While Others Cultivate, I Use My Multiverse System

"Just where the hell are you?" muttering to myself, I continued my search. After the showcase of my power, no soldier dared to stand in my way. All those who miraculously managed to keep themselves on their feet would jump out of my way. Those who were unlucky and fell to the ground would crawl away with a determination akin to the modern soldiers during the training. And there were hardly any people in a different position.

But that didn't mean I was careless.

"DIE, YOU MONSTER!" Once again committing the annoying mistake of shouting before actually attacking, one of the soldiers attempted to put another hole in my body where there shouldn't be any holes. Sadly for him, before the tip of his spear could as much as graze my skin, a simple bullet from a pistol spilled his brain matter through the hole in the back of his head that the same bullet created.

"If there is anyone with a death wish, come at me!" Surprised by the fact that anyone still had the guts to stand against me, I could feel how annoyance started to creep its way towards my soul.

The silence was my only response. Somehow, in the entire vast valley, when my words filled the air, no one dared to as much as move a muscle.

"Good. Now that we have this sorted, I want you all to understand one more important thing." Lowering my head before covering it with a palm of my right hand, I took a few breaths to calm myself down. Only when I was done did I raise my head again.

"First off, I'm not here to fight with you. What just happened to your fellow soldiers was the result of your leaders breaking the agreement. With the covenant broken, I had no other choice but to defend myself." Using simple words when pinning the blame and complicated ones when speaking about my own side of the situation, I made sure that most of the simple folk would mentally take my side here.

After all, it wasn't common for a monstrous enemy like me to suddenly announce that there was no bad feeling or grudge of any kind, to begin with, turning the entire conflict into just a pointless waste of lives!

"Now then, I only came here to have a talk with a friend of mine. As long as that's settled, you are free to do whatever the shit you were doing before I appeared." With my advice and a lowkey threat to all the soldiers around now over, I could finally pick up the pace and resume my search.

In the end, as great as shatterquake stone was to throw a huge crowd into disarray, it also meant that the prince's body was no longer elevated from the back of his horse. As such, even when I knew his general location, finding a specific person posed a tremendous challenge in this sea of bodies.

In fact, if he was unconscious…

"Here!" Just as the bad thoughts and idea of giving up appeared in my mind, a voice broke through the silence that ensued after my words. Turning my head to the left, I saw one of the bodies lift its hand. Then, as if a veil was taken from my eyes, I finally recognized the man.

"It's been a while, your majesty, wasn't it?" Smiling to the man, I made sure my pistol was ready to fire before making my way towards him. "How about we leave this place for a short while to have a talk?"

My words were formed into a question. But contrary to the expectations of both the prince and everyone daring enough to listen to what I was talking to him about, I didn't wait for his answer at all.

Grabbing the man's hand, I pulled him back to a standing position before stepping even further towards him and grabbing him into a bear-like hug.  Then, with just a slight jump and an instant application of phasing the moment I was midair, I brought the two of us out of the dense crowd within the valley.

"WHOA!" When we first appeared in the air, the prince's reaction was exactly how I expected it to be. But what I didn't foresee, was his arms suddenly tightening around my entire body, almost to the point where all the air would be squeezed out of my lungs!

"Don't grip me so tightly!" Muttering those words with the remaining bit of air in my lungs, I looked down at the prince only to see him shaking from fear. 

Whether it was a fear of heights or just a horror-like realization that I was actually just going to kill him, it blocked the prince's reception of my words, quickly turning the situation into actual danger.

"Don't worry… You won't fall… Just let me breathe!" When I first met with this man, I was quite sure that he was pretty powerless. Just your usual noble without the talent to his name commanding a huge army where many promising authors, painters, commanders, and politicians would die like dogs because their status was too low for them to ever receive a real chance at life.

But from how tightly he was squeezing my lungs, I had no other way but to rectify this precious guess of mine!

