The Demon Sovereign (10)

Initially, the Demon Sovereign had his own reasons for being confident.

“Improve the quality of the army? Me? When they keep deducting supplies and funds from above, how can I?”

“I don’t believe the budget given now is meant for training purposes. If it really is, we might as well train with water guns!”

“This is all due to the lack of will and effort! Reminisce about our glorious past, and dedicate yourselves for the great tomorrow!”

For the Demon armies as insular as they were, it was not strange that all sorts of corruption were rampant.

Evaluating their combat capabilities solely based on the budgets used or past exploits was bound to involve some exaggerations.

It might have been better if someone had outright warned about this.

“Our armies that have suffered counterattacks from the humans are now in tatters and cannot function properly.”

“Quickly remove the incompetent commanders, and if you directly appeal for resistance, even those fidgeting with the option of surrender will change their minds!”

“To be honest, wasn’t it true that the budget was siphoned off in the middle? It’s simply lack of conscience to expect more from this situation.”

-If they had uttered such harsh criticisms, they might have received orders for self-termination instead.

Being aggressive and honest with their instincts did not necessarily mean failing to secure their positions and being scolded by the Supreme Leader. After all, the instinct for survival was also a form of instinct.

Freugne, who had sent Ulric for on-site inspections, could at least conclude that ‘95% of our army would only flee if they actually fought,’ and she dealt with the situation accordingly.

However, unlike her, the reports reaching the Demon Sovereign to create the four words ‘no problem’ were riddled with all sorts of number manipulations, and there were no subordinates to provide self-corrections, or they existed but disappeared.

And the second reason.

The Demon army the Sovereign knew was not like this.

He knew they had some screws loose, mostly due to reckless plans without countermeasures, but at least they were not this powerless. They should not have been.

“Where did those soldiers from our unification war go?”

“But that was nearly fifty years ago, how could they be the same?”

“Still, there should be some limit.”

Enough time had passed for the landscape to change at least five times.

It was a period the Demon Sovereign, still vividly recalling the days of killing each other like hermit crabs in a jar to decide the next Demon Sovereign after the war with humans, could not easily empathize with.

However, not every homebody is a homebody even outside. Let alone having the same army for domestic use and export.

In any case, there was a gap between what the Demon Sovereign remembered and the reality of the Demon army, if not as vast as heaven and earth, at least as wide as a penthouse and a basement.

“So this is… everything?”

“Yes.”

The result he ended up facing was this catastrophe.

It was one thing to inflate the number of soldiers on paper, but to include the deceased as well and pretend they were elites by setting up scarecrows?

The reality that most of the soldiers present at the start of the war were either buried in human lands or had returned to their own territories could not be true.

The Demon Sovereign, having witnessed this hidden bad ending, wanted to grasp at any straw, but for now, he at least grasped the heads of those who had embezzled the budget.

However, even if he ordered his subordinates to make themselves bald, soldiers would not sprout from the ground. Even with money, he could not arm them with weapons now.

“So… what should we do now?”

“Are you thinking of surrendering?”

“H-How could that be possible!”

“Then it’s settled. Prepare for defense.”

However, even in this situation, there was still one thing.

He could at least arm their minds.

Of course, not everyone, but only those Demons he had directly confronted and cast spells on.

Having swallowed the leadership alone, there was no issue with communication, and they could move swiftly. If this was the case, he should have done it sooner.

Some may argue that having only the mind ahead is meaningless. In fact, this was the reason why Freugne mocked the joint forces of the Kingdom and Republic troops that she had overwhelmed.

However, if asked whether it had no meaning at all, it was not entirely so. At least it was better than just letting go when they were about to decide the font size for the surrender document.

The Demon Sovereign’s answer itself was not wrong.

If anything was wrong, it was his situational awareness and timing – if you look at the current state alone, it was the best choice.

“Your Majesty.”

“Hmm.”

