Chapter 52 - Volume 4
Volume 4, Chapter 3: I became a Fourth-Grader, Part 3
“What’s going on……?”
In a giant tent in the Forest of Monsters, Black Princess Killian was biting her black claws in frustration.
Half a year ago, the whole of the Daemon King’s army began to prepare after the Daemon King had made his proclamation.
Some of them objected to the reckless strategy, but most of them couldn’t bear the terror of the 【Demon Beast】, and gladly prepared to flee the Daemon territory.
Even though the Daemon King’s army was called an ‘army,’ it was more like a group of rampaging monsters in reality.
As expected, the main forces of the three states grouped up and moved out together, deployed early in the New Year, three months after the declaration of war. As for the others, the local lords and various tribal chieftains of the various regions took their hundreds and thousands of men and headed towards the human nations on their own.
A month after passing through the [Forest of Monsters], they thought that the scout troops would have come into contact with the humans……… but there had still been no results.
Even the battle reports never came, and none of the scout units’ locations were known. While a few traces of battle and dozens of dead bodies were found, about 200,000 troopers had simply just disappeared.
The Daemons prided themselves upon their strength; hence they didn’t pay serious attention to it. At most, it merely resulted in laughter that they didn’t get to have any of the prey at all.
The Daemon Lord that was the most familiar with the Forest of Monsters, Black Princess Killian, promptly advanced the main force, built up a base and started an invasion… But, there weren’t any battle reports from any of their units, and the Forest of Monsters was strangely quiet, as if frightened by something.
“……Could I be, has the Hero has come?”
The one passed down through the Daemons’ legends, the natural enemy of Daemon kind. A human butcher.
However, only those who had received the [Blessings of the Light] were true heroes, and that type of hero, unless an [Evil] powerful enough to destroy nations came, would not appear in human society, it simply couldn’t appear.
“………What’s happening?”
As Killian lost her patience, her black snakelike lower half uncoiled, smashing one of the furnishings brought from the Daemon territory to smithereens, and the terrified maids drew back.
“I will be heading out personally…… tell everyone!”
“Ye-yes!”
Black Princess Killian’s forces were composed of: 270,000 Daemons who had thick monster blood, 320,000 Intelligent Magic Beasts, and with a 150,000-strong Beast-rider cavalry, it was an army totaling 740,000.
From them, 250,000 of the more fleet-footed ones would advance together under the command of the Black Princess.
Without using the forest roads, in the face of the undulating terrain of the forest, they seemed like a tsunami rushing forth swallowing up the forest.
Normally, Killian would never have taken such rash actions.
Her usual style of combat would be to set up a trap and wait for prey to fall into it while she drank her time away.
But another, more serious, problem was approaching than merely not knowing the identity of their enemy.
It’s been several months since they started invading from the Daemon territory… The food that they’d brought was starting to run out, so were the lower-class monsters and animals that they’d hunted. If the situation stagnated any further, the Daemons might start cannibalizing each other.
“Everyone charge! Charge until you’ve either reached a human dwelling or I allow you.”
Before anyone knew it, Black Princess Killian was riding at the front of the army, carried by a beast chariot pulled by four huge snakes.
“……!?”
Feeling a chilling sense of dread, the four serpents stopped moving.
Although they only felt it for a moment, and while most of the soldiers didn’t understand what they’d felt, the intelligent monsters and the feral magic beasts of the cavalry felt something of the presence’s true nature by instinct, and the whole troop stopped moving spontaneously.
The riders urged their mounts, but the mounts and beasts didn’t move.
Within, Black Princess Killian realized that it was an aura of [Killing Intent] with an extreme range, and she glared into the depths of the dark forest as cold sweat ran down her back.
“Who are you…? Show yourself before thou!!”
Due to her pride as a Daemon Lord, Killian raised her voice, and thrust out her own [Calming Intent] towards the depths of the forest.
“………”
When she felt the [Killing Intent] only subside slightly and her subordinates continued to stay silent, Killian began to bare her teeth and radiate bloodlust.
Up until now, nobody had been able to ward off her Killing Intent and still produce this level of Killing Intent other than the [Daemon King].
Who lay beyond? She didn’t think that someone else of Daemon King Hebrad’s level existed, although she strengthened her caution given that it might be a [Hero] or [Saint]-level existence.
As the killing intent of the Black Princess dispersed, a few of the mount beasts foamed at the mouth and began to collapse… a small humanoid emerged as if cut out from the depths of the forest.
It was a beautiful young lady with curly, gently-fluttering golden hair.
Dressed in the high quality clothes of a human aristocrat’s maid, she walked quietly with her hands in front of her, and seemed like either a noble or a lady-in-waiting of the royal family.
Although she looked horribly out of place, her iron expression and icy eyes told them that the girl wasn’t just a simple human.
“……Who are you?”
Pulling back her bloodlust, Killian’s voice was held up with the dignity of a ruler, and the girl picked up the hem of her skirts without hesitation, and lowered her waist in a curtsey.
“I, am one of the attendants of the noble [Princess], 【Gorgon】 Tina.”
At those irreverent words, a surge of anger and bloodlust came from Killian’s admirers.
To remain unfazed even in front of an army of over several hundred thousand, and on the contrary, declaring that she served someone who was a greater[ Princess] in front of the [Black Princess], everyone was shocked and some even doubted whether she was sane.
“…Gorgon…? I’ve never heard of such a word… is that your official position?”
Hearing such a strange word for the first time, Killian continued to try collecting information the enemy that they couldn’t afford to relax their guards against, and continued the conversation without foolishly exerting her killing intent.
“It’s just the name of my race.”
“……Hohooh, so does that mean that you’re not [Human]…?”
