Starting with the defeated female knight

As the venom rained down from the sky, Elise slowly closed her eyes.

Hopefully, we can preserve as many internal organs as possible later, which will increase the chances of survival...

pat.

She fell onto the soft ground.

The expected venom did not arrive.

She opened her eyes and saw that, somehow, a dome made of tentacles had appeared in front of her, shielding her from the deadly venom.

Even the soft ground where she had just fallen was made of tentacles, which caught her steadily in their arms.

Dark green eyes met emerald green eyes in silence.

A moment later, with a loud bang, the tentacles dissipated.

She looked up and saw that the majestic deity had been pierced by a golden light, which struck the very core she had just pointed out.

boom--

The giant's body crashed to the ground. Its body, which had remained strong despite fighting for an unknown amount of time and suffering countless injuries, finally lost its vitality after being hit by this blow.

After he fell, the madness in his eyes finally began to dissipate.

Instead, there was confusion and bewilderment.

Why is it... a little cold...?

[Strange...I can't move my body...]

He looked at the humans before him, his eyes still showing no hatred. Instead, something seemed to have entered his mind after he was injured, and his gaze became increasingly confused.

What is humanity...?

Why...she...?

creak-

A sound like tempered glass twisting rang out.

Cecilia, who was holding a greatsword and preparing to deliver the final blow, stopped in her tracks upon hearing the voice and looked warily at the centipede in front of her.

She thought it was a voice coming from inside the giant god, and that He had some other trick up His sleeve.

But after a few seconds, she gradually realized that the sound didn't seem to be coming from inside the centipede.

He seemed to have given up the struggle altogether, let alone any backup plan.

Let Him be freed.

Cecilia raised her greatsword, and holy flames blazed.

Finally, a hint of pity appeared in his eyes.

"rest in peace."

"This is the best outcome for you, and for everyone else as well."

boom--

The centipede's head exploded, and its body was ignited by holy flames.

It burned slowly, but it was eventually able to ignite, and it burned very cleanly.

After confirming that the giant was dead, Cecilia breathed a sigh of relief, slowly lowered her greatsword, then turned to look at the people behind her and nodded slightly.

Elise looked at her palm, and Edith breathed a sigh of relief.

As for the others, including Uri, after confirming the death of the giant, they looked at each other and then cheered.

"we won!"

"Kill God! Kill God!"

Creak, creak—

The faint whistling sounds were drowned out by the cheers.

The first to notice something was wrong was Iris, followed by Cecilia.

"Wait, something's wrong—"

Elise suddenly spoke up.

But it's too late.

Accompanied by a distorting sound powerful enough to drive anyone insane, the space in front of them began to visibly warp.

Then, it collapsed.

boom--

A massive void appeared, from which a liquid-like gray mist flowed down toward the earth, then rapidly erupted, engulfing everything.

A demonic tide has erupted.

Judging from the concentration and diffusion rate, the scale is even larger than the last time.

"All personnel on alert! Hold your breath! Light the fire!"

Cecilia immediately gave the order, and the others quickly followed suit.

However......

creak, creak.

This time, it wasn't a distorted sound anymore.

Cecilia slowly turned her head and saw the headless corpse writhing its limbs, slowly raising its non-existent head amidst the endless gray mist.

Iris's eyes narrowed slightly as she sensed something.

Wait, this feeling... could it be...?

"He has another core!"

For the first time, Elise lost her composure and shouted, then quickly had her men hand her a sword. She endured the pain, stood up, and prepared to fight to the death.

But just then, familiar tentacles emerged from the ground and bound her legs.

At the same time, the tentacles on Cecilia's shoulders began to wriggle, stopping her attack.

"...Lord Green?"

The tentacles did not respond, but simply stared silently at the headless corpse in front of them, watching as it slowly raised its body and limbs.

Then, it plummeted downwards, its limbs embedding themselves in the ground.

boom!

A deep purple halo suddenly expanded from the center of the corpse.

The poison's domain spread instantly, expanding in a flash, but it did not cause them any harm. Instead, it corroded and destroyed all the gray fog, even affecting the void in the sky.

