't that mean..."

Kino suddenly realized what kind of enemies they would face if they allowed Allandis to rise from the seabed.

After all, demons are not native creatures of the deep sea.

Although they are currently unable to move freely due to evolutionary limitations, they are restricted to slow foraging in the deep sea.

Once the continent rises again, the demons, given a chance to breathe, will inevitably evolve into forms suitable for terrestrial life. They will then attack the expedition and may even re-establish their nest in Arlandis.

This is unacceptable to Kino, and even to the entire United Nations.

Therefore, they need domestic input... but while waiting for advice, they also need to complete their own work.

But then again, if a demon appears below, doesn't that mean Arlandis is right under his butt?

Kino and the others truthfully relayed their speculations back home via magic.

Meanwhile, in West City, Miss Margarita and the others hurriedly called Yang Hao over after receiving the news, even forgetting the good news that the fire in the mine had been extinguished.

They sat around the round table in the conference room. Considering this was the first major event after the official merger of Isgard, even Theresa condescended to arrive via teleportation magic.

Upon arriving, Theresa displayed her gentleness and composure. She first greeted Nia and Margarita warmly before casually sitting down next to her husband, Finn, in front of everyone.

She ignored the seat Margarita had arranged for her—something Margarita had already anticipated.

After all, a woman who can share a man with an elf is definitely a strange character in some sense.

With this in mind, Margarita showed everyone the intelligence gathered by the reconnaissance team.

After learning that the demon was indeed active in the seabed, Yang Hao said with a bitter face, "This is going to be a bit difficult."

"After all, everyone has witnessed the demons' ability to evolve... Although the demons in the sea may not seem to pose much of a threat, once they come ashore, they can naturally evolve into suitable forms."

Without knowing the number of demons or whether they have undergone any special evolution, our reconnaissance teams will be attacked after the continent rises—or in some ways, even before it rises.

Yang Hao pointed to the records about the seabed on the magic screen, and then sighed and said: Will the demons watch us relocate the flesh and blood of hatred to the bottom of the continental shelf of the continent of Arlandis?

If the demon intends to attack midway, the operation will most likely end in failure. Of course, increasing manpower and resources would certainly guarantee success... the problem is that this would undoubtedly serve as a warning to the demon about what's to come.

In the best-case scenario, the demon is completely unaware of anything and continues to float in the deep sea as usual. Then, it is suddenly lifted from the seabed thousands of meters deep to land tens of meters high by a rising continent. Under the influence of blood pressure, it is directly overwhelmed and needs a lot of time to recuperate before it can regain sufficient fighting strength.

This is the best-case scenario.

The worst-case scenario is that the demons realize what the United Nations is planning to do, prepare for their evolution in advance, and then begin evolving immediately at the moment the continental ascent ends, launching a direct attack on the exploration team that has not yet established a firm foothold.

The worst-case scenario is that the demons simply hold out in the deep sea—as long as the Hatred Flesh cannot be installed and Allandis cannot rise, then Yang Hao and the others' "closing the door" plan will most likely fail, and the demons can continue to survive in the deep sea... This is the worst-case scenario.

So, what should we do now?

The reconnaissance team needs our decisions, so how should we make those decisions?

Everyone fell into deep thought. But just then, Lalumia, who had come with Theresa, said thoughtfully, "In that case, why not just let God intervene?"

She smiled without saying a word as she looked at Margarita, who simply sighed heavily.

"Then we only have one god who can be deployed—after all, the world god on my side is unable to be deployed at will due to excessive power depletion."

"I almost forgot, Isgard doesn't currently have any faith in a world god... But even so, people still refuse to worship her?"

Lalumia's question made Margarita roll her eyes:

"You can't expect people who have eaten meat to go back to poverty, just as you can't expect the Isgard people who have already believed in democracy and science to believe in a real god again... even if the god really exists."

"Is it really not possible?"

“It really won’t work. When we first heard of your existence, there were a few idiots around here who tried to get my approval for a proposal to dissect gods—of course, I’ve already dealt with them.”

"...That's really troublesome."

Ysgard's disbelief in God directly resulted in the world god's power recovering particularly slowly.

With Lalumia being the only fighting force capable of serving as a "god," even Lord Lalumia, who proposed using a "god" to solve the problem, could only shake his head and say that the risk was too great.

If Lalumia were still the same goddess she once was, she might have tried to solve the problem on her own.

But now, she has learned a lot. She knows that recklessness cannot solve all problems, and besides, her recklessness might later become the culprit that causes harm to those around her.

In any case, it's better not to do things you're not sure about.

Lalumia fell into deep thought.

On the other hand, after careful consideration, Yang Hao said that since the "gods" cannot be mobilized, all we can do is prepare to send a large number of soldiers to Arlandis.

"We can only let Kino and the others do their best... After all, there's really nothing we can do to help right now."

"Yes. We can only encourage them to try their best."

Yang Hao and the others sighed helplessly.

......

Meanwhile, on the sea.

Kino and the others also discovered many strange situations through Golem's perspective.

Not all demons are active in the deep sea.

The demons seem to be divided into two main categories: those that hibernate and those that prey. Although the former have evolved organs for living in the deep sea, they are essentially just sleeping in the crevices of the bare rock formations of Arlandis, showing no intention of moving at all.

The predatory demons are covered in a dazzling array of colors. These lights attract deep-sea creatures, which the demons then devour, turning them into basic nutrients to power their hibernating kin.

And so, the demons managed to gain a foothold in the deep sea. Although the vast majority of hibernating demons were unable to move, at least with the help of some predatory demons, they could not evolve, but at least they had the ability to survive.

...This is good news for Kino and the others.

"In other words, even if the continental shelf rises, we won't face many enemies with whom we can directly engage in combat..."

"Furthermore, the number of [Predatory] demons is small, and they cannot detect the golem's slow movements... If we can find a safe corner to bring down the golem carrying its hatred-filled flesh, perhaps we can safely raise the continent of Arlandis again..."

"The only uncertainty is what to do if our artificial magic reactor becomes active, causing the demons below to also become active?"

Hatred of flesh and blood can devour a continent, or it can transform into a solid foundation that allows the continental shelf to rise again.

But no matter what it does, it requires a huge amount of magic power. And as everyone knows, demons are the most efficient invaders at utilizing magic power.

If we create a lot of magic on the surface of the sea, will the demons in the deep sea really not react at all?

The group chattered amongst themselves, and after a moment, Kino delivered the decisive opinion:

"Let's just raise the continental shelf and immediately build a network of portals—the demons will wake up sooner or later anyway. If we keep cowering, what will we get but failure?"

"...That's true."

Although hard work does not guarantee success.

But doing nothing is destined to fail.

Rather than suffer a humiliating defeat, it's better to continue at the same pace, with only two paths left to take.

Kino ordered Golem to search for trenches that met the requirements for covert operations.

I'll spend the whole day today finalizing the outline!