Before setting out, the infiltration team had a brief moment with those staying behind in Crossroad.
Both those leaving and those staying couldn't guarantee their lives, but just as night turns to morning, it was as if reuniting was a given. People exchanged goodbyes.
"See you later."
Yun said with a refreshing smile.
Kuilan, standing in front of her, also smiled back.
"See you later."
Beside them, Queen Skuld was adjusting Verdandi's collar.
"Take care, sister. Be safe."
"There won't be any trouble. After all, we've survived 100 years under the lake of hell."
Verdandi smiled as she adjusted Skuld's crown.
"Be careful yourself."
"Haha, let's both show the valor befitting the Elf Royalty."
Next to them, the 'Uncles' party exchanged goodbyes with their own people.
Evangeline, stepping in front of Lucas, raised her eyebrows and said,
"Make sure you support the senior well."
"You too, command the defense well. Though I plan to return before then and take back command if possible."
Lucas replied quietly as he checked his gear.
Evangeline, narrowing her eyes at Lucas, cautiously opened her mouth.
"...Uncle."
"What is it, miss?"
"Your gaze is too fierce. Tone down the murderous intent."
"..."
Lucas, tightening his gauntlet, glanced southward.
"I thought I needed to raise my spirit to not be consumed by that monster's malice. It seems I've done it unconsciously."
"There's no need for you to become malevolent as well."
Ignoring what Evangeline was about to say further, Lucas turned around.
"Don't worry. No matter what happens, I will protect the lord."
Then, Lucas walked away. Evangeline watched his back with dissatisfaction.
At the same time,
"Torkel!"
"Please take care!"
People from the temple approached Torkel, each leaving a word of cautious encouragement.
Torkel, flustered but shyly smiling, responded to them. Let's all take care of ourselves.
Hannibal and Rosetta gave encouragement and reminders to Zenis, and young magicians clung to Dearmudin.
Zenis was embarrassed, and Dearmudin, in contrast, scolded them. It was a scolding to keep their wits about them.
"Everyone's so warm..."
Nobody, squatting and listening to these conversations, murmured.
Then someone stood in front of Nobody. Nobody looked up curiously.
"Huh? Sorry, I can't see in front. Who are you? Do you have something for me?"
"..."
The other party said nothing, just let out a shallow breath.
Eventually, guessing the identity of the other party, Nobody chuckled softly.
"Don't worry too much. I'll be back safe. Take care, okay?"
"..."
Candler stood there silently for a while.
"..."
"..."
As Bodybag and Burnout, who were blankly watching these scenes of farewell, someone approached pushing a wheelchair.
It was Lilly. Lilly quietly took out two small pouches from her bosom and handed them to the two elves.
The pouches felt rough to the touch, likely containing nuts.
Bodybag and Burnout grinned. Lilly smiled back.
And then- the time to depart arrived.
***
Currently.
Inside the King of Flies.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of violent explosions echoed continuously, shaking violently.
Bodybag and Burnout, who had been knocked out, slowly came to their senses due to the explosions and vibrations.
"Ugh... sunflower seeds..."
"...?"
And what Bodybag and Burnout saw as they regained consciousness was,
Squeeeeeak!
Flies pouring in from all directions, up, down, left, right, front, and back, and,
Boom!
My captured monsters scattering in all directions, roaring and charging.
The beetle legion commander, Hercules, roared as he rammed with his massive body, and behind him, various captured monsters screamed in their own ways as they rushed forward.
Sssshhhhh!
And the Kraken.
This supreme tentacled monster of mine extended its long limbs in all directions, grabbing flies and either crushing them or swallowing them whole.
It was a scene like the end of days.
Bodybag and Burnout, stunned by the sight, laid back down quietly. Hey!
"Hey, don't pass out again. Get up quickly!"
I manipulated the Kraken to lift Bodybag and Burnout with its tentacles and then seated them next to me (on top of the Kraken's head).
"I was hoping it was a dream, but ugh..."
"..."
Burnout and Bodybag shoved the sunflower seed pouches into their mouths, desperately clinging to their sanity. I instructed them,
"As you can see, things are a bit chaotic right now!"
Flies were pouring in from all directions, being countered by my captured monsters, magic barriers, and summons.
"If you see any allies, rescue them immediately! Burnout, you keep watch, and Bodybag! Use your telekinesis to rescue them. Can you do it?"
"Yes, yes...!"
"Good! Let's go!"
Thunk-!
Breaking through the swarm of flies, the captured monster legion advanced.
We focused on locating scattered allies while sweeping through the area with the captured monster legion. It didn't take long to find party members.
"What's all this chaos-!"
"I knew the plan was to cause a disturbance, but this is on another level-!"
After recovering (?) two dwarf warriors belonging to my party,
As we continued, we discovered Kuilan and Verdandi's party fighting surrounded by flies on the lower floor.
We directly dropped on them with the Kraken.
"Kahaha! Heavenly Weight!"
Yelling out some martial arts technique name I picked up somewhere, Kuilan and the 10 members of Verdandi's party screamed in shock.
As Bodybag skillfully used telekinesis to lift them all, the Kraken landed on the lower floor.
Boom!
Crushing the swarm of flies, and unable to support the weight, we broke through one more floor and landed on another level down.
Stacking the unconscious beastkin and elves on top of the Kraken's head, Verdandi, with her green hair in disarray, pushed it back and said,
"Lucas and his party went downwards...! We'll search below, destroy the fly eggs, and if possible, ascend afterwards. Please proceed upwards first, your majesty!"
"Okay! Thanks, Verdandi!"
