Alternate World might be a fantasy game with gods, goddesses, and demons alike existing in one place, but that doesn't mean religion does not exist here. And I can exactly tell why Tina is worried about the wish-granting "heart". Since it belongs to the Primordial Sea God, can the wish still be granted if it was made by an insect person and not merfolk?
That is the biggest question right now for her and I can understand her hesitations. But there is no point worrying now. If she can't deal with Lemis, when push comes to shove, I will be the one who will finish the job. I know I am not the one supposed to finish everything and even though I killed Lemis's brother, Remis, I should at least give Tina the leverage to kill and end everything, whether she is Alexandria or she is Lifera.
She went down from the tree and observed me gutting all of the Fanged Rabbits.
"I kind of envy you and your followers. You accept all kinds of followers, whether they are just beasts, demons humans, or even monsters, you can immediately make them become part of your group. I feel always detached whenever we are traveling and fighting together. It was like it wasn't worth fighting and reclaiming the throne and just staying still would be much more worth doing instead."
"It doesn't matter whether you do it today or you don't do it at all. If your sister will commit more things since she is a demon, she will soon get the attention of everything and maybe even the will of the world will make sure that she will go down. If I were you, I would choose wisely whether I will continue or not."
With my experience in gutting Fanged Rabbits in the past timeline, it only took a few minutes before I finished the job. It's nothing special.
"Let's go back. You can think a bit more about it whether you will use the wish or you will use your own hands to reclaim everything."
...
...
We returned to our base when I heard explosions and sword clashes.
"That came to our base!" Tina exclaimed.
Rushing back to the base, we saw that we are being overrun by demons and other monsters. Lina and the rest are fighting against them while defending the whole place.
"Master! It seems we are discovered! The demons have attacked us now!"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtI didn't wait for the demons to attack me and rushes to everyone who was being attacked and went for them for the kill.
"Let's dispose of them for now. Don't bother defending the base, we can just rebuild it again. Prioritize in killing these f*ckers down!"
The attacking demons are just lesser demons. They are not that strong and they aren't that tough either. They are just too many to handle by one person.
"[HELLFIRE!]"
Lucia unleashed [Hellfire] in the sky, burning all the flying lesser demons in one go. I also took care of the other bastards too and it took a bit of time before they were down. Some have some armored necks and armored bodies so it took twice the effort to kill them but they didn't pose much threat.
With our combined effort, all of the attacking demons were killed and reduced to ashes by Lucia as a finisher.
"It looks like your sister is no longer showing signs of hesitation. She even sent out her army of demons to us. It is clear that she will begin her conquest soon," Lucia sighed.
"Yes, it seems like she no longer cares whether we are just observing or we are not doing anything. It seems she is very angry at her brother's permanent death already," Lina added.
I was checking for some clues on how they managed to find us when my quest log has updated.
[Hell Descends]
Type: Side Quest
Target:
Reclamation of the Insect Kingdom: 0/1
Kill Lemis, the Demoness: 0/1
Optional task: Princess Tina delivers the final blow to Lemis, the Demoness: unachieved.
Rewards: Ownership of the Insect Kingdom, ???
Optional task reward: ???
Difficulty level: Very Dangerous(Proceed With Caution)
Info: Lemis forcefully awakened her power as a demon after the permanent death of her brother, Remis. To avenge his death, Lemis decided to take matters into her hands and became a royalty that is capable of unleashing hell on land. Defeat her and prevent her from recreating hell.
Note: Doom music starts playing in the background.
...
I didn't expect it, once I clear the quest, I have a chance to obtain the ownership of the Insect Kingdom?! Isn't that pretty grandiose as a reward? Of course, that is not the only reward as there are more question marks next to it as part of the reward. This means the reward will only be revealed once the quest is done.
Not only that but there is even an optional task and it involves Tina. Is this why the quest was labeled as very difficult? There isn't much explanation except that Lemis has entered an awakening and is now labeled as a demoness, a variety of demons that is capable of unleashing quite a huge amount of danger, not only to the players but even to NPCs. Not only that but the demoness awakening are capable of summoning allies. They aren't just for the show and they are not just there to be an annoyance, they are also big trouble.
Seeing that we are being attacked by lesser demons already means that she is slowly stabilizing her power as the demoness. Once she managed to grasp the full power of a demoness, not only will she be able to raise up more enemies, but she can even summon nasty enemies like Bone Dragons if she gets too powerful.
"This is pretty bad in our account. Not only do we have trouble with numbers but we are going to be too overwhelmed in the process. Without any people supporting us in this battle, we will be stuck fighting lesser enemies before we can even reach Tina's sister and do a final face-off."
"Are we going to attack now, Master?" Atlas asked.
"Not yet. As urgent as this matter was, being hasty will only get us killed. We already prepared things in case things get troublesome and now that it comes to this, let's do one final inspection and one final rest before we head to the final battle. Tina, go and rest now. You will need all the necessary energy to fight tomorrow. You also should think about whether you will need to wish or not on the "Heart" of the Primordial Sea God. Also, leave your equipment here. Take them back tomorrow."
Tina nodded and handed me her equipment to me and she headed upstairs where her room was located.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Master, will everything be alright? I know that you are strong but this is not our fight but Tina's. We are just here as her supporting mercenaries. Do you think we have a chance to win this battle?"
I shook my head. "Honestly, this is very uncertain and even for me, I have no idea how things will go after this. Tina is still very uncertain about things and I still don't know whether she will be using the "heart" of the Sea God either. It will depend a lot on what she will be doing tomorrow."
Yes, everything will depend on her decision tomorrow. Only thing we can do is just watch.
...
Tina sits down on the bed, staring at the wriggling "heart" of the Primordial Sea God.
"Are you really the only answer to my problems? Will everything be solved once I wish at you?"
Cotton crawled on her hand and using her feelers, it seems like she is communicating to Tina even though she didn't say anything.
"Thanks Cotton. I know you are Bladeheart's pet but you can really understand my feelings. Perhaps this is the hidden bond of us who belonged in the categories of the insects?"
Cotton didn't do any kind of response but it just rested on her arm.
"I don't know what to do anymore. Am I prepared to do all of the things I needed to do to finish the task? Is it necessary for me even? I am just a powerless princess who is unaware of the dangers of this world."
Then, seems like a response from Cotton, she bit Tina's hand too hard that it started to bleed.
"Ouch! What?" Tina was surprised at Cotton's action. However, the bite was just temporary and she let go immediately the moment Tina's hand bleed from the bite.
"Why did you bite me all of a sudden?"
Cotton seems to have responded using her feelers that is rising up and down.
Tina seems to also don't understand what happened but, she sighed and pat Cotton's head.
"Thanks, I know that you just bit me to avoid me from feeling down. Thank you, Cotton. I know now what to do."
With a resolution, it seems Tina is ready for the inevitable battle.. She didn't notice the sudden glow of the "heart" as it quickly dimmed before she can even notice the slight change.