Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers - Chapter 119



118 – Decisive Battle (2)

Admiral Dietz let out a hollow laugh.

“Major General Gifold, Lieutenant Colonel Ronstein. I didn’t know you two were such dullards. Why would you refuse such a generous offer, huh? Do you even intend to leave here alive?”

“Of course, we do. But if we accept your proposal, all the Holy Spirit Nation female soldiers here will die, won’t they?”

“Lieutenant Colonel, you still can’t distinguish reason, it seems. I’ve told you repeatedly not to sympathize with the enemy.”

I rolled my eyes. The Eight Shadows Congregation followers were pointing guns at us. The officers beside the Admiral were also fidgeting with their rifles.

A touch-and-go situation.

“Get out of the way. It would be beneficial to come over here, even now.”

“No thanks.”

“I’m serious. I don’t want to shoot you. Aren’t we on the same side?”

“Is resurrecting a demon king with the blood of your own subordinates what people on the same side do?”

“Demon King resurrection?”

Someone snorted. It was one of the Eight Shadows Congregation followers.

“Kid, you don’t know anything…”

“What we’re trying to resurrect isn’t a Demon King.”

This is new to me.

“Then what are you trying to summon?”

“A Demon God.”

“A Demon God?”

“At best, a Demon King is just the king of the demons. Even if we resurrect a guy like that, he’ll eventually die. More than that, he’s hostile to humans, so he’s not easy to handle.”

“So what, you think the Archdemon isn’t?”

“The King of Demons is precisely the kind of ruler suited for this new era. Just as the Holy Spirit Order believes in and follows their four goddesses, we too need a spiritual pillar. A pillar to unite the whole world through magic! You get what I’m saying?”

I don’t know what he’s talking about.

No, I understand, but it doesn’t make sense logically.

“For hundreds of years, we mages have been branded by the Holy Spirit Order. Invoking the Covenant of Magic was useless. Why is that? What’s missing that’s made us live with this treatment until today…!”

“Shut up!”

Clang!

Daisy and Olivia, who had secretly approached from behind, smacked the cultist who was delivering a lengthy speech in the back of the head.

“Babbling on and on, I don’t even know what he’s saying.”

“So what are you gonna do about it?”

The golems continued their assault.

“Ugh…”

“Brother! Damn it, what are these things!”

Bang bang bang!

The cultists attacked the two golems.

“You idiots! What are you doing shooting a rock!”

“But, Admiral Dietz is still negotiating…!”

“Negotiating my ass! Didn’t you see that negotiation fall apart right in front of you! Can’t you even assess the situation? Get your head in the game!”

A cultist dressed in fine clothes slapped the face of a cultist wearing relatively shabby clothes. The remaining cultists hesitated for a moment, then, at his shout, slowly turned their guns.

“Kill them!”

“Filthy beastmen too, huh. Shoot that b*tch first!”

And in that moment, I stamped my foot.

Tatatat!

The stone pillar that rose at the perfect moment blocked every single bullet. Especially the attacks aimed at Liyo; I focused on this side. Liyo, startled, tucked her tail and clung to me.

“Unbelievable!”

“…Casting magic without incantations.”

“Just what the hell is he?”

The result of reaching the pinnacle of Surgery. Most spells can be skipped, and even when using truly powerful magic, you only need to use abbreviated words.

Furthermore, with my senses sharpened, I could gauge how their mana moved, even predict their next action.

That was why I could confidently reject the Admiral’s offer.

“Shoot, shoot! Keep shooting, dammit!”

I pushed David and Kalon forward while leaning against the wall. While they acted as the anvil, I allocated mana, remotely manipulating the mud and rocks behind.

“Liyo.”

“Yeah.”

“Remember that old promise?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The fox sisters’ tails softly brushed my arm.

I swore I’d knock the teeth out of the cult that made you two like this. Now, it’s time to keep that old promise.

The top priority is stopping the ritual itself.

Stone arms descended, crushing the cultists one by one.

“Hey, behind you!”

“aaargh!”

“Admiral Dietz, please save us!”

While most of the Believers were panicking, Admiral Dietz didn’t budge.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Go on, keep going.”

The Admiral’s expression was strangely calm. His face looked almost like he was welcoming this situation, so I just took their weapons and laid the Believers who touched the stone on the ground.

“Why aren’t you killing them? Were you such soft humans, Lieutenant Colonel Ronstein, that you can’t even take revenge on those who try to kill you?”

“No, I’ll handle this by the law.”

“Then do as I say. I am the law here.”

“I’m going to follow international law.”

