Paradigm Parasite

Chapter 165: "Lost and Found"

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When I looked back, I saw that Aquiel had just finished off the last angel.

The sounds of battle that could be heard everywhere in the village are decreasing.

...The end is near.

The victory won't move this far.

What's left to do now is to dispose of the escapees and the rest of the village.

Well, now that Grigori has been cleared up, the rest is like a digestive game.

"It's only the end, but are you satisfied?"

Abdullah kneels down when I call out to him.

"Mister Roe. Thank you. As promised, we will join your banner."

"So be it. The village has not yet been conquered, even though Grigori has been cleared. We will discuss the details after the battle."

It is true that Grigori has been cleared up, but that does not mean they have been destroyed.

To be honest, I don't feel refreshed because I feel like I've just postponed the trouble rather than cleared it up, but as long as there's no way of getting rid of it, I guess there's nothing I can do about it.

For the time being, if we kill the high elves and destroy all their possession sites, we will be safe for a while.

I instructed my men not to let any of them escape, and started walking to join the front line.

A pile of corpses literally builds up in front of me.

They are the corpses of the elves who were in the central village.

Many of them have lost their original forms, and the exact number is unknown, but at least the High Elves have been roughly dealt with.

At least those who remained in the village, young and old, male and female, have been dealt with - or rather, with the exception of children, who died of their own accord as they were consumed by Grigori possession...

Some of the numbers were not matched, and it seems that they were evacuated to a village that has not yet been touched.

A dozen or so elves were left behind and the rest were all killed.

The rest were wiped out in less than a short time, as the corpses were used and the morale of those whose morale had been fatally damaged by the Grigori's annihilation were reduced by one or two.

In the end, the only ones left were those held back by the Trust in the temple, and all the warrior ranks outside were left to die.

We are currently collecting corpses to check the numbers.

According to the memories we've sucked out of the elves, it seems that we let the non-combatants escape to the northern villages before the war started.

The timing of the deployment of Riley and his men makes it doubtful that they will make it in time, but it seems that there are some High Elven children among the escapees, so we can't let them escape.

[Communication] to confirm.

A reply is returned immediately.

Before the war started, they found several groups fleeing to the north and destroyed them all, but were unable to identify any High Elf-like beings.

It is not known whether they hid or escaped by other means.

They are still searching but have been unable to find them.

If they can't find them with their eyes and noses, we should assume that they have escaped.

The dead bodies do not include Brosdan, whom we met before, and he is probably still alive.

I don't know him, but that's no reason to hesitate.

Sigh.

Well, as long as we know the direction in which they fled, all we have to do is find them and take care of them.

By the looks of it, there's something in the remaining east, too.

Just to be sure, I instruct Riley to assign a few people to check the east, and then I turn off [Communication].

I go to ...... to scout for congamatos in the northern villages.

"Oh... shoot."

Right.

Was it all hit on the first move?

First of all, let's check the damage.

Goliberingei, Goligrauer and Kongamato were all killed.

Tatzelblum's loss rate is about 70%.

Grigori attacks have reduced it considerably.

Goblin wear and tear is just over 60%.

Mothmen are at 20%.

Shrigala is at 40%.

They took a lot of it, but it was lighter than expected.

But considering the number of losses, it's a lot of money.

Well, it's not too bad considering it was in exchange for the total destruction of Grigori.

Considering that Aquiel remained, we should consider it a windfall.

...He stayed, but the damage is so deep that it looks like he won't be able to move for a while.

When I looked up at the sky, the black clouds had dissipated and the whitening sky peeked out from behind them.

At the same time, Aquiel falls to his knees with a small earth tremor, and the souls of the dead elves leave their bodies and crumble down like threadbare dolls.

All the souls are sucked into Aquiel's body.

...I'm sure he'll be able to move in a little while.

The rest is temple-related, but that's almost all taken care of.

Savage and the Trust are in there, tearing down anything that looks like it.

Finally, the temple will be demolished.

Anyone who smells a Grigori is out.

"What are you going to do now!"

The one who says this and spits is the druid who unites this northern village.

Listening to him is the druid-sama who united the east.

The Druid-sama of the North scratches his head.

The High Elves of the East and the North are gathered around him, but their expressions are gloomy.

Seeing this, I - Brosdan - felt uneasy.

