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

Teresa looked somewhat weak after finishing her work. Although pale, she still arrogantly declared that her man could handle it.

Lalumia's trust in Yang Hao was crystal clear—she admired Teresa's open-mindedness and confidence. But now...

Let's focus our attention on work first.

......

The cleanup of Roman's Demon Realm is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The combined army of magical puppets and golems surrounded the entire Demon Realm, both squeezing out the demons' living space and gathering information on their development within the Demon Realm.

They learned many noteworthy results—for example, the demons transformed by the Romans seemed to be showing signs of using tools. For instance, the battles between the primal demons and the Roman demons were exceptionally fierce.

For example, Prince Garsen and his head lady-in-waiting seem to be still alive, but they have both been transformed into demons.

The high-ranking demon that had been raiding humans was none other than Prince Garsen's head lady-in-waiting.

The magical dolls are fascinated by the process of humans transforming into demons. But what interests them even more is seeing if they can turn demons back into humans.

Therefore, with the permission of Theresa and others, they captured some Roman demons for experiments, but the experiments failed after half an hour.

A life transformed into a demon will forever exist only as a demon.

The magical dolls exhausted all their magical means, even pleading with Theresa or Lalumia for some further divine assistance...

As a result, they could only destroy the demons' bodies, not restore them. Naturally, they completely gave up the idea of ​​capturing Prince Garsen and the head maid for restoration interrogation. This mission was to kill all the demons without exception.

Perhaps it was because the United Nations' invasion of the Roman Demon Realm was just too blatant.

The cracks in the sky once again opened up numerous smaller cracks.

Numerous demons descended from the sky. However, this time they faced the well-prepared resistance of the United Nations militia and local armed forces.

"That concludes today's work... Sigh, it reminds me of the days when I was sleeping outdoors in the open."

"Go to sleep early, Theresa—we still have to venture deeper into the Demon Realm tomorrow."

"Okay, okay... I was just wondering how Yang Hao is doing..."

At night, Theresa, having exhausted her divine power, was drowsy. Lalumia gently covered her with a blanket, and after a moment's thought, decided to stay awake and guard her.

Meanwhile, in Isgard, Yang Hao also received good news: Arlandis had begun to rise steadily.

The bad news is that, because of the slow ascent, some of the awakened demons have begun to evolve to prepare for the terrestrial environment.

Chapter Sixteen: [The Demon of Arlandis]

Because the part of Allandis located on the seabed rises slowly, the hibernating demons have ample time to awaken when they approach shallow waters. They then use the magic leaking from the conduit and the nutrients accumulated over time to evolve, gradually adapting to the terrestrial environment in advance.

Although their evolution is not fast, some hibernating demons that have evolved terrestrial lungs ahead of time are unable to move around on the gradually rising continent of Arlandis, let alone pose a direct threat to ships still on the sea.

But ultimately, the very fact that demons evolve over time speaks volumes.

This was especially true after some of the demons, who were already active, began to swim towards the surface of the sea.

"They are searching for the source of the anomaly; some are looking for the foundation of the flesh and blood pillars, while others are searching for the source of magic..."

"Demons are clever! They know that flesh and blood cannot grow in the barren seabed! So they are constantly searching for anything that contains magic, not even sparing the golems we released earlier!"

"These guys have realized the problem... If nothing unexpected happens, we'll soon be facing the first surprise attack from the seabed!"

The demons are rising. They are rising quickly, but their rate of evolution is correspondingly slowing down.

The organs of the deep sea cannot adapt to the water pressure of shallow seas or even the surface. The body, which was originally designed to adapt to deep-sea activities, naturally underwent changes when the water pressure suddenly decreased.

This was when the demons were at their weakest. But even so, the demons still clearly divided into two factions.

A force continues to search upwards for the source of magic.

The other group preys on fish in the upper layers of the ocean, striving to obtain more nutrients to evolve bodies more suitable for activities in shallow waters in order to support their kin who have moved ahead of them.

This directly put immense pressure on the elites aboard the expedition's four ships.

