The Second Salvation Myth of a Retired Regressed Hero

“By any chance, which guild are you affiliated with?”

The squire and soldier looked at Doyun expectantly.

Doyun briefly pondered. In his hurry to depart, he hadn’t received the guild’s seal proving his identity. He would undoubtedly be treated as an impersonator.

In the worst case, foreknowing the ambush could raise suspicions of him being a spy.

He might as well borrow Haineken’s family name. Just as Doyun considered this,

“New reports have arrived!”

One soldier came running over.

“The approaching enemy numbers eighteen in total! No subsequent forces have been sighted yet!”

“…Really only eighteen?”

The original soldier and squire watched Doyun with astonished eyes.

“…How did you know that fact…”

No, wait. The squire stopped himself.

‘…Only eighteen?’

If he defeated them, wouldn’t that achievement be entirely his?

Calculations rapidly spun in his mind.

‘An opportunity.’

Eighteen was likely just a scouting party, not the main force. They would surely withdraw after assessing the situation, unable to claim any merits.

Once he finished calculating,

“Open the gates and prepare for an open field battle! We’ll defeat the enemy!”

With his order, the gates opened, and infantry troops were deployed outside for open combat.

Excluding the archers and mages on the walls, over 400 infantry troops emerged. And an excessive force of 10 cavalry units for pursuit.

It was rather excessive manpower just to handle 18 enemy troops, betraying the commander’s resolute determination to annihilate them no matter what.

“Do not let the scouts withdraw after their reconnaissance! Pursue and defeat them without fail!”

The squire had already forgotten Doyun’s identity, roaring excitedly at this unexpected chance for achievement.

Doyun silently observed. Against Satan’s forces, fortifying for siege warfare would be sheer madness – they would evade any attacks from the walls and simply scale them.

Even at the cost of sacrificing troops, confronting them in open battle was imperative.

“…”
“…”

Tense silence continued. Watchtowers observed the forest through telescopes while soldiers gripped their weapons, glaring into the dark trees.

After around 3 minutes,

“They’re here.”

Doyun’s voice broke the stillness.

“Wha, where? How far until they arrive!? On, one minute!?”

“They’ve already arrived.”

“What!?”

“Look towards the forest ahead.”

He stared intently into the ominous darkness between the ivory trees.

But there was nothing, just a quiet, dark forest.

“I don’t see anything no matter how I look…”

Thunk-!
Thwick!

A rock Doyun had thrown lodged itself in a tree.

The squire and soldiers observing the front started violently.

“Ah, jeez you startled me…!”

As he patted his pounding chest, a puzzling thought occurred to him.

Those ivory trees in the demon realm were so sturdy that they barely dented after dozens of axe strikes, yet how had that rock embedded itself so deeply?

“Look.”

Doyun tilted his chin.

Then, pumpkin-colored lights flickered amid the shadowy thickets of the demon realm.

Thirty-six pairs in total.

“Wha, what?”

The squire flinched in shock. Wait, when had they arrived?

He shivered uncontrollably. Strangely, gazing into those eyes seemed to rob him of his senses, succumbing to primal terror.

It was the first time facing the true menacing aura of demons, leaving him utterly overwhelmed.

“Kkeek. Kkrruk.”
“Kkrruk, kkek, kkrruk.”

Moments later, they slithered out into the sunlight, making creepy noises like scratching glass.

Small physiques resembling muscular goblins. Bulging veins and sinews protruding over their skin. No nails, just sharply elongated fingertips.

Ears torn into grotesquely grinning mouths with densely packed, needle-like teeth. And solid pumpkin-colored orbs without pupils, emanating an eerie glow.

“Kkeek, kkak.”

Lesser demons surviving by consuming the residual souls of the damned in hell’s deepest pits.

The Demon Commander Satan’s forces – Imps.

“Wha, wha, ah…”
“This shit… shit…!”

The confronting soldiers trembled violently in terror. Not just the Imps’ menacing aura, but the miasma of curses they exuded seemed to devour the soldiers’ sanity.

And the squire, their highest-ranking officer present, was no exception.

“Wha, wha, what… is that…”

Any thoughts of achieving glory had vanished, his mind solely occupied by the will to survive.

The thirty-six pairs of eyes watching them and grotesquely grinning, snickering mouths made no attempt to conceal their intent to defile, torment, and slaughter them in gruesome fashion.

It was like mischievous hunters toying with their prey.

Eventually, the cavalry horses couldn’t withstand that oppressive aura.

“Hihihihiing-!”
“Wha, whaaah!”

As the cavalry dismounted, the imps’ playtime began.

“Kkrrreek!”
“Kkrruk, kkirruk!”

The frontline shieldbearers were the first targets.

Without giving the soldiers a chance to react, the imps leapt in a single bound right before the formation line.

Then, gripping the elongated tower shields, they playfully vaulted over like scaling a fence.

Thwick!
Thwuck, thwack-

Some landed atop shieldbearers’ heads, sinking their claws into their skulls, while others unhinged their grotesquely wide jaws to devour entire heads in one bite.

Slender, sharp tails impaled through the ears of adjacent shieldbearers. Hook-like fingers tore into the throats on either side.

In that brief, instantaneous moment before anyone could react, half the frontline shieldbearers collapsed without even screaming.

“Wha, wha, ah…”
“Aaaaaahhhh!!”
“Aaaaaahhhh!!”

