Chapter 268   - 267 - The Next Attack

Today was the 2nd of April...yesterday, Rai had been super annoying because, you know, April's Fools day. Which isn't a thing in this world, so I was pretty nervous about breaking THAT taboo...but then I noticed something kinda weird.

When he mentioned it in front of Rion and Rex, they both looked like they were about to say something, when suddenly, their faces went kinda blank, and they didn't say anything about it. I then asked Rai where he heard of 'April's Fools day'...and right as he was about to answer, his face went blank, and he changed the subject and spoke about something else. And after that, he completely stopped bringing it up.

So, that's how not-God is ensuring that the taboo isn't broken again...it was kinda freaky, not gonna lie. Looks like whenever someone's about to inadvertently say something that refers to or implies the existence of other worlds, whatever adjustment that not-God made kicks in and stops them from saying it, while also ensuring that anyone around them won't find it weird.

Of course, I was unaffected by it, I'm guessing that only everyone who had their memories altered during the whole imposter incident are under this mind control. Seriously creepy. That probably means that Shiro is unaffected too. For real though, how the fuck is he still alive? I know for a fact that I eradicated all traces of him, and I also know for a fact that my Healing Factor isn't capable of straight up resurrection after being reduced to atoms.

It was still hard to believe that I failed to finish him off back then, but given the number of people who'd seen him during the last attack, I couldn't exactly deny the fact. The next attack could be at any given minute on any given day, and there were no absolute countermeasures against Belia's Dimensional Magic.

So, instead, measures were being taken to minimize the damage if and when the next attack does arrive. For starters, a barrier had been placed around the castle, if any unregistered Mana signatures entered it, they'd die instantly. With that, the likes of the king, Erhtaph, other advisors, Agatha Silvland, etcetera, should be safe.

And why wasn't such a barrier placed around the entirety of the Rustlands, you ask? Yeah, Elina was working on it, but it was taking forever to record all the Mana signatures of every single citizen. If the barrier was activated around the Rustlands with some citizens not having their Mana signatures recorded, those citizens would die instantly.

Well, unless they're wearing clothes that are enchanted with an anti-infliction-spell spell. You know, the spell that we'd made to counter The Valaque Empire's long-range infliction spells to prevent them from sniping us from afar with, like, an insta-kill spell or something like that.

Of course, if the Silvland troops also wear clothes enchanted with that spell, they'd be immune to the barrier as well, but given the way Belia does things, she probably won't do so, unless maybe someone from Silvland suggests it. But they're all just dumb-ass sheep, so I doubt it.

That said, it's still a possibility, so naturally, other measures had been put in place. Specifically, the king decided to take a page out of Silvland's book...and use Corruption Magic to make the regular citizens stronger.

Initially, I'd been against it...not because of any moral reasons, but because I was the only one who was proficient enough with Corruption Magic to pull it off, and that sounded like way too much work. Erhtaph then convinced me to at least do so until someone else learns how to use Corruption Magic with adequate control.

The only others who could use it were Rai, Lidui and Azeria...but in the case of the latter two, Lidui was really slow to get the hang of it and Azeria's was pretty weak, at most she could use it to either heal minor injuries or cause aches and muscle pains...so I focused on getting Rai up to speed with how to use it. By which, I'd already powered up about six thousand people.

Fortunately, Rai took over after that, and I think the number of people who've been powered up is somewhere over twenty thousand now. Anyway, those people weren't counted as Adventurers, and were simply called Volunteers. They were all around B to A-Rank in terms of both physical and magical power, but just like the Silvland troops, they were lacking in real skill and experience.

Anyway, there were constantly Volunteers patrolling various areas of the Rustlands as well as atop the walls, as a sort of security force. Evacuation drills were held on a regular basis, which a lot of people found to be inconveniencing, but hey, it's not as inconvenient as dying, am I right?

