To the Front Lines

Persuading the Imitation Hero was easily completed, and they returned to Earth.

… That really was all there was to it. Well, if they used Identify to see our forces, they'd understand they had no chance of winning in a fight, and they had a reasonable desire to return to Earth.

With this, there were five heroes remaining, excluding Mako.

"Ahh, if it was going to be this easy, I should've had Sage-san send us to the next hero's location."

Sei said this as if deflated, leaning back against the train seat.

Since they couldn't contact Sage, it was a safe choice. To pass through forests, grasslands, and rocky desert areas, trains were still the most efficient method.

"Well, if it's this dangerous a place, it's natural to want to go home right away."

Mako said this to comfort him.

The southern Dragon Wing Continent and the Dragon Claw Continent were particularly dangerous regions. Even heroes would have difficulty surviving without considerable resolve.

In other words, from now on was when the hero repatriation would truly begin.

And so Sei's party was moving toward the front lines at the southernmost tip of the Dragon Wing Continent, hitching a ride on a supply train.

This was because the last remaining hero on this continent was at that front line.

"Still, why would they go to a place they know is dangerous?"

"Well, it's probably because that's where they were summoned, right? Apart from Sei's Return Stone, the only way to return is to ask the Divine Dragon people."

Mako answered Sei's question. Divine Dragons weren't people, but since it made sense contextually, Sei let it slide.

"So, will there be a fight this time?"

Bungol asked in an excited voice. Since he'd been completely useless in the previous battle, frustration was probably building up in both him and Gantz.

"It's not so much a fight as… I have a feeling it'll be a war…"

Sei wasn't particularly enthusiastic, and there was a reason for that.

In combat—small-scale battles—this party was considerably strong. Exceptions like the Golden Warrior Brigade aside. They were probably the world's strongest party.

But if they jumped into a war, even their surroundings could all become enemies. If they couldn't fulfill their roles as vanguard, rearguard, or skirmishers, the danger of death would increase considerably.

Kukuri and Laila, who had thin defenses, were especially at risk.

"Well, I don't plan on participating in the war, though."

"You won't? Ane-deshi?"

Bungol said with slight disappointment, but Sei's job wasn't to fight the evil gods in war.

"I won't. Once we make contact with the hero, we'll persuade them as usual. Though we might end up fighting again."

Still, Sei thought.

Even if they sent this hero back, wouldn't it be quite difficult to enter the Dragon Claw Continent next?

The Dragon Wing Continent and Dragon Claw Continent were connected by relatively narrow land when viewed on a map, like the North and South American continents.

That narrow region was a fierce battleground, entirely a combat zone.

"Well, there's no point worrying about what comes next…"

Sei entrusted himself to the train's swaying and fell asleep.

When they reached the fortress that was the front-line base, a banquet was being held there.

Apparently just recently, they'd defeated the evil gods' forces and achieved massive results.

Having annihilated a great army of several hundred thousand, it certainly warranted holding a victory celebration.

Moreover, their own casualties had been almost nonexistent.

"Apparently they used some special magic…"

Kukuri, who'd gathered information, explained the situation.

The Demon King's army and the gods' forces had apparently clashed head-on initially.

Against the Demon King's army, which primarily used tanks, field artillery, and magic, the gods' forces seemed to consist mainly of monsters and new races.

In battles in this world, where the tactics for employing aerial forces and scientific weapons were still immature, the quality and quantity of forces determined victory or defeat.

Until midway through, the Demon King's army had apparently been at a disadvantage, attacked from above by the gods' new races. Since they were originally insects, many individuals could fly.

But suddenly, the left wing of the gods' forces began dropping and collapsing in droves.

Probably through instant-death-level magic or skills, the gods' army's formation collapsed.

Into this, tanks and infantry with artillery support charged in, completely crushing the gods' army.

"So most of the enemy corpses had no wounds…"

Yes, and the enemy army hadn't retreated or withdrawn—they had completely expired.

In an actual war, this would be impossible—damage to the level of annihilation.

People of this world would first think it was magic or a skill. Indeed, something like Instant Death Eyes could probably do the same.

However, Sei and Mako, who were from Earth, understood the situation accurately. If soldiers were collapsing on the battlefield in droves, it would be chemical or biological weapons.

And Sei had information that reinforced, or rather confirmed, this.

One hero at this Demon King's army fortress.

That Gift was 'Poison.'

Poison. A Gift expressed in a single word.

If you asked whether it was appropriate for a hero, it most certainly was not.

