[The hell's army will invade the Frontera Estate with 500 hell's knights.]
What?
Lloyd flinched and nearly inadvertently let out a huge breath under water. This was that preposterous.
500 hell's knights? Five hundred guys just like Sir Giolexius?
Sir Giolexius was more powerful than a swordmaster, requiring at least three to withstand him. The queen of the domain, who had exceeded ordinary masters by now, would have a tough time against a hell's knight in one on one combat. Hell's knights were terrifying enemies.
Five hundred of them...
That was greater than the number of all swordmasters officially registered in the continent of Lorasia throughout its history.
Lloyd felt chills down his spine, but the Jewel of Truth wasn't done speaking.
[500 hell's knights will invade the Frontera Estate at the head of the army, leading 1,500 high-ranking demons and 5,000 lesser demons behind them, followed by...]
There's more?!
[...The lich housing the spirit of the king of hell, as the commander in chief.]
The spirit?!
Lloyd gulped anxiously and asked the jewel, which responded promptly.
[The spirit of the king of hell is the source of pure evil, and the physical body housing it in this realm is referred to as the avatar.]
…So, the king of hell will incarnate himself in the lich's body and lead the hell's army himself.
[Precisely.]
Lloyd was lost for words. He could feel the gravity of the situation all over his body.
The king of hell really is going all out.
He was ascending to this realm in the body of a lich as his avatar, leading the army himself to obliterate the Frontera Estate. But this made Lloyd curious.
But is that even possible? I thought the king of hell did not engage in battles directly with anyone else. Isn't he supposed to only exact punishment on souls based on the laws of the underworld?
[You are correct.]
Then why would he ascend himself? I know he's not showing up in his real body but in that of the lich, but isn't that against the hell's laws?
[It isn't, I'm afraid.]
Elaborate.
[Because this is what the dark sorcerer-turned-lich Lupellan asked the king of hell requested.]
...For the king of hell to incarnate himself in the lich's body and ascend?!
[That is correct. Lupellan desired your demise and the downfall of your estate. He was willing to even offer his own soul to higher beings just to cause you sufferings.]
[Lupellan made this proposition to the king of hell, who accepted it and thus was given the right to terrorize the earthly realm without violating the rules established in the underworld.]
That makes sense, because the king of hell did not take the initiative. He is only moving as per the request made by a creature of the earthly realm. Although the results are the same, the difference in the cause and motive made his move absolutely within the lawful boundaries.
Lloyd finally comprehended what was going on, after placing himself in the king of hell's shoes.
Come to think of it, that bastard was desperate to kill me. He was probably getting impatient because I kept surviving barely somehow.
That was when an unexpected creature from the earthly realm asked the king of hell to incarnate himself within the creature's body to kill Lloyd Frontera.
There's no reason for him not to accept this request. What an opportunity it was for him to take matters into his own hands.
The acceptance was a no-brainer.
And it was definitely a rare one, too. The king of hell is an outrageously powerful being, and his soul cannot be housed within just any physical shell.
Fortunately for the king of the underworld, Lupellan was a lich: an absolutely abysmal, undead sorcerer that was as mighty, if not stronger, as the hell's knight. It was perhaps a perfect body to act as the king of hell's avatar.
I wouldn't have turned it down if I was the king of hell. A lich is raised once every few millennia. The undead sorcerer that happens to have the same goal? I would take full advantage of it.
It probably felt like the opportunity of a lifetime for the king of hell. Lloyd could imagine the demon liege rushing to accept this request like someone that took a peek into the future and saw the lottery winning combination running to the convenience store.
Damn it.
A little bit of deduction showed Lloyd the big picture. He asked the jewel again.
Is there more?
[No. That's the size of the hell's army.]
With that, the Jewel of Truth became silent as though its job was done. Lloyd clenched his fist and swam up to the surface, and took a deep breath that he desperately desired.
"Whoa."
He slowly swam to the edge of the reservoir through the remaining waves, organizing his thoughts on the way.
I think I finally understand why the ending spoiler this time was so terrible like that.
Lloyd was reminded of the ending spoiler he had seen the night before. It was the most terrifying and tragic one out of all he had viewed. It was the most brutal, most gruesome, and most devastating. And on one side, the estate developer was curious.
The hell's army is supposed to invade 90 days later, which is enough time for me to prepare 2 billion liters of holy water. But I was still defeated helplessly.
This made him wonder just how great of an army that was coming. The jewel's answer clarified it for him.
This makes sense.
Thousands of demons, following five hundred hell's knights, all led by the king of hell in the lich's body as the avatar.
Ugh. How the hell am I supposed to win?!
Lloyd was overwhelmed by the massive difference in the military forces of two sides as he swam to the ground. It made him feel pathetic about himself for thinking of preparing two billion liters of holy water to fend the enemies off.
Can I really do this...?
Lloyd was distraught.
Or I should just end my own life.
The estate developer wondered if his death would cause all of this to cease, eventually sparing the people of the estate. As long as he was no more, the enforced fate would not be restored. That was going to keep everyone else safe. But Lloyd soon realized how stupid this idea was right away.
No. That won't work.
Taking his own life wasn't going to be a solution. Rather, it was going to make matters worse.
Let's think rationally. Lupellan sacrificed his own soul to make this request to the king of hell. The king of hell was asked to incarnate himself in the lich's body as the avatar, ultimately to kill Lloyd Frontera and to destroy the Frontera Estate.
That was what the Jewel of Truth had revealed. The estate was precisely mentioned.
