I regained consciousness a little while after the crash.
"Your Highness!"
As I opened my trembling eyes, Damien, who was bandaging my head, shouted in delight.
"Your Highness, it's me, Damien! Do you recognize me?"
"Of course, I do, you trigger-happy fool. Ouch..."
"Thank goodness. You were bleeding from the forehead, I was worried you might be seriously injured."
Damien sang a healing tune while wrapping a bandage around my forehead.
"Wrap it moderately; it's heavy enough to make my head feel heavy."
With my head wrapped like a turban, I looked around and asked.
"Where are we? What time is it?"
"We're on the southern plains of Crossroad! About 30 minutes have passed since the crash...!"
"30 minutes..."
I staggered to my feet with Damien's support.
"How's the situation?"
"The King of Flies crashed but then broke through the southern wall of Crossroad... and burrowed into the city."
"What?! Into the city?!"
"Yes. However, after a brief commotion, it just sits there quietly with its barrier activated... We are currently on alert and reorganizing our forces."
I, as well as everyone else, had a gut feeling.
This moment of calm was merely the silence before the storm of the final battle.
As we emerged outside of Geronimo, Lucas, looking pale and with his usually neat blonde hair in a mess, saluted me.
"My lord."
"Lucas, are you alright?"
"I'm always fine. Don't worry about me."
As usual, Lucas was bluffing, and as usual, I let it slide.
Around the airship, there were bodies of mutant flies, along with a new type of giant mutant fly that I had never seen before, all dead.
As I looked in that direction, Lucas explained.
"While we were unconscious, it seems these monsters attacked. The warriors from the Ariane Kingdom who came to our rescue fought valiantly..."
Lucas trailed off and turned his head, where the bodies of Ariane Kingdom warriors were laid out side by side.
"When I came to my senses, Kuilan had already defeated all the other monsters."
"Is that so. Where's Kuilan?"
"Over there, but."
Lucas pressed his lips together tightly.
"He's not in good shape."
"..."
Kuilan was sitting on a hill not far from Geronimo. I cautiously approached him from behind and called out his name.
"Kuilan?"
Turning around, Kuilan made me flinch and shiver.
He had transformed into a likeness of his ancestor... the Wolf King Lunared.
His body was covered in silver-red fur, becoming a werewolf in every aspect.
The only way I could recognize him was by the X-shaped scar on his forehead, his distinctive bangs, and...
Yun in his arms.
Yun, covered in blood, was gasping for breath with a pale complexion, while Zenis was sweating profusely, trying to heal her in front of him.
"Your Majesty."
Noticing me, Zenis bowed. I approached and asked.
"How is Princess Yun?"
"...We would need a miracle at this point."
It meant the situation was realistically dire. I closed my eyes tightly.
"..."
Kuilan, with hands transformed like those of a wolf, tightly held Yun in his arms, looking down at her with sad eyes.
I carefully placed my hand on Kuilan's shoulder and said.
"Kuilan, I'm going to take down the King of Flies now. I'll use whatever means necessary to kill that monster."
"..."
"You can stay here if you want to. If you wish to take care of Yun, then do so."
Kuilan slowly shook his head and then, in a human voice, said.
"No, captain. You will need my strength. I'll come with you."
Kuilan slowly laid Yun down on a blanket on the ground.
"I'm an incredibly lucky man... I'll share half of my luck with you, Yun."
Kuilan gently touched his elongated wolf nose to Yun's nose.
"I will create my own miracle, so please, you create yours."
Kuilan stood up and looked my way.
Before I knew it, all the heroes who had boarded Geronimo were lined up behind me.
Kuilan strode forward to join the lineup. I nodded and looked around at everyone.
"Let's go."
After surveying the faces of my companions, wearied like dried blood yet with fierce eyes.
I declared firmly.
"The time has come to end this tiresome battle."
***
Kellibey and Kellison, along with the rest of the airship crew, were left behind.
After ordering them to repair the airship, I took only the remaining combatants back to Crossroad.
I wasn't sure if the airship could be reactivated within the remaining battle, but it was better to keep the possibility open.
"Captain!"
As we approached Crossroad, Evangeline, covered in dirt and dust, greeted us. Her once pristine armor was now in a shambles, likely due to being caught in the collapse of the wall.
I was about to ask for a damage report but stopped myself. Instead, I changed my question.
"What's the current combat-capable force?"
"Due to the collapse of the wall, the organization was completely torn apart, so it's difficult to get an accurate number... For now, we have enough to surround the King of Flies at least."
"What is the King of Flies doing now?"
"After summoning all the flies in the area and absorbing them, it has been sitting quietly since then... as if meditating."
In the dark night.
Our forces surrounding the King of Flies shot flares towards the enemy commander. Bathed in the light of the flares, the King of Flies remained motionless.
'Why is it just sitting there?'
After absorbing the flies of this world and healing, why isn't it causing more trouble?
As I pondered, Evangeline exclaimed and then said.
"Also, there was a report from the mages at the lord's mansion."
"At the mansion?"
"Yes. The operation to clone jiangshis suddenly activated on its own... There was no time to intervene."
Surprised, I looked at Lucas.
"Lucas, could it be..."
"Yes."
Lucas, too, nodded with a slightly tense expression.
"It seems the White Night cloning operation we had prepared was activated."
Suddenly, I remembered the words White Night had left me in the King of Flies's mental world.
