Chapter 48: Active

 

Caw, caw.

A countless number of crows adorned the sky.

Each of the giant demons, each with a body that was more than 2m tall, flew through the sky, mocking the bewildered humans below.

“Your Majesty, what should we do now?”

“We will fool the humans again and again and again.”

Malphas flew at the front of the flight line and pointed to the south where the human cities were.

“If we just fly stupidly, we will definitely be intercepted. In this case, we will use the Demon King’s exclusive skill.”

“D-Demon King’s…!”

The eyes of the subordinate crows sparkled.

Looking at the envious eyes of his subordinates, Malphas felt proud but also faint.

“It was 500 years ago, when the Demon King took over the old Demon King’s castle… the royal castle of a certain kingdom. The Demon King-”

“Commander! The humans are attacking from below!!”

“What!!”

WHISTLE!

Flames filled with magical power shot up from the ground into the sky.

“This blasphemous one!”

Malphas immediately spread his wings and flew, swatting away the fireball with his wings.

WHACK!

As if slapping someone in the face, he simply slapped them with his wings, but the fireball exploded without even spreading its flames to the sides.

“You dare speak of the Demon King’s achievements, and attack him… I cannot forgive you. Everyone, maintain your formation and fly south!”

“Führer! The humans below are…?!”

“I will take care of them!”

Malphas folded his wings and fell down.

The speed at which he fell from the sky was faster than the humans could keep track of with their eyes, and Malphas appeared in front of the humans in an instant.

“…..Really.”

Black hair, red eyes. Except for the fact that he had crow’s wings on his back, Malphas looked like a noble prince from the Demon World.

“How rude.”

“What are you?!”

“Führer of Deception. The thirty-eighth. Commander of the Normandy Occupation Forces, affiliated with Acedia. Malphas.”

“What, what…?”

“Is that enough introductions?”

“This, this punk!!”

The adventurers who had hurriedly followed the procession of birds aimed their weapons at Malphas, who had landed as if blocking their path.

“Die!!”

Thudududu.

The guns and magic wands the adventurers aimed emitted magical power.

The sharp magic bullets and magic arrows instantly attacked Malphas.

“Weak.”

Flutter-!

“Black whirlwind.”

Malphas flapped the wings behind him once.

Then a black gust of wind swept from his wings, repelling all the attacks flying toward Malphas.

“T, what is this…?”

“Is that all you did to stop our advance?”

“This punk! Take your time-”

Clink.

The adventurer pulled the trigger. However, the magic bullet did not advance.

“T, what is this…?”

There was something black stuck in the muzzle of the adventurer’s gun. The adventurer shut his mouth tightly as a black feather entered the muzzle hole.

“I don’t like guns. Technological advancement is certainly a good thing, but back then, there was the romance of fighting with only swords, magic, and arrows.”

If that had been pierced into the eye, neck, or heart, the adventurer would have died.

“You rely on guns and such, which is why you’re weak. It seems that the humans of the past who fought risking their lives were stronger.”

“Hey, you punk!”

“Shhh.”

Crunch.

As the feather fluttered, the humans fell to the ground. Malphas turned around, leaving the unconscious humans behind.

“Tsk. I want to kill them, but I have to hold back.”

Malphas felt truly sorry.

“Well, the more living humans there are, the better. Hehe.”

Malphas flew into the sky again.

Perhaps because he had released his power, he transformed into a black crow several meters long and stopped at the castle wall in the distance.

“Is that Normandy?”

“Chief. Over there, the humans are targeting us one by one from the wall. What should we do?”

“Hmm. It won’t be easy to get over the wall….Spread out.”

As soon as Malphas finished speaking, magic bullets began to rain down from the wall.

“Magic anti-aircraft guns. Tsk tsk, technology, really… No, stop. This is no time to be lost in old sentiments.”

 

Malphas raised his hand high.

“I command all legions. Break through the enemy’s fire and attack. We will…”

Flash.

Malphas glared south.

“Attack.”

A legion of crows in their tens of thousands.

A large-scale air raid has begun.

Aaaah.

Emergency alarms began to sound throughout Normans.

We hurriedly prepared our equipment and rushed out of our sleep, and watched the soldiers of Normans moving busily to assess the situation.

“Hey, Master. What is this?”

“..Hmm.”

Something. I shouldn’t laugh, but I do.

“Yes, this is it.”

A situation that brought chaos to a peaceful human village.

It was as if the Demon King’s army was supposed to come tomorrow, but they arrived a day earlier, or they didn’t arrive on the same day but arrived three days later when security was relaxed.

So, rather than the humans who were extremely alert, the Demon King’s army dealt with the humans who were relatively in poor condition.

“It seems like there’s something wrong with the dimensional gate.”

“Is it a dimensional gate?”

“Yes. If I were to guess…”

“Emergency!! The dimensional gate has opened! The enemies are coming!!”

As expected. I cheered inwardly.

“The demons are flying through the sky!”

“What?! Damn it, then we can’t stop the dimensional gate!”

“First, evacuate the people!! Damn it, what the hell is this bolt from the blue!”

