Chapter 263

“...Those detestable bastards.”

Of course, it couldn’t have been easy. They wouldn’t have simply stood by and done nothing.

Herchaos already knew very well who had hidden away and eliminated the power that had scattered while he slept.

When had the gods living in the Divine Realm ever stopped stabbing others in the back?

“Still, they won’t be able to break the final covenant.”

The promise that once he awakened, they would not interfere with him in any way... No, the covenant.

Hadn’t they sworn upon their very seats as gods?

They could never break it.

“Then shall we slowly begin?”

Herchaos picked up his teacup again and smiled faintly as he slowly drank the tea, red as blood.

All the while anticipating the day when the entire world would soon be dyed the same color as the tea.

***

“Big Sis, what happened to your hand? How did you hurt it?”

“...Good question. How did I hurt it?”

“......?”

After the unusually long night finally passed, Julia stared worriedly at the wound on Ceres’s hand the next day.

“Did you fight someone?”

“.......”

Fortunately, none of the children seemed to be suffering from any aftereffects.

Ceres had worried that being mentally controlled might leave them with some unpleasant memories, but they appeared to remember absolutely nothing about what had happened yesterday.

“Who did it? Should I go teach them a lesson?”

Julia puffed out her cheeks and huffed indignantly, looking as though she would march off immediately and punish whoever had done it.

A faint smile appeared on Ceres’s lips.

“You think they deserve to be punished?”

“Yeah! Because they hurt you!”

“All right, then, Julia.”

“Yeah?”

“Starting today, solve twenty pages of worksheets every day.”

“...Huh?”

Julia blinked repeatedly in bewilderment.

Why had this somehow ended with her having to do worksheets?

Ceres chuckled and stroked the confused child’s head.

“.......”

Then Ceres’s gaze shifted toward Antonian, who had been silent this entire time.

Unlike the young Julia, Antonian had no memories either, but he had already figured out that something must have happened yesterday.

That was only natural.

Parts of the house were broken, and clear traces remained of someone having forced their way inside.

The servants were also confused to find themselves waking up in places like the hallways and entrance instead of inside the rooms where they had fallen asleep.

‘I was tired too, so I only bothered putting the kids back in their own rooms.’

When was she supposed to take care of that many people one by one?

The villagers were no different.

How was she supposed to know where every single one of them lived and personally carry them home?

She had merely done the bare minimum expected of a decent human being by covering the collapsed people with blankets so they wouldn’t freeze to death and lighting fires nearby.

“Ceres, what exactly happened yesterday?”

“There was an intruder. I chased them away.”

“That’s all?”

“Yeah. That’s all.”

“.......”

Ceres met Antonian’s still-suspicious gaze and shrugged.

What?

You don’t even remember anything, so what are you going to do about it?

If your big sister says that’s what happened, then just accept it.

Rustle.

“Are you all right?”

Jien had quietly approached and was now carefully touching Ceres’s injured hand.

“Yeah. I already treated it, so I’m fine.”

A bright light flowed from the child’s hand and soon seeped into Ceres.

‘He can already use healing magic.’

Ceres stroked Jien’s head with a proud expression.

A faint smile briefly appeared on the child’s lips before vanishing again.

“By the way, Jien.”

“Yes?”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

Your head.

[Buuuuuu! Buu!]

Sooty was viciously chewing on Jien’s hair.

As though protesting about why Jien had been gone yesterday, he seemed to be biting even harder than usual.

“...I’m fine.”

Jien glanced at Sooty and gently shook his head.

His expression remained perfectly calm, as though he were already used to this much.

‘Why does he do this every single time?’

Ceres grabbed Sooty and lifted him into the air.

Was Jien just an easy target to him?

[Buu!]

Sooty protested at being interrupted, so Ceres flicked him lightly on the nose with one finger as though scolding him.

Stop bullying our kid, you brat.

[Bueh!]

As though he had suffered some terrible injustice, Sooty immediately burst into tears again.

Ceres shook her head at him.

“...Huh?”

A moment later, however, Ceres’s gaze shifted toward the window.

She had sensed something strange.

As though proving her instincts correct, the sky gradually began to darken.

‘Don’t tell me, a Black Forest?’

Wondering if a Black Forest had appeared nearby, Ceres hurried toward the window.

