Chapter 239

After hearing the details of General Farneze’s plan, I was starting to think, ‘well…it might just…work?’

Even though I considered the difference in fighting force, it seemed like something that could be realized. It was the kind of impressive plan that you would expect from a tactician.

“However, this really reminds me of the Battle of Okehazama.”
The ambush of a small army. Well, it was more realistic than a great, decisive battle.

“I’m sorry, Golan. But Felicia felt that this was the plan that had the highest chance of success.”

So there were also other plans. But if this was the one with the highest chance of succeeding, I didn’t even want to hear about the others.

(What plan would I have thought of…?)
I tried thinking about it.

How to fight against an enemy that had superior numbers and stronger individuals.
I would probably just surrender.

Of course, Melvis would kill all of us if we did that.

“Now that I think about it, why doesn’t King Melvis just go out himself?”
This enemy was Lesser Demon King Kyuka.

Why couldn’t we just have the two chiefs fight it out?
“I don’t mind. So long as you’re willing to pull King Melvis out onto the battlefield, Golan.”

“…”
No way.

—I know you’ve just woken up from a long sleep, but can you come out and fight?

Yes, if I asked him to do that, I would be turned to ash in an instant.
Maybe it was because I just heard all of the bad rumors, but I had the impression that he did not care at all about what people said to him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll do everything that I can to support you.”
“Hah…”

It wasn’t the lack of support that was harsh. It was that the key to this plan succeeding depended on me being able fight in a stalemate with the enemy leader.
If I happened to die in the first second, then everyone else would be killed as well.

“We have a rough idea of the size of Kyuka’s army, and we’re looking into its exact location. We’ll move as soon as we know.”
“…Understood.”

I had agreed to the plan as well.
And so I had to accept my fate.

…That’s what I thought. But Kyuka’s army. They had set up a camp and surrounded themselves in defenses. In spite of having the superior numbers.

According to the aerial scouts, there were two defensive layers surrounding the entire army.
The enemy also knew that we were camped here.

And yet they would not come out.

“Well, it must be that they are…cautious?”
“Perhaps it’s because of King Melvis.”

Yes, they seemed almost too cautious.
Maybe they were right to be.

Kyuka had attacked the castle and had barely escaped with his life while the rest of his team were annihilated.
He would have been very close to death.

“Is there anyone besides Kyuka that we need to be wary of?”

General Farneze had fought against this army while Kyuka was gone.

“I don’t know their names, but there are five who are especially dangerous. But that just means that if we can deal with them, we have a good chance of winning.”

When Felicia had been planning this, she had decided that no matter how hard we tried, it would not be possible to defeat Kyuka in one move.

And so we decided to eliminate the powerful enemies first, and then come back, surround and beat him to death.
As long as they had the advantage in quality and quantity, there was never going to be a convenient strategy that made everything easy.

And so the ones we focused on were the five who were of the General class.

“So there are five dangerous ones.”
We didn’t have five of those.

The assault team would be composed of Vampires.
Because they could fly and reach the enemy camp quickly.

“We would like to destroy all five at once, but some of them are likely near the frontlines and giving out orders. So there will only be two or three close to Kyuka.”

“I see. Yes, that’s true.”
If they were of the General class, then they would be commanding the soldiers.

“The person you need to be the most wary of is Juna, who was once Lesser Demon King Fara’s General.”
“That name is familiar to me. A War Basilisk?”

“That’s right. And it’s not possible to dodge their petrifying breath.”
And the enemy had one of these guys.

War Basilisks looked a lot like those old tyrannosauruses.
Not a modern T-rex that balanced with its tail, but the kind that stood on just two feet.

And they breathed a gas that turned you into stone.

Some races had a stronger resistance to it than others.

What made them dangerous, is that once the gas started spreading, it affected both friends and foes alike.
But since it wasn’t magic, I would have some resistance to it. Though I would likely only last for about ten seconds if I was still an Ogre.

My guess was that with the current me, it would only restrict my movement a little.
I suppose Juna had joined Kyuka after Fara’s death.

“Yes, that sounds bad.”
While people who had status attacks were tricky to use, they could be more dangerous than anyone once they were free to do whatever they wanted.

“But once we get rid of his entourage, the next fight will be a lot easier. It’s the crucial moment.”
“Yes.”

The saving grace was that Kyuka’s forces had expanded so rapidly that he didn’t have too many powerful subordinates.
There was no one whose strength was close to his.

And so General Farneze had a good chance of being able to beat the others.
Of course, it still depended on whether I could buy them enough time by stopping Kyuka…

Well, as long as I didn’t have to kill him, I should be able to manage.
I have fought against superiors many times now. And some were much more hopeless than this one. So perhaps it was really nothing? I wasn’t quite sure.

“The problem is that they won’t come out. Perhaps we should try and provoke him?”
The General was starting to talk like a meathead.

We were a small group. How crazy was she?

“I think we should just wait for the enemy to come out.”
If things suddenly moved and it turned into an all out battle, we would lose very quickly.

The very idea of Kyuka going berserk in the middle of our army…it was horrifying.

“That being said…”
The General was impatient to finish this once and for all.

Like that, we had scouts monitor Kyuka’s camp for five days.
There was no movement.

In the meantime, the General and I discussed why we thought that Kyuka was not moving.

“Ultimately, I think he’s scared that King Melvis is actually with us.”
“Maybe, that’s it.”

Kyuka had locked himself up and would not come out.
Perhaps he suspected that Melvis had come to get his revenge.

“But surely Melvis would not be waiting here patiently.”
Melvis would have gone out and annihilated his enemies.

The fact that Kyuka didn’t know this proved that he was still a young Lesser Demon King.

Five more days passed after that. Still, Kyuka’s army did not stir.
On the other hand, there was movement on our side.

That is, Rig and the others had returned from Demon King Tralzard’s lands.
This would help our work greatly. Well, my work.

Next Chapter

Makai Hongi