On another note, I wonder how much the human population of this world has decreased since I came here? I mean, there's absolutely no doubt that it's gone down, there have been so many recent incidents where thousands upon thousands have died. Well, whatever, it's not like any of that's my fault...

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Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

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"Hey, isn't it about time that we made another move?" Inquired Shiro with an impatient sigh.

"I must agree, our numbers have grown quite significantly, we must strike before the Rustlands' can fully recover," Added Hacte with a sense of urgency.

"I've barely gotten to tear apart twenty people since I joined up with you, and on top of that, you didn't even let us attack Platinberg," Chimed in Gela with a frown.

"That's because I have plans for Platinberg, and for the sake of those plans, it needs to remain intact for a while. I don't want to spoil the surprise, so just bear with me for now, 'kay?" I replied sheepishly, before turning to Druj, "And what about you? Any complaints?"

"No, I shall respect your decisions, my lady," He replied with a slight bow.

He sure is a boring Demon...it's true that a Demon's personality when they possess a human's mind will be influenced by the human they possessed, but only partially, they will primarily have their own personality traits too. And this one is really boring, he's so...unchaotic. Still, he'll play quite a significant role in the next attack...

"Well, I actually was planning on launching the next attack soon...but I want to delay it as long as possible, because with each passing day, we gain the trust of my summons and convince them that were the 'good guys' more and more, so if and when they eventually realize that they're helping us slaughter innocent people, it'll be so much more satisfying to watch if their trust in us is really high!" I reasoned with a grin.

"That's-...okay, I'd be lying if I said I didn't see the appeal behind that," Admitted Shiro, before adding, "But seriously, why can't you ever keep us in the loop about these kinds of things!? And you better not say 'because you didn't ask'!"

Crap, I was just about to say that...

"Fine, fine, we'll attack them next week, how about that?" I replied with a sigh.

"That's more like it," Remarked Gela, a bloodthirsty look in her eyes before heading out, losing interest in the conversation now that she got what she wanted...we'd been making an effort to have her interact with the summons as rarely as possible, she's far too much of a wild cannon.

And while it would be fun to see her freak them out with her crazy talk, it might ruin the work we've put into gaining their trust...and I do want to eventually shatter their trust in order to generate more chaos, but it's still too soon...I want it to be grand and messy, I want to see the looks of betrayal in their eyes...ooh, I'm getting chills just thinking about it...

"You're sure, right? A week from now? That's seven days later, on the 9th of April, don't forg-," Began Shiro in a slow, clear voice, as if he was talking to a child.

"I know how long a week is! I promise I won't cancel, reschedule or change my mind, okay? Why don't you go train with the summons, you've built up a good rapport with them, make sure to maintain it."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Fine, whatever, I'm leaving," He sighed, rolling his eyes as he walked past me.

Is he-...I swiftly formed a portal defense behind me as he tried to smack my butt, his hand going through the portal and ending up smacking his own crotch instead.

"Hmph, maybe that'll teach you to stop doing that!" I exclaimed with a huff.

"What, are you stupid? That's just going to encourage me to try harder. And FYI, I can easily bear the pain of being hit in the balls, it's really not that much more painful than a punch to the stomach, after all," He replied with a shrug, as he headed out.

Oh, right, since he's a copy of Kuro, he has the same tolerance for pain.

Well, anyway...I have to say, I'm quite impressed by the Rustlands, having used Observation Magic to watch what they're upto, their creativity with spell-creation really is quite amazing, the spell they're using to secure their higher ups is incredible, a barrier that instantly kills anyone who steps into it without having registered their Mana signature. It's only a matter of time before that spell covers the entire nation...though it's unlikely to be done before the next attack.

And they're copying my Corruption Magic plan, so this time, the Silvland sheep are going to be even less useful than they were last time. They really are well-prepared for when we next attack...but I'll make sure to throw their preparations into total chaos, if my plan works...but even if it doesn't, that's fine by me. After all, things not going according to plan is the very heart of chaos...

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