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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: selkie
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– Clatter, Clatter
In the darkened hour, accompanied by slightly noisy sounds, a group of carriages departed from the village of Rob and began to move quickly along the road.
The carriages were loaded with a large amount of military supplies and food to be delivered to the front lines.
Surrounding them were a considerable number of soldiers standing guard vigilantly.
In order to ensure thorough vigilance even in the darkness, they were deliberately moving with the lights brightly on.
As the carriages moved some distance away from Rob, at that moment…
“Hmm?”
“What is that…?”
In the next moment, a figure began to appear before their eyes.
The lights were on brightly, but the dark purple armor he wore gave off an unusual feeling at a glance.
“Who are you?”
“How dare you approach us without knowing who we are…”
Given the situation, the soldiers immediately drew their weapons and advanced forward.
At that moment… – Pahhh!!
In the next instant, there was a sudden sound, as if something was being cut off, and at the same time, a scene began to unfold before them…
In the blink of an eye, a warrior clad in black armor rushed in and decapitated the soldiers,
causing the soldiers present to feel intense bewilderment and immediately go into battle formation.
“Is that… is that a demon?”
“I don’t see any horns, though…”
“Is that really important right now? He just attacked us out of nowhere! Take his head off this instant!”
With those words, the soldiers charged toward the ‘enemy’ right before their eyes.
However, at that moment, they were unaware.
The action they chose as soldiers carrying out their mission… would lead them to an outcome far beyond their imagination—a result both despairing and tragic.
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“Ugh!!!”
“Cough! Huhkk…”
With screams that seemed to cut off and blood gushing, the soldiers fell dead.
The lives of those still alive were disappearing, and in their place, a heavy silence and overflowing pools of blood remained at the massacre site.
However…
At this moment,
If it were the original me, merely witnessing such a sight would have made me sick… No, I would have been unable to even begin, as my human emotions would have prevented me.
But now, I…
Held the name of the hero Elron and, having become a subordinate of the Demon King,
I felt an inexplicable sense of detachment from the reality I was enacting with my own hands.
Typically, when attacking someone, the feelings of guilt or hesitation one would feel did not exist at all.
As I lightly swung my black greatsword to sever a person’s neck and thrust a blade into their heart,
the level of emotion I felt could be described as, at most, akin to playing a game where I mindlessly beat monsters in a dungeon for experience points.
“I never imagined I’d perceive killing people like this as a game experience… this is my first time killing someone…”
Feeling a slight shock at that realization while also feeling relieved that, in some respects, I didn’t feel uncomfortable due to the unavoidable circumstances,
I continued to eliminate every soldier charging at me with weapons drawn.
It was then, while I was showcasing overwhelming might and conducting one-sided slaughter,
“Let’s… let’s run away! That guy is not someone we can defeat!”
“Let’s hurry back to Rob! We need to report this!”
Realizing their lack of odds, the soldiers attempted to flee in desperation.
Although the distance from here to Rob was quite significant, they began to run forward with all their might to survive.
However…
“Gah!”
“Ugh!”
In the next moment, the soldiers fell to the ground, screaming.
Before them stood the Demon King’s officers, who had come to oversee the situation, shaking the blood off their swords.
Thus, within just a few seconds, I, along with the demons, succeeded in slaughtering all the humans present and looting the military supplies.
However, aside from having accomplished the task assigned by the Demon King, I began persuading the demons to proceed to the next stage of the plan.
Feeling slightly relieved by the now more compliant demeanor of the short officer, compared to earlier…
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At the military base located in the center of the harbor town of Rob,
which effectively serves as the lord’s castle, a woman was heading somewhere with her subordinates.
Dressed in red armor, she emanated a cold yet mature impression.
She was one of the three generals representing the human empire of Falcon and was responsible for overseeing Rob.
General Cassandra Inclemonte.
Even while moving, she continued to receive reports about the current situation from her subordinates.
“Really? So the hero party ultimately failed to assassinate the Demon King?”
“Yes, General. According to what I heard from one of them, the hero was easily defeated by the Demon King’s overwhelming power, and they barely escaped with their lives.”
“Tch… I was expecting quite a bit this time due to the prophecy. So they failed again?”
Cassandra spoke with a dissatisfied expression at her subordinate’s words.
Hearing the news that the hero party, who had set out on a mission to defeat the Demon King, had lost might sound serious at first, but…
To be honest, the feeling among Cassandra and the other commanders was merely that the upper echelon had wasted money yet again.
For them, the meaning of the hero party was only about that much.
“So, what about one of the warriors from that hero party? I heard she is a valuable beast warrior.”
“For now, we’ve bound her with the chains of domination and locked her in the basement. She seems to have broken somewhat, but it still feels a bit early to relax.”
“I see. Just to be safe, make sure to keep a close watch on her. She’s a powerful beastwoman warrior, so we need to make sure we get our money’s worth by using her as a soldier for life.”
“Yes, understood, General.”
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The alliance army, continuing a relentless offensive against the Demon Kingdom,
had already shaken off about 30% of the Demon Kingdom’s territory, and even at this moment, victory reports from the alliance were being transmitted from various fronts.
However, even amidst this favorable situation, the alliance could not view the current circumstances with complete optimism.
No matter how one looked at it, the most pressing concern for them was ultimately the Demon King seated on the throne in the Demon Castle.
The Demon King, possessing overwhelming power and charisma over the demons,
would lead his elite guard to the battlefield, causing even the demons, who were on the brink of defeat, to fight desperately to the end.
At the same time, the tremendous might held by him and his subordinates consistently thwarted the alliance’s attempts to advance.
As a result, despite having achieved several victories during the past wars, the alliance struggled to make significant advances.
As this standoff prolonged,
the leadership of the alliance had been steadily executing a certain operation for years now, aiming to secure a definitive victory and end this ongoing war without any gaps.
The hero party.
A special mercenary unit formed by selecting strong warriors from among the free fighters of the alliance.
Typically receiving substantial support from the alliance,
they operated solely with the goal of assassinating the Demon King, having advanced into the Demon Castle to eliminate him as part of the alliance’s large-scale offensive.
However,
despite numerous hero parties which included many courageous warriors, attempting to defeat the Demon King, their outcomes had largely fallen into two categories.
One was that they set off confidently but ended up being completely annihilated before even reaching the vicinity of the Demon Castle.
The other was that, after witnessing the deaths of their comrades or suffering defeats in battle, they ultimately gave up maintaining the hero party and scattered in disarray.
Although they were indeed comprised of distinguished warriors from the alliance, the response of the Demon King’s forces was more cunning and powerful than they had anticipated,
resulting in the hero parties producing results that were underwhelming compared to the investments made by the alliance.
And this held true for the current hero party that included the so-called “legendary hero appointed by the prophecy.”
The hero, who was under special expectations from the Pope and others, and the strongest warriors of the alliance who participated in the Demon King’s subjugation alongside him.
However… the conclusion for the mercenaries known as the hero party, which included this chosen hero, was once again a fruitless result of defeat and retreat, merely consuming more funding.
The only notable achievement was that this party managed to at least enter the Demon Castle.
In that sense, it certainly lived up to the name of the ‘strongest ever,’ but ultimately, the current hero party also ended without any meaningful outcome, just eating up funds, and Cassandra and the others concluded as much.
They might be able to recoup their losses by utilizing the powerful beastwoman warrior sold into slavery as a soldier for life, but aside from that, the hero party itself was merely a waste of money and
manpower in this war.
At least for now… that was the extent of their thoughts…
