Chapter 48: At Death’s Door (II)

“Tch! I left them back at the camp. Those bastards had been following me.”

Drazel spat on the ground, only now beginning to grow truly irritated.

“So you’re planning to cut off our escape? Is that why they’re heading back toward the cavern? To attack our rear when we least expect it? Who do you take me for? I’ll detach ten thousand soldiers to turn around and face yours while my twenty thousand destroy your allies. Do you really think your chances improved just because you reduced my numerical advantage? I still have thirty thousand demons under my command, while you have only ten thousand! The rest are scum!”

“You were never a strategist like our father, Drazel. If you had been, the first thing you would have learned is not to get overconfident.”

“Our father was weak! That’s why the demon kingdom fell!… And you are following right in his footsteps.”

“…There is no point in arguing with you any longer.” Drazira let out a tired sigh. “In any case, you have nothing to worry about. My new lord indulged my whim, so the demons will not fight their own brethren. My troops only withdrew from the battlefield so they would not get in the way.”

“So they withdrew just to keep out of the way? Are you an idiot?” Drazel let out another booming laugh. “And this lord of yours? Is he the one who summoned that undead army? Are you a necromancer’s slave now?”

“I will not allow any more blasphemy from you, Drazel!”

“Attack!”

?!

Drazira had raised her arm, ready to give the order to advance. But Sae beat her to it, shouting furiously beside her.

“Leave no one standing!… Except those who surrender! They can stay standing!”

But, in the end, she was still Sae.

!!

“Ugh!” Drazel groaned. “What is this?”

Just as the troops on both sides began their attack, an overwhelming pressure descended over the battlefield.

The demons who had taken to the air to attack from above had no choice but to return to solid ground.

Only Drazel had enough strength to remain airborne.

“I told you not to get overconfident, Drazel,” Drazira declared.

“Especially not against the proud race of the visiare,” Sae added beside her.

The space above the battlefield had become extremely dense, making flight difficult. It was the result of the visiare’s spatial magic combined with Avelle’s authority as the goddess of that land.

“Ha! Do you think you’ll accomplish anything by forcing my army to fight on the ground with your strange magic? Not only are you weak, even your strategies are too simple!” Drazel raised his arm toward the skeletal warriors. “Men! The enemy’s weak point is the center! Those skeletons are only padding out their numbers while they wait for their flanks to prevail!”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

A grin spread across the demon’s face from ear to ear, then twisted into another warped, mocking sneer.

“Of course, the spirits on one flank and those blue-haired creatures on the other wouldn’t accomplish anything anyway,” Drazel jeered, covering his mouth with his sharp claws. “But I won’t even give you the satisfaction of trying, sister.”

Following the demon’s orders, his army concentrated its assault on the center of the battlefield.

The clash was fierce, and although both the visiare and the forest spirits, supported by the Elderbark, did everything they could, the center of the army began to give ground under the demons’ relentless advance.

Drazel was delighting in it, not because of how the battle itself was unfolding, but because he was watching Drazira’s face, waiting for horror and despair to appear.

It was not as if he had always despised his sister. She had been their father’s favorite, the true heir according to some, but Drazel could not have cared less about that. What he loved was seeing those who stood in his way crushed.

And now the moment of her end was drawing near.

Or so he thought. Neither Drazira’s face nor Sae’s beside her showed even a hint of concern. They were simply watching the battle unfold with serious expressions.

!!

“Wait…”

That was when Drazel noticed something. His army had advanced too far into the enemy lines.