I Became a Raid Boss-Chapter 251: This is just an alliance this time

"Do you understand that it’s more advantageous for the defending side in a siege?"

"Well, I guess."

Although the Grasis from my time was a kingdom on the verge of collapse, like a sandcastle on a wave, there was a time when it was a powerful and prosperous nation... or so I heard.

There was even a time when the Arka Empire had to tread carefully around it, though I find it hard to believe since I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

Anyway, if it’s not a lie, there were quite a few decent military strategy books and tactical manuals in Grasis.

What Edel just mentioned was a common point in those books.

"A fortress is essentially a structure built to defend against enemy invasions."

Choosing terrain advantageous for defense, building a fortress, and even if the terrain isn’t ideal, setting up various defensive structures makes the attacking side start the battle at a disadvantage.

There are also issues like supplies, support, and morale, which only make the attacking side more at a disadvantage as time passes.

"But they don’t live in a fortress."

"That doesn’t change the fact that attacking is disadvantageous."

"Isn’t it easier than restoring it, though?"

"Well..."

Edel still gave me a skeptical look at my suggestion.

"We’re not dealing with some simple fortress. What we have to attack is far larger and much harder to destroy. And didn’t I tell you about what’s between the dimensions?"

"Something like a vortex... right?"

"A vortex, dimensional whirlpools, eddies... There’s no exact name for them, but there’s something that can tear apart even ordinary souls."

At this point, Da-eun cautiously raised her hand.

"Uhm... what does it mean for a soul to be torn apart?"

Though she had gotten caught up in something so unreal and out of the ordinary, being human, it seems the concept of a soul was difficult for her to grasp.

"It’s really simple. It means the essence that makes 'you' is torn apart into something smaller than even the tiniest speck, dragged into the vortex, and disappears without a trace."

"...Does it hurt a lot?"

"Huh? If you’re worried about the pain, there’s no need to."

"Ahh..."

Da-eun let out a sigh of relief at Edel’s calm words.

But Edel’s explanation wasn’t over yet.

"You’d rather wish for death to stop the pain, but soon enough, you won’t even feel that. Or maybe only tiny fragments will remain, endlessly wailing for eons."

"Eeek...!"

Da-eun, trembling, immediately clung to me.

I felt her weight on my arm and sighed.

"Why are you scaring her?"

"I’m just answering her question."

Da-eun absolutely hates pain.

Perhaps that’s why, even though she didn’t fully understand what a soul ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) is, the phrase "pain so great you wish for death" struck her deeply.

"How many people do you think could survive the vortex and get to their stronghold? Even with the best of forces, it’d be less than a dozen. Do you think that small group could wipe them all out?"

"It’d be tough."

We might fail.

But...

"Wasn’t it because you thought we could do it?"

When we first met, we were talking about killing them, and now you’re acting like this? I couldn’t understand why Edel was being so doubtful, and my forehead involuntarily furrowed.

Edel nodded at my words.

"That was the original goal. We were going to gather humans, kill the invaders to reduce their forces, and take advantage of the weakened state to strike at their heart..."

"So now you’re changing the plan?"

"Plan, good word. It’s a good word, but... don’t you think we should change it if a better method has appeared?"

"Are you saying the better method is, by any chance, the restoration of Pandemonium you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes."

Edel paused for a moment after saying that.

She took a short break before speaking again, her tone showing a slight hesitation.

"I’ll confess. Back then, I thought I knew enough about them, but I didn’t know them as well as I do now. I just thought if I built up enough power and trained soldiers, we could block them easily."

"So you were thinking in a very basic way."

"Wouldn’t you say it was more passive than basic?"

"Hmm... I don’t really want to say it like that."

I glanced at Edel indifferently, and for a brief moment, I saw a flash of intense emotion in her eyes.

It was so quick that I didn’t have time to decipher its meaning.

Edel pressed her fingers to her temples.

"To get back to the point, wiping them out isn’t going to be easy. What if they invade while we’re away? What if they charge in full force and get defeated? What if we miss some of them and they rebuild their forces elsewhere?"

