Behind the floating robe, there was a pale, shimmering light.
A wand drifting by itself in a position where a human would have a hand.
And this majestic voice, as if speaking directly into my head.
No doubt, it was the Spirit King.
[You seem to have become quite adept at handling the spirits. In such a short period of time, you’ve done a great job.]
“Oh, Illuna taught me the basics, and I practiced from there. The spiritual arts you taught us have really helped me. …I never thought I’d encounter you here, though.”
It had been a little while since we last met, which was probably not that short of a gap… No, from the Spirit King’s sense of time, this reunion must have been quite quick.
He had been alive longer than Lefi, perhaps even longer than the rest of his race.
[Mm, hello. You still harbor the same good magic, young child of the sword].
“I have many, many things I really would like to talk to you about, but I’ll get to that later. The queen, you say?”
[Hmm. These bugs have a queen, and that queen creates new babies. The ones you destroyed, though they were golems, they ate rocks and forests, didn’t they? ]
“…I see, they were eating the materials they needed to build themselves. That’s how they reproduce… right?”
The bugs had eaten up everything in the surroundings, making the view look almost like a deserted land, as trees and greenery had mostly disappeared.
There was a big hole on the slope of a mountain about four to five kilometers ahead of here.
I had no doubt that it was their nest.
Or rather, bugs were still creeping out of the hole, little by little.
…Even though I destroyed so many of them, they’re still there?
It was true that without quickly killing the source of the problem, there would be no end to it.
“You guys, our target is over there. Let’s go!”
I called out to the pets and then turned to the Spirit King.
“Spirit King, what are you…?”
[I will cooperate with you. That was my original intention when I came here.]
“Thank you, if you’re here, we’re a hundred strong.”
I was serious about that.
He was on the same power level as Lefi.
…I mean, I didn’t even notice any sign of him until now, but I wondered if he was holding back his presence because he didn’t want to disturb our battle.
Well…I’d better finish preparing the full map of the Rogard Empire as soon as possible, or I would end up in a situation once again.
And so, I went onward with the Spirit King, killing the survivors of the bugs.
Since they didn’t have the numbers anymore, they were just small fry to us, so we didn’t have a hard time with them.
The Spirit King also raised his staff, and several of the bugs in front of him were simultaneously crushed and killed.
[Hm… your strength has grown considerably… I see, you have evolved.]
“Yeah, a while ago. You may find this hard to believe… but I met a God.”
When I said this, the face part of the robe turned toward me.
[Really now… the way you say that, it seems like you have met with the initiates, right?]
As expected, the Spirit King knew something about it.
“The Origin… [Dominus] and the gods born of [Gaia]?”
[You do know, after all. Who was the one you met?]
“The God Ruin… He was in this spear.”
Saying this, I took out the divine spear Ruin from my item box and showed it to the Spirit King.
It was as if he had a surprised expression, though he had no face, he then looked somewhat nostalgic, as if he was looking into the distant past.
[I remember… A spear. It still retained its shape, I see…]
“…Spirit King, are you perhaps present from the time of the gods…? Were you alive at that time…?”
The light inside his robe flashed as if to show that he was smiling.
[At that time, I was still a mere spirit, barely conscious. –Well, we have arrived.]
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