Chapter 378: If I Come Back Alive

<Author’s Notes>

We received one new review since the last update. Thank you very much.

From last night until this morning, there was a bit of heavy rain.

Now, although clouds remain, the rain has stopped.

The undergrowth of the plain, covered in morning dew, shimmered in the sunlight.

The wind brushing against my skin feels cool and refreshing.

In the clear and pure air, a messenger arrived with a report.

[The Brilliant Squadron deployed on the left flank has engaged the enemy’s Sacrament Army!]

Our destination, the Royal Capital Enoh, was now close at hand.

A short while ago, the Sacrament Army deployed around the Royal Capital began attacking us.

In response, the Goddess Subjugation Army also moved out to repel them.

Loqierra voiced her analysis.

[Given their movements I don’t think they’re expecting to win. Heck, no matter how I look at it, haven’t they brought out some of the Anti-Deity Sacraments?]

[Perhaps they intend to buy time.]

[Same guess here. It would be great if we could overwhelm them all here but]

[So far, we have received no reports of anyone resembling any of the Divine Servants. It seems like Vysis and the Divine Servants are going to keep holing themselves up huh.]

The outer walls protecting the city of Enoh can already be seen in the distance.

Beside me, the Mad Emperor was issuing instructions.

Messengers were rushing around frantically.

Reports were flying around loudly everywhere.

In this battle, Mad Emperor had made this proposal.

“Now that Enoh is within reach, the Heroes should refrain from participating in this “preliminary battle” to conserve MP. The Heroes should only come out if Vysis or the Sacraments have been sighted. Leave exterminating the others to us of this world.”

Fortunately, there were no giant Sacraments among the enemy this time.

[Judging from the “lack” of enemies They might have redirected their main Sacrament units toward destroying the Sacred Eye.]

Perhaps it’s because we’ve fought together for so long

The morale of the subjugation army has become quite high compared to the beginning.

Of course, we’ve also accumulated fatigue from our march, but the morale is unexpectedly high.

If Vysis is maintaining a defensive posture

It would be helpful not to consume the Heroes’ MP here.

About an hour has passed since the start of the battle.

The battle outside the Royal Capital hasn’t dragged on much, and it seems to be coming to an end.

It could be said that the Goddess Subjugation Army has won decisively.

Now, I suppose we’re proceeding to clean up the rest.

This battle was fought to the end without the Heroes, using only the remaining forces.

The hero’s MP and stamina weren’t depleted even by a single bit.

It might be surprisingly significant that our side could clean them up without the Heroes.

The subjugation army fought desperately for us.

And now

We were making preparations to infiltrate the Royal Capital- when it happened.

[What is that?]

Boom!

Some sort of shockwave-like vibration swept through the atmosphere.

[ ! ]

Immediately after

White light burst forth from the Royal Capital.

Shortly after, the light quickly subsided

[The Royal Capital had]

Seras, who was nearby, muttered.

“A massive white dome”

Describing it that way seems fitting.

“That” had suddenly appeared from within the Royal Capital.

The dome that covered the hemisphere looked like a white husk.

Or perhaps like a giant white cocoon.

[You]

Loqierra, perched on my shoulder, began to tremble.

And then

[ARE YOU AN  IDIOOOOOOOOT!? THAT STUPID SH*TTY GODDESSSSSSSSSS-!]

She was furious.

[Why the heck did she manifest that thing here!? Moreover, it’s even at that scale! If she does something like that, does she have any idea how much Thesis-sama will have to expend her power to correct the dimension distortion No, she clearly freaking knows! That THAT FOOL! IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT IDIOOOOOOOOT! THAT GUY REALLY IS JUST STUPID TO THE CORE! SERIOUSLY! YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! YOU’VE GOTTA BE FREAKING KIDDING ME! VYSIS YOU DIMWIIIIIIIIIT-!]

Most of those near the camp were dumbfounded.

Was it because of the anomaly in the capital?

Or perhaps, were they shocked by Loqierra snapping

For the time being, I indifferently soothed Loqierra, who seemed about to explode with anger.

Once Loqierra finally calmed down, I asked her.

[You seem to know what that is.]

[That is almost certainly the “Genesis Labyrinth”. D*mn it.]

[Genesis Labyrinth?]

