Bribed by the Demon Lord Right Before the Ending

■ Avalanche □

The counter-proposal I made to Dorothea was to trigger a massive explosion at the mountain peak to cause an artificial avalanche.

She asked about the specific execution method, seemingly surprised by this unprecedented idea, and that’s when I introduced myself as Partarth, a fifth-tier mage specializing in the use of Ether, which I was posing as.

“Is this ‘Void’ attribute magic?”

“To be precise, it’s magic using the artificial element Eter.”

I briefly explained the outline to Dorothea and Eva standing before me.

In reality, it wasn’t an overly difficult task.

Using an immensely powerful spell to trigger an avalanche, and letting the snow flow down from the mountaintop to cover the humans’ fortress.

That was essentially the plan.

If we could pull it off, it would naturally cause significant damage, and there wouldn’t be much loss on our side either.

It was simply about giving it a try while we were already here.

Because the final decision-maker was present, my proposal was quickly adopted as a strategy, and I began preparing to cast the spell.

Koo-o-o-o!

The imaginary magic circuits within me began ferociously drawing in mana from the atmosphere.

Actually, Eter is both an artificial element and a natural one.

You might think, “What kind of nonsense is this?” But originally, the element Eter is merely highly compressed mana that hasn’t undergone any conversion process inside the body.

Devotees of the traditional Four Elements Theory criticized the Five Element System, including Eter, as bizarre sorcery. However, like the unspoken rules in martial arts novels where “sorcery equals something you don’t understand,” most new-generation mages didn’t care about such criticism.

The Eter-based magic I personally developed was quite unique in that sense.

Generally, Eter has a repelling nature against the existing four elements.

Therefore, it could only be overlapped once when mixed with other elements, and most mages considered this normal.

But I approached it differently.

If Eter repels other elements and can only be combined once, why not create magic purely out of Eter?

That’s how I developed the Void-attribute explosive magic.

A spell that continuously stacks pure Eter without interference from other elements.

By simply stacking high-density artificial elements created within my body, I formed a faintly glowing white sphere in the sky.

From a distance, it looked about the size of a basketball.

Dorothea tilted her head, having watched the entire spell-casting process.

“Nothing seems to be happening?”

“Just wait a little longer. Some preparations are necessary.”

I handed her and Eva sunglasses and earplugs that I had just crafted through alchemy.

Eva curiously held the sunglasses in both hands and asked, “What is this?”

“Aah… This is called sunglasses. A special pair of glasses that blocks sunlight.”

After hearing my explanation, Dorothea immediately put them on.

“Oh! Incredible! The world looks pitch black!”

I told the overexcited Dorothea, who was reacting like someone from another world encountering modern technology for the first time, to quickly put on the earplugs. Then, I took care of my own set.

Eva also followed suit after seeing what Dorothea and I were doing, fully equipping herself.

“Alright, let’s begin.”

I sent mana, transformed into the fire element, toward the white sphere floating idly in the sky.

This is a kind of fuse.

A switch to detonate the bomb made entirely of Eter, packed with an immense amount of mana.

Soon—

KWAHAAAAAAA!

Another sun appeared in the sky above Vulcan Mountain.

That glaring entity greedily consumed everything it touched and burned fiercely.

This is nothing but magic refined to its ultimate form in terms of destructive power and functionality.

From start to finish, Dorothea watched as the snow-covered mountain peak touched by the edge of the light sphere collapsed helplessly. She exclaimed with delight on her face.

“KYAHAAH! What’s this? It’s intense! I love it!”

She asked excitedly, like a child receiving an unexpected gift.

“Partarth! What’s the name of the magic you just used?”

I shrugged and answered her question.

“It’s called Little Boy.”[[#]]Gurrrrrr!

The ground trembled.

With a sound like lightning striking the earth, the eternal snow piled up on the mountain peak began to gradually collapse.

And the snowballs rushing downward started gaining speed as they flowed down the slope.

Guguguguguguu!

An enormous roar akin to an earthquake erupted everywhere.

Thousands of tons of snow hurtled down at speeds exceeding 130 km/h.

Like muddy water mixed with soil on a rainy day, the pristine white torrent originating from the mountain peak eventually engulfed the entire Vulcan Mountain Range.

It was an unprecedented scale of avalanche.

In the face of the mighty wrath of nature, humans were but insignificant specks.

