Demi-human Girls Completion Manual Chapter 1531 - 80: Children

"Boom—rumble—rumble!"

In the Southern Branch Mountain Range at the southern edge of the South Continent, the firmament was smothered by clouds of inky, water-laden vapor, so heavy that even sunlight could not pierce them and could only flounder and writhe within, casting an even more suffocating pall over the already taut confrontation between the two armies.

The Air was stained with the bitter salt of the Ocean and the dense moisture of impending rain, clogging in the chest of every soldier. Men from both sides stared blankly upward, eyes fixed on the thunder brewing in the heights.

A howling gale blew from the south, racing over branches along the mountain ridges and tearing past the many tents of the Human Alliance below.

Inside the main command tent of the Alliance, Barbatos stood at the Gate. The furious, violent wind strangely unraveled bit by bit at his side, softening into a gentle breeze that only lifted a few strands of his hair.

He stretched out his hand and suddenly said,

"Time to do something. These Humans have been marching and then stuck here for months. The Dragon-men launched a surprise attack on our rear supply line to the south. That news unsettled the Humans, and as rations dwindle this unease will only grow. Let this drag on and it might ruin our plans."

It was clearly a grave blunder in a confrontation between two armies, yet not the slightest extra emotion showed on Barbatos’s face. To a Mythical Species like him, a war of this scale was no more than children squabbling at play.

If they did not need the Blessing of Dalasgon that the Dragon-man Queen carried, he and the Agares behind him alone could storm the Dragon Court and slaughter everyone within.

But for now they still needed the identities that Paimon had arranged for them, which was why Barbatos spoke thus, to remind his companion in the tent.

In the warm interior, Agares sat cross-legged on the ground, surrounding herself with stone slabs carved all over with Demon runes. Hearing Barbatos’s words, she did not stop stacking the stones; only when she placed the final piece and stared at the utterly unresponsive slab did her expression darken, if only a little.

"It’s failed..."

"What’s failed?"

Barbatos let the slightly lifted tent flap fall back into place, then hurried inside. His question evaporated the instant he saw what Agares had built, for they both knew exactly what it was.

It was Agares’s teleportation Gate back to the Demon Dynasty.

"What happened?"

"The gift I gave Solomon suddenly ended up in Elliog’s castle—that already gave me a bad feeling. On top of that, she seems to have some murky entanglement with that man by the Dragon Queen’s side, and now the Gate has failed as well... But how is this possible? That man bears Paimon’s Seal. If he is involved with Elliog, given Elliog’s temperament, could she possibly stomach it?"

Agares’s face was grim. After a moment’s thought she quickly turned to Barbatos and said,

"You try your Gate. See if it still works."

Without a word, Barbatos flicked his hand. The longbow resting on the table tore free of any restraint and flew to his grasp. At the touch of his intent, the previously dim runes along the bow’s body flared to life one after another, as if about to open a mysterious door in the air ahead...

"Boom—rumble—rumble!"

The next heartbeat, Thunder Light crashed across the Sky outside the tent, followed belatedly by the rolling peal of thunder. In the instant that thunder broke, the runes in Barbatos’s hand lost all radiance.

"...All our teleportation Gates within the Dynasty have been destroyed."

Agares let out a cold laugh and said,

"What’s this supposed to mean? That Fisher knows he can’t beat us and went to ask Elliog for help? She hasn’t been let out yet. Even if he gave her Soul Power so her soul could slip its bonds, she’s still short of Myth. What can she possibly do for him?"

"...Or he’s guessed our scheme, realized that reading those Completion Manuals might have dire consequences, and so chose this method?"

Agares cast Barbatos a sidelong glance, her thoughts churning. Then she paused slightly and said,

"No, that’s wrong. Fisher wouldn’t be so foolish—unless there’s something in the Demon Dynasty he’s certain can deal with us. Either way, I can’t shake this bad premonition. We have to go back and see... But now all our Gates are destroyed. Are we supposed to return through the Ten Gates?"

Barbatos rose without expression and looked outside, then suddenly said,

"In that case, let’s accelerate our timetable. Since these Humans are restless, we’ll give them something to do. We’ll have the entire army make ready to advance and let that Dragon Queen taste a little pain... As for us, forget the Ten Gates. Passing through them is a nuisance for us, and Fisher may have sabotaged the Gates precisely to buy time—using them would play right into his hand..."

Agares looked at him and, almost without thinking, bit down on her own finger. Her teeth grinding into flesh and bone produced a crisp crack at her lips.

"If we don’t use the Ten Gates, how do we get in? Go searching for the scattered teleportation Gates of other Demon Gods on the surface? We’d be looking until the end of time."

Barbatos walked back to the Gate of the tent but did not answer immediately. He only reached out to summon a messenger, and only then did he speak to Agares,