Chapter 32

The Prophet probably sensed my anger, because they vanished like a haze of smoke. I had to hand it to them. Disappearing right when the going got tough—that was one of life’s most necessary skills. I stayed ten days in Arkand. It didn’t feel so great when word of our party’s fees spread around town. We soon became known as the greedy adventurers who asked for ten times the going rate. “It’s all your fault we’re being treated like villains,” Sophia complained to me, although it was entirely on her that our rep had worsened after she’d blasted some guys who picked a fight with us. She did not go easy with the magic. Nina went around helping the refugees whenever she had time to spare. She probably thought I’d tell her off if I spotted her, because she did it on the sly. She’d gotten busted, though, when people had started saying she was like the Holy Maiden because of her good deeds. Whenever Evsei wasn’t training with me, he killed time drinking. People tried getting a rise out of him at the tavern, but he made fools of them without even saying a word. He was the only warrior there who had survived the battle at Malika. The guys in the pub couldn’t put a scratch on him even if they ganged up on him. We whittled away the time until eventually, our long-awaited guests arrived. “It’s the Demon Lord’s army!” The shout came from one of the watchtowers the governor had set up with his money. We went up onto the ramparts and saw the army for ourselves. “A hundred or two hundred people aren’t going to cut it. There’s a thousand on their side,” said Sophia. “It looks like the monsters came out from over there. They’re all lumped together—there’s no cohesion in their movements.” Sophia had used magic to enhance her vision and quickly discern the enemy’s strength. It was genuinely impressive how efficient she was. Normally, she just talked a big game. The fact that the Demon Lord’s army wasn’t unified was great news for me. If the monsters were trained to work as a team, there wouldn’t be any gaps for us to exploit. “Find the demon,” I ordered. “Look carefully—there might be more than one.” You couldn’t use sniping spells multiple times. It only worked when the enemy was thinking they were the ones on the attack. Soon as they were on guard, you were finished. We had to kill the commander with the first shot. “You forgot to say please,” said Sophia, wrenching her gaze away from the Demon Lord’s army. I corrected myself: “Please, Young Miss, commence thy search.” Granted, she was way too old to be called “Young Miss.” “…There’s one demon. He’s sitting at the back, looking pleased with himself. The green body made him easy to spot. I’ve looked from corner to corner, but I don’t see anything else. You can tell from how energetically the monsters march if there’s a demon around. There’s no mistaking this one.” From my experience, demons pretty much never took to the field simultaneously. The one exception had been in Malika, when the Demon Lord’s army had mobilized on a massive scale. The strong demons came in a swarm, which said something about how important that battle was to them. A lot of humans had died in that skirmish, but the demon side probably suffered the same scope of casualties. It was obvious the demons were important to the army. They wouldn’t use multiple VIPs to take a single town. “Right, then let’s go with the plan. The residents should be evacuating from the gates on the other side. We’ll slip into the crowd and take that demon down.” It was the governor’s decision that the residents leave before the battle started. Not that this was unusual or anything. What else were you going to do with the noncombatants? It was crazier not to evacuate them, although to be fair, there was no shortage of crazy governors. We hopped aboard the line of evacuees and skipped our way out of town. Some people shot us dirty looks for slipping out the gate with the residents, but you can’t get hung up on every little thing in life. “They don’t have anyone watching?” I asked Sophia. “Nope. I can’t sense any monsters or magic around here. We should be free to move,” she answered promptly, scouting with precision. Carefully, we extricated ourselves from the residents. Some of them gave us uneasy looks. They’d probably been expecting us to protect them if the worst came to worst. I’m not a fan of people who rely on others to live. As I shot those guys a mild glare, I started moving toward the rear of the Demon Lord’s army. Their side had been advancing across what you could reasonably call a flat plain, but the grass was tall enough that it was pretty easy to move through without exposing yourself. The only thing left was to wait for them to attack. Their defenses would be at their lowest then. The demon wasn’t an idiot, of course. He would keep a light squad of monsters around himself. I could only hope he kept the numbers as low as possible. The last thing to do was pray. I did that every time. The demon was convinced of his victory. In the last skirmish, he had succeeded in inflicting considerable human casualties. This time would be a repeat performance, right down to the number of monsters at his disposal. The humans had no way of defending themselves. The demon gave a shout when he spotted the town the humans called “Arkand.” He communicated this not through words, but with a war cry designed to inflame the monsters’ lust for battle. It was, in other words, a command to attack. The monsters bounded forward, as if to vent their frustration at being made to march against their impulsive natures. The monsters followed the same god the demons did. Although they possessed low intellect, they instinctively disliked the humans for adhering to the opposing god. The demon in question was mainly in charge of goblins, oft described as the weakest of monsters. They were about as tall as human children, but what they lacked in strength, they made up for in numbers. They were a force to be reckoned with in large-scale battles. The demon eyed the ten monsters near his person. They were hobgoblins—creatures that looked like goblins on the surface but possessed powerful physiques superior to a human male’s. They were