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

"If that's really what I'm thinking, why don't I just take action against you?"

"That seems to be true..."

Her initial disdain turned into helplessness after hearing this, and Margaret sighed and said: "So you really don't have any ambition?"

To this, Yang Hao simply shook his head and said: "Ambition is not uncommon, but at least I want to rest for a few years. I'll indulge in a few years of pleasure after dealing with the demon."

"...I once thought you would work as hard as a candle that burns itself out."

"If I really did that, my family would probably be the first to pluck out my candle wick."

"Really? I think Her Majesty Finn and Her Majesty Elena are quite sensible."

"But the other one in the family is incredibly fierce, just like my mom... The other one looks a lot like her, she's exactly like my mom."

"No ambition. Serves him right for being afraid of his wife."

"I call this respecting my family."

With nothing to do, the two chatted back and forth, venting their inner anxieties and exchanging feelings along the way.

Just as their conversation shifted from family to what to have for supper that night, the meeting room door opened.

Naruja, who came in from outside, said that according to the latest intelligence, the expedition team has officially made contact with the demons of Allandis. Because of their overwhelming force, Elena has already taken some magical dolls to provide support.

The two had barely relaxed when their hearts were once again in suspense.

On the sea.

Elena looked at the demon in front of her, which resembled a land octopus.

He simply tore it to pieces with a magical weapon, his face expressionless.

Chapter Seventeen: [The Tide of Demons]

Elena easily tore apart the body of the deep-sea demon that had boarded the ironclad ship. After confirming that the other magical puppet troops had already teleported to other ships to fight, she immediately released the magical detectors she had prepared and plunged them into the sea, hoping to obtain more information about the seabed.

As soon as the camera was lowered, Elena saw countless demons beneath the surface of the sea—although the deep-sea demons were constantly gushing purple blood as they were being possessed, many more deep-sea demons were beginning their evolutionary process of preying on fish in suitable locations.

Deeper still, she could vaguely see the highest peak of the continent of Arlandis slowly rising. According to Elena's calculations, the fleet would need to hold out for at least five hours to reach the summit.

Five hours. That's enough. And the ascent is slow, so the resulting tsunami won't be too destructive. By all accounts, this is the most suitable situation.

But for Elena, this situation was marred by the most disgusting troublemakers acting recklessly.

demon.

Countless demons are preventing the rise of Arlandis. They do not wish to ascend to the surface and fight humans on their home turf; they hope to continue accumulating strength in the deep sea—provided, of course, that they obtain the artificial magic reactor aboard the empty ironclad warship.

To stop the demons' invasion, the ship was once again filled with passengers armed with knives and guns. Because the combat distance was so close, firearms became less effective, and swords regained their dominance.

Even so, the power of swords and blades still cannot compare to the indiscriminate firing of firearms—this disparity made Elena realize that the future world belonged to the current state of ranged weapons.

Perhaps Yang Hao needs to develop firearms that are more suitable for close-quarters combat.

"Order: The magical puppet occupies the key node and replaces the naval battle body. We must stop the demon from rising from beneath the sea."

Elena once again swung her sword, slicing the demon into countless pieces with her magical blade.

But her orders received no response. Just as Elena frowned, wondering if she had given the wrong order, she noticed that one of the ships was already showing signs of being towed away.

The puppets weren't ignoring her orders; they were busy rescuing the soldiers and mages on the ship.

"—Surprised: How did it sink?"

Because her ship was temporarily safe, Elena had time to observe the underwater environment.

Upon closer inspection, she discovered that the devil was chiseling at the ship.

Although demons don't understand the construction of ships and have no need to build them, for humans, if they don't stand properly on a ship but instead swim in the boundless ocean, death is only a matter of time.

Therefore, the demons cleverly chose to scuttle the ship—once the ship sank, no matter how powerful the warriors on board were, their final choices were either to retreat, transfer to another ship, or die in the bottomless sea.

This was not good news. The ship had to be saved at all costs—just as Elena was about to take action, she noticed something strange on the screen of the magic detector that had suddenly thwarted the demon's ship-carving efforts and directly sealed the leaking section.

It looked like ever-growing flesh and blood—just as Elena was thinking this, she realized a problem:

"Order: Protect Miss Kino immediately! Ensure she can safeguard the ship!"

Kino has ways to deal with the dangers of a ship sinking—but she can only do so if someone is protecting her!

As long as the ships can hold out until Arlandis rises, it doesn't matter if they run aground afterward... So until then, they must protect the safety of Curiosity.

Elena decides to go and protect Kino herself, while also constantly moving him between potentially sinking ships.

On the ironclad ship, Kino, who had almost been slashed on the calf by spikes protruding from the hull, screamed and curled up in a corner of the cabin while desperately unleashing flesh magic to plug all the gaps and kill the demons that had startled him.

It can only be said that in desperate situations, a person's potential and limits are magnified infinitely.

In the past, Kino could never have imagined that she would lose her ladylike demeanor and end up squatting in a corner like a beggar.

"Waaaaah?! I've been found out?! Someone help me!!"

Now, Kino can use flesh magic to protect himself amidst terrified screams, while simultaneously giving his companions a glimmer of hope for survival, much like a seasoned veteran.

But if he had a choice, Kino wouldn't want anything this thrilling! These demons are just too outrageous! Not only did they pinpoint my location precisely based on my voice, they even knew I was the culprit who caused the changes in the cabin?

Seriously?! Is this really necessary?!

