Chapter 101

Manticores are beasts with intelligence.
They are able to think and talk. That being said, they cannot control their instincts.

“That wasn’t so much a fight, as a hunt.”

It was quite obvious to me, now that we had switched places again.
He fought just like a hunter.
Running towards his prey, chasing and then trapping.

I hadn’t realized that he was capable of such things… Such rude thoughts had come to my mind.

“Damn it…he’s changed.”
Was he watching me every day and being influenced?

As he had not been able to overwhelm the Manticore with his mana level, he was not able to deal the fatal blow, no matter how many attacks he got in.
Continuing the fight any longer was bound to attract others. Either that, or the Manticore would escape.

And so he purposely left an opening, allowing the Manticore to launch a counterattack.
The Manticore got carried away then, and lunged forward. But that’s when the other me ran.
It was nicely done.

The Manticore’s instinct demanded that he chase any fleeing prey.
And so it charged forward without thinking. That’s when he suddenly turned around and attacked.

The counter landed beautifully.
After that, he did not slow down his attacks until it was dead.

But even when the battle was over, the explosion of violent power had not settled.
The scene that followed was so gruesome that even the surrounding Ogres looked disgusted.

“The thing no longer retained its original shape…ughhhh…”

The memory flashed in my mind.
Hopefully, he would do things a little more gracefully next time.

And so we had killed an enemy boss. But what were the others doing…

“Golan. We finished over here as well.”
Beka said as she waved a hand.

“Don’t be lazy! Wave with your own hand!”
Not with a hand you picked up off of the ground.

“They got a few of us. Others can’t move. What should we do?”
“Do a roll call, Saifo. We’ll carry the wounded. Judging by how the battle is going, I doubt they’ll send a second wave. We can watch from here.”

Both armies were already fighting at full force.
Apparently, Fara’s army had already been cautious, due to Leninoth’s army appearing near the border first.

And then we had just popped up out of nowhere. Something like that.
But we had been moving through Demon King Janius’s lands, so we had no idea what was happening in Leninoth’s territory.
Staying hidden had been the only thing on our minds, but I should have considered the possibility that the army was already moving.

“It’s no wonder Fara sent an army out. A place they had been watching warily was attacked.”
That was probably why Fara’s army, that had been gathered at the town, had been able to appear so quickly.

Without planning it, it seemed that we had guided the two armies together.

In any case, I had not expected Leninoth and Fara to clash this quickly.
And I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

If this fight didn’t end in a draw, and one country was defeated, the surrounding countries ruled by Lesser Demon Kings would soon follow.

If that happened, there was no stopping the birth of a new Demon King.
It would mean that we had worked so hard only to create a powerful enemy. So, what would happen?

The battle seemed to have entered its final phase.
Both armies could not afford to spare any soldiers to deal with us. In fact, I was starting to wonder if the Manticore was a Commander.

It certainly had the strength of one. Was killing it really a good idea? Maybe we had affected the balance too much.

“How long do we have to watch this?”

“We could just leave now, but since they are fighting on a flat field, the soldiers are scattered. We should wait a little longer.”

We were about two kilometers away from Totoir’s army.
And since it was flat land, there were no obstacles between us.

What would I have done had I more men?
Would I launch an attack on Totoir’s main army? Of course, not. We would die.

“Golan. They seem to be moving.”

Totoir’s army was moving. Well, half of them.
I didn’t know if they were Demi-humans or Giants, but they were moving away from the others. It seemed like they had been saved for this moment, so they were likely exceptionally strong.

As we continued to watch, they started to dash towards the part of the battlefield that was the most vicious.

“Those soldiers won’t survive that charge.”
Reinforcements were arriving where both sides were exhausted. It wasn’t something that could be stopped.

Would he make it their base, so they would have the advantage? Or would that be a foothold?
Regardless, it was clear that Totoir was moving in for the kill. They would not be looking towards us.

“Alright, we’ll pull out.”

I wanted to cut through Leninoth’s land and return home, but I felt that we might attract attention.

We would just leave the country at a random point and find a safe route, no matter how long, and return.
I was worried about General Farneze, and wanted to get back as soon as possible.

“Be careful that you don’t draw attention. Keep your heads low and move slowly. Don’t you dare run.”

I had brought my best men with me, and there were casualties. Only about half of us got away with light wounds.

“Now, it’s time to retreat. But as for our mission…the results seem to point to great success.”

Now there was great tension at the border between Fara and Leninoth.
There were never any peace treaties here, so they will always have to have an army protecting the borders.
We did good work.

After moving back for a few hundred meters, we turned on our heels and escaped from the battlefield.

While I looked over my shoulder many times, no one came after us.

Since we had been seen by both Fara and Leninoth’s armies, we decided against going straight back to our country.

And because we had stuck close to Leninoth and Janius’s borders on the way there, we decided to go in the opposite direction on the way back. Through Great Demon King Darm’s country.

“Maybe we can get a look at the other Lesser Demon Kings too.”

We went through Darm’s country and then passed through Lesser Demon King Kurulu and Lesser Demon King Rous’s countries.
In the end, it took us fifteen days to return home.

A most unexpected situation awaited us there.

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Makai Hongi