also fairly intelligent among their kind and excelled at using weapons, which made even a single one of them more than a match for the average human warrior. Much like the other monsters, the hobgoblins had started springing into motion at the demon’s shout, but then they quickly restrained themselves and stayed put. The demon nodded in approval. He knew the clever humans would be after his head, and the hobgoblins were there as a safeguard. He saw no chance of failure even if, against all odds, the humans managed to draw near. The demons were the chosen ones of their god. They had nothing to fear from humans. Accompanied by the hobgoblins, the demon casually sauntered toward the town. The battle had already started. Although the humans fought back desperately, they were at a clear numbers disadvantage. It was impossible for them to hold out. The ogres pounded at the gates, even as arrows pelted their bodies all over. Ogres prided themselves on their strength; they were humanoid monsters with horns, and they were distinctly larger than hobgoblins. They ate humans, which made them especially feared by their prey. The end was swiftly approaching. Before long, all the monsters except the hobgoblins were swarming the town. This posed no problem to the demon, however, for the humans didn’t possess any means of counterattacking. Hmm? thought the demon. Right then, he sensed a spike in magic. He felt this whenever someone was targeting him with a spell. “O shadow born from the darkness, shield me.” Chanting a simple incantation, he cast a barrier. A human’s capacity for magic came down to the individual, but all demons could use magic except for fringe cases. Not a second later, a boom rang out, and a powerful spell collided against the demon’s barrier. Someone had tried to hit him with explosion magic, it seemed. The barrier was not enough to cover everything, which meant two hobgoblins perished from the attack. So there’s a mage around. Do they have people lying in wait? Magic did not come without drawbacks. It was possible to pinpoint the caster’s location to a certain degree by sensing the direction in which the magic spiked. This mage was situated in the opposite direction from the town. They waited until the monsters left the area. The demon thought this was a logical move. Although the town’s defenses would have held up longer if they had made their move sooner, it seemed his attackers had been willing to use the town as a decoy in order to get to him. It was an effective strategy to target the irreplaceable commanders of the Demon Lord’s army. Naturally, the demon was not about to wait for a second spell. He pointed in the mage’s direction, and three hobgoblins sprinted off. Meanwhile, he drew his own sword, readying himself for the assault. It was inconceivable that the mage was the only one hiding. There had to be melee fighters around. The demon made the other five hobgoblins stay on guard against anything in their surroundings, only for someone to come lunging at them from above. The warrior plunged his spear right through a hobgoblin’s head. With a single clipped shriek, the monster’s life came to an end. The demon immediately attempted to rally his troops to encircle the warrior, only for another man to emerge from the grass and pick off a hobgoblin with a sudden thrust of his sword. Three hobgoblins remained. The three that had gone after the mage did not return. The mage must have been defeated—the demon surmised this from the fact that he was no longer being targeted by magic. With the demon included, it was now four against two. The situation was not too dire. He took on the swordsman himself while he directed the three hobgoblins to take down the spearman. Demons preferred one-on-one battles if the situation allowed it. It was a testament to the confidence they had in their strength. He swung his sword fiercely, as if attempting to bludgeon his foe. Many demons wielded giant swords in order to exert their strength. Very few humans, even those with excellent technique, could block a blow from a demon’s greatsword. This particular swordsman chose to dodge at the very last second. Then I just have to close in, the demon thought. However much humans devoted themselves to the blade, they could not make up for the strength gap. If the demon used brute force to overpower his opponent, there would be no room for any fancy tricks to come into play. In fact, he was already transitioning into his next strike as soon as he saw the warrior dodge. This time, he aimed for the head. There was no opportunity for evasion. The swordsman did not bother trying. Instead, he moved forward at the same time—faster than the demon. Anticipating his opponent’s next move, the man crouched and swung his sword. One blade sliced air, while the other cut through flesh. “What foul play!” the demon roared on instinct as pain seized his leg. Chivalry did not exist among the demons, but their battles still had unspoken rules. The general idea was to attack head-on with magic or brawn. A frontal collision would produce a clear victor, leaving no room for doubt as to who was stronger. As far as the demons were concerned, nothing was more important than establishing the power hierarchy—which was why they frowned upon sneaky tactics like aiming for the legs. Fortunately for this demon, his wound was not deep. On the other hand, it was no longer possible for him to stand firm. Using only his upper body strength, the demon swung his mighty sword. Its range was long, making it still plenty formidable. But the warrior was uncowed; instead, he started searching the demon for openings. Whenever he found one, he came in close, delivered a strike, and then backed away—over and over again. The demon’s body steadily racked up wounds. Thanks to the initial leg injury, he could not move how he wanted to. When he glanced toward the hobgoblins, he realized he had drifted away from them somewhere along the line. The spearman had lured them off. The demon was about to call for help, but then he thought better of it. Prideful as he was, he could not bring himself to seek help from monsters he regarded as his inferiors. He wanted to at