Amid the splattering gore and screams, a symphony of terror commenced.

Though they could have directly entered the city gates, the imps instead massacred – no, toyed with – the infantry.

Blood and flesh flew indiscriminately across the ground and walls. The soldiers were no match for the imps.

The troops on the walls shuddered uncontrollably, some collapsing, others wetting themselves, unable to respond to the pleas for help from below.

They could only tremble before the horror movie unfolding below from the relative safety of the higher walls.

A harrowing horror movie where the protagonists were their very comrades, where one could never turn it off, unbearably cruel.

Doyun calmly analyzed the situation as he observed.

‘…Stronger than the imp forces from my past life. And they’re far less affected by the Holy Stone.’

While the imp forces were formidable, a mere eighteen couldn’t occupy an entire walled city under a Holy Stone’s barrier. If that were possible, the alliance would have fallen in his past life regardless of Heroes or martial arts – a Hero’s body was only one after all.

‘The demonic energy from Satan imbued in them has grown stronger.’

In other words, Satan’s power had increased, likely why they were less affected by the Holy Stone’s suppression.

‘Something… has greatly changed within them.’

He didn’t know what, but some transformation unlike his past life had undoubtedly made the Demon Lord’s forces significantly stronger. That much was certain.

Doyun continued observing the imps.

One even had four spears embedded in its head by chance. Yet it didn’t die – after writhing on the ground for a few seconds, it proceeded to regenerate, forcibly ejecting the spears from its skull. An abnormal level of vitality.

“Clo, clo, clo, close the gates!! Close the gaaates!!”

The squire screamed in a maddened voice. In response, the wall troops who had been too petrified to even draw their bows now moved with astonishing swiftness to shut the gates.

Boom!

At the resounding tremor of the closing gates, the infantry troops’ gazes turned back towards them.

Some infantrymen clawed frantically at the sealed gates.

“Sa, save me! Save meee!!”
“Open up! You fuckers, I said open up! Aaaaahh!!”

And soon, they became mere splashes of red paint adorning the walls.

Watching this, Doyun calmly spoke,

“They’ll soon scale the walls. Prepare for combat.”

The squire looked at Doyun with a pallid, drained expression. His eyes held not a shred of difference from when he had conversed with Doyun earlier.

Which sent chills down his spine. That a person, the very same person, could remain so utterly unmoved by this nightmarish slaughter. Like an emotionally spent doll.

Maddened, he screamed at Doyun,

“Sh, shut your trap, mercenary scum! How can you deal with those monsters! You, you too! You too! I, I don’t fucking want to die!”

Raving incomprehensibly like a child having a tantrum.

Doyun clicked his tongue. It seemed their menacing aura and curses had completely robbed this one of sanity.

Then, Doyun’s gaze fell upon the squire’s sheathed sword at his waist.

“…Can that sword withstand sword aura?”

“Wha, what?”

Without waiting for an answer, Doyun snatched the sword. In his current state, this wretch was unfit for combat anyway.

Doyun examined the sword.

‘…No good.’

No choice then, he would have to make do with this for now.

Just as Doyun prepared to leap down from the walls,

“Do you require a sword capable of withstanding sword aura?”

One knight approached him.

“Kni, kni, knight! Please save me!”

The squire clung to the knight’s legs desperately. Apparently, he was this city’s true commanding officer.

“…Yes, I do.”

Upon Doyun’s answer, the knight unsheathed the sword on his back and handed it over, already wearing a different sword at his waist.

“It’s a secondary sword, so not the sharpest tool, but better than nothing.”

“Thank you.”

As he accepted the sword, Doyun looked into the knight’s eyes.

He had already placed his trust in Doyun – a seasoned warrior capable of roughly gauging Doyun’s caliber.

“No, you can’t give a sword to that mercenary, Sir Knight! You can’t! What about me! I can’t, you can’t!”

“…I have my treasured blade separately. Be silent. In this emergency, even one combatant is precious. The sir has offered his aid, has he not?”

“You can’t! You can’t! Not the sword at least! Not to some mercenary scum…!”

“…”

Reasoning was futile. He belatedly realized the squire was in no state of sound mind.

“…I apologize on his behalf for the disrespect. My apologies. And please, I entreat your support. As arduous as it may be… prevent the ones I let through from scaling the walls.”

“No.”

Doyun laid the sword before him like aiming a gun, examining the blade. It would suffice. Not sparing the knight a glance, he replied,

“You stay put here. I’ll handle this alone.”

“Pardon?”

“Wouldn’t the alliance suffer a great loss if one like you perished?”

He was fairly skilled, but utterly meaningless cannon fodder at present. He would likely slay a couple of imps amid that madness before being surrounded and slain.

Doyun opened his palm, and a fist-sized black portal manifested above it, dropping a small gold bead.

Seeing this, the knight and squire’s eyes widened.

“Wha…? A mage…?”
“Spatial magic…! An Arc Mage, are you?”

Without answering, Doyun simply tossed the bead over to them.

“Payment for the sword.”

“Pardon?”

The knight looked at the gold bead in his palm. It seemed worth at least 50 gold coins – over ten times the sword’s value.

‘No, more importantly, why would a mage need a sword…?’

And at Doyun’s subsequent action, the two couldn’t help but be stunned.

“Whoa!?”
“No, you mustn’t, Sir Mage!”

Doyun leapt down from the walls.