Chapter 170

The enemy that appeared seemed to equal us in number.
However, in the Demon World, the strength of an individual counted for a lot.

With that considered, we were definitely at a disadvantage.
“Do you think that General Miralda will notice?”
If she does, she might come to our aid.

I asked Dyle with this last shred of hope.
“The General has Eagle Dragons with her, and they fight in the sky. They should be able to see us…”

I looked towards the battlefield.
I could see shadows plunging towards the ground over and over again. So those were the Eagle Dragons.

Apparently, they had the bodies and faces of eagles, but their wings were those of bats. A Chimera-like race, but they were apparently still a type of Dragon.

They were incredibly vicious, and it had taken a long time for the General to recruit them. That was how difficult they were to handle.
Dragons were thought to be wise and mild-mannered, due to how long they lived. However, it was not true for all of them, as could be seen by the more ferocious Eagle Dragons and Bì’àns.

In fact, the General herself was not as composed as you might think.
Dragons could be quick to anger. It was common knowledge.
Personally, I felt like I had been deceived.

Well, if these Eagle Dragons were even a little calm, then they should notice what was happening to us and tell the General.

“Is it likely?”
“I don’t know.”
That was not promising.

The enemy that appeared in front of us were those who had been hiding in the forest.
I was just glad that there were no large races.
So many in the Demon World were built like boulders of muscle. And the bigger they were, the more dangerous.

“Well, there’s no turning back now. We have to fight.”
I accepted my fate.

Who knew if the General would really come. The enemy was both in front and behind us.
Nothing would be resolved if we just stood here and hesitated.

“Alright, all of you! Let’s charge!”
“Arrghhhh!”

There were no fences or trenches here.

And so the battle began on flat ground.

There was no need for us to win. We just had to fight to the death.
On the other hand, the enemy came at us with the intention of crushing us.

“Arrghhhh!!”

They probably thought that we would fight defensively. However, we weren’t made up of such passive soldiers.

We would strike back just as hard.

For a while after the battle started, it seemed like a stalemate, but things suddenly started to move.

This was because the Reapers darted out and plunged into the enemy formation.
While they were considered to be of the high-ranking races, this was still reckless.

But it was as I was thinking this, that the enemy soldiers began to drop one after another.
“Could it be… ‘One-hit Kill’?”

Yes, it was definitely their special ability.
However, while it was quite effective on those below you in rank, the success rate dropped dramatically against stronger opponents.
But when I looked closely, I saw that they had more mana than before.

Even their faces seemed tougher than before.
Had something happened during their training that I had missed up until now?

It wasn’t just the Reapers.
Even those spoiled Vampires. They were killing enemies at a surprising pace.

They were also among the high-ranking races. The elite, even. They came from good families.
However, they were practically shut-ins. How were they able to fight so well now?

“…I’ll have to ask them about their training later.”
It was a pleasant surprise, but also hard to believe that someone could change so much.

“How fun!”

Beka shouted as she snapped another enemy soldier’s arm.
However, the idiot siblings were at least consistent. She happily continued to neutralize the enemy.

In a way, Beka was the only one who was following General Miralda’s words by the letter.
She was tearing them apart with her teeth.

In most cases, the fate of the enemy after having their limbs broken, was being crushed by a nearby Ogre.

“Hahaaa!”

The brother held his metal rod with both hands and swung it in circles.
Saifo had already had enough mana to be a Commander, but he had grown even more.

“Now that I think about it, we are actually holding our own against a Demon King’s army here.”
Even though we were still fighting, I couldn’t help but make this observation with a feeling of awe.

On the other hand, you could say that this was the result of the ‘hands-off policy’ that their superior had back in our country…they really had been left to their own devices.

It was true that education cost a lot of time and money.
No one was fanciful enough to want to train the new recruits that kept appearing. No one had the time.
And yet what I was seeing before me now was proof that just a little effort could bring forth great results.

“Alright, keep pushing them back!”

The others were also putting up a good fight.
Of course, that included Dyle. The Rock Lions were on a different level when it came to combat ability.

Not only that, but it seemed like stealth had been prioritized when sending soldiers to hide in the forest, and most of them were on the small side.
And so we were able to deal with them.

“Is there any sign of the General’s army returning?”
I asked Dyle. But his answer was simply, ‘no.’

“Surely…she hasn’t gotten so carried away that she’s forgotten all about us?”
“I doubt that. After all, she hasn’t returned to her real form.”

And by that, he meant the form she had taken when breaking through the barrier.
A gigantic, beautiful dragon.

“Now that I think about it, why doesn’t the General fight as a dragon?”
You would think she would be much stronger.

“Because she would hurt her own men as well as the enemy.”
“Oh…”

“That was how my older brother was gravely wounded. He wasn’t even that close to the battlefield, but the tip of a dragon’s tail sent him into the air for a few hundred meters.”

It was hard to imagine what kind of power was necessary to throw a Rock Lion that far.
However, I now understood why transforming could be so dangerous.

The enemy General had not shown himself yet.
Perhaps there was a reason that he could not fight in the current situation.

“It shouldn’t take long for the enemy to notice us.”

As the General had split the enemy army into two, they were now very close to us.
It was possible that they would be targeted soon.

But that would mean turning their backs to the General.
It made me wonder if she was purposely using us as bait.

“Don’t bother with all that. Keep pushing. They’ll surround you if you stop.”
“I understand.”
Dyle shouted at me. I had stopped to think for a second.
Yes, I needed to concentrate on what was in front of me.

Things had been going well for us, but it was here that the tide shifted once again.

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Makai Hongi