"I know there are a lot of things to consider. But you’re asking if restoring it is more difficult than all that."

If there’s a smoother way to resolve the situation, we should follow it.

What I’m questioning is whether the path Edel has chosen is really the easier one.

"Do you know why they’re invading other dimensions?"

"To survive."

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.

It’s ridiculous to think that they’re invading other dimensions, risking death, just to survive.

It’s still kind of funny when I think about it.

Not that I’m actually laughing.

"To be precise, they’re invading to obtain the energy they need to survive. Their world can’t generate energy on its own, and their souls can’t retain energy."

"So? What does that mean?"

"Once we understand their behavior, we can figure out how to solve it. If we find a way to supply them with energy, they won’t need to invade our dimension anymore."

"...?"

I tilted my head.

Edel, who had been watching me, didn’t miss my confused reaction.

"Don’t get it?"

"No, I get it, but..."

Isn’t this just like saying if you’re hungry, just eat?

Edel’s solution might be the fundamental answer, but if it were that simple, wouldn’t we have done it already?

In short, Edel’s words were just a theoretical solution, nothing more.

"Should we just build a power plant or maybe tear out a Dragon Heart?"

"I wish it were that simple."

"I see you get it."

That there’s not much energy to feed all those dimensionals.

Despite how much I trust Edel, her weight as a being is undeniably heavy.

A being who sustains an entire world on its own cannot be light.

"Are you planning to tear away some divinity?"

"...What? Are you thinking I’m crazy or something?"

"...Honestly, yeah, I did think that for a moment."

Suddenly changing plans, acknowledging her past mistakes...

Isn’t it more suspicious not to worry about that?

"Divinity isn’t something you can just rip off and put back. And even if I could, I wouldn’t do it. Why would I offer kindness to those who destroyed my world?"

"Hmm."

When Edel suggested restoration, I thought maybe her animosity had eased, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

"Besides, I can’t trust those who devoured their own god."

"What? You don’t trust them but still said that?"

"Well, because we have a way to control them."

Edel nudged Alice.

Alice, who had been sipping her tea quietly, looked up at Edel with a questioning gaze, as if protesting why she was being touched.

"Neither the manager nor I can control their world. And we can’t provide an energy source to replace the gods. So, we’ll send a new god to replace them, right? One with enough stature to hold divinity..."

Edel’s gaze shifted to me.

"...Me?"

"No."

It was briefly directed at me, but ultimately, it landed on Alice.

"Here she is. A legitimate successor with both legitimacy and reason."

"Though I can’t fully replace my mother."

"If we make Alice the god of Pandemonium, the energy problem is solved. The only thing left is whether we can control them, but I think that’s possible too."

"Yeah. 'We' have my mother’s divinity, so if it’s the same divinity, we can control it."

"Well, leaving that aside..."

As they went back and forth, honestly, I didn’t fully understand everything.

How exactly will they make Alice a god? Can they really control her?

Instead of asking about that, I asked something else.

"What about those from other worlds? The ones not from Pandemonium?"

I had heard that other worlds had been brought into the same fate because of the Pandemonium invasion.

"That’s fine. They’re weak because they can’t wear divinity like 'we' can, so they’ve died in large numbers."

"Of course, not all of them are dead, so we’ll have to take action. That’s our role."

"Are you saying we should clean up the remnants?"

"And stop anyone from preventing Alice from becoming a god."

Finishing her words, Edel took a sip of her tea.

A moment later, after setting the cup down, she let out a deep sigh.

"How about it? Not so bad, right?"

The only thing I could say in response was:

"Not bad? More like ridiculous."

It sounds easy, but is it really?

...There’s so much information, my head hurts.

"Just think of it as us temporarily forming an alliance for mutual benefit."

"Wow...! So Kanna is going to become a god?"

"...Not me—"

Of course, Da-eun’s nonsense also contributed to the headache I was feeling.