"So what exactly is this System squad? You've already come into contact with them several times—do you really have no clue at all?"
Jobs like setting up the venue obviously weren't something we angels needed to handle. While we stood by watching with nothing to do, Elara reread last night's report again and again. Finally, with a headache, she came over to consult Adrian and me.
"From what I've observed, I'm afraid even they don't really understand it themselves. All they seem to know is that the squad members are from other worlds—kind of like the humans from parallel worlds we met back on Earth," Adrian said.
Natives born on Eldoria Continent were far less receptive to these speculative concepts than Earthlings. Fortunately, Adrian had spent some time on Earth and had read many Earth books, including online novels of this kind, so he was able to give a simplified explanation that was easier to grasp.
"Even though they're offering us a hard-won chance at peace, I just hope they won't end up causing any harm to our world…" Elara murmured.
Truthfully, Elara might not even fully understand what "parallel worlds" meant. Now there was yet another System squad, plus the looming, formless threat of "Noxis" from the prophecy—no wonder the pressure on her only grew heavier.
Noon finally arrived.
A black speck appeared on the far sea horizon. As it drew closer, everyone could see clearly: it was a strangely designed metal warship. Its hull gleamed with a dim, dark sheen, and it stretched over a hundred meters long. Massive propulsion units were mounted along both sides, producing a deep, rumbling roar—completely unlike the shipbuilding craft of this world.
This kind of shipbuilding ability was even less likely to be something monsters should possess. Elara narrowed her eyes as she observed the ship from afar. Like the rest of us, she quickly concluded that what we were seeing was most likely the work of those humans calling themselves Tianwang Team.
Before long, the ship slowly docked.
From a distance, we could see its deck was nearly packed with high-ranking monsters that had lived on the Dark Continent for a long time. Thankfully, this time they hadn't come for battle or slaughter, but for peace. Even so, facing these intimidating negotiation counterparts, some ordinary human officials couldn't withstand the pressure and still broke out in cold sweat.
The first to jump off the ship was a lizardman nearly three meters tall. The heavy thud of his landing made the nearby sand and stones tremble slightly. Most lizardmen looked similar, but I recognized him at a glance—he was Kurnel, someone I'd dealt with before!
So after all this time, he'd joined Tianwang Team's banner on the Dark Continent. From the look of it, he seemed to be doing fairly well—at the very least, his status was clearly not low, and he seemed to have a voice even in front of Tianwang Team.
After that, more monsters disembarked one after another. Only after the spectacle was fully staged did Clemens finally lead the remaining Tianwang Team members ashore, as if surrounded by a sea of stars.
This time, their entire team was finally present. I gave them a quick scan—around seven or eight people. That wasn't many, but every single one carried a System powerful enough to be outright broken. In terms of overall strength, they likely had enough to overturn the majority of nations on the continent as it stood.
The ferocious faces of the monsters had scared some of the kingdom officials badly, but once they saw familiar human faces, they finally relaxed a little.
Even though they'd already learned from us in advance that Tianwang Team's members weren't humans from this world, in those officials' eyes, at least on the surface, both sides still looked like the same race. That was far easier to talk to than monsters. Some seasoned officials even initiated friendly greetings first:
"May I ask what kind of world your distinguished team comes from? To have heroes so young and so capable—your homeland must be full of experts, surely?"
These were just polite compliments, but no one responded.
Tianwang Team's intentions were very clear: they couldn't be bothered wasting words on these people. Clemens simply shifted his gaze directly toward the angel side, as if asking whether the formal talks could begin.
"Then please, everyone, come inside and we can discuss things properly," Elara said at last, stepping forward.
Under her guidance, Tianwang Team cooperated and filed into the temporary building one after another. When Kurnel passed by my side, he seemed to recognize me too, but in a setting like this, he had nothing extra to say. He merely nodded slightly in greeting and then followed behind Tianwang Team.
As for the other monsters besides Kurnel, they were all kept outside the negotiation building, facing off at a distance with the Third Angel Legion. The two sides stared each other down, afraid of missing even the smallest movement from the other.