Kino's legs went weak, and he could only watch helplessly as the devil's spikes kept piercing the bottom of the ship, allowing seawater to pour in through the gaps.

She wanted to run, but she couldn't—she was already cornered, and she couldn't outrun the demon. So all she could do was keep casting flesh magic, hoping that the proliferating flesh would grab the demon and twist it into mincemeat.

But the demons have become cunning. After several attacks, they have learned how to evade attacks from the multiplying flesh and blood, and can even stroll leisurely on the flesh and blood with ease.

So now Kino can only call for help from others—but the problem is, with everyone on deck fighting demons, who can see the danger they are facing?

Ah—it seems I'm going to die here.

Kino's face was ashen. She lamented that she had never found a man to experience the life of a Siren, but under the pressure of the crisis, she also had the idea of ​​taking a gamble.

If she can climb the stairs, she can escape the attack of the ship's hull demon.

But if I get caught halfway there, I'll probably be the one turned into mincemeat.

But anyway, it's better than doing nothing, right?

"Wow! I'm going all out!"

Kino screamed and clung to the handrail of the cabin wall to keep her balance. But before she could take a step, a woman who had smashed through the ceiling and appeared directly in the cabin shattered all her plans.

I feel like I've seen this person somewhere before...

Before Kino could recover from the sudden daze in her mind, the Siren girl saw the white-haired, red-eyed woman pierce through the bottom of the ship with her hand and pull the demon that had been chasing her up.

"Huh?"

An arm-sized hole is not enough for a demon to pass through its entire body. Even if a demon has claws that can pierce through iron plates, it doesn't mean that other parts of its body will remain intact under pressure.

Forced through the narrow passage by immense force, the demon let out a dying scream. All that remained in the white-haired, red-eyed woman's hand was its single spike—the rest of it had been reduced to minced meat in a meat grinder.

Seawater gushed in through the breach, and the woman dropped her claws, then said to Kino:

"Calm: Prioritize addressing leaks in the hull."

"Huh? Ah... okay... okay."

"Calm down: I will ensure your safety, Kino, but I also need you to make sure the other four ships don't sink because of the demon's attack, so I hope you can hurry."

"Ah...I, I understand..."

So it's Miss Elena, the lady who serves His Majesty Yang Hao—

Kino, bewildered, followed her orders and plugged the gap in the hull. Now, he should be safe, right?

Watching Elena once again slicing the demon that fell from the gap in the ceiling into fine minced meat as easily as chopping vegetables.

Kino shuddered, thinking that perhaps staying by Miss Elena's side would lead him into even greater danger.

...... ......

About an hour had passed since Elena and the others used teleportation magic to support the reconnaissance team.

The demons temporarily ceased their attack. Not because they had all been killed, but simply because their evolving kind were at their most vulnerable and dangerous moment.

Arlandis had risen to a level where most hibernating demons could operate normally. But even so, these demons still needed to conserve their energy and prepare for the upcoming battles on land.

Now that humans have no intention of diving into the ocean to fight the demons to the death, and the demons also need a rest, the people who have been fighting fiercely for more than an hour finally have a moment to catch their breath.

The crew rested among the teetering ships, completely covered and blocked by flesh and blood. Because the five ironclad warships were so thoroughly bound together by flesh and blood, even the waves brought by the rising continent did not cause the ships to shake too violently.

The only problem might be that this flesh and blood is just too gruesome.

However, after fighting all this time, neither the soldiers nor the elves showed any intention of sitting down elegantly to drink red tea.

They collapsed to the ground like exhausted oxen, taking a short nap whenever they could. Replacing them with tireless magical puppets were the guards and reconnaissance personnel.

"Confirmed: More than 150 of our soldiers have been killed, and about 700 wounded have been transferred and replenished... This is only the loss caused by the demons that have not yet fully evolved."

Elena calculated indifferently.

The dead and wounded were mostly soldiers of Ysgard—after all, in terms of both quality and equipment, Ysgard's soldiers and sailors were completely outmatched when facing demons, even if those demons were not fully formed.

But this does not mean that the casualties of the Issugard soldiers were meaningless.

At the very least, Elena calculated how much effort Ysgard could put into this war against demons—although Miss Nia and Miss Margarita might hate her calculations, isn't that what the war against demons is all about?

Calmly consider the pros and cons, and then try to find the optimal solution by combining all factors to replace the resources.

Since Ysgard's greatest help at this stage is providing low-level soldiers and ships to distract demons, then conversely, we also need to focus on improving our mid-to-high-level combat capabilities.

Elena closed her eyes, pondering how to explain her thoughts to Yang Hao.

Meanwhile, Kino, whom she was protecting, was leaning against the railing at the edge of the deck, vomiting incessantly at the turbulent sea.

She saved the fleet more than twenty times in an hour. No one could deny her achievements, and naturally everyone could see her current exhaustion and weakness.

After all, casting spells too many times in a row can cause unpredictable damage to a mage's body. Kino is currently on the verge of physical collapse.

Fortunately, Elena had used magic to repair her body—of course, at the cost of vomiting for quite some time.

"Ugh... I'm going to die..."

Finally, after vomiting for the last time, Kino lay blankly on the fence, thinking that if nothing unexpected happened, the real battle would only begin when the continent of Allandis rose.

They would have to fight a fully prepared demonic battle on land. While it was unclear whether demonic nests bred on this continent, it was certain that the soldiers of Ysgard would face another test.