[It’s one of the Conceptual Magics the Deities use for amusement That said, it requires establishing divine incantations within the manifestation range and then “cultivating” it. Well skipping the detailed explanation, simply put, activating it requires an unbelievably long time and effort. However setting it up should be inconceivable. That’s just not possible.]

Loqierra gritted her teeth, looking like she was enduring a headache.

[That’s originally something that can only manifest in Heaven’s playground where specialized divine incantations are applied Yes, that should have been the case. Manifesting that in the overworld should have been inconceivable, something that never even crossed my mind. Rather Vysis actually went ahead and did it.]

“I feel like my blood vessels are about to burst”, Loqierra grumbled.

[I don’t know how she looks like from the eyes of you Humans, but originally, Vysis isn’t a combat-oriented God. She’s more of a researcher. Moreover, even as a researcher, she wasn’t particularly outstanding in Heaven That’s the kind of evaluation she had from others. However D*mn it! Maybe she hid it, her true abilities! All for this moment! What the heck is with this long-term planning!?]

[So, what exactly- is that thing?]

[An ideal barrier to protect from a siege.]

[I see.]

[Sorry.]

[Why apologize?]

[I should have considered this possibility when Vysis didn’t seem to want to leave the Royal Capital. I could have anticipated that she’d “engrave” some kind of stabilizing incantation within the Royal Capital. I mean, I had anticipated she would use some widespread incantation to enhance the abilities of the Deities during activation. But to think that there would be a way to manifest that on the surface]

Disregarding how she did it, I must ask the crucial question.

[With that over there Does that mean we absolutely cant win?]

Seemingly switching thoughts, Loqierra hummed.

Then, she shook her head.

[No, that isn’t the case.]

[So, it doesn’t mean our chance of winning has vanished then.]

With a faint smile, Loqierra looked up at me.

[You sure always keep moving forward without stopping, don’t you?]

[If there’s a chance of winning, I’ll keep moving forward. Desperately seeking the optimal solution to maximize the chance of victory.]

Even if sometimes, I have to wager my life for it.

Yes

[That’s what I’ve always done.]

Plak!

As if to scold herself, Loqierra vigorously slapped her cheeks with both hands.

[Sorry. Vysis did something beyond my expectations, so I got a little flustered.]

I snorted.

[Looking at it the other way though, she must fear us enough to resort to using such a thing.]

Loqierra looked at the white dome.

[Unn That might be so No, it must be so. Unn, we should think of it that way. The fact that she hadn’t used it until we approached the Royal Capital means she “didn’t want to use it if she could help it”. Faced with situations she hadn’t expected. Vysis resorted to more and more desperate measures]

Turning her gaze to the side, Loqierra examined the corpse of a Sacrament who had completely dissolved not long ago.

“Yeah, it’s definitely an Anti-Deity Sacrament.”, she said.

[Her bringing out the Anti-Deity Sacraments might be evidence that they’re really cornered.]

Informing the Mad Emperor “There’s no problem”, I asked him to continue on with the extermination.

Then, I had messengers sent out to reassure everyone.

I also told the Heroes the same thing.

Some people came to inquire about the situation, perhaps feeling anxious, but to all such inquiries, I replied along the lines of:

“There’s no problem. There are no changes to our main objective.”

At times like this, it would be really bad for people in position like me and the Mad Emperor to get flustered.

[The extermination battle should also end soon.]

Saying so, I turned to Loqierra.

[Before the battle ends, I’d like you to tell me more about this Genesis Labyrinth.]

[Unnn Alright.]

Loqierra started rubbing her cheeks with both hands.

[Calm down me.]

Calming her breathing, she began to explain.

[That is one of the Conceptual Magic used when we Deities undergo training.]

[So Deities also train huh.]

[When we use that labyrinth, it’s partly for amusement. I don’t know what image you humans have of us, but we Deities aren’t that different from you guys. Hmmm You could say we are “Deities” just because we call ourselves such. In the first place, the Gods worshiped in this world and we Deities are different entities.]

Come to think of it

I remember hearing terminologies like “God of Curses” and “God of War”.

“I suppose the difference would be whether their existence can be confirmed at the moment or not?”, Loqierra said.