Inside the negotiation building, things progressed very smoothly at first. After all, the "monsters" were merely bargaining chips Tianwang Team was using for the negotiation—whatever kind of "peace" the human side demanded, they were willing to accommodate. But once they got into certain detailed issues, disagreements finally emerged.
"To be honest, we don't have much interest in your world's long-term development," Clemens said plainly. "Every one of us carries an extremely difficult mission. Once our current mission is complete, we may be able to leave this world smoothly—or we may receive more new missions and remain until we eventually leave. So what the relationship between monsters and you humans becomes years down the road is not something we can control."
He didn't hide anything. As long as the topic wasn't the sensitive matter of the System itself, he largely chose to speak frankly to earn our trust.
"But if it's only the promises you've just made, it doesn't seem to benefit us much," a human official shot back. "Once you leave, the Dark Continent could easily fall back into chaos. A new Demon King will eventually be born. Wouldn't that make everything no different from before?"
The human side naturally couldn't accept those terms so easily.
But Tianwang Team had anticipated this and came prepared. At their cue, Kurnel finally stepped forward and became the focus of the room.
"I know everything about how Tianwang Team will leave sooner or later!" Kurnel said. "But that doesn't mean only those outsiders want to pursue peace. A considerable number of us natives who've lived on the Dark Continent for generations are also tired of the endless, meaningless wars with you humans. Tianwang Team merely created this opportunity for us! So even after they leave, I—and the compatriots standing outside—will continue pushing a policy of peace. The future order of the Dark Continent will be maintained by us natives ourselves!"
As he spoke, Kurnel likely couldn't help thinking of Camille. Everyone present—humans and angels alike—was stunned. We already knew there were intelligent monsters, but it was extremely rare to find one that could view the issue this rationally.
"Kurnel will be Tianwang Team's plenipotentiary agent on the Dark Continent after we leave," Clemens added, clearly pleased with the lizardman's performance. "With him in place, you shouldn't have to worry about the future anymore, right?"
This answered the human side's concerns almost perfectly, but the holes in it were obvious. Meredith knew how brutally monsters fought among themselves, so she pressed Kurnel with several sharp questions.
"Your views can only represent a portion of monsters at best, can't they? There are countless monsters on the Dark Continent, and under the influence of dark elements, it's hard to imagine they'll obey your policies and commands indefinitely. With Tianwang Team still here, you can intimidate them into line. But without Tianwang Team as a powerful backer, how can you guarantee you'll have the ability to maintain peace between the two continents in the future?"
That left Tianwang Team speechless for a moment—they didn't know how to respond.
But Kurnel was clearly all-in.
Without another word, he slammed the massive battle-axe he'd been holding behind his back into the ground. With a thunderous bang, the axe blade sank deep into the earth, and the temporary negotiation building immediately shook itself apart and collapsed.
Fortunately, there was no shortage of experts on site. Someone had already raised a physical barrier in time, so the falling stones didn't strike anyone.
Kurnel's purpose in doing this wasn't simple intimidation. He was showing his own astonishing power. Roughly speaking, that single axe blow was at least around mid–sixth tier. Even I hadn't expected his strength to have improved this quickly. Among monsters, he was already one of the very top.
"The Demon King's throne has been vacant for a long time," Kurnel declared. "I swear I will take the seat as the next Demon King!"
With those bold words, no one could easily say much more.
Strictly speaking, although Michelle had ruled the Dark Continent for several years with an iron hand, she wasn't a monster and couldn't follow the established ascension process of competing for the Demon King's throne—so she didn't count as a true Demon King.
And on the Dark Continent, the title "Demon King" carried far more authority than simply "a powerful ruler." If Michelle were still around and a new Demon King emerged, no matter how strong Michelle was, the monsters would no longer submit to her oppression. Instead, under the Demon King's banner, they would fight her to the death. That was the absolute weight and legitimacy every past Demon King had carried.
At this point, Kurnel had made his resolve and position unmistakably clear. First, his strength truly was enough to compete for the throne. If he actually succeeded, many once-intractable problems would indeed become far easier to deal with.
"In the end, their condition is just that the angels—and Feliciana's group—escort them to 'Erge Hills.' If they later go back on their word, we don't really suffer any additional loss. We might as well agree—it's the better bargain. And if peace really does last long-term? Then we hit the jackpot!"
