After several hours had passed.
The forces led by Ice Rock, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Ice Blocks, had already set up camp south of Dragontan's town and were now applying pressure with their army.
There was virtually no resistance; at most, arrows were sporadically launched at overly close monsters, seemingly as a deterrent.
Of course, there were some casualties, but judging by the scale of the army, it was like insect bites.
Observing the meager resistance, Ice Rock concluded that the town's conquest was progressing smoothly and nodded with satisfaction.
"Hm. I was on guard, but is this all? No, considering the scale of this town, it's within expectations..."
The mobilized army numbered approximately 5,000. It wasn't a huge number, but since it was composed of monsters with sturdier basic capabilities than humans, it was more than sufficient in terms of fighting strength.
Furthermore, the magical beast soldiers under Ice Rock's command had also been mobilized, making the force formidable.
Considering their abilities, capturing a town that had decided to focus solely on defense should be easy.
Dragontan's town, which feared losing soldiers by choosing an open-field battle, could be said to be acting naturally by falling back into a defensive posture while understanding the inevitable outcome.
"However, those humans. How disappointing. Do they even have the will to fight?"
Even so, this was unsatisfactory for Ice Rock.
Despite having the honor of leading the vanguard, he ended up rampaging through the town unilaterally without much actual combat, unable to boast of his martial prowess.
For Ice Rock, who had intended to demonstrate his usefulness to the Demon Lord by showing off his strength, this result left lingering dissatisfaction.
Was his mood showing in his demeanor? A white, cold mist emanated from his entire body, and his body creaked as if straining under the excess of power with nowhere to go.
While his subordinate monsters, particularly the intelligent humanoid ones, discreetly kept their distance, one demon approached Ice Rock's side.
"Lord Ice Rock. The troop formations have been organized."
"Which monsters did you prepare?"
"Units of 'hill giants' and 'orc warriors.' We will use these to breach the city gates, then send the remaining monsters into the town."
Hill giants and orcs growled as they moved to the front lines of the formation.
Reporting his forces' deployment using terminology specific to the RPG "Brave Questus," Ice Rock decided to at least destroy the city in spectacular fashion. He bellowed his order to advance, his voice resonating as if to shake the very earth.
"Then, let us promptly teach a lesson to humans and the foolish ones who follow them. —Charge!"
"Oooooooohhhh!!!"
A roar rose from the monsters.
It shook the earth, echoing far into the distance, and served to announce to all beings that the conquest of this world by the great Demon Lord began at this very moment.
Yes, it was beginning. From this moment onward, their long-held desire…
—that was the instant.
Suddenly, the sky darkened, enveloped in an eerie gloom.
The blue sky from moments ago was now tinged with a murky, ominous hue, and the floating clouds had turned a purple that even seemed to carry a sense of poison.
The spreading earth was even more abnormal; the wasteland that should have been there now stank everywhere like rotting eggs, as if squatting and decaying.
At a phenomenon as if the world had inverted in an instant, even Ice Rock and his kind could not hide their agitation.
Ice Rock, a direct subordinate of the Demon Lord and a high-ranking monster, and even his subordinates, felt this way.
It didn't take long for the motley assortment of lesser monsters to be shrouded in confusion.
"What is this!?"
"What is going on!?"
"What happened!?"
Ice Rock and the other intelligent monsters shouted, scanning their surroundings and assuming alert stances.
But against the abnormalities visible in every direction, their expressions betrayed impatience, as if asking how on earth they were supposed to be cautious.
"Ice Wizard! Report!"
"I—I don't know! I've never seen such large-scale magic! The entire army is enveloped!"
The demon race mage who had been faithfully trailing just beside Ice Rock let out a cry of utter disbelief.
In his world, magic had always existed as something that operated on an individual level.
Something on this massive a scale—something that could affect armies or entire territories—he had neither seen nor heard of before.
He couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of effect it might bring about.
"Restrain those monsters!"
It was only when the infighting born of panic began in earnest that orders finally came from Ice Rock.
The sentient demon subordinates scrambled to bring the rampaging monsters under control, but it was going poorly.
The situation had deteriorated far beyond the point where talk of an advance was even feasible.
Monsters were creatures driven by fierce, primal instincts.
This made them easy to control under the singular objective of annihilating humanity, but the flip side was that once they fell into a panic, they became utterly uncontrollable.
Precisely because they operated on such powerful instincts, they were powerless against the terror those same instincts produced.
The mutual slaughter among the monsters had already claimed a not-insignificant number of casualties.
If this continued, the worst-case scenario would be a degradation of their forces so severe that even the assault on the city would have to be called off.
As his subordinates—few in number to begin with—desperately attempted to regain control, Ice Rock analyzed the phenomenon with an overwhelming sense of urgency, concluding it to be the work of those who opposed them.
(...Odd. The "Green Imps," "Big Clubs," and "Orc Warriors" are all weakened. Meanwhile, pure demon kin like ourselves seem to have their power swelling...)
It was as though the world itself had been overwritten by the forces of darkness.
The phenomenon bore properties similar to the demon realm they called home, yet the fact that monsters other than demonkin were growing feeble struck him as peculiar.
The difference between an evil alignment and a neutral-between-good-and-evil alignment.
This distinction held critical significance in the Eternal Nations, but for one who had no knowledge of such attributes in the first place, arriving at the answer was all but impossible.
(Perhaps some kind of special magic was used? But even so, I have never heard of or seen anything on this scale...)
That said, it was a fact that the invasion force was taking significant damage.
Even if Ice Rock and his demonic subordinates were growing stronger, their absolute numbers were small.
