4th Welkalach of Jariel 1238

Belgrynd's POV

This is depressing. Almost the entire continent is wiped out... the only kingdom that survived is the one that I helped before, but even they aren't doing that good. Their kingdom may survive but only their capital is left. It seems the guy that I fought before is supposed to lead the army there but since he is dead their army is like headless chickens trying to kill whoever they see which makes them easier to defeat.

After making sure that there is no more strays, I rushed to the palace and ask for the king's manacom to contact Paelisher. Mine broke down during the fight against the fel demon before, which I only noticed after the explosion at the port town. Totally an amateur mistake of mine.

" Thank god! I thought we lost you!" surprisingly, it isnt Paelisher who got the manacom, instead, it's May.

" May? What are you doing there? Where are Paelisher and the rest?" I asked.

" Jeez, that's what you ask first? We tried to contact you for weeks yet you didn't reply, we thought you are dead because of the invasion! Well, Petrasha is busy pumping out as many firearms as possible, while Lucy and Amy are busy commanding the armies. Christine well, being the absolute support! Kinda doing the job of a certain pink idol from a mecha anime. While I am here doing comms. Be right back, 4th army, retreat to the forest, 2nd army, you're required to go out as soon as possible. Well, that is what I am doing now, coordinating everything with the order that Amy gave me. Anyways where are you!" May asked. It's been a while... but I guess it's good to hear their voice again.

" There is also an invasion in the demon continent. Although I managed to kill them all, only the Argerios kingdom still has a working government. The rest has all fallen. I estimate total survivors would be less than 50 thousand." I reported to her, which made her face go pale.

" No way... even the Yggdrasil continent has been attacked, we lost all of the ports there and they're retreating to the great tree. But things don't look good. Even here, we are concentrating all of our force on the Argerios kingdom. The other kingdoms are also evacuating to Heart Forge." May said, so a united front, huh, I guess with an enemy that can fight better, it's best to lower the combat width...

" I will rush to you guys now, hold the line please," I said then gave the manacom back to the king before leaving. 

Though the rush distance is long, it doesn't matter, what matters is they are safe, that's the only thing that is important to me. 

Throughout the flight whenever I look down I can only see either of the two things, wilderness or ruins. Huge cities reduced to just rubble, and even the wilderness is occasionally are destroyed due to the fires or by the fel demons marching through it. There is not a single life in sight, not even wild animals. 

After a few hours, the ocean came into my sight, apparently even for the merfolks that live within the ocean, they are also not excluded from the slaughter. I can see occasionally debris of buildings floating on the ocean, with more ruins on the ocean bed. There are even some corpses floating on the ocean, some with shocked faces and some with regret. 

Tsk... this is going from bad to worse, these fel are stronger than I expected... their armor is stronger than what is used here, and are mostly imbued with strong magic, there aren't that many weapons in this world that cut through it. I think firearms are a good counter to it though as my bullets pierce through it easily. I think they should have known it already since they are holding it down.

Ignoring the carnage and wreckage below me I rushed towards the port city where Biz and his wife live, hopefully, he is still there.

Ruins, everywhere.

Yet the amount of corpses here isn't a lot compared to its population, and it's mostly only at the city center, which is where I assume the attack started. After clearing all remaining fel demons that survived and didn't wander away from the city, I used my soul detection ability and found out that there is a lot of them underground! It seems that the city mostly survived by hiding. I had to guess that the corpses are those who stayed to earn more time for the rest to evacuate.

Searching for the souls I head towards one of the town's warehouses and find a tunnel in there, there isn't a lot of damage here which means the soldiers managed to hold off enough to prevent even more death in the civilians. Opening the hatch to it I hear a lot of footsteps from inside, clearly, people are moving around.

Without any hesitation, I jumped down into it and several gunshots were released.

" I am not the enemy!" I said as I raised my hands up.

" Wait... Belgrynd? Thank god... you scared all of us, though, you jumping down into gunfire is pretty bold." Jasai said. I am glad that he is one of the survivors... if not I would have a harder time negotiating with the residents as I don't know them too well... 

" I mean I am pretty sure it can't do too much damage to me. Anyways, how long have you all been in here?" I asked Jasai, it seems the other survivors have decided it's best to leave him to negotiate with me.