“The humans are approaching. And they have taken the lead with the unit that has inflicted the most damage on our troops.”

The Demon Sovereign’s eyes quickly scanned the troops gathered for defense. He had long received reports on their numbers and quality, but his gaze seemed to linger, as if searching for any possibility that it was a false report.

The Demon Sovereign slightly opened his parched lips as if to say something, but quietly closed them again.

“Your Majesty?”

“……”

What should he do now?

Right, first he had to protect the capital. He had to break the momentum of the emboldened humans.

If their advance stopped, they would be bewildered by a scenario different from before. Of course, except for those who could foresee the future.

But not everyone could remain calm, so he would seize that opportunity to counterattack.

Perhaps he could even push the humans back further by taking advantage of their mental confusion. He could ensure the safety of the capital, and persuade those who had fled in fear back to their territories to join, or forcibly conscript them with magic if persuasion failed.

And then what next?

‘Would there be a next?’

No matter how much he overclocked the circuit of hope, reality was always much colder than expectations.

He had to acknowledge it. Even if he managed to win this defensive battle by some chance, he could not secure victory in the war.

He was well aware of the internal problems. He did not deny that this was the decisive reason why the Demons had ended up in this state.

However, that could not be the sole reason for their catastrophic defeat. The humans were better prepared and stronger than initially expected.

There was no need to ponder at length what the true cause was.

“After this defensive battle, finish the preparations for my departure.”

“Yes, may I know the destination?”

“You don’t need to know.”

Waving his hand dismissively at his subordinate, the Demon Sovereign gazed into the distance.

Far away, a city untouched by the flames of this war.

There, the root of this problem existed.

---

They had driven at full speed through the Demon lands for days without tiring, but the human soldiers, who prided themselves on achieving an unprecedented feat, were not in good shape either.

Cooks became drivers, then prison guards, with their positions swiftly changing like sleight of hand, and those who couldn’t adapt were ruthlessly discarded.

The foot soldiers without vehicles like tanks or trucks had to traverse the uneven terrain, trampled by humans, Demons, and bullets, until their breaths reached their throats. In fact, it was stranger to be normal.

The standing armies of Glasgow and Belfast that had at least undergone some training before the war had somewhat decent combat capabilities, but the conscripted or minor kingdom troops were a fair match for Boy Scouts.

In many battles, merely firing a few shots into the air was enough to secure surrenders, but such luck could not last every day.

However, if they did not show and prove, the fact that 90% of humans were mere paper tigers would be exposed, so most of the actual battles had to be handled by the units sent by Freugne.

The troops unofficially named ‘Edan and the Kids’ after their boss (or not), with the official government designation of ‘Hero Unit,’ visited such perilous places.

“It seems the Demons are trying to fight for some reason. Maybe they took hostages.”

“Even if they had hostages, they would ignore it and do whatever suits them. But the scale they’ve gathered is certainly unusual.”

“If they could unite like this, why have they been so easily defeated individually until now? Did they eat something wrong?”

And of course, they were the first to notice the Demons’ change.

“Maybe they finally caught on? They’re not entirely blind either.”

“Well, they’ve endured a lot to this point……”

It meant that the expiration date for this precarious tightrope circus parade had arrived.

Erinye and Ulric, who had become quite a decent duo by now, also quickly noticed the change.

“Hey, are you by any chance part of some secret organization? Like a royal agent operating behind the scenes of the Republic?”

“I don’t know anything. Even if I wanted to know, I wouldn’t be able to.”

“But we’ve fought together for so long, isn’t it okay to tell me that much?”

Of course, she wasn’t particularly interested.

To be honest, while she knew it could be quite dangerous when they gathered… she had gone through enough battlefields by now that she didn’t get startled by such things anymore. It would be embarrassing to be surprised at this point.

Erinye made some casual remarks and then picked up her railgun at the officer’s signal.

It was time to work. A task she had repeated countless times before.

And if she could hope a little, this might be the last battle.