After all, if the ship storing the artificial magic reactor is sunk, not only will the growing flesh and blood pillar collapse directly, but more importantly, the demon may use the existence of the reactor to prolong its own life!

No one could accept such a foolish act. Therefore, the fleet that had already sailed away from the abandoned ironclad ships turned back once more. They had to protect the normal operation of the ironclad ships until the moment the continent of Arlandis fully rose.

Everyone was prepared to fight the demons. Even Kino, who shouldn't have wanted to go to the battlefield, was prepared—after all, they were all in the same boat, and if the boat sank, they would all die together.

To avoid a final, fatal outcome, Kino had no choice but to bite the bullet and perform various seemingly insignificant but essential support tasks that only Sirens could do.

Although she didn't know what the point of simply enchanting flesh and blood was, that was all.

Of course, they didn't expect to solve everything on their own—the reinforcements they had urgently requested from home were already on their way. Although the ships weren't traveling very fast, at least the first batch of reinforcements sent with teleportation magic had arrived.

"Given the limited carrying capacity of the ships, we will send the wounded back, and then the inland forces will immediately be dispatched to exchange them."

“Then let these four ships stay here—as long as the rise of the continent of Allandis is guaranteed, the grounding of four ships is no problem at all. And it's just as well, this way we can avoid casualties caused by the ensuing tsunami.”

The elven mage who came to provide support was somewhat pale. But Kino, disregarding the possibility that he was unwell due to seasickness or some other reason, asked with a deathly pale face: "Is Issugard prepared for the impact on the coast?"

Given the geographical nature of Arlandis, the tsunami triggered by its rise would undoubtedly cause unpredictable damage to the coast of Issugard.

Although the damage from the tsunami was certainly greatly reduced when it reached the United Nations, for Isgard, how to help the coastal cities survive this tsunami was a good question.

In response, the elven mage simply stated that Ysgard was fully prepared.

"After all, with the installation of numerous artificial magic reactors, our mages can quickly address all coastal defense issues... Besides, this continent can't just spring up all at once, can it? As long as we proceed slowly, the threat of tsunamis won't be too great..."

"But even so, some areas lack protection... sigh. Oh well. There will always be oversights anyway... let's just leave it at that."

Kino originally wanted to ask, what about sparsely populated coastal settlements, like fishing villages?

She was very worried about safety there, especially considering that some sirens also lived in coastal areas outside of major cities.

But then I realized that there is no such thing as a perfect evacuation plan in this world. No matter how sound the plan is, it will eventually have many oversights due to insufficient resources or manpower.

She couldn't ensure everyone's safety, neither could Ysgard or the United Nations. At this point, Kino could only accept this reality and vent her anger on the impending demons.

Meanwhile, at the presidential palace in Wiss City, Yang Hao and his entourage were also caught off guard by the sudden news.

Everyone proceeded with their preparations according to the original plan. But before that, Yang Hao emphasized that the elven mages should use teleportation magic to travel along the entire coastline of Isgard to ensure that all residents were notified. Only then did he say, slightly wearily, that they had done everything they could to prepare for the tsunami.

The continent where Ysgard is located is flat, and apart from one mountain range, the terrain is not very undulating, making it easy for tsunamis to cause problems.

Although breakwaters have been erected in the ports of coastal cities, in order to cope with the stronger tsunami that would be triggered by the rise of Allandis, Yang Hao and Margarita ordered people to start reinforcing and raising them a few days ago after discussing it.

Without magic and the assistance of sorcerers, at a rate of 40 centimeters of stabilization per day, Ysgard has yet to double the height of the wave-damping levee—not to mention that, in addition to increasing the height, the thickness would also need to be appropriately increased.

Moreover, it wasn't just the cities; dikes also needed to be built along the terrain on the beaches and land outside the cities. In the past, this would have been an almost impossible project for Isgard.

However, with the help of the evil elf mage and the artificial magic reactor, a dike that encircled the entire coast of Isgard and was built in accordance with the terrain was created in less than half a month.

The dike has an average height of 15 meters and a thickness of more than 5 meters, which is more than enough to withstand the impact of a regular tsunami. The smooth road surface on the dike can also serve as a steam train track, enabling the exchange of goods and services around the entire Issugard coastal area while also taking into account the development of people's livelihoods.