"LET GO I SAY!" Only when I shouted, forcefully taking a huge breath only to use it to utter those words did the prince's hands relaxed a bit.

"Sorry," only now did this man finally come to his senses, even going as far as to open his eyes.

"Ahhhh." Feeling the fresh air finally entering my lungs, I almost lost my edge for a moment, overwhelmed by just the sheer feeling of relief. But I couldn't help it. Given how crucial the oxygen was to a human body, it had developed many mechanisms of preventing suffocation over the millennia, only to give an actually believable excuse and reason for the prince's actions.

"Wait, where are you taking me?!" Suddenly noticing the direction where our flight was angling, the prince once again added force to his grip, threatening to squeeze the air out of my lungs once again. But this time, I was prepared for it.

Phasing after phasing, I continued to add momentum to our fall, constantly keeping myself just on the brink between crashing into the walls of one of the still-standing forts, losing control over the flight, and overshooting the destination. But only thanks to this risky play did I manage to land atop the walls of the fort, or rather, crash into the winged soldiers defending them before my mana completely dried out.

"No one touches those men." Even before I managed to get to my feet, Teria appeared right above me. With my face just happening to be directed upwards, I could see the ironic smirk on her lips.

"Would use a bit of your help, here. Or rather, where the hell you were all that time?!" Even if I were to use phasing, there was no way for this girl to lag behind me. In the end, phasing was the only way for me to control the momentum, angle, and direction of my flight, at the substantial cost of my mana for every use.

On the other hand, thanks to her beautiful,  white wings, Teria was free to fly at a speak just slightly slower than my top acceleration… Yet she wasn't constrained by the lack of mana, as it didn't seem that she needed magical energy to fly at all.

"Why did you take me here…" Butting in into the conversation, the prince finally managed to get himself up. Seeing that, I had no other choice but to stand up as well, before nodding my head to him.

"Your majesty, don't get me wrong. I didn't kidnap you and I will help you return to your people as soon as we will be done here." Resting my back against the flank of the fortifications, I explained.

"Done here? What do you need to do here?" Still suspicious about my intentions, the prince asked.

"Don't worry, I brought you here just to ask a few questions. Let's not waste any time and get this over with." Pushing aside all the ideas of just having friendly chat or telling the man how he was the reason for everything that was happening right now only to see his reaction, I focused my thoughts on the topic at hand.

"First off, why is there such a huge invasion force? If I'm right, those banners belong to the northern federation, so how could they move all the way from the north to here in such a short amount of time?"

As soon as I asked, I saw how the prince's face changed, forcing me to realize my mistake.

"Short amount of time? What do you mean? They took nearly an entire month to get here in the first place!" Still surprised by the question, the prince looked at the troops outside the fort finally starting to regain their cohesion and organization.

"A month? I didn't expect…" Stopping in the middle of the sentence, I bit my tongue. There was no need to reveal that I had no idea how long I was away from this world while in that white trap!

"Nevermind that. Another question, why are they throwing what looks like their entire population at the winged tribe right now?" Thanks to my visit to the north, I could tell that the insane army under their banners had to seriously stretch not only their monetary reserve but also manpower. Yet, even if I were to min-max everything about their country as its ruler, it would still be an ordeal to call such a huge force!

"Well, I don't know whether it's true or not…" the prince looked away for a moment before swallowing a gulp of his saliva and looking me straight in the eyes, "but I heard that a demon lord revived roughly a month ago."

Stepping towards the edge of the embankments, the prince scanned the entire valley, and the troops gathered here with a single look.

"It seems that the north is willing to commit every last bit of force that they have to curb her out before she will become too powerful for them to deal with."

Hearing the prince's words, I was stumped for words. A demon lord? Just when did the announcement of such a huge event miss my ears? But then, I understood.

"A demon lord, huh?" Shaking my head while allowing a small smile to creep on my lips I looked at the prince. "Trust me, the girl that I helped to bring back from the prison created by the God himself… Is not a demon lord at all."