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

After all, the wounded were being transported back without stopping, and soldiers were being sent here without stopping. The war between humans and demons was at a stalemate, and even a single soldier was extremely precious.

"So, Your Majesty Yang Hao, Miss Margarita, what should we do..."

Kino looked quite dejected. But just then, Elena, who was standing nearby, said, "Didn't they previously discover a secret passage in the ruins of the coastal town?"

"But, but that's the site used to allow hatred to grow into flesh and blood! How could that be—"

Before Kino could state his reasons for objecting, Elena calmly offered her own guess.

"Question: Why would members of the Siren royal family choose that location to unleash their hatred and flesh? With the demons' full-scale invasion, did the Siren king really have the opportunity to travel from the capital to the village and then enter the secret passage from there?"

"...Huh?"

"Explanation: No matter the reason, there is definitely something wrong with that secret passage. Moreover, our golems only reached the [base] and then stopped moving... What lies deep inside the secret passage is still unknown."

"but..."

“Heavy: Kino, we don’t have time to race against demons who are good at evolving like headless flies. We must seize the opportunity before the demons do—so we must scout that tunnel.”

Admittedly, the demon invasion a thousand years ago was so swift that, apart from the Bayern people and elves who had time to react, the other three continents were forced to resort to the most brutal methods to perish together with the demons.

Leaving aside Orlos and Eden for now, did the Sirens of Arlandis really have the ability to run to the coastal village under the watchful eyes of demons when faced with a sudden and desperate blow?

impossible.

However, the secret passages in the village also contain the genuine remains of the former site of the flesh magic.

In other words, under extremely low probability circumstances, that secret passage should connect both the Sirens' capital and the coastal towns... If Elena's guess is correct, venturing into the secret passage might lead to the Sirens' capital faster than aimlessly digging through the ground.

...But this means they'll have to risk leaving this relatively safe place.

Are we strong enough?

Yang Hao weighed the fighting strength around him. Finn couldn't leave, and Elena had to stay and command. Could he, Naruja, and Margarita... and some soldiers really guarantee they had the strength to fight the demons in the secret passage?

Never mind, even if it doesn't exist, we still have to get through it—

Just as Yang Hao made up his mind, another burst of light from the portal caught his and Margarita's attention.

"Oh dear? Couldn't you have waited for me?"

Yang Hao's expression changed, because he recognized the voice as belonging to his wife, Theresa.

"Quack quack".

Margarita's expression also changed.

Because she saw Gaia, the world god who had transformed into a raven, emerge from the portal along with her.

Chapter Twenty-Two: [The Chase]

The appearance of Theresa and Gaia was a major event that Yang Hao and Margarita had not anticipated.

After all, Yang Hao had been trying to avoid Theresa's arrival from the beginning, and Gaia seemed particularly strange to Margarita...

"Theresa [Gaia], you—"

The two exclaimed in surprise at the same time, and then realized the problem. Finally, they both turned their attention to the crow.

Yang Hao had never seen Gaia. Therefore, he was shocked by the fact that the legendary Gaia was actually a raven.

Margarita was surprised that Gaia had regained some of her power and could be of use at this time.

Seeing the two stunned people, Theresa just winked at Elena and Naruja with a mischievous smile, then walked over with light steps, carrying the raven on her shoulder.

She gave the utterly bewildered Yang Hao a heartwarming hug, while the raven wisely flew to Margarita's head and stared at the vampire president.

Kino sat there blankly with Elena and the others, because she suddenly realized that with Her Majesty Theresa present, the next action might not be too difficult.

Then—

"Don't worry. Lalumia will take over the government from us. No matter how anxious I am, I wouldn't let Anna, a child, bear such a burden, would I?"

Theresa gently breathed into Yang Hao's ear. As Yang Hao's legal wife and only first wife, she knew him inside and out; she could tell what he was worried about even from the slightest sweat.

So, Theresa directly told Yang Hao what he was most worried about—after all, she wasn't the type to play hard to get...why go through all that trouble?

And Yang Hao did indeed breathe a sigh of relief because of this.

After all, his biggest worry was putting Anna under too much pressure for her at this stage... Now that his wife had arranged everything, he should focus on the most urgent task.

“I understand. Finn and Elena will have to stay here to oversee the occupation... so with you two joining us, we can feel more at ease with our next move.”

"Hmm. So where should we go?"

"Underground. But before that, we need to break through the demons' encirclement."

Having acquired the combat power of Theresa and the World God, Yang Hao believed that traveling to the coastal Siren town ruins and then to the underground caves should not be a problem.

Moreover, as the saintess of Lalumia, Theresa's divine magic can ensure everyone's safe departure from the cave. So if not now, when?

So they quickly finalized their next plan. However, while confirming the number and quality of the small force, Gaia, the world goddess—the raven—perched on Margarita's head and said that although she had regained some of her power, a prolonged battle was still impossible.

"After all, the divine power borrowed from the [Light] side can only maintain my complete form for ten or twenty minutes at most... so under normal circumstances, if you can handle it yourselves, I won't step in."

"...Ugh."

Despite feeling helpless, I knew this was the best solution.

Margarita muttered to herself, transforming her body to be more suitable for combat, and incidentally making her usual nails longer and sharper, before she and the crow caught up with Yang Hao and the others.