A Gift that included not just manipulating poison, but resistance to poison attacks. And it demonstrated terrible power whether against one opponent or a group.

The gods' forces were a cursed army. An army with composition resistant to poison and curses.

However, poison so powerful it broke through that resistance. Moreover, a convenient poison that was colorless and transparent, easily dispersed, yet quickly lost its effectiveness and didn't linger—the hero could use this.

Nears naturally had poisons too, but something this powerful and special would probably fall under the category of curses. You could even call it death itself.

"But well, it doesn't work on me."

At a strategy meeting gathered in a room at the inn, Sei was frank.

No matter how powerful the status ailment, Sei's resistance was Level 10 to anything except alcohol. This was given by the Divine Dragons and exceeded the heroes' Gifts granted by the gods.

For example, even Mako had no problem with ordinary-level poison due to the Gluttony effect, but even so, her poison resistance was still only Level 7.

This showed just how extraordinary Sei's resistance was.

"So this time, I'll be dealing with them alone. Though even if we fight, it'll be an easy win."

Lavi stared in response to Sei's words. She was a Divine Dragon. Normally poison wouldn't affect her. But a still-young Divine Dragon might not be able to withstand Level 10 poison. So this time she would also stand by.

"Well, don't worry. This opponent is overwhelmingly incompatible with me."

Sei said this with a light laugh.

In truth, Sei was a bit troubled.

The reason was that this Poison Hero had an extremely high level.

That would make sense. They'd annihilated several hundred thousand of the evil gods' forces almost single-handedly with poison. Little by little adds up. They must have earned considerable experience points.

In terms of level alone, they exceeded even the Hero of Destruction. Sei could probably win due to differences in stats and skills, but not having any support from other companions at all was painful.

Even so, it was a relief that the opponent was also alone. Considering poison dispersal, they probably couldn't form a party easily.

Sei sat down across from a girl eating alone in a corner of the dining hall.

"Hey there, hero-san. Mind if I talk to you for a bit?"

The small and delicate girl, whose appearance didn't seem suited for battle at all, widened her eyes.

The Poison Hero was eating something like ramen.

No, it was ramen.

The girl, suddenly addressed, choked involuntarily, and the ramen noodles flew out of her nose, taking quite a while to recover.

Sei reflected that he should be more careful about what he says when addressing people from now on.

Slurping up the noodles that flew out of her nose and washing them down her throat with water, the girl finally regained her composure and faced Sei.

"Who are you? You're not a classmate, right? Are you a hero summoned by another country?"

To the girl, her guard completely up, Sei waved his hand in a calming gesture.

"The god of Earth and the Divine Dragons here talked it over and summoned a human to send heroes back. That's me."

Even while talking, Sei felt a tingling sensation in the back of his tongue.

Apparently the Poison Hero could send poison with just her gaze. Though it was the weakest poison, probably just enough to dull his movements.

"So could you stop that poison attack? It doesn't work on me, but it makes the back of my tongue bitter."

The hero's face twitched, but she obediently complied with Sei's words.

Returning to Earth. That seemed to be an attractive proposal for the Poison Hero as well.

But she didn't answer immediately. Having transferred from Neosis Kingdom, she'd probably accumulated various experiences of being betrayed. Her Gift reaching Level 10 might have been because she had to use poison each time.

"Want me to call Mako too? You'd probably be more convinced talking to someone you know."

"Mako-chan is here too? But why isn't she with you?"

"Well, directly contacting the Poison Hero is dangerous, right?"

At Sei's words, the girl made a downcast expression.

"That's right. A poison user… nobody trusts them…"

From her tone, Sei felt like he somewhat understood her circumstances.

The ability of poison. Moreover, that poison raised to Level 10 would probably affect even dragons.

And as she'd just demonstrated with Sei, it extended not just to liquids, solids, and gases, but even to her gaze. There wouldn't be many people who'd want to team up with such a person.

Except for Sei or those at the Divine Dragon level.

"I'll bring Mako then. She's become immortal, so she's probably fine even against poison."

"I-Immortal!?"

Leaving the shocked hero behind, Sei left the dining hall for the time being.

There are several ways to destroy an immortal existence.

First, a dragon's breath. Specifically, Ancient Dragon-level breath. If one's entire body is decomposed to below the cellular level, to the atomic level, even the Immortal Gift won't activate. Though that's not the case if the breath's power is reduced.

And death by Destruction's attack. This destroys the Immortal Gift itself, so Ria and the others had viewed it as dangerous.