“You always manage to pick the most stubborn things to say.”

Even in this chaos, a few Believers managed to dodge the stone’s movements. Most of them were wearing fine robes. Counting them, there were three, they must be the leaders of the group.

“It’s come to this!”

“Everyone, from now on we begin the burnt offering!”

“Everyone, pray!”

I won’t let that happen.

I flung a mass of hastily made stones. Riyo and Salvira, who could attack from a distance, assisted.

In the end, one was crushed under stones, another was caught in a spider web, and the last one fell after being shot in the leg with a crossbow. Salvira simultaneously gagged their mouths with thread, so they couldn’t even utter a word.

Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well done, truly well done.”

Clap, clap, clap.

The Admiral clapped his hands, praising.

“Your magic skills have improved tremendously, Lieutenant Colonel. It’s quite admirable.”

“Spare me the pointless praise. More importantly, it’s over, isn’t it? Admit your wrongdoing here and resign. Then I won’t pursue this any further.”

“Really, you’re so consistent.”

“Will you give up?”

“Sorry to disappoint. But really, you don’t think I’d let something like this stop the ritual, do you?”

“More wordplay?”

The Admiral chuckled heartily, then retorted.

“You think I’m bluffing?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about this relaxed demeanor?”

“I’ve been watching you for quite some time. You’ve always been a person with little emotional fluctuation.”

“Don’t mistake knowing me for merely two years as understanding who I am. People aren’t flat enough that their true selves can be pierced through in such a short amount of time. Just like you… have been seeing me wrong all along.”

The Admiral flicked his hand.

And, National Security Agency troopers began to unleash rifle fire on the Palyeonghoe cultists.

Screams, screams, and more screams.

People’s cries echoed to the sound of deafening gunshots.

Even I, the female soldiers, the golems, even Salbi couldn’t shut our mouths.

“Wow, he’s not even human.”

Only the bound vampire cackled. She chirped.

“Betraying our Demon Lord’s army, and now you’re betraying your own kind? You’re truly something. Almost admirable, in a way.”

“Betrayal? We were never comrades to begin with, so what betrayal are you talking about?”

“You’re secretly a demon, aren’t you? Please, just say you’re a demon. It’ll at least save my pride.”

“Even losers get a say these days. What a wonderful world.”

“Forget it, I shouldn’t even bother talking to trash like him.”

That was the end of their conversation. After a moment of dazed silence, I managed to speak.

“What… what did you do?”

“Just what you saw.”

“You killed them all?”

“I didn’t kill them. I merely helped them with the offering.”

“…Offering?”

Just then, a roar erupted from all corners of the cave.

“It’s begun.”

The tree at the center of the altar glowed red, emitting powerful mana. It was so strong that even the Holy Kingdom’s female soldiers couldn’t open their eyes. Power surged forth, overwhelming even the Holy Maiden’s divine power.

“Look down.”

“…This!”

A magic circle with ominous patterns emerged. It spread to the very ground we were standing on. Looking at the geometric patterns, it was a circle for summoning something.

Simply put, an alchemic circle.

“You’d be better off dropping any thoughts of escape. This thing will blanket the whole island.”

“What in the world are you planning!”

“Nothing much. I needed women blessed with the divine power of three different goddesses to create the essence I desire. Living sacrifices or dead, doesn’t matter, but, well. Living sacrifices are much better.”

There was no time to ask what that meant.

Light erupted from the summoning circle.

And at the same moment, the sounds of collapse.

Rachel, Tiria, Riyo.

All three staggered and tried to fall at the same time.

“…What.”

Though I said it, my body was already moving to support them.

I quickly grabbed Rachel, then pulled Tiria into my arms, and dragged Riyo closer. The three women only let out dry gasps before clutching their heads and groaning.

“What’s wrong with you all? Huh? What’s wrong?”

I was so shocked I couldn’t even raise my voice.

The Saintess barely managed to open her mouth.

“Th-this… We’ve been had.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve been offered… Sacrificed, forcefully…”

I felt the blood vessels in my head clamp shut. Teeth gritted, I tracked the Admiral with my eyes. He was headed towards a huge cauldron at the base of the altar, guarded by National Security troops.

He met my gaze and muttered.

“Those girls, turns out they’re far more impressive than I thought. Most people die instantly from this ritual. They’ve got a remarkably long lifespan.”

“Why do you say it so casually?”

“Because it’s nothing much.”

“This is nothing much?”

“The truly important things are elsewhere. Look.”

Admiral Dietz pulled a bundle of dark brown hair from his coat.

“Do you know what this is?”