By the end of the negotiations, the human side and the angels discussed it and reached a simple consensus: sell me and Cyrae out.
That said, I didn't actually mind helping Tianwang Team. But the plan Adrian and I had made—to return to Edenmere together—kept getting delayed again and again, and I couldn't help feeling a little upset.
Fortunately, Meredith proposed a way to greatly shorten the escort process:
"You can take Tianwang Team with you and use the Adventurers' Guild intercity teleportation array! The route from the royal capital to Orhus, the capital of Crestvale Republic, isn't directly connected because the distance is too great—but if you transfer through the Adventurers' Guild in Crescent City, you can still save a huge amount of time. If you're lucky, you might even finish the entire escort in less than a day and fulfill the agreement!"
As for "Erge Hills," Elara seemed to know a bit about it. It wasn't far from Orhus. Historians had long suspected that some ancient underground facility existed there, but since no entrance had ever been found, the republic had treated it as an ordinary tourist site for years. If we followed Meredith's route, escorting Tianwang Team there wouldn't take much time at all—well within acceptable limits.
The negotiations concluded successfully.
Meredith also asked Tianwang Team and Kurnel about "Noxis," the mysterious figure from the prophecy, and what was known about him on the Dark Continent. Unexpectedly, none of the monsters present had heard any such name or rumors. After all, the Dark Continent was enormous, with many hidden places even monsters rarely visited.
With no useful information gained, the two sides signed the peace terms on the spot.
Aside from Tianwang Team, Kurnel bid us farewell and returned by ship along with the other monsters to the Dark Continent. As for Cyrae and me, Adrian, and several other angels, our task was to escort Clemens and his group to the royal capital, Norvale.
The journey from Lezbi Port to Astralrealm Kingdom proceeded steadily and smoothly. Since both sides had extremely fast means of transportation, we reached Norvale in just a little over half a day.
For the first time seeing the grandeur of a nation's capital, some of Tianwang Team's members looked as excited as I had been on my first visit. I even saw a few of them secretly pull out cameras to take photos in front of the royal city as souvenirs.
"They're acting like they're on a sightseeing trip," Cyrae muttered, unable to hold back her sarcasm. "They must be newbies who joined recently. Do they really not fear getting themselves killed in this world?"
From every angle, Tianwang Team's overall strength truly lagged far behind the other System squads.
Adrian, meanwhile, was curious about how their cameras looked so similar to those on Earth. After asking them directly, he realized there were also certain differences from the Earth he knew.
Next stop: the Adventurers' Guild—without delay.
Normally, using guild facilities required registered membership and meeting a certain guild rank. But Meredith's influence in this regard was shockingly effective. She went into the guild alone, and not long after, she returned with a special one-time pass for every Tianwang Team member.
Just as we were about to queue up for the teleportation array to Crescent City, a winged angel flew straight into the guild from outside and reported urgently to Elara, ignoring the surrounding crowd entirely:
"Lady Elara! The guards at Edenmere's entrance were attacked by several unidentified humans. If nothing unexpected happened… those attackers have probably already infiltrated Edenmere by now!"
The news was explosive.
Ordinary humans weren't supposed to be able to find Edenmere's hidden entrance so easily. Elara's gaze immediately shifted to the Tianwang Team members. Even Clemens—usually the calmest—looked flustered upon hearing this.
"You're sure they're all human?"
"They're the Shenhui Team—has to be them!" Clemens blurted. "They're the strongest of all the squads, especially their captain, June Ching. I've heard her strength is terrifying—so terrifying she can rival a god. If they realize we're nearby… then we're finished!"
Important Notice
Since hardly anyone is reading, after this chapter the story will greatly accelerate the pacing and omit a large amount of detailed content. Please note the following:
The main purpose of the subsequent chapters is to explain the later plot and ending, and to resolve some unanswered questions. These later chapters are expanded summaries based on the outline and inspiration, and they will mostly focus on the main storyline.
It's not completely devoid of detail—some scenes were already fully envisioned from the start, so they may still be inserted into the overall narration depending on circumstances.
Some battle sequences may be glossed over in a single stroke.