248. The War Begins

The ones on the beach were the first to notice the anomaly.

A sudden, spine-chilling surge of massive pressure.

And it wasn’t just one; there were several.

The total number—ten.

The Dead King Libera and the Sea King Shuram immediately had a hunch as to their identities.

“……What is the meaning of this?”

Libera slammed her staff into the sandy beach with all her might.

A cloud of sand rose like an explosion.

Precisely because she had a hunch, Libera could not understand it.

No, her brain was refusing to understand.

There should have been more time.

There should have been nearly four months remaining.

And yet, how could this be happening?

“What did they do……? What did those people do to the system Mother and I built!?”

Normally, altering the system places a massive burden on it.

After two prior alterations, the system should have already been in a quite precarious state.

And then, this assault. They must have undoubtedly altered the system again.

An alteration that, if handled poorly, could cause everything to collapse.

『I have no idea, but it certainly wasn’t through any decent means. I understand your anger, but for now, suppress your bloodlust and magic. It’s like announcing our presence to them.』

“……You’re right.”

For an instant, bloodlust and magic power overflowed from Libera’s body, but Shuram reprimanded her.

Libera suppressed her heart with all her strength.

She is an undead. Normally, no matter how much her emotions flared, the excitement would vanish after a certain amount of time.

But right now, if she didn’t do it consciously, she couldn’t possibly suppress the emotions welling up from within.

Taking a breath to calm her mind, Libera performed a search to identify the members of the Vanguard.

“The members are…… Randall, Shuri, Glen, Beld, Gashmash, Rialdo, Orion—these seven are as expected, but I don’t recognize the remaining three……”

『Of the three, I know two. These presences are the Barrier Master Lizzie and the Sealer Narus. They were likely summoned as Orion’s assistants.』

“I see…… And the last one?”

『Who knows. But they are certainly no amateur. Their presence is a bit strange; perhaps a hero who was hiding their name?』

“Tch…… I wish they had stuck to people I knew.”

『Randall is no fool. He must have searched the other world high and low. For heroes we didn’t know.』

Clicking her tongue, Libera looked increasingly displeased.

“The place where they appeared is…… the town where Kazuto and the others originally lived.”

Regarding the Vanguard’s appearance point, her prediction seemed to be correct.

They appear in places in this world with strong connections—places with few Treants.

In particular, the town where Kazuto and the others were, having completely eradicated the Gluttonous Great Tree Peony and the surrounding Treants, was an ideal point for them to cross into this world.

Understanding the situation, Libera immediately raised her staff.

“—Shuram, how much time can you buy?”

『Two hours is easy.』

“That’s enough.”

Shuram’s body began to glow.

While training with Kazuto and the others, Shuram had been sending split bodies to mark places where the Vanguard might appear.

And those split bodies would change their physical forms to create a powerful barrier at the main body’s signal. A massive barrier large enough to cover an entire town.

『That town is an important point we had marked. The number of split bodies there is far greater than in other locations! Even for the Vanguard, it will take a corresponding amount of time to break it.』

Shuram’s prediction for the time to break the barrier was two hours.

In that interval, they would explain the situation to Kazuto and the others and finish combat preparations.

Such arrangements had been made.

But—

『Mu—』

For a moment, Shuram’s body swayed unnaturally.

『This is bad, Libera……』

“What happened?”

Sensing the ominous atmosphere, Libera’s expression also stiffened.

『—Two of them are already outside the barrier.』

“Wha—”

A time lag of less than a second before Shuram activated the barrier.

In that tiny window of time, there were members of the Vanguard who had escaped outside the barrier.

Meanwhile, in a slightly distant location, there was a presence that sensed them.

『—They have come.』

“……What is it, Wolf King-sama?”

Touka Igarashi tilted her head as the Wolf King Schwarz’s aura changed.

On his back was Sayaka Katsuragi, still shivering and rattling.

『It seems the Vanguard you spoke of has arrived in this world.』

“Wha—!?”

“Ehh?”

At Schwarz’s words, Touka and Sayaka were wide-eyed.

“H-how……? There should still have been time……?”

『I know not. However, now that it has come to this, we cannot afford to be idle.』

Schwarz took a long breath and howled.

In response to the King’s call rippling through the surroundings, monsters gathered one after another.

Shadow Wolves, Goblins, Orcs, Queen Ants, Metal Lizards, and a massive number of Skeletons.

Monsters of various types. Their numbers would easily exceed a thousand.

Each one was strong and clad in strange, pitch-black armaments.

Furthermore, there seemed to be several named-class monsters mixed in.

