Ch.157Pursuit (2)

# Pursuit (2)

“The Demon Lord’s army was planning to set out on the conquest without waiting for the Legion Commanders who left for the Abaddon conquest to return.”

Originally, the Legion Commanders who set out for the Abaddon conquest were not supposed to return to the Demon Lord’s army but were to prepare for any contingencies at nearby frontlines.

In other words, they didn’t place much importance on the Demon Lord’s castle itself. That’s why there was only one Legion Commander stationed at the castle.

A completely different attitude from the Imperial Emperor who lives and dies in the Imperial Palace. These people with nothing to lose could even abandon their main base.

“And now there are five Legion Commanders left. Since Eight is guarding the Demon Lord’s castle, we effectively only have to deal with four Legion Commanders.”

The remaining Legion Commanders are the 10th Legion Commander Ten, the 8th Legion Commander Eight, the 7th Legion Commander Seven.

And then the 1st Legion Commander First and the 2nd Legion Commander Second.

“The biggest threats here are the 1st and 2nd Legion Commanders. To be honest, the Demon Lord doesn’t seem like someone we can handle right now.”

Esmeralda readily admitted it.

When even dealing with Legion Commander First seemed overwhelming, how could they defeat the Demon Lord?

However, if they could just stop the Legion Commanders, her goal would be half accomplished.

“If the Demon Lord could solve everything alone, she would have done so long ago.”

The other Legion Commanders seemed to think differently, but Esmeralda knew.

The Demon Lord was certainly a monster. But she wasn’t the only monster.

“La•Pa should be able to tie down Demon Lord Belphegor.”

Even if they couldn’t win, they could at least hold out. If they could defeat the other Legion Commanders and join forces during that time.

Then they would have a chance.

After all, Esmeralda, who could inflict damage on transcendents, and Lug, who was still a celestial deity despite his fall, would be joining the fight.

“So we’ll move in a direction that eliminates the Legion Commanders as much as possible. The first target is Ten. The lowest-ranking Legion Commander currently.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean he’s an easy opponent. Even without Esmeralda, they had struggled to defeat just one Twelve.

They might have won smoothly, but they couldn’t overwhelm him.

Then Ten, who outranks him, would be even stronger.

“I hear he has an extremely arrogant personality. We can definitely use that as a weakness.”

“That’s true. He’s incredibly arrogant despite being just the 10th Legion Commander. That madman looked down even on me when I was the 3rd Legion Commander.”

Lacrima, who was actively cooperating with the hero party to capture Second, clicked her tongue as she spoke.

But Esmeralda felt alarmed by Lacrima’s words.

“…Then doesn’t that mean he has something hidden?”

Confidence that doesn’t yield even to Legion Commanders who outrank him.

Shouldn’t that be seen as having something up his sleeve rather than simple arrogance?

Even Eleven was like that. For Esmeralda, fighting Eleven was more difficult than fighting Six.

Of course, the situations were different, but there was something chilling about Eleven’s strength even now when she thought about it.

“No, that’s not it.”

But Twelve shook his head at Esmeralda’s concern.

He suddenly opened his mouth when he had been reluctant to speak properly as a prisoner. It would not be strange to be suspicious in this situation, but Esmeralda decided to listen first.

“He’s a vampire.”

“…Is that a racial characteristic of vampires?”

“No.”

Twelve seemed confident.

His demeanor was reminiscent of someone who becomes talkative when a topic they know well comes up.

“It’s because Legion Commander First is also a vampire.”

“…What does that have to do with anything?”

“The strongest being in the Demon Lord’s army, excluding the Demon Lord herself, is a vampire. So wouldn’t he, as a vampire himself, also have that potential?”

Eyes filled with some kind of ecstasy.

“…Such thoughts boost the confidence of someone who is otherwise unremarkable.”

“You seem to know this well?”

“N-No! I don’t mean that I was like that, I mean I know those types well!”

“Well… who said anything?”

What a gloomy way of thinking.

Seeing Twelve’s reaction like a thief caught red-handed, Esmeralda distanced herself while still kneeling.

Though her posture was uncomfortable, it was undoubtedly worth it.

“Then Legion Commander Eight. In some ways, it’s fortunate we don’t have to face him. Since he’s skilled at defense, I assume he was assigned to guard the Demon Lord’s castle.”

Legion Commander Eight.

That high-ranking demon called Anansi has the ability to create structures using spider webs while moving around on eight legs.

In other words, if he prepares in advance at his stronghold, even higher-ranking Legion Commanders would find it difficult to break through.

It’s fortunate that they don’t need to fight such a time-consuming opponent.

“Legion Commander Seven is said to be a doppelganger… but different from the doppelganger we knew.”

The most surprising point in this information gathering was Seven’s true identity.

He was known as a doppelganger to humans, and both Garnet and Twelve referred to him as such.

