Legion of Darkness (7)

Bibs was looking miserable again today. This wasn’t having a good influence on not only Greta but also the soldiers under his command. Although he hadn’t directly said they shouldn’t fight or should withdraw troops, just seeing him slumped in a corner of the camp was causing discontent and stress among the soldiers.

Of course, Bibs’s appearance wasn’t the root cause of the morale decline. The real cause was the hero in the enemy camp across from them. A monster who, with just a sword in his delicate body, was blocking Greta’s forces. Day by day, the hero’s physical and mental strength was being chipped away, but Greta wasn’t unscathed either.

If it weren’t for the overwhelming recovery ability and robust physique unique to the ancient dragon, he would have been the first to fall.

The fortunate point was that time was on Greta’s side.

Fierce battles took place every day, and as time passed, it was the hero’s camp that was being pushed back. No matter how superhuman the hero claimed to be, he was still human in the end. Flesh collided with flesh, and a single fatal wound could decide everything in the fierce battle, so the repeated pattern was that wounds were inflicted, or soldiers’ sacrifices grew, pushing the camp back little by little.

If things continued this way, they could win. They could break down the camp and advance to the kingdom’s capital.

Greta looked at the hero sitting in the middle of the camp far away. Even from here, the hero’s hands could be seen trembling, and clergy were clinging to him, healing him. Fear and despair were glimpsed on the soldiers’ faces.

No matter how much they fought, could they really break this unit composed of a monster that seemed to never fall and experts whose strength exceeded their own?

They were fighting while reinforcing troops from all over the kingdom, but as much as they reinforced, soldiers were being ground up.

They couldn’t withdraw the soldiers either.

The more they invested, the more meaningless deaths increased.

Success was approaching right before their eyes.

Greta didn’t want his son to be there with a distorted face. Greta thought there was no need to make his son experience more of the battlefield’s tragedy. He was a man who would someday cultivate strength and inherit his position.

There was no reason to already cultivate compassion and trauma by showing him miserable losers.

“Bibs.”

So Greta called his son’s name after a long time. Bibs, who had been looking at the humans with eyes mixed with pity, was startled by his father’s call and ran over. The ghouls glanced at Bibs, but there was no one here who would give Bibs a disrespectful look in front of Greta.

“Father.”

Greta closed his eyes as he heard Bibs’s calling voice. He, who had been holding a demon stone in his hand and lost in thought for a moment, began to stroke Bibs’s head. Bibs, who had bowed his body deeply as if he had become a pet dog, said to Greta in a small voice:

“My thoughts still haven’t changed.”

“I know. But there’s no way to achieve it, right? I don’t think showing a discontented face to the soldiers here is the solution.”

Bibs bowed his head at Greta’s words. This was because there was no way to refute Greta’s words. Greta said:

“If we stop fighting here, do you think they will leave us alone?”

“Humans are a race that loves peace.”

Greta snorted. Books singing of peace existed among demons too. The emphasis on peace, love, and morality meant they felt the necessity of such things. Just as demon society was barbaric and worshipped strength, humans weren’t perfect beings either.

“It’s a delusion. Just because we enjoy drinking and dancing doesn’t mean we don’t have a cold side. When you look at things through a distorted lens, you can’t see the thorns embedded in the back and end up getting hurt.”

“Even if there’s an evil side, that’s not a reason they should die like this. What are we to pass such a harsh judgment on them?”

“Your words aren’t wrong either. But is there a way? Are you the Demon King?”

Bibs closed his mouth. In the end, this conversation always ended with Bibs’s dialogue. Because as Bibs was now, he couldn’t do more than whine to his father. Greta stroked Bibs’s head and said in a small voice:

“Bibs. The reason I brought you here was to elevate you by watching this father fight. But it seems I was mistaken. Engraving unnecessary idle thoughts in you was my mistake.”

“Father.”

Greta watched the hero. The hero was raising his body again. A demon behind Greta who was maintaining the machine shouted:

“Everything is ready!”