“……”

“My daughter.”

*Plunk.* The hair fell straight into the pot.

[“I offer this burnt sacrifice to the demon, that I may see my beloved daughter, Zenia, once more. In exchange for her resurrection, I offer the corpses of hundreds of thousands and the women chosen by the three goddesses as catalysts.”]

[-How utterly arrogant. But the price has been paid, so it shall be done.]

At that moment, the light that had been scattered everywhere gathered back towards the center of the altar.

The gathered light formed a shape.

The figure of a human.

A girl with dark brown hair.

“Fi, finally. Finally…!”

The admiral, who had been expressionless until just now, began to weep as soon as he caught the child coming down from the altar. I was a beat late in remembering who that child was. She was the spitting image of the girl in the photos the admiral sometimes showed me.

“How long has it been, it’s been twenty years already!”

That was the girl he said he’d set me up with after the war.

I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.

From noble mtl dot com

The vampire scoffed, starting to speak.

“So, in the end, you backstabbed us to save your own brat, turned your own kin into tartare, is that it?”

“Watch your mouth, you inferior thing—!!”

“Wow.”

“Your kind of demon spawn would never understand, gnawing on the flesh of the parents who bore you for nutrients! You’ll never know how far a parent who loses a child at a young age will go!”

The Admiral, who had been wagging his finger and spewing abuse at the vampire, now looked at me.

“You, you’re human, not some monster, so you’ll understand, right?”

“Admiral.”

I answered in a voice devoid of inflection.

“Look at what you’ve done.”

I continued, gesturing around.

“Let’s say you brought that one back. So many died for it, is this right?”

“Lieutenant Commander.”

“Other people’s children have all died. Reduced to fish food, less than corpses, their bodies not even recovered. And you think that someone who has torn the hearts of millions of parents deserves to shed tears when they see their child returned?”

“In my eyes, my child is the most precious. What do I care if people I don’t even know die, huh?”

“You’ve gone mad.”

The Admiral burst into laughter at my words.

“Stop the pretense and just answer. You think you wouldn’t do the same?”

“I am not like you.”

“Easy to say, isn’t it? But listen, there are research results, you know. Ever heard of it? The money-spitting button, they call it….”

Money-spewing button.

Literally a hypothetical button that gives you wealth when you press it.

“The moment you press the button, a billion won lands in your account. In exchange, someone you don’t even know, somewhere, dies. It’s a thought experiment about how many people would press that button if those were the conditions, and how many times they’d press it. Do you know how many out of 100 people said they would press it?”

“Around 60 or 70, right.”

“You know it.”

“Why aren’t you mentioning that the rate drops to 20% if you add the condition of showing them the death scene of the person they might kill?”

“I was just about to say it. Even in that situation, 20 people would still press it, wouldn’t they?”

“Those people don’t know because they haven’t experienced it firsthand.”

“Don’t talk like you know it either when you haven’t experienced it yourself.”

“No, I have.”

I pointed at Admiral Dietz and exploded.

“Just now! I saw clearly what you did! Even if you offered me 50 billion won, I refused to go over to your side! Don’t you still know what kind of person I am?!”

“You must really like those female soldiers.”

“I’ve been through life and death with these women. As long as they’re breathing, this is a bond I’ll maintain to the end, and I was planning on being buried together even in death! What you just did sent my precious people to their deaths! Do you understand?!”

“So, you’re going to save those friends? How?”

I hugged the three women.

They’re still breathing.

But if I delay any longer, it might be too late.

“Hmm, I liked you after all. Since things have come to this, why not offer triple the current amount as a sacrifice and save those three? However, you’ll also have to be silenced.”

I nodded.

The Admiral seemed surprised, his eyes widening before he burst into laughter.

“See, in the end, you’re just the same, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m different.”

“How so?”

“I won’t make anyone else suffer.”

The Admiral’s brow furrowed again.

I spoke.

“Did you know? Even the magic of offering sacrifices to demons, in the end, it’s still magic. And the efficiency varies wildly depending on the mana manipulation.”

“…Senior? No! Not that!”

Major General Adora, who had been standing there blankly, rushed towards me in shock. But I had already chanted the activation phrase.

[“…Immolation.”]

Let’s see.

How many people can I save with my life right now?

*

-Even if it’s just a little, even if it burns this wretched life of mine completely, please breathe life back into these dying women. Of course, I am already aware of the arrogance in reviving the dead. If it’s too late for even one, then just take my life. No price is necessary.

To that polite and self-aware request, a Transcendent opened its mouth.

“.”

As if singing, in a gentle voice.