[Anyhow, let’s get back to the topic. The Genesis Labyrinth is a magic that manifests a labyrinth to appear from a start point to an end point. Conceptual Magic is similar in nature to those called Origin Magic.. but well, that’s not very relevant here, so I’ll stop explaining about that. Anyhow, what you should know about the Genesis Labyrinth is-]

And so, Loqierra talked about the Genesis Labyrinth.

By the time I finished listening

“The Sacrament Army around the Royal Capital has been completely annihilated.”

Such a report came in.

We decided to continue heading to Enoh as planned.

Along the way

I began to formulate our future actions with the new factor: Genesis Labyrinth in mind.

[A military war pigeon has arrived from Jonato.]

The Mad Emperor, riding a white horse, relayed that to me.

[It seems like Jonato Queen is determined to defend the Sacred Eye no matter what.]

Good.

With Jonato on our side, it’s almost completely confirmed now.

[It was written that the neighboring countries would gather their forces in Azziz, including Wright and the others, and defend Azziz with all their might. Considering the time difference due to the flight speed of a military war pigeon, it wouldn’t be strange if they clashed with the army aiming for the Sacred Eye’s destruction by now.]

At that moment

[Touka!]

Eve came riding on a horse.

[There’s a reaction from Liz’s familiar! She has something urgent to report!]

I prepared the character board and together with Eve, we moved to the carriage.

And then, I listened to Liz’s report inside.

[-As expected, Vysis and the Divine Servants seem to intend to barricade themselves in that labyrinth to buy time.]

From what I heard, all the Divine Servants are staying by Vysis’ side.

In other words, none of them had gone to Jonato.

Should I consider that fortunate or not?

[That aside Liz, are you alright?]

A familiar of hers had been found by Vysis and killed.

The feedback from that might make Liz receive a strong shock.

However, the familiar answered “I’m alright”.

Seeing this, Eve gently stroked the familiar’s head.

[Before I said you don’t have to push yourself but- you did well, Liz.]

The familiar responded happily.

It was only the conversation that Liz could hear with her ears, but just being able to get close enough to hear their conversation was a big achievement.

[For Vysis at the moment, the destruction of the Sacred Eye is still their victory condition huh]

Loqierra, who was also present, pursed her lips and looked pensive.

[I wonder if the Sacrament Army aiming for the destruction of the Sacred Eye hadn’t arrived at Azziz yet? Or perhaps Were the humans defending the Sacred Eye in Azziz holding out more than Vysis anticipated]

With these thoughts in mind, Loqierra nodded confidently.

[From the information we got from Liz-chan’s familiar It seems that Vysis still intends to open the gate and escape to the Heavens once the Sacred Eye is destroyed.]

I asked about something that was bothering me.

[Since that Conceptual Magic has transformed not only the castle but also part of the Royal Capital, what about the gate deployment device and the Anti-Deity Sacrament Army that was apparently lined up underground]

[The Genesis Labyrinth can reflect the intentions of the caster to some extent in its structure. So, I think they’ve firmly sealed off interference for that.]

If that’s the case, then destroying them might not be an option.

Vysis must have contained the area where they are kept within the Genesis Labyrinth.

There wouldn’t be any destruction in the “membrane” created by the Conceptual Magic Loqierra explained so.

Destroying the membrane in other words, the walls of the intricate labyrinth is essentially breaking the “concept’ of a labyrinth.

[As long as you don’t reach the initially set end point, Conceptual Magic cannot will not be undone.]

But looking at it the other way though, it would mean there must always be an “end point”.

Labyrinths can’t exist as a concept without an “exit”.

Therefore, the path to that “end point” must always be ensured.

Of course, the same goes for the entrance.

So, even if some of the caster’s intentions can be reflected in the structure of the labyrinth

“No matter where you go, it will always lead to a dead end.”

Such would absolutely not be possible Conceptually speaking, such a thing can’t manifest.

Also, it seems like changing the end point after manifestation isn’t allowed.

[Well Nothing would be surprising at this point, so there’s a possibility that that Conceptual Magic has been tampered with. So when we arrive, I’ll touch that membrane and confirm if that Genesis Labyrinth has been tampered with. No, as expected, I can’t imagine Vysis could tamper with Conceptual Magic to that extent but]

I wish she would stop with that phrasing of hers, sounding as if she was setting up flags.

From Enoh, more and more residents of the Royal Capital were escaping.

Apparently, there had been an increase in people leaving the capital since Mira’s rebellion.

