(MC POV)
"Can I eat him?" Akari asked, gesturing to the unconscious vampire with one of her tails.
Shiori made a noise that might have been a sigh but I shook my head before she could go smack her sister, "Don't, he might hurt your stomach."
She whined but returned to my side as Benjamin brought everyone's attention back to the meeting.
He nodded at me, "As you are aware, Divine One, we are currently facing unusual resistance from the monsters on the other side of the Death Mountains. At first, we were doing just as well as we had here but they had suddenly banded together to oppose us."
I leaned against the war table, "Any idea why? Is it just because of the rampage you guys did back then that pushed them towards this?"
Stephanie spoke up, "We believe it was one of the reasons but most likely not the main reason. We suspect an entity with greater strength forced them to ally themselves together, especially considering how powerful they had gotten in such a short span of time."
I frowned slightly, "Yes, that's one thing I wanted to know. You're telling me there are monsters there even stronger than you guys? How have they stayed hidden and the country remaining intact?"
One of the Hydra's heads, Sabrina, slithered forward, "There'sssss only one that issss powerful. The resssst are mosssstly pusssshoverssss."
"Ok, so one strong monster. Even stronger than all of you combined?"
"We do not know exactly, but that particular being managed to overpower Norman here," Benjamin gestured to the dragon behind him. "That being's Elemental Pressure was enough to force him to retreat. Thus we decided it was better for us to be a little more cautious in handling that group."
Akari snorted, "So? We can just rush him together. All of us can't die anyway so if we do that, he can't get all of us!"
Kiyomi smacked her sister on the head with her tail, "You idiot. We still take time to reform and while we're all gone, what's stopping them from invading Divine One's domain?"
"Ehhhh… I'm sure Master could just fry him up or something… Actually, can't Master just will that loser out of existence right now? Just poof and he's gone! Problem solved!"
Her words only earned her another smack on the head, courtesy of her sister.
"You're really shameless, sister… How can you even suggest for Divine One to do anything?"
I raised my hand to stop her from hitting Akari anymore, "Actually, she does have a point. I came here to help you guys after all and I'm not going to half ass this. If it looks like it would be a better idea for me to wipe this monster from existence, then that's what I would do for you all."
Kiyomi immediately lowered her head, "We thank Divine One for your benevolence once more."
Waving her words away to show that it was no big deal, I brought the conversation back to the more important issue, "So who or what is that strong monster? Another dragon?"
This time it was Thomas who spoke up, "No… He is a… Goblin."
I blinked a few times, "You mean… Like a Goblin lord or a Goblin king?"
"No… Just a normal goblin… He managed to suppress Norman and force him back with the pressure alone."
Ok… That's a little fishy… If you told me this was a stronger species of goblin I could even understand such a thing happening, but a normal goblin intimidating a dragon, albeit a young one, with his own elemental pressure? That should not be possible.
Then again, I'm basically a walking example of impossible things being possible anyway so I'm in no position to talk.
At least it was only on the level of pushing the dragon to retreat and not knocking him to unconsciousness, meaning he wasn't really that strong when compared to the other monstrosities I have dealt with before.
Then again, I have Iris literally standing beside me who hasn't stopped staring at me since the beginning.
Probably sensing my thoughts, the Giant Magi acting as the representative of her group stepped forward, her long, grey hair billowing around her despite there being no wind.
"My sisters and I have been looking into this goblin for a while and we have realised that this goblin did not gain his powers until rather recently. Or at least, from what we can divine, he most certainly did not possess this strength before we had started integrating the monsters on the other side of the mountains."
I crossed my arms, "Ok, so that means something happened within this period of time. I'm guessing this isn't as simple as this goblin going through some hardcore training montage to become stronger than a young dragon? Maybe… He picked up something…"
Wait a moment… The timing of this is just too coincidental… Don't tell me this goblin managed to find itself an Origin Fragment and absorbed it?! Omniscience?!
…
Are you serious?! How in the bloody hell do you have TWO Origin fragments landing in the exact same World?! This is even more impossible than your childhood friend, sister, ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend being roommates and having no idea they are related to you!
Seriously, what the fuck?
Ughh… Then again, Muon did say she was sent to this World because they sensed there were anomalies…
I sighed, finding it pointless to be worked up over this so I simply moved on.
"Ok, so am I right in assuming that there are plans for negotiations to be carried out with the other side arranged?"
Benjamin nodded, "We do. In fact, the negotiations were to be carried out a few hours from now. We were wondering if Divine One would like to watch?"
I waved my hand at him, "No, I'll do you one better. I'll go and talk to this guy myself. Just let me know what are the terms you want from the other side and I'll talk to him about it."
All of the monsters in the room gasped and they immediately started protesting about my safety and propriety. All of that was quickly silenced when I simply said, "That goblin has something which belongs to me."
Honestly, the switch in the atmosphere the moment I uttered those words was extraordinary.
One moment they were worried and panicking, then the next moment I could feel boiling rage and bloodlust flood the entire room. The anger was so thick that even the still unconscious Gilead twitched in response.
Benjamin placed his hands on the table, "Very well… In that case, we shall leave all negotiations to Divine One while we support him from behind, any objections?"
There were none.
Good, I can just go and talk to that goblin, find out about his goals and then take the Origin fragment back without any other problems. Then convince their side to lay down their arms and join us. Easy as pie. Won't even need to be a fight or anything.
"Then let us prepare for war, we shall burn them all to the ground until nothing of theirs is left," Benjamin declared solemnly.
…
Eh?
