175 Resurrection!

The old man had settled in for several days.

The babies returned with another prey.

He had nearly been attacked by the old man, so I intervened.

Afterward, I thought I might not have needed to stop him, but it didn’t matter.

The old man is amusing—never grows tiresome to watch. No need to kill him. No need to keep him alive either.

Then again, babies.

If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, the prey they brought includes a mid-tier earth dragon, doesn’t it?

It inhabits wide corridors. Its stats are fairly high—on par with eels, as expected.

Yet even with numerical advantage, they’ve managed to defeat a creature of eel-class status.

What are these exceptionally capable brats?

Still, this time, none seem to have evolved.

Well, yes.

If they evolved two stages in such a short span, I’d be genuinely overwhelmed.

My second evolution was when I defeated the ape.

That did happen, didn’t it.

Feels nostalgic now.

But there are a few now who seem likely to evolve again after just one more deployment.

If things go poorly, they might even be able to take down a serpent solo.

Status-wise, they still lag far behind serpents, but their skills are becoming quite refined. If the right combination clicks, they might actually beat one.

I defeated my first serpent when I was weaker and my skills were sparse.

If they had human-level cognition, they could easily dispatch serpents with their current stats and abilities. But surely they aren’t that smart.

Are they?

That’s suspiciously good.

Still, having capable subordinates is advantageous.

Thanks to that, I can do nothing and still rest idly.

The babies left their prey and set off again immediately.

Hm.

Excellent.

{Hey, I think they're better than me—am I just imagining it?}

Imagining it.

Just assume that's the case.

The Queen's assigned entity has grown significantly over the past few days.

When the old man arrived, it was only slightly larger than me. Now, it has reached the size of a Greater.

This location, at the boundary between upper and middle layers, offers sufficient space. But in terms of size, it can no longer move freely within the upper layer.

Should it return to the lowermost layer via transfer once the Demon Lord is gone?

But there's no guarantee it won't return to the lowermost layer again by some accident.

What to do then?

Perhaps just leave this one here?

Space-wise, it's sufficient for living. With the babies around, food supply won't be an issue.

If needed, one could retreat to the middle layer. The location is not unfavorable.

That could be possible as well.

Either way, for now, I’ll stay here until fully recovered.

Adaptability is required depending on the Demon King’s movements.

As for the Demon King, it appears he was engaged in a fierce battle with the earth dragon located in the lowest layer.

There were nine earth dragons in the lowest layer.

Confirmed through skill verification—no error possible.

Assessing strength based on the Queen’s memories, it is roughly slightly weaker than the Queen.

Numerically, the status value is weak—average of 7,000.

Strength level: 18,000 average.

Stronger than from Alaba.

Nine of them.

Do not understand why engaged in conflict with such people, but the ferocious battle between the Earth Dragon and the Demon Lord is unfolding in the lowermost layer.

The reason I know is because I’m observing through the Far-Seeing Skill.

No, this skill is truly remarkable.

Even though the distance to the lowest layer should be considerable, it’s still visible.

From my vantage point using Far-Seeing, the Demon Lord is definitely acting strangely.

It appears the Earth Dragons are coordinating to form a barrier-like structure, attempting to contain the Demon Lord. Yet, the Demon Lord is breaking through, eliminating each Earth Dragon one by one.

No difficulty against odds of one versus nine.

The barrier seems to suppress summoning—no puppet was used during my earlier confrontation—but the Demon Lord still dominates the Earth Dragons.

The Earth Dragons can only manage to buy time through the barrier.

Evasion while buying time.

That’s why they’ve been moving in a circuit around the lowest layer.

Still, that time-buying phase is nearing its end.

Three Earth Dragons remain.

Appears to be a high-tier entity, near Mother-Class level—but still utterly ineffective against the Demon King.

Honestly, the Earth Dragon has no chance of victory.

The disparity in rank is too great.

In fact, it’s almost impressive that the Earth Dragon has held out this long against such a monster.

Why is the Earth Dragon opposing the Demon King in the first place?

A strict directive?

If so, then the enforcer should be intervening by now. But no such sign is present.

Still, pondering things I cannot understand won’t change anything.

The key point is that the Demon King remains confined to the lowest layer.

Even if the Earth Dragon is nearing its limit, it should endure for another two or three days.

Thus, I have at least two days of unrestricted mobility.

Hmph.

And finally, my status has been restored.

My body size has returned to normal.

The Demon King is gone.

I am fully revived.

Then, there should be no issue with moving freely, should there?

Then, I shall go outside!

{Alright!}

Please watch the house for me!

{Alright!}

Ah, and you too, old man—handle things as you see fit.

{Just leave him be, okay?}

That old man keeps doing strange things again and again, but somehow his skill level keeps rising. I don’t know how, but it’s happening.

I’ll uncover the secret.

{No way. I don’t wanna blow myself up like that again.}

That’s true.

Well, just keep an eye on him casually.

{Casually, then.}

Now, first, I’ll go check on that town where the Vampire Child was. What happened there after?