『Everyone! It is war! The time has come to freely wield the fangs you have polished until now!』

「「「「「「Woooooohhhhhhhhhhh!!」」」」」」

The roars shook the atmosphere with a rattle.

At that sight, Touka couldn’t stop shivering.

They were in a truce now, but once the fight with the Vanguard was over, this great army would turn into enemies once again.

The thought made her shudder.

(What terrifying power…… But—)

Even so, Touka thought.

The ten dense presences that could be felt even from far away.

Those presences were far more than the great army of monsters here—

“—What’s this? I came because I felt a strong presence, and it turns out to be the Wolf King. Haha, this is a hit. Dammit, what a pain.”

“Ts—!?”

A voice spoke.

Turning around, there stood a man with a worn-out appearance.

Clad in tattered rags, he carried a burning crimson sword at his waist.

(Who is this man……? Until just now, there was no presence or anything……)

Touka was bewildered by the man who appeared so suddenly.

Meanwhile, the man stroked his stubble as he looked at Schwarz, then at Touka and Sayaka.

“……So you’re the humans of this world. Heh, quite a beauty, aren’t you? Or rather, is the other one even actually alive? Otherworlders are hard to figure out.”

“……And you are?”

“Vanguard, ‘Flame Emperor’ Glen Ashburn.”

The man revealed his identity nonchalantly.

Gulping, Touka and Sayaka swallowed their saliva.

“I-I am—”

“Ah, no need to introduce yourself. It’s meaningless.”

“Eh?”

In an instant, Glen’s form vanished.

“I have no desire to remember the names of people I’m about to kill.”

Before she knew it, Glen was right in front of Touka.

And—

“—Eh?”

“First, number one.”

The blade he held had deeply pierced through Touka’s chest.

—It took me several seconds to understand Arrogance’s words.

“The Vanguard…… has come, you say……?”

『Yes. You understood that long ago, didn’t you?』

“Ts……”

Arrogance is right.

In my head, I understand.

Libera-san said it before.

That the leader of the Vanguard has the Master Key to intervene in the system.

Libera-san said no further alterations were possible because the system might collapse, but there might have been some loophole.

『Now that it has come to this, battle is unavoidable. You should do what you must.』

“Yeah, I know……”

Clenching Arrogance, I stepped on a shadow.

And I immediately sent an email to Ichinose-san and the others.

『Papa, what happened?』

“Sui, this place is about to become a battlefield. You hide somewhere safe.”

『Eh?』

Since Sui’s power as the Divine Tree hasn’t awakened yet, I have no choice but to evacuate her elsewhere for now.

I was about to spread a shadow to move Sui.

At that moment—

“—Ah?”

Suddenly, I felt a pain in my chest.

Looking down, a silver blade was protruding from the center of my body.

“What, I came because I felt the strongest presence, and this is all it is?”

A voice spoke from behind.

The blade was pulled out, and a massive amount of blood gushed from my chest.

I finally understood that I had been stabbed from behind.

Collapsing to my knees, I fell into a pool of blood.

“W-who are you……?”

Moving only my eyeballs, I confirmed the figure.

A girl with pitch-black hair was looking down at me. In her hand was the silver blade that had presumably stabbed me.

The black-haired girl stared at me with inorganic eyes devoid of any emotion as she spoke.

“Vanguard, ‘Ninja God’ Shuri Azuma.”

“—Ah.”

Ninja God……?

Does this person have the same power as me?

Ninja God, aside from flashy ninja arts, is originally an occupation specialized in surprise attacks and assassination.

I see, that’s why I couldn’t sense her presence……

What a disaster. That someone like that was in the Vanguard.

And of all people, for her to appear before me first.

This is truly—

“Unfortunate for you, human.”

“—Yeah, you’re right.”

In that instant, I gripped Arrogance and slashed at the girl.

“Wha—!?”

She must have thought she had killed me for sure.

Agitation flickered in the girl’s eyes.

She parried Arrogance with her blade and took distance from me.

“……What is the meaning of this?”

“Ah— that hurts…… I was completely careless.”

Wiping the blood from my mouth, I stared at the girl from the Vanguard.

I see, it seems this development was unexpected for her.

She must have never imagined.

That in this world, there was a human with the same Ninja God power as her.

And that this human had obtained yet another power besides that.

After all, if I hadn’t updated my stats right before this, I really would be dead.

(But, the same combat style as me, huh……)

An otherworlder Ninja God specialized in surprise attacks and assassination.

I’m truly glad. The thought of this person heading toward the others makes me shudder.

I’m grateful that she targeted me as a priority before anyone else.

“Unfortunate for you, Vanguard. I’m not going to be killed that easily.”

Now, let the war begin.

End of 248