To destroy cities and exterminate the hated humans, numbers were the most crucial factor.
Ice Rock, who had vowed not to let a single one escape, gritted his teeth in frustration that his strategy had been fundamentally blocked.
But a report from a subordinate poured more fuel on the flames of anger smoldering within him.
"Ice Rock... m-might it be, the Hero...?"
"How dare you utter that name!"
Ice Rock rebuked his subordinate with a quiet but rage-filled voice.
The Hero—that name stirred unpleasant memories in his mind.
The detestable existence that always stood in the way of their path to domination.
The memory of being once destroyed tormented Ice Rock. He shook his head as if to dispel the unpleasant warnings that had been blaring nonstop.
Did his efforts to hide his own confusion succeed? The monsters' agitation finally began to subside.
But their morale had undeniably dropped.
Ice Rock, thinking the capture of Dragontan would be affected if this continued, raised his battle axe high and declared:
"There is nothing to fear from the Hero! No—all enemies are but trivial obstacles to our Demon Lord's Army! No matter who appears, I, Ice Rock, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, shall surely defeat them!"
His low, powerful voice gathered the monsters' attention.
As the monsters felt instinctive relief and submissive awe toward the still imposing Ice Rock even in this crisis, and their fervor began to rise once more...
"A Hero? Heh, so they really did come from an RPG. One of the Four Heavenly Kings, executive-level or something?"
An unknown girl stood there.
Hair the color of tarnished silver, red eyes. And long, pointed ears.
The girl standing before him bore the unmistakable traits of one belonging to the demonic,a fact that made Ice Rock's eyes widen in surprise.
She had been there without any presence at all,as if she were an illusion.
Though astonished that she had surpassed the powerful perceptual abilities of a demon,Ice Rock calmly posed his question.
"Oh? What's this,little girl. You... aren't the Hero,are you? One of the demonic? What are you? Where did you come from? Why are you here? And what's that 'arp' you're muttering?"
The wave of darkness billowing from the girl was enough to stun Ice Rock.
She was clearly out of place here,but as a fellow being of the demonic,Ice Rock felt somewhat at ease.
If she was an indigenous demon of these lands,he wouldn't hesitate to be friendly;if she were to eventually submit to the Demon Lord,she could be called a future comrade.
Furthermore,he considered her potentially useful as a source of information.
"Jeez! So many questions. Oh,I have a question for you too,but is that one your adjutant or something?"
The girl pointed at the demon directing forces beside Ice Rock.
He was one of those who supplemented Ice Rock's lack of strategic ability.
The demon,who moments ago had been using magic to control the monsters,noticed Atou's interest shifting to him and made a theatrical gesture of introduction.
"I am indeed one of the Four Demon Generals,and the ice demon mage serving as adjutant to General Ice Rock. A little brat like you shouldn't—" he began.
Green blood sprayed into the air as the adjutant demon beside Ice Rock was pierced clean through.
Impaled from back to head by a swift tentacle that erupted from the ground,the demon twitched once or twice before fading away into a shower of gold coins.
"You! What have you done!!"
General Ice Rock's face was a mask of shock,his eyes wide.
Though he had been placed in his role for his intellect rather than strength,the ice demon mage who had just fallen was by no means weak.
Instantly deducing the opponent's capabilities from that fact,he drew a massive axe from his back and leveled it with a face full of rage.
Ice Rock had forgotten.
That this girl might be an absolute enemy with entirely different convictions and principles from his own...
No, he wouldn't have realized it from the start.
After all, they had never encountered a hostile being that was not human—
"Answer me! Who are you?!"
The girl giggled at Ice Rock's roar.
At the same time, countless tentacles extended from behind her, piercing and killing the defenseless demons one by one as they focused on controlling the monsters nearby.
Then, screams from the monsters were heard.
Glancing over, giant insects that had appeared at some point were tearing through the otherwise elite soldiers like scraps of paper.
A battle cry rose from the direction of the city.
Looking, the city gates had opened, and although few, troops were emerging.
From the top of the outer walls, arrows and magic were being fired, raining down upon the monsters.
Fully realizing he had been caught completely off guard, Ice Rock snarled, his face twisted with rage.
The insect-type monsters that appeared from nowhere seemed well-suited to the terrain, unilaterally eliminating the exhausted Demon Lord's army's monsters.
On top of that, the damage from arrows and magic was not insignificant.
His initial estimate hadn't projected their range reaching this far, but it seemed their flight distance had been intentionally concealed.
And then there was the girl before him.
While distracted by this girl, he had fallen into a one-sided predicament and was now shown such a pathetic state.
His guard had dropped because she was a demon, assuming she was on his side. That had been the beginning of everything.
The little wench before his eyes had to die.
No, merely killing her was too lenient. Containing a magma-like fury within, Ice Rock exhaled a freezing breath.
How she interpreted that attitude, the girl gave a mocking giggle and gracefully curtsied while pinching the hem of her skirt.
"How do you do. I am Atou, the Sludge, coming from the SLG. For now, I'd like to slaughter all of you."
"You bastard!!!!"
Ice Rock's scream echoed across the battlefield, and war began.
The first for Mynoghra. A war they knew well had started.
=Message===
[Event]Declaration of War
Fonkavun has declared war on the Demon Lord's Army.
The Great Leader, Pepe
~ War is the absolute worst! But I will protect Fonkavun! ~
Mynoghra has declared war on the Demon Lord's Army.
The Great Leader, Takuto Ira
~ Hmm, well, I guess it can't be helped... I'll kill them first, and then think about it. ~
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