LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 48
Caw, caw.
An endless army of crows painting the sky.
Each one a massive monster, easily over 2 meters tall, flew through the air, mocking the humans bewildered below.
“What should we do now, General?”
“Deceive the humans, and then deceive them some more.”
Malphas flew at the front of the formation, pointing towards the southern city of the humans.
“Just flying stupidly like this will surely get us shot down. In times like this, we’ll use the Demon Lord’s trademark!”
“The Demon Lord’s…!”
The subordinate crows’ eyes sparkled with excitement.
Seeing the envious glances from his underlings, Malphas felt both proud and nostalgic.
“Once upon a time, 500 years ago, the Demon Lord, at the old Demon King’s Castle… when he conquered a certain royal castle of a kingdom. The Demon Lord—”
“Ch- General! The humans are attacking from below!!”
“What?!!”
Swish!
Fiery magic surged from the ground toward the sky.
“How dare this heretic!”
Malphas immediately spread his wings and flew up to swat away the fireball with a flap.
Boom!
Just like a slap to the face, with a mere flap of his wings, the fireball exploded without even sparking flames around it.
“To attack while I speak of the Demon Lord’s achievements… this cannot be forgiven. Everyone, maintain formation and fly south!”
“General! What about the humans below?!”
“I’ll handle it!”
Malphas folded his wings and dove down.
The speed at which he dropped from the sky was too fast for the humans to follow with their eyes, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of them.
“……Really.”
With black hair and red eyes.
Except for the crow’s wings on his back, Malphas resembled a noble prince from the Demon World.
“How rude.”
“Y-you, what are you?!”
“The General of Deception. Thirty-eighth. Commander of the Asydia-affiliated Norman Conquest Army. Malphas.”
“W-what…?”
“That should be enough for an introduction, right?”
“Y-you bastard!!”
Adventurers who had hurried to catch up with the birds pointed their weapons at Malphas, who had landed as if to block their path.
“Die!!”
Tat, tat, tat!
The adventurers unleashed their guns and magic staves, releasing magical energy.
The sharp magical bullets and arrows of energy rushed towards Malphas in an instant.
“Weak.”
Flap—!
“Black Gale.”
Malphas gave his wings a mighty flap.
A whirlwind of black wind surged from his wings, sending flying all incoming attacks back.
“W-what is this…?”
“Is that all you’ve got to stop our advance?”
“You bastard! You are too relaxed—”
Clack!
The adventurer pulled the trigger.
But the bullets didn’t move forward.
“What the…?”
Something black was stuck in the end of the adventurer’s gun.
A single black feather had lodged itself in the barrel, leaving the adventurer speechless.
“I don’t like guns. While technological advancements are surely a good thing, back in my day, we fought with swords, magic, and arrows—there was a certain romance in it.”
If that had been lodged in an eye, neck, or heart, the adventurer would be dead.
“Depending on guns is why you’re weak. The humans of the past who fought with their lives are stronger, it seems.”
“Y-you bastard!”
“Ssshhhh.”
Rustle.
As the feathers fluttered, the humans collapsed to the ground.
Malphas turned his back on the unconscious humans.
“Tsk. I want to kill them, but I must hold back.”
Malphas genuinely felt regret.
“But, having living humans is better, the more the merrier. Heh.”
Malphas soared back into the sky.
Possibly due to releasing his power, he transformed into a massive black crow several meters long and paused at the distant castle walls.
“Is that Normans over there?”
“General. Over there, the humans are aiming at us from the castle walls. What should we do?”
“Hmmm. It’s not easy to cross over the walls… Split Formation.”
No sooner had the words left Malphas’s mouth than magical bullets began raining down from the castle walls.
“It’s a magic cannon, tsk tsk, such technology… No, that’s not important right now.”
Malphas raised his hand high.
“I command the entire legion. Break through the enemy’s fire net and charge. We are….”
With a flash.
Malphas’s eyes gleamed as he faced south.
“Drawing attention.”
An army of ten thousand crows.
A massive assault began.
*
Aaaahhh!
Emergency alarms began ringing throughout Normans.
We hurried to gear up as we woke from sleep, assessing the situation as we watched the soldiers of Normans bustle about.
“Master, what is this…?”
“…Hmmm.”
Something.
I shouldn’t be laughing, but I couldn’t help it.
“Yes, this is it.”
A scenario bringing confusion to the peaceful human village.
It’s like the Demon King’s army knew they would arrive tomorrow but got here a day early, or not showing up at all on the day but arriving three days later when the defenses were relaxed.
And so, rather than a fully alert populace, they were up against humans who were less prepared.
“It seems there’s something off with the Dimensional Door.”
“The Dimensional Door?”
“Yes. If I were to take a guess….”
“Emergency!! The Dimensional Door has opened! Enemies are coming!!”
Just as suspected.
I silently cheered inside.
“The monsters are flying in the sky!”
“What?! Dammit, we can’t block the Dimensional Door then!”
“First, evacuate the people!! Dammit, what is this nightmare while I was asleep!”
‘This is how the Demon King’s army should be!’
They don’t have some knightly spirit.
The Demon King’s army surely doesn’t make declarations of war and follow continental laws.