It was not long ago.

My village in the west was attacked.

The attackers were Goriberingay and a flying monster I'd never seen before.

Somehow they got into the village without getting caught in the warding.

When I came to, I was attacked.

Simultaneous attacks from above and below.

When all the warriors in the village moved to intercept the attack, fire broke out everywhere and I found myself evacuating to the central village with everyone else at Mother's request.

Father and Mother stayed behind to fulfil their duties, and I was the only one who took refuge.

The last time I saw the western village, it was engulfed in flames and turned into a battlefield.

After we escaped, I heard that the south was attacked at the same time as the west.

I was also asked about the enemy that attacked us, but I couldn't tell them anything very substantial.

At that time I was still not that worried, everyone had defeated the enemy and normal life would return.

That's what I believed.

But...

It didn't happen.

What arrived overnight was not good news, but sad news.

The villages in the west and south were destroyed.

In the west, several people returned half dead, while in the south, there were no survivors and no one knew what had happened.

The known enemy forces are Goriberingay and flying monsters.

And - goblins.

If we look at the situation alone, we can assume that the goblins used the monsters in some way to turn them against us...

Why goblins?

More importantly, how?

All I could do was stand by and listen as the adults voiced their confusion.

Time passed and the situation in the overrun village was still completely unknown.

I heard that scouts were sent out to get as much information as possible, but none of them returned.

It is clear from the situation that the enemy will attack the centre.

The conclusion reached by the druids is to intercept them.

This central village is a place where they can directly obtain the blessings of the 'Great Being', and if they use the power of that messenger, there is no way they can lose.

...However, there is no doubt that it will be a fierce battle, so children like us and those who cannot fight will take refuge in the northern villages.

The king, Rikkhard, laughed at our anxious faces and sent us off, telling us not to worry.

We evacuated again and headed for the northern village.

In other words, here. Just in case, everyone from the eastern village evacuated as well.

However, it seems that everyone of the warrior class went to the centre as reinforcements.

We are indeed trapped.

Even so, there was hope on everyone's faces, including mine.

You could call it a margin.

The power of a great being can defeat any enemy.

They will drive away the goblins and the hordes of monsters in no time.

That's what I believed...

--But...

What appeared to us was not a report of victory, but the fact that we had lost contact with the centre.

The shocks and explosions that had been heard incessantly since nightfall were now unheard.

The battle is over, no matter how you look at it.

And yet there is no contact from the centre.

...Which means that the central village is already...

No one says it out loud, but everyone has probably already guessed the outcome.

A heavy air fills the area.

And the one who couldn't bear that air was the druid-sama, the chief of the north.

The chief of the East just crosses his arms and snarls, but says nothing.

Perhaps he cannot say anything.

"As long as the power of the ...... Grigori is not effective, we have no way of doing anything..."

"You... you are not going to beg for help from those filthy goblins, are you?"

"Then what are you going to do? You know the situation, don't you? Grigori has been defeated, and we have no chance ...... of winning."

"But that doesn't mean..."

"The entire warrior class has been mobilised! We have no more forces! We have no choice but to negotiate concessions!"

"You've got to be joking! They will never sit down to negotiate!"

The other High Elves, perhaps inspired by the two druids, join the discussion.

The enemy must be worn out from the battle, we should fight with those who are left.

No, Grigori has lost, and there is no way to win. We should surrender.

We should show them our strength, get them to the negotiating table and extract concessions.

It would be foolish to provoke him. We should show our usefulness by taking the low road here.

...etc.

Various opinions come in and out of my ears.

But there is no sign that the conversation is coming to a conclusion.

I look around and all the elves are looking at us anxiously.

The High Elves are the ones who guide the Elves.

They are waiting for an answer, for guidance.

I concentrate on the conversation, trying not to miss anything.

I am a High Elf myself.

I don't know what's going on with the druids, but there's something I can do...

"...Gah..."

It happened unexpectedly.

It really happened out of the blue.

The druid and other high elf adults suddenly began to suffer, and then collapsed on the spot as if their threads had been cut.

People around them rushed to help them up, but they stiffened when they saw the druid-sama's body.

When they looked at him, their expressions turned pale.

The elf who had tried to hug the eastern chief up muttered with a face devoid of expression.

"...... dead."

Silence reigned, as if time had stopped.