After lightly reorganizing the captured monster legion, I began ascending again.
True to its nature as a cephalopod monster, the Kraken skillfully climbed the floors of this monstrous King of Flies's belly.
Around that time, Kuilan, who had regained his senses, shivered.
"Anyway, how enormous is this King of Flies...?!"
"..."
Kraken and Hercules are by no means small in stature, but within the belly of the King of Flies, it was somewhat cramped, yet still spacious enough to move around.
Everything about this monster defies common sense, but its size is particularly monstrous. When viewed from afar, its enormity wasn't fully grasped, but entering inside reveals something off.
It feels even larger than Jormungandr in terms of presence. Jormungandr might win in length, but considering this volume...
'All the flies make up the body of the King of Flies... How many flies would it take to construct such a gigantic monster's body?'
When insects breed en masse, the scale becomes bizarre.
Locust swarms, known as Huang Chong, boast a terrifying reproductive capacity that can easily reach billions.
'Is the King of Flies the same?'
I shook off the thought. Now is not the time for random musings. The task at hand requires focus.
"Let's go up!"
We'll smash everything in this damned belly, and...
'Rescue!'
The survivors who were captured first.
Kellibey, Kellison, the crew, and Junior and Chain.
I hope they're all still alive...!
***
Thump, thump, thump...
A faint vibration began underfoot, growing stronger.
Junior and the survivors, cautiously heading downwards, exchanged glances. Something seemed to be happening on the lower floors.
Junior, pressing her ear to the ground, murmured in confusion.
"What's this vibration?"
"Is a battle happening...?"
"But we're still a distance away from Crossroad..."
Then Junior's eyes widened, and she abruptly lifted her head.
"Could it be the rescue team has come?!"
"How could they, inside the belly of the Fly, possibly..."
A wry smile then appeared on Kellibey's face.
"...Well, if it's that naive prince, maybe."
Thump! Thump, thump, thump!
The vibration intensified, followed by a roar and... the shouts of heroes from the Ince side.
It was true. The rescue team had indeed arrived.
Especially Ash's voice was loud. Though what exactly he was doing was unclear, he was shouting strange spells like 'Heavenly Weight! 600 kilograms! 1322.77 pounds!' at the top of his lungs.
Junior, a smile of relief spreading across her lips, murmured.
"Your Highness! You've come yourself!"
"This voice... It's really him."
"Truly, someone who doesn't abandon his comrades."
"Honestly, I sometimes thought it was foolish."
Kellibey burst into laughter.
"Being in the position to be rescued, I'm tearfully grateful...!"
Although the voices of the rescue team could be heard, they were still at a distance. The belly of the King of Flies being a hollow structure made the voices echo and sound louder.
'Probably two floors down... no, more than three floors? It's still far...'
But just the fact that the rescue team had arrived noticeably boosted the survivors' morale.
Struggling to move further down, the despair on everyone's faces was swept away.
"Let's keep our spirits up a bit longer!"
"Let's go down to join them...!"
As the survivors began making holes in the floor with the tools they held, the vibration came from above this time.
Junior quickly looked up, sensing an ominous presence. Kellibey and Kellison, startled, looked in the same direction.
"Something's coming."
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Through the holes the survivors had made from the upper floors down, an unidentified something was rapidly crawling down.
"Everyone, watch out! Something's coming...!"
The holes made by the survivors weren't large. Just big enough for one person to barely squeeze through.
'That thing' forcefully broke and widened the holes as it plummeted down.
Crash! Crunch-!
Finally, 'that thing,' having torn through the last hole, poked its head from the upper ceiling towards the group of survivors.
At first glance, it was a fly.
A giant fly with shimmering red compound eyes.
"It's just another monstrous fly..."
Kellison murmured with a pale face but couldn't finish.
Creak, creak...
'That thing' crawled out through the expanded hole it had made to the ceiling.
It was a fly. But it was different.
Much larger than any ordinary monstrous fly, its entire body was encased in a carapace like a rhinoceros beetle, and at the end of its abdomen was a long stinger like a wasp. And then.
Ssshh-
Its front two legs were transformed into long scythe-like shapes, much like a praying mantis.
Seeing this bizarre form for the first time, Kellison fumbled.
"Is that really a fly...?"
Junior was equally perplexed.
Combining features of various insects like this. It was as if...
"Did someone create a chimera? What is this..."
That was as far as their astonishment went.
The monstrous fly, which had been crawling on the ceiling and gazing down blankly, suddenly leaped down towards them.
Overtly hostile, Junior cast a spell, shouting.
"Everyone, dodge!"
In this place, Junior undoubtedly had the highest single combat power. She raised her staff and fiercely unleashed magic.
Boom! Pffffft!
But the monstrous fly adeptly twisted its body, performing acrobatic flights to dodge the magic.
"This-!"
Junior gritted her teeth as sparks flew from her eyes.
Lightning burst from the tip of her staff, enveloping the fly's body.
Crackle!
However.
A blue light enveloped the fly's carapace, neutralizing most of the lightning magic.
"...?!"
Junior's eyes widened in shock.
That appearance was as if...
'...A magic barrier of an airship?!'
As it fell, the fly didn't even look at Junior.
Instead, it aimed for the much weaker ones.
Those who were still paralyzed and lying down among the crew.
Thump-!
Most of the crew were paralyzed but conscious by now. Terror filled their eyes all at once.
"What..."
"You monster! No-"
Before Kellibey and Kellison could rush in,
The monstrous fly swung its blade-like front legs around.
Swoosh...!
Blood splattered in all directions.
--TL Notes--
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