Episode 1071
Chapter 253: Gathering at Laprarosa Once More (Part 2)
“They say Keliak met with Rokia?”
“That’s right! And not only that—they managed to get almost all the details of their deal. At this point, shouldn’t you be celebrating this news with open arms?”
Jin raised his hands briefly, expressionless. Orgal seemed satisfied with that and eagerly continued.
“First off, Rokia has the ability to separate Malugia from the Demon Stone. She does this through the power of Araksion, the Sun God, wielded by Haelin Runkandel. Using that, she blackmailed Keliak.”
“So she threatened to destroy the Demon Stone?”
“Exactly. If Malugia’s power disappears, the Demon Stone would weaken to about half its strength—or maybe even worse. Keliak had no choice but to accept.”
“What did Rokia demand?”
“She wanted more people killed to keep you in check, to track Siron using the Demon Stone, and to hand over Airan Bimment.”
“The first demand could have happened regardless of any deal, and the second probably ties into Solderet’s arrangements. As for Airan Bimment, that must be because of Bligiet, Temar’s left arm.”
Of course, Lucy had already tortured Bligiet to confirm the restrictions on Airan—the curse of the Melka tribe.
They didn’t know yet that a complete Temar body was needed to enter the Black Sea’s subspace, but even without that, Temar’s left arm had many uses.
“That’s right. But it’s a bit unclear. Rokia doesn’t seem likely to come to save Bligiet, so why would she need Airan’s body? There must be some reason.”
“We’ll look into that. I doubt they can track Father easily. But if their pursuit is faster than I expect, Father will contact us first. Is that all the information you have?”
“There’s more. First, about the Demon Corps’ stance. The leader of the Unified Zipl is Keliak Zipl from another dimension, and they’re ready to destroy this world if necessary. Just like Elona said when she briefly came to her senses. Actually, I’ve seen similar things happen when I operated in other dimensions.”
Orgal’s face darkened, but he quickly smiled and waved it off.
“It’s fine here since we won’t cause such trouble. Anyway, Rokia asked Keliak to send a report to the Unified Zipl. The message was to postpone destruction because the Sun God’s resurrection is still possible in this world.”
In no dimension had the Sun God ever fully resurrected. Orgal had told them this on his first visit.
“So the Sun God’s resurrection is some kind of long-cherished wish for the Demon Corps too. Even with a completed Demon Stone, they need something else?”
“Greed. And even greater greed. That’s why Zipl has become a gang ruling all dimensions. The Demon Stone is essentially a copy of the Sun God’s power, so the original must be even more incredible. They’re desperate to have it.”
The Unified Zipl had destroyed countless worlds while fighting heroes like Orgal across dimensions. They couldn’t always win, so sometimes they chose mutual destruction. Each time, the chance for a full Sun God resurrection closed a little more.
“I don’t get it. If this is truly the last dimension, and the Demon Corps has the power to destroy it, they wouldn’t obsess over the Sun God. They could just wipe it out and become the sole conqueror of all dimensions. So it’s not just greed.”
Jin was quietly surprised.
He hadn’t expected Orgal to bring back so much information. Now that Orgal had no reason to spread nonsense or schemes like before, everything he said had to be true.
“Your dream ability is quite impressive, Orgal.”
“That’s because Ainas’ potential is extraordinary. Still, compared to record magic, it’s modest. Oh, and by the way, Pirops lost most of his power as the cost of using the dream ability this time.”
“What?”
“He can no longer be called a Phantom Demon Lord. You can’t get this kind of info without sacrifice, right? It’s not even the pinnacle of record magic. But since Ainas took over the Phantom Demon Lord’s role, we’ll have a few more chances to gather good intel. When that happens, Ainas will lose his power too.”
“I never thought I’d worry about Kinzelo’s demons.”
“I said we might get info a few more times.”
“No, isn’t that ability precious to Pirops and Ainas?”
“It is. Hearing that almost brings tears. I’ll be sure to tell them you cared. Don’t worry too much—if we can just finish off Zipl, sacrifices like this mean nothing.”
“…Orgal, what do you plan to do after Zipl falls?”
“Suddenly?”