“This is what the Demon King’s army should be like! Is this what kind of chivalry is the Demon King’s army? Does the Demon King’s army declare war and follow continental law? The essence of the Demon King’s army is to defeat the enemy viciously. Acedia is a descendant of the Demon King’s army.”

Although it has flaws, it hasn’t lost its roots.

I definitely wanted to give a reward to the leader of the Normandy raiding force who threw Normandy into chaos.

I would really praise the plan to throw the enemy into chaos.

However, what if they only throw them into chaos and fail to occupy Normandy?

It’s meaningless. Will the raiders be able to occupy Normans? Even where the “Hero of Fire” is?

“The raid suddenly started a day early.”

“Master, we…”

“Right now, we don’t have an assigned area. We were originally going to raid right in front of the lake. We have three paths.”

One. Run away. Two. Hide. Three. Fight back.

“Lucius. What do you want to do?”

“…I will save the people.”

Four. Lucius chose “salvation” over running, hiding, or confrontation.

“The people here in Normans are in a panic right now. Although I don’t know if my power will help… I want to do what I can.”

“Yes, that’s the will.”

I patted Lucius on the back with my hand.

“Why do we need a grand reason for saving people? Let’s go!”

“Yes! But Master, where are we going…?”

As I was about to run away, Lucius was very flustered.

“That’s… the South Gate, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“The portal opened at the north gate…?”

“So we’re going to the south gate.”

The Demon King’s Army’s specialty. A diversionary tactic.

Tactics aren’t always about gaining just one advantage. The real one is somewhere else.

“Should I explain as we go, or do you want to listen and then move?”

“I’ll listen as I go!”

Fortunately, Lucius and Rosemath followed me without a moment’s hesitation in my direction.

“How sincere.”

In the past, when I infiltrated the warrior party as a sage and brought them along, they talked about common sense and told me to fight, but I ended up missing the golden time while explaining to them.

“It’s a tactic called the Seongdonggyeokseo.”

“That’s… What?”

“To put it bluntly, it’s a backstabbing.”

But now it’s different.

“If a large-scale demon comes down from the north, the south will naturally be empty. They opened a large-scale dimensional gate, so surely they wouldn’t make any preparations for other places?”

“Really…?”

“What if they don’t prepare…”

Rosemath cautiously challenged my thoughts.

“If they are much more stupid than the witch thinks and don’t knock on the south gate…?”

At that time…

I stretched out my arms and moved my fingers as if I was circling my arms in a big circle.

“We’ll go around the castle walls and head north. To capture the leader.”

Both of their reactions were strange for some reason.

However, if there were enemies in the south, then they would have faith and trust in me and move in earnest.

“Ugh!!”

“Save me!!”

“The monsters are coming!!”

The south was already in chaos.

The gatekeeper who was supposed to guard the castle gate had a hard time opening it, and it was crowded with people trying to escape in a hurry.

“Can’t you see the hole? Then we have no choice but to go over the castle walls.”

“Master, with this much lightning…”

“Let’s go up the castle walls first.”

I took the two of them and climbed up the castle walls.

The guards who had climbed up before us glared at us as if asking where we were going, but soon they shut their mouths when they saw our equipment.

Adventurers who came to the southern gate.

You won’t understand why they came to the southern gate.

There’s no one else but us.

“Where is the captain of the guard here?!”

I hurriedly looked for the person in charge.

A man from among the soldiers soon approached me.

“What’s going on, in this situation?”

“Do you have a magic detector?!”

“Why is that?!”

“Hey, I feel a strange energy from the south…”

“What’s that….”

This is just an alibi.

There’s no strange energy from the south at all, but it’s just to prepare for when something bothersome happens later.

“Don’t open the gate!”

“What’s that all of a sudden…”

Clang.

The gate finally opened.

I thought the soldiers had opened it, but civilians who were trying to escape the crows’ air raids opened the gate and started to come out.

I clearly told you not to open the gate. Later. If someone asks why we were in the south instead of the north, those who are arguing with me on this wall will testify that ‘my intuition’ told me so.

If I were the leader of the demon tribe and commanding the army. If I were aiming for the north, of course the fugitives would escape to the south.

If I were leading the demon army. Without fail.

I would target the civilians first.

I won’t kill them, though.

“Ah, over there, over there!!”

The footsteps of those who escaped outside became strange.

One by one, they began to struggle and kick the ground.

“What is that…?”

A large swamp.

Earth magic that turns the ground into a swamp, planting humans in the ground, and capturing them later…

As expected.

Capturing humans is Acedia’s purpose.

Just like when I summoned Belphegor.

What are you trying to do by capturing people, Acedia?

“Master! Over there!”

“____!!”

Kuoooooo!!

The dirt splashed up like a tornado.

And there.

“Wow, really…”

There was a toothless sandworm.

Attacking the north gate.

Humans fleeing through the south gate.

Capturing the humans and eating them with sandworms and transporting them.

Although Acedia, its leader Zephael, is a beggar, she is truly the successor to my Demon King’s army.

It’s my tactic.

Seeing my tactic still working, tears welled up in my eyes for no reason.

“Master… is crying…”