The Third Kingdom, Blue Intersection—also called the Mercantile Nation of Mist—was an island nation completely disconnected from any other kingdom by land. Cargo ship routes didn’t need to pass through its specific geographic location, which should have made it a challenge for it to center its development around trade and commerce. In spite of that, the majority of trade vessels did pass through the Third Kingdom for one reason: many locations around the kingdom, both on land and in the ocean, had an extremely low concentration of mana.
Monsters only inhabited areas with a certain amount of mana. The distinction from place to place was clear: the higher the mana in a location, the more fearsome the monsters. As long as travelers avoided areas with abundant mana, there was little reason to worry about monster attacks—the main obstacle in the distribution of goods. Removing those attacks from the equation was the best boon a merchant transporting valuable cargo could ask for.
In the current war, the Third Kingdom was once again benefiting from the blessing of its geography. A vast part of its territory, the royal palace included, had mana concentration that was too low for the demons’ teleportation gate to manifest. Since the areas high in mana were limited, the humans could easily predict where the demons would appear.
Above all else, the Third Kingdom had its hero, Derek Henderson. He’d prepared quite the nasty welcome for the therianthropes—half-beast, half-demon—who’d come to attack the Third Kingdom. The therianthropes were brutal, powerful warriors who took great pride in fighting without any form of magic, using only their brawny bestial bodies.
Derek had taken direct command of the forces intercepting the demons. The strategy he had prepared for them could only be described as “complete lockdown.”
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“Onwaaaaards!”
A gate formed in a forest rich in mana around forty kilometers away from the royal palace of the Third Kingdom. From it, an army of demons appeared and rushed forward with a loud battle cry. The mixed group that included therianthropes with traits of monsters such as silverbacks, killer cats, evil Dobermans, and crimson bears ran across the field with animalistic speed. They easily crossed the sloped mountain trail, slaughtering any humans that appeared in the way with little effort, then continued on toward the palace.
Humans are so feeble, thought the silverback demon leading the charge. The demons had run into the Third Kingdom’s forces as soon as they’d emerged from the gate, but the result had been a crushing victory for the demons. The armed humans had been no match for the therianthropes’ sturdy bodies and high physical ability.
“Dammit all! Retreat, retreat!” shouted the humans’ commander. The human forces could only fall back and fire spells or arrows at the demons.
“Hah! What’s wrong, humans? You won’t hurt us by blindly attacking while you run!” The therianthropes took heart at their victory and advanced with even more ferocity. They evaded the humans’ sloppy attacks and gave chase, felling human after human with their claws and fangs.
The morbid game of tag continued for some time, until the Third Kingdom’s soldiers arrived at a straight path sandwiched between two valleys. They retreated through it as they had before, but as soon as the therianthropes stepped foot on the path, the bedrock supporting it exploded and collapsed under their very feet.
The therianthropes were surprised, but this posed no real obstacle for them. The demon race was already blessed with sturdy and powerful bodies, but therianthropes were in a league of their own. They nimbly jumped from one piece of rubble falling through the air to another and most of them landed without taking much damage.
“Damn you humans and your underhanded tricks,” the silverback demon grumbled.
“Heh heh heh! Meatheads like you are the easiest opponents.”
The silverback looked up to see a thin man with a twisted face looking down at them from the top of a nearby cliff. There was no doubt that he was the leader of the humans they’d been warned about in advance.
“Drop dead without accomplishing anything,” Derek said as he raised his right hand.
The silverback was stunned at the sight before him. “What’s all that?”
Derek wasn’t alone at the top of the cliff. Accompanying him was a considerable number of Third Kingdom troops that were armed to the teeth, turrets at the ready. He’d predicted the demons’ path and had prepared accordingly.
“Torture them to death,” Derek commanded.
At his signal, the soldiers fired the turrets in unison. Of course, these were the expensive anti-demon turrets made by the Humanity Defense Coalition. The strategy was straightforward: they would fire from the high ground so that gravity would accelerate their turret shells instead of hinder them. Moreover, the shells were constructed in a crafty way; the moment they crashed into the ground, they burst apart and scattered pieces of shrapnel around them.
The therianthropes’ screams filled the air. Even their agility wasn’t high enough to allow them to dodge everything—not while they were hemmed in by cliffs on all sides and assaulted by an unending barrage of shells.
“Dammit! Don’t get cocky, you filthy humans!” The demons weren’t just sitting ducks. Many of them slipped through the shrapnel and tried to climb the cliff.
“Oh, look at you go! Do it,” Derek said while smirking from ear to ear.
His order was directed at conscripted civilians who were not regular soldiers. One after another, they worked together to roll massive boulders down toward the demons. The demons couldn’t fight back against the falling boulders while still climbing. Their screams reached the top of the cliff as they fell back to the bottom, where they were greeted by the rain of turret shells.
“Ha ha ha! Too bad! Back to square one for you! Come on, don’t give up! Try again!” Derek’s laughter was almost as loud as the sound of the bombardment.
This is a tough one, but we won’t give up! “Don’t falter! It’s not easy to gather many boulders of that size. They’ll run out of them eventually!” the silverback called out to the rest of the demons.
Fortunately for the demons, they were durable enough that close to eighty percent of them had survived even in the face of such insurmountable odds. If they kept trying, they’d eventually reach the top of the cliff. Once even a few of them did, it would be their turn to use their superior strength and show the humans hell.
Suddenly, the silverback’s knees started wobbling. “What?! Is this...paralyzing poison?!”
“It took a lot of effort to enhance it enough to adhere it to the shrapnel. I might be an expert in poisons, but turret shells are outside my field!” Derek said with a malicious laugh.