least use magic. However, the swordsman must have read the demon’s mind, because he kept up the relentless assault, never giving his opponent enough time to chant spells. This human knows much about our kind. The demon sensed keenly that this warrior had approached the fight with a thorough understanding of demon psychology. The man picked his opponent off the way a hunter caught their game—by controlling the encounter from start to finish. Finally, at long last, the swordsman came at the demon head-on. Their eyes met. At this point, the demon’s body was covered in wounds, and his feet refused to obey him. There was something like pity in the warrior’s eyes. Underneath it, however, the demon could sense deep, withering animosity. “That took long enough.” I only let out a sigh when the demon was at my feet, not even twitching a muscle. Demons were a more logical bunch than humans, but you could still see something like pride in the way they fought. They weren’t unbeatable if you exploited that, provided the power gap wasn’t too huge. If the demon had teamed up with even one of his hobgoblins, I would have had a way smaller chance of winning. But I’d gotten Evsei to take on the three hobgoblins specifically so I could fight the demon one-on-one. Part of that was my own pride speaking. That said, it hadn’t been an entirely clean win. The demon’s sword scraped a bit of my side, which was a pretty serious injury by itself. I was keeping the wound closed by pressing some cloth against it, but to be perfectly honest, it was hard to walk. “Right then, time to ride to the rescue.” I wiped the sweat off my body and stood up. It was simple enough to kill one hobgoblin if you struck it unawares, but they were generally on the more powerful end. Taking on three of them at the same time was pretty much undoable. Evsei was keeping them at bay thanks to the range of his spear, but he was probably sweating bullets on the inside. It was about time for Sophia and Nina to get back. The two of them had lured the hobgoblins away by running off into the distance. The monsters were pretty slow runners because of their weapons and armor, while Sophia and Nina were quick on their feet since mages and priests weren’t encumbered by anything. The women took advantage of that to maintain the perfect distance. Evsei, Sophia, and Nina would drag the bodyguards away, and I would kill the demon. That was how our strategy went down. “…Phew, I’m beat. Hey, Leonard, you do know a mage’s job is to use their mouth, not their feet, right? Running around is what a horse is for. Are you sure you know what our occupations are?” Sophia grumbled at me as she slumped on the ground in exhaustion. “Even mages need stamina. Good if you can do a bit of everything.” “Oh, then why don’t you try using magic?” I shrugged. “I’ll think about it.” “I’m exhausted, too. The hobgoblins might not have been fast, but they never got tired of chasing us. I started praying, ‘Help me, God,’ while we were running.” Nina chimed in with a rare joke. She would have been buffing her physical capabilities with a divine miracle, but that took its toll on her. I’d finished off those three hobgoblins with a back attack. Meanwhile, Evsei sat on a rock, his spear leaning against his shoulder. His head slumped down, and he didn’t say a word. Walking such a difficult tightrope for ages must have wiped him out, both physically and mentally. Once the rest of us had joined the fray, Evsei’s opponents went down without any trouble. That had all been part of our plan, too. Now we were dead tired, though. Nina had healed me a few moments ago, but the pain in my side still hadn’t gone away. “Nina, I’m gonna call upon your prayers. Cure our fatigue, would you? If we keep hanging out here, the town is toast.” The death of the demon didn’t change the fact that Arkand was in dire straits. We needed to get back to town and let the monsters know their leader was gone. Which meant we needed to not be immobile from exhaustion. It was nice that we’d beat the demon and all, but there was a very real chance there wouldn’t be a town to collect the reward from soon. “Leonard, that wound on your side is serious. I healed it, but I’m pretty sure you’re still in pain, right? I think you should rest a little longer…,” Nina suggested, fussing over me. “Worry about the reward, not me. We’ll run out of time if we don’t get our asses moving.” I forced a smile, gritting my teeth through the pain. Nina stopped putting up a fight after that. While she chanted her prayer, I glanced at the dead demon’s face. He sure looked ghastly, like an actual vengeful ghoul. It probably pissed him off that my cheap tricks had taken him out. I had to cut off his head. Nothing spooked the monsters more than a decapitated leader. “Don’t look so sour grapes, my man. You won’t see me go out in a blaze of glory, either.” I was fully prepared for a miserable death. The demon’s head worked like a charm. The monsters took one look at it and scampered. It made me glad we’d pushed ourselves to get back. That said, the town was only hanging on by a thread. The old knight in charge of the city’s defenses handled our payment smoothly; his reaction was a mix of gratitude and anger. Acting on the governor’s behalf, he thanked us for killing the demon, but the guard force had suffered major casualties because so much time had passed since the town came under attack. Half the knights, soldiers, and adventurers had died in the battle. “I don’t suppose you could have beaten the demon sooner,” the knight said. He had a mournful look on his face. I reckon he’d lost someone close to him. Meanwhile, not a single one of us had died; he must’ve found that hard to accept. He probably wanted to say something like, “Why weren’t you willing to put your lives on the line?” “Our job was to kill the demon, not save the town. We did what we were asked,” was all I could say. People weren’t capable of much, at the end of the day. Maybe the Hero would have been more self-sacrificing, but I sure as hell wasn’t Hero material. The governor generously paid what I’d asked. The death of the demon commander meant peace for the town, however short it would last.