Even without a head, even without the ability to think, the instincts imprinted deep within the soul still drove the corpse to perform its final, and most instinctive, action.

[Block the undercurrent!]

[Regardless of the cost!]

Volume 1: Chapter 37: I'm sorry

What are you waiting for? Run!

As the tentacles waved, people awoke as if from a dream.

"Lord Green, this is..."

Can't you see that He's buying you time?

The tentacles pointed to the hole in the sky where gray mist was flowing. Although the mist flowing out of it was corroded and destroyed by the toxins, the gray mist was also eroding the purple area, causing it to collapse at a visible speed.

Meanwhile, the headless corpse remained firmly rooted to the ground, its thick, highly toxic blood continuously flowing out.

Of course, bad children should be punished, but they are still children.

And the undercurrents are the enemy.

Although the others didn't know what was happening, they gradually realized that this being, which had just been their biggest threat, now seemed to be helping or even protecting them.

and......

After turning their gaze away, people looked around at the eerie tentacles with dark green eyes that had appeared out of nowhere, and felt a chill run down their spines.

Although these tentacles didn't look like enemies, they were completely unaware of their existence until they defeated the Thousand-Legged God.

If the other side wanted to eliminate them, they wouldn't even need to launch a sneak attack. Just causing a little trouble during the battle would be enough to severely injure them, if not wipe them out, and they might not even know what happened until they die.

Even so, neither the giant god nor the tentacles are the biggest problems at the moment.

"The Demon Tide, so that's how it happened...?"

Gazing at the enormous void in the sky, a glimmer of light appeared in the eyes of many members of the Mage Guild.

Despite being in a dangerous situation, and even facing the possibility of being wiped out at any moment, they showed no fear. Instead, they appeared somewhat excited, with eager expressions on their faces.

"Stop fucking looking! If anyone stops even for a moment out of curiosity, I'll call them out and revoke their research qualification when I get back!"

At the crucial moment, Uli stepped up.

As the president's handpicked coward, she directly pointed out the deepest fear in the hearts of these academic fanatics, calming them down and turning them to look at Edith.

Or rather, Edith is enveloped in tentacles.

Edith had expended a considerable amount of energy during the battle, due to the various miracles she had unleashed.

Considering that she might need to exert her strength later, and that these tentacles were originally cultivated using her power, Green wrapped her with his tentacles and helped her restore her power by directly injecting it into her.

Uri didn't know what Green was doing, but she could tell that Edith's condition was improving, so she didn't hesitate and spoke up directly.

"What's next?"

Their squad is very strong, and they also brought a lot of equipment specifically designed to counter the demonic tide.

The problem is that those things weren't meant to be used against the ancient gods. Because they were worried about them being damaged in the battle, they put them in a secret hideout quite a distance from the battlefield, so they couldn't get their hands on them for the time being.

On the other hand, although the time was not very long, the battle with the ancient god had already exhausted most of their strength. Although they still had the strength to fight, they definitely couldn't last long.

After all, no one expected that the demonic tide would erupt the moment they killed the ancient god.

Not to mention that this is still within the territory of the Empire, and is some distance from the border. Logically speaking, it should be a safe zone for the demonic tide.

But it happened, in a way that no one expected.

"We need to retreat first."

Edith conveyed Green's message, and no one objected, but the problem was...

"Where should we retreat to?"

They were located right in the center of the demonic tide, and judging from the speed at which the purple halo was fading, it probably wouldn't last much longer.

If we calculate again the speed at which the demonic tide expanded in an instant, if time were not so tight, Uri would have been able to bring out some of the imperial national essence right now.

"We're retreating that way."

Edith pointed in a direction, but it wasn't where they stored their anti-magic items.

However, Uli did not question her at all, nor did she hesitate. After listening to her, she turned around and spoke to the magicians.

"Do as she says."

Regardless of what ancient god is attached to Edith, or whether she has become a member of the Familia.

However, when it comes to fighting against the demonic tide, humans and ancient gods are absolutely united.

For some reason, Uri was able to confirm this.

As for the nobles, after taking a deep look at Edith, especially at her tentacles, they turned to their noble attendants and nodded.