The Blumund Kingdom, an inconspicuous little country among the Western Nations, has a population of around 500,000. More than half of its territory borders the Jura Forest. It's a small country that is self-sufficient through animal husbandry and agriculture, without any unique industries.
Of course, this is just the surface of the Blumund Kingdom. In reality, the Blumund Kingdom possesses intelligence-gathering capabilities that are among the best in the entire Western Nations.
At this moment, inside the Blumund Kingdom's palace, Blumund IV has gathered the kingdom's most trusted nobles and powerful adventurers. Everyone in the conference room is looking at Blumund IV, who is seated at the head of the table, with solemn expressions.
Not long ago, they suddenly received a summons from Blumund IV, and they all gathered here. As for the reason Blumund summoned them, those with good sources of information had a general idea.
"Everyone, I believe you should all know more or less about the recent events."
On the throne, Blumund IV scanned the crowd and spoke slowly. In fact, they had received information about the monsters that suddenly appeared in the Edralis Kingdom as early as half a month ago. However, even before those monsters appeared, the Blumund Kingdom had also gathered information about the monster named Luminous that suddenly appeared in the Eastern Empire.
Regarding the information about Luminous, it wasn't just the Blumund Kingdom that knew about it; it could be said that the entire Western Nations knew. Everyone believed that it was just an experiment by Norton, a great noble of the Eastern Empire. After all, Norton's experiments were not a secret among the upper echelons of the Western Nations.
Initially, when those monsters appeared in the Edralis Kingdom, Blumund IV simply regarded them as monsters modified by Norton, the great noble of the Eastern Empire, and didn't pay too much attention to them.
After all, the most important thing for their kingdom right now is what's happening inside the Jura Forest. The main reason the Blumund Kingdom has been able to maintain a state of peace for so many years is because the existence of the Jura Forest has blocked most of their enemies.
Moreover, the monsters inside the Jura Forest, due to the existence of the Storm Dragon Veldora, would not easily leave the Jura Forest. But now, the death of the Storm Dragon Veldora has turned the entire Jura Forest into a huge piece of fat.
Whether it's the Jura Forest's location in the center of the continent, its vast area, or the numerous monsters, attracting materials, and minerals within the Jura Forest, all are attracting the interests of many powerful kingdoms.
Under such circumstances, the Blumund Kingdom, located on the edge of the Jura Forest, with half of its territory bordering the Jura Forest, and being extremely weak, is simply a huge piece of fat. Since the major kingdoms confirmed the death of the Storm Dragon Veldora.
Recently, the number of spies, adventurers, and foreigners from other kingdoms within the Blumund Kingdom has exploded, and the appearance of the Blumund Kingdom in the dark has also begun to be affected. It can be said that the current Blumund Kingdom is seen by the other kingdoms of the Western Nations as a huge piece of fat.
However, because the Blumund Kingdom is superficially a member of the Western Nations' alliance, they haven't found an excuse to launch an attack yet. But Blumund IV knows that this situation cannot last long.
And the development in the original story was similar to Blumund's guess. Less than a year after the news of the Storm Dragon Veldora's death appeared, several kingdoms near their kingdom directly launched an attack on them. If it weren't for his alliance with Rimuru's Monster Federation.
The entire Blumund Kingdom would have been occupied and destroyed by the other major kingdoms, and finally divided up cleanly by them.
Of course, the above were all the problems that the Blumund Kingdom faced before. The problems they are facing now are even far beyond what they faced before, because at this moment, the entire Western Nations seem to have fallen into the greatest crisis in history.
Those monsters that initially appeared in the Edralis Kingdom are now constantly eroding the entire Western Nations like a virus. That's right!
In Blumund IV's view, those monsters are like a virus. Wherever they pass, whether it's humans, monsters, or beasts, plants, or even lifeless earth and stones, all are strangely eroded by a chaotic and distorted power, and then become members of those monsters.
Like a tide, the monster army frantically submerged the armies, cities, and adventurers blocking their path. At this moment, if someone were to look down on the entire Western Nations from above, they would find that with the Edralis Kingdom as the center, a piece of scarlet, constantly writhing flesh land is growing rapidly, spreading in all directions.
Like a virus in the human body, it grows and expands frantically, eroding and transforming everything it encounters into its own members.
Just one day ago, all the kingdoms of the Western Nations received a request for help from the Eastern Empire. At the same time, the Adventurers' Guilds of the entire Western Nations also released tasks related to those monsters.
And just today, the Blumund Kingdom, with its powerful intelligence-gathering capabilities, has learned an incredibly terrifying thing. In less than a day, the Eastern Empire, which had sent a request for help to the entire Western Nations yesterday, was completely occupied by those monsters when the sun rose this morning.