“Will you oppose us again, obsessed with resurrecting the Sun God like before?”
“Well, we’ll see when the time comes. But honestly, living quietly with the members wouldn’t be so bad. The Sun God’s resurrection is still tempting, but we’ll never side with Unified Zipl for that.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
“Of course. Anyway, that’s all the info for now. By the way, Keliak in this world is a total failure—getting pushed around by someone like Rokia. The Keliaks I remember were much stronger. Especially one… he was terrifying.”
The Demon Corps’ leader, Keliak Zipl from Dimension 33.
Orgal remembered him. Though he hadn’t met him directly, he was sure he was the head of the Unified Zipl.
“If the Demon Corps invades our world directly, that bastard will come. Let’s prepare well until then. Rokia meeting Keliak actually works in our favor—we got a lot of info. More importantly, that weak Keliak’s mistake stopped the Demon Corps from recklessly destroying this world.”
“I think Rokia sensed danger. That’s why she recklessly met Keliak and was detected by Kinzelo’s dream users. Even so, she needed time. There’s not much we can do immediately, even knowing about their deal.”
“I agree. But while we can’t do much, it’s not nothing.”
“The Sun God’s selves.”
“Right.”
The postponement of destruction by the Demon Corps.
According to Rokia, the Sun God’s selves are essential for that. And now, the Bamel Alliance is tracking two newly discovered selves—Nepdol and Beltian.
“We’ll send more forces to Beltian. You focus on Nepdol.”
“Sounds good. Jin Runkandel, as you said, Rokia overused her power meeting Keliak. So the issue with those two selves needs to be resolved quickly—before Rokia recovers and spreads ashes.”
For Jin, this was a moment of decision.
Sending more troops to search for Beltian in Laprarosa meant fewer people to monitor the Tower of Stories. That inevitably meant more civilian massacres.
It was painful.
But now, focusing on Beltian was the only choice. Letting himself be dragged around by civilian massacres was exactly what the enemy wanted.
One day, one hour, one second sooner—they had to secure Beltian. They had to draw the enemy in so they couldn’t even dream of massacring civilians.
In Laprarosa, where Beltian was.
“Right now, the only troops Rokia can send are useless ones like Joshua’s group. They supposedly awakened with Ganesto’s power, but you know better than I do how weak they are. At best, they’ll hide until they can throw themselves at Beltian.”
“We should be cautious—they might use special tools.”
“Of course. I’ll head out to track Nepdol now. Oh, and don’t kill Bligiet out of anger. If he disappears, the Sun God’s resurrection is impossible, and this dimension loses value to the Demon Corps.”
“Understood.”
“Sure, we might win a full-scale war against the Demon Corps, but it’s better to have as many cards as possible. Well then, goodbye…! Oh, wait. Jin, did you forget something?”
“What do you mean?”
“You should at least say thanks to me, you little brat.”
“I’ll save that for later.”
Jin said that and gently pushed Orgal back through the steel dimensional gate. Orgal peeked out twice more, but Jin shoved him back like playing whack-a-mole.
Orgal’s curses echoed briefly, and Jin immediately gathered his comrades.
“We’re heading to Laprarosa. Kinzelo will handle Nepdol. As for the deployment, send all available forces except the fleet tracking the Tower of Stories, those supporting civilians, and the minimum homeland defense.”
“Master Gongja, shall we prepare immediately?”
“Yes, we leave at once.”
Thanks to the Golden Fleet’s mobility, the troops assembled in no time.
Jin boarded the flagship Sara with Murakan, Lucy, and Bligiet, heading to the battlefield. He brought Bligiet along to find Beltian faster.
“You’re lucky, Bridget. Thanks to the change in plans, you’re getting a glimpse of the outside world—something you thought you’d never see again. But if you try anything foolish, you’ll be having a very long chat with me in the dungeons beneath Tikan Palace.”
Lucy patted Bridget on the shoulder as she spoke. Bridget could only sigh and nod in response.
“Lucy, you’ve gotten pretty fierce, haven’t you? There’s an old saying: you can’t win against a gang. Even Murakan’s learned that the hard way. That Beltian guy or whatever—let’s catch him quick and give those bastards a taste of their own medicine.”