Chapter 89

For the most part, things were to be carried out just as I had suggested.
There were three Lesser Demon Kings in Leninoth’s country. Of course, one of them was Leninoth himself.

The problem was the other two.
There was Mujura the Great Hihi, and Totoir the Nosferatu.

Both of them were known to be very dangerous.
Mujura was an evolved Hihi, a baboon-like creature, but was several times stronger than the norm.

And the Hihi were already strong and vicious enough to be known as the savage kings of the forest.
They were said to have powerful arms and could attack with great speed. However, no one was sure about just how strong an evolved Hihi would be. But it was safe to say that they were incredibly powerful.

They were also known to have great endurance, and if he was indeed better than the Hihi in every way, I had much reason to despair.

As for Totoir, the Nosferatu were just as dangerous as the Vampires.

Unlike Vampires, who specialized in magic but were also capable with hand to hand combat, the Nosferatu only used magic. This made them tricky enemies for meatheads, such Ogres.

They were able to nullify most physical attacks. If we could only defeat them with magic, we would have to be careful when choosing soldiers to go against them.

“Of course, Leninoth is still the one we should really fear.”

After all, Lesser Demon King Leninoth had defeated both of them. That showed he did not have trouble fighting with magic or with weapons.

I myself had defeated a Taiga and Gigant Centaur. However, in such instances where someone challenged someone who was much stronger than them and won, a lot of it was because of luck.
Besides, defeat usually meant death.

When two who were of equal strength fought, someone would die at least half of the time.
There had to be a great difference in strength for the winner to make the loser a subordinate.

Making an enemy your servant was only possible if you could disable them both in body and spirit.
Only the strong had real power over life and death.

And so I could well imagine how overwhelmingly powerful Leninoth must be, as he had subjugated other Lesser Demon Kings.
I was starting to get really worried. Could we defeat him?

“Now, we will depart quietly.”

Currently, the whole country was preparing for war.
Soldiers and supplies moved from town to town. There was a tenseness in the air and it felt like we would be launching the invasion any moment now.

Of course, with preparations being made on such a scale, the other countries were likely to respond in some way.

And so we would leave quietly, so as not contribute to the chaos.
As this was a covert operation, I selected a smaller group to go with me.

Thirty Ogres and thirty Reapers. There were also some non-combatant Kobolds, making us a party of eighty in all.
Considering the battle ahead, this was the absolute limit.

We would stick out too much if there were more, and it would affect our chances of winning if there were less.
And so I had to accomplish the mission and return to the village safely with this lineup.

“Alright! I can’t wait to break some heads!”
“We won’t be fighting for awhile!”

I smashed Saifo in the head. He was getting way too ahead of himself.
I had already explained the plan to him many times, and yet it seemed like he didn’t remember it at all.

He was pretty reliable when it came to fighting, but Ogres had trouble understanding anything that was complicated.
I would have to be sure that he didn’t go off on his own while we were in enemy territory.

And so we marched down the town road until we were near the border of Demon King Janius’s country.

While Leninoth’s country was our destination, we would not march straight into it like a group of idiots.

We would go through our neighbor Janius’s lands.

Janius’s country was vast, and there were great stretches of uninhabited land.
My plan was to pass through Janius and Leninoth’s borders.

“Alright, all of you. Disguise yourselves.”

As we wanted to look like Totoir’s men, we all donned hoods and cloaks in order to resemble Night Demons and Wraiths.
Our faces would be hidden underneath tattered cloth.

Apparently, residents of the Demon World did not really employ such strategies.

And so from far away, we would be believable as a group of Wraiths…I think.
Regardless, it was like this that we moved through Janius’s lands.

If Janius’s soldiers happened to find us, we would have to quickly move into Leninoth’s territories. And so we kept close to the borders.

This meant that we had to travel on ground where there was no road.
But this was not really a problem for Ogres, who were ridiculously strong. And the Reapers were able to hover in the air.

“…Time for a break.”

But Kobolds tired very quickly.
And leaving them was not an option. It would actually inconvenience us greatly.
And so we ended up moving at their pace.

“I’ve just received a report from the scouts.”

Rig approached me as I was resting.
For a few days now, I had sent Kobolds out on their own to scout ahead.

“Since Demon King Janius and Demon King Gidman are in the middle of a war, that would put us on the opposite side of the battlefield. I doubt we’ll attract any attention as long as we keep our heads low, but they must still be careful with how they move.”

“I understand. I have made sure that they only confirm whether or not there are any villages or towns up ahead.”

Like this, we gathered information during the day and moved at a gentle pace.
And after making as much progress as we could, we would sleep from midnight to morning. That was how we marched.

As of yet, none of the Ogres looked particularly disgruntled with how things were going.
And I wasn’t worried about the Reapers, as they put a lot of weight into being orderly and following rules.

Perhaps it was because I had hammered it into the Ogres before leaving… Well, it was more the use of force. But I was sure that they would remain quiet.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be able to let loose as soon as we arrive at our destination.”

It was like dangling a carrot in front of a horse.
They would move straight until they could go berserk.

“So, there is no problem if we keep marching in this direction?”
“They were unable to discover anything as far as their eyes could see.”

According to the scouts, it was just more mountain ranges, and there was not a single village in sight.

“Well, we are near the border. No one would want to build a village in such a dangerous place.”
It just wasn’t convenient, even if they hadn’t been enemies.

And so the march continued to go smoother than expected.

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Makai Hongi