" We are not sure, but I think at least one or two days. Luckily we have rations prepared here... what is the situation outside? Did anyone survive?" Jasai asked. I shook my head which made him sigh.

" I cleared the surface of enemies, you can now go out. I suggest heading to Heart Forge, the rest are holding the fort there. If there is anywhere safer than here, it will be there. I will escort you guys there. " I said to Jasai, he gave the idea a thought and then left to tell the rest. 

While waiting I expanded my crude soul vision to check the entire continent. The good thing is, due to me getting used to doing this multiple times, I won't pass out after using it, which is a good and bad thing, cause I would still have a headache after using it.

It looks like most of the Astreans are now concentrated at Heart Forge, while there are small pockets of small survivors, they are actively getting hunted down by the fel... Looks like Lucy's hometown is still standing, I think if Jasai decided to bring the rest of the survivors we should head there and meet with Lucy's father then all head towards Heart Forge. 

" Alright, we are going. You will help to protect us right? We don't really have that many combatants left, and our ammunition isn't as much as we wanted. It would probably only last us half a dozen of fights." Jasai said. I took one of their guns and analyzed it. Hmm, seems like Petrasha is trying to make these guns as close as those from Earth... Terra. It seems she tried to use pure mana as ammunition but had to scrap it due to this attack. 

I immediately crafted enough ammo to last them for at least 2 weeks using half of the resources in my inventory. Telling them to gather all their luggage into one pile for me to store, we head out after just 1 hour.

We are racing against time, after all, the longer they stay unprotected, the more risk that some of them may die.

" I think I hear gunshots..." Jasai said and he is not the only one, except that I knew it way earlier than them. Lucy's hometown is under attack again. Though they are holding on, which is why I am still here escorting them.

" The city is under attack. But they can handle it, from what I can see it should be done within minutes." I said to them which eases their anxiety.

And within minutes the gunfire stopped and we all headed towards the village, and as expected, the attack didn't even go close to the village. I know this is stereotypical but I guess they had enough elves sniping them all off. 

The moment we went out of the forest, I can see the elves immediately aim their guns at our side, but after seeing that we are not the fel demons, they put down their gun and allow us to go in. Going in someone there surprises me.

" Bel! You're here! I am glad that you are alive!" May said as she immediately dived into me and gave me a big big hug.

" May? I thought you are at Heart Forge! Why are you here?" I asked while hinting at Jasai and the others to go into the town without me.

" I was supposed to come and get Lucy's father and whoever survived to move to Heart Forge, the attack there is getting more heavy as the enemy starts to focus on it. But since you're here I am sure you can help immensely!" May said as she hug my waist. I just realized... Amy is almost a head shorter than me... 

Do not pat!

" So anything I can help to make things faster? I think we should move as soon as possible." I said to her and she nodded.

" Just store their stuff in your inventory! Other than that it's all alright! Let's go enjoy the surroundings before we have to leave!" May said while still tugging my arm. Is it just me... or is May... being a bit possessive right now...

" I think we should keep going because we are definitely short on time," I said as I went ahead and meet Lucy's father and talk about the evacuation to Heart Forge.

I think... this May is kind of suspicious... though luckily she didn't insist on staying so we just head towards Heart Forge with an even bigger convoy now. While again, I wanted to rush to them, if I can just save one more person, then so be it. Plus, they knew that firearms are best against these enemies so I don't doubt their abilities. 

Plus, I am not the only one defending them. The elven snipers are doing a great job at spotting and killing any enemy who gets through too. Within a week, we reached Heart Forge, good news is, it's still there, the bad news is... it is being sieged... and there seems to be at least five thousand demons outside of the main entrance of Heart Forge.

" Mr. Welk, bring the rest through the side entrance, I will go attack their main army to cause a distraction. Once you're in, tell Lucy and the rest to come out and support me alright?" I said to Lucy's father and then left, not letting him refuse. While heading forward, I took a peek at May, to see if she plans to join. 

Turns out.

She doesn't. Imposter.

Benokelvin

Astrea: Sus!
Ars: Youre not doing your task Astrea.
Astrea: Liar! I cleaned the vent already!
Ars: How about your task as a damn administrator!
Astrea: But I want to see how Bel defeat all these fel!
Ars: You just want to be lazy!

Well, this one is coming to an end soon, so...
I have multiple endings I planned for this one, I will let you guys choose which one you want. But I will make it cryptic.