I felt the sensation of a transfer disruption, so I destroyed it and forced the teleportation through.
It seemed they had implemented countermeasures against that, as expected.
Word must have spread that the current Demon Lord made heavy use of long-range teleportation magic.
That said, countermeasures hardly mattered.
Due to the difference in output, even the most meticulously prepared defenses could be broken through.
This was a privilege granted to the Demon Lord by virtue of raw power alone.
When my vision cleared, I found myself standing on a nighttime grassland.
It was positioned right where the highway met the road to the capital.
Behind me, the Demon Lord's army stood in formation.
Not a single soul flinched at the teleportation.
Everyone was used to this kind of maneuver.
A short distance ahead, there was a massive city enclosed by outer walls.
Layer upon layer of barriers and defensive magic had been applied, and buildings taller than the outer wall peeked over the top.
That was the capital of the Magitech Nation.
Teleporting inside would have been the quickest option, but I'd abandoned that idea this time.
A direct transfer into the city was too dangerous.
If a melee broke out, there was a real risk of being surrounded on all sides by the Magitech army.
That would result in no small number of casualties among the Demon Lord's forces.
It was a scenario best avoided.
If we needed a spot where ten thousand troops could be safely deposited, just outside the city was the place.
It required a bit more effort, but it should allow us to push in with fewer losses.
It also reduced the chance of unexpected complications.
This operation was simple and straightforward.
First, advance the Demon Lord's army and penetrate the capital.
Fight in a way that avoided encirclement, attack the Magitech army, and turn people into undead to sow further chaos.
Within that confusion, Logan and I would split off, locate the mystic stone, and seize it.
Then we would confront John Doo, who was hiding somewhere inside.
We'd already confirmed through intelligence that he was in this city.
We hadn't received any reports of his escape.
The only minor difficulty was that I couldn't sense John Doo.
His magical power was unremarkable—just an ordinary person with no distinguishing features.
If I'd actually met him before, that would be another matter, but in a capital teeming with an enormous population, pinpointing his exact location was going to be difficult.
We'd have to rely on covert agents scattered throughout the city to aid the search.
We had a rough idea of where he might be, so all I could do was hope it wouldn't be too troublesome.
At that moment, a piercing alarm blared from the capital.
Red lights were flashing along the outer wall.
It appeared to be an alert to notify everyone of an enemy attack.
The Magitech Nation had detected our arrival.
Weapons installed at even intervals along the outer wall activated.
They were magic cannons.
Long-range weapons that had been deployed in the Imperial Capital as well.
It seemed the Magitech Nation had developed them too.
Being a former allied nation, they'd likely had an easy time replicating the designs.
The magic cannons swiveled and took aim at the Demon Lord's army.
I detected a rapid surge in magical power.
It looked like they intended to open fire immediately.
Grom, standing beside me, radiated killing intent.
He leaned close and spoke in a low voice.
"Demon Lord."
"I know. I'll handle it."
Right after our brief exchange, the magic cannons spat fire.
Multiple high-speed projectiles hurtled toward us.
The Demon Lord's army murmured in alarm behind me.
Given the sheer force of the volley, their reaction was understandable.
I flicked my fingers and unfurled a net of magical power across the projectiles' trajectories.
Catching the incoming shells mid-flight, I redirected them back with all their original momentum.
The deflected projectiles tore through defensive magic and detonated within the capital.
A section of the outer wall blew open, and a direct hit caused one of the magic cannons to explode.
Quite the spectacle.
"As expected of the Demon Lord! The people in the Magitech Nation must be panicking right about now!"
Grom seized the moment to lavish praise on me.
He puffed out his chest, looking thoroughly proud.
A loyal retainer as always.
I'd known about the magic cannons' deployment through our covert agents.
Not only had they been used in the defense of the Imperial Capital, but we'd also captured and analyzed one after the battle.
Countering them was simple.
I pointed at the capital and addressed Grom.
"Don't flinch. I'll intercept every last shot. We advance."
"Yes, sir! Understood!"
Before long, the Demon Lord's army began its advance.
We held off on any magical counterattack from our subordinates.
We knew the defensive magic layered on the outer wall would block it.
This was a phase where we needed to conserve our forces.
The Demon Lord's army operated under ironclad discipline, and no one acted on their own.
That was the fruit of Henry's training.
Meanwhile, the magic cannons had fallen silent.
They were tracking us, but they weren't firing.
They'd understood that any shot they took would simply be reflected back.
"...Hmm."
I turned my attention to those silent magic cannons.
Their magical power had stabilized, and their barrels were no longer glowing red-hot.
The magic cannons we'd captured at the Imperial Capital had a flaw—they went red-hot after every shot, rendering them temporarily unusable.
The models deployed by the Magitech Nation appeared to have overcome that defect through improvements.
As we advanced toward the capital's main gate, Henry stepped forward.
He rolled an arrow between his fingers and addressed me.
"General, mind if I give 'em a little surprise?"
"Go ahead. You have my leave."
"Hell yeah, much obliged."
Henry drew his bow with evident delight and loosed an arrow without hesitation.
The arrow pierced straight through the capital's defensive magic.
It shot straight into the barrel of a magic cannon as if sucked in.
The cannon lowered its barrel and went silent.
According to my detection magic, the operator inside had been killed by the shot.
Sniping a person he couldn't even see with the naked eye—Henry was something else.
Under the same conditions, I could never manage an attack that precise and delicate.
Henry continued in the same vein, neutralizing magic cannon after magic cannon.
Incidentally, he also began picking off soldiers lurking on the outer wall with pinpoint accuracy.
The remaining magic cannons, now panicked, resumed firing.
They must have realized that staying idle would only cost them more.
I deflected the incoming projectiles using the same technique as before.
"Heads... I'll... take your heads!"
While we were engaged in this long-range exchange, Dolda suddenly let out a roar.
His figure blurred, and he burst forward amid flashes of lightning.
Dolda closed the distance at terrifying speed and ran straight up the outer wall.
Once on top, he began cutting down soldiers and magic cannons alike with his axe.
It seemed he could no longer contain his battle lust.
It was an extremely dangerous state, but as long as he didn't attack allies, we could let him be.
Dolda would never lose in close combat.
We'd let him serve as our wild card and tear through the Magitech army's ranks.
"Now, allow me to put on a show of my own."
Having advanced to a reasonable distance, Grom stepped forward with a gleeful expression.
After watching Henry and Dolda in action, he must have wanted to earn some glory too.
He kneaded magical power infused with miasma and released it as an enormous black fireball.
The black fireball shattered the tightly shut main gate, tore through the city beyond, and erupted in a massive explosion.
Screams and death cries rose into the air as flames raged in a wild frenzy.
"Fwahahahahaha! Did you see that, Demon Lord?! This is the extent of my power!"
Grom cackled with delight.
His eye sockets blazed with glee.
He was showing off at about thirty percent above his usual level.
"Yes, well done."
I offered a brief word of praise.
Praise him too much and he'd get carried away—better to keep it measured.
That should be enough.
Having breached the gate, the Demon Lord's army pressed forward.
The return fire from the outer wall had ceased, with only the occasional echo of Dolda's battle cries.
The soldiers up there must have had their heads taken by him.
Or perhaps they were preoccupied with their own fight and had no capacity to deal with us.
Just as I was thinking we could push right through—
From the burning ruins of the main gate, a high-output magical reaction appeared.
Multiple figures emerged from the capital.
It was a squad of several dozen golems.