Chapter 1605 - 226 - Another Declaration of War (1)
Titania had changed quite a bit since then.
Honestly, I had no idea how someone could change so much in only a few days, yet somehow she had become noticeably more mature than the person I remembered.
Back then, I would’ve laughed if someone had told me that a person could grow this much in such a short amount of time.
Looking at her now, though, I couldn’t really deny what was right in front of me.
She had finally made up her mind.
It felt like she had accepted the responsibility waiting for her and resolved herself to become the Queen that the Bethlan Kingdom, along with all of its people, truly deserved.
That kind of determination wasn’t something you could fake.
Right now, however, my attention wasn’t on Titania.
My eyes were fixed firmly on the sky overhead.
The helicopters had already arrived above Bethlan, and judging from their formation, they were preparing to carpet-bomb the kingdom without holding anything back.
"They really went all out for this one, huh?" I muttered while looking up with a faint smile.
There were so many of them that I honestly couldn’t be bothered counting anymore.
Seriously, how many helicopters had they dragged over here just to launch an attack like this?
Based on everything Sara had reported while infiltrating the Republic, there hadn’t been any sightings of a fleet anywhere near this size.
She had been keeping an eye on their military movements the entire time, yet she never mentioned anything remotely close to this.
That left me with only one reasonable guess.
These helicopters had probably arrived through the portal hidden inside the Republic’s cave.
Then again...
That explanation immediately fell apart the more I thought about it.
The portal inside that cave simply wasn’t large enough to fit helicopters through.
Even if someone somehow forced one inside, the portal itself was buried deep underground.
Flying a helicopter out of an underground cave without collapsing half the place sounded like a terrible engineering project.
Even someone who hated caves would’ve thought twice before trying that.
Which meant only one possibility remained.
They had successfully created another portal.
More specifically, Zoey had managed to do it. Or at least, she had a part in it.
She already possessed an enormous amount of research related to creating portals between worlds.
According to what she had told me before, all of that research existed for one purpose.
Her father wanted a gateway into another world.
He wanted to conquer it.
"Well, it definitely looks like they’re committing everything they’ve got this time, if you ask me," I said quietly.
They were investing an absurd amount of manpower and equipment into this operation, which meant the that man, Zoey’s father, intended to make absolutely sure everything unfolded according to his plan.
"Well, sorry to disappoint him," I said with a small smile, "but I’m not about to let people like him take this kingdom."
The helicopters continued advancing overhead.
Without wasting another second, I activated Guardian.
A transparent barrier expanded outward almost instantly, spreading across the entirety of Bethlan.
Fortunately, Bethlan was much smaller than Milham.
Because of that, maintaining Guardian over the entire kingdom barely consumed any mana at all.
Compared to the strain I experienced when protecting Milham, this almost felt effortless.
Even covering the whole country didn’t make me feel the slightest bit tired.
Moments later, the bombing finally began.
Bomb after bomb dropped from the helicopters toward the kingdom below.
Instead of striking homes, forests, roads, and fields, every single explosive collided directly against Guardian.
A series of deafening explosions echoed across the sky.
Fire blossomed over the surface of the barrier one after another.
Yet none of the blasts reached the people beneath it.
Guardian didn’t even shake.
It simply endured every explosion as though they were little more than fireworks exploding against solid glass.
Watching the bombs disappear against the barrier so effortlessly almost made the entire bombardment look pointless.
Honestly, all that dramatic entrance just to accomplish absolutely nothing had to sting at least a little.
"Beelze," I called calmly.
The Sin of Greed appeared beside me almost immediately.
"Alrighty~!" she answered with her usual cheerful grin.
Without waiting for another instruction, she crouched slightly before launching herself into the sky.
Using her elastic body like a gigantic spring, she shot upward with unbelievable speed.
As she continued climbing higher, both of her arms stretched farther and farther until they extended across what felt like the entire kingdom.
It honestly reminded me of a certain anime character with elastic powers who also happened to wear a rather recognizable straw hat.
Apparently stretchy people really enjoyed making dramatic entrances.
Once her arms had reached their limit, she swung them in one enormous motion.
Her hands swept across the sky like massive nets, grabbing every helicopter flying overhead in a single movement.
Then, without slowing down for even a moment, she stuffed every single helicopter into her mouth before immediately swallowing them whole.
The entire sequence happened so quickly that anyone blinking at the wrong time would’ve completely missed it.
Even someone who watched the whole thing unfold would probably spend the next several minutes questioning whether their eyes had betrayed them.
Honestly, I was still amazed by just how ridiculous Beelzebub’s abilities really were.
The person standing beside me wasn’t even her true body.
She was merely one of Beelzebub’s copy.
Her original body was still on the Demon Continent, yet despite that fact, it genuinely felt as though the real Beelzebub was standing here beside me.
That alone spoke volumes about just how terrifying her power actually was.
After finishing her rather unusual meal, she lightly landed beside me.
She let out a loud burp without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
"That was such a feast!" she laughed happily while licking her lips and smacking her mouth with obvious satisfaction.
She looked genuinely pleased with herself.
Despite swallowing an entire fleet of helicopters, her stomach hadn’t bulged even the tiniest bit.
Then again, considering she was the Sin of Greed, I supposed something like that shouldn’t have surprised me anymore.
Somehow, she always managed to make the impossible look completely ordinary.
After watching that ridiculous spectacle come to an end, I slowly shifted my gaze toward another direction.
That was where the commander leading this entire operation had been hiding all along.