My death isn't going to stop the invasion at this point. I've read in the novel The Knight of Blood and Iron, about the conditions for the ascension or descension of mythical creatures like the king of hell or the archangel. A transcendent being that incarnates himself in the body of an avatar is obligated to carry out his part of the bargain in accordance with the contract.
Failure to do so would result in the complete destruction of his original self, according to the book.
In other words, the king of hell is obligated to kill me, annihilate everyone in the Frontera Estate, and raze it to ashes.
The king of hell was going to suffer demise himself, should he fail to do so. This gave him a good reason to do his absolute best.
That explains why he's bringing 500 hell's knights. That's almost the entire hell's army.
It sent chills down Lloyd's spine again. A transcendent being like the king of hell was waging an all-out war against Lloyd, to kill him and destroy everything within the Frontera Estate. It was immensely overwhelming, making it tough for Lloyd to even breathe normally. He stopped in the middle of the lake and chuckled at the outrageousness of the situation.
"Ha. Haha."
Javier would have asked if Lloyd had completely lost it out of fear. In reality, however, it was quite the contrary. He saw a glimpse of hope.
So it's a winner-takes-all situation.
The loser of this battle was going to lose everything, including his own life. Lloyd had felt overwhelmed by the massive difference in the forces that seemed insurmountable, but now was seeing the risks that the king of hell took by ascending to this realm in the body of an avatar. The king of hell had leveraged everything he had in this war as well.
He would fail to honor the terms and conditions of the avatar contract if he can't kill me and destroy my estate, and his soul would be permanently destroyed as a result.
There was no such thing as a being that transcended even the terms and conditions of the contract. Even mythical creatures had to keep them, or suffer demise. Knowing this, Lloyd finally started seeing a ray of hope within his heart.
Alright, I can do this. I just need to make thorough preparations.
Lloyd clenched his fist and remembered the words of Sun Tzu, who once said knowing the enemy would bring victory. Since he knew the king of hell was going to invade 90 days later and the size of the opposition army, Lloyd just had to prepare accordingly, although it was definitely going to be arduous.
But I don't care. Even if I puke out my internal organs in the process, I will do it a hundred, and a thousand times.
That was the way he had lived his life up to this point. He had hustled his way into whom he was today. Lloyd wasn't going to give up here. It would be a waste of energy and effort if he surrendered now.
Just one more obstacle.
Lloyd strengthened his resolve to hang on and triumph over it once more. He continued to take different resources into account, even after he got onto the ground and as Javier handed over the towel.
"Master Lloyd? Please don't tell me the confession that popped up in the sky is real. I can't imagine you genuinely caring for the citizens and laborers of the estate from the bottom of your heart."
Even as Javier mischievously joked around about the embarrassing truth, Lloyd remained silent and was completely lost in thoughts. In fact, he didn't even take the towel from Javier's hand and walked past him, with his eyes set on the ground and sometimes on the sky, taking into consideration all possible scenarios he could imagine in his head and mumbling like a madman, until he eventually arrived in the lord's mansion through the outskirts of the estate, the apartment complex, and a few villages, dripping water down from his wet hair and clothes.
"Lloyd? I was actually going to send for you... huh?" Count Frontera flinched and paused as Lloyd walked into the study, clearly alarmed by the look. "What in the world did you do this early in the morning?"
He was most likely astonished by how soaked his son was. The count rose from his seat with a handkerchief in his hand, and approached Lloyd to wipe the reservoir water off his face and hair. He constantly checked Lloyd from head to toe to see if there was anything wrong.
"Are you alright? What happened? You're going to catch a cold at this rate. Have a seat here."
He dragged him to the seat and put a blanket over Lloyd's shoulders. The count seemed startled by the sight as he hurriedly tried to comfort his son. Perhaps this was why Lloyd inadvertently put a benevolent smile on his face as he responded.
"I'm fine."
"You obviously aren't. Did you trip and fall in the river or something?"
"No," Lloyd replied.
"Then?" The count asked.
"You saw the texts that floated in the sky before, right? That was spoken by the Jewel of Truth."
"Oh..." Count Frontera paused for a moment and asked again. "So you jumped into the lake to use the Jewel of Truth, then."
"Yeah."
"Why haven't you wiped the water off your body?"
"I had a few thoughts to consider. In fact, there's something I must speak to you about."
"To me?"
"Yeah."
Lloyd slowly nodded, still simulating countless scenarios in his head. The king of hell was going to invade with a force so large and fearsome, that it was going to wreak absolute havoc in the estate. Lloyd thought of ways to avoid defeat, what kind of preparations he had to make in order to make it possible, whose help he had to enlist, the resources and supplies to bring into the estate, and in which order. He thought about it all, summarized it into a single sentence, and spoke to the count.
"I need you to write a few missives, and give me an approval on something."
"Missives and approval from me?"
"Yeah."
"Please elaborate. I need to know what you're up to so early in the morning."
The count became serious as well. He knew better than anyone else that the man standing in front of him, who has taken over the body of his own son, wasn't someone to mention something like this for naught. There always was a reason and a clear purpose for which he did something, and the Frontera Estate, along with the count and the countess, could only survive thanks to his ideas. The count was keen on doing as he says this time around again, as he cautiously waited for Lloyd's response.
"A few missives requesting reinforcements, to the royal court of the Kingdom of Magentano, the sultanate in the east, estates of Cremo and of Namaran, the ore village alliance, the elven alliance, the mermaid kingdom in the North Sea, the tribe of Centauri in the Great Plains, et cetera."
"What…?" The count responded in astonishment. But what followed was even more shocking.
"One more," said Lloyd in a nonchalant, yet solemn manner. "I need your approval on breaking the dam on Lake Kapua, in the eastern mountain range."