Hunters who had ventured outside for hunting got caught up in it.

Soldiers training in the forest were swept away.

Families living their everyday lives, unaware of anything unusual, had their homes swallowed by the snow.

The results brought about by a single spell, a single explosion, transcended imagination.

Trees, buildings, humans, animals—everything in the path of the avalanche was flattened indiscriminately.

Snow itself carries an immense mass.

Once caught in its flow, fragile flesh-and-blood organisms stood no chance of survival.

Standing atop the mountain, I coldly observed the scene unfold.

‘The southern part of the fortress wall has partially collapsed.’

A wall that should have been indestructible under normal circumstances.

Given the wall was reinforced by various kinds of magic, it would have taken the Demon King’s Army tremendous effort and time to break it.

But even the strongest walls couldn’t withstand the overwhelming physical force of the avalanche.

For the first time since its construction over a hundred years ago, a hole finally appeared in the fortress wall.

This was nothing short of a golden opportunity.

I wasn’t the only one thinking this way, as Dorothea, standing with one foot on a rock and her sunglasses slightly perched on her nose, muttered amusingly,

“This might actually work.”

Her adjutant Eva agreed.

“Judging by the extent of the damage, this isn’t something that can be repaired in a day or two. It will take more than a week just to restore it to proper condition.”

“To regain its original defensive capabilities will require the assistance of many mages.”

Originally, this was the time to temporarily withdraw troops in preparation for next year.

But now, things would change.

‘There might be a chance we could win.’

Such thoughts began to consume me.

After all, the possibility wasn’t entirely nonexistent.

Our opponent, who originally possessed the immense advantage of a sturdy wall, had temporarily lost that edge.

Common knowledge dictates that to capture a castle, the attacking side needs three times the defending side’s forces.

But given the slow reproduction rate of demons compared to humans, fulfilling such conditions was impossible. Moreover, this event overturned those very assumptions.

If the roles of attacker and defender become equal, then it simply becomes a competition of brute force.

Survival of the fittest is the law of the wild.

We immediately headed downhill.

There was no time to waste; we had to act swiftly before they prepared themselves.

Strike first before they anticipate.

That’s the basic principle of feinting east while attacking west.[[#]]The middle-aged man known as the Male Lord of Hamburg, bald with a Kaiser mustache, murmured upon witnessing the spectacle unfolding before him.

A strange phenomenon appearing suddenly in the sky.

As if another sun had risen, an unbelievably dazzling orb of light filled the blue sky.

People who stared directly at the light were temporarily blinded, and even those who avoided it suffered auditory impairments due to the subsequent deafening roar.

Even the Male Lord of Hamburg, who was busy working in his office, saw the blinding light through the window and was still suffering from ringing in his ears caused by the absurdly loud sound.

Peeeeeeeee──

“I’m going to die.”

Even after considerable time had passed since the strange phenomenon occurred, his ears still felt blocked.

He thought to himself that he should get checked by a cleric from the church arriving tomorrow while gazing down at the relatively intact sections of the wall.

“Hey! Be careful!”

“There are people here too!”

“Hurry up and bring some tools!”

It was utter chaos.

Though the strange phenomenon that occurred tens of kilometers above did not directly harm them, the ensuing avalanche wiped out everything on the eastern side of Vulcan Mountain.

Even he, who had lived here for over forty years since birth, had never witnessed such a large-scale avalanche.

Fortunately, the village where his subjects lived was situated further back than the fortress, so it escaped major damage. However, soldiers who regularly went to the forest ahead for physical training, hunters who ventured out, and a few families who had permission to build homes there were all buried under the white snow.

‘Only about three hours until sunset.’

The temperature in Vulcan Mountain drops even lower at night.

Any survivors who miraculously survived would likely freeze to death in the cold snow without a means to make a fire.

Though he wished to recover the bodies, there would be no time left for searching survivors if it extended past tonight.

Because the wicked demon tribe would surely come sniffing around, attracted by the smell of corpses.

Before that happens, they must rebuild the broken wall and prepare for enemy attacks.

He could not allow the kingdom’s shield, which had never been breached for over a hundred years, to be broken during his reign.

‘Today, I feel your absence even more. Rachel.’

Recalling the face of his clever eldest daughter who had gone with the hero, the Male Lord turned away.