Free Web NovelDeep within the Winter Forest,
a scene that countless people would find utterly unbelievable was quietly unfolding.
At this moment,
amid the enormous forest trees, a black-haired girl dressed in thin clothing and walking barefoot slowly stepped across the snowy ground, seemingly unaffected by the freezing cold whatsoever.
And in her hand, she was holding the hand of another small and delicate-looking little girl.
Meanwhile,
behind the two of them trailed a pitiful little white wolf...
Surrounding them were dozens of gigantic black monsters with horrifying appearances.
Yet these Abyss Demons, normally bloodthirsty and violent creatures, displayed not even the slightest trace of savagery right now.
Like loyal bodyguards faithfully carrying out their duties, they silently protected the two girls while driving away every foolish magical beast that approached nearby.
Abyss Demons protecting human girls?
If anyone witnessed such a scene, it would likely cause a massive uproar.
However,
these girls were not human.
In a certain sense,
they were monsters wearing human skin.
—
Protected by several Abyss Demons,
Yumo quietly held Liyu’s small hand while slowly walking through the snow-covered land.
Meanwhile, Limo followed behind the two of them in a dejected state, like an abandoned stray dog with nowhere to go.
Her lips remained puffed out as she silently continued complaining in her heart.
‘Mother plays favorites... Liyu’s a lying villain...’
Liyu: ......
Although her foolish older sister did not directly voice her complaints aloud, thanks to years of living together day and night, Liyu could easily guess what was going on inside Limo’s head.
Naturally, she knew her sister was sulking.
However, Liyu had no intention of pleading with Mother on her behalf.
Her foolish sister needed to learn to behave properly.
And become a little smarter too.
Besides, for Demon King-tier beings like them, going without food for an entire year would not even matter—
let alone a single week.
Helping control her sister’s gluttonous habits was also very important~
Thus,
Liyu chose to ignore the resentful little glances from her foolish sister and once again shifted her gaze toward Yumo nearby.
At this moment, while quietly walking deeper into the forest, Yumo was thoughtfully examining the exquisite silver sword in her hand.
This sword was naturally the weapon previously used by Hero Pix.
After cleaning up the battlefield, Yumo had taken away all the relatively intact weapons and spatial rings from the Hero squad.
Since they had already attacked them, they might as well maximize the usefulness of their remains.
Coincidentally, Yumo also wanted to understand the current level of equipment used by Hero squads and whether there had been any improvement compared to several hundred years ago.
Seeing Yumo constantly observing the weapon without speaking to her, Liyu unhappily puffed out her lips.
However, unlike Limo, who constantly exposed her true emotions openly, Liyu was much better at concealing her feelings.
Very quickly, the trace of displeasure on her face vanished completely.
She once again became the image of an obedient little girl.
Then the gray-haired girl gently shook Yumo’s hand in a spoiled manner and pointed toward the symbol engraved on the sword hilt while curiously asking,
“Mother, what does this golden symbol on the hilt mean?”
“Hm? This? It’s the number ‘8’ in the ancient language.”
“‘8’? Why would someone put an ‘8’ on a sword?”
Hearing the little girl’s question, Yumo smiled faintly.
“A Hero ranking~”
“Hero ranking? What’s that?”
“Enmm, it’s basically a strength ranking, I guess? The Asumos Church’s so-called Ten ‘Apostles of Earth’ are what we usually call Heroes. They’re ranked from 1 to 10 according to strength. The smaller the number, the stronger they are.”
“Oh, I see. Then the Hero Sister and I killed this time was only ranked eighth. Looks like he wasn’t very strong.”
Liyu replied softly.
However, within her emerald eyes, a faint trace of disappointment quietly appeared.
“Yeah, eighth place. Pretty far toward the bottom.”
Yumo murmured thoughtfully.
Still, now that the topic had shifted toward strength, there was something Yumo was rather curious about.
“Little Yu.”
“What is it, Mother?”