Smoke spewed from Greta’s body. Greta patted Bibs’s back and said:

“Both you and I are descendants of the renowned ancient dragon in the demon world. If there’s something you want to do, stop whining and find what you need to do yourself.”

The commander’s voice spread from the hero’s camp.

“All troops! Prepare for defense!”

Greta showed his teeth and said:

“Bibs! As a commander, I order! Return to the base immediately! And wait for the news of victory while thinking about what you should do!”

It was an order. The demon soldiers were eyeing him as if daring him to disobey. The demons managing the machine were also giving uncomfortable glances, wishing for him to disappear quickly. Greta didn’t look back at Bibs again.

Bibs turned his body weakly, and Greta’s voice shook the battlefield.

“All troops! Charge! This time, we will break their defensive line and advance towards the capital!”

“Waaaaaaa!”

A horse prepared for Bibs. This beast, brought from the demon world, was flashing its red eyes and chewing mud. Bibs drooped his shoulders and mounted the horse. The battlefield was getting farther away, and his heart was filled with troubled energy.

---

“Now we really have to go back.”

Lena said to me with a yawn.

I nodded with a dissatisfied face.

This was because we had been waiting for quite a long time but had no results. Initially, the plan was to attack the supply unit, then it changed to at least sweeping away some reinforcements before leaving, and when even that didn’t come, the plan changed again to at least killing a messenger before returning.

And meanwhile, the war was escalating into a fierce battle, and according to the news brought by the carrier pigeon, since they were supplying by tearing apart allied corpses, there was no need for a supply unit to come.

Lena waved the letter and expressed irritation.

“I mean, what are these guys who tear apart corpses? Why didn’t Kerberos tell us about them? Isn’t this betrayal?”

“I don’t fully trust Kerberos, a demon, either, but her repentant appearance that day seemed sincere. How about trusting her a bit more, Lena?”

Ashuria was feeding the carrier pigeon and leaning her body against the wall. Having heard that waiting here was futile, she had relaxed her vigilant state. Ashuria put the Bible in her pocket and said to me:

“Porter. What’s your opinion? The operation is canceled for now, but is there anything else we could gain in a different way?”

I shook my head. To begin with, this place was the very front line among the front lines. It was a dangerous place where we could receive concentrated fire if our location was exposed to the enemy, so if the operation had failed, the correct answer was to evacuate quickly.

“All other strongholds would have strict security, and if we make even a mistake, we could be captured as prisoners. I think it’s better to withdraw as quickly as possible.”

Ashuria nodded and then stroked the carrier pigeon’s head. She stood up and said:

“Then let’s…”

“Wait, someone’s coming.”

And pushing down on Ashuria’s head, Lena said. Ashuria, who had suddenly collapsed back to the ground, glared at Lena with a displeased expression, but seeing Lena’s serious face, she turned her gaze. A scholarly-looking demon was riding a horse from the direction of Greta’s camp, and about five soldiers were grumbling and chatting beside him.

“I know, why do you go against Greta-nim’s mood? Right? All the soldiers are crazy for fighting, and with talk of peace and whatnot, don’t say such things when you return home. You’ll really get in big trouble that way.”

“But what’s not right is not right. We need to talk with humans, find a compromise, and move forward on a new path. How much blood has been shed so far? The history of demons has been a history written in blood, so how much more blood must be spilled before our cruel history comes to an end?”

“That’s, why are you, the young master, trying to decide that? It’s this. Don’t you know the Demon King is gone mad because his third son passed away? If you misuse your mouth, combined with the Kerberos issue, your neck will fly.”

“I know… But this time when I return, I’m thinking of speaking directly to the Demon King.”

Lena, listening to that scholarly demon’s conversation, alternately glanced at me and Ashuria. Lena twirled her needle and asked:

“What should we do? Kill them all?”

“For now, doesn’t that scholarly one in the middle seem useful?”

I pointed at the demon riding the horse. Wearing luxurious clothes and seemingly overflowing with academic enthusiasm, he looked like someone with a dark interior at first glance. Ashuria nodded at my words.

“That seems good.”