To brutally strike down enemies is the essence of the Demon King’s army.
‘Asydia is indeed the Demon King’s army’s descendant.’
It may be flawed, but it hasn’t lost its roots.
I truly felt like giving a reward to the leader of the invading Asydia army for throwing Normans into chaos.
The mere plan of causing confusion to the enemy is worthy of praise.
But if they cause chaos and can’t actually conquer Normans?
‘That would be meaningless.’
Can the invaders indeed conquer Normans?
Especially, the place where the ‘Flame Hero’ is located?
“The raid has unexpectedly begun a day early.”
“Master, we….”
“We currently don’t have any assigned areas. We were originally supposed to raid right in front of the lake. We have three options.”
One. Flee.
Two. Hide.
Three. Fight back.
“Lucius, what will you do?”
“…I will save the people.”
Four. Lucius chose ‘rescue,’ not retreating, hiding, or confronting.
“The people here in Normans are in a state of panic. Though I may not have the strength to help them all… I want to do what I can.”
“That’s the spirit.”
I patted Lucius’s back heartily.
“Does one need some grand reason when wanting to save people? Let’s go!”
“…Yes! But Master, where do we…?”
As I was about to dash out, Lucius looked quite flustered.
“That’s… the southern gate, isn’t it?”
“Correct.”
“But the portal opened at the northern gate…?”
“So we’re heading to the southern gate.”
The Demon King’s army’s exquisite trick.
A flanking maneuver.
Tactics don’t always yield just one benefit.
The real deal is something else.
“Should I explain on the way, or do you want to listen and then move?”
“I’ll listen on the way!”
Fortunately, Lucius and Rosmas followed me without hesitation.
‘They’re earnest.’
In the past, when I stealthily took in members for the Hero party, they’d talk about common sense and wanted to fight back, causing me to miss the golden timing while I explained things to them.
“It’s a technique called ‘attacking from the rear.'”
“What’s that?”
“In blunt terms, it’s hitting from behind.”
But this time is different.
“If a massive swarm of monsters comes from the north, the south will obviously be unguarded. When a large Dimensional Door opens, surely they wouldn’t prepare elsewhere?”
“Indeed….”
“And if they don’t prepare…?”
Rosmas cautiously voiced a contradiction to my thoughts.
“What if they’re too foolish to knock on the southern gate as the Witch thought…?”
“Then at that time….”
I stretched out my arm and waved my fingers as if to spin it.
“We’ll go around the walls and head north. To catch the leader.”
“…….”
Both of them reacted strangely.
But if there are enemies to the south, then I’ll trust in them to move earnestly with faith and confidence in me.
“Ahhh!!”
“Help me!!”
“The monsters are coming!!”
The south was already a sea of chaos.
The gatekeepers struggled to open the gates, suffocated by the throng of people desperately trying to escape.
“Can’t see a hole? Then we have no choice but to scale the castle walls.”
“Master, this is all happening so quickly….”
“First, let’s get up the walls.”
I led the two up the castle walls.
The guards who had gotten there before us shot us bewildered looks, wondering where we were climbing from, but soon they fell silent upon seeing our gear.
Adventurers had come to the southern gate.
They wouldn’t understand why we arrived at the southern gate.
Because there was no one else but us.
“Where’s the commander of the defense?!”
I hurriedly searched for the person in charge.
Among the soldiers, a man approached me.
“What’s going on in this situation?!”
“Do you happen to have a magic detector?!”
“Why is that?!”
“Over there, in the south, I’m sensing something strange…!”
“What does that mean….”
This is just an alibi.
It didn’t feel like anything strange in the south at all, but rather just preparing for any potential troublesome situation later.
“Don’t open the gates!”
“What do you mean all of a sudden….”
Creak.
Finally, the gates opened.
I thought the soldiers did it, but civilians trying to escape the crow onslaught forced the gates open and began pouring out.
‘I clearly told them not to open the gates.’
Later.
When the time comes for questioning as to why we were at the south and not the north, these folks I tussled with on the walls will testify that ‘my instincts said so.’
If.
I were a commander leading an army as a leader of the demons.
If I aimed for the north, naturally, people would escape towards the south.
If I were the Demon King leading the Demon King’s army.
It must be.
I would aim for the civilians first.
‘I wouldn’t kill them, though.’
“Ah, hey, there!!”
The footsteps of the people who had gotten outside changed drastically.
One by one, they began to flounder and struggle on the ground.
“What the hell…?!”
A vast marshland.
A ground magic that turned the land into swamp to later trap humans.
“……As expected.”
Capturing humans is the goal of Asydia.
Just like when I summoned Belphegor.
“…What are you planning to do with capturing people, Asydia?”
“Master! Over there!”
“……!!”
Kuaaaa!!
The earth erupted like a geyser.
And there, was.
“Whoa, seriously….”
A toothless Sand Worm.
North gate invaded.
Humans fled through the south gate.
Capturing humans.
…And then crushing them with a Sand Worm for transport.
“…….”
Asydia, despite their leader Zephar being pathetic, is indeed the successor of my Demon King’s army.
‘That’s my tactic.’
Seeing my tactics still in play, I couldn’t help but shed a tear.
“Is the Master… crying…?”