They led fifty people to the ruins of a coastal town. After receiving their message, Finn even used magic to clear a path for them.

The demons were blown to pieces, and the assault team seized the opportunity to break out in single file. Under the cover of their comrades, they broke through the demons' encirclement and quickly used magic and divine spells to cover their tracks before the demons could react.

"Divine magic is even more useful than magic in some ways, that's really..."

Margarita looked at her semi-invisible comrades around her with deep emotion, while the World God explained that only a very few clergy members could possess such power after leaving their followers.

Theresa did not deny it, after all, everyone already knew that she belonged to the Lalumia Saintess—but then again... wasn't it a bit too easy for the demons not to have discovered them?

"It's hard to say."

After all, the demons were also searching for the Sirens' scepter.

They will either choose to dig from top to bottom, or like them, search for secret passages, or more likely both—so they will very likely encounter the demon army in the narrow caves.

At that point, it will depend on the cooperation between the golems and magical puppets that Naruja creates on the spot. After all, these main combat forces need to stay behind to play their role, while Yang Hao, the strategist, can only provide tactical support from a safe place.

In other words, this is definitely a difficult task... Fortunately, the army in the rear is still being sent to Arlandis in a steady stream. Before long, after the number of demons in the tide has decreased to a certain extent, our main force will be able to come and provide support, right?

I hope so.

......

The United Nations' commando teams are rapidly advancing towards the coast.

Elena, who remained at the base, presented the latest intelligence after confirming that Finn had returned exhausted:

"Explanation: Fen, the demons are making strange movements. They seem to be covering something as it moves towards Yang Hao and his group's target location."

Elena recounted the images detected by the magical machinery, then pointed out the strange things about the demons to Finn.

In the scene, demons are escorting something wrapped up as they advance toward the ruins of a coastal Siren town.

Let's assume that thing is a powerful, special demon. In short, all the demons' actions seem very strange—especially since they have begun to avoid harming their own side as much as possible, instead evolving more defensive capabilities to engage in a tug-of-war with humans.

Although the continent of Arlandis has a vast reserve of magic power thanks to the man-made magic reactor, the demons still have limited access to the necessary nutrients.

Wasting hard-won nutrients to evolve the ability of "fixed defense" which has little use in advancing the battle line... Elena knew very well that the demons must have also placed their bets on a certain key item.

That is the scepter of the sirens—are they also searching for that scepter, which is likely made of high-purity magic, and then using it to open the rift in this region?

Furthermore, if it weren't for Eden's aerial surveillance capabilities, Elena wouldn't have been able to detect the heavily disguised demonic entity at all...

"...I used magic to notify them. But we can't send out a large force... Elena, send out magical puppets to stop them."

"affim."

"We can't let them catch up with Yang Hao..."

The exhausted elf forced himself to stay awake.

On the other side...

Yang Hao and his group finally arrived at the ruins of the Sirens' town.

There, they found a cave leading underground. The wind blowing out of the cave confirmed that the tunnel below connected to somewhere.

Chapter Twenty-Three: [The Underground Capital]

The ruins of the siren town by the sea are covered with silvery-white sand. Among the buildings made of all sorts of bizarre materials, there are numerous crystals.

These crystals, barring any unforeseen circumstances, should all be the remains of the ancient Sirens.

Kino explained, panting, as he led the way according to his memory. The demons hadn't arrived yet; they had plenty of time to examine the clues while setting traps at the cave entrance.

Although it was unclear whether the trap would be effective, it was still marked with conspicuous signs that could be recognized by humans, and Teresa was asked to specifically install the power against demons in the trap to ensure the most basic effect.

After completing all the preparatory work, they filed in and found, deep in the passage, the Hatred Flesh that had stopped growing, and the Golem wrapped in flesh.

Under the illumination of the magically generated light, Naruja and Kino gave Golem a quick check-up.

"It can still be used... Kino has removed the flesh magic from it. It's a valuable fighting asset. We'd better take it with us."

This golem was originally an elite golem sent from Ysgard.

Unlike its counterparts made of stone and earth, this metallic golem is not only heavier but also stronger overall, making it impossible for Naruja to abandon such a powerful individual. Even if it takes some effort, she still hopes to take it with her.

Kino fulfilled Narudya's needs. And the sounds of traps being detonated that gradually came from outside proved that Narudya's decision was effective.

"They've all been triggered."

They continued on their way while remaining vigilant about the passage behind them.

With a metal golem as a backing, anyone can feel a rock-solid sense of security from the bottom of their heart.

However, how long this golem can hinder the enemy remains to be seen. The underground passage is far too narrow; even if they could summon a portal to escape or request reinforcements, the cramped terrain would still give Yang Hao and his companions a headache for quite some time.

Fortunately, after walking several more intersections, accompanied by Theresa's mutterings, they finally arrived at a place where the wind was constantly blowing.

The originally narrow cave gradually became spacious, and the ground changed from uneven stones and moss to a regular, upward-facing stone brick road.

At both ends of the road, streetlights made of blue luminescent crystals flickered with a faint light—even after thousands of years, these things were still functioning normally, it seems they are not far from the Siren King.