'Send more of me'... was it?
Maybe White Night knew we were preparing more jiangshi clones and intended to use this operation to its advantage.
And ultimately, she executed it with her own hands.
"The King of Flies has absorbed the flies of this world. If the cloned White Nights have also infiltrated into the King of Flies."
I nodded at Lucas's words.
"The King of Flies and the Grand Sorceress might be battling within the collective consciousness."
I clenched my teeth. This was a method even I had hesitated to use.
Would it become an unexpected breakthrough, or a bad move made in desperation?
The outcome was about to be revealed.
***
Inside the King of Flies's collective consciousness. Within the mental world.
"Aaaaah-Aaaaah!"
White Night screamed sharply.
She was grotesque. Her elongated body had dozens of limbs attached haphazardly, and from white skeletons to the blue faces of jiangshis, dozens of heads were also randomly attached all over her body.
This was the result of dozens of 'White Night' consciousnesses meeting together in this mental world.
These liches, being the same entity, had merged into one, but they refused to assimilate with each other.
Thus, they had turned into a hideous centipede-like form- and the old fly laughed heartily at this sight.
"Kekekeke! Kikikikiki! How amusing, how ludicrous! Such an ugly form for someone who uses the grand title of Emperor, undead!"
The overlapped voices of White Night sounded at once.
"You, a mere fly, dare to mock me...!"
"Given your appearance, calling you an Abomination rather than a Lich seems more appropriate? Haha, such a creature dares to try and take over this King of Flies's body..."
The old fly, clutching its scepter, roared as it thrust it forward.
"I must have underestimated you!"
Swoooosh!
The ground of the mental world rippled, and a dark tide rose, then surged high as a tsunami, engulfing White Night.
It was a wave made of flies.
The consciousness of the flies that the King of Flies had newly absorbed in this world. White Night was helplessly submerged in this vast sea of flies and sank.
Billions of flies began to devour White Night. The old fly chuckled gleefully.
"Drown and suffocate in the sea of insignificant creatures you underestimated...!"
The old fly intended to slowly absorb and devour the Grand Sorceress in this way.
However, the next moment.
Swoooosh...
The water level of the sea dramatically dropped.
The old fly, puzzled by this sudden turn, eventually realized.
Crack! Crunch! Crack!
She was devouring.
The Grand Sorceress.
The high and proud undead lich... was indiscriminately chewing and swallowing the flies that covered her.
"Horrible! Disgusting! Miserable! To use a fly's body, to crave a fly's mind, such is my form!"
Dozens of White Night's heads screamed simultaneously.
"But- I exist here! In this humiliation! In this insult! In this contempt! I truly exist-!"
White Night swiftly swallowed the wave of flies, and at the same time.
Crackling!
In the real world outside the mental world.
The giant body of the King of Flies began to split.
The flies that formed its outer shell fell away like black snow, and those fallen flies regrouped among themselves... beginning to merge into the form of a human woman.
"What is this, in the world..."
"What's happening...?!"
The human soldiers surrounding the King of Flies retreated tremblingly.
Faced with a surreal spectacle beyond human comprehension, the best the soldiers could do was to stand their ground without fleeing.
"Aaaaah!"
The monster that had fully differentiated from the King of Flies, the resurrected White Night, raised her hands and examined her body.
"...This form, once I got used to it, isn't so bad after all."
Her voice had become serene.
"Existing simultaneously as countless 'I's, but all being one... I like it."
White Night whispered menacingly, her red compound eyes flickering.
"I'll finish devouring you, fly. I'll take your reign and make it entirely mine."
"..."
The King of Flies, having lost its outer shell, shrank into a shape resembling a giant pupa.
Towards such a King of Flies, White Night declared with a mad laughter.
"After that, I'll set this world on fire! I'll complete the task I couldn't finish before and finally achieve my dream of ascension!"
Then, White Night looked around at the humans below.
"After that, Ash. You, and your subordinates, all of you will suffer in purgatory just as I did, tormented for aeons."
With a loud laugh, White Night charged towards the King of Flies, intending to end the battle in one stroke.
And, as White Night charged...
Whirring!
A horn sprouted on the King of Flies's head flashed with blue light.
"Huh?"
White Night uttered a dumbfounded noise, having realized her opponent's tactic a beat too late.
The King of Flies chuckled.
"This is a technique I stole from humans... It can only be used on 'allies.' But since your body is of the same kind as mine, it seems I can use it."
"Wait, no, that doesn't make sense-"
The King of Flies had used teleportation magic.
Sending the opponent to unspecified coordinates, the King of Flies asked gleefully as if enjoying the moment.
"Have you ever been to 'Oblivion's Beyond,' undead?"
"!"
"An existence born from nightmares cannot return once it steps into the spirit world. You, being a monster, will forever lose your way there."
Swallowed by the blue light and forcibly teleported, White Night screamed.
"Stop your nonsense, my origin is...!"
Flash!
A blue magic portal opened, and magical particles spread out in all directions- and the next moment, there was no one there.
The King of Flies, having easily erased White Night from this world with teleportation magic, looked down gleefully.
"Now, the traitor who sought to usurp my empire has vanished."
Faced with a duel beyond the perception of transcendental beings, the humans trembled in fear.
The King of Flies, looking down at them with satisfaction, smiled.
"Shall we resume the battle between flies and humans?"
--TL Notes--
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