Her eyes slowly widened.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a Black Forest.

No, could this really be called fortunate?

If anything, the atmosphere was even more bizarre.

“Big Sis, the sun looks weird.”

Julia had come to stand beside her at some point and stared up at the sky in fascination.

“...An eclipse?”

A sudden solar eclipse.

The sun was slowly being covered by the moon.

And not an ordinary moon, but one as red as blood.

Rumble......

Rrrr... Boom......

“.......”

At the same time, faint tremors continued to reverberate around them.

The ground was moving.

No.

It was changing.

‘This is.......’

Ceres’s expression rapidly hardened.

The situation was far too familiar.

Didn’t this look exactly like the appearance of an S-rank Black Forest?

“Holy shit.......”

...The world has finally gone insane.

***

[Screeeeech!]

[Graaaaaah!]

“Aaaaah!”

“Run!”

Monsters were appearing without end.

As though all their previous silence had merely been preparation for this very day, an unimaginable number of monsters, more than anyone had ever seen before, poured out from every direction.

There was no Black Forest.

And yet, at the very moment the blood-red moon completely eclipsed the sun, the surrounding environment transformed and monsters began appearing.

Naturally, the people were thrown into complete chaos by something no one had ever experienced before.

“Everyone, this way!”

“There’s an emergency shelter over there!”

Throughout the streets, mercenaries and soldiers could be heard urgently directing people toward safety.

“What in the world is happening?”

“Who knows.”

Among them were mercenaries from the Black Guild.

Lot, the Black Guild’s vice guildmaster, frowned as he watched the surrounding terrain gradually turn into desert.

A short while ago, he had received urgent messages from mercenaries in other regions.

Apparently, their surroundings had been completely covered in ice.

This phenomenon wasn’t limited to this area.

Across the entire Empire, the land was transforming into terrain resembling various regions where S-rank Black Forests appeared, and monsters were emerging everywhere.

“Looks like the world’s ending.”

“Haah, do you really think so? What the hell is all this......?”

“I’d like to have one last bowl of stew before I die, though. Think I could go grab one right now?”

“You’re joking at a time like—”

Lot, who had been about to shout at him for making jokes in a situation like this, suddenly stopped.

That was because Skal’s expression as he drew his sword and advanced toward the monsters was genuinely full of regret.

“...Why are you talking about dying? You can eat it later.”

“Yeah. Guess I’m just not sure whether that’ll actually be possible.”

Skal grinned and moved forward even faster.

Lot could no longer bring himself to say anything as he watched him go.

‘...Is this really the end?’

Countless monsters surged toward them like a tidal wave.

Even knowing they could never stop them all, the guildmaster and the mercenaries of the Black Guild charged toward the monsters anyway, determined to save even one more person.

Watching them, Lot finally squeezed his eyes shut.

He hadn’t wanted to witness their final moments like this......

Whoosh!

BOOM!

“......!”

At that moment, an overwhelming presence shot past Lot.

A tremendous crash followed immediately afterward.

Had another monster appeared?

“......!”

Lot hurriedly opened his eyes and barely managed to swallow the scream that almost escaped his throat.

A massive white wolf was charging toward the monsters.

For a moment, Lot thought it was going to attack the mercenaries.

BOOOOM!

Crash......

He was wrong.

The enormous, razor-sharp forepaw of the white wolf had struck directly into the monsters.

The monsters fell dead in droves without even getting the chance to scream.

[Grrrrrrr!]

At the white wolf’s low growl, the monsters visibly hesitated.

Those were monsters that normally appeared only inside S-rank Black Forests.

And they were hesitating?

Lot could hardly believe what he was seeing with his own eyes.

Whoosh!

But the white wolf had no intention of letting them go.

It charged straight into them and began tearing the monsters apart with its jaws.

“What the hell.......”

...is that wolf?

Lot stood there with his mouth hanging open, unable to tear his eyes away from the white wolf as it slaughtered monster after monster without stopping.

[Kirrik, kirrik!]

[Kirrrr!]

“......!”

More monsters were pouring in from another direction.

Lot hurriedly looked toward the white wolf, but it already seemed occupied holding back the monsters around it.

“Run!”

“Everyone, this way!”