There were also methods like banishing them to subspace with space-time magic or attacking with fire magic at the sun's internal temperature, but you could consider that immortals would die if decomposed to the atomic level.

And in fact, Level 10 poison could also kill an immortal.

By corroding the body with poison, circulating the poison through the entire body faster than it could regenerate.

Unlike Sei, whose poison resistance was 10, Mako would die. That had been confirmed beforehand.

Though since something like Level 10 poison had almost never existed in the past, Ria had looked it up through the Divine Dragon network.

And so the Poison Hero's reunion with Mako, while somewhat tense, was friendly.

They'd apparently been acquaintances who talked fairly often in class, and were discussing each other's recent situations.

Looking at her status, the Poison Hero had raised almost no combat-related skills.

Only her Poison level and stealth-related skills, Danger Detection, and Presence Detection stood out. With just those, she could probably kill most monsters and races.

"Four more, huh… And it seems only troublesome people remain."

At the Poison Hero's words, Mako smiled wryly but nodded.

Rather, precisely because they had troublesome Gifts could they have survived on the Dragon Claw Continent ruled by the evil gods' forces.

"If you're going to the Dragon Claw Continent, should I come along? Frankly speaking, against groups, I don't think there's anyone who can be more active than me right now."

The words of a hero who'd annihilated an army of several hundred thousand had persuasive power. She was certainly attractive as a fighting force, but that didn't mean there were no problems.

For example, it wasn't that poison didn't work on non-living opponents like golems.

Poison that could even corrode metal was also within her Gift's scope.

The problem was the poison's effective range.

When used against groups, there was a possibility of catching allies.

In wide spaces like the recent battlefield, poison that lost effectiveness quickly would be effective, but the enemy's front line and part of the rear had succeeded in escaping.

In other words, this Gift wasn't suited for combat between small groups.

There were also methods like making the poison liquid and coating it on blades, but since her own close combat skills were low, she was hard to count on as a fighting force relative to her level.

So there were problems with making her a companion, but what she'd done was extremely appreciated.

The enemy had lost forces numbering in the several hundred thousands.

Thanks to this, the battle line constructing the front was in tatters. This way, it wouldn't be difficult for Sei and the others to break through to the Dragon Claw Continent.

When he persuaded her this way, the Poison Hero was convinced.

"I'd really like to stay here a while longer and fight the gods' forces…"

"No, this time it succeeded because the wind direction didn't change, but if the wind had shifted, it would've been terrible, right?"

Sei said this, but he showed some understanding of her proposal. And its effectiveness too.

Heading south from the battlefield site, an encampment came into view.

Not the Demon King's army's. The gods' army's encampment.

The evil gods' army, composed mainly of monsters and new races, couldn't create massive, effective facilities like fortresses.

And in that crude encampment, there were still over a hundred thousand enemies.

There had been methods to ignore this encampment and use teleportation, or enter the mountains or forests and head south.

But when they had a reliable means at hand, it would be wasteful not to use it against the enemy.

"Well then, let's do this."

Laila, one of the stars of this operation, concentrated her mind and called out to the spirits.

'Wind Spirit King'

A wind with definite directionality blew from north to south. And to this, the other star added poison instead of flowers.

Deadly poison strong enough to instantly kill even giant creatures flowed on the wind and assaulted the encampment.

If this had been a war between races until now, such an attack couldn't have been made.

Wars produce prisoners, and often conscript local residents for rear support.

However, the evil gods' forces had no need for prisoners. They became food for them.

The new races based on insects, while possessing some degree of social structure, didn't coexist with the old races.

There might be that possibility in the future, but at least as long as they were under the gods' command, that possibility didn't exist.

So Sei decided on this poison attack.

The reactions of living beings displayed on the map in his mind decreased at tremendous speed.

Unreasonably lethal power. It rivaled poor forbidden curses, and yet didn't consume much of the hero's stamina.

He truly thought it was fortunate that the girl who obtained this Gift had a cautious and somewhat good-natured character.

If she'd become an enemy, everyone except Sei would probably have been easily killed. In a sense, it was a more powerful Gift than Destruction.

"Well, I'm going back first, but be careful."

The Poison Hero said this, shook hands with Mako, and returned to Earth.

Spreading before Sei and the others was the unmanned encampment built in the wasteland. Passing by its side, they headed for the Dragon Claw Continent.

"All right, let's go! Our battle is just beginning!"

Nodding at Sei's words, Lavi activated teleportation.

Dragon Wing Continent Arc - End