Tina didn’t answer Killian’s question, but merely returned an elegant smile. At that creepy smile that lacked any sense of kindness, Killian felt the atmosphere was like swallowing a lump of lead.
The sheer pressure of her appearance, a creepily beautiful young woman that looked exactly like a real human being was unnerving.
Although there were Daemons that looked like humans too, this felt like a completely different existence from them.
There was also the matter of that [Killing Intent] just now. Could such a small girl release such an overwhelming Killing Intent…? That there was a large crowd behind the girl, and hearing that there was the [Princess] there, she was convinced that the rest of them had been intimidated by that horde behind the girl.
But… that wasn’t it.
If there was an army sizable enough to make one feel such a level of Killing Intent, there was no way that they wouldn’t have perceived their existence.
If… If this girl wasn’t just an envoy of the battle ahead, but really had come here alone…
What kind of [Monster] was she to produce this level of Killing Intent…?
It’s impossible. Thinking about it, Killian lost the mood to continue the conversation with that insolent young girl, and looked down at her as she uttered just one word.
“……Kill.”
As she spoke, several soldiers behind Killian leapt out soundlessly.
A wolf man, a girl with wings for arms, a one-eyed giant, and a horned man with scaled skin:
They who were called monsters, unlike the beast-men, attacked the girl who had made a fool of their Lord together.
*Gagon…*
“………!”
Killian was thrown into a state of shock, and gasped in spite of herself.
The four fiercest of her bodyguard that had served her for many years, had become [Stone Statues] in an instant and fell to the earth while maintaining their momentum, rolling away.
[Petrification] was rare, but it wasn’t her first time seeing it.
Apart from the portion of Daemons that would have their flesh and magical power slowly harden because of [Disease], the cases of [Petrification] were all because of magic crystallizing the impurities within the body, or cases where they were trapped within a stone-like material and then hardened.
However, it was impossible to do any of them in an instant, and it was mostly commonly seen as a trap or a form of torture in places where one was trapped and unable to run away, it was a magic that didn’t kill.
But…
There wasn’t a single sign of [Life] from the four bodyguards. They had been killed in an instant.
“…Kill her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Killian shouted out with all her strength.
In order to release the petrification, they either had to perform rituals of Holy Magic or kill the caster.
It also had to be done within a few hours to preserve the lives of the victims, and although they were already dead, Killian still couldn’t help but shout it.
If it had been Hebrad or Geas, they might have been able to respond a little more calmly, but for the trap-loving, always-victorious Killian, this was too much to bear.
An unknown magic… an unknown existence… Not knowing was more terrifying than anything.
“Well then, I shall begin the extermination.”
An indifferent voice came from beside her.
“…!?”
Killian instantly leapt back and shook her giant snake tail. The blow that would have sent an elephant flying, was stopped by Tina’s tiny hands, and half of it was cut off.
“GyaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
As the Black Princess screamed, the dumbfounded soldiers struck Tina all together.
“………”
Tina gazed at the 5 metre long snake tail, and then threw it behind her into the depths of the forest, tearing into the hundreds of Daemons around her with the golden snakes.
As they choked on their own blood in their death throes, the curly golden hair turned into countless snakes, and as Tina put on a devilish smile, the soldiers’ faces cramped in fear.
Wherein Tina was looking for the Black Princess whose tail had been torn to pieces……
“AhahahahAHahAHAHAHAHAHA!”
As the ground shook with the echoing of her laughter, she approached Killian.
“Don’t come closer, stay back! HiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…”
Although the soldiers were all trying to protect Killian, they were too close to Killian to use magic. If they approached they would be torn up by golden snakes, while if they retreated they would be petrified by that red gaze, and with the angry screaming, the scared fleeing, and the crying and confusion all mixed together, the battlefield became chaotic.
The 【Arch Demon】【Gorgon】 created by the golden 【Devil】.
Tina was inferior to Noa in attacking power, worse than Nia at defending, and worse than Fannie in mental attacks and strange powers.
However, her overall combat ability outstripped the other three, especially when battling in the physical world. Even among all of the Arch Demons that existed in the Demon World, she was unrivalled.
But, even for Tina, hundreds of thousands of troops was too much.
She deliberately provoked the enemy, didn’t kill the enemy general, and harassed them while throwing them into chaos, if they had been allowed the time to recover their wits, their numbers would have been a threat.
“This is so much fun, but no…”
If she delayed any further, she would be late for her master’s dinner.
Tina took out a small golden key from her pockets and thrust it into the air.
“Open…… 【Paradise Lost (Lost Eden)】”
In that instant…… the battlefield was enveloped in 【Blackness】.
It wasn’t night. It wasn’t darkness. The sunlit [Forest of Monsters], was simply replaced with an empty space devoid of anything but blackness……
As it happened, the 250,000 soldiers were all filled with a fear of something next to them.
The new race of Greater Demon that had manifested with vampires as its vessels… all 500 of them were there.
A special type of Demon that had a body which resembled a human’s, they was clad in warped armor and were armed with black, visibly cursed, swords.
The Greater Demon all gave a cry of delight at the large amount of [Food] that had been given to them by their lords.
“At least, it’s protein this time. I don’t want seaweed anymore…”
＊＊＊
Tonight’s dinner… as I was enjoying the [Grilled] food that Tina had gathered, I turned to ask Fannie who was waiting on me.
“This is quite delicious … what is this meat?”
“Snake. Because its grease is delicious, I was told to hunt itー”
“Fuu~, snake really is delicious, isn’t it?”
I can’t help but wonder, when is the Daemon King’s army going to get here…?
I should probably go out on my Saint (Idol) tour soon.