However, Vysis doesn’t seem to have been nervous about that.

Perhaps, her mind was preoccupied with other matters.

Or perhaps she thought it didn’t matter where they fled to since they were doomed to perish anyway.

On the other hand, there were still some people remaining in the Royal Capital.

However, with the appearance of that eerie dome, they must have become increasingly anxious.

[There still seem to be residents of the Royal Capital inside the Genesis Labyrinth.]

Loqierra commented.

[Saving everyone inside that is just unrealistic.]

However, the realism of such an action aside, would Sogou still want to save everyone?

I should probably take that into account as well.

The refugees were being handled under Cattleya’s leadership.

They were being guided cautiously, avoiding having them too close to our main force.

There was a possibility that these refugees might be used as pawns to carry out some sort of scheme after all.

And so we finally arrived at Alion’s Royal Capital.

The large gate of the Royal Capital had been opened by the fleeing residents.

Reconnaissance cavalry units, acting as our troops’ vanguard, rush past me with their horses’ hooves thundering, charging inside.

From above, also acting as recon units were the Black Dragon riders and the Harpies.

I gazed ahead to the Genesis Labyrinth visible at the end of the main street.

[It has taken quite a while but]

“If I come back alive be prepared.”

“If you come back alive? Fufufu, you must be joking it’s impossible. How and struggle all you want at the bottom of the base.”

Just as I declared

[I have returned, Vysis.]

<Author’s Notes>

An exciting update about the anime has been released, so let me share the news with you.

The broadcast is scheduled to start from July 2024 on TBS and other channels.

Our line-up staff consists of:

Director: Fukuda Michio

Series Composition: Nakanishi Yasuhiro

Character Design & Chief Animation Director: Hashitate Kana

Animation Production: Seven Arcs

Animation Production Cooperation: SynergySP

(I apologize Listing all the staff members here would make the message too lengthy, so I suggest checking the official anime website for each piece of information.)

Additionally, the VA of the four main cast members was recently announced:

Mimori Touka

Ryota Suzuki (Kaguya-sama’s Yuu Ishigami)

Seras Ashrain

Miyashita Saki (Tanmoshi’s Siesta)

Pigimaru

Tsukui Ayami (She doesn’t seem to have any casting in famous anime I know, seemingly relatively new. She seemed to be a VA for a Japanese cartoon, Tama & Friends.)

Vysis

Koshimizu Ami (Now this one is quite the bigshot. Voiced multiple gacha characters like FGO’s Caren, Jenshin’s Beidou, Arknights’s Zima, Blue Archive’s Nero. Notable projects in anime are Spice and Wolf’s Holo, Code Geass’s Karen and Kill la Kill’s Ryuko Matoi.)

(Sharing my personal impressions on them would also make the message too long, so I’ll save it for another occasion.)

The opening theme song has also been announced, and it will be performed by Chougakusei-sama.

The title of the theme song is “Hazure”.

On the anime’s official website, you can find the second key visual and the first promotional video (PV).

The PV is very cool, and you can also hear some of the voices of the newly announced characters and parts of the theme song “Hazure” (The theme song featured in the PV is really cool). Be sure to check out the moving and talking characters, especially Touka, at least once (Below are the URLs for the anime’s official website, the first PV, and the official Twitter account).

On the official website, you can also find comments and messages from the cast members.

Anime Official /

TV Anime “I Became the Strongest With The Failure FrameAbnormal State SkillAs I Devastated Everything” PV /watch?v=nEBQNB9JANo

Anime Official /hazurewaku_info

Furthermore, a preview screening event for the TV anime “I Became the Strongest With The Failure FrameAbnormal State SkillAs I Devastated Everything” has been decided.

The preview screening will be held on May 19th at the Grand Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro. (The four main cast members who were announced earlier are also scheduled to attend.) If you’re interested (tickets will be distributed by lottery), please consider attending. (You can check the details on the official website.)

It’s quite moving to think about how the announcement for the first PV came in this chapter, especially considering the last line spoken by Touka in the PV. Once again, I express my gratitude to everyone who has been with us this far.

We’ll take a short break for the next chapter and plan to update on May 10th (Friday), around 9:00 pm.

Us authors don’t seem to have a Golden Week that was just like the others, but I hope everyone else enjoys theirs.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep