1095. Wait a minute there
The demon did not secretly send elite monsters behind the city to attack.
Nor did he employ the ingenious schemes that an ordinary person would typically think of in such a situation, nor did he scatter bewitching specters.
The devil is wise.
Apart from their malice and habit of looking down on people for the sake of their own purposes, they possess abundant knowledge and vibrant wisdom.
At least, that is how Crys saw it. That is why they are objects of fear.
If they were just idiots with nothing but brute strength, he would have looked down on them instead.
Well, perhaps he wouldn’t have looked down on Crys, though .
It might be because of these expectations. One of the Lords of the Demon Realm displayed wisdom.
He surpassed all the expectations that Crys and Abnaier had speculated, predicted, and gauged with anxiety.
Wow, that really hit me hard.
Cyprus frowned, then let out a laugh.
Looking down from the wooden castle walls built by fairies, he could glimpse the enemies’ intentions. They were simply lined up. Well, not exactly in rows and columns, but gathered giving off the scent of an army.
Among them, a few standout figures were visible.
A one-eyed giant caught his eye first. It was a monster three heads larger than the others. It was a Cyclops, but what distinguished it from the others was that it was draped in robes and holding a long staff.
Sitting diagonally on a large rock used as a chair—he must have acquired it from somewhere—it stared at him.
So, a wizard, huh?
Well, it was an outfit that would likely make most onlookers think that.
Besides that, the guy riding a huge wild boar with his arms crossed didn’t look like an ordinary fellow either. The green-skinned monster had fangs sticking out, and its facial features were not much different from the boar it was riding.
The only difference was that it possessed two arms and two legs, and held a club behind its back that was longer and thicker than its own massive body.
There were several other exceptional individuals, but what was more terrifying was the sheer number. There were many. A truly vast number of monsters had gathered.
Black shadows collapsed, and even a multi-headed hydra was killed.
Our morale soared endlessly, and we were on the verge of a proper battle.
Everything was fine. In other words, the strategy had worked perfectly. After all, this was precisely the tactic of the man named Kreis.
“It is a situation where we retreated without even attacking. Even the gray sky has stopped, unable to approach our side any further. Why is this a crisis? My intuition sounds a warning, but my mind cannot understand the reason.”
Ingis asked from a half-step to the right of Cyprus. He possessed outstanding talent and was not unintelligent, but he still lacked experience. His
innate intuition sounded like a warning, but his lack of experience meant he did not understand why he sensed a crisis.
Part of his point was valid. After all, this battlefield is a battlefield for stalling. From that perspective, the current situation itself should be seen as a success.
Human emotions and military discipline are simply realms that cannot be understood solely by a cold head.
Ingis’s weakness was his vulnerability when it came to viewing the world through passionate emotion.
Orel, answer me.
Cypress asked his granddaughter, who was standing beside Ingis. She is no longer by his side, but is now closer to Ingis.
Time really flies. That little kid has grown up so quickly.
Every time I see her, I think she is a truly precious child. I also think it was a good decision to send her to that madman named Enkrid.
The granddaughter who returned spent two days on the edge of her new post and then ascended to the rank of knight.
Thanks to that, my friend Enkrid looks several times more beautiful than before.
In any case, Aurelia lacks experience, but his granddaughter has the wisdom to make up for it.
“wait a minute.”
Aurelia answered and watched the movements of the monster and beast herd.
I have no intention of fighting back.
Just gathering blindly? Why? If they swarm in that many numbers, this fortress wall will be destroyed anyway.
Even by rough estimation.
The number easily exceeds the thousands. And what about the exceptional-looking monsters that appear here and there?
The numbers keep increasing even now. That is the most dizzying part.
Above all.
If we had a knight.
They possess asymmetric warfare capabilities as well.
It is a deduction that could be easily gauged even without being seen, but now they have fully revealed themselves. In fact, from the perspective of the Demon Realm, this amounts to exposing the majority of their forces.
Even so, they don’t attack.
Of course, if they fight back, their damage will only grow endlessly.
As long as we hold out, we’ll probably get through it fairly warmly for a winter.
It is a fortress built for that purpose, and the origin of the fairy city for that purpose.
From behind, supplies are being delivered without interruption. Even before, the southern front was a key region and never lacked supplies, but now the scale was completely different.
The supply operation began with the laying of wide roads.
Supply Road.
If the roads are well-paved, the speed of supplies changes accordingly. This is a war to which such great effort has been devoted.
On top of that, spires were erected in various places to maintain perimeter defenses, and reconnaissance units were increased to prepare for any potential surprise attacks. Since
Ranger units could not traverse the area beyond the Mirror Realm, rather than leaving them idle, they were all deployed to reconnaissance operations to guard the supply routes.
What would I do if I stood on that side?
Aurelia did not stop thinking, even as she felt her head burning.
If it were her, she would have risked troop losses and targeted the supply lines.
The enemy did not do so. That is why it was difficult to read their intentions until yesterday, but now she understood.
The army of the Demon Realm would break through the front. It was a clear expression of their will. The very fact that they had gathered there was a revelation of their intention.
What we have gained now is not the city walls, but deceit and envy.
Aurelia spoke. The sunset stretched out long, illuminating only half of her face.
It seemed as though a voice were coming from the dark, shaded half. It appeared especially so when the demon of the Mirror of Evil spoke of what he was aiming for.
“The devil’s greatest power is fear, so he plants seeds of terror within us. He tears down the mental barriers before the fortresses visible before our eyes. Afterward, he will push aside the weakened walls. Therefore, for the time being, they will clearly reveal and flaunt their full strength. They will need to let others know just how terrifying, dangerous, threatening, and absurd their power is.”
That alone will make the crowd stiffen. They will be terrified, and their hearts will
pound. Even elite soldiers trained for years would be shaken, so deserters might emerge from the crowd of soldiers gathered here and there, who are no different from a mercenary unit.
Then that’s the end.
If desertion starts, the atmosphere will be crushed like a ripe tomato, and the fight after that will be very unfavorable.
“yes.”
Cyprus smiled and nodded. He was glad that his granddaughter had come up with a fitting answer.
He was a knight who could accomplish anything because he smiled even when there was no reason to.
Ingis could not smile. If his understanding was correct, it was not the time to laugh.
“The moment you think that defending the castle is impossible, it will collapse in an instant.”
An army with collapsed morale cannot hold out for long. Aurelia spoke of the worst.
Cyprus turned his gaze away without opening his mouth. He waited for the knight he had trained to speak first. Ingis did not betray his master’s expectations. His
nickname is “Iron Mask” because he never smiles.
He is also called the Iron Mask because he is not easily shaken by anything.
I guess we can just block it somehow.
He brought up Cyprus’s habit. “
I am satisfied,” Cyprus replied.
Yeah, it’ll work out somehow.
That night, the soldiers guarding the castle walls felt anxious. No, they were forced to embrace anxiety.
A few of the monsters let out a monstrous roar from a distance beyond the reach of arrows.
Kuhuung!
At first, it sounded like a bear’s roar, but the moment you heard it, it sent shivers down your spine. It was a sound that stimulated your survival instinct, making your downy hairs stand on end.
Those with keen eyes looked closely and saw a monster with a distinctive appearance.
They were round creatures with bulging bellies and mouths that were long and trumpet-like.
It is intentional to let you hear only the sound.
It was a monstrous roar that erupted from the darkness, invisible unless the visibility was exceptionally bright.
It was brimming with the inherent murderous intent of monsters and beasts.
Was it not said that intimidation was originally learned by observing monsters?
They had unleashed that murderous intent, the very source of that intimidation. Perhaps they were instinctively trying to establish the relationship between prey and predator.
Afterward, the roar rang out a few more times.
Next came a scream of “Guuuuuuu!”—a sound familiar, especially to the soldiers fighting on the southern front. The murderous intent
unleashed by the horde of ghouls surged over the walls built by the fairies. Since
there were no walls capable of blocking sound, this was only natural.
Awooooo.
Next, a wolf howl was heard, sounding as if it were whispering right in the ear. “
Terrible.”
With that thought, one soldier took a deep breath and looked up.
If he were to be frightened by something being terrible, he wouldn’t be able to remain in the Guardians of the Southern Front.
“we are!”
One soldier, suddenly filled with a surge of pride, chanted first. We are the guardians of the South because we overcame fear. We are the elite of the South because we remained here.
It was rare for a soldier on night watch to raise his voice, but today was a special day. After all,
because of those bastards shouting up ahead, it would be hard to expect a quiet night in the future.
“Protect!”
A soldier responded to the chant. At that, a quick-witted and loud-voiced commander slammed his spear shaft into the ground.
Even if he could not block the curtain of murderous intent spread by the monster, he could scatter it by thrusting his spear. The commander, having struck the ground with the shaft, shouted.
“again!”
He says again. What? Isn’t it obvious?
“We!”
“We protect!”
A single Dryuer stood beside the sentry and smiled. “
Will you breach the walls and invade with murderous intent? If so, we will fight back with righteous spirit.”
Wasn’t that resolve evident?
Will is not the exclusive property of a knight. The military discipline radiating from the tightly bound soldiers—those filled with the pride of defending the southern front—is also Will.
It’s not bad.
It was around the time someone was thinking that.
Looking toward the Mirror of Evil, a pitch-black line forming the boundary with the moonlit area was visible, and that line began to twitch.
What on earth is this?
Those with strong nerves ignored their pounding hearts and looked on nonchalantly, while those with weak nerves gritted their teeth.
The black line rose and spread its wings. A single wing was large enough to envelop an entire house.
The shadow spread its wings and soared upward.
Floating in the air, the creature let out no screams whatsoever. They simply stared blankly, and in the minds of Dryuers, the elves, and a few soldiers, the creature’s eyes were visible.
Eyebrows that looked like mere dots, and beneath them, pure white eyes. The entire eyeball was white, without any defined pupil boundaries.
Expect it.
At the same time, I hear the guy’s voice.
“……Damn it.”
Someone muttered, “That must be the devil, right?”
As I watched with anticipation, the guy conveyed his intentions verbally this time.
“I serve the Pure White Ascendant. At the end of your foolish choices, you will all turn to ashes.”
A quietly murmuring voice spread softly over the castle walls.
Unless it was some kind of spell, they had done something completely nonsensical as if it were nothing.
Speaking, he looked down at the walls created by the fairies.
It wasn’t even within range of an arrow, but would shooting an arrow really kill it?
Was what we knew about the power of the Demonic Realm all there was?
What on earth were we fighting all this time?
Why are things like this appearing?
Needless to say, the Demonic Realm forces that the Southern Front had held back until now were nothing more than regular troops in human terms.
They were those expelled from the Demonic Realm, those who refused to become subordinates of the Ascended, or the ones who had been weeded out.
If you include those sent out just for amusement, it might be safe to say that the unit claiming to be the guardians of the Southern Front was seeing the true nature of the Demonic Realm for the first time.
Ah, so the place we live was a well.
The sky is wider, and the world is bigger.
The Demonic Realm is not a small land. Even considering only physical size, it is much larger than where the Intelligent Race lives.
If you were to look down from a very high place and draw a map, the Demon Realm would take the form of enveloping the entire continent.
To think that those who survived thanks to our generosity are acting so superior.
This voice was incredibly close. Since there was no attempt to conceal the source of the sound, a few individuals with keen senses looked at the creature that had approached the castle wall first.
It was a white-haired monster. Strangely enough
, while its head was that of a snake, its pronunciation was incredibly clear. It was simply interspersed with hissing sounds.
Its entire body was covered in a snake head and silver scales. The name given to them was “Scaler,” a monster resembling a reptile.
“I am Partha of the Silver. Do not forget my name. I will pierce and kill the majority of you. Cry out my name every time you die. Then I will let you go without pain.”
Everyone looked on in bewilderment as Parta stuck out his tongue again.
With a hissing sound, his will once again transformed into language and reached everyone’s ears.
“Why do you think only you are growing and developing? Even though we, whom you call monsters, live much more fiercely. You idiots.”
Speaking, he turned around and walked away leisurely. He could have proven his strength by striking the castle wall, or even if not, he could have done anything that constituted a show of force other than hurling insults; but he did not.
Instead, he simply showed his back as he walked away leisurely.
However, one of the knights in charge of the night watch decided that this could not be left unchecked.
To see him approach the wall and then nonchalantly retreat? It would be beyond a drop in morale—it would hit rock bottom.
There was no need to face the worst right from the start.
“Hey there, wait a moment.”
That is why I called.
