The knight in crimson armor charged at me with ferocious speed.
This knight was the hero known as the Flame Lance.
With a bold stride, he thrust his namesake burning spear at me.
I deflected it with my magic sword.
The fierce impact numbed my fingers, but I barely avoided any damage.
I counterattacked with a blade aimed at his flank.
The Flame Lance blocked at the last moment, then created distance as if flinging me aside.
(He’s quite seasoned in combat.)
His barrage of attacks, with enough firepower to incinerate me, was relentless.
His movements also revealed vast combat experience.
However, not enough to surpass me.
I teleported behind him.
He spun around and swung his spear, which I caught with a single raised hand.
The force of the blow shattered my forearm.
Yet the destroyed arm did not scatter.
Losing all dimensionality, the arm instantly transformed into a bundle of tentacles.
It wrapped around the spear, killing its momentum entirely.
“Ugh…”
I sensed the Flame Lance’s shock.
Seizing that opening, I pierced through his torso with my magic sword.
As I channeled more miasma into it, the Flame Halberd began its death throes.
Its resilient body, still impaled on my blade, was being eroded from within.
Before long, the Flame Halberd had been reduced to an undead.
On the surface of its red armor, vein-like black lines surfaced.
They pulsed grotesquely, dripping putrid fluid.
The undead Flame Halberd broke free from my sword and let out a roar.
Breathing raggedly, it charged toward the soldiers fighting nearby.
Having witnessed the transformation, I dispelled my magic blade and surveyed the area.
Surrounding me on all sides were the undead under my command.
They latched onto their victims, then searched for new prey.
This was a city on a different continent.
I had invaded with a hundred undead and had just succeeded in conquering it.
Once things settled down, I intended to establish it as a base for the Demon King's army.
This city was situated near the border and had been preparing to invade a neighboring country that had grown weakened after losing its Savior.
It would have eventually escalated into a large-scale war, but by positioning the Demon King's army at this midpoint, neither side would be able to act rashly.
The terrain was already well-suited for defense.
With additional magical fortifications, it would surely become an impregnable stronghold.
Conflicts among humans still occurred with alarming frequency.
Some nations had grown docile after losing their Savior, but others, sensing no way forward, had turned to aggression.
Heroes still existed across various nations.
They were the powerful ones who never called themselves saviors.
They were active on the battlefield, with some even surpassing the Demon Lord's latest weapons.
The Flame Lancer this time was one of them.
When such heroes were mobilized in wars between humans, the commanders and I would deal with them.
It would be a misfortune for them, but this too was for the sake of suppressing conflict.
The brutal death of a hero would shock the people.
The threat of the Demon Lord would be re-emphasized, helping them understand who their true enemy was.
We intended to continue intervening in wars around the world in this manner, manipulating relationships between nations.
The fundamental task remained unchanged.
It was simply about focusing the people's hatred onto me, making the Demon Lord the enemy of all.
According to intelligence from our spies, the people believed the deaths of the saviors were the Demon Lord's doing.
It was only natural for them to be suspicious.
The mass death of saviors was clearly an unnatural tragedy.
If anyone was capable of such a thing, I would be the first suspect.
I didn't mind being suspected.
Let them believe what they wanted.
It was more convenient that way.
The Demon Lord who slaughtered the saviors was now the target of hatred from the entire world.
To counter that, we would launch further wars of invasion.
The narrative was sufficient, wasn't it?