However, this dike may not be able to prevent the impact of a high-intensity tsunami. In order to avoid the massive damage to the inland areas caused by a high-intensity tsunami, Yang Hao ordered some elven mages and magical puppets to stand by at the dike node facing Allandis.

They can use magic to strengthen the dam, and they can even summon barriers to forcibly raise the height of the dam—in a sense, if even mages can't do anything about it, then this tsunami is probably something that no human can stop.

Yang Hao felt he had indeed done everything he could. He even ordered the fleet that was urgently heading to the scene to provide support to remain on standby in port: after all, the tsunami might be on its way when the fleet arrived. These ironclad ships couldn't even withstand a storm, let alone the immense pressure of a massive tsunami.

He really did everything perfectly. Naturally, Margarita and the others saw what he was doing.

"You've done everything you could. Take a short rest."

Because Finn and the others needed to go out to work, even Irina, who was supposed to stay here on standby, was dragged away by Nia and no one knew what she was going to do. Now, only Yang Hao and Margarita were alone in the conference room.

Margarita's words were undoubtedly meant for Yang Hao. Faced with the comfort from his fellow Earthling, Yang Hao could only helplessly say: "I guess I'll just have to rest too."

Now, all plans depend on further news from the front lines. Even with their hearts pounding and restless, they, as leaders, can only sit calmly in the meeting room and wait for further updates.

As a leader, one cannot reveal one's anxieties to anyone—not even one's closest friends. In a sense, apart from fellow leaders, only one can truly understand the pain and unease in their hearts.

At times like this, Yang Hao longed for the days when Theresa was always by his side on the continent of Elusia... If she were here, perhaps he could vent his inner pressure without restraint?

Unfortunately, the one here is an elderly vampire woman. Just as Yang Hao was sighing like this, Margarita puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction:

"What are you thinking about? You're probably already oozing out the pitiful smell of an old man."

"How did you know I was looking down on an old vampire woman?"

"Huh? Isn't it obvious?"

Margarita pointed at Yang Hao with a blank expression, while her other hand continued to handle various written tasks as usual.

"Theoretically, the oldest, Finn and Elena, aren't here. So your disdain is only directed at me? But the problem is, aren't they both older than me? Why are you singled out and dislike me?"

"Can a wife be treated the same as someone from the same hometown?"

"That's true."

The vampire president shrugged, then glanced down at the completed work report and sighed.

After a while.

"I really envy you being able to get married... I still can't even find an heir."

"Is it really necessary for immortal beings to find successors?"

Although he wasn't quite sure what Margarita was worried about, Yang Hao still raised the question anyway.

Even Yang Hao himself, after learning that he could live for a long time, no longer had the idea of ​​having a child as an heir to raise – rather than having a child as an heir, he wanted to have a child so that they could live freely and so that the family could have another member, that was all.

After all, once a ruler lives a long life, many problems become unnecessary to solve.

For example, there's the issue of the new heir's prestige upon ascending the throne—many loyal ministers might doubt the heir's abilities, potentially leading to pointless internal strife. Yang Hao understood their concerns, but upon reflection, if the monarch above him outlived his entire family combined, was such worry even necessary?

Of course, there are other issues to worry about – if the current immortal monarch dies unexpectedly, there will still be an heir who can step in during an emergency.

Perhaps this is what Margarita is worried about?

After all, compared to the stable United Nations, Ysgard is indeed not very safe... and it seems somewhat chaotic.

Yang Hao looked at Margarita with curiosity.

Margarita simply shook her head at this:

"As you think. At least someone has to step forward when I die. So for me, the issue of succession... is extremely important."

"Can't Nia do it?"

“She can’t do it. I know her well, and she knows her own limitations.”

"I see... Then I'm afraid I can't help you. Even if I have children with Theresa and the others in the future, I won't give them to you as a bargaining chip, okay?"

"Hmph, can't a man have some ambition? Isn't it a good deal to exchange a son for the complete future rule of a country?"