But Legion Commander Seven was literally a doppelganger, different from the commonly known concept.

Unlike the ability to mimic others’ appearances, they were rare high-ranking demons who created the phenomenon of literally having two identical people.

In other words, the two were twins.

And they could exchange their personalities and abilities with each other at any time.

Having one person with two abilities versus having two people with different abilities are completely different dimensions.

The value of this information was extraordinary.

Even within the Demon Lord’s army, very few people knew that the two were the same entity, and only the Demon Lord, Lilith, and Third, who inherently had the ability to deceive people, had figured it out—hence the difference in perception.

“The fact that they’re hiding one of them means their tactics are…”

Assassination.

In some ways, they could be the most troublesome opponents.

They are meticulous beings who have hidden their true identities until now. That means they have patience, and such enemies are most uncomfortable for the hero party.

Instead of charging head-on like before, using methods that catch them off guard is what the hero party has been doing.

Thinking about the enemy doing the same makes one’s blood run cold.

Right now, they have party members like Lug who are just baggage with only momentary firepower.

Even without that, the hero party was a team with specialized roles.

“Eirene and Millia. You two especially need to be careful.”

“That’s true… but I don’t think being careful will help much if an assassin infiltrates.”

“That’s…”

She’s right. If the assassin has higher base specs than individual hero party members, it’s game over once they’ve allowed them to infiltrate.

In other words, the basic prerequisite is to prevent the opponent from finding an opening.

“Tina.”

“Yeah, yeah… Well, it is my job.”

This is something that must be entirely entrusted to Tina with her good intuition.

Of course, they’re not just relying on Tina’s “intuition” alone. She was originally the scout in the hero party, an archaeologist… not a thief.

When it comes to keen observation, none of them can match her.

“Well, I’ll help too.”

And there’s also Lacrima.

Lacrima, who uses gestures, gazes, and breathing to deceive opponents, can instantly see through subtle changes in the surroundings.

Of course…

‘Whether she’s trustworthy remains to be seen.’

She understood Lacrima’s motivation.

But given the nature of that motivation, Esmeralda judged that she could betray them at any time.

Yet she allowed Lacrima to accompany them because she could handle her.

It was possible to accept her because Esmeralda had an extremely advantageous relationship with Lacrima.

‘Since she tends to overthink, I’ll quickly notice if she’s planning to betray us.’

Because Lacrima fights by assigning meaning to every gesture, gaze, and breath, she inevitably has many thoughts when taking action.

“There’s no need to talk separately about First and Second, right? If you meet them alone, you die, so just be careful not to get separated.”

Monsters that cannot be faced alone.

That’s why the hero party must not be scattered.

“Then let’s get going.”

“It’s late at night, so let’s depart in the morning. Even if we leave a bit earlier, we won’t make much progress in the middle of the night. So, Hero, you’ll have to continue your punishment until then.”

Esmeralda rose from her seat with a determined expression, but was immediately stopped by Eirene.

Having encountered the formidable opponent that was Esmeralda, Eirene was not letting her guard down.

***

“Your Majesty.”

“…”

“Your Majesty!”

“Huh?! Oh, yes. I wasn’t sleeping. What is it?”

Belphegor, who had been sleeping comfortably in the carriage, woke up with a start at Lilith’s voice.

“We’re approaching the human realm now.”

“And?”

“As expected, they’ve appeared.”

“Hmm.”

It seemed noisy outside, apparently they had entered battle.

Belphegor frowned at the dragon-like breathing sounds and flung open the carriage door.

As expected, lizards filled the sky.

“Currently, all twelve thousand have been observed, and the Legion Commanders have engaged in battle.”

“And?”

“Pardon?”

“Is that all?”

“…”

That was it.

Lilith broke into a cold sweat, wondering if she had missed something.

This was the first time her superior had questioned her like this. It was quite a difficult pressure to endure.

“Ah, I guess you wouldn’t know?”

Belphegor patted Lilith’s shoulder as she broke into a cold sweat, then walked out of the carriage.

Her movements were languid, making even onlookers feel lazy.

“But you should know.”

The twelve thousand weren’t a problem.

If they were the only enemies, Belphegor alone could defeat them.

However, she was aware.

An unidentified entity.

The being whose identity couldn’t be determined when it appeared through Twelve’s body in the past.

Although this was just intuition, Belphegor thought that entity must be the leader of the dragon race.

“See, I knew this would happen.”

“I thought you’d forgotten. You remembered quite well.”

The battle was taking place in the air. It’s an area where the dragon race, who can fly, naturally has the advantage.

But because of that, the demons weren’t paying attention to the ground below.

How could they look at the ground when the sky was completely covered?

Belphegor was ultimately able to spot an ordinary-looking woman hiding in the shade of a tree.

A plan that would have been a perfect surprise attack.

But because Belphegor remembered and was wary of her…

“That was your mistake.”

It led to La•Pa’s fatal error.