Volume 5 Chapter 31
I, Chippy, Haku, and Sia were riding Elron, soaring into the sky.
Elron spoke in his draconic form.
'The Ultra Demon Lord said he'd wait for you at an aerial fortress at the end of our battle and then fled.'
"So...that aerial fortress is where Jamael is, right?"
'Indeed. The Divine Beast and the flying creatures we sent out split up and managed to find that fortress.'
As I looked beside Elron...
"Peeep! Zeeke! Over there!"
"Harpy...and..."
'''Big Bro!'''
The harpies I once saved, and the wyverns who were originally my friends.
They had found the enemy's location.
"Everyone...I'm sorry."
I'd dragged everyone into this conflict with Jamael....
But the wyverns shook their heads with smiles.
'Don't worry about it, brother!' 'We want to help you!'
'Yeah, yeah! You've done so much for us!'
'So...this is payback! Don't mind it!'
"Pee! Don't worry!"
...Payback, huh.
I'd saved countless lives with my own hands.
It's being returned to me now.
What I had done with my own hands... wasn't in vain.
"Thank you... everyone!"
Eventually, guided by the wyverns, we found a massive fortress among the clouds.
"What's that! A green...fortress?"
Chippy's eyes widened as he gazed at the flying fortress.
It was an oddly shaped fortress, as if it were carved from unusual, jade-colored rocks.
'Oh, that's made from Flight Stone, the flying rocks found in our dragon kingdom, Sky Fossia!'
"Flight Stone...?"
'Literally stones that can fly. Rare stones unique to the dragon kingdom, Sky Fossia...'
So Jamael had been stealing stones from the dragon kingdom all along.
'Zeke! Look! Some...tubes are pointing at us!'
Haku, daughter of a Divine Beast, pointed.
There were many gates on the walls of the fortress, and the muzzle pointed from there.
"Cannon fire! Everyone, get back!"
I shouted to the wyverns.
Boom!
The cannon fired, sending a barrage of bullets flying toward us.
"No... I won't let anyone hurt my friends!"
The wounded faces of Chippy and the Demon Lord's citizens flashed through my mind.
I thrust one hand forward and activated the Hand of God.
A barrier of light expanded before me.
But....
"Zeke, watch out! The bullets... they're getting through the barrier!"
What?
Sure enough, the bullets were slipping right past the protective wall I had summoned!
...I see.
I had suspected something was off the moment Makhen entered the Demon Lord's territory.
The Demon Lord's country was supposed to be shielded, protecting its citizens from evil.
But he managed to walk right in.
In other words....
"That means... the corpse has figured out how to counteract the Hand of God...!"
Damn it, this is a real hassle...
'No worries! Leave it to us, the people of the sky! Let's go!'
'Woohoo!'
Elron and the flying beasts dashed through the sky with grace.
They slipped through the rain of bullets effortlessly.
"S-so cool..."
'Hahaha! For those of us with wings, the sky is our domain! There's no way we'd get hit by those bullets!'
So that's it; birds can read the wind.
They anticipate the trajectory of the bullets cutting through the air based on the flow of the wind and manage to evade them...!
'Doctor, there's no need to panic just because the power of God isn't working.'
Elron grinned slyly.
'Even if the divine power doesn't work, we have the strength of our bonds with the beasts!'
"The strength of... our bonds..."
'Exactly! So there's no need to give up!'
...I see.
The Hand of God isn't my only strength.
...I see.
That's right.
"That's right, Zeke. You don't have to shoulder everything by yourself."
Chippy smiled gently and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.
"You have the beasts you've saved standing by your side."
"Y-yeah... you're right."
Ever since the Hand of God manifested, I had been trying to tackle every problem on my own.
After all, I had such an incredible power at my disposal.
...Somehow, I had ended up trying to bear it all alone.
I had come to think it was just the way things were.
But that's not true.
I can't do anything on my own.
I can't run as fast as Chippy, and I can't soar through the sky like Elron.
...I'm not an all-powerful god.
I just have a bit of divine power... I'm still just a human.
"Thank you... I was starting to forget what really matters."
Suddenly, my body glimmered faintly.
Haku, who had been perched on my head,
murmured, "We are now entering the final evolution phase."
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