“When you fought that Hero earlier, how strong did he feel? Compared to the Heroes who attacked our home back then, was he stronger or weaker?”
“Enmm... about that...”
A conflicted expression appeared on Liyu’s tiny face.
“Sorry, Mother. He died too quickly. Sister killed him instantly, so I barely saw him make any moves. I really couldn’t tell.”
“Ah... he died too quickly, huh~ I see. Then forget it.”
Yumo slightly disappointedly shook her head.
“What’s wrong, Mother?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to get a rough understanding of how strong modern Heroes are.”
As she spoke, Yumo slowly narrowed her crimson eyes.
Just like she had predicted earlier—
the ‘female lead’ would most likely still become the Saintess of the Asumos Church.
At that time, the so-called Ten Apostles of Earth, Three Apostles of Heaven, Holy Knight Orders, and similar forces...
...would all become the ‘female lead’s’ power in the battle against the Abyss Demons.
For the trials to proceed smoothly, the Abyss Demons sent out in the beginning absolutely had to be enemies they were capable of defeating.
Otherwise, if several Demon King-tier Abyss Demons directly faced the Church’s Earth Heroes...
...wouldn’t that just instantly wipe them out?
If the Abyss Demons she sent were too strong, the other side might be exterminated.
But if they were too weak, it might make the humans overconfident instead.
‘This really is a troublesome job.’
In order to properly provide suitable “experience monsters,” Yumo believed it was necessary to thoroughly understand the Church’s current combat strength.
Of course,
Yumo herself was also extremely curious about the current power level of the continent’s number one Church.
Whether or not she could successfully be destroyed in the future depended heavily on this Church as well.
And not only the Church.
She needed to properly understand the combat capability of the entire Anqieka Continent’s regular military forces.
As the saying went—
know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never lose.
Coincidentally, she now possessed a humanoid body and could personally investigate things herself.
As for where she should go...
‘Enmm, if I remember correctly, the closest place to the eastern forest should be Wind Facing City of the Snow Night Empire, right? I heard there are many fortresses around the outskirts, and elite troops are stationed there too. Elite forces, huh? That sounds somewhat worth looking forward to...’
While murmuring inwardly to herself, Yumo thoughtfully looked toward the southeast.
Hopefully—
that place—
at the very least— ƒгeewebnovёl.com
would not disappoint her like this broken sword had.
Thinking that, Yumo somewhat irritably glanced at the silver blade in her hand.
A disdainful snort escaped the girl’s lips.
A weapon forged from Origin Steel Stone?
‘Tch. Weapon forging technology still needs improvement too.’
The next moment,
the girl’s delicate boneless hand gripping the blade slightly tightened.
“Kaca~”
Accompanied by a crisp cracking sound,
the silver sword—supposedly capable of slaying Demon King-tier Abyss Demons—was effortlessly crushed into countless silver fragments within the black-haired girl’s hand before scattering across the snow.
To say nothing else—
this sword could not even cut a single strand of her hair.
—
At the same time, within the Asumos Church headquarters of the Red Leaf Empire—
inside the Divine Capital Hall—
beneath the goddess statue at the center of the great hall, discussions regarding the new Demon King-tier existence appearing in the eastern Winter Forest were progressing intensely.
And right at that moment,
Archbishop Nick, who had been passionately delivering a speech to encourage the masses, suddenly had his eyes shrink sharply.
A special soul signal abruptly surged into his mind.
Then shock and disbelief instantly spread across the old man’s {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} face.
The next moment—
under the bewildered gazes of countless believers, Archbishop Nick’s speech came to an abrupt halt.
Then, without saying another word, he turned around and rushed out of the hall, leaving behind an utterly confused crowd standing there in complete bewilderment.
After leaving the hall, Nick immediately accelerated toward the Hall of Heroic Spirits.
His fists clenched tightly without restraint.
“Pix? H-How did this guy’s soul signal suddenly disconnect?!”
Don’t tell me—
don’t tell me he’s dead??!