The entire kingdom has become a paradise for monsters. All life living in the Eastern Empire has either been devoured by those monsters or transformed into their members under that twisted and chaotic power.
"Your Majesty, what exactly has happened?"
At this moment, a blonde, seemingly delicate girl stood up and looked at the King of Blumund with a puzzled expression. This was Ellen, one of the adventurers belonging to the Freedom Association. Some time ago, she had received orders from the Freedom Association, and together with two companions, she had accepted the mission to go to the Jura Forest to confirm the death of the Storm Dragon Veldora.
Not long ago, after investigating the news about the Storm Dragon Veldora, they encountered Rimuru in the Jura Forest, who had already subdued the Goblin Village and the Fang Wolf tribe and was rebuilding the village with the help of the Kaijin brothers.
During this time, they also met the legendary adventurer, Miss Shizu, the Ruler of Explosive Flames. Afterward, they stayed in Rimuru's village for a while before choosing to return to the Freedom Association to continue their mission.
Moreover, just yesterday, as they were about to pass through the Blumund Kingdom to return to the Ingracia Kingdom, where the Freedom Association was located, they suddenly received an invitation from the King of Blumund. Now, the solemn and serious atmosphere of the entire conference room completely bewildered Ellen.
Having just left the Jura Forest, she had no idea what was happening.
"Oh! I almost forgot, Miss Ellen, you just returned from the Jura Forest and don't know what has been happening in the Western Nations recently. The truth is..."
Across from her, Blumund IV, upon hearing Ellen's words, turned his head, smiled slightly at her, and began to explain what had been happening in the Western Nations recently, as well as the monsters that had suddenly appeared.
As for why Blumund IV invited Ellen and her team to participate in this meeting, it was entirely in the hope that she could understand the situation regarding these monsters and what had happened in the Western Nations. Then, upon their return to the adventurer organization's headquarters in the Ingracia Kingdom, she could tell this matter to Kagurazaka Yuuki, the leader of the Freedom Association, thereby notifying all the kingdoms in the world about what was happening in the Western Nations. After all, based on the information the Blumund Kingdom had collected about these monsters...
Blumund IV didn't have much hope that the Western Nations could withstand these monsters because these monsters were too terrifying. Their immense power and immortality meant that even if they were divided into pieces the size of fingers, they would not die. Furthermore, their growth rate was terrifying.
According to the collected information, these monsters, within just a few days of their appearance, had already devoured numerous magical beasts and humans, growing to a strength comparable to high-ranking magical beasts. Moreover, even the newly born monsters possessed strength no less than that of ordinary low-ranking magical beasts.
Coupled with their terrifying ability to corrode and transform everything in their path, whether living or inanimate, into the same kind of monster, they were truly a calamity, devouring everything, invading everything, and destroying everything.
Therefore, the Blumund Kingdom could only place its hopes on the other powerful kingdoms.
Furthermore, Blumund IV had another small consideration. According to the information he had received, after the Storm Dragon Veldora's death in the Jura Forest, an extremely powerful monster was born. This monster had even begun to build a kingdom belonging to monsters and had already established contact with the Armed Nation of the Dwarves, Dwargon.
And Ellen and the other two members of her team seemed to have a good relationship with that powerful monster. If they could get that powerful monster to join this battle, it would also be a great help to the Blumund Kingdom.
"What? Such monsters have appeared in the Western Nations?"
Across from him, Ellen's face was filled with shock and disbelief after hearing the words of King Blumund. Could there really be such monsters in this world as King Blumund described?
"It's true!"
As Blumund IV spoke, he nodded to a guard beside him. A few minutes later, the doors of the conference room opened, and several guards dragged in an iron cage heavily wrapped in magical barriers. Inside was an indescribable monster composed of constantly wriggling flesh. The layers of flesh formed a huge meatball, and the surface of the meatball was covered in countless tentacles filled with fangs and huge mouths.
"What on earth is this... Ugh!"
Ellen looked at the monster in the cage with a pale face. The constantly wriggling flesh and the dense, terrifying tentacles, each topped with the heads of humans or magical beasts, filled her with a physiological and instinctive fear and disgust, even through the cage and the magical barriers.
Especially when Ellen saw the heads of humans or magical beasts on the tips of the tentacles, the twisted and chaotic feeling made her instinctively want to vomit.
"Miss Ellen, this is the monster I was talking about."
Blumund IV said, enduring his own discomfort as he looked at Ellen. This monster had been captured a few days ago by their kingdom's intelligence-gathering unit within the borders of the Ister Kingdom. When the intelligence-gathering team found this monster, a small human village of less than a hundred people had just been destroyed by it, and all the humans had been slaughtered and devoured.
After sacrificing nearly half of the team members, the intelligence-gathering team managed